DN31: Online workshop - Discourses of Capital, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence
Website: discourseanalysis.net/DN31
Contact: east.west.dn.wg@gmail.com
Location: Online, parallel
Date: November 4 - 9 (with November 4 for videos going live and sessions online throughout the week) 2024
Language policy: the working language for the workshop is English
Call for Papers
The “East-West dialogue” working group of DiscourseNet and the University of Valencia invite submissions for an upcoming online workshop on "Discourses of Capital, Technology, and Artificial Intelligence."
In an era marked by rapid technological advancements and the increasing influence of artificial intelligence (AI), the intersection of capital, technology, media, and AI in discourse has become a crucial area of study. AI technologies have commanded billions of dollars in capital, and have been implicated in maintaining and contributing to inequalities in global employment markets (Perrigo, 2023).
In the last years AI has attracted high expectations around its capabilities and potential in both public and scientific discourses (De Togni et al. even refer to this interest as ‘hype’), different technologies that contain embedded AI are constantly in the focus of the researchers. Thus, in 2023 only Google Scholar indexes more than 35 000 articles upon request “AI” and 17800 papers upon request “Generative AI”. At the same time, we can state that the key term – AI – has not yet crystalized (Ekbia 2012, Elliott, 2021, Elliott 2022). It leads to interpretative flexibility (Bijker 2012) and makes the discourses around AI crucial as they partially impact further development of this technology.
Moreover, AI becoming a strategic priority for global players such as the USA, the EU, Russia, China, India and others fighting for the leadership in this technological area, politicizes the technology and makes the development of AI deeply incorporated in political and geopolitical context, tightly connected to capital and different strategies of technological development in different states. So it is important to analyze how AI is discursively constructed and publicly discussed on a global level, which involves the dialogue between different global regions.
This workshop aims to explore the discursive practices that shape our understanding of the structures of these domains, and explore the relationship between capital, technologies, and the social conditions through which they emerge.
We welcome contributions that examine themes such as:
- The rhetoric surrounding AI and its impact on society, economy, and culture
- Discourses of technological innovation and their relationship to capital
- The language of automation and its effects on labour discourses
- Narratives of progress and disruption in tech-driven economies
- Ethical considerations in AI development and implementation
- The role of discourse in shaping public opinion on emerging technologies
- Critical analyses of techno-capitalist discourses
DN31 invites scholars from all subfields of the transdisciplinary field of (critical) discourse studies to submit papers and to explore what is going on in this dynamic field of strategic struggles. We accept the results of finalized research projects but also work-in-progress and embryonic ideas.
We also explicitly welcome scholars from other disciplines and perspectives in the humanities and social sciences: Media studies, Communication sciences, Political sciences, International relations, History, Ideology studies, Linguistics, Cultural studies, Audience and reception studies, Governmentality studies, Strategic narrative studies, Journalism studies, (Social) media studies, Development studies, Post- and De colonial studies, etc.
We equally welcome people with technological backgrounds as well as representatives of the tech industry.
De Togni, G., Erikainen, S., et al. Beyond the hype: ‘acceptable futures’ for AI and robotic technologies in healthcare. AI & Soc (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00146-023-01659-4
Ekbia H. Fifty Years of Research in Artificial Intelligence. Annual Review of Information Science and Technology (2012). https://doi.org/10.1002/aris.2010.1440440112
Elliott A. (ed.) The Routledge Social Science Handbook of AI. Routledge, 2021.
Elliott A. Making Sense of AI Our Algorithmic World. Polity, 2022.
Bijker W. E. Social Construction of Technology. A Companion to the Philosophy of Technology. (ed. by In Jan Kyrre Berg Olsen Friis, Stig Andur Pedersen & Vincent F. Hendricks). Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012. pp. 88–94.
