January 2024 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

*Invitation to VOX-Pol workshop on 'Tackling Online Extremism in Southern Asia'
by Miraji Hassan Mohamed 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Dear AoIR colleagues, I trust you are doing well. On behalf of VOX-Pol <https://voxpol.eu/> I would like to invite all interested colleagues and your students to join us in our upcoming VOX-Pol workshop on '*Tackling Online Extremism in Southern Asia <https://eur03.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fvoxpol.eu…>*', which will be held online via Zoom Webinar on 15 January 2024 from *13:00 - 14:30 (GMT)*. Our panellists: Ms Munira Mustaffa, Mr. Janeen Fernando and Mr. Hari Prasad will share their insights on the digital extremist landscape in South and Southeast Asia and the challenges and responses to tackling online extremism. To register for the workshop, please email m.h.mohamed(a)swansea.ac.uk and you will receive a zoom link. Please feel free to reach out should you have any questions. Kind regards, Miraj -- Dr. Miraji Mohamed Postdoctoral Researcher - Tech Against Terrorism Europe (TATE) project School of Law and Government Dublin City University Dublin 9 -- * *Séanadh Ríomhphoist/Email Disclaimer* *Tá an ríomhphost seo agus aon chomhad a sheoltar leis faoi rún agus is lena úsáid ag an seolaí agus sin amháin é. Is féidir tuilleadh a léamh anseo. <https://sites.google.com/view/seanadh-riomhphoist>* *This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Read more here. <https://sites.google.com/view/dcu-email-disclaimer>* * -- <https://www.facebook.com/DCU/> <https://twitter.com/DCU> <https://www.linkedin.com/company/dublin-city-university> <https://www.instagram.com/dublincityuniversity/?hl=en> <https://www.youtube.com/user/DublinCityUniversity>

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EAST/4S 2024 Open Panel - Teaching STS and Critical Science Beyond "The Controversy"
by Zach McDowell 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Now accepting papers for an open panel on teaching STS and Critical Science in July in Amsterdam: Beyond "The Controversy": Making and doing within and beyond for positive transformations. Critical Science and Technology Studies teaching has taught "The Controversy" as a method for learning about the truths and myths around science and technology in our world. This panel seeks to go beyond the controversy model and bring forth papers that discuss the radical, foundational, and productive modes of STS teaching. How do you engage, for instance, processual-relational technologies? How do you make your classroom constructivist or pragmatist? How do you move into producing and doing in the classroom in a manner consistent with the stories that STS tells? How do you incorporate alternative narratives, fictums, or life-worlds into your classrooms? How do we challenge the traditional classroom models through STS? How do we challenge the bureaucratic constructs surrounding that classroom and its developments? We propose a combined panel, uniting papers and discussion into a productive dialogue. We seek papers and presentations from those who wish to speak STS to the power of the university/college classroom in the name of constructive and positive change. We hope to have a panel or two of papers and then a fishbowl discussion including those presenters and the audience, discussing and challenging the STS classroom as the locus of positive transformations spoken of in the CFP. submit here: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easst-4s2024/panel/14256 (you may have to login or create an acct. in the upper right corner) Thank you and hope to see you in Amsterdam Zach McDowell and Jeremy Hunsinger -------------------- Zachary J. McDowell, PhD www.zachmcdowell.com New Book out: Wikipedia and the Representation of Reality Read online or on Kindle for free <https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/oa-mono/10.4324/9781003094081/wikipedia…>

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36th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering: Second Call for Workshop Papers
by Announce 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

