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

CFP- Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice
by Judd Ruggill 12 Sep '12

12 Sep '12

Call for Papers: Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice Area 34th Annual SW/TX PCA/ACA Conference February 13-16, 2013 Hyatt Regency Hotel and Conference Center Albuquerque, NM The Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice Area welcomes papers, panels, and other proposals on games (digital and otherwise) and their study and development. The Area is also offering a three hour workshop titled “Teaching About and With Games” on the first day of the conference. - PROPOSAL SUBMISSION - Possible topics include (but are in no way limited to): Alternative reality games Archiving and artifactual preservation Competitive/clan gaming Design and development Economic and industrial histories and studies Educational games and their pedagogies Foreign language games and culture Advertising (both in-game and out) Game art/game-based art Haptics and interface studies Localization Machinima MOGs, MMOGs, and other forms of online/networked gaming Performance Pornographic games Religion and games Representations of race and gender Representations of space and place The rhetoric of games and game systems Serious games Strategy games Table-top games and gaming Technological, aesthetic, economic, and ideological convergence Theories of play Wireless and mobile gaming For paper proposals: Please submit a 250 word abstract and brief biographical sketch to the conference event management site: http://conference2013.swtxpca.org. Make sure to select the Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice topic area. The submission deadline is 11/16/2012. For panel and other proposals: Feel free to query the Area Chair first (Judd Ruggill, jruggill(a)asu.edu) Panel and other proposals should also be submitted to the conference event management site and include the information requested for individual paper proposals, as well as a 100-word statement of the panel’s raison d’etre and any noteworthy organizational features. As always, proposals are welcome from any and all scholars (including graduate students, independent scholars, and tenured, tenure-track, and emeritus faculty) and practitioners (developers, artists, archivists, and so forth). Also, unusual formats, technologies, and the like are encouraged. - AWARD - Graduate students accepted to present in this area may apply for the conference’s monetary Computer Culture and Game Studies Award. The full paper is due to the judges on 1/1/2013. For details on this award and the conference’s other awards for the best graduate papers, see http://www.swtxpca.org/documents/112.html. - WORKSHOP - The Area Research Coordinator is pleased to announce this year’s Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice workshop, “Teaching About and With Games.” This three hour workshop is geared toward participants interested in game-based pedagogies. Many disciplines are experimenting with incorporating games into their curricula to increase student engagement and teach content in a participatory manner. As with any pedagogical approach, there are challenges and rewards to incorporating games. The workshop organizers will work with participants to articulate goals for a unit, course, or program of study. They will help participants begin to evaluate whether games are appropriate for a particular pedagogical goal, and if so, suggest useful games and game types. The workshop will also discuss the technologies needed for all skill- levels and technological goals. The workshop is limited to 10 participants, and the goal is for participants to leave with a framework for implementation or to refine previous game-based pedagogies. The limited number of participants will ensure that everyone involved will get the time and attention they need. Those interested in participating in the workshop should email a 100-250 word statement to the Area Research Coordinator (Jennifer deWinter(a)wpi.edu) outlining what they are thinking about doing, so that the organizers can best prepare to meet the specific needs of the participants. Nota bene: There is no charge for the workshop (for registered conference presenters/attendees). The submission deadline is 1/15/13. - COLLABORATION & PUBLICATION OPPORTUNITIES - The Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice Area is international in scope and emphasizes diversity, an openness to innovative approaches and presentations, and the energetic practice of post-conference collaboration and publication. The Area Research Coordinator would like to note the following publication opportunities for this year’s participants: Technical Writing and Computer Games: The editors of this collection are interested in representing the intersection of technical communication theory, practice, and pedagogy. The editors are attending the conference. If you are interested in the CFP, contact Ryan Moeller (rylish.moeller(a)usu.edu) or Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter(a)wpi.edu) Computer Game Policy and the Shaping of Play (tentative title): This is a collection of essays that arose out of the 2012 SW/TX PCA/ACA conference. The editors are soliciting submissions that critically engage with national, corporate, and educational policy on computer games. The editors are attending the conference. If your are interested in the CFP, contact Steven Conway (sconway(a)swin.edu.au) or Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter(a)wpi.edu) Computer Game Production: The editors of this collection are soliciting web-texts for Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy, an online multimedia journal. This collection is interested particularly in computer game production. Most inquiry into computer games in the fields of English, Composition, and Rhetoric have been on consuming/playing computer games or critiquing the larger culture of games. This special issue will be about the composing process, to use terminology from those disciplines. The editors are attending the conference. If you are interested in the CFP, contact Stephanie Vie at (vie_s(a)fortlewis.edu) or Jennifer deWinter (jdewinter(a)wpi.edu) For more information about these opportunities, or to discuss others, please email the Area Research Coordinator (Jennifer deWinter, jdewinter(a)wpi.edu) Cheers, Judd Ruggill, Area Chair Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice jruggill(a)asu.edu http://www.swtxpca.org Jennifer deWinter, Research Coordinator Game Studies, Culture, Play, and Practice jdewinter(a)wpi.edu http://www.swtxpca.org

