Call for Participation, Association of Internet Researchers 9.0

[jason]

Originally published at Lemmingworks. You can comment here or there.

Call for Participation, Association of Internet Researchers 9.0

Is this the Diamond Age? Exploring competing goals for the OLPC project.

The One Laptop Per Child project has hit a raw nerve, and is presently at the centre of competing tensions and conflicts. Is it a real computer, or just a toy. Is the project really about education or new technologies? Does the laptop actually address existing needs, or is it a hegemonic imposition? Does the project meet anyone’s legitimate needs? Is it reasonable to abandon established interface and software conventions in favor of a novel interface? How can research communities best navigate the borderlands between developmental and theoretical models and the practical requirements of a scale-driven technological deployment?

We are soliciting theoretical and practical papers addressing, but not limited to, such as:

(basic grounding)
* low cost or disposable computing
* design innovations for youth computing
* novel uses of low-power / low-eco-impact technologies
* grassroots educational projects
* mesh-networking as a model for social communication

(pedagogy and education)
* social construction of knowledge
* constructionist learning
* transfer of pedagogical experiences and knowledge
* education across cultural boundaries
* adolescent Internet adoption
* child and adolescent development theory
* hackable hardware and hackable pedagogy
* subversive education
* the ethics of radical/emancipatory pedagogy (cf. Ivan Illich and Paolo Friere)

(content)
* cultural influence / localization of content, privacy, censorship
* conflicts between Western notions and ‘native’ rationales for learning
* translating existing technology into XO activities
* age-appropriate technology and content
* local vs. remote instruction, communication, discussion
* technology and the child’s cognitive development
* technology-driven pedagogy vs. educator drive initiatives
* the cultural hegemony of international educational initiatives

(platforms)
* OLPC, Classmate, and eee platforms
* platform ecosystem / development
* platform ethics
* transgression of expectations
* children as software engineers / inventors
* user-initiated design

Submissions will be reviewed and organizational decisions made quickly.

Due date: as soon as possible.

Panel participants are requested to submit their brief proposals (200-250
words) to the organizers as quickly as possible, so that we have an
opportunity to organize and sequence panels prior to the AoIR submission
deadline.

Best,

Elijah Wright, Indiana University [ellwrigh@indiana.edu]
Jason Nolan, Ryerson University [jnolan@ryerson.ca]
Lois Scheidt, Indiana University [lscheidt@indiana.edu]