November 2016 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

CFP HICSS Minitrack Global, International, and Cross-Cultural Issues in IS
by Fichman, Pnina 22 May '17

22 May '17

CFP HICSS Minitrack Global, International, and Cross-Cultural Issues in IS Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS) January 4-7, 2017, Big Island, Hawaii, USA Kauai, Hawaii, USA http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/ Papers Due: June 15, 2016 This minitrack focuses on the sociotechnical dynamics and the ways in which the Internet affects people, groups, organizations, and societies. We are in particular interested in the impact of global, international, and cross-cultural issues on ICT development, implementation and use across the globe. Globalization has historically been tied to technological innovation, and the present era of a networked information society is no different. Information and communication technologies (ICTs) have provided the infrastructure for multinational businesses, created new cultural connections irrespective of geographic boundaries and distances, and allowed an increasingly mobile global population to be connected to their friends, families, and cultures no matter where they are. The issues surrounding global, international, and cross cultural issues in Information Systems (IS) attracted much scholarly attention and have been explored under myriad contexts. In line with the track recognition that the Internet has transformed the way we work, learn, and play, our minitrack focuses on the sociotechnical dynamics and the ways in which the Internet affects people, groups, organizations, and societies. We are in particular interested in the impact of global, international, and cross-cultural issues on ICT development, implementation and use across the globe. The minitrack welcomes submissions that relate to all aspects of global IS, or IS research situated in a global, international or cross-cultural context. The minitrack is open to all methodological approaches and perspectives. We are interested in empirical and theoretical work that addresses these and related socio-technical issues. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * The impacts of cultural values (e.g. on adaptive user interfaces) on ICT design, adoption, and use. * The impact of cultural values on policies and practices of big data collection and use (e.g., * Cross cultural studies of quantification of self at work, by individuals or organizations * Cross-cultural comparisons of big data collection and use * Cross-national and cross-cultural comparisons of ICT adoption, use and development (e.g. Internet diffusion and impacts compared between different economies) * Effects of global social computing on work organization and practices (e.g. pricing strategies) * Issues relating to globally distributed teams (e.g. the adoption and use of social media by cross-national virtual teams, worker motivation, and human error diversity) * Issues relating to Internet adoption and the digital society at the national level (e.g. digital infrastructure sophistication across countries) *Issues relating to global knowledge management (e.g. different knowledge-sharing cultures in multi-national corporations) *Issues relating to cross-national legislation and regulation (e.g. implications of different regulations governing Green IT in the EU vs. US or Asian countries) * Issues relating to global ICT governance (e.g. sustainable strategies for standardization and harmonization in evolving business networks) * Research on global Cloud sourcing strategies *Single country studies showing implications for other locations or results different from other contexts (e.g. impact of ICT policies on a transition economy) * Multi-country studies of ICT adoption, use, and development (e.g. e-commerce adoption involving multiple countries) * Global impacts of big data on governments, multinational companies, NGOs and other organizations Minitrack Organizers: Pnina Fichman, School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington; fichman(a)indiana.edu<mailto:fichman@indiana.edu> Edward W.N. Bernroider, Vienna University of Economics and Business (WU), Institute for Information Management and Control, Vienna, Austria; edward.bernroider(a)wu.ac.at<mailto:edward.bernroider@wu.ac.at> Erran Carmel, Kogod School of Business, American University, Washington D.C.; carmel(a)american.edu<mailto:carmel@american.edu> About HICSS conferences: Now in its 50th year, the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences (HICSS) is one of the longest-standing continuously running scientific conferences. This conference brings together researchers in an aloha-friendly atmosphere conducive to free exchange of scientific ideas. Unique characteristics of the conference include: • A matrix structure of tracks and themes that enables research on a rich mixture of computer-based applications and technologies. • Three days of research paper presentations and discussions in a workshop setting that promotes interaction leading to additional research. • A full day of Symposia, Workshops, and Tutorials. See Program Components for additional detail. • A truly international experience with participants usually from over 40 countries, (approximately 50% non-US). • Papers published in the Proceedings by the IEEE Computer Society Press and carried in the IEEE digital library Xplore. Access to HICSS papers is in the top 2% of IEEE Conferences. • Paper presentations and discussions which frequently lead to revised and extended papers that are published in journals, books, and special issues. • A keynote address and distinguished lecture which explore particularly relevant topics and concepts. • Best Paper Awards<http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_47/bestpapers2014.htm> in each track which recognize superior research performance. • HICSS is the #1 IS conference in terms of citations as recorded by Google Scholar. Recent research that shows HICSS ranked second in citation ranking among 18 Information Systems (IS) conferences, ranked third in value to the MIS field among 13 Management Information Systems (MIS) conferences, and ranked second in conference rating among 11 IS conferences. The Australian Government's Excellence in Research project (ERA) has given HICSS an "A" rating. Important deadlines for authors: June 15: Submit full manuscripts for review. Review is double-blind. Aug 16: Review System emails Acceptance Notices to authors. September 15: Submission final papers. Oct 1: Early Registration fee deadline. Oct 15: Papers without at least one registered author will  be removed from the Proceedings. ------------------------ Pnina Fichman Chair, Department of Information and Library Science Director, Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics School of Informatics and Computing, Indiana University, Bloomington http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~fichman/