*** Second Call for Workshop Papers *** 36th International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE'24) June 3-7, 2024, 5* St. Raphael Resort and Marina, Limassol, Cyprus https://cyprusconferences.org/caise2024/ (*** Submission Deadline: 26th February, 2024 AoE ***) CAiSE is a well-established, highly visible conference series on Advanced Information Systems (IS) Engineering. It covers all relevant topics in the area, including methodologies and approaches for IS engineering, innovative platforms, architectures and technologies, and engineering of specific kinds of IS. CAiSE conferences also have the tradition of hosting workshops in related fields. Workshops are intended to focus on particular topics and provide ample room for discussions of new ideas and developments. CAiSE'24, the 36th edition of the CAiSE series, will host the following workshops. For more information for each workshop please visit the workshops' web sites. CAiSE'24 Workshops • 3rd International Workshop on Agile Methods for Information Systems Engineering (Agil-ISE) https://agilise.github.io/2024/index.html • International Workshop on Blockchain for Information Systems (BC4IS24) and Blockchain for Trusted Data Sharing (B4TDS) https://pros.unicam.it/bc4isb4tds/ • 2nd International Workshop on Hybrid Artificial Intelligence and Enterprise Modelling for Intelligent Information Systems (HybridAIMS) https://hybridaims.com/ • 2nd Workshop on Knowledge Graphs for Semantics-driven Systems Engineering https://www.omilab.org/activities/events/caise2024_kg4sdse/ • 16th International Workshop on Enterprise & Organizational Modeling and Simulation (EOMAS 2024) https://eomas2024.fel.cvut.cz/ • Digital Transformation with Business Process Mining (DigPro2024) https://digpro.iiita.ac.in/ IMPORTANT DATES • Paper Submission Deadline: 26th February, 2024 (AoE) • Notification of Acceptance: 27th March, 2024 • Camera-ready Deadline: 5th April, 2024 • Author Registration Deadline: 5th April, 2024 Workshop Chairs • João Paulo A. Almeida, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Brazil • Claudio di Ciccio, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy • Christos Kalloniatis, University of the Aegean, Greece

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New open access book: Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Disruption
by Minna Aslama 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Dear Colleagues, This new open-access volume may interest you: Epistemic Rights in the Era of Digital Disruption (Horowitz, Nieminen, Lehtisaari & D'Arma, eds. 2024, Palgrave/Springer) This open-access volume argues that in a functioning democracy, citizens should be equally capable of making informed choices about matters of social importance. This includes citizens accessing all relevant information and knowledge necessary for informed will formation. In today's complex era of digital disruption, it is not enough to simply speak about communication or even digital rights. The starting point for this volume is the need for 'epistemic equality'. The contributors seek to showcase the history and diversity of current debates around communication and digital rights, as precursors for the need for epistemic rights; both as a theoretical concept and an empirically assessed benchmark. The book highlights scholarship via academic case studies from around the world to feature different issues and methodological approaches, as well as similarities in academic and policy challenges across the globe. The goal is to provide an overview of issues that depict challenges to epistemic rights, extract both academic and applied policy implications of different approaches, and end with a set of recommendations for advancing policy-relevant scholarship on epistemic rights. This volume is intended as the first holistic response to an urgent need to address epistemic rights of communication as a central public policy issue, as an academic analytical concept, as well as a central theme for informed public debate. Download your copy here: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-45976-4 -- Dr. Minna Aslama Horowitz @aslama https://minnahorowitz.net/

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Report Disinformation and the Brazilian Election of 2022
by Raquel Recuero 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Hi all, Recently, I co-authored a research paper on Disinformation and the Brazilian Election of 2022 with colleagues Rafael Grohmann (U of Toronto), Camilla Tavares (UFMA), and Marcelo Alves (PUCRJ). The results were presented at a conference and also published in a report available in both English and Portuguese. We would appreciate it if you could share it with potentially interested groups. English version - https://inctdsi.uff.br/wp-content/uploads/sites/699/2023/11/Disinformation-… and Portuguese version- https://inctdsi.uff.br/wp-content/uploads/sites/699/2024/01/Desinformacao-E… Thanks, Raquel -- Raquel Recuero -------------------------------------- Universidade Federal de Pelotas (UFPEL) Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) MIDIARS (Laboratório de Pesquisa em Mídia, Discurso e Análise de Redes)

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CFP Critiquing Big Tech conference (Tilburg, Netherlands, 6-7 June)
by Niels 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

