ICOAH 2022 : The 9th International Conference on Arts and Humanities

The International Institute of Knowledge Management (TIIKM) in collaboration with Concordia University (Montreal, Canada) is pleased to invite abstracts for its 9th International Conference on Arts and Humanities (ICOAH) 2022, which will be held remotely on 15-16 September 2022 in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The theme of the conference is “technological transformations”.

Our time is marked by an exponential technological growth that transforms the nature of every aspect of our lives: our relationships with other people, our jobs, our engagement with money, the ways in which me make and share works of art, our familial realities, our safety on- and off-line, our physical and mental health, our privacy and freedoms, the nature of our politics, the wars we fight, and indeed the ways we perceive reality itself. As author Azeem Azhar writes in his book Exponential (2021), “A new technology might at first cause a small social change – but one that eventually spirals into major repercussions for the whole of society…a phase transition has been reached, and we are witnessing our systems transforming before our very eyes. Water is becoming steam.”

ICOAH 2022 will be a global platform for artists, researchers, academics, educators, technologists, art administrators, policymakers, advocates, media specialists, cultural community activists, and social scientists to collaborate in exploring the many promises and dangers of technological growth; and the roles of the arts and humanities in technological innovation, in investigating its ethics, and its effects on society and individuals. We will consider questions about our technological futures: What usefulness will humans have to AI beings when AI surpasses human intelligence and most labour is replaced by machines? What will be the nature of human life in a virtual-panopticon world, in which our actions, feelings, and thoughts are constantly monitored and recorded? Will humanity become more responsible or enslaved? (Bauman & Lyon, 2013). How can humanity prevent an economic / political / human-rights-oriented collapse resulting from irresponsible and unethical technological developments—particularly in artificial intelligence and autonomous systems (Pereira & Saptawijaya, 2016; Bringsjord & Govindarajulu, 2018)?

Join us and share your ongoing projects, creations, research, knowledge, questions, and experiences. We welcome abstracts of 150 to 200 words. Proposals may include papers, technological demonstrations, workshops, panels, and art presentations that are relevant (but not limited) to:

Technophilosophy, Technoethics
The societal, individual, physical, and ethical impacts of innovations in Artificial intelligence, Deep tech, Robotics, Bionics, Virtual reality
Technological creations and innovations in the arts
Virtual, augmented, mixed, extended, and real realities (VR, AR, MR, ER, RR)
Videogames
Videogames
Arts and technology in the Anthropocene
“The Internet as Art” (Virginia Heffernan)
Technological innovation and the perpetuation of systems of power
Artificial Intelligence and politics
Electronic colonialism
Technological racism (e.g. racial discrimination in face recognition tech)
Artificial Intelligence and the end of human labour
The effects of technology on freedoms
The singularity
Invisible technologies
AI in homes
The Internet of Things
Mass surveillance, the “panopticon”
“Life after privacy” (Firmin DeBrabander)
Technological social design
Big Tech and persuasive design
Immersive technologies and business
Environmental impacts of the technological age
Cryptoeconomics and Non-fungible tokens (NFTs)
Crowd-based capitalism (Uber, AirBnB, etc.)
Cyberlaw, Cybersecurity, hacking and Cybercrime
Cyberwarfare
Hacktivism
Technology and cultural heritage preservation
The history and future of technology
Technology and indigenous cultures
Social media, public shaming, and cancel culture
Social networks and political disruptions
Technology and social psychology
Crowdsourcing
The cloud revolution and information technology
Technology and the body
Technology and disability
Technology and neurodiversity
Technology and perception
Technology and religion
Technology and health
Technological dependencies and addictions
Creativity, imagination, advocacy, and activism in the technological age

These and all other topics in the arts and humanities are welcome.