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Public event on "Studying the Social Life of Fake News Online", King's College London, Wed 11th October, 6-7.30pm
by Gray, Jonathan 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

For those of you near London, we’re hosting a public event on "Studying the Social Life of Fake News Online" at King's College London, Wed 11th October, 6-7.30pm. Further details are copied below and at the following link (where you can also register): http://sociallifefakenews.eventbrite.co.uk https://twitter.com/kingsdh/status/915194927100960768 This draws on the Field Guide to Fake News by a network of researchers around the Public Data Lab<http://publicdatalab.org/>, which we’re currently developing into a book project: http://fakenews.publicdatalab.org/ Any help in sharing this to relevant friends and colleagues would be much appreciated. All the best, Jonathan -- Jonathan Gray | jonathangray.org<http://jonathangray.org/> | @jwyg<http://twitter.com/jwyg> Lecturer in Critical Infrastructure Studies Department of Digital Humanities King’s College London DESCRIPTION How can fake news be studied? What can we learn from efforts to map and understand the production, circulation and reception of fake news online? At this event two leading digital methods researchers – Tommaso Venturini<http://www.tommasoventurini.it/> and Liliana Bounegru<http://lilianabounegru.org/> – will present new empirical research on fake news and misinformation online, including the Public Data Lab<http://publicdatalab.org/>'s Field Guide to Fake News<http://fakenews.publicdatalab.org/>. Studying the social life of fake news tells us not only about the practices of misinformation producers and the counter-responses of debunkers. We can also learn about the broader effects and dynamics of online platforms and digital media ecosystems in organising public deliberation, attention, culture and politics in the contemporary moment. The event will be hosted by Mark Coté<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/ddh/people/academic/cote/index.aspx> and Jonathan Gray<http://jonathangray.org/> at the Department for Digital Humanities<https://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/ddh/index.aspx>, King's College London<http://kcl.ac.uk/>. On the Study of Popular Subjects or Confessions of a Fake News Scholar - Tommaso Venturini Because of their relative simplicity (fake stories are usually "flatter" than ordinary news stories), their exaggeration (which makes it easier to detect and follow them), their geographical diffusion (scholars have identified examples of it in most countries of the world), their rapid reproduction and elevated mutation rate (fake news rise and fall in weeks and often in days), fake news may be the drosophila melanogaster of media studies. The drosophila is a little and relatively common fly (often found around ripe fruits), which assumed a crucial importance in the history of genetics. Because of reasons similar to the ones just listed, the drosophila became the ‘model organism’ for genetic research allowing to qualify and quantify a series of intuitions about gene reproduction (Kohler, 1994). As the drosophila facilitated the birth of experimental chromosome mapping, so fake news may help the development of new forms of empiricalmedia mapping. Not unlike rumours, digital viral contents provide a perfect illustration of the mechanism through which social phenomena are constructed according to Gabriel Tarde (1890). In his famous dispute with Emile Durkheim, Tarde refused the idea that underlying structures were the basis of social phenomena and claimed instead that their existence was to be searched in the imitation and alteration of individual behaviours (Latour, 2002). Tarde, however, found it difficult to defend its position empirically, because the research methods available at the time did not allow to follow the transmission and transformation of collective actions at the scale and with the sharpness demanded by his argument. This may be possible today thanks to the capacity of digital technologies to store and retrieve each of these movements of diffusion and mutation (Latour et al., 2012 and Boullier, 2015). This paper will illustrate the opportunity offered by viral news to map the ‘regimes’ of circulation and mutation occurring of contemporary media systems by analysing two empirical case studies from the latest French presidential election: the “Macron is gay” hoax and the “Penelope Fillon” scandal. Tommaso Venturini is recipient of the of an advanced research fellowship of INRIA (French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation) to work on social modelling at the Institut des Systèmes Complexes Rhône-Alpes. He is also a co-founder of and associate researcher at the médialab<http://medialab.sciences-po.fr/> of Sciences Po (Paris), and co-founder of the Public Data Lab<http://publicdatalab.org/>. More about him can be found on his website at tommasoventurini.it<http://www.tommasoventurini.it/wp/> and he is on Twitter at @tommasoventurin<https://twitter.com/tommasoventurin>. Fake News in Digital Culture – Liliana Bounegru This talk will present findings, challenges and lessons learned from a series of collaborative research projects examining fake news as a digital culture phenomenon. The projects were undertaken by the Public Data Lab, an interdisciplinary network convening researchers from digital humanities, media studies, Internet studies, digital sociology, and science and technology studies to facilitate research, public debate and engagement around the future of the data society. The talk draws on two publications. The first is A Field Guide to Fake News, which explores the use of digital methods to trace the production, circulation and reception of fake news online and which received media mentions in the New York Times, BuzzFeed News, NRC, Der Standard and Columbia Journalism Review. The second is Five Provocations About Fake News, a forthcoming research article drawing on insights and cautionary tales from science and technology studies to challenge some of the themes and assumptions that underlie current research and debates around fake news and proposing some concepts and analytical lenses to support future empirical social research around this topic. Liliana Bounegru is a joint doctoral candidate in the Communication Sciences department at Ghent University, Belgium and the Media Studies and Journalism department at the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. Her research examines the extension of digital platforms and datafication into journalism. She is also co-founder of the Public Data Lab, member of the Digital Methods Initiative (University of Amsterdam) and research associate at the médialab (Sciences Po, Paris). More about her can be found at lilianabounegru.org<http://lilianabounegru.org/>and and she is on Twitter at @bb_liliana<http://twitter.com/bb_liliana>.

