On behalf of the CATaC (Cultural Attitudes towards Technology
and Communication) Organizing Committee, I am very pleased to pass on to you
the first CFP for CATaC¹12: Beyond the digital/cultural divide:
in/visibility and new media.

The biennial CATaC conference series, begun in 1998, has become a
premier international forum for current research on the complex interactions
between culturally-variable norms, practices, and communication preferences,
and interaction with the design, implementation and use of information
and communication technologies (ICTs).

Our 2012 conference, as the title suggests, begins with the recognition
that the ongoing issues and challenges clustering around digital divides
­often involving mutually reinforcing cultural divides ­extends beyond
classic and stubborn problems of access to new media and communication
technologies.

For example, matters of representation come into play, issuing in a
cluster of questions:

   - Whose images and words are seen/presented/promoted and whose aren't?
   And why? If activists are using new media to represent realities of, say,
   oppressed indigenous people in a given country, is this better than no
   visibility at all, even if the people in question do not have access or
   skills to present themselves as subjects?

In particular:

   - Local and indigenous HCI/ID is about making visible the semiotic
   scripts and political processes of meaning construction that shape the
   process of technology design and knowledge representation from a
   sociotechnical perspective. Making visible these scripts enables the
   assessment of the value of these tools and frameworks from indigenous and/or
   local perspectives. Key concerns here are (1) to examine the meaning and
   validity of democratic values that drive participatory design as a
   discipline, and (2) to question 'exported' representations of what
   constitutes good usability and user experience.

And:

   - How do new practices of cloaking messages in otherwise public
   or semi-public media; for example, the strategies of online steganography
   work to create intentional invisibility in otherwise visible spaces? Are
   there important culturally-variable elements in these practices that, when
   brought to the foreground, help illuminate and clarify them in new ways?

Finally:

   - What are the role(s) of (culturally) diverse understandings
   and representations of gender in structuring the frameworks and practices
   of design and implementation. How do these roles foster the visibility of
   some vis-à-vis the invisibility of ³others² (in Levinas¹ sense, in
   particular)?

Additional submissions are encouraged that address further conference
points of emphasis:

   - Theoretical and practical approaches to analyzing ³culture²
   - New layers of imaging and texting interactions fostering
   and/or threatening cultural diversity
   - Impact of mobile technologies on privacy and surveillance
   - Gender, sexuality and identity issues in social networks
   - Cultural diversity in e-learning and/or m-learning
   - Culturally-variable approaches to online identity
   management/creation, privacy, trust Copyright and intellectual property
   rights ­ recent developments, culturally-variable future directions?
   - Culturally-variable responses to commodification in online environments


Both short (3-5 pages) and long (10-15 pages) original papers are sought
for presentation.  Panel proposals addressing a specific theme or topic are
also encouraged.

Our provisional schedule:

   - Submission of papers (short or full), panel proposals: 17. February
   2012
   - Notification of acceptance: 16. March, 2012
   - Final formatted papers (for conference proceedings): 19. April 2012

Further details regarding program (including keynote speakers
and pre-conference activities), registration fees, travel and
accommodations will be available soon on the conference website, <
http://www.catacconference.**org/ <http://www.catacconference.org/>>.