International Conference University of the West of Scotland Ayr Campus, Scotland, UK Call for Papers This year marks the 90th anniversary of the birth of the French thinker Michel Foucault (1926-84). This interdisciplinary conference aims to reflect on the work… Read More ›
Archive for February 2016
Early Career Researcher Event @TheSocReview: A Master-Class with Professor Éric Fassin
The Sociological Review Foundation invites applicants to take part in a masterclass with Éric Fassin, who will delivering our Annual Public Lecture on the same day at SOAS at 6pm. The master-class will explore: How are sex, gender and sexuality… Read More ›
Two upcoming events at the Centre for Social Ontology
A workshop on the morphogenetic approach: June 21st, 10am to 5pm The University of Warwick This one day workshop is intended for those currently using or planning to use the morphogenetic approach in their research. In the first half of… Read More ›
Half Way
Have any readers seen this film yet? Was it impressive? I’ve heard good things and I’m trying to track down a copy, as this could be a potential film for our first Sociological Imagination film night in Manchester this summer.
Inside America’s For-Profit Bail System
A fascinating documentary by Vice about the $2 billion per year bail bond industry in the US. At present the US and the Philippines are the only countries in the world to commercial bail. But how long until we see it… Read More ›
The Messianic Zeal of Eric Schmidt
A bit later in Battle of the Titans, Fred Vogelstein transcribes a talk he saw Eric Schmidt give at a technology conference. From loc : We have a product that allows 82 you to speak to your phone in English and… Read More ›
The Sociology of Executive Coaching
As you may know, executive coaching is an increasingly common phenomenon, particularly in some sectors like tech. This is how Eric Schmidt and his co-author describe the necessity of it in How Google Works loc 2440: Whenever you watch a world-class… Read More ›
Reflecting on Digital Wildfire
Some really interesting videos from the Digital Wildfire project.
The peak experiences of intensified work
In the Hard Thing About Hard Things, Ben Horowitz recounts his experiences of his company Loudcloud coming close to failure. At a climatic moment, he makes a speech to his staff declaring the commitment they will have to show over… Read More ›
Unpicking the political economy of digital cats
Much deserved Guardian coverage of the weird phenomenon that is the internet cat video festival. What grips me about things like this is not the fact that people are trying to make money from their cats, but rather that many others… Read More ›
Deadline TOMORROW: Digital Methodologies – Beyond Big & Small Data
Digital Methodologies: Beyond Big & Small Data 9th International Conference on Social Science Methodology (RC33) September 11th – 16th, 2016, University of Leicester (http://www.le.ac.uk/) Session Organizer Christian Bokhove, University of Southampton, United Kingdom, Mark Carrigan, University of Warwick, United Kingdom,… Read More ›
Special Issue of Discover Society on Digital Futures
Co-edited by Mark Carrigan and William Housley Social media is conventionally located within a commercial narrative that theorises an array of emerging ‘disruptive technologies’ that includes big data, additive manufacture and robotics. These and related technologies are underpinned by computational… Read More ›
A brief introduction to Niklas Luhmann’s concept of society
There’s a definite lack of English language resources online related to Luhmann. Does anyone have suggestions we could add to the attached?
Contribute to the Warwick Sociology Journal
Warwick Sociology Journal is a student-founded and led sociological journal seeking to publish high-quality undergraduate and postgraduate work. We are currently accepting student submissions for our Spring issue and would love to receive any essays, articles or reviews you have… Read More ›
Call for Abstracts: Themed Issue on Body Weight and Digital Media
This themed issue, to be edited by Deborah Lupton, focuses on the ways in which digital media and technologies are used to represent and manage body weight and size. It will be published in the journal Fat Studies: An Interdisciplinary Journal… Read More ›
International Summer School: Social Studies of Algorithms
Call for applicants: Summer School of the International Algorithm Studies NetworkPlease disseminate widely Date: 4-8 July, 2106Place: Stockholm, Sweden Algorithms are everywhere! This international summer school explores the increasing importance of algorithms in society and the socio-cultural transformations that this… Read More ›
Podcasts: Towards a Digital Social Ontology
Podcasts from the Centre for Social Ontology’s symposium last year:
The Hypnotic Inanity of Donald Trump
I just surprised myself by sitting through this entire 40 minute compilation of Donald Trump’s insults during the Republican primaries: I found them weirdly hypnotic, albeit intellectually deadening. Perhaps this explains the strange quality of Trump’s speech?
Should academics blog?
In this video from a workshop I did in Hull last year, I rather unsurprisingly say ‘yes’ to the question ‘should academics blog?’
On ‘disruption’ and ‘innovation’
Even though I believe the concepts of ‘innovation’ and ‘disruption’ refer to sociologically significant phenomena, I cringe slightly whenever I hear someone use the terms. Particularly in the case of the latter, a whole theory of social change at the meso… Read More ›
Relating to data through visualisation: three funded PhD studentships in the UK
*Deadline for applications: 5th March 2016.* *Start date: October 2016.* *Relating To Data: understanding data through visualisation* is a network of three funded PhD studentships which focuses on how people relate to data through their visualisation, the narratives and meanings… Read More ›
Towards Digital Social Ontology
This is a brief write up of a talk I gave at the first meeting of the Digital Social Science Forum in January 2016. Digital Social Ontology should be an important part of how we approach Digital Social Science given the ISRF’s commitment… Read More ›
Submissions to Association of Internet Researchers October, Berlin) now open
Dear colleague, We are pleased to open submissions for proposals for AoIR 2016: Internet Rules! (Berlin, Germany, 5 – 8 October, 2016). To re-familiarize yourself with the call for proposals and types of submissions solicited, please see here: http://aoir.org/aoir2016/call-for-proposals/. Accepted paper… Read More ›
Collaborative Work and Social Media: Responding to the rapid spread of provocative content
Special issue call for the Journal of Computer Supported Cooperative work Deadline for submissions March 7th 2016 These call details are also available online at https://sites.google.com/site/digitalwildfireesrc/jcscw Special issue editors Marina Jirotka – University of Oxford William Housley – Cardiff University… Read More ›
BSA Work, Employment and Society Conference 2016 – Call for Papers
Abstract submission closes at midnight on Monday 7 March Work, Employment and Society Conference 2016 ‘Work in Crisis’ Dates: Tuesday 6 – Thursday 8 September 2016 (Postgraduate Workshop: 5 September 2016) Venue: University of Leeds The BSA and the Work, employment… Read More ›
The Art of the Steal
A really interesting film via Dan Silver: This is a fascinating documentary film about the longstanding financial problems of the Barnes Foundation, a $25-billion collection of mostly Modernist and post-Impressionist artworks, and the foundation officers’ successful effort to break Albert… Read More ›
Plagiarism
by Michael Palkowski Professor Steve Fuller, an eminent sociologist at the university of Warwick recently published a provocative blog post on the ways in which academia deals with plagiarism, titled “Plagiarism: Observations on Academia’s Self-Induced Moral Panic”. In this article,… Read More ›