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The 2012 Social Informatics Best Paper Award - Cal for nominations
by Fichman, Pnina 25 Jun '13

25 Jun '13

The 2012 Social Informatics Best Paper Award Call for nominations for the 2012 Social Informatics Best Paper Award The Special Interest Group for Social Informatics (SIG-SI) and the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics (RKCSI) are seeking nominations for an award for the best paper published in a peer reviewed journal on a topic informed by social informatics during the 2012 calendar year. The author or authors will present their paper at the 9th Annual SIG-SI Symposium on November 2 and receive a $1,000 cash award at the 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Society for Information Science and Technology in Montreal. Nominations letters should be sent to Howard Rosenbaum (hrosenba(a)indiana.edu<mailto:hrosenba@indiana.edu>) or Pnina Fichman (fichman(a)indiana.edu<mailto:shachaf@indiana.edu>) by July 31, 2013 and must include a full citation, a brief explanation for the nomination, and a copy of the article. Self nominations are acceptable. Winners will be notified by August 30, 2013. For more information about the Special Interest Group for Social Informatics (SIG-SI): http://asistsigsi.wordpress.com For more information about the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics (RKCSI): http://rkcsi.indiana.edu Pnina Fichman and Howard Rosenbaum ------------------------ Pnina Fichman, Ph.D. Director, Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics Associate Professor, School of Informatics and Computing Affiliated Associate Professor, School of Global and International Studies 901 E. 10th St. Informatics West #301 Indiana University, Bloomington IN 47408 Office: (812) 856-1587 Cell: (812) 322-0219 Web: http://ella.slis.indiana.edu/~fichman/

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Re: [Air-L] Social media as part of the public sphere?
by Oriol Poveda 25 Jun '13

25 Jun '13

Thank you to everyone who contributed their ideas and suggestions, it was extremely useful and interesting. Here a little list I compiled with the suggestions on the topic: - Adamoli, G. C. E. (2012). *Social media and social movements: A critical analysis of audience’s use of Facebook to advocate food activism offline*(Ph.D.). The Florida State University, United States -- Florida. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.its.uu.se/docview/1287170216/abstract?ac… - Bastos, M. T. (2012). Public Opinion Revisited: The propagation of opinions in digital networks. *Journal of Arab & Muslim Media Research*, *4*(2), 185–201. doi:10.1386/jammr.4.2-3.185_1 - Dean, J. (2003) Why the Net is Not a Public Sphere. *Constellations*volume 10, issue 1, pp. 95-112 (March). - Papacharissi, Z. (2010). *A Private Sphere: Democracy in a Digital Age*. Cambridge: Polity Press. - Poor, N. (2005). Mechanisms of an Online Public Sphere: The Website Slashdot. *Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication*, *10*(2), 00–00. doi:10.1111/j.1083-6101.2005.tb00241.x - Valtysson, B. (2012). Facebook as a Digital Public Sphere: Processes of Colonization and Emancipation. *tripleC: Communication, Capitalism & Critique. Open Access Journal for a Global Sustainable Information Society*, *10*(1), 77–91. Plus some comments on more literature from Mathieu ONeil: Lincoln Dalhberg has written several articles about the Internet as a (Habermasian or not) public sphere, he also edited a book called Radical Democracy and the Internet which may suit your purposes (once again before the term "social media" became popular but the issues are the same) There is also an article by Froomkin about Usenet as a form of PS (2003) and more recently some Scandinavian scholars wrote a paper about whether WP conformed to deliberative rationality, may be too specific for you. I am glad to realise that the debate about social media and the public sphere(s) is alive and well! Cheers and thanks again, Oriol PS: regarding the offlist, I didn't expect many people to answer - certainly not so fast - and since I do not check the AoIR list every day, I preferred to give an alternative email address that I check more frequently so that I could respond in due time.

