Call for Paper:
Reassembling Relationships: People, Systems, Things

12. Annual Conference | German Society for Design Theory and Research (DGTF)
Venue | University of Applied Sciences Potsdam (Fachhochschule Potsdam, FHP)
Date | 16th - 17th October 2015

In a growing state of omnipresent connectivity, it seems that anything 
can be potentially connected – anytime, anywhere. We are embedded in a 
myriad of mundane socio-technical alliances, as humans and non-humans 
ceaselessly correspond and perform. Therefore, the urgency arises to 
raise the question: What relationships do we enter in to with our fellow 
agents, what new positions do we find ourselves in?

In an age of the internet-of-things, the technical-material objects that 
are embedded in our everyday lives are acting, enacting and performing 
for, with, and through us. They are suddenly knowing, learning, 
evaluating, predicting - and constantly at work. In this sphere of 
hyperconnectivity, wireless sensor networks, RFID chips, cloud services 
and machine-to-machine interfaces are already at play. Technologies with 
lengthly names such as ‘sensor-driven decision analytics’ and 
‘instantaneous control and response complex autonomous systems’ are 
being envisioned, developed and implemented. Governments, academia and 
industry discuss the potential production of zettabytes, yottabytes, and 
geopbytes of data, as sensors and chips find their homes in our coffee 
machines, knitted sweaters, pets, buildings and cities.

This new dimension of connecting the physical and the digital world 
promises to solve some of the most daunting problems that we have. From 
the personal to the public, these developments allegedly provide 
possibilities to optimise and enhance most things at most levels. 
However, from smart phones to smart drones, this interweaving of 
technologies into the fabric of our lives provides us with a pressing 
call to reformulate our relationship with objects themselves. It raises 
questions such as do these objects just help us to organise ourselves, 
or do they help us judge and feel? Are we still at the centre of the 
social algorithm, or do we become the batteries of the gadgets? In a 
society where we begin to speak about open-source governance and 
feminist servers, will we find new solidarities –- build new 
communities? Perhaps we must soon begin to raise discussions about 
"technocommunism", "moral algorithms" and "object-mediated democracy" –- 
about human-nonhuman socially and politically co-mediated worlds.

We invite practical, empirical and theoretical perspectives from all 
design disciplines, as well as from Computer Sciences (HCI), Science and 
Technology Studies, Humanities and related fields. From utopian to 
dystopian visions and realities: We invite perspectives on the role of 
design in all of this, on new forms of negotiation with and through 
things, and on what new analytical frameworks this calls for as we 
further embark in to these technically mediated futures.

Topics of interest include:
•     New positions: Hyperobjects, Boundary Objects, Hybrids, Cyborgs 
and more

•     New relationships: In/dependence, un/regulated, in/discipline, 
un/certainty etc.

•     New dialogues: Things-to-things, things-to-people, 
things-to-systems, systems-to-systems

Abstracts of max. 1500 words (for 15 minute presentations) and a 
professional/scientific biography can be submitted until July 13th 2015 
to [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>.

Please note the important dates:

13. July: Submission of abstracts
31. August: Notification of acceptance
31. August: Conference Registration opens
16./17. October: Conference and DGTF Annual General Meeting




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