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EXTENDED DEADLINE – Hashtag Publics Collection (Nov 30)
by Dr. Nathan Rambukkana 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

Hi All, Please find below the CFP for my prospective Hashtag Publics collection. I am extending the call for abstracts to Nov 30th to account for mid-term busyness (and because I have been too busy to send out reminders myself!). I will be in Denver scouting out papers for this, so if you are interested, find me. The collection is shaping up very nicely so far and we would love to have you submit something. best regards, Nathan -- Hashtag Publics: The Power and Politics of Networked Discourse Communities (Edited Collection) Extended deadline for abstracts: Nov 30 Much has been written about the public sphere potential of blogs and microblogs (e.g. Siles, 2011; Papacharrissi & Oliveira, 2012; Bastos et al. 2013), as well as the political potential of online space in general (e.g. Bohman, 2004; DeLuca & Peeples, 2002; Downey & Fenton, 2003). In fact, since the dawn of the Internet age, discussion of the democratic potential of Internet-mediated space has been one of the major top-level conversations. And yet, a lot of that discussion gets mired in an orthodox Habermassian take on what we can—or should—consider a democratic public sphere, i.e., one where rational critical discourse on matters of societal importance (such as, most critically, the actions of the State) can take place by citizens stepping out of their private roles as interested individuals and into a public space where disinterested discussion and debate could occur. While one can argue the merits of Habermas’s public sphere, this collection looks broader, widening its ambit to take in the other kinds of discussion and debate that are facilitated by networked technology. Taking our cue from critical public sphere theorists such as Nancy Fraser and Michael Warner, this collection is interested in those Other publics. More-or-less subaltern, more-or-less rational, more-or-less critical, and almost certainly partial, affective, interested and loud. It’s interested in angry publics. It’s interested in fringe publics. It’s interested in the kinds of publics that do politics in a way that is rough and emergent, flawed and messy, and ones in which new forms of collective power are being forged on the fly, and in the shadow of loftier mainstream spheres. Specifically, this collection will investigate the publics of the hashtag, that piece of twice-repurposed typographical meaning, that rebel punctuation moving to establish itself in new regimes of discourse and communication—beyond its birth as a “pound” or “number” sign; beyond its digital neonacy as a symbol marking out IRC channels in the hay-day of early 90s chatroom enthusiasm (Zappavinga 791); beyond it’s re-appropriation as a ground-up search symbol in tweets; to how it has the potential to organize new structures of discussion, new “potential discourse communities” (Zappavinga 801) where in-line metadata acts as both text and metatext simultaneously (801), drawing entangled discourse together across technologies in a way that is both new and worthy of more sustained study. Hashtags are hybrids in the taxonomy of types of information. They are both text and metatext, information and tag, pragmatic and metapragmatic speech. They are deictic, indexical—yet what they point to is themselves, their own dual role in ongoing discourse. Some have argued that when it comes to the online organization of information there is a tension of type between chronological and contextual modes (Benovitz 124). Chronological organization (for example, a thread) can sometimes fail to address the contextual embeddedness of a conversation; while contextual organization (for example, through a hyperlink) might be able to provide greater context (Benovitz 124), yet itself risks loosing a temporal aspect, how a topic has developed over time. The hashtag, functions in the space between the contextual and the chronological. It’s a node of continued context across media, conversations and locales, and yet it emerges temporally, self-developing through time, pointing to itself as it points to the other texts it marks as within its ambit. In this way hashtags push the boundaries of specific discourses. In their development they are proposed and either sink back into the woodwork or rise to prominence through repetition, through use, through uptake (Bruns, 2011). The hashtag has the ability to mark the discursive boundaries of an event, and are in fact events themselves, striding that dual role as text and metatext. Some previous studies have looked at the role of hashtags in relation to political discourse. Most of these are centred around analyzing how the hashtag operates on Twitter during major—but usually temporally short—political events. Studies of hashtags such as #Jan25 #Tahrir, #Egypt and #spill have been analyzed, for example, with respect to their role in Arab Spring protests and revolutions (e.g., Papacharissi & Oliveira, 2012) and the 2010 BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico (Bruns & Burgess 2012). On a short timescale, events and studies such as these demonstrate how the hashtag can work as a uniting thread of discourse that allows those who use it to feed into an ongoing and evolving conversation—even to contribute to a critical mass that can be a part of forcing change. This collection will build on this foundational research but will also be interested in looking as political hashtags on longer time scales, and for events that are ongoing. It’s also interested in how these kinds of hashtag can spill beyond Twitter into other spaces of social networking—such as recent uptake of hashtag mechanics on Facebook—and even to other media spaces such as television and print. Topics can include, but are not limited to: ## The role of hashtags in developing spot or ongoing protest movements (e.g., #Iran (Bastos, et al 2013), #occupy (Milberry, 2013). ## The way hashtags can work to assemble critical oppositional theory and politics (e.g., #RaceFail (Rambukkana, 2013), #feminism, #anticapitalism, #homophobia, #equality, #IdleNoMode). ## The use of hashtags to target specific news or political issues over longer time scales (e.g., #climatechange, #robocalls, #shitharperdid, #RobFord). ## The spill of hashtags (especially political hashtags) into other applications and media technologies such as Facebook, blogs, news site comment threads, Pinterest, Flickr, Television, Print. ## The use of hashtags as ways to link and bolter subaltern publics and the identities and communities therein (e.g., #polyamory, #trans*, #desi, #goth, #metal, #comiccon, #fanfiction, #slash). ## The use of hashtags to create both physical and virtual common spaces through practices such as live-tweeting conferences, protests, events, live news, etc. ## Papers focusing on the deep theory of the hashtag along political and public sphere dimensions, especially in relation to topics such as affect and anger, entanglement and networks, virtual/actual space and hashtags as events. ## Papers focusing on the methodologies of researching the hashtag that use political or subcultural examples as case studies. The goal is to assemble a collection of exemplary abstracts and then approach some top-tier academic publishers with social media studies/technology studies/digital studies collections. If interested, please send a 750-word abstract, collection of keywords and a 150-word bio to the editor, Dr. Nathan Rambukkana (n_rambukkana(a)complexsingularities.net) by 30 Nov. 2013. Drafts will be due 1 June 2014 and final versions 1 Dec. 2014. Please also email Nathan at the above address if you have any questions and feel free to repost this CFP to your networks. Downloadable version available here: http://complexsingularities.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Hashtag-Publics_… -- **Please note my new email address below and update your records accordingly** "We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them." — Michel Foucault Dr. Nathan Rambukkana Assistant Professor, Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo email: nrambukkana(a)wlu.ca web: http://complexsingularities.net -- **Please note my new email address below and update your records accordingly** "We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them." — Michel Foucault Dr. Nathan Rambukkana Assistant Professor, Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo email: nrambukkana(a)wlu.ca web: http://complexsingularities.net

