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great social media and influence conference coming up in Toronto
by Barry Wellman 18 Jan '14

18 Jan '14

where it will be sunny and warm Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ NetLab FRSC INSNA Founder Faculty of Information (iSchool) 611 Bissell Building 140 St. George St. University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 3G6 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman twitter: @barrywellman NSA/CSEC: Canadian and American citizen NETWORKED:The New Social Operating System. Lee Rainie & Barry Wellman MIT Press http://amzn.to/zXZg39 Print $20 Kindle $16 Old/NewCyberTimes http://bit.ly/c8N9V8 ________________________________________________________________________ Call for Submissions: Papers (extended abstracts), Panels and Posters 2014 SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY CONFERENCE (#SMSociety14) September 27-28, 2014, Toronto, Canada Conference website: http://SocialMediaAndSociety.com/ IMPORTANT DATES Paper & Panel Abstracts Due: April 18, 2014 Paper & Panel Notification: May 19, 2014 Poster Abstracts Due: May 23, 2014 Poster Notification: June 13, 2014 Conference Dates: September 27-28, 2014 DESCRIPTION We live in an era of â??Big Dataâ??. Petabyte and exabyte-size datasets are becoming increasingly common. Much of the data is coming from social media in the form of user-generated content. What do we do with all of these â??socialâ?? data and how do we make sense of it all? What are the inherent challenges and issues surrounding working with social media data? How are social media platforms and the data that they generate changing us as individuals, changing our organizations and changing our society? Additionally what are the political, ethical, privacy, and security implications of the wide availability of these data? These are just a few questions that we have for this yearâ??s participants of the 2014 Social Media & Society Conference (#SMSociety14). The Social Media & Society Conference is an annual gathering of leading social media researchers from around the world. Now, in its 5th year, the 2014 Conference will be held in Toronto, Canada from September 27 to 28. From its inception, the conference has focused on the best practices for studying the impact and implications of social media on society. The conference offers an intensive two-day program comprising of paper presentations, panel discussions, and posters covering wide-ranging topics related to social media. Organized by the Social Media Lab at Dalhousie University, the conference provides attendees an opportunity to exchange ideas, present their original research, learn about recently completed and work-in-progress studies, and strengthen connections with their peers. Last yearâ??s conference hosted nearly 200 attendees, featured research from 90+ scholars and practitioners across several fields from over 60 institutions in 15 different countries. SUBMISSION PROCESS We invite you to submit papers (extended abstracts), panel proposals and posters on a variety of topics including (but not limited to!): Social Media & Big Data, Social Media Impact on Society, Theories & Methods, and Online/Offline Communities. Full papers are not required for this conference, only an extended abstract (~500 words, excluding references) on a completed or well-developed project related to the broad theme of â??Social Media & Society.â?? All submissions will be peer-reviewed. If selected, the author(s) will be invited to give a 15-minute oral presentation followed by a 5 min Q&A period at the conference. Author(s) of accepted paper abstracts may also be invited to submit their full papers to the new Big Data & Society Journal published by SAGE. Instructions for authors and more information is available at http://SocialMediaAndSociety.com TOPICS OF INTEREST Social Media & Big Data - Visualization of Social Media Data - Social Media Data Mining - Scalability Issues and Social Media Data - Social Media Analytics Social Media Impact on Society - Private Self/Public Self - The Sharing/Attention Economy - Virality & Memes - Political Mobilization & Engagement - Social Media and Health - Social Media and Business (Marketing, PR, HR, Risk Management, etc.) - Social Media and Academia (Alternative Metrics. Learning Analytics, etc.) - Social Media and Public Administration - Social Media and the News Theories & Methods - Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches - Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis - Social Network Analysis - Theoretical Models for Studying, Analysing and Understanding Social Media Online/Offline Communities - Trust and Credibility in Social Media - Online Community Detection - Influential User Detection - Online Identity - Case Studies of Online and/or Offline Communities Formed on Social Media CONFERENCE CHAIR Anatoliy Gruzd Associate Professor, School of Information Management Director, Social Media Lab Dalhousie University, Canada Twitter: @gruzd CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Anatoliy Gruzd, Dalhousie University, Canada Barry Wellman, University of Toronto, Canada Philip Mai, Dalhousie University, Canada Jenna Jacobson, University of Toronto, Canada

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CaTaC'14 - keynote speakers and date change
by Charles Ess 18 Jan '14

