May 2012 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

REMINDER: Deadline Approaching Convergence SPECIAL ISSUE Mobility and mobile media in Brazil
by Isabel Froes 14 May '12

14 May '12

**** Apologies for multiple copies due to cross-posting **** **** Please forward to anyone who might be interested **** Convergence: The international journal of research into new media technologies SPECIAL ISSUE *Mobility and mobile media in Brazil* * * *Edited by:* Adriana de Souza e Silva (North Carolina State University) Isabel Froes (IT University of Copenhagen) * * *REMINDER:* One month left until the full paper deadline! Full papers:* June 15th, 2012.* Kind regards, Isabel Fróes and Adriana de Souza e Silva *Important dates:* Full papers:* June 15th, 2012* (8000/9000 words, including references) *in English.* - Full papers will undergo a double blind-review process; - Submissions may be in the form of empirical research studies or theory-building papers; - For formatting guidelines, please see: * http://www.uk.sagepub.com/msg/conv.htm#HOWTOSUBMITYOURMANUSCRIPT* ** - Papers must also include: - a brief biography of the author(s), - 250-word abstract, and - 6 keywords. *Proposals and inquiries should be sent electronically to Isabel Froes (** icgf(a)itu.dk* <icgf(a)itu.dk>*).* *Early submissions are greatly appreciated!* By the second decade of the 21st century, mobile phones have reached saturation levels in many countries in the world, surpassing the number of landlines and personal computers. Although initial scholarly interest on the social use of mobile phones focused on Europe, Asia, and the United States, the impact of mobile phone on the developing world (or Global South) is increasingly evident and perhaps much more profound. For many, the mobile device is the first phone, the first internet connection, the first TV set, and the first global positioning system. Among developing nations, Brazil is a key site for studying the social dimension of mobile technologies. The country is part of the so-called BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China), an acronym that refers to fast-growing developing economies. Brazil is the fastest growing economy in Latin America, and has over 217 million mobile phones, which represents an average of 111 working devices per 100 inhabitants. The country has also experienced one of the fastest mobile phone growth rates in the world since 2005 (averaging 16.6% annually); is the largest mobile phone market in Latin America; and is the fifth-largest mobile market in the world in absolute numbers, with roughly 217 million subscriptions as of September 2011. However, numbers alone reveal little if not analyzed within a broader social, cultural, and economic framework. The focus on a homogeneous large-scale market leads to overly sanguine perspectives that often obscure how socioeconomic diversity causes and reflects mobile phone use. As in many developing countries, Brazil has astounding income gaps among different sectors of the population, which influence and are influenced by technology development and use. For example, the use of high-end services such as mobile banking, and location-based services like * Foursquare *and *Yelp *is an intrinsic part of the daily mobile practices of the high-income population in the country. Conversely, the lower-income population in Rio de Janeiro is familiar with the *diretão*—a mobile phone that allows users to make clandestine calls to anywhere in the world with the use of an illegal sim card. However, Brazil has also been at the forefront of an experimental and innovative approach towards new technologies, forecasted in cultural events that focus on art, music and film festivals dedicated to new and creative uses of mobile technologies, such as the Mobilefest and Arte.mov. Despite this cultural and socio-economic diversity, and the relevance of its marketing, the social use and development of mobile phones in Brazil is largely under theorized and poorly studied. With the goal of contributing to bridge this gap, this special edition invites essays that critically investigate the inter-relations among mobile technologies, culture, and social development within the Brazilian society. *Submitted manuscripts are encouraged (but not limited) to focus on:* (1) History of mobile phones in Brazil. Essays are encouraged to explore the development of mobile phones in Brazil, comparing them to the landline infrastructure and internet growth within the Latin America socio-economic and political framework. Authors may explore the development and use of new mobile services, such as the mobile internet, text messaging, mobile apps, etc. (2) Social uses and appropriation of mobile phones. We welcome essays as empirical or theoretical studies dealing with the use and appropriation of technology by low-income communities. Of special interest are essays that explore how mobile and wireless technologies reconfigure the life of community dwellers and how people find new and unexpected uses for existing technologies. (3) Mobile art and games. We invite essays that investigate mobile phones as artistic and gaming interfaces, including essays that explore uses of hybrid reality, location-aware and pervasive activities in educational contexts, media arts, and gaming. (4) Location-based services. Submitted essays should investigate the uses and development of location-based services in Brazil, such as mobile annotation, location-based social networks, and mobile mapping. * * *About the editors:* Adriana de Souza e Silva is Associate Professor at the Department of Communication at North Carolina State University (NCSU), affiliated faculty at the Digital Games Research Center, and Interim Associate Director of the Communication, Rhetoric and Digital Media (CRDM) program at NCSU.Dr. de Souza e Silva's research focuses on how mobile and locative interfaces shape people's interactions with public spaces and create new forms of sociability. She teaches classes on mobile technologies, location-based games and internet studies. Dr. de Souza e Silva is the co-editor (with Daniel M. Sutko) of Digital Cityscapes—Merging digital and urban playspaces (Peter Lang, 2009), the co-author (with Eric Gordon) of the book Net-Locality: Why location matters in a networked world (Blackwell, 2011), and the co-author (with Jordan Frith) of Mobile interfaces in public spaces: Control, privacy, and urban sociability (Routledge, 2012). Isabel Fróes has received her Masters degree from the Interactive Telecommunications Programme at New York University (NYU) and a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from Pontifícia Universidade Católica, Rio de Janeiro, PUC-RJ in Brazil. She is a lecturer at the IT University of Copenhagen (Denmark), where she works both as a practitioner and scholar in the fields of communication, mobility, art and design. With a focus towards valuable interactions between people and technology, her research analyzes the future implications and current uses of digital media. In her courses she taps into the value of interactive elements in every arena and explores how they could affect the ways new concepts and activities are developed in distinct fields. She has presented some of these thoughts at various events such as the AAM conference (2009), and the IXDA South America (2010,2011). She has taught various courses at Danish institutions such as IT University of Copenhagen, University of Copenhagen and Kolding School of Design as well as Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Querétaro in Mexico. *Proposals and inquiries should be sent electronically to Isabel Froes (** icgf(a)itu.dk* <icgf(a)itu.dk>*).* -- Isabel Froes Adjunkt Professor/Ekstern Lektor Masters i Interaktionsdesign (MIND) IT University of Copenhagen Rued Langgaards Vej 7 DK-2300 Copenhagen S Denmark http://www.itu.dk/

