May 2019 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Fwd: New Book: Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis
by Massimo Ragnedda 15 May '19

15 May '19

Apologies for cross posting *Out now* Bruce Mustvairo and Massimo Ragnedda, *Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis. *Amsterdam University Press https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462986855/mapping-the-digital-divide-in-afri… *Description* Despite issues associated with the digital divide, mobile telephony is growing on the continent and the rise of smartphones has given citizens easy access to social networking sites. But the digital divide, which mostly reflects on one's race, gender, socioeconomic status or geographical location, stands in the way of digital progress. What opportunities are available to tame digital disparities? How are different societies in Africa handling digital problems? What innovative methods are being used to provide citizens with access to critical information that can help improve their lives? Experiences from various locations in several sub-Saharan African countries have been carefully selected in this collection with the aim of providing an updated account on the digital divide and its impact in Africa. *Reviews* "For many years ‘the digital divide’ has been a catchphrase, often with little analytical content. This book provides studies of how the concept can be understood within an African context. The different contributions address problems related to digital opportunities as well as inhibitions to growth; thus, it has implications for how to comprehend technological, political, economic, social, and cultural development in a wider world. Of particular importance is that the book provides a theoretical understanding as well as an account of the impact of different technologies such as mobile phones." - *Helge Rønning, Professor*, Department of Media and Communications, University of Oslo, Norway "You need to take a different perspective of both the digital divide and Africa to understand the complexity of social and digital inequality in Africa. The digital divide is different in every part of the world. Reading this book you will grasp the complexity of the social, cultural and political affairs of Africa that are reinforcing the digital divide. Surprisingly, while mobile telephony is booming here, ICTs are in fact only reinforcing existing social inequality." - *Jan A.G.M. van Dijk, Professor*, Department of Communication, University of Twente, the Netherlands "This is a timely and much-needed collection that fills an important gap in the literature. It offers excellent conceptual tools and a selection of case studies that provide a useful map of the digital divide across the African continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. I especially appreciate the editors’ efforts to address African issues on their own terms and to problematize interpretive paradigms from the global north. It is a book that many will look forward to reading. I will recommend it to my students." - *Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Professor,* School of Communication, University of Johannesburg, South Africa ______________ *Massimo Ragnedda* <http://northumbria.academia.edu/MassimoRagnedda> Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication Squires Building 306f, Northumbria University, NE8 1ST Newcastle (UK) Tel: 01912437444 Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University <http://www.journ.msu.ru/eng/news/27610/> Most recent books: Bruce Mutsvairo and Massimo Ragnedda eds (2019) Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis. <https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462986855/mapping-the-digital-divide-in-afri…> Amsterdam University Press Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo, eds (2018) *Digital Inclusion. An International Comparative Analysis <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498562126/Digital-Inclusion-An-International-Co…>*, Lexington Books. Massimo Ragnedda and Glenn Muschert, eds (2018) *Theorizing Digital Divide* <http://bit.ly/2y9WSLm>, Routledge Massimo Ragnedda (2017) *The Third Digital Divide: A Weberian approach to digital inequalities* <http://bit.ly/2f8FObg>, Routledge. Latest articles: Massimo Ragnedda (2018) Conceptualizing Digital Capital <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585318309316?via%3Di…>, Telematics and Informatics Massimo Ragnedda and Hanna Kreitem (2018), The three lelves of digital divide in East EU countries <http://worldofmedia.ru/volumes/2018/The%20three%20levels%20of%20digital%20d…>, World of Media Vice chair of Digital Divide Working Group, IAMCR <https://iamcr.org/s-wg/working-group/DID> Co-convenors of NINSO (Northumbria Internet and Society Research Group <https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/academic-departments/northumbria-law…> )

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a new book : Internet Democracy and Social Change: The case of Israel
by Carmit Wiesslitz, Ph.D 15 May '19

15 May '19

Hello Everyone, I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book: Internet Democracy and Social Change: The Case of Israel<https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498539791/Internet-Democracy-and-Social-Change-…> The book may be of interest not only to those who are interested in the Israeli civil society but also to those that are interested in the study of Internet and social change. Here are a few words about the book (from the cover): This book examines to what extent the democratic potential ascribed to the Internet is realized in practice, and how civil society organizations exploit the unique features of the Internet to attain their goals. This is the story of the organization members’ outlooks and impressions of digital platforms’ role as tools for social change; a story that debunks a common myth about the Internet and collective action. In a time when social media are credited with immense power in generating social change, this book serves as an important reminder that reality for activists and social change organizations is more complicated. Thus, the book sheds light on the back stage of social change organizations’ operations as they struggle to gain visibility in the infinite sea of civil groups competing for attention in the online public sphere. While many studies focus on the performative dimension of collective action (such as protests), this book highlights the challenges of these organizations’ mundane routines. Using a unique analytical perspective based on a structural-organizational approach, and a longitudinal study that utilizes a decade worth of data related to the specific case of Israel and its highly conflicted and turbulent society, the book makes a significant contribution to study of new media and to theories of Internet, democracy, and social change. For more inforamtion please visit: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498539791/Internet-Democracy-and-Social-Change-… https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Democracy-Social-Change-Israel/dp/1498539785 Best wishes, Carmit Wiesslitz, Ph.D The Department of Politics and Communication Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel

