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

WEBCAST TODAY: Internet Independence Day marking 25th anniversary of NSFNET decommissioning
by Joly MacFie 30 Apr '20

30 Apr '20

An auspicious day, and an illustrious line up of speakers! Starts shortly. ISOC Live posted: "On April 30 2020, at 5pm EDT (21:00 UTC) Internet elders will gather to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1995 decommissioning of the NSFNET backbone, following the passage of Al Gore's High Performance Computing Act of 1991. This was the moment that the I" *ISOC LIVE NOTICEBOARD* [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iid25>On *April 30 2020*, at *5pm EDT* (21:00 UTC) Internet elders will gather to mark the 25th anniversary of the 1995 decommissioning of the *NSFNET backbone <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Science_Foundation_Network>*, following the passage of *Al Gore*'s *High Performance Computing Act of 1991 <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Performance_Computing_Act_of_1991>*. This was the moment that the Internet fully transitioned from a government to a private enterprise. A select group of the elders including *Jeff Jarvis* (American journalist); *Esther Dyson* (first CEO of ICANN); *James Lewis* (SVP CSIS); *Tom Evslin* (founder ITXC); *Andrew Odlyzko* (former Bell Labs and Prof U MN), *Gary Shapiro*, President, Consumer Technology Association, and *Scott McNealy* (co-founder Sun Microsystems) will discuss how the Internet has developed since the *last such celebration <https://isoc.live/7746/>*, 5 years ago. The event will be hosted by *Daniel Berninger* of VCXC, and webcast via a partnership with the *Internet Society Washington DC Chapter <http://isoc-dc.org/> *(ISOC-DC) *LIVESTREAM: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iid25 <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iid25>* *TWITTER: #internetindependenceday <http://bit.ly/iid25> | #iid25 <http://bit.ly/IID25> * *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12014/ - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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Re: [Air-L] Instagram data scraping
by Craig Hamilton 30 Apr '20

30 Apr '20

Hi Jeff, A couple of years ago I wrote this blog post about collecting data from a number of online channels (including Instagram), and then gathering them into one single database. I use it once a year to collect data for an annual online project - the last time I used it was July 2019, and it work fine then. It requires use of the Zapier service. This has a free tier your colleague could try out, but if they want to collect data in any sort of volume they will need a paid account. http://harkive.org/datcolzap/ Kind regards Craig Dr Craig Hamilton Research Fellow Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Birmingham City University, 5 Cardigan Street, Birmingham, B4 7BD - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Website: http://www.popmusicresearch.org <http://www.popmusicresearch.org/> Twitter: @craigfots <https://twitter.com/craigfots> Phone: +44 (0) 7740358162 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Co-Managing Editor, Riffs - http://riffsjournal.org <http://riffsjournal.org/> Founder, The Harkive Project - http://harkive.org <http://harkive.org/> Project Coordinator, Songwriting Studies Research Network - https://songwritingstudies.com <https://songwritingstudies.com/> - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - On 29/04/2020, 09:08, "Air-L on behalf of Jeff McCarthy" <air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org on behalf of jeff.mccarthy(a)mmu.ac.uk> wrote: Hi Does anyone have any experience and/or knowledge of ways to scrape Instagram posts? My colleague is looking to gather data on Insta posts from specific user accounts in specific timeframes. It's part of the next phase of her PhD. Many thanks Jeff Jeff McCarthy - Senior Lecturer - Digital Marketing MPhil | MRes (Dist) | PGDipM | BSc (Hons) | F CIM | F IDM | MPA Board Member | DMA North Council | iDEA Lead Manchester Met | Chartered Marketer | CIM & IDM CPD Awards Employability Lead MRT Marketing, Retail and Tourism (room 6.31), Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford Road, Manchester UK M15 6BH Academic Support Hours: Tue 08:30 - 09:30 & 15:00 - 16:00 t: +44 (0)161 247 6751 e: jeff.mccarthy(a)mmu.ac.uk<mailto:jeff.mccarthy@mmu.ac.uk> t: @RunEatRepeatuk<https://twitter.com/runeatrepeatuk> LinkedIn<http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeffmccarthyuk> Staff Profile<http://www.business.mmu.ac.uk/our-staff/modb/profile/index.php?profile_id=9…> ResearchGate<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeff_Mccarthy3> Academia.edu<http://mmu.academia.edu/JeffMcCarthy> Personal Blog: RunEatRepeat.co.uk<http://runeatrepeat.co.uk/> "Before acting on this email or opening any attachments you should read the Manchester Metropolitan University email disclaimer available on its website http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer " _______________________________________________ The Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/

