Subject:CALLS FOR APPLICATIONS

PhD Workshop
Researching Social Software

28-30 November, 2007

Course Leader: Adrian Mackenzie, University of Lancaster.

Location: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Campus de Gualtar, Braga,
Portugal


See:
http://socialsoftware-portugal.blogspot.com/

Organized by:
Communication and Society Research Center, University of Minho, Portugal
Social Sciences Research Center, University of Minho, Portugal

Workshop language: english

Description and objective

This PhD-course aims to examine and discuss different versions and
definitions
of social software and how experiences of relation to others can be
understood
in social software. It also aims to situate software in terms of
processes of
production, consumption and exchange, and to discuss different approaches,
techniques and difficulties involved in researching software.

Structure of the course
Each session would be 2.5 to 3 hours. Each session would have one or two
readings to be done in advance. There are also websites and internet
examples
that should be consulted in advance. Student presentations would be
part of
each session.

Background reading for the workshop:
Maurizio Lazzarato (1996) 'Immaterial Labour', in Paolo Virno &
Michael Hardt
(eds.) Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics, Minneapolis:
University
of Minnesota Press.

Programme

Session 1: What is social software?
Oreilly, Tim. What Is Web 2.0 Design Patterns and Business Models for
the Next
Generation of Software,
http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/news/2005/09/30/whatisweb20.
html
Scholz, Trebor, `The Participatory Challenge' [from: Krysa, J., ed.
(2006) DATA
Browser 03. Curating immateriality. The work of the curator in the age of
network systems. Autonomedia: New York.
http://www.collectivate.net/theparticipatorychallenge/

Exploration of different versions and definitions of social software. This
would best be done by working with same major examples including ebay,
facebook, myspace, flickr, and youtube. The session would centre on close
analysis of the visual and material cultures of examples. The reading
for this
session comes from a well known internet commentator, and publisher, Tim
O'Reilly.

Session 2: Living with social software: self-other relations and sociality
Terranova, T. 2004 Network Culture. Politics for the Information Age,
London:
Pluto Press, chapter 5.
KnorrCetina, K. and Bruegger, U. 2002 'Traders' Engagement with Markets. A
Postsocial Relationship', Theory, Culture and Society 19(5/6): 161185.

Key example: Facebook or Second Life
Main focus of this session will be on how experiences of sociality, of
belonging, of relation to others can be understood in social software. The
readings analyse this from very different angles. The first is informed by
Marxist thought, the second by social studies of technology.

Session 3: Social software in technological economies
Barry, A. and Slater, D. 2005 The technological economy, London ; New
York:
Routledge.(introduction)
Benkler, Y. 2006 The wealth of networks : how social production transforms
markets and freedom, New Haven [Conn.]:Yale University Press. chapters 3-4

Key example: Google
This session will situate software in terms of processes of production,
consumption and exchange. The readings offer very different
perspectives on
this. Barry and Slater's article comes from sociologies of science and
technology. Benkler's work comes from liberal political thought.

Session 4: Researching social software
Mackenzie, A. 2006 Cutting code: software and sociality, New York:
Peter Lang.
(Introduction)
Rabinow, P. 2003 Anthropos Today. Reflections on Modern Equipment,
Princeton
and Oxford: Princeton University Press. (Chapter 2)

Session on different approaches, techniques and difficulties in
researching
software.

Registration and contact:

The application deadline is 28th October 2007. Please send by email a
short
description (no more than one page) of your PhD project, specifying
your name,
email address, affiliation, supervisor, your particular interest in
the seminar
and why you would benefit from attending it, to the organization committee
(social.software.portugal@...). Number of participants: max. 15.

A fee will be charged for participation to cover administrative costs,
tea/coffee and lunches and one dinner during the seminar. .The fee is
60 euros,
payable on the first day of the seminar in cash (an official receipt
will be
given). Travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the
participant.

For more information, contact:

José Pinheiro Neves (social.software.portugal@...)or
Zara Pinto-Coelho (social.software.portugal@...)



See also:
http://socialsoftware-portugal.blogspot.com

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