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Social media as part of the public sphere?
by Oriol Poveda 25 Jun '13

25 Jun '13

Hi, I was wondering if someone knows of an anthology or similar devoted to discussing if social media can or cannot be considered part of the public sphere (understood in Habermasian terms). If you have any suggestion, please email me offlist at poveda.oriol(a)gmail.com, thank you! Oriol -- Oriol Poveda PhD student in sociology of religion Uppsala university, Sweden

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BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Advancing Research Methods with New Technologies
by Natalie Sappleton 25 Jun '13

25 Jun '13

Dear colleagues On behalf of the authors who contributed to this book, I'm happy to announce the publication of Advancing Research Methods with New Technologies, a collection of case studies applicability and usefulness of new technologies in conducting research. Individual chapters are available to download here<http://www.igi-global.com/book/advancing-research-methods-new-technologies/…> and table of contents is copied below. With many thanks to the contributors and the reviewers for their efforts in putting together this publication. Section 1 The modern research environment 1. History of Technology in Research Chinmoy Sahu, U21 Global Graduate School, Singapore 2. The Co-Creation of the City Salvatore Iaconesi, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy Oriana Persico, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy 3. Sampling, Channels and Contact Strategies in Internet Surveys Ester Macrì, University of Florence, Italy Cristiano Tessitore, National Statistical Institute of Italy 4. The distinctiveness of online research: descriptive assemblages, unobtrusiveness and novel kinds of data in the study of online advocacy Damien Lanfrey, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Section 2 Quantitative approaches to research using new technologies 5. Using Web Surveys for Psychology Experiments: A Case Study in New Media Technology for Research Blaine F. Peden, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, USA Andrew M. Tiry, James Madison University, USA 6. Measuring wages worldwide - exploring the potentials and constraints of volunteer web surveys Stephanie Steinmetz, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Damian Raess University of Geneva, Switzerland Kea Tijdens, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands Pablo de Pedraza, University of Salamanca, Spain 7. Reducing response burden for enterprises combining methods for data collection on the Internet Torgeir Vik, Statistics Norway 8. Research intentions are nothing without technology - Mixed-method Web surveys and the Coberen wall of pictures protocol. Stéphane Ganassali ,University of Savoie, France Carmen Rodriguez-Santos, Universidad León, Spain 9. Best Practice in Online Survey Research with Sensitive Topics Kristina M. Kays, George Fox University, Newberg, OR, USA Tashina L. Keith, George Fox University, Newberg, OR, USA Michael T. Broughal, George Fox University, Newberg, OR, USA Section 3 Qualitative approaches to research using new technologies 10. Considering Abductive Thematic Network Analysis with ATLAS-ti 6.2 Komalsingh Rambaree, University of Gävle, Sweden Elisabeth Faxelid, Karolinska Institute, Sweden 11. A study of relationships in online virtual environments: Making a case for conducting semi-structured interviews with avatars and what we can learn about their human operators Donna Z Davis, University of Oregon, USA 12. Techniques for Analyzing Blogs and Micro-Blogs Lynne M. Webb, University of Arkansas, USA Yuanxin Wang, Temple University, USA 13. Methods for Analyzing Computer-Mediated Communication in Educational Sciences Huseyin Ozcinar, Pamukkale University, Turkey H. Tugba Ozturk, Ankara University, Turkey 14. Exploring Lived Experience through Ambient Research Methods Brian J. McNely, University of Kentucky, USA 15. Researching online dating: Instant Messenger and email in consideration Danielle Couch, La Trobe University, Australia Pranee Liamputtong, La Trobe University, Australia 16. Utilising New Media Technology: Web-Based Diaries for Data Collection with Adult Participants with Autistic Spectrum Disorder Vanessa Hinchcliffe, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK Helen Gavin, University of Huddersfield, UK 17. Methodological Considerations of Qualitative Email Interviews Kimberly Nehls, PhD, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, USA 18. Using multimedia stimulus materials in an electronic interview to gain in-depth responses from professionals: a case study Jill Vincent, University of Melbourne, Australia Kaye Stacey, University of Melbourne, Australia 19. The e-interview in qualitative research Roberta Bampton, Leeds Metropolitan University, UK Christopher Cowton, University of Huddersfield, UK Yvonne Downs, University of Huddersfield, UK Natalie "Before acting on this email or opening any attachments you should read the Manchester Metropolitan University email disclaimer available on its website http://www.mmu.ac.uk/emaildisclaimer "