18 Jan '14

Dear AoIR-ists, CaTaC¹14: Culture, Technology, Communication: Celebration, Transformation, New Directions important updates. Please distribute and cross-post as appropriate. Conference website: <http://www.catacconference.org/> On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I¹m very pleased to note that CaTaC¹14 will be enlivened and inspired by two keynote speakers: Andrew Feenberg, Canada Research Chair in the Philosophy of Technology, School of Communication, Simon Fraser University, Vancouver, Canada. Andrew is among the most significant and influential contemporary philosophers of technology. His work is rooted in Critical Theory and phenomenology, and emphasizes the critical requirements for democratic approaches to technology. Judith Simon, Institute of Philosophy, University of Vienna, Austria; Institute for Technology Assessment, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany Judith's research focuses on epistemic dimensions of ICTs, and is rooted in STS and feminist philosophy. Her ideas on distributed epistemic responsibility in sociotechnical environments play an important role in the Onlife Manifesto, a project of the European Commission that seeks to foster more humane and sustainable technology development. Please also the note change of dates: June 18-20, 2014. NB! June is a busy month for conferences and tourism in Oslo. We strongly urge potentially interested participants to explore the resource lists on the conference website of recommended accommodations and book as early as possible. Notifications of acceptance will be issued sufficiently early (March 28, 2014) so as to allow cost-free reservation cancellation if need be. Important Dates: Submission of papers (short or full), panel proposals: 16 February 2014 Notification of acceptance: 28 March 2014 Final formatted papers (for conference proceedings): 18 April 2014 Information regarding submission procedures will be available soon. Registration fees will be announced in early February. We look forward to welcoming you to Oslo next June! - charles ess Professor in Media Studies Conference Co-organizers: Charles Ess (Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo) Maja van der Velden (Department of Informatics, University of Oslo) Organizing Committee José Abdelnour-Nocera (School of Computing and Technology, University of West London) Herbert Hrachovec (Philosophy Department, University of Vienna) Leah Macfadyen (Evaluation and Learning Analytics, University of British Columbia) Patrizia Schettino (Communication Studies, Università della Svizzera italiana) Ylva Hård af Segerstad (Department of Applied Information Technology at the University of Gothenburg/Chalmers) Andra Siibak (Media Studies, University of Tartu) Michele M. Strano, Program Chair (Communication Studies, Bridgewater College) Satomi Sugiyama (Communication and Media Studies, Franklin College Switzerland)

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twittersifter beta
by Shulman, Stu 18 Jan '14

18 Jan '14

Beta testing our first new product in three years: free estimates (self-serve) from the full history of Twitter, powered by the Gnip Historical Power Track. Visit http://beta.twittersifter.com to try it out. ~Stu -- Dr. Stuart W. Shulmanhttp://people.umass.edu/stu Founder and CEO, Texifterhttp://texifter.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/stuart-shulman/10/351/899 Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/StuartWShulman Director, QDAP-UMasshttp://www.umass.edu/qdap Editor Emeritus, JITPwww.jitp.net

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(Reminder) Deadline Approaching: Submission to the IJICST Special Issue on Social Media in Asia
by Zixue Tai 17 Jan '14

17 Jan '14

Dear colleagues, This is a friendly reminder that the deadline is getting close for submitting to the special issue of IJICST on social media in Asia. See the attached paper call for details. Zixue Tai University of Kentucky

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ICA Doctoral Consortium
by Lee H. Humphreys 17 Jan '14