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ICCCN 2017 Call for Workshop Proposal
by Kang Chen 05 Dec '16

05 Dec '16

Call for Workshop Proposals The 26th International Conference on Computer Communication and Networks (ICCCN 2017) Marriott Vancouver Pinnacle Downtown July 31-August 3, 2017, Vancouver, Canada http://www.icccn.org/icccn16 The 26th International Conference on Computer Communications and Networks (ICCCN) will be held in Vancouver, Canada, July 31-August 3, 2017. ICCCN workshops are exciting forums to present, discuss, and formulate specialized topics and emerging hot research topics (new areas, new problems or new methods). The topic of the proposed workshop should offer a perspective distinct from and complementary to the research themes of the main conference. Workshops for presenting papers from industry and papers on design and implementations of systems and services are welcome. As the ICCCN is a premier international conference in the field, a workshop at the conference will generate high visibility. Accepted and registered (and presented by one of authors) workshop papers will be published and included in the conference proceedings. Scope: The topics we are soliciting include, but are NOT limited to: * Internet of Things * Critical Infrastructure Networks * Smart Grid Networks and Smart Communities * Security and Privacy in communications, networks, and testbeds * Software Defined Networks * Cyber Physical Systems * Mobile Cloud Computing and Services * Green communications and energy-harvesting networks * Cognitive Networking and Communications * Next Generation Broadband Wireless Access Networks * Virtualized Infrastructure Systems and Architectures * Networking of Mobile Handheld Devices, Social Networking, and Novel Applications Submission Guidelines and Publication: In general, a workshop takes one day with 12-16 accepted and registered papers and presentations. Please send a workshop proposal by November 2nd, 2016, toWorkshop General Chairs Prof. Abhishek Parakh <aparakh(a)unomaha.edu<mailto:aparakh@unomaha.edu>> and Prof. Song Fu <song.fu(a)unt.edu<mailto:song.fu@unt.edu>>. Please note that the proposals will be reviewed once received and we will try to make the decision and send the notification back as soon as possible. Early-bird proposals are highly encouraged and will be given higher priority! For each approved workshop, at least one organizer must commit to attending and running the workshop on site. Please do not hesitate to send emails to the Chairs if you have any questions. The workshop proposal should include the following information: (1) workshop title; (2) the names of the organizers, their brief bios and contact information; (3) a description of why and how the workshop will be organized (half to one page) e.g., relevance and significance of the workshop to the main conference; (4) a history of the workshop, if not being offered for the first time; (5) estimated paper submission volume and paper acceptance rate; (6) expected attendance; (7) length - Full day or half day; (8) indication if a journal special issue is associated with; (9) any other relevant information. Each workshop will start to advertise and distribute its Call-For-Paper after receiving the approval notification. Papers submitted to each workshop should be original and peer reviewed by its program committee. An accepted paper must be registered and presented at the conference/workshop venue and must be limited to 6 pages in standard double-column, 10pt font format. If authors are willing to pay an over-length fee of $100/page, 2 additional pages are allowed for their submission. More updates will be posted on the ICCCN 2017 website and please refer to the Author Information at the website. Please contact the Workshop Chairs with any questions. Best wishes, Kang Chen

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CFP: DPASSH2017 - Digital Preservation for the Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities - 14-15 June 2017, Brighton UK
by Natalie Harrower 01 Dec '16

