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CfP: Transdisciplinary Approaches to Urban Computing now due 22 June 2014
by Marcus Foth 29 May '14

29 May '14

Transdisciplinary Approaches to Urban Computing Special Issue of the International Journal of Human-Computer Studies (IJHCS) http://bit.ly/TAUC-CfP edited by Hannu Kukka, University of Oulu Marcus Foth, Queensland University of Technology Sebastian Boring, University of Copenhagen Anind K. Dey, Carnegie Mellon University tauc.editors(a)gmail.com Deadline for submissions extended until 22 June 2014 DESCRIPTION The research field of urban computing – defined as “the integration of computing, sensing, and actuation technologies into everyday urban settings and lifestyles” [1] – considers the design and use of ubiquitous computing technology in public and shared urban environments. Its impact on cities, buildings, and spaces evokes innumerable kinds of change [2]. Embedded into our everyday lived environments, urban computing technologies have the potential to alter the meaning of physical space, and affect the activities performed in those spaces. In this special issue, we invite contributions to a multi-themed discussion of various aspects that make up the, at times, messy and certainly transdisciplinary field of urban computing and urban informatics. The starting point for the proposed special issue is a call for a more transdisciplinary approach to the design and evaluation of urban computing systems that regards these systems as holistic, organic and evolving constructs comprising three interrelated components: people, place, technology. Following Nicolescu [3], we use the term transdisciplinarity to signify the positioning of urban computing research at once between different disciplines, across these disciplines, and beyond all discipline. The term differs from the related concepts of multidisciplinarity, where a topic is studied by several disciplines that are in service of a base discipline, and interdisciplinarity, where methods from one discipline are transferred to another. Looking at urban computing from a transdisciplinary perspective is useful in that a large methodological and theoretical gap exists in much of the current literature. Often, the epistemological, methodological, theoretical, and practical contributions of relevant fields of study (e.g., computer science, architecture and design, and social sciences) do not connect to form a solid basis for the advancement of cities and city life. Despite the inherent complexity and transdisciplinary nature of urban computing as a subject of study, few such efforts have been undertaken. However, moving the field forward requires explorations of the opportunities and challenges inherent in truly transdisciplinary work by researchers from several interrelated fields of study coming together to design, build, and evaluate urban computing systems. In the proposed special issue we call for contributions from both practical and theoretical points of view discussing the practice and promise of transdisciplinary work in the field of urban computing and urban informatics. Specifically, we hope to elicit contributions from researchers in the various fields closely related to urban computing such as computer science, social sciences (e.g., cultural anthropology), and architecture and urban design. We envision the following contributions: (1) experience reports on transdisciplinary projects in real-life urban settings, reporting results from urban computing studies conducted in a transdisciplinary manner; and (2) theoretical/conceptual discussions on the merits of understanding the topic not only from a technological perspective, taking into consideration the various interrelated disciplines and fields of study. The proposed topic is timely and significant, since more and more explorations are conducted “at large” or "in-the-wild,” i.e. outside traditional research laboratory settings. This move from controlled laboratories to messy real-life environments is far from trivial, and requires an integrated approach that both takes into account and respects the inherent transdisciplinarity that carrying out high quality research in such settings requires. Hence, contributions in the proposed special issue should be of interest to a large and varied audience of researchers and practitioners who either already do research “in-the-wild,” or hope to transition to such work in the future. REFERENCES [1] Kindberg, C., Chalmers, M., Paulos, E. (2007) Guest Editor’s Introduction: Urban Computing. IEEE Pervasive Computing, 6(3), 18-20. [2] Fuller, M. (2013) Foreword. In: Throughout: Art and Culture Emerging with Ubiquitous Computing. MIT Press. [3] Nicolescu, B. (2001) Manifesto of Transdisciplinarity. Translated from French by Karen-Claire Voss. State of New York Press: New York. AIMS AND SCOPE The aim of this Special Issue is to present high quality, original, manuscripts related to the issue of transdisciplinary approaches to the field of urban computing. Manuscripts must be original, but significant expansions and revisions of papers recently presented at conferences and workshops will be considered. Possible topics include but are not limited to: • Experience reports on transdisciplinary projects in real-life urban settings • Reporting results from urban computing studies conducted in a transdisciplinary manner • Theoretical/conceptual discussions on the need for / the advancement of transdisciplinary work We are looking to publish a mix (roughly 50/50) of papers with a theoretical and practical contribution, depending of course on the number and types of submissions we receive. PAPER SUBMISSION Deadline: manuscripts are now due 22 June 2014 but early submissions are encouraged. All contributions will be rigorously peer reviewed to the usual exacting standards of the IJHCS journal. Further information, including submission procedures and advice on formatting and preparing your manuscript, can be found at: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/international-journal-of-human-computer-st… Manuscripts are submitted via the Elsevier Editorial System (EES) at: http://ees.elsevier.com/ijhcs/ To discuss a possible contribution, please contact the special issue editors at: tauc.editors(a)gmail.com For more information please visit: http://bit.ly/TAUC-CfP -- Associate Professor Marcus Foth Director, Urban Informatics Research Lab Principal Research Fellow, School of Design Queensland University of Technology 130 Victoria Park Road, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia m.foth(a)qut.edu.au – @sunday9pm – http://www.urbaninformatics.net/ CRICOS No. 00213J

