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

Veronica Barassi BOOK EVENT: 'How Tech Companies are Profiling Us from before Birth' | LSE Digital Ethnography Collective
by Glatt,ZA (pgr) 25 Apr '21

25 Apr '21

Hi all! Just a reminder that this Wednesday 28th April (6-7:30pm BST) the LSE Digital Ethnography Collective is running a zoom event with the wonderful Professor Veronica Barassi. Veronica will be talking about her new book ‘Child Data Citizen: How Tech Companies are Profiling Us from Before Birth’ (MIT Press, 2020) and will also be discussing her experience as an ethnographer in making sense of the datafication of family life. By looking at the human tensions and sensory experience of datafication, she will reflect on the merits and challenges of ethnography and autoethnography in the understanding of our complex data environments. As usual, our events are designed to be interactive and generative of ideas and conversation, so we hope you'll come with questions for Veronica and a desire to discuss datafication, family life and (auto)ethnography. You can book a free ticket and read all info here: https://plum-bee-852.eventbritestudio.com/136930664303 Hope you’re all well and looking forward to seeing some of you there! Zoe ________________________ Zoë Glatt www.zoeglatt.com<http://www.zoeglatt.com/> ESRC PhD Researcher in Media & Communications London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) Co-Founder: LSE Digital Ethnography Collective @DigEthnogLSE<https://twitter.com/DigEthnogLSE> Graduate Student Rep 2019-2021: Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Managing Editor 2018-2020: ICA journal Communication, Culture & Critique<https://academic.oup.com/ccc/pages/About> YouTube channel<https://www.youtube.com/user/Zedstergal> | Twitter<https://twitter.com/ZoeGlatt> | LSE bio<http://www.lse.ac.uk/media-and-communications/people/phd-researchers/zoe-gl…>

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TPRC 49 - student paper competition
by Dhanaraj Thakur 24 Apr '21

24 Apr '21

Hello everyone, A reminder that the student paper contest for TPRC 49 <http://www.tprcweb.com/tprc49-cfp> is still open. More from the website below. take care, Dhanaraj ** *Student Paper Contest * TPRC offers cash prizes of $1000, $500, and $300 for outstanding student papers. Students must submit a complete paper, not an abstract. The prize is open to all graduate and law students enrolled in the 2021-2022 school year. Co-authors may be other students meeting the same criteria. Papers co-authored with faculty or other non-students are not eligible. Papers should not exceed 15,000 words, including references. Students are encouraged to have their submissions endorsed by a faculty member at the student’s institution. To receive an award, students must present a full paper at the conference. Award winners receive complimentary conference registration and travel reimbursement up to $500. Fourth through sixth place submissions are given opportunity to present during the Poster Session. Full paper due: April 30 Notice of decisions: June 15 Submissions - https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=tprc49 Topics areas for this call: * Broadband: availability, wireline and wireless technologies, deployment funding policy, adoption, measurement, and regulation. * Spectrum policy: 5G/6G, spectrum management, auctions, ITU IMT-2020/Network 2030 plans, spectrum sharing, governance, satellite. * Digital Economy: competition, antitrust, platform regulation, content moderation, Section 230, net neutrality. * COVID: impacts to the ICT sector and technological changes to the economy, privacy. * Privacy & Security: data protection, surveillance, encryption, lawful access, regulation, enforcement, user behavior, advertising. * International dimensions of ICT policy: trade, geopolitics, localization, security, regulation, Europe, China, internet governance. * Emerging technologies like Artificial Intelligence, machine learning, blockchain, and cryptocurrency, their regulation, standards, social/economic implications. * ICT and Gender, race, ethnicity, diversity, justice, and inclusion. * Elections and Technology: media, censorship, Constitutional questions, litigation. * Intellectual Property analyses (copyright, trademarks, patents etc.) of the items above.

