CaTaC¹14: Culture, Technology, Communication: Celebration, Transformation,

New Directions



Call for Papers and Panels



Selected papers and panels touching on cultural aspects of Human-Computer

Interaction will be allocated to a common set of sessions at the

conference.



For more info contact the track organiser in

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Venue: Department of Informatics, Ole-Johan Dahls hus, University of Oslo

Dates: June 15-18, 2014

Predoctoral PhD workshop: Monday morning, June 16, 2014.



Conference website: <http://www.catacconference.org/>





Conference Co-organizers:

Charles Ess (Department of Media and Communication)

Maja van der Velden (Department of Informatics)

Organizing Committee

José Abdelnour-Nocera (School of Computing and Technology, University of

West London)

Herbert Hrachovec (Philosophy Department, University of Vienna)

Leah Macfadyen (Evaluation and Learning Analytics, University of British

Columbia)

Patrizia Schettino (Communication Studies, Università della Svizzera

italiana)

Ylva Hård af Segerstad (Department of Applied Information Technology at

the University of Gothenburg/Chalmers)

Andra Siibak (Media Studies, University of Tartu)

Michele M. Strano, Program Chair (Communication Studies, Bridgewater

College)

Satomi Sugiyama (Communication and Media Studies, Franklin College

Switzerland)



Background.  Our 1998 conference on ³Culture, Technology, and

Communication² (CATaC) was among the first devoted to the roles of

culturally-variable norms, practices, and communicative preferences in the

designs, implementations, and responses to (networked) information and

communication technologies. The biennial CATaC series has generated a

number of significant publications; the series has also been ranked by the

Australian Research Council among the top 20% of conferences in terms of

international impact and significance. Equally importantly: our critical

but collegial conference culture provides a unique oasis for participants

who shared often radically interdisciplinary interests.



Transformation. As the Internet and then the World Wide Web have come to

now connect over 2 billion people globally, the questions of culture and

communication vis-à-vis (networked) ICTs have become increasingly

mainstream and widely explored across the needed range of disciplines,

conferences, and publication venues. At the same time, however, there is

ongoing need for a conference venue that fosters new explorations at the

intersections of culture, technology, and communication ­ as approached in

ways that are: 

robustly interdisciplinary / cross-disciplinary;

cordially but rigorously critical;

inclusive of the philosophical, including the ethical and political

dimensions of ICT design and diffusion;

relational, bringing out the entanglements of culture, communication, and

technology;

and within a conference environment shaped by our hallmark hospitality and

collegiality. 



Accordingly, CaTaC¹14 will

celebrate the people and accomplishments of the past conference series,

including the production of a Festschrift; and

transform the conference series through development of

new research, directions and approaches.



We invite both participation in the opening Doctoral Colloquium and paper

and panel submissions that address the intersections between culture,

technology, and communication with a focus on either Design/Production or

Practice (see descriptions below).



Doctoral Colloquium: PhD students will present and collaboratively discuss

their current work, and enjoy advice and mentoring from senior faculty

across the disciplines represented at CaTaC¹14 ­ including informatics and

design, communication and media studies, and Š (Monday morning, 8.30-12.00)



Conference tracks. Broadly, we invite research, reflection, and

scholarship that specifically address one or more of our defining elements

of culture, technology, and communication ­ while simultaneously exploring

the interrelationship(s) between these.   More particularly, we invite

submissions that do so by way of focusing on either Design/Production or

Practice.



Design/Production

For this track, we invite individual papers and panels that look at how

technical, cultural and communication affordances and constraints

intersect in the production of technology, messages and theory

construction. This track includes:



Designs for Good Lives in a Mediated Age, e.g.

i) emotions in design and in user experience;

ii) embodiment and the notion of body, memory and emotions both in

philosophy and in material culture;

iii) design as "skin of culture" (De Kerckhove, 1991).

Invited panel, ³Cross-cultural understandings and designs of social robots

as co-agents of good lives² (Satomi Sugiyama, chair).



Trans-mediated and intelligent workplaces: implications for work analysis

and interaction design, e.g.,

i) The sociotechnical challenges for designing technologies for new forms

of workers and workplaces

ii) Implications for design of sociotechnical understandings of

trans-mediated work

iii) Ethical and cultural implications for interaction design on the light

of the transformation of human agency in smart workplaces.

iv) Cultural aspects of human work interaction design



Technology Design: Politics and ethics e.g.

i) Slow Tech/Fair Tech;

ii) Politics of Design;

iii) Modest interventions (cf. Donna Haraway)



Legal and ethical issues tied to media environments where authorship

becomes increasingly invisible



Research Design and Theory Development

Access to "big data" and developments in data science have enhanced our

ability to use computation and modeling both in place of and in

conjunction with interpretive qualitative methods. Example contributions

to this thread would include:

i) Critical analyses of exemplar research using "big data" approaches and

analytics to examine technology design and usages. What are the strengths

and limits of such approaches?

ii) Explorations of the ethical, social, and/or political dimensions of

"big data" research including culturally-variable patterns of regulations

regarding data privacy protection, research ethics, etc.

iii) Exemplar research using mixed methods that capitalize on the

strengths of quantitative and qualitative approaches



Practice

We invite individual submissions and panels that have the use of

information and communication technologies in specific cultural contexts

as their main focus. Examples include:

Cultural diversity and global ICTs, e.g. ,global health information

systems, Wikipedia, social media;

Global and local cultures of computing, e.g.

i) outsourcing, global development teams;

ii) the identity of migrants and the experience of migration;

iii) appropriation, creolization, hybridization between cultures and also

between technologies;

The construction of identity using online social media, gaming, and

blogging platforms

Political activism through social media

Privacy issues in media environments that encourage public identities.

