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[SAVE THE DATE] May 10, 2017 - Social Network Analysis ADVANCED seminar - Italy, Milan
by Alessandro Zonin 11 Apr '17

11 Apr '17

Hi all, for which of you are based in Italy (Milan) the next 10 of May will take place an advanced seminar dedicated to Social Network Analysis. If you are interested additional details and enrollments here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/social-network-analysis-corso-avanzato-tickets… The attendance is intended in person. No webinar or streaming is planned. Regards -- Twitter @AlessandroZonin <https://twitter.com/AlessandroZonin> Blog: Social Network Analysis <https://alessandrozonin.wordpress.com/>

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Call for YECREA workshop on 'Digital methods for studying algorithms: complicating the socio-technical relation'
by Julia Velkova 11 Apr '17

11 Apr '17

YECREA workshop on "Digital methods for studying algorithms: complicating the socio-technical relation” at Södertörn University, Stockholm organised by ECREA’s Communication and Democracy, and Media Industries and Cultural Production Sections We would like to invite all young scholars - doctoral students, post-docs and junior scholars - to the YECREA workshop organised as part of the upcoming conference on “Digital Democracy: Critical Perspectives in the Age of Big Data” on 10-11 November 2017 in Stockholm at Södertörn University. The workshop will take the form of a half-day pre-conference session on the afternoon of 9 November, and will be facilitated by Annette Markham, Professor of Information Studies at Aarhus University. The aim of the workshop is to provide a platform for young scholars to raise and discuss questions and projects concerning methods for studying algorithms and algorithmic cultures. The workshop aims to gather a multiplicity of perspectives, frames, and questions that can extend our understanding of how to deal with algorithms in research. If you are interested in participating, please submit a brief expression of interest (ca 300 words) in which you provide a short description of your project. Additionally, please provide a bionote stating your name, affiliation and position, as well as the stage of your project. Please submit your expressions of interest to julia.velkova(a)sh.se<mailto:julia.velkova@sh.se> by 1 June 2017. The workshop is free of charge. We encourage workshop participants to also submit a proposal for the main conference. Please submit your abstract also by 1 June 2017 (300-word abstract for individual proposals; or 300-word panel rationale plus individual 200 word abstracts from a minimum of four speakers for panel proposals). All abstracts for individual and panel proposals for the main conference should be submitted through: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecreadigdem2017 For more information, please consult the conference website: http://www.sh.se/bigdata Workshop organisers: Julia Velkova (YECREA representative Media Industries and Cultural Production Section) Jenny Sundén (Professor in Gender Studies, Södertörn University) Anne Kaun (Vice-chair Communication and Democracy Section)

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16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning (mLearn 2017): Call for Papers
by Announce Announcements 11 Apr '17

