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Extended Deadline - CFP The Place I Call Research
by Jaime García Iglesias 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

*The Place I Call Research: Localizing Sociological Inquiry* *Call for Papers* *Deadline for submissions: April 16, 2018* Due to the impact of UCU strikes, we are extending the deadline for three weeks. Do not miss this opportunity to start building your CV in the most friendly of environments. This conference seeks to engage researchers across the social and medical sciences to discuss the role of place in their work. In particular, we are interested in exploring the ways in which methodologies are contextualized to tackle both new spaces and ‘old’ spaces in the flux of change, as well as the role of place and space within their subject areas. We are also attentive to the role of space and place within our works: the role of space in health and sickness. The conference will take place at the University of Manchester on 15 June 2018. It is an all-day event which will feature both academic papers and public events including a roundtable about sexual health outreach with community members, a public screening, and an exhibition. Attendance is free. We welcome submissions for 15 minute papers from doctoral and masters’ students and early-career researchers across multiple disciplines, especially sociology, nursing, public health, and counseling. Some of the conference’s key themes are: - addressing changing political and social contexts in our research - Spaces in in the body and bodies in space - new and old spaces: queer, postcolonial and online contexts across disciplines - Place ownership, homelessness and place-lessness and its impacts - how social, cultural, and community contexts affect our work; outreach - developing community-specific methodologies and research questions - how theories and knowledges are context-specific, as well as the potential for trans-contextual research - the existence and functioning of spaces of disease and healing - spaces of disability We encourage submissions that address these topics from varied quantitative and qualitative approaches. Abstract submissions should be between 150 and 300 words and include five keywords. Creative research methodologies are welcomed. Scholars are encouraged to reflect on local engagement in their papers. Deadline for submission is April 16, 2018. Website (and submission form): www.placemcr2018.wordpress.com. Inquiries should be directed at placemcr2018(a)manchester.ac.uk -- *Jaime Garcia-Iglesias* The University of Manchester Twitter <https://outlook.manchester.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=A_gZOKKCeUAotWHc_1i3ExusP…> ¦ Academia <https://outlook.manchester.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=Rgjwhvh-Nj7EqjH53AkxYFG26…> ¦ UoM <https://outlook.manchester.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?C=KcbFOtK5fr0gpIFVMAiLCtgC_…>

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Reminder: Call for Abstracts -- Special Issue on Apps and Infrastructures
by Anne Helmond 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

