December 2020 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

CFP Migrant Belongings: Digital Practices and the Everyday, 21-22-23 April 2021, free virtual conference
by Leurs, K.H.A. (Koen) 08 Dec '20

08 Dec '20

Dear colleagues, Kindly consider submit to our upcoming conference Migrant Belongings: Digital Practices and the Everyday will take place on 21-22-23 April 2021. The submission deadline for panels is 31 January 2021. Abstracts can be submitted until 15 February 2021. For submission guidelines see below. http://connectingeuropeproject.eu/home/conference/?fbclid=IwAR0eLZ819IJN7VS… Detailed information: Call for papers Migrant belonging through digital connectivity refers to a way of being in the world that cuts across national borders, shaping new forms of diasporic affiliations and transnational intimacy. This happens in ways that are different from the ways enabled by the communication technologies of the past. Scholarly attention has intensified around the question of how various new technical affordances of platforms and apps are shaping the transnationally connected, and locally situated, social worlds in which migrants live their everyday lives. This international conference focuses on the connection between the media and migration from different disciplinary vantage points. Connecting with friends, peers and family, sharing memories and personally identifying information, navigating spaces and reshaping the local and the global in the process is but one side of the coin of migrant-related technology use: this Janus-faced development also subjects individuals as well as groups to increased datafied migration management, algorithmic control and biometric classification as well as forms of transnational authoritarianism and networked repression. This conference pays particular attention to the everyday use of digital media for the support of transnational lives, emotional bonds and cosmopolitan affiliations, focusing also on the role digital media play in shaping local/urban and national diasporic formations. This is because it becomes increasingly important to give everyday digital media usage a central role in investigations of transnational belonging, digital intimacy, diasporic community (re)production, migrant subject formation, long-distance political participation, urban social integration and local/national self-organization. Therefore we need to examine individual and collective user practices within the wider historical and cultural contexts of media studies, cultural studies and postcolonial cultural studies scholarship, attuned to issues of politics and power, identity, geographies and the everyday. This also creates new challenges for cross-disciplinary dialogues that require an integration of ethnography with digital methods and critical data studies in order to look at the formation of identity and experience, representation, community building, and creating spaces of belongingness. Contributions are welcome from any field of study that engages with questions about how technology and social media usages mediate contemporary migration experiences, not only within media and communication studies, or digital and internet studies but also in neighbouring disciplines such as anthropology, postcolonial studies, gender studies, race studies, psychology, law, visual studies, conflict studies, criminology, sociology, critical theory, political theory and international relations. Contributions that explore non-media-centric entry points by focusing on users’ digital practices and foregrounding ethnographic exploration as a uniting framework are especially welcome. The conference is part of the ERC project CONNECTINGEUROPE, Digital Crossings in Europe: Gender, Diaspora and Belonging. The conference is organized in collaboration with the DMM section (Diaspora, Migration and the Media)<https://ecrea.eu/Diaspora-Migration-and-the-Media> of ECREA (European Communication Research and Education). Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: * Affective digital practices and the politics of emotion * Digital diaspora * Cosmopolitanism * Cities and urban belonging * Translocality and transnationalism * Co-presence and togetherness * Cultural capital * Migrant visualization * Appification of migration * Platformization of migrant lives * Gender and critical race * The migration industry of connectivity * Digital ethnography * Transnational authoritarianism * Networked conflicts * Datafication and surveillance SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: Submissions for panels should be submitted via e-mail to migrantbelongings(a)uu.nl<mailto:migrantbelongings@uu.nl> by 31 January 2021. * Submission for panels should include a chairperson, a rationale for the panel (250 words), and the names of three speakers including their abstract (250 words) and biographical note (150 words). Abstracts should be submitted electronically, using the online submission system<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeR3DQF2QUikj6LYJo21FFw6tZBDvjyVKZ…> by 15 February 2021. * Submissions for papers should include an abstract (max 300 words) and short biographical note (150 words) about the author including her/his current position and interest in the field of digital media and migration. For further questions please mail: migrantbelongings(a)uu.nl<mailto:migrantbelongings@uu.nl>. The PDF of this call for papers is available here<https://ecrea.eu/resources/Documents/Yellow-Simple-Official-Letterhead-2.pdf>.

