February 2023 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

#AoIR2023 Submission deadline is in 24 hours - 1 March 23:59 UTC
by Michelle, Association of Internet Researchers 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

*This is a reminder that the deadline to make submissions for #AoIR2023 is 24 hours awa**y **1 March 2023, 23:59 UTC*. If you are unsure what time this is where you are, please check here. https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=AoIR+2023+Submiss… In the meantime, submissions for AoIR 2023 are already being uploaded daily. We would greatly appreciate your help with the review process, even if you are unable to submit a proposal this year. As ever, our goal is to create a broad, engaging, and diverse selection of conference presentations that reflect the breadth of our research community, and we can only do that with engaged and thoughtful reviewers. If you are submitting to the conference this year, please consider volunteering to review. *More details on submitting and reviewing below, but the deadline of Wednesday, 1 March 2023 is the same for both!* - - - Submitting The 2023 conference welcomes contributions that address the theme of Revolutions (https://aoir.org/aoir2023/aoir2023cfp/) To re-familiarize yourself with the types of submissions solicited, please see here: https://aoir.org/aoir2023/subtypes/. Submissions deadline is 1 March 2023 for papers, panels, roundtables, fishbowls, experimental sessions, and pre-conference workshops. When submitting, please take the time to read the submission categories and topics carefully; this helps us match your submission to suitable reviewers. To learn more about how submissions are reviewed, please see here: https://aoir.org/sub_review_info_aoir/. If accepted as a presenting author, you must register for the conference by the Early Bird deadline of 1 August 2023. Accepted paper and panel submissions will be included in our open access conference paper archive, Selected Papers of Internet Research (SPIR). SPIR helps us further publicize the work of our members and introduce our research to a wider audience. All paper and panel submissions must therefore follow our SPIR formatting requirements, which includes a consistent header and style format for the papers that will enable people to easily locate author and title information, and identify the papers as part of the AoIR conference. This format is only intended to bring consistency to basic elements (such as typeface and spacing), not to impose any disciplinary constraints. Please download the Word template here: https://aoir.org/aoir2023/submission-template/. AoIR 2023 relies on our community for reviewing, and every person who is submitting this year appreciates your assistance as a reviewer. When submitting, please take a moment to also update your reviewing preferences. - - - Reviewing Please double check that you have indicated that you have volunteered to review (or change that to a no if you cannot review this year). Based on feedback from previous conferences we have revised our list of reviewer expertise topics. Please update your topics to help us match proposal submissions to reviewer interests, instructions on how to do this are here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1cKWNycyYnzdyTl9-mWqvOR_j0HLOmh0T/edit?u… To learn more about how submissions are reviewed, please see here: https://aoir.org/sub_review_info_aoir/. On behalf of AoIR, I thank you for your time, attention, and contribution to the AoIR conference. If you do not have the time to be a reviewer this year, no problem. You can reply to AoIRConfChair(a)aoir.org and I will remove your reviewer status from your profile. I look forward to working with you toward a fantastic conference! Please login and update these topics by Wednesday 1 March 2023 at the very latest. If you have any questions or any difficulties updating your information, please let me know. Sincerely, Adrienne Shaw AoIR2023 Programme Chair ---- Important Deadline Reminders: 1 March 2023: Submissions due for papers, panels, roundtables, fishbowls, experimental sessions, and pre-conference workshops 1 March 2023: Updates to reviewer status, reviewer topics, and reviewer methods due 1 May 2023: Submission deadline for Doctoral Colloquium 1 August 2023: Early Registration Deadline 18-21 October 2023: AoIR2023 Conference in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, hosted by Temple University and the University of Pennsylvania 17 November 2023: Final version of the extended abstract must be uploaded

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Call for papers Online platforms for institutional deliberation: new practices, new approaches?
by Stephanie Wojcik 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

