<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 3.2//EN">
<HTML>
<HEAD>
<META HTTP-EQUIV="Content-Type" CONTENT="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1">
<META NAME="Generator" CONTENT="MS Exchange Server version 6.5.7653.38">
<TITLE>RE: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies standup?</TITLE>
</HEAD>
<BODY>
<!-- Converted from text/plain format -->
<P><FONT SIZE=2>In light of the discussion,<BR>
an anecdote might be of interest.<BR>
<BR>
1998-99, the Movement and Media Research Action<BR>
Project had just completed a multi-year communication<BR>
capacity building project with ten Massachusetts-based<BR>
community organizing groups, primarily (save one) in communities<BR>
that were primarily African American, Afro-Caribbean,Cape Verdean and Cambodian.<BR>
<BR>
Our media fellows, almost exclusively women, flagged as a top priority helping their<BR>
groups establish themselves on the internet, and bringing their surrounding community into<BR>
a digital era. We wrote a grant to the Dept of Commerce pitched as "helping communities of color bridge the digital divide."<BR>
<BR>
We were rejected although we were urged to resubmit. The change requested: instead of strong but small organizations in communities of color, could we find a more institutionalized partner, maybe the United way. If we resubmit with a more<BR>
established, large non-profit, we would very likely succeed.<BR>
<BR>
We refused.... resulting grant would miss the point.<BR>
And the winner of the grant for Massachusetts<BR>
The State of Massachusetts Corrections Facilities requesting support to digitalize prisoners' records.<BR>
THis would, given the racial composition of Massachusetts prisons, "help communities of color bridge the digital divide."<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
Char Ryan<BR>
charlotte_ryan@uml.edu<BR>
<BR>
Sociology Department<BR>
Center for Family, Work and Community<BR>
UMASS - Lowell<BR>
<BR>
Co-Director<BR>
Movement and Media Research Action Project<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
<BR>
-----Original Message-----<BR>
From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org on behalf of Jessie Daniels<BR>
Sent: Thu 2/5/2009 8:34 AM<BR>
To: Harvey Rich; Emily Noelle Ignacio<BR>
Cc: citasa@list.citasa.org<BR>
Subject: Re: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies standup?<BR>
<BR>
Hi Harvey, Emily, and CITASA folks ~<BR>
<BR>
Harvey - I'm just telling you what Pat Collins (ASA president) and Kareem<BR>
(of ASA) told me about organizing the session. Perhaps the rules are<BR>
slightly different for an invited/ thematic panel? I'm not sure. The other<BR>
stipulation, as I think you note, is that they couldn't be on the program<BR>
more than twice. So, some of the people doing this sort of work were<BR>
already on the program in other invited panels.<BR>
<BR>
And, Emily - no apology necessary, if anything apologies are all mine. I<BR>
didn't mean to suggest that no sociologists were doing work on<BR>
race/gender/class and the Internet, there are as you rightly point out.<BR>
Lori Kendall, has been a pioneer in this area, Emily's work is exemplary,<BR>
and there are new, young scholars such as Tracy Kennedy and Felicia Su Wong,<BR>
who are also doing really interesting work.<BR>
<BR>
Let me be clear about what I meant in my original post to the list agreeing<BR>
with Tracy about the disconnect between sociology and technology. My<BR>
'subfield,' if you will, within sociology is the study of race/gender/class<BR>
and I started using technology in the classroom in about the mid-1990s, so<BR>
for me the connections between these two seemed obvious. And, when Ebo's<BR>
1998 book "Cybertopia or Cyberghetto: Race, Class and Gender on the<BR>
Internet," came out, I was optimistic that others saw this connection too<BR>
and that a new field was emerging. Now, ten years later, there are very<BR>
few (a handful really) of sociologists interested in race/class/gender that<BR>
are equally interested in anything Internet-related. And, most of the<BR>
Internet-related literature I read is not so much focused on these<BR>
intersections (again, a few exceptions but not the field as a whole -<BR>
especially with regard to race).<BR>
<BR>
I see this disconnect between sociology and Internet-studies especially in<BR>
my involvement with the journal *Gender & Society* (not sponsored by ASA,<BR>
but by Sociologists for Women in Society), a well-regarded sociology journal<BR>
with an impact factor close to that of *New Media & Society*). I'm on the<BR>
Ed Board and a frequent reviewer. I've approached Dana Britton, the<BR>
current editor, several times about putting together a special issue on<BR>
race/class/gender and the Internet, and she tells me again and again that<BR>
there just aren't enough submissions to the journal on this issue to warrant<BR>
a special issue, or even a similary themed regular issue of the journal.<BR>
Her estimate: "maybe in 5 years" there will be enough work in the area to<BR>
warrant a special issue. I ended up editing a special issue of the journal<BR>
recently around Maggie Andersen's work on race/gender/class, but none of the<BR>
contributors - all leaders in the field across a range of ages and stages of<BR>
career (and invited by Britton, not me) - mentioned the Internet as a<BR>