17 Jan '14

If you are a PhD student or have a PhD student, please help me spread the word! We're looking for PhD students to participate in the Communication & Technology Division's Doctoral Consortium in Seattle on May 22nd. It's one of the ICA pre-conferences. I work with them last year and it's a great opportunity to really engage with leading faculty in the field about your research and get their theoretical and methodological feedback. The full call is below. I'm helping to organize the event, so if you have any questions feel free to contact me or Miriam Metzger (metzger(a)comm.ucsb.edu<mailto:metzger@comm.ucsb.edu>). Best, Lee Lee Humphreys, PhD Assistant Professor Dept. of Communication Cornell University SEATTLE 2014 PRECONFERENCE 5th Annual Doctoral Consortium of the Communication and Technology Division Thursday, 22 May 2014 | Seattle Public Library Call for Proposals The consortium brings together PhD candidates working on Communication and Technology to give them the opportunity to present and discuss their research in a constructive and international atmosphere. The goals of the event are to provide feedback and advice to participating PhD candidates on their in-progress research thesis. Moreover, the doctoral consortium will provide the opportunity to meet experts as well as fellow PhD candidates from different backgrounds working on related topics. During the consortium, students will be invited to present their work, following which they will receive feedback from their fellow students and faculty participants, all of whom will have read the proposals in advance of the Doctoral Consortium. In addition, at least one faculty participant will be assigned to respond in detail to each proposal. Besides the presentations of proposals, there will also be discussion of other topics such as ethics, research methods, publishing the thesis, and positioning one's work for the job market. Submission Process Applicants must be advanced to candidacy, and have their dissertation proposal topic. Ideally, students will be in the early stages of their dissertation, where feedback would be helpful in refining and advancing their work. To apply, students must submit a proposal describing their research. * Submissions must be related to the working area of the Communication and Technology Division of ICA. A description of the division's primary interests can be found in the last section of this call. * Proposals must identify the significant problems in the field of research, briefly outline current knowledge of the problem domain, and clearly formulate a research question. * Proposals must outline the proposed research approach, methods, and results obtained so far. * Submissions must not exceed 6000 words, and must include name and affiliation of the PhD candidate. * Applications should be accompanied by a short letter of recommendation from the advisor stating how the PhD candidate can benefit from participation in the Doctoral Consortium. The proposal and letter of recommendation must be submitted as one PDF document and sent as an attachment in an email to metzger(a)comm.ucsb.edu<mailto:metzger@comm.ucsb.edu>. The deadline for submission is 31 January 2014. Submitted proposals will be reviewed by the members of the program committee based on significance of research, specificity of research topic and/or questions, clarity of writing, and degree to which student can benefit from expert guidance and feedback. Notification of acceptance will be on 28 February 2014. To help ensure the consortium best meets the needs of its members, limited financial assistance is made possible by the CAT Division. Please note in your application if you would like to be considered for financial support to cover your costs for participation in the CAT Doctoral Consortium (this support would cover only the $75 participation fee and not travel to Seattle). The Communication and Technology Division within ICA The Communication and Technology (CAT) Division is concerned with the role played by Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the process of communication. It is committed to enhancing theory and methodology pertaining to adoption, usage, effects, and policy of ICTs. Areas of research include human-computer interaction, computer-mediated communication, mobile communication, and other technologically mediated social interaction and networking in all contexts (interpersonal, group, organizational, societal/cultural) and at all levels of analyses. CAT invites papers that make an innovative and original contribution to our understanding of ICTs, with the primary focus on communication aspects of particular technological characteristics. Papers in which technology is not a specific object of investigation but is instead the context or backdrop for a communication study should be directed to other ICA Divisions. As CAT, the Doctoral Consortium welcomes papers that follow any and all disciplinary approaches (psychology, sociology, anthropology, economics, and policy studies, among others) and all methodological orientations (quantitative, qualitative, critical, cultural, historical, legal, and institutional, among others). Organization Once a proposal is accepted students can register through the ICA website. Costs for participation are 75 US$ per person. Program Committee Dr. Nosh Contractor, Northwestern U Dr. Ang Peng Hwa, Nanying Technical U Dr. Lee Humphreys, Cornell U Dr. Nicole Krämer, U of Duisburg-Essen Dr. Leah Lievrouw, U of California, Los Angeles Dr. Miriam Metzger, U of California, Santa Barbara Dr. S. Shyam Sundar, Pennsylvania State U

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Call for Submissions: 2014 SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY CONFERENCE (#SMSociety14) - Sep 27-28, 2014, Toronto, Canada
by Anatoliy Gruzd 16 Jan '14

