[liberationtech] Fwd: RFP: technology and social particiation essays (funding opportunity)

[Katrin Verclas]

FYI.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Hirsch, Tad <tad.hirsch at intel.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 23, 2010 at 11:59 AM
Subject: RFP: technology and social particiation essays (funding
opportunity)
To: "Hirsch, Tad" <tad.hirsch at intel.com>


 Intel’s Experience Insights Lab (XIL) seeks to commission several essays on
the theme of “technology and social participation.”



Our goal in this activity is to gain an understanding of the intellectual
landscape across several academic disciplines including (but not limited to)
sociology, anthropology, science and technology studies, social movement
studies, communications, media studies, and design studies. We are
essentially looking for literature-reviews: we want to know about big ideas
and major debates, central texts and case studies, and significant thinkers
and practitioners who are shaping these discourses. We are also interested in
hearing the author’s particular point of view, and will welcome provocative
submissions that challenge our assumptions and suggest

alternative areas of investigation.



Our definition of “social participation” is intentionally vague; at this
stage our goal is to be inclusive and exploratory. However, here are a

few guiding questions that should give some indication of what we are
thinking:



1. Does the advent of ubiquitous information and communications technologies
(ICTs) enable new forms of social organization? If so, how do these
organizations function? How are resources acquired and mobilized? How are
notions of collective identity manifest? What is the relationship with
history, with longevity, and with memory? Does scale matter - what can a
massive organization do that a 4 person collective cannot (and vice versa)?



2. How do ICTs enable (new) forms of collective experience or action? Does
the ability to create and share hybrid media artifacts provide fodder for
new kinds of shared projects? How do social movements coalesce around and
make use of “data” (loosely interpreted)?



3. How might established institutions (e.g. governments, corporations, NGOs)
use ICTs to engage constituents? Conversely, how do constituents use ICTs to
hold these institutions accountable? What are the opportunities, and what
are the risks for both institutions and constituents? How does power
function in these arrangements?



The essays are intended for internal use by XIL – a collection of social
scientists, designers, and engineers who think critically about the future
of technology. You’ll notice a preoccupation with novelty in the above ---
we’re particularly interested in new and emergent phenomenon. We’re less
interested in, say, correlations between internet use and membership in
civic organizations, breathless accounts of various “Twitter revolutions,”
or best known practices for e-government initiatives. While we seek a
historical and theoretical grounding, our orientation is both material and
forward-looking -- at the end of the day, XIL’s charter is to inform the
design of new technologies and experiences. Submissions will evaluated on
whether or not they are likely to help us on our way.



The essays are ideally suited for faculty and/or mid-to-late stage PhD
candidates – people who have passed their quals and begun work on their
dissertations, or who are actively publishing in this area. Although XIL
will commission the essays, we don’t need to own them -- authors are welcome
to publish and/or repurpose the text in whatever way they see fit.
Similarly, essays may make use of the author’s prior work, although we would
expect essays to be tailored to meet our requirements.



We plan to commission four essays at  US$2500 each. Interested authors
should submit a brief (1 paragraph) abstract indicating their general
approach and the literature(s) that they will cover. Abstracts are due to
Tad Hirsch (tad.hirsch at intel.com) by Dec 10. Essays are expected to be
completed by March 31, 2011.




-- 
Katrin Verclas
MobileActive.org
katrin at mobileactive.org
Phone + 1 347 281 7191
skype/twitter: katrinskaya

A global network of people using mobile technology for social change
http://mobileactive.org
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