01 Dec '16

Dear Air-L: I’m pleased to announce that a second DPASSH conference is being planned for June 2017, in Brighton UK. We are interested in papers on all aspects of digital preservation in the domains of arts, social sciences and humanities. CFP below: DPASSH 2017 Call for Papers The Sussex Humanities Lab and the Digital Repository of Ireland are pleased to announce that the second Digital Preservation for the Arts, Social Science, and Humanities conference will take place 14-15 June 2017 at the University of Sussex, Brighton. The CFP has now been released, the submission deadline is midnight Sunday 11 December 2016 (GMT) Website: www.dpassh.org<http://www.dpassh.org/> Twitter: @DPASSHConf Email: dpassh2017(a)gmail.com<mailto:dpassh2017@gmail.com> DPASSH 2017 Conference Theme: ‘Preserving Abundance: The Challenge of Saving Everything’ The collaboration between SHL and DRI focuses on two major challenges for long-term digital preservation: maintaining access to the form and functionality of digital objects, and managing, filtering, interpreting, and critically engaging with these petabytes of information, now and in the future. While developments in long-term digital preservation enable ongoing access, the question of how these developments impact the way we interact with, use, reuse, investigate, and interpret our heritage, remains. What, for example, are the cultural and scholarly repercussions of saving “everything”? DPASSH 2017 will, for instance, explore the implications of asking disciplines that evolved in a world of scarcity, to engage with an expanding abundance of historical records. As such, DPASSH 2017 will focus on both the technical, cultural, and societal challenges of digital preservation and the impact on research when (and if) everything is saved. It asks: now that the human record is digital, what methods, approaches, tools, or skills will researchers, and society, require to understand these colossal datasets? Submissions are particularly sought from researchers, practitioners, and scholars in the fields of digital history, digital humanities, digital materiality, digital performance, digital arts and music, cultural heritage and research institutions, as well as libraries, archives and industry. We also invite submissions for papers that critically reflect on any area relating to digital preservation in the humanities and social sciences, arts, and cultural heritage domains. Conference themes include but are not limited to: Preserving digital humanities research; Capturing and archiving artistic performance; Methods and tools for computational humanities and/or digital history; Preservation metadata as research objects; Linking research data and ‘publication’; Stakeholder engagement and community approaches to preservation; Advocacy and national approaches to sustainability and open access; Aesthetics of preservation and content curation; Preservation and Trust; Technical challenges posed by datasets in arts/humanities/social sciences;Preservation and discovery infrastructures, software and tools. We look forward to welcoming you to Brighton. Best wishes, Sharon, on behalf of the DPASSH Organising and Programme Committee Dr. Sharon Webb (Chair) Lecturer in Digital Humanities, Sussex Humanities Lab, School of History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex, Falmer DPASSH 2017 Organising Committee • Sharon Webb – Sussex Humanities Lab, University of Sussex (Chair) • Dermot Frost – Digital Repository of Ireland, Trinity College Dublin • Natalie Harrower —Digital Repository of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy (Outgoing Chair) • Jane Harvell – Library, University of Sussex • Clare Lanigan – The Digital Arts and Humanities PhD Program, Royal Irish Academy • Paddi Leinster -Digital Repository of Ireland, Royal Irish Academy _________________ _________________ Dr. Natalie Harrower | Director (Acting), Digital Repository of Ireland Royal Irish Academy | 19 Dawson St. Dublin 2 n.harrower(a)ria.ie<mailto:n.harrower@ria.ie> | @natalieharrower | @dri_ireland | www.dri.ie<http://www.dri.ie> To subscribe to our mailing list, send an email to LISTSERV(a)listserv.heanet.ie<mailto:LISTSERV@listserv.heanet.ie> with SUBSCRIBE DRI-FRIENDS FirstName LastName in the body of the message The Royal Irish Academy is subject to the Freedom of Information Acts 2014 and is compliant with the provisions of the Data Protection Acts 1988 & 2003. For further information see our website www.ria.ie

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New Book: LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe
by Szulc Lukasz 01 Dec '16

01 Dec '16

Dear colleagues, It's a pleasure for us to announce the publication of our edited volume on 'LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe', published by Routledge Research in Cultural and Media Studies. The book includes a foreword by Richard Dyer and an afterword by Sharif Mowlabocus, and is available at: https://www.routledge.com/products/9781138649477. Below, you can find a brief summary of the book and its table of contents. Dhoest, A., Szulc, L. & Eeckhout, B., eds. (2017) LGBTQs, Media and Culture in Europe. New York: Routledge. Media matter, particularly to social minorities like lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer people. Rather than one homogenised idea of the 'global gay', what we find today is a range of historically and culturally specific expressions of gender and sexuality, which are reflected and explored across an ever increasing range of media outlets. This collection zooms in on a number of facets of this kaleidoscope, each chapter discussing the intersection of a particular European context and a particular medium with its affordances and limitations. While traditional mass media form the starting point of this book, the primary focus is on digital media such as SNS (Social Networking Sites), blogs and online dating sites. All contributions are based on recent, original empirical research, using a plethora of qualitative methods to offer a holistic view on the ways media matter to particular LGBTQ individuals and communities. Together the chapters cover the diversity of European countries and regions, of LGBTQ communities, and of the contemporary media ecology. Resisting the urge to extrapolate, they argue for specificity, contextualisation and a provincialized understanding of the connections between media, culture, gender and sexuality. TABLE OF CONTENTS Foreword - Richard Dyer Introduction - Alexander Dhoest, Lukasz Szulc and Bart Eeckhout Part I. Histories of Representation in Mass Media and Beyond 1. Respectably Gay: Homodomesticity in Ireland's First Public Broadcast of a Homosexual Couple - Páraic Kerrigan 2. Breaking the Silence: The Early Portuguese Lesbian Press - Ana Maria Brandão, Tânia Cristina Machado and Joana Afonso 3. 'I Am My Own Special Creation': Sexual and Gender Differences in the Music Performances of an Antwerp Drag Show Company - Robbe Herreman and Alexander Dhoest Part II. Media Consumption, Identification and Role Models 4. Coming Out in the Digital Age: The Opportunities and Limitations of Internet Use in Queer-Lesbian Coming-Out Experiences in Germany - Ulrike Roth 5. 'I Think I'm Quite Fluid with Those Kinds of Things': Exploring Music and Non-Heterosexual Women's Identities - Marion Wasserbauer 6. 'I Worry That They'll Pick on Someone I Care about': Trans People's Perceptions of the British Mass Media and Its Impact on Their Mental Health and Well-Being - Louis Bailey, Jay McNeil and Sonja J. Ellis Part III. LGBTQs as Producers in the Digital Age: Blogging 7. Safe Space, Dangerous Space: Counterpublic Discourses in the Russian LGBT Blogging Community - Evgeniya Boklage 8. Is the Pope Judging You? Digital Narratives on Religion and Homosexuality in Italy - Giulia Evolvi 9. Contesting Hegemonic Gender and Sexuality Discourses on the Web: A Semiotic Analysis of Latvian and Polish LGBTQ and Feminist Blogs - Joanna Chojnicka Part IV. Discourses on and by LGBTQs on Social Media 10. Homosexuality on Dutch and Flemish Facebook Pages: Situational Meanings, Situational Attitudes? - Tim Savenije 11. Gay the Correct Way: Mundane Queer Flaming Practices in Online Discussions of Politics - Jakob Svensson 12. 'I Sort of Knew What I Was, So I Wanted to See What Awaited Me': Portuguese LGB Youngsters and Their Situated Experiences with New Media - Daniel Cardoso Part V. Self-presentation and Intimacy on Online Dating Sites 13. Exploring Networked Interactions through the Lens of Location-Based Dating Services: The Case of Italian Grindr Users - Lorenza Parisi and Francesca Comunello 14. New in Town: Gay Immigrants and Geosocial Media - Andrew DJ Shield 15. Strategic (In)visibilities and Bareback Subcultures: The Implications of Online Communication for HIV Transmission among Gay Men in Serbia - Zoran Milosavljevic Afterword: Writing at the Precipice - Sharif Mowlabocus With regards, Alexander, Lukasz & Bart Lukasz Szulc, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders University of Antwerp Department of Communication Studies Media, Policy & Culture M. 471 - Stadscampus - Sint-Jacobstraat 2 - B 2000 Antwerp, BELGIUM Tel. +32 3 265 50 34 www.lukaszszulc.com<http://www.lukaszszulc.com/> @LukaszSzulc<https://twitter.com/LukaszSzulc> RECENT PUBLICATIONs Dhoest, A. & Szulc, L. (2016) Navigating onlince selves: Social, cultural, and material contexts of social medi use by diasporic gay men. Social Media + Society 2(4): 1-10. Available at: http://sms.sagepub.com/content/2/4/2056305116672485.full