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Call for book chapters
by Hakikur Rahman 08 Dec '20

08 Dec '20

Call for Book Chapters: Greetings! Due to the Coronavirus pandemic call for the book has been extended and this is the final call for book chapters, for the following book: *Achieving Organizational Agility, Intelligence, and Resilience Through Information Systems**.* Organizational agility may be termed as a set of processes that allows an organization to sense changes in the internal and external environment, respond proficiently and efficiently in a timely and cost-effective manner. Agility is advocated as an underlying characteristic for business survival and competitiveness. Organizational Agility is the ability of an organization to renew itself, adjust, change quickly, and succeed in a rapidly shifting, ambiguous, turbulent environment. On the other hand, organizational intelligence is the competence of an organization to create knowledge and utilize it to strategically adapt to its environment or marketplace. Finally, organizational resilience is the ability of an organization to anticipate, prepare for, react and adapt to incremental alteration and sudden disruptions in order to survive and prosper. *Information system can be seen as* an integrated set of components for collecting, stockpiling, and processing data and for providing information, knowledge, and digital products to the external world. Business firms and other organizations rely on information systems to carry out and manage their operations, interact with their clients and suppliers, and compete in the marketplace. At the same time, information systems are also used to run inter-organizational supply chains and electronic markets. For instance, corporations use information systems to process financial accounts, to manage their human resources, and to reach their potential customers with online promotions. *Achieving Organizational Agility, Intelligence, and Resilience Through Information Systems* is an authoritative reference source for the latest scholarly research on the widespread integration of technological innovations around the globe and examines how organizational agility, intelligence and resilience interprets, effects and improves the entrepreneurships around the globe. Featuring emergent research from theoretical perspectives and case studies, this book is ideally designed for professionals, students, practitioners, and academicians. *Topics Covered* - Organizational agility - Organizational intelligence - Organizational resilience - *Information system*s and Organizational agility - *Information system*s and Organizational intelligence - *Information system*s and Organizational resilience - *Information system*s and entrepreneurships development - *Information system*s and human empowerment - *Information system*s and knowledge management - *Information system*s and international cooperation - *Information system*s and socio-economic development - Policy making with regard to *Information system*s for entrepreneurship development If you have any completed research, or near completion, you can take this opportunity to publish your work in this book. Please submit your full book chapter by December 30, 2020 for the review process. You may limit the word count to 10000 words for a full book chapter. The book will be published by the IGI Global, USA ( www.igi-global.com) . For any other questions or queries, please contact me. Thanking you, Hakikur Rahman Editor, *Achieving Organizational Agility, Intelligence, and Resilience Through Information Systems* IGI Global, USA*.* Email: email(a)hakik.org

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Re: [Air-L] non-Zoom platforms....again
by Ushnish Sengupta 07 Dec '20

07 Dec '20

Thank you for the excellent summary document on Zoom Mehitabel I am also concerned about the racial inequity issues of automated online proctoring systems, that are used in conjunction with videoconferencing systems such as Zoom. >From what we know of bias in facial recognition and detection algorithms, these systems that try to detect student faces changing direction (potential cheating) during online exams have a significant number of racial injustice issues. Ushnish Sengupta Message: 2 Date: Wed, 29 Jul 2020 22:28:45 -0400 From: Mehitabel Glenhaber <glenhabe(a)usc.edu> To: alexandre.hocquet(a)univ-lorraine.fr Cc: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-L] non-Zoom platforms....again Message-ID: <CAMASph4WHCA1xi1xxpuDwR5A4nFKqoSioyvenLbcTdUJkVaXag(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Hi Alexandre and everyone, This is maybe a bit adjacent to your question, but I have also been concerned watching Zoom rapidly gobble up a near-monopoly on remote education in the United States. Here is an informal resource that I created at the start of the pandemic, and recently updated, warning about the dangers of Zoom becoming a monopoly, and advising educators about alternatives, and how to minimize the harms of using Zoom in the classroom: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1o7Eq17jdWCtu2CaC15JBbdVU1p7fx2_jReH6qoF… I hope it's helpful to you in writing your article, and also generally to folks on this list going into teaching remotely the next semester. I think the situation in the US is very similar to the one you describe in France (with the exception, perhaps, that there was less of an existing open source infrastructure which Zoom replaced - though that's just my impression) Cheers, Mehitabel On Wed, Jul 29, 2020 at 7:41 PM Alexandre Hocquet < alexandre.hocquet(a)univ-lorraine.fr> wrote: > Dear AoIRers, > > long time lurker, first time poster*. A recent inquiry to the list > asking for non-Zoom platforms gave me the idea to ask advice here > regarding a project for an opinion piece I have about the recent taking > over of online conferencing by Zoom (and Microsoft Teams) in Academia. > > My point is that the Covid crisis has led (in France at least, and I'm > willing to have the opinion about academics in other countries) to the > complete outsourcing to those two corporate platforms for online > teaching (and scholarly conferencing), which means > > 1) the renouncement to a once functional dedicated national > infrastructure (namely, in France, the use of free software Jitsi within > the state-sponsored "Renater" academic infrastructure) > > 2) the surrendering of Academia to corporations well known to abuse the > extraction and commodification of data (Zoom) and well known to > "embrace, extend and extinguish" anything within their reach (Microsoft) > > My point is that it is completely contradictory to a supposed general > institutional trend towards "open science", and that open software is > often forgotten besides open litterature and open data, and that the > pandemic has accelerated the disintegration of an academic national and > open infrastructure. > > So my questions are : > > 1) Is anybody aware of an already existing piece expressing that concerns ? > > 2) Is anybody willing to share what is the situation in their country > regarding this issue ? > > Best, > > > * for a little background and as a newcomer presentation, I am a > historian of science and my area is the issue of openness within > scientific modelling software . > > > > -- *Key Articles:* The Future of Social Economy Leadership and Organizational Composition in Canada: Demand from Demographics, and Difference through Diversity <http://interventionseconomiques.revues.org/2794> Indigenous Cooperatives in Canada: The Complex Relationship Between Cooperatives, Community Economic Development,Colonization, and Culture <http://www.jeodonline.com/sites/jeodonline.com/files/articles/2015/08/13/6s…> Indigenous Communities and Social Enterprise in Canada:Incorporating Culture as an Essential Ingredient of Entrepreneurship <http://anserj.ca/anser/index.php/cjnser/article/view/196>

