Web as Culture

Ethnographic, linguistic and didactic perspectives

International Symposium of the  Graduate Centre for Study of Culture (GCSC) and the Centre for Media and Interactivity (ZMI)

 Justus Liebig University Giessen, July 16 – 18, 2009

Download the CfP as  PDF.

The World Wide Web is a cultural space in which new forms of social networking, of creating, acquiring and teaching knowledge and competencies, and of constructing personal and cultural identities have emerged. The International Symposium “Web as Culture” is intended to address issues that are involved in the processes of the construction and the perpetuation of social structures, cultural narratives, memories, knowledge and language in the World Wide Web. Particular emphasis is placed on sociocultural processes of transformation such as the change of social networks, the change of teaching and learning cultures and language change instigated by the World Wide Web. These sociocultural processes of transformation will be discussed from various disciplinary perspectives and at all relevant levels of analysis. It is very much in the spirit and tradition of an interdisciplinary study of culture that we invite scholars from all pertinent areas of research to participate in the International Symposium “Web as Culture”. Apart from researchers from the core disciplines of ethnography, didactics and linguistics, we would particularly like to invite scholars from the areas of media studies, literary studies, sociology, anthropology, philosophy and neighbouring disciplines to submit abstracts.

The plenary lectures will be given by:

• Prof. Dr. Henning Lobin (Justus-Liebig-University Giessen)
• Prof. Dr. Angelika Storrer (University Dortmund)
• Prof. Dr. Jörg Strübing (University Tübingen) [to be confirmed]
• Prof. Steven L. Thorne, Ph.D. (Pennsylvania State University)

The Symposium will discuss the new cultural space provided by the World Wide Web with a particular focus on three topics: (1) Networks, (2) Learning, (3) Language. The three corresponding sections at the Symposium will address (but are not restricted to) the following research questions:

 1.      Networks

• How does the Web change structures and mechanisms of sociocultural interaction? How is the Internet influenced by social interaction?
• How do semantic structures and traditional concepts change on the Web?
• How is the cultural space of the Web created (from a sociological and technological perspective) and limited?
• In what ways can ethnographic methods contribute to research into sociocultural phenomena on the web and how would such an Internet-oriented application change and influence the ethnographic toolkit?

 2.      Learning

• How do learning processes change on the Web?
• What role does the Web play in different learning environments and contexts?
•  How can the Internet as a medium of information, communication and production exert a positive influence on teaching and learning processes?
• What are the pedagogical challenges posed by the Web when it comes to integrating the Internet into learning processes?

 3.      Language

• How does language use change on the Web?
• Which new forms of communication and genres have emerged on the Web?
• How can the Web be utilized as a linguistic and language-pedagogical resource?
• How do Web-specific interactions (e.g. in social networks and in web-based learning processes) manifest themselves in language use?

 Working languages of the Symposium are English and German. Please submit your abstract of max. 400 words by 31 January 2009 to info@webasculture.de. We intend to confirm acceptance of submissions by 28 February 2009. The paper presentations at the Symposium will be 20 minutes in length, complemented by 10 minutes of discussion time. We expect to publish a collection of selected papers after the Symposium.

Contact:         

Email                                   info@webasculture.de
Website                                www.webasculture.de

Dates: 

Deadline abstracts                January 31, 2009
Notification of acceptance      February 28, 2009
Symposium                          July, 16 – 18, 2009

Organisers:

Joybrato Mukherjee
Zentrum für Medien und Interaktivität
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen
Ludwigstraße 34
35390 Giessen

Marcus Burkhardt
International Graduate Centre for the Study of Culture
Justus-Liebig-Universität Giessen
Alter Steinbacher Weg 38 
35394 Giessen