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

Discussion platform suggestions?
by Josie Anne Reade 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

Hi all, I am wondering if anyone on this mailing list is able to suggest a third party discussion platform that meets the below criteria. FUNTIONALITY: Allow group members to create a new post, comment on existing posts, add photos and videos/voice recordings. Allow administrators to perform all group member functions as well as approve and/or delete group members posts when necessary. ACCESSIBILITY: Accessible on a range of devices such as desktops, tablet computers and smartphones (Android and iOS operating systems). Easy to navigate user interface. PRIVACY: Discussion needs to remain private and only visible to group members via log in. Group members must be able to either create their own username or be assigned a username, without it having to be their full name or connected to any of their existing social media profiles (hence even though a secret Facebook group would be convenient and easy to use for participants, it is not suitable as group members are able to see each other’s names). I am a research assistant on a project that seeks to use this method to elicit responses from a cohort of 530 participants and augment the project’s existing use of interviews and workshops. I have looked at Reddit, Muut and Google Groups but they don’t seem to quite tick all of the boxes. Also in conversation with EthOS. Any suggestions or tips welcome. Thank you in advance! Josie

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CFP: Communicating Music Scenes: Networks, Power, Technology
by Tamas Tofalvy 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

Dear all, I'm happy to announce the following conference that might be of interest to many of you: *Communicating Music Scenes: Networks, Power, Technology <http://cms2017.wordpress.com>* *Budapest, 19-20 May 2017* The conference aims to address the relation(ship)s and communication between people, formal and informal institutions, and technologies in the context of music making. Understanding and exploring music scenes as networks can help us to uncover the power relations that affect those scenes, while also leading to a nuanced understanding of the changing technological and media context in which music is produced, disseminated, consumed, and talked about. We invite papers that address the following themes: - Music scenes and formal and informal communication infrastructures in view of the related technologies and economies - Music scenes and genres, technology and networks: Social Network Analysis, Actor Network Theory etc. - Communication in and about music scenes - Power as formal and political, as well as informal and subcultural: inclusion and exclusion - Musical diplomacy, music scenes and transnational communication - Technology, power and remembering/forgetting music scenes - (Sub)cultural and other forms of capital in music scenes - Music scenes and DIY media, online and offline - Music scenes and digital technology: change and/continuity - Underground scenes and the formal music industries: power and democracy - Music scenes and society: the reproduction and/or subversion of power structures through technology and communication infrastructures - Local – global dynamics and power: the global music industries and local infrastructures - Gender, sexuality and music scenes - Nation(ality), ethnicity and music scenes - Age and music scenes - Social class and music scenes *Keynote Speakers:* David Hesmondhalgh (University of Leeds, UK) Paolo Magaudda (University of Padova, Italy) Anna Szemere (ELTE, Hungary) Ferenc Hammer (ELTE, Hungary) The conference will be held at the Institute of Musicology, Research Center for Humanities, Hungarian Academy of Sciences (HAS), and is jointly organized by the Institute of Musicology, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BME) and IASPM Hungary. *Deadline for abstracts (250 words) with short bio (50 words):* 31 January 2017 Conference website: cms2017.wordpress.com Organizers: Ádám Ignácz (HAS), Emília Barna (BME), Tamás Tófalvy (BME) Should you have any questions regarding the CFP or the conference, please feel free to contact me, Best, Tamas -- Tamas Tofalvy, PhD assistant prof @ Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Dept. of Sociology and Comm.) secretary general @ Association of Hungarian Content Providers (MTE) M: (0036) 30 488 75 84 Web: [EN] http://bit.ly/1RlMXBQ [HU] http://bit.ly/1LlFEbZ A: H-1111 Budapest, Egry J. u. 1., BME GTK E ép., 705.

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Communities & Technologies 2017, Troyes, France - 1st Call for Papers, Case Studies, and Workshops
by Korn, Matthias 25 Sep '16