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Visualizing gaps in political participation? Online bridges/wedges
by Steven Clift 28 May '14

28 May '14

Last year I took a deep dive into the Pew Internet and American Life's Civic Engagement in the Digital Age report: http://bit.ly/pewcivic Long story short, the report seems to suggest that despite a closing digital divide, online participation is not helping close the democratic divide based on income, education, race, age, etc. Before I beat a louder drum that says, "hey, investments and experiments with open government and civic tech should raise new voices and not settle for just amplifying the voices of those who already show up" I need better/broader/fresher numbers. I need visualizations that show the greatest gaps in political participation both in general and online to guide efforts that seek to generate the most results. So, who has those charts, etc.? Or do you want to help generate some? Thanks, Steven Clift E-Democracy.org P.S. If you scroll down you'll see some slides of note with numbers: http://bit.ly/newvoicesvideo - I am looking for far more pleasing displays of this research like this. ᐧ

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Open Call for Collaborators> Interactivos? Birmingham: Responsive and immersive future technologies
by Medialab-Prado Comunicación 28 May '14

28 May '14

*MEDIALAB-PRADO* *Plaza**de las Letras** **Calle Ala**meda, 15** **28014 Madrid T. 912 191 157** ****www.medialab-prado.es** ****Entrada gratuita * * * Interactivos? Birmingham: Responsive and immersive future technologies <http://medialab-prado.es/article/interactivosbirminghamcollaborators> Open Call for Collaborators Pleased to announce seven projects <http://medialab-prado.es/article/birminghamselectedprojects> for Interactivos Birmingham 2014 have been chosen from an international open call, with an unprecedented response. These projects will be worked on and developed intensely over a two week period in a workshop studio at *mac birmingham <http://www.macarts.co.uk/>* from June 16 - 28. For this process, we need collaborators! Coming from a range of backgrounds and disciplines, these collaborators will offer their knowledge and expertise, and work alongside a project of their choice over the two week period. These projects <http://medialab-prado.es/article/birminghamselectedprojects> aim to expand on the use of electronic and software tools for artists, designers and educators, aiming to develop interactive tools to create engaging experiences for audiences and communities Deadline for registrations: June 13, 2014. No entry fees. *More information: http://medialab-prado.es*

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New master study: WebDataMetrics
by Lozar-Manfreda, Katja 28 May '14

