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

Noon EDT today - Internet Society Community Forum on Youth and the Internet
by Joly MacFie 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

(Please pass this along to your students) *Community Forum on Youth and the Internet* When*: Thursday 16 March 2017 at 16:00 UTC (12:00pm EDT)* Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device: Please click this URL to join. *https://isoc.zoom.us/j/730969934* <https://isoc.zoom.us/j/730969934> Or join by phone: +1 408 638 0968 <(408)%20638-0968> (US Toll) or +1 646 558 8656 <(646)%20558-8656> (US Toll) Webinar ID: 730 969 934 International numbers available: https://isoc.zoom.us/ zoomconference?m=wu5yi3kg3FDs_YzHvxb-bLPLkOfvL3bm *Youth and the Internet Survey* Are you age 13-25 or know people in this age group? We want to know how young people feel about the Internet including challenges and opportunities. Please take or forward our 3 question Youth and the Internet Survey: *English*: http://bit.ly/2mQ0k4k *Français*: http://bit.ly/2mlYBGp *Español*: http://bit.ly/2n6vXr1 *Português*: http://bit.ly/2mGgIbf Internet Society - NYC Metropolitan Area Chapter http://isoc-ny.org 'The Internet is for Everyone " -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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9th International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence (ICCCI 2017): Last Call for Special Sessions
by Announce Announcements 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

*** Last Call for Special Sessions *** 9th International Conference on Computational Collective Intelligence ICCCI 2017 Hilton Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus 27 - 29 September, 2017 http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… *** Firm Deadline: 29th March 2017 *** Computational Collective Intelligence is most often understood as an AI subfield dealing with soft computing methods which enable making group decisions or processing knowledge among autonomous units acting in distributed environments. Web-based systems, social networks and multi-agent systems very often need these tools for working out consistent knowledge states, resolving conflicts and making decisions. ICCCI 2017 is the 9th edition of the conference organized by the University of Cyprus and Wroclaw University of Science and Technology in Poland, in cooperation with the IEEE SMC Technical Committee on Computational Collective Intelligence. The aim of the conference is to provide an internationally respected forum for scientific research in the computer-based methods of collective intelligence and their applications in (but not limited to) such fields as group decision making, consensus computing, knowledge integration, semantic web, social networks and multi-agent systems. Topics of Interest We welcome all submissions in the subjects of CCI related (but not limited) to the following topics: · Agent Theory and Application · Automated Reasoning · Cognitive Modeling of Agent Systems · Collective Intelligence · Collective Processing · Computational Biology · Computer Vision · Computational Intelligence · Computational Security · Consensus Computing · Cooperative Systems and Control · Cybernetics for Informatics · Data Integration · Data Mining for Social Networks · Distributed Intelligence · Evolutionary computing · Fuzzy Systems · Geographic Information Systems · Grey Theory · Group Decision Making · Hybrid Systems · Information Retrieval and Integration · Information Hiding · Intelligent Architectures · Intelligent Applications · Intelligent Buildings · Intelligent Control · Intelligent E-learning/Tutoring · Intelligent Image Processing · Intelligent Networks · Intelligent Transportation Systems · Knowledge Integration · Knowledge Representation · Knowledge-Based Systems · Logic in Intelligence · Machine Learning · Mobile Intelligence · Multicriteria Decision Making · Natural Language Processing · Optimization and Swarm Intelligence · Pattern Recognition · Probabilistic and Uncertain Reasoning · Rough Sets · Semantic Web · Smart Living Technology · Smart Sensor Networks · Soft Computing · Social Networks · Ubiquitous Computing · Web Intelligence and Interaction Call for Special Sessions ICCCI 2017 invites proposals for Special Sessions to be held during the conference. They intend to provide researchers in focused areas the opportunity to present and discuss their work, as well as to offer a forum for interaction among a broader community of researchers. A Special Session will consist of a group of papers in a sub-discipline of Computational Collective Intelligence related to the main topics of ICCCI 2017. The papers will be required to meet the same standards as ICCCI 2017 papers and will be published in the conference proceedings, in a bound volume by Springer in their Lecture Notes in Artificial Intelligence series. All the Special Sessions will be centralized as tracks in the same conference submission and reviewing system (EasyChair) as the regular papers. Please send the Special Session proposals with the following information: · Title & acronym of the special session · Brief profiles of special session organizers · General description of the special session scope · List of topics · Proposed Session Program Committee (to be invited) The format for the Special Session proposal should follow the pattern of the template available on the conference web site. The organizers will be responsible for the advertisement and promotion of the Special Sessions and the conference including the Special Sessions webpage preparation. The management of papers review will be achieved by Special Session Committees, using the Conference System (a separate EasyChair track will be provided for each Special Session). The organizers are responsible for managing the review process. All the reviews should be submitted through EasyChair. Each paper should obtain at least two reviews. For Special Sessions issues please contact: Bogdan Trawinski Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland bogdan.trawinski(a)pwr.edu.pl Important Dates · Special Session proposals: March 29, 2017 (*** firm ***) · Special Session Acceptance: March 31, 2017 · Conference Dates: September 27-29, 2017 Organization Honorary Chairs · Costas Christophides, Rector of University of Cyprus, Cyprus · Pierre Lévy, University of Ottawa, Canada · Cezary Madryas, Rector of Wroclaw University of Technology, Poland General Chairs · Ngoc Thanh Nguyen, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland · George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Program Chairs · Costin Badica, University of Craiova, Romania · Piotr J?drzejowicz, Gdynia Maritime University, Poland · Kazumi Nakamatsu, University of Hyogo, Japan Organising Chair · Georgia Kapitsaki, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Special Sessions and Workshops Chairs · Achilleas Achilleos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus · Bogdan Trawinski, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland Doctoral Track Chair · George Pallis, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Publicity Chair · Christos Mettouris , University of Cyprus, Cyprus Local Organising Committee · Marios Komodromos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus · Christos Mettouris, University of Cyprus, Cyprus · Rafa Kern, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland · Marcin Pietranik, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland · Zbigniew Telec, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland Steering Committee · Ngoc Thanh Nguyen (chair), Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Poland · Piotr Jdrzejowicz, Gdynia Maritime University, Poland · Shyi-Ming Chen, National Taiwan University of Science and Technology, Taiwan · Kiem Hoang, University of Information Technology, VNU-HCM, Vietnam · Lakhmi C. Jain, University of South Australia, Australia · Geun-Sik Jo, Inha University, Korea · Janusz Kacprzyk, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland · Ryszard Kowalczyk, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia · Toyoaki Nishida, Kyoto University, Japan · Manuel Núñez, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain