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3-year interdisciplinary PhD Scholarship at UNMC
by Tessa Houghton 12 Sep '12

12 Sep '12

Dear AoIR folk, Please distribute this PhD scholarship opportunity widely; a fully-funded interdisciplinary 3-year PhD project open to international applicants, living in sunny Malaysia and working with a truly diverse team of academics. > *Knowledge mining for community integration in a research value chain * > > *Project description:* > > This project will involved mining a large corpus of natural language (e.g. > documents and discussion forums), taken from across the CFFRC value chain, > for ideas. These will then be codified to allow them to be archived and > propagated across different communities, with different vocabularies and > cultural values. Cutting edge AI techniques and pattern recognition will be > used to identify these “ideas” (possibly as memes), which are expressed as > collections of words and phrases within a given context. > > This research will seek to define an idea (which will require > consideration of the philosophy of knowledge), and express this in terms of > vocabulary and context. A tool will be developed that uses techniques such > as neural computation to identify areas of similarity in parts of the CFFRC > corpus, which will represent ideas that may then be archived and made > available to other communities. The inherent capabilities of neural > computation to classify (e.g. multi-layered perceptrons) and compare (e.g. > associative memories) information will provide a powerful tool to detecting > and analyse these ideas. This will be innovative research into the > automation of knowledge management, and it will also provide a useful tool > for CFFRC- facilitating the exchange of ideas across communities. > > The successful candidate will have a strong background in computer science > and must have excellent programming skills, a sound knowledge of database > theory and practice and some experience of web development. In addition to > this some knowledge of or interest in one or more of the following areas > would be highly desirable: AI techniques; information retrieval; HCI and/or > human factors; linguistics (ideally computational linguistics); social > networks and the philosophy of information and knowledge > More details can be found here: http://www.nottingham.edu.my/CFFRC/StudentProjects/Knowledge-mining-for-com… *The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK's Top 10 and the World's Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings, placing it in the top 1% of all universities worldwide. In 2011 it climbed rankings published in the Complete University Guide, the Guardian University Guide, and The Times Good University Guide. * Best wishes, Tessa ----------------------------- Dr Tessa J. Houghton<http://www.nottingham.edu.my/Modern-Languages/People/tessa.houghton> Assistant Professor in Media and Communication School of Modern Languages and Cultures The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus<http://www.nottingham.edu.my/index.aspx> Malaysia ph: +60 3 8924 8704 e: tessa.houghton(a)nottingham.edu.my <tessa.houghton(a)gmail.com> twitter: @TidgeH <https://twitter.com/#%21/TidgeH>

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Call for Participation - ACM Group 2012
by Sean Goggins 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