Perrigo (2023) Exclusive: OpenAI Used Kenyan Workers on Less Than $2 Per Hour to Make ChatGPT Less Toxic. https://time.com/6247678/openai-chatgpt-kenya-workers/
Open lecture on November 4, 18-00 CET
Keynote lecture by Lisa Parks (https://www.lisaparks.net/), Ph.D., Distinguished Professor at the University of California at Santa Barbara, Director of the Global Media Technologies and Cultures Lab, editor of the book 'Media Backends: Digital Infrastructures and Sociotechnical Relations' (https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5406/jj.10405519).
Submission Guidelines
Important dates
- Deadline paper proposals: October, 6, 2024
- Notification of acceptance or refusal: October 13, 2024
- Deadline registration: October 29, 2024 (authors of papers need to be paying DN members)
Registration and payment
After your abstract has been accepted, please follow these three simple steps:
(1) Sign up to the DiscourseNet website (create an account for free)
(2) Pay the annual DN membership fee: 32 euros (30 euros + 2 euros administration fee) per year with bi-annual membership (62 euros in total). Please get in touch with the organizers if this fee is inhibitive for your participation.
(3) Register for the workshop. The registration link will be sent to you along with the letter of acceptance, on October 21, 2024. The workshop is free of charge, but participants and authors must be fee paying member of the DiscourseNet Association.
Guidelines for abstracts
Please send in an abstract of 150-250 words (excluding title and bibliography) outlining your proposed presentation before October 6 via this link. The abstract should include the problem statement, theoretical framework, and the empirical material that will be used.
Abstracts should be submitted in English.
Format
Accepted presenters will be required to submit a pre-recorded video presentation (e.g. Zoom recording, Teams recording,...) and accompanying written paper if available.
The format of the workshop will be as follows:
- Pre-recorded video presentations available for asynchronous viewing from the 4th to the 9th of November
- Live Q&A sessions with presenters and participants at specified dates between the 4th and the 9th of November via Zoom
- Virtual discussion forums for ongoing dialogue and potential publication and collaboration opportunities
Organizing committee:
Jasper Roe, James Cook University Singapore
Irina Dusacova, National Research University Higher School of Economics
Carmen Aguilera Carnerero, University of Granada
Aurora Fragonara, Université de Picardie
Organizing institutions
University of Valencia
DiscourseNet: International Association for Discourse Studies
Video presentations - guidelines for the accepted abstracts
In an effort to allow as many authors to participate as possible the workshop will run in a hybrid format with online attendees participating via Zoom and discussing the pre-recorded video presentations.
ALL presenters whose abstracts will be accepted are required to submit a pre-recorded video by November 1.
The pre-recorded presentation should consist of a brief introduction, with webcam if desired, followed by a presentation consisting of a voice-over with slides. Please note: the file must be in MP4 format (more details below). Please DO NOT try uploading PowerPoint or PDF files. The pre-recorded presentations MUST be submitted by November 1. Pre-recorded presentations not submitted by this deadline will be considered a “no-show.”
Our recommendation for recording a compatible video is to record the presentation using Zoom or MS Teams – available to users on most platforms and in most countries. These platforms allow you to display your slides as the content of your computer screen and to record your voice via the computer microphone. With this method, you may also show your face via webcam (if you like to do so).
For Authors who are unable to access Zoom for free, the free software OBS allows you to simultaneously capture yourself speaking and your slides: https://obsproject.com/
There are also other video conferencing tools available to easily record a presentation. You may use any meeting software as long as you get a good quality recording and your final file is in the MP4 format. Here are some links to instructions on recording a meeting on common platforms:
- WebEx: Video Conferencing - Record a Cisco Webex Meeting
- Skype: Skype for Business: Recording a Meeting | Information Technology Services | Bemidji State University
- Google Meet: Record a Video meeting - Meet Help
- Gotomeeting: How to Record a GoToMeeting Session
- Teams: Record a meeting in Teams - Office Support
Guidelines for preparing your video
Duration: 15 minutes
File size: 750 MB (maximum)
Video file format: .mp4
Please be sure the video includes the title of the talk, your name, and a mention to DN31
Uploading your video (Deadline: November 1)
The link to upload your video will be sent in the acceptance email along with other instructions.