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Deadline Extended: CfP 2017 International Conference on Deliberation and Decision Making (DDM2017)
by Weiyu Zhang (Ivy) 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

*2017 International Conference on* *Deliberation and Decision Making (DDM 2017)* *Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Civic Tech* *June 23-24, 2017* *Singapore* The 2017 International Conference on Deliberation and Decision Making (DDM 2017) will bring together researchers and practitioners who focus on deliberation and decision making – in individuals, groups, organizations, communities, governments, and machines. For historical, institutional, and other reasons, deliberation and decision making researchers have been separated into different academic enclaves, sometimes debating but often talking past each other across disciplinary divide, with different definitions, assumptions, and methodologies getting in the way of knowledge accumulation and mutual understanding. This has not served the world of practice very well, and DDM 2017 aims to address these divisions by calling together researchers and practitioners from interdisciplinary perspectives in one conference, to explore, analyze and reflect on these perspectives and to find common ground. The conference aims to discuss specific theoretical and practical advances from a number of disciplinary perspectives (such as behaviour science, communication, computer science, decision science, human-computer interaction, information science, political science, policy studies, and more). It is organized by key experts in the field and is supported by an interdisciplinary programme committee. The conference organizers hope to produce a series of DDM conferences in the coming years. For this first one, we have chosen to focus on *Civic Tech*, which is technology that opens up government and is used for community action. Online Deliberation was one of the earliest visions of using ICTs towards civic ends. As ICTs developed over years, efforts to promote civic engagement through technologies have been broadened to many other non-deliberation based activities, which can be grouped under the concept of *Civic Tech*. These developments challenge the presumptions of what online deliberation is about and contribute to innovations in the field. DDM 2017 follows in a line of previous high-level scientific conferences that have focused on Online Deliberation, but with the intention of broadening the focus to explicitly include *decision making*, and specifically, *Civic Tech* that supports DDM. The DDM 2017 conference focuses on, but is not limited to, the following topics: - links between *theories* of collective decision making (such as deliberative democracy, behavior sciences, decision sciences) and technologies (such as crowdsourcing, argument visualization, and big data); - current *research* on civic techs that enable deliberation and decision making both online and face to face; research challenges posed for researchers, governments, communities and citizens in applying technologies for civic purposes; - civic tech *interventions* using novel settings, modes or approaches; and descriptions of tools and techniques that are already being tested or fielded; case studies in applying and evaluating civic tech in various formal and informal engagement domains *Guidelines for papers and other submissions * The conference allows for four distinct types of submissions: 1. Research papers 2. Exploratory papers on ongoing research and innovative projects 3. Technology demonstrators 4. Panels on pertinent issues *Research papers * These papers should have a strong focus on scientific rigour and may be a maximum of 20 pages (excluding references, tables/figures, and appendix). Papers in this track will be peer reviewed for rigour, relevance, originality and clarity of presentation. Abstracts or incomplete papers will not be accepted. For