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[Data to Power]: Final Events recordings
by Natalia Grincheva 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Hello all, Apologies for X postings. We are happy to share the recordings of the Final Research Session developed in the framework of the project:* GLAM and Digital Soft Power in the Post-Pandemic World. *Please, read more about the project here: datatopower.net *Webinar: Urban Data Infrastructures and Digital Place-making*The webinar discussed the concept of digital soft power from the perspective of digital place-making, urban diplomacy and city branding. Exploring digital tourism, digital cultural heritage and its virtual cultural consumption, it discussed the role of digital representations, narratives and images constructed by GLAM institutions. *Read more here:* *https://www.datatopower.net/webinar3 <https://www.datatopower.net/webinar3>* *Watch a recording on YouTube: *https://youtu.be/0O_3UiyMC80 *Datathon: * *Forecasting local impacts of travelling exhibitions* The Datathon discussed challenges and opportunities of urban cultural infrastructure mapping and its value for designing and mapping touring exhibitions. It presented the Local Engagement Layer of the Data To Power prototype designed in collaboration with the Science Museum Group in London and Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. *Read more here:* https://www.datatopower.net/datathon3 <https://www.datatopower.net/datathon2> *Watch a recording on YouTube: *https://youtu.be/vcwHOZXZsqg *To stay in the loop of current and future activities:* Subscribe to our Google group https://groups.google.com/g/datatopower

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Call for chapters — The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures
by Martin Berg 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Dear colleagues, What does automation do with us, our environment, and our imaginaries? What do we do, conversely, with automation, its environments, and its imaginative worlds? In addition to grand narratives and technology-driven design visions about the future, what else can automation offer? The growing prevalence of automated and algorithmic systems geared towards transforming humankind’s future has raised critical questions for scholars in the social sciences and humanities. The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures addresses these questions while complicating the techno-solutionist narratives that frame automation discourse in industry and policy circles. The handbook will be a comprehensive guide to imaginaries and interactions with automation technologies that cuts across different fields and disciplines, along with critical explorations of their potential impact. Importantly, it is grounded in a pedagogy that integrates perspectives at both philosophical and practical levels – from the understanding of automated futures to the development of skills and value judgments. My colleague Vaike Fors and I are editing this handbook, and we are inviting you to submit an abstract! Deadline for abstracts is June 10, 2022. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! The full call can be accessed on: http://automatedfutures.se Please consider submitting an abstract and sharing this call in your networks! (Apologies for cross-posting!) All the best wishes, Martin Berg — Professor Martin Berg Department of Computer Science and Media Technology Malmö University https://mau.se/en/persons/martin.berg/

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Online seminar 16 June | Nick Couldry & Ulises Mejias: Resisting Data Colonialism
by Orsolya Gulyás 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Dear colleagues, You are warmly invited to attend the third edition of our online Data Sovereignty Seminar Series on 16 June at 17.00 (CEST) with Nick Couldry (LSE) and Ulises Mejias (SUNY) on resisting data colonialism. Please follow the link below to register, where you can also find the recordings of our past seminars. Registration: https://brussels-school.be/event/data-sovereignty-seminar-series Seminar #3: Resisting Data Colonialism:The Benefits and Limits of Data Sovereignty Description In their book The Costs of Connection: How Data Colonizes Human Life and Appropriates it for Capitalism (Stanford University Press, August 2019), Couldry and Mejias argue that the role of data in society needs to be grasped as not only a development of capitalism, but as the start of a new phase in human history that rivals in importance the emergence of historic colonialism. This new "data colonialism" is based not on the extraction of natural resources or labor, but on the appropriation of human life through data, paving the way for a further stage of capitalism. Resisting it will require strategies that decolonial thinking has foregrounded for centuries, including the articulation of new forms of sovereignty. By reviewing the benefits and limits of these emerging proposals for digital sovereignty—including the ones currently being discussed in the EU—the authors will explore how effectively this concept can inform government and public responses against emerging forms of data colonialism. Programme 17:00-17:05: Welcome and introduction by Orsolya Gulyás & Clément Perarnaud (BSoG) 17:05-17:25: Presentation by Nick Couldry (LSE) and Ulises Mejias (SUNY) 17:25-17:35: Discussion by Julia Pohle (WZB Berlin Social Science Center) 17:35-18:00: Q&A with the audience Time: June 16, 2022 at 05:00 PM CEST The Data Sovereignty seminar series is jointly organised by the Center for Digitalisation, Democracy and Innovation at the Brussels School of Governance and the UNU-CRIS/VUB Chair on Digital Sovereignty. Best wishes, Orsolya Gulyás and Clément Perarnaud ORSOLYA GULYÁS PhD Researcher +32 485 980 172 Brussels School of Governance<https://brussels-school.be/> Pleinlaan 5 - 1050 Brussels