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IEEE GLOBECOM 2021 Selected Areas in Communication Symposium: Social Networks Track
by Jui-Yi Tsai 24 Apr '21

24 Apr '21

IEEE Global Communications Conference 7-11 December 2021 Madrid, Spain Selected Areas in Communication Symposium: Social Networks Track SCOPE AND MOTIVATION Recently, social network research has advanced rapidly with the prevalence of online social applications and mobile social communications systems. Moreover, the ongoing pandemic via contact social networks has caused tremendous human life and economic loss around the world, and infodemic is one of the major social impacts that make people difficult to discriminate trustworthy sources, from false and manipulative information sources. Therefore, researchers are increasingly interested in addressing a wide spectrum of challenges in social networks, such as developing social-aware algorithms for communications systems, identifying the topological common structures and information/influence flows, analyzing the social media and evolutions of social graphs, and exploiting location-based and contextual information embedded in mobile social networks to create innovative applications. Due to the interdisciplinary nature, social networks have also attracted intensive research interests across multiple disciplines, including artificial intelligence, blockchain, big data analytics, information security and privacy protection, psychology, and marketing. In light of the above crucial needs, Selected Areas in Communication Symposium in Social Networks will serve as a forum for researchers and technologists to discuss the state-of-the-art, present their contributions, and set future directions in social networks. TOPICS OF INTEREST - Infrastructure, platform, protocol design, and optimization for mobile social networks, mobile social clouds, and social Internet-of-Things with Artificial Intelligence - Social-aware network solutions and social network influence on (wireless) communications systems - Cross-layer design for social networks and the underlying communications and network platforms, and subsequent new design paradigm for future (wireless) communications - Network graph modeling, measurements, simulations, and experiments - Analysis of dynamics and control of belief, influence, and rumor propagations in the evolutions of social networks - Data mining, machine learning, information retrieval, signal processing, and artificial intelligence in social media and social contexts - Trusted networking, privacy and security, user behaviors and dynamics, and digital right management, for big data in social networks - Innovative social network applications and services to mobile Internet, multimedia networks, mobile-commerce, cyber-physical systems, and their potential social, economic, and cultural impacts - Multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on social networks IMPORTANT DATES - Deadline for paper submission: 30 April 2021 (Extended) - Date for notification: 25 July 2021 - Deadline for final paper submission: 1 September 2021 SUBMISSION INSTRUCTIONS

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MORE-THAN-HUMAN & DIY MEDIA ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP
by Kavita Gonsalves 24 Apr '21