both *research papers* and *exploratory papers*, please follow the publisher Springer’s guidelines for conference proceedings: https://www.springer.com/gp/computer-science/lncs/conference-proceedings-gu… . Please use the following templates: ftp://ftp.springer.de/pub/tex/latex/llncs/latex2e/llncs2e.zip (latex) ftp://ftp.springer.de/pub/tex/latex/llncs/word/splnproc1110.zip (Word) http://resource-cms.springer.com/springer-cms/rest/v1/content/7117506/data/… (old Word template) *Exploratory papers *These papers describe novel concepts, works-in-progress, reflections, manifestos or other ideas and issues that are not currently suitable for a complete research paper. They may be a maximum of 5 pages. Papers in this section will also be peer reviewed, but the focus is on relevance more than scientific rigour. *Technology demonstrators * Proposals for technology demonstrators (two pages) should include a description of the demo, objectives, examples of testing and application and, if possible, a URL where the technology can be viewed. *Panels * Proposals for panels (two pages) should include motivation, objectives, expected outcomes, approach to audience interaction and panel members. Panels are currently planned to be 1.5 hours long. Panels proposal will also be peer reviewed. All submissions must be made via the conference submission system web site. Submissions should be written in English and non-English speakers are encouraged to have their submissions reviewed for language prior to submission. Submissions should be formatted using 12 point Times-Roman font on A4 sized paper. Accepted research and exploratory papers should be revised according to reviewer comments and resubmitted by the deadline. *Publication options * Option 1: Both research papers and exploratory papers are eligible for inclusion in a conference proceeding. Option 2: Research papers are eligible for inclusion in a journal special issue. A further selection process will be implemented. *Sponsored by:* Ministry of Education of Singapore through National University of Singapore *Local Chairs:* Weiyu Zhang, Department of Communications and New Media, National University of Singapore Simon Perrault, Yale-NUS, National University of Singapore *Research Papers and Panels Chairs: * Anna Przybylska, Center for Deliberation, University of Warsaw, Poland Todd Davies, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University, USA *Exploratory Papers and Technology Demonstrators Chairs: * Lu Xiao, School of Information Studies, Syracuse University, USA Tatsuro Sakano, Department of Social Engineering, Tokyo Technical University, Japan *Contact Details:* For further information please email: 2017ddm(a)gmail.com *Important Dates* January 1 2017 Submission system available *March 15, 2017 – extended to March 30* *Research papers & panel proposals due* *March 30, 2017* *Exploratory papers & technology demonstrators due* April 15, 2017 Notices of acceptances May 1, 2017 Registration begins May 15, 2017 Completed research and exploratory papers due June 23 – 24, 2017 Conference -- Weiyu Zhang (PhD, UPenn) Associate Professor Department of Communication and New Media National University of Singapore

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reminder: fellowship and digital programme assistant position
by Niels ten Oever 16 Mar '17

16 Mar '17

Dear all, Just a small reminder that at ARTICLE 19 we have an opening for our 1 year Internet of Rights Fellowship (deadline March 18): https://www.article19.org/pages/en/article-19-fellowships.html And a position for Digital Programme Assistant (deadline March 31): https://article.peoplehr.net/Pages/JobBoard/Opening.aspx?v=9622d3b3-4f2c-4c… If you have any questions, feel free to reach out to mehwish(a)article19.org or me at niels(a)article19.org. All the best, Niels -- Niels ten Oever Head of Digital Article 19 www.article19.org PGP fingerprint 8D9F C567 BEE4 A431 56C4 678B 08B5 A0F2 636D 68E9

