February 2017 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: [Air-L] Virtual communities spanning multiple online platforms
by Richard Page 18 Feb '17

18 Feb '17

I wrote about the ‘goon’ culture of SA breaking into the MMORPG EVE Online, although my argument was more that the community helped to transform the platform rather than vice versa. https://www.academia.edu/29808695/We_play_Something_Awful_Goon_projects_and… <https://www.academia.edu/29808695/We_play_Something_Awful_Goon_projects_and…> —Dick Richard J. Page PhD, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa dick(a)richardjpage.com > On Feb 17, 2017, at 7:00 AM, air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: > > Send Air-L mailing list submissions to > air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to > air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > air-l-owner(a)listserv.aoir.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific > than "Re: Contents of Air-L digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: Virtual communities spanning multiple online platforms > (Jonathan Marshall) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Thu, 16 Feb 2017 22:03:30 +0000 > From: Jonathan Marshall <Jonathan.Marshall(a)uts.edu.au> > To: AoIR mailing list <Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org> > Subject: Re: [Air-L] Virtual communities spanning multiple online > platforms > Message-ID: <1487282609731.71231(a)uts.edu.au> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" > > > My book Living on Cybermind, to some extent deals with a virtual group that used multiple sites although it focuses on one main site, as I thought it possibly unethical to pursue them everywhere :) > > also wrote about problems of online ethnography in "Ambiguity, Oscillation and Disorder: Online Ethnography and the Making of Culture" > > http://epress.lib.uts.edu.au/journals/index.php/mcs/article/view/1598 > > jon > > ________________________________________ > From: Air-L <air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of David Brake <davidbrake(a)gmail.com> > Sent: Friday, 17 February 2017 5:26 AM > To: AoIR mailing list > Subject: [Air-L] Virtual communities spanning multiple online platforms > > Dear all, > > I have a grad student who wants to look into this really interesting question in a literature review essay (see below) - I don't know what literatures to suggest to her however - the texts I am familiar with about virtual community all tend to look at them on a single platform. Are there multi-sited ethnographies and other studies examining this you can suggest? > >> I would like to look at how presence on multiple platforms (eg, Facebook, Twitter, Web, Blog, etc) either strengthens or dilutes a community. This springs off of the discussion you and I had last week about how the platform shapes the community (or not to beat the dead McLuhan horse - how the media shapes the message). I'm curious to examine how the community changes as the platform changes - eg, is it the same community spread across multiple platforms or does each platform represent a distinct community. > > It's my fault for irresponsibly finding the subject interesting ;-) > -- > Dr David Brake, Researcher and Educator http://davidbrake.org/, @drbrake > Author of "Sharing Our Lives Online: Risks and Exposure in Social Media” https://www.facebook.com/sharingourlivesonline <https://www.facebook.com/sharingourlivesonline> > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > > > UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F > DISCLAIMER: This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. > If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or > attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete > this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the > sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views of the University of Technology Sydney. > Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. > > Think. Green. Do. > > Please consider the environment before printing this email. > > ------------------------------ > > Subject: Digest Footer > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > > ------------------------------ > > End of Air-L Digest, Vol 151, Issue 17 > **************************************

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Reminder: CfP: "Digital media are making politics impossible" deadline soon
by Hasan Azad 18 Feb '17

