April 2021 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Deadline Extension for SIGDOC Student Research Competition Proposal
by Luke Thominet 28 Apr '21

28 Apr '21

Dear Colleagues, The proposal deadline for the SIGDOC Student Research Competition has been extended to May 7. The Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) Special Interest Group on Design of Communication (SIGDOC) invites current undergraduate and graduate students to submit proposals for this year's ACM Student Research Competition (SRC) sponsored by Microsoft. The SRC offers a unique forum for undergraduate and graduate students to present their original research at a well-known ACM-sponsored conference before a panel of judges and attendees. Participants also have the option of preparing an Extended Abstract to be published in the conference proceedings. Students should submit proposals to the SRC coordinator, Dr. Sonia Stephens at sonia.stephens(a)ucf.edu<mailto:sonia.stephens@ucf.edu>. Proposals can be up to 800 words long and should address topics related to the design of communication (a list of example topics is included in the full CFP). Up to 15 undergraduate and 15 graduate students will be selected to enter the SRC. This year's conference is a hybrid online event with local meeting hubs. The SRC will include a first round asynchronous e-poster session on October 12-13 and a live online second presentation round on October 14. Students in the SRC will be reimbursed for conference registration fees, but are responsible for SIGDOC membership, which begins at $19 per year. There are also monetary awards for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd-place winners. For more information, please review the full 2021 Student Research Competition CFP<https://sigdoc.acm.org/conference/2021/student-research-competition/> (sigdoc.acm.org/conference/2021/student-research-competition/) Important Dates: * Proposals due: May 7 2021. Please submit proposals by email to Dr. Sonia Stephens at sonia.stephens(a)ucf.edu<mailto:sonia.stephens@ucf.edu>. * Acceptance notifications: Approximately May 23, 2021 * Extended Abstracts (optional) due: June 18, 2021. Reviewer comments will be returned by July 11. * Final version of Extended Abstracts (optional) due: August 6, 2021 * E-posters and video introductions due: September 1, 2021 * Asynchronous e-poster session: October 12-13, 2021 * Live online second presentation round: October 14, 2021 If you have any questions, please email Dr. Sonia Stephens, the SRC Chair, at (sonia.stephens(a)ucf.edu<mailto:sonia.stephens@ucf.edu>). Best, Luke Thominet, PhD SIGDOC Communications Manager

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Online conference: Automation and data-driven journalism beyond the Western world: Actors, practices, and socio-political impact
by Mariëlle W. 28 Apr '21

28 Apr '21

Registration is now open for the online conference ‘Automation and data-driven journalism beyond the Western world: Actors, practices, and socio-political impact’ on 5-6 May. In addition to a global line-up of speakers, the conference features a keynote by Professor Payal Arora (Erasmus University Rotterdam). Please visit the conference website for more information about the program: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/automation-in-media/2021/04/15/conference-program/ <https://blogs.helsinki.fi/automation-in-media/2021/04/15/conference-program/> Attendance is free, but registration is required. Please register by 3 May via the registration form available via the conference website. About the conference: Algorithmic systems and other data-driven practices exert increasing influence over today’s societies, reshaping how social and economic systems function. Algorithms are society’s new “power brokers,” dictating the stories that we pay attention to, the activities we participate in, and the people we connect with. The news media is among those industries where artificial intelligence and algorithms are making strides and reordering the playing field as their use diversifies and expands. AI and algorithmic systems are implemented in newsrooms at various stages of the workflow: from smart tools that assist journalists in producing stories to the fully automated production of news articles, and from audience data analysis that informs editorial decisions to algorithmic recommendation systems that match specific content to users. On social media platforms, that form an increasingly central node in news consumption, algorithms not only generate news feeds based on our acquaintances’ actions and advertisers’ preferences but also perform as actors with their own judgment. The algorithmic systems employed by social media platforms, news aggregators and other recommender systems can therefore affect the journalistic process and professional practices of media practitioners. Current scholarly debate on these issues prioritizes and builds upon empirical studies mostly conducted in democratic, Western contexts. Much less is known about the drivers of digital innovation uptake and its socio-political impact in other political and cultural contexts, and this is problematic. Countries such as China, Russia, India, Brazil, South Africa and South Korea do implement global or introduce their own AI-driven tools in their news media. This challenges the mediated reality they produce and can, in turn, affect global media agendas (e.g., in the international activities of Chinese Xinhua, Russian RT and Arab Al Jazeera). At the same time, the socio-political impact of news and disinformation amplified through social media is evident across the Global South, where moderation efforts by global platforms lag behind. This online conference aims to place the discussion of automation and data-driven journalism beyond the Western and Anglophone world. We build upon previous research demonstrating that media innovation and its adoption develop differently depending on the specific characteristics of media and political systems and markets. Understanding the algorithmic turn in journalism as a socially constructed process – dependent on a country’s journalistic culture, news media’s formal and informal institutions, and the societal role of media – we strive to define an alternative list of questions to be added to the discussion. Organisers: Olga Dovbysh (U Helsinki), Hanna Tuulonen (U Helsinki), Mariëlle Wijermars (Maastricht University and U Helsinki)