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UCSB Master of Tech Management
by Yosem Companys 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Hi All, How are you? I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the spring. Would you mind forwarding our message below to your students? We still have a few open slots for our 2017-18 cohort. Thanks in advance for your help. Please let me know should you have any questions or need additional info. Take care, Yosem ***** Dear student, Have you heard about tech management? It is one of the fastest-growing and highest-paying new fields. We are the 9-month Master of Tech Management (MTM) at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). We teach you to build and manage tech teams, create and launch new products, and start and run tech firms. Senior executives at startup and established firms tell us that they prefer technical job applicants who have managerial skills, the skills we teach you. Our 9-month curriculum is different from other graduate programs. We incorporated the input of senior tech executives from Google, Facebook, and others in designing our curriculum. Why is MTM better than a 2-year MBA and a Master of Engineering Management? - *Tech Management vs. MBA*. We eliminate the fluff and filler requirements and electives for those interested in management consulting and Wall Street. We focus only on tech management. This saves you 1+ years in time and $100K+ in tuition. Only 15% of MBA students have a technical degree. 90% of MTM students have one. - *Tech Management vs. Engineering Management*. We don't rely solely on guest lecturers to teach you tech management. Our world-renown tenured professors teach our courses. They bring guest lecturers in as needed. But what you learn in the classroom is based on our professors' experience researching, working in, and consulting on tech management. A few other advantages of our program: - *Financial aid*. Our financial aid is generous. We give merit-based full rides to exceptional students. - *Career development*. We offer you an MTM career services manager who is 100% dedicated to you. He works one-on-one with you on a regular basis from admission to graduation to help place you in your dream job. - *Work experience*. We require that you participate in an embedded internship. You work with senior executives solving on-hands, real-world problems at tech companies. This earns you work experience, what companies look for when hiring. - *Networking*. You take the same courses in the same progression as your student cohort. You get to know your peers intimately. You meet and network with alumni and senior tech executives. You develop friendships and networks that last a lifetime. - *Paradise*. How many top programs can say that they are located in the "American Riviera"? Just us. We have sunny weather and stunning beaches year round. Our upcoming deadlines are April 1 and June 1. Not sure yet? I'm available to advise you on MTM and graduate studies in general. I'm also available to counsel you on your career development. Why? Because at MTM we are a family. As a prospective student, you become part of our extended MTM family. We have a small staff. We have a tight-knit cohort and alumni network. We have extensive ties to senior tech executives, entrepreneurs, angel investors, and venture capitalists. We mentor you and invest in your success. Questions? Please email me. Thanks, Yosem Companys, Ph.D. Associate Director Master of Technology Management University of California, Santa Barbara

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2017 Nancy Baym Book Award Nominations
by Michelle, AoIR Association Coordinator 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

We are pleased to call for nominations for the Nancy Baym Annual Book Award. Named after former Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) president Nancy Baym, this award recognizes the best scholarship of AoIR and highlights the breadth of work relating to the sociocultural dimensions of networked media. We will accept nominations from AoIR members for books they found of great scholarly value and wish to champion. The books will be reviewed by a committee of Nancy Baym, Kate O’Riordan and chaired by Eugenia Siapera. To be eligible for the award: - The book must be authored or co-authored as a monograph and must explore a single topic (edited collections are not eligible). - All of the book’s authors must be current members of AoIR at the time of submission (April 15, 2017). Memberships may be purchased at https://aoir.org/membership/. - The book must have been published between January 1 and December 31, 2016. Each book should be accompanied by an emailed letter of nomination. Self-nominations from AoIR members are welcome. The letter of nomination, which must be written by a current member of AoIR, should outline: - How the book contributes to AoIR’s intellectual community. - The book’s unique contributions and overall strengths. - If not a self-nomination, the letter should also include a statement that the nominated author has been contacted prior to its submission and accepts the nomination. Books submitted without a meaningful nomination letter outlining both the strengths of the book and the book's contribution to the AoIR community to AoIR will not be eligible. Nomination letters and book copies in either digital or hard copy should arrive no later than April 15, 2017. If digital, please provide access to BookAward(a)aoir.org. Please indicate in the subject line: “AoIR Nancy Baym Book Award Submission.” Hard copies (1 each) should be mailed to: Eugenia Siapera School of Communications, Dublin City University Collins Avenue, Glasnevin, Dublin Ireland Dr Kate O'Riordan Director of Teaching and Learning Media Film and Music Silverstone Building 330 University of Sussex Falmer BN1 9RG UK Nancy Baym Microsoft, 12th Floor 1 Memorial Dr. Cambridge MA 02142 USA The winner of the award will be announced in June 2017. In addition to winning a cash prize, the individual will also be invited to present during a panel session on the winning book at the AoIR conference in Tartu, Estonia, in October 2017. Please contact Eugenia Siapera (BookAward(a)aoir.org) or Jenny Stromer-Galley (prez(a)aoir.org) if you have any questions about this process. Regards, Michelle AoIR Association Coordinator

