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Dear all, This forthcoming workshop on publics may be of interest to some on the list. Please pass on to anyone you think may be interested. Best wishes Liza Creating Publics The Publics Research Programme at The Centre for Citizenship, Identities and Governance at The Open University, with the University of Westminster, is convening a two-day workshop in central London on 21 and 22 July 2011 on the theme of Creating Publics. This workshop brings together an international and interdisciplinary group of scholars from politics and public policy, sociology, information studies, cultural geography, planning and media studies to discuss some of the contemporary objects, ideas, spaces, and activities of public creation and creativity. Reflecting on a diversity of topics, including social activism, community archives, arts practices, public services, social media, democratic design, dissent and 'the commons', presenters address problems of publics and publicness in relation to institutions, mediation, spatialities, power, engagement and social transformation. The panels move beyond notions of 'the public' understood as a pre-existing entity or population, building on emerging discourses of publics as summoned, assembled, and convened. By beginning with a concept of 'publics' and publicness as constituted in social practices, the workshop questions, critically and creatively, what 'public' might mean today. If you wish to attend, please contact Sarah Batt ([log in to unmask]) to register. For further information, please contact Nick Mahony ([log in to unmask]). Programme outline: DAY 1 10.00 Arrival and coffee 10:30 Welcome and introduction by John Clarke (The Open University) and Liza Griffin (University of Westminster) 11:00-12:30 Panel 1: Remembering Publics (chaired by Janet Newman) Clive Barnett, The Open University, 'Emergent Publics' Andrew Flinn, University College London, 'Making History: Challenging Heritage and Social Movements' Susan Pell, Goldsmiths College, 'Cataloguing Publics: Archives and Social Movements' 12:30- 2:00 Lunch 2:00-3.30 Panel 2: Mediating Publics (chaired by Clive Barnett) Annabel Kiernan, Manchester Metropolitan University, 'Co-producing publics of interest' Alison Rooke, Goldsmiths College, 'There is no such thing as Free Speech": Creating Art? Creating Participation?' John Allen, The Open University, 'Pragmatism and Power: Spatial Experiments with Publics' 3.30-4.00 Tea 4.00- 5.30 Panel 3: Troubling Publics (chaired by Liza Griffin) Ellen Stewart, University of Edinburgh, 'Everyday creativity and the boundaries of public action in the NHS' John Michael Roberts, Brunel University, 'Public Spaces and Public Spheres of Dissent' Farida Vis, University of Leicester, 'Digging into Citizenship?' 5:30 End of day 1 DAY 2 9.30-10.00 Coffee 10.00-11.30 Panel 4: Re-making public places Chaired by Nick Mahony Michael Shepherd, Ian Grimstead, Glenn Davidson and Richard Owen, Cardiff University, 'TXT2 Publics' Gabrielle Hosein, The University of the West Indies, 'Politics in Public Life in Trinidad' Penny Koutrolikou, UCL Bartlett, 'Between Public and Private: "Commons" and "Collective" Arenas' 11.30-12.00 Coffee 12.00-1.30 Panel 5: Creative publics Chaired by Susan Pell Ricardo Blaug, University of Westminster, 'Information Processing in Public: The Assembly and its Council' Janet Newman, The Open University, 'Public making as creative labour' Nick Mahony, The Open University, 'Public creativity and public resources: constituting and engaging with contemporary practice' 1.30 Lunch and close. NB: Lunch and refreshments will be provided to all those who register to attend. We regret that neither travel or accommodation expenses are available. The Creating Publics workshop has been organised with the assistance and generous support of the Governance and Sustainability research group at the Department of Politics and International Relations at The University of Westminster. -- The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW, UK.