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Interdisciplinary PhD Studentship
by Sarah Martindale 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

*School of Computer Science – Mixed Reality Laboratory* *Understanding Media Trajectories* *An EPSRC funded PhD Studentship in the Mixed Reality Laboratory with the BBC* Applications are invited from suitably qualified graduates for a fully sponsored PhD studentship based within the Mixed Reality Laboratory at the University of Nottingham, in collaboration with the BBC’s Research & Development Department. The world of broadcasting is changing rapidly with viewers accessing content across multiple screens (television, radio, PCs, tablets, phones and others), at varying times (including being able to replay content), and in a wide variety of contexts. They are also increasingly able to comment on, mash up and contribute to content, heralding a shift from being viewers of television to participants in it. This PhD – hosted by the BBC – provides a unique opportunity to study the changing nature of our television experience and contribute to the design of future services. The core aim is to understand how individuals engage in complex and extended TV experiences – for example following an unfolding news story, election, drama series, or sports tournament – in terms of trajectories of experience. The idea is that people already create their own trajectories through media experiences, using various screens to interleave them with their daily lives. If we can understand how they do this in detail then we can begin to design new more joined-up television experiences. The PhD will be based in the Mixed Reality Laboratory at Nottingham, an interdisciplinary research environment with a longstanding reputation for research into interactive media. It will also be hosted by the BBC who will provide supervision as well as opportunities to engage with BBC staff, knowledge and resources, including spending time working onsite at the BBC. The student will therefore be in a unique position to address this challenge while also benefiting from an extended training that includes industry experience in a world-leading media company. This position is open to high-calibre students from a wide variety of backgrounds spanning Computer Science and related technical disciplines, but also the Social Sciences, Psychology, New Media and Television Studies which may provide relevant skills and background for studying media trajectories. Willingness and ability to engage in interdisciplinary research are especially important. Beyond this, students must be able to demonstrate a capability to undertake and benefit from research training through to completion, to the standard necessary to qualify for a PhD. The candidate must have a high-grade qualification; an upper second class honours degree or a combination of qualifications and/or experience equivalent to that level. Due to the nature of funding the studentship is available to UK and EU citizens. The PhD scholarship is offered for the duration of three and a half years, starting on 1 October 2013, and will cover full university fees and a stipend. For the EPSRC student eligibility criteria, please visit: http://www.epsrc.ac.uk/funding/students/Pages/eligibility.aspx Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor Steve Benford, Mixed Reality Laboratory, School of Computer Science, via email to: sdb(a)cs.nott.ac.uk To apply, please access https://my.nottingham.ac.uk/pgapps/welcome. *Closing date: 30th June 2013.*

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Fwd: LAK 2014 4th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. First Call For Papers
by Haythornthwaite, Caroline 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