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#AOIR2016 special issue of Information, Communication & Society
by Michael T Zimmer 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Pleased to announce that the #AOIR2016 special issue of Information, Communication & Society is now live: http://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rics20/20/6 Contents include: Platform values: an introduction to the #AoIR16 special issue Koen Leurs & Michael Zimmer A river by any other name: Ganga/Ganges and the postcolonial politics of knowledge on Wikipedia Sangeet Kumar Making sense? The structure and meanings of digital memetic nonsense Yuval Katz & Limor Shipman Gender and self-enterprise in the social media age: a digital double bind Brooke Erin Duffy & Urszula Pruchniewska Neoliberal gremlins? How a scheme to help disadvantaged young people thrive online fell short of its ambitions Huw C. Davies, Rebecca Eynon & Sarah Wilkin The dark side of online participation: exploring non-, passive and negative participation Christoph Lutz & Christian Pieter Hoffmann Platform labor: on the gendered and racialized exploitation of low-income service work in the ‘on-demand’ economy Niels van Doorn Analytics in action: users and predictive data in the neonatal intensive care unit Claire Maiers Platformed racism: the mediation and circulation of an Australian race-based controversy on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube Ariadna Matamoros-Fernández Many thanks to our reviewers, and to the organizers of #AOIR2016! Michael (and Koen) -- Michael Zimmer, PhD Associate Professor, School of Information Studies Director, Center for Information Policy Research University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee e: zimmerm(a)uwm.edu<mailto:zimmerm@uwm.edu> t: @michaelzimmer w: www.michaelzimmer.org<http://www.michaelzimmer.org>

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CfP: HCI Across Borders Symposium at CHI 2017
by David Nemer 15 Mar '17

15 Mar '17

Apologies for cross-posting! I participated in this Symposium next year, and I highly recomment it. --- *Call for Proposals* HCI Across Borders <http://hcixb.org> Symposium in Denver (CO, USA) at CHI 2017 6th-7th May, 2017 *About the Workshop* The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) community at CHI is increasingly embracing research being performed on topics and in regions that have been understudied in the past. To promote these efforts, the Development Consortium Workshop titled *HCI Across Borders* was held at CHI 2016 in San Jose. With support from SIGCHI and in collaboration with Facebook and Google, it was attended by 70+ researchers from 20 countries across the globe, with some of these countries being represented at CHI for the first time. The goal of this Consortium was to build community and invite collaborations *across borders* on themes of interest to the participants – those actively involved in international HCI projects, with most of them conducting research in understudied areas and with underrepresented individuals and communities across the world. This year marks another milestone as this event has grown to be a CHI Symposium. Our goal is to build on the efforts from the Development Consortium at CHI 2016 and to grow the community working in the area of HCI Across Borders (HCIxB), by providing an opportunity for interested researchers to come together as a community, improve the visibility of their work, and to bring greater awareness to the challenges that plague international research, particularly research that takes place in resource-constrained settings, to the larger HCI community. *Participation* We solicit participation from HCI researchers and practitioners across the globe who work with underserved, underrepresented, and/or under-resourced communities. We particularly invite participants who are keen to explore collaborations across borders. “Borders”, in this context, include geographic boundaries, but also boundaries of other kinds, such as disciplines, methodologies, ideologies, and more. Research areas of focus can be diverse, including but not limited to learning, global health, crisis informatics, civic engagement, mobile banking, etc. While this is no exhaustive list, examples of topics/themes of submission might include: - Leveraging participatory design and co-design approaches - Factoring cultural sensitivities in the design of new technologies and/or HCI methods - Designing to accommodate power differentials in communities - Devising innovative techniques for engaging new technology users - Designing for sustainability - Studying the intersection of HCI and the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) - And more! These are examples of projects that our Symposium might include, as the Consortium did last year <https://hci4dacrossborders.wordpress.com/>: - Emotional Wellbeing: Technology for Mental Health in Developing Countries - HCI, Forced Migration & Refugees: Collaborations across Borders and Fields - ICT Intervention for Agricultural Development: Exploring Prospects for Pakistani Farmers - Cuba Intercambio: Cultural and Information Exchange for Cuba - Online Learning Across Diverse Low-Resource Indian Contexts - Cognitive Modeling for Illiteracy Eradication - Mobile Technology-Based Supports for Prenatal Care Among the Ngäbe in Panama *Submissions* Please submit a proposal (3-5 pages in the CHI Extended Abstracts <https://chi2017.acm.org/submission-formats.html> format) *starting now *and before *April 15th, 2017*. We would appreciate early submissions. You will receive a decision within 15 days of submitting so you can plan your registration and travels accordingly. All submissions will be reviewed by the organizers and a program committee. They will be selected in accordance with their potential to contribute to the Symposium and to foster discussion. Accepted submissions will be available on our website before the conference. Authors of accepted submissions will also be invited to present posters of their proposals at CHI (although not mandatory). Please submit your PDFs at https://hcixb17.hotcrp.com/. Please note that we will accept contributions until the number of available attendees is reached, which may be before the ultimate deadline. *Bursaries* We are working on obtaining funding to pay travel expenses (or at least a portion thereof) for attendees in need. Please note that CHI guidelines require at least one author of each accepted submission to attend and be registered for the Symposium. *Organizers* Neha Kumar, Georgia Tech (USA) Susan Dray, Dray & Associates (USA) Christian Sturm, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences (Germany) Nithya Sambasivan, Google (USA) Laura S. Gaytan-Lugo, University of Colima (Mexico) Leonel Morales, Francisco Marroquin University (Guatemala) Negin Dahya, University of Washington (USA) Nova Ahmed, North South University (Bangladesh) *Contact* For updates, please check: http://hcixb.org Email us your questions at: admin(a)hcixb.org

