Association for the Rhetoric of Science & Technology (ARST) Preconference,
held in conjunction with the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA) biennial conference
The Loews Philadelphia Hotel
Philadelphia, PA, USA
May 24-25, 2012

Call for Papers or Extended Abstracts
The Association for the Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) seeks competitive papers and extended abstracts addressing the broad theme of “Medicine, Health, & Publics” for its 2012 preconference, held in conjunction with the biennial meeting of the Rhetoric Society of America (RSA), on May 24-25, 2012, at the Loews Philadelphia Hotel, 1200 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA, USA. The RSA will meet from May 25-28, 2012.

Preconference Theme
Health and medicine occupy increasingly prominent places in public discourse with citizen advocates playing significant roles in developing, engaging, and critiquing biomedical texts and practices. But how, exactly, have diverse stakeholders used rhetoric to shape the discourses and practices of health and medicine? This preconference will address the multiple ways that publics and the medical establishment mutually influence one another. Preconference papers should extend theory, criticism, and/or practice related to the rhetoric of medicine and publics by addressing one or more of the following themes: the roles of new media in health advocacy, the place of direct-to-consumer advertisements in public health discourse, the successes and failures of health-related social movements, expert and lay health risk discourses, biomedical stakeholder engagement initiatives, the construction of publics in medical rhetoric, or any another topic that directly speaks to the preconference theme. Papers and presentations reflecting diverse methods spanning conventional and critical-cultural rhetorical analysis, ethnography, interviewing, discourse analysis, and hybrid methods are welcome. The strongest submissions may be invited for revision for publication in a forthcoming special issue of the Journal of Medical Humanities on “Medicine, Health, and Publics,” edited by Lisa Keränen.

Submission Instructions
Please submit papers of no more than 9,000 words (abstract and references included) or extended presentation abstracts of up to 1,000 words (references included) as a Word file or pdf (with author name, affiliation, and any identifying data removed from both the manuscript and the file name) to Lisa Keränen at lisa [dot] keranen [at] ucdenver [dot] edu by October 15, 2011. Files that contain information that would help reviewers identify the author will be returned without review. Include author names, affiliations, and complete contact information in the email accompanying the submission and use the subject line “ARST Preconference Submission.” ARST will assess a $25 conference registration fee to those attending the preconference.

For More Information
Visit the ARST website at: http://www.arstonline.org for information about ARST.
Access the Journal of Medical Humanities at: http://www.springer.com/new+%26+forthcoming+titles+(default)/journal/10912.
Visit the RSA website at: http://rhetoricsociety.org.

For information about the preconference, contact:
Lisa Keränen, ARST Second Vice-President
Department of Communication
University of Colorado Denver, Campus Box 176
Denver CO 80217
Email: lisa [dot] keranen [at] ucdenver [dot] edu

Best Article on Philosophy or Theory of Technical or Scientific Communication: Awarded to Scott Graham of the Department of English at Iowa State University for his study of the role of positron emission tomography in debates over the legitimacy of fibromyalgia.

Best Article Reporting Historical Research or Textual Studies in Technical or Scientific Communication: Awarded to Catherine Schryer (Professional Communication, Ryerson University), Elena Afros (Linguistics, University of Waterloo), Marcellina Mian (Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College), Marlee Spafford (School of Optometry, University of Waterloo), and Lorelei Lingard (Wilson Center for Research in education and Department of Pediatrics, University of Toronto) for their study of the rhetorical and linguistic strategies used on forensic letters documenting child abuse.

Best Article Reporting Qualitative or Quantitative Research in Technical or Scientific Communication: Awarded to Christa Teston from the Writing Arts Department at Rowan University for her grounded theory investigation of tumor board deliberations.

Best Original Collection of Essays in Technical or Scientific Communication: Awarded to Christina Haas of the Department of Writing Studies, University of Minnesota for her work assembling and editing the special issue of Written Communication on writing and medicine.

Outstanding Dissertation Award in Technical Communication: Awarded to Colleen Derkatch from the English Department at the University of British Columbia for her investigation of the relationship between complementary and alternative medical practices and evidence-based medicine.

Bibliography of Award Winners
Derkatch, C. (2009). Rhetorical boundaries in the ‘new science’ of alternative medicine. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC.

Graham, S.S. (2009). Agency and the rhetoric of medicine: Biomedical brain scans and the ontology of fibromyalgia. Technical Communication Quarterly 18(4), 376-404.

Haas, C., (Ed.). (2009). Special Issue on Writing and Medicine. Written Communication 26(3)-25(4).

Schryer, C. F., Afros, E., Mian, M., Spafford, M.M., Lingard, L.A. (2009).The trial of the expert witness: Negotiating credibility in court documents in child abuse cases. Written Communication 26(3), 215-246.

Teston, C. (2009). A grounded investigation of genred guidelines in cancer care deliberations. Written Communication 26(3), 320-340.

ASSOCIATION FOR RHETORIC OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

NCA Pre-Conference Theme:  “Communication: Inquiry, Energy, and Risk”

Deadline: Monday, April 18, 2011

The Association for Rhetoric of Science and Technology (ARST) will host its annual pre-conference prior to NCA. We invite submissions of works in various stages of progress, including non-traditional presentations or projects. Presentations addressing the ways in which communication impacts the production, dissemination, and utilization of scientific and/or technological knowledge are welcome. Participating ARST pre-conference panelists will be invited to develop position papers with their fellow panelists during the pre-conference session for eventual submission to the Project on the Rhetoric of Inquiry, An Interdisciplinary Journal of Rhetorical Analysis and Invention (POROI): http://ir.uiowa.edu/poroi/. POROI Editor David Depew will be in attendance.