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New Book: Free-to-Play
by Paul, Christopher 07 Dec '20

07 Dec '20

Colleagues, My new book, Free-to-Play: Mobile Video Games, Bias, and Norms was published by MIT Press recently. You can read more about it on the MIT website<https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/free-play> or below. I hope y'all dig it. -chris paul Summary An examination of free-to-play and mobile games that traces what is valued and what is marginalized in discussions of games Free-to-play and mobile video games are an important and growing part of the video game industry, and yet they are often disparaged by journalists, designers, and players and pronounced inferior to games with more traditional payment models. In this book, Christopher Paul shows that underlying the criticism is a bias against these games that stems more from who is making and playing them than how they are monetized. Free-to-play and mobile games appeal to different kinds of players, many of whom are women and many of whom prefer different genres of games than multi-level action-oriented killing fests. It's not a coincidence that some of the few free-to-play games that have been praised by games journalists are League of Legends and World of Tanks. Paul explains that free-to-play games have a long history, and that the current model of premium sales is an aberration. He analyzes three monetization strategies: requirements to spend, where players must make a purchase to gain access; paying for advantage; and optional spending (used by Fortnite, among other popular free-to-play games). He considers how players rationalize or resist spending; discusses sports games and gacha-style games that entice players to make "just one more" purchase; and describes the framing of certain free-to-play games as proper games while others are cast as abusive abominations. Paul's analysis offers a provocative picture of what is valued and what is marginalized in discussions of games. Endorsements * "Free-to-Play is an entertaining and enlightening look at the free-to-play model from historical, economic, and cultural perspectives. I would recommend this book to anyone seeking a better understanding of the future of video games as a medium and a cultural touchstone." Shira Chess Associate Professor of Entertainment and Media Studies, University of Georgia; author of Play like a Feminist. * "Paul has written a fast-paced and skilled analysis that reveals the biases in game reviews and identifies how free-to-play games transgress accepted norms and values. A must-read!" Aphra Kerr Associate Professor of Sociology, Maynooth University, Ireland; author of Global Games: Production, Circulation and Policy in the Networked Era Dr. Christopher A. Paul Professor Communication Deparment My new book: Free-to-Play: Mobile Video Games, Bias, and Norms<https://www.elliottbaybook.com/book/9780262539418>

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CFP L2D@WSDM2021: 1st Intl. Workshop on Enabling Data-Driven Decisions from Learning on the Web
by Elvira Popescu 07 Dec '20