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New Publication - Social Theory of Internet Use: Corroboration or Rejection among the Digital Natives? Correspondence Analysis of Adolescents in 2 Societies
by Tomasz Drabowicz 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

Dear all, I would like to inform you about my paper: "Social Theory of Internet Use: Corroboration or Rejection among the Digital Natives? Correspondence Analysis of Adolescents in Two Societies" Abstract: This paper tests a theory of social uses of the Internet (López-Sintas, Filimon, & García-Álvarez, 2012), inspired by the work of Bourdieu (1984, 1986, 1989), outside the Spanish national context in which it was initially formulated. Using the OECD's PISA 2012 data for Germany and Norway, it specifically seeks to uncover differences in patterns of Information and Communication Technologies usage among fifteen-year olds and the factors structuring those differences. Simple Correspondence Analysis has been used as the method of investigation. The results of the analysis show similarities between usage spaces in Germany and Norway; where the first, dominant dimension represents the frequency of digital use and the secondary dimension represents the type of frequent digital use. Furthermore, in both countries gender, migration background, family structure, the parents' level of education, material access to the Internet at home, and the number of books at home explain no more than 8.6 percent of the variance in digital usage. At face value, these results suggest that the theory of social uses of the Internet should be rejected when applied to the adolescents in the countries under investigation. The paper argues, however, that the results should rather be interpreted as an indirect corroboration of the theory, with age being one of the most significant aspects of an individual's social standing affecting digital use. Keywords: Digital inequality; Digital natives; Informational capital; Correspondence analysis; PISA DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2016.10.004 It will be published in the February issue of Computers & Education (Vol. 105). If your institution does not subscribe to this journal, please do let me know off list so that I can send you a copy (my e-mail is tomasz.drabowicz(a)gmail.com) Apologies for cross-posting. Yours faithfully, tom

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New issue: Journal of Community Informatics
by Eduardo Villanueva 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

