Online: October 21-22 & 27-29, 2021

Part of the idea to stretch the main part of the conference over several days is to limit "live" conference time to a few hours per day in time slots that are "doable" in various parts of the world—with the exception of October 29 (which will start a little earlier) between 4pm and 9pm CEST. In addition to the synchronous discussion sessions (of entire tracks/parts of tracks, not individual presentations), we will also have a comment function on our conference website, which will allow the audience to interact with speakers.

On-Site Workshop: canceled

Despite the increasing vaccination numbers, we've decided not to organize an on-site "spin-off," as it's connected to too many question marks.

In addition to exposing a variety of vulnerabilities (the topic of the 2020 AAAS conference), the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has made us all all-too aware of our entanglements with digital technologies, as seemingly never-ending video calls and remote teaching have joined technologies that feel nearly antiquated by now: emails, literature searches in databases, writing your latest manuscript in a word processor, drafting the budget for your next project in spreadsheets, preparing the slides for your next (online or face-to-face class)—our work is, in many respects, interconnected with the digital.

While the "digital turn" has had a tremendous impact on academic work, it has also led to the emergence of new objects of inquiry and methodologies, ranging from the digital humanities and questions of digital literacies to video games, social media, slacktivism, and streaming platforms.

The conference "Digital Americas" seeks to take stock of "the digital" within the context of American studies. We understand "America" broadly here—the United States, the Americas, and the Americas' global entanglements. We are thus interested in contributions on digital pedagogy, digital methodologies, digital culture and digital media as objects of critical inquiry, and digital scholarship.

Since Steve and Michael have learned their lessons from the last conference they organized and seek to steer clear of creating the impression that "Austrian academic spaces [were] geometrically challenged" and do not want to be guilty of (yet again) evoking "FOMO for a conference"—and since there's a pandemic ongoing—the bulk of the actual conference will be virtual, stretched over at least a week, possibly as much as two.

Topics may include (but are by no means limited to):

• social movements and/vs. slacktivism;
• digital politics/the politics of the digital (e.g. cybercrime and cyberattacks, disinformation, election interference, the weaponization of social media);
• augmented realities and the re-conceptualization of American cities;
• video games, American myths, and "Americanness";
• the digital and the changing character of American sports (e.g. e-sports, virtual crowds);
• film/television, digital visual effects, and the (re-)construction of space;
• cyberlabor and the digital divide separating the US/Canada from Latin America;
• moving through digital archives;
• cyberpoetry and media affordances;
• digital media, fan labor, and performance (e.g. vlogging, vidding, influencer culture);
• teaching history and/with virtual reality;
• streaming, performances, and the ongoing pandemic;
• digital media/networks and ecological questions (e.g. Google's fiber optic subsea cables);
• digital media and/vs. representing/simulating nature;
• the cancelation of the EU-US Privacy Shield and impacts on transatlantic data transfer, data ownership, and data security (e.g. concerning research collaboration);
• digital technologies and techno-fixes to contemporary ills (e.g. de-extinction as an antidote to mass extinction, online counseling);
• Netflix parties and similar remote film/TV viewing experiences;
• and the digital divide (nationally, regionally, and/or globally; age-based, class-based, etc.)

While we will have some real-time items in our program, most of our conference will consist of pre-recorded/pre-distributed presentations, with "live" conference time devoted to discussions.

Pre-recorded video presentations

From slides with voice-overs and "talking head" videos to video essays, anything goes here. Videos should be 15 minutes max. (We will screen videos and return/reject videos that fail to comply with the 15-minute max.) Please consider questions of accessibility and at least provide subtitles/captions (or your scripts) to accompany your videos.

Texts with illustrations/slides

Max. 1,500 words and 10 illustrations.

We will charge full professors, associate professors, and other individuals in tenured positions 20 Euros; independent scholars and people on fixed-term/non-tenured contracts will be asked to pay 10 Euros.

The registration system is being set up. We'll circulate information once it's online.

February 15, 2021

Deadline for proposals for thematic tracks/panels (max. 500 words; no tentative list of speakers needed), on-site workshops (max. 1,000 words; no tentative list of speakers needed), and round tables (max. 1,000 words; list of tentative and confirmed speakers needed; also, please indicate whether on-site or virtual; pre-recorded or "live"—there will definitely be a "live" part in which discussants are asked to interact with the audience) open

March 8-April 30, 2021

Submissions of abstracts for presentations and contributions to workshops

June 15, 2021

Notifications

September 15, 2021 *updated*

Please submit pre-recorded presentations/written presentations (not a firm deadline)