CFP Critiquing Big Tech: A Humanities Perspective (Conference) 6 and 7 June 2024, Tilburg (Netherlands) Organizers: Niels Niessen (Tilburg University), Nuno Atalaia (Radboud University, Nijmegen), Rianne Riemens (Radboud University) Keynote speaker: Tiziana Terranova (author of After the Internet) Proposals due by February 9 via [this form](https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/H-8AnSFOUBAa5xr17f4MLwF-QTa5AQXpQB-Olfw1Vys/) See CFP also [here](https://www.nica-institute.com/call-for-papers-critiquing-big-tech-a-… Conference description This conference brings together critiques of how Big Tech invades all domains of public and private life, transforming those domains in the process. The conference explores how the humanities can contribute to a better understanding of this development. At the same time, we are interested in how humanities research changes in relation to this development. While critiquing Big Tech, it is important to acknowledge that for many, platforms like Instagram, Tumblr, and X (Twitter) are places of consciousness building and activism. It is also safe to say that without these platforms, movements like MeToo, Trans Liberation, and Black Lives Matter would not have happened the way they did. Yet while these platforms help liberate personal and collective life in some respects, ultimately they are not designed for emancipation, but to maximize user engagement. The conference examines the ways in which Big Tech interpellates people as users, through its technologies and its discourses. We will also discuss potential forms of resistance against this interpellation. In proposing a humanities perspective on Big Tech, we tackle what we perceive as a crisis of the human form in the age of large-scale platforms, personalized AI, and the algorithmic condition. Theorists including Patricia Ticineto Clough (The User Unconscious), Nick Couldry & Ulises Mejias (Costs of Connection), and McKenzie Wark (Capitalism Is Dead) have argued that Big Tech threatens the very integrity and sovereignty of individual and collective human existence. At the same time, the existence of both humans and non-humans is threatened by climate change and the continuous appropriation of the environment for the benefits of Big Tech and economic growth (as argues for example Mél Hogan in “Big Data Ecologies”). What does it mean to practice the Humanities in algorithmic societies facing political and ecological crises? How to understand the human subject and its relation to technology and the environment in light of these conditions? How to critique Big Tech’s understanding of the human subject, its extractive economic model and continuous infrastructural and spatial expansion, and its visions of the future? How to work towards alternatives? Interested in participating? The conference somewhat changes up the traditional conference format, creating more space for conversation and workshops. We ask for short 10-minute individual presentations. During the workshops hosted by the conference organizers, participants are invited to critically engage with the methodological, epistemic, and ecological implications of studying Big Tech. If you are interested in participating in the conference, please fill out the form on: https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/H-8AnSFOUBAa5xr17f4MLwF-QTa5AQXpQB-O… We ask you to briefly describe (1) the topic of your presentation and ideally also your object of focus (if your paper is mostly theoretical, still provide an example of an object you connect to); (2) your intervention (the argument you plan to develop, or how you envision your contribution); (3) a brief reflection on methodology and how your contribution speaks to the changing humanities. In addition, please indicate your preference for the workshop you would like to attend on day 2 of the conference (How to design a user?; How to study big data ecologies?; How to de-Google Learning?). Finally, we ask participants to ideally participate in the full conference. On the evening before the conference (June 5) we will have an informal dinner (paid for by the organization) in the center of Tilburg. The conference itself will take place in De Nieuwe Vorst theater, also in the Tilburg city center. So to apply, please fill out the form on https://cryptpad.fr/form/#/2/form/view/H-8AnSFOUBAa5xr17f4MLwF-QTa5AQXpQB-O… For questions, please email bigtechconference(a)protonmail.com Deadline for submission: 9 February, 2024. We aim to send out conference invitations by the end of February. I am switching email addresses. My new email address is nielsniessen(a)pm.me

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JOBS - Digital Futures and AI posts at University of Bristol
by Jessica Ogden 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Hi all I wanted to bring to everyone’s attention that the University of Bristol (UK) is currently advertising for a number of digital social sciences posts off the back of major strategic investment in AI and interdisciplinary digital futures research. Please consider applying and following up for more information – I’m happy to field questions where appropriate and/or put you in touch with the relevant folks. The School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies (SPAIS)<https://www.bristol.ac.uk/spais/> is seeking a Lecturer in Politics and/or International Relations with emphasis in the political implications of AI technologies: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DEY997/lecturer-in-politics-and-international-re… (Post closes 5th Feb 2024) The Bristol Digital Futures Institute (BDFI)<https://www.bristol.ac.uk/bristol-digital-futures-institute/> is seeking to appoint four new posts across career stages – 2 Lecturers in Digital Futures, 1 Senior Lecture/Associate Professor in Digital Futures and AI, and 1 Professor in Digital Futures. These are fantastic posts centred around interdisciplinary and partnership collaboration, and will be based in Schools/Departments across the social sciences, arts and humanities. (Please see adverts for research areas we are particularly interested in) These posts all close 4th Feb 2024. * Lecturer in Digital Futures: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details/?nPostingId=163037&nPostingTarg…<https://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details/?nPostingId=163037&nPostingTarg…> * Senior Lecturer/Associate Professor in Digital Futures and AI: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details/?jobId=332044 * Professor in Digital Futures: https://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details/?nPostingId=163034&nPostingTarg…<https://www.bristol.ac.uk/jobs/find/details/?nPostingId=163034&nPostingTarg…> All the best Jess ---- Dr Jessica Ogden Lecturer in Digital Futures Bristol Digital Futures Institute // School of Sociology, Politics and International Studies University of Bristol Twitter: @jessogden<http://twitter.com/jessogden> // Web Profile: https://research-information.bris.ac.uk/en/persons/jessica-ogden Latest publications: Ogden, Summers & Walker (2023). Know(ing) Infrastructure: The Wayback Machine as object and instrument of digital research<https://doi.org/10.1177/13548565231164759>. Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies Ogden (2022). “Everything on the internet can be saved”: Archive Team, Tumblr and the cultural significance of web archiving<https://doi.org/10.1080/24701475.2021.1985835>. Internet Histories: Digital Technologies, Culture and Society. Shah & Ogden (2021). Immigration, Race, and Nation in the UK: The Politics of Belonging on Twitter<https://doi.org/10.1177/13607804211029968>. Sociological Research Online.