28 May '14

A new master study on web-based data collection and analysis that might be of interest to some of you or your students .... MASTER IN WEBDATAMETRICS. Web-based data collection and analysis. Join the future, be one of the first to be educated in Webdatametrics, the science of collecting and using digital data in the behavioural and social sciences! The Master in Webdatametrics – web based data collection and analysis offers a front of the line top quality programme in the area of Internet-based data collection methods and Big Data analysis. The programme was created by the Webdatametrics Academic Board elected from members of the COST network Webdatanet. It joins together academics and researchers from the best Universities and departments in Europe. The Webdatametrics concept emerges from the existing diverse variety of disciplines related to web data collection methods and analyses. Putting this knowledge together, Webdatametrics students will generate new knowledge and take advantage of information and communication technologies (ICT) to collect data for scientific and business purposes. The Master in Webdatametrics is a 120 ECTS (two year) post-graduate course that follows a blended system with face to face classes, online 3.0. teaching and a face to face training period. This blended methodology gives the student flexibility in their location and the opportunity to work with the best teachers and researchers in the field, on a world-wide scale in a top quality academic programme of excellence. In addition, the Webdatanet network and Master opens the possibility for our students to be placed through internships in a strict selection process in top Research Institutes, the best University departments, and some of the most reputable International Institutions and Enterprises worldwide. The first edition of The Master in Webdatametrics, web based data collection and analysis begins in September 2014. Registration process starts on the 5th of May till the 30th of June 2014. We invite you to submit your application and join the future which this programme offers for you today. www.webdatametrics.org ****************************************** Katja Lozar Manfreda, Phd Assistant professor University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Social Sciences Kardeljeva pl. 5, 1000 Ljubljana Slovenia Tel: +386 1 5805 313 Email: katja.lozar(a)fdv.uni-lj.si

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2015 ISA Conference Panel: Seeking Abstracts
by Rex Troumbley 27 May '14

27 May '14

Aloha AoIR-ers, We have organized a panel for the 2015 ISA conference, but one of our paper presenters had to withdraw last minute and so there’s an opening for anyone interested. The ISA conference is the annual meeting of the International Studies Association<http://www.isanet.org/Conferences/NewOrleans2015/Call.aspx> and will be held this year in New Orleans from February 18th-21st, 2015. Our panel is titled “Digital Politics and the Networked Eye” and the abstract is below. The panel will be chaired by Mark Salter<https://socialsciences.uottawa.ca/pol/professor-profile?id=127>from the University of Ottowa and our discussant will be Jose Marichal <http://www.callutheran.edu/faculty/profile.php?id=marichal> from California Lutheran University. The call for papers deadline is soon, so if you are interested in joining our panel please send a 200 word abstract to Rex Troumbley at rextroumbley(a)gmail.com as soon as possible. The lasted we can accept abstracts is Thursday, May 29, 2014. We will let you if your abstract fits our panel by May 30th. Thank you all. Rex Troumbley, PhD Candidate Department of Political Science University of Hawaii at Manoa Panel Title: Digital Politics and the Networked Eye Abstract: The contemporary proliferation of networked devices and social medias, interfaces and monitors, ubiquitous data collection, and remote killing technologies has created a tension between transparency and opacity to fundamentally deform politics today. The universalization of surveillance and optics via infrastructural technologies merits critical attention. However, most work surveying the implications of the networked eye misrepresented it as analogous to the theory of social control described by Foucault as the Panopticon. The papers on this panel go beyond the Panoptic trope to consider the tension between transparency and opacity in the age of networked optics. Instead they consider how transparency and opacity can be used as tool of resistance, the kinds of publics which are created or deformed by what they see online, how opacity can be useful or limiting to the work of visual culture, and consequently how networked devices themselves see.

