Tag Archives: S.NET

2017 S.NET annual meeting early bird registration open until July 14, 2017

The Society for the Study of New and Emerging Technologies (S.NET), which at one time was known as the Society for the Study of Nano and other Emerging Technologies, is holding its 2017 annual meeting in Arizona, US. Here’s more from a July 4, 2017 S.NET notice (received via email),

We have an exciting schedule planned for our 2017 meeting in Phoenix,
Arizona. Our confirmed plenary speakers –Professors Langdon Winner,
Alfred Nordmann and Ulrike Felt– and a diverse host of researchers from
across the planet promise to make this conference intellectually
engaging, as well as exciting.

If you haven’t already, make sure to register for the conference and the
dinner. THE DEADLINE HAS BEEN MOVED BACK TO JULY 14. 2017.

I tried to find more information about the meeting and discovered the meeting theme here in the February 2017 S.NET Newsletter,

October 9-11, 2017, Arizona State University, Tempe (USA)

Conference Theme: Engaging the Flux

Even the most seemingly stable entities fluctuate over time. Facts and artifacts, cultures and constitutions, people and planets. As the new and the old act, interact and intra-act within broader systems of time, space and meaning, we observe—and necessarily engage with—the constantly changing forms of socio-technological orders. As scholars and practitioners of new and emerging sciences and technologies, we are constantly tracking these moving targets, and often from within them. As technologists and researchers, we are also acutely aware that our research activities can influence the developmental trajectories of our objects of concern and study, as well as ourselves, our colleagues and the governance structures in which we live and work.

“Engaging the Flux” captures this sense that ubiquitous change is all about us, operative at all observable scales. “Flux” points to the perishability of apparently natural orders, as well as apparently stable technosocial orders. In embracing flux as its theme, the 2017 conference encourages participants to examine what the widely acknowledged acceleration of change reverberating across the planet means for the production of the technosciences, the social studies of knowledge production, art practices that engage technosciences and public deliberations about the societal significance of these practices in the contemporary moment.

This year’s conference theme aims to encourage us to examine the ways we—as scholars, scientists, artists, experts, citizens—have and have not taken into account the myriad modulations flowing and failing to flow from our engagements with our objects of study. The theme also invites us to anticipate how the conditions that partially structure these engagements may themselves be changing.

Our goal is to draw a rich range of examinations of flux and its implications for technoscientific and technocultural practices, broadly construed. Questions of specific interest include: Given the pervasiveness of political, ecological and technological fluctuations, what are the most socially responsible roles for experts, particularly in the context of policymaking? What would it mean to not merely accept perishability, but to lean into it, to positively embrace the going under of technological systems? What value can imaginaries offer in developing navigational capacities in periods of accelerated change? How can young and junior researchers —in social sciences, natural sciences, humanities or engineering— position themselves for meaningful, rewarding careers given the complementary uncertainties? How can the growing body of research straddling art and science communities help us make sense of flux and chart a course through it? What types of recalibrations are called for in order to speak effectively to diverse, and increasingly divergent, publics about the value of knowledge production and scientific rigor?

There are a few more details about the conference here on the  S.NET 2017 meeting registration page,

The ​2017 ​S. ​NET ​conference ​is ​held ​in ​Phoenix, ​Arizona ​(USA) ​and ​hosted ​by ​Arizona ​State ​University. ​ ​This ​year’s ​meeting ​will ​provide ​a ​forum ​for ​scholarly ​engagement ​and ​reflection ​on ​the ​meaning ​of ​coupled ​socio-technical ​change ​as ​a ​contemporary ​political ​phenomenon, ​a ​recurrent ​historical ​theme, ​and ​an ​object ​of ​future ​anticipation. ​ ​

HOTEL ​BLOCK ​- ​the ​new ​Marriott ​in ​downtown ​Phoenix ​has ​reserved ​rooms ​at ​$139 ​(single) ​or ​$159 ​(double ​bed). ​ ​ ​Please ​use ​the ​link ​on ​the ​S.Net ​home ​page ​to ​book ​your ​room. ​ ​

REGISTRATION ​for ​non-students: ​ ​
Early ​bird ​pricing ​is ​available ​until ​Saturday, ​July ​14, ​2017. ​ ​
Registration ​increases ​to ​$220 ​starting ​Sunday, ​July ​15, ​2017. ​
Start Your Registration
Select registrant type *
Select registrant type *
Faculty/Postdoc/private industry/gov employee ($175) Details
Student – submitting abstract or poster ($50)
Student – not submitting abstract or poster ($100)

There you have it.