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Ways of Virtual World-making: Actors and Avatars
by Sisse Siggaard Jensen 13 May '12

13 May '12

My doctoral disputats: Ways of Virtual-World-making: Actors and Avatars, Roskilde Universitetsforlag (Roskilde University Press), e-books (worlds.ruc.dk/archives/4111<http://worlds.ruc.dk/archives/4111>) has been accepted for a public defense for the doctoral degree Dr. Phil. The defense will take place: Friday June 1, 1- 5 pm (GMT+1) in Biografen, Roskilde University. www.ruc.dk/om-universitetet/ankomst-til-ruc<http://www.ruc.dk/om-universitetet/ankomst-til-ruc>. It is streamed on the University's website and you can find a link to the stream on the Virtual Worlds Research Project's blog: worlds.ruc.dk<http://worlds.ruc.dk/>. Opponents are: Professor Jay D. Bolter, Georgia Institute of Technology, Professor Andrew Burn, London University, Professor Kim C. Schrøder, Roskilde University (chair). Sisse ;-) ----- Sisse Siggaard Jensen, Ph.D., Professor of Digital Communication, forskning.ruc.dk/site/person/sisse<http://forskning.ruc.dk/site/person/sisse> Dept. for Communication, Business and Information Technologies, Roskilde University, sisse(a)ruc.dk<mailto:sisse@ruc.dk>, +45 4674 3771, +45 2092 6094, worlds.ruc.dk<http://worlds.ruc.dk>

