[Eurchap] Fwd: [ciresearchers] CALL FOR PAPERS : "CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS" 11th Prato CIRN Conference October 13-15 2014

Tue Mar 25 05:37:18 EDT 2014

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[ciresearchers] CALL FOR PAPERS : "CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS" 
11th Prato CIRN Conference October 13-15 2014
Date: 	Tue, 25 Mar 2014 12:59:39 +1100
From: 	Larry Stillman <Larry.Stillman at monash.edu>
Reply-To: 	ciresearchers at vancouvercommunity.net, Larry Stillman 
<Larry.Stillman at monash.edu>
To: 	ciresearchers at vancouvercommunity.net, 
communityinformatics at vancouvercommunity.net

*CALL FOR PAPERS: "CHALLENGES AND SOLUTIONS" 11th Prato CIRN Conference 
October 13-15 2014, Monash Centre, Prato Italy,  and Special Workshop 
October 16: RDF and the Archival Multiverse?*

*http://cirn.wikispaces.com/Conference+Call+2014*

Please forward to colleagues and other lists.

/Community Informatics/ is primarily concerned with improving the 
well-being of people and their communities through more effective use of 
ICTs. Community Informatics foregrounds social change and transformative 
action in emergent social-technical relationships rather than prediction 
and control. This orientation also has much in common with Community 
Archiving.

/Community-centric archival research, education and practice/ are 
concerned with empowering communities in support of such desirable 
objectives as democracy, human and civil rights, self-determination, 
sustainable development, and social inclusion. Recordkeeping and 
archiving are fundamental infrastructural components supporting 
community information, self-knowledge and memory needs, thus 
contributing to resilient communities and cultures and supporting 
reconciliation and recovery in the aftermath of conflict, oppression and 
trauma.

  * The 2012 and 2013 Prato conferences were the start of a new journey,
    in that people from the emerging field of community archives met
    with the slightly more mature field of Community Informatics to try
    to make some sense of what each was doing, and to what degree
    interdisciplinarity might be achieved. By interdisciplinarity we
    mean not living in research or practice silos, that there is
    something valuable from learning from each other’s theories,
    methods, findings and experiences.

Yet a lot sounds like the same old story faced by anyone involved in 
social action or social research. However, the problem appears more 
particularly acute in the era of spectacular budgetary cutbacks and the 
increasing influence of neo-liberal assessments of 'worth', and it is 
time we looked again at what the challenges are, and particularly, how 
we creatively deal with them.

We will consider papers related to any aspect of Community Informatics 
or Community Archiving.  However,  we are particularly interested in 
papers from researchers and practitioners that can address the 
challenges of locating community-based research within wider theoretical 
and practice frameworks.

  * In past conferences we have seen a tendency to qualitative research
    with an emphasis on case studies and the development of narratives.
    For example, what are the challenges and solutions to achieving
    adequate or exemplary voices, documentation, and activity from the
    perspectives of one or more communities? What of the struggle to
    tell a story, and whose story/stories should that be and under what
    conditions? Are academic research paradigms and norms out of touch
    with the reality of practice and how should they be modified?

These are important and ongoing issues, but beyond these there remain 
unanswered questions about the relationship of community-based research 
to broader theories and strategies that extend the benefits of projects 
and theories/outcomes beyond the local communities involved.Do the 
projects we engage in only benefit the immediate communities served, and 
perhaps others where projects are replicated – or can they have broader 
impact, perhaps through addressing issues related to human rights, 
social justice, social cohesion or community resilience?

  * In this context, what theoretical or conceptual frameworks are
    relevant and effective?

Do social capital and the development of social networks truly 
strengthen communities, or does it depend on the type of social capital 
being created and/or destroyed? Is there a difference in effect and 
outcome when considering voluntary associations or place-based 
communities as opposed to social movements? Could there be negative 
consequences? Might some projects somehow serve to isolate or disempower 
communities? And what role do communications play, for example the 
various forms of social media?

  * How do we measure and evaluate benefit to the community?

In collaborations, which community/ies are we seeking to advance and 
benefit? How can we measure the long-term impact of research engagement, 
and the implementation of technologies and services? What promising 
approaches being undertaken? How can we build a critical mass of studies 
of a particular community or community-relevant phenomenon? How can we 
encourage cross-comparisons and analyses of research? Are there ways in 
which data from some of this research might be shared and/or re-used by 
other community or community-centric researchers? With which other 
fields might there be research affinities, e.g., public health, social 
work, sociology, anthropology?

  * Another challenge is the (under) resourcing of research and action
    and how these are conducted.

How can we support this research? What methodological or research design 
compromises might we need to make in order to do this research? What are 
the ethical exigencies that we encounter and how should these best be 
addressed?
//
/The above suggestions are not intended to be prescriptive, but rather, 
to highlight the range of issues that remain to be addressed within the 
theory and practice of both Community Informatics and Community 
Archiving. We believe that the interaction between the two fields will 
result in exciting new insights and look forward to any contribution 
that helps to achieve that goal./
//
*Special Workshop October 16: RDF and the Archival Multiverse?*

The Workshop will provide participants with the knowledge and skills to 
gain a deep understanding of RDF (Resource Description Framework) . It 
will focus on addressing the following challenge: Can RDF sufficiently 
express or capture the contingencies and nuances arising from a glocal 
and pluralized framing of archival access?  Further details will be 
posted as they become available.

*Dates and Processes*

In order to enhance the quality of papers in all streams, Program Chairs 
will take an active role in guiding papers through the review process 
and deadlines will be adhered to.

The following kinds of papers are sought:

  * Full papers for blind peer review to meet academic peer-review
    requirements (up to 6000 words).
  * Works in progress and more speculative pieces (reviewed and
    selected, but not peer reviewed).
  * Non refereed papers, including practitioner reports (up to 6000 words).
  * PhD papers which provide an outline of current or proposed PhD
    research (between 2-3000 words, including references)
  * Proposals for workshops or panel discussions.
  * Proposals for posters.

_*  Abstracts/papers can *_*_only_*_*be submitted through the conference 
database which will be made available shortly. *_ Abstracts up to 550 words.

ABSTRACTS TO BE RECEIVED By May 15, 2014. Late abstracts will be put on 
a wait list.

  * Acceptance/modification/ rejection notices

As soon as possible after 15 May.

  * Full papers and abstracts for all streams due

31 July 2014

  * Referee reports to participants by

1 September 2014

  * Final version of papers, based on peer review and program committee
    decisions due

1 October September 2014

  * Conference proceedings

Online publication with ISBN

  * Registrations

Available from 1 July

  * Conference

  * Post-conference 1 day workshop

13-15 October 2014

16 October 2014

For further information about the conference, including information 
about the Monash Prato Centre, travel and accommodation and so on, see 
http://cirn.wikispaces.com/Conference+Call+2014.
For the conference
**********************
Larry Stillman, PhD
Senior Research Fellow
Monash University

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