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'Behind the Scenes', Session 7: Fernando van der Vlist & Anne Helmond
by J.C. Vieira Magalhaes 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Hello all, 'Behind the Scenes', our online talk series on the making of empirical work about platform governance, will resume on January 23rd from 3-4 pm (CET). We are excited to feature a discussion by Fernando van der Vlist (University of Amsterdam) and Anne Helmond (Utrecht University). They will delve into their groundbreaking research on the material conditions of platform governance, in particular, the evolution of Facebook’s APIs. More info on the talk and how to register for it can be found here <https://platform-governance.org/online-talk-series/session-7-anne-helmond-f…> and below. -- Behind the Scenes – Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Research, Session 7: The material conditions of platform governance In this talk, we present a methodological outlook for empirical and historical studies of platforms, emphasizing their unique characteristics like programmability and multisidedness. We explore how web archives play a critical role in preserving bits of their past. Despite the challenges posed by the ephemerality and continuous updates of platforms, we show how web archives manage to save valuable information about their historical development and past states of operations. These archived pages are key sources for crafting the life stories of technological artifacts, including platforms and apps. We then turn our focus to a case study of the evolution of Facebook’s (now Meta’s) platform interfaces (APIs), tracing their trajectory from data access points to complex governance structures. This deep dive into Facebook’s technical governance sheds light on how such platforms command influence over their digital ecosystems, a critical aspect for understanding the broader impact of these platforms in both app and business development and linked socio-economic processes. This study underscores the importance of understanding the technical dimensions and evolutionary dynamics of platform governance, providing insights into the material conditions of governance of and by platforms through their APIs. Fernando van der Vlist (@fvandervlist) is Assistant Professor of Cultural Data & AI in the Department of Media Studies at the University of Amsterdam. He is actively involved in the App Studies Initiative (ASI), the Digital Methods Initiative (DMI), and the Public Data Lab. His research focuses on the study of digital media ecosystems, platforms and apps, data, and artificial intelligence (AI) in culture and society. Anne Helmond (@silvertje) is Associate Professor of Media, Data & Society at Utrecht University. She is part of the focus area ‘Governing the Digital Society’ where she examines the processes of platformization, algorithmization, and datafication from an empirical and historical perspective by focusing on the material and programmable (data) infrastructures underpinning these processes. Registration Please register via this form <https://forms.gle/xq2irQb4mnHkLUcD6> shortly with an email-address for the full series or this event only, so that we can share the meeting link with you. About the Series This talk is part of the series Behind the Scenes – Conversations on Empirical Platform Governance Research <https://platform-governance.org/online-talk-series/> that invites scholars in this field to share their experiences and views, fostering community exchange about how we can study platform governance in this challenging context. It is hosted by the Lab “Platform Governance, Media, and Technology” (PGMT) at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), <https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/zemki> University of Bremen, and the Centre for Media and Journalism Studies <https://www.rug.nl/research/icog/research/research-centres/centre-for-journ…>, University of Groningen. -- João C. Magalhães <https://jcmagalhaes.com/> Assistant Professor in Media, Politics and Democracy University of Groningen | Centre for Media and Journalism Studies Selected publications: A history of objectionability in Twitter’s moderation practices <https://academic.oup.com/joc/advance-article/doi/10.1093/joc/jqad015/720476…>, 2023 (Journal of Communication, w/ Emillie de Keulenaar, Bharath Ganesh) | Social media, social unfreedom <https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/commun-2022-0040/html>, 2022 (Communications, w/ Jun Yu) | Big Tech, data colonialism and the reconfiguration of social good <https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/15995>, 2021(International Journal of Communication, w/ Nick Couldry) | Algorithmic visibility and bottom-up authoritarianism in the Brazilian crisis <http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/4042/>, 2019 (PhD, LSE) | Considering algorithmic ethical subjectivation <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2056305118768301>, 2018 (Social Media + Society)