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Definitions for Social Media Sites
by Hayes, Rebecca M 03 Oct '17

03 Oct '17

First of all I have found this group to be an amazing resource. So thank you. Second, I am a criminologist who researches social media, so I am still learning. That said, I am looking for a good and trusted academic resource for definitions for social media sites. It could be a book, or a website, but I am attempting to provide appropriate definitions for reddit, 4chan, YikYak, etc. What is a go-to source for that? Thank you in advance! Best, Becky Rebecca Hayes, Ph.D. Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work Central Michigan University

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Job Ad -CAMRI Policy Observatory Research Fellow
by Anastasia Kavada 02 Oct '17

02 Oct '17

CAMRI Policy Observatory Research Fellow (Fixed Term - 9 months , Part Time - 0.8 fraction) Ref. 50048490 Salary: £31,602 (incl. L.W.A.) Department: Westminster School of Media, Arts and Design Location: Central London https://vacancies.westminster.ac.uk/Hrvacancies/default.aspx?id=50048490 http://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BEL523/camri-policy-observatory-research-fellow/ The University of Westminster is well-known for its academic excellence in the study of media and communication and its vibrant and diverse research environment. The Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) has been a leading centre of media and communications research in the UK for almost 30 years. In the most recent Research Excellence Framework (REF 2014), 52 per cent of our research was judged to be "world-leading", with 87 per cent of the total rated "internationally excellent". The CAMRI Policy Observatory Research Fellow will work in the newly launched CAMRI Policy Observatory. The post will involve monitoring the policy environment nationally and internationally and mapping important policy issues; identifying key policy areas where CAMRI members can make interventions; cultivating links with policy stakeholders (including civil society); producing policy briefings for key policy areas; aiding CAMRI members in the organisation and publicity of networking events with policy-makers; publicising our impact on policy through blog posts on the CAMRI blog or social media activity; identifying funding opportunities and applying for funding for the CAMRI Policy Observatory. Successful applicants will have PhD or the equivalent in professional qualifications and experience. A high level of analytical capability, as well as the ability to communicate information clearly are also essential. Job reference number: 50048490 Closing date: 18 October 2017 Interviews are likely to be held on: 30 October 2017 Administrative contact (for queries only): Recruitment(a)westminster.ac.uk<mailto:Recruitment@westminster.ac.uk> Please note: We are unable to accept any applications by email. All applications must be made online. CVs in isolation or incomplete application forms will also not be accepted. The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW. This message and its attachments are private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and remove it and its attachments from your system.