Call for papers Online platforms for institutional deliberation: new practices, new approaches? Recherches en Communication Coordinators: Stéphanie Wojcik (Université Paris Est Créteil-CEDITEC) and Rocío Annunziata (University of Buenos Aires-CONICET) https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/rec/announcement/view/1003 Overview For several years, digital methods of communication have been the subject of numerous studies following an ideal model of deliberation, most often associated with the established approach of Jürgen Habermas (Greffet and Wojcik, 2008; Graham, 2010; Coleman and Moss, 2012; Hartz-Karp and Sullivan, 2020). Other more recent approaches tend to consider how ever-changing technologies have brought about the diversification of modes of expression (Monnoyer-Smith and Wojcik, 2014); particularly how they enable the emergence of civic engagement based not on rationality but on affect (Papacharissi, 2015). Others have critically engaged with concepts developed in the West, claiming they do not go far enough to consider participation phenomena in societies in other geographical areas (Frenkiel and Wang, 2017). Building on these few ideas, or against them, can we develop other conceptualizations to attempt to capture the richness and plurality of digital deliberative exchanges? By forcing the digitization of many deliberative processes that had previously taken place only face-to-face, and by fostering the emergence of new experiences, has the COVID-19 pandemic led to a revival of empirical, methodological, and theoretical approaches to online deliberation? Although many in the past have dismissed online deliberation methods citing their numerous shortcomings that are particularly evident in digital social networks (extreme polarization of opinions, inability to produce consensus, etc.), should the advantages of online deliberation be re-evaluated in this new era? Some authors who have championed face-to-face deliberation now argue that an online deliberative system could improve democratic legitimacy (Gastil, 2021). It seems now is an opportune time to revisit this topic. Indeed, the pandemic has accelerated two distinct phenomena in the field of deliberative processes. The first phenomenon is the increased digitization of tools that were previously developed offline, due to the impossibility of meeting in the traditional public space. To be sure, this digital turn was already a visible trend in the participatory tools offered by various governments. In recent years, many of the world's largest metropolises (like Madrid, Barcelona, Paris, Buenos Aires, Montevideo, New York, and Helsinki) have adopted new and emerging digital platforms for citizen participation, while at the same time, the "open government" paradigm has spread, most notably led by the U.S. government. But the pandemic has intensified this trend, forcing public administrations to quickly adjust or reassess their deliberative processes. Thus, in some European countries, important mini-public processes such as the citizens' assemblies on climate change that were planned for 2021 had to be held online; in Latin American countries, participatory budgets at the local level had to choose between going online or disappearing. The second phenomenon is the drastic change in the focus of studies on online deliberation. Until now, such studies have tended to focus on forum experiences or platforms designed to present, comment, or vote on bills and legislation[1] (Barandiaran, et al., 2017; Annunziata, 2020; Shin and Rask, 2021) in an asynchronous way, as this modality is considered more conducive to the expression of deliberative potential (Strandberg and Grönlund, 2018; De Brasi and Gutierrez, 2020). However, the massive and daily use of Zoom, Meet, Webex and other tools to hold synchronous meetings during the last two years has opened up new opportunities of exploration (Elstub et al., 2021). This special issue aims to revisit the topic of online political deliberation, when initiated by a governmental authority at the national or local level, and around the four thematic axes described below. In recent years, with the pandemic as an accelerating factor, new issues have emerged in the field of online deliberation: Devices and designs have diversified and shaped novel deliberative possibilities; logics of inclusion and exclusion of participants have changed; new tools such as artificial intelligence have transformed the moderation of exchanges and the processing of results; and finally, emotions, conflict, polarization, and testimonies have gained space in the public sphere. This issue seeks to identify, describe and conceptualize these new practices, as well as to assess the extent to which theoretical approaches accompany these changes. We invite proposals for articles based on field analyses and experiences that are not limited to the Anglophone world, but concern a variety of countries from the African, Asian, European, and Latin American regions. Special attention will be paid to methodological issues. Comparative papers on different geographical contexts or on online/offline dynamics are especially welcome. 1. Platforms and designs The question of the design of procedures and platforms from which discussions materialize has become central to the more general work on online participation (Manosevitch, 2014), and has expanded to include forms of "civic technologies" (Zhang, Davies and Przybylska, 2021). The quality and content of deliberation can thus vary widely according to the structure of the platforms and the practices of the participants. Mini-publics, participatory budgets and other participatory and deliberative forums are usually organized face-to-face—so how can we understand their digitalization? What designs can be used to engage in discussions while acknowledging the stages of the usually highly codified forms of participation? Can we adopt the same theoretical and methodological approaches to capture synchronous and asynchronous modalities of online discussions? Several studies have indeed investigated the influence of disparate characteristics of online deliberation devices on their operationalization, whether it be a matter of enabling the expression of disagreement (Rossini and Maia, 2021) and plurality of perspectives (Annunziata, 2016; van der Does and Bos, 2021) including minority or unpopular opinions (Stromer-Galley et al., 2015), or even their orientation toward the common good (Monnoyer-Smith and Wojcik, 2012). At the same time, the generalization of online/offline device hybridization necessitates revisiting issues that have previously been addressed by way of observation of experimental designs (Min, 2007; Stromer-Galley, Bryant, and Bimber, 2015). For example, at the individual level, we must ask: To what extent does such a combination increase participants' knowledge, sense of political efficacy, or willingness to engage in politics? Thus, participants' engagement is systematically affected by the design of deliberative procedures. But what about the action of the authorities who implement them? Do the different and necessary hybridizations—online/offline, synchronous/asynchronous—lead to increased integration of deliberation in the decision-making process? 2. Sociology of participants From the largely anonymous nature of online discussion spaces, whether institutional or experimentally constructed, it can be argued that the public sphere has been expanded to incorporate new participants, including those often marginalized by traditional deliberative mechanisms. However, the question of the "digital divide"—referring as much to material inequalities of access as to disparities in skills and usages (van Dijk, 2020) necessary for information retrieval and political expression online—was quickly raised by empirical studies. Research findings via observations in the field of political participation on long-term perpetuation of inequalities are varied. For some, digital deliberative devices such as informal online discussions prove powerless in mitigating access and public voice inequalities (Hartz-Karp and Sullivan, 2020; Abendschön and García-Albacete, 2021): The young and urban middle-class audience is overrepresented online, while older participants and those from more disadvantaged backgrounds remain underrepresented (Baek, Wojcieszak, & Delli Carpini, 2012; Touchton, Wampler, & Spada, 2019). Others, however, claim that this pattern becomes increasingly complicated when considering the institutional form of digital participation. For example, Kennedy et al.'s (2021) recent study shows that gender inequalities typically observed in face-to-face debates do not recur in online sessions. More specifically, according to the authors, although women tend to intervene less often, their written comments are more developed than those of men. The dynamics of online deliberation could therefore reduce the phenomena of "internal exclusion," that is, situations in which all participants are formally included in the discussion but some shy away from speaking (Young, 2002; Annunziata, 2016). Has the generalization of digital devices led to a revival of the sociology of their participants? Are there some strategies to increase inclusion in deliberation of people who are usually absent from this type of forum? 3. Algorithms, moderation, and AI Face-to-face deliberative devices have generated diverse works on the actors who organize and structure them, and contribute to their unfolding within a defined temporal frame, paving the way for a sociology of the participation market (Mazeaud and Nonjon, 2018). Studies on the instigators and moderators of online discussions have emphasized their crucial role in managing information flows and interactions between participants in a way that produces ideas that can influence the process of public policy making (Epstein and Leshed, 2016). Other studies of informal policy discussions taking place in online comment spaces (Stroud et al. 2015) also note the dependence of certain deliberative norms—for example, interaction among participants, justification of views, or, conversely, incivility of speech—on both the choice of topic and the presence of human or non-human moderation. How does the action of moderators contribute to shaping online deliberations, whether synchronous or asynchronous? More specifically, does it lead to an improvement in the quality of exchanges, to the inclusion of more participants, or to the expression of marginal points of view? More recently, online political expression is being moderated algorithmically through various artificial intelligence-based processes, particularly in the case of debates organized by political authorities at the national level. Their technological efficiency as well as their ability to uphold their democratic responsibilities must be questioned (Alnemr, 2020) since algorithms can be used both to moderate contents and to synthesize contributions en masse. How do platform design algorithms affect deliberation? What is the influence of artificial intelligence on deliberation results and how do authorities take them into account? 4. Types of discourse and the role of emotions Habermas’ paradigm of deliberation has previously been challenged by the more rhetorical trends of deliberation (Young, 2002; Urfalino, 2013), which highlight the role of affect and emotions through narrative forms such as storytelling and testimonies as a proposition for an alternative and more inclusive model of deliberation. Other works have emphasized the importance of conflict and the recognition of antagonisms in contrast to the search for consensus promoted by Habermas' original model. This possible diversification of the forms and purposes of deliberation has received little attention when it comes to examining online discussions. On the contrary, their deliberative potential has been dismissed due to the often-heated nature of exchanges, and the controversies and polemics that are particularly observable in digital environments characterized by participant anonymity or pseudonymity. If it is true that "hate speech" has spread online (Monnier et al. 2021), it is also possible to consider that the proliferation of deliberative experiences born from the diversity of digital spaces and devices constitutes an opportunity to put rhetorical theories to the test. What is the place of narratives, testimonies, and storytelling mechanisms in online deliberation practices? What place does emotions hold? Does rationality take forms other than argumentative text online? What are the forms of conflict and antagonism in online deliberation? On the other hand, while the polarization of opinions (Waisbord, 2020; Strandberg, Himmelroos and Grönlund, 2019; Yarchi, Baden and Kligler-Vilenchik, 2021; Serrano-Contreras, García-Marín and Luengo, 2020) and the anti-deliberative effects of misinformation (McKay and Tenove, 2021) have been studied in-depth in the context of social networks, they have done little to address online deliberation platforms put in place by public authorities. How can misinformation or fake news affect the opinions of participants and the results of debates in this latter context? Terms of submission Kindly send your paper via email to stephanie.wojcik(a)u-pec.fr<mailto:stephanie.wojcik@u-pec.fr> and to rocio.annunziata(a)gmail.com<mailto:rocio.annunziata@gmail.com>, and submit it on the journal's website by May 30, 2023. The articles will be verified by the author to ensure anonymity (see "Identification of Authors in the Manuscript" in the instructions for the authors<https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/rec/about/submissions> section of the journal) and submitted for evaluation in a "double-blind" process by the reading committee of the journal. The response will be given no later than September 1, 2023. The articles submitted and accepted for publication in this issue will be published one by one on the site as they are finalized, without waiting for the entirety of the issue to be ready for publication. The file will be opened on the journal's website no later than November 30, 2023. Instructions for writing the final version of the article: 40,000 characters maximum per article (including spaces and references, not including the abstract and keywords). The complete formatting guide is available on the website<https://ojs.uclouvain.be/index.php/rec/about/submissions>. Schedule outline: - May 30, 2023: Deadline to submit articles (40000 characters max.) - September 1, 2023: Notification of the review committee's response - November 30, 2023: Publication of the articles on the journal's website For further information, please contact: stephanie.wojcik(a)u-pec.fr<mailto:stephanie.wojcik@u-pec.fr>; rocio.annunziata(a)gmail.com<mailto:rocio.annunziata@gmail.com> ________________________________ [1] Such as Consul, Decidim, Democracy OS, etc.