Dear all, the Journal of Community Informatics has just published a new issue, dedicated to Data Literacy, thanks to guest editors Mark Frank, Johanna Walker, Judie Attard, Alan Tygel; plus regular content of the Journal as well. Please browse and read at: http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/issue/view/59 Best, Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla Editor, The Journal of Community Informatics --------- Table of Contents: Editorial Editorial: Cosmopolitanism versus Traditionalism and the need to talk about a different divide <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1363> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1363/1235> Eduardo Villanueva-Mansilla Data Literacy - What is it and how can we make it happen? <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1347> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1347/1223> Mark Frank, Johanna Walker, Judie Attard, Alan Tygel Articles, Special Issue on Data Literacy Creating an Understanding of Data Literacy for a Data-driven Society <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1286> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1286/1225> Annika Wolff, Daniel Gooch, Jose J. Cavero Montaner, Umar Rashid, Gerd Kortuem Data Literacy defined pro populo: To read this article, please provide a little information <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1290> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1290/1226> David Crusoe Data literacy conceptions, community capabilities <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1348> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1348/1222> Paul Matthews Urban Data in the primary classroom: bringing data literacy to the UK curriculum <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1289> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1289/1231> Annika Wolff, Jose J Cavero Montaner, Gerd Kortuem Contributions of Paulo Freire for a Critical Data Literacy: a Popular Education Approach <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1296> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1296/1232> Alan Freihof Tygel, Rosana Kirsch DataBasic: Design Principles, Tools and Activities for Data Literacy Learners <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1294> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1294/1229> Catherine D'Ignazio, Rahul Bhargava Perceptions of ICT use in rural Brazil: Factors that impact appropriation among marginalized communities <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1273> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1273/1233> Paola Prado, J. Alejandro Tirado-Alcaraz, Mauro Araújo Câmara Graphical Perception of Value Distributions: An Evaluation of Non-Expert Viewers' Data Literacy <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1275> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1275/1230> Arkaitz Zubiaga, Brian Mac Namee Articles Granny gets smarter but Junior hardly notices <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1161> UNTITLED <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1161/1234> Isabella Margarethe Venter, Karen Renaud, Renette Blignaut Digital Cultural Heritage and Social Sustainability <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1278> Chern Li Liew, Gobinda Chowdhury Case Studies Data Murals: Using the Arts to Build Data Literacy <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1276> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1276/1224> Rahul Bhargava, Ricardo Kadouaki, Emily Bhargava, Guilherme Castro, Catherine D'Ignazio Notes from the field Don't ask too much from data literacy <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1297> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1297/1228> Nicolas Kayser-Bril Data Literacy projects in Canada: Field notes from the Open Data Institute, Toronto node <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1302> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1302/1227> Andi Argast, Lydia Zvyagintseva Points of View Some Key Challenges for Data Literacy <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1349> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1349/1221> Mark Frank, Johanna Walker Critical Questions for Community Informatics in Practice <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1325> PDF <http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/article/view/1325/1236> Martin Wolske, Colin Rhinesmith

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Franco Berardi: "Towards a monetary holocaust?" Text written as an introduction to MoneyLab #3
by Ueberschlag Leila 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