07 Dec '20

Call for Papers First International Workshop on Enabling Data-Driven Decisions from Learning on the Web (L2D 2021) held as part of the ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM) March 12, 2021 - ONLINE EVENT https://mirkomarras.github.io/l2d-wsdm2021/ ----------------------------------------------------- Important Dates ----------------------------------------------------- Submissions: January 25, 2021 Notifications: February 22, 2021 Camera-Ready Contributions: March 1, 2021 Workshop: March 12, 2021 - ONLINE EVENT All deadlines are 11:59pm, AoE time (Anywhere on Earth). ------------------------------------------------------ Workshop Aims and Scope ------------------------------------------------------ By offering courses and resources, learning platforms on the Web have been attracting lots of participants, and the interactions with these systems have generated a vast amount of learning-related data. Their collection, processing and analysis have promoted a significant growth of learning analytics and have opened up new opportunities for supporting and assessing educational experiences. To provide all the stakeholders involved in the educational process with timely support, being able to understand learner's behavior and create models that provide data-driven decisions pertaining to the learning domain is a primary feature of modern online platforms. This workshop aims to present novel, high-quality, high-impact, original research results reporting the current state of the art of online education systems empowered with data mining (DM) and machine learning (ML). Specifically, this workshop will pursue the following objectives: Raise attention on education in the DM and ML community. Identify human aspects affected by DM and ML in education. Solicit contributions targeting DM and ML in education. Get insights on recent open issues and methods in this area. Expose gaps between research and actual needs in this area. Given the growing importance of these topics, the DM and ML community is more and more eager to delve into this applicative domain and, as a consequence, can strongly benefit from a dedicated event. For this reason, this workshop would provide the WSDM community with rich, yet clear, focused, and well-structured insights on this domain. L2D 2021 will be the WSDM's workshop aimed at collecting new contributions in education-related data mining and at providing a common ground for interested researchers and practitioners. Given also the current situation faced by education worldwide due to the pandemic, we expect that this workshop will foster a strong outcome and a wide community dialog. -------------------------------------------------------- Workshop Keywords -------------------------------------------------------- Data Mining - Machine Learning - Education - Data-Driven Decisions ------------------------------------------------------- Workshop Topics ------------------------------------------------------- We are interested in novel contributions targeting DM and ML in education on the Web, focused but not limited to the following areas: Data Set Collection and Preparation: New tools and systems for capturing educational data (e.g., eye-tracking, motion, physiological, etc.). Proposals of procedures and tools to store, share and preserve learning and teaching traces. Knowledge graphs and annotation schemas for data that can be leveraged for DM and ML in education. Collecting and sharing data sets useful for applying DM and ML in online education contexts. Model, Tool, System Design and Implementation: Semantic content-based retrieval of educational materials to identify appropriate contents. Tools for adaptive question-answering and dialogue or automatically generating test questions. Personalized support tools and systems for communities of learners (e.g., recommendation). Natural language processing applied on exam data in order to assign a grade to them. Behavioral and physiological analysis of learners while interacting in online education platforms. Student engagement assessment via machine-learning techniques (e.g., sentiment analysis). Systems that detect and/or adapt the platform to sentiment or emotional states of learners. Techniques to provide automated proctoring support during online examinations, e.g., via biometric recognition. Tools able to predict the learner's success or failure along the educational path. Evaluation Protocol Design and Implementation: Evaluation techniques, metrics, and protocols relying on computational analyses in online education contexts. Interpretability and/or fairness of the models and the resulting impact on real-world adoption. Error analysis aiming at understanding, measuring, and managing uncertainty in model design. Strategies to evaluate effectiveness and impact of DM and ML systems on educational environments. Exploration of cognition, affect, motivation, and attitudes of stakeholders, while deploying systems. Learning-while-searching investigations conducted in the current educational contexts. Ethics and Privacy Investigation: Analysis of issues and approaches to the lawful and ethical use of intelligent DM and ML systems. Tackling unintended bias and value judgements in DM and ML intelligent systems. Regulations and policies in data management ensuring privacy while designing intelligent DM and ML systems. Broad discussion on potential and pitfalls of intelligent systems for educational contexts. Studies on how teachers can be made part of the loop as moderators instead of being replaced. ------------------------------------------------------- Submission Details ------------------------------------------------------- The submissions must be in English and adhere to the CEUR-WS one-column template. The papers should be submitted as PDF files to Easychair at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=l2d2021. Please be aware that at least one author per paper must be registered and attend the workshop to present the work. We will consider four different submission types: Full Papers (10-12 pages) should be clearly placed with respect to the state of the art and state the contribution of the proposal in the domain of application, even if presenting preliminary results. In particular, research papers should describe the methodology in detail, experiments should be repeatable, and a comparison with the existing approaches in the literature is encouraged. Reproducibility Papers (10-12 pages) should repeat prior experiments using the original source code and datasets to show (i) how, why, and when the methods work or not, (ii) or should repeat prior experiments, preferably using the original source code, in new contexts (e.g., different domains and datasets, different evaluation and metrics) to further generalize and validate or not previous work. Short Papers (5-9 pages) should describe significant novel work in progress. Compared to full papers, their contribution may be narrower in scope, be applied to a narrower set of application domains, or have weaker empirical support than that expected for a full paper. Submissions likely to generate discussions in new and emerging areas of data mining and machine learning in education are encouraged. Position Papers (4-5 pages) should introduce new point of views in the workshop topics or summarize the experience of a group in the field. Practice and experience reports should present in detail real-world scenarios in which data mining and/or machine learning are exploited in the educational context. Submissions should not exceed the indicated number of pages, including any diagrams and references. Each submission will be reviewed by three independent reviewers on the basis of relevance for the workshop, novelty/originality, significance, technical quality and correctness, quality and clarity of presentation, quality of references and reproducibility. The accepted papers and the material generated during the meeting will be available on the workshop website. The workshop proceedings will be sent for inclusion in a CEUR-WS volume and consequently indexed on Google Scholar, DBLP, and Scopus. Authors of selected papers may be invited to submit an extended version in a journal special issue. --------------------------------------------------------- Workshop Chairs --------------------------------------------------------- Danilo Dessi https://www.fiz-karlsruhe.de/en/forschung/lebenslauf-und-publikationen-dr-d… Information Service Engineering FIZ- Karlsruhe Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - Institute AIFB Email: danilo.dessi(a)fiz-karlsruhe.de Tanja Kaeser https://people.epfl.ch/tanja.kaeser/?lang=en Digital Vocation, Education and Training (D-VET) Laboratory & Machine Learning for Education (ML4ED) Laboratory Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland Email: tanja.kaeser(a)epfl.ch Mirko Marras http://www.mirkomarras.com/ Digital Vocation, Education and Training (D-VET) Laboratory & Machine Learning for Education (ML4ED) Laboratory Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland Email: mirko.marras(a)epfl.ch Elvira Popescu http://software.ucv.ro/~epopescu/ University of Craiova, Faculty of Automation, Computers and Electronics, Computers and Information Technology Department Email: elvira.popescu(a)edu.ucv.ro Harald Sack https://www.fiz-karlsruhe.de/en/forschung/lebenslauf-prof-dr-harald-sack Information Service Engineering FIZ- Karlsruhe Leibniz Institute for Information Infrastructure Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) - Institute AIFB Email: harald.sack(a)fiz-karlsruhe.de ----------------------------------------------------------- Contacts ----------------------------------------------------------- For general enquiries on the workshop, please send an email to danilo.dessi(a)fiz-karlsruhe.de or mirko.marras(a)epfl.ch.