11 Apr '17

*** Call for Papers *** 16th World Conference on Mobile and Contextual Learning mLearn 2017 Golden Bay Beach Hotel, Larnaca, Cyprus 30 October - 1 November, 2017 http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… In Cooperation with ACM SIGAPP The International Association for Mobile Learning (IAmLearn) (www.iamlearn.org) is the custodian of the mLearn conference series. mLearn is the leading annual international conference for researchers, policy makers, educators, developers and solutions providers in the fields of mobile, ubiquitous and contextual learning, as well as learning with emerging ambient and wearable technologies. mLearn attracts a large number of participants from more than 60 countries representing all continents, and is, therefore, the world's largest international conference on mLearning and emerging ambient technologies. Conference Themes The overarching conference theme is 'mLearning and Design for Social Change and Innovation'. Higher education institutions are called upon to provide for the competencies and skills that foster design for social change and innovation. In addition, knowledge and skills alliances are encouraged by funding bodies to cultivate, share and disseminate competencies that foster social entrepreneurship and innovation. However, little is known on how mlearning can facilitate this process, how it can contribute towards social change, innovation and entrepreneurship. The topics of interest can go beyond the conference theme, and can include any of the following: · The development, deployment and implementation of mlearning in the context of social entrepreneurship, innovation and social change · mLearning as a tool that fosters social change and social entrepreneurship · Innovations in mlearning theory and pedagogy · From pilot projects to mainstream implementation: strategies for the deployment of mLearning · Mobile technology to support open and distance learning · Mobile technology for teaching and learning support · Assessment techniques and practices in mLearning · Design and development of learning material for mLearning · Learning objects and metadata for mLearning · Informal and lifelong learning with the aid of mobile technologies · Challenges for mLearning in developing countries · Building and implementing mLearning strategies in educational institutions, companies and public sector organisations · mLearning management systems (mLMSs) · Computer tablets · Creating interactive and collaborative mLearning environments · Future trends in mLearning technology, including the impact of emerging technologies · Emerging hardware and software for mLearning including wearable technologies · Location-aware technologies · Contextual and situated learning · Augmented reality · Serious gaming and simulations · Ambient intelligence and ubiquitous learning Submission Information The conference solicits regular papers (no more than 8 pages), short papers (no more than 4 pages), as well as posters (no more than 2 pages). The Program Committee may require an accepted paper to be adapted into a short paper or poster. All papers must be prepared according to the ACM SIG Proceedings Template format (see the conference web site for further information). The papers must be original contributions not submitted or accepted for publication elsewhere. A submitted contribution should clearly indicate the conference topics it targets. For an accepted contribution to be included in the proceedings, at least one author must register and present the paper at the conference. For further information, see the submission guidelines on the conference web site. The conference proceedings will be published by ACM ICPS and archived in the ACM Digital Library. Important Dates · Submission Deadline for Conference Papers: 1 June 2017 · Accept/Reject Notification for Conference Papers: 15 July 2017 · Camera-Ready Submission of all Papers: 1 September 2017 Information on registration categories and registration fees for the mLearn 2017 is available online at: http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi…. Organization General Chair · George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus Program Chairs · Fernando Loizides, University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom · Nicos Souleles, Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus Program Committee http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi…

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Call for applications 4th Europe-China Dialogue: Media and Communication Studies Summer School Beijing, China (10/07-19/07, 2017)
by Gianluigi Negro 11 Apr '17

