Call for Papers

States of Surveillance: New Directions and Empirical Projects

Fall Symposium, October 1st and 2nd, 2015

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Alessandro Acquisti, Professor of Information Technology and Public Policy at Carnegie Mellon University and Andrew Carnegie Fellow awardee

Hosted by the Surveillance Studies Research Center The Institute for Policy & Social Research University of Kansas*

For more than two decade now, scholars have been theorizing about and documenting the rise of contemporary surveillance infrastructures. Because of this research, we now know that the widespread, systematic observation of the populace and the collection of personal information has become a central strategy in security, governance, and commerce. The purpose of the symposium is to push the boundaries of our current knowledge and explore new ways of thinking about and studying surveillance, privacy, and social monitoring. Our goal is to bring together scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds to exchanges ideas and propose new partnerships and projects related to social monitoring.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

· New theories of surveillance and privacy

· Terror and security

· Policing and new technologies

· Public attitudes on surveillance, security, and consumer benefits

· New media and surveillance

· Big data analylitics

· Interdependence between government and corporate surveillance data practices

· Wearable technologies

· Public health, individual behavior and bodies

· Citizenship and democracy after Snowden

· The Internet of Things

Depending on the submissions and outcome of the symposium, papers may be published in a special issue of an academic journal or edited volume.

The Event

We envision this symposium as a place to share both finished work and work in progress with other scholars and an engaged audience. The meeting will begin with welcoming remarks and a keynote address by Dr. Alessandro Acquisti on Thursday, October 1st at 7.30pm. The symposium sessions will run from 9:00am to 4:00pm on October 2nd. Participant presentations will each be approximately 15 minutes in length with an additional 10 minutes for Q&A. Following the final workshop session, a reception and dinner for all symposium participants will be held at 6:00pm on October 2nd.

Participation in the symposium is free including lunch, coffee breaks and snacks and the workshop reception and dinner. Contributors must finance their own transportation and accommodations. Graduate student participants may request a subsidy for these costs.

Submission Information

Symposium organizers: Bill Staples, Professor of Sociology and Director of the SSRC and Don Haider-Markel, Professor and Chair, Political Science. Please submit a 200 word abstract including author name(s), university affiliation and contact information via email to: ssrc@ku.edu by August 15th, 2015. Please put “2015 SSRC Symposium” in subject line. While the event is free, please register here so that we can anticipate attendance.

Location

The keynote address will take place at The Commons collaboration space in Spooner Hall, the oldest continuously used academic structure at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. The symposium will convene in the KU Student Union. Lawrence is a college town of 95,000 with a vibrant arts and music community, a historic downtown with an eclectic collection of restaurants and coffeehouses located 50-minutes from metropolitan Kansas City and the international airport.

Accommodations

Lawrence has a number of hotels convenient to the university, the nearest lodging is The Oread Hotel located one block north of campus. Parking is available in the adjacent parking garage.

*Additional support provided by the Departments of Political Science and Sociology.