CFP: Valuing Information: Ethics and Aesthetics of Digital Memory

Why does it matter what we delete? Information is everywhere in many contemporary societies. From our professional lives to our interactions with family and friends, much of our daily lives involve the production of large quantities of digital information. Still, hardware, concerns for privacy, and human decision making, thwart the unlimited storage of information. Whenever this take places, and when we take an active part in the deletion of information (which albeit we do not always do), it is better to know what to delete and what to hold onto. This is the basic concern of this collection. We should be able to assign value to information and know the difference between our precious digital memories and those which we can, or should, forget and delete. Not all information is equal. In certain cases, there is an argument for keeping information “forever.” In others, we may question whether information is not harmful or superfluous. What information should be deleted, or marked with a shorter or longer expiration date, and why? 

The collection is being negotiated with Springer, and will consist of 12-15 essays that seek to answer this question. 

To contribute, please send an abstract of no more than 500 words, plus CVs of all authors, to James Besse ([email protected]) and Zachary Isrow ([email protected]). We welcome contributions addressing the above topics, but especially welcome contributions from scholars in STS, memory studies, and other interdisciplinary research. Essays can either deal with digital memory and its value from a theoretical perspective, or look at specific cases of digital memory and why they are or are not valued.

Deadline for abstracts: March 15th 2019.

Authors whose contributions are accepted will be notified by April 15th 2019.

Deadline for full papers: August 1st 2019.

Warmly,

James Besse

Zachary Isrow