Last Call for Panel Participation at 4S 2025 Conference (Hybrid):
We are seeking presenters for the panel, Network Imaginaries: Past, Present,
and Future, at the next 4S conference (September 3-7, 2025, Seattle, WA, USA,
hybrid format). We welcome proposals for papers of varying approaches that
consider the origins, mobilizations, endurances, and evolutions of the network
imaginaries underlying technologies and systems from the 19th Century through
to contemporary transformations and promises. (See below for the full call and
submission details.)
Proposals consisting of a short abstract (up to 250 words) will be accepted
until February 2nd (AoE) via the official website of the Society for Social
Studies of Science (4S). [Note deadline extended from January 31.]
Charles Corval
Sciences Po Paris / Institut d'tudes politiques de Paris
Daniel Kim
University of Toronto
4S Open Panel #239: Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future
Decades after the introduction of the consumer internet, society now
anticipates profound transformations in computing and networking driven by
innovations like artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, the
internet-of-things (IoT), robotics, data mining, and cloud computing. As these
developments promiseor threatento reshape public and private networks and
technologies, it is vital to investigate the network imaginaries that
motivate, constrain, and enable their development, adoption, regulation, and
exploitation.
Network imaginaries have long been central to modernity, from their origins in
symbolic practices like weaving to their influence on technical and
organizational thought. In fact, as Pierre Musso (2003) has argued, the
concept of the network is foundational to our collective imaginations, even
shaping both the philosophies and social sciences that critique them.
Information and communication technologies, in particular, have become
unimaginable without the language and imagery of networks, and they remain
effective and powerful as innovations periodically promise to repair,
reinforce, and reconfigure existing systems, practices, and economies (De
Filippi, 2019).
According to Castoriadis (1975), social imaginaries are the shared meanings,
symbols, and institutions a society creates and sustains to define itself,
guide its practices, and provide coherence to its social order. Similarly,
sociotechnical imaginaries, as articulated by Jasanoff and Kim (2015), offer a
critical framework for understanding the cultural and ideological contexts of
technological adoption and innovation. This panel on network imaginaries,
then, seeks to explore these inspirations, contexts, and intersections while
reexamining -- or preexamining -- the utopias, anxieties, and ideologies
embedded in contemporary networks and networked technologies, as well as their
intended and unintended consequences.
We welcome proposals representing a variety of perspectives and approaches to
addressing the enduring network imaginaries of existing and emerging
technologies and techniques. Potential topics include but are not limited to
historic networks, information economics, artificial intelligence,
cybernetics, decentralization narratives, surveillance regimes, digital
sovereignty, IoT, blockchain, and the future role of new technologies toward
repairing or reinforcing preexisting network functions and goals.
Open Panel:
Network Imaginaries: Past, Present, and Future (# 239)
Proposal Format:
Short Abstract (250 words max)
Proposal Deadline:
February 2, 2025 (Anywhere on Earth)
Notice of Acceptance:
March 15, 2025
Proposal Submission:
https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_seattle.php
Questions for Panel Organizers:
Charles Corval, charles.corval@sciencespo.fr
Daniel Kim, ddaniel.kim@utoronto.ca
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