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5th-year PhD student seeking postdocs or visiting fellowships in e-participation-related research in New York
by Karin Hansson 27 May '14

27 May '14

Dear all, I am a PhD student in Computer and System Sciences at Stockholm University in collaboration with the Royal Institute of Art. I have a background in the visual arts as an artist and curator, with a focus on the aesthetics and social aspects of communication technology. In my thesis, I have looked at how belonging and community is materialized and performed online, and I have developed e-tools for collaboration. I am also interested in how big data can be used to highlight representation in online public spheres and the difference-making processes within and between these spheres. Is anyone currently seeking a postdoc in these areas in New York city, or know of related research centers? I am currently engaged in a Swedish research project on e-participation and urban planning, and might be able to partly finance a post doc if I can do a comparative study in New York. (I prefer to stay in NY of family reasons) Thanks in advance, Karin Hansson http://people.dsv.su.se/~khansson/

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CFP reminder: The Fan Studies Network Conference
by Bertha Chin 27 May '14

27 May '14

We just wanted to offer a little reminder that abstracts for the Fan Studies Network Conference 2014 are due at the end of this week (by Sunday 1st June)! Please see below for the CFP, and you can also read it on our blog here: http://fanstudies.wordpress.com/2014/04/08/call-for-papers-fan-studies-netw… THE FAN STUDIES NETWORK 2014 CONFERENCE 27-28th September 2014 Regent’s University, London, UK Keynote Speakers: Dr Paul Booth (DePaul University) Dr Rhiannon Bury (Athabasca University) Mr Orlando Jones (star of Sleepy Hollow, appearing for a virtual Q&A) For two years the Fan Studies Network has provided a fruitful and enthusiastic space for academics interested in fans and fandom to connect, share resources, and develop their research ideas. Following the success of our first symposium in November 2013, we are delighted to announce the FSN2014 Conference, taking place over two days at Regent’s University London from 27-28th September 2014. FSN2014 will feature three fantastic keynote speakers. The first will be Dr Paul Booth, author of Digital Fandom: New Media Studies (Peter Lang, 2010), Time on TV: Temporal Displacement and Mashup Television (Peter Lang, 2012) and editor of Fan Phenomena: Doctor Who (Intellect, 2013). His newest book, Media Play: Pastiche, Parody, Fandom, is forthcoming from University of Iowa Press. The second keynote will be Dr Rhiannon Bury, author of Cyberspaces of Their Own: Female Fandoms Online (Peter Lang, 2005) and currently writing her second book for publication with Peter Lang, entitled Television 2.0: New Perspectives on Digital Convergence, Audiences, and Fans. We are also incredibly delighted that Mr Orlando Jones, an American film and television writer, producer, and actor who currently plays Captain Frank Irving in Sleepy Hollow (Fox, 2013-) and vocal proponent of fan culture, will be joining us via Skype to participate in a virtual Q&A session. We invite abstracts of no more than 300 words for individual 20 minute papers that address any aspect of fandom or fan studies. We also welcome collated submissions for pre-constituted panels. We encourage new members, in all stages of study, to the network and welcome proposals for presentations on, but not limited to, the following possible topics: - Activism and fandom - Producer-audience interactions - Non-Western fan cultures - Ethics in fan studies - Defining fandom - Anti-Fandom and Non-Fandom - Fan use of social media platforms - Fandom (and) controversies - The future of fan studies We also invite expressions of interest (100- 200 words) from anyone wishing to host a short session of ‘speed geeking.’ This would involve each speaker chairing a short discussion on a relevant topic of their choosing, and then receiving extensive feedback, making it ideal for presenting in-progress or undeveloped ideas. If you have any questions about this format of presentation, please contact Richard McCulloch at mccullochr(a)regents.ac.uk. Please send any enquires/abstracts to: fsnconference(a)gmail.com by SUNDAY 1st JUNE. Notifications of decisions will be sent out w/c 16th June. You can find out more information on http://fanstudies.wordpress.com/ or talk about the event on Twitter using #FSN2014. Conference Organisers: Lucy Bennett and Tom Phillips (FSN chairs) Bertha Chin, Bethan Jones, Richard McCulloch, Rebecca Williams (FSN board) We hope to see you there! -- Dr. Bertha Chin Independent Scholar <http://cardiff.academia.edu/BerthaChin> @bertha_c Board Member, Fan Studies Network (http://fanstudies.wordpress.com/)

