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Call for Papers: Workshop on Social Networks and Sustainability

17. June 2009 Call for papers: 4th Lüneburg Workshop on Environmental and Sustainability Communication

Communication and Learning in Networks – Potentials and Challenges for Environmental Sustainability

This workshop examines communication and learning in social networks and the resulting challenges and potentials for strengthening ecologically sustainable development. How do networks foster communication and (collective) learning? What are the different approaches and particular challenges to gathering data of this sort? What are the strengths and limitations of adopting a network approach to learning? To what extent can one link social networks to ideas of sustainable development? Particularly, but by no means exclusively, the workshop will focus on networks in the context of policy making and governance. Taking into account all possible spatial and administrative levels – from the very local to the global – and different network approaches, the workshop will provide an arena for cross-disciplinary learning on this important topic. The workshop is unique in scope in that it will bring together scholars from diverse sub-disciplines and fields such as sociology, social network analysis, actor-network theory, political science (governance networks), cultural sociology (e.g. “network society”), anthropology, globalization and cultural studies, management and organizational science, or regional sciences. Doing so, the workshop will explore new avenues of sustainability-oriented research.

Kinds of papers: The workshop will solicit papers from various disciplines with either a theoretical or empirical focus. All contributions will be expected to address both networks, learning and aspects of environmental sustainability.

Workshop format: The workshop will last from Monday, 28 September 2009 (around noon) until Tuesday, 29 September (afternoon). On Monday evening, there will be a joint dinner at a restaurant in Lüneburg’s charming historic city centre. We encourage lively, challenging debate that nonetheless is respectful of others’ home disciplines and different approaches/views to this topic. Planned theme are found below (these may change once abstracts have been received and reviewed):

    • Different theoretical and/or methodological approaches to networks (e.g. ANT, SNA)
    • Networks of different scale (local, regional, societal)
    • Networks within different environments (e.g. the Web, organizations, country versus city)
    • Policy and governance networks
    • Networks explicitly designed as ‘learning networks’ and education for sustainable development.

    Speakers will be asked to provide at least short papers (approx. 2000 words plus references) by early September, giving everyone the opportunity to prepare for the workshop.There will be a limited budget for funding travel by workshop participants. Please send your paper proposals (maximum of 300 words) to the members of the scientific committee.Time lines:

    15 July                Deadline for submission of paper proposals (abstracts)
    31 July                Notification of acceptance
    05 September      Short papers (approx. 2000 words plus references) due
    28 September      Start of workshop

    We look forward to receiving your paper proposals.

    Jens Newig
    Maik Adomßent
    Katina Kuhn
    Christina Prell
    Daniel Schulz

    25.09.2011, infu