16 Jan '14

*Apologies for cross-posting* Call for Submissions: Papers (extended abstracts), Panels and Posters 2014 SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY CONFERENCE (#SMSociety14) September 27-28, 2014, Toronto, Canada Conference website: http://SocialMediaAndSociety.com/ IMPORTANT DATES Paper & Panel Abstracts Due: April 18, 2014 Paper & Panel Notification: May 19, 2014 Poster Abstracts Due: May 23, 2014 Poster Notification: June 13, 2014 Conference Dates: September 27-28, 2014 DESCRIPTION We live in an era of “Big Data”. Petabyte and exabyte-size datasets are becoming increasingly common. Much of the data is coming from social media in the form of user-generated content. What do we do with all of these “social” data and how do we make sense of it all? What are the inherent challenges and issues surrounding working with social media data? How are social media platforms and the data that they generate changing us as individuals, changing our organizations and changing our society? Additionally what are the political, ethical, privacy, and security implications of the wide availability of these data? These are just a few questions that we have for this year’s participants of the 2014 Social Media & Society Conference (#SMSociety14). The Social Media & Society Conference is an annual gathering of leading social media researchers from around the world. Now, in its 5th year, the 2014 Conference will be held in Toronto, Canada from September 27 to 28. From its inception, the conference has focused on the best practices for studying the impact and implications of social media on society. The conference offers an intensive two-day program comprising of paper presentations, panel discussions, and posters covering wide-ranging topics related to social media. Organized by the Social Media Lab at Dalhousie University, the conference provides attendees an opportunity to exchange ideas, present their original research, learn about recently completed and work-in-progress studies, and strengthen connections with their peers. Last year’s conference hosted nearly 200 attendees, featured research from 90+ scholars and practitioners across several fields from over 60 institutions in 15 different countries. SUBMISSION PROCESS We invite you to submit papers (extended abstracts), panel proposals and posters on a variety of topics including (but not limited to!): Social Media & Big Data, Social Media Impact on Society, Theories & Methods, and Online/Offline Communities. Full papers are not required for this conference, only an extended abstract (~500 words, excluding references) on a completed or well-developed project related to the broad theme of “Social Media & Society.” All submissions will be peer-reviewed. If selected, the author(s) will be invited to give a 15-minute oral presentation followed by a 5 min Q&A period at the conference. Author(s) of accepted paper abstracts may also be invited to submit their full papers to the new Big Data & Society Journal published by SAGE. Instructions for authors and more information is available at http://SocialMediaAndSociety.com TOPICS OF INTEREST Social Media & Big Data - Visualization of Social Media Data - Social Media Data Mining - Scalability Issues and Social Media Data - Social Media Analytics Social Media Impact on Society - Private Self/Public Self - The Sharing/Attention Economy - Virality & Memes - Political Mobilization & Engagement - Social Media and Health - Social Media and Business (Marketing, PR, HR, Risk Management, etc.) - Social Media and Academia (Alternative Metrics. Learning Analytics, etc.) - Social Media and Public Administration - Social Media and the News Theories & Methods - Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches - Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis - Social Network Analysis - Theoretical Models for Studying, Analysing and Understanding Social Media Online/Offline Communities - Trust and Credibility in Social Media - Online Community Detection - Influential User Detection - Online Identity - Case Studies of Online and/or Offline Communities Formed on Social Media CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS Anatoliy Gruzd Associate Professor, School of Information Management Director, Social Media Lab Dalhousie University, Canada Twitter: @gruzd Barry Wellman Professor, Faculty of Information (iSchool) Director, NetLab University of Toronto, Canada Twitter: @barrywellman CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE Anatoliy Gruzd, Dalhousie University, Canada Philip Mai, Dalhousie University, Canada Jenna Jacobson, University of Toronto, Canada

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Seeking item batteries, measurements, empirical tools etc. concerning (online) research ethics
by Nele Heise 16 Jan '14

16 Jan '14

Ahoi, you wonderful list-people: I'm writing to you today because I need your help regarding a survey on online research ethics. The debate about the ethical dilemmas, challenges, responsibilities etc. in online-based research is going on for many years (and is constantly re-freshed with new research possibilities such as big data ...). Nevertheless, we do not have too much information about how researchers deal with these questions, how they negotiate new standards or in how far they consider ethical questions in their everyday practices at all. In this context, an explorative interview study - which I carried out with 17 Internet researchers in 2010 - revealed some interesting aspects and I always wanted to do something with a wider scale on this topic. This year I finally have the chance to carry out a survey with Internet researchers in Germany/German speaking countries due to a (small) funding by the German Association of Online Researchers. At the moment, I am starting to work on the questionnaire - and here's my question to you: Can you recommend any item batteries, surveys, measurements etc. concerning (online) research ethics? I am aware of several documents such as the AoIR guidelines, McKee/Porter's book and so forth, but I cannot recall any empirical work (maybe M. Zimmer's survey on Twitter research?). Your suggestions - no matter from which research disciplines - would be really really helpful! Although the survey is limited to German-speaking countries, the results might also be interesting for researchers in other countries. So, if the whole thing is successful (and even if it's not) I'll gladly share the outcomes with y'all :-) Many thanks and "Tschüss" from Hamburg, Nele -- Nele Heise, M.A. Junior Researcher Hans-Bredow-Institut Rothenbaumchaussee 36 20148 Hamburg Tel. (+49 40) 450 217 87 Fax: (+49 40) 450 217 77 E-Mail: n.heise(a)hans-bredow-institut.de Twitter: @neleheise www.neleheise.de <http://www.hans-bredow-institut.de>

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Invitation to PhD-course on Mediatization
by Knut Lundby 16 Jan '14