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CFM--Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the U.S.
by Sarina Chen 07 Dec '20

07 Dec '20

*CFM--Discordant Pandemic Narratives in the U.S.* Unlike Germany, Taiwan, or New Zealand, where there was an united front nationally, comating COVID-19 in 2020, the pandemic narratives in the US were discordant, which resulted in chaotic pandemic responses from the start. The discordant narratives originated in the Situation Room among members of White House Coronavirus Task Force, which then spilled over into the Task Force's daily briefings, creating a situation of President Donald Trump vs. Dr. Anthony Fauci, a key figure in the Task Force, on issues regarding shelter-in-place, masks, or anti-malaria drugs, etc. The conflicting views of President Trump and Dr. Fauci, confused the American public, at a critical time when clear guidance was needed. On the state level, facing a national pandemic, governors looked to President Trump for leadership, but President Trump told the governors that they were on their own, as President Trump saw himself not as a national leader, but merely as a sideline supporter, in combating the pandemic. Governors had many complaints about the lack of federal guidance and help. One of the complaints was the competition from the federal government for medical supplies amid shortage, as the federal government worked to increase its own stockpile. The lack of national coordination led to unnecessary competition. In business, companies made their own safety rules as the federal government stands aside. Unsafe rules were implemented, workers went to work fearing for their lives. Conflicting practices were found in industries due to free-wheeling interpretations of government recommendations; for instance, human salons were closed, due to being a non-essential business, while animal salons were open, as they were part of the pet food stores. Inconsistent practices led to outbreaks in meatpacking plants, long term care facilities, etc. In addition, there was discordance among citizens in the US. After President Trump had imposed restrictions on travel to China in January 2020, nearly 40,000 Americans made their trips to China. Amid the coronavirus pandemic, 70 college students chartered a plane for spring break, only to find 44 with coronavirus upon return in March, 2020; and an Iowa man hosted 600 people in horse auction, ignoring social-distancing guidelines in April, 2020. Churches held Palm Sunday services in April, 2020, despite state bans on gatherings. As the coronavirus pandemic escalated, only 2 in 5 Americans canceled plans to be in crowds for the Memorial weekend in May, 2020. Discordant incidents were countless. Due to the discordant narratives and chaotic responses, the death toll of COVID-19 stacked up quickly. A fatality of two Vietnam Wars was recorded in just two months after the pandemic outbreak. By October, 2020, more than a quarter million lives had been lost in the U.S. due to the pandemic. The COVID-19 pandemic, a historical event, with such a high death toll, clearly calls for a careful examination of the discordant narratives that embodied the chaos, tensions, and conflicts in the U.S. pandemic responses. My colleagues and I are proposing an edited volume to address the various forms of discordance found in pandemic narratives in the U.S. Works are solicited that address the theoretical significance and implications of the pandemic discordance from any discipline (communication, sociology, psychology, business, education, political science, etc.) using any metholodogical inquiries (quantitative, qualitative or rhetoric). Works need to not only describe the discordance, but also address the theoretical significance of the discordance. It is our hope that the discordance serves to illustrate the theories, and the theories provide a deeper understanding of the discordance. Topics to be considered, but not limited to: Preparation for a virus pandemic in the US Panic shopping as pandemic preparation Is COVID-19 pandemic a war? Federal government's responses to pandemic: order or chaos? President Trump's role in pandemic: leader or backup? The conflicting interest of health vs. economy in pandemic The conflicting interest of science vs. politics in pandemic President Trump vs. Dr. Fauci mask or no mask lock down or no lock down hydroxychloroquine or no hydroxychloroquine Personal freedom vs. social responsibility in pandemic Did states with few restrictions, have the worst outbreaks? The ethics of travel in pandemic Pandemic and the political divide Pandemic and technology Pandemic and education Pandemic and family Pandemic and church Pandemic and race Pandemic and racism Pandemic and environment Pandemic and crime Pandemic and mental health Pandemic and the homeless Pandemic and undocumented workers If interested, please send an* abstract of no more than 750 words to Sarina Chen, sarina.chen(a)uni.edu <sarina.chen(a)uni.edu>, by January 15, 2021. * We strongly encourage you to send us your abstract for consideration. Academic research has a social and historical role to fulfill, please help us fulfill this important role by addressing this important issue. We would like not only the contemporary, but also the future generations, to understand just what went wrong in the COVID-19 pandemic responses in the U.S. that resulted in such a high death toll. We need your expertise to help us achieve this goal. Thank you for considering. Any inquiries about this call for manuscripts, please contact Sarina Chen, sarina.chen(a)uni.edu. Thanks again. Sincerely, Sarina Chen Professor, Dept of Communication and Media University of Northern Iowa *****************************