24 Apr '21

Dear colleagues, This may be of interest to you. Apologies for cross-posting. ————————————————- Kavita Gonsalves QUT Design Lab<https://research.qut.edu.au/designlab/> | et cetera<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kavitagonsalves> Queensland University of Technology | Brisbane, Australia ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Final Call for Participation Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2021 ============================== MAB20: DIY & MORE-THAN-HUMAN MEDIA ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP held in conjunction with the Media Architecture Biennale 2020 in 2021 June 28 -July 2, 2021 Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2021 Workshop Date: 29 June 2021 Workshop Website: https://sites.google.com/urbaninformatics.net/mab2020workshop Workshop Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScETaAPHBzKXntjCnPOQV31kxf8T2aYYfI… Conference Website: https://mab20.mediaarchitecture.org/events/diy-more-than-human-media-archit… ============================== ------------------------------------------------ Workshop Abstract ------------------------------------------------ In recent years, research in the fields of media architecture and urban informatics have made calls to move beyond the human-centred city and towards a “more equitable multispecies city” (Van Dooren et al. 2012). Working towards future more-than-human cities, the design of hybrid digital-physical urban spaces - with an ethos of inclusivity and diversity - will require methods, tools, approaches, platforms, etc. to engage different communities, environments, and all kinds of nonhuman entities and creatures. This workshop poses the following question: While considering different characteristics (such as gender, race, class, abilities, creed, digital skills, habitat, bio-systems), how can citizens engage in creating DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture to actively shape their spaces and foster imaginaries of more-than-human urban futurity, all while being kinder towards our stressed and fragile urban ecology? As a first step, DIY Media Architecture proposes that communities of experts support non-experts to create and design Media Architecture as active instigators of change in their own right. A possible strategy may lie in mobilizing allegories, entanglements, multispecies world-making, speculative prototyping, i.e., techniques to frame and engage more-than-human urban futures. This is positioned as empowering the less heard as taking charge of their digital-physical canvases throughout urban spaces and, as a next step, staking their and all creatures’ rights to the city. The workshop will be conducted online from 24th-29th June 2021. The workshop will provide the platform for discussions on alternative materials, platforms, strategies and tools for enabling DIY processes of the less heard in anthropocentric engagement. The workshop, further, encourages participants to bring prototypes, demos, videos and examples to broaden the conversation on DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture. This will be collated towards two outcomes; 1) conceptual prototypes and 2) participants will be invited to co-author a publication. This is in keeping with MAB2020’s Themes & Issues of “Citizen’s Digital Rights”, “Playful and Artistic Civic Engagement” and “More-Than-Human Cities.” ------------------------------------------------ Workshop Themes ------------------------------------------------ We invite architects, designers, artists, academia, students, industry, media producers, technologists, psychologists, community practitioners and other interdisciplinary participants to help shape the discourse around and practice of DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture. The workshop themes are: - Tools, Services, Building Blocks and Case Studies of different types of DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture. - Methods and Methodologies of engaging in DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture Processes, Platforms & Approaches. - Explorations and reflections of Social and Ethical Dimensions/Inquiries of Allegories, Entanglements, Speculative Practice through DIY and More-than-Human Media Architecture. ------------------------------------------------ Workshop Participation ------------------------------------------------ The workshop will involve a format of online presentations in the lead up to a workshop/s in 2021. Prospective participants are encouraged to contribute a short biography (50 words per author) along with a proposal. The proposal can take the form of one of the following: A brief position paper (500 words, excluding references) OR Visual Design Provocation (2-8 pages) on prototype or demo. You can pitch to do an online presentation or demonstrate a prototype during the workshops. Do indicate the time required for your presentation in your proposal. Workshop Application: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScETaAPHBzKXntjCnPOQV31kxf8T2aYYfI… ------------------------------------------------ Key Dates ------------------------------------------------ Deadline for proposals: 30 April 2021. Workshop Participant Notification: 14 May 2021. Schedule of sessions will be available by 1 June 2021. The Online Workshop will run on 29 June 2021 on Zoom. ------------------------------------------------ Workshop Organisers ------------------------------------------------ Kavita Gonsalves | Queensland University of Technology Greg Nijs | Université Libre de Bruxelles Waldemar Jenek | Queensland University of Technology Thomas Laureyssens | LUCA School of Arts Jorgos Coenen | KU Leuven Glenda Amayo Caldwell | Queensland University of Technology Andrew Vande Moere | KU Leuven Marcus Foth | Queensland University of Technology ------------------------------------------------ Contact ------------------------------------------------ k [dot] gonsalves [at] hdr [dot] qut [dot] edu [dot] au greg [dot] nijs [at] urbanspecies [dot] org ------------------------------------------------ Media Architecture Biennale 2020 ------------------------------------------------ The Media Architecture Biennale is the world’s premier event on media architecture, urban interaction design, digital placemaking, urban media art and urban informatics.As we design and adapt new technologies, in turn these technologies shape our cities. What future scenarios are implied in today’s urban technologies? And how can we shape our technologies to respond to their surroundings, contributing to cities that are both socially and ecologically sustainable? Originally, media architecture was most concerned with the integration of displays and interactive installations into architectural structures, such as media facades and urban screens. Over the years, the discipline has grown much broader, as new technologies such as digital platforms and smart city technologies have increasingly made their way into the experience, management and design of cities. None of these technologies brought into the city are neutral enablers, mere decorative structures or just simple market places connecting demand and supply in fields as diverse as energy and transport to commerce and leisure. They are built upon numerous spoken and unspoken assumptions about urban life, each with their own implications for both social relations as well as their effect on the natural ecosystem.It is time therefore for the discipline of media architecture to address the implied futures of new technologies. MAB20 calls for media architectures that move beyond the mere spectacular; as well as beyond the design of individualized services comforting human customers. MAB20 calls for media architectures and urban interaction that dare to take on a more-than-human approach: aiming at the well-being of the natural ecosystem as a whole; For urban media art and design that bring implicit and explicit bias within technology and culture to light, and provide the means for ongoing discussion, debate, and societal change; For digital platforms that strengthen citizen’s digital rights in democratic societies. Workshop Website: https://sites.google.com/urbaninformatics.net/mab2020workshop Conference Website: https://mab20.mediaarchitecture.org/