25 Sep '16

C&T 2017 – Technology for the Common Good 26-30 June 2017, Université de Technologie de Troyes, France http://comtech.community/ == ABOUT C&T The biennial Communities and Technologies (C&T) conference is the premier international forum for stimulating scholarly debate and disseminating research on the complex connections between communities – both physical and virtual – and information and communication technologies. C&T 2017 welcomes participation from researchers, designers, educators, industry, and students from the many disciplines and perspectives bearing on the interaction between community and technology, including architecture, arts, business, design, economics, education, engineering, ergonomics, informatics, information technology, geography, health, humanities, law, media and communication studies, and social sciences. For the 2017 round of C&T, we welcome contributions that particularly pay attention on technology that can be deployed for the common good. The conference program will include competitively selected, peer-reviewed papers and case studies, as well as pre-conference workshops, a doctoral consortium, and invited keynotes. We look forward to welcoming you to an exciting conference in Troyes! Myriam Lewkowicz, Markus Rohde Conference Chairs == IMPORTANT DATES * February 1: Full papers, workshops and case studies due * March 1: Notification of acceptance for workshops proposals * April 1: Notification of acceptance for full papers and case studies * April 20: Camera-ready for full papers, workshop descriptions and case studies due * May 2: Workshop papers and Doctoral Consortium applications due * June 26-30: Workshops and conference in Troyes, France == CALL FOR PAPERS (FULL AND SHORT) C&T focuses on the notion of communities as social entities comprised of people who share something in common; this common element may be geography, needs, goals, interests, practices, organizations, enemies, or other bases for social connection. Communities are considered to be a basic unit of social experience. For the 2017 round of C&T, we welcome contributions that particularly pay attention on technology that can be deployed for the common good. This raises a number of questions, issues, and implications that might not be relevant in other computing related conferences. The common good generally means finding peaceful ways to resolve conflict, securing a more equitable society, a healthy and diverse environment for ourselves and future generations, and cultural diversity. Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) can support community formation and development by facilitating communication and coordination among members, as well as enable and empower communities to deal with challenges and threats. We must also acknowledge the possibility that ICTs could be used in processes that degrade communities or community life; some ICTs could actually be antithetical to healthy communities. In this case certain developments should at the very least be questioned, if not actively discouraged. For this reason we also encourage critiques of existing systems, approaches, policies, and trajectories— any of the factors that encourage private gain at the expense of the common good. It’s not enough to assert that some particular technology will support the common good. Too often, in fact, the assumption is that a particular technological approach — if not the whole of ICT development — is steadfastly advancing towards a state of maximal support for the common good. What lines of argument can we develop that help support a case that a technological approach will support the common good — or wouldn’t? As researchers and academics we must entertain the possibility that our investigations may force us to revise some of our own approaches and assumptions, including rethinking who are the stakeholders of our work, and how our work should be evaluated. Modeling and designing the world we’d like to see can provide invaluable insights. Beyond conducting research and developing tools, services, policy, and the like, we aim to build the circumstances that help promote this work and the orientation in the world. What systems can help encourage civic intelligence and public problem solving? How do we recognize systems that discourage them? Are certain approaches to design, deployment, etc. more likely to result in systems that support the common good? And, if so, where have these been used—and with what degree of success. This focus acknowledges the reality that technological systems exist within social environments and frameworks, policy proposals, and educational approaches may be extremely relevant. Finally, how do we as a community identify our goals, gather our information, and report our findings as to help the communities upon whom we rely to use the information most effectively? Topics appropriate for submission to this conference are manifold. And they may emerge from a variety of relevant perspectives including philosophy, social sciences, design, art, the humanities, etc. Examples of some of the vibrant areas of communities and technology research include, but are not limited to: * Domains such as learning/education, health, cultural heritage; crises and natural disasters; environmental degradation and climate change; * Variety of communities and their relationships to technology; urban and rural, migrants, refugees, indigenous and first peoples, LGBTQ, low-income communities, measuring impacts on communities —positive, negative, and mixed * Bottom-up movements, grassroots developments, civic activism, community engagement, participatory publics, communities and innovation; * Crowdsourcing, crowdfunding, collective and civic intelligence, community learning, early warning systems, collective awareness, collaborative awareness platforms; social cognition; community emotion; happiness; historical memory; * Community owned and operated technology, DIY and maker communities (makerspaces, fablabs, crafters); community agriculture; * Online and offline communities, urban and rural communities; urban technologies; urban informatics; urban interaction design; cross-community work; new forms of communities; * Community memory, archives, and knowledge; resilience; smart communities in the context of smart cities; sustainable communities; economic and social development; * Civic problem-solving, communities in relation to urgent and complex challenges to the health of the planet and the people that inhabit it; collaborative systems; partnering with education; government, civil society, and movements; * Sharing economies; social media and social capital; associations, strong and weak ties, stakeholders; * Methodological issues including research, action, participatory approaches, community-centred design, infrastructuring and evaluation methodologies; ethnographic and case studies of communities; * Supporting community processes: sensemaking, online deliberation; argumentation and discussion-mapping; community ideation and idea management systems; collective decision-making; group memory; participatory sensory networks; * Technological issues: community toolkits; federated systems; integration with other systems, integration with face-to-face systems; * The future of communities and technology; simulations and utopian design; durable relationships and long-range goals; and * Developing and supporting the Communities & Technologies community; social and technological critique; effectiveness and other measures == Submitting a Paper Please submit all papers and abstracts using the ACM recommended templates. Papers will be submitted via EasyChair. In order to allow for a diversity of contributions, the conference will accept full and short research papers. * Full papers must be no longer than ten pages, including all additional material such as references, appendices, and figures. * Short (or Work-in-progress) papers must be no longer than four pages. The papers must include a title, sufficient space for the author name(s) to appear on the paper, abstract, keywords, body, and references. Papers submitted by the due date will undergo a double blind peer review process by the Program Committee and will be evaluated on the basis of their significance, innovation, academic rigour, and clarity of writing. Since 2009, the C&T proceedings are published by ACM. The application is under process for 2017. Please send any questions to the Program Chairs: papers(a)comtech.community Ingrid Mulder, Douglas Schuler Program Chairs == CASE STUDIES This year, C&T introduces a new category of submissions: Case Studies. With this category, we encourage C&T researchers or practitioners to present a case study or an experience report of real-world cases projects that provide new insights and learnings to other C&T researchers and practitioners. In general, both kinds of research are welcome – more analytical (such as ethnographical case studies and historical analysis of case) as well as more action-oriented (such as design case studies, action research reports). In addition, methodological reflections about case study research are appreciated. == What counts as a good case study research Case studies should be inspiring, but should not be constrained by traditional academic expectations. The primary criteria is relevance in making a significant contribution to the community. Successful case studies will meet the following criteria: they report on new work that derives in original insights, they have the potential for real impact on the C&T body of knowledge and practice, they report on very specific or singular communities or experiences. They shed light into emerging and/or marginalized topics and address existing gaps in the broader C&T methods and understanding. Suggested topics of interest include, but are not restricted to: * Technology design and use in the developing world and non-Western societies * Research of a specific domain, user group, organisation or experience, discussing its rationale, any issues, and lessons learned * Pilot studies preceding and informing larger-scale investigations * Application, critique, or evolution of a method, process, theory, or tool * Challenges to existing notions of Research, Design, Theory, and Practice * Revisiting definitions of C&T practice * The role of technology in civic activism, community engagement, participatory publics * The role of technology in the context of the refugee and migrant crisis * The role of technology in consumer empowerment (supply chain transparency, open data, etc.) * Sharing and commoning practices (communities and the sharing economy and/or commons-based production) Other more specific areas of interest: * Uses and misuses of technology by communities * New maker practices * Technology in humanitarian crisis contexts * Decentralisation and blockchain * Gender and technology * HCI teaching and learning in education, training, or knowledge sharing. * ‘Big Ideas’ and how to make them happen == Preparing and submitting your case study Case studies will be submitted via EasyChair. The Case Study submissions must be reported using the ACM recommended templates, should not exceed 5 pages, and can include supplementary material in the form of pictures, videos, documents, websites, etc. If supplementary materials are submitted, we request authors to include a list of the supplementary documents in their submission and a description of the nature and purpose of each item. Submissions will undergo a peer review process by the Program Committee members. Accepted case study reports will be published in the Proceedings, together with long and short papers. Since 2009, the C&T proceedings are published by ACM. The application is under process for 2017. Please send any questions to the Case Studies Chairs: casestudies(a)comtech.community Mara Balestrini, Gunnar Stevens Case Studies Chairs == WORKSHOPS C&T Workshops will run for a half or one full day and will take place on June 26th or June 27th. Workshops provide a platform to discuss, explore and advance specific research areas of Communities & Technologies with a group of like-minded researchers and practitioners. Each workshop should generate ideas that give the C&T community a new, innovative way of thinking about the topic, or ideas that suggest promising directions for future research. Topics addressed may include (but are not limited to) theories, methodologies, artifacts in practices, emerging application areas, design innovations, strategy and organizational issues pertaining to communities and technology. While workshop summaries will be integrated into the conference proceedings published by ACM (pending), organizers can consider converting individual workshop papers into edited books or special issues of journals. Furthermore, there is the option of publishing the workshop submissions (all contributions) as an International Report on Socio-Informatics (IRSI): http://www.iisi.de/en/international-reports-on-socio-informatics-irsi/. You may consider including such publication goals in your workshop proposal. A workshop proposal must be prepared according to ACM recommended templates and should be no more than 4 pages including references. Furthermore each proposal should: * include the title of the workshop, * list organizers and their backgrounds, * provide workshop’s theme, goals and activities, * indicate maximum number of participants, * provide means of soliciting and selecting participants. Please send proposals directly to the Workshop Chairs: workshops(a)comtech.community Sukeshini A. Grandhi, Lars Rune Christensen Workshop Chairs -- Dr. Matthias Korn e-Science / Computer-Supported Cooperative Research DFG-SFB 1187: Media of Cooperation, University of Siegen Institute for Information Systems, Fak. III, University of Siegen Phone: +49 271 740-2293 Cell: +49 173 7232 198 Office: US-D 102 Mail: matthias.korn(a)uni-siegen.de Twitter: @matsch_o0 Web: http://mkorn.binaervarianz.de/