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CfP - ICWSM 2023 Workshop: Mediate - News Media and Computational Journalism Workshop
by Arkaitz Zubiaga 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Mediate 2023: Mediate - News Media and Computational Journalism Workshop co-located with ICWSM 2023 Limassol, Cyprus, June 5, 2023 https://digitalmediasig.github.io/Mediate2023/ Submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mediate2023 Papers due: March 27, 2023 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The fourth MEDIATE workshop will be held on June 5, as part of the International AAAI Conference on Web and Social Media (ICWSM). The main goal of the workshop is to bring together media practitioners and technologists to discuss new opportunities and obstacles that arise in the modern era of information diffusion. This year's theme is: Misinformation: automated journalism, explainable and multi-modal verification and content moderation. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: - Automated journalism: novel automated and human-in-the-loop solutions for rumour detection/verification, fact-checking, stance classification, evaluation of existing solutions and novel relevant applications. Submitted papers should describe how their advantages would lead to being adopted in practice by journalists and the public (e.g. improved generalisability, ability to provide explanations, reduced bias) and address ethical considerations. - Explainable and Multi-modal verification: explainable rumour verification systems, evidence-based solutions, uncertainty and prediction explainability and general interpretable and transparent AI-systems, as well as multi-modal rumour verification/fact-checking models, sources and data, non-textual and multi-modal features. - Content Moderation: novel content moderation systems for inhibiting misinformation spreading, domain-specific content moderation solutions as well as content moderation systems that showcase generalisability and are interpretable. We invite submissions of technical papers and talk proposals: - Technical papers must be up to 4 pages (short papers) or up to 8 pages (long papers). Technical papers must contain novel, previously-unpublished material related to the topics of the workshop. Accepted papers will be presented orally and will appear in the workshop proceedings. - Talk proposals must be up to 2 pages describing the content of a short talk (the actual length will be determined based on program constraints). Papers must adhere to the ICWSM guidelines ( https://www.icwsm.org/2023/index.html/call_for_submissions.html#guidelines) and be submitted through easychair ( https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=mediate2023) Organizing committee Talia Tseriotou, Queen Mary University of London Dina Pisarevskaya, Queen Mary University of London Elena Kochkina, Alan Turing Institute Marya Bazzi, Alan Turing Institute & University of Warwick Maria Liakata, Alan Turing Institute & Queen Mary University of London Arkaitz Zubiaga, Queen Mary University of London Programme Committee TBA All questions about submissions should be emailed to t.tseriotou(a)qmul.ac.uk, d.pisarevskaya(a)qmul.ac.uk and mbazzi(a)turing.ac.uk