Analysis of Cultural Discourses about technology that shape understanding

and use, e.g.:

i) Perceptions of authorship and ownership in environments dependent on

user generated content

ii) Hopes and fears associated with the introduction of new technologies

iii) Understandings of the relationship between the "real" and the

"virtual"



For further details on conference themes and topics, please see the

conference website, <catacconferences.org>.



Both short (3-5 pages) and long (10-15 pages) original papers are sought

for presentation.  Panel proposals addressing a specific theme or topic

are also encouraged.

Papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings (electronic only).

Authors retain copyright, etc.



Important Dates:

Submission of papers (short or full), panel proposals: 14 February 2014

    Notification of acceptance: 14 March 2014

    Final formatted papers (for conference proceedings): 18 April 2014

    

Registration fees: to be determined.  (We anticipate that registration

fees will be somewhat ­ perhaps significantly ­ less than in previous

years.)



Accommodations. 

Because June is a busy conference and tourist month in Oslo, we strongly

urge participants to book as early as possible!



The Rica Victoria Hotel is in the direct centre of Oslo, with quite easy

access to the University. Participants enjoy the University of Oslo

discount rate of 1095,- NOK per night, including breakfast.

<https://www.rica-hotels.com/hotels/oslo/rica-victoria-hotel-oslo-/> .



Self-service hotels:

Comfort Hotel Xpress (Møllergata 26, 0179 Oslo) is within easy walking

distance of the centre of Oslo and the various public transit stations

that will get you quickly to the University and conference venue.

<https://www.nordicchoicehotels.no/comfort/comfort-hotel-xpress/>

Current booking rate, 540,- NOK per night; breakfast can be ordered for

NOK 85 (or NOK 95 for organic).

This hotel chain is also one of the better ones when it comes to social

and environmental responsibility:

<https://www.nordicchoicehotels.com/social-responsibility-in-nordic-choice-

hotels/?epslanguage=no>



P-hotel (Grensen 19, NO-0159 Oslo) is even closer in and convenient to

both tram (³trick²) and metro stations for University access.

http://www.p-hotels.no/photels/english/

Current booking rate is 595,- NOK per night., including breakfast.



Citybox, Oslo (Prinsensgate 6, N-0152 Oslo) is very close to the train

station and both tram (³trick²) and metro stations for University access.

Single rooms currently range between 550,- (weekends) to 750,- NOK (some

weekdays). No breakfast, but Stockfleths Café at the corner of the hotel

is one of the best places for coffee, breakfast and lunch.

<http://citybox.no/?lang=en&loc=Oslo>



The Oslo municipal website for all B&Bs and pensions lists additional

alternatives:

<http://www.visitoslo.com/en/accommodation/pensionBB/>



Additional hotels



Hotel Karl Johan: This is a hotel directly on the main street of Oslo City

Center. Walking distance to most tourist attractions. It¹s a two minutes¹

walk to the Metro, and 10 minutes with the metro to the University. Prices

start at 1300,- NOK per night including breakfast.

<http://book.bestwestern.com/bestwestern/NO/Oslo-hotels/BEST-WESTERN-Karl-J

ohan-Hotell/Hotel-Overview.do?propertyCode=73113>



Hotel Gyldenløve: Placed in one of the best shopping districts in Oslo

(Majorstua), and quite close to the University. It¹s a ten minutes¹ walk

to the Metro, and 2 minutes with the metro to the University, or you can

walk all the way (about 30 minutes). Prices starts at 1052,- NOK per

night.

<http://www.thonhotels.com/hotels/countrys/norway/oslo/thon-hotel-gyldenlov

e/>



Hotel Munch: Close to the city centre. Walking distance to most tourist

attractions in Oslo. It¹s a 5 minutes¹ walk to the Metro, and 10 minutes

with the metro to the University. Prices starts at 845,- NOK per night.

<http://www.thonhotels.com/hotels/countrys/norway/oslo/thon-hotel-munch/>



Haraldsheim Youth Hostel: The cheapest alternative. A bit outside of the

city center, but easy accessed by Metro, trams or buses. It¹s a 10-15

minutes¹ walk to the Metro, and 10 minutes with the metro to the

University. Prices starts at 255,- NOK (4 bed dorm) to 510,- (single  room

with bathroom) including breakfast.

<http://www.haraldsheim.no/?metrolingual=en>



We look forward to welcoming you to Oslo next June!



Dr. José Abdelnour Nocera

Reader in Sociotechnical Design

Institute for Practice and Interdisciplinary Research (INSPIRE)

Head of  Sociotechnical Centre for Internationalisation and User Experience

University of West London

St Mary¹s Road, Ealing ­ London W5 5RF

https://soc.uwl.ac.uk/~jabdelno