Technology, Democracy, and Citizenship

http://www.humanitiesandtechnology.org/conferences.htm

Humanities and Technology Annual Conference

September 24-26, 2009

University of Virginia

Special Topic:

Technology, Democracy, and Citizenship

Democracy and democratic citizenship shape and are shaped by technology.
Taking the broad approach, this conference invites papers and session
proposals bringing insight to the important albeit complicated and intricate
relationships among technology, democracy, and citizenship.

Besides scholars in Science and Technology Studies and the Humanities and
Social Sciences, we hope to attract practitioners and researchers in
engineering, science, public policy, architecture, government, and
international development to engage in a series of wide-ranging
conversations focused on three broad intersections of technology and democracy:

IDEALS—For example, how can technology be managed so that it promotes
democratic ideals? How can technology undermine democratic ideals? Exactly
what do we mean by “democracy” and “democratic citizenship”?

PROCESSES—This category includes socio-technical systems directly involved
in democratic processes, such as voting machines and blogs, as well as
broader questions of education, public discourse, deliberation, and
decision-making.

DECISIONS—Perhaps the broadest category of all, this includes the full range
of specific areas in which democracies must establish policy and make
decisions—energy, the environment, national defense, transportation,
homeland security, health care, regulation of business and entrepreneurship,
genetic engineering, funding of research, and more.

To propose a paper, send an abstract of no more than 250 words. To propose a
session, include a session title and rationale as well as an abstract for
each paper. Include the affiliation and relevant contact details for all
authors. Please direct electronic submissions and questions to
Andreas.Michel@rose-hulman.edu, or write to Andreas Michel, HTA 2009 Program
Chair, Humanities and Social Sciences, Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology,
5500 Wabash Ave, Terre Haute, IN, 47803. We will begin reviewing proposals
as soon as they are received.

Proposals are due no later than June 15, 2009