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Switch: National Culture in the Digital Age CFP - 12-14 October 2012 Switch: National Culture in the Digital Age CFP - 12-14 October 2012
by William Burke 03 Mar '12

03 Mar '12

*Switch: National Culture in the Digital Age CFP - 12-14 October 2012* How will national cultures survive in the digital age? Will they be subsumed in the centripetal pull of global monoculture? Or will counter-currents and hybrid combinations thrive in a transmedia world? 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of RTÉ TV – Ireland’s public television network charged with broadcasting the nation to itself: ‘a window and mirror to an evolving nation’. This year also sees the end of analogue television transmission in Ireland, marking another milestone in the nation’s switchover to digital. Beyond technological advances, this switch from existing communication models to convergent networks may well have a far-reaching impact on the idea of the nation as a finite and highly centralized construct. Against the backdrop of this transition the Huston School of Film & Digital Media, NUI Galway will hold a three-day conference to explore the impact of digital technologies on national culture in Ireland and elsewhere. A central consideration of this conference will be how changes in communication and creative practices reposition national culture – in its broadest sense - in a digital age. Since its establishment in 2003 the Huston School of Film & Digital Media has been at the forefront of digital media research. In 2006 the school introduced an MA in Digital Media and a symposium on digital narratives was held in 2007. In 2011 the school funded twelve Digital Arts and Humanities PhD students with the Moore Institute. Papers are invited that discuss any aspect of National Culture in the Digital Age, including, but not limited to, the following: A) Convergence Culture Papers are invited that consider how old and new media collide, compete and work together in this era of media and technological convergence. Topics might include digital archives, approaches to the digital humanities, online newspapers, video on demand and ebooks. B) Participation Some see the web as a utopian realisation of the public sphere. Others suggest that it simply mirrors and reinforces real world inequalities. Papers are sought which consider this tension in relation to Ireland in the digital age. Topics might include: Piracy, Globalisation, Cultural Distribution and Access, The Digital Divide, Social Networking, Education, Electronic Tribes and Citizen Journalism. C) Narrative Do the possibilities offered by digital technologies (e.g. remixes, hyperlinks and open world gaming) constitute a shift away from traditional narratives to new forms of storytelling? D) Medium Specificity In an era where technologies convergence and audiences are migratory have the boundaries between unique means of expression (e.g. film, theatre and literature) begun to dissolve? Papers are invited that consider this development in relation to national cultural production. The conference will be held on 12-14 October 2012. Please submit abstracts of no more than 300 words, an academic bio and contact details to the organisers Liam Burke and Tony Tracy: irishdigitalculture(a)gmail.com by 4 May 2012. Papers will be 20 minutes and panels will be thematically linked. It is the intention of the organisers to publish an edited collection, which will include articles from this conference.

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Italian STS conference deadline extension - INTERNET AND NEW PRODUCTIVE PARADIGMS
by Stefano De Paoli 02 Mar '12

02 Mar '12

Hello list, If someone was interested in submitting but did not have the time to prepare the abstract, the deadline has been extended until March 11. Abstracts (in Italian or English) should be sent as email attachment (as MS word or Rich Text Format) to the track’s coordinators (and carbon copied to 4convegnosts(a)gmail.com) by March 1, 2012. Abstracts with a maximum length of 500 words should contain the title, author's name, affiliation and contact details including e-mail. Further information on the conference on: www.stsitalia.org TRACK: INTERNET AND NEW PRODUCTIVE PARADIGMS: THE STS CONTRIBUTION Convernors: Stefano De Paoli (Fondazione <ahref, Trento, stefano(a)ahref.eu) Cristiano Storni (University of Limerick, cristiano.storni(a)ul.ie) Maurizio Teli (Fondazione <ahref, Trento, maurizio(a)ahref.eu) The exponential diffusion of the Internet on a global scale shows the emergence of new and socio-technical arrangements that seem to call into question our traditional separation between production and consumption. For many, we are witnessing the emergence and consolidation of a completely new production paradigm where production processes are decentralised, distributed among an undisclosed mass of actors often proactive, sometimes without a predictable path. The examples of this grow daily: Wikipedia, free and open source software and hardware, folksonomies, crowdsourcing platforms, online hacktivism, Do-it-Yourself communities, and so on. New concepts have been developed in an attempt to capture these new practices and these new socio-technical arrangements: in the late 1970s, Toffler (1980) theorized the emergence of the prosumer, both producer and consumer of goods. This phenomenon of convergence between the producer and consumer has stimulated research to generate new concepts such as "wikinomics (Tapscott and Williams, 2006)," commons-based peer production "(Benkler, 2006)," produsage "(Bruns, 2008), and ideas like the Hack-tivism (Auty, 2004) or Mash-ups technology (Hartmann et al. 2006). At the same time, however, we are witnessing the emergence of criticisms that highlight that these innovative aspects are the perpetuation, more or less obvious, of the traditional capitalist logic. This seems to fuel disputes around the themese of control, surveillance, exploitation of intellectual property management, deskilling, etc. (Lash, 2002, Terranova, 2000, De Paoli and Storni, 2011) Instead of taking the emergence of the new production paradigm as a matter of fact, the goal of this track is to describe and understand the practices and dynamics that characterize the sociotechnical collectives behind the phenomena mentioned above, and discuss how they help us to rethink not only the traditional division of labour between production and consumption, but mostly what we mean with the terms work, production, consumption, and property (commons) in our information society. In this sense to invite contributions and case studies in different areas to discuss, but are not limited to: - the role of STS in the study of new emerging practices in the information society; - how to rethink and/or deconstruct empirically the concepts of production, consumption, property, work and good: debates, controversies and new definitions; - doing and undoing the boundaries between production and consumption (or design and use); - new conceptions of labor and its distribution; - Do-it-Yourself and Do-it-with-Others: new practices? References Auty, C., 2004, “Political Hacktivism: tool of the underdog or scourge of cyberspace?” in Aslib proc: new information perspectives, Vol. 56, No. 4, pp. 212-22 Benkler, Y, 2006, The wealth of Networks: how social production transform markets and freedom. New Haven and London: Yale University Press. Bruns, A., 2008, Blogs, Wikipedia, Second Life and Beyond: From production to produsage. New York: Peter Lang. De Paoli S. and Storni C, 2011, “Produsage in hybrid networks: sociotechnical skills in the case of Arduino”. New Review of Hypermedia and Multimedia, 17(1), 31-52. Hartmann, B. et al., 2006, Hacking, Mashing, Gluing: A Study of Opportunistic Design and Development, Technical Report, Stanford University Computer Science Department. Lash, Scott. 2002. Critique of Information. London: Sage Tapscott, D. and Williams, A. 2006, Wikinomics: how mass collaboration changes everything. New York: Portfolio. Toffler, A., 1980, The Third Wave. New York: Morrow. -- ---- Crimes and punishments in Virtual Worlds http://www.springerlink.com/content/n4m858m182677h44/ Produsage, ANT & Skills http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a935694592~frm=titl…