ACM Group remains one of those rare places in scholarship where a small, interdisciplinary community gathers and discusses emerging topics in sociotechnical research in small groups at an ideal location. Register now! ACM Group is October 28 31 in Sanibel Island, Florida. Fly into Fort Myers and enjoy a great community in a great place! We are featuring workshops on the intersection between collaborative work and learning and the rising role of collaboration in systems management. For over 25 years, the Group conferences have showcased the work of researchers and practitioners on the development, introduction, management, deployment, and analysis of computer-based collaborative systems. A strong emphasis of GROUP conferences is to foster a discourse on collaborative technology that bridges the fields of Computer Supported Cooperative Work (CSCW) and Information Systems (IS). Relevant issues include the design, implementation, deployment, evaluation, and impact of these systems as well as examinations of relevant research methodologies. Program: http://www.acm.org/conferences/group/conferences/group12/program.html Registration: http://www.acm.org/conferences/group/conferences/group12/registration.html Booking a room: http://www.acm.org/conferences/group/conferences/group12/location.html

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CFP: Rethinking Makeover and Transformation short pieces from PhD students/early career researchers
by Deller, Ruth A 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

CFP: Forum pieces wanted from for special issue of the International Journal of Cultural Studies on 'Rethinking Makeover and Transformation' (open to postgraduate and early career researchers) We are editing a special edition of the International Journal of Cultural Studies with the theme of 'Rethinking Makeover and Transformation' and are interested in receiving short submissions (up to 1,500 words) from postgraduate and early career researchers for this journal. These articles should take the form of short case studies, with the aim of encouraging exchange and debate. We are looking for articles that engage with ideas of makeover or transformation outside of the more 'traditional' contexts. Topics might include, but are not limited to: * Technologies, remastering, reformatting and re-releasing albums, films and/or television shows * Transformations and rebranding of political or public figures * The power of spoofs/satire/etc to transform perceptions/readings of the 'original' texts * The 'ex-gay' or 'post-gay' movement and public debates over the possibility of 'transformation' * PR strategies and 'reforming' public image * Newspaper discussion of 'criminality' and 'reform' * Drag performances and transformation/makeover * The marketing of sport as a transformative experience * Restoration, makeover and transformation of heritage architecture * Makeover/transformation of the individual's online persona * Competing discourses of 'transformation' and 'acceptance' regarding 'unusual' bodies (e.g. TV programmes such as Katie Piper: My Beautiful Friends (Channel 4 2011) or Beauty and the Beast (Channel 4 2011/12) * Transformation narratives within horror films Submission information All pieces should be 1500 words, including references and bibliography (using the SAGE Harvard style: http://www.uk.sagepub.com/repository/binaries/pdf/SAGE_Harvard_reference_st…) Please send full submissions, along with an author biography to both editors: Feona Attwood (feonaattwood(a)gmail.com<mailto:feonaattwood@gmail.com>) and Ruth Deller (r.a.deller(a)shu.ac.uk<mailto:r.a.deller@shu.ac.uk>) by Friday November 16, 2012.

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Programme and registration: ESA RN18 Conference "Communication, Crisis and Critique in Contemporary Capitalism"
by Christian Fuchs 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

European Sociological Association Research Network 18 - Sociology of Communications and Media Research October 18-20 University of the Basque Country, Bilbao The programme of the conference has been published: http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/BilbaoESA.pdf Keynote talk: Prof. Peter Golding (Northumbria University, UK) Why a Sociologist should take Communications and Media Seriously Abstract In the presentation of this paper, Peter Golding will reflect on why the study of communications and media demands the insights and methods of sociology. He will present reflections on how such key sociological concerns as inequality, identity, power, and change are at the heart of the questions we should be posing in addressing the nature and role of the media as institutions and communications as a social process. The paper will also address how far changes in the technologies of media and communications alter, or should alter, our approach to generating research and insight in this field. Participation registration is possible until September 23, 2012, via e-mail to christian.fuchs(a)im.uu.se (name, institutional affiliation). Conference fee: regular 50 Euros Members of ESA RN18: 35 Euros Payment: in cash at the registration desk in Bilbao You can become a member of ESA RN18 by joining the ESA and subscribing to the network RN18 - Sociology of Communications and Media Research: http://www.europeansociology.org/member/ ESA RN18 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/esarn18 The Bilbao Conference on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/262224253895314/ Christian Fuchs --- Chair of ESA RN18