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#CFP | Contested Visibilities: Everyday politics and online imaginaries of the body | ECREA DCC, GSC and VC sections
by Ana Marta M. Flores 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

Dear all, We are happy to announce the ECREA off-year conference *"Contested Visibilities: Everyday politics and online imaginaries of the body”*, co-organised by the Digital Culture and Communication, Gender, Sexuality and Communication and Visual Cultures sections and their YECREA representatives. The event will take place at Lusófona University, in Lisbon (Portugal), from 6-8 September 2023. Further information is below. On behalf of the organisation team, Ana Marta M. Flores <http://www.anamartaflores.com/> Communication Officer ECREA DCC section —-------- **CALL FOR PAPERS** Contested Visibilities: Everyday politics and online imaginaries of the body co-organised by the Digital Culture and Communication, Gender, Sexuality and Communication and Visual Cultures sections and their YECREA representatives. 6-8 September 2023, Lusófona University, Lisbon, Portugal While in the early days of the internet, the digital was often seen as purely virtual and detached from the experience of human embodiment, our current online landscape has challenged this view. Social media seems to have awakened the urge to share images of our bodies. These shared visual representations contribute to the creation of individual and collective identities. They are tools of meaning-making and belonging in a highly mediatised world. Their visibility can be part of advertising campaigns, everyday interactions, intimate practices, activist engagement and many other affective practices. These are situated in digital cultures of affect and their inherent normativity is governed not only by social norms but also by the particular possibilities and algorithmic rules of platforms. Contested online environments have also become terrain for contemporary social justice movements and activists who both respond to and use online visual representations for their actions. These hybrid activist practices rely on embodied representations and combine online and offline activities. While online spaces enable important visibility, this visibility also carries risks and raises questions about who prefers not to be visible and what practices of resistance can be adopted. Digital participation is inextricably linked to embodied characteristics (e.g., gender, ethnicity, social class, age, (dis)ability or others). These intersecting identities can shape digital experiences enabling them to both liberate and oppress individuals and communities. Format The conference will include different formats for presentation on topics related to contested visibilities, everyday politics and online imaginaries of the body. We welcome individual submissions for oral presentations, which will be arranged in thematic sessions by the organising team. We also welcome submissions in alternative and creative formats, proposals may include video, audio, images, text, hyperlinks and multimedia that illustrate your reflections in the proposal. We are interested in abstracts that address the complexity of online representations of bodies and/or related visual practices (e.g., producing, perceiving, curating, circulating) through case studies, theoretical, empirical or methodological approaches. We strongly encourage submissions that take an intersectional approach and address embodiment in relation to social factors such as gender, sexuality, age, class, race/ethnicity, disability, and nationality. We are open to contributions from scholars at all career stages (early-career scholars are especially invited to participate), artists, activists, and media producers. We look forward to submissions on (but not limited to) the following topics: * The use of digital media for feminist, queer, anti-racist, anti-ageist, anti-ableist, anti-classist, neurodiversity, or illness-related activism and the returning critique of the normative body; * Reactionary visualities to the above activism and hate speech/imaginaries "against the woke"; * The intertwinement of socio-cultural imaginaries with platform cultures; * Chances and limits of hybridisation of commercial culture, strategies of self-branding and body activism; * Practical experiments with methods attuned to the 'online-groundedness' of social body images (e.g., body-image dominated platforms such as TikTok or Instagram); * Impact of online representation of bodies in various fields such as sports, memory cultures, advertising, fan/pop cultures, etc; * Augmented technologies of filtering, avatars and their significance for identity and meaning-making; * Images shared without consent, images that reproduce stereotypes and resistance by minority communities; * Images produced by media and news organisations as part of their work, which are ultimately criticised for 'othering'/stereotyping communities, and the activism involved; * Online communities as sites of political pedagogy and critique of mainstream/traditional media's stereotyping of the body; * Dialectical dialogues about the body in the online sphere: metadiscourses, beefs, videos about videos, Tiktok reframings; * Gendered and sexua(lised) digital/online representations of embodied diversity, difference and intersectionality; * Critical analysis of the relationships between digital spheres and gendered and sexual(ised) performativity, resistance and defiance; * Representations of bodies in relation to technology and artificial intelligence; Abstracts Please submit your proposal (300-500 words) until 15 May, 23:59 (CET) using the form at <https://bit.ly/ContestedVisibilities> and highlight how your work relates to the conference topic, methods used, and perspectives you would like to bring to the discussion. In addition to the thematic sessions, the conference will also facilitate practical tutorials dedicated to creative/situated/ethical approaches to digital platforms and visual data. Workshop In addition, our YECREA team offers an online pre-conference workshop for early-career scholars focusing on research challenges (ethics, data access, collection, analysis etc.) via Zoom on Monday, 4 September 2023. This event will offer ECRs the opportunity to present their work in progress. If you wish to participate in the ECR pre-conference event, please submit an abstract of 200-300 words at <https://bit.ly/workshopContestedVisibilities>, briefly describing your current project and research challenges, e.g. in regard to research ethics, data collection, access, or analysis. The accepted participants will engage in facilitated peer discussions based on their submissions. Participation in the pre-conference YECREA workshop can be independent of participation in the conference. Please indicate how you would like to participate by 15 May, 23:59 (CET). Participation in the online workshop is free of charge. **Organisation** This ECREA conference is co-organised by the Digital Culture and Communication, Gender, Sexuality and Communication and Visual Cultures sections and their YECREA representatives. Hosted and sponsored by Lusófona University. The conference is partially supported by funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement Nº 101059460. For questions, please send an email to <ContestedVisibilities2023[at]gmail[dot]com> More info at < https://dccecrea.wordpress.com/2023/02/24/contested-visibilities> **Timeline** * The deadline for submissions is Monday 15 May 2023, 23:59 (CET). * We will notify all contributors if their proposal has been accepted or not by the end of June * Registration for the conference will be open in early July * The event will take place on 6-8 September 2023, at Lusófona University Lisbon.

