Call for
Papers
CFP: Disability and Social Media (Edited
collection, abstracts due 15 July 2014)
Disability and Social Media
edited by Dr Katie Ellis & Dr Mike Kent
Internet Studies, Curtin University
Social
media is popularly seen as an important media for people with disability in
terms of communication, exchange and activism. These sites potentially increase both employment and leisure
opportunities for one of the most traditionally isolated groups in society. However,
the offline inaccessible environment has, to a certain degree, been replicated
online and particularly social networking sites. For example, despite recognized benefits of social inclusion
for people with disabilities, Scott Hollier notes the continuation of
inaccessibility in social media in his report Sociability: Social Media for People with a Disability:
…all of the popular social media tools
remain inaccessible to some degree. Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube,
blogging websites and the emerging Google+ all feature limited accessibly,
denying many consumers with disabilities the opportunity to participate in
social media. Fortunately, users have often found ways around the accessibility
barriers such as alternative website portals, mobile apps, additional keyboard
navigation shortcuts and online support groups. This is a rich source of
expertise, and social media users with disability continue to find creative
ways to access the most popular platforms. (Hollier 2012)
Although
Hollier paints a dreary picture regarding accessibility in social media, his
report holds much scope for optimism, as do we. Social media is becoming an
increasingly important part of our lives yet the impact on people with
disabilities has gone largely unscrutinised. This collection will explore the
opportunities and challenges social media represents for the social inclusion
of people with disabilities.
The book will be published as
part of Ashgate’s Interdisciplinary
Disability Studies series
Some suggested
topics (which are by no means exhaustive):
·
Activism
·
Communication
·
Community creation
·
Leisure/Entertainment/ Socialising
·
Creating new types of representation
·
Web/media literacy
·
Mashups
·
Education
·
Social Network specific case studies
We are particularly interested
in chapter proposals that explore social networks popular outside the
Anglosphere
Submission procedure:
Potential authors are invited to submit
chapter abstract of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords,
and a brief bio, by email to both Dr Mike Kent <m.kent@curtin.edu.au> and
Dr Katie Ellis <katie.ellis@curtin.edu.au> by 15 July 2014. (Please
indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you
have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will
receive a response by 15 August 2014, with those provisionally accepted due as
chapters of no more than 6000 words (including references) by 15 November 2015.
About the editors:
The editors are from the Department of
Internet Studies at Curtin University. Dr Katie Ellis is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of
Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and
the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for
social inclusion. Her books include Disability
and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling
Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing
and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan &
Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media
(2015; with Gerard Goggin), and Disability
and Popular Culture (2015). Dr Mike Kent’s research focus is on people with
disabilities and their use of, and access to, information technology and the
Internet. His other area of research interest is in higher education and
particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His
edited collection An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the
World’s Largest Social Network was released in May 2014 through Routledge.