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Re: [Air-L] got a story about frustrations of research using old or archived software?
by sally＠sally.com 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

Hi Patricia, One of these happened just today: Adobe Premiere Pro software used to enable wav file to text translation. But they took it out. It is still possible to convert a wav to text in Premiere Pro using version 7.2 or less, but 7.2 or less requires an OS that will run 7.2, not 11. I run 11 on an updated Mac OS, thus, I cannot install the version, thus I cannot use the feature, thus I can no longer easily get a quick snapshot transcription, unless I "downgrade" my machine, which isn't possible due to OS issues with other software. The capability is available in an archived version, but circumstances requiring upgrades have made this not useful. Hope this helps, Sally Sally Applin, Ph.D. Samsung Research America Intelligence Innovation Lab (Contract until 13 Oct. 2017) .......... University of Kent, Canterbury, UK School of Anthropology and Conservation Centre for Social Anthropology and Computing .......... Associate Editor, IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine Member, IoT Council Board Member: The Edward H. and Rosamond B. Spicer Foundation .......... [1]http://www.sally.com [2]http://www.posr.org .......... Seeking a full-time position in company, start-up, research group, or university. My research examines human communication and co-adaptation to algorithms and automated processes. Find me at [3]sally(a)sally.com -------- Original Message -------- Subject: [Air-L] got a story about frustrations of research using old or archived software? From: Patricia Aufderheide <[4]pat.aufderheide(a)gmail.com> Date: Fri, September 29, 2017 3:12 pm To: "[5]air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org" <[6]air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> I'm working with some great legal scholars on an analysis of problems in software preservation, and are finding great archivists, but they often can't tell us much about what researchers would like to do with software that's been archived if they could. We've heard from the archivists that generally researchers want to access content by using obsolete software, and we understand that sometimes you might be interested in studying versions or iterations of the content that might be stored on archived software (e.;g. a WordPerfect file on an author's laptop) but we're also thinking that people might want to have access to archived software for other kinds of research as well. We hypothesize that people might want to study the history of software, or to analyze activity on a gaming platform, or....gosh, we don't know. Have you had a project be frustrated because you couldn't go to a library or archive (virtually or physically) and get access to archived software? If so we'd love to hear about it in any way you'd like to tell us. Feel free to share the request. -- Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor, School of Communication Founder, Center for Media & Social Impact American University 4400 Massachusetts Av., NW American University, Washington, DC 20016-8017 McKinley Hall 323 @paufder @cmsimpact [7]cmsimpact.org [8]paufder(a)american.edu 202-885-2069 office <202-643-5356> 240-643-4805 mobile <202-643-5356> "The world we have received also belongs to those who follow us." --Pope Francis _______________________________________________ The [9]Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers [10]http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: [11]http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: [12]http://www.aoir.org References 1. http://www.sally.com/ 2. http://www.posr.org/ 3. mailto:sally@sally.com 4. mailto:pat.aufderheide@gmail.com 5. mailto:air-l@listserv.aoir.org 6. mailto:air-l@listserv.aoir.org 7. http://cmsimpact.org/ 8. mailto:paufder@american.edu 9. mailto:Air-L@listserv.aoir.org 10. http://aoir.org/ 11. http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org 12. http://www.aoir.org/

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got a story about frustrations of research using old or archived software?
by Patricia Aufderheide 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

I'm working with some great legal scholars on an analysis of problems in software preservation, and are finding great archivists, but they often can't tell us much about what researchers would like to do with software that's been archived if they could. We've heard from the archivists that generally researchers want to access content by using obsolete software, and we understand that sometimes you might be interested in studying versions or iterations of the content that might be stored on archived software (e.;g. a WordPerfect file on an author's laptop) but we're also thinking that people might want to have access to archived software for other kinds of research as well. We hypothesize that people might want to study the history of software, or to analyze activity on a gaming platform, or....gosh, we don't know. Have you had a project be frustrated because you couldn't go to a library or archive (virtually or physically) and get access to archived software? If so we'd love to hear about it in any way you'd like to tell us. Feel free to share the request. -- Patricia Aufderheide, University Professor, School of Communication Founder, Center for Media & Social Impact American University 4400 Massachusetts Av., NW American University, Washington, DC 20016-8017 McKinley Hall 323 @paufder @cmsimpact cmsimpact.org paufder(a)american.edu 202-885-2069 office <202-643-5356> 240-643-4805 mobile <202-643-5356> "The world we have received also belongs to those who follow us." --Pope Francis

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experiences making large web archives datasets accessible for research?
by kalev leetaru 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