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AoIR 2016 Conference Code of Conduct
by sava saheli singh 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

hello, I am looking forward to attending AoIR 2016, but I was dismayed to hear that there is no code of conduct in place for the conference. I reached out to the conference organizers asking about this, and they said they were not familiar with a code of conduct but suggested I bring it up for discussion during the General Meeting at the conference. I appreciate that I was invited to bring the idea to the Executive Committee during AoIR16, but I think the right time to have a code of conduct in place is *before* the conference so that there is something in place to address anything untoward that might occur, and be clear to attendees that they have recourse to help and safety should they need it. I encourage members to consider establishing a code of conduct for our conference before the conference. I had shared this resource with the conference organizers, and I share it here as well: http://incisive.nu/2014/codes-of-conduct/. it is a good starting point, and includes links to other useful resources. I am happy to contribute in anyway, and I hope those involved in the conference and the community also take this on. look forward to seeing many of you in Berlin, sava -- sava saheli singh PhD Candidate | Adjunct Instructor | Program Assistant Educational Communication and Technology Program <http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/alt/ect> NYU Steinhardt

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Re: [Air-L] Tool for collecting Instagram images/websites/data?
by Maurice Vergeer 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

maybe the R package instaR: https://github.com/pablobarbera/instaR/blob/master/examples.R For longterm applications you could learn web scraping with R package rvest (there ar more options for web scraping) The quick-and-dirty method is search a tag on Instagram with a browser, scroll down multiple times to load as much pictures as you need, then save the resulting Instagram page in a new specific folder, which then contains all pictures with that specific tag. hope that helps On Sat, Sep 17, 2016 at 5:27 PM, Rainer Hillrichs <hillrichs(a)uni-mannheim.de > wrote: > Dear all, > > I searched on the list and on the web but couldn't find anything: I'm > looging for a tool that collects Instagram images, websites, and data > associated with a specific tag. Basically, I want to type in a tag and end > up with a folder full of images, websites, and a table with data (e.g. user > name, date posted, URL, other tags). I already suspect that is a lot to ask > for ;-) Even a simpler tool would be a good start! As long as I don't have > to to end up saving individual images, websites, and typiing/copying stuff > into a table. > > Suggestions very much appreciated! > Rainer > > > -- > Dr. Rainer Hillrichs > Universität Mannheim > https://uni-mannheim.academia.edu/RainerHillrichs > _______________________________________________ > The Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/ > listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > > Join the Association of Internet Researchers: > http://www.aoir.org/ -- ________________________________________________ Maurice Vergeer To contact me, see http://mauricevergeer.nl/node/5 To see my publications, see http://mauricevergeer.nl/node/1 ________________________________________________

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call for papers ViNM conference
by vanessa.jaroski＠ens.unibe.ch 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

Dear AoIR members, In November 2017, the Universities of Neuchâtel, Zurich and Bern in Switzerland will host the first international conference to focus specifically on visual communication in/about new media. In this regard, we invite the submission of abstracts for scholarly presentations in any of four overlapping thematic areas. 1. Social interaction Here, we envisage presentations that focus on the communicative uses of visual resources in the context of new media; for example: orthography and typography, graphematic design, the use of emojis (pictograms, emoticons, smilies), and/or the social-interactional uses of video, GIFs and non-moving images. 2. Meta-discourse Here, we envisage presentations that focus on people’s talk or writing about visual practices; for example: journalistic commentary about visual practices in new media (the use of emojis, for instance) or communicators’ discussions about their own or others’ visual practices in new media spaces. 3. Visual ideologies Here, we envisage presentations that focus on the visual depiction of new media in, for example, the context of commercial advertising, print or broadcast news, cinema and television narratives and/or public policy and educational settings. 4. Industrial design Here, we envisage presentations that focus on perspectives related to, for example, the visual-material design of technologies and apps, as well as the look or layout of screen interfaces, especially insofar as they concern the communicative (as opposed to technical) affordances of new media. In selecting presentations, the conference team will privilege those adopting a multimodal approach to visual communication; in other words, studies that focus on visuality but attend to its interaction with other communicative modes – especially linguistic ones. We take a broad and critical approach to labels like “new”, “digital” and “mobile” as they are applied to communication technologies; we are nonetheless principally interested in more current, social, interactive media spaces such as micro-blogging, messaging, forums, gaming, video- and photo-sharing, and social networking. The principal language of the conference will be English; however, the conference team welcome presentations and posters presented in German, French, and Italian (ideally, with slides or handouts offered in English). In such an interdisciplinary field, we also invite presenters to use their preferred style of delivery, whether it’s a read paper, an unscripted slideshow or some combination of the two. Titles, abstracts and basic biographical information should be submitted using our online submission system available here: https://www.conftool.net/vinm2017/. Abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words and written in the same language as the presentation or poster. If the abstract is in a language other than English, please provide a list of five keywords in English. We ask that you also indicate which of our four thematic areas (above) your paper addresses as well as if it is a presentation or a poster. The deadline for proposals is February 28th 2017 with an anticipated decision date of April 30th 2017. Here is the conference website for more information: http://www2.unine.ch/vinm2017 Best regards, Vanessa Jaroski Vanessa Jaroski SNF doctoral candidate Assistant in Language and Communication Department of English University of Bern Switzerland