FYI. /Caroline Begin forwarded message: From: Abelardo Pardo <abelardo.pardo(a)gmail.com<mailto:abelardo.pardo@gmail.com>> Date: June 23, 2013 7:13:30 PM PDT To: <solar_sc(a)googlegroups.com<mailto:solar_sc@googlegroups.com>> Subject: LAK 2014 4th International Conference on Learning Analytics and Knowledge. First Call For Papers Reply-To: <solar_sc(a)googlegroups.com<mailto:solar_sc@googlegroups.com>> LAK 2014. The 4th International Conference on Learning Analytics & Knowledge 24-28 March 2014, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA http://lakconference.org<http://lakconference.org/> Conference theme: Intersection of learning analytics research, theory and practice The International Learning Analytics and Knowledge conference is now in its fourth year! LAK 14 will keep up the momentum generated in the earlier meetings as we continue to define who we are as a community and how our research can inform the important decisions facing education today. We are experiencing conditions that create a “perfect storm” for making analytics vitally important for supporting learning in our information age. Not only do we know more about the basic processes involved in learning, the explosion of online technology platforms and services provide new opportunities for learning and generate new forms of data about those processes. Coupled with increasing societal demands to make learning more accessible and effective for all, we need scholarly research to ensure that advances in learning technologies and practices benefit society as a whole. Advances in analytics, data mining and data visualization promise a way forward for making sense of the massive amounts of data available so that we can thoughtfully inform learners, educators, and policy makers. The location for the conference this year, Indianapolis, is called “The City at the Crossroads of America.” Accordingly, the theme for LAK 14 focuses on the crossroads, or intersection, of basic research on learning, learning theory, and educational practice. We invite papers that address at least one of these foci, but especially encourage submissions that demonstrate how they fit together in ways that make our work relevant to improving learning for people of all ages, leverage the technologies available to today’s learners, and scalable within the many places where learning occurs. To accomplish these goals, we seek theoretically motivated papers that utilize analytics to provide direction for understanding and supporting learning. TOPICS LAK 2014 is seeking contributions in a wide variety of topics. The overarching topic is how data can be used to improve any aspect of a learning experience. As a guidance, the conference will consider any of the following topics (authors are strongly encouraged to read the instructions on the conference web site): * Analytic approaches, methods, and tools for sense-making in learning analytics. * Theories and theoretical concepts for understanding learning. * Measures of learning, change and Success. * Learning activities, applications, and interventions. * Issues in learning analytics such as ethics, cultural transitions, capacity building, etc. These topics can be studied in a variety of learning scenarios whether: formal or informal; face-to-face, blended, or online settings. Proposals are welcome from any various application domains be it primary and secondary schools, higher education, corporate workplace or learning in governmental, military, health or commercial situations. Focus may be on distance or graduate education, mobile and ubiquitous learning, online communities, to name a few. SUBMISSION TYPES AND FORMAT The conference accepts the following type of submissions: * Full papers: 10 pages. * Short papers: 5 pages. * Panel proposals: 4 pages plus 2 separated pages with information about the confirmed panelists. * Workshop proposals: 2 pages. * Tutorial proposals: 2 pages (will not be included in the proceedings). * Tool demonstrations: 2 pages. * Posters: 2 pages. All documents must follow the ACM Proceedings Format<http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates>. Please check the conference website for detailed author instructions for each type of submission. Submissions will be received and processed with EasyChair<https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=lak14>. The conference proceedings will include all accepted conference submissions except tutorial proposals and workshop papers. The conference will also include a doctoral consortium, the details of which will be available soon. BEST PAPER AWARD The three full papers that obtain the highest scores from the reviewers will be "nominees for the best paper award". A committee composed by the program chairs of the current and past edition of the conference will choose the "best paper award" among the nominees. Both the nominees and the best paper award will be reflected in the proceedings. RELEVANT DATES * 21 October 2013: Deadline for full/short papers, panel proposals, workshop proposals, tutorial proposals, demonstrations and posters (no extension will be considered). * 11 November 2013: Notification of acceptance for workshop and tutorial proposals. * 16 December 2013: Notification of acceptance for full/short papers, panel proposals, demonstrations and posters. * 3 February 2014: Final version of accepted papers due. * 24-28 March 2014: Conference. CONFERENCE ORGANIZER Society for Learning Analytics Research (SoLAR) - http://www.solaresearch.org<http://www.solaresearch.org/> General Chairs Matthew Pistilli, Purdue University, IN, USA James Willis, Purdue University, IN, USA Drew Koch, John N. Gardner Institute for Excellence in Undergraduate Education, NC, USA Kimberly Arnold, University of Wisconsin-Madison, WI, USA Program Chairs Stephanie Teasley, University of Michigan, MI, USA Abelardo Pardo, The University of Sydney, Australia Workshops and Tutorials Chairs Kalina Yacef, The University of Sydney, Australia Hendrik Drachsler, Center for Learning Sciences and Technologies, Open University Netherlands Demonstrations and Posters Chairs Zach Pardos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MA, USA Anna de Liddo, The Open University, UK Social Media Chair Sean Goggins, Drexel University Webmaser Chair Krista Galyen, University of Missouri, MO, USA Publicity Chairs Jenni Swenson, Lake Superior College, MN, USA Tricia Leggett, Zane State College, OH, USA Local Chair James Willis, Purdue University, IN, USA -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "SoLAR_SC" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to solar_sc+unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com<mailto:solar_sc+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com>. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.

