Submissions

EPIC2009: Taking Care of Business: having an impact and staying relevant as ethnographers in today's economic climate

Papers: Abstract submission deadline March 15, 2009

Workshops: Proposal submission deadline April 22, 2009

Artifacts: Submission deadline May 3, 2009

The EPIC theme for 2009 is Taking Care of Business: having an impact and staying relevant as ethnographers in today's economic climate.

In many ways EPIC was created so we can collectively, as a community, meet annually to “take care” of what we do for a living. During the past 4 years at EPIC conferences, attendees have striven to “take care” of current and future praxes, instances and evidence of impact, our roles within various organizations, our connections to other communities, and importantly our connections to each other. In our 5th year, during a time of unprecedented global economic turmoil, we turn our attention to taking care of the state of our business.

In 2009 we will come together in Chicago, a city known - for better and for worse - for “taking care of business” - for getting things done. In Chicago tensions both productive and counter-productive have fueled the city’s progress, and we in the EPIC community likewise benefit from the energy generated by our inherent tensions (debates about who we are, where we come from, and our differing positionings with regard to industry). In 2009 our intent is to have these tensions, and our combined passion for what we do, be the groundwork for meaningful discussion about where we find ourselves now, and where we hope to go - as a community of people learning from the (in some ways improbable, remarkable, and paradoxical) encounter between the people, practices and interests of ethnography and the people, practices and interests of industry.

Submission for EPIC 2009: Taking Care of Business should explore:

Taking care of BUSINESS

• The new opportunities, and the increased urgency, to justify and demonstrate the value, contribution, impact and relevance of our work as the world reviews its priorities in the wake of the global economic crisis
• How we contribute to lowering risk, driving innovation, increasing relevance, and maximizing return on investments

Taking CARE of business

• Our ability to re-frame business models and objectives in the post-crunch world, and in so doing restoring and reviving business
• Our ability to humanize business and make it sensitive to people and cultures
• How our work can enable us to learn from where business and commerce have gone wrong, and contribute to establishing more sustainable relationships between business and society

EPIC 2009 sees the current atmosphere of uncertainty and re-evaluation ushered in by the world economic upheaval as an exciting opportunity to look afresh at how we both contribute to and shape the ends and objectives of industry and business.

It is important to emphasize that the EPIC community has formed around a very broad and inclusive definition of “Industry”, and our theme this year equally refers to “Business” in the broadest sense. We welcome submissions from across a spectrum that includes both for-profit and not-for-profit organizations.

In the attached pdf document you will find details about how to make submissions for Papers, Workshops and Artifacts

We want you and your work to be part of this discussion! Come show your stuff – submit your paper, workshop or artifact now!

Papers:
Extended Abstract Submission Deadline March 15, 2009

EPIC2009 seeks original, high-quality papers that reflect the full breadth and scope of ethnographic praxis in industry, including: conceptual development, research investigations, methodological & theoretical advances, design ideas, development experiences, discussion of what client constituencies do with findings, what constitutes successful results, considerations of representational practices and more. Submissions should report original research, reflections on theoretical concerns, methodological advances, or other insights that contribute to our understanding of ethnographic praxis in industry and help advance the state of knowledge for the community. We encourage perspectives from diverse disciplinary backgrounds.

Submissions

Submissions should draw upon work from one of these areas to highlight ethnographic praxis in a business context.

Abstracts should be submitted in .doc or .txt or .rtf format. Paper submissions must include:

1. Title
2. Author(s)’s email address, affiliation and other contact information
3. Proposed length of paper, if accepted (5 – 15 pages)
4. Extended Abstract (< 750 words)
5. Outline of full paper
6. References to relevant literature or other types of previous work, if appropriate to your submission.

Contributions submitted should not have been previously published or be under simultaneous review for any other conference, journal, workshop or other publication. Accepted papers will be included in the conference proceedings published by Wiley-Blackwell in conjunction with the American Anthropological Association (AAA) and the National Association for the Practice of Anthropology (NAPA). Authors are required to attend the conference to present their work.

Please send extended abstracts by March 15^th, 2009 to: papers@epic2009.com
In the email subject please write “EPIC2009 Papers.”