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Instagram data scraping
by Jeff McCarthy 30 Apr '20

30 Apr '20

Hi Does anyone have any experience and/or knowledge of ways to scrape Instagram posts? My colleague is looking to gather data on Insta posts from specific user accounts in specific timeframes. It's part of the next phase of her PhD. Many thanks Jeff Jeff McCarthy - Senior Lecturer - Digital Marketing MPhil | MRes (Dist) | PGDipM | BSc (Hons) | F CIM | F IDM | MPA Board Member | DMA North Council | iDEA Lead Manchester Met | Chartered Marketer | CIM & IDM CPD Awards Employability Lead MRT Marketing, Retail and Tourism (room 6.31), Manchester Metropolitan University, Oxford Road, Manchester UK M15 6BH Academic Support Hours: Tue 08:30 - 09:30 & 15:00 - 16:00 t: +44 (0)161 247 6751 e: jeff.mccarthy(a)mmu.ac.uk<mailto:jeff.mccarthy@mmu.ac.uk> t: @RunEatRepeatuk<https://twitter.com/runeatrepeatuk> LinkedIn<http://uk.linkedin.com/in/jeffmccarthyuk> Staff Profile<http://www.business.mmu.ac.uk/our-staff/modb/profile/index.php?profile_id=9…> ResearchGate<https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jeff_Mccarthy3> Academia.edu<http://mmu.academia.edu/JeffMcCarthy> Personal Blog: RunEatRepeat.co.uk<http://runeatrepeat.co.uk/> "Before acting on this email or opening any attachments you should read the Manchester Metropolitan University email disclaimer available on its website http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer "

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question about mis/disinformation in tweets
by Patricia Aufderheide 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

Hello on behalf of Aram Sinnreich, Nic Suzor and myself, cooking up a project in Covid time. We're looking for methods that comm scholars have already used to identify a corpus of mis/disinformation tweets. Anything from big data analysis packages to hand-coding. We just don't want to reinvent the wheel. Thanks so much! Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor, School of Communication (she/her/hers) PhD Program Director Founder, Center for Media & Social Impact American University 4400 Massachusetts Av., NW American University, Washington, DC 20016-8017 McKinley Hall 323 @paufder @cmsimpact cmsimpact.org<http://cmsimpact.org> paufder(a)american.edu<mailto:paufder@american.edu> 202-885-2069 office 240-643-4805 mobile Reclaiming Fair Use--t<https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022637419X?pf_rd_p=d1f45e03-8b73-4c9a-9be…>he second edition is out, with new stories, quizzes and entirely new chapters on the surprising success of fair use in enabling creativity!

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WEBCAST TODAY - NYC Virtual Town Hall: Bridging the Digital Divide during COVID-19
by Joly MacFie 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

If there has been one benefit to the lockdown it is that it has exposed the connectivity pain points, and driven curative action. ISOC Live posted: "On Wednesday April 29 2020 at 6;30pm EDT (22:30 UTC) Columbia University Neighbours hosts 'Virtual Town Hall: Bridging the Digital Divide during COVID-19'. Manhattan Borough President Gale Brewer will be joined by Clayton Banks, Co-Founder and CEO of Sili" [image: livestream] <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/nycvirtualtownhall>On *Wednesday April 29 2020* at *6;30pm* EDT (22:30 UTC) *Columbia University Neighbours <https://neighbors.columbia.edu/>* hosts '*Virtual Town Hall: Bridging the Digital Divide during COVID-19 <https://bit.ly/ColumbiaVirtualDivideTownHall>*'. Manhattan Borough President *Gale Brewer* will be joined by *Clayton Banks*, Co-Founder and CEO of Silicon Harlem; *Noel Hidalgo*, Executive Director of BetaNYC; *Nilsa Orama*, Chair of Manhattan Community Board 11; and *Desmond Patton*, Assoc. Prof. of Social Work and Assoc. Dean of Curriculum Innovation and Academic Affairs; Columbia University School of Social Work, to discuss technology disparities and possible solutions that increase access, expand outreach, and best equip communities for future disasters. *LIVESTREAM: http://livestream.com/internetsociety/nycvirtualtownhall <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/nycvirtualtownhall>* *YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/Ysf3PBsU3rA <https://youtu.be/Ysf3PBsU3rA>* *PARTICIPATE: https://bit.ly/ColumbiaVirtualDivideTownHall <https://bit.ly/ColumbiaVirtualDivideTownHall>* *TWITTER: #nycvirtualtownhall <https://bit.ly/2SjB6NQ>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12026/ - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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WEBCAST TODAY: ‘The ‘Infodemic’ – misinformation and disinformation during COVID-19’ #DigitalCooperation
by Joly MacFie 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