Dear all, We invite submissions for a special issue of Computational Culture on "Apps and Infrastructures", edited by Carolin Gerlitz, Anne Helmond, David Nieborg, and Fernando van der Vlist. Please find the call for abstracts below. 750 word abstracts are due by April 1, 2018. More information is available at http://computationalculture.net/cfps-events/. Queries to the editors can be addressed at apps.infrastructures(a)gmail.com. Best regards, Carolin Gerlitz (University of Siegen) Anne Helmond (University of Amsterdam) David Nieborg (University of Toronto) Fernando van der Vlist (University of Siegen and University of Amsterdam) -- # CALL FOR ABSTRACTS # APPS AND INFRASTRUCTURES # A special issue of Computational Culture, a Journal of Software Studies # Edited by Carolin Gerlitz, Anne Helmond, David Nieborg, Fernando van der Vlist ## OUTLINE Apps have become an important new cultural, technical, and economic software form. Most of today’s apps are designed to run on smartphones and other mobile devices and provide functions previously possible with other software forms (Morris and Elkins, 2015). However, they represent new ways in which software artefacts are developed, tested, packaged, promoted, distributed, monitored, monetised, downloaded, integrated, updated, stored, accessed, archived, interpreted, and used. To foreground the relational and material dimensions of apps, research should not only account for them as discrete media objects, but needs to approach apps as part of their multiple infrastructures and environments including app stores, development platforms, advertising technologies, analytics tools, and cloud services, among others. App stores set the conditions for users and developers to distribute, browse, promote, monetise, rate, and download apps developed for Apple’s iOS, Google’s Android, or other mobile operating systems. Developers draw on a variety of both official and third-party developer tools, including developer pages and reference documentation, application programming interfaces (APIs), software development kits (SDKs), integrated development environments (IDEs), and dedicated programming languages. Such resources are commonly employed in order to build, test, and monitor apps whilst appropriating the features and constraints of particular platforms and devices, thereby participating in the re-interpretation and re-evaluation of platform features and data. Furthermore, apps may also utilise a device’s built-in sensors for continuous data collection of movements, practices, and environments whilst being wirelessly connected to the cloud or other infrastructures, without the user necessarily knowing exactly when, how, or where (Mackenzie, 2010). Approaching apps from an infrastructural perspective allows attending to the various socio-technical actors, layers, and inscriptions that inform app development, distribution, and usage in situated, distributed, and often dissimilar ways. Within such stacked intermediary infrastructures, platform logics of negotiation among heterogeneous stakeholders are multiplied and nested. This raises questions about the material and technological boundaries of apps and the subsequent need for methodologies to study apps’ socio-technical assemblages on multiple scales, attending to inbound and outbound data flows, governance and power, valuation, their political economy, and material semiotics. Previous research on apps -- initially emerging at the intersection of mobile studies and media studies -- considered mobile apps as a form of mobile or location-based media transforming and generating new forms of communication and sociality, places, and publics through the affordances and practices associated with mobile artefacts (Goggin and Hjorth, 2014). While these studies raised general questions about the boundaries of apps, attention was primarily directed to apps as compartmentalised software applications and their relations with affect, bodies, and locales (Farman 2012; Matviyenko et al., 2015; Morris and Elkins, 2015). A second strand of app research has moved beyond such a single app focus and directed primary attention to the materialities and infrastructures of apps by engaging with their data cultures, material connections, political economic underpinnings, and ecologies (Albury et al., 2017; Farman, 2015; Goldsmith in Goggin and Hjorth, 2014; Horst, 2013; Nieborg, 2017; Wilken, 2015). This special issue of Computational Culture welcomes proposals and projects from scholars and practitioners from across different disciplines interested in the advancement of app studies at the intersection of apps and infrastructures. Studies of mobile apps, platform native apps, and web browser apps or extensions are particularly encouraged. We specifically seek articles that bring together conceptual work with a technically and empirically grounded perspective, addressing the methodological challenges associated with the critical study of apps and their intricate relations to other software, platforms, and infrastructures. Contributors are encouraged to move beyond studies of single apps and their users in favor of approaches that explore apps as material artefacts alongside the infrastructures, political economy, and environments in which they are embedded and situationally enacted. We thus encourage interdisciplinary contributions that traverse boundaries between the fields of software studies, platform studies, cultural and media studies, science and technology studies, as well as political economy and data critique. ## TOPICS AND PROJECTS MIGHT INCLUDE * The relations between apps and their wider material and infrastructural environments, including app stores, development platforms and toolkits, analytics tools, advertising technologies, and cloud services. * The methodological and empirical challenges associated with the critical study of apps, including concerns about accessibility to mobile app backends and the limits of data retrieval through APIs or scraping methods as used in web research. * Studies of apps as articulations of technicity (e.g., how they are designed, built, maintained, and updated) and the data cultures they produce (e.g., what data do they collect or require). * Detailed empirical and critical studies exploring apps’ data cultures, usage tracking, technical dependencies and app permissions, sensor technologies, and wireless access points. * Inventive methods to conceptualise how apps are located or situated, given they are utilising a mobile device’s built-in sensors as well as accessing other resources from remote cloud infrastructures. * Studies of the political economy of apps (e.g., how apps are valued and monetized), the role of industry partnerships and third parties (e.g., how apps are re-interpreted or extended), and the politics of operability (e.g., how apps negotiate among stakeholders or interests). * Explorations of the techno-economic relations between the web and app ecosystems, including the dependencies of apps on web platforms and cloud services, as well as the regulations and limits of app development by device manufacturers and mobile operating systems like Android and iOS. * Explorations of the ways and mechanisms through which multiple apps are interconnected, forming collections, ecologies, and chains of apps in specific practices (e.g., task and content automation). * Media archaeologies exploring historical constellations of apps and their wider material and infrastructural environments and other historical approaches to app research. * Explorations of app stores as the primary environment or infrastructure for mobile apps, including contributions focusing on non-Western apps and app stores, apps’ update cultures, and their development cycles. * The ways in which different material and infrastructural environments, such as app stores, cater to distinct mobile operating systems, devices, and geographic regions. * Critical artistic interventions and research software tools that repurpose the affordances of apps, app stores and other native environments, and explore their data cultures. ## SCHEDULE 750 word abstracts should be emailed to apps.infrastructures(a)gmail.com by April 1, 2018. Any queries can be addressed to the editors at apps.infrastructures(a)gmail.com. Abstracts will be reviewed by the Computational Culture Editorial Board and the special issue editors. Authors of selected abstracts will be notified by May 1, 2018 and invited to submit full manuscripts by September 15, 2018. These manuscripts are subject to full blind peer review according to Computational Culture’s policies. The issue will be published in March 2019. Computational Culture is an online open-access peer-reviewed journal of interdisciplinary enquiry into the nature of cultural computational objects, practices, processes and structures. -- http://computationalculture.net/cfps-events/ --- Dr. Anne Helmond | Assistant Professor of New Media and Digital Culture University of Amsterdam | Turfdraagsterpad 9 | 1012 XT Amsterdam | The Netherlands http://www.uva.nl/profile/a.helmond | http://www.annehelmond.nl/ | @silvertje Highlighted publication: Helmond, Anne. 2015. “The Platformization of the Web: Making Web Data Platform Ready.” Social Media + Society 1 (2). doi:10.1177/2056305115603080.