18 Feb '17

Digital media are making politics impossible The question on the liberal left’s collective mind since Trump’s election to the office of the 45th president of the United States – but not on the mind of many right-wing Republicans, for whom Trump’s victory is a sign of the imminence of Christ’s return* – has been: “How? How did Trump get elected?” Pulitzer Prize winning journalist Chris Hedges wrote back in March of 2016 that a Trump victory was likely because: “College-educated elites, on behalf of corporations, carried out the savage neoliberal assault on the working poor. […] These elites […] spoke the language of values – civility, inclusivity, a condemnation of overt racism and bigotry, a concern for the middle class – while thrusting a knife in the back of the underclass for their corporate masters. This game has ended.”** Six years ago, in an interview with Hedges, Noam Chomsky predicted that if a charismatic man ran for president – on a platform of making illegal immigrants and Blacks the enemy, while also turning white males into a persecuted minority – he would soon sweep the presidential election.*** However, these analyses don’t get to the crux of the matter as far as the creation of the conditions that made it possible for Trump to be elected. According to Hannah Arendt, politics is based on an idea of active citizenship, on the value and importance of civic engagement, and collective deliberation about all matters affecting the political community. A vital component in such a conception of politics is an informed citizenry. Contrary to what Silicon Valley techno-utopians predicted (and indeed still predict will happen), digital technologies have not brought about a revolution in human learning and achievement. The recent US presidential elections, Brexit in the UK, and the rise of the far right in Europe**** are – we contend – a clear indication that digital media have been making politics, in Arendt’s understanding of the term, more and more impossible. For example, Trump’s presidential campaign hired the same company used by the Brexit campaign, Cambridge Analytica, which used big data and social media platforms such as Facebook, as a way to manipulate voters.+ Sociologist Saskia Sassen has argued that knowledge is re-constituted and thought of differently within the digital ecology: “[T]he body of knowledge gets distributed and spliced-up in different ways so that you lose the packaging, and in losing that packaging all sorts of possibilities open up.”++ Taking authority and power to be co-constitutive of the power/knowledge dyad (à la Foucault), as the means for sharing and discussing political knowledge changes radically, so too does the way political authority is constituted. For instance, as far as traditional forms of political “authority,” in 2015 Trump successfully undermined John McCain’s considerable traditional authority in a way that could only happen in the age of digital media. At the Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, Trump said about the war veteran McCain, “He’s not a war hero.” “I like people who weren’t captured.”+++ Making fun of McCain in such a manner was seen as a travesty by mainstream media, and the analyses ran that Trump would not survive such a “gaffe.” The reality is that – as an extension of reality TV – politics has become all about “gaffes,” and instead of apologizing Trump continued to attack McCain, saying: “[McCain is] yet another all talk, no action politician who spends too much time on television and not enough time doing his job.”+++ As one insightful (and funny) Tweet put it: “Trump is like clickbait decided to take human form.”+* Put differently: The public fascination with Trump – his saying what “everyone” was thinking but dared not say before – is the logical (political) outcome of a society primed by digital media platforms that thrive on superficial, outrageous posts and images. This special issue of Allegra Lab examines the ways in which digital media are making politics impossible. We invite contributions from people across disciplines. Please send a 250-word abstract (final submissions will be 2000-2500 words – due date TBA) to ha2248(a)columbia.edu by February 25 for consideration. __________ * “Alex Jones prayerfully reflects on the victory of President Trump,” November 9, 2016 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVp7XTsBXx4 ** Chris Hedges, “The Revenge of the Lower Classes and the Rise of American Fascism,” Truthdig, August 8, 2016, https://www.truthdig.com/repor t/item/the_revenge_of_the_lower_classes_and_the_rise_of_amer ican_fascism_20160302 *** Chris Hedges, “Noam Chomsky Has ‘Never Seen Anything Like This,” Truthdig, Apr 19, 2010 http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/noam_chomsky_has_never_s een_anything_like_this_20100419 **** “Europe’s Rising Far Right: A Guide to the Most Prominent Parties,” The New York Times, December 4, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/intera ctive/2016/world/europe/europe-far-right-political-parties-listy.html + “The Data That Turned the World Upside Down,” Motherboard, Hannes Grassegger and Mikael Krogerus, January 28, 2017 ++ “Saskia Sassen Plenary at Theorizing the Web 2011” https://vimeo.com/23044503 +* “Hilarious political tweets that will make the internet great again” http://twentytwowords.com/hilarious-political-tweets-that-w ill-make-the-internet-great-again/ +++ “Trump attacks McCain: 'I like people who weren't captured,” Politico, Ben Schreckinger July, 16, 2015 http://www.politico.com/story/ 2015/07/trump-attacks-mccain-i-like-people-who-werent-captured-120317 Best, Hasan -- Hasan Azad, PhD Dept. of Religion Columbia University NY, 10027 Red and Green Oil on Water - A Novel: https://www.amazon.com/Red-Green-Water-Hasan-Azad-ebook/dp/B01IZMTHEY/ref=s… website: http://www.hasanazad.com/main/ Academia.edu: https://columbia.academia.edu/HasanAzad Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/has-an-apple co-founder: Yoga Makes Art: https://yogaandwriting.wordpress.com/2016/02/