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Oxford "Big Data" Conference (20-21 Sept, Oxford)
by David Sutcliffe 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

Dear Colleagues, **** Only a few places left for the Oxford "Big Data" conference! (20-21 Sept, Oxford) http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/ **** Keynotes: Nigel Shadbolt, Duncan Watts Most of today's social activities leave digital trails that can be collected in large and complex datasets - this 'Big Data' presents tremendous research opportunities, and has created a buzz in government, business, and academia. The Oxford Internet Institute (University of Oxford) will be holding a two day conference next week to examine the potentials and challenges of Big Data to inform policy debates and advance social science research (20-21 September 2012, St Anne's College, Oxford). It will also encourage discussion about Big Data across disciplinary boundaries. Topics include political campaigning, collective action and political dissent, sentiment analysis, prediction of large-scale social movements, Big Data in government and to inform public policy, social networks, and ethical and methodological challenges. There will also be sessions on the new research opportunities being opened up for social and political scientists, how to visualise Big Data, and new tools for social research. Details of the conference, including programme information and registration, are available at: http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/ Contact: Pauline Smith, Events Officer Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford Tel: 01865 287210 ipp2012(a)oii.ox.ac.uk http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/

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Book reviewers wanted!
by Sun Sun LIM 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

* Apologies for cross-posting * Dear colleagues, Greetings from the Editorial Board of the new journal Mobile Media and Communication, published by SAGE (http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal202140) As Reviews Editor, it's my pleasure to invite you to be a book reviewer for the journal. Beginning with the journal's second issue, to be published in April 2013, every issue will feature two to three reviews. Many exciting titles relating to mobile media have been published in the last couple years, waiting to be critically examined by scholars such as yourselves. Please send expressions of interest and a brief biography, indicating your areas of expertise and interest to mobilemcreviews(a)gmail.com<mailto:mobilemcreviews@gmail.com> We also welcome PhD candidates. We look forward to hearing from you! Best regards, Sun ___ Sun Sun LIM, PhD Reviews Editor, Mobile Media & Communication Associate Professor & Deputy Head Department of Communications & New Media National University of Singapore

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UK Gov consultation on digital consumer rights
by Ren Reynolds 11 Sep '12

11 Sep '12

[usual if this is a re-post, don't think my other email is registered here] The UK Government’s Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) launched a consultation titled “Consultation on enhancing consumer confidence by clarifying consumer law”. The deadline for the consultation is 5 October 2012. The consultation proposes a range of options that seek to harmonise UK consumer law. What marks this out for digital industries such as social media, cloud computing, computer games, music services etc is that as part of the consultation the UK Government is proposing options for a set of consumer rights designed specifically for ‘Digital Content’. In short the proposal is to bring UK / European notions of consumer rights to the digital arena i.e. putting in place statutory notions of quality and rights such as return. The consultation makes direct or side reference to famous cases such as Amazon removing 1984 from Kindles and Sony forcing patches on users that stopped PS/3's running linux. Some of the proposed options would mean that companies would not simply have these rights. What's more the consultation makes is clear that the rights apply to all companies selling to the UK (wherever they are based) and they cannot be contracted out of. tVPN have created a short summary of the consultation here: http://www.virtualpolicy.net/ukcontentrights.html We are very interested in hearing from legal and other academics who would be interested in contributing to a joint response - see the link above for details. ren Ren Reynolds FRSA Founder: the Virtual Policy Network www.virtualpolicy.net --8<-- web: www.renreynolds.com Think Tank: www.virtualpolicy.net blog: terranova.blogs.com Skype: RenZephyr http://www.linkedin.com/in/renreynolds