Telegram from Bologna: Towards a monetary holocaust? By Franco Berardi, November 30 2016 / Text written as an introduction to MoneyLab #3 Conference: <http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/2016/11/30/towards-a-monetary-holocaust/ <http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/2016/11/30/towards-a-monetary-holocaust/>> <>In a booklet published in 2014 with the title Capitalism a ghost story Arundathy Roy tells some interesting stories about the evolution of India in the neoliberal age: <>“When those who had been evicted went back where they came from, they found their villages had disappeared under great dams and dusty quarries. Their homes were occupied by hunger and policemen. People returned to live on city streets and pavements, n hovels on dusty construction sites, wondering which corner of this huge country was meant for them… In the drive to beautify Delhi fro commonwealth games, laws were passed that made the poor vanish, like laundry stains. Street vendors disappeared, rickshaw pullers lost their licenses, small sops and businesses were shut down. Beggars were rounded up tried by mobile magistrates in mobile courts, and dropped outride the city limits. The slum that remained were screened off, with vinyl billboards that said DELHIciously yours.” In the ‘90s the capitalist globalisation promised to pave the way to a future of prosperity for everybody, or at least for the majority of the world population. Then it became clear that the universal mobilisation of the energy of labor was not leading to prosperity for the majority, but only to huge enrichment for a small minority, a life of precarious exploitation for many, and marginalisation for the rest. Now globalisation is rolling back, stagnation is the likely prospect for the near future. So what is going to happen? What is the destiny of that 50% of the world population who have received nothing of the advantages of globalisation, but are now exposed to the effects of environmental devastation and social impoverishment that the current stagnation is going to provoke? The year 2016 has been marked by the sudden awareness that the process of neoliberal globalisation is failing, and is showing the emergence of a new alliance of neo-liberal extremism and conservative nationalism. The worst of two worlds that once upon a time appeared in opposition: anti-global reaction and simultaneously acceleration of the most destructive tendencies of the market. Norendra Modi, a hindu nationalist and a neoliberal extremist, is the Premier of India, a country of 1.2 billion humans. Modi, who makes part of this new brand of nazi market-worshippers who are winning the elections in many countries of the world, few days ago started an experiment that sounds as a turning point in the history of the world economy. It is called demonetisation but it may result into a great leap forward in the process of digitalisation of money. Steps towards the digitalisation of money have been taken in the last decades, (credit cards, digital payments…) but so far the economy of the countries of the world has been integrating physical money and online money, so allowing the survival of those people who are unable to deal with the digital technology. No more. The move of Modi seems to be intended to accelerate the pace of digitalisation in a country where, notwithstanding the expansion of IT technology in the last ten years, the digital divide still excludes a majority of the population from the possibility of entering the online economy. A wide part of the population is going to be pushed out of the economy like those poor people hidden by the DEHLIciously yours billboards that Arundathi Roy is talking about. Are we witnessing the first glimpses of the expulsion of half of the planetary population from the cycle of economic exchange? Is this the beginning of a sort of economic extermination? Is this the hidden mission of the dawning Trump-age? Actually the reasons that Modi has put forward to motivate his act of demonetisation seem quite weak: he speaks of a move against tax evasion and financial criminality, but in fact he is hitting hard on the average people, whilst tax evaders are notoriously investing their money abroad, and do not go around with packs of small banknotes. “This is like curse of God on us,” said Gian Prakash Gupta, 60, a soft-spoken paper wholesaler “We do not know how to use computers, how to do online transactions, how to use card-swiping machines.” The business of traders like Mr. Gupta, whose operations lie partly in the vast informal economy that makes up around 20 percent of India’s gross domestic product and more than 80 percent of its employment, has been virtually paralyzed since Nov. 8, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a surprise ban on the country’s two largest currency notes, the 500-rupee bill (worth about $7.30) and the 1,000-rupee bill.” (Geeta Anand, Hari Kumar: NYT 29 november 2016). Some of the comments in the Indian press, particularly in the newspapers that represent the pro-financial circles are joyful: India will enormously accelerate the race of growth. How so? getting rid of the dead weight, the majority of the population that is unable to dance at the rhythm, pushing them out of the economic circuit, throwing them down from the racing train. “The problem for many is they do not know how to do without cash. In the Chawri Bazar, generations of traders have bought and sold paper, from wedding cards to calendars to packing material, mostly in cash. Their customers paid cash, and they used it to pay their suppliers and workers.”(Geeta Anand Hari Kumar: NYT 29 november 2016) From the point of view of economic history the move of Modi seems inexplicable. It is not the first time that demonetisation is experimented: in November 1923, the German government introduced a new currency — the rentenmark — and declared all old reichsmark notes to be no longer legal tender, as domestic prices, already 14 times their 1913 levels in mid-1921 and 1,475 times towards end-1922, had skyrocketed to 1,422,900,000,000 times by November next year. As the currency lost value by the minute, people rushed to spend their wages the very moment they received them, fuelling further inflation. The only way to deal with this situation was demonetisation: purging the system of all existing notes and launching a new currency backed by solid assets — in this case, land belonging to the state. With credibility restored, inflation fell and the run on the currency, too, ended. On January 1, 1998 Boris Yeltsin changed the name of Russian currency, with a ‘new’ rouble being made equal to 1,000 ‘old’ roubles. with the intention of addressing rampant inflation. But the ‘new’ rouble’s exchange rate, which was 5.96 to the dollar on January 1, collapsed to 20.65 when the year ended, with consumer price inflation also soaring to 84.5%. The Narendra Modi demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes — constituting over 86% of the total value of currency in circulation — hasn’t been undertaken in response to any hyperinflation or loss of confidence in the rupee. The rupee has actually been quite strong and annual consumer price inflation was just 4.2% in October. That implies that the Modi demonetisation does not follow the conventional logic of a currency ‘stabilisation’ measure, but is a ‘structural reform’, targeted at fostering cashless economy. The present demonetisation triggers spurt in digital payments paving the way for India towards cashless economy. The demonetisation which initially paralysed the economy is now acting as a catalyst towards digital payment ecosystem. This seems to be the beginning of an economic transition. Indian newspapers relate that payment processing companies are overloaded and are racing the devil to accommodate the immense spike in traffic. But in India, most economic transactions take place in cash outside recorded market channels and hence go largely untaxed. This is fostering a parallel ‘black’ economy but this allows the majority of Indian population to survive. The brutal transformation of the currency system has already provoked panic, and casualties, but in the long run it may pave the way to a radical redrawing of the monetary field in the direction of radical digitalisation, and consequently to the expulsion of a majority of society. The digital divide may be turned into a tool for the elimination of the “non competitive” section of the human kind. Modi came to the fore fifteen years ago as responsible of the assassination of more than thousand Muslims in the city of Ayodhya. Now his projects are more ambitious, and he seems aimed to become the vanguard of a possible monetary Holocaust. Best regards, -- Leila Ueberschlag | Intern MoneyLab#3 Institute of Network Cultures Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences | HvA MoneyLab <http://networkcultures.org/moneylab/> | 1&2 Dec 2016 | Pakhuis de Zwijger, Amsterdam www.networkcultures.org <http://www.networkcultures.org/> @INCAmsterdam <https://twitter.com/INCAmsterdam>

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Call for papers - International Conference - Computer Networks Histories: Local, National and Transnational Perspectives 14-15 December 2017 Lugano, Switzerland
by Gianluigi Negro 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

