Begin forwarded message:

> PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
>
>
> OPEN CALL FOR PARTICIPATION
>
> Workshop on Generating Collaborative Research in the
>
> Ethical Design of Surveillance Infrastructures
>
> June 8-11, 2006; Austin, Texas
>
>
> Surveillance may be understood as a set of processes of
> identification, tracking, analysis and response which organize social
> knowledge, social relations, and social power. Surveillance mediates
> everyday life. For example, internet "cookies," shopping loyalty
> cards, and mobile phone numbers all individuate and identify us.
> These identifiers are used to index databases recording our web
> surfing activities, our purchases, and our movements. The databases
> are subjected to statistical analysis in order to produce knowledge of
> demographic categories, typical patterns, or suspect behavior. This
> knowledge is then applied back to individuals in the population in
> order to assign each to a particular niche market or risk group, and
> to act toward them accordingly. Thus, through surveillance, knowledge
> is created, categories and types are produced, individuals are
> assigned social identities, and actions are taken that articulate
> those identities within a larger social order.
>
> These surveillance practices are themselves shaped by overlapping and
> intertwined technical systems, laws, institutional configurations, and
> cultural understandings. This "infrastructure" of surveillance
> supports patterns of access to the resources of knowledge production,
> social visibility, and social position.
>
> In June 2006 a three-day workshop will be held in Austin, Texas. The
> purpose of the meeting is to generate collaborative research projects
> exploring further
> * the social implications of surveillance practice,
> * the technological, legal, economic, and cultural infrastructures
> that shape surveillance practice, and
> * possible technological, legal, economic, or cultural
> interventions to reshape those infrastructures to desired ends.
>
> The workshop will address this issue in the context of the following
> themes:
> * If surveillance mediates the production of categories and types
> of people, how can surveillance infrastructures be shaped to permit
> individuals, and groups of individuals, to coalesce around a
> particular identity?
> * How can surveillance infrastructures mediate the ability of
> groups and individuals to "perform" certain identities within certain
> contexts?
> * How can surveillance infrastructures mediate the ability of
> subcultures to generate and sustain knowledge of and for themselves?
> * How can surveillance resources be appropriately allocated to
> ensure that groups of many scales (the family, the subculture, the
> nation) are able to defend, protect, and nurture their own (perhaps
> conflicting) interests?
>
> We seek participants whose interests and expertise complement and
> expand upon each other's work in social theory, information system
> design, business, and public policy, and who will be able to address
> issues such as:
> * the application of legal paradigms other than privacy to
> practices of information collection. We are particularly interested
> explorations of legal theories of cultural rights and information
> commons.
> * the application of novel information processing techniques,
> including, but not limited to, pseudonymity, digital rights
> management, and cluster analysis.
> * the application of social theories of identity, including queer
> theory and performance studies.
> * the intersection of market interests with ethical surveillance
> practice.
>
> The workshop is intended to provide the initial venue for the
> production of fundable, collaborative, cross-disciplinary research
> proposals. Participants will be expected to prepare a position paper
> for distribution one month prior to the meeting. At the workshop
> itself, we will identify synergistic interactions of expertise,
> fruitful research directions, and possible sources of funding. After
> the workshop, participants will be eligible to apply for seed money
> grants to complete collaborative grant proposals to pursue those
> projects. Participants will also be invited to contribute to an
> edited volume.
>
> The project will provide meals and accommodation for workshop
> participants, and will reimburse reasonable travel costs. Please
> include a quote of lowest available airfare in your application.
> Participants from outside the U.S. are especially encouraged to apply.
>
> Potential participants should submit (to djp@mail.utexas.edu)
> proposals consisting of two parts:
>
> (1) a 750-1000 word abstract, describing your area of research, its
> relevance to the conference topic, and a proposed presentation. The
> abstract should directly address a collaborative element