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Call for Chapters -- Online China: Locating society in online spaces
by Peter Marolt 02 Mar '12

02 Mar '12

With apologies for cross-posting. Call for Chapters Online China: Locating society in online spaces A volume edited by Peter Marolt and David Kurt Herold (proposed for Routledge) The Chinese Internet has emerged as a growing field of research and scholars have grown mindful that public spaces and movements in cyberspace are intrinsic to understanding social issues that exist offline, and vice versa. Online and offline spaces are increasingly recognized and rendered as interdependent and inseparable dimensions of social, political, economic, and cultural activity and their interrelationship is driving change across all facets of social life. In this volume, online and offline China are conceptualised as separate, but inter-connected spaces in which human and institutional actors are interacting under the gaze of the seemingly monolithic authoritarian state. The cyberspaces comprising 'online China' are understood as spaces for interaction that influence 'offline China', and can be described as augmented spaces that allow their users greater 'freedoms' despite ubiquitous control and surveillance of state authorities. Individuals, groups, and institutions are creating and shaping spaces for thought and action to express ideas, produce shared meanings, engage in social interactions, etc, in a blend of online and offline contexts. The proposed volume seeks to gather contributions that discuss and reflect on aspects of the diversity of social and cultural practices taking place in online and offline spaces in China. We encourage contributors to reflect on how various actors utilize the Internet to create and re-create meaningful spaces, institutions and movements in their quest to shape their lives, and how these spaces propel or hinder the transformation of societal structures. The chapters in the volume should strive to deconstruct the notion of the all-powerful and monolithic state, while also avoiding to cast Chinese Internet users in a primarily 'political' role. Chinese cyberspace is home to many different users, groups, events, happenings, movements, artefacts, etc., whose goals and purposes are rarely 'political' in a narrow sense �C even if they have an effect on politics. In the same way, 'the Chinese state' consists of many individuals, groupings, institutions, etc. who are often at odds with each other, and have differing views on online China. Chinese netizens are faced with contradictory, and ever shifting regulations and 'harmonizing' state interventions that require constant choices, compromises, and great flexibility, in negotiating the boundaries of permissible online and offline behaviour. A re-conceptualisation of both online and offline China and their networks of relationships will allow for a much deeper understanding of the importance of the Internet in today's China (and beyond). The editors hope to assemble and integrate empirical findings and conceptual imaginings of the ways in which 'Online China' invokes the re-making of 'Offline China' and how people create new, blended socio-cultural spaces in today's China. We particularly welcome, but are not limiting ourselves to studies that focus on: - Groups of Chinese Internet users - Diversity of online, or online/offline practices - Diversity in actions/comments/etc. of 'the state' - Interactions and negotiations among and between Internet users and state authorities - Emerging grassroots and alternative spaces and projects - Thoughts on how to detect and analyze such spaces and projects �C as they tend to be small-scale, often invoking 'only' incremental, happenstance or transient transformations - Other studies that showcase the richness and diversity of Chinese cyberspaces We also invite submissions that provide an explicit comparative perspective or that elaborate on how organically grown initiatives, movements, or institutions are using online and offline spaces to inform urban planning, policy, laws and governance. If you would like to contribute to this volume, please contact one (or both) of the editors. Important dates: 16 April 2012 Submission of 500 word abstracts for a chapter proposal 4 May 2012 Decision of the editors 20 August 2012 Submission of full chapters Dr. Peter Marolt Research Fellow Asia Research Institute National University of Singapore Singapore marolt(a)nus.edu.sg Dr. David Kurt Herold Lecturer for Sociology Department of Applied Social Sciences HK Polytechnic University Hong Kong ssherold(a)polyu.edu.hk

