Submit a Proposal for HASTAC 2020! (Deadline Extended to March 1)

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Call for Proposals

Cross-posted from https://hastac2020.org/.

The 2020 international conference of HASTAC (the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory, or “haystack”) will be hosted by the School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at The University of Texas at Dallas (ATEC@UTD) on October 15-18, 2020. The theme of HASTAC 2020 is Hindsight • Foresight • Insight.

HASTAC 2020: Hindsight • Foresight • Insight will center practices of intentional, accessible, and inclusive future-making that take culture seriously as a catalyst, context, and, sometimes, a conundrum for technological innovation. Of particular importance is the commitment to innovative endeavors that take up matters of access and inclusion in generative ways.

Deadline for proposals is Sunday, March 1, 2020.

Submit a proposal: TBA by 10 January 2020.  

Conference Theme

Imagining the year 2020 as an abstraction of 20/20, and embracing, by extension, this metaphor for visual acuity, the 2020 HASTAC conference will focus on Hindsight • Foresight • Insight. In the 18 years since the founding of HASTAC, much has changed in the academy; we’ve watched technology fads come and go, seen cross-disciplinary programs launch and shut down, and witnessed the adoption of the term “digital humanities” as a respected domain of expertise. HASTAC—a virtual organization of more than 17,300 dedicated and diverse individuals and dozens of resourceful institutions—provided the inspiration for many people and projects to take risks, to experiment, and to explore un-disciplined questions, questions that open onto conversations with a wide range of voices. The range of efforts is impressive: from the creation of new digital archives and the development of new authoring platforms, to the broader cultural challenges of reimagining learning in the 21st century. HASTAC participants have been critically and creatively engaged in doing things differently in their technology development, research, teaching, and art.

The 2020 conference will provide opportunities to share insights from dead ends as well as projects that made a difference. As we take time to reflect, we also confront new threats and troubles. Hindsight is important, but limited in helping us understand what to do now that will make a difference tomorrow. Foresight understands that the future is already with us, present in the present. Taking stock of what we now understand, how do we anticipate what will need to be done? What possibilities and problems are emerging that require our attention and action in order  that we make a difference for tomorrow? Insight will arise out of these questions and engagements. What insights might we glean regarding the practices and projects that will support the futures we want to inhabit? What do we need to commit to the effort? What forms might commitment take? This conference will make time to reassess, to recalibrate, and to recommit to doing things differently.

Presentation Formats

HASTAC 2020: Hindsight • Foresight • Insight welcomes submissions from critical and creative practitioners at all stages of their careers; from all disciplines, occupations, and fields; from the public, non-profit, and private sectors; and from groups as well as individuals, including independent scholar-practitioners and artists.

In light of the aforementioned investments, HASTAC 2020: Hindsight • Foresight • Insight invites submissions of:

  • Individual Talks, Papers, and Demos (12 – 15 minutes)
  • Pre-constituted Sessions (75 minutes)
  • Workshops
  • Art and Media Installations
  • Screenings
  • Performances

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

  • Successful projects or successful failures that explored the possibilities of cross-domain collaboration among humanists, artists, scientists, and technologists.
  • Creative projects that take up emerging technological and social problems and possibilities.
  • The messy entanglements of technology and culture that strain our critical methods and overwhelm our efforts to do things differently.
  • Recent cultural shifts in thinking about the relationship of “the humanities and technologies,” together and in contradiction.
  • Creative media art and technology projects that take up emerging problems and creative possibilities.
  • Demonstrations and speculative design briefs about what is to be done.

All proposals will be peer-reviewed by HASTAC and the programming committee. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by HASTAC in May 2020.

The conference will begin on the evening of Thursday, 15 October 2020 with welcoming remarks and the opening of the arts exhibition. All paper presentations and workshops will be scheduled on either 16 or 17 October 2020, with closing activities in the morning on Sunday, 18 October 2020. Installation for the arts exhibition is scheduled for Wednesday, 14 October 2020.

There is no membership fee to participate in HASTAC. However, participants at the conference are required to register. You need not be affiliated with a university to present at or attend the conference. Registration fees will be determined by Friday, 1 May 2020, when online registration will also open. Rates for students, adjuncts, part-time employees, as well as people who are not presenting at the conference will be available.

HASTAC 2020 will do everything possible to ensure a safe and accessible conference for all participants. The proposal submission form and registration forms will include space to note accessibility and participant needs.

Childcare services will also be available during the conference. Costs and hours of availability for these services will be determined by Wednesday, 15 July 2020. Thank you for your patience.

Plenary Speakers

Plenary panels and workshops occur at multiple points throughout the conference to gather participants together for a communal focus on the conference theme. We are finalizing plans to pair multiple speakers with a seasoned HASTAC moderator in discussion panels and workshop formats. We will announce full plenary panels as they are confirmed. 

A complete program will be available in July 2020.

Proposal Submission

Proposals for presentations require the following information:

  • Your name, brief bio (<50 words), and contact information, including email address; you may also provide an affiliation (academic or not), if you wish;
  • Abstract (250-500 words) describing your presentation and its relationship to the conference theme of Hindsight • Foresight • Insight; and,
  • A technical rider for workshops, demonstrations, art installations, and performances. Please create two lists: materials you will bring and materials or technologies you would like us to have available for you. Include needs such as power, Wi-Fi, and space considerations; and let us know if your project will emit noise or require specific lighting conditions. If your proposal is accepted, we will do our best to make equipment or other special conditions available to you during the conference.

Presenters may be first author on only one submission; however, they may appear as second author or facilitator on one other submission.

Deadline for proposals is Friday, 14 February 2020. Submission instructions will be posted on the conference website: https://hastac2020.org.

Conference Logo 

The conference logo was designed by xtine burrough.

Organizers

The School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication is organizing HASTAC 2020: Hindsight • Foresight • Insight with the following members of the programming committee:

  • Kim Knight
  • Anne Balsamo
  • xtine burrough
  • Heidi Rae Cooley
  • Todd Fechter
  • Josef Nguyen
  • Tước Nguyen
  • Hong-An Wu

 and the following members of the logistics committee: 

  • David Budd
  • Sandy Farrar
  • Rosalie McManis
  • Sally Mendiola
  • Adrian Tapia

The organizers and programming committee are collaborating with HASTAC’s administrative team:

  • Cathy Davidson (cofounder and co-director of HASTAC; The Graduate Center, CUNY)
  • Brinker Ferguson (Digital Humanities and Social Engagement, Dartmouth College)
  • Adashima Oyo (HASTAC Scholars Director, Futures Initiative Graduate Fellow, and doctoral candidate, Social Welfare, The Graduate Center)
  • Katina Rogers (director of programs and administration; HASTAC, and co-director, the Futures Initiative; The Graduate Center, CUNY)
  • Jacqueline Wernimont (co-director of HASTAC; Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, Dartmouth College)

Partners and Sponsors

HASTAC 2020 is supported by the following partners:

Questions?

Please email atecgradstudies at utdallas dot edu with any questions you have about the conference.

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