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WEBCAST FEB 28 – Can Regulators Handle the Mastodons of the World?
by Joly MacFie 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

Not an ISOC webcast, but featuring our own KK in his new role with the Lisbon Council. As far as Masto goes, it seems techpolicy.social <https://techpolicy.social/public/local> is where it's at! <https://isoc.live/16371>On *Tuesday February 28 2023* at *16:00-17:00 CET* (15:00-16:00 UTC) the *Center for Data Innovation <https://datainnovation.org/>* hosts a panel '*Can Regulators Handle the Mastodons of the World? <https://datainnovation.org/2023/02/can-regulators-handle-the-mastodons-of-t…>*'. The last few years have seen tremendous growth in decentralized Internet services, but policymakers have mostly designed Internet regulations for centralized services. Recent laws, including the *Digital Services Act <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_Services_Act>* and the *Online Safety Bill <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_Safety_Bill>*, provide more questions than answers on how they would potentially affect decentralized platforms. *PANEL* *Neil Chilson*, Senior Research Fellow for Tech and Innovation, Stand Together *Konstantinos Komaitis*, Non-Resident and Senior Researcher, Lisbon Council *Gina Neff*, Executive Director, Minderoo Centre for Technology and Democracy *MODERATOR* *Kir Nuthi*, Senior Policy Analyst, Center for Data Innovation *LIVESTREAM https://www.youtube.com/live/ze_003PRfTw <https://www.youtube.com/live/ze_003PRfTw>* *ASK QUESTIONS VIA SLIDO https://bit.ly/3mfTZTx <https://bit.ly/3mfTZTx>* *TWITTER @DataInnovation #mastodon <https://bit.ly/3xU6N4R> @kirtinuthi @neil_chilson @kkomaitis @ginasue #activitypub #netgov #CoMo #OnlineSafety* *MASTODON #datainnovation <https://mastodon.social/tags/datainnovation> @datainnovation@mastodon.online **@kkomaitis@techpolicy.social* *Permalink https://isoc.live/16371 <https://isoc.live/16371>* - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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7th International Conference on Internet Science (INSCI 2023): Fourth Call for Papers
by Announce Announcements 28 Feb '23