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Internet Research 13.0: Technologies: submission open
by Attwood, Feona 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

Internet Research 13.0: Technologies The 13th Annual International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) October 18-21, 2012 MediaCity:UK - University of Salford Salford - Greater Manchester - UK http://ir13.aoir.org Submission here: https://www.conftool.com/aoir-ir13/ Internet Research 13.0 will focus on the theme of technologies, understood in the broadest sense as crafts, techniques, and systems. The conference will examine the place of the Internet in the contemporary world and in relation to a range of existing and emerging technologies, considering its impact in a context where life is entangled with technologies of all kinds as never before. The conference will bring together scholars, researchers, students and practitioners from many disciplines to map and situate the development of the Internet as part of the history of human technology. To this end, we call for papers, panel and pre-conference workshop proposals from any discipline, methodology, community or a combination of them that address the conference themes, including, but not limited to, papers that intersect and/or interconnect with the following: * the speed and acceleration of technological change * the past, present and future of technology * emerging and converging technologies * educational technology * cultures of crafting * connectivity and access * space, location and mobile technologies * technology, networks and attachments * technology and the body * technologies of the self * technology, regulation and ethics Sessions at the conference will be established that specifically address the conference themes, and we welcome innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on those themes. We also welcome submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, legal, aesthetic, economic, and/or philosophical aspects of the internet beyond the conference themes. In all cases, we welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions as well as international collaborations from both AoIR and non-AoIR members. SUBMISSIONS We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. As in the past, we welcome proposals for traditional academic conference PAPERS, organized PANEL PROPOSALS that present a coherent group of papers on a single theme, as well as PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS which focus on a particular topic. We also invite proposals that will focus on discussion and interaction among conference delegates. A common form of this type is the ROUNDTABLE SESSION, but we would also like to encourage other formats, such as OPEN FISHBOWL SESSIONS. (See the Wikipedia entry under “Fishbowl (conversation)” for a description of this format. Fishbowl sessions should cover broad topics of interest to a wide segment of the AoIR community.) Finally, we invite short 5-minute talks on topics of interest to the community as part of our Ignite-IR panels. Please see below for more information on this format. DEADLINES Submissions Due: 1 March 2012 (Papers, Panels and Pre-Workshops. Details below.) NOTE: The submission deadline is a HARD DEADLINE; there will be NO extensions to this date. Notification: 1 May 2012 Full Papers Submissions Due for inclusion in Selected Papers of IR: 1 July 2012 Ignite-IR Final Proposal Deadline: 1 August 2012 Ignite-IR Slides Due: 15 September 2012 SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS All papers and presentations will be evaluated in a standard blind peer review. PAPERS (individual or multi-author) – submit abstract of 600-800 words PANEL PROPOSALS – submit a description of 600-800 words on the panel theme, plus a 250-500 word abstract for each paper or presentation. The panel organizer must assemble these materials for submission ROUNDTABLE and FISHBOWL PROPOSALS – submit a statement indicating the nature of the discussion and form of interaction, and listing initial participants. (In the case of a fishbowl proposal, this will include the name of the moderator, and the names of the first four speakers for the fishbowl.) PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS – please submit all workshop proposals via email to attwood(a)aoir.org<mailto:attwood@aoir.org>. Workshop proposals should include names of presenters and a 1,000-word description. IGNITE-IR – please submit a one-paragraph abstract and other information. Details at http://ir13.aoir.org/ignite-ir Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the submitted proposals on the basis of multiple blind peer review, coordinated and overseen by the Program Chair. Each individual may present only one paper during the conference, though they may be listed as a co-author on multiple papers. In addition to this one presentation, they may also appear on a panel, roundtable, or performance. The exception is the Ignite-IR lightening talk, which may be in addition to any other presentations. PUBLICATION OF PAPERS Full papers submitted by the 1 July 2012 deadline will undergo review to be published in an open-access, online collection, Selected Papers of Internet Research (ISSN 2162-3317). A template and guidelines for preparing your final paper are available on the conference website (http://ir13.aoir.org/papers) Selected papers from the conference will alternatively be published in a special issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society. Authors selected for submission for this issue will be contacted prior to the conference. PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS On 18 October 2012, there will be a limited number of pre-conference workshops and symposia that will provide participants with in-depth, hands-on and/or creative opportunities. We invite proposals for these pre-conference workshops. Local presenters are encouraged to propose workshops that will invite visiting researchers into their labs or studios or locales. Proposals should be no more than 1,000 words, and should clearly outline the purpose, methodology, structure, costs, equipment and minimal attendance required, as well as explaining its relevance to the conference as a whole. Proposals will be accepted if they demonstrate that the workshop will add significantly to the overall program in terms of thematic depth, hands on experience, or local opportunities for scholarly or artistic connections. These proposals and all inquiries regarding pre-conference proposals should be submitted as soon as possible to the program chair (attwood(a)aoir.org<mailto:attwood@aoir.org>) and no later than 1 March 2012. IGNITE-IR For the second year, the Internet Research conference will offer the opportunity to present short, five minute talks in rapid succession. Presenters provide a deck of twenty slides, which will auto-advance each fifteen seconds. Details on the session maybe found at the conference website. Because talks are intended to be of the moment, the submission deadline is much later than for papers: 1 August 2012. CONTACT INFORMATION Program Chair: Feona Attwood, Communication, Sheffield Hallam University, UK, email attwood(a)aoir.org<mailto:attwood@aoir.org> Local Conference Chair: Ben Light, School of Media, Music, and Performance, University of Salford, email: light(a)aoir.org<mailto:light@aoir.org>