The Review Process

Abstract submissions will be put through a double blind review process; reviewers will not know who the authors are. Authors are encouraged to take care throughout the entire document to minimize references that may reveal their identities and their companies or institutions. Relevant references to an author's previous research, the corporate products or services should not be suppressed but instead referenced in a neutral way. Authors, of selected abstracts for the conference, will be expected to submit full papers for publication in the proceedings. Papers of differing length will be accepted into the conference.

The extended abstracts will be evaluated on the following criteria:

• implications for practice and theory of ethnography in business contexts;
• significance to the community;
• advancements of methods, theories, applications and representations;
• addressing the theme;
• originality, insight and creativity of the contribution.

Important Dates:

Workshops:
Proposals Submission Deadline April 22, 2009

You are invited to submit workshop proposals for EPIC2009. Workshops will take place during the conference and will form part of the main program. This year we are only accepting proposals for half-day (3 hour) workshops.

Workshops are a key part of EPIC. They are intended to provide a forum for exchanging ideas, sharing experiences, fostering conversation and research communities, learning from each other, exploring controversies, engaging in debate, envisioning future directions and elaborating new methods and perspectives.

We are flexible as to structure and focus, however workshop submissions are expected to clearly address their relationship and contribution to the theme of EPIC2009: Taking Care of Business: having an impact and staying relevant as ethnographers in today's economic climate.

Workshop activities can range from open forum discussion, to demonstrations or presentations with discussion, to collaborative activities such as structured brainstorming, illustrative games or role-plays. Whatever the focus or format, organizers will be required to schedule time for conversation, reflection, discussion, and debate. Although we envision most workshop activities to take place in one setting, let us know if your workshop will venture out into Chicago.

Your workshop proposal should include:

1. a summary of 500 words describing the theme(s) of the workshop
2. a longer detailed description of the workshop structure, activities and goals
3. the names, contact information and background of the organizer(s)
4. the maximum number of participants you'd like to attend the workshop
5. anticipated A/V requirements.

Please be as specific as possible as it helps us in selection, and in helping you plan the workshop. Please also contact us if you have an idea and would like help outlining your proposal.

Workshop participants will be registered on a first come first served basis by the conference committee, so the workshop organizers will not be able to select their participants.

Accepted workshops will be publicized via the EPIC2009 website within a month after organizers are notified. Workshop organizers will also be encouraged to promote EPIC2009 and their workshops to potential attendees. Abstracts of accepted Workshop proposals will be published in the EPIC 2009 Proceedings.

Please send proposals by April 22, 2009 to: workshops@epic2009.com
In the email subject please write “EPIC2009 Workshop Proposal”. Additionally, please include the email address of the main contact for the workshop, and any other contact details that will help us get in touch with you. Notification of acceptance notification will be by April 30, 2009.

Artefacts:
Submission Deadline May 3, 2009

The artefacts category seeks to provide participants with an opportunity to present work in a forum that facilitates open discussion and enables direct interaction with conference attendees. A dedicated session will occur in the morning of the second day of the conference to present the artefacts.

Artefacts can be anything from design sketchbooks, to reformed organizational processes, to ads you’ve produced, to products you’ve made, to short films, to conceptual objects, etc. We encourage submissions that are thought provoking and visually engaging, and which cover exploratory/speculative work, smaller projects, unusual representations of ethnographic work, and so on. The form of the presented materials is open. In keeping with the category title artefacts though, we encourage submissions based on some material instantiation that can be exhibited at the conference. Our hope is that it will be the ‘thinginess’ of the artefacts that will, in part, prompt interaction with and between conference attendees.

Submissions should include a single page describing or illustrating the proposed submission (the one page inclusive of any and all figures and references, where appropriate). This page should convey to reviewers what the artefact being submitted is and how it is hoped to provoke discussion. The page will also be included in the published conference proceedings.

Also included in the submissions should be a paragraph and image (no more that 150 words) that can be displayed on the conference website.

Please send these submission materials by May 3, 2009 to:

artifacts@epic2009.com

In the email “Subject” please write “EPIC2009 Artefacts”. Additionally, please include your email address and other contact details.

Notification of acceptance will happen by May 17, 2009. Accepted submissions will have their 150 word descriptions posted on the EPIC2009 website.
Final submission materials will be needed for the proceedings by July 26, 2009.  
The artefact itself should be transported to Chicago for the conference.