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(with apologies) online access to my work
by Julie Cohen 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

Dear Colleagues, Apologies for the advertisement, but if you have linked to any of my online papers via my Georgetown web page, I want to let you know that Georgetown is discontinuing support for faculty personal web pages as of June 30 and those links likely will break. Everything can now be accessed via www.juliecohen.com<http://www.juliecohen.com> (though some of the links then go back to the "scholarly commons" maintained by our library; don't ask...). Cheers, Julie Julie E. Cohen Professor of Law Georgetown University Law Center jec(a)law.georgetown.edu http://www.juliecohen.com

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cfp: 6th international Surveillance & Society conference, 2014
by Nils Zurawski 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

Dear list, this is an announcement for the cfp for the 6th international Surveillance & Society conference hosted by the University of Barcelona and supported by the Surveillance Studies Network. Thursday 24th - Friday 25th April 2014 in Barcelona best nilz ---------------------cfp-------------------------- SSN 2014: Surveillance Ambiguities & Assymetries CALL FOR REGISTRATION OF INTEREST AND ABSTRACTS Contemporary surveillance is characterised by ambiguities and asymmetries. Surveillance results from different desires and rationales: control, governance, security, profit, efficiency but also care, empowerment, resistance, and play. Furthermore it can have both positive and negative outcomes for individuals and these may lead to intended or unintended consequences. Surveillance is never neutral. Surveillance is always about power and that power is increasingly asymmetric. Surveillance practices are also changing and as 'smart' surveillance systems proliferate utilising and generating 'Big Data' new forms of ambiguity and asymmetry arise. In this context the conference wishes to explore the following key themes: KEY THEMES INCLUDE Smart surveillance Democracy and surveillance Resilience and surveillance Cultures and histories of surveillance Representations of Surveillance in Film/Art/Literature/Media Surveillance and empowerment Surveillance and human rights Surveillance in knowledge economies Regulating surveillance Surveillance, privacy and data-protection Participatory surveillance and police surveillance of online social networks Surveillance, games and play Theories of surveillance Ethics of surveillance Gender and surveillance Algorithmic surveillance Politics and governance of surveillance Surveillance and big data STS approaches to surveillance Surveillance and sports Resistance to surveillance Non-technological surveillance Surveillance and mobility IMPORTANT DATES 31 May 2013 First call for papers and intent issued 31 July 2013 Deadline for initial register of interest, name, title, contact details etc by email to ssn2014barcelona(a)surveillance-studies.net 25 September 2013 1st deadline submission of abstracts 30 September 2013 Electronic booking form available - formal registration and payment 22 November 2013 Notification to participants about decisions on abstracts 25 March 2014 Submission full papers 25 March 2014 Final Deadline for registration and payment for all conference attendees without late booking surcharge 7 April 2014 Papers published on Web available to all registered conference attendees 24-25 April 2014 Conference REGISTRATION INSTRUCTIONS If you wish to present a paper or just attend without presenting, please register with the conference by sending an email to ssn2014barcelona(a)surveillance-studies.net as soon as possible before the 31st of July. Please title the Email "SSN Barcelona 2014" and include the following information: o Name o Country of residence o Institutional affiliation o Institutional address o Telephone number o Email address For paper givers a 300 word abstract will be required by 25 September 2013 and can be submitted on the following website: https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ssn2014barcelona You can find thefull call in English and Spanish here: http://www.surveillance-studies.net/documents/cfp_SSN2014_Barcelona_final.p… <http://www.surveillance-studies.net/documents/cfp_SSN2014_Barcelona_final.d…>http://www.surveillance-studies.net/documents/cfp_SSN2014_Barcelona_final.d… -- Dr. habil. Nils Zurawski Universität Hamburg Inst. für kriminologische Sozialforschung Allende-Platz 1 20146 Hamburg Germany tel. +49 (0) 40 42838 2199 / 7421 (AB) fax. +49 (0) 40 42838 2328 http://www.surveillance-studies.org/blog