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CeDEM17 Conference on E-Democracy & Open Government 15.-17.5. 2017 Austria
by Johann Höchtl 24 Sep '16

24 Sep '16

/* apologies for cross-postings */ Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government CeDEM 2017 17-19 May 2017, Danube University Krems, Austria http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/cedem17 Call for Papers --------------- Submission deadline for all papers, workshop proposals, reflections: 12 December 2016 The international Conference for e-Democracy and Open Government (CeDEM) brings together e-democracy, e-participation and open government specialists working in academia, politics, government and business to critically analyse the innovations, issues, ideas and challenges in the networked societies of the digital age. We invite individuals from academic and applied backgrounds as well as business, public authorities, NGOs, NPOs and education institutions to submit their papers, reflections as well as workshop proposals to the topics addressed in the tracks. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches to the conference topics/tracks: • Research papers/Case studies/Project papers: 12 pages maximum (double-blind peer-reviewed); • Reflections: 6 pages maximum (selected by the chairs); • Workshops: 4 pages maximum (selected by the chairs); • PhD Colloquium papers: 3 pages maximum (excluding literature list; selected by the colloquium track directors); Full papers submitted are peer-reviewed in a double-blind process, and published in IEEE Proceedings. Workshop proposals, PhD colloquium papers and Reflections selected by the chairs are published in the Edition Donau-UniversitätKrems Proceedings. The CeDEM offers a PhD Colloquium in cooperation with the Danube University Krems’ Platform for Political Communication and netPOL (www.netpol.at) The PhD Colloquium provides PhD students the opportunity to present their work and gain feedback from experts as well as meet other PhD students. Students from any stage of their PhD are invited to submit their work and apply for the CeDEM PhD Bursary.The CeDEM also provides an Open Space, where participants can submit proposals, then democratically choose and organise their own presentations, workshops, birds of a feather, events, meetings etc..Since 2014, the CeDEM conference presents the author/s of the best paper with the “CeDEM Best Paper Award”. Papers are nominated for this award by the reviewers during the peer-review process; the best paper is then selected by the CeDEM’s track directors.Authors of the best peer-reviewed papers will be asked to re-submit their revised and extended papers for the autumn issue of the Centre for E-Governance’s Open Access eJournal of eDemocracy and Open Government (www.jedem.org) Important Dates =============== • Submission deadline for all papers, workshop proposals, reflections: 12 December 2016 • Notification of acceptance: 13 February 2017 • Camera-ready paper submission and author registration: 6 March 2017 • Conference: 17-19 May 2017 Conference Chairs ================= NoellaEdelmann & Peter Parycek (Danube University Krems, AT) noella.edelmann(a)donau-uni.ac.at peter.parycek(a)donau-uni.ac.at CeDEM17 Tracks ============== Track: E-Democracy and E-Participation ====================================== Chairs: Fiorella De Cindio (University of Milan, IT), Mauri Kaipainen (Södertörn University, SE), AlonPeled (Hebrew University of Jerusalem, IL) The explosion of social media is fuelling new and unanticipated directions in e-democracy and e-participation - from increased pressure for direct democracy, new ideas to engage citizens in service and/or policy co-design, co-delivery and co-evaluation. This session will explore the latest trends and ongoing challenges facing this evolving field, trying to outline the emerging traits of a new model of inclusive e-participation for local/territorial and global/virtual communities. We welcome papers presenting case studies and papers with a more theoretical focus, but encourage in particular authors to combine them for challenges, analyses and elaborations on further developments. Typical issues might be, but are not limited to: • Sustainability of e-participation and citizen engagement; best practices and key factors for success; motivational factors and the impact of participation; • Participatory and communication platforms; ICT for e-participation; mobile media and new forms of participation; applications for citizens; • New kinds of interactions between citizens and other societal stakeholders, citizens and government interaction, business and government interaction; different perspectives held by citizens, government, NGOs, NPOs, practitioners, service providers; • Citizen inclusion and digital divide: gender, age, education, etc.; • New approaches to direct democracy, new forms of democracy enhanced by ICT and the impact of new technologies, in particular block chains, to the development of e-participation; • Inclusive e-governance in the context of Regional Smart Specialisation; • Living Labs and Social Innovation; • E-participation and cooperation for development; • Business and e-participation; • Critical perspectives: wrongdoings, bad and worst experiences, hype but not reality, fringe groups; Track:Social Media, Public Administration and Citizen Engagement ================================================================ Chairs: Marko Skoric (Nanyang Technological University, SG), Morten Meyerhoff Nielsen (Tallinn University of Technology, EE), Natalie Pang (Nanyang Technological University, SG) Social media integrate Web 2.0 technologies, user-generated content creation, and social interactions in the domains of public administration and citizen engagement. It encourages innovations within governments towards organizational benefits (such as reducing transaction costs, efficient dissemination, cooperative and cross-organizational work etc.) and also fosters citizens' engagement with their governments. Topics include, but are not limited to: • Social media and social networks in public administration and government: practical experiences, theoretical approaches, legal frameworks: country reports; • Information provision, new services, service delivery, and service quality; • Social media platforms and applications to foster the interaction between public administration and citizens: e-consultation, participatory budgeting, participatory city planning, online petitions; • Inclusion, accessibility, legal obstacles, dos and don'ts, transparency and control: exploring the opportunities, risks and challenges of socialmedia platforms and applications in the public administration; • Types of citizens' social media use (informational, expressive,relational, entertainment, identity-building, etc.) and theirparticipatory outcomes/consequences; • Unintended consequences of social media uses and other emergingbehaviours such as polarisation, exposure to disagreement, echo chambers,and unfriending/unfollowing; • Social media use by political parties and citizen mobilisation duringthe elections; • Government surveillance of social media; surveillance as citizenfeedback. Track: Open Collaborative Government ==================================== Chairs: MuneoKaigo (University of Tsukuba, JP), Sylvia Archmann (Austrian Chancellery, AT) Collaboration across organizational boundaries can significantly increase the quality, the efficacy, and also the efficiency of government. However, it also faces many hindrances. In some situations the organizational reality reads "My agency is my castle". Particular objections exist against collaboration across different levels of government, and even more against collaboration between government and civil society or between government and industry. We are interested in research papers, which study the problems, present case studies, design innovation solutions, identify success and failure factors, or provide overviews of existing research results. Papers should highlight the role of information and communication technology, but they should equally discuss political, organizational, and/or cultural aspects. Topics ofinterestsinclude, but are not limited to: • Innovative collaboration platforms and tools; • The use of social media, collaboration, or decision making tools; • The role of interoperability as an enabler of collaboration, e.g. EIF and CEF infrastructure support collaboration; • The implementation of cross-organizational collaboration or decision making processes; • Informal or formal collaboration between government and civil society, PPPs (private-public-partnerships), shared funding, etc.; • Evaluation methods for collaboration initiatives; • Success or failure criteria, empirical observations of success; • Semantic, legal, organisational, contextual or other hindrances for collaboration. Track: Open Data, Transparency and Open Innovation ================================================== Chairs: Anneke Zuiderwijk (TU Delft, NL), Johann Höchtl (Danube University Krems, AT),Ramon Gil-Garcia (University at Albany, US) Open data can provide a platform for many forms of democratic engagement: from enabling citizen scrutiny of governments, to supporting co-production of public data and services, or the emergence of innovative solutions to shared problems. This track explores the opportunities and challenges to open data production, quality assurance, supply and use across different levels of governance. Key themes include: • Open data policy and politics: opportunities and challenges for governments; the global spread of open data policy; transparency and accountability, economic innovation, drivers for open data; benefits and challenges for developing countries; • Licensing