This year the theme of the pre-conference will focus on “Communication: Inquiry, Energy, and Risk.” Energy is a central term in many discourses, used both metaphorically and literally, and can be defined broadly. Environmental and human-induced disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, the BP Oil Spill, and the Japanese nuclear emergency, underscore the risk yoked to energy production. Scholarship can make sense of contrasting definitions and their persuasive functions around our energy futures in the face of these risks, whether around nuclear energy, the volatility of prices for fuel and food, the proposal and rejection of carbon cap-and-trade, or the stimulus package’s focus on wind and solar production.

Please submit your 250 word abstract proposals to Aimee-Marie Dorsten, Wilson College, adorsten@wilson.edu, by Friday, April 22, 2011. Include your name, the names of any co-presenters, your address, email, and school affiliation. Please write: “ARST NCA Pre-conference” in the Subject line. We look forward to your joining us for what should be an enjoyable pre-conference. For more information on ARST, visit http://www.arstonline.org/.

This may be of interest to some of you—I can imagine they may be interested in a special issue dealing specifically with medical rhetoric.

From their website,

Philosophy & Technology publishes:

• research articles, presenting original results (usually no longer than 10,000 words);
• target articles with invited, short commentaries, directing attention to interesting, new theoretical ideas. Target articles are selected by the editorial board among the research articles accepted for publication. Commentaries may include revised reviews of the original submission;
• review articles (usually no longer than 10,000 words), which comprehensively synthesise and critically assess recent, original works or a selected collection of thematically related books, in important areas of research in philosophy of technology;
• commentaries, brief (maximum 2,000 words) articles that comment on articles published previously;
• book symposia, in which up to four commentators are invited to debate an influential book with the author, who answers with a concluding reply (total length usually no longer than 10,000 words). A symposium might revisit a book and its impact a decade or more after its appearance;
• special issues, in which an expert collaborates with the journal as a guest editor, in order to identify an interesting topic in philosophy of technology, and interacts with the selected contributors, being in charge of a whole issue of the journal. The journal strongly encourages submissions of collections of high-quality papers on well-defined topics presented at academic meetings (e.g. a workshop, a conference, or a symposium). It invites potential guest-editors, who might be interested in collecting and editing such special issue, to contact the Assistant Editor as early as possible in order to discuss the feasibility of the project;
• focused debates, collecting submissions and invited articles around a particular theme, as part of a normal issue of the journal.
• Authors wishing to submit a reply article, or a proposal for a review article, a book symposium, a special issue or a focused debate, are invited to contact the Assistant Editor for further information.

Please add (via comments) ideas for the subject of our SIG. You might recall that SIGs are to be held like business meetings. One obvious topic for discussion is planning for next year’s Cs–a possible Roundtable or some such. Other topics, areas of concern, possibilities for advocacy or outreach? Comment below…

…

Would anyone like to post thoughts, ideas about plans for MedRhet roundtables, panels, or a SIG at CCCC 2011?

The deadline is right around the corner, but I seem to recall at this year’s SIG some preference for a roundtable over a SIG?

Thoughts? Ideas?

In 1990, MIT Press published Representation in Scientific Practice, edited by Michael Lynch and Steve Woolgar. The volume included papers by Bruno Latour, Karin Knorr-Cetina, John Law, and others on the then-emerging topic of visualization in science. The book’s treatment of the production and communication of visual images and other inscriptions in the sciences helped coalesce a long-standing interest in visualization in the history, philosophy and sociology of science. Since then a new generation of Science Studies scholars has taken inspiration from many of the key essays in the book, and it still stands as a touchstone for current investigations.

However, the two decades since the publication of Representation in Scientific Practice have also seen important changes in visualization practices in the sciences. Current research on visualization in science explores novel forms of image production, from biomedical imaging such as MRI and PET scans, to digital image processing and on-screen interactions, to nanoscale tactile and haptic visualizations. This research takes into account how massive datasets now demand new visualization tools and skills, and how simulation environments must be crafted in fields ranging from surgical theatres to robotics to cell biology. Efforts to articulate these developments have led scholars to explore theoretical themes and topics that were not central to the original volume, including identity, privacy and ownership, the digital and the analog, mobility, and embodiment.

As a result of these changes, both in representational practices in the sciences and in the theoretical treatment they receive within Science and Technology Studies, we believe that it is time for a New Representation in Scientific Practice, with Catelijne Coopmans and Janet Vertesi joining the original co-editors Lynch and Woolgar. We envision a collection of chapters by a new generation of scholars whose work on images is influential and dynamic, opening up novel avenues for research.

We are looking for studies of representation in scientific practice that touch on at least one topical area within the sciences. They could either engage novel representational practices or propose new ways of understanding well-known techniques or approaches. In their theoretical treatment of this subject matter, contributions must offer specific and novel implications for the study of imaging and scientific visualization, broadly conceived.

Potential contributors should email a 300-500 word abstract to repscipractice2@gmail.com no later than May 30, 2010. Informal enquiries to this address are also welcome. Name and institutional affiliation of author(s) should be supplied with the abstract. Proposals will be reviewed by the editors, and authors will be notified by July 15, 2010. Those who are invited to submit a full paper for consideration will need to do so by October 1, 2010. Publication of the volume is expected in 2012.

Michael Lynch, Steve Woolgar, Janet Vertesi, Catelijne Coopmans

Via, sent to me by Brian McNely.

Le role des mitochondries, illus. by J. M. Folon

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