*CFP* "ALGORITHMS FOR HER? FEMINIST APPROACHES TO DIGITAL INFRAESTRUCTURES, CULTURES AND ECONOMIES", SYMPOSIUM

“Algorithms for her? feminist approaches to digital infrastructures, cultures and economies”

January 17th 2020 - King’s College London

10am-5pm followed by a wine reception

Our daily lives are increasingly governed by algorithmic processes of selection, identification and discrimination. This international symposium focuses on the intersectional forms of injustice that algorithms – and the systems in which they are embedded – help to propagate and sustain. Given the significance and ubiquity of such processes in everyday life, and their disproportionate effects on those marginalised across intersections of gender, sexuality, class and race, this event will create a dedicated space for the discussion of algorithmic forms of oppression and inequality.

Algorithms for Her? seeks to support the synthesis of in-depth analysis of algorithms – together with their functions and entanglements – with critical feminist works that meaningfully examine the production and ethics of bias. "Newness" is often fetishised in analyses of digital culture. The approaches sidelined by this fetishisation are often those by women and scholars of colour, who struggle to have their contributions included in dominant canons of thought. In some areas of scholarship we may be reaching ‘peak algorithm’ but relatively few studies can meaningfully be called inclusive, reflective or feminist.

This symposium seeks to give platform to perspectives on algorithms and algorithmic culture that are under-represented in the academy. We welcome both traditional conference presentations (15 minutes in length) and creative alternatives such as performances or artistic interventions.

We invite contributions related to any of the following areas:

• Intersectional feminist work critically examining platforms and their economies/ approaches to machine learning, content moderation and algorithms (broadly defined). 
• Intersectional feminist work examining software/tools/app design and infrastructure. 
• Intersectional feminist work on platform labour and inequalities. 
• Feminist methodologies for studying and teaching algorithms and the ethical questions they raise. 
• Industry/non-profit cases of addressing discrimination/bias sustained by and 'within' technologies.

Please send proposals of 300 words along with a 50 word bio to algorithmsforher@gmail.com by 30th October 2019. 

A small number of travel bursaries will be available for early career researchers who do not have recourse to institutional funds. If you would like to be considered for a bursary, please add a short (100 words) paragraph to your proposal explaining why you are eligible. Given that these bursaries are limited, please only apply if you have no other funding options.