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Fwd: [ciresearchers] Fwd: FW: RESEARCHER POSITIONS: IHRB and Shift looking for ICT sector researchers for EC Project
by gene loeb 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

Hi all, Thids might bne of interest to someone on the list. Gene ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Susan O'Donnell <susanodo(a)unb.ca> Date: Thu, Mar 1, 2012 at 8:08 AM Subject: [ciresearchers] Fwd: FW: RESEARCHER POSITIONS: IHRB and Shift looking for ICT sector researchers for EC Project To: ciresearchers(a)vancouvercommunity.net FYI. Susan ______________________________**__________ From: cxmailer(a)collectivex.com [cxmailer(a)collectivex.com] Sent: March 1, 2012 9:34 To: O'Donnell, Susan Subject: RESEARCHER POSITIONS: IHRB and Shift looking for ICT sector researchers for EC Project EUI INFOSOC Working Group<http://euiinfosocwg.**groupsite.com<http://euiinfosocwg.groupsite.com> > New Email Blast The Institute of Human Rights and Business are working with Shift to develop guidance for the ICT sector on the UN Guiding Principles for the European Commission. They are currently advertising for 2 people to support them on this - the details are below. Further information about the EU sector guidance project and position is available on the following website: http://ihrb.org/recruitment.**html<http://ihrb.org/recruitment.html> 1. ICT Researcher, part-time (March-‐July with the bulk of the work falling in March-May, approximately 25 days), reporting to Shift in NY - covering human rights in ICT supply chains - APPLICATION DUE DATE: 5 March 2012 2. ICT Researcher, full-time, reporting to the Institute for Human Rights and Business in Brussels - covering human rights in the ICT sector (except for supply chain issues) - APPLICATION DUE DATE: 5 March 2012, with interviews in London on 8 March To unsubscribe (subscribe) send an email to: sympa(a)vcn.bc.ca with the message unsub (sub) ciresearchers

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Flossie 2012 CfP
by gazz 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

Apologies for cross-posting: ---------------------------------------------------------- CfP: FLOSSIE 2012, 25/26 May at QMUL, East London, UK ---------------------------------------------------------- Flossie 2012 is a free, two-day event for women who work with, or are interested in, Software Libre/FOSS in Open Data, Knowledge Digital Arts and Education. Flossie is an independent network of women practitioners that has its roots in social change movements as well as arts, technology and academia. Whether you code, tinker or want to explore alternatives to ‘big-tech’ corporations, all women are welcome. The first day will mix micro-talks with birds of a feather sessions about the work we do. On the second day there will be more structured workshops and discussions for both experienced practitioners and women new to FLOSS to make contact and skillshare. *Submissions* We invite proposals for talks, workshops and Birds of a Feather sessions * Deadline for proposals, Monday 12 March 2012 * Submit proposal here: http://www.flossie.org/openconf/ * The organising committee will send notifications regarding session proposals no later than 26 March 2012 *Who is this event for?* • Women users and developers of FLOSS in digital arts, free culture, open data, open knowledge, social change movements and non-profits • Researchers, students and writers • Women entrepreneurs and social innovators using FLOSS *Themes:* • Sharing our current experiences and achievements • Building cross-disciplinary and cross-community networks • Improving visibility of women in FLOSS as well as technology in general and reaching out to new women *Further Information* If you have any questions regarding this event please email conf(a)flossie.org The conference will be on Friday 25 May and Saturday 26 May 2012 Queen Mary, University of London, Mile End Road, E1 4NS The nearest tube stations are Stepney Green and Mile End *Call for participation* Register here: http://flossie2012.eventbrite.co.uk/ Submit proposal here: http://www.flossie.org/openconf/ Flossie 2012, 25/26 March for digital artists, educators, entrepreneurs and nonprofits using FLOSS - CfP: is.gd/Bt77CZ

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Hyperlink Network Analysis short course - 2-6 July (Sydney)
by Robert Ackland 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

