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live - Social Media Summer: Sandvig, Lovink, U. of Sydney, Wed 9/12, 1.30-5.30pm
by Gerard Goggin 07 Dec '15

07 Dec '15

High Noon in the Summer of Social Media: Sandvig & Lovink on Alternatives, Algorithms, Critical Internets, Power & Platforms University of Sydney, Wed 9 December 1.30-5pm (Aust Eastern Daylight Time). RSVP<https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/high-noon-in-summer-of-social-media-sandvig…>. Or watch on twitter: using periscope app, search for handle @Sydney_DMU Sponsored by Everyday Social Media<http://sydney.edu.au/arts/slam/research/everyday_social_media/index.shtml> Research Group & Media @ Sydney<http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/about/seminars.shtml> 1.30-3pm: Christian Sandvig (Michigan), ‘Awakenings of the Filtered: Folk Theories of the Facebook News Feed’ 3.30-5pm: Geert Lovink (HvA, Amsterdam), ‘Critical Internet Cultures from Selfie Cult to Mask Design’ Venue: Seminar Room (S226), Department of Media and Communications, John Woolley Building (A20), level 2, University of Sydney (entry off Manning Road – diagonally opposite Faculty of Education building map<http://sydney.edu.au/maps/campuses/?area=CAMDAR>) About the talks & presenters Christian Sandvig, ‘Awakenings of the Filtered: Folk Theories of the Facebook News Feed’ Abstract: Online life is full of curated social media feeds, recommendations and search results. Concerns about the power of algorithmic curation to shape mediated experience without the user's knowledge or consent have produced a uniform industry response: a proliferation of new options and messages ("See first," "Hide," "Why am I seeing this?"). These labels and knobs are meant to bolster the idea that we individually control the social media curation algorithms that act on us. One problem with this premise is that it assumes user awareness and a particular conceptualization of algorithmic filtering in the first place. In this talk I will discuss a project that helped a diverse group of Facebook users compare a filtered vs. unfiltered Facebook news feed to elicit their "folk theories" of what they thought the news feed was doing. I discuss the range of elicited folk theories -- from "fresh blood" to "Narcissus" -- in order to investigate social media's contemporary co-production of mediation and relevance. Bio: Christian Sandvig<http://www-personal.umich.edu/~csandvig/> is Associate Professor in the School of Information and the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. His current research investigates the consequences of algorithmic systems that curate and organize culture. He was named a "next-generation leader in science and technology policy" in a faculty competition organized by the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He previously received a Faculty Career Development Award from the US National Science Foundation in the area of human-centered computing. He holds the Ph.D. in communication research from Stanford University. Geert Lovink, ‘Critical Internet Cultures from Selfie Cult to Mask Design’ Abstract: In this monopoly phase of platform capitalism, selfies and Anonymous are two sides of the same coin. Both emerge from the same root in Western enlightenment that emphasises individualism and liberation of the Self. Narcissistic self-promotion as well as politically motivated protection of privacy operate under the neo-liberal umbrella of individual empowerment. This raises the strategic question whether alternative network architectures arise out of a critical reading of such consumer cultures? What’s the state of the art in critical internet cultures in this post-Snowden era? What does it mean when the tactics of mainstreaming subcultural practices is running empty on the long run and the realtime meme politics is incapable of solidifying itself in alternative protocols and infrastructures? Bio: Geert Lovink<http://networkcultures.org/geert/biography/> is a media theorist, internet critic and author of Zero Comments (2007), Networks Without a Cause (2012) and Social Media Abyss (2016). Since 2004 he is researcher in the School for Communication and Media Design at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA) where he is the coordinator of the Institute of Network Cultures. Recently his centre organized conferences, publications and research networks such as Unlike Us (alternatives in social media), Society of the Query (the culture of search), MoneyLab (bitcoins, crowdfunding & internet revenue models) and a project on publishing and future of art criticism. In 2015 their digital publishing research was split off into the Publishing Lab. Since 2009 he is professor at the European Graduate School (Saas-Fee) where he supervises PhD students. For further information about this event: Contact Gerard Goggin – gerard.goggin(a)sydney.edu.au<mailto:gerard.goggin@sydney.edu.au> \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Gerard Goggin ARC Future Fellow Professor of Media and Communications Department of Media and Communications University of Sydney e: gerard.goggin(a)sydney.edu.au<applewebdata://58CAECF0-6F6E-47A3-9980-953EE0F9094E/gerard.goggin@sydney.edu.au> p: +61 2 9114 1218 m: +61 428 66 88 24 w: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/media_communications/staff/gerard_goggin.shtml