16 Jan '14

‘Mediatization’ has become a key term in contemporary media and communication studies. PhD-students are invited to a two days PdD-seminar on "Mediatization" 20-21 March 2014 at the Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo. Please see: http://www.hf.uio.no/imk/forskning/aktuelt/arrangementer/phd/2014/seminar-m… The course is directed by Professor Knut Lundby, supported by Dr. Sigrid Kannengiesser from University of Bremen. Expressions of Interest should be stated no later than 28 February to <dagfinn.hagen(a)media.uio.no>. See details under the above link. _________________________________ KNUT LUNDBY. Professor Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo - www.media.uio.no <knut.lundby(a)media.uio.no>

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Reminder: CFP for Digital Divide Research Preconference at ICA 2014/Seattle Conference
by Susan B. Kretchmer 16 Jan '14

16 Jan '14

A reminder that the deadline to submit an abstract to present your work during the Preconference is 20 January 2014. We hope you will join us to share your insights and expertise -- please see CFP below. ** Please pass this message on to colleagues, networks, and lists to whom it would be of interest. Thank you! ** Communication and “The Good Life” Around the World After Two Decades of the Digital Divide Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide (PPDD) Preconference International Communication Association (ICA) 2014 Conference Seattle, Washington, USA Thursday, 22 May 2014 http://www.icahdq.org/conf/2014/aroundtheworldcfp.asp Call for Participation This interdisciplinary Preconference, sponsored by Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide (PPDD) explores the nexus of the International Communication Association (ICA) Conference Theme of “The Good Life” and the issues of digital inclusion/exclusion for those who do not share the advantages of continuous connectivity. The PPDD Preconference is co-sponsored by the ICA Communication and Technology Division, the ICA Communication Law and Policy Division, and the ICA Mass Communication Division. 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the recognition of the digital divide through social scientific research. As the Internet became commonplace in the 1990s, officials in the Clinton Administration wondered if there should be concern about equity of access to computers and the Information Superhighway. As a result, based on the analysis of Census data about computer/modem ownership and usage collected in 1994, the newly created National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) prepared and released in 1995 the landmark report entitled "Falling Through the Net: A Survey of the 'Have Nots' in Rural and Urban America." From there, the discussion of the inequalities of online access as a new aspect of the larger issues of wealth and poverty began and the "Digital Divide” became a major focus in countries around the world. Recent research from scholars in, for example, the U.S., U.K., and Canada indicates that nearly 20 years later, even in the most highly developed countries around the world, as much as 20% of the population does not benefit from even minimal access to the Internet. And, that lack of consistent, quality access to emergent communication technologies is antithetical to the nature of a “good life” amidst the transformative changes enjoyed by members of the wired population; those who are offline are alienated from the benefits of the “new opportunities to communicate and interact . . . new experiences, behaviors, and habits . . . [and the ability to] engage with others or receive information” suggested by the ICA Conference Theme. Thus, this Preconference responds to ICA’s call to consider “what a ‘good life’ might look like in a contemporary, digital, and networked society, and what new challenges we might face in attaining it” to include all members of society. In the search for equity in access to “the good life” in the digital age, scholarly research has played a key role in the public discourse on the issues of the digital divide as well as in the decision-making by policymakers and practitioners as they work to craft solutions to this pressing societal concern. As the digital divide persists past its 20th anniversary, this Preconference provides an extended, in-depth opportunity to consider the current state and future possibilities for research that informs issues related to the digital divide around the world. Further, the Preconference works to identify new areas of necessary, productive research focus to foster greater understanding and enlighten practice and policy going forward so that all global citizens can create their own “good life” in the digital, networked age. After a brief welcome and summary introduction to the status of the digital divide around the world, the Preconference schedule features three 75-minute breakout time periods with multiple simultaneous sessions focusing on the status of communication, an inclusive “good life”, and digital divide research in various regions of the world. Involving scholars at all stages of their careers as well as policymakers and practitioners, these sessions will include research from any discipline and any theoretical and methodological approach that contributes to exploring the issues surrounding the digital divide. In addition, there will be a luncheon keynote. The final session of the Preconference is a highly interactive, lively brainstorming and collaborative thinking dialogue among all presenters and other attendees to create partnerships and inspire new ideas for the third decade of digital divide research. All participants in the Preconference will have the opportunity to provide in advance position papers that will be made available prior to the Preconference and permanently archived via an e-book on the PPDD website. Please join us to share your insights and expertise. How to Participate *** Submit an Abstract to Present Your Work During the Preconference Deadline: 20 January 2014 Notification of Acceptance: 1 February 2014 Submissions are welcome from scholars at all stages of their careers as well as from policymakers and practitioners, from any theoretical and methodological approach, and across multiple disciplines engaged in research that informs issues related to the digital divide, including, but not limited to: - gaps in access and connectivity - digital inclusion - digital exclusion - digital (dis)engagement - challenges and opportunities - social and cultural aspects of the divide - the skills and digital/information literacy needed to interpret, understand, and navigate information presented online - the impact of socioeconomic factors on user behavior - the role of motivation - differences in patterns of usage - characteristics and conceptualizations of non-users - how people use the Internet to create content - different forms of capital and power