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CfP AAA2018 San Jose: Panel Digital Infrastructures
by Plets, G.F.J. (Gertjan) 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

Dear Colleagues, Please find our CfP for our session on digital infrastructures at the annual conference of the American Association of Anthropologists (San Jose 14-18 November 2018) below. Scholars from various disciplines are invited to submit an abstract! GJ Digital Infrastructures: Poetics, Politics and Personhood - AAA San Jose 14-18 November 2018 Lorraine Weekes (Stanford University) Gertjan Plets (Utrecht University) Government databases, digital archives, online voting systems, and e-portals enabling the submission of everything from insurance claims to income tax returns increasingly define mundane engagements between citizen-users and a suite of public and private institutions across social arenas. Because of efficiency and transparency digital technologies are seen as affording, reliance on digital infrastructures has become widely supported on the ground. At the same time, sociopolitical structures and assumptions encoded in many of these infrastructures—and the entanglements they produce—have received little attention. The tendency of infrastructure to remain invisible until something goes wrong is perhaps especially acute in digital and high-tech contexts where the scale, technological complexity, and physical diffusion encourages black boxing. By putting the politics and poetics of digital infrastructure into the limelight, this panel will consider the historical and ethnographic dimensions of digital infrastructures and how they produce individual subjectivities, mediate power relationships and further existing reifications of the social across the globe. By bringing the theoretical insights of the burgeoning anthropology of infrastructure and bureaucracy to bear on the digital networks and assemblages, the papers in this panel endeavor to make the materiality, social-embeddedness, and historical contingency of digital infrastructure visible. Please submit an abstract before April 2 or send enquiries to g.f.j.plets(a)uu.nl<mailto:g.f.j.plets@uu.nl> Dr. Gertjan Plets | Assistant Professor Cultural Heritage | Department of History and Art History | Utrecht University | Drift 6, 3512 BS Utrecht | https://uu.academia.edu/GertjanPlets

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New Book--The Toxic Meritocracy of Video Games: Why Gaming Culture is The Worst
by Paul, Christopher 20 Mar '18

20 Mar '18

Colleagues, My new book about meritocracy and video games is out and actually shipping! The publisher blurb is: An avid gamer and sharp media critic explains meritocracy's negative contribution to video game culture-and what can be done about it New media critic and longtime gamer Christopher A. Paul explains how video games' focus on meritocracy empowers a negative culture-from the deep-bred misogyny to the endemic malice of abusive player communities. He suggests ways to ultimately foster a more diverse, accepting, and self-reflective culture that is not only good for gamers but for good for video games as well. The book is written to be read by a broad audience, including game developers and players. It should be available wherever you buy books, including the Minnesota Press website (https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-toxic-meritocracy-of-vid…) and Amazon (https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-toxic-meritocracy-of-vid…) Thanks to all of you who gave the feedback to help bring this together. I appreciate it. -chris paul Dr. Christopher A. Paul Associate Professor and Chair Communication Department Seattle University paulc(a)seattleu.edu