As the landscape of copyright and fair use continues to evolve and as more and more academic research relies on large datasets that are often, at least in part, compiled from open web crawling, especially emerging areas like neural network training datasets, its interesting to think about how the world's web archives might make more of their holdings available for academic research. In the US, for example, most university IRB's I've spoken with treat web-derived datasets as "exempt" regardless of the sensitivity of the questions being asked and some institutions that have additional pre-IRB data reviews appear to waive those in at least some cases when it comes to web data ( https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/09/16/ai-gaydar-and-how-the-…) and thus web crawled data is becoming especially popular. While technical limitations do surface as concerns, the most common issue I've heard from web archives regarding why they don't open their holdings more broadly to data mining access revolves around copyright law and their interpretations of fair use when it comes to academic data mining (and of course the landscape of copyright and "fair use" exceptions vary dramatically across the world). Thought many on this list would find of interest a piece I put out yesterday talking with Common Crawl and their approach to fair use and recommendations for web archives considering making their archives more accessible to data mining access: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/09/28/common-crawl-and-unloc… While obviously the notion of just what counts as "fair use" or its equivalent is highly contested and varies from country to country (if it exists at all in a form amenable to data mining), for a followon piece I'm doing, I'd love to hear from anyone on this list who has released similar large archives of web content for open research and the legal justifications you used and your experiences there and any adjustments you made to the collection that your counsel felt made the fair use argument stronger and whether you distributed just the raw HTML, whether you included imagery, etc, and whether you just posted a download link or whether you required a signed researcher agreement first, and whether you distributed the content to their machines or required it to be processed locally. There are obviously a tremendous number of opinion pieces out there and legal arguments and briefs provided by a myriad organizations for and against archives being able to box up large holdings of web pages and make them available for data mining, so I'm particularly interested in real-world examples of where groups have actually made large collections of web pages available to others for data mining and how they accomplished that and the considerations and concessions they made that they believe ensured their work complied with fair use or its equivalent in their country (rather than opinion pieces that just talk about how it can or can not and should or should not be done). Feel free to respond to me off list if you'd prefer. Thanks so much! Kalev

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CfP: [Extended Deadline] International Conference on Smart Learning Environments (ICSLE 2018)
by Elvira Popescu 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

[submission due date is extended to October 14, 2017] CALL FOR PAPERS International Conference on Smart Learning Environments (ICSLE 2018) March 18-20, 2018, Beijing, China http://iasle.net/icsle2018 * Main conference paper submission: October 14, 2017 (extended) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The International Conference on Smart Learning Environments (ICSLE 2018) aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and policy makers to discuss issues related to the optimization of learning environments to enhance learning. The focus is on the interplay of pedagogy, technology and their fusion towards the advancement of smart learning environments. ~ Conference Outcomes: * Proceedings in Springer's Lecture Notes in Educational Technology series. * Extended versions of selected papers will be invited for Springer's Smart Learning Environments journal (Open access journal with no author processing charge) ~ Important dates: Main conference paper submission: October 14, 2017 (extended) Acceptance/Rejection notification: November 29, 2017 Camera ready papers: December 15, 2017 Author registration: December 15, 2017 ~ Submissions: * Full and Short Experience Reports * Full and Short Research Studies * Work-in-progress Papers * Reflection papers * Posters * Workshop proposals * Panel proposals ~ Honorary Chairs: Larry Johnson, EdFutures.org, USA Diana Laurillard, Institute of Education, United Kingdom Demetrios G. Sampson, Curtin University, Australia ~ General Chairs: Kinshuk, The University of North Texas, USA Nian-Shing Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan Mohamed Jemni, University of Tunis, Tunisia ~ Conference Chairs: Dong Qi, President, Beijing Normal University, China Neal Smatresk, President, University of North Texas, USA ~ Program Chairs: Maiga Chang, Athabasca University, Canada Elvira Popescu, University of Craiova, Romania ~ Local Chairs: Ronghuai Huang, Beijing Normal University, China J. Michael Spector, The University of North Texas, USA ~ Workshop/Panel Chairs: Vive Kumar, Athabasca University, Canada Ting-Wen Chang, Beijing Normal University, China ~ Publicity Chairs: Guang Chen, Beijing Normal University, China Michail Giannakos, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway Isabelle Guillot, Athabasca University, Canada ~ Technical Operations Chairs: Rébecca Guillot, Athabasca University, Canada Richard Tortorella, University of Eastern Finland, Finland Marc Denojean-Mairet, ByteForce Media, Canada Junfeng Yang, Hangzhou Normal University, China ~ Further details: http://iasle.net/icsle2018