As noted, this the 3rd in this series. #1 was “Connectivity: Situation Assessment” <https://youtu.be/EQv3gVgxDoo>, and #2 was “Connectivity: Best Practice” <https://youtu.be/ti7G1dDW7HQ> ISOC Live posted: "On Wednesday 29 April 2020 at 9:30am EDT (13:30 UTC) the Office of the Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General, working on Digital Cooperation presents the third in the UN/ITU Webinar series 'Digital Cooperation during COVID19 and beyond'." [image: livestream] <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/infodemic>On *Wednesday 29 April 2020* at *9:30am EDT* (13:30 UTC) the *Office of the Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General, working on Digital Cooperation <https://digitalcooperation.org/>* presents the third in the UN/ITU Webinar series '*Digital Cooperation during COVID19 and beyond <https://www.itu.int/en/ITU-D/Pages/seminars/2020/DigitalCooperation/default…>*'. The topic is '*The ‘Infodemic’ – misinformation and disinformation during COVID-19*'. This webinar aims to discuss specific communication challenges countries are facing during the COVID19 crisis, and strategies and tactics which have been deployed to counter disinformation and misinformation. In particular, discussion will focus on what could be possible immediate action that could lead the global response to COVID19. UNDP and UNESCO are strategic partners of this webinar. *Organizers* -Mr *Fabrizio Hochschild*, Under Secretary-General and Special Advisor, UN -Ms *Doreen Bogdan-Martin*, Director of Development Bureau, ITU *Speakers * -H.E *Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberge*r, Permanent Representative of Austria to the UN Office in Geneva and President of the Human Rights Council -Mr *Adama Dien*g , Under Secretary-General and Special Adviser on Genocide Prevention, UN -The Rt. Hon. *Lord Neuberger of Abbotsbury*, Former President of the Supreme Court of the U.K. -Ms *Mercedes Aramendia*, President of the Unidad Reguladora de Servicios de Comunicaciones (URSEC), Uruguay -Mr *John Omo* , Secretary-General, African Telecommunication Union (ATU) -Ms *Liz Corbin* , Deputy Media Director and Head of News, European Broadcasting Union (EBU) -Ms *Monika Bickert*, Vice President for Content Policy, Facebook -Ms *Irene Jay Liu*, Google News Lab Lead, APAC *Moderators* -Mr *Robert Opp*, Chief Digital Officer (CDO), UNDP -Mr *Guy Berger*, Director for Strategies and Policies in the Field of Communication and Information, UNESCO *LIVESTREAM: http://livestream.com/internetsociety/infodemic <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/infodemic>* *PARTICIPATE: contact: jeounghee.kim(a)un.org <jeounghee.kim(a)un.org>* *TWITTER: #DigitalCooperation <http://bit.ly/digitalcooperation>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/12021/ -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +2185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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Call for critical reflections Digital education in a time of crisis: reflections, critiques, and conversations
by Harry Dyer (EDU - Staff) 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