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Looking for a theory--traditional + new media = ?
by Ryan S Eanes 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

Greetings all, Some time ago I encountered a paper or chapter that argued that so-called "traditional" (unidirectional) media such as radio and television could in fact be considered interactive or multidirectional thanks to the addition of other technologies like Twitter, the Internet, etc. I can't remember if this theory has a name--does it ring any bells? I'm working on a paper that could use an appropriate citation, if anyone knows what I'm talking about. Thanks! RE -- Ryan S Eanes Media Studies PhD Student & Graduate Teaching Fellow University of Oregon School of Journalism & Communication rse(a)uoregon.edu * blogs.uoregon.edu/eanes * www.ryanean.es 1275 University of Oregon Allen Hall, Room 210 Eugene, Oregon 97403-1275

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Re: [Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 111, Issue 21
by Julian Hopkins 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

Hi, does anyone know if is there anything planned for transport from the Westin to the University of Denver? It seems quite a distance by public transport. thanks, Julian ++++++++++ Dr Julian Hopkins Lecturer School of Arts & Social Sciences Monash University Malaysia www.sass.monash.edu.my Blog: www.julianhopkins.net Twitter: @julianhopkins

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Professor (Open Rank) of Digital Journalism - USC-Annenberg
by Daren Brabham 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

Hello colleagues, The Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism at the University of Southern California is hiring for open rank professor in digital journalism. Come join our fantastic faculty, in our new building next year (http://wallisannenberghall.uscannenberg.org/) situated in sunny Los Angeles! Happy to talk with interested folks at the conference this week - I'll be there in Denver. View and apply for the posting here: https://jobs.usc.edu/applicants/Central?quickFind=72644 Or read about it here: PROFESSOR (OPEN RANK) OF DIGITAL JOURNALISM Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism University of Southern California Requisition ID: 021676 Full-Time Tenure status: open Preferred education: an advanced degree USC Annenberg's School of Journalism seeks applicants for open-rank faculty appointments. Candidates should have a proven track record showcasing a deep understanding of modern, digital journalism, and firm grounding in the enduring values of journalism. They will join an Annenberg tradition of innovation, and enrich the School's ability to equip our students to offer their work on converged platforms, lead and collaborate in participatory journalism, and build online audiences. We seek practitioners and scholars who will join us in effecting change with an eye on the public interest and an embrace of all voices. Areas of interest include: 1. Research, experimentation and development regarding new formats and technologies in media, focusing on audience-building, online communities, community participation and new digital experiences. Candidates for this position will have a deep understanding of digital and multimedia news environments and a professional reputation for harnessing technology for storytelling. 2. Expertise in using words, sound, images, videos, data, design, plus knowledge of SEO, analytics, usability and apps to tell stories and to convey information in the public interest; a willingness to experiment with innovative approaches for information design and delivery is a must. Candidates for this position will have a record of effectiveness in creative work and coaching in the digital multi-media world. These new colleagues will provide leadership within the Annenberg School, the academic community and the journalism profession. They will advise master's students and supervise thesis projects involving interactive digital media. They will teach in undergraduate and/or graduate programs. They will advocate internally and externally for extending the boundaries in experimenting with innovative approaches to digital media. Outstanding professional accomplishments demonstrating the creation of new knowledge that advances interactive news or sustainable news models are essential for these positions. An advanced degree and teaching experience would be a plus. Annenberg is closely connected to a future-oriented, diverse metropolitan area and is rich in journalistic talent of unusual variety. We recognize that information