relationships - the impact of new and evolving technologies - the mobile divide - the interplay of influence with mobile technologies - socioeconomic and cultural effects - community informatics - social informatics - international development - education - health - politics and civic engagement - telecommunication policy - the application of research to communities, practice, and public and private sector initiatives If desired, each author may submit one sole authored work and one or more co-authored works, but each individual can only make one presentation at the Preconference so additional submissions would have to be presented by another member of the co-authorship team. Please include the following information in your submission: - Title of presentation - Name(s), affiliation(s), and email address(es) of author(s) - On co-authored submissions, the name, affiliation, and email address of the author who will be presenting the work at the Preconference - A 1 page (250 words excluding notes and references) abstract in 12 pt. Times New Roman in Word doc/docx format - For each author, a 100-word-maximum description of the author’s area(s) of research interest related to the digital divide in 12 pt. Times New Roman in a separate Word doc/docx format file Please email your submission to the appropriate Sessions Organizer below based on where your research was conducted: Eastern and Western Europe Sessions Organizer: Ellen Helsper, London School of Economics and Political Science e.j.helsper (at) lse (dot) ac (dot) uk Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and Africa Sessions Organizer: Gerard Goggin, University of Sydney gerard.goggin (at) Sydney (dot) edu (dot) au Canada Sessions Organizer: Catherine Middleton, Ryerson University catherine.middleton (at) Ryerson (dot) ca United States Sessions Organizer: Susan B. Kretchmer, Johns Hopkins University and Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide susankretchmer (at) yahoo (dot) com Central and South America Sessions Organizer: Laura Robinson, Santa Clara University laura (at) laurarobinson (dot) org *** If Not Submitting Work for Presentation, Chair a Session During the Preconference Deadline: 20 January 2014 Notification of Acceptance: 1 February 2014 If you are not submitting your work for presentation but would like to Chair a session, please email your request to the Sessions Organizer for the region of major interest to you from the list above. Please include your name, affiliation, and email address as well as a 100-word-maximum description of your area(s) of research interest related to the digital divide in 12 pt. Times New Roman in a Word doc/docx format file. *** Submit a Position Paper for Inclusion in the Preconference E-Book Deadline: 15 March 2014 Presenters, session Chairs, and all others who will be attending the Preconference are invited to submit to ebook(a)ppdd.org a 3-5 page (750-1250 words excluding notes and references) position paper, in 12 pt. Times New Roman in Word doc/docx format, discussing: - Your vision for the future of digital divide research; - Your thoughts on what questions need to be asked and what research methods and critical perspectives should be used to answer them; and - How that research can impact policymaking, practice, and the attainment of a “good life” going forward in your unique region of the world as well as globally. If you will not be presenting your work or Chairing a session but will be attending the Preconference and submitting a position paper by the March 15 deadline, please email the Preconference Organizer, Susan Kretchmer (susankretchmer (at) yahoo (dot) com), by 20 January to indicate your intention so that we can anticipate your position paper and include you in all emailings of Preconference announcements. In that email, please include your name, affiliation, and email address as well as a 100-word-maximum description of your area(s) of research interest related to the digital divide in 12 pt. Times New Roman in a Word doc/docx format file. *** Join in the Dialogue at the Preconference Without Presenting, Chairing, or Submitting a Position Paper If you would like to just attend the Preconference to join in the dialogue without any other involvement, please email the Preconference Organizer, Susan Kretchmer (susankretchmer (at) yahoo (dot) com), to indicate your intention so that we can include you in all emailings of Preconference announcements. Please contact Susan (susankretchmer (at) yahoo (dot) com) for any other questions or further information. About Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide (PPDD) -- Continuing the work and collaborations that began under the auspices of the National Communication Association Task Force on the Digital Divide, and with former U.S. Assistant Secretary of Commerce Larry Irving as Honorary Director, PPDD is a not-for-profit organization that engages a broad diversity of individuals and organizations to spearhead a multi-associational, multi-disciplinary partnership between scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to make significant contributions in closing the digital divide and addressing the many other challenges and opportunities presented by the digital age. PPDD reaches out beyond the communication discipline and academia to various other disciplines and groups in the U.S. and abroad who share interests, methods, and goals and want to work with PPDD to build on that common ground to find solutions to these pressing societal concerns. For example, PPDD has been actively involved with government, policymakers, and practitioners across a broad range, including submitting a “friend-of-the-court” brief to the U.S. Supreme Court to counsel on a recent case of major import for Americans’ access to the Internet in public libraries and advising the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) as it developed and now implements the National Broadband Plan mandated by Congress. About the International Communication Association (ICA) -- ICA is an academic association for scholars interested in the study, teaching, and application of all aspects of human and mediated communication and is a truly international association with more than 4,800 members in 77 countries. Since 2003, ICA has been officially associated with the United Nations as a non-governmental association (NGO). Further information about ICA is available at http://www.icahdq.org/ and complete details about ICA's 64th Annual Conference in Seattle, 22-26 May 2014, are available at http://www.icahdq.org/conf/index.asp. The ICA Communication and Technology Division (http://cat.icahdq.org/ohana/website/index.cfm?p=8354660) the ICA Communication Law and Policy Division (http://clap.icahdq.org/ohana/website/index.cfm?p=72631611) and the ICA Mass Communication Division (http://mass.icahdq.org/ohana/website/index.cfm?p=89243202) have joined with PPDD to be co-sponsors of the Preconference.