As an open-access journal focused on the overlaps between technology, education, and culture, we at Digital Culture and Education (DCE) believe there is a pressing need to critically explore and reflect upon the ways in which we find education and technology are enmeshing in this unique and pivotal moment. Beyond much-needed practical advice about how to use the many systems that are being proposed to address practical and pedagogical challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, concerns remain about a number of issues. For example, concerns about the ways in which educational technologies create and perpetuate inequity; about which voices are emphasised online and which are minimised; about whether this is a pivot point and what it means for the future of higher education; about the creeping data surveillance and the information we reluctantly give away to access these pedagogical solutions; about the ethics and agendas of the companies producing these interventions; and about whether these technologies are fit for purpose. We are therefore calling for expressions of interest from people at all stages of their career, and particularly welcome early career and higher degree researchers to join us in a series of short critical reflections to be published online on the Digital Culture and Education journal. As an open-access journal we are uniquely positioned to respond quickly and in a flexible manner, and are aiming to have the critical reflections publish by the end of May. We invite researchers, practitioners, activists, policy makers, students, and interested parties to take part in curated online monologues or discussions exploring the intersection of technology, education and culture as a result of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. The current situation requires us to be flexible in how we engage in these discussions. As such, these short discussions can be video recorded, audio only, or developed in a written format as a think piece or blog, and will be made publicly available on our website, DigitalCultureandEducation.com. We actively encourage contributions from a broad range of backgrounds and interests, as well as from projects in early stages, and are willing to work with a range of formats. Should you have suggestions or queries about formats for this, please do email the address at the end of this call. Topics include, but are not limited to • inequity and inequity in digital education, and how this impacts education in the current crisis • Digital divides and issues of access • The legacy of COVID-19 on Higher Education • Data surveillance and Big Data in a time of crisis • The role of capitalism in digital education and what this means for education moving forward • The efficacy of digital education • Issues of temporality and the myth of ‘free time’ • FOMO • Resistance to digital education • Digital education as resistance • A topic of your choice around digital education and culture in the current pandemic Whilst it is uniquely difficult to reflect upon an ongoing situation, DCE believes that opening up a space to critically examine and discuss these issues is vital for researchers, policy makers, and practitioners, especially as the choices we are making now have the potential to heavily impact the future of education and technology. With this in mind, we issue this call for contributors to a series of critical reflections. You can either submit as a group, or individually. Should you wish to take part in a recorded discussion and you submit individually, we will endeavor to pair you with relevant partners. We also welcome individual monologues, think pieces, and blogs. All submissions are subject to a light-touch review before uploading to ensure they meet the values and standards of DCE. To signal your interest, please email a 250-300 word abstract and short bio, or CV for each participant to harry.t.dyer(a)uea.ac.uk<mailto:harry.t.dyer@uea.ac.uk>. The deadline for signalling interest is MAY 12th. Questions and suggestions are welcomed and appreciated.

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CfP 'The Politics of Metadata' - J. of Digital Culture & Society
by Karin Hansson 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