in the public interest will come from sources as traditional as metropolitan dailies and from those as unconventional as game builders and non-profit organizations. In the fall of 2014, the Annenberg School will expand into the newly built Wallis Annenberg Hall, which will be equipped with the most modern information technology. It will host the new Converged Media Center, a modern web-based, multimedia learning lab. We offer three master's degrees and enjoy extensive collaboration with our colleagues in the Public Relations Studies Program and our sister School of Communication, as well as with scholars across the campus. Applicants are asked to submit their credentials including a letter describing their background, interests and areas of expertise, their curriculum vita or resume, three references and samples of their recent scholarly or professional work through USC's job site: https://facultypositions.usc.edu/bonita/console/frsSubmission.jsp?postingId= 021676 The University of Southern California is an AA/EO employer and is seeking to create a diverse community. db --- Daren C. Brabham, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Annenberg School for Communication & Journalism Editor, Case Studies in Strategic Communication | www.csscjournal.org University of Southern California 3502 Watt Way, Los Angeles, CA 90089 (214) 740-2007 office | (801) 633-4796 cell brabham(a)usc.edu | www.darenbrabham.com

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CFP: Feminism and Social Media Research Workshop at CSCW 2014
by Libby Hemphill 23 Oct '13

23 Oct '13

A thread on AIR-L was the seed for this workshop, so it seems likely some of you would be interested. Hope to see you in Baltimore! ======== Feminism and Social Media Research - Sunday, Feb 16 CSCW has begun to publish feminist studies and to host panels that specifically address feminist issues such as gender in peer production. Building on these renewed interests on gender and social computing, we present a workshop on feminist approaches to social media research. The goals of our workshop are to identify ways to improve social media research by leveraging feminist approaches and to provide an opportunity for researchers to reflect on their practices in order to advance research methods and outcomes. Additional information about the workshop is available at http://casmlab.org/join-us/feminism-and-social-media-research-workshop-cscw… . To apply to participate in this workshop, complete the form at http://bit.ly/feminismatcscw by Nov 15. Selected participants will be notified in December. Organizers: Libby Hemphill, Illinois Institute of Technology Ingrid Erickson, Rutgers University Ines Mergel, Syracuse University David Ribes, Georgetown University For more info about other CSCW'14 workshops, vist http://cscw.acm.org/program_workshop.html

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Call: CSCW' 14 workshop “Quick & Dirty: Lightweight Methods for Heavyweight Research”
by Nicholas Weber 22 Oct '13

22 Oct '13

The theme of this workshop should be of interest to many in the AoIR community…. If you have any thoughts / questions feel free to email me directly. Hope to see a number of you in Baltimore. (And, I will make absolutely no apologies for cross posting this) ======== CSCW'14 workshop “Quick & Dirty: Lightweight Methods for Heavyweight Research There seems to be a need for more rapid, lower cost, exploratory, lightweight, responsive and revisable methods that can help with discovery based research in CSCW. In this workshop we invite participants to share experiences in the design, adaptation and use of lightweight research methods. The circumstances of a research setting may render more traditional, established, rigorous and trusted methods infeasibly expensive or just too slow. As with many design challenges, such constraints can be a spur to creativity and an embracing of the unorthodox. What happens when we apply design thinking to how we do our research? We will explore ways to assess the validity, strengths, and weaknesses of lightweight methods. We will also discuss how to explain both the power and limitations of new methods to audiences who understandably may be rather skeptical. Deadline for workshop submissions: 1st December 2013. Please see the workshop wiki for more details: https://github.com/QuickAndDirty/CSCW2014/wiki/CSCW-2014-workshop === Organizers: Michael Twidale, GSLIS, University of Illinois Nic Weber, GSLIS, University of Illinois Alan Chamberlain, Mixed Reality Lab, University of Nottingham Sally Jo Cunningham, Waikato University Alan DIx, University of Birmingham