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Postdoc Opportunity with Cornell's new Initiative on AI, Policy, and Practice
by Solon Barocas 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

Postdoc Opportunity with Cornell's new Initiative on AI, Policy, and Practice https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/10902 Artificial Intelligence, Policy, and Practice (AIPP) is a new initiative at Cornell University, led by faculty in Computing and Information Science and spanning the Ithaca and New York City campuses. The initiative brings together researchers pursuing fundamental technical advances in AI with scholars considering its ethical, legal, and social implications. We seek a Postdoctoral Researcher who will help us explore how an integrated interdisciplinary approach to these issues can generate unique insights and provide an effective foundation for future innovation, policy, and advocacy. The initiative will focus on a number of key challenges in the near-term future of AI. We will investigate how AI might improve the quality of decision-making, while also posing new challenges to fairness, equality, autonomy, dignity, and privacy, among other core values. We will consider how AI risks exacerbating information and power asymmetries, while also providing a way to measure, model, and mitigate these dynamics. Our goal is to establish the appropriate role for AI in addressing pressing issues, while ensuring that it does so with due consideration of social context and ethical norms. The Postdoctoral Researcher will have the opportunity to help launch and shape this new initiative, conduct research, run seminars, stage events, and foster a truly interdisciplinary community. S/he will collaborate with one or more of the faculty supervisors associated with the initiative: Solon Barocas, Jon Kleinberg, Karen Levy, and Helen Nissenbaum. Applications are welcome from recent Ph.D. graduates with a range of disciplinary backgrounds (e.g., computer and information science, data science, the social sciences, public policy, philosophy, media studies, science and technology studies, or related fields). Law graduates or ABDs with strong backgrounds or work experience in related fields are also eligible to apply. An interest in and ability to do translational, cross-disciplinary work between fields is crucial. This is a one-year position with the possibility of a second year depending on performance and funding. The Postdoctoral Researcher may be located in Ithaca or New York City, depending on the location of the primary supervising faculty, but will have ample opportunity to spend time on both campuses. Applications should be submitted to: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/10902 and should include a CV, up to two publications (or writing samples), the names and contact information of three references, and a cover letter summarizing the candidate's relevant background, accomplishments, and fit with the position. A transcript of graduate work (unofficial is acceptable) may also be requested. For substantive questions related to the initiative or position, please contact sbarocas(a)cornell.edu<mailto:sbarocas@cornell.edu>. The position is available for a Fall 2018 start (or sooner, given the candidate’s availability). We began to review applications on March 5th, but continue to welcome submissions. Diversity and inclusion are a part of Cornell University’s heritage. We are a recognized employer and educator valuing AA/EEO, Protected Veterans, and Individuals with Disabilities.

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CfP for Twitter: Global Perspectives, Uses and Criticisms
by Dr. Chiluwa 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