and legal issues: copyright vs. open licenses & Creative Commons; Freedom of Information and the ‘right to data’; information sharing and privacy; • Open data technologies: technical frameworks for data and meta-data; mash-ups; data formats, standards and APIs; integration into backend systems; data visualisation; data quality; data end-users and intermediaries; • Open data as a valuable resource towards the European data market: Open Data and Public Sector Information as a source for Business Intelligence; Open Data, closed data and data market intermediaries; New market models, roles and responsibilities; • Open data as a social movement: How can the global trend towards open data be conceptualized as a form of collective action? How do challengers and incumbents organize and change? How is the data branch embedded in the field of open movements? • Open innovation and co-production: open data enabled models of public service provision; government as a platform; making open data innovation sustainable; data and democracy; connecting open data and crowdsourcing; data and information literacy; • Evidence and impacts: costs and benefits of providing or using open data; emerging good practices; methods for open data research; empirical data measuring open data impacts, public value generation and open data. Track: Citizens’ Participation in Democratic Governance Processes through ICT in Africa ======================================================================================= Chairs: Johnstone Baguma – Kumaraki (Toro Development Network, UG), WakabiWairagala (CIPESA, UG), Wilfred Warioba (Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance, TZ) InformationCommunication Technologies (ICT) offer concrete opportunities for local and national governments to improve their performance in terms of transparency, participation and decentralization (Guchteneire and Mlikota, 2008). Many other scholars globally, have echoed related statements previously. However, the greatest challenge is that many are anecdotal and coming across empirical case studies to support such conclusions becomes difficult. For instance, this track will present evidence-based experiences of ICT-enabled, citizen-led democratic engagements for good governance in the Eastern and Southern African regions. The track will provide more normative than positive knowledge to practitioners, public sector, service providers and academic researchers. With comparison to other initiatives in Africa and the developing world, submissions should focus, for example, on: • How simple, affordable, and cost effective ICT tools are used to activate and facilitate local citizens’ participation in governance issues; • Electronic virtual platforms for citizens’ participation and e-participation; • Model discussions of how local citizens’-led advocacy forums, Voluntary Social Accountability Committees (VSACs), human rights networks and other initiatives in the region are using these platforms; • Initiatives that use the ICT tools convergence approach, that combine online social, broadcast media and mobile technology to mobilize local citizens for offline physical meetings, to democratically engage local and central government leaders; • Improving accountability for essential service delivery at the grassroot level; Track: Open Access ================== Chairs: Antonio Vetró(NexaCenter for Internet & Society, IT), Lorenzo Canova (NexaCenter for Internet & Society, IT) Open Access (OA) is a concept that applies to both scientific publications and other related entities, including scientific data, thatare freely accessible and reusable. The Berlin Declaration, one of the milestones of the Open Access movement, states that OA contributions must satisfy two conditions: that “a free, irrevocable, worldwide, right of access to, and a license to copy, use, distribute, transmit and display the work publicly and to make and distribute derivative works” is granted by the author(s) and rights holder(s) of such contributions and that a “complete version of the work and all supplemental materials” in a “standard electronic format” is available online, to ensure “unrestricted distribution, interoperability, and long-term archiving”.While we welcome any innovative contribution concerning OA, the focus of the track is on emerging models grounded on cooperation, defragmentation of resources, knowledge sharing and non-rivalrous reuse of significant amounts of content, with the aim of paving the path toward a “networked science”. In particular, we encourage the submission of papers on: • Robust methodologies and empirical analysis that are able to provide evidence about the benefits of OA; • Proposals concerning the use of OA repositories for innovative purposes, such as new forms of research assessment and evaluation; • Open scientific data, i.e., scientific data whose usage is unrestricted, or placed under permissive terms that guarantee the free access and reuse of data. Track: Communities, Participation and Civic Engagement ====================================================== Chairs:JakobSvensson (Uppsala University, SE), Judith Schossböck (Danube University Krems, AT), Peter Mambrey (Universität Duisburg-Essen, DE) Civic engagement in communities or in single-issue formations relies on the utilisation of ICT and the internet (in combination with traditional and offline methods) to mobilise, to coordinate activities and to organise discourse. This track welcomes papers that studies how so-called „new“ media facilitates, constrains, affords and influences such civic engagement and participation. We are interested in issues such as the logic of connective and collective action, aspects of peer production and a focus on communities, participation and citizens in different fields: from science (citizen science) to politics (bottom-up movements and activism). We welcome theoretical as well as empirical papers and are open to different types of methodological approaches including qualitative and innovate solutions to data-gathering. Topics include, but are not limited to: • The formation of communities and (collective) identities; • Bottom-up movements, grassroots activities and the counter-public sphere; • New media activism, hacktivism and modern forms of civic online engagement; • The study of social and cultural capital in new media or social media; • The study of power and (in)equality within bottom up movements as well as in relation to society at large; • The effects of new media usage on identities and behaviour of online groups and communities; • The logic and nature of civic online engagement and NGOs/NPOs in a network society; • Online spaces for self-organisation and the negotiation of (collective) identities; • User generated content, peer production and crowd-sourcing (including online research communities); • Citizen and group driven innovation (including citizen science and open innovation); • The methodology for the study of online communities (nethnography). Track: Information Visualization for the People =============================================== Chairs: Michael Smuc (Danube University Krems, AT), Florian Windhager (Danube University Krems, AT) From its early days to its current mass application as statistical charts or interactive infographics, information visualization has been striving for academic elaboration and the broadening of its target audiences. With specific regard to both of these aspects, the track is looking for contributions where information visualization meets political data and content in the public communication domain. Submissions may focus on case studies, evaluations, as well as conceptual or theoretical contributions on: • Translational work between academic and application oriented communities of practice; • Optimization of representations to provide insights into complex subject matters; • Non-expert audiences, casual infovis contexts and strategies for visual literacy development; • Transparency and critical reflection of design choices for visual representations; • Developments in the emerging field of data journalism or other public communication domains; Track: Connected Smart City =========================== Chairs: Carlos E. Jiménez Gómez (IEEE Computer Society e-Gov STC&estratic, US), Francisco Falcone (UPNA/IEEE STC e-GOV, ES), GabrielaViale Pereira (Danube University Krems, AT), Jörn von Lucke (Zeppelin University, DE), Norbert Kersting (University of Münster, DE) This track provides a platform for the various living labs, initiatives and projects that work on or with concepts of "Smart Cities". It aims at sharing experiences as well as test results and to further investigate relations of innovative technologies and democratic societies. Government & Governance, Citizenship & Cities as well as Information & Knowledge Society are key elements of a new view of the world as a “system” in which the aim should be to achieve the highest degree of governance within a city, where benefits are maximized and disadvantages are minimized. Contributions are especially appreciated on the following topics: • Becoming a smart city: Best practices, failures & practical challenges; • Successful technologies for encouraging citizen participation; • Successful technologies for integrating all dimensions of human, collective, and artificial intelligence within the city; • Smartness vs. Openness? Open data & Big data, Usability &Accessability, the internet of things and co-production; • Do smart cities need smart people? Relations of innovative technologies, democratic societies & concepts of "Smartness"; • The 4 incremental stages where ICT transform the public organizations and produce better services to the citizens: e-Administration, e-Government, Open Government and Smart