Dear AOIR colleagues Sorry for cross-posting. I would like to promote the international conference on Computer Network Histories that will take place in Lugano on 14-15 December 2017 at USI, Lugano - Switzerland. I am part of the organization team together with Prof. Gabriele Balbi and my colleague Paolo Bory from Univeristà della Svizzera italiana (USI). We hope you will join the event (free of charge) and to see in Lugano next year! Wish you a nice day Gianluigi International Conference - Computer Networks Histories: Local, National and Transnational Perspectives 14-15 December 2017 Lugano, Switzerland Aims and scope Recently several works in the fields of Internet Studies, Science and Technology Studies, and Media Studies have stressed the importance of early local, national and transnational computer networks histories for a deeper understanding of technological and social change in contemporary societies. This two-day conference has a triple aim. First, gathering scholars and researchers from a variety of disciplines working on theoretical and empirical analysis of computer network histories. Second, providing a wide perspective on these histories, including case studies from Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Oceania as well as international organizations dealing with the control and management of networks: this interdisciplinary and international debate could be useful to compare worldwide experiences and to provide new frames on this topic. Third, the conference aims to develop new frameworks and a space of discussion on the historical role of computer networks, representing the starting point of an international community of scholars. Potential topics may include, but are in no way limited to, the following: - The origins and development of computer networks under a local, national, international, or transnational perspective; - Political, economic, and cultural representations of computer networks in Western and Eastern cultures; - Comparative analysis of early and late networks; - Physical infrastructures and materiality of computer networks; - The political economy of national digital infrastructures; - Histories of the digitalization of analogic networks; - The history of failed and forgotten computer networks projects; - The influence of early computer networks on the development of the Internet and of the World Wide Web; - The cultural and social history of computer networks communities (e.g. communitarian networks, academic networks, professional networks, civic networks). All the authors are invited to send an abstract of a max 500 words and a short bio by February 28, 2017 to nethistories(a)gmail.com. All invited speakers interested in publish their papers in the journal revue Histoire et Informatique will be asked to send a paper of max 5000 words by October 31, 2017. Conference venue The two-day conference will take place in Lugano, Switzerland, hosted by the Faculty of Communication Sciences of USI - Università della Svizzera italiana. The organizing committee comes from a collaboration between the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) of USI and the Association Histoire & Informatique Suisse of Bern. Travel grants A limited number of travel grants may be available for participants without access to other financial resources. To request travel funding, please add to your proposal the motivation of your request and an estimate of the needed budget. Deadlines 28 February 2017 Deadline for abstract submission 31 March 2017 Notification of acceptance 31 October 2017 Short papers (max 5000 words) to be delivered 14-15 December 2017 2-days conference Organizers Association Histoire & Informatique Suisse - Bern <http://blog.ahc-ch.ch/> IMeG Institute of Media and Journalism, Università della Svizzera italiana - Lugano <http://www.imeg.com.usi.ch/> For further information please contact the organizational secretariat * Prof. Gabriele Balbi <http://search.usi.ch/en/people/9fca22404467d1801cfd4213b9fb7e7e/Balbi-Gabri…> * Paolo Bory <http://search.usi.ch/en/people/707f4dc7632673d2a6b44a4281bb5874/bory-paolo> * Gianluigi Negro <http://search.usi.ch/en/people/2166df9d09fa4387be828efc6a84441d/Negro-Gianl…> Keynote speakers Hu Yong is a professor at Peking University's School of Journalism and Communication, and a well-known new media critic and Chinese Internet pioneer. Hu Yong is a founding director for Communication Association of China (CAC) and China New Media Communication Association (CNMCA). His publications include Internet: The King Who Rules, the first book introducing the Internet to Chinese readers, and The Rising Cacophony: Personal Expression and Public Discussion in the Internet Age, documenting major transformations in the Chinese cyberspace. http://sjc.pku.edu.cn/English.aspx // Tweet @huyong Benjamin Peters is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at the University of Tulsa and affiliated fellow at the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. His research focuses on the cultural history and social theory of digital media, with emphases on the former Soviet Union and the West. Professor Peters has recently published two books: Digital Keywords: A Vocabulary of Information Society & Culture (Princeton University Press) and How Not to Network a Nation: The Uneasy History of the Soviet Internet (MIT Press) in which he offers an account of the Soviet Union's failed attempts to construct their own national computer networks for civilians during the height of the Cold War tech race. https://petersbenjamin.wordpress.com/ // Tweet @bjpeters Best wishes Gianluigi, Paolo and Gabriele ------------------------------------------------------------ Gianluigi Negro PhD in Communication Sciences Università della Svizzera italiana Via Giuseppe Buffi 13 CH-6900 Lugano

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New book - "Hybrid Politics. Media and Participation"
by Laura Iannelli 30 Nov '16