11 Apr '17

Dear AIR colleagues sorry for cross-posting. I would like to share with you this call for applications addressed to PhD candidates the four edition of Europe-China Dialogue: Media and Communication Studies Summer School. Best wishes Gianluigi The 4th Europe-China Dialogue: Media and Communication Studies Summer School Beijing, China (10/07-19/07, 2017) After the successful experience in the past three years, the China Media Observatory of Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) in cooperation with School of Journalism and Communication of Peking University, will operate the FOURTH edition of Europe-China Dialogue: Media and Communication Studies Summer School at Peking University between 10/07/2017 and 19/07/2017. The program is open to the full variety of academic work from the field of communication and media studies for scholars at their early academic careers, PhD students and master students who have strong academic interests. It aims to bring together researchers from Europe, China, and North America in order to debate contemporary issues in media, communication, political economy and cultural studies. This year, the Summer School is specifically themed to discuss the challenges posed by the digitalization of the media sphere and the new trends in global communication. Inspired from the ECREA Doctoral Summer School, this summer school aims to provide: a high qualified international setting where professors from Europe, China and the United States will present and discuss their updated research work; and a high supportive international setting where students participants can present their ongoing work, receive feedbacks on their current or future research projects from international experts and meet students and academics from other countries, establishing valuable contacts for the future. The main learning format of the summer school is due to 3 parts: Lectures: each of the invited professors and scholars will give a talk according to their recent research focus (all in English). Proposed topics will include: Western Faculty: Prof. Giuseppe Richeri, New Trends in Global Film Industry, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland; Prof. Daniel Perrin, Professional text production and the digital literacy shift: From focused writing to writing by-the-way, Zurich University of Applied Science, Winterthur, Switzerland Prof. Daya Thussu, BRICS and Shifting Paradigms of Global Communication; International News in the 'post-truth' era, University of Westminster, London, UK; Prof. Matthew Hibberd, Communicating Climate Change, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland; Prof. Gabriele Balbi, History of digital media: main global trends, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland; Prof. Natalie Coulter, The Globalization of Children's Culture in the Chinese Context,York University, Toronto, Canada; Dr. Emma Lupano, Chinese Journalists Values in a Global Media Sphere, University of Milan, Milan, Italy; Dr. Gianluigi Negro A Plea for the Internet Histories, Università della Svizzera Italiana, Lugano, Switzerland; Dr. Zhan Zhang When Narrative Meets Network: Tracing International News In A Digital World, University of Southern California, USA. Chinese Faculty: Prof. Jack Linchuan Qiu, Goodbye iSlave: Toward a Sustainable Digital Economy Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Prof. Xigen LI, Studying New Media with a Social Science Approach, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong; Prof. HU Yong, When Chinese Internet is no longer Anonymous, Peking University, Beijing; Prof. LU Shaoyang, New Development of Chinese Film Industry, Peking University, Beijing; Prof. JIANG Fei, Mapping or Remapped: Intercultural Interpretation of China Media-Going-Out-Policy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing; Prof. GUO Zhenzhi, Chinese Media: History and Current Development, Tsinghua University, Beijing; Prof. SHI Anbin, From NWICO, WSIS to UNM: Remapping the Topography for Global Communication, Tsinghua University, Beijing; Prof. HU Baijing, The Internet, Crisis Communication and Social Identity, Renmin University University, Beijing; Prof. CHEN Kaihe, Searching for Mutual Understanding: China's Practices in International Public Relations, Peking University, Beijing; Prof. LIU Xinchuan, New Media & Risk Society, Peking University, Beijing. Prof. Xu Jing, Strategic Risk Communication on Food Safety in China, Peking University, Beijing. Students Feedback Workshops: participant students will present their research projects and receive structured, qualified and multi-voiced feedback on their work from summer school lecturers and students, which allow students to improve the quality of their academic work theoretically and structurally, stimulate their further research interests; Media Dialogue: Two dialogues with media experts from European and Chinese media organizations will be set in the Summer School. In some cases, when possible, the Dialogue will be arranged on site at the media organization, where students can personally observe the media practice. We will only enroll 30 student participants to the program. The composition of selected students will be ideally (but not limited to) half from Chinese institutions and half from European and other institutions from other places of the world. 3 ECTs will be granted to those students who participated the whole program. To apply: All participants are required to send an abstract (up to 500 words) of their research projects before 01/05/2017 to chinamediaobservatory(a)gmail.com. The confirmation of acceptance will be sent by 15/05/2017, and the full-draft of research project should be sent before 15/06/2017. Admission fee and payment: The admission fee of the summer school is 600 euros (with accommodation) or 300 euros (without accommodation), which includes the participation of the whole program, one day-tour in Beijing, and one farewell dinner. If student needs accommodation during their stay in Beijing, you should send a notice together with the abstract before 01/05/2017. Two scholarships award will be given to the best student participants, and the Summer School admission fee will be waived for the winners. The Summer School Scientific Committee will also recommend the winners to the Swiss-Excellence Scholarship 2017-2018. Organizers: China Media Observatory at USI: http://www.chinamediaobs.org/ School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University: http://sjc.pku.edu.cn/English.aspx Sponsor: BlueFuture PR Consulting, China Institutional Contributors: UK-China Media and Cultural Studies Association (UCMeCSA), United Kingdom. Department of Applied Linguistics, Zurich University of Applied Sciences (ZHAW), Switzerland. US-China Institute, University of Southern California (USC), the United States. Confucius Institute, University of Milan. Contact: Dr. Zhan Zhang, Project Manager in Europe/America zhanz(a)usc.edu Prof. Xu Jing, Project Manager in China/Asia xujing(a)pku.edu.cn http://www.euchinamediadialoguesummerschool.usi.ch/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Gianluigi Negro PhD - Research fellow China Media Observatory Università della Svizzera italiana Via Giuseppe Buffi 13 CH-6900 Lugano (p) +41 (0)58.666 4511 Twitter @giginegro

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Compiled sources from request for readings regarding ethics and privacy in biometrics
by Cory Robinson 11 Apr '17

11 Apr '17

I sent out a request a few days ago for readings regarding ethics and privacy in biometrics (including facial recognition). I appreciate all that answered, and I have compiled a list of the sources provided. TedX talks Buolamwini, J. (2016, November). Joy Buolamwini: How I’m fighting bias in algorithms [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/joy_buolamwini_how_i_m_fighting_bias_in_algorithms Book chapters Lease, D. R., Guess, R., Lovaas, S., & Salveggio, E. (2014). Biometric Authentication. In S. Bosworth, M. E. Kabay, & E. Whyne (Eds.), Computer Security Handbook (6th ed.) (pp. 29.1-29.26). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Conference proceedings Syed Ishtiaque Ahmed, Md. Romael Hoque, Md. Rashidujjaman Rifat, Nicola Dell, "Privacy, Security, and Surveillance in the Global South: A Study of Biometric Mobile SIM Registration in Bangladesh", In Proceedings of The ACM CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI 2017), Denver, Colorado, USA. (Forthcoming) Books Magnet, S. (2011). When biometrics fail: Gender, race, and the technology of identity. Duke University Press. Gates, K. A. (2011). Our biometric future: Facial recognition technology and the culture of surveillance. NYU Press. Thanks again to those that helped compile this list. Best, Cory -- Senior Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Communication Design Linköping University E: cory.robinson(a)liu.se http://liu-se.academia.edu/StephenCoryRobinson<http://colostate.academia.edu/StephenCoryRobinson>