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Extended deadline: Call for Participation: Symposium on Media, Communication, and Film Studies Programs at Liberal Arts Colleges
by Jeff Pooley 18 Feb '17

18 Feb '17

Call for Participation: Symposium on Media, Communication, and Film Studies Programs at Liberal Arts Colleges May 23 & 24, 2017 Colby College, Waterville ME Deadline for submissions: March 3rd, 2017 Media, Communication, and Film Studies Programs at Liberal Arts Colleges (MCFLAC) invites proposals for papers, panels, and exhibits for a two-day symposium, to be held at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. The symposium will bring together faculty engaged in the scholarly and pedagogical praxis of media, communication, and film studies in the liberal arts context for two days of resource sharing, student-work showcases, workshops, and panel sessions. Building off the momentum of last year’s inaugural symposium, at Muhlenberg College, this year’s theme is “Revolutions.” We have chosen this theme in keeping with Colby College’s Center for the Arts and Humanities year-long focus, which is broadly conceived to encompass revolutions in the “political, literary, artistic, cultural, social, scientific, … conceptual,” and, we suggest, pedagogical and institutional realms. Our keynote speaker this year will be Patricia R. Zimmermann, professor of Screen Studies at Ithaca College, where the nationally recognized program of teaching screen studies in the Roy H. Park School of Communication includes the Mellon Foundation commended Introduction to Film Aesthetic and Analysis course. She is the author of Reel Families: A Social History of Amateur Film (IUP, 1995) and Open Spaces: Openings, Closings, and Thresholds of International Public Media, among many other titles, and serves as a Film Envoy for the US State Department. Professor Zimmermann is also the co-director of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival, which integrates film, music, new media, activism, literature, art, scholarly research and distribution within a four-year institution to provide meaningful interfaces between academia, art, and the public. We invite proposals (250 to 500 words) that engage with our theme, including: Revolutionary approaches to teaching Teaching about revolutions–past and present Revolutionizing the (increasingly neoliberal) institutional structures in which we are located Mobilizing theory and pedagogy to facilitate revolutionary thinking Analyzing the impact of ongoing revolutionary changes (sociocultural, economic, epistemological) upon our work in liberal education, including ideas for redirecting, capitalizing and/or adapting. Interrogating the “revolutionary” rhetoric around higher education, with the liberal arts college said to be ripe for “disruption” Responding to the Trump “revolution” and its reverberations on our campuses Preference will be given to submissions that fit the symposium theme, but we welcome submissions on all topics reflecting MCFLAC’s unique emphasis on praxis in liberal arts settings. We seek to bring together a diverse group of teachers, scholars, and students, from different backgrounds with various life experiences, teaching styles, and intellectual orientations. Presentation formats include: individual paper abstracts panel session abstracts (identifying three to four participants) student-work showcases (featuring scholarship, media work, and/or hybrids in digital or other formats) pedagogy workshops (on core assignments, capstone courses, and/or pedagogical techniques) research workshops (on projects, strategies, publishing models, and/or research/exhibit and tools) Additional formats considered *** In addition to these formats, we invite submissions for 3-minute short cuts: lightning fast presentations in which participants give a quick run-down of innovative or useful tech tools, assignments, teaching strategies etc. The presentations are three minutes long and we ask you to use one slide per minute. Please label your “short cut” submissions accordingly. Please include a brief bio and note any technology requirements with your proposal. Include your bio, proposal, and tech needs in one PDF document and attach to an email addressed to Beth Corzo-Duchardt, at bcorzo-duchardt(a)muhlenberg.edu. If you are submitting a short cut proposal in addition to another proposal, please attach as a separate document. Deadline for submissions: March 3rd, 2017 Questions? Contact Beth Corzo Duchardt, at bcorzo-duchardt(a)muhlenberg.edu