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24th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking -- ICDCN 2023 -- Abstract submission: 24th June, 2022 -- 3 WEEKS AWAY!!
by Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 24th International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India January 4 - 7, 2023 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conference Website: https://cse.iitkgp.ac.in/conf/ICDCN23/ The International Conference on Distributed Computing and Networking (ICDCN) addresses advances in Distributed Computing and Communication Networks. At its 24th edition, ICDCN is a leading forum for disseminating the latest research results in these fields. Regular Papers should not exceed 10 pages double column including figures, tables, and references in standard ACM format. Regular papers may additionally include a clearly marked Appendix with all the additional details required to validate the results (including technical proofs and experimental results that did not fit in the 10 pages). Short Papers should not exceed 5 pages double column including figures, tables, and references in standard ACM format. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the paper. All papers must be submitted through the easychair portal using the URL link below: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=icdcn23 Papers describing original research work and practical experiences/experimental results are solicited on topics that include, but are not limited to: Next-generation Networks and Services Ad-hoc, Sensor, PAN and Mesh Networks Backscatter and Ultra-low Power Networks Intent-based Networking and Zero-configuration Networks Information-centric and Content-based Networking Blockchains in Distributed Computing and Networking Cloud Computing and Big Data Processing Cognitive Networking Distributed Algorithms: Design, Analysis, and Complexity Distributed Embedded Systems Distributed Operating Systems and Database Systems Distributed Quantum Computing Edge Computing and Mobile Offloading Energy-efficient and Sustainable Networking Fault-tolerance, Reliability, and Availability of Distributed Systems Formal Methods for Distributed Systems High performance Computing and Grid Computing Internet of Things and Cyber Physical Systems Internetworking Protocols & Internet Applications Machine Learning in Distributed Computing and Networking Mobile Crowdsensing and Social Networks Network Function Virtualization and Software Defined Networking Overlay and Peer-to-peer Networking and Services Pervasive and Mobile Computing Pricing and Network Economics Scalable Distributed Systems Security, Privacy and Game Theory in Distributed Computing and Networking Self-organization, Self-stabilization, and Autonomic Computing UAV Networks and Mobile Robots Vehicular Networks, Smart Grids and Smart City Applications Extended versions of selected best papers from ICDCN 2023 will be invited for fast track publications in the Elsevier’s Pervasive and Mobile Computing (PMC) Journal. The conference will consider awarding Best Paper Awards. Abstract submission: 24th June, 2022 -- 3 WEEKS AWAY!! Paper submission: 1st July, 2022 Notifications: 3rd October, 2022 Camera Ready Papers: 31st October, 2022 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou, Assistant Professor Computer Engineering Chair Director of Recruiting and Admissions Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, 87131 Office: 326B Tel.: (505)-277-5501 Email: eirini(a)unm.edu<mailto:eirini@unm.edu> Website: PROTON Lab<http://ece-research.unm.edu/tsiropoulou/index.html> PROTON Lab’s News: @Tsiropoulou_EE<https://twitter.com/Tsiropoulou_EE> “Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach.” ~ Aristotle ________________________________ #################################################### IEEE Technical Committee on Big Data http://www.comsoc.org/committees/technical-committee/big-data http://bdpan.committees.comsoc.org/ https://comsoc-listserv.ieee.org/cgi-bin/wa?SUBED1=tcbd&A=1 ________________________________

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IEEE MeditCom 2022 -- Firm Deadline: June 12, 2022 -- 6 DAYS AWAY!
by Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

