CfP: “Silicon Dawn: Creative Computing in Europe 1970–2000”
![Old computer lab](https://costgrade.eu/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/banner.png)
Call for papers
Europe has a particular, but shared digital heritage, leading to a simultaneous, but divergent history in the use of computers for creative means and ends. Creative computing is understood as a result of any creative process that requires a computational platform. Examples of results that arise from using computers creatively include – among many others – cracking, chiptunes and demos. While the creative process is central to the ‘creative’ aspect of computing, there are extensive and embedded deep and broad communities and cultures that have formed around these. Some of these were specific to the time, such as cracking communities, others continue to this day, such as demoscenes and others have manifestly altered while maintaining their definition, such as school computing clubs. It is held that it is unlikely that creative computing in its historic or contemporary forms could not exist or be sustained without individual, group, community, institutional and cultural support at the local, regional, national, international or transnational level.
As early research results in the EU funded Cooperation on Science and Technology project ‘Grassroots of Digital Europe’ has shown, certain areas of Europe have received intensive analysis in the formation of computing at grassroots levels. This tends to follow a linguistic inclination towards Anglo-American studies of creative computing. These areas are important reference points and their influence is acknowledged. Nevertheless, there remains extensive geographical and topical areas throughout Europe where the use of computers for creative purposes has not been subject to sustained investigation. This collection seeks to address this gap and provide original insight into the unique features and formation of creative computing in Europe.
Recent years have seen an increased interest in the histories of creative computing, with university presses dedicating series’ towards exploring its influence in shaping the digital society of the 21st century. While welcome, US sanctioned histories of creative computing tend to skew the publication of academic research to specific audiences and can knowingly or unknowingly obfuscate the importance of overlooked or minority groups in the creation of a culture that had specialised characteristics due to its own eclecticism. This collection, published by a European university press, looks to address these structural and content gaps.
We anticipate submissions that report on results of primary research; archival research; methodologies of creative computing; theoretical and conceptual aspects of creative computing or a combination of some or all of these.
With this to the fore, we seek submissions to the edited collection, including, but not limited to, the following topics relating to creative computing in Europe:
- Individuals, communities and cultures of creative computing e.g. cracking scene, demoscene
- Creative computing in countries that no longer exist (e.g. Yugoslavia, USSR)
- The influence of creative computing on social and political movements
- Perceptions of European creative computing from outside Europe
- Comparative studies of creative computing at intra- / trans- inter- / national level
- Political economies of creative computing e.g. neoliberal, socialist, social democratic, hybrid
- The inner worlds of creative computing: ethnographies and observations
- Archival research of creative computing
- Visual sociologies of creative computing (photos, data visualisation etc)
- Women and creative computing
- Global majorities and creative computing
- Government intervention and creative computing e.g. education, prohibition, encouragement
- Other media and its influence on creative computing e.g. films, TV, music
- Creative computing and its influence on the contemporary milieu
- The boundaries of creative computing: professionalisation and professional amateurs
- Institutionalising creative computing: the role of galleries, libraries, archives and museums
- Printed media (e.g. zines, magazines) and creative computing
- Magnetic Media and creative computing: countering bitrot
- National and regional identity and creative computing
- Public policy and creative computing: promotion and regulation
- Law and legislation of creative computing
- Hardwire or hardware: jailbreaking, copying and piracy
- Recording and recoding creative computing: the Internet and social media
- Beyond the boundary: the futures of creative computing
- Greening creative computing: reducing, reusing recycling hardware and software
Timeline
Abstracts of no more than 500 words – not including references – should be sent to costgradewg1@gmail.com as a Word document by 31/07/2024. Please include a short bio for all authors of no longer than 200 words.
Notifications will be sent by 31/09/2024.
Full papers of no more than 8000 words including references will be due by 28/02/2025.
Publication will take place in August 2026.
The review process will be double blind. It will be undertaken by at least one reviewer external to the editorial team.
Development of Early Career Innovators and Researchers
One of the guiding principles of the COST network is to develop and support new researchers. The capacity building of young researchers and innovators – defined as those below the age of 40 – is one of the specific objectives of the Grassroots of Digital Europe Action. Therefore, we especially encourage the co-authoring of papers between established and early career researchers and innovators.
This has the benefit of developing new insights and ideas, supporting those who are in precarious employment to enhance their experience and allows established researchers the opportunity for mentorship. As part of this commitment to professional and personal development, the editorial team will seek to include Early Career Researchers and Innovators from across the Action to review full paper submissions.
Inclusiveness Target Countries
Working Group One seeks to research and understand the formation of Digital Grassroots Across Europe, looking at local, regional, national, international and transnational histories of creative computing. Therefore, papers that are co-authored between researchers and innovators in different countries is particularly important and welcomed. This is especially the case with collaborations between and across Inclusiveness Target Countries. ITCs within the COST network are Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Georgia, Greece, Hungary, Lithuania, Latvia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, Republic of North Macedonia, Republic of Serbia, Türkiye and Ukraine. Please consider co-authoring with members of these countries from across the Action when preparing your paper.
Editors
The editors of this collection are Natalija Majsova (natalija.majsova@fdv.uni-lj.si), Kieran Nolan (kieran.nolan@dkit.ie) and Alex Wade (alex.wade@bcu.ac.uk). Please contact them with any questions or queries that you have regarding the edited collection.
References
Albert G. and Oldenziel R. (Eds) (2014) Hacking Europe, New York: Springer.
Eve, M.P. (2021) Warez: The Infrastructure and Aesthetics of Piracy, Santa Barbara: Punctum Books.
Lovejoy, A. and Pajala M. (Eds) (2022) Remapping Cold War Media: Institutions, Infrastructure, Translations, Bloomington: Indiana University Press.
Pérez Latorre, Ó. (2013). The European videogame: An introduction to its history and creative traits. European Journal of Communication, 28(2), 136-151.
Petrov, V. (2023) Balkan Cyberia, Cambridge: MA: MIT Press.
Reunanan, M, Wasiak, P. and Botz D. (2015) ‘Crack Intros: Piracy Creativity and Social Change’ International Journal of Communication, 9(2015): 798-817 Piracy & Social Change| Crack Intros: Piracy, Creativity and Communication | Reunanen | International Journal of Communication (ijoc.org)
Schulte, S. (2008) ‘The WarGames Scenario: Regulating Teenagers and Teenaged Technology’ Television and New Media III.C.FRC-Articles_Schulte_8_TVNMedia_2008-libre.pdf (d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net) (included for the ‘first’ exposure to the Internet from US perspective).
Švelch, J. (2019) Gaming the Iron Curtain, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Swalwell, Melanie. (2021). Heterodoxy in Game History: Towards More ‘Connected Histories’. In Game History and the Local (pp. 221-233). Cham: Springer International Publishing.