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Meme Studies Research Network Event Recording
by GALIP Idil 23 Apr '21

23 Apr '21

Dear all, Happy Friday, I hope everyone is doing well. I wanted to circulate the recording of Meme Studies Research Network's first event here https://youtu.be/sVPVTUh5Grw. This is the first talk in our “meme methodologies” series, which’ll be an ongoing project where we have researchers, artists, creators discuss how they research “the digital” (specifically memes, vernacular content, and digital folklore). In this talk titled "Ethnographic approaches to digital folklore" Gabriele de Seta outlines four strategies to approach digital folklore ethnographically. These strategies build on extensive methodological debates and aim at fine-tuning the existing framework of digital ethnography for the study of vernacular content and practices emerging on digital media. We're setting up more talks for this year, so please do get in touch with any suggestions, questions and requests. Our website: https://memestudiesrn.wordpress.com/ Our twitter: http://twitter.com/MemeStudiesRN email at memestudiesrn(a)gmail.com Best wishes, İdil Idil Galip PhD Candidate University of Edinburgh Department of Sociology http://www.sociology.ed.ac.uk/people/research_students2/idil_galip http://idilgalip.com The University of Edinburgh is a charitable body, registered in Scotland, with registration number SC005336. Is e buidheann carthannais a th’ ann an Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann, clàraichte an Alba, àireamh clàraidh SC005336.

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(Conference CFP) Extended Abstract Deadline: DISC 2021 (June 18-19, 2021 ONLINE)
by Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki 23 Apr '21

