WikiWars: Call for Participation, 12th-13th January, 2010

*WikiWars
Call for Participation; 12th, 13th January, 2010, Bangalore
Event One for the Critical Point of View Reader*

*CPOV (CRITICAL POINT OF VIEW) CONTEXT: *The Wikipedia has emerged as the de
facto global reference of dynamic knowledge. Different stakeholders –
Wikipedians, users, academics, researchers, gurus of Web 2.0, publishing
houses and governments have entered into fierce debates and discussions
about what the rise of Wikipedia and Wiki cultures means and how they
influence the information societies we live in. The Wikipedia itself has
been at the centre of much controversy, pivoted around questions of
accuracy, anonymity, vandalism, expertise and authority.

The Centre for Internet and Society (Bangalore, India) and the Institute of
Network Cultures (Amsterdam, Netherlands) are working together to produce a
critical Reader on Wikipedia and to build a Wikipedia Knowledge Network.
Under the rubric CPOV, we propose two events that bring together different
perspectives, approaches, experiences and stories that critically explore
different questions and concerns around Wikipedia. The proceeds from these
two events will result in a Reader that consolidates critical points of view
about Wikipedia.

*WIKIWARS CONFERENCE:* The first conference to be held in Bangalore, called
WikiWars, invites participation from users, scholars, academics,
practitioners, artists and other cultural workers, to share their
experiences, ideas, experiments, innovations, applications and stories about
Wikipedia. The WikiWars conference embodies the spirit that guides an open
encyclopaedia like the Wikipedia, by referring to the edit battles that
users enter into over topics that have many points of view. WikiWars also
refers to the contradictory positions adopted by different stakeholders on
the various issues of credibility, authority, verifiability and
truth-telling, on the Wikipedia. This conference calls for diverse and
varied knowledges to come together in a critical dialogic space that informs
and augments our understanding of the Wikipedia.

*CONFERENCE THEMES:* The possible themes and areas for presentations
(projects, experiences, experiments, stories or documentation) can include
but are not limited to:

- Wiki Theory: Endorse, question/contest or delineate the theoretical
approaches and view points on the Wikipedia
- Wikipedia and Critique of Western Knowledge Production: The
predominance of textual or linguistic cultures, post-western knowledge
production systems, and indigenous knowledge systems
- Wiki Art: Art that uses Wikipedia models, structures or data to explore
and expand the practice of Wikipedia project; and accounts that document
Wikipedia based art practices or debates
- Designing Debate: Suggestions, innovations, critiques and ideas that
focus on the design and form of the Wikipedia, to explore the claims of
neutrality, objectivity, emergent hierarchy, control and authenticity on the
Wikipedia
- Critique of Free and Open: Areas like Wikipedia governance, economic
practices of and around Wikipedia, and the nature of freedom in usage,
production and participation on the Wikipedia
- Global Politics of Exclusion: Exploring questions of non-western
material inclusion, language, connectedness, oral histories, women,
non-geeks, and alternative material that cannot be documented on Wikipedia
etc.
- The Place of Resistance: Space of resistance and dissent in the
Wikipedia, structures that allow for alternative voices, experiences and
ideas
- Wikipedia and Education: Wikipedia usage in classrooms as a teaching
resource, and its effect on pedagogy, the role of Wikipedia in the knowledge
production sector, and mobilisation of academic communities around the
Wikipedia

For detailed information on each theme, please go to
http://cis-india.org/publications/workshops/conference-blogs/Wikiwars

*WHO SHOULD APPLY:* The conference in Bangalore aims to bring together an
interesting mix of diverse voices from different cultures, geo-political
spaces, and context-based practices from around the world, to start
consolidating the approaches, experiences, and impact of the Wikipedia:
1. Students and Wikipedia users who belong to different local chapters or
have editorial/contribution experiences on the Wikipedia,
2. Academics and publishers who are exploring the changes caused by
Wikipedia, both in classroom pedagogy and in knowledge production systems,
3. Researchers and theoreticians, practitioners and proponents, artists
and social activists, who are interested in Wikipedia cultures and their
socio-political conditions, should be attending this conference.

*HOW TO APPLY: *To apply for the conference, please send the following
information by email to infowiki@cis-india.org by the 31st of August, 2009.
1. A note of interest (450 - 700 words) detailing your ideas and possible
contribution 2. Your updated resume 3. A sample of your work (term papers,
published articles, peer-reviewed papers, books, art-projects, social
intervention projects etc.)

*CONFERENCE TIME-LINE:*
*Last Date for submitting Note of Interest and Funding options – 31st
August, 2009
Announcement of short-listed proposals – 21st September, 2009.
Sharing of Detailed Proposals with all participants – 15th December, 2009
Announcement of Conference Schedule and Logistics – 30th December 2009
Online Registration for non-presenting participants – 3rd January 2010
Conference Dates – 12th, 13th January 2010
*
*TRAVEL SUPPORT:* Travel support is available for some of the conference
participants (national and international). The selected participants will be
provided with the basic travel and accommodation costs for the duration of
the conference from their home-countries/cities to travel to Bangalore for
the conference. If you are applying for travel support, please indicate
clearly in your “Note of Interest” any of these three options: 1. Full
travel support required. 2. Partial travel support required with estimate.
3. Travel support not required. Travel support will be provided by the
conference organisers on a case-by-case basis.

*CONFERENCE ORGANISERS: *Sunil Abraham (Sunil@cis-india.org) and Nishant
Shah (Nishant@cis-india.org ), Centre for Internet and Society, Bangalore.
If there are any queries regarding the WikiWars conference please write to
us.

*RESEARCH AND EDITORIAL TEAM:* Geert Lovink and Sabine Niederer (Amsterdam),
Nathaniel Tkacz (Melbourne), Johanna Niesyto (Siegen), Sunil Abraham and
Nishant Shah (Bangalore).