Call for Papers: The Politics of Metadata Issue 1/2021, Digital Culture & Society, http://digicults.org Edited by: Anna Dahlgren, Karin Hansson, Rámon Reichert and Amanda Wasielewski Abstract submission: June 28, 2020 Author submission: July 1, 2020 Full paper submission: October 1, 2020 Final version: December 30, 2020 This special issue of the Digital Culture & Society journal invites theoretical and methodological contributions discussing the politics of metadata. The transformation of image collections from files and boxes to digital interfaces has had implications for the way images are annotated and ordered. In particular, new issues arise in relation to the practices of and policies for creating descriptive metadata. The first generation of digitization in the 1990s sparked a lively debate around images and their credibility, which played out in the news media, political circles, and in relation to history writing (Mitchell, 1994; Ritchin, 1990). Despite the fact that photographic manipulation is as old as the medium itself, the ease and availability of software that allowed consumers to “photoshop” images on their personal computers ushered in an era of digital distrust. Yet, as pointed out by Rubinstein and Sluis, “In the past, concerns about manipulation of pixels caused people to doubt the veracity of the digital image; however, manipulation of metadata can have much more dramatic and far-reaching consequences and they indicate that the construction and design of metadata inflicts archiving and classification practices yet also the conditions of use“ (Rubinstein and Sluis, 2013). In other words, while many people worry about the consequences of digital image manipulation, the data we collect on our data, which is used to order and recall a vast array of digital material, can also be subject to biases and manipulations that are just as insidious and often more difficult to detect. The design and use of metadata is therefore always culturally, socially and ideologically inflected (Baylis, 2014; Bunnik et al., 2016; Loukissas, 2017; Pollen, 2016). Indeed all metadata situate the images they furnish historically, geographically, politically and organizationally. The actors and their agendas and interest, whether these are institutions (museums, archives, libraries, corporate image suppliers) or individuals (image producers, social media agents, researchers) affect the character of metadata (Schwartz, 1995; Schwartz and Cook, 2002). If, for example, nationality is an important founding rationale for a museum their images will be tagged with national origin which in itself is a historical construct and sometimes quite problematic (Rodini, 2018). Such interest may also vary over time. While the gender of the image producer is of vital concern in memory institutions today the issue whether an image or art work is produced by a woman or a man has not always historically been of interest for collections managers (Pierce, 2019). Thus the available metadata is the result, and also part of, negotiations between conflicting interests accumulated and transformed over time (Baca, 2016). In sum these are examples of the politics of metadata. When it comes to big data and data-driven research, we have to pay particular attention to the effects of the interfaces we use. Metadata and the archiving practices that produce it are increasingly important for collecting institutions—and for visual culture at large—as a means to navigate the rapidly growing volume of data, situating them historically, socially, and locally (Baylis, 2014; Bunnik et al., 2016; Loukissas, 2017; Pollen, 2016). The fact that images today are copied and redistributed in infinite numbers as well as modified, manipulated, and placed in new contexts raises question about how images are furnished with descriptive metadata and by whom. Metadata not only affects the searchability and visibility of images but, by extension, how they are used and interpreted. Image collections today create descriptive metadata in three major ways: by employing professional cataloguers within the institution that governs the collection, by enlisting the help of the general public via online interfaces, or by automation using algorithm based tools and machine learning, like pattern recognition. In this special issue we seek to address the ideological and political aspects of metadata practices within image collections from an interdisciplinary perspective. The overall aim is to consider the implications, tensions, and challenges involved in the creation of metadata in terms of content, structure, searchability, and diversity. We invite proposals including, but not limited to, the following topics: • The relationship and systemic tensions between professional and amateur taggers, between metadata standards and folksonomies. What are the decisive differences between descriptive metadata produced by professional cataloguers and amateurs through crowdsourcing in terms of content, structure, and usability? What are the differences between private and public metadata? The numerous metadata standards, which govern much of the professional‘s metadata production display a heterogenous field (Margulies, 2017; Mayernik, 2020; Riley, 2017, 2009). Simultaneously many institutions are not using any of the established standards (Waldron et al., 2017). Folksonomies, in turn, have been studied and implemented as ways to bridge between expert and non-expert vocabularies (Cairns, 2013), and potentially to feed into the creation of formal taxonomies or ontologies (Gil et al. 2017). • The issue of anonymity and social identity in relation to metadata production. What are the implications of anonymity for metadata producers within cultural heritage institutions, corporate image suppliers, or public crowdsourcing platforms? How can this be understood and/or challenged in the context of social media practices where a particular user’s reputation and output history is often the determining factor in gauging the trustworthiness of the information produced? (Esteve, 2019) • The challenge in creating metadata that is coherent and reflects diverse perspectives In order for images to be searchable, reliable, and usable, collections need to create metadata standards for accuracy and uniformity (Zhang et al., 2019). Simultaneously, there is an increasing demand for descriptive metadata to be inclusive, i.e. encouraging participation and heterogeneity in representation. Given that these two objectives might contradict or come into conflict with one another, how can cultural heritage institutions strike a balance between them? • Issues of standards, centrality, and networks in relation to metadata production For example, what is the relationship between metadata standards and their institutional, geographical settings? Who are the major agents in the field of metadata production and what are the implications of this? How might we develop more horizontal systems for the production of descriptive metadata?(Piotrowski, 2009) Paper proposals may relate to, but are not limited to, the following questions concerning the metadata paradigm. Interdisciplinary contributions, such as those from science and technology studies or the digital humanities, are particularly encouraged. When submitting an abstract, authors should make explicit to which of the following categories they would like to submit their paper: 1. Field Research and Case Studies (full paper: 6000-8000 words) We invite articles that discuss empirical findings from studies that approach the relationships between data science, digital humanities, digital histories, computational intelligence, cultural studies, art history, gender studies, science and technology studies. These may include practices of circulating or collecting data as well processes of production and evaluation. 2. Methodological Reflection (full paper: 6000-8000 words) We invite contributions that reflect on the methodologies employed when researching the practices of the new tendencies of metadata production. These may include, for example, the specificities of methodological reflection of scientific fieldwork in online/offline environments; challenges and opportunities faced when qualitatively researching quantifiable data and vice versa; approaches using mixed methods; discussions of mobile and circulative methods; and reflections of experimental forms of research. 3. Conceptual/Theoretical Reflection (full paper: 6000-8000 words) We encourage contributions that reflect on the conceptual and/or theoretical dimension of the metadata paradigm, and discuss or question how the data-driven research on metadata can be defined, what it can describe, and how it can be differentiated. 4. Entering the Field (2000-3000 words; experimental formats welcome) This experimental section presents initial and ongoing empirical work in digital media studies. The editors have created this section to provide a platform for researchers who would like to initiate a discussion concerning their emerging (yet perhaps incomplete) research material and plans as well as methodological insights. Deadlines and contact information • Initial abstracts (max. 300 words) and a short biographical note (max. 100 words) are due on: June 28, 2020. • Authors will be notified by July 10, 2020, whether they are invited to submit a full paper. • Full papers are due on: October 01, 2020. • Notifications to authors of referee decisions: November 20, 2020 • Final versions due: December 30, 2020 • Please send your abstract and short biographical note to: anna.dahlgren(a)arthistory.su.se<mailto:anna.dahlgren@arthistory.su.se>, khansson(a)dsv.su.se<mailto:khansson@dsv.su.se>, ramon.reichert(a)univie.ac.at<mailto:ramon.reichert@univie.ac.at>