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Amateurism?
by Tyler Bickford 13 May '12

13 May '12

Hi all, As part of a project I'm working on, I'm interested in finding literature on amateurism and the internet, especially involving entertainment, music performance, and youtube/video sharing (the sweet spot would center on Justin Bieber, Ellen, Rebecca Black, etc), but I'm certainly open to broader perspectives. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated! Thanks much, Tyler ________ Tyler Bickford, PhD Core Lecturer Columbia University tb2139(a)columbia.edu 845-418-4049 http://www.tylerbickford.com

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New Publication: Migration, Diaspora and Information Technology in Globla Societies
by J.Vincent＠surrey.ac.uk 11 May '12

11 May '12

Some members of this list are contributors to a new Routledge volume selected for their Research in Information Technology and Society series. It is peer reviewed and contains exciting and topical new work discussing the role of new media in the lives of migrants. Journal articles are currently proposed to continue discussion of the themes in this volume and if you are interested in contributing a review do get in touch. Regards Jane Jane Vincent PhD FRSA Visiting Fellow Digital World Research Centre Department of Sociology Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences University of Surrey Stag Hill Guildford Surrey GU2 7XH UK www.dwrc.surrey.ac.uk<http://www.dwrc.surrey.ac.uk/> mailto: j.vincent(a)surrey.ac.uk<mailto:j.vincent@surrey.ac.uk> http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415887090/ Migration, Diaspora and Information Technology in Global Societies Edited by Leopoldina Fortunati<http://www.routledge.com/books/search/author/leopoldina_fortunati/>, Raul Pertierra<http://www.routledge.com/books/search/author/raul_pertierra/>, Jane Vincent<http://www.routledge.com/books/search/author/jane_vincent/> Series: Routledge Research in Information Technology and Society<http://www.routledge.com/books/series/SE0448/> Description Migrants and diaspora communities are shaped by their use of information and communication technologies. This book explores the multifaceted role played by new media in the re-location of these groups of people, assisting them in their efforts to defeat nostalgia, construct new communities, and keep connected with their communities of origin. Furthermore, the book analyses the different ways in which migrants contribute, along with natives, in co-constructing contemporary societies – a process in which the cultures of both groups are considered. Drawing on contributions from a range of disciplines including sociology, anthropology, psychology and linguistics, it offers a more profound understanding of one of the most significant phenomena of contemporary international societies – the migration of nearly a billion people worldwide - and the relationship between technology and society. Preface: Mediating a Restless World Daniel Miller. Introduction: Migrations and Diasporas: Making Their World Elsewhere Leopoldina Fortunati, Raul Pertierra and Jane Vincent Theme 1: Conceptual Perspectives of Migrants in Post-Modern Societies 1. New Media, Migrations and Culture: From Multi to Interculture Giuseppe Mantovani 2. From English to New Englishes: Language Migration Towards New Paradigms Maria Bortoluzzi 3. Frame Setting of Contestable Categories: The Construction of Multiracial Identity in the Mass Media Alice Robbin Theme 2: Gender and Generation Intertwining with Migrations 4. Grandmothers, Girlfriends and Big Men: The Gendered Geographies of Jamaican Transnational Communication Heather Horst 5. Mobiles, Men and Migration: Mobile Communication and Everyday Multiculturalism in Australia Clifton Evers and Gerard Goggin 6. Australian Migrant Children: ICT Use and the Construction of Future Lives Lelia Green and Nahid Kabir Theme 3: Looking at the Migrations and Diasporas Through the Lens of the New Media 7. Diasporas, the New Media and the Globalized Homeland Raul Pertierra 8. Make Yourself at Home in www.ciberville.com: Meanings of Proximity and Togetherness in the Era of "Broadband Society" Heike Mónika Greschke 9. The Bulgarian-Language Media Diaspora Polina Stoyanova and Lilia Raycheva Theme 4: Religion, Mobility and Social Policies: How Migrants’ Use of the New Media Is Shaping Society 10. "God is Technology": Mediating the Sacred in the Congolese Diaspora David Garbin and Manuel A. Vásquez 11. Mediatized Migrants: Media Cultures and Communicative Networking in the Diaspora Andreas Hepp, Cigdem Bozdag and Laura Suna 12. ICT Adoption by Immigrants and Ethnic Minorities in Europe: Overview of Quantitative Evidence and Discussion of Drivers Stefano Kluzer and Cristiano Codagnone Theme 5: A Case Study: China, Its Internal Migrations, Diasporas and Expatriates 13. Migrant Workers, New Media Technologies, and Decontextualization: A Preliminary Observation in Southern China Pui-lam Law 14. Floating Workers and Mobile QQ: The Struggle in the Search for Roots Chung-tai Cheng 15. Community Connections and ICT: The Chinese Community in Prato, Italy and Melbourne, Australia: Networks, ICTs and Chinese Diasporas Tom Denison and Graeme Johanson 16. Imagining China: Online Expatriates as "Bridge Bloggers" on the Chinese Internet David Kurt Herold