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A Celebration of Star Trek
by Paul Booth 07 Dec '15

07 Dec '15

Call for Papers and Topic Proposals: A Celebration of *Star Trek* (Apologies for cross-posting) Now accepting submissions and ideas for the fourth annual Pop Culture Colloquium at DePaul University in Chicago! The Media and Cinema Studies program, along with the College of Computing and Digital Media, the English Department, and the Department of American Studies at DePaul University is hosting a one-day celebratory colloquium in honor the fiftieth anniversary of *Star Trek* on Saturday, May 07, from 9am-6pm. This event will feature roundtable discussions from scholars and fans of *Supernatural*, speaking about the cultural impact of the show, as well as analyzing aspects of the episodes. The even will also feature keynote speaker Brannon Braga (executive producer, writer, and director of multiple episodes and films), screenings, screenwriting workshops, a costume contest, and more. The audience for this event is both graduate and undergraduate students, both fans and scholars, and the focus should be on informed and enlightening discussion rather than formal academic papers. “A Celebration of *Star Trek*” will take place on DePaul’s Loop campus. If you’re interested in speaking on a round table, please send a 200 word abstract of your topic and a CV or resume to Paul Booth (pbooth(a)depaul.edu) by Mar 01. Please aim your abstracts for a more general audience and for a discussion rather than a paper presentation. For more information, please check out the website www.mcsdepaul.com/a-celebration-of-star-trek.html and sign up for updates on Facebook (search “A Celebration of Star Trek”). We hope that you will be able to join in the discussion and celebration! A Celebration of Star Trek (DePaul University, 07 May) -- Paul Booth, PhD www.mcsdepaul.com/paul-booth.html Associate Professor of Media and Cinema Studies/Communication Technology College of Communication DePaul University 14 E. Jackson Chicago, IL 60604 *Email Disclaimer: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and are intended solely for use by the addressee. Any unauthorized dissemination, distribution or copying of this message and any attachments is strictly prohibited. If you have received this e-mail in error, please notify the sender and delete the message. Any views or opinions presented in this e-mail may solely be the views of the author and cannot be relied upon as being those of DePaul University.

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CfP: Surveillance and Security in the Age of Algorithmic Communication (Leicester, 26 July 2016, IAMCR pre-conference)
by Lina Dencik 07 Dec '15

07 Dec '15

>Surveillance and Security in the Age of Algorithmic Communication >An IAMCR 2016 pre-conference >University of Leicester >26 July 2016 > >Deadline for abstracts: (500 words): January 15, 2016 >More information: http://iamcr.org/leicester2016/algorithmic-surveillance >The call as pdf: >http://iamcr.org/sites/default/files/AlgoSurveillancePreconferenceCfP_0.pd >f > >The Snowden leaks have put mass surveillance on the public and academic >agendas. Data collection, interception and analysis by both state and >commercial actors are increasingly discussed and investigated, and >instances of mass data leaks underline the challenges of big data >gathering and storage. So what does the reality of surveillance and the >precarity of data security mean as our world is increasingly structured >by algorithmic decision-making, artificial intelligence, the internet of >things, and robotic cultures? What are the challenges and solutions, and >what new concepts and practices need to be considered? What next? > >Academic debates on posthumanism, futuristic philosophical endeavours, >and scholarly fields such as science and technology studies have >approached these questions, but they have not been very prominent at >IAMCR. This preconference will therefore address these current debates >on the future of media and communications. > >We welcome researchers who are eager to discuss the consequences of >algorithmic communication and artificial intelligence to the field of >media and communication. We particularly invite studies on the long-term >challenges to privacy and surveillance in digital networks as they are >emerging in the area of ethics and politics of algorithmic >communication, and on the employment of AI in areas such as policing, >healthcare, social services, education, the digital economy and the >cultural industries. > >For this pre-conference workshop we are interested in the following >themes: > >- The politics and ethics of algorithmic communication and security >- Challenges of the employment of AI in policing, social services, etc. >- Privacy and security in the context of the internet of things >- Roles and implications of corporate, governmental and civil society >production of algorithmic communication >- Accountability and agency in the ?black box society? >- The role of human/civic rights in the context of AI and algorithmic >security >- Necessary policies, regulatory frameworks, and relevant standards >- Robot protests: sociopolitical cyberconflicts and resistance to >algorithmic security >- The pre-conference is associated with the projects The Common Good: >Ethics and Rights in Cyber - Security and Digital Citizenship and >Surveillance Society. > > > >---------------- > >Dr Arne Hintz > >Senior Lecturer | Director MA Digital Media and Society > >School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies | Cardiff University > >Bute Building, King Edward VII Avenue | Cardiff CF10 3NB > >Principal Investigator | ESRC project 'Digital Citizenship and >Surveillance Society' > >Fellow | Center for Media, Data and Society | Central European University > >Email: HintzA(a)cardiff.ac.uk >