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Have you taught a MOOC?
by alicetiara 24 Jun '13

24 Jun '13

Hi, I'm looking to talk to anyone who has taught a MOOC (is currently, will be teaching this fall, etc.). Please email me offlist at amarwick(a)gmail.com Thanks! -- Alice E. Marwick, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Communication and Media Studies Fordham University (718) 817-4861 amarwick(a)gmail.com <amarwick(a)fordham.edu> http://www.tiara.org <mediarelations(a)wellesley.edu>

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Contents of Vol. 11, No. 2 of International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (IJDET, an EI journal)
by Maiga Chang 23 Jun '13

23 Jun '13

[Apologies if you receive multiple times, please circulate this to your colleagues who might be interested, thank you so much.] [This email includes the table of contents of Vol. 11, No. 2 of International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (IJDET, an EI journal) and the general call for papers of IJDET] ------- Annoucement of the publication of Vol. 11, No. 2 of IJDET (an EI journal)----------- http://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-distance-education-… We are glad to announce the publication of Vol. 11, No. 2 of International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (IJDET, an EI journal). In this issue, SIX papers are included: Recognizing Student Emotions using Brainwaves and Mouse Behavior Data(pages 1-15) Judith Azcarraga, and Merlin Teodosia Suarez Brainwaves (EEG signals) and mouse behavior information are shown to be useful in predicting academic emotions, such as confidence, excitement, frustration and interest. Twenty five college students were asked to use the Aplusix math learning software while their brainwaves signals and mouse behavior (number of clicks, duration of each click, distance traveled by the mouse) were automatically being captured. It is shown that by combining the extracted features from EEG signals with data representing mouse click behavior, the accuracy in predicting academic emotions substantially increases compared to using only features extracted from EEG signals or just mouse behavior alone. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to assess the prediction accuracy of the system at points during the learning session where several of the extracted features significantly deviate in value from their mean. The experiments confirm that the prediction performance increases as the number of feature values that deviate significantly from the mean increases. http://www.igi-global.com/article/recognizing-student-emotions-using-brainw… Towards Computational Fronesis: Verifying Contextual Appropriateness of Emotions (pages 16-47) Michal Ptaszynski, Pawel Dybala, Michal Mazur, Rafal Rzepka, Kenji Araki, and Yoshio Momouchi This paper presents research in Contextual Affect Analysis (CAA) for the need of future application in intelligent agents, such as conversational agents or artificial tutors. The authors propose a new term, Computational Fronesis (CF), to embrace the tasks included in CAA applied to development of conversational agents such as artificial tutors. In tutor-student discourse it is crucial that the artificial tutor was able not only to detect user/student emotions, but also to verify toward whom they were directed and whether they were appropriate for the context of the conversation. Therefore, as the first task in CF the authors focus on verification of contextual appropriateness of emotions. They performed some of the first experiments in this task for the Japanese language and discuss future directions in development and implications of Computational Fronesis. http://www.igi-global.com/article/towards-computational-fronesis/77839 Towards a Semantic-Based Approach for Affect and Metaphor Detection (pages 48-65) Li Zhang, and John Barnden Affect detection from open-ended virtual improvisational contexts is a challenging task. To achieve this research goal, the authors developed an intelligent agent which was able to engage in virtual improvisation and perform sentence-level affect detection from user inputs. This affect detection development was efficient for the improvisational inputs with strong emotional indicators. However, it can also be fooled by the diversity of emotional expressions such as expressions with weak or no affect indicators or metaphorical affective inputs. Moreover, since the improvisation often involves multi-party conversations with several threads of discussions happening simultaneously, the previous development was unable to identify the different discussion contexts and the most intended audiences to inform affect detection. Therefore, in