Kindly bring to the notice of Internet researchers to this call. Thanks. *CALL FOR PAPERS: Nova Science Publishers’ Edited Collection on Twitter Communication* Contributors are invited to submit abstracts (about 200 words) toward our new edited collection *Twitter: Global Perspectives, Uses and Criticisms* with Nova Science (New York, USA). We are interested in new research and perspectives on, as well as criticisms of Twitter communication. Topics being covered (though not limited to these) include: · *Perspectives and concepts in Twitter communication* · *Methods & techniques in Twitter studies/research* · *Practices and uses of Twitter (e.g. business, journalism, education etc.)* · *Activism, campaigning and political discourse on Twitter* · *Criticisms and the future of Twitter* *Kindly note the following important dates* *Abstract Submission: March 15th 2018 – May 30th 2018* *Chapter Submission: June 1st 2018 – August 30th 2018* The contributions for this edited book are intended to range from 4,000-10,000 words (chapters over 10,000 words can be updated by the author for the e-version of their chapter). If you are interested in participating, please consult the *Notes for Contributors* below. Publication will be about *3-9 months* after the close of the volume. Please, send your chapter proposals/chapters to: innocent.chiluwa(a)covenantuniversity.edu.ng and/or gwen.bouvier(a)mu.ie *Notes for Edited Book Chapter Contributors* 1. There is no charge for inclusion in the published book. An auxiliary service is available for any authors interested in Open Access. Open Access makes the chapter visible free of charge to anyone in the world who has Internet access. 2. There are no page charges for black and white figures and illustrations submissions provided they are sent to Nova with the source files. Color illustrations are billed at the current rate. 3. A free copy of the e-book version of the book is sent to the first-listed contributor of each chapter. Additional copies are available at a 20% discount. Publication in digital form takes place at approximately the same time as the printed version. 4. The scientific community is the intended audience. Books are marketed by direct mail, space ads, review copies, online bookstore postings and by our international distributors. 5. The choice of theme and approach are at the discretion of the author but preliminary acceptance is only upon submission of the draft abstract. The line-up of chapters is a constantly changing landscape since discussions, commitments and submissions continue on a daily basis right up to and sometimes beyond the close of each volume. 6. An abstract in the following form is required consisting of: 1. 150-500 words; 2. Author affiliations; and 3. Estimated date of chapter submission and Copyright Transfer. Please include the abstract as part of an email and not as an attachment if possible. Acceptance of topics is based partially on which topics have already been accepted for particular volumes. The reply to the draft abstract will contain details about reference styles and other relevant technical details. A reply and decision may be expected within 7 days if the word Abstract is contained within the Subject Line of the email. 7. Co-authors may be invited by you at your discretion without discussion with Nova. 8. Copyright is transferred to Nova via email. Another form will be sent via email along with the electronic page proofs. 9. Personalized chapter offprints are available. 10. MS Word 2003 or Latex are the preferred input programs for text. When submitting your manuscript, please indicate the program you used (i.e., MS Word 2003) in the text of your email accompanying the attached manuscript. If Latex, Nova requests use of the Nova macro. The Nova macros are available from the Nova Website under the tab For Authors. This is ARTICLE.STY set at 5.5 inches (13.97 cm) and letter size (not A4 paper). Please try to use outside justified page headers. If you would like to add any packages to this macro beyond those already specified, it is *mandatory *that the corresponding .sty files be submitted with the chapter. Nova currently uses the Windows Operating System. 11. The chapter must be edited for English prior to submission. Nova can provide editorial assistance if required. A list of optional editorial services is available upon request. -- *Professor of Language & Digital Communications* *Humboldt Fellow & Digital Expert* *Department of Languages & General Studies* *Covenant University, OTA, Nigeria* +234 8033536952; +234 8053240496

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Post-Doc Researcher Opening in Chile: Media for DRR
by Gonzalo Bacigalupe 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

