Call for Papers: Representation, Participation, and Governance in the
'Digital Age'

Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting, April 15-19th, Boston, MA

Organizers:
Matthew Wilson, Dept. of Geography, University of Washington
Kevin Ramsey, Dept. of Geography, University of Washington

Advances in computing technologies are enabling both the decentralized
proliferation and disciplined coordination of representational
practices. Google mashups, wikimaps, sharing of georeferenced media,
as well as the introduction of new social networking (cyber)spaces,
online gaming systems, architectural design practices, and personal
surveillance systems are a few examples of ways in which new citizens
of the 'digital age' are re-representing their personal, social, and
material environments, and in doing so constituting new spaces for
geographic investigation. This paper session explores how these
developments are shaping our participation and implication in
processes of governance and governmentality, as well as how, in turn,
these new forms of governance are shaping practices of representation
and participation.

More specifically this call is seeking papers which articulate these
co-constitutive processes of representation, participation, and
governance, realizing that certain papers may emphasize one of these
themes over others. For instance, we are interested in the variety of
geographic research around new media, cyberspace, videogames,
surveillance and military systems, as well as geographic information
and remote sensing systems, and the ways in which these objects of
study contribute to broader theorization of political, cultural,
urban, feminist geographies of the so called 'digital age'. We
encourage contributors from perspectives in feminist, political,
cultural, and urban geography, as well as those in critical GIS or
science and technology studies more generally, to:

* offer theoretical re-framings or re-viewings of how
representation, participation, and governance has changed with the so
called 'digital age';
* present empirical findings demonstrating these co-constitutive
systems of representation, participation, and governance;
* challenge the apparent 'newness' of these shifts, to
re-historicize the emergence of systems of representation,
participation, and governance; and/or
* articulate methodological considerations for conducting research
with or about these digital technologies.

Please contact co-organizers Matthew Wilson
(mwarrenw@u.washington.edu) and Kevin Ramsey
(kramsey@u.washington.edu) if you are interested in participating in
this paper session. In your email, please propose a paper title
including a short description.