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CFP Doctoral Workshop in connection to M4D conference Dakar Senegal 2014
by Jakob Svensson 22 Oct '13

22 Oct '13

M4D Doctoral Workshop, Dakar, April 7, 2014 We invite applications to the M4D Doctoral Workshop in Dakar Senegal. The workshop will provide a forum for PhD students in the area of mobile communication technology in and for development to present their work and receive constructive feedback from experts in the field as well as from peers. PhD students at any stage of their doctoral studies are invited to submit papers. The workshop will host about 15 attendees besides the experts in the field. We expect submissions to be from current PhD students who have selected a clear research topic within M4D in the broadest sense. Participation for selected PhD students are free for M4D2014 conference delegates who have registered and payed the conference fee. The doctoral workshop is sponsored by the International Network of Post Graduate Students in the area of ICT4D (IPID). Goal of workshop The goal of the workshop is to provide professional development in M4D with critical, but constructive, feedback and advice to PhD students on their ongoing research from senior researchers. The workshop will also offer the opportunity to meet and exchange ideas and suggestions with peers in the M4D field. S ubmission Submissions should address the student's PhD research area, specifically: a well-defined formulation of the problem statement, objectives and aims of the research, explain the research context and why the research is important, give details of research design and data collection techniques, present preliminary results and research findings, do clarify the state of the research work, a brief sketch of the intended theoretical/disciplinary approach and audience(s) for the work, as well as the related theoretical and practical contributions to the multidisciplinary area of 'M4D'. Your name, affiliation, email address, PhD supervisor's name and affiliation and year when you started PhD should be included. The submission should be max. 5000 words in length. Please note that the workshop is not a venue for publication; there will be no published proceedings. However, we encourage workshop participants to also submit to the M4D2014 main conference (poster, full or short paper see www.m4d2014.net) Doctoral workshop participants are asked to submit their papers to m4d @kau.se with the subject line [M4D2014 doctoral workshop]. Workshop Format Participants will be divided into two groups depending on their research topic. Group A will be led by Anne Shongwe and Jonathan Donner and Group B by Laura Stark and Richard Ling. Participants will be asked to read the group member’s papers prior the workshop so that focus can be on discussing each paper in depth rather than listening to presentations. We will reserve around 15-20 minutes for comments and 10-15 minutes for general discussion. Important Dates Submission by: 23:59 (GMT), February 1, 2014 Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2014 (by this date the M4D conference fee should be payed) Workshop date: April 7, 2014 Jakob Svensson, Ph. D. Ass. Prof. Media and Communication Studies Director, BA Programme in Media & Communication Studies Director, MA Programme in Global Media Karlstad University SE-65188 Karlstad, Sweden Telephone +46 54 700 1893 Mobile + 46 73 443 48 04 www.kau.se/media www.kau.se/en/humanit twitter.com/Centre4HumanIT facebook.com/karlstadsuniversitet KAU.SE

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2nd call for papers: 1984: Freedom and Censorship in the Media – Where Are We Now?
by Mark Mckenna 22 Oct '13