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Call for participants – digital inequality in education: pasts, presents, and futures
by Harry Dyer (EDU - Staff) 28 Apr '21

28 Apr '21

Digital inequalities have long existed within education, both within traditional educational spaces and practice, and within specifically digital interactions. These inequalities have deep roots in extant socio-cultural and socio-economic inequalities, and yet emerge in unique ways through the macro and micro dynamics of education and digital technologies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, digital inequalities have been bought into a new light as the infrastructural provisions of classrooms and campuses have given way to various at-home arrangements. As we tentatively approach a new phase in the pandemic, questions are also rising about the future of digital education and the possibilities for different relationships with technology in education. What, for example, does this mean for student and learner’s experiences of digital inclusion, exclusion and inequality? How are long-standing inequalities being remade (or unmade) in blended and digital classrooms? Digital inequalities also deeply impact research and researchers, both in their lived experiences and practice, and in how they conduct research. This raises questions about how best to capture and give voice to these disparities, and how best to navigate the political, theoretical and methodological possibilities of digital inequality. It is imperative that we analyse the methodological tools and positions which may give voice to certain dynamics whilst minimising or obscuring others. Similarly there is a need for theoretical frameworks that capture the complexities of digital inequalities at the nexus of human and non-human, agency and structure, macro and micro. Finally, there is an evident need to consider the political aspects of exploring digital inequalities, and where researchers, practitioners, stakeholders, and activists position themselves in relation to these concerns. It is with this in mind that we invite expressions of interest for a multi-stage reflexive project, starting with a workshop and proposed edited collection, exploring reflexive framing of digital inequality in education. We aim to begin with an event bringing together practitioners, stakeholders, and researchers interested in exploring digital inequality through a reflexive lens, looking at methodological, theoretical, and political frames for understanding the past, present, and future of educational inequality. We aim to run the event as a series of three workshops around the themes identified below in this call, with the first tentatively scheduled for July 14th from 11am to 3pm. These would be closed sessions, with participants invited to submit an optional blog post about their contribution for The Post-Pandemic University <https://postpandemicuniversity.net/> as an initial statement of work in progress. From this event, we aim to produce an edited collection exploring the ideas, research, and practices discussed in the workshops, with speakers and participants contributing to the final edited collection. Beyond publications, we also aim for the attendees to form the basis of a working group for sharing and generating discussions, ideas, and research in an ongoing manner. If you would like to take part in this project then please fill out this form by May 31st https://forms.gle/sGn9xsHMFs9VKUc18 Pasts: * What has been lost, forgotten, or isolated about past digital inequalities? * How do researchers and practitioners account for lack of data collected on already disenfranchised communities? * What have we learnt from decades of moral panics? How do we avoid moral panics stealing the oxygen from a discussion of lived digital inequality? * What lessons can be learnt from early theorisation of digital inequalities? * How has the decades of formation of policy and ‘neoliberal creep’ eroded various aspects of educational practice in the present at different levels? * How has colonialism shaped the digital inequalities which we confront today? * Has techno-optimism and tech-boosterism lived up to its promises of wider and more inclusive education? * Despite many efforts in the past to address them, why do digital inequalities persist? * Have any private and public initiatives that have attempted to address digital