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Sampling strategies for classification tasks
by Sina Furkan Özdemir 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

Dear all, I have been following some 800 Twitter accounts for my Ph.D. dissertation over the last four months. I have ended up with 400.000 tweets that I need to categorize by four mutually exclusive categories. I looked up some previous works with similar tasks, and it seems that the best way is to use a combination of word embeddings and recurrent neural networks with LSTM structure. The problem I am having right now is that I couldn't find training data for the classification. Can anyone recommend me some literature on sampling strategies for short-text classification tasks? Best, Sina Özdemir Ph.D. Candidate NTNU, Trondheim M.A Comparative and International Studies ETH Zurich & University of Zurich, Switzerland B.A. Political Science and International Relations Middle East Technical University, Turkey

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Mediated Conversation minitrack: HICSS 2021 CFP
by Yoram Kalman 29 Apr '20

29 Apr '20

Dear AoIR colleagues, The Mediated Conversation minitrack focuses on the study of conversations taking place on digital and social media. Conversations are at the core of human communication. Mediated conversations can use text, audio, images or video, or any combination thereof. The minitrack welcomes research on conversations that are interpersonal, as well as those that occur in organizational or mass communication, educational or political contexts, and in any other sphere of human activity, including the emerging interplay of human-machine communication. This minitrack is part of the Digital and Social Media track of HICSS, the Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, which will host its 54th annual conference (see HICSS-54) on January 5-8, 2021, at the Grand Hyatt Kauai. The submission site is now open. Submissions will be accepted until June 15, 2020, at 11:59 p.m. HST For details see [1]https://mediatedconversation.wordpress.com/ This minitrack brings together researchers and innovators to explore mediated conversation and its implications; to raise new socio-technical, ethical, pedagogical, linguistic, and social questions; and to suggest new methods, perspectives, and design approaches. The Mediated Conversation minitrack is the successor of the Persistent Conversation minitrack established by Tom Erickson and Susan Herring at HICSS in 1999, which was originally focused on the novelty of conversational persistence. With the prevalence of mediated conversation, we are called upon to consider a wider field of issues. Examples of appropriate topics include, but are not limited to: * Innovation in mediated conversational practice * The dynamics and analysis of large-scale conversation systems (e.g., MOOCs and big data applications) * Methods for analyzing mediated conversation: qualitative, quantitative, data analytics, etc. * Mediated collaboration * Mediated conversation and COVID-19 * The dark side of mediated conversation: e.g., loafing, hate speech, bullying, and communication overload * Studies of virtual communities or other sites of mediated conversation * Ethics and mediated conversation: privacy, deception, freedom of speech, security, and information warfare * The role of mediated conversation in knowledge management * The role of mediated conversation in organizations * Domain-specific applications, opportunities, and challenges of mediated conversations and conversational exchanges (e.g., in education, healthcare, social movements, government, citizen participation, and news media) * Conversation visualization * The role of listeners, lurkers, and silent interactions * Novel properties of mediated conversation * A platform’s role in mediating the conversation * Power dynamics and conversational patterns among users of social media * The role of conversation in understanding the interplay between media producers and media audiences * Human-machine communication and related conversations (e.g., chatbots) Fast-track journal opportunity: Authors of papers accepted for presentation in the minitrack will be offered the opportunity to submit an extended version of their papers for consideration for fast-track publication in the ACM journal ACM Transaction on Social Computing ([2]https://tsc.acm.org/) Mediated Conversation minitrack co-chairs: Sheizaf Rafaeli (Primary Contact) University of Haifa [3]sheizaf(a)rafaeli.net Seth C. Lewis University of Oregon [4]sclewis(a)uoregon.edu Yoram Kalman The Open University of Israel [5]yoramka(a)openu.ac.il References 1. https://mediatedconversation.wordpress.com/ 2. https://tsc.acm.org/ 3. mailto:sheizaf@rafaeli.net 4. mailto:sclewis@uoregon.edu 5. mailto:yoramka@openu.ac.il

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