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Updated Programme for the mobileGov World Summit 2017
by emre＠mgovernment.net 10 Apr '17

10 Apr '17

mobileGov World Summit and Global mobileGov Awards 2017 7-9 May, 2017 - Brighton UK ------------------------------------------------------ Updated draft programme of mobileGov World Summit is now available at the conference website at: http://www.m4life.org/conferences/mgovsummit2016/program/ Since the last update, several other panels and speakers added to the schedule. With these additions, the Summit now covers all the essential topics related to mobile public services including but not limited to: mHealth, mobile Inclusion, IoT technologies, benchmark mobile apps and services, mobileID, cyber security and privacy and mEducation. Participants and contributors at the mobileGov World Summit are across several continents from countries including: Korea, Estonia, India, Singapore, UK, Afghanistan, UAE, Malta, Japan, Turkey, Czech Republic, Colombia and several others. Registrations to the conference is still open and there are significant discounts to the members and public sector representatives. For detailed info on confirmed speakers, current agenda, programme highlights, registrations, exhibiting and sponsorship opportunities, please refer to conference website: www.m4life.org and show interest. ---- mLife Conferences and Exhibitions Suite 10 42 Brunswick Terrace Bn3 1HA Brighton UK +44 7740143135 (Conference) +90 5358778986 (Venue & Logistics) conf(a)m4life.org

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AoIR Elections -- Join the Discussion
by Jennifer Stromer-Galley 10 Apr '17

10 Apr '17

Election season for AoIR is here, and we need you to participate! We have a fantastic set of candidates for elected positions of the Association. They are listed at the bottom of this email. AoIR has routinely held a period before voting for you to ask questions of the candidates. To see their statements and to ask them questions, log in to the AoIR membership system at members.aoir.org. If you're not a member, this would be a great time to join so that you can participate in discussions with the candidates and vote in the election. Go to Aoir.org to become a member. To log in, you need to know the email that you used to register as a member and your password. (If you've forgotten your password, you can follow the on-screen instructions to have a new one emailed to you. If you've forgotten the email you used to register, please contact Association Coordinator Michelle Gardner at ac <at> aoir.org.) Once you've logged in, you'll find the candidate statements under Members -> Elections -> Candidate Statements and you'll see a link there for the discussions as well. Each discussion includes a Reply button that you can use to participate. Log in and get to know the candidates and please vote! Voting will open April 24th and close May 3rd. We use an online voting system and details on how to vote will come when the voting period starts. Thanks to all the candidates for their willingness to serve and their desire to make AoIR even better, and thanks in advance to all of our AoIR members (and soon-to-be-members!) for your participation in the election process. ~Jenny Stromer-Galley President, AoIR ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Nominees: Vice President: *Jakob Linaa Jensen, Danish School of Media and Journalism *Lynn Schofield Clark, University of Denver Treasurer: *Kelly Quinn, University of Illinois at Chicago Secretary: *Jaime Banks, West Virginia University *Daren Brabham, University of Southern California Graduate Student Representative: *Olga Boichak, Syracuse University *Desara Dushi, University of Bologna *Devin Gaffney, Northeastern University *Kate Miltner, University of Southern California Open Seat (vote for 3): *Crystal Abidin, National University of Singapore/Jonkoping University *Mathias Klang, University of Massachusetts-Boston *Iona Literat, Columbia University *Paul Nixon, The Hague University of Applied Sciences *Jack Qiu, Chinese University of Hong King *Nathan Rambukkana, Wilfrid Laurier University *Luca Rossi, IT University of Copenhagen *Panayiota Tsatsou, University of Leicester *Jacqueline Vickery, University of North Texas *Dylan Wittkower, Old Dominion University

