Call for Papers Digital Material/ism: How Materiality shapes Digital Culture and

Social Interaction
First Issue of Digital Culture & Society

Abstract deadline: February 1, 2015

The idea of a society, in which everyday smart objects are equipped with digital logic and sensor
technologies, is currently taking shape. Devices connected as learning machines to the Internet
of Things necessitate further research on issues related to digital media and their materiality. In
this context, media, culture and social theories, dealing with the materiality of digital technology,
have gained increasing relevance.
Investigations of digital material have given rise to a wide range of (new) research questions,
approaches, and issues. From the early 2000s onwards, we can identify two major strands of
research that developed: (1) from the technological and material conditions of hardware and
software towards (2) the social/political/economic/legal infrastructures and power relations of
proprietary networks and platforms. The eventual establishment of research fields such as
software studies, critical code studies, media archaeology and the notion of the post-digital
represented by scholars such as David Berry, Wendy Chun, Alexander Galloway, Mark Hansen,
Katherine Hayles, Friedrich Kittler, Lev Manovich, William Mitchell, Anna Munster, Adrian
Mackenzie, Jussi Parikka, Eugene Thacker, and others, can also be understood as indicators of
an institutionalisation of media-materialistic research. For the first issue Digital Material/ism,
the newly founded Digital Culture & Society journal calls for further methodological and
theoretical reflection on issues of digital materiality and digital materialism.
Approaches may be rooted in (digital) media and cultural studies, as well as social sciences.
Interdisciplinary contributions, for example, those from science and technology studies, are
likewise welcome.
Paper proposals may relate to, but are not limited to, the following topics:
- the internet of things, smart objects and ambient intelligence
- augmented environments
- wearables (and augmented reality)
- hardware studies and Open Hardware
- hacker, Maker and DIY Culture
- post-digital media research
- media ecologies and e-waste
- agency of assemblages
We invite submissions, which may react to, and expand on to the following questions of Digital
Material/ism:

Digital Culture & Society Call for Papers Digital Material/ism

1.
Field Research and Case Studies
We invite papers on socio-technological developments related to digital media materiality.
Articles may examine usage and production, as well as spaces and contexts of smart objects; e.g.
wearable computing devices, or beacons. Contributions may be based on (empirical) case studies.
They may likewise address discourses of truth and evidence related to digital media materialism;
e.g. in a metaphorical sense (see Boomen 2014) or as governmental alignment, such as forensic
materialism as suggested by Kirschenbaum (2008). How do materialistic positions tacitly use
metaphors of clinical or administrative control to assure the relevance and societal benefits of
their devices? How is the notion of smart/ness used in order to promote new forms of
technological interactions with, and surveillance of the physical environment?
2.
Methodological reflection
We invite contributions that address methodological issues of approaches focused on digital
media materiality. What are the methodological implications of such technological
developments? What ethical challenges do researchers face; e.g. related to the data enabled by
new digital media technology and their material features?
3.
Conceptual/theoretical reflection
We invite papers that address key notions in the discussion of digital materiality, and question
epistemological assumptions. Materiality is a crucial term, which only entered the discussion of
digital media studies in the 2000s. Historically, how was the notion of materiality developed with
regard to digital media? Moreover, in which philosophical traditions do the key representatives of
Digital Materialism place themselves? In what ways do they assume canonical models when
examining the transcendental, empirical, or historical-material conditions of data networks?
Following Matthew Kirschenbaums (2008) conception of formal materiality as the
imposition of multiple relational computational states on a data set or digital object (Ibid, p. 12),
we are interested in the practical relevance of the materiality of recording, storing and processing
(alongside the technical modelling of storage, digital objects, discrete data and metadata-guided
processing operations). Thereby, we subsequently consider the results of Matthew Fullers (2003;
2008) work, Software as a historical knowledge base: it has its own history and does not only
follow technological norms and standards, but also yields social, institutional and cultural
settings.
Deadlines and contact information
Initial abstracts (max. 300 words) and a short biographical note (max. 100 words) are due on:
February 1, 2015
Authors will be notified by February 16, 2015, whether they are invited to submit a full paper.
Full papers are due on: May 1, 2015
Please send the abstracts and full papers to:
Ramn Reichert ramon.reichert@univie.ac.at
Annika Richterich a.richterich@maastrichtuniversity.nl

Digital Culture & Society Call for Papers Digital Material/ism

References
Boomen, M. van den (2014) Transcoding the Digital: How Metaphors Matter in New Media. Institute of
Network Cultures, Amsterdam.
Fuller, M. (2008) Software Studies. A Lexicon. Cambridge: MIT Press.
Kirschenbaum, M. (2008) Mechanisms: New Media and the Forensic Imagination, Cambridge: MIT
Press.
Latour, B. (1987) Science in Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society, Harvard:
Harvard University Press.
Montfort, N. (2003) Twisty Little Passages: An Approach to Interactive Fiction, Cambridge: The MIT
Press, pp. 85-93.