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Mapping Social Science and Humanities - EuroScience Open Forum 2014, 23 June 2014
by Katja Mayer 27 May '14

27 May '14

Mapping social sciences and humanities June 23 2014 (15:00 - 16:15) Carlsberg Museum/The Dance Halls, Copenhagen, DK Speakers: Andrea Scharnhorst, Data Archiving and Networked Services (DANS, NL) Jürgen Pfeffer, Carnegie Mellon School of Computer Science, USA Gunnar Sivertsen, Nordisk Institutt for Studier av Innovasjon, Forskning og Utdanning (NIFU) Discussant: Katja Mayer, University of Vienna Moderator: Frederik Stjernfelt, University of Copenhagen Session description https://esof2014.pathable.com/#meetings/174621 Session organisers: David Budtz Pedersen, University of Copenhagen; Katja Mayer, University of Vienna Mapping scientific fields and research areas is of growing interest to scientists, policymakers, funding agencies and industry. Computation of bibliometric data such as co-authorships, co-citation analysis, cross-disciplinary collaborations, and inter-institutional networks supply coherent visual maps of the research landscape. Research in the social sciences and humanities is often difficult to map and survey, since these fields are embedded in diverse and often diverging epistemic cultures. Some are specifically bound to local contexts, languages and terminologies, and the domain lacks global referencing bodies and dictionaries. Mapping scientific activity and understanding interdisciplinary exchanges requires researchers to go beyond traditional statistical methods, such as co-citation analysis, and develop new semantic technologies such as topic models, natural language processing, as well as survey-based studies. We will explore how combinations and variations of science mapping approaches can provide a productive basis for studies of research characteristics in the humanities and social sciences. Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) is Europe’s largest interdisciplinary science conference. It takes place every second year in a major European city. ESOF2014 consists of a global forum for discussions on topical issues in science and humanities complemented by an ambitious outreach programme with a large number of events. The conference takes place at the Carlsberg City District, Copenhagen June 23-26, 2014 (http://esof2014.org) About 4,500 participants from more than 70 countries are present at the conference. The Science in the City festival is expected to attract more than 30.000 citizens to the free activities. Early bird registration is possible until 31 May. You might also be interested in the session: The role of social science and humanities in addressing global challenges https://esof2014.pathable.com/#meetings/174650 See you at ESOF 2014!

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Publishers withdraw more than 120 gibberish papers
by Joly MacFie 26 May '14

26 May '14

>From February, but.. http://www.nature.com/news/publishers-withdraw-more-than-120-gibberish-pape… as one wag said.. "And to think, I considered majoring in Gibberish." " -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast WWWhatsup NYC - http://wwwhatsup.com http://pinstand.com - http://punkcast.com VP (Admin) - ISOC-NY - http://isoc-ny.org -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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Workshop: Marx’s Labour Theory of Value in the Digital Age
by Christian Fuchs 26 May '14