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Special Issue on: Risk Assessment in Mobile Social Media
by Babiga Birregah 11 May '12

11 May '12

Dear colleagues and dear all, Sorry in case of multiple posts. It is with a great pleasure that I invite you to consider to publish one of your original research papers in this special issue: http://special-issue-ramsm2012.birregah.org/ or http://www.inderscience.com/browse/callpaper.php?callID=1822 You can contact me for any inquiry. Would you also be kind to follow up this call to your network and to any PhD and Post-doc researchers working in this field. Best regards Go Top Important Dates First submission deadline: 20 June, 2012 First notification: 20 August, 2012 Revision deadline: 30 September, 2012 Final decision and notification: 20 November, 2012

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Postdoc announcement
by L. Wynholds 11 May '12

11 May '12

The UCLA Knowledge Infrastructures team seeks applications for an open post-doctoral position: We are conducting ethnographic and interview studies of digital data practices among scientists, including their research design, data collection, data analysis, data management, and data sharing with colleagues and the public. The project sites are four distributed data-driven research projects, two of which are ramping up their activities and two of which are ramping down. Review of applications begins May 15; submission deadline is May 30, 2012. One year appointment beginning August 2012; possible renewal for up to two more years. For more information, download the call for applications: http://knowledgeinfrastructures.gseis.ucla.edu/docs/SloanPostdoc_BorgmanTra…

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5 New Features to Try In DiscoverText
by Stuart Shulman 11 May '12

11 May '12

5 New Features to Try In DiscoverText - Sign Up for a 30-Day Free Beta with Full Enterprise Access https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?hl=en_US&formkey=dF9NWjZFS1A3d… or http://bit.ly/pArIvj 1) GNIP PowerTrack Sampling For the first time since the GNIP Powertrack was integrated into DiscoverText, users can import random samples of Tweets from the Powertrack. What this means is that broad search terms such as "Obama" or "has:hashtag" (A search for every tweet that contains a hashtag), will no longer ingest millions of tweets per minute, but rather will be limited to the random sample proportion of your choosing. To utilize this new function, just enter "sample:##" after your GNIP search term. (#= the sample percentage from 1-100). 2) Twitter User Bio Searches As of this week, users of the GNIP PowerTrack can now import tweets, according to keyword(s) in Twitter user bios. What this means is that a user of the Powertrack can now search for - by way of example - 50% of all comments about Obama that are said by people who claim to tweet about Fashion. (Obama bio_contains:fashion sample:50) 3) Foreign Language CloudExplorers Also as of this week, DiscoverText tag clouds can process non-English characters such as Arabic and Chinese. In these foreign language tag clouds, users may now alter word colors, exclude stop words & search terms, and quickly search for any word in the tag cloud. 4) Retweet Searching Users may now use a GNIP operator to import only "retweeted" tweets. For example, to import retweeted tweets that contain the word Obama, one would search: Obama is:retweet. Additionally, users can now also filter according to the specific retweets of a particular twitter account. For example, to import those tweets that are retweeted by Justin Bieber, one would search: retweets_of:justinbieber. 5) TopMeta Exporting Announced last week, DiscoverText Enterprise users may now export TopMeta lists, which highlight the most (or least) frequently occurring items in particular metadata field. See our blog for more details: http://blog.texifter.com/index.php/2012/04/26/exporting-topmeta/ If you have any questions about these new features, teh free 30-day beta, or any other DiscoverText functions, please contact Josh@discoverText for support. Josh Sowalsky Director of User Support Texifter, LLC 1-800-936-0534 Ext. 704 Josh(a)discovertext.com http://www.texifter.com/Home/JoshSowalsky