28 Feb '23

*** Fourth Call for Papers *** 7th International Conference on Internet Science (INSCI 2023) September 13-15, 2023, 5* St. Raphael Resort, Limassol, Cyprus https://cyprusconferences.org/insci2023/ Submissions due: May 1, 2023 (AoE) (Proceedings to be published by Springer in LNCS; Best Paper Award sponsored by Springer with 300 EUR) “Internet for Survival”: How the effective and democratic evolution of the Internet towards an infrastructure/ecosystem supporting resilience and equality depends on deeply intertwined considerations rooted in technological, social and economic sciences. INSCI is a multidisciplinary conference that brings together scholars and practitioners at the intersection of technological, social and economic sciences seeking to learn how the Internet can be used to make our world a better place. Its insights are expected to create a better understanding of this complex socio-technical system we call “Internet”, for instance to inform political decisions on the technological priorities for public funding and to drive a more sustainable and equitable development of the innovation and social ecosystems it supports. INSCI welcomes fundamental and applied multidisciplinary research, including policy- oriented studies and works offering technological solutions, that investigate the role of Internet for sustainable development, social and economic resilience, collective intelligence, reliable information processing and protection, and, more generally, for a holistic understanding of societal transformations, governance shifts and innovation quests. INSCI welcomes works done in interdisciplinary teams that may include computer scientists, sociologists, policy makers, economists, designers and artists, or complex system scholars, among others, preferably uniting expertise from social, economic and technical sciences. This kind of work is expected to close the gap between societal / economic impact and requirements and technological developments, seen as both drivers and consequences of each other. Thus, INSCI 2023 welcomes submissions to a wide range of topics including but not limited to the following list. TOPICS Green, Sustainability, and Innovation • The challenges of Responsible Research and Innovation on Internet solution • The technological, social and economic benefits of Transnational and Inter-Cultural Projects • Internet solutions supporting Environmental policies related to Climate Change • Green Computing in a holistic perspective: trade-offs of computing power, social benefits, economic and environmental impacts (e.g. blockchains) • Design, Implementation, and Analysis of Novel Platforms for alternative distributed economic models • Distributed environmental awareness: creating a collective consciousness of environmental issues and possible solutions at individual and collective level. Collective intelligence, sensing and action • Energy optimisation from from networked production to shared consumption, relying on top-down and bottom-up approaches • Networks for circular economy models: conceiving and putting in place platforms and solutions effectively supporting circular and social economy models, collaborative making, art and creativity. Enabling Technologies, Applications and Infrastructures • Social implications of Reinforcement Algorithms, Machine Learning and Intelligent Systems • Feasibility and social /economic aspects of Algorithms for mediation content • Data Sovereignty and inclusion aspects of Cloud, Grid and Cluster Computing • Recommender, Adaptive and Context Aware Systems: design, social and inclusion aspects, feasibility and adoption • Networking and Wireless Systems as enablers: inclusion, health, privacy and pervasiveness aspects • People-driven Internet Technologies and Applications, including Collaborative Platforms & Social Search, Open Data and New Interfaces Societal Structures • How will Internet of Things change Society and interaction models • Digital Competences and Participation • Virtual Communities and Behavioural Patterns: how are they affected by the technological platforms being used • Knowledge, Education, Technology Enhanced Learning, and Societal Web Impact on Internet Evolution • Offline and Online Human Behaviour with Emphasis on Social Media and Online/ER/ VR Interactions Digital Politics and Governance • Internet and Political Participation • Online Political Freedoms in Policing and in Effect: Regional and Local Perspectives, technological impacts and requirements • Citizen Involvement into Decision-Making: Platforms, Actors, and Experiences • Political Discussions Online: Issues and Groups Behind Them, technical and collaborative solutions to moderate them • E-governance Practices of Today’s Authorities across the world • Internet regulation: Security vs. Openness Free Communication Patterns and Democracy • Freedom of Speech Online: a Contested Area of Policing • Algorithms as New Total Communicative Power • Extremist and Radical Talk Online and Policies or socio-Technical solutions to counteract it • Universal Internet Freedoms vs. Dark Web • Participatory Democracy and Budgeting: citizens’ involvement in democratic processes, for more equal and inclusive resource allocation • Cognitive, Psychological Aspects and Incentive Mechanisms for online Engagement, Collaboration and Participation (smart citizenship, e-literacy, participation skills, decision support and recommendations for informed citizens and collective actions) • E-Democracy and E-Participation: risks and opportunities, lessons learnt from currently deployed solutions (e.g. e-voting, Decidim) • Reliable online information: collaborative models and processes to produce/qualify online information (e.g. post-truth Practices Online, filter bubble and fact checking), for health (e.g. vaccination), democracy (international decision-making, political campaigns, opinion and sentiment modelling, governmental censure and influence), economy (product labelling, ethical marketing), safety of online ecosystems (children protection, fake news, digital rebels) • Crowdsourcing: implications, enablers Sustainable Network Economy • Legal, economic, technological and innovation hurdles related to Intellectual Property and the Digital Commons • New Collaborative Markets Analytics • Economic Power of Online Platforms: Expropriation of Digital Labour, Open Data solutions and their applicability • Digital Corporations: World Leaders and Regional Alternatives • Analogous Elites, Technological Precariat • Digital Professions and Reshaping of Online Labour Markets • New decentralised economic models: enabling and sustaining a distributed ecosystem of platforms and solutions intrinsically respectful of privacy, self- disclosure and digital sovereignty • The consumer perspective: unlawful profiling, discrimination and lock-in, automated contracts and warranties Global Access Opportunities • Internet Resilience: Defining/Comparing non-disconnection Technologies, Monitoring Approaches and Internet Governance Models ensuring resiliency and citizens’ empowerment and sovereignty • Global and Local Faces of Today’s Digital Divide • Comparing existing and future Open Distance Education and Life-long Learning Environments on online/Virtual Reality Platforms, Practices Around the World • Global Media Online: Translation and Language Divide • Empowerment of Disabled with New Body Extensions • Post-human and Tech-human Individuals and Societies Data Sharing and Protection • Data Openness vs. User Protection: tech and social aspects of open data policies • Limits of Privacy and Anonymization, their dependance on technological solutions and intended applications • Clouds, Big Data and Data Protection Regulation vs. knowledge sharing and open innovation • Global Tech Powers and Alternative Solutions based on decentralisation • Open Science and Access to Scientific Production: technological enablers, platform governance, economic and innovation aspects IMPORTANT DATES • Submission of Papers: May 1, 2023 (AoE) • Notification of Decision: July 1, 2023 • Camera-Ready Submission: July 15, 2023 • Author Registration Deadline: July 15. 2023 PAPER REQUIREMENTS All submitted papers must: • Describe original results that have not been accepted or submitted for publication elsewhere • Be written in English and be submitted in PDF format • Contain author names, affiliations, and email addresses • Be formatted according to the Springer’s LNCS format Proceedings template: http://www.springer.de/comp/lncs/authors.html • Contain three to seven keywords characterizing the paper, to be indicated at the end of the abstract • Be submitted via the conference system in EasyChair, using the submission link: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=insci2023 Full paper submissions should not exceed 15 pages (including all text, figures, references and appendices). We encourage a length of 12 pages for full papers. The Program Committee reserves the right to accept a submission as a short paper. Submissions not conforming to the LNCS format, exceeding the submission page limits or being obviously out of the scope of the conference, will be rejected without review. SELECTION All submissions will be evaluated by at least three members of the international Program Committee, with a mix of social, economic and technological expertise. The review process will be single-blind. Selection will be based on: • Degree of interdisciplinarity (between social, economic and/or technical sciences) • Novelty and technical merit • Relevance of the generated insights for the future Internet development The best paper will be sponsored with 300 EUR by Springer. CAMERA-READY Camera-ready submissions should be corrected by following the remarks of the reviewers and submitted using the same submission link in zip format including: • The camera-ready version of the authors’ work in pdf format • The camera-ready version of the authors’ work in editable sources format • The Consent to Publish signed in ink and scanned to image file PUBLICATION Accepted papers will be presented at INSCI2023 and published in the conference proceedings volume, which will be published in the Springer Lecture Notes in Computer Science (LNCS). Authors of selected best papers from the conference will be contacted in order to consider submission of an expanded version of their papers for publication in a special issue to be organised with an accredited journal (under negotiation). ORGANISATION General Chair • George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Program Chairs • Vasileios Mezaris, Information Technologies Institute, Greece • Fabrizio Sestini, European Commission DG CONNECT, Belgium Steering & Program Committees https://cyprusconferences.org/insci2023/committees/