Government; • The social implications of technology, social cities, the best options for citizens, avoiding the negative impacts of technology; • The Interoperability Principle as a part of the Open Government concept and linking this concept with the Smart Cities view; Track: E-Voting =============== Chairs: Robert Krimmer (Tallinn University of Technology, EE), Jesus Cano (IEEE eGovernment Co-chair, UNED, USPCEU, EU) Exploring a holistic approach to e-voting. Specifically, we aim to explore e-voting issues, gather perspectives and present practical solutions. Discussion of emerging technologies and their application to e-voting (kiosk and remote), often following outside-of-the-box thinking are particularly welcome: • Discussion of all forms of electronic voting: including, but not limited to, polling station, kiosk or remote voting by electronic means; • Interdisciplinary issues (e.g. technology, law, politics and society) in the design and implementation of e-voting; • Presenting new ways of solving the voting paradigm: the unequivocal identification of the voter and the full anonymity of the vote; • Implementations, their legal, organisational and technical framework, project experiences; • Analysis of the interrelationship between the effects of e-voting on democratic institutions, processes and voter behaviour; • Conducting social and political analysis on the effects of electronic voting; • Practical experiences in implementing and conducting elections with electronic voting parts; • Discussion of security requirements and testing in accordance to international security standards i.e. Common Criteria or ITSEC; • Evaluation of e-voting: the effects and how to evaluate experiments; • Verifiability of e-voting: individual and/or universal approaches to verification of e-voting; • Usability of e-voting: user interface evaluation and criteria for usability scales; • Future trends; Track: Political Communication & Public Spheres in a Digital Age ================================================================ Chairs: Christina Hainzl (Danube University, AT), Jonas Kaiser (Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Hardvard University, US), Francisco Seoane Perez (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, ESP), Cornelius Puschmann (Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet & Society and Hans Bredow Institute for Media Research at the University of Hamburg, DE), Markus Rhomberg (Zeppelin University Friedrichshafen, DE) Digital communication is affecting all areas of political communication on a macro-, meso- and micro-level. Studying current phenomena like the UK referendum to leave the European Union, the campaign of Donald Trump, or other populist attempts to use migration, terrorism or security issue are challenging not only political actions, but also researchers. It is paramount to critically (re-)assess traditional models of democracy, the (transnational) public sphere, to analyse and compare the changing structure of the media environment and its impacts on discourse, participation, the effects of digital media on its users in a political context, as well as communication strategies of political organizations. We invite empirical and/or theoretical contributions, as well as case studies on the changing nature of the relationship between citizens, the public, political actors and the media in a digital environment.Typical issues might include, but are not limited to: • The implications of a (transnational) networked public sphere on the quality of modern democracy, discourses and political decision making; • Policy debates in a digital environment; • The role of experts in digital policy debates; • New agents and actors in the digital sphere; • Discourse structures, strategic framing, and issue careers; • Interactions and interdependencies between digital and traditional media; • New journalistic practices in a digital age; • Propaganda and deception in online discourse; • Diffusion of political communication online; • Critical assessments and reflections on a networked public sphere; • The role of counter-publics and populist political actors; • Effects of digital communication on user perceptions, attitudes, and political orientation; • Digital communication strategies and news management of political organizations in national and supranational contexts (e.g. government communication, strategies of international organizations, populist political communication). Track: Identity, Privacy, and Security ====================================== Chairs: ReinhardRiedl (Bern University of Applied Sciences, CH), Bettina Rinnerbauer(Danube University Krems, AT) We are looking for papers dealing with: The design, modeling, standardization, and use of electronic identities and trust services and/or the development of the eID ecosystem as a whole – focusing on issues such as: • Take-up by users and relying parties; • eIDAS and cross-border usage; • Use of eIDs in e-participation; Critical privacy issues such as • Correlation of data across different domains; • Identity misuse, violation of privacy, or abuse of personal data; • Measures to ensure and protect privacy rights; • Fundamental discussions of government obligations and roles; Cybersecurity in a democratic society such as • The needs for government actions; • The collaboration of actors from different sectors of society; • Specific threats in the context of e-democracy; Challenges of policy making related to identity, privacy, and security such as • Use of blockchain technology and other disruptive technologies; • Non-government solutions created by civil society; Aspects of trust related to identity, privacy, and security, such as • Cultural, social, and contextual differences; • The role of institutions. Track: Emerging Issues in E-Democracy and Open Government ========================================================= Chairs: MartijnHartog (The Hague University of Applied Sciences, NL),Bert Mulder (The Hague University of Applied Sciences, NL), Josef Hörmandinger (SalzburgerLandtag, AT), Yuri Misnikov (St. Petersburg State University, RU) The interdisciplinary track ‘Emerging Issues’ aims to broaden and deepen analysis, strategic foresight and development, future studies, innovations and quality assessments on the broad adoption of E-Democracy and Open Government in governmental organizations. Submissions should clarify the benefits, opportunities and challenges of the adoption of information and communication technologies by (digital) citizens and (digital) governments. Material and initiatives should reflect on how governments, suppliers and other stakeholders could create optimal circumstances to support a participatory society. Applicable topics of interest are: • Open Government, Transparency, E-Democracy; • Open Spending, Open Data, Linked Data, Big Data; • E-Participation, Co-Creation, Co-Design, Self-Governance, Networks, Smart Cities; IT Infrastructures and Architectures, Standardizations, Design Theories, Methods and Frameworks. Reflections =========== Chair: Michael Sachs (Danube University Krems, AT) Reflections are for ideas, methods, results and outcomes that are in progress, in the early stages, novel or innovative. They must represent original work and must not have been published previously. They can, but must not, address topics addressed in the tracks, or they can represent interdisciplinary approaches to the conference topics. Reflections are short papers, and will not be peer-reviewed. • The submissions should have a maximum of 6 pages and will be selected by the chairs of the conference; • Length: 6 pages max. Workshops ========= Chairs: MalgorzataGoraczek(Danube University Krems, AT), Thomas Lampoltshammer (Danube University Krems, AT) Workshops should focus on latest scientific research, emerging technologies and breakthroughs in policy and programme. The workshop content should be current, supported by research and consistent with best practices. They should promote and enhance opportunities for knowledge transfer, skills development and collaborative learning. Workshop proposals need to communicate a clear sense of the workshop: the goals, objectives, and how to transfer knowledge or the skills to the participants. They must target smaller audiences and focus on audience participation and interaction. Formats can be discussion or small group work, case-studies, demonstrations, role play, small group activities, problem-based learning. Whilst workshops can include 2-4 discussion leaders, the workshop should not represent a collection of presentations with a short question&answer session at the end. • Workshops last 90 minutes; • Submissions are selected by the chairs of the conference; • Length: 4 pages max. PhD Colloquium ============== Chairs: Anneke Zuiderwijk (TU Delft, NL), Christina Hainzl (Danube University Krems, AT), Peter Parycek (Danube University Krems, AT) The CeDEM offers a PhD Colloquium in cooperation with the Danube University Krems’ Platform for Political Communication and netPOL (www.netpol.at) The PhD Colloquium provides PhD students the opportunity to present their work and gain feedback from experts as well as meet other PhD students. Students from any stage of their PhD are invited to submit their work in relation to any of the conference topics. The PhD paper should try to address: aim of the PhD, theory and/or models, hypotheses, results, analysis of data, the PhD’s contribution to the body of knowledge. • PhD students can apply for a bursary: http://tinyurl.com/cedem17phd • Length: 7 pages max. -- Dr. Johann Höchtl Zentrum für E-Governance Donau-Universität Krems Dr.-Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30 A-3500 Krems Tel.: ++43 2732 893 2304 Mail: Johann.hoechtl(a)donau-uni.ac.at