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Final Call for Papers: The 13th biennial Participatory Design Conference (PDC) in Windhoek, Namibia. (6. – 10. October 2014)
by Maurizio 16 Jan '14

16 Jan '14

Apologies for cross-posting --- Final Call for Papers: The 13th biennial Participatory Design Conference (PDC) in Windhoek, Namibia. (6. – 10. October 2014) www.pdc2014.org Join us in Windhoek, Namibia in 2014 to celebrate the 13th Participatory Design Conference (PDC). The conference theme of the PDC 2014 is “Reflecting connectedness”. We are currently experiencing a technologically pushed trend in ‘being always connected’. This is manifested in a number of designed artifacts, such as smart-phones, social networks, computer supported cooperative work and distributed working tools. By ‘reflecting connectedness’ in PD, we acknowledge influential relations across continents, societies, people, disciplines and time, beyond the direct involvement of stakeholders. While PD has evolved as a discipline on its own, we should continuously reflect on interrelations of theories and practices within and across the field and thereby enriching PD within a wider context. We must further engage in critical debates of what it means to design within and for a multilayered network, such as the on-line world versus off-line interactions, the blurring distinction of designers and users, researchers and artists, design and research ‘in the wild’, designing for social justice, inclusiveness, and sustainability. We invite authors to deliberate on these relations within and beyond the field of PD, which affect its conceptualization and practices all over. The 2014 PDC seeks to attract submissions from different disciplines, academics, practitioners and artists in form of tutorials, workshops, doctorial consortiums, participatory art encounters, papers, and industry cases. Important dates: Conference dates: 6. – 10. October 2014 Full papers 28 February 2014 Short papers 10 March 2014 Workshop proposals 10 March 2014 Tutorials 10 March 2014 Doctorial Consortium 10 March 2014 Industry Cases 10 March 2014 pArt Installations 10 March 2014 Nomination to the Artful Integrators Award 10 March 2014 Acceptance Notification 13 June 2014 PDC’14 invites submissions in the following categories: Research papers: (full papers - maximum 10 pages). Research papers should report on original research which advances Participatory Design (PD) and reflect on state of the art themes in our field. As a single track conference, and the only one exclusively dedicated to PD, PDC Research papers have a broad impact on the development of PD theory, approaches and practices. Research papers will be published in the ACM International Conference series. Each submitted paper will be double blind reviewed by at least 3 reviewers. Each submission will be managed by a meta-reviewer to ensure that feedback is relevant, the learning experience significant and the process fair. Please make sure your submission is correctly anonymized. Accepted papers should be revised according to the review reports and the language should be checked by a native English speaker. Short papers: (short papers – maximum 4 pages). Short papers should present original, unpublished ideas and research that advances the field of Participatory Design (PD) and reflect on its potential future developments. As discussed in parallel, thematic sessions, PDC Short Papers can benefit from a clear scope and are expected to contribute to the emergence of new possibilities for PD. Compared to Research Papers, Short Papers may offer a more limited discussion of related work, or they may, for example, provide a novel design, method or theoretical concepts, without a full evaluation or with less detailed explanation. Short Papers are reviewed to the same standard of scientific quality as Research Papers, but the contribution is more focused and clear-cut. Each submitted short paper will be double blind reviewed by at least 3 reviewers. Please make sure submissions are anonymous. Accepted papers should be revised according to the review reports and the language should be checked by a native English speaker. Interactive Workshops: (maximum 2 pages) The workshop proposal should describe half day or full day sessions on topics that include methods, practices, and other areas of interest related to Participatory Design (PD). They should support an interactive format wherein active participation is possible, beyond a presentation format. These formats could include a mapping of a problem definition, small discussion groups, etc. The proposal must be written in a format that can be used for recruitment via the web. It should justify the need for the workshop and should contain a title, goals, format, method or technique, its relevance to PD and a schedule. Intended participants and how they will be recruited should also be described. In the recruitment procedure important dates should be clearly communicated to the participants (see timing). Also, it should be clear to the organizers and the participants what the maximum amount of participants is for the