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New book: "Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures: Passionate Play"
by Jenny Sundén 11 May '12

11 May '12

Dear all, we thought we should spread the word. Apologies for cross-posting! Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures: Passionate Play By Jenny Sundén & Malin Sveningsson Routledge, New York, 2012 Series: Routledge Advances in Feminist Studies in Intersectionality How do gender and sexuality come to matter in online game cultures? Why is it important to explore "straight" versus "queer" contexts of play? And what does it mean to play together with others over time, as co-players and researchers? Gender and Sexuality in Online Game Cultures: Passionate Play is a book about female players and their passionate encounters with the online game World of Warcraft and its player cultures. It takes seriously women’s passions in games, and as such draws attention to questions of pleasure in and desire for technology. It is also a book about passionate scholarship, of allowing for one’s passions as a researcher to guide and shape ways of thinking and writing scholarly texts. The authors use a unique approach of what they term a "twin ethnography" that develops two parallel stories. Sveningsson studies "straight" game culture, and makes explicit that which is of the norm by exploring the experiences of female gamers in a male-dominated gaming context. Sundén investigates "queer" game culture through the queer potentials of mainstream World of Warcraft culture, as well as through the case of a guild explicitly defined as LGBT. Academic research on game culture is flourishing, yet feminist accounts of gender and sexuality in games are still in the making. Drawing on feminist notions of performance, performativity and positionality, as well as the recent turn to affect and phenomenology within cultural theory, the authors develop queer, feminist studies of online player cultures in ways that are situated and embodied. Jenny Sundén jenny.sunden(a)sh.se Ph. D., Associate Professor School of Gender, Culture and History Södertörn University SWEDEN

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24/5/2012 Convergence, Engagement and Power: Digital Convergence and the Challenge to Global Hegemony - Postgraduate Conference, University of Leeds, UK
by Stuart Shaw [RPG] 11 May '12