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PhD opportunity in Gender and AI in Health and Social Care at University of Brighton
by Aristea Fotopoulou 15 May '19

15 May '19

Please find below details re: a fully-funded 3 or 4 year PhD opportunity in Gender and AI in Health and Social Care at University of Brighton. Apply here https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/postgraduate-research-de… or make an informal enquiries to: Flis Henwood on f.henwood(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:f.henwood@brighton.ac.uk> Aristea Fotopoulou on A.Fotopoulou(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:A.Fotopoulou@brighton.ac.uk> Anya Belz on A.S.Belz(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:A.S.Belz@brighton.ac.uk> Best wishes Aristea ----------------------------- Dr Aristea Fotopoulou UKRI-AHRC Innovation Leadership Fellow PI ART/DATA/HEALTH: Data as creative material for Health & Wellbeing 2019-2021 Visiting Scholar University of Bergen, Dep Information Science and Media Studies, February-June 2019 Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication University of Brighton, School of Media Watts Building, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ A.Fotopoulou(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:A.Fotopoulou@brighton.ac.uk> |@aristeaf | https://aristeafotopoulou.org Research blog: http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/artdatahealth | Webpage https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/aristea-fotopoulou ___________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security System on behalf of the University of Brighton. For more information see: https://staff.brighton.ac.uk/is/computing/Pages/Email/spam.aspx

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Vacancies for Young ICTD Fellow and the Head of Research in United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society(UNU-CS)
by Qing Huang 15 May '19

15 May '19

The United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) is currently recruiting several researcher positions. The UNU-CS is a research institute at the intersections of information and communication technology (ICT) and sustainable development. The openings are: **Visiting Senior Research Fellows*Closing date: 15 May 2019 (Application for 2019)/ 30 June 2019 (Application for 2020)https://unu.edu/about/fellowship/senior-research-fellows.html#overview <https://unu.edu/about/fellowship/senior-research-fellows.html#overview>* **Young Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) Fellow** Closing date: 30 June 2019 https://unu.edu/about/fellowship/young-information-and-communication-techno… **Visiting Research Assistant – EQUALS*Closing date: 25 May 2019* https://unu.edu/about/hr/academic/visiting-research-assistant-equals.html#o… Finally, we are about to open a new position for the *Head of Research*, which should be released soon. Please stay tuned and check back on our website. If you would like us to inform you when the job is open, please fill in the form below: https://forms.gle/dB1oho39njkcNiyk6 UNU-CS conducts UN policy-relevant research and generates solutions, addressing key issues expressed in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through high-impact innovations and frontier technologies. UNU-CS is situated in Macau Special Administrative Region (S.A.R), China, and it is the only UN entity in this region. The Pearl River Delta, which embraces Macau, Hong Kong, and Guangdong Province, is considered an emerging Silicon Valley due to its booming economy and technological innovations. The strategic location provides an exciting opportunity for researchers and experts to maximize the impact of their work. More information can be found at https://cs.unu.edu --- *Qing Huang * Communication Team United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) Casa Silva Mendes, Estrada do Engenheiro Trigo No 4, Macau SAR, China Tel: +86 13297968113 | Email: qing(a)unu.edu LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/unu-cs/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/computingandsociety> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/unu_cs?lang=en> | Website <http://cs.unu.edu/>| www.unu.edu

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Funding for digital politics research?
by Luis Hestres 14 May '19

14 May '19

Dear AoIR folks, I’m starting a collaboration with a couple of poli sci colleagues here at UTSA, and we’re seeking funding to expand an initiative that helps us collect social media data for study by digital politics scholars. Right now this consists of a Twitter data collection application that collects tweets from international organizations but could easily be expanded to collect tweets from just about any other type of actor or Twitter interactions. We’re also interested in expanding this data collection to Facebook, Instagram, email, and other platforms. Do any of you know of funding sources for an initiative like this? Please think broadly and let me know if you think of anything. Thanks! Luis - - - - - Luis E. Hestres, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Communication The University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle San Antonio, TX 78249-0732 http://www.luishestres.com

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WEBCAST TUE/WED: NCDE Summit on Digital Equity and Economic Inclusion in Washington DC
by Joly MacFie 14 May '19