significant development in the field in the last 20 years. And, indeed,<BR>
when I submitted my own work to the journal (about cyberfeminism), they had<BR>
trouble even finding reviewers, and then it got rejected as not<BR>
'sociological enough.' I re-submitted the piece to a women's studies journal<BR>
and it got accepted with very minor revisions (coming out this year in a<BR>
special issue on technology in *Women's Studies Quarterly*). Again, Lori<BR>
Kendall's work is the exception here and has appeared in *Gender &<BR>
Society,*but there's only a handful of articles that have appeared<BR>
there about gender<BR>
and the Internet. (TIP for scholars in that subfield and on this list:<BR>
submit your work there and it's likely to get a good review from me! )<BR>
<BR>
So, all that is a long way round to say that what seemed to me to be an<BR>
obvious connection in 1998 between one particular subfield in sociology<BR>
(race/class/gender) and Internet studies, has not developed in the way that<BR>
I assumed it would 10 years ago. Perhaps it's different in other<BR>
subfields.<BR>
<BR>
There are, in my opinion, reasons to be hopeful that this will change, is<BR>
changing (like the fact that ASA is organizing several special sessions on<BR>
Internet-related research), but I still see a disconnect to me between<BR>
sociology and Internet studies.<BR>
<BR>
Best,<BR>
~ Jessie<BR>
<BR>
On Thu, Feb 5, 2009 at 12:25 AM, Harvey Rich <vcsoc001@csun.edu> wrote:<BR>
<BR>
> I'm surprised that you were restricted to only members for a panel. Did<BR>
> you actually ask someone at the ASA, or just assume it? Here's the policy<BR>
> taken from the pages of the ASA website (admittedly it took some doing to<BR>
> find):<BR>
><BR>
> *The announced Regular Session topics listed in the Call for Papers are<BR>
> open to submission of full papers from members of the Association **and<BR>
> other interested individuals. *<BR>
><BR>
> Admittedly, it is the policy of other sociology associations of which I am<BR>
> experienced to require one to join the association if you are presenting a<BR>
> paper. However, the two associations I am most familiar with (PSA and<BR>
> CSA) exempt *panel organizers* from this requirement. Thus, one can get a<BR>
> person from the government or a local charitable organization or another<BR>
> discipline, without requiring them to join the organization.<BR>
><BR>
> I can't find anywhere on the website whether or not one must join the ASA<BR>
> if on the program, but I suspect there is no one size fits all rule. In<BR>
> fact, I found a piece, for a CITASA pre-conference and grad student<BR>
> conference in July 31, 2008, which says that full papers submitted to the<BR>
> CITASA pre-conference do not count against the limit on the number of papers<BR>
> that an author can present at the regular ASA conference. This would seem<BR>
> to indicate an inclusiveness rather than exclusiveness.<BR>
><BR>
> I would email the ASA on this and perhaps you can expand your contributors<BR>
> next time you do this at the ASA.<BR>
><BR>
> Harvey<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
> Jessie Daniels wrote:<BR>
><BR>
> Just seconding Tracy's comment about the 'disconnect' within sociology<BR>
> around studying Internet technology, but I remain hopeful that this may<BR>
> change.<BR>
><BR>
> I was recently asked by Patricia Hill Collins, incoming ASA president, to<BR>
> organize a thematic session for the 2009 meetings about race, gender and the<BR>
> 'new politics of community' on the Internet. I could pretty easily think<BR>
> of lots of scholars doing interesting work in these areas, but in order to<BR>
> be included on the panel the people needed to be current ASA members and<BR>
> that requirement narrowed the pool of rather dramatically. I ended up<BR>
> including 2 current ASA members, 1 person from outside the field (political<BR>
> science) and 1 person from outside the U.S. (UK) - (and, offered to sponsor<BR>
> the membership of the 2 non-ASA members).<BR>
><BR>
> In part, I think this disconnect reflects the fact that the field is<BR>
> international and interdisciplinary - both good things in my view. And<BR>
> yet, there's still this 'lag' in terms of sociology's participation in this<BR>
> area of study. As Paul DiMaggio and colleagues pointed out in their 2001<BR>
> Annual Review of Sociology article, *"sociologists have been slow to take<BR>
> up the challenge of studying the Internet." * It was true in 2001 and,<BR>
> from my view, it continues to be true. Still, I remain hopeful it's<BR>
> changing.<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
> ~ Jessie<BR>
><BR>
> --<BR>
> <A HREF="http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com">http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com</A><BR>
> <A HREF="http://www.racismreview.com">http://www.racismreview.com</A><BR>
> <A HREF="http://www.homelessyouthservices.org">http://www.homelessyouthservices.org</A><BR>
><BR>
> On Tue, Feb 3, 2009 at 9:06 AM, T. Kennedy <tkennedy@netwomen.ca> wrote:<BR>
><BR>
>> What about creating a wiki for this discussion? would be interesting to<BR>
>> create a knowledge base for all these interesting tid-bits.<BR>
>><BR>
>> I find the discussion interesting, useful & timely. As a PhD candidate in<BR>