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Invitation to Inclusive Data Skills Hackathon
by Zoetanya Sujon 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Dear AoIR colleagues, Calling all London / UK based AoIR members - you, interested colleagues and your students are warmly invited to join us for an *Inclusive Data Skills Hackathon* on Jan 26, 10:00-17:00. The event is free, but registration <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inclusive-data-research-skills-hackathon-for…> is required. As part of the DAReS project <https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/london-college-of-communication/research-at…>, the Hackathon aims to collectively hack key challenges around new digitally oriented skills and methods in arts and humanities research, such as: - What data and digital research skills are most relevant for those in arts and humanities researchers? - What kinds of thinking, epistemologies and colonial practices come with data tools, skills and methods? How can we engage decolonial approaches to data for arts and humanities? - What value do data and digital research have in relation to broader research journeys - from planning to research impact? - How can these challenges be met in inclusive ways which account for diverse perspectives? These challenges arise from 8 months of co-design work with marginalised and underrepresented arts and humanities researchers working on a data and digital research skills curriculum. To meet these challenges, we will work together to better understand these challenges for inclusive engagement and problem-solving. You and interested colleagues or students are warmly invited to join us. Please see the Eventbrite link for more information and for free registration: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/inclusive-data-research-skills-hackathon-for… A little more about the DAReS Project: The project places diversity and inclusion as important preconditions for innovation and high quality research, and applies these priorities to digital research skills development and training. We are working to transform known gaps into opportunities for inclusive practice enabling game-changer solutions, artistic practice, and impactful, high-quality research in arts and humanities. The DAReS project is a collaboration between the University of the Arts London (London College of Communication and Creative Computing Institute), Leeds University, King's College London, Roehampton University and partners, CRAC/Vitae and Wikimedia UK. -- 'You are marvellous. The Gods wait to delight in you.' ('The Laughing Heart' by Charles Bukowski).

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CFP: Panel on illegitimate and informal digital economies (Barcelona, July 23-26)
by Andreas Hackl 09 Jan '24

09 Jan '24

Dear colleagues, The role of the "illegitimate" and informal in digital economies is a crucial yet often overlooked aspect of digitalisation. If you are working in this field, please consider joining this exciting in-person panel at the EASA conference in Barcelona this July (deadline 22 January): Illegitimacy and informality in the digital economy<https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2024/p/14503> In-person panel at EASA2024 conference in Barcelona, 23-26 July Anthropological research has long been attuned to the subversive ways in which people maintain their livelihoods, and has thereby contested binary divisions between the formal and informal in economies and labour markets. These binaries are upheld by state-centric perspectives on legitimate economic activity; challenging them means questioning norms and stereotypes around legality, criminalisation, and authority. Digitalisation has beckoned many new ways of generating income, accessing work, and getting paid, for example through platform work, e-commerce, mobile money, cryptocurrency exchanges, or social media platforms. Here, new informal and illegitimate activities have flourished. New forms of digital brokerage and informal intermediation, online scams, and fraudulent digital identities are especially prevalent among low income, migrant, and non-citizen groups who are excluded from bank accounts, SIMs, and other foundations of digital economic activity (Chonka 2023; Cheesman & Hackl 2023; Swartz 2023). Building on these emerging conversations, this panel seeks to generate critical discussion around the role of the illegitimate and informal in contemporary digital economies, including digital labour markets, finance, aid and welfare, cybercrime, and more. We are interested in both the empowering and disempowering dimensions of the illegitimate and informal. Papers may include discussions of subject formation in digital economies, everyday negotiations or regimes of suspicion and authenticity. We invite papers based on research not only with vulnerable, exploited populations, but also elite actors, such as those involved in shadow banking or regulatory arbitrage. The panel encourages methodological reflections about the challenges of doing anthropological research in this ambivalent and sensitive field. If you are interested to join, please submit your paper proposal here: https://nomadit.co.uk/conference/easa2024/p/14503 If you have any questions, please contact the conveners (Andreas Hackl, University of Edinburgh, and Margie Cheesman, King's College London): andreas.hackl(a)ed.ac.uk margie.cheesman(a)kcl.ac.uk ---------------------- Dr Andreas Hackl Lecturer, Social Anthropology School of Social and Political Science University of Edinburgh, UK 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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