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Published: IEEE ToE special issue on Maker Learning in Computer Science and Engineering Education
by Lee, Mark 17 Feb '17

17 Feb '17

Dear colleagues, Late last year, I shared with you information about the release of a special issue of the IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies (TLT) on Learning through Wearable Technologies and the Internet of Things. I am pleased to announce that a special "sister" issue of the IEEE Transactions on Education (ToE) on Maker Learning in Computer Science and Engineering Education has now also been published. My guest editorial preface to the ToE special issue is free to download at http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2016.2637738 and provides an overview of the three articles that constitute the issue. The full issue is available through IEEE Xplore at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/RecentIssue.jsp?punumber=13 (Click on the "Current Issue" link, then scroll down—the special issue begins after the five regular articles of the journal's February 2017 issue.) Unfortunately, other than editorials, ToE content is available only to those with individual or institutional subscriptions, and to members of the IEEE Education Society. Hopefully you will have access through your university’s or college’s library. For your convenience, a listing of the issue's contents is appended below. Also, in case you previously missed it, the TLT issue is at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/tocresult.jsp?isnumber=7782803 . (The guest editorial of that issue is also free/open access.) Please feel free to share this message widely with others who might be interested, both individually and through the networks and associations of which you are a part. Happy reading! Kind regards, Mark J. W. Lee Adjunct Senior Lecturer, School of Education, Charles Sturt University, Australia Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Engineering and IT, Federation University, Australia Visiting Faculty, Entertainment Technology Center, Carnegie Mellon University, USA *** IEEE Transactions on Education Special Issue on Maker Learning in Computer Science and Engineering Education *** Guest Editorial: Special Issue on Maker Learning in Computer Science and Engineering Education (FREE ACCESS) Mark J. W. Lee http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2016.2637738 Training Engineers for the Ambient Intelligence Challenge Fulvio Corno and Luigi De Russis http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2016.2608785 An IoT and Wearable Technology Hackathon for Promoting Careers in Computer Science Jake Rowan Byrne, Katriona O'Sullivan, and Kevin Sullivan http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2016.2626252 All Roads Lead to Computing: Making, Participatory Simulations, and Social Computing as Pathways to Computer Science Corey Brady, Kai Orton, David Weintrop, Gabriella Anton, Sebastian Rodriguez, and Uri Wilensky http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TE.2016.2622680

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Research on Terrorism Media Coverage
by Hayes, Rebecca M 17 Feb '17

17 Feb '17

Hello All, I am writing a chapter on crime media myths. One of the myths is about immigrants/migrants as criminal. Part of my argument to refute includes discussion on the coverage of terrorists events in Western media, and the tendency for them to ignore these events in non-Western (read: predominately Muslim) countries. Does anyone have some suggested resources regarding Western media coverage of terrorist events in non-Western nations? Any help would be appreciated. Also, hello to all! I enjoy this group very much and this is my first time posting. I am a media criminologist in the U.S. All the best, Becky Rebecca Hayes, Ph.D. Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work

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CfP: Streaming, Binge-Watching & Second Screening: Online Social Television in Perspective
by Jacob Groshek 17 Feb '17