11 May '12

Dear colleagues, University of Leeds 1 day Postgraduate Conference - Convergence, Engagement and Power: Digital Convergence and the Challenge to Global Hegemony We warmly invite you to attend the Institute of Communications Studies 6th Annual PhD Conference, taking place in the ICS Building, Clothworker's North, University of Leeds on May 24th 2012, at 9am until 6pm Full details, including registration information and abstracts, can be found on our website; http://www.ics-phd-conference.leeds.ac.uk/ All enquiries can be directed to ics-pg-conference(a)leeds.ac.uk Keynote Speakers: Prof. Natalie Fenton (Goldsmiths College) and Prof. Stephen Coleman (Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds) Synopsis: >From Iran to China, Cairo to Oakland, Chechnya to Tunisia, bold claims are being made about the role that new technologies are playing in the emergence, sustenance, and viability of populist political movements. Empowered by the prosthesis of technical devices, the ’99%’ appear to have bypassed the monopoly of the mass media through the creation and sustenance of alternative media channels, disseminating information, ideas and political expression unhindered. As such, a question must be asked; how is the authority, legitimacy, and hegemony of the ruling elite being threatened by convergent media? Focusing deeper on the role of technology, these events are often mediated by popular social media networks such as Twitter and Facebook. These interactive platforms have permeated every aspect of day-to-day life, but questions remain as to the role they play in building and sustaining a true democratic discourse. The innovation of these technologies originates in a global hegemonic system which retains their ultimate ownership through existing corporate and financial systems. On the world stage, Western governments pour praise on so-called technologically mediated movements like the ‘Arab Spring’, yet domestically the same leaders oppress similar political collectives such as the Occupy movement. In addition to the political and technological dimensions, there is a multifaceted and multi-layered convergence at play which is influencing the ways existing media forms are produced. Consumers simultaneously become producers, and traditional cultural industries now share space with user-created digital domains of production. Has the notion of convergence reinvigorated the cultural industries by making the production process more democratic, or is it undermining their hegemony over the media we consume? Optimistic expectations and pessimistic disdain are polarizing the debate within academia, hence these issues beg for critical questioning; to what extent are publics, through their engagement with new technology and convergent media, influencing or challenging political, corporate, and social power structures within society? Once the issues are laid bare to analysis, is the global hegemonic landscape really changing in the digital age? In light of these technological, cultural, social and political events, we cordially invite you to the 6th annual Institute of Communications Studies PhD Conference, University of Leeds. This student-led initiative aims at fostering debate among future academics by bringing together those researching areas related to media convergence in a formal conference environment, to critically engage with this exciting topic while also gaining the chance to hear from leading keynote speakers in the field of political communication. The Venue: The Institute of Communications Studies is an internationally renowned centre for teaching and research in communications, media and culture. Our research is multidisciplinary and we have particular strengths in the areas of cultural industries, international communication and political communication. The study of communication and media at the University of Leeds has its origins in the Centre for Television Research, established in the late 1950s and led from 1963 to 1989 by Professor Jay Blumler. With the Centre, the University of Leeds was one of the first to embark on the academic study of communication in Europe and one of the very few universities to undertake serious research on contemporary media at that time. ICS is now one of the largest departments of its kind in Europe, currently offering a number of undergraduate degrees, postgraduate taught degrees and a postgraduate research programme. Best wishes, ICS PhD Conference Organising Committee

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Alexander Galloway Workshop at Sussex on 16.05.2012
by Aristea Fotopoulou 11 May '12

11 May '12

Dear All, The Digital and Social Media Research Theme at the University of Sussex is hosting the final event of its successful 'Digital Humanities' series on Wednesday, 16th May 2012. This exciting workshop on 'In the Aftermath of the Cybernetic Hypothesis' is held by guest speaker Alexander R. Galloway (New York University) and will take place from 16:30 until 18:00 in Shawcross A501. An abstract of Alexander's work can be found below: ******************************************************************************************* "In an essay from 2001, the French collective Tiqqun speaks of what they call the cybernetic hypothesis: "[A]t the end of the twentieth century the image of steering, that is to say management, has become the primary metaphor to describe not only politics but all of human activity as well." The cybernetic hypothesis is a vast experiment beginning in the overdeveloped nations after World War II and eventually spreading to swallow the planet in an impervious logic of administration and interconnectivity. What are the origins of the cybernetic hypothesis, and what are its futures? This talk offers a media archeology of cybernetics through an exploration of nineteenth-century chronophotography, the history of the pixel, developments in computer modeling, bit arrays and grid systems, and that most enigmatic cybernetic device, the black box. Instead of contributing to the many heroic histories of cybernetics that already populate the cultural imagination, this talk aims to uncover an alternative history of digital systems via an examination of the aesthetics and politics of control". ******************************************************************************************* For more details on the workshop, please go to http://www.sussex.ac.uk/research/digital/newsandevents/events?id=13601 or refer to the attached poster. Best wishes and I hope to see many of you next Wednesday for this insightful and stimulating workshop, Bettina Bettina Zenz Research Themes Assistant University of Sussex Research and Enterprise Services Falmer House Falmer Brighton BN1 9QF DIVISIONAL RELOCATION NOTICE Please note that Research & Enterprise Services has moved to new offices in Falmer House (in the South-West wing, opposite the Union shop, facing the A27). Our email addresses and telephone numbers remain the same. http://www.sussex.ac.uk/res

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