workshop and what the workshop duration is (half day or full day). Finally, the workshop proposal should include a clear statement about the expected outcomes of the workshop (e.g. journal publication, research proposal, exhibition, etc.). Tutorials: (2 page proposal) Half day and full day sessions for teaching conceptual frameworks, methods/techniques, and novel approaches in Participatory Design (PD). The proposal should contain a title, goals, method or technique, relevance to PD and a schedule. Please describe in the proposal any handouts that you intend to make available. Industry Cases: (2-4 page case description) should report on the use of participatory methods, tools, and/or practices within commercial, non-profit, or governmental organizations. We are interested in a broad range of submissions that explore what a participatory approach means to different practitioners and audiences and may include ideas, approaches, projects, experimentations or reflections on participation. We encourage submissions from practitioners who might not ordinarily attend the Participatory Design (PD) conference but who are grappling with the complexities of participation or who are experimenting with novel approaches. Cases should highlight the benefits, challenges, and outcomes from the application of participatory approaches and should provide concrete lessons for others who are interested in applying PD in their organizations. Each submitted case will be peer reviewed for applicability to the PD community. Doctoral consortium: (4 page proposal) The doctoral consortium is a full-day session intended for PhD students working within the field of Participatory Design (PD). It will provide students with an opportunity to discuss issues of concern to them in their studies and receive extensive feedback from the session co-chairs and other student participants. Enrolment is limited and selection will be based on the quality of application submissions, taking into account how the research is related to PD. The aim will be to include a spread of students with different disciplinary emphases, at different stages of study, and coming from different cultural backgrounds. The proposal should give an overview of the PhD project, including research motivations, questions, methods, status of current work, major findings and plans for further research. Accepted applicants will be asked to provide a revised and elaborated research summary (4 pages), and to participate in some pre-workshop on-line discussions. Art installations: (2 page proposal) Interdisciplinary collaborations have often yielded surprising yet astonishing results, leading both research and knowledge to new heights. PDC has a long history of incorporating participatory art installations to inspire and innovate. Artists and designers working with any form of interactive participatory methods are invited to submit their projects. The works can take inspiration from visual and digital media, performance arts, installations, communication technologies, touch, sound and any other genres that allow participants to take part or become part of the art piece. Projects should address/explore the theme ‘reflecting connectedness’. Please submit a 2 page proposal of the art work, in which the project is described (incl. sketch/design), the relation to PD, and specific requirements for display. Alternatively artists can submit audio or video files describing the project. The Artful Integrators’ Award: We welcome nominations for the sixth Artful Integrators’ Award, to be presented at PDC 14 in Namibia. The Award is intended to recognize outstanding achievement in the area of participatory design of information and communications technologies. Where traditional design awards have gone to individual designers and/or singular objects, the Artful Integrator’s Award emphasizes the importance of collaborative participation in design, and a view of good design as the effective alignment of diverse collections of people, practices and artefacts. Submission and formatting guidelines The submissions in all categories are subject to double-blind peer review. For previous PDC conferences, the acceptance rate for research papers has been about 25% and for the other submission categories about 50%.All submissions should follow thePDC paper template to be found on the conference website (www.pdc2014.org) The PDC 2014 proceedings will be published as part of the International Conference Proceedings Series published by ACM and available online from the ACM Digital Library. Accepted research papers will comprise Volume I of the Proceedings of the 13th Participatory Design Conference. Volume II of the proceedings will comprise the accepted papers in the other submission categories. Authors of accepted papers will need to complete the ACM copyright form as a condition of inclusion in the proceedings.Only PDF files (.pdf) may be submitted and submissions are only accepted through the PDC conference management system. Heike Winschiers-Theophilus, Vincenzo D'Andrea & Ole Sejer Iversen PDC’14 chairs.

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