SHOT@50: Looking Beyond - Society for the History of Technology 2008 Annual Conference :: October 11-14, 2008 :: Lisbon :; Call for Proposals - Deadline: March 14, 2008.

The Society for the History of Technology will continue the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Society. The theme of last year’s conference was “SHOT@50: Looking Back.” This year’s will be “SHOT@50: Looking Beyond.” To that end, the Program Committee seeks papers or sessions for the 2008 meeting that concern the history of technology as it may or ought to be practiced in the future. Papers or sessions devoted to the question of how we shall write the history of technology in the future are particularly encouraged. To serve the purpose of “Looking Beyond” the Committee also appreciates papers or panels reaching out beyond SHOT’s current disciplinary boundaries. The Committee will also consider papers of high quality on any aspect of the history of technology, broadly defined.

The Committee welcomes proposals for individual papers or sessions, as well as works-in-progress from researchers of all stripes (including graduate students, chaired professors, and independent scholars). It welcomes proposals from those new to SHOT, regardless of discipline. The committee will also consider alternative venues for presenting one’s scholarship, such as poster sessions, short (8-minute) quick sessions, author-meets-critics panels, discussion of pre-circulated papers, and others.

Proposals for individual papers must include:

1) a one-page abstract (maximum 600 words)
2) a one-page curriculum vitae, including current postal and e-mail addresses

Proposals for complete sessions must include:

1) a description of the session that explains how individual papers contribute to an overall theme.
2) the names and paper titles of the presenters
3) for each presenter, a one-page summary (maximum 600 words) of the paper’s topic, argument(s), and evidence used
4) for the commentator, chair, and each presenter: one-page c.v., with postal and e-mail addresses

Please indicate if a proposal is sponsored by one of SHOT’s special interest groups.

Submission Instructions

1) Materials should be sent as a single text attachment to an e-mail message to the Program Committee Chair, Martina Hessler, at: shot [at] em.uni-frankfurt.de

2) Proposals for complete sessions as well as individual papers shall be submitted in one file.

3) Please adhere to the 600-word limit for each paper. Use no unusual fonts or special formatting, and save your attachment either as a Microsoft Word document (.doc) or as a Rich Text Format (.rtf) file. Nearly all word processing programs, including those used on the Macintosh, can save text in the Rich Text Format. Do not use Adobe Acrobat (pdf).

4) Name your attachment with your last name and the word ‘proposal’, e.g. ‘Smith_proposal.doc’.

5) A session organizer should also deliver a description of the overall session. If you are organizing a session and proposing a paper in that session, you will be delivering both an “abstract” and “proposal”, plus your c.v.

6) If you are proposing a non-traditional session you may indicate that in the “abstract.” These also require a curriculum vitae.