Hello all, Our Denver meetings are coming soon. ASA President Erik Wright has pulled some of the information for us on thematic sessions that might be of interest (including one that features my former UW colleague John Gastil who does fascinating work on small group communication and deliberative democracy). In good news, we are co-sponsoring a thematic session for 2013 (but more on that later). In the next couple of weeks, I'll compile a list for CITASA members of both section events *and* sessions of potential interest. If you're on a session not sponsored by CITASA and you think members would like to know about it, please email me the details and I'll include it on the list. In the meantime, save the date of Sunday evening for our annual party. Looking forward to seeing you in Denver! Best, Dr. Gina Neff Assistant Professor Department of Communication University of Washington Chair, Communication and Information Technologies Section, American Sociological Association<http://citasa.org/> Author, Venture Labor: Work and the Burden of Risk in Innovative Industries<http://www.amazon.com/Venture-Labor-Innovative-Industries-Technology/dp/0262017482> (MIT Press, 2012) From: Erik Olin Wright [mailto:wright@ssc.wisc.edu] Sent: Wednesday, July 04, 2012 3:52 PM To: Gina Neff Subject: some Real Utopia sessions the ASA of potential interest to the ASA section on Communications and Information Technology Dear Members of the ASA section on Communications and Information Technology -- As I am sure all of you know, the theme of this year's ASA meeting is "Real Utopias: emancipatory projects, institutional designs, possible futures." One part of the program revolves around a series of "real utopia proposals" that explore radical alternatives to existing institutions around a wide variety of substantive topics. As these proposals are completed, they are being posted on page in the ASA Website dedicated to these sessions (http://www.realutopias.com/index.php?page_id=7) so that people can read them ahead of time and leave comments if they wish. At the sessions themselves, the author of the proposal will present the basic principles of the institutional design with at most one discussant so that most of the session can involve discussion from the floor. Many of these sessions will be, I hope, of considerable interest to members of the ASA section on Communications and Information Technology. Below is a list of all of the proposal sessions, but I would especially call your attention to the following which revolve directly around communications issues: A Democratic Media System (two proposals, one by Bob McChesney and one by Bill Gamson); From a Transparent State to a Transparent Society (Archon Fung); Making Direct Democracy Deliberative through Random Assemblies (John Gastil); and Reviving Democratic Citizenship (Bruce Ackerman). This is an experiment to see if we can intensify the level of interaction and engagement at the ASA meetings, so I would encourage as many of you as are interested to leave comments on the website. See you in Denver! Erik [cid:part2.08080403.05060901@ssc.wisc.edu] -- Erik Olin Wright Vilas Distinguished Professor President, American Sociological Association Department of Sociology University of Wisconsin - Madison 1180 Observatory Drive Madison, WI 53706 tel 608-262-0068 website: www.ssc.wisc.edu/~wright<http://www.ssc.wisc.edu/%7Ewright>