================================================== IEEE MeditCom 2022 CALL FOR PAPERS - DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 12 JUNE (FIRM) 6 DAYS AWAY!!! ================================================== The Second IEEE International Mediterranean Conference on Communications and Networking (IEEE MeditCom 2022) will take place on 5-8 September 2022, in Athens, Greece ( https://meditcom2022.ieee-meditcom.org/) IEEE MeditCom is the IEEE ComSoc Conference serving the Mediterranean area and surrounding countries. It gathers visionaries in academia, research labs and industry from all over the world to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, with a top-notch technical program addressing hottest topics in the areas of communications and networking. IEEE MeditCom 2022 solicits Industry and Academia to submit papers on a wide range of research subjects, spanning both theoretical topics and system engineering. Original technical papers are sought in the following areas: - Network Architectures, SDN, NFV - Cloud Communications and Data-Center Networks - Optical Networks and Systems, Radio over Fiber - Mobile and Wireless Communications and Networking - 5G Mobile Systems and their Components - Molecular and Nanoscale Communications - Satellite and Space Communications - Underground and Underwater Communications - Image, Speech and Signal Processing for Communications - Big Data and Machine Learning for Communications - Semantic Web and Ontologies - Internet of Things, Smart grids, and Vehicular Networks - Edge Computing, Edge Intelligence, and Fog Networks - Semantic Communications - Green Communications and Energy Efficient Computing - Network Applications and Services - Analytical Models, Simulation, Testbeds & Prototypes - Network Management and Cognitive Radio - QoE/QoS Support and Cross-Layer Optimization - Performance Evaluation of Communication Systems - Massive MIMO, Signal Processing, and Coding - Advanced PHY and MAC Techniques - Security, Privacy, Trust and Blockchain - 6G Systems - Machine Learning for Communications and Networks - Communications and Information Theory - Millimeter-Wave and Terahertz Communications - Integrated Sensing and Communications - Cell-Free Massive MIMO - RIS/LIS-Aided Communications IMPORTANT DATES Paper Submission Due: June 12, 2022 (Extended, firm) Acceptance Notification: July 15, 2022 Camera-ready Submission: July 29, 2022 ORGANIZING COMMITTEE General Co-Chairs Stefano Bregni, Politecnico di Milano, Italy Hikmet Sari, Nanjing University of Posts and Telecommunications, China Executive Co-Chairs Christos Verikoukis, University of Patras, Greece Symeon Papavassiliou, National Technical University of Athens, Greece Technical Program Co-Chairs Octavia Dobre, Memorial University, Canada Jalel Ben Othman, Centrale Supelec, France Steering Committee Chair Khaled B. Letaief, HKUST, Hong Kong More information can be found at https://meditcom2022.ieee-meditcom.org/ ================================================== ------------------------------------------------------------- Eirini Eleni Tsiropoulou Assistant Professor Director of Recruiting and Admissions Computer Engineering Area Chair Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering University of New Mexico Albuquerque, NM, 87131 Office: 326B Tel.: (505)-277-5501 Email: eirini(a)unm.edu<mailto:eirini@unm.edu> "Those who know, do. Those that understand, teach." ~ Aristotle

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Online Study - iScience Team of the University of Konstanz
by Isabel Helm 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Hi everyone! The iScience team of the University of Konstanz is currently conducting an online survey. We would really appreciate if you could spend a few minutes to answer the survey. In this study we want to investigate human behavior in leisure situations. We are aiming to taget especially an european sample. It only takes less than 5 minutes. Here is the link to the study: https://exp.wextor.eu/iSciencecore/RepBA/index.html?so=airl Thank you so much! Isabel Helm

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CfP: Designing for and with Children - Academic Mindtrek
by Noura Howell 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Call for Papers: Designing for and with Children at the *25th International Academic Mindtrek conference* on 16th and 18th of November 2022 in Tampere, Finland As track chairs for Designing for and with Children, we especially welcome submissions that contribute to the understanding of how children use, design, and envision technology for their everyday lives and experiences, including (but not limited to) work on Child-Computer Interaction, Participatory Design and Research, and design futuring, design fiction, speculative design, and related approaches. Academic Mindtrek also welcomes full papers, workshops, demonstrations, and poster presentations on a variety of tracks: https://www.mindtrek.org/2022/academic-mindtrek-tracks/ *Deadline: July 25th, 2022* Submissions will be made through EasyChair. The EasyChair submission page for this year will be available soon. https://easychair.org/cfp/search.cgi Please reach out if you have any questions. Sumita Sharma, PhD Postdoctoral Scholar INTERACT Research Unit, ITEE University of Oulu, Finland sumita.sharma(a)oulu.fi Grace Eden, PhD Assistant Professor Department of Human-Centered Design Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology, Delhi (IIITD), India grace(a)iiitd.ac.in Noura Howell, PhD Assistant Professor Digital Media Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, US nhowell8(a)gatech.edu