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2nd CFP: IUI Workshop on Exploratory Search and Interactive Data Analytics (ESIDA)
by Axel Soto 07 Dec '20

07 Dec '20

Fourth IUI Workshop on Exploratory Search and Interactive Data Analytics (ESIDA) https://sites.google.com/view/esida2021/home 13 April 2021, Virtual Important Dates: Submission deadline: December 23, 2020 (midnight Hawaii time) Acceptance notification: January 31, 2021 Final manuscript due: February 15, 2021 Workshop: April 13, 2021 Workshop Description: This workshop will be part of the ACM Intelligent User Interfaces 2021 Conference (http://iui.acm.org/2021/) The workshop focuses on systems that personalize, summarize and visualize the data for supporting interactive information seeking and information discovery, along with tools that enable user modeling and methods for incorporating the user needs and preferences into both analytics and visualization. Our aim is to bring together researchers and practitioners working on different personalization aspects and applications of exploratory search and interactive data analytics. This will allow us to achieve four goals: (1) propose new strategies for systems that need to convey the rationale behind their decisions or inference, and the sequence of steps that lead to speciﬁc (search) results; (2) develop new user modeling and personalization techniques for exploratory search and interactive data analytics; (3) develop a common set of design principles for this type of systems across platforms, contexts, users and applications; (4) develop a set of evaluation metrics for personalization in exploratory search. The workshop aims to solicit submissions in the following areas of personalized interactive data analytics and exploratory search: Personalized interactive exploration via interactive data analytics: – personalization aspects in systems for exploratory search. – cross-domain/ context-aware/ cross-platform exploratory search systems. – interactively modelling the user’s information needs for high-recall information retrieval. – new applications of exploratory search and interactive data analytics. Data analytics: – interactive interfaces for data-intensive platforms. – interaction degrees of freedom. – preprocessing vs. online processing. – interactive data visualization evaluation of interactive systems for exploratory search and data analytics. Metrics for explainable intelligent systems: – metrics for explainable exploratory search. – explainability and transparency in expert vs. non-expert systems. – human-in-the-loop analytics systems. – efﬁcient vs. explainable analytics. – user perception of explainability and transparency in interactive intelligent systems. Organisers: Dorota Glowacka, Department of Computer Science, University of Helsinki (Finland), glowacka[at]cs.heelsinki.fi Evangelos Milios, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University (Canada), eem[at]cs.dal.ca Axel J. Soto, Institute for Computer Science and Engineering, UNS - CONICET (Argentina), axel.soto[at]cs.uns.edu.ar Fernando V. Paulovich, Faculty of Computer Science, Dalhousie University (Canada), paulovich[at]dal.ca Denis Parra, Department of Computer Science, Pontificia Universidad Católica (Chile) , dparra[at]ing.puc.cl Osnat (Ossi) Mokryn, Department of Information and Knowledge Management, University of Haifa (Israel), omokryn[at]univ.haifa.ac.il Submission Information: We encourage submissions of work in progress, concept papers, case studies, ongoing research projects, reports on recently completed PhD dissertations or recently accepted journal papers, and generally material that will stimulate discussion, generate useful feedback to the authors, encourage research collaborations and vigorous exchange of ideas on promising research directions, in one of the following formats: -full papers (up to 8 pages in ACM sigconf format), which will presented either as contributed talks or posters -extended abstracts (up to 4 pages in ACM sigconf format), which will be presented as posters with a possibility to be accompanied by a demo. Papers can be submitted through EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=esida21

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First International Conference on ICT for Health, Accessibility and Wellbeing (IHAW 2021): First Call for Papers
by Announce Announcements 05 Dec '20

