CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS:
Unlike Us Reader: Understanding Social Media Monopolies and their Alternatives
INTRODUCTION
Following the success of the previous INC readers we would like to propose to put together a reader with key texts (see under below for possible topics). Anthology (print, pdf, epub) produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in collaboration with the Unlike Us research network. Following the second Unlike Us conference in Amsterdam, the Institute of Network Cultures is devoted to produce a reader that bundles actual theories about the economic and cultural aspects of dominant social media platforms, such as Facebook and Twitter, and the development of alternative, decentralized social media software.
POSSIBLE TOPICS
Critical Twitter Studies // Artistic Responses to Social Media // Genealogies of Social Networking Sites // Biopolitics // Exploitation of Immaterial Labour // Social Media Activism and the Critique of Liberation Technology // Social What? Defining the Social // Software Matters: Sociotechnical and Algorithmic Cultures // The Private in the Public // Showcasing Alternatives in Social Media // Pitfalls of Building Alternatives
WE INVITE
Internet, visual culture and media scholars, researchers, artists, curators, producers, lawyers, engineers, open-source and open-content advocates, activists, Unlike Us conference participants, and others to submit materials and proposals.
FORMATS
We welcome interviews, dialogues, essays and articles, images (b/w), email exchanges, manifestos, with a max of 8,000 words. For scope and style, take a look at the previous INC readers and thestyle guide.
This publication is produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam and will be launched late 2012, ready in time for a possible Unlike Us #3 (no details known yet about the date and place).
DEADLINE: August 20, 2012
SEND CONTRITBUTIONS: miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org (Miriam Rasch)
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MORE INFORMATION
Unlike Us:
www.networkcultures.org/unlikeus
INC readers: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publications/inc-readers/
Or email: miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org (from 1st of June on you can expect a response)
ABOUT THE READER SERIES
The INC reader series are derived from conference contributions and produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. They are available (for free) in print and pdf form onwww.networkcultures.org/readers.
Previously published in this series:
INC Reader #7: Geert Lovink and Nathaniel Tkacz (eds), Critical Point of View: A Wikpedia Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011. For millions of internet users around the globe, the search for new knowledge begins with Wikipedia. The encyclopedia’s rapid rise, novel organization, and freely offered content have been marveled at and denounced by a host of commentators. Critical Point of View moves beyond unflagging praise, well-worn facts, and questions about its reliability and accuracy, to unveil the complex, messy, and controversial realities of a distributed knowledge platform.
INC Reader #6: Geert Lovink and Rachel Somers Miles (eds), Video Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011. Video Vortex Reader II is the second collection of texts that critically explore the rapidly changing landscape of online video and its use. With the success of YouTube and the rise of other online video sharing platforms, the moving image has become expansively more popular on the Web, significantly contributing to the culture and ecology of the internet and our everyday lives. In response, the Video Vortex project continues to examine critical issues of online video content.
INC Reader #5: Scott McQuire, Meredith Martin, and Sabine Niederer (eds.), Urban Screens Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2009. The Urban Screens Reader is the first book to focus entirely on the topic of urban screens. A collection of texts from leading theorists, and a series of case studies that deal with artists’ projects, and screen operators’ and curators’ experiences, offering a rich resource at the intersections between digital media, cultural practices and urban space.
INC Reader #4: Geert Lovink and Sabine Niederer (eds.), Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008. The Video Vortex Reader is the first collection of critical texts to deal with the rapidly emerging world of online video – from its explosive rise in 2005 with YouTube, to its future as a significant form of personal media.
INC Reader #3: Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter (eds.), MyCreativity Reader: A Critique of Creative Industries, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2007. The MyCreativity Reader is a collection of critical research into the creative industries. The material develops out of the MyCreativity Convention on International Creative Industries Research held in Amsterdam, November 2006 (no longer available in print; pdf online).
INC Reader #2: Katrien Jacobs, Marije Janssen and Matteo Pasquinelli (eds.), C’Lick Me: A Netporn Studies Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2007. C’lick Me: A Netporn Studies Reader is an anthology that collects the best material from two years of debate from The Art and Politics of Netporn 2005 conference to the 2007 C’Lick Me festival (no longer available in print; pdf online).
INC Reader #1: Geert Lovink and Soenke Zehle (eds.), Incommunicado Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2005. The Incommunicado Reader brings together papers written for the June 2005 event, and includes a CD-ROM of interviews with speakers (no longer available in print; pdf online).
See also: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/portal/publications/inc-readers/
ABOUT UNLIKE US EVENTS
Unlike Us #1: The launch of the research network took place during a one day event took on November 24, 2011 in Liamassol, Cyprus. The conference was organized by the internet and communications department of the University of Limasol and focussed on the political economy of social media.
Unlike Us #2: The second event of the Unlike Us event took place in Amsterdam from March 8-10, 2012. The major themes of the workshops and two-day conference were alternatives in social media, software studies, artistic practices and the private and the public.
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CONTACT
Miriam Rasch
Publications + Projects
Institute of Network Cultures
t: +31 (0)20 595 1865
miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org