this paper, the authors employ latent semantic analysis to find the underlying semantic structures of the emotional expressions and identify topic themes and target audiences especially for those inputs without strong affect indicators to improve affect detection performance. They also discuss how such semantic interpretation of dialog contexts is used to identify metaphorical phenomena. Initial exploration on affect detection from gestures is also discussed to interpret users’ experience of using the system and provide an extra channel to detect affect embedded in the virtual improvisation. Their work contributes to the journal themes on affect sensing from text, semantic-based dialogue processing and emotional gesture recognition. http://www.igi-global.com/article/towards-semantic-based-approach-affect/77… Using Emotional Intelligence in Training Crisis Managers: The Pandora Approach(pages 66-95) Lachlan Mackinnon, Liz Bacon, Gabriella Cortellessa, and Amedeo Cesta Multi-agency crisis management represents one of the most complex of real-world situations, requiring rapid negotiation and decision-making under extreme pressure. However, the training offered to strategic planners, called Gold Commanders, does not place them under any such pressure. It takes the form of paper-based, table-top exercises, or expensive, real-world, limited-scope simulations. The Pandora project has developed a rich multimedia training environment for Gold Commanders, based on a crisis scenario, timeline-based, event network, with which the trainees and their trainer interact dynamically. Pandora uses the emotional intelligence of the trainees, through a behavioural modelling component, to support group dynamic and decision-making. It applies systemic emotional intelligence, based on inferred user state and rule-based affective inputs, to impact the stress levels of the trainees. Pandora can impose variable stress on trainees, to impact their decision-making, and model their behaviour and performance under stress, potentially resulting in more effective and realisable strategies. http://www.igi-global.com/article/using-emotional-intelligence-training-cri… Affective Realism of Animated Films in the Development of Simulation-Based Tutoring Systems (pages 96-109) Hiran B. Ekanayake, Uno Fors, Robert Ramberg, Tom Ziemke, Per Backlund, and Kamalanath P. Hewagamage This paper presents a study focused on comparing real actors based scenarios and animated characters based scenarios with respect to their similarity in evoking psychophysiological activity for certain events by measuring galvanic skin response (GSR). In the experiment, one group (n=11) watched the real actors’ film whereas another group (n=7) watched the animated film, which had the same story and dialogue as the real actors’ film. The results have shown that there is no significant difference in the skin conductance response (SCR) scores between the two groups; however, responses significantly differ when SCR amplitudes are taken into account. Moreover, Pearson’s correlation reported as high as over 80% correlation between the two groups’ SCRs for certain time intervals. The authors believe that this finding is of general importance for the domain of simulation-based tutoring systems in development of and decisions regarding use of animated characters based scenarios. http://www.igi-global.com/article/affective-realism-animated-films-developm… Words that Fascinate the Listener: Predicting Affective Ratings of On-Line Lectures(pages 110-123) Felix Weninger, Pascal Staudt, and Bjorn Schuller In a large scale study on 843 transcripts of Technology, Entertainment and Design (TED) talks, the authors address the relation between word usage and categorical affective ratings of lectures by a large group of internet users. Users rated the lectures by assigning one or more predefined tags which relate to the affective state evoked in the audience (e. g., ‘fascinating’, ‘funny’, ‘courageous’, ‘unconvincing’ or ‘long-winded’). By automatic classification experiments, they demonstrate the usefulness of linguistic features for predicting these subjective ratings. Extensive test runs are conducted to assess the influence of the classifier and feature selection, and individual linguistic features are evaluated with respect to their discriminative power. In the result, classification whether the frequency of a given tag is higher than on average can be performed most robustly for tags associated with positive valence, reaching up to 80.7% accuracy on unseen test data. http://www.igi-global.com/article/words-fascinate-listener/77843 ------- General Call for Papers for IJDET (an EI journal)----------- The electronic version of this cfp can be seen at