14 May '19

The Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) has the potential to be a major source of funding for community networks in the US. This summit will explore many practical aspects of this and other digital equity efforts. Don't miss Raul Katz's presentation Wednesday lunchtime on applying the Educational Broadband Service (EBS) in indigenous areas. [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/sdeei2>Today and tomorrow *Tuesday-Wednesday May 14-15 2019* the *National Collaborative for Digital Equity <http://www.digitalequity.us/>* (NCDE) hosts the *2nd National Annual Summit on Digital Equity and Economic Inclusion <http://www.digitalequity.us/national-summit.html>* at the NEA in Washington DC. The conference has the theme "*Economic and Educational Inclusion: Investing in Systemic Digital Equity*". Goals: 1. Review progress in statewide initiatives to remove digital divide barriers to economic and educational inclusion in low- and moderate-income (LMI) areas. 2. Learn about efforts to modernize CRA guidance and the implications for digital equity and economic inclusion. 3. Explore ways in which digital divide barriers impede economic vitality and the growing array of resources available to address them. 4. Participate in developing and planning national, state & local strategies addressing key challenges in digital and economic inclusion. The event will be webcast live via the *Internet Society Livestream Channel <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/>*. *VIEW ON LIVESTREAM: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/sdeei2 <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/sdeei2>* *AGENDA: http://www.digitalequity.us/national-summit.html <http://www.digitalequity.us/national-summit.html>* *TWITTER: @NCDEus http://bit.ly/2DVkzZ5 <http://bit.ly/2DVkzZ5>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/11059/ -------------------------------------------------------------- - -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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FW: CFP - Platform Urbanism and the Governance of Cities (Keywords: urban platforms, Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Urban Development, Governance)
by Becky Lentz 14 May '19

14 May '19

This may be of interest to some… From: Built Environment and STS <BESTS(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:BESTS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>> on behalf of Andrew Karvonen <apkar(a)KTH.SE<mailto:apkar@KTH.SE>> Reply-To: Andrew Karvonen <apkar(a)KTH.SE<mailto:apkar@KTH.SE>> Date: Monday, May 13, 2019 at 9:52 PM To: <BESTS(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK<mailto:BESTS@JISCMAIL.AC.UK>> Subject: CFP - Platform Urbanism and the Governance of Cities Call for Papers ’Platform Urbanism and the Governance of Cities’<https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/10188/platform-urbanism-and-the…> Edited by James Evans, Bas van Heur and Andrew Karvonen Frontiers in Sustainable Cities<https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-cities> (topic: Governance and Cities<https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/sustainable-cities/sections/governance…>) Abstracts Deadline: 30 June 2019 Manuscript Deadline: 31 October 2019 Digitally enabled platforms are reshaping cities in the twenty-first century. Platform-based activities, ranging from Uber and AirBnB to grassroots community activism, are spatially concentrated in cities and build upon existing uneven geographies while feeding into wider urbanization dynamics of economic development, environmental action, and everyday life. Urban platforms connect people and resources in new ways, recasting infrastructures as services, and make it possible for big data and monitoring logics to steer urban development. Platforms provide the glue that holds the Internet of Things together, underpin the promises of the smart city and so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, and blur conventional boundaries between formal and informal infrastructures. This Research Topic focuses on the governance implications and possibilities of platform urbanism. Defining platforms broadly as any digitally hosted instrument to share or enable exchange of information or services, we are interested in the full range of platforms in cities of all sizes and in the Global North and South. We welcome contributions that explore:   · How logics, rationales and practices of governance are being transformed by digital platforms, and the ways in which they influence urban development; · The role of data, code and Artificial Intelligence in governance strategies, and the ways in which urban knowledge is channeled and interpreted through platforms; · Comparative studies of platforms and platform mobilities through trans-local linkages and international networks that exist across cities and/or sectors; · Narratives, storylines and imaginaries of platforms as they relate to smart cities, resilience, urban experimentation and urban living labs, and other concepts; · New constellations of platform governance that involve alliances of technical experts, politicians and policy makers, citizens and businesses; · Uneven geographies of platform urbanism and the ways in which platforms reproduce, deepen or transform existing urban inequalities; · The progressive potential of platforms to facilitate sharing, urban circular economies and the commoning of data · How platforms reshape the interactions between economic development, social equity and environmental quality in cities. Keywords: urban platforms, Internet of Things, Smart Cities, Urban Development, Governance For information on the journal and submission instructions, please visit: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/10188/platform-urbanism-and-the… BESTS is a mailing list for researchers with an interest at the intersection of STS and the built environment. Its homepage is www.jiscmail.ac.uk/bests To subscribe, send the message "SUBSCRIBE BESTS forename surname" to LISTSERV[at]jiscmail.ac.uk; to unsubscribe, send "UNSUBSCRIBE BESTS" to LISTSERV[at]jiscmail.ac.uk. If you want to reach the list manager personally, send a message to BESTS-request[at]jiscmail.ac.uk.