inequalities succeeded? * What role has race and/or identity played in the historical formation of educational inequalities? Presents: * What methodologies and theories do we have for uncovering digital inequality? * Are ‘pre-digital’ theories still useful? Are there new theories and synergies available? * What do these methods and theories obscure and bring to light? * Do we need more naturalistic studies that don’t rely on surveys? * What current practices highlight issues of concern for digital inequalities? * What can banal and everyday uses of technology tell us about inequality at local and national levels? * How is technology currently governed? And how might this be bleeding into agency in educational practice? * How is knowledge around and through digital means generated in educational practice? What is lost and gained in this knowledge production? * If capitalism produces inequalities, is it inevitable digital technology will compound them? * Is technology just done to people; imposed on them against their interests? * Are there opportunities to actively and creatively resist the commercial foreclosure of possibilities? * What claims are being made about AI and why? * What’s the relationship between current enthusiasm for STEM education, the economic instrumentalism of education, platform capitalism and forms and mechanisms of social stratification? * Does understanding of digital inequality require an understanding of (intersecting) structural inequalities such as class and race? * How do we explore the intersection between institutional racism(s) and digital inequalities? Futures: * What is the future of digital inequalities? * What is the legacy of ‘disaster nationalism’ and ‘disaster pedagogy’ as we move into a new phase of the pandemic? What might this mean for digital education moving forward? * How do researchers interested in digital inequality capture imaginaries and narratives of futures? * What future political, methodological, and theoretical issues are raised through the rise of ‘big tech’ monoliths? How do researchers and practitioners position themselves in regards to these corporate interests? * Can/should we avoid the prevalent narratives of ‘innovation’, ‘disruption’ and ‘new’ in digital education? * Are we remaking old patterns of digital inequalities? * What’s the relationship between current enthusiasm for STEM education, the economic instrumentalism of education, platform capitalism and forms and mechanisms of social stratification? * Is platform capitalism colonising the future of education or is this another moral panic? * What role can technology play in working towards decolonized institutions in the future? Organised by Harry Dyer, Mark Carrigan, Huw Davies and Zoetanya Sujon

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a new wrinkle in internet research ethics
by Charles M. Ess 28 Apr '21

28 Apr '21

... don't mess with code! <https://thehackernews.com/2021/04/minnesota-university-apologizes-for.html?…> What is particularly interesting is that the IRB "had reviewed the study and determined that it was not human research, only to backtrack, adding 'throughout the study, we honestly did not think this is human research, so we did not apply for an IRB approval in the beginning. We apologize for the raised concerns.'" And: "Our community does not appreciate being experimented on, and being 'tested' by submitting known patches that are (sic) either do nothing on purpose or introduce bugs on purpose," Linux kernel maintainer Greg Kroah-Hartman said in one of the exchanges last week. Or, to quote a computer scientist engaged in exploring vulnerabilities in network engineering via Big Data approaches, thinking that no IRB review or approval was needed - "it's only data" - only to discover that there were direct, sometimes very negative consequences for human beings as a result: "Oh sh*t, it's people". Happy ethical reflexivity, folkens. best, - charles ess -- Professor Emeritus University of Oslo <http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/english/people/aca/charlees/index.html> Secretary, IFIP Working Group 9.8, Gender, Diversity, and ICT <http://ifiptc9.org/9-8/> Fellow, Siebold-Collegiums Institute for Advanced Studies, Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg, Germany 3rd edition of Digital Media Ethics now out: <http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509533428>

