The term “infrastructure” commonly refers to material or institutional circumstances of our environment such as traffic and transport facilities like roads, railways and airports, facilities of industry and trade, public administration or leisure facilities, i.e., to tangible means upon which our societies are based. Consequently, talking about “intangible infrastructures” may seem like an uncommon concept. The term “intangible” points to different areas of our lives: to invisible realms of the human existence, to intellectual or knowledge-based, to cultural or perhaps even ethical matters. Yet we are still speaking of “infrastructures” and hence imply something underlying our lives and fundamental for what we regard as a good life.
Intangible Infrastructures are based (and have impact) on tangible infrastructures. Like them, they need to be built up and maintained; they need to be cultivated and strengthened in order not to vanish or collapse. In this respect, intangible infrastructures are a necessary medium for all the different forms of social capital. In turn, they are transformed by social capital. Usability, reliability, and availability turn out to be as critical criteria as they are in the tangible world. How important is therefore access to, acceptance, and relevance of intangible infrastructures in our daily lives?

The aims of the conference are (i) to draw a map of the discourse on intangible infrastructures and (ii) to arrive at strategies of strengthening intangible infrastructures.
The conference will be held interdisciplinarily.

Abstracts (300 words) should be submitted to Andreas Koch and Elisabeth Kapferer (akoch@ifz-salzburg.at & elisabeth.kapferer@sbg.ac.at).
Deadline for submission is June 15, 2012. Notification of acceptance will be given by June 30, 2012.
Invited colleagues are asked to prepare a paper for the conference proceedings (approx. 6.000 words, published in 2013). Deadline for submitting manuscripts is October 31, 2012.

Conference fee: 60 €

For more information see the full CfP: http://www.ifz-salzburg.at/?p=7310