CFP – Media City 5 International Conference and Exhibition

CALL FOR PAPERS

MEDIA CITY 5 International Conference and Exhibition
1st ­ 3rd May 2015
Plymouth University, UK
http://mediacity.i-dat.org<http://mediacity.i-dat.org/home/>

The theme of the fifth MEDIACITY conference is reflecting on social smart
cities.

Much of our thinking around technology and the city is based around
polarising paradigms. On one hand we have the smart city agenda that is
underpinned by a vision of data-centred optimisation of urban systems and
on the other hand we have a open-source, citizen driven approach based
around ad-hoc practices and prototyping of counter-culture scenarios.
These paradigms of city visions are described variously through terms such
as “digital city, screen city, media city, sentient city, u-city, fusion
city, hybrid city, intelligent city, connectiCity, pervasive city and the
smart city” and we seek to look beyond the rhetoric and critically reflect
and imagine new models and approaches to media and the city. We want to
challenge over-simplified assumptions around terms such as smart city, and
understand in more detail the complex interactions between social actors
and technological transformations of the city. The aim of the conference
is to consider more fully the multiple, subtle, and interdependent
spatio-temporalities which together work to constitute ICT-based urban
change. In particular we will discuss models of participation, action and
agency, shifting capacity to act beyond the ‘like’ button and to take
responsibility for the future shape of the city.
The conference addresses the approaches and the corresponding design
responses that meet the challenges of social, citizen-centred, smart
cities and communities. It will offer reflective, high quality theoretical
and design-based responses to the question of how media and ICTs can
create alternative responses to current societal challenges.

Topics
We will look at urbanity and digital media and ideas of place and space
and reflect on new models, landscapes and frameworks in the social smart
city. We explore how ‘the city’ as a site of participation is enabled
through media and technology and modes of citizen participation and agency
as well as how temporal installations and urban prototyping enable us to
imagine other possible futures. We will also look to the Internet of
Things to explore the way in which objects increasingly become sentient
actors in urban life. Through this we will address broader issues of
resilience and sustainability and how these intertwine with media and
technological frameworks. We provisionally propose three main sub-themes:

Place
Urban Design, public place-making, network infrastructures and resilience
People
social participation, urban prototyping, big data and agency
Things
The Internet of Things (IoT), sentience, social memory and networked
objects.

The conference audience will be drawn from an interdisciplinary field of
architecture, geography, human computer interaction, planning, media
studies, art and sociology to gather and exchange multiple perspectives on
common challenges.

CONTRIBUTIONS
Submissions to be uploaded to the conference’s EasyChair website:
https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mc5

Paper abstracts
Paper submissions are a two-stage process. Authors are asked to submit an
abstract for consideration. Authors of accepted abstracts will then be
asked to submit a camera-ready paper prior to the conference. These will
appear in the Conference proceedings. Abstracts must be a minimum of one
page (500 words) and no longer than two pages (1000 words), including all
additional material such as references, appendices, and figures. The
abstracts must include a title, sufficient space for the author name(s) to
appear on the paper, abstract and references. The review will be
double-blind, so please submit abstracts in an anonymised version.
Conference full papers will be approx. 5000-6000 words in length and will
be peer reviewed.

Posters
Poster submissions should include an abstract of no longer than one page
(500 words). The abstract should state the contribution and originality of
the work and make clear how the work differs from significant prior
research. Posters will be shown for the duration of the main conference.

Workshops
Workshops can either be based on sharing knowledge or experience around a
particular focused sub-topic or can be a skill-sharing event focused
around a particular technology or methodology. Workshops will be half-day
events. Proposals should be no longer than two pages and should include:
the title, the list of organisers and their backgrounds, and an abstract
of no more than 150 words; as well as the workshop’s theme, goals and
activities; maximum number of participants, means of soliciting
participation, and means of selecting participants.

Exhibition – Urban Interventions
Proposals are invited for artistic and experimental projects that explore
the host city as a site of experimentation and participation. These can be
a site-specific project, an event or an installation, but should focus on
artistic and creative approaches to the social smart city approach and how
this can have value and impact for the local citizens and organisations.
These interventions can feed off, play with or supplement the data
harvested from the city infrastructure through an ‘Urban API’ being
developed by i-DAT as a component of its Operating Systems. A small budget
will be available for selected projects. Proposals of workshop organisers
should be no longer than two pages and should include: a title, a short
summary, bios/CV’s of the artist(s), a 150 word description of the
project, a timeline, and an outline of how the project will engage with
the local city and the types of citizen participation.

All papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Selected
authors will be invited to contribute papers to an edited book to be
completed post conference.

CONTACT
If you have any questions or require further information please contact:
mediacity@plymouth.ac.uk<mailto:mediacities@plymouth.ac.uk>
web: http://mediacity.i-dat.org<http://mediacity.i-dat.org/home>
Twitter: @mediacity5

IMPORTANT DATES
1st December 2014 11:59pm GMT            Workshop Expressions of Interest
deadline
4th January 2015 11:59pm GMT                 Paper abstract submission
deadline,

Exhibition submission deadline
1st February 2015                                         Notification of
acceptance issued to authors
1st April 2015                                                 Camera
ready full papers due
1st -3rd May 2015                                         Conference,
workshops and exhibition in Plymouth, UK

CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Katharine S. Willis, School of Architecture, Design and Environment,
Plymouth University
Mike Phillips, Institute of Digital Art and Technology (iDAT), Plymouth
University
Alessandro Aurigi, School of Architecture, Design and Environment,
Plymouth University
Gianni Corino, Institute of Digital Art and Technology (iDAT), Plymouth
University

Jointly organised by: School of Architecture, Design and Environment and
Institute of Digital Art and Technology Plymouth University, UK
http://www1.plymouth.ac.uk/schools/ade/
http://i-dat.org/information/