Emerging Media Research for Disaster Risk Reduction The candidate is expected to conduct research at the intersection of digital cartography, community mapping, and emerging media practices. Projects include the DroneLab, a team of researchers and volunteers developing a platform and protocols for developing and curating aerial drone data to support community efforts at disaster risk reduction. Community risk mapping projects undergoing offer the opportunity for participatory research interventions centered on understanding community participation at the intersection of digital data and emerging media. Candidates are expected to work along the objectives of the Social Practices cluster, which covers different topics dealing with methodologies, theories, and DRR policies aligned with increasing sociocultural complexity and diversity and the development of research protocols, theoretical frameworks, and policy recommendations that embrace emerging media, information, and communication technologies, for strengthening meaningful citizen participation in disaster risk reduction. The position CIGIDEN is opening a postdoctoral position for a 2 year period, starting preferably on June of 2018. The successful candidate will collaborate closely with Dr. Gonzalo Bacigalupe, PI of RL6. She/he is expected to produce at least two indexed articles. The successful candidate is also expected to actively participate in the activities of Research Line Nº6, the Social Practices Cluster, and CIGIDEN. The successful candidate will undergo an mid-term evaluation by the end of Year 1. She/he is also required to submit a postdoctoral proposal to FONDECYT1 by the end of Year 1. equirements General: - The candidate must hold a doctoral degree in social sciences and/or computer sciences (such as Anthropology, Computer Sciences, Psychology, Science and Technology Studies, Sociology, Geography or related fields). - Spanish language skills (conversational and reading) for research purposes. - Fluency in English, particularly for writing purposes. Specific: - Competencies in geographical information sciences, computer programming, social computing, robotics, open source software, and/or social media research, are desired - Experience doing ethnographic and/or netnographic research. - Knowledge of the literature in the fields of environmental anthropology, disaster studies, and media sciences, and technology is desired. The successful applicant will reside in Santiago, Chile with fieldwork also encompassing the central coast area. She/he will receive a monthly salary of $ 1,800,000 Chilean pesos plus additional expenses for start up research activities. Process **Application deadline preference: April 30, 2018** To apply, send a letter of intent, a tentative proposed research agenda, a sample of written work, a CV, and two letters of recommendation. The email message header should be titled “Postdoc RL6-CIGIDEN” and directed to Gonzalo Bacigalupe via the Application button. First selection of candidates will be conducted on the basis of the submitted application files. Candidates may also be invited for interview (via Zoom where necessary). For further information please contact Professor Gonzalo Bacigalupe ( gonzalo.bacigalupe(a)cigiden.cl) [1] <https://www.researchgate.net/job/906643_Communication_and_Emerging_Technolo…> Fondo Nacional Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (National Research Fund for Scientific Research). FONDECYT postdoctoral fellowship program is expected to open in July 2018 http://www.conicyt.cl/fondecyt/category/concursos/postdoctorado/ https://www.researchgate.net/job/906643_Communication_and_Emerging_Technolo… n Gonzalo Bacigalupe, EdD, MPH Professor

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Digital Methods Summer School 2018 -- Call for Participation
by Fernando van der Vlist 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