I will be teaching a short course on Hyperlink Network Analysis at the upcoming Australian Consortium for Social and Political Research Incorporated (ACSPRI) training program. The course runs for one week (2-6 July) and it is conveniently timed for the week before the 2012 RC33 Eighth International Conference on Social Science Methodology, also held in Sydney. For more details on my course, see http://acspri.org.au/node/953 This course will provide students with an introduction to empirical approaches for studying hyperlink networks, with a substantive focus on organisational WWW hyperlink networks and blog networks. The course will introduce students to three broad approaches to social scientific research into hyperlink networks, looking at examples of research where hyperlink networks have been studied as citation networks (library and information sciences), issue networks (media studies) and social networks (sociology). There will also be an introduction to three available tools for hyperlink network research: Issuecrawler, SocSciBot and VOSON (which was created by the course instructor). The practical part of the course will focus on VOSON, which is a tool for hyperlink network construction and analysis, and is available as a web application and as a plugin to NodeXL (a free Excel 2007/2010 template for social network analysis). Finally, there will be an introduction to statistical analysis of hyperlink networks using ERGM/p* models. Online references: See http://voson.anu.edu.au and http://www.uberlink.com for information on VOSON and http://nodexl.codeplex.com for information on NodeXL. Related readings: Ackland, R. (2010), "WWW Hyperlink Networks," Chapter 12 in D. Hansen, B. Shneiderman and M. Smith (eds), Analyzing Social Media Networks with NodeXL: Insights from a connected world. Morgan-Kaufmann. Ackland, R. and M. O'Neil (2011), "Online collective identity: The case of the environmental movement," Social Networks, 33, 177-190. Lusher, D. and R. Ackland (2011), "A Relational Hyperlink Analysis of an Online Social Movement," Journal of Social Structure, volume 12, number 5. Available at: http://www.cmu.edu/joss/content/articles/volume12/Lusher/ -- Assoc. Prof. Robert Ackland Coordinator of Master of Social Research, Australian Demographic and Social Research Institute, The Australian National University Information about the Master of Social Research (Social Science of the Internet specialisation): http://adsri.anu.edu.au/graduate-study/msr CRICOS No: 061772F --

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ICME 2012 Workshop on (RE)CREATING LIVELY CITIES THROUGH AMBIENT TECHNOLOGIES (Deadline 12th March - Position Papers)
by artur.lugmayr＠tut.fi 01 Mar '12

01 Mar '12

CALL FOR PAPERS, DEMONSTRATIONS, AND POSTERS 1ST INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON (RE)CREATING LIVELY CITIES THROUGH AMBIENT TECHNOLOGIES: ARTS, CULTURE AND GASTRONOMIC EXPERIENCES (CLCAT) (IN CONJUCTION WITH ICME 2012, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - 9th-12th July 2012) http://www.ambientmediaassociation.org/relci2012 Deadline for 2-5 pages position papers extended till 12th March 2012 (strict deadline) Artur Lugmayr (Tampere Univ. of Technology), Tampere, Finland, lartur(a)acm.org Jaz Hee-jeong Choi, Urban Informatics Research Lab, QUT, Brisbane Australia, h.choi(a)qut.edu.au --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digital and interactive technologies are becoming increasingly embedded in everyday lives of people around the world. Application of technologies such as real-time, context-aware, and interactive technologies; augmented and immersive realities;, social media; and location-based services has been particularly evident in urban environments where technological and sociocultural infrastructures enable easier deployment and adoption as compared to non-urban areas. There has been growing consumer demand for new forms of experiences and services enabled through these emerging technologies. We call this ambient media, as the media is embedded in the natural human living environment. This workshop focuses on ambient media services, applications, and technologies that promote people?s engagement in creating and re-creating liveliness in urban environments, particularly through arts, culture, and gastronomic experiences. The workshop takes a multidisciplinary and future oriented approach, and welcomes participants from diverse disciplinary domains for open discussions about technological, sociocultural, and content-related aspects of ambient media services that support people?s engagement in (re)creating their urban environments into a livelier place through art, cultural, and gastronomic experiences. Within this context, we welcome submissions relating to (but not limited to) the following: ? case-studies (successful, and especially unsuccessful ones); ? speculative and innovative concepts or design; ? demonstrations of services and applications; ? user-experience studies and evaluations; ? artistic installations and contents; ? social and/or economic studies, businesses models, and marketing ? technological novelties, evaluations, and solutions; The following topics fit within the scope of the workshop: ? Analysis of videos related to art, culture, and gastronomy ? Ubiquitous environments and interfaces in lively city environments ? Intelligent appliances and gadgets supporting art, culture and gastronomy ? Multimedia learning for activities around smart city environments ? Archiving, distribution, and processing of multimedia material ? Safety, security, and privacy in lively cities ? Locative media and context sensor technologies ? Systems supporting government, institutions, and associations ? Artistic, cultural, and gastronomic services and applications; ? Consumer and human-computer interaction design studies; ? Socio-economic studies, business models, advertising, and marketing; ? Applied ambient media technologies in city environments (e.g. P2P, 3D, augmented reality, QoE, protocols, networks, security, and privacy); ? Engagement and persuasion in smart environments; ? QoE and for ambient urban city applications. PUBLICATIONS ? Submit your contribution by using the ICME template (a description can be found [--> http://www.icme2012.org/PaperSubmission_index.php] with the... ? submission system that can be found [--> https://cmt.research.microsoft.com/ICMEWS2012/] ? The submission system for workshops and ICME 2012 paper submissions are identical, thus please follow the instruction on the website carefully. ? Selected publications will be published in an edited book after the workshop! SUBMISSION DEADLINE 12th March 2012 MORE INFORMATION http://www.ambientmediaassociation.org/relci2012

