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Travel and leisure

Travail et loisirs

Or how is work transformed through and in entertainment and entertainment is re-qualified as work

Ou comment le travail se transforme par et dans le divertissement et comment le divertissement se requalifie en travail

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Published on Thursday, July 18, 2013

Abstract

Le colloque propose de questionner ce que le travail fait au divertissement et ce que le divertissement fait au travail ou, plus précisément, de s’arrêter sur la production contemporaine de formes hybrides entre travail et divertissement, et plus généralement travail et loisir (serious games, usages des réseaux sociaux au travail, Fab labs, médiations du travail des amateurs, etc.). Il s’agit ainsi d’étudier : comment le travail se transforme par et dans le divertissement, et comment le divertissement est qualifié en travail.

Announcement

Argument

The colloquium proposes to question what work does to entertainment and what entertainment does at work. More precisely, the colloquium will question the contemporary production of hybrid forms between work and play, and generally, work and leisure, including serious games, use of social networks at work, fablabs, media representations of work by amateurs, amongst other examples. The colloquium will consider the following two broad themes:

- How work is transformed by and within entertainment.

- How entertainment is qualified by work.

The colloquium aims to examine how these hybrid forms of activities are a continuation of the history of work and its representations, while analyzing their specificity and timeliness. If laughter, parties, informal discussions and other practices at work on-site and/or during work can be seen as recreational practices compared to professional time, activity forms that will be discussed differ in that they do not draw a line between informal recreation ("clandestine") and the institutional-professional ("productive"). The colloquium aims to better understand how these two situations contribute to the professionaliza­tion of creation, recreation and fun, putting them at the service of production and formalization of interactions and "underground" practices. Additionally, the colloquium will question work to investigate the ways in which it is exported over time and in which entertainment spaces – from play and “extra-work” in general, thus producing hybrid forms of activity. Questions on the meaning of leisure, play and entertainment, as well as the relationships that these notions have with work will be posed without reducing these elements to simple equivalents.

How can one understand this hybridization phenomenon? Is this a trend of only some occupational sectors, professions or generations, or is it a characteristic of the working world in general? How does this phenomenon make communicative uses visible? What is it symbolic or symptomatic of?

To study these types of activities, we propose four non-exclusive axes that question each one of the modes of expression of this tension and hybridization between work and play:

1/ Fun at work: a turning point for management?

Researchers have shown that productivity and fun, far from being opposing or separate spheres, are embedded in work practices. But in recent years, as part of a global movement of "gamification", there is an existing use of playful and game-based management that is used to organize work, production, "creativity" and innovation. What are the uses of play in work contexts? Is it possible to develop a typology? In what kind of world and with what categories of actors do these practices develop? How can one better understand the relationship between these practices and socio-economic, ideological and technological developments? In what ways is the game, as a concept and practice, involved in redesigning social relations within organizations?

2/ Leisure for some, work for others: the professionalization of entertainment

Entertainment itself has become a workspace for those in today’s society. On one hand because it is a distinct form of design in order to build material and symbolic frameworks in which entertainment can be deployed, including for cultural entertainment and game industries (video games, sports, game shows, theme parks, etc.) that employ thousands of people working to make the recreational activity of others (players, viewers, visitors, etc.) possible. On the other hand, because some people now earn their living via entertainment, as currently reflected in the forms of professionalization of video games (professional and amateur players, in the same way we talk about professional sports players), as well as other phenomena related to more opportunities for the monetization of online games. Economic activity within games has now become a real possibility for economic activity outside of the game.

3/ Performance of work and professionalization of the self

Far from always being in dedicated and closed frameworks, work is exposed, performed and even put on show at times. If certain trades or professions, such as on fair grounds, have long practiced the performance of work, this way of presenting work seems to be spreading. Is the employment of skills that target how to stage – or even put on show – one’s work more widespread in contemporary society? What are the specific devices and new forms of communication used in staging work? How does increasing the visibility of work transform relationships and identities at work? What imaginaries of work circulate in these forms of staging?

Conversely, the show becomes increasingly considered as work, even if it is careful to give the impression that it is entertainment. This is the case in many productions in cultural industries. How are these forms of labor in entertainment and media organizations involved in transforming the perception of work? What are the imaginaries associated with logics to make work more visible?

4/ Hybridization of places/time at work/leisure

With industrialization, work found its place in traditionally dedicated spaces (factories, workshops, etc.), but also in daily, weekly and yearly dedicated times (schedules, holidays, vacations, etc.). These places and times drew a symbolic border between the set of activities that one did and that were defined as paid work or other types of activities, including that of relaxation and entertainment.

