The Special Interest Group Computers, Information and Society (SIGCIS) has issued a call for papers for a special issue of Information & Culture: A Journal of History (Volume 50, Issue 1, February-March 2015).
The increasing importance of the Internet, Web and related information and communication technologies, such as social media, has made it ever harder and ever more important to understand their history. Many authors have traced the timelines of technical developments, and a growing number of books have been written about the social history of the innovations that comprise and enable this network of networks. Scholars disagree over the very definition of the Internet and its history as a set of protocols, a large technical system, an infrastructure, or ensemble of technologies.
The editors invite original, scholarly treatments of the history of the Internet that critically examine common assumptions about its origins and developments over the decades. Submissions could take any number of approaches, including:
- Broad historical perspectives on the Internet’s development;
- Historical case studies of particular developments, such as ARPANet, TCP/IP, the World Wide Web, or Facebook;
- Accounts of computer and communication networks, such as Open Systems *Interconnection, online services, the European Informatics Network, and digital mobile telephone networks that contributed to or anticipated aspects of today’s Internet but did not use Internet technologies;
- Regional histories of Internet adoption or innovation;
- Studies of an institution, such as ICANN, W3C, or Internet Governance Forum;
- Explorations of an event, such as the dotcom bubble;
- Critical analyses of scholarly or popular narratives about the Internet’s history.
These are only illustrative of possible approaches, creative approaches to the history of the Internet that go beyond these specific examples are welcomed.
Full papers should be from 6,000 to 10,000 words, including all notes and bibliography. Shorter or longer papers might be considered in exceptional cases, based on the merit of the case. The editors expect to publish 4-6 papers in the special issue, with any additional papers that merit publication scheduled for journal issues that will appear after the special issue.
The deadline is August 30 2013. More info: http://www.sigcis.org/InternetIssue
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