05 Dec '20

*** First Call for Papers *** First International Conference on ICT for Health, Accessibility and Wellbeing (IHAW 2021) November 8-10, 2021, Golden Bay Hotel 5*, Larnaca, Cyprus http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… (Proceedings to be published by Springer) ICT for Health, Accessibility and Wellbeing (IHAW 2021) is the first of the series of International Conferences on "ICT for Societal Challenges". It is a showcase for high quality oral and poster presentations and demonstrations sessions. This conference aims to be a platform for multi and interdisciplinary research at the interplay between Information and Communication Technologies, Biomedical, Neuro-cognitive, and Experimental research. This research includes the design, experimental evaluation and standardization of new ICT scalable systems and in-silico systems for new and future inclusive and sustainable technologies that benefit all: healthy people, people with disabilities or other impairments, people having chronic diseases, etc. User-centered design and innovation, new intuitive ways of human -computer interaction, and user acceptance are the topics of particular interest. Conference Topics Relevant topics include (but are not limited to) the following: · AI and Cognition, Cognitive Mechatronics, Human-Machine Interaction, Cobotics, Model-based design and configuration tools for healthcare and well-being, AI methods for medical device testing · Systems for management of health and care (mental health, pain, neurological disorders, sight, hearing, balance, space awareness; sensory based physiological and psychological non-invasive measurements, preventive healthcare, m-healthcare, e-healthcare, integrated care, serious games, electronic health record, self-management, patient-centered systems for survivorship, palliation and/or end-of-life care) · Precision medicine · ICT for in-silico trials · Implantable medical devices · Computational methods for medical device · Models for human-device interaction for medicine · Systems promoting access to the socio-economical and cultural environment · Age-friendly systems for active and healthy aging (telepresence, robotics solutions, innovative solutions for independent living, innovative elderly care, integrated care, age-related risks prevention/detection) · Multimodal assistive ICT devices to empower people with sensory, cognitive, motor, balance and spatial impairments · ICT systems to improve the quality of life and for daily life activities assistance (education, recreation, and nutrition) · Smart living homes and wearables (Intelligent and personalized digital solutions for sustaining and extending healthy and independent living; personalized early risk detection and intervention) · New experimental validation methods with end-users · Standardization, certification, labeling, privacy, security and communication issues (related to aging well, to sensory impairment) High-quality original submissions that address such future issues, show the design and evaluation in (near-) real scenarios, explain how to benchmark systems, and outline the education and training procedures for acquiring new perceptual skills while using such systems are welcome. Research and technical papers are expected to present significant and original contributions validated with the targeted end-users. Early works and works- in-progress are invited to submit a short or demo paper. Submissions should clearly state the progress beyond the existing state-of- the-art and the expected societal benefits of the developed technology. When possible, validate scenarios with the target user groups and well-identified technology readiness levels (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technology_readiness_level) should be at least outlined. Submissions We invite three types of paper submissions: 1. Research and Technical papers, up to 15 pages, describing original unpublished research, making a substantial contribution to the research field 2. Short papers, up to 6 pages, describing original unpublished research, making a small but solid contribution to the field 3. Demos, up to 4 pages, describing innovative tools that address topics relevant to the conference All submissions will be reviewed by the Program Committee. Accepted contributions will appear in the archival proceedings of IHAW 2021, published by Springer in the Communications in Computer and Information Science (CCIS) series (https://www.springer.com/series/7899) and will be presented in plenary sessions of the conference. The authors of the best papers accepted for IHAW2021 will be invited to submit extended versions for a journal special issue (currently under negotiation). Submissions of all types should be carefully formatted according to the Springer format for conference proceedings: http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… and should specify on the first page the type of submission ("R&T", "Short", "Demo"). The submission process will be handled through Easy Chair and the submission link is: http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… . Important Dates · Submission Deadline: June 7, 2021 (AoE) · Notification: August 23, 2021 · Camera-Ready Submission Deadline: September 6, 2021 · Author Registration Deadline: September 6, 2021 Organizers Honorary General Chair · Edwige Pissaloux, University of Rouen Normandy, France General Chair · George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Scientific Chair · Salim Bouhlel, University of Sfax, Tunisia Scientific Vice-Chair · Achilleas Achilleos, Frederick University, Cyprus Publicity Chair · Ramiro Velazquez, Universidad Panamericana, Mexico Finance Chair · Petros Stratis, Easy Conferences LTD., Cyprus

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Northeastern University Job Posting
by Conover, Susan 04 Dec '20