S.NET (Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies) 2012 call for proposals

The conference (4th annual is upcoming in Oct. 2012) and the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies are more oriented to folks in the humanities and social sciences. I don’t think they preclude other participants but the topic areas for the conference (which reflects the society’s interests) will tend to appeal to those audiences.

Here’s the invitation to the conference from their home page,

S.NET invites contributions to the Fourth Annual meeting of The Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies (S.NET), to be held at the University of Twente, the Netherlands, on October 22-25, 2012. The four-day conference will assemble scholars, practitioners and policy makers from around the world interested in the development and implications of emerging technologies.

There is an invitation for proposals (from the How to apply page),

Proposals will be accepted on the basis of a submitted abstract, which will be refereed. Abstracts must be between 250 and 400 words in length. Proposals for panel sessions should include a general introduction and abstracts of the separate contributions. All proposals should include the strand to which the abstract/panel session is submitted. If an abstract fits more strands, or does not fit the existing strands, simply note that in your submission.

Proposals should be submitted online before April 2, 2012. All submitters will be notified about the results of the review process by the end of May 2012.

Possible topics/themes include (from the Themes, Topics, and Conference Strands page),

Possible themes and topics have been organized into six ‘strands’. While applicants are asked to indicate the strand relevant to the topic of their paper, submissions dealing with themes or topics outside the present strands are also welcome.

1. R&D practices and the dynamics of new and emerging sciences and technologies

E.g. Research networks & collaborations, emerging research fields, practices of ‘doing’ nano or other emerging fields of science and technology, including historical and philosophical studies of these practices.

2. Innovation and the use of new and emerging sciences and technologies

E.g. Innovation networks and systems, commercialization, implications for industry structures, translation from lab to practice, application and use of nano-based products and other innovations, critical analyses of growth and consumption, including economic, social and cultural approaches of innovation processes

3. Governance of newly emerging sciences and technologies

E.g. Regulations, anticipatory governance practices, risk assessment, risk concerns, (constructive) TA , forms of public participation and engagement, including critical evaluation of forms of governance

4. Visions and cultural imaginaries of newly emerging sciences and technologies

E.g. Promises, expectations, visions, science fiction, imagination, socio-technical change, moral change, role of media, including assessments of such visions and analyses of their role in innovation processes.

5. Publics and their relations to newly emerging sciences and technologies

E.g. Science communication, risk communication, public engagement, participation and discourses on NEST, science museums, informal science learning initiatives, including critical evaluation of such initiatives and the notion of ‘publics’.

6. Politics and ethics of newly emerging sciences and technologies

E.g. Responsible innovation, (in)equality, equity, development, global and social distribution of benefits and risks, sustainability, ‘soft’ and ‘hard’ impacts of emerging technologies, including theoretical perspectives on NEST and global developments

Formats

S.NET encourages proposals for individual papers, posters, traditional panels, roundtable discussions and other innovative formats. All proposals for panels, roundtables and other formats, should clearly specify topic, order and timing of the different contributions.

The first conference was in Seattle in 2009.

S.NET 2011 annual meeting

S.NET is the Society for the Study of  Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies and members will be holding their 3rd annual meeting in Tempe, Arizona from the 7th to the 10th of November 2011 according to Dietram Scheufele’s Jan. 11, 2011 posting on his nanopublic blog (I can’t link directly to the posting but you can find it by scrolling down). From Dietram’s posting,

Invitation. S.NET invites contributions to the Third Annual Meeting of the The Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies (S.NET) to be held in Tempe (Phoenix), Arizona. The workshop will engage diverse scholars, practitioners, and policy makers in the development and implications of emerging technologies.

About S.NET. S.NET is an international association that promotes intellectual exchange and critical inquiry about the advancement of nanoscience and emerging technologies in society. The aim of the association is to advance critical reflection on developments in a broad range of new and emerging fields of science and technology, including, but not limited to, nanoscale science and engineering, biotechnology, synthetic biology, cognitive science, and geoengineering.

Eligibility. S.NET includes diverse communities, viewpoints, and methodologies from across the social sciences and humanities, and welcomes contributions from scientists, engineers, and other practitioners.