26 May '14

Workshop: Marx’s Labour Theory of Value in the Digital Age COST Action IS1202 “Dynamics of Virtual Work”, http://dynamicsofvirtualwork.com/ The Open University of Israel. June 15-17, 2014. Recent developments in digital technology, from “social media”/”web 2.0” such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Weibo, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Foursquare, etc to mobile devices, have spurred new forms of production. A variety of terms has been used to describe new production practices and new products enabled by the Internet: participatory culture, co-creation, mass collaboration, social production, commons-based peer production, mass customization, prosumption, produsage, crowdsourcing, open source, social production, user-generated content, user participation, folksonomics, wikinomics, collaborative innovation, open innovation, user innovation. These terms and debates are often over-optimistic, celebratory and lack a critical understanding of “social media” – they do not engage with the social problem-dimension of the “social”. The multiplicity of neologisms is also a symptom of a “technologistic” outlook, which assumes that each technical innovation brings about a paradigmatic change in culture and in society and more democracy and a better society. While such multiplicity of terms attests to a phenomenology of technological innovation and diversity, it is also an analytical and theoretical liability. Concurrent with this dominant approach, there have been attempts for a systematic critical analysis of new forms of online production, digital labour and commodification on social media through the prism of the labour theory of value. Such theoretical approaches attempt to apply a unified conceptual framework in order to gain better understanding of the socio-economic foundations of digital media and the social relations, power relations and class relations that they facilitate. They also help to connect these new productive practices with a longstanding theoretical tradition emerging from Marxian political economy. The role of Marx’s labour theory of value for understanding the political economy of digital and social media has been a topic of intense work and debates in recent years, particularly concerning the appropriateness of using Marxian concepts, such as: value, surplus-value, exploitation, class, abstract and concrete labour, alienation, commodities, the dialectic, work and labour, use- and exchange-value, General Intellect, labour time, labour power, the law of value, necessary and surplus labour time, absolute and relative surplus value production, primitive accumulation, rent, reproductive labour, formal and real subsumption of labour under capital, species-being, collective worker, etc. The critical conceptualization of digital labour has been approached from a variety of critical approaches, such as Marx’s theory, Dallas Smythe’s theory of audience commodification, Critical Theory, Autonomous Marxism, feminist political economy, labour process theory, etc. In this workshop we explore current interventions to the digital labour theory of value. Such interventions propose theoretical and empirical work that contributes to our understanding of the Marx’s labour theory of value, how the nexus of labour and value are transformed under virtual conditions, or they employ the theory in order to shed light on specific practices. The Israeli location will provide an opportunity to explore some issues pertinent to digital technology in the local context, including a lecture on the Palestinian Internet and a tour exploring techniques of separation and control along the separation wall in Jerusalem. Keynote talks: Noam Yoran: The Labour Theory of Television, or, Why is Television Still Around Christian Fuchs: The Digital Labour Theory of Value and Karl Marx in the Age of Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Weibo Anat Ben David: The Palestinian Internet The programme features the following talks: * Andrea Fumagalli: The concept of life subsumption in cognitive bio-capitalism: valorization and governance * Bingqing Xia: Marx's in Chinese online space: some thoughts on the labour problem in Chinese Internet industries * Brice Nixon: The Exploitation of Audience Labour: A Missing Perspective on Communication and Capital in the Digital Era * Bruce Robinson: Marx's categories of labour, value production and digital work * Eran Fisher: Audience labour: empirical inquiry into the missing link of subjectivity * Frederick Harry Pitts: Form-giving fire: creative industries as Marx’s ‘work of combustion’” * Jakob Rigi: The Crisis of the Law of Value? The Marxian Concept of Rent and a Critique of Antonio Negri`s and his Associates` Approach Towards the Marxian Law of Value * Jernej Prodnik: Media products and (digital) labour in global capitalist accumulation: A preliminary study * Kylie Jarrett: The Uses of Use-Value: A Marxist-Feminist contribution to understanding digital media * Marisol Sandoval: The Dark Side of the Information Age - Arguments for an Extended Definition of Digital Labour * Olivier Frayssé: Cyberspace ground rent, surplus value extraction, realization, and general surplus value apportionment * Sebastian Sevignani: Productive prosumption, primitive accumulation, or rent? Problematising exploitation 2.0 * Thomas Allmer: Digital and Social Media Between Emancipation and Commodification: Dialectical and Critical Perspectives * Yuqi Na: Capital accumulation of targeted advertising-based capitalist social media. What do people in the UK and China think about it and why? A Marxist perspective If you wish to attend the workshop, please contact RSVP Eran Fisher: eranfisher(a)gamil.com

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