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Algorithms & creative industries: terms of engagement
by Anna Hickey-Moody 28 Apr '21

28 Apr '21

RMIT Classification: Trusted Dear AOIR, we would be delighted if those of you in Melbourne could join us. Best, Anna ________________________________ View this email in your browser<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fus10.camp…> Algorithms and Creative Industries: Terms of Engagement [https://mcusercontent.com/7606ac3cd5e5f02c031575d49/_compresseds/e27fb6a1-0…] A DERC and Screen & Sound Cultures Research Group Roundtable Discussion Algorithmic systems, tools and techniques are now widely used across the creative industries. From AI-powered production platforms to personalised user recommendations, these phenomena integrate in uneven and surprising ways with legacy forms of cultural production, distribution and consumption. This roundtable discussion brings together SMC staff to discuss our collective terms of critical engagement around this issue. Participants will offer brief provocations addressing the following question: What do you see as the most pressing critical issue for analysis of algorithms and their function in creative industries? These provocations will be followed by a general discussion of related implications for research and teaching in SMC, and beyond. FEATURING Ingrid Richardson, Daniel Binns, Marsha Berry, Ramon Lobato, Scott Brook, Lisa French, Mark Gibson, Anna Hickey-Moody. Wednesday 12 May 2021 1pm to 2.30pm (AEST) RMIT University, Garden Building Building 10, Level 6, Room 089 (Bowen St, above Streat Cafe) Registrations are essential Click here to register<https://aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Falgorithm…> [https://mcusercontent.com/7606ac3cd5e5f02c031575d49/images/2256d2ee-9bc9-41…]

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PhD position (100%) in HCI / design at FU Berlin
by Hirsbrunner, Simon David 28 Apr '21