With the 1970s and the "dematerialization of work" movement, remote work in all its forms – from the established to the most ephemeral and informal – witnessed these symbolic boundaries begin to blur in space and in time. Work situations have since been reconfigured outside of devoted space and time using various tools, including home offices for "teleworkers", smart phones in coffee shops, or using yellow crime scene tape to signify work zones in atypical spaces.

These reconfigurations lead to an import phenomenon of work into entertainment that, in current forms, is representative of an emerging model. Fablabs, Techshops, Makerspaces or Hackerspaces are all spaces in which individuals with a common interest in a given area (computer science, art and design, science, etc.) meet and collaborate. Do these places, between craft and manual work, hobby and exchange of professional skills, define "third- party activities" that are neither laborious nor recreation?

Colloquium Scope

The colloquium will take into account recent and emerging economic developments from a global perspective. It will also have an international dimension and involve researchers from several disciplines who question work, entertainment and their associated relationships (information and communication sciences, education, sociology, anthropology, history, etc.). Practitioners will also be invited to offer hybrid perspectives dedicated to the encounter between work and play.

Submissions guidelines

Paper proposals may be dedicated to a limited field of analysis or provide a more general theoretical analysis, such as highlighting a set of current research problems.

All proposals should be described in a written summary of 6,000 characters maximum.

The first page, separated from the body of the proposal, should include:

  • The colloquium axis for the submission
  • A title in French and English
  • The first and last name, institutional affiliation (research lab, university, and/or institution) and contact information (full address, email address and telephone number) of each author
  • 4-5 keywords in French and English

The body of the proposal should repeat the title.

Submissions should be made in RTF format with the names of authors (example: AUTEUR1AUTEUR2.RTF) and be sent

before 15 October 2013,

as an attachment by email to the following address: colloque.travail-loisirs@celsa.paris-sorbonne.fr

Proposals may be submitted in French or English.

Selection, Communication and Publication

Qualified acceptances of papers will be given by the Research committee in November 2013. The submission and acceptance of a written final text will be required in order to participate in the colloquium. Final texts of all selected submissions will be published and colloquium proceedings will be distributed on 11 June 2014.

Calendar

  • Proposals submission deadline: 15 October 2013

  • Research committee response: November 2013
  • Final paper submissions: 15 Jan 2014
  • Colloquium dates: 11-13 June 2014 at CELSA Université Paris-Sorbonne, France (77 rue de Villiers, 92200 Neuilly-sur-Seine, France)

Research Committee

  • Chair: Véronique Richard, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Olivier Aïm, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Arlette Bouzon, LERASS, Université Toulouse 3 – Paul Sabatier
  • Gilles Brougère, EXPERICE, Université Paris 13
  • Sophie Corbillé, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Olivia Foli, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Valérie Jeanne-Perrier, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Sarah Labelle, LabSIC, Université Paris 13
  • Emmanuelle Lallement, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Christian Le Moënne, PREFics, Université de Rennes 2
  • Michèle Gellereau, GERiiCO, Université Lille 3
  • Sophie Pène, laboratoire, Paris Design Lab, ENSCI & Université Paris 5
  • Jean Pralong, Rouen Business School
  • Aude Seurrat, LabSIC, Université Paris 13
  • Julien Tassel, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Hécate Vergopoulos, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne

Organization Committee

  • Chair: Yves Jeanneret, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Asmaa Aziza, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Juliette Charbonneaux, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Odile Cortinovis, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Thierry Devars, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Camille Jutant, Paris Design Lab, ENSCI
  • Julie Pasquer, LLC, Université d’Avignon
  • Pierre-Michel Riccio, LGI2P, Ecole des Mines d'Alès
  • Marion Rollandin, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Kyle Schneider, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne
  • Emeline Seignobos, GRIPIC, CELSA – Université Paris-Sorbonne

Places

  • 77 rue de Villiers
    Neuilly-sur-Seine, France (92)

Date(s)

  • Tuesday, October 15, 2013

Keywords

  • travail, loisirs, ludicisation, hybridation, divertissement, médiation, management, serious games, Fab labs

Contact(s)

  • Odile Cortinovis
    courriel : odile [dot] cortinovis [at] sorbonne-universite [dot] fr

Information source

  • Odile Cortinovis
    courriel : odile [dot] cortinovis [at] sorbonne-universite [dot] fr

License

CC0-1.0 This announcement is licensed under the terms of Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal.

To cite this announcement

« Travel and leisure », Call for papers, Calenda, Published on Thursday, July 18, 2013, https://doi.org/10.58079/o1i

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