17 Feb '17

Dear Colleagues, Please share widely: The Division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University is hosting a two-day conference to address the most pressing issues related to streaming television, binge-watching and television's growing intersection with social media. We hope this event, which is scheduled to take place in The Castle, one of the most historic and intimate meeting halls on the Boston University campus fromApril 20th - 21st, will provide a platform to make an impact unique to the field. The call for papers follows below -- abstracts are due March 13 -- and we especially welcome submissions from emerging scholars. Please visit http://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/april-2017-conference/ for more information, and feel free to reach out to me with any questions. Thanks much, Jacob Boston University – CALL FOR ABSTRACTS Streaming, Binge-Watching & Second Screening: Online Social Television in Perspective Highlights • Aim: Television itself is almost indistinguishable in its form, distribution, content, and uses from earlier network and cable/satellite modes. This workshop thus considers what the most pressing social, political, and health issues related to streaming television, binge-watching, and television's growing intersection with social media are. Research here will help clarify what to expect for television as a medium, and how we as users and researchers of television can best navigate a path forward in better understanding the transformational role of television in society, and indeed, television itself. • Call for papers: Research-based perspectives invited, especially from younger scholars. Send abstracts by email to conference coordinator Jessica Bonner jbonner(a)bu.edu • Workshop format: Brief papers and in-depth discussion, built on research and scholarly perspectives. Event will have an in-person audience and also be live-streamed. Papers and live-stream will be archived on our website. Key dates March 13 Extended abstracts (~500 words) due to organizers. Send abstracts to jbonner(a)bu.edu March 20 Notification of acceptance decision. April 13 Completed papers (~2,500 – 9,000 words) due to discussants. April 20-21 Workshop held at Boston University. Program & informational updates will be posted at: http://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/april-2017-conference/ Overview Television has been transformed. It is not a just fixed, flickering screen in living rooms and public spaces around the world anymore. In the contemporary sense, television has literally cut the cord to become a mobile, always-on, and personalized experience that is informed by recommendations and algorithms. Seeing “what’s on” TV from a hierarchical schedule provided by a handful of dominant media producers and distribution systems is fading into memory or no longer exists for billions of television viewers around the world. Previous work in on streaming television and social media has suggested that “While the process of storytelling is technologically agnostic, each communication vehicle offers specific affordances that encourage certain behaviors and interactions” (Groshek & Krongard, 2016, p. 3). However, there is still only a relatively limited body of research about streaming television, binge-watching, and the use of television in combination with other social media platforms across a wide range of social, political, personal, emotional, and health areas. Thus, the Division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University is hosting a two-day conference to address the most pressing issues related to streaming television, binge-watching and television's growing intersection with social media. We hope this event, which is scheduled to take place in The Castle, one of the most historic and intimate meeting halls on the Boston University campus from April 20th - 21st, will provide a platform for the collective expertise of International Scientific Advisory Board members as well as other researchers working in the area to make an impact unique to the field. As conference organizers, we do not want to place parameters on contributions, which can be empirical, theoretical, thought exercises, essays, reflections, analyses, qualitative, quantitative, observations – any scholarly approach is welcome. In terms of topics, we ask prospective contributors to feel free to draw on their expertise and vision, but of course there are a wide range of topics that relate to streaming television and second screening in terms of adoption, use, or content, such as (but not limited to): • mobile devices • life satisfaction • human relationships • health communication • civility and elections • political and civic participation • television platforms • social networks • artificial intelligence • algorithms • metadata and meta-analyses • academic performance At this stage, abstracts should be approximately 500 words, including references and figures, and can be submitted by email to conference coordinator Jessica Bonner (jbonner(a)bu.edu) no later than March 13, 2017. There are no specific author guidelines, but we do ask that authors be consistent in using the referencing style of their choice. Full papers (from approximately 2,5000 - 9,000 words) will be due to discussants one week before the conference. For those interested, we will be pursuing options for a special issue of these proceedings with a leading journal. Practitioners and subject-matter experts will be invited to give brief papers on selected topics which will then be followed by interrogative discussion. In addition, drawing on an open, peer-reviewed “call for papers,” additional scholars and practitioners will be included in the sessions. The format of the talks will be to organize them into panels. In each panel there will be a brief presentation by the paper author followed by an extended commentary from among panelists. Audiences, both attending in-person and participating via live-streaming sessions, will have an opportunity to raise questions and contribute viewpoints. Ample time is also scheduled for informal discussion so that discrete ideas can be explored in depth and serendipitous interpersonal connections can be forged. Following the conference, selected papers will be published online and in special issues of peer-reviewed journals so that the ideas developed and expressed during the conference can receive wide circulation. Some talks and interview excerpts will also be posted online to further the event’s impact. International Scientific Advisory Committee* Ahmed al-Rawi (Concordia University) Luca Barra (University of Bologna) Britt Christensen (Zayed University) Pedro Ferreira (Carnegie Mellon University) Homero Gil de Zúñiga (University of Vienna) Mareike Jenner (Anglia Ruskin University) Sarah Krongard (Boston University) Elana Levine (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee) Seth Lewis (University of Oregon) Amanda Lotz (University of Michigan) Grant McCracken (Berkman Center, Harvard University) Peppino Ortoleva (University of Torino) Matthew Pittman (University of Oregon) Mark Stewart (University of Amsterdam) Chuck Tryon (Fayetteville State University) * Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes and do not imply endorsement. Abstract submission Please submit abstracts, as well as interest in serving as panel chairs or discussants, to conference coordinator Jessica Bonner no later than March 13, 2017: jbonner(a)bu.edu Please contact me for information regarding the workshop -- thanks! Jacob -- Dr. Jacob Groshek Assistant Professor of Emerging Media Studies Communication Research Center <http://sites.bu.edu/crc/about-crc/> Fellow Hariri Institute <http://www.bu.edu/hic/> Junior Faculty Fellow Boston University jgroshek.org <http://www.jgroshek.org/> Founding Editor, *Journal of Communication and Technology* Boston Civic Media Consortium <http://bostoncivic.media/> Founding Member Previously: Research Fellow, Erasmus Uni <http://www.eshcc.eur.nl/english/research/research_centres/erasmus_research_…> | Full Member, NeSCoR <http://nescor.socsci.uva.nl/>| Visiting Scholar, IAST <http://www.iast.fr/> @jgroshek <https://twitter.com/jgroshek> | google scholar <https://scholar.google.nl/citations?user=G1XXhccAAAAJ&hl=en>

