Date: Wed, 19 Oct 2011 15:06:06 +0100
From: Mark Graham <[log in to unmask]>
Subject: CFP. Urban Food Futures: ICTs and Opportunities
CFP. URBAN FOOD FUTURES: ICTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, UK
December 14, 2011
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=472
----
Food is a vital foundation of all human life. It is essential to a myriad of
political, socio-cultural, economic and environmental practices throughout
history. However, those practices of food production, consumption, and
distribution have the potential to now go through immensely transformative
shifts as network technologies become increasingly embedded in every domain
of contemporary life. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are
one of the key foundations of global functionality and sustenance today and
undoubtedly will continue to present new challenges and opportunities for
the future. As such, this one-day symposium will bring together leading
scholars across disciplines to address challenges and opportunities at the
intersection of food and ICTs in everyday urban environment. In particular,
the discussion will revolve around the question: What are the key roles that
network technologies play in re-shaping the food systems at micro- to
macroscopic level?
The symposium will contribute a unique perspective on urban food futures
through the lens of network society paradigm where ICTs enable innovations
in production, organisation, and communication within society. Some of the
topics addressed will include encouraging transparency in food commodity
chains; value of cultural understanding and communication in global food
sustainability; and technologies to social inclusion; all of which evoke and
examine the question surrounding networked individuals as changes catalysts
for urban food futures. The event will provide an avenue for new discussions
and speculations on key issues surrounding urban food futures in the network
era, with a particular focus on bottom-up micro actions that challenge the
existing food systems towards a broader sociocultural, political,
technological, and environmental transformations.
One central area of concern is that current systems of food production,
distribution, and consumption do not ensure food security for the future,
but rather seriously threaten it. With the recent unprecedented scale of
urban growth and rise of middle-class, the problem continues to intensify.
This situation requires extensive distribution networks to feed urban
residents, and therefore poses significant infrastructural challenges to
both the public and private sectors. The symposium will also address the
transferability of citizen empowerment that network technologies enable as
demonstrated in various significant global political transformations from
the bottom-up, such as the recent Egyptian Youth Revolution. Another key
theme of the discussion will be the role of ICTs (and the practices that
they mediate) in fostering transparency in commodity chains. The symposium
will ask what differences these technologies can make on the practices of
food consumption and production.
After discussions, we will initiate an international network of
food-thinkers and actors that will function as a platform for knowledge
sharing and collaborations. The participants will be invited to engage in
planning for the on-going future development of the network.
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PARTICIPATION
In order to keep the symposium interactive and focused, it will be limited
to invited participants. Papers will be selected for presentation at the
symposium based on peer review of abstracts. We welcome submissions of
original work from diverse disciplinary backgrounds including, but not
limited to, urban informatics, human-computer interaction, sustainability,
design, humanities and future studies.
Interested participants should submit a 500 word abstract, and 250 word
biography, by 28 October 2011 to Dr. Jaz Hee-jeong Choi ([log in to unmask]).
The authors of successful abstracts will be notified by 7 November 2011.
We are currently in the process of ensuring that post-workshop publication
of selected papers will follow in a special journal issue.
----
PARTNERS
This symposium is a collaboration with the Institute for Creative Industries
and Innovation (QUT), the Creative Industries Faculty (QUT), and the Urban
Informatics Research Lab (QUT).
We hope to see you there!
----
dr. jaz hee-jeong choi
urban informatics lab
institute for creative industries and innovation
// e: [log in to unmask]
// w: www.nicemustard.com
// p: +617 3138 8190
// m: +61 433 167 151
------------------------------------------
Mark Graham, Ph.D.
Research Fellow
Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford
1 St Giles
Oxford OX1 3JS
United Kingdom
Telephone +44 (0) 1865 287 203
Fax +44 (0) 1865 287 211
www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/graham
www.geospace.co.uk
www.wikichains.org
twitter.com/geoplace
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