30 Nov '16

Hi all, I thought some of you may be interested in my new book: *Hybrid Politics. Media and Participation* (SAGE Publications) https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/hybrid-politics/book245549 BLURB *Hybrid Politics* examines the combinations and competitions between older and newer media technologies, practices, actors, contents and logics, by exploring their potential and practical implications in terms of political participation. In this *Swift*, Laura Iannelli analyses the 'hybridity' of politics in democratic societies from a multidisciplinary perspective, identifying the diverse forms of power and political participation that coexist within the contemporary complex media sphere, and which influence participation in the spheres of institutionalised and protest politics. Building upon renowned global research and original case studies, the book proposes an innovative and challenging analytic strategy to understand, explain, and problematise the contemporary complexity of political participation and communication. REVIEWS "This rich, original, and engaging volume provides a new vernacular for understanding hybrid politics; paths to civic engagement that frequently fly under the radar and do not count as political. Through her discussion of pop protests, performative publics, polymedia, and civic engagement, Iannelli expertly synthesizes contemporary work to contribute her own, original take on the always-current question of the political. Smart, informed, and a must read for those interested in the political character of the net" - Zizi Papacharissi (University of Illinois at Chicago) “Hybrid Politics covers the modern history of media and publics, from the mass media era to the age of social media. This comprehensive review of research in the field makes for a valuable sourcebook. Iannelli’s discussion of the changing relationships between citizens and media points out the need for new models to explain emerging forms of politics” - Lance Bennett (University of Washington) “This scholarly book brings together concerns for political activism, democracy, new [and old] media and changing cultural practices. It makes an invaluable contribution to multidisciplinary social science thinking about ways in which our world is moving. Iannelli’s case studies – especially those from outside the US and UK – offer much needed illumination and understanding” - Frank Webster (City University London) “Iannelli provides us with an insightful theorization and valuable resource for understanding the increasingly vital role played by communication in contemporary democratic politics” - Brian Loader (University of York) “*Hybrid Politics. Media and Participation* is a thorough, theoretically rich and pointed analytical intervention into the crowded terrain of participation research spanning media and communication studies, political science and sociology. The book achieves two very important goals. It assembles a minute chronology of media hybridity culminating with aspirations for democratic participation in their workings. At the same time, Laura Iannelli is able to navigate a very complex theoretical landscape to produce a truly interdisciplinary reading of intersecting media and the political, economic and social relations at their heart” - Dan Mercea (City University London) “From the Occupy Movement in the US to The Island of Redundant Workers in Sardinia, Iannelli draws a powerful picture of contemporary instances of unconventional political participation where different media ecologies play an undisputed role. With its innovative take on hybrid politics, this volume successfully tackles the challenge to talk about politics, communication and the media with a fine-grained, interdisciplinary and theoretically-driven approach. Hybrid Politics is a remarkable work that provides a needed contribution to the study of political participation in contemporary democracies” - Stefania Vicari (University of Sheffield) ---- Best (and apologies for cross-posting), laura iannelli -- *Laura Iannelli, Ph.D* *--------------------------------------------Assistant Professor Department of Political Sciences, Communication Sciences and Information Engineering University of Sassari Piazza Università 11, 1st floor07100 Sassari (Italy) <lauraiannelli(a)gmail.com>liannelli(a)uniss.it <liannelli(a)uniss.it>lauraiannelli(a)gmail.com <lauraiannelli(a)gmail.com>*

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Introducing open-source tool “Mecodify” for simplifying big data analysis and visualisation
by Ines Drefs 29 Nov '16

29 Nov '16

MECODEM OFFERS OPEN-SOURCE TOOL "MECODIFY" FOR SIMPLIFYING BIG DATA ANALYSIS AND VISUALISATION How often has the hashtag #paybackthemoney been used on Twitter around Jacob Zuma's 2015 State of the Nation Address to the South African parliament? Who were the most influential tweeters in the trolling attacks on Serbia's ombudsman? These are just two of the questions MeCoDEM researchers tackled in their analyses of social media's contribution to the dynamics of democratisation conflicts in Egypt, Serbia, South Africa and Kenya. They used "Mecodify" - a tool developed as part of MeCoDEM's work package "ICTs and democratisation conflicts" - which helps to extract, analyse and visualise tweets in relation to particular events. Mecodify is now available for public use. Download, free demo and more information are available here: http://www.mecodem.eu/mecodify/ Mecodify's interface was built in such a way that it allows users to utilise its service without having to learn coding or acquire any technical skills. It is a simple and effective tool even for newcomers to big data analysis who don't have vast technical experience. The following features help to produce insightful analyses: * TABLES & GRAPHS: Mecodify can be used to extract, analyse and visualise data in the form of tables and graphs with timelines and many features such as overlays and flags - for example for comparing real events with Twitter activity. * USEFUL FILTERS: By providing a set of filters, Mecodify makes it is possible to inspect data thoroughly and focus on different segments of interest and create graphs - for example to measure the usage of Twitter hashtags. * NETWORK ANALYSIS: While the timeline graph gives details of messages over time, one can also plot graphs of users and analyse relationships that emerge from the data - for example for identifying influential tweeters. Note: Mecodify is in its initial stage of development and currently only supports Twitter but aims to expand to support other platforms that have APIs for data extraction. If you wish to volunteer your time by coding, testing, helping us get funding, or with any other ideas, we would love to hear from you. ABOUT MECODEM: MeCoDEM began on 1 February 2014 and will run over three years. The project investigates the interplay of communication and democratisation conflicts in four countries, Egypt, Kenya, Serbia and South Africa, each of them representing unique aspects of transitional / post-transitional divisions. Based on a comparative case study design, the research covers constitutional conflicts, civic conflicts and conflicts surrounding accountability and good governance. These conflicts constitute arenas of dispute where the media interact with the communicative strategies of governments on the one hand, and political activists and political movements struggling for recognition on the other. MeCoDEM is funded by the European Union within the EU's Seventh Framework Programme. With a budget of 2.2 million Euros, the project consortium includes eight partner institutions from six countries: University of Leeds (coordinating institution), University of Belgrade, University of Hamburg, University of Cape Town, University of Oxford, Stockholm University, Ruhr University Bochum and American University in Cairo. FOR FURTHER ENQUIRIES: Dr Walid Al-Saqaf | walid.al-saqaf(a)ims.su.se MECODEM CONTACT: Prof Barbara Thomass | Barbara.Thomass(a)rub.de Website: www.mecodem.eu | Twitter:@MeCoDEM

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