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Social media educational toolkit
by Evan Light 17 Feb '17

17 Feb '17

Hi all - longtime lurker, first-time poster, I'm teaching a social media class this term. Many of my students are taking it because they want to be able to help younger generations better navigate the worlds of social media than they were capable of. I've proposed developing an educational toolkit for kids and they're interested. Has anybody out there developed a similar sort of toolkit in a class? Have you developed one outside of class? Thanks! Evan -- Evan Light, PhD Assistant Professor - Professeur adjoint Organizations and Communication - Organisations et communication School of Translation - École de Traduction Glendon College, York University - Collège universitaire Glendon, Université York 2275 Bayview Ave. Toronto ON, Canada M4N 3M6 elight(a)glendon.yorku.ca +1 416.736.2100 ext: 88596 PGP Key: 5BD64CF

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CFP Diaspora, migration and the media ECREA section workshop, Bilbao 2-3 November 2017
by Leurs, K.H.A. (Koen) 17 Feb '17

17 Feb '17

Dear colleagues, Apologies for cross-posting. We are looking forward to receive your submissions for the ECREA Diaspora, migration and the media section workshop taking place in Bilbao 2-3 November 2017. We will also have a productive session aimed at young researchers (PhD students and postdocs) to share knowledge, to get feedback about their research and to network for future collaboration. Submit your abstracts by April 16. Do not hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions. Kindly circulate to anyone who might be interested, Best wishes, Koen Leurs, also on behalf of Irati Agirreazkuenaga, Kevin Smets and Melis Mevsimler ***** CALL FOR PAPERS ECREA Diaspora, migration and the media section University of the Basque Country, Bilbao “MIGRATION AND COMMUNICATION FLOWS: RETHINKING BORDERS, CONFLICT AND IDENTITY THROUGH THE DIGITAL” “We are faced with a crisis of humanity, and the only exit from this crisis is to recognize our growing interdependence as a species and to find new ways to live together in solidarity and cooperation, amidst strangers who may hold opinions and preferences different from our own.” Zygmunt Bauman, Strangers at our door (Polity, 2016) ECREA’s ‘Diaspora, Migration and Media’ and ‘Intercultural and International Communication’ sections will organize a joint conference at the University of Basque Country in Bilbao on 2-3 November 2017 that will focus on how research on migration and communication flows can help rethinking key notions like ‘borders’, ‘conflict’, ‘solidarity’, ‘identity’ and ‘culture’. RATIONALE:   Migration, cultural diversity and the media are increasingly problematized. Europe appears to be crumbling down in the current moment as a result of the Brexit vote, the election of Donald Trump and the so-called ‘European Refugee Crisis’. This is illustrated by hoaxes and fake news messages on these themes that serve as popular clickbait on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. As media outlets seek to address these ‘post-Truth’ conditions, populist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, racist and neo-nationalist rhetoric and sentiments have grown excessively across social media. Meanwhile, the number of internal and external European borders proliferates, and digital data are used for surveillance and migration management. Therefore, mediated encounters with diversity, the humanitarianism-securitization nexus and the role of communication flows urgently deserve further academic exploration to advance understanding of some of the major societal challenges of our time. The continuous re-appropriation of Anas Modamani’s selfie with the German chancellor Angela Merkel on Facebook is an illustrative case in point. He took his selfie in September 2015, when Merkel visited the Berlin shelter where he was then living. Modamani is a Syrian refugee who fled from Darayya. After posting the selfie online, he has repeatedly been falsely linked to terrorism. On the basis of physically resemblance, he was for example wrongly accused to be involved in the bombings in Brussel (March 2016) and the recent attack at a Berlin Christmas market (December 2016), see seehttp://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-38599385. The conference aims to cover a broad range of conflict-related themes such as media production and regulation of information on forced migrants in a ‘post-Truth’ era; fake news; the humanitarianism-securitization nexus, migration management, social and political conflicts related to migrant and diaspora communities, radicalization and online counter-terrorism, hate speech and racism, but also solidarities, activism and protest. Digital technologies and innovations constantly offer new ways to approach these issues, both theoretically and methodologically. The organizers invite papers that explore the complexity of migration and communication flows through conceptual interventions as well as qualitative and quantitative studies. PRELIMINARY PROGRAMME The conference will include: • Keynote lectures by Marie Gillespie and Pedro Oiarzabal.   *Marie Gillespie is Professor of Sociology, The Open University, coordinator of the Mapping Refuge Media Journey project (2016-2018). “The "Mapping Refugee Media Journeys" project investigates the parallel tracks of the physical and digital journeys of Syrian and Iraqi refugees. It documents the media and informational resources that refugees use from the point of departure, during their journeys across different borders and states, and upon arrival (if they reach their desired destination)”. For more information, see http://www.open.ac.uk/ccig/research/projects/mapping-refugee-media-journeys    *Pedro Oiarzabal is an Internet and Basque studies scholar, and a migration and diaspora researcher. His research examines diaspora creation and diaspora interaction with information and communication technologies as well as the meaning of identity in both homeland and diaspora realities, with particular emphasis on the Basque case. • A roundtable to establish bridges of dialogue between academics studying the coverage of migrants and journalists reporting on various conflicts in Europe, addressing methodological and ethical challenges. • A YECREA event dedicated to young scholars (PhD and postdoc level): see below for more information. • A joint panel organized with the ECREA ‘Intercultural and International Communication’ division to broaden the empirical, conceptual and methodological scope of the conference and to explore future collaborations. • An elaborate social programme, including a conference dinner and boat tour, allowing participants to enjoy the city of Bilbao. Call for panel and paper proposals To explore the issue of migration and communication flows in an informal and stimulating atmosphere, we invite participants to submit paper and panel proposals to the 2017 ECREA Diaspora, Migration & Media conference. We particularly welcome proposals on the following topics: • Rethinking the category of the migrant: forced migrants, guest-laborers, postsocialist, postcolonial, expatriates • ‘Bottom-up’ digitally mediated processes, such as transnational and local networking and connectivity, diaspora organizations, identity construction, urban communications • ‘Top down’ digitally mediated processes of migrant management: border control, surveillance & control systems for population movements, migrant detention centres, express flights, arrests at the street, lack of public information • The humanitarianism-securitization nexus, human/communication rights, border management, express flights, street arrests, surveillance and political economy • Migrants, media and language: the impact of migrants on linguistic dynamics (particularly in the context of natively bilingual societies), building resilience for new and local minority media structures • Intersectional analyses of migration and communication flows: how do axes of difference, including race, gender, sexuality, nation, location, generation religion, class together co-constitute subordination and identity • Methodological considerations in media and migration studies, including, but not limited to digital migration studies We encourage scholars whose abstracts have been accepted, to submit full papers by 1 October 2017 in order to compete for the first ECREA Diaspora, Migration & Media Paper Awards. There will be one award for junior scholars and one for senior scholars. TIMELINE: Abstract deadline: April 16, 2017 Notification of acceptance: May 16, 2017 Full-paper submission: October 1, 2017 Registration deadline: October 1, 2017 SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Please send 200-300 word abstracts by 31 March 2017. Please include a short biography (max 100 words) Indicate in your submission whether you are interested:  -in the YECREA event -sessions jointly organized with ICC -being considered for the special issue “Migration and communication flows: rethinking borders, conflict and identity through the digital” Submit your abstract + bio to ecreadmm(a)gmail.com, indicate in your email header [Submission last name + paper title] ORGANIZING TEAM:  Irati Agirreazkuenaga, PhD ECREA Diaspora, Migration and the Media Vice Chair Assistant professor information genres, radio speech & corporate communication Graduate Social Communication Programme, Department of Journalism University of the Basque Country, Bilbao, Spain Koen Leurs, PhD ECREA Diaspora, Migration and the Media Chair Assistant professor gender & postcolonial studies Graduate Gender Programme, Department of Media & Culture Utrecht University, the Netherlands Kevin Smets, PhD ECREA Diaspora, Migration and the Media Vice Chair Assistant professor in media and culture Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium  Postdoctoral fellow, Research Foundation Flanders, University of Antwerp, Belgium Melis Mevsimler, MA ECREA Diaspora, Migration and the Media Young Scholar Representative PhD student Digital Crossings in Europe. Gender, Diaspora and Belonging  Utrecht University, the Netherlands