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Call for Participation: ACM Summer School on Recommender Systems
by Christoph Trattner 10 Apr '17

10 Apr '17

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION ACM Summer School on Recommender Systems, August 21st-25th Bolzano, Italy https://recsys.acm.org/recsys17/summer-school/ The ACM Summer School on Recommender Systems is co-funded by SIGCHI via its conference development fund for the ACM conference series on Recommender Systems and has been granted additional support by the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. It will be held as a pre-program to this year’s RecSys conference from Monday 21st of August to Friday 25th in Bolzano, Italy. The Doctoral Symposium is integrated into the program of the summer school and takes place in parallel on the last day of the summer school. Participation at the summer school requires registration via this website. Registration will remain open until the capacity limit is reached. Leaders in the field as well as promising younger researchers volunteered to serve as speakers at this summer school. The lectures are covering a broad range of topics from an algorithmic as well as an methodological perspective and will also include hands-on sessions. In addition upcoming and trending topics such as recommending to groups or affect and personality-based recommendation approaches will be addressed. ORGANIZERS Robin Burke, DePaul University, USA Francesco Ricci, Free University Bozen-Bolzano, Italy Markus Zanker, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Italy WEBSITE http://pro.unibz.it/projects/schoolrecsys17/ -- ------------------------------------------------------- Dipl.-Ing. Dr.techn. Christoph Trattner BSc Assistant Professor MODUL University Vienna Department of New Media Technology E-mail: christoph.trattner(a)modul.ac.at Tel: +43 650 2402801 Homepage: http://christophtrattner.info -------------------------------------------------------

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Book Announcement: Queer Game Studies
by Adrienne Shaw 10 Apr '17

10 Apr '17

Dear all, My co-editor Bonnie Ruberg and I are excited to announce the release of our collection Queer Game Studies, out now from University of Minnesota Press. If you do research and/or teach in the areas of gender, sexuality, and games, we hope you'll give it a look. https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/queer-game-studies https://www.amazon.com/Queer-Game-Studies-Bonnie-Ruberg/dp/1517900379/ref=s… Queer Game Studies is the first volume to explore LGBTQ issues in video games from a diverse range of perspectives. Our hope is that it speaks to game studies, queer studies, and feminist media studies more broadly. Contributors to the volume include: Leigh Alexander Gregory Bagnall Hanna Brady Mattie Brice Derek Burrill Edmond Chang Naomi Clark Katherine Cross Aubrey Gabrel Christopher Goetz Jack Halberstam Todd Harper Larissa Hjorth Chelsea Howe Jesper Juul merritt kopas Colleen Macklin Amanda Phillips Gabriela Richard Toni Rocca Bonnie Ruberg Adrienne Shaw Sara Schoemann Kathryn Bond Stockton Zoya Street Peter Wonica Robert Yang Jordan Youngblood -- Adrienne Shaw Assistant Professor Temple University Department of Media Studies and Production Lew Klein College of Media and Communication 2020 N. 13th St. Annenberg Hall, room 203A Philadelphia, PA 19122 telephone: 215-204-6201 fax: 215-214-5402 smc.temple.edu/msp www.adrienneshaw.com Office Hours: Tuesday 4-6pm Email Hours: M-F 10am-12pm Founder of the LGBTQ Game Archive: https://lgbtqgamearchive.com/ Author of: Gaming at the Edge: Sexuality and Gender at the Margins of Gamer Culture, University of Minnesota Press, 2014 (http://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/gaming-at-the-edge) Co-editor of: Queer Game Studies, with Bonnie Ruberg, University of Minnesota Press, 2017 (https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/queer-game-studies) Queer Technologies: Affordances, affects, ambivalence, with Katherine Sender, Routledge, 2017 (https://www.routledge.com/Queer-Technologies-Affordances-Affect-Ambivalence…)

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Call for Papers: Special Issue on Research in Political Engineering, Public Policy Engineering, Computational Politics, and Computational Public Policy, International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age (IJPADA)
by Ashu M. G. Solo 10 Apr '17