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New Research Podcast: 3620
by Kevin Gotkin 10 Sep '12

10 Sep '12

The doctoral students of the Annenberg School for Communication announce the launch of a new podcast, 3620. 3620 is a research podcast that aims to: 1) Use audio to remind us why we do what we do as researchers and scholars, 2) Deepen and enrich our work, 3) Tell interesting stories, 4) Explore digital scholarship. The podcast is produced each Monday by graduate students and each episode will be between 10 and 20 minutes long. To get a sense of what we're up to, check out our first episode, "Sound Check." You can visit our site<http://podcast.asc.upenn.edu/>, find us on iTunes<http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/3620podcast/id556254604>, or look for us on Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/3620Podcast>. We're eager to hear feedback from you, whether you have thoughts about the episodes or want to propose an idea for a future show. Please email me, Kevin Gotkin, at kgotkin(a)asc.upenn.edu<mailto:kgotkin@asc.upenn.edu> with comments/questions. -- Kevin Gotkin Ph.D. Student Annenberg School for Communication University of Pennsylvania Tel: (551)427-7907

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AAG 2012 CFP: Tools and Tales of Social and Spatial Network Analysis
by Joe Eckert 10 Sep '12

10 Sep '12

*Apologies for cross posting....* * Call for Papers: Tools and Tales of Social and Spatial Network Analysis Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting 9-13 April 2013 Los Angeles, CA Organizers: Joe Eckert, Department of Geography, University of Washington Monica Stephens, Department of Geography, Humboldt State University Networks are a long-standing staple of spatial analysts. Social network analysis (SNA), on the other hand, is underexplored in geography while gaining notoriety in other disciplines of social science (e.g., sociology, information studies, epidemiology, organizational studies). One way in which these networks form is through digital interactions between users of social media platforms. Drawing from work from internet geographers (Zook, Graham, etc...), we know that these interactions are in turn informed and created within contexts of physical space. We seek scholars that are using spatially grounded qualitative and quantitative network analysis to ask, "how do we bring social network analysis methods and theory into conversation with geographic theory and spatial analysis?" Work undertaken by analysts using geographic information systems (GIS) and social network analysis (SNA) are parallel in many ways, including shared analytical techniques and vocabulary. However, while both seek explanations for the relationships among entities; geographers seek spatial context, whereas social network analysts seek a social context. We feel that these two modes of analysis richly complement one another, and geographers might be well served by examining the ways in which networks of place interact with digitally enabled social networks. We seek papers that meet this broad theme, but offer the following questions to consider: - In what ways are digitally enabled networks created via the spaces in which platform users physically inhabit? - How are digital enabled networks both implicitly and explicitly spatial? Do the digital traces of our lives left as user-generated content speak to the ways in which we experience and create space? -Which SNA tools are useful for spatial analysis, which spatial tools are useful for SNA? - How can theoretical work on network theory be brought to bear on empirical practices of social network analysis? - How might social network analysis further nuance different conceptualizations of network theory? - How can geographers methodologically examine bipartite (2-mode) spaces? How can we understand this in GIS? - How can GIS or geographic analysis begin to examine triadic structures in social data? - Is GIS or other geospatial analysis complicit in the construction of social network space? Could it be? Should it be? We welcome studies that explore any of these issues, or any that more broadly address themes of social network analysis, network theory, and the urban networks that comprise the digital. Please send your 250 word abstract to the organizers, Monica ( Monica.Stephens(a)humboldt.edu) and Joe (jeckert1(a)uw.edu) by September 28, 2012. We will inform authors with successful submissions on October 5, 2012. This session will be part of #GEO/CODE 2013: Geoweb, Big Data and Society organized by the New Mappings Collaboratory ( http://newmaps.as.uky.edu/geocode-2013-geoweb-big-data-and-society-call-cal… ).*

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