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Glitch Poetics by Nathan Jones: new open-access book from Open Humanities Press
by Joanna Zylinska 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

Open Humanities Press is pleased to announce the publication of /Glitch Poetics/ by Nathan Allen Jones Like all Open Humanities Press books, /Glitch Poetics/ is available open access (it can be downloaded for free): http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/glitch-poetics/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/glitch-poetics/> *Book description:* Glitches are errors where the digital bursts or creeps into our everyday lives as fragmented image, garbled text and aberrant event. Today, when computational technology is integrated ever more closely into bodies and social structures, glitches are considered by artists and companies alike as critical and commercial opportunities, revealing tears in the real-virtual binary. Glitch has also increasingly become a metaphor for understanding the political and ecological shocks the world pushes into the mediasphere each day. In /Glitch Poetics/ Nathan Jones shows how contemporary writers and artists are integrating the glitch as a literary effect, an affective critique and a realist reflection, at a time characterised by breakage, corruption and crisis. *Endorsements:* Based on a range of close readings of contemporary literature by writers including Linda Stupart, Sam Riviere, Keston Sutherland, Ben Lerner, Caroline Bergvall, Erica Scourti, David Peace and the internet novelists, and drawing on theories of error, shock, glitch, critical posthumanism and code, Jones lays the groundwork for writing that can productively engage in the new situation for literature in the context of AI, the Anthropocene and the post-digital age. His book articulates the working of error in literary and media practice at the horizon of human and machine language. /Glitch Poetics/resists technofuturism, reinventing errancy as a necessary aesthetic value of (and crucially against) our time. /Charles Bernstein/, Professor Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania. So, body-machinic posthuman reader, consider the shock to your system(s) when a glitch-error interrupts the coding-decoding mechanisms that govern your operations. Disruption to the textual condition occurs as voice misrecognition and cycles of translation malform and corrupt the poetics of authorial production. The desire for ideological resistance may or may not be short-circuited by the predictive algorithm manifest in remediating performance and its disruption of literary habits. The old attachment to tactical intervention remains, an aspiration still making its way through the charged circuits of culture, looking for a way to break down the rule-governed barriers between aspiration and effective agency. The pathetic subroutines, often destined to crash, derive from provisional looping of interference patterns that constantly reorder our codified reality. In /Glitch Poetics/ Jones selects vivid examples of the ways the glitch can be used deliberately to produce an uncomfortable intervention in the current conditions of posthuman capitalist culture. Or can it? Read and decide, based on your own bodily-machinic receptivity to ‘technological timings’ and ‘leaky intrusions’ across the ‘creepy porousness’ of your boundaries. /Johanna Drucker/, Breslauer Professor of Bibliographical Studies and Distinguished Professor in the Department of Information Studies, UCLA. /Glitch Poetics/figures glitch radically as a key aesthetic condition of the contemporary moment. A powerful exploration of how glitch works across writing, art and bodies, it reconfigures our understanding of technology as an aesthetic force that structures our world. // /Olga Goriunova/, Professor of Media, Royal Holloway University of London. *Author Bio * Nathan Allen Jones is Lecturer in Fine Art (Digital Media) at Lancaster University. Exploring the dynamic relationship between the newest media, language and art discourse, he has written and made artworks about unicode, blockchain, speed readers and peer-to-peer networks. He is also a co-founder (with Sam Skinner) of Torque Editions, whose publications include /Artists Re:Thinking the Blockchain/ (2017) and /The Act of Reading/ (2015), and exhibitions with Tate, Furtherfield and FACT, Liverpool. *Series* The book is published as part of the MEDIA : ART : WRITE : NOW series edited by Joanna Zylinska: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/series/media-art-write-now/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/series/media-art-write-now/> ** *Other recent titles from Open Humanities Press include: * /Bifurcate: There Is No Alternative/, edited by Bernard Stiegler and the Internation Collective: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/bifurcate/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/bifurcate/> // /La naturaleza como acontecimiento: El señuelo de lo possible/by Didier Debaise: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/la-naturaleza-como-aconteci… <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/la-naturaleza-como-aconteci…> // /Fabricating Publics: The Dissemination of Culture in the Post-truth Era/, edited by Bill Balaskas and Carolina Rito: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/fabricating-publics/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/fabricating-publics/> /Más allá del derecho de autor, editado/by Alberto López Cuenca and Renato Bermúdez Dini: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/mas-alla-del-derecho-de-aut… <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/mas-alla-del-derecho-de-aut…> // /Feminist, Queer, Anticolonial Propositions for Hacking the Anthropocene: Archive/, edited by Jennifer Mae Hamilton, Susan Reid, Pia van Gelder and Astrida Neimanis: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/feminist-queer-anticolonial… <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/feminist-queer-anticolonial…> /The Interfact: On Structure and Compatibility in Object-Oriented Ontology/by Gabriel Yoran: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/the-interfact/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/the-interfact/> /La magie réaliste: objets, ontologie et causalité/by**Timothy Morton: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/la-magie-realiste/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/la-magie-realiste/> /hyposubjects: on becoming human**/by Timothy Morton and Dominic Boyer: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/hyposubjects/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/hyposubjects/> /Psychopolitical Anaphylaxis: Steps Towards a Metacosmics/by Daniel Ross: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/psychopolitical-anaphylaxis/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/psychopolitical-anaphylaxis/> /A Stubborn Fury: How Writing Works in Elitist Britain/by Gary Hall: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/a-stubborn-fury <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/a-stubborn-fury> /Aesthetic Programming: A Handbook of Software Studies/by Winnie Soon and Geoff Cox: http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/aesthetic-programming/ <http://www.openhumanitiespress.org/books/titles/aesthetic-programming/> -- Joanna Zylinska Professor of Media Philosophy + Critical Digital Practice King's College London Department of Digital Humanities http://www.joannazylinska.net LATEST: Beyond Machine Vision: How to Build a Non-Trivial Perception Machine [open access article] http://www.transformationsjournal.org/2022-issue-no-36-artificial-creativit… The Future of Media [edited book, open access + print] https://research.gold.ac.uk/id/eprint/31658/ https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/future-media 1000 Words: Writer Conversations on Photography [interview] http://www.1000wordsmag.com/joanna-zylinska/