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mobileGov World Summit and Global mobileGov Awards 2017: Draft Program Posted
by emre＠mgovernment.net 17 Feb '17

17 Feb '17

Dear Colleagues, --- apologies for cross postings ---- This year The mobileGov World Summit and Global mobileGov Awards 2017 is featuring Various Governments' Use of mobile Technologies and Global mobileGov Awards. The draft program is posted on the web site and will be updated regularly as more speakers from the public sector and private sector join in. The core of the program constitutes a discussion of various governments' experiences, needs and requirements in using mobile technologies to transform public sector organisations and to offer mobile services to citizens. A forum to help other governments and solutions providers to have deeper insights on actual implementation. There are also a number of pre-conference Tutorials and Workshops as well as talks by experts in key areas. There are still opportunities for speaking, exhibiting, sponsoring and sending nominations for the Global mobileGov Awards 2017. The draft program can be accessed here: http://www.m4life.org/conferences/mgovsummit2016/program/ and the registration to the Summit is open. Please feel free to circulate this information to those who may be interested in mobileGov World Summit and Global mobileGov Awards 2017. Best Regards, -- Emre Simsek Researcher MobileGov UK http://www.mgovernment.net/ emre(a)mgovernment.org

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Call for panelists – Ontology and the Internet – AoIR, Tartu, 19-21 Oct '17
by Andrew Iliadis 16 Feb '17

16 Feb '17

?Hi all, Call for panelists – Ontology and the Internet – AoIR, Tartu, 19-21 Oct '17? We’re looking for one or two more individuals to round out our panel on ontology, data labeling/sharing, taxonomy, etc. on the Internet. Please send questions or short messages of interest describing your proposed contribution to Andrew at andrew.iliadis(a)uoit.ca. thanks, Andrew ............................... Andrew Iliadis, PhD Postdoctoral Fellow in Digital Media, Data, and Culture Faculty of Social Science and Humanities University of Ontario Institute of Technology ............................... starting fall 2017 Assistant Professor Department of Media Studies and Production School of Media and Communication Temple University

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