28 Apr '21

Dear all, We invite you to apply for the PhD position stated below. Thanks and best regards. Simon > ~~~~Research assistant (m/f/d) full-time job limited to 30.06.2023 for project "A Digital Research Space for BUA"~~~~ > > Remuneration group: E 13 TV-L FU > Reference code: BUA-Pilot-WM100 > Application Deadline: 17.05.2021 > The Human-Centered Computing Research Group (HCC- www.hcc.mi.fu-berlin.de <http://www.hcc.mi.fu-berlin.de/> ) stands for a diverse and an interdisciplinary team in the field of collaborative computing and human-computer interaction (HCI). We define ourselves as designers of participatory and responsible technologies with a focus on Interactive Intelligent Systems that foster collaboration between humans and machines. Our current research focuses on privacy, visualization and machine learning. In this context, our knowledge-driven research includes both an empirical and an engineering dimension. We are highly committed to open source software, open science, and free access to knowledge. > We offer a creative and open environment for the pursuit of research interests and provide sustainable support in achieving academic goals. > > ***Job description: > The Berlin University Alliance (BUA) - an alliance of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Technische Universität Berlin and Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin - aims to further develop the scientific landscape in Berlin. The project "A Digital Research Space for BUA" is a joint initiative of Technische Universität Berlin (Quality and Usability Lab; Open Distributed Systems Group) and Freie Universität Berlin (Human-Centered Computing Research Group) and is embedded Objective 3 "Advancing Research Quality and Value" and Objective 5 "Sharing Resources" of the BUA. > The aim of this BUA project is to develop an open science platform for research data. The aim is to achieve greater visibility and improved discoverability of open research data across the disciplines and universities involved in the BUA. Furthermore, it is intended to promote the subsequent use of open research data. > The focus of the position located at the HCC research group is to collect and systematize the requirements of different stakeholders at the BUA. These will be supplemented by the collection of requirements of future users of the research space in participatory workshops. Based on this, the design of a state of the art and target group-oriented interface for the search, exploration and analysis of open research data will be iterated. The realized low-fi prototypes will be evaluated and refined with users after implementation. The design process of the web-based prototypes will be guided by participatory methods applied during the iterative and incremental development process. The design and implementation of the prototypes should likewise incorporate current developments and insights from visualization research and practice. > > ***Requirements: > University degree (M.Sc., M.A., Diplom or equivalent) in the field of computer science (preferably with a focus on HCI), interaction or interface design or a related discipline > > ***Desirable: > *Experience in the field of human-computer interaction as well as in the implementation and evaluation of workshops > *Experience in the design and conception of explorative user interfaces and data visualizations > *Solid knowledge of Adobe Creative Cloud (Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects), Sketch, InVision or comparable programs > *Experience in front-end development (HTML, CSS, JS) > *Creativity, analytical skills, problem-solving competence and result-oriented work > *Very good written and spoken German and English skills (level B2) > *Above-average willingness to work independently and in interdisciplinary cooperation > *Ability to work in a team and willingness to actively contribute within the HCC team > *Interest in scientific work and experience in writing scientific texts is desirable > > All applications (including cover letter, curriculum vitae, references, and a portfolio with current work samples as well as illustrated design processes) quoting the reference code BUA-Pilot-WM100 should be directed preferably electronically in one PDF-file to: Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller-Birn: hcc(a)mi.fu-berlin.de <mailto:hcc@mi.fu-berlin.de>. On the given occasion and for the duration of the essential on-site operations by Freie Universität Berlin, we kindly ask you to apply electronically by e-mail. The processing of a postal application cannot be guaranteed. > > In case of any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Dr. Claudia Müller-Birn. > > -- > Melanie Siering > > AG Human Centered Computing > > Freie Universitaet Berlin | Institut fuer Informatik > Tel: +49(30)838-75221 | Königin-Luise-Str. 24/26 > Fax: +49(30)838-475221 | D-14195 Berlin > > https://www.mi.fu-berlin.de/en/inf/groups/hcc/ <https://www.mi.fu-berlin.de/en/inf/groups/hcc/>_______________________________________________ > Hcc-wimis mailing list > Hcc-wimis(a)lists.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de > https://lists.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mailman/listinfo/hcc-wimis <https://lists.spline.inf.fu-berlin.de/mailman/listinfo/hcc-wimis> ______ Dr. Simon David Hirsbrunner Human Centered Computing Institute for Computer Science, Freie Universität Berlin Königin-Luise-Str. 24/26, Room 116 14195 Berlin +49 (0)30 838 685 31 simon.hirsbrunner(a)fu-berlin.de twitter.com/simonsimson <mailto:simon.hirsbrunner@fu-berlin.de> Co-Speaker Open Media Studies Working Group at the deutsche Gesellschaft für Medienwissenschaft (GfM) Join us! gfmedienwissenschaft.de/gesellschaft/ags/openmediastudies <http://gfmedienwissenschaft.de/gesellschaft/ags/openmediastudies> Board Member stsing Science & Technology Studies in and through Germany Join us! stsing.org <http://stsing.org/>

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Apertures #2: Paola Voci & Yiyi Yin
by Gabriele de Seta 27 Apr '21

27 Apr '21

Hello everyone, there is still one day to register for the second seminar in the "Apertures" series organized by the Machine Vision in Everyday Life project here at the Universith of Bergen. Tomorrow we'll have Prof. Paola Voci and Dr. Yiyi Yin talk about online videos and algorithmic fandom in China. https://www.uib.no/en/machinevision/144351/apertures-2-paola-voci-yiyi-yin Looking forward to see you! Gabriele

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CASE @ ACL-IJCNLP (online event): Deadline extension for regular papers & last call for shared task participation
by ali hürriyetoglu 27 Apr '21