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Blogpost about Google’s “New“ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy: Old Exploitation and User Commodification in a New Ideological Skin
by Christian Fuchs 29 Feb '12

29 Feb '12

http://fuchs.uti.at/789/ Google’s “New“ Terms of Use and Privacy Policy: Old Exploitation and Commodification in a New Ideological Skin On March 1st, 2012, Google changed its terms of use and privacy policy. What has changed? Has something changed? Google’s general terms of services that were valid from April 16, 2007, until the end of February 2012, applied to all of its services. It thereby enabled the economic surveillance of a diverse multitude of user data that was collected from various services and user activities for the purpose of targeted advertising: “Some of the Services are supported by advertising revenue and may display advertisements and promotions. These advertisements may be targeted to the content of information stored on the Services, queries made through the Services or other information”. Google specified in its old privacy policy (valid from October 20, 2011, until the end of February 2012) that the company “may collect the following types of information”: personal registration information, cookies that store “user preferences”, log information (requests, interactions with a service, IP address, browser type, browser language, date and time of requests, cookies that uniquely identify a user), user communications, location data, unique application number. Google said that it was using Cookies for “improving search results and ad selection”, which is only a euphemism for saying that Google sells user data for advertising purposes. “Google also uses cookies in its advertising services to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web and on Google services”. To “serve and manage ads” means to exploit user data for economic purposes. The Google ad preferences manager displays the user interests and preferences that are collected by the use of cookies and used for targeted advertising. Google’s old privacy policy specified that “Google uses the DoubleClick advertising cookie on AdSense partner sites and certain Google services to help advertisers and publishers serve and manage ads across the web”. Google used DoubleClick, a commercial advertising server owned by Google since 2007 that collects and networks data about usage behaviour on various websites, sells this data, and helps providing targeted advertising – for networking the data it holds about its users with data about these users’ browsing and usage behaviour on other web platforms. There was only an opt-out option from this form of networked economic surveillance. Google’s privacy policy provided a link to this option. Opt-out options are always rather unlikely to be used because in many cases they are hidden inside of long privacy and usage terms and are therefore only really accessible to knowledgeable users. Many Internet corporations avoid opt-in advertising solutions because such mechanisms can drastically reduce the potential number of users participating in advertising. That Google helped advertisers to “serve and manage ads across the web” means that it used the DoubleClick server for collecting user behaviour data from all over the WWW and using this data for targeted advertising. Google’s exploitation of users is not only limited to its own sites, its surveillance process is networked, spreads and tries to reach all over the WWW. The analysis shows that Google makes use of privacy policies and terms of service that enable the large-scale economic surveillance of users for the purpose of capital accumulation. Advertising clients of Google that use Google AdWords are able to target ads for example by country, exact location of users and distance from a certain location, language users speak, the type of device used: (desktop/laptop computer, mobile device (specifiable)), the mobile phone operator used (specifiable), gender, or age group. On January 25, 2012, the EU released a proposal for a General Data Protection Regulation that defines a right of individuals not to be subject to profiling, which is understood as “automated processing intended to evaluate certain personal aspects relating to this natural person or to analyse or predict in particular the natural person’s performance at work, economic situation, location, health, personal preferences, reliability or behaviour“ (article 20, 1). Targeted advertising is such a form of profiling. According to (the planned) article 20, 2 (c), profiling is allowed if the data subject consents according to the conditions of article 7, which says that if the consent is given as part of a written declaration (as e.g. a web site’s terms of use or privacy policy), the “consent must be presented distinguishable in its appearance from this other matter“ (article 7, 2). The regulation furthermore proposes a right of citizens to be forgotten (article 17), which also includes that third parties should be informed and asked to erase the same data (article 17, 2), the right to data portability (article 18), which e.g. means that all personal data must be exportable from Facebook to other social networking sites. A further suggested regulation is that by default only the minimum of data that is necessary for obtaining the purpose of processing is collected and stored (article 23). Fines of up to 1 000 000 Euros and 2% of the annual worldwide turnover of a company are implemented (article 79). The EU regulation to a certain extent limits targeted advertising by the right to be forgotten and the special form in which consensus must be given, it does however not make targeted advertising a pure opt-in option, which were a more efficient way for protecting consumers’ and users’ privacy. As a result of the announcement of the EU Data Protection Regulation, Google over night announced the change and unification of all its privacy policies and the change of its terms of use. In the new terms of use, the use of targeted advertising is no longer defined in the terms of use, but the privacy policy: “We use the information we collect from all of our services to provide, maintain, protect and improve them, to develop new ones, and to protect Google and our users. We also use this information to offer you tailored content – like giving you more relevant search results and ads”. Although Google presents its new policies as major privacy enhancement (“a simpler, more intuitive Google experience. […] we’re consolidating more than 60 into our main Privacy Policy. Regulators globally have been calling for shorter, simpler privacy policies – and having one policy covering many different products is now fairly standard across the web” (http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/updating-our-privacy-policies-and-te…) The core of the regulations – the automatic use of targeted advertising – has not changed. The European Union does not require Google to base targeted ads on opt-in. Google offers two opt-out options for targeted ads: one can opt-out from the basing of targeted ads on a) search keywords and b) visited websites that have Google ads (Ads Preferences Manager, https://www.google.com/settings/ads/preferences/) In the new privacy policy, “user communications” are no longer mentioned separately as collected user information. But rather content is defined as part of log information: “Log information. When you use our services or view content provided by Google, we may automatically collect and store certain information in server logs. This may include: details of how you used our service, such as your search queries”. Search keywords can be interpreted as the content of a Google search. The formulation that log information is how one uses a service is vague. It can be interpreted to also include all type of Google content, such as the text of a gMail message or a Google+ posting. In the new privacy policy, Google says: “We may combine personal information from one service with information, including personal information, from other Google services – for example to make it easier to share things with people you know. We will not combine DoubleClick cookie information with personally identifiable