Calendar of Events

The 2011 American Studies Spring Conference will focus on how the representational challenges and possibilities of digital technologies have altered our experiences and understandings of American cultures. Visiting speakers, all of whom work in an interdisciplinary vein, will address the ways in which digital technologies have transformed public understandings of and practices within American political, academic, medical, and literary cultures. 

All events will be held at the Vanderbilt Curb Center for Art, Enterprise, and Public Policy
(1801 Edgehill Avenue) and are open to the Vanderbilt community.

Conference schedule: 

8:00-9:00 a.m.: Continental Breakfast

9:00-10:30 a.m.: Session I
Ted Striphas, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Culture, Indiana University
(Introduced by Associate Dean John M. Sloop, College and Arts and Science, Vanderbilt)
"Algorithmic Culture: Information and Crowds on and Beyond Amazon.com"

10:30-10:45 a.m.: Coffee Break

10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.: Session II
Kelly Joyce, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, College of William and Mary
and Program Director for the Science, Technology, and Society Program, National Science Foundation
(Introduced by Jill Fisher, Assistant Professor, Center for Biomedical Ethics & Society, Vanderbilt)
“A Sacred Technology? Connecting Cultural Stories about MRI to Medical Practice”

12:15-1:30 p.m.: Lunch Break

1:30-3:00 p.m.: Session III
Cara Finnegan, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University of Illinois
(Introduced by Catherine Molineux, Assistant Professor, History Department, Vanderbilt)
"The Flickr President: The Visual Politics of the Obama White House"

3:00-3:15 p.m.: Afternoon Break

3:15-4:45 p.m.: Session IV
Eszter Hargittai, Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Faculty Associate of the Institute for Policy Research, Northwestern University (Introduced by Stephen Tepper, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology and Associate Director of the Curb Center, Vanderbilt)
"Whose Voices, Whose Space? Patterns of Participation in the Digital Public Sphere"

4:45-6:00 p.m.: Wine and Cheese Reception

Need more information, contact bonnie.j.dow@vanderbilt.edu and/or laura.m.carpenter@vanderbilt.edu