10 Apr '17

Call for Papers: Special Issue on Research in Political Engineering, Public Policy Engineering, Computational Politics, and Computational Public Policy, International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age (IJPADA) Submission Due Date April 30, 2017 Guest Editor Ashu M. G. Solo, Maverick Technologies America Inc., U.S.A. Introduction Ashu M. G. Solo originated and defined the fields of "political engineering," "computational politics," "public policy engineering," and "computational public policy" in Solo (2011) and elaborated on these fields in Solo (2014a, 2014b). Basic and advanced methods in engineering, computer science, mathematics, or natural science can be used for political decision making, analysis, modeling, optimization, forecasting, simulation, and expression as well as for public policy formulation, decision making, analysis, modeling, optimization, forecasting, and simulation. This will lead to greatly improved political decision making and public policy. Political engineering is the application of engineering, computer science, mathematics, or natural science to solving problems in politics. Computational politics is the application of computer science or mathematics to solving problems in politics. Therefore, computational politics is a subset of political engineering. Political engineering and computational politics include, but are not limited to, principles and methods for political decision making, political analysis, political modeling, political optimization, political forecasting, political simulation, and political expression. Political engineering and computational politics are more technically, computationally, mathematically, and scientifically rigorous approaches to the field of political science. Public policy engineering is the application of engineering, computer science, mathematics, or natural science to solving problems in public policy. Computational public policy is the application of computer science or mathematics to solving problems in public policy. Therefore, computational public policy is a subset of public policy engineering. Public policy engineering and computational public policy include, but are not limited to, principles and methods for public policy formulation, public policy decision making, public policy analysis, public policy modeling, public policy optimization, public policy forecasting, and public policy simulation. Public policy engineering and computational public policy are more technically, computationally, mathematically, and scientifically rigorous approaches to the field of public policy. The term "political engineering" has been previously used to refer to designing political institutions. This is an abuse of the word "engineering." As it has been previously used, the term "political engineering" does not require the creative application or development of mathematics, natural science, technical principles, or technical methods. Therefore, Ashu M. G. Solo has given a new and more appropriate definition to the term "political engineering." Just like many terms in the dictionary have multiple meanings, the term "political engineering" can have multiple meanings. Politicians often determine how to spend limited campaign funds on advertising in certain geographic areas based on their best guesses rather than on a rigorous mathematical and computational analysis of how funds should be allocated for the greatest benefit to their campaigns. Legislators usually determine spending priorities and budget allocations based on passions of the moment, special interest lobbying, parochial interests, ignorant public opinion, or their own ideological biases rather than on a rigorous mathematical and computational analysis of how spending priorities and budget allocations can be made for the greatest public benefit. An example of political engineering and computational politics is determining the optimal allocation of election campaign funds or campaign resources. The 2012 presidential campaign of President Barack Obama made extensive use of data analytics (Scherer, 2012). An example of public policy engineering and computational public policy is the use of fuzzy logic to effectively quantify the values and beliefs of stakeholders and interested parties, environmental conditions, economic conditions, and social conditions to produce a much better environmental impact assessment (Shepard, 2005). The definition of the new interdisciplinary fields of public policy engineering, computational public policy, political engineering, and computational politics will greatly increase the pace of research and development in these extremely important fields. Also, they establish new fields of study for universities for students who are interested in engineering, computer science, mathematics, natural science, politics, or public policy. Political engineering, computational politics, public policy engineering, and computational public policy are critical for the future success of politics and public policy. Click on the hyperlinks in the references (Solo, 2011; Solo, 2014a; Solo, 2014b) below for further information on public policy engineering, computational public policy, political engineering, and computational politics. Objective Although Ashu M. G. Solo defined and originated the fields of public policy engineering, political engineering, computational public policy, and computational politics (Solo, 2011; Solo, 2014a; Solo, 2014b) to motivate more technically, computationally, mathematically, and scientifically rigorous approaches to public policy and politics and to establish new fields of study, there has been some research in these fields. This special issue of the International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age (IJPADA) will focus on research that has been done in the fields of political engineering, computational politics, public policy engineering, and computational public policy. Recommended Topics Recommended topics for this special issue include, but are not limited to, the following: Political Decision Making, Analysis, Modeling, Optimization, Forecasting, Simulation, and Expression • political decision making under uncertainty • new technologies in politics • application of engineering to politics • application of computer