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TT Position in Interactive Media and Game Development
by deWinter, Jennifer 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Hello all, I am delighted to announce that we are hiring. Please see our job ad below, which speaks mostly to people from CS backgrounds who are doing either (or both) interactive media and game development. I am happy to answer any questions about this position, and I promise that we are all very nice :) Best, Jennifer The WPI Interactive Media and Game Development (IMGD) Program and the Computer Science Department jointly seek to hire a tenure-track faculty member to start July 1, 2017. Candidates should hold a Ph.D. in Computer Science or related discipline at the time of appointment. Established in 2005, WPI’s top-ranked IMGD program is a collaborative venture between the Computer Science, Humanities & Arts, and Social Science & Policy Studies departments, with close affiliations to the Learning Sciences and the Robotics Engineering Programs. IMGD has a robust undergraduate B.S. program that balances artistic and technical skills, with a growing graduate M.S. program in interactive media and game design. We welcome faculty candidates with expertise in any of a variety of relevant areas, such as (but not limited to): novel interface design, technical game development, mobile and networked games, virtual and augmented reality, procedural content generation, and technical animation. Successful candidates will have a clear plan to establish a research program within IMGD, seek external research funding, and participate in teaching at both the graduate and undergraduate levels in IMGD and the Computer Science department. The 14 core and 9 affiliated IMGD faculty members bring diverse skills and experiences to the teaching and scholarship of all things interactive. The IMGD Program enjoys strong support from the university and has state-of-the-art space and equipment for designing, creating, and evaluating next-generation interactive experiences. Further, Massachusetts offers an excellent home for game developers with an active independent game developer scene, hosting PAX East, Boston FIG, and a number of other game-related organizations and events. We expect successful candidates to contribute to the collaborative and collegial atmosphere we currently enjoy. For more information about the IMGD Program, please visit http://imgd.wpi.edu. To apply, please submit a C.V., brief statements of research and of teaching, and three letters of recommendation via our online application system: https://careers.wpi.edu/postings/3864. Applications received by December 15, 2016 will be given full consideration. To enrich education through diversity, WPI is an affirmative action, equal opportunity employer. Women and members of traditionally underrepresented groups are especially encouraged to apply. We are an Equal Opportunity Employer and do not discriminate against applicants due to race, color, age, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, veteran status or disability. We are looking for individuals who value creativity, diversity, inclusion, and collaboration. Jennifer deWinter | Associate Professor of Rhetoric | Director, Interactive Media and Game Development<https://www.wpi.edu/academics/departments/interactive-media-game-development> | Director, Japan Project Center | Associate in Research, Reischauer Institute of Japanese Studies, Harvard University | Co-Editor, Influential Game Designers Book Series<http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/series/influential-video-game-designers/> | Worcester Polytechnic Institute | 100 Institute Rd | Worcester, MA | 01609 | 508-831-6679 | jdewinter(a)wpi.edu | Office: Fuller Labs B25a

