Symposium | Queer Joy as a Digital Good Event

This symposium builds on the work of the Queer Joy as a Digital Good , funded by ESRC’s Digital Good Network .

We understand queer joy as the expression of queer identity and life unencumbered by standards of cis-hetero-patriarchal propriety and palatability. We work from the premise that queer joy is a societal good, and that queer joy in online spaces is therefore a digital good. In our project, we make the case for conceptualising the express facilitation of queer joy online as a possibility for a good digital society that benefits each users, platforms, and policy. In an age of increasing hyper-visibility for queer people, there are all too many examples of queerphobic political regress and its mediatisation online. As such, we foreground queer joy as a practice of personal and collective resilience amidst a socio-political landscape of increasing queerphobia. In so doing, we contend that the affordances digital technologies have for enabling joy are vital indicators of its contribution to a good digital society.

We invite you to attend or to watch some of the talks/sessions via a livestream. However, we have limited space available for in-person attendance - and have to allocate space on a first-come, first-served basis - so please do let us know if you change your mind about joining us on campus.

Please contact Lexi Webster if you would like to attend or have any questions.

Programme

9.30am-10am: Arrival and registration

10am-10.30am: Welcome - introducing Queer Joy as a Digital Good

10.30am-11am: Networking and ice-breaker activities

11am-12 noon: Session 1 - Masculinity and joy

12 noon-1pm: Lunch

1pm-2pm: Session 2 - Lived experiences of working and being whilst queer in a digital world

2pm-2.15pm: Afternoon break

2.15pm-3.15pm: Session 3 - Enabling joy in digital contexts

3.15pm-3.45pm: Session 4 - How queer joy builds community

3.45pm-4pm: Closing remarks - towards a future of queer joy