‘Dark Sides of Digital Societies’ The 7th Annual NKL Conference
Date: May 24-26, 2023
Location: Hochschule Fulda | Fulda University of Applied Sciences, Germany
The Navigating Knowledge Landscapes (NKL) research network has employed the metaphor of ‘Knowledge Landscapes’ to examine particular digital constellations. In the 7th Annual NKL Conference the topic is on ‘Dark Sides of Digital Societies’. Both come in plural and may encompass phenomena such as permanent surveillance, the loss of privacy, digital hate and violence, cybercrime, cyberwarfare, technostress, “digital dementia” and addiction to digital technologies, disinformation campaigns, the disruption of journalism, information overload and the erosion of expertise to name but a few.
The aim of the conference is to engage with the topics from different perspectives and disciplines, compare various cases and to start thinking about possible approaches or answers to the dark sides of digital technologies. We are also interested in bringing academics, researchers and diverse practitioners together, so they are all encouraged to participate. The conference is transdisciplinary in scope and we are calling for international contributions that deal with specific dark sides of digital societies. Here we are interested in, for instance, ‘dark platforms’, ‘dark knowledge’ and ‘dark practices’ that emerge from particular digital constellations or particular regional or national dark sides of digital technologies.
Contributions might focus on, but are not limited to, topics such as
- particular landscapes of misinformation, disinformation and conspiracies;
- dark sides of science, technology and/or health and medicine;
- dark sides of food, nutrition and consumption;
- dark sides of journalism or censorship and the loss of free speech;
- dark politics, infrastructures, networks;
- dark sides of entertainment or popular culture and the weaponization of memes, knowledge and culture;
- dark sides of digital gaming;
- dark sides of digital power and digital giants (Tencent, Alibaba, Alphabet, Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Meta etc.);
- dark sides of artificial intelligence and big data…
The opening Keynote will be held by Stuart Allan, Professor of Journalism and Communication, Cardiff University.
The conference will take place at Fulda University of Applied Sciences and is jointly organized with the Centre of Nutrition, Food and Sustainable Supply Systems (ELVe).
If you are interested in participating, please submit an abstract of not more than 300 words before January 31, 2023 [subject line: dark sides] to: joachim.allgaier@oe.hs-fulda.de
More info on the Navigating Knowledge Landscapes [NKL] Research Networks and event updates can be found here. The full call for abstracts can be found here.