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CFP: Machine Communication (Deadline Soon)
by Zach McDowell 07 Dec '15

07 Dec '15

(Apologies for cross posting) *CFP – Machine Communication* *communication +1* invites submissions for its upcoming issue, Machine Communication. *Edited by David Gunkel and Zachary McDowell* Within this issue we hope to explore the boundaries of communication outside of the human, that which is inevitably radically other – the machine. We seek articles that interrogate the implications and the various problematics that emerge around, within, and from the engagement with the machine. What does the machine have to say about our history, our present, or our future? Whether the question of human-machine interaction, machine-machine interaction, or machines interacting with themselves, we hope to find and collect articles probing the boundaries of concern for machine communication. Topics may include but are not limited to: Algorithmic Culture – Influence of machines on human or other non-machine culture; Robotic Automation – Drones, Robots, or other automated systems that exist in the corporeal world and take part in a variety of tasks; Artificial Intelligence – Either soft-AI and its effects or hard-AI and its possible futures / implications. Other topics might include Cybernetics, Bioinformatics, Knowledge Representation, or various applications of Software Theory. Please submit short proposals of no more than 500 words by December 13th, 2015 to communicationplusone(a)gmail.com. Upon invitation, full text submissions will be due April 5th, 2013, with expected publication in September, 2016. *About the Journal* The aim of *communication +1* is to promote new approaches to and open new horizons in the study of communication from an interdisciplinary perspective. We are particularly committed to promoting research that seeks to constitute new areas of inquiry and to explore new frontiers of theoretical activities linking the study of communication to both established and emerging research programs in the humanities, social sciences, and arts. Other than the commitment to rigorous scholarship, *communication +1* sets no specific agenda. Its primary objective is to create is a space for thoughtful experiments and for communicating these experiments. *communication +1 *is an open access journal supported by University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries and the Department of Communication * Editor in Chief: Briankle G. Chang, University of Massachusetts Amherst * Managing Editor: Zachary J. McDowell, University of Massachusetts Amherst *Advisory Board* Kuan-Hsing Chen, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan Bernard Geoghegan, Humboldt-Universität, Germany Lawrence Grossberg, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill David Gunkel, Northern Illinois University Catherine Malabou, Kingston University, United Kingdom Jussi Parikka, University of Southampton, United Kingdom John Durham Peters, University of Iowa Johnathan Sterne, McGill University Ted Striphas, Indiana University Greg Wise, Arizona State University For more information about the project in general, as well as short pieces, lectures, and interviews, visit communicationplusone.org. For more information or to participate in the communicationplusone.org project, please email communicationplusone(a)gmail.com best, Zach -------------------- Zachary J. McDowell Doctoral Candidate (ABD) Department of Communication University of Massachusetts, Amherst Doctoral Fellow, National Center for Digital Government <http://www.umass.edu/digitalcenter/people/fellows.html> Wikipedia Teaching Fellow <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_Program:University_of_Massachusetts…> Managing Editor, communication +1 <http://scholarworks.umass.edu/cpo/>

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New Issue of "Online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet"
by Simone Heidbrink 07 Dec '15