information unless we have your opt-in consent”. This change is significant and reflects the circumstance of the EU data protection regulation’s third-party regulation in the right to be forgotten (article 17, 2). The question if DoubleClick is used for Google’s targeted ads more or less is based on the question how extensively and aggressively Google tries to make users to opt-in to DoubleClick. The effect is that Google will no longer be able to automatically use general Internet user data collected by DoubleClick. However, the unification of the privacy policies and the provision that information from all Google services and all Google ads on external sites can be combined allows Google to base targeted advertising on user profiles that contain a broad range of user data. The sources of user surveillance are now mainly Google services. As Google spreads its ad service all over the web, this surveillance is still networked and spread out. Google tries to compensate the limited use of DoubleClick data for targeted advertising with an integration of the data that it collects itself. Concerning the use of sensitive data, both the old and the new privacy policy specify: “We require opt-in consent for the sharing of any sensitive personal information”. In addition, the new policy says: “When showing you tailored ads, we will not associate a cookie or anonymous identifier with sensitive categories, such as those based on race, religion, sexual orientation or health”. Targeted ads use data from all Google services, including content data”. The proposed EU Data Protection Regulation says that the processing of sensitive data (race, ethnicity, political opinions, religion, beliefs, trade-union membership, genetic data, health data, sex life, criminal convictions or related security measures) is forbidden, except if the data subject consents (article 9). Google continues to use content data (such as search queries) for targeting advertising that is based on algorithms that make an automatic classification of interests. By collecting a large number of search keywords by one individual, the likelihood that he or she can be personally identified increases. Search keywords are furthermore linked to IP addresses that make the computers of users identifiable. Algorithms can never perfectly analyze the semantics of data. Therefore use of sensitive data for targeted advertising cannot be avoided as long as search queries and other content are automatically analyzed. Google’s provision that it does not use sensitive data for targeted ads stands in contradiction with the fact that it says it uses “details of how you used our service, such as your search queries”. The overall changes introduced by Google’s new privacy policies and terms of use are modest, the fundamentals remains unchanged: Google uses targeted advertising as a default. DoubleClick is now less likely to be used for targeted advertising. Google has unified its privacy policies. Whereas Google presents this move as providing more transparency (“We believe this new, simpler policy will make it easier for people to understand our privacy practices as well as enable Google to improve the services we offer”, http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2012/01/updating-our-privacy-policies-and-te…) it also enables Google to base its targeted ads on a wide range of user data that stem from across all its services. Google claims that it does not use sensitive data for targeted ads, which is contradicted by the definition of content data as log data that can be used for targeted ads. Google’s old privacy terms (version from October 20, 2011) had 10 917 characters, which is an increase of 30%. The main privacy terms have thereby grown in complexity, although the number of privacy policies that apply to Google services was reduced from more than 70 to one. Google present its updated terms of use and privacy policies as new, although no fundamental improvements of user privacy protection can be found. The “change” is an ideological marketing strategy aimed at maintaining the stability of the exploitation of the labour of users that generates value and generates Google’s profits that in 2011 amounted to $8.5 billion (http://www.forbes.com/global2000/#p_1_s_arank_ComputerServices_All_All) Google continues to automatically collect, analyse and commodify a multitude of user data that is generated by searches and the use of Google services. The Marxist communication scholar Dallas Smythe wrote in 1981: “For the great majority of the population […] 24 hours a day is work time. […] [Audiences] work to market […] things to themselves”. For the great majority of Internet users, most of Internet use is (value-generating) labour time. Internet users work on Google and other corporate platforms to market things to themselves and are transformed into an Internet commodity that is sold to targeted advertising clients in order to accumulate capital in the amount of billions of Euros. In a response letter to the EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party (concerning Google’s updated policies and terms; see http://www.edri.org/book/export/html/1225) Google’s Global Privacy Counsel Peter Fleischer writes that “we are not selling our users’ data”. One wonders where Google’s $US 8.5 billion profits come from, except from the commodification of the data results of users’ activities? The EU Article 29 Data Protection Working Party asked the French National Commission for Computing and Civil Liberties (CNIL) to analyse Google’s new policies. In a letter to Google, CNIL shows deep concern and said that “our preliminary analysis shows that Google’s new policy does not meet the requirements of the European Directive on Data Protection […] Moreover, rather than promoting transparency, the terms of the new policy and the fact that Google claims publicly that it will combine data across services raises fears about Google’s actual practices. Our preliminary investigation shows that it is extremely difficult to know exactly which data is combined between which services for which purposes, even for trained privacy professionals. In addition, Google is using cookies (among other tools) for these combinations and in this regard, it is not clear how Google aims to comply with the principle of consent laid down in Article 5(3) of the revised ePrivacy Directive, when applicable. The CNIL and the EU data protection authorities are deeply concerned about the combination of personal data across services: they have strong doubts about the lawfulness and fairness of such processing, and about its compliance with European Data Protection legislation”. Big Brother Watch reports that only 12% of the Google users have read the new policy and that 65% are not aware that the changes have now come into effect. The initiative says: “Google is putting advertiser’s interests before user privacy and should not be rushing ahead before the public understand what the changes will mean”. According to the proposed new EU Data Protection Regulation (http://ec.europa.eu/justice/newsroom/data-protection/news/120125_en.htm) Google’s exploitation of users is perfectly legal. That it is legal does however not mean that we cannot consider Google commodification as a violation of user/consumer/Internet workers’ privacy, but rather that the EU’s suggested legal provisions do not provide enough protection for users. The only way forward is to legally require all Internet companies (and companies in general) to necessarily make targeted advertising an opt-in option by law, which would give users and consumers more control. Implementing such a provision requires not only courage, it also requires not to be afraid of organised business interests. It is however the only way for putting privacy interests first. Today, profit stands over privacy protection and therefore over people. Google is one of the best examples for this circumstance. Google’s “new” privacy policy is not new at all and should consequently best be renamed to “privacy violation policy” or “user exploitation policy”. Related publication: Fuchs, Christian. 2011. A contribution to the critique of the political economy of Google. Fast Capitalism 8 (1). http://www.uta.edu/huma/agger/fastcapitalism/8_1/fuchs8_1.html