27 Apr '21

Dear all, The regular paper submission deadline for the CASE 2021 @ACL-IJCNLP 2021 [1] workshop is extended to be on May 3, 23:59 (AoE) 2021. If you are preparing a submission please either submit at least an abstract or contact us (ahurriyetoglu(a)ku.edu.tr) as soon as possible. This will help us to organize the peer-review well. Moreover, you still have time to participate in the shared task on Socio-political and Crisis Events Detection [2]. The deadlines are the same (registration April 30, test data release May 4, system response submission May 8 (12:00 CET), shared task paper May 21). The keynotes will be: * Elizabeth Boschee Elizabeth Boschee is the Director of the Boston office of the University of Southern California’s Information Sciences Institute and a Senior Supervising Computer Scientist in the Emerging Activities division. Her current efforts focus on cross-lingual information extraction, retrieval, and summarization, specifically targeting low or zero-resource settings, e.g. cross-lingual settings with <1M words of bitext or event extraction from non-English languages with only English training data. Prior to joining ISI, Boschee spent 17 years at BBN Technologies. As a Lead Scientist there, she was the chief architect of the BBN ACCENT event coder, the technology behind the W-ICEWS event data, which more than doubled the precision (while still increasing recall) of the previously deployed solution for CAMEO event coding. * Kristine Eck Kristine Eck is an Associate Professor at the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University, where she serves as the Director of the Uppsala Rotary Peace Center. Her research interests concern coercion and resistance, including human rights, police misconduct, state surveillance, and conflict data production. She served as the Director of the Uppsala Conflict Data Program (UCDP) 2017-2018 and has been a Visiting Researcher at Oxford University, Copenhagen University, the University of Notre Dame, and Kobe University. Dr. Eck’s research has been funded by the Swedish Research Council, the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences, and the Norwegian Foreign Ministry. We are looking forward to hearing from youo! Best wishes, Ali [1] https://emw.ku.edu.tr/case-2021/ [2] https://github.com/emerging-welfare/case-2021-shared-task

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New Award in Visual Sociology
by MC Cambre 26 Apr '21

26 Apr '21

THE IVSA ANTICOLONIALISM & ANTIRACISM (ACAR) AWARDS PROGRAM The International Visual Sociology Association (IVSA) Anticolonialism & Antiracism (ACAR) Awards Program was established in 2021 to recognize outstanding anticolonial and antiracist work by researchers and activists who use visual methodologies or advance visual activism through their work. Work nominated for an ACAR award needs to be visually significant, embody ethical principles, and reflect anti-exploitative practices. Nominated work can include accounts and documents of activism by others, but must also document the critical engagement of nominees themselves and a commitment to ACAR that goes beyond work duties and personal advancement. There are two awards in this program, the Award for Progressive Advocacy and Visual (ACAR-PARV) and the Award for Visual Activism (ACAR-VA) Please see the website for further information - https://visualsociology.org/?page_id=7210 -- *she |her* *Dr. Carolina Cambre Associate ProfessorConcordia University, Montréal Concordia University Research Fellow 2020-2021Chercheuse associée à IRCAV-Paris 2020-2025https://www.carolinacambre.com/ <https://concordia.academia.edu/mariacarolinacambre>https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/education/faculty.html?fpid=carolina-cambre <https://www.concordia.ca/artsci/education/faculty.html?fpid=carolina-cambre>* *Concordia University is located on Kanien’kehá:ka territory.* *University of Alberta is located on Treaty 6 / Métis territory.*

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New book: The Gentrification of the Internet
by Lingel, Jessa 26 Apr '21

26 Apr '21

Hi AoIR friends, I have a new book coming out next month, The Gentrification of the Internet from University of California Press. Here's a link<https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520344907/the-gentrification-of-the-intern…>, and here's a discount code to save 30% if you buy from UC Press: 20W9989 My goal with this book is to reach a wide audience of activists and technologists, all feedback welcome. Warmly, Jessa

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