23 Apr '21

Dear Colleagues, Apologies for cross-posting. We are extending our deadline to Wednesday, April 28, 2021 (JST) for all tracks and welcome especially proposals for tracks 1, 3, and special conference track 1. Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki, Tsukuba, Japan ********************************************************************** The 6th DISC (Data, Innovation, Social Network & Convergence) 2021 Conference Conference Dates: June 18 - 19, 2021 (JST) Extended Deadline! Abstract Submissions Deadline: April 28, 2021 (JST) Conference Organizers Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki (University of Tsukuba, Tsukuba, Japan) Manuela Hartwig (National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan) Han Woo Park (Yeungnam University, Daegu, Gyeong-san, South Korea) Cyber Emotions Research Institute (YeungNam University, Daegu, Gyeong-san, South Korea) About the Conference We are pleased to announce that the 6th DISC (Data, Innovation, Social Network & Convergence) 2021 Conference will be organized as a completely ONLINE event to be held June 18-19, 2021 (JST) using Zoom. Traditionally, DISC conferences have focused on evidence-based methodologies to analyze complex social interactions as a means of understanding social and technological change. We welcome research from a broad array of fields and are especially interested in comprehensive trans-disciplinary approaches that integrate Triple Helix (TH) studies with approaches such as webometrics, scientometrics, informetrics, datametrics, and technometrics (WSIDT). Applying these methods in turn to different academic fields such as policy and technology studies, business, communications, creative industries, sociology, information technology, and tourism can yield new insights (paradigms) in understanding social phenomena. At this year’s conference, we want to simultaneously situate DISC’s traditional emphasis on TH and WSIDT, and extend such trajectories to current global crises. First, the COVID-19 pandemic changes ways of working, learning, and living (“new normal”), which affects academic research, businesses, and cultures. Methods and applications of social research have to be reconsidered. Second, simultaneously, accelerating climate change threatens civilizations and world societies have to achieve net-zero carbon emissions within the next 30 years by 2050. These circumstances show that we are in dire need of systemic changes. Ultimately, our goal for DISC 2021 is to discuss what motivates social systems to change and what kind of future systems we can expect to emerge out of these challenging times. General Conference Tracks Track 1 “Triple Helix and Webometrics”: Triple Helix (TH) and Webometrics, Scientometrics, Informetrics, Datametrics, & Technometrics (WSIDT) Track 2 “Applications of SNA to the Humanities and Social Sciences”: Applications of quantitative and qualitative social network analysis in humanities (including digital humanities), social sciences, and multi-disciplinary studies. Track 3 “Asian Innovations in Social and Technological Change”: Identifying and discussing Asian approaches to social innovations and technological change with a focus on practices and applications. Special Conference Tracks: Special Track 1 “Networks and Societies in the Post-COVID-19 World”: Rethinking network analysis from qualitative and quantitative perspectives, and the future of social network research in the “new normal” post-COVID era. Special Track 2 “The ‘Big Environment’ Era: Realizing the 2030 SDGs and a Decarbonized World in 2050”: Stakeholders in the future net-zero carbon emissions society. What will the world in 2050 look like, and how will actor roles and relationships change? Submissions DISC 2021 accepts panel and/or individual paper submissions (see below for submission details). Postgraduate student and early-career researcher panels are especially encouraged, and we have set aside space in each track for such panels. Participants may have up to three roles during the conference. For example, they can be authors or co-authors on up to two plus be a discussant on a panel. Participants are not allowed to present more than once on a single panel. Panel submissions: Panels are made up of three to five individual papers and must have at least one organizer and a discussant. Presentations should be about 20 minutes each, with 20 minutes at the end of each panel session devoted to Q & A. Panels may be completely pre-recorded and submitted, or be conducted in a hybrid “live” online manner. Please note that the panel organizer is responsible for organizing the content and flow of the panel, including gathering any pre-recorded papers/presentations and organizing the hybrid environment. The following information must be inputted in Form 1 available at http://tinyurl.com/DISC2021panel ● Track choice ● Panel title ● Panel organizer(s) name(s), institutional affiliation(s), and contact email address(es). ● 100- to 150-word panel abstract showing how papers are connected ● 200 to 250-word abstract and 3 to 5 keywords for each paper ● Author(s) name(s), institutions, email for each paper ● Discussant name and affiliation Individual paper submissions Paper presentations should be about 20 minutes. There will be a limited number of individual paper slots available for each track. Recorded presentations are not accepted for individual paper submissions. Presenters of individual paper presentations must be prepared to present their paper in real time. The following information must be inputted in Form 2 available at http://tinyurl.com/DISC2021paper ● Track choice ● Paper title ● Author(s) name(s), institutional affiliation(s), and contact email address(es). ● 200 to 250-word abstract and 3 to 5 keywords for each paper Special issues In the past, DISC conference paper presentations with methodological, mixed methods, and data focus have been published as original research in Quality & Quantity. In addition, Asia-related research has been published in the Journal of Contemporary Eastern Asia (JCEA). We are currently making proposals to both journals. Confirmed keynote speakers:  Marc Smith, Founder, Social Media Research Foundation  Hee Dae Kim, Director General, Mobile Technology Convergence Center, Daegu Technopark, Chief Secretariat, Daegu Creative Living Lab NodeXL Award In 2019, WATEF in Cooperation with the Social Media Research foundation inaugurated the NodeXL Insight Award for data-driven studies on social innovation. More information about the NodeXL Award is available at: https://jceasia.org/new-nodexl-network-insight-award-for-2019 Important Dates: April 28, 2021 Abstract Submission Deadline April 30, 2021 (or shortly afterwards) Decision Notification June 18 -19, 2021 Conference Dates For further inquiries, please contact the Conference Organizers at: DISC2021.Japan(a)gmail.com For further information about WATEF and past DISCs: http://watef.org/home/ http://watef.net/ (English only) We will have updates about our website and other conference information on social media very soon. If you want to stay up-to-date on DISC2021 let us know via this form at http://tinyurl.com/DISC2021interest