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Wikipedia bias detector (invitation to prototype testing)
by Marta Delatte 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Dear friends, I'm about to submit a manuscript for the upcoming issue on Feminist engagements with archives and new modes of History published by the Australian Feminist Studies and I would love to have a bit more activity on the Wikipedia bias detector that we are building and I am presenting in this paper. That is why I'm asking you If you feel like exploring the feature a bit. When accessing the prototype you will be able to explore a few Wikipedia categories and react with the feedback buttons if you think that there is any biased information. This prototype will be adapted to be used during the upcoming art+feminism edit-a-thon, if you wish to participate in the project please contact me as well and we can discuss it. here the video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6mgYvTuUphE STEPS TO FOLLOW 1. To access the prototype please follow this link --> http://net.wanderingliquen.com/ 2. You need to register 3. Choose a map to explore 4. Red nodes indicate controversy 5. You can check the information on Wikipedia 6. Do you think it is biased? React 7. Keep exploring for more info on the research project please visit https://wanderingliquen.com/ thanks! Marta Delatte creative director and co-founder ellenjames.net <http://www.ellenjames.net/> @martadelatte PhD Researcher Media & Memory Research Initiative University of Hull (UK) 44 (0) 7923 528128 wanderingliquen.com @liquen_

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Applications open for 2017 QUT DMRC Summer School (6-10 February 2017, Brisbane)
by Tim Highfield 23 Sep '16

23 Sep '16

Dear all, The QUT Digital Media Research Centre (http://qut.edu.au/research/dmrc) is excited to announce that applications are open for the 2017 DMRC Summer School (http://dmrcss.org | #dmrcss17), to be held in Brisbane, Australia, between 6-10 February 2017. The summer school is targeted at current PhD students (full candidature/post-confirmation) and early-career academics up to five years out of their PhD (PhD completion between 2012 and 2016). It will offer a series of sessions covering questions around the theme of 'Automation and regulation in digital media, communication and culture', as well as addressing other pressing problems and novel approaches to digital media research more broadly. We are excited to announce the initial list of facilitators and presenters, with additional names to follow: Nancy Baym (Microsoft Research) Jean Burgess (Director, QUT Digital Media Research Centre) Axel Bruns (QUT Digital Media Research Centre) Patrik Wikstrom (Deputy Director, QUT Digital Media Research Centre) Julian Thomas (Director, Swinburne Institute for Social Research) Peta Mitchell (QUT Digital Media Research Centre) Emma Baulch (QUT Digital Media Research Centre) Stuart Cunningham (QUT Digital Media Research Centre) Nic Suzor (QUT Digital Media Research Centre Elija Cassidy (QUT Digital Media Research Centre) During the 2017 DMRC Summer School, leading Australian and international digital media researchers will run workshops, masterclasses, experimental sessions, and traditional talks, incorporating hands-on exposure to digital methods for studying online activity, advanced theoretical approaches, and legal and industry perspectives. Among the sessions will be several digital methods workshops, run by the DMRC's leading researchers. We strongly encourage applications from PhD and early-career digital media researchers interested in particular in questions of automation, regulation, and digital media. Full details and fees are available at http://dmrcss.org. To apply for the 2017 DMRC Summer School, please fill out the form available via http://dmrcss.org/apply/. Applications will close on *14 October 2016*. Applications will be reviewed by the DMRC Summer School organising committee, and successful applicants will be invited to register for the summer school directly. For those coming to AoIR 2016 in Berlin, I will be happy to discuss the summer school in person if you have questions! Otherwise, please email dmrc(a)qut.edu.au with any queries. Regards, Tim. Dr Tim Highfield Coordinator, 2017 DMRC Summer School Vice-Chancellor's Research Fellow, Digital Media Research Centre Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of Technology Social Media and Everyday Politics (Polity, 2016) t.highfield(a)qut.edu.au | timhighfield.net | @timhighfield

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