Dear all, The Digital Methods Initiative (DMI) will host its 12th annual Digital Methods Summer School from July 2-13, 2018 at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Below please find the call for participation. This year’s theme is: "Retraining the machine: Addressing algorithmic bias". The deadline for application is May 4, 2018. More information is available at https://bit.ly/dmi18-ss-call or email to summerschool(a)digitalmethods.net . Best regards, Fernando van der Vlist Research Associate, Collaborative Research Centre "Media of Cooperation", University of Siegen Research Associate, Digital Methods Initiative, University of Amsterdam Lecturer, New Media and Digital Culture, University of Amsterdam -- # CALL FOR PARTICIPATION # DIGITAL METHODS SUMMER SCHOOL 2018 # JULY 2-13, 2018 # UNIVERSITY OF AMSTERDAM # RETRAINING THE MACHINE # ADDRESSING ALGORITHMIC BIAS -- ## DIGITAL METHODS SUMMER SCHOOL This year's Digital Methods Summer School is dedicated to approaches to studying so-called machine bias. Discussions have been focusing on how to hold algorithms accountable for discrimination in their outputting of results such as in the notorious cases of query results for 'professional hair' (white women's hair-do's) and 'unprofessional hair' (black women's' hair-do's). Recently, it was found that search engine image results for 'pregnancy' and 'unwanted pregnancy' are similarly divided, with the pregnancy queries returning white skinned women (mainly bellies, privileging the baby over the woman). 'Unwanted pregnancy' results in diverse ethnicities. These are new variations on classic, and still urgent, search engine critiques (once known as 'googlearchies') which questioned the hierarchies built into rankings, asking who is being authorised by the engine to provide the information. That work moves forward at the Summer School, building on examinations of the volatility of engine results, as in the Issue Dramaturg project, which put on display the drama of websites rising and falling in their rankings after algorithmic updates, meant to fight spam, but having unintended, epistemological consequences. More recently, Facebook newsfeeds have been the source of critique for their privileging and burying mechanisms, however much they -- like the engine returns preceding them -- are not easily captured and documented. Saving engine results has been against the terms of service; making derivative works out of engine results also breaks the user contract. Saving, or recording, social media (newsfeed) rolls seems even less practicable given how feeds are even more personalised, presumably resisting generalisable findings. User surveys pointing out unexpected newsfeed results have led to calls for 'algorithmic auditing', a precursor to machine bias critique. As reported in the technical press, querying social media ad interfaces shows highly segmented audiences (including racist ones such as publics to target for 'jew haters' among other available keyword audiences for sale). These ad interface results could be repurposed to show which population segments (as defined by the platforms) are driving the content choices reflected in the results served. How large are these discriminatory segments? Capturing, auditing, or repurposing results are diagnostic practices, identifying under which circumstances machines could or ought to be retrained. The larger question, however, concerns how to retrain the machine. One approach lies in query design -- fashioning queries so as to 're-bias' the results. Others concern corpus development. For example in stock photography efforts have been to reimagine ('re-image') women (in the well-known case of Getty Images' 'Lean In Collection'), however much the images are often used out of context, as has been found. Yet another one concerns training and maturing research accounts to trigger controlled algorithmic responses. The Digital Methods Summer School is interested in contributing not only to interpretations of celebrated cases of algorithmic or machine bias, but also providing diagnostic, query-related, research account and corpus-building research practices that seek to address the matter more conceptually. Expanding the case study collection is also of interest; age discrimination in Facebook ad interfaces (an American theme) is a recent example of a telling case study of in-built rather than organic machine bias, but the international landscape may contribute more to bias detection, as is the aim of the Summer School. In Twitter there are feminist bots striving to keep the #metoo space serious, since the spam has arrived. Which other practices of remaining on topic may be found, and how may their success and and complications be characterised? There is also the question of the ramifications of conceptual contributions to re-biasing for big data science. Which practical contributions could be made to big data critique? ## APPLICATIONS: KEY DATES To apply for the Digital Methods Summer School 2018, please use the University of Amsterdam Summer School form. If that form is not working, please send (i) a one-page letter explaining how digital methods training would benefit your current work, (ii) enclose a CV (with full postal address), (iii) a copy of your passport (details page only), (iv) a headshot photo, and (v) a 100-word bio (to be included in the Summer School welcome package). Mark your application 'DMI Training Certificate Program,' and send to summerschool(a)digitalmethods.net. * 4 May: Deadline for applications. * 7 May: Notifications. Accepted participants will later receive a welcome package in mid June, which includes a reader, a day-to-day schedule, and a face book of all participants. * 18 June: Deadline for summer school fee payments. Participants must send a proof of payment by this date. The cost of the Summer School is EUR 895 and is open to PhD candidates and motivated scholars as well as to research master's students and advanced master's students. Data journalists, artists, and research professionals are also welcome to apply. Accepted applicants will be informed of the bank transfer details upon notice of acceptance to the Summer School on 7 May. Note: University of Amsterdam students are exempt from tuition and should state on the application form (under tuition fee remarks) that they wish to apply for a fee waiver. Please also provide your student number. Any questions may be addressed to the Summer School coordinators, Esther Weltevrede and Fernando van der Vlist: summerschool(a)digitalmethods.net. Informal queries may be sent to this email address as well.

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post-doc to work on DATAJUSTICE project
by Lina Dencik 19 Mar '18

19 Mar '18

Dear all – a kind reminder about the below. DATAJUSTICE explores the meaning of social justice in an age of datafication, looking at marginalised communities and social and economic rights. I am looking to work with a computer scientist to investigate data systems used in different institutional and social contexts (particularly in relation to the governance of refugees, law enforcement, and in low-wage work). Applications still accepted until Thursday. _____________________ Applications are invited for a joint Research Software Engineer post in Cardiff University’s Data Innovation Research Institute and the Data Justice Lab. The successful candidate will be dedicated to leading the technology work package as part of the project 'Data Justice: Understanding datafication in relation to social justice' (DATAJUSTICE) funded by a European Research Council Starting Grant with Dr Lina Dencik as Principal Investigator. This is a full-time, fixed-term post for 30 months, starting as soon as possible (part-time applications will also be considered). Salary: £32,548 - £38,833 per annum (Grade 6). Date advert posted: Friday, 16 February 2018 Closing date: Thursday, 22 March 2018 Further details and how to apply here: https://krb-sjobs.brassring.com/TGnewUI/Search/Home/HomeWithPreLoad?partner… For any inquiries, please contact Lina Dencik (DencikL(a)cardiff.ac.uk<mailto:DencikL@cardiff.ac.uk>). Best, Lina -- Dr Lina Dencik Senior Lecturer/Director MA Journalism, Media and Communication Co-Founder Data Justice Lab PI Data Justice: Understanding datafication in relation to social justice (DATAJUSTICE) ERC Starting Grant 2018-2023 School of Journalism, Media and Culture, Cardiff University Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue, Cardiff CF10 3NB Email: DencikL(a)cardiff.ac.uk<mailto:DencikL@cardiff.ac.uk>, Tel: +44 (0)29 208 75461 Twitter: @LinaDencik Fellow, Center for Media, Data and Society, Central European University