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PhD position in AI imaginaries @ University of Zurich
by JING ZENG 22 Apr '21

22 Apr '21

Dear colleagues, The Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) at the University of Zurich is offering a 3-year PhD position. The PhD student will work in an international research project led by Prof. Dr. Mike S. Schäfer and Dr. Jing Zeng, researching “imaginaries of artificial intelligence” in Germany, China and the US. This project is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. For more information about this position and the application link: https://jobs.uzh.ch/offene-stellen/doctoral-position/c6b398dd-5d51-47c8-af7… Application deadline: 31 May 2021. ____________________________________________________________ Dr Jing Zeng Senior Research and Teaching Associate University of Zurich, Department of Communication and Media Research Andreasstrasse 15, Zürich 8050, Switzerland

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CFP - First Forum 2021 Graduate Student Conference - Post(ing)
by Dan Lark 22 Apr '21

22 Apr '21

Hello everyone, The organizing committee is excited to share the call for papers for the 2021 First Forum Graduate Student Conference, hosted by the Division of Cinema and Media Studies in the School of Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California. This year's theme is Post(ing)! __ CFP TEXT: FIRST FORUM GRADUATE STUDENT CONFERENCE 2021 OCTOBER 21, 22, 28, & 29 DIVISION OF CINEMA AND MEDIA STUDIES SCHOOL OF CINEMATIC ARTS, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA POST(ING) CALL FOR PROPOSALS We’re posting through it. All of it. ❏ posting on social media ❏ trolling and shit-posting ❏ post-theoretical paradigms and movements ❏ digital labor, content moderation and algorithms ❏ the postal service and infrastructure ❏ fans and celebrities ❏ posters and physical media ❏ going postal ❏ doomscrolling and attention economies ❏ the post-network TV era ❏ post-Covid-19 ❏ bots and computation ❏ publics and publicity ❏ signposting and speech acts ❏ Postmates and gig economies ❏ outposts, fence posts, and borders ❏ post-production ❏ posting through it ❏ job posts and impostor syndrome Our Call for Posts — The organizing committee of the 2021 First Forum Graduate Student Conference invites our fellow graduate student scholars to submit abstracts that explore the wide range of meanings suggested by the word “posting” as it relates to the fields of cinema and media studies, communication, gender and sexuality studies, ethnic studies, and science and technology studies. While posting might immediately refer to the work of participating in digital networks and the increasingly visible labor, affect, and resources that participation demands, we invite submissions that touch upon a range of mediums, methodologies, and approaches, from post-production to the postal service. “Post-“ might suggest the numerous post-intellectual moments scholars speculate we have been entering and exiting since the 1970s. Yet, even the formation of these post-modern, feminist, racial, historical moments themselves have been called into question, leading some to ask if we are now in the post-post-modern, the post-post-feminist era or if there was anything “new” about these moments in the first place. Meanwhile, many of us try to imagine a post-Covid era as old and new social arrangements struggle to emerge. The tireless Twitter troll and commenter on the human condition @Dril asks us to consider “posting ethically, within reason,” a position the organizing committee asks applicants to take seriously as they reflect on the multivalent meanings of “posting.” Clearly, the novel social, historical, and political arrangements that make posting and the “post-” meaningful are being reevaluated by people across a wide range of contexts that invite scholarly attention and interrogation. In order to encourage attendance, reduce burnout, and ensure the health and safety of participants, students, and the broader Los Angeles community, First Forum 2021 will be a virtual conference, with panels and events held over two weeks on October 21, 22, 28, and 29. Submissions should include an abstract (-300 words) and a short biography (-150 words). Conference presentations will be 15-20 minutes. Applicants must submit their materials by June 9, 2021 to firstforumconference(a)gmail.com. Please include “Name + First Forum 2021 Submission” in the subject line. We warmly welcome non-traditional projects, including but not limited to, video essays and art exhibitions alongside traditional academic papers. -- Dan Lark PhD Student | Annenberg Fellow Division of Cinema & Media Studies, School of Cinematic Arts University of Southern California