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ICA/CAT Preconference: Digital Media & Comm Research: A Venture in Forecasting and Intervention
by Leah Lievrouw 14 Mar '17

14 Mar '17

Hello all AoIR colleagues! For those of you planning to attend ICA in San Diego in May, you may be interested in this preconference on May 25, being organized by myself and /Information, Communication & Society/ editor Brian Loader (as you know, iCS publishes special issues for AoIR). See details below -- highlights include Delphi rounds ahead of the preconference for all registered participants, discussion sessions convened by contributors to the forthcoming /Routledge Handbook of Digital Media & Communication/ (Lievrouw & Loader, eds.), a closing session featuring as respondent Lee Rainie, Director of Internet, Science & Technology Research at the Pew Research Center, and a report on our results in a special section of /iCS/. We hope to see you there! Leah Lievrouw ======================== *Call for Open Registration: ICA 2017 Preconference* *Division Sponsor: Communication and Technology (CAT)* ** */Digital Media and Communication Research:/**/ A Venture in Forecasting and Intervention/* May 25, 2017, San Diego Hilton Bayfront Hotel *See also*http://www.icahdq.org/resource/resmgr/Conference/2017/PC19-schedule.pdf _Organizers_:*Leah A. Lievrouw*, Dept. of Information Studies, University of California, Los Angeles, and *Brian Loader*, Dept. of Sociology, University of York _Registration Fee_:$100.00 USD; open registration (no CFP). Register at http://www.icahdq.org _Description_: In his landmark 1976 volume, /The Coming of Post-Industrial Society/, sociologist Daniel Bell advanced a sweeping vision of the impending economic, cultural, and social changes associated with the dramatic post-war growth in media networks and institutions, information technologies, knowledge work, and services in developed societies. His modest subtitle -- /A Venture in Social Forecasting /-- hardly suggested the controversies and debates his book, and his vision, would provoke among early new media scholars, researchers and critics. More than 40 years on, after decades of socio-technical change that Bell could scarcely have imagined, participants in this day-long intensive preconference will engage in a new “venture” in forecasting to identify fruitful ways ahead for digital communication/new media studies. Using themes from the forthcoming /Routledge Handbook of Digital Media and Communication/ (Lievrouw & Loader, eds.) as points of departure, preconference participants and /Handbook /contributor-panelists will collaborate on a wide-ranging, prospective agenda for the next decade of theory, research and practice in communication and media studies under conditions of pervasively networked, digital mediation. *The preconference results/findings, highlights of the preconference discussions and participant contributions will be summarized and published in a special issue of the journal /Information, Communication & Society/, as part of celebrations marking iCS's twentieth year of publication. * In April 2017, the organizers will open an exclusive online forum where pre-publication selections from the /Handbook/ will be available to participants as background for discussion. Participants and panelists will be invited to engage in two to three brief Delphi-style rounds via the site ahead of the San Diego meeting, to focus their expert views on the most compelling, under-explored, or likely future issues, problem areas, and opportunities for intervention in digital/new media and communication research, scholarship and practice. On the preconference day, the /Handbook/ editors/conveners and contributor/panelists will lead all participants in a series of interactive plenary sessions which will explore the Delphi results and the book's main themes: the /artifacts/ (design, use and affordances of technology and devices, and the material conditions and embodiment of use), /practices/ (emerging and established forms of communicative action and engagement, cultural change and critique), and social/institutional /arrangements/ (macro-scale legal, economic or policy issues, social/political movements, industry trends, institutional and organizational formation and change) of digitally-mediated communication. Formats and activities of each session will depend on the topics being explored. The preconference will conclude with a general session, moderated by the organizers and *Lee Rainie, Director of Internet, Science and Technology Research of the Pew Research Center*, in which the main themes and issues identified throughout the day will be reviewed and summarized into a rough preliminary agenda for research and action. Following the ICA conference, the organizers will edit the preconference contributions into a collection for publication in /iCS/, circulating drafts and soliciting any further suggestions from participants via the preconference site. _Preconference Agenda_[TENTATIVE; session schedule and participants subject to change] 8:30-9:00 am***Coffee and Introductions, Preconference Goals * **Review of Preconference Activities & Schedule *Leah A. Lievrouw*, University of California, Los Angeles *Brian Loader*, University of York 9:00-10:45 am*Session I: Artifacts* Conveners (additional panelists TBA): *Finn Brunton*, New York University *Taina Bucher*, University of Copenhagen *Radhika Gajjala*, Bowling Green State University *Lee Humphreys*, Cornell University *Matt Ratto*, University of Toronto 10:45-11:00 am*Break (refreshments provided)* 11:00-12:45 pm*Session II: Arrangements* Conveners (additional panelists TBA): *Julie Cohen*, Georgetown University *Terry Flew*, Queensland University of Technology *Barry Wellman*, University of Toronto 12:45-1:45 pm*Lunch (participants on their own)* 1:45-3:30 pm*Session III: Practices* Conveners (additional panelists TBA): *Shiv Ganesh*, Massey University *Antero Garcia, *Stanford University *Nancy Jennings*, University of Cinncinnati *Gunnar Liestøl*, University of Oslo *Irina Shklovski*, IT University of Copenhagen *Cynthia Stohl*, University of California, Santa Barbara 3:30-4:00 pm*Break (refreshments provided) * 4:00-5:15 pm*Closing Session: Recap and Priorities* Moderators:Lievrouw & Loader Guest Respondent:*Lee Rainie*, Director, Pew Internet Project, Washington, D.C. -- Leah A. Lievrouw, Professor Department of Information Studies University of California, Los Angeles 216 GSE&IS Building | Box 951520 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1520 Tel +1 310 825 1840 Fax +1 310 206 4460 Email llievrou(a)ucla.edu http://polaris.gseis.ucla.edu/llievrou/LeahLievrouw/Welcome.html