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CFP: Image is the Text
by T. Towner 18 Mar '18

18 Mar '18

Call for Papers Special Issue: "Image is the New Text: The Rise of Digital Visuals in Communication" *The Electronic Journal of Communication*: http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/calls/digvis.htm Today, we have entered a post-text world where the written word is no longer the principal mode of communication. Instead, a stream of digital visuals, in the form of pictures, photos, GIFs, infographics, memes, and videos, flood users? smartphones, iPads, laptops, and other digital devices. Exposure to digital visuals happens everywhere? social media sites (e.g., Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat), online newspapers, emails, blogs, and digital messaging applications. Recent reports indicate that by the end of 2018 a majority of all marketing communication will be visual. Scholars have concluded that visuals are more easily remembered, recalled, and recognized than words. In fact, on social media, visual content is far more likely to be shared than any other content. Despite the changing modes of communication, current communication research continues to focus principally on textual content while overlooking the role of digital visuals. This special issue addresses the rising importance of digital images in communications as citizens across the globe transition from a textual communication landscape to a dawning visual era. We welcome research drawing on all theoretical and methodological perspectives. Research on newer and understudied social media platforms, such as Instagram and SnapChat, is particularly encouraged. Possible topics and questions for papers might include, but are not limited to: - The distribution of digital visuals on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, Tumblr, Reddit, and YouTube - Who is creating and sharing digital visuals? - Audience engagement with digital visuals (e.g., likes, shares, and comments) - How do digital visuals set the mass media agenda? - What are the predictors of "viral" digital visuals? - What is the impact of audience engagement and attention to digital visuals? - How do digital visuals represent gender, race, class, disability, and age? How are social norms challenged with visuals? - Analyses of the meaning of the digital visuals - Construction of identity -- how do users visually present themselves online? - The rise and role of live digital video - How do digital visuals influence social movements, policy, events, and elite response? Deadline: Submit manuscripts through EJC's online submission system at http://ejcojs.cios.org by June 1, 2018, for consideration. Please be sure to submit to the journal section entitled Special Issue: "Image is the New Text: The Rise of Digital Visuals in Communication" Format: Papers should be prepared in APA 6th Ed. Style. Remove all author-identifying information from the main manuscript for blind review. Manuscripts should be single spaced with tables/figures inserted where they belong; double-space between headings, subheadings, and adjacent sections; avoid breaking tables across pages. Please send manuscripts in .doc, .docx, or .rtf formats (not HTML). Questions: Please address any questions to the Special Issue Editor, Professor Terri L. Towner, Oakland University, email: towner(a)oakland.edu -- Associate Professor Oakland University Department of Political Science Varner Hall, Rm 426 Rochester, MI 48309 [image: https://twitter.com/townert?lang=en] <https://twitter.com/townert?lang=en>[image: https://www.facebook.com/proftowner] <https://www.facebook.com/proftowner> <https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=frGljRcAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao>[image: https://www.instagram.com/ttowner789/?hl=en] <https://www.instagram.com/ttowner789/?hl=en> Co-Editor of *The Internet and the 2016 Presidential Campaign* <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498542968/The-Internet-and-the-2016-Presidentia…> (2017) Editor of* The Pi Sigma Alpha Undergraduate Journal of Politics <http://www.psajournal.org/>* Faculty Advisor of the Nu Omega Chapter, the Political Science Honorary <http://oakland.orgsync.com/org/psanuomega/>

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