Digital Culture & Society About the Journal

About the Journal: Digital Culture & Society

Digital Culture & Society is a refereed, international journal, fostering discussion about the ways in
which digital technologies, platforms and applications reconfigure daily lives and practices. It
offers a forum for critical analysis and inquiries into digital media theory. The newly established
journal provides a publication environment for interdisciplinary research approaches,
contemporary theory developments and methodological innovation in digital media studies. It
invites reflection on how culture unfolds through the use of digital technology, and how it
conversely influences the development of digital technology itself.
The journal is a research platform for those who are interested in the interdisciplinary field of
digital media studies. It involves topics such as New Materialism, Gamification, Surveillance and
Privacy, Big Data, Sensory Ethnography, Quantified Self, Extimacy, and Digital Cartography.
This however, is a non-exhaustive list, and new topics will continuously supplement these
themes due to the dynamic of the research field. The journals goal is to create a crossdisciplinary repository on the interconnection between research fields such as media studies,
cultural studies, science and technology studies, sociology, gender studies, anthropology, game
studies, media/art history and information science. It welcomes contributions addressing the
relevance of interventional approaches, such as research by design and media archaeology, or
input related to material culture studies, actor-network theory, critical code studies and software
studies.
Digital Culture & Society seeks contributions that display a clear, inspiring engagement with current
debates in theory and/or methodological issues. Emphasising the relevance of new practices and
technology appropriation for theory as well as methodology debates, the journal also encourages
empirical investigations.
The journals structure reflects the editors aim to spark and incorporate the discourse on digital
media practices, theory, history and methodologies. Each issue consists of 3 main sections:
1. The thematic section of each issue is dedicated to an overarching topic, which will be
examined through interdisciplinary contributions. Topics are specified in the respective
call for papers. The editors aim to include a range of articles that involve theoretical
and/or methodological debates, where appropriate, in the light of authors own empirical
investigations.
2. Entering the Field is dedicated to the presentation of empirical work and potential
research fields in digital media studies. The editors have created this section to provide a
platform for researchers who are not able to provide a full-fledged paper yet, but would
like to initiate a discussion concerning their research material or methodological insights.
3. In Conversation with ... presents dialogues between the editors and authors of recently
published works in the field of digital media studies. Thereby, the overall topic of the
published work is integrated and located within the wider frame of the journals emphasis
on digital culture and society.

Digital Culture & Society About the Journal

Submission procedure
Initial submissions should be abstracts only. The editors invite contributions which react to the
topic/s suggested in the respective call for papers. Early stage research might be suggested for
the section Entering the Field. It should show a relation to the CfP, although the main
argument may be less developed than in the case of the papers for section 1. The editors will
select abstracts; and authors will then receive an invitation for the submission of a full paper.
Authors who are invited to submit a full paper will receive further information on the journals
guidelines (citation, formatting, etc.). The full papers will be peer-reviewed and the authors will
receive the feedback of the reviewers for a final revision of their paper. The publisher will
provide final editing.
Submission guidelines
The initial abstracts should be 300 words in length. Authors are asked to submit a short
biographical note indicating their institutional affiliation. Invited full paper submissions should
be 6.000-8.000 words in length for the main section. Submissions to Entering the Field should
be no longer than 2.500 words.
Information about the publisher
Digital Culture & Society will be issued as a printed journal and distributed online by transcript.
The publisher is based in Germany and focuses on interdisciplinary research in media studies,
cultural studies and media/art history.
Visit: http://www.transcript-verlag.de/en
The journal addresses an international audience and will involve authors from diverse
disciplinary and national backgrounds. Being based in Europe, it aims at encouraging dialogue
referring to European perspectives on digital media theory and research. A peer review
procedure will ensure the quality of publications. The editors likewise wish to foster an inclusive
publication policy, with particular regard to the inclusion of non-native English speakers. In
cases where the reviewers are convinced of a papers academic quality, but raise concerns related
to its style or grammar, language editing may be provided.
The editorial board is an international network of researchers from Austria, the Netherlands and
Germany:
Ramn Reichert, University of Vienna (AT); Annika Richterich, Maastricht University (NL);
Pablo Abend, University of Cologne (GER); Mathias Fuchs, Leuphana University Lneburg
(GER); Karin Wenz, Maastricht University (NL)
For further information feel free to contact:
Ramn Reichert ramon.reichert@univie.ac.at
Annika Richterich a.richterich@maastrichtuniversity.nl