22 Oct '13

Apologies for cross posting. *1984: Freedom and Censorship in the Media – Where Are We Now?* A conference to be hosted at the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies at the University of Sunderland on the 8th and 9th of April 2014. *Confirmed keynote speakers:* Professor Martin Barker, University of East Anglia Professor Julian Petley, Brunel University Professor Clarissa Smith, University of Sunderland Jerry Barnett, Sex and Censorship Worries over effects of media content and technologies are never far from the headlines. When anxieties centre on protecting children and the fortification of the social fabric, regulation often seems like the first resort. The year 2014 will see the thirtieth anniversary of the 1984 Video Recordings Act (VRA): this event offers the opportunity to reflect on how and why concerns about individual media technologies and particular media genres become so important that campaigners and politicians can claim that ‘the very soul of the nation’ is at stake. Using the VRA as a starting point, this conference aims to critically examine the key issues in politics and campaigning which shape calls for censorship. If new technologies always spark old anxieties around ‘effects’ and propensities to cause ‘harm’, what might we learn from extant legislation and their implementation? As we settle into the internet age and media on demand, policing national media borders seems ever more futile, yet the clamour for legislation to protect children and society shows no signs of abating. We invite submissions that explore issues relating to censorship which may be specific to the history, implementation and legacies of the Video Recordings Act but we also welcome papers which examine media regulation/censorship in their broader cultural contexts, which are national and international in focus and which draw connections between contemporaneous issues and their historical antecedents. Suggested topics: - Censorship - Evolving practices and technologies of media classification and/or censorship - ‘Problematic’ media cultures - Regulation of representations of sex, gender and sexualities - Digital and online censorship - Oppositional voices - Protecting and questioning national borders - Campaigns and campaigners - Activism/activists and the political arena - International narratives of censorship - British regulation in a global context - National and international regulation/censorship - Documentary and avant-garde - Controversies around computer games - History of contemporary film censorship/classification - Audiences and the social experiences of censorship - Censorship and the creation of communities of dissent - Regulations and government policy Proposals for individual papers or pre-constituted panels are welcomed. The submission deadline is 1st December 2013 and notifications of acceptance will be made by 6th January 2014. Proposals should include title, abstract (350 words), 3-5 key bibliographical references, along with the name of the presenter, institutional affiliation and biographical information (100 words). Panel organizers are asked to submit panel proposals including a panel title, a short description of the panel and information on all the papers following the guidelines listed above. Panels may consist of three speakers with a maximum of 20 minutes speaking time each. All submissions, expressions of interest and enquiries should be sent to: admin(a)where-are-we-now.co.uk Kind Regards, Mark McKenna and Alessandra Mondin Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies University of Sunderland http://www.where-are-we-now.co.uk http://www.crmcs.sunderland.ac.uk/

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Georgia Tech Job Opening
by Celia Pearce (Georgia Tech) 22 Oct '13

22 Oct '13

Assistant Professor in Digital Media, Tenure-Track School of Literature, Media, and Communication Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts Georgia Institute of Technology Visit http://dm.lmc.gatech.edu/people/jobs/ for details.

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Re-Configuring the Immune System - 14th November - Goldsmiths College
by Elinor Carmi 22 Oct '13

22 Oct '13

Dear AOIR community, I would like to invite you to the second event of the Radical Media Forum - Re-Configuring the Immune System<http://radmediaforum.wordpress.com/the-immune-system/>: Bodies, Words and Worlds that will take place on Thursday 14th of November, at Goldsmiths, University of London, RHB Cinema. This event attempts to open up new pathways of critical engagement at the intersections of sciences, technology and humanities by taking the immune system as the bridging entity, concept, and tool. Our aim is to create a transitory platform, in the form of a panel of discussions, in which the biological body, with its associated discourses and practices of immunity, can coalesce with the digital, artistic, and industrial bodies in order to enable a mediated insight of ‘bodies-words-worlds’ within the topic of the immune system. Invited Speakers: Professor Lucy Suchman<http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/fass/sociology/profiles/lucy-suchman> (Lancaster University, UK): Figuring the Other within the Military-Entertainment System. Professor Margit Schildrick<http://www.tema.liu.se/tema-g/medarbetare/shildrick-margrit?l=en> (Linkoping University, Sweden): Chimerism and the Immune System: Demythologising Self/Other Distinctions. Dr. Alex McLean<http://yaxu.org/> (Leeds University, UK): Live Coding: Stepping into Software. Mr. Amir Carmi<http://il.linkedin.com/pub/amir-carmi/15/6ba/619> (Comsecure LTD, Israel): Malware: Accelerated Evolution. You can read all their abstracts here: http://radmediaforum.wordpress.com/the-immune-system/ After each event we will send an open call for our on-line platform where we will curate alternative forms of academic knowledge production. This means we invite scholars to contribute a very wide range of ways of critiquing through images, clips, comics, sound etc. The Radical Media Forum also has Facebook<https://www.facebook.com/RadicalMediaForum> and Twitter accounts: @RMF_Goldsmiths. This event is organised by Andrea Nunez Casal and Elinor Carmi. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions or comments: e.carmi@gold.ac.uk/eu901ac@gold.ac.uk. We look forward to seeing you in our event(s) and hope to receive contributions from you as well! All the best, Elinor Carmi, PhD Candidate, Department of Media & Communications, Goldsmiths College, University of London. Twitter: @pinkeee_

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