To Apply. The program committee (see below) invites submissions from the full breadth of disciplines, methodologies, and epistemologies, as well as from applied, participatory, and practical approaches to studying these emerging fields and from different regional or comparative perspectives. Committed to diverse styles of communication, S.NET welcomes proposals for individual papers, posters, traditional panels, roundtable discussions, and other more innovative formats. In particular, the program committee encourages proposals for topics and formats that will encourage greater dialogue and interaction. Details of the submission process are available online at cns.ucsb.edu/snet2011. All proposals should be submitted online between 1 Feb and 1 March 2011.

Stipends. Travel stipends may be available for US graduate students, and post-doctoral scholars, and non-US participants from the Global South.

I mentioned the 2010 S.Net annual meeting in my Sept. 14, 2010 posting and briefly in my Nov. 8, 2010 posting. In both cases, you will have to scroll down to find the information as the meeting was not the main subject.

Nano Science Cafe workshop starts and other NISE Net tidbits

I signed up for an online workshop on how to host and produce a Nano Science Café that the Nanoscale Informal Science Education Network (NISE Net) holds. It started this Monday and so far we’ve been introducing ourselves (approximately 80 people are signed up) and people are sharing ideas about how to hold these events successfully.  Most of the participants are located in the US although there are two Canucks (me and someone from Ontario). Of course, not everyone has introduced themselves yet.

There’s a blog posting by Larry Bell about NISE Net’s increasing focus on nano’s societal implications,

Just about a year ago NISE Net launched an expanded collaboration with the Center for Nanotechnology in Society and you’ll hear more about upcoming activities in the months ahead. The conversation started when staff from seven science centers brought cart demos and stage presentations to the S.NET conference in Seattle on Labor Day weekend last year. S.NET is a new professional society for the study of nanoscience and emerging technologies in areas of the social sciences and humanities. I was a little naive and thought the participants were all social scientists, but learned that many were historians, political scientists, philosophers, and ethicists and really not social scientists.

I’m not entirely certain what to make of either NISE Net’s interest or S.NET (Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies) since this first meeting seems to have be focused primarily on hands-on demos and public outreach initiatives. There will be a 2nd annual S.NET meeting in 2010 (from the conference info.),

Second Annual Conference of the Society for the Study of Nanoscience and Emerging Technologies

Darmstadt, Germany – Sept 29 to Oct 2, 2010

(Wednesday afternoon 2pm through Saturday afternoon 4pm)

The plenary speakers and program committee lists a few names I’ve come across,

This year’s plenary speakers are Armin Grunwald, Richard Jones [has written a book about nanotechnology titled Soft Machines and maintains a blog also titled Soft Machines], Andrew Light, Bernard Stiegler, and Jan Youtie.

Program Committee

Diana Bowman (Public Health and Law, University of Melbourne, Australia)

Julia Guivant (Sociology and Political Science, Santa Catarina, Brazil)

David Guston (Political Science/Center for Nanotechnology in Society, Arizona State University, USA) [guest blogged for Andrew Maynard at 2020 Science]

Barbara Herr Harthorn (Feminist Studies, Anthropology, Sociology/Center for Nanotechnology in Society,University of California Santa Barbara, USA)

Brice Laurent (Sociology, Mines ParisTech, France)

Colin Milburn (English, University of California Davis, USA)[has proposed a nanotechnology origins story which pre-dates Richard Feynman’s famous speech, There’s plenty of room at the bottom]

Cyrus Mody (History, Rice University, United USA)

Alfred Nordmann (Philosophy, nanoOffice, NanoCenter, Technische Universität Darmstadt and University of South Carolina – chair)

Ingrid Ott (Economics, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany – co-chair)

Arie Rip (Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Twente, Netherlands) [read a nano paper where he introduced me to blobology and this metaphor for nanotechnology ‘furniture of the world’]

Ursula Weisenfeld (Business Administration, Leuphana Universität, Lüneburg, Germany)

This looks promising and I wish the good luck with the conference.

As far conferences go, there’s another one for the Association of Science and Technology Centers (ASTC) in Hawaii, Oct 3 – 5, 2010, which will feature some NISE Net sessions and workshops . You can check out the ASTC conference details here.

Here’s the monthly NISE Net nano haiku,

Vocabulary
Kit kit kit kit kit kit kit
There are no nodes now.

by Anders Liljeholm of the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry. Those of you who may not remember that our regional hubs used to be call nodes (or those looking to brush up on their NISE Net vocabulary in general) can check out the NISE Net Glossary in the nisenet.org catalog.