science to politics • application of mathematics to politics • application of natural science to politics • application of operations research to politics • application of optimization methods to politics • uncertainty management in political decision making • application of computational intelligence methods to politics • application of fuzzy logic to politics • application of neural computing to politics • application of neural networks to politics • application of evolutionary computation to politics • application of genetic algorithms to politics • application of knowledge-based systems to politics • application of machine learning methods to politics • application of pattern recognition to politics • application of data mining to politics • application of analytics to politics • application of data integration to politics • application of data analysis to politics • application of data modeling to politics • application of exploratory data analysis to politics • application of confirmatory data analysis to politics • application of predictive analytics to politics • application of text analytics to politics • application of statistics to politics • application of data visualization to politics • application of data dissemination to politics • data-driven decision making in politics • application of data fusion to politics • application of multidimensional matrix mathematics to politics • application of decision theory to politics • application of game theory to politics • application of graph theory to politics • political forecasting • political modeling • political simulation • political visualization • political software tools • political campaign software tools • case studies Public Policy Formulation, Decision Making, Analysis, Modeling, Optimization, Forecasting, and Simulation • public policy decision making under uncertainty • new technologies in public policy • application of engineering to public policy • application of computer science to public policy • application of mathematics to public policy • application of natural science to public policy • application of operations research to public policy • application of optimization methods to public policy • uncertainty management in public policy decision making • application of computational intelligence methods to public policy • application of fuzzy logic to public policy • application of neural computing to public policy • application of neural networks to public policy • application of evolutionary computation to public policy • application of genetic algorithms to public policy • application of knowledge-based systems to public policy • application of machine learning methods to public policy • application of pattern recognition to public policy • application of data mining to public policy • application of analytics to public policy • application of data integration to public policy • application of data analysis to public policy • application of data modeling to public policy • application of exploratory data analysis to public policy • application of confirmatory data analysis to public policy • application of predictive analytics to public policy • application of text analytics to public policy • application of statistics to public policy • application of data visualization to public policy • application of data dissemination to public policy • data-driven decision making in public policy • application of data fusion to public policy • application of multidimensional matrix mathematics to public policy • application of decision theory to public policy • application of game theory to public policy • application of graph theory to public policy • public policy forecasting • public policy modeling • public policy simulation • public policy visualization • public policy software tools • case studies Submission Procedure Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers for this special theme issue on Research in Political Engineering, Public Policy Engineering, Computational Politics, and Computational Public Policy on or before April 30, 2017. All submissions must be original and may not be under review by another publication. INTERESTED AUTHORS SHOULD CONSULT THE JOURNAL’S GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS at http://www.igi-global.com/publish/contributor-resources/before-you-write/. All submitted papers will be reviewed on a double-blind, peer review basis. The author(s) of each submitted paper will be asked to review two other papers. Reviewers will be acknowledged in the special issue. Papers must follow APA style for reference citations. All submissions and inquiries should be directed to the attention of Ashu M. G. Solo, Maverick Technologies America Inc., U.S.A., amgsolo(a)mavericktechnologies.us Guest Editor International Journal of Public Administration in the Digital Age (IJPADA) References Scherer, M. (2012). Inside the Secret World of the Data Crunchers Who Helped Obama Win. Time. November 7, 2012. Available at http://swampland.time.com/2012/11/07/inside-the-secret-world-of-quants-and-… Shepard, R. B. (2005). Quantifying Environmental Impact Assessments Using Fuzzy Logic. New York: Springer. Available at http://www.springer.com/us/book/9780387243986 Solo, A. M. G. (2011). The New Fields of Public Policy Engineering, Political Engineering, Computational Public Policy, and Computational Politics. In Proceedings of the 2011 International Conference on e-Learning, e-Business, Enterprise Information Systems, and e-Government (EEE'11) (pp. 431-434). Available at http://worldcomp-proceedings.com/proc/p2011/EEE5211.pdf Solo, A. M. G. (2014a). The New Interdisciplinary Fields of Political Engineering and Computational Politics. In A. M. G. Solo (Ed.), Political Campaigning in the Information Age (pp. 226-232). Hershey, Penn.: IGI Global. Available at http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/the-new-interdisciplinary-fields-of-polit… Solo, A. M. G. (2014b). The New Interdisciplinary Fields of Public Policy Engineering and Computational Public Policy. In A. M. G. Solo (Ed.), Political Campaigning in the Information Age (pp. 233-238). Hershey, Penn.: IGI Global. Available at http://www.igi-global.com/chapter/the-new-interdisciplinary-fields-of-publi…

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