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ethical incident: Linux bans University of Minnesota for committing malicious code
by Richard Forno 22 Apr '21

22 Apr '21

I've always wondered when a prominent ethical incident would arise from poorly-constructed research plans in the cybersecurity field. I guess now we've got one. IMO this presents an interesting conceptual & practical distinction between IRB approval for testing on "human subjects" vs "potentially causing human-harm". (Frankly I'm surprised this project even got approved and am disturbed at how the researchers seem to have interpreted the IRB concept/process/approval.) At the very least this incident can contribute to future discussions on internet ethics, especially as we go further down the path of AI/ML, automated systems, self-patching software, IoT, etc, etc. Lots of potential ramifications to ponder, imho. -- rick Linux bans University of Minnesota for committing malicious code In a rare, groundbreaking decision, Linux kernel project maintainers have imposed a ban on the University of Minnesota (UMN) from contributing to the open-source Linux project. The move comes after a group of UMN researchers were caught submitting a series of malicious code commits, or patches that deliberately introduced security vulnerabilities in the official Linux codebase, as a part of their research activities. Additionally, the Linux kernel project maintainers have decided to revert any and all code commits that were ever submitted from an @umn.edu email addresses. < - > https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/linux-bans-university-of-min… ..... and here's a Statement from the University of Minnesota’s CS and Engineering Department https://cse.umn.edu/cs/statement-cse-linux-kernel-research-april-21-2021 Leadership in the University of Minnesota Department of Computer Science & Engineering learned today about the details of research being conducted by one of its faculty members and graduate students into the security of the Linux Kernel. The research method used raised serious concerns in the Linux Kernel community and, as of today, this has resulted in the University being banned from contributing to the Linux Kernel. We take this situation extremely seriously. We have immediately suspended this line of research. We will investigate the research method and the process by which this research method was approved, determine appropriate remedial action, and safeguard against future issues, if needed. We will report our findings back to the community as soon as practical. Sincerely, Mats Heimdahl, Department Head Loren Terveen, Associate Department Head

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Invitation to Webinar: Global Platforms and Infrastructures-Apr. 30 Friday
by Gu, Jingyi 21 Apr '21

