May 24, 2023

Toronto (Canada)

Deadline: December 20, 2022

The conference is organized by the Digital Democracies Institute (Simon Fraser University) and York University and will take place in Toronto on May 24, 2023 (one day before the beginning of ICA).

For this pre-conference, we seek critical explorations of authenticity and authentication as they relate to digital manipulation and digital artifice. 

How is authenticity caught, created, faked, authenticated and managed through digital assemblages? 

• How is it both constructed as a felt experience, as well as machinized though automated recognition patterns? 
  
• If authenticity is key to misinformation, then what kind of interventions can we imagine to question, and undermine such articulation? 
  
• What new algorithms of authenticity could we imagine and deploy?

We are particularly interested in research that examines the fabrication of digitally mediated authentic experiences, be they non-conscious and habitual, or spectacular and deeply meaningful. We are interested in research that explores how objects and persons come to be seen and experienced as authentic and inauthentic, which includes paying attention to how authenticity – in its affective, emotional, non-conscious and cognitive dimensions – is constructed via technical affordances, media habits, political rhetoric, mass-personal communication, network rhythms, recommendation algorithms and targeted campaigns. Equally, we are interested in work that critically and creatively challenges the articulation of authenticity with misinformation.

We welcome a wide array of methodological approaches – qualitative, quantitative, speculative, creative, participatory, collaborative and others. We are open to different formats of intervention, from traditional papers to research-creation. We also welcome proposals for short workshops (1 hour length), demonstrations and other modes of collaborative inquiries.

A full description of the conference is available here.

Please submit 150-200 words abstract to ICA2023Preconf@gmail.com by December 20, 2022. Notices of acceptance will be sent on 11 January 2023.

Key details and dates:

Date: Wednesday, May 24, 2023. 9:00 - 17:00

Venue: York University, Toronto

Division affiliation: Communication & Technology Division

Fee: Registration will be free

Call for Abstract deadline: December 20, 2022

Organizers: 

Ganaele Langlois (Communication and Media Studies, York University)

Wendy Chun (Digital Democracies Institute, Simon Fraser University)

Alberto Lusoli (Digital Democracies Institute, Simon Fraser University)

Anthony Burton (School of Communication, Simon Fraser University)