http://maiga.athabascau.ca/editors/IJDET-Call_for_Papers-General.pdf International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (IJDET) (http://www.igi-global.com/journal/international-journal-distance-education-…) The International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (IJDET) is a forum for researchers and practitioners to disseminate practical solutions to the automation of open and distance learning. Targeted to academic researchers and engineers who work with distance learning programs and software systems, as well as general users of distance education technologies and methods, IJDET discusses computational methods, algorithms, implemented prototype systems, and applications of open and distance learning. All manuscripts submitted to the journal are peer-reviewed according to the procedure consisting of initial review, peer review, and recommendation Editor in Chief: Dr. Fuhua Lin (fuhua.o.lin(a)gmail.com) Executive Editor: Dr. Maiga Chang (maiga.chang(a)gmail.com) Indices: Compendex (Elsevier EI), DBLP, EBSCOhost, ERIC, Google Scholar, INSPEC, PsycINFOR, SCOPUS, and many others Suggested topics: IJDET is an EI journal and the scope of the journal includes, but is not limited to: - Assessment - Distance Learning for Culture and Arts - Intelligent and Adaptive Learning - Intelligent Agents and Multi-Agent Systems - Mobile Learning - Nurse Medical Healthcare - Pedagogical Issues - Social Learning - Serious Games for Distance Education - Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Education - Technology Enhanced Learning - Ubiquitous Learning - Virtual Worlds for Distance Education Manuscript guidelines: All submissions have to follow IJDET manuscript guidelines at http://www.igi-global.com/publish/resources/journal-organization-and-format… http://www.igi-global.com/journals/guidelines-for-submission.aspx should be submitted online at http://www.ijdet.com/ after registering an account. Special Issue proposals: We also encourage potential research in any fields related to the journal to form a high quality guest editorial team to submit special issue proposal online, for any emerging, important, and hot topics. Please submit your special issue proposal online as a manuscript and choose "[Special Issue Proposal]" as its Section The special issue proposal sample can be downloaded at http://vip.is-very-good.org/editing/IJDET-Special_Issue_Proposal_Sample.doc For queries, please contact Dr. Maiga Chang (maiga.chang(a)gmail.com) ------------------------------------ Sincerely, Maiga Chang maiga.chang(a)gmail.com http://maiga.athabascau.ca 06, 23 '13 PM 01:37 in Edmonton --------------------------------- Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Technology for Education and Learning Executive Editor, International Journal of Distance Education Technologies (EI) Associate Editor, International Journal of Online Pedagogy and Course Design Learning Culture and Language through ICTs: Methods for Enhanced Instruction http://www.igi-global.com/reference/details.asp?ID=33419 ----------- Co-Chair of ICCE sub-conference on Digital Game and Digital Toy Enhanced Learning and Society (GTEL&S) http://icce2013bali.org/ Co-Chair of GCCCE sub-conference on Joyful Learning and Society http://www.gse.pku.edu.cn/gccce2013/gccceen.asp ----------- Guest Editor, Research and Practice in Technology Enhanced Learning Special Issue on Practical Applications of Mobile and Internet Educational Games http://www.apsce.net/Download/RPTEL-2012-SI5_PracticalEducationalGames_CFP.… Guest Editor, International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning (SSCI) Special Issue on Technology Enhanced Information Retrieval and Processing for Online Learning (Vol. 13, No. 5) http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/issue/view/54 Guest Associate Editor, IEEE Technology and Engineering Education Special Issue on Cloud Computing Technology and Applications (Vol. 7, No. 2) http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/e/sac/itee/index.php/meem/article/viewFile/252/… http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/e/sac/itee/index.php/meem/issue/view/30 --------- School of Computing and Information Systems (http://scis.athabascau.ca/) Athabasca University 1200, 10011-109 Street Edmonton, T5J-3S8 AB, Canada --------------- Phone: +1-866-916-8646 Website: http://maiga.dnsalias.org and http://maiga.athabascau.ca CV: http://scis.athabascau.ca/scis/staff/faculty.jsp?id=maigac Leave me an Audio/Video message with JoinNet (required to install in Microsoft Windows OS first) http://meeting.athabascau.ca/gotomeeting.php?u=5&c=visit JoinNet software: http://www.homemeeting.com/en_US/download_joinnet.html

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