04 Dec '20

The College of Arts, Media and Design at Northeastern University invites applications for an associate professor or full professor focused on communication, media innovation and social change to start in the fall of 2021. This is a senior, interdisciplinary position; the candidate will be jointly appointed to the School of Journalism and the Department of Communication Studies. We seek applicants working at the intersections of race, ethnicity, technology, social justice, media innovation and activism with a focus on societal problems. Candidates should have research agendas informed by the emerging innovations in journalism and communications studies and their impact on society in the United States and globally. Ideal candidates will be adept at interdisciplinary collaboration and able to lead high-profile projects that explore emerging technologies and their potential contributions to America's increasingly diverse democracy and to global social change. Candidates should have experience in, or a commitment to, working with diverse student populations in a culturally diverse work and educational environment. Candidates will be expected to create and lead a new Center for Communication, Media Innovation and Social Change housed on Northeastern's Boston campus. The Center is designed to be a research, teaching and communications hub for cutting-edge explorations of race, ethnicity and activism, including the media's impact on, and empowerment of, underrepresented communities. It will interact and develop synergies with the many new initiatives across the university on race and social justice. The position will include teaching graduate students and undergraduates and developing courses in these fields. The School of Journalism<https://camd.northeastern.edu/journalism-at-northeastern/>'s curriculum builds upon the strengths of traditional journalism combined with growing course offerings in race, gender, digital storytelling, podcasting, video, data journalism and advocacy. It aims to train the next generation of journalists and communication leaders to tell stories more effectively, create new and innovative story forms, hold the powerful to account, foster an informed public and encourage fact-based debate. The Communication Studies Department offers an array of courses designed to prepare students to embark on careers in a multitude of professions while fostering an awareness of the power of communicative practices, institutions and technologies to shape our views of the social world. Through courses such as Communication in a Digital Age, Global and Intercultural Communication, Communication, Politics and Social Change, Communication and Inclusion and more, students are equipped with the knowledge and critical thinking skills necessary to pursue communication-based careers in a diverse society and meet the professional and practical challenges of an increasingly globalized community. The School of Journalism and the Department of Communication Studies are located in Northeastern's College of Arts, Media and Design (CAMD), which has a unique combination of disciplines, including Architecture, Art + Design, Media and Screen Studies, Music, and Theatre. In addition, CAMD is home to two interdisciplinary research centers: the Center for the Arts and the Center for Design. It is a collaborative, diverse community within the University that acts as a catalyst for research, inspiration, and discovery. See: http://www.northeastern.edu/camd. We seek candidates with a graduate degree and a distinguished professional record as well as a robust and interdisciplinary research profile that complements and enhances the tenure-track and tenured faculty at this Research 1 university. The ideal candidate will be able to work across disciplines and will be interested in joining a vibrant urban campus in one of the world's premier academic and media hubs. The individual filling this position should be open to creating and leading interdisciplinary courses and advancing ongoing conversations about race, ethnicity, diversity, equity, and inclusion in media. The successful candidate will have a terminal degree (Master's Degree or Ph.D.) in Journalism, Communications, or related fields by the appointment start date. The successful candidate will also have a distinguished record of professional experience, and a research and publication profile that marks them as an innovator and pacesetter. To apply, click here<https://careers.hrm.northeastern.edu/en-us/job/504201/associate-professorpr…>.

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Data access progress in Europe
by Tromble, Rebekah 04 Dec '20

04 Dec '20

Dear colleagues, I wanted to share some good news coming out of Europe regarding digital platform data access efforts. Last week the European Digital Media Observatory (EDMO) announced its plans to set up a working group focused on access to digital platform data for research ( https://edmo.eu/2020/11/24/call-for-comment-on-gdpr-article-40-working-grou…) The intention is to develop a Code of Conduct under GDPR's Article 40 that will lay out privacy-compliant processes for data access and in turn create much greater clarity on the issue for platforms, researchers, and regulators alike. And in its just-released European Democracy Action Plan ( https://ec.europa.eu/info/sites/info/files/edap_communication.pdf) the European Commission has put its considerable weight behind platform accountability and data access efforts. In a key passage (see section 4.2), the Commission explicitly states that "the GDPR does not a priori and across the board prohibit the sharing of personal data by platforms with researchers." This is intended as a (carefully-worded) rebuke to the platforms' claims that GDPR prevents them from sharing data with our community. In the same passage the Commission also embraces EDMO's plans to develop a framework for "data disclosure" (i.e., the above-mentioned plans for a Code of Conduct). You should also keep your eye out for the Digital Services Act to bolster all of this next week. Though there's still much work to be done, these developments represent a hard-fought and significant step forward. With the Commission's support, we have a much better chance of achieving responsible, ethical access to digital platform data for research--and ultimately, for greater platform accountability. But with the work ahead in mind, I would highly value any input you might wish to share during the month-long consultation period established by EDMO ahead of its launch of the working group. (Again, see https://edmo.eu/2020/11/24/call-for-comment-on-gdpr-article-40-working-grou…) This includes expressions of interest in participating in the working group itself. Comments should be sent to the following email address (edmo(a)eui.eu) However, I am also happy to field questions, should you have them. Rebekah Dr. Rebekah Tromble Director, Institute for Data, Democracy & Politics, George Washington University | Associate Professor, School of Media & Public Affairs, George Washington University | Visiting Researcher, The Alan Turing Institute (London) | www.rebekahtromble.net iddp.gwu.edu

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