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Talk: "Emergent Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Models"
by Nicholas Proferes 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

Hello all, ASU's interdisciplinary data-science research group, B²C², will be hosting a public Zoom talk --this Thursday (3/2) at 1pm MST-- from Dr. Taylor Webb (UCLA) on emergent analogical reasoning in large language models. The event is free, though registration is required. When: Thursday, March 2nd at 1PM MST (20:00 UTC) Location: Zoom Registration Link: https://asu.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZYrcu-qrDIoH9wsqUB2CW-imRZldf5qIznP Who: Dr. Taylor Webb, UCLA Title: Emergent Analogical Reasoning in Large Language Models Abstract: The recent advent of large language models — large neural networks trained on a simple predictive objective over a massive corpus of natural language — has reinvigorated debate over whether human cognitive capacities might emerge in such generic models given sufficient training data. Of particular interest is the ability of these models to reason about novel problems zero-shot, without any direct training on those problems. In human cognition, this capacity is closely tied to an ability to reason by analogy. Here, we performed a direct comparison between human reasoners and a large language model (GPT-3) on a range of analogical tasks, including a novel text-based matrix reasoning task closely modeled on Raven's Progressive Matrices. We found that GPT-3 displayed a surprisingly strong capacity for abstract pattern induction, matching or even surpassing human capabilities in most settings. Our results indicate that large language models such as GPT-3 have acquired an emergent ability to find zero-shot solutions to a broad range of analogy problems. Bio: Dr. Taylor Webb is a postdoctoral scholar in the UCLA Department of Psychology, working with Keith Holyoak, Hongjing Lu, and Hakwan Lau. His research is situated at the interface between cognitive science and AI, with a particular emphasis on using neural network techniques to build cognitive models that are grounded in real-world perceptual inputs. Looking forward to seeing you there, Nicholas Nicholas Proferes, PhD Assistant Professor School of Social and Behavioral Sciences New College of Interdisciplinary Arts and Sciences Arizona State University

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"Digital Methods for Critical Consumer Studies" Summer School, 2nd edition - Call for applications
by Alessandro Gandini 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