07 Dec '15

Dear all, The editors of "online - Heidelberg Journal of Religions on the Internet" (http://online.uni-hd.de) are pleased to announce the publication of a new issue (09-2015), featuring a broad range of articles on all different aspects of religion online. In February 2016 a new special issue on "religion and digital games" will follow. The journal is always keen to collect high quality scholarship on issues relating to religions on the Internet and welcomes submissions pertaining to all aspects of theses matters anytime to be published in one of our next issues. Submissions and queries should be send to the following address: online.religion(a)zegk.uni-heidelberg.de. Best regards on behalf of the editors Simone Heidbrink (secretary to the editorial board) -- Simone Heidbrink, M.A. Institut für Religionswissenschaft Zentrum für Europäische Geschichts- und Kulturwissenschaften (ZEGK) Universität Heidelberg Akademiestr. 4-8 D - 69117 Heidelberg fon: ++49-(0)6221-54 74 82 fax: ++49-(0)6221-54 76 24

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UTS:CIC - 3 PhD Scholarships in Learning Analytics (Sydney, 2016)
by Simon Knight 06 Dec '15

06 Dec '15

The Connected Intelligence Centre at the University of Technology Sydney is currently advertising 3 PhD scholarships for 2016 on the following topics/themes: * Learning Analytics, Agency and Algorithmic Accountability * Learning Analytics for Student Writing Practices * Learning Analytics Across Digital and Physical Spaces http://utscic.edu.au/research/phd CIC’s mission is to invent, evaluate and theorise the design of human-centered data science and learning analytics to advance the UTS Teaching & Learning program. As you will see from our Research Themes and the three PhD topics advertised, a core theme is analytics techniques to nurture in learners the creative, critical, sensemaking qualities needed for lifelong learning, employment and citizenship in a complex, data-saturated society. The website contains further detail on the topics, and CIC's context. We welcome informal contacts in the first instance. Please do pass this information along to anyone/group who might be a good candidate to apply. Simon Knight <http://utscic.edu.au/research/phd>

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First chapter of "This Program is Brought to You By…" available free on Culture Digitally
by Joshua Braun 06 Dec '15

06 Dec '15

With the kind permission of Yale University Press, /Culture Digitally /has made available the first chapter of my new book, /This Program is Brought to You By: Distributing ///Television/ News Online/, for free: http://culturedigitally.org/2015/12/dialogue_braun/ It's accompanied by some terrific commentaries from other scholars I greatly respect and for whose participation I'm immensely grateful. I hope those of you who're interested will check it out. Here's the catalog description. <http://wideaperture.net/?view=book> All the Best, Josh -- Josh Braun, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Journalism Studies Journalism Department University of Massachusetts Amherst @josh_braun Skype: wideaperture http://wideaperture.net/ "Maybe the only gift is a chance to inquire, to know nothing for certain. An inheritance of wonder and nothing more." William Least Heat-Moon

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more on the NY Times front page
by Paul Levinson 06 Dec '15

06 Dec '15

here's the gist of what I had to say http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2015/12/the-front-page-editorial-in-new-yo…

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McLuhan on New Zealand radio
by Paul Levinson 06 Dec '15

06 Dec '15

So I just worked Marshall McLuhan, and his brilliant point in The Mechanical Bride that you can tell the state of the world just by looking at the front-page configuration of a newspaper, into my interview on New Zealand "Breakfast" radio about yesterday's NY Times front page editorial advocating gun control

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social media content in documentary films
by Tori Holmes 06 Dec '15

06 Dec '15

Dear colleagues, Does anyone know of any research (published or in progress) specifically on the inclusion of internet/social media content in documentary films, e.g. footage/screenshots of social network site pages or video sharing platforms relating to the subject matter of the film and the story being told? I would very much welcome any suggestions you might have of work I could read on this topic. Thanks in advance for your help. Best wishes, Tori Dr Tori Holmes Lecturer in Brazilian Studies Department of Spanish & Portuguese School of Modern Languages 9 University Square (Rm 301) Queen's University Belfast Belfast BT7 1NN Northern Ireland Tel: +44 (0)28 9097 3632 Email: t.holmes(a)qub.ac.uk<mailto:t.holmes@qub.ac.uk> Web: http://www.qub.ac.uk/ml

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