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Chris Kelty interviews Lilly Irani about Chasing Innovation
by Ilana Gershon 14 May '19

14 May '19

Dear Colleagues, Chris Kelty chatted with Lilly Irani about her new book, Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India. It was a free-ranging discussion, touching on what it means to engage in design thinking in India, whether it is important to orient oneself toward a utopia, and so on. Please check it out: www.campanthropology.org Best, Ilana

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2nd CfP ACM 2019 RecSys Workshop on Recommendation in Complex Scenarios (ComplexRec 2019)
by Toine Bogers 14 May '19

14 May '19

3nd Workshop on Recommendation in Complex Scenarios (ComplexRec 2019) Co-located with RecSys 2019, Copenhagen, Denmark September 16-20, 2019 Website: http://complexrec2019.aau.dk/ *** Important dates *** Paper submission deadline: July 1, 2019 Notification of acceptance: July 25, 2019 Camera-ready deadline: August 19, 2019 ComplexRec 2019 Workshop: September 20, 2019 *** Description & Objectives *** Over the past decade, recommendation algorithms for ratings prediction and item ranking have steadily matured. However, these state-of-the-art algorithms are typically applied in relatively straightforward scenarios. In reality, recommendation is often a more complex problem: it is usually just a single step in the user’s more complex background need. These background needs can often place a variety of constraints on which recommendations are interesting to the user and when they are appropriate. Users may want combinations of multiple items, or recommendations on the sequence of consumption. Moreover, different users may want different information about items, so beyond ranking the system needs to decide which information best to display to each user. However, relatively little research has been done on these complex recommendation scenarios. The ComplexRec 2019 workshop aims to address this by providing an interactive venue for discussing approaches to recommendation in complex scenarios that have no simple one-size-fits-all solution. We are especially interested in papers that have a clear focus on complex user needs and tasks and the consequences for modelling the recommendation process, designing practical recommender systems and their evaluation in the covered domain(s). It is the follow-up to the successful ComplexRec workshops at RecSys 2017 and 2018. *** Topics of interest *** We invite original contributions about recommendation in complex scenarios. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to, the following: * Task-based recommendation — Approaches that take the user’s background tasks and needs into account when generating recommendations * Interactive recommendation — Techniques for successfully capturing, weighting, and integrating continuous user feedback into recommender systems, both in situations of sparse and rich user interaction * Feature-driven recommendation — Techniques for eliciting, capturing and integrating rich information about user preferences for specific product features * Constraint-based recommendation — Approaches that successfully combine state-of-the-art recommendation algorithms with complex knowledge-based or constraint-based optimization * Query-driven recommendation — Techniques for eliciting and incorporating rich information about the user’s recommendation need (e.g., need for accessibility, engagement, socio-cultural values, familiarity, etc.) in addition to the standard user preference information * Context-aware recommendation — Methods for the extraction and integration of complex contextual signals for recommendation * Complex data sources — Approaches to dealing with complex data sources and how to infer user preferences from these sources * Evaluation & validation — Approaches to the evaluation and validation of recommendation in complex scenarios *** Submissions *** We encourage authors to submit short papers and position papers of 4-6 pages in length dedicated to any aspect of recommendation in complex scenarios. Accepted submissions will then be invited for short presentations. Evaluation criteria for acceptance will include novelty, diversity, significance for theory/practice, quality of presentation, and the potential for sparking interesting discussion at the workshop. All submitted papers will be reviewed by the Program Committee. At least one author of each accepted paper must attend the workshop. All submissions should be in English and should not have been published or submitted for publication elsewhere. Papers should be formatted in the ACM Proceedings Style and submitted via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=complexrec2019) Submissions will be published in the workshop proceedings. *** Organizers *** Toine Bogers (toine(a)hum.aau.dk<mailto:toine@hum.aau.dk>), Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark Marijn Koolen (marijn.koolen(a)di.huc.knaw.nl<mailto:marijn.koolen@di.huc.knaw.nl>), Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Netherlands Bamshad Mobasher (mobasher(a)cs.depaul.edu<mailto:mobasher@cs.depaul.edu>), DePaul University, USA Alexander Tuzhilin (atuzhili(a)stern.nyu.edu<mailto:atuzhili@stern.nyu.edu>), New York University, USA Workshop website: http://complexrec2019.aau.dk/ For further questions, please contact a member of the organizing committee.

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Audible and dyslexia
by Rachael Espinet 14 May '19

14 May '19

Hey Internet Researcher community, Is anyone working on the equalising abilities of technology for persons with learning disabilities? I'm a dyslexic writer and would love to read or learn about research, specifically between Audible and persons with the dyslexic processing style. Kind regards. Rachael Amanda Espinet @raesay2407

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