Apologies for cross-posting \\ We are pleased to announce the second edition of the “Digital Methods for Critical Consumer Studies” Summer School, which will take place on 24-28 July 2023 at Villa del Grumello, Como, Italy. The DMCCS school The overarching scope of the Summer School is to introduce students to the basic Digital Methods’ concepts, strategies, techniques, and tools, as well as to stimulate them to apply such methodological arrays to consumer-related topics. In doing so, the School aims at fostering students' ‘activist’ attitude towards digital data by encouraging them to take seriously the ethics of digital research as well as the redistribution of the social value of digital data to the public. The main topic of the DMCCS23 will be: “Exploring the nexus among surveillance capitalism, consumer culture, and social media” This year the School will be dedicated to the theme of surveillance capitalism and its nexus with consumer culture. Digital platforms such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, etc. configure as ad hoc ‘surveillance devices’ for systematic data extraction from the mass of users they host – data that are used for explicit business purposes (e.g., targeted advertising, development of AI products and services, etc.). To meet their business purposes, platforms not only need an enclosed space where to monitor, track and predict user behaviour; they need to design spaces where to constrain users’ activities into standardised patterns of action in order to make their behaviours predictable. Social media like Twitter, Instagram, or TikTok seem particularly suited for this purpose, since they provide users with free tools to produce creative content, create communities and express their identities. All these tools are, yet, purposely designed to capture such social-cultural processes, transform them into data points, and convert them into marketing and business products – for a global and emerging socio-economic model that Shoshana Zuboff calls surveillance capitalism. Specifically, this year, we will address surveillance capitalism empirically through three main lines of research: 1. Mapping imaginaries and practices of surveillance capitalism within social media environments 2. Detecting and mapping the standardization of cultural production on social media (e.g., memetic behaviours) 3. Repurposing surveillance methods for social research purposes as well as exposing mechanisms of surveillance itself. Programme The school will be articulated across 5 days. Mornings will be dedicated to teaching activities, which will be managed by the teaching team and teaching assistants. The afternoons will be dedicated to student activities (overseen by teaching assistants). During the last day of the school students will present their work and receive feedback from directors, teaching assistants, keynote speakers, and fellow colleagues. A final discussion will conclude the School activities. Keynote speakers will be Prof Janice De Negri-Knott (University of Bournemouth) and Dr Sophie Bishop (University of Sheffield). Find the detailed programme here <https://dmcs2023.lakecomoschool.org/programme/>. Call for participation Applications should be sent to alessandro.caliandro(a)unipv.it by 15 March 2023. Applications must entail a CV and presentation letter, containing: a) brief bio; b) interests of research; c) motivation to participate in the Summer School. Further information on the programme, fees and accommodation are available at https://dmcs2023.lakecomoschool.org. Best, The School Directors Alessandro Caliandro (Università degli Studi di Pavia; alessandro.caliandro(a)unipv.it) Alessandro Gandini (Università degli Studi di Milano; alessandro.gandini(a)unimi.it) Guido Anselmi (Università degli Studi di Catania; guido.anselmi(a)unict.it) -- Alessandro Gandini Associate Professor of Sociology University of Milan, Department of Social and Political Sciences via Conservatorio 7, 20122 Milan @afrontiercity

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GIG-ARTS 2023 - Deadline Extension to 2 March
by Mauro SANTANIELLO 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

Dear colleagues, Following requests received by the organizing committee, we are happy to *extend by 4 days* the GIG-ARTS 2023 deadline for abstracts submission. *New deadline: 2 March 2023. * All details at: events.gig-arts.eu/gig-arts2023 Best wishes, Mauro Santaniello (PhD) *Assistant Professor, Internet Governance and Digital PolicyDirector, Internet & Communication Policy Centre (ICPC)* *Scientific Coordinator, Salerno Winter School on Internet Governance (SWING)* *Associate Research Fellow, The United Nations University Institute on Comparative Regional Integration Studies (UNU-CRIS)**Visiting Professor, Sciences Po Grenoble* *Department of Business, Management and Information Systems (DISA-MIS)* *Università degli Studi di Salerno * *Via Giovanni Paolo II, 132 84084 Fisciano (SA) - Italy * *E. msantaniello(a)unisa.it <msantaniello(a)unisa.it> * *W. http://docenti.unisa.it/mauro.santaniello <http://docenti.unisa.it/mauro.santaniello>* *Skype: internetpolicy * *T. twitter.com/webvoodoo <http://twitter.com/webvoodoo>*

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twitter update
by Shulman, Stu 27 Feb '23

27 Feb '23

It is proving harder to turn off the Twitter APIs than imagined. Data is still flowing and there remains no clear messaging about the launch of the new regime. It seems that operating Twitter itself depends on the API. Many Twitter researchers already have important but understudied collections. For example, these are my "Top 100" largest datasets: https://tinyurl.com/100LargeDatasets. These 100 curated "medium" datasets total 185 million records. I have about 1,000 smaller datasets collected over the last decade. As just one person in a massive ecosystem of disparate collections, my guess is that across all researchers at all institutions there are more highly relevant, valuable, understudied Twitter datasets than academia can fully parse. This is not to say the fight to keep the data flowing and low-cost or free is unimportant. However, take a quick look at my Top 100 then imagine all the data already stored by the academics (especially in computer science departments) who work at a scale 10X-100X of what I do. The key is to create more accessible repositories so that we can support teaching and research with (please forgive me) the "bird in the hand" and not lose hope over unlimited birds in the bush. To that end, if you see a dataset on the list and you want to study it or teach it (maybe both), that is legal, free, and possible on demand via DiscoverText. ~Stu -- Dr. Stuart W. Shulman Founder and CEO, Texifter Editor Emeritus, *Journal of Information Technology & Politics*

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