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Global Media and China - the latest issue and CFP
by Xiao Han 29 Sep '17

29 Sep '17

Dear All, We are pleased to announce that our journal Global Media and China has just published its latest issue Volume 2, Issue 2 March 2017. And also we sincerely welcome your contribution to our journals. If you are interested and have the time, it is a great honour for us to receive your submission. Here is the submission portal:https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gmac <https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/gmac>. For more information about Global Media and China, please go to http://journals.sagepub.com/home/gch <http://gch.sagepub.com/>, you can also find detailed submission guidelines there. You can freely read this inaugural issue at: http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/gch/current <http://journals.sagepub.com/toc/gch/current> Volume 2, Issue 2, March 2017 Interview Interview with Professor John Ellis John Ellis Original Articles Hero is back- The rising of Chinese audiences: The demonstration of SHI in popularizing of a Chinese animation Fei Jiang and Kuo Huang You are what you post in “circle of friends” of Wechat: Self-presentation and identity production from a personality perspective Chenglong Lin, Wei Fang and Jianbin Jin Comparing the use of space in selfies on Chinese Weibo and Twitter Jessica Roberts and Michael Koliska Casting an “Outsider” in the ritual centre: Two decades of performances of “Rural Migrants” in CCTV’s Spring Festival Gala Yan Yuan Science learning in early years: Effects of the Chinese television series Big Bird Looks at the World Yeh Hsueh, Zongkui Zhou, Guimin Su, June Lee and Katherine Kitzmann In focus Empire, Tianxia and Great Unity: A historical examination and future vision of China’s international communication Lei Zhang and Zhengrong Hu Dr HAN Xiao Research Assistant, Social Media Centre, Communication University of China (CUC) Commissioning Editor, Global Media and China gch.sagepub.com <http://gch.sagepub.com/>

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Jobs: Four tenured/tenure-track positions at Georgia Tech
by Lauren Klein 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

Dear Colleagues, My department, the School of Literature, Media, and Communication at Georgia Tech, is hiring in four tenured/tenure track positions: Black media, poetry, games, and technical communication. Ads are as follows: https://www.lmc.gatech.edu/hiring-black-media <https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lmc.gatech.edu%2Fhiring-bl…> https://www.lmc.gatech.edu/hiring-bourne-chair <https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lmc.gatech.edu%2Fhiring-bo…> https://www.lmc.gatech.edu/hiring-dm-games <https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lmc.gatech.edu%2Fhiring-dm…> https://www.lmc.gatech.edu/hiring-tech-comm <https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.lmc.gatech.edu%2Fhiring-te…> Please direct questions to the appropriate search committee. Best, Lauren — Lauren F. Klein, Ph.D. Assistant Professor School of Literature, Media, and Communication Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, GA 30332-0165 lauren.klein(a)lmc.gatech.edu <mailto:lauren.klein@lmc.gatech.edu>

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Re: [Air-L] Definitions for Social Media Sites
by Antonello Bocchino 28 Sep '17

28 Sep '17

Hello Rebecca, One definition of social media I found helpful was from Graham Meikle’s book: “networked database platforms that combine public with personal communication”. Meikle*, Social Media: Communication, Sharing and Visibility* (2016:6) Best, Antonello On 09/25/2017 12:23 PM, Hayes, Rebecca M wrote: > First of all I have found this group to be an amazing resource. So thank you. > > > Second, I am a criminologist who researches social media, so I am still learning. That said, I am looking for a good and trusted academic resource for definitions for social media sites. It could be a book, or a website, but I am attempting to provide appropriate definitions for reddit, 4chan, YikYak, etc. > > > What is a go-to source for that? > > > Thank you in advance! > > > Best, > > Becky > > > Rebecca Hayes, Ph.D. > > Sociology, Anthropology & Social Work > > Central Michigan University > _______________________________________________ > The Air-L(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/ listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > > Join the Association of Internet Researchers: > http://www.aoir.org/ -- This message and its attachments are private and confidential. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender and remove it and its attachments from your system. The University of Westminster is a charity and a company limited by guarantee. Registration number: 977818 England. Registered Office: 309 Regent Street, London W1B 2UW.

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