>> Sociology, I've been wondering about my place in the discipline; I teach<BR>
>> all<BR>
>> of my - cyberculture, digital culture, virtual culture, gaming,<BR>
>> info/network<BR>
>> society etc etc - in communications, popular culture, film or media<BR>
>> studies<BR>
>> depts (for the last 7 years). I have yet to find a 'home' in sociology for<BR>
>> my research or teaching interests. The courses I have taught in socio -<BR>
>> tech<BR>
>> & society (co-taught with Barry Wellman) and women & IT (mostly work<BR>
>> related) and have a different slant/focus than my other courses.<BR>
>> This is not to say that I don't use soci theories in these<BR>
>> communications/media classes - I certainly do (and there is overlap) - so<BR>
>> I<BR>
>> wonder why sociology (and many depts across the US & Canada) seem so<BR>
>> distant<BR>
>> to me (and certainly don't call out to me in job postings)....I've stopped<BR>
>> going to soci conferences (except for citasa & depending on distance &<BR>
>> funding) and have looked to other disciplines when thinking about a future<BR>
>> tenure position.<BR>
>> Is it just me - or do others feel this same disconnect with sociology?<BR>
>> Tracy<BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>> ..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..<BR>
>> |::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..<BR>
>><BR>
>> Tracy L. M. Kennedy<BR>
>> PhD Candidate<BR>
>> Dept of Sociology<BR>
>> University of Toronto<BR>
>><BR>
>> Course Instructor<BR>
>> Dept of Communications, Popular Culture & Film Brock University<BR>
>><BR>
>> Research Coordinator<BR>
>> NetLab<BR>
>> University of Toronto<BR>
>><BR>
>> Second Life: Professor Tracy<BR>
>><BR>
>> ..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..<BR>
>> |::.|.::|::.|.::|..|::.|.::|::.|.::|..<BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>> -----Original Message-----<BR>
>> From: citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org [mailto:<BR>
>> citasa-bounces@list.citasa.org]<BR>
>> On Behalf Of Andrea Tapia<BR>
>> Sent: February 3, 2009 8:47 AM<BR>
>> To: gustavo@soc.haifa.ac.il; citasa@list.citasa.org<BR>
>> Subject: [CITASA] Take two-Will the real sociology of technologies stand<BR>
>> up?<BR>
>><BR>
>> Wow. Double wow.<BR>
>><BR>
>> These questions of mine have generated a lot of discussion yesterday and<BR>
>> today, both on and off the list.<BR>
>><BR>
>> Thank you! This has spurred me on to think in new ways about what we do<BR>
>> and<BR>
>> find new ways to translate it to others!<BR>
>><BR>
>> I think the discussions have been very interesting. So much so, that I<BR>
>> think<BR>
>> I'm going to anonymize and aggregate them for everyone to read. I think<BR>
>> more<BR>
>> than myself might benefit from the responses.<BR>
>><BR>
>> One line of questions keep popping up.<BR>
>><BR>
>> Why did I exclude this or that? Why did I draw artificial boundaries<BR>
>> between<BR>
>> sociology of technology and other things? Wouldn't if be better if "X"<BR>
>> were<BR>
>> included?<BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>> So, I pose a few questions back to the list...<BR>
>><BR>
>> 1. Is the sociology of technology an umbrella term? discipline? That<BR>
>> others<BR>
>> fit inside? If so, what fits inside?<BR>
>><BR>
>> 2. If the sociology of technology is just sociology applied to technical<BR>
>> things--then does the sociology of technology offer anything that overall<BR>
>> sociology doesn't in terms of theories/methods/etc.?<BR>
>><BR>
>> 3. One author suggested that the sociology of technology exists only in<BR>
>> the<BR>
>> overlap of other things. I think this is an intriguing idea. Do you think<BR>
>> it<BR>
>> hold water?<BR>
>><BR>
>> 4. Imagine that you found yourself on a six person team. The other<BR>
>> members<BR>
>> of the team were an HCI (human-computer interaction) scholar, a scholar of<BR>
>> communications, an STS (science and technology studies) scholar, a<BR>
>> sociologist of science/knowledge, and a philosopher of technology. After a<BR>
>> few beers and some good pizza they all look at you and ask you what you<BR>
>> add<BR>
>> to the team that they don't already have.<BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>> _______________________________________________<BR>
>> CITASA mailing list<BR>
>> CITASA@list.citasa.org<BR>
>> <A HREF="http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org">http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org</A><BR>
>><BR>
>><BR>
>> _______________________________________________<BR>
>> CITASA mailing list<BR>
>> CITASA@list.citasa.org<BR>
>> <A HREF="http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org">http://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org</A><BR>
>><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
><BR>
> ------------------------------<BR>
><BR>
> _______________________________________________<BR>
> CITASA mailing listCITASA@list.citasa.orghttp://list.citasa.org/mailman/listinfo/citasa_list.citasa.org<BR>
><BR>
><BR>
<BR>
<BR>
--<BR>
<A HREF="http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com">http://www.jessiedanielsphd.com</A><BR>
<A HREF="http://www.racismreview.com">http://www.racismreview.com</A><BR>
<A HREF="http://www.homelessyouthservices.org">http://www.homelessyouthservices.org</A><BR>
<BR>
</FONT>
</P>
</BODY>
</HTML>