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CfP: Algorithms, Automation, and News -- conference, special issue, and edited book
by Seth Lewis 14 Mar '17

14 Mar '17

Call for papers — “Algorithms, Automation, and News: Capabilities, Cases, and Consequences” See http://algorithmic.news * Conference in Munich, Germany — May 22–23, 2018 * Select papers published in special issue of Digital Journalism & proposed edited volume CONFERENCE BENEFITS: * Free hotel accommodation for presenters * Need-based travel stipends available for presenters * No conference fee * Precedes the 2018 ICA convention in nearby Prague ORGANIZERS & EDITORS: * Neil Thurman, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich * Seth C. Lewis, University of Oregon * With the assistance of Dr. Jessica Kunert, Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich KEYNOTE SPEAKER: * Philip M. Napoli, Duke University CONFIRMED SPEAKERS: * C.W. Anderson, College of Staten Island & University of Leeds * Natali Helberger, University of Amsterdam * Nicholas Diakopoulos, University of Maryland CALL FOR PAPERS: We live in a world increasingly influenced by algorithms and automation. The ubiquity of computing in contemporary culture has resulted in human decision-making being augmented, and even partially replaced, by computational processes. Such augmentation and substitution is already common, and even predominates, in some industries. This trend is now spreading rapidly to the fourth estate—our news media. Algorithms and automation are increasingly implicated in many aspects of news production, distribution, and consumption. For example, algorithms are being used to filter the enormous quantities of content published on social media platforms, picking out what is potentially newsworthy and alerting journalists to its existence (Thurman et al., 2016). Meanwhile, automated journalism—the transforming of structured data on such things as sports results and financial earnings reports into narrative news texts with little to no human intervention aside from the original programming (Carlson, 2015)—grows apace. What began some years ago as small-scale experiments in machine-written news has, amid the development of big data broadly, become a global phenomenon, involving technology providers from the U.S. to Germany to China developing algorithms to deliver automated news in multiple languages (Dörr, 2016). And, algorithms are being used in new ways to distribute and package news content, both enabling consumers to request more of what they like and less of what they don’t and also making decisions on consumers’ behalf based on their behavioral traits, social networks, and personal characteristics (Groot Kormelink and Costera Meijer, 2014). Altogether, these developments raise questions about the social role of journalism as a longstanding facilitator of public knowledge. What are the implications for human labor and journalistic authority? for concerns around news quality, transparency, and accountability? for notions of who (or what) does journalism? for how news moves among various publics (or not)? Ultimately, what happens when editorial functions once performed by journalists are increasingly assumed by new sets of actors situated at the intersection of human and machine? Ultimately, what do algorithms and automation mean for journalism—its people, purposes, and processes; its norms, ethics, and values; its relationship with audiences and public life; and its obligations toward data management and user privacy? This three-part call—conference, special issue, and book project—takes up these and other questions by bringing together the latest scholarly research on algorithms, automation, and news. In particular, it seeks to organize research on capabilities, cases, and consequences associated with these technologies: explorations of the possibilities and perils, of theory and practice, and of comparative perspectives according to various sites and levels of analysis. Ultimately, we aim for research that provides a future orientation while grounded in appropriate historical context, contemporary empirical research, and rigorous conceptual development. By some accounts, the promise of algorithms and automation is that news may be faster and more personalized, that websites and apps may be more engaging, and even that quality journalism may be better funded, to the benefit of all. However, there are also concerns, including anxieties around: * the hidden biases built into bots deciding what’s newsworthy, * the ‘popularism’ that tracking trends inevitably promotes, * how misplaced trust in algorithmic agency might blunt journalists’ critical faculties, and * the privacy of data collected on individuals for the purposes of newsgathering and distribution. Moreover, as more news is templated or data-driven, there is unease about issues such as: * who and what gets reported, * the ethics of authorship and accountability, * the legal issues of libel by algorithm, * the availability of opportunities for professional development, training, and education, and * the continuity of fact-checking and analysis, among others. And, as more news is explicitly or implicitly personalized, there is disquiet about: * whether we will retreat into our own private information worlds, ‘protected’ from new, challenging and stimulating viewpoints, * the algorithmically oriented spread of ‘fake news’ within such filter bubbles, * the boundaries between editorial and advertising content, and * the transparency and accountability of the decisions made about what we get to read and watch. Through the conference, and the special issue and book to follow, we seek to facilitate conversation around these and related issues across a variety of academic fields, including computer science, information science, computational linguistics, media informatics, law and public policy, science and technology studies, philosophy, sociology, political science, and design, in addition to communication, media and journalism studies. We welcome original, unpublished articles drawing on a variety of theoretical and methodological approaches, with a preference for empirically driven and/or conceptually rich accounts. These papers might touch on a range of themes, including but not limited to the issues outlined above. Inquiries about this call are encouraged and should be directed to conference(a)algorithmic.news. TIMELINE: * July 15, 2017: abstract submission deadline. Abstracts should be 500-1,000 words (not including references) and sent to conference(a)algorithmic.news. Please also include a 100-word biography of each author and 6-8 keywords describing your proposal. Work should be original, not previously published elsewhere. * Mid-August 2017: decisions on abstracts * February 15, 2018: full 7,000-word papers due for initial round of feedback by conference peers * May 22–23, 2018: conference in Munich * Post-conference: peer-review and feedback process leading toward publication in either the special issue or edited volume see http://algorithmic.news ORGANISERS & SPONSORS: The conference is being organised by the Center for Advanced Studies at Ludwig-Maximilians-University Munich, and is sponsored by The Volkswagen Foundation (VolkswagenStiftung) as well as the Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media in the School of Journalism and Communication at the University of Oregon. -- Seth C. Lewis, Ph.D. Shirley Papé Chair in Emerging Media School of Journalism and Communication University of Oregon sethlewis.org<http://sethlewis.org/> // Google Scholar<https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=-M-vyrcAAAAJ&hl=en> // Papers<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Seth_Lewis2/publications> // @sethclewis<https://twitter.com/SethCLewis> Conference on Algorithms, Automation, and News Submit an abstract<http://algorithmic.news/> by July 15, 2017 Best papers published in Digital Journalism

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