21 Apr '21

Dear AoIR community, We invite you to this Webinar hosted by the Center for Global Studies and the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. <Global Platforms and Infrastructures Symposium> Date: April 30th, 9am-11am CST, (3pm-5pm BST, 8am-10am EST) Symposium Description: Digital platforms are so pervasive in our everyday life to the point that it becomes no longer meaningful to separate our lives from them. How do they shape our everyday life, cultural industry, labor relations, and identity? How do digital platforms operate their power—economically, materially, and politically? In this webinar, we invite three experts in Media and Communication Studies, Dr. Dal Yong Jin (Simon Fraser University), Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin (London School of Economics), and Dr. Julie Yujie Chen (University of Toronto) to discuss the global impacts of digital platforms and infrastructures. Zoom Registration: https://illinois.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_4VL_Z9S-QS2Kq6jWGjzaPg Sponsored by: Center for Global Studies, Center for East Asian and Pacific Studies, and Institute of Communications Research at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Moderator: Dr. Anita Say Chan, Associate Professor of Institute of Communications Research, iSchool, and National Center for Supercomputing Applications at UIUC Invited Speakers and Presentations: Digital Platforms in Cultural Production: the platformization of Korean webtoons Dr. Dal Yong Jin This talk utilizes the analytical framework of the platformization of cultural production and attempts to discuss the political economy of digital platforms and cultural production in the Korean webtoon industries. It first discusses new business models that resonate with the creation of new forms of cultural content by mapping out the dominant role of digital platforms in webtoon production, in both production and global circulation. Second, it addresses the infrastructural transformation of mega digital platforms, focusing on Naver and Kakao, through the analysis of vertical integration and its implications. Third, it discusses the increasing role of digital platforms in tandem with IP, focusing on the distinctive role of IP in the realm of webtoons. Bio Dal Yong Jin is the Distinguished SFU Professor, with a Ph.D. in the Institute of Communications Research at the University of Illinois in 2005. Jin’s major research and teaching interests are on digital platforms and digital games, globalization and media, transnational cultural studies, and the political economy of media and culture Programmable Infrastructure and Global Platform Power Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin While debates on the social implications of tech giants tend to focus on their extensive market power or their data extraction practices, this talk presents their growing involvement at the level of networking infrastructures. It aims to show, first, that this interest of tech giants goes beyond their spectacular projects—such as mega data center campus or transatlantic cables—but also takes place at a much more granular scale, e.g. the design of specific components such as switches, cables, or racks. Second, the presence of tech giants in networking does not consist (only) of imposing specific technologies, but rather take the form of collaborations with existing actors (either through co-creating industry consortia, co-developing technical specifications, or co-writing research papers). Revealing this less known activity of tech giants provides another dimension to the critical study of digital platforms in society. Bio Dr. Jean-Christophe Plantin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Media and Communications at LSE. His research investigates the politics of digital platforms, the evolution of knowledge infrastructures, and the rise of digital sovereignty. Digital Labor in China and the Global Conditions for the Platforms Dr. Julie Yujie Chen Debates concerning the implications of the digital platforms for the global society have many parallels with the earlier debates on globalization. Digital platform companies are the latest actors in moving jobs online or managing the digitally mediated workplace in the history of globalization and information capitalism. In this talk, using digital labor in China as a point of departure, I will discuss the rise and limitations of a platform-centric epistemology of digital labor relations by unearthing the historical continuity and rupture in the material conditions and social relations for workers in China’s booming digital economy. I argue that the intertwining and contentious forces of China’s domestic economic restructuring and uneven integration into the global digital capitalism, with various social actors involved, shape the experience of Chinese digital workers in a global trajectory of disempowering workers in the neoliberal regime. Rigorous contextualization responsible for the situated history and culture is needed to the knowledge production to shed new light on the global conditions for and practices of the platforms. Bio Dr. Julie Yujie Chen is an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Communication, Culture, Information, and Technology (ICCIT) at the University of Toronto Mississauga and holds a graduate appointment at the Faculty of Information. Chen is specialized in digital labor studies and political economy of media and communication. All-in-one- Apps: Formation of Transnational Cultural Identity on WeChat and KakaoTalk Jingyi Gu and Jane Yeahin Pyo In our research, we take the example—China’s WeChat and Korea’s KakaoTalk to explore the global impacts of the apps that are considered “regional.” What is truly “global” in the reach of platforms, especially in the cultural aspect? Are these platforms, initially targeting “local” users by penetrating deeply into each society, making “global” impacts through users’ transnational migration? Adopting a qualitative approach, we reconsider the dichotomy between the local and the global as these platforms allow their users to create a globalized version of the “local." Bio Jingyi Gu and Jane Pyo are Ph.D. students at the Institution of Communications Research, UIUC. Hope to see you there, Jingyi & Jane

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