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CFP: Sketching in Design - Workshop at DIS - Deadline March 23
by Eric P. S. Baumer 29 Feb '12

29 Feb '12

--apologies for cross-posting-- Adoption, Adaptation, Appropriation: Sketching as a Case Study in the Blurring Lines between Design, Research, and Practice Workshop at DIS 2012 Do you sketch? Are you prone to doodling? Do you find yourself drawing on napkins? While much work has discussed the important role that sketching plays in design, less has been done to explore how design methods are working their way into other disciplines. We are seeking people who use sketching—for developing greater understanding, for conveying ideas as they are being formed, for communicating fully formed ideas, or for other reasons—to participate in a workshop to better understand the varied roles of sketching in design, research, and practice. Participants from all fields, with any skill level or experience in sketching, are welcome and encouraged. We are interested in how design methods are being adopted, adapted, and appropriated in various disciplines, using sketching as a concrete example and focal starting point. This workshop will therefore assemble a diverse group of participants to explore the methodological, epistemological, and practical issues, such as the tension between artifact production and knowledge production, that can arise in such work. The workshop will involve presentations and discussions on the evolution and incorporation of design methods in a variety of disciplines, as well as hands-on sketching activities that will give participants the opportunity to try out a variety of sketching methods. This workshop seeks to document some of the myriad ways in which design methods, including but not limited to sketching, are being combined with approaches from other disciplines. Participants will also be encouraged to engage in a reflective dialogue examining the ramifications of these methodological crossovers and hybrids, both on the individuals involved and on their respective fields. Potential attendees should submit a sketch and a statement. The sketch should come from their own work, though it need not be a sketch they have made, simply one they use. The sketch can take any form and is not limited to freehand drawings. The statement, up to 2 pages in DIS conference format, should describe the role that sketching plays in their work, using the submitted sketch as an example. Strong statements will reflect on the methodological issues in, and the implications of, using sketching in the author’s own field of work. Submissions may be sent via email to the organizers (ericpsb and mkh46, both at cornell.edu) Submission Deadline: March 23, 2012 Notification: April 6, 2012 Workshop Date: June 11, 2012 http://www.meganhalpern.com/sketchingworkshop/ Organizers: Eric P. S. Baumer, Communication and Information Science, Cornell University Megan Halpern, Communication, Cornell University

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