 |
 |
This is a reminder that abstracts for the proposed session below are due soon, I've extended the deadline to October 15, 2017. The abandoned spaces of the internet Association of American Geographers (AAG) Annual Meeting (New Orleans, April 10-14, 2018) Session Organizer: Vincent Miller (School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, University of Kent) Sponsored by the Digital Geographies Study Group In recent years, Geography has seen a rebirth of interest and appreciation of the abandoned, ruined and neglected spaces of modernity, particularly within the context of deindustrialisation. However, with a quarter of a century behind it, the 'post-industrial' space of the Web has itself already turned into a space of abandonment, ruin and blight. While much has been deleted over time (thus creating concerns over curation and archiving), many abandoned or neglected virtual spaces still remain, frozen in an eternal present. From the one billion inactive accounts on Twitter, to abandoned virtual worlds, games, blogs, social media and dating websites, spaces of abandonment and neglect are endemic to the internet and, unlike the industrial ruin, remain mostly hidden from view, although never far away. In the spirit of urban exploration and 'ruin porn', this session is devoted to an examination and appreciation of a variety of abandoned digital spaces, and from a variety of perspectives including: * Aesthetic experiences of design, ruin, decay, abandonment * Philosophical issues around time, identity, ephemerality and narrative * Affective experiences of nostalgia, memory, loss, embarrassment and the uncanny * Political-economic issues around digital capitalism, creative destruction and digital abundance Anyone interested in participating in the session should send an abstract conforming to the requirements of the AAG (see http://annualmeeting.aag.org/) by October 15 to Vince Miller ([log in to unmask]). Please note that the deadline for abstract submission and fee payment for this conference is October 25, 2017. Dr. Vincent Miller Reader in Sociology and Cultural Studies SSPSSR University of Kent Canterbury, UK -------------------------------------------------------- MeCCSA mailing list -------------------------------------------------------- To manage your subscription or unsubscribe from the MECCSA list, please visit: https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=MECCSA&A=1 ------------------------------------------------------- MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education. This mailing list is a free service and is not restricted to members. It is an unmoderated list and content reflect the views of those who post to the list and not of MeCCSA as an organisation. MeCCSA recommends that the list be used only for posting of information (for example about events, publications, conferences, lectures) of interest to members or to promote discussion of current issues of wide general interest in the field. Posts to the MeCCSA mailing list are public, indexed by Google, and can be accessed from the JISCMail website (http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/meccsa.html). Any messages posted to the list are subject to the JISCMail acceptable use policy, which states that users should avoid engaging in unreasonable behaviour, or disrupting the general flow of discussion on a list. For further information, please visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/ --------------------------------------------------------