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ECREA DCC pre-conference workshop: "The Work-in-Progress in Social Media Research"
by Yunyi Liao 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

*EXTENDED DEADLINE* ECREA DCC pre-conference workshop: "The Work-in-Progress in Social Media Research" ECREA’s Digital Culture and Communication (DCC) section invites applications for The Work-in-Progress in Social Media Research: a one-day remote ECREA pre-conference workshop to be held online via Zoom on Wednesday 12th October 2022. We often encounter scholars' work at a finished stage – like a published article or a polished presentation – while the trials and tribulations of research are often experienced in isolation. This is especially the case for social media researchers, whose field sites can disappear overnight and who face new and challenging questions about the methods, ethics, and sometimes legalities of their work. The aim of this workshop is to create a collaborative space for social media researchers to feed back on each other’s ideas and concerns, and help to inspire progress in what has been an extremely challenging couple of years. We invite social media researchers to submit between 500-750 words about their “work-in-progress”, outlining the following as best they can: * The current stage of your work-in-progress * Oh, this could be interesting! * Ongoing research * I think I’m getting there… * Research context and background * Research questions * Research methods/approach * Research ethics * Which aspect of your research would you like to address in more depth (Choose one aspect and pose a question): * Methods * Theories/concepts/research design * Research ethics * Other Workshop attendees will be grouped together according to the aspect of their work-in-progress they wish to address in more depth, ranging from theoretical contributions to research methods and ethics. We are also *delighted* to announce our two keynote speakers for the event: Keisha Bruce (University of Nottingham) and Dr. Hannah Ditchfield (University of Sheffield). Details about their talks will follow. The extended deadline for applications is 27th June 2022 by 5:00pm GMT, and the notification of acceptance will be 15th July 2022. Applications should be sent via this Google Form<https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSddPq_-IzLxxiGN2jiZrAhujrKfJaV0iz9…>, or as a PDF to y.gerrard(a)sheffield.ac.uk<mailto:y.gerrard@sheffield.ac.uk>. We welcome applications from scholars at all career stages, in particular early career researchers, and from non-DCC members. We welcome submissions of work-in-progress at every stage of completion – from vague “this-could-be-interesting” ideas, to on-going research, to nearly-completed works. Yours, The DCC Management Team

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REMINDER: CfP for Spec Issue at NMS "Automating Communication in the Networked Society"
by Christian Katzenbach 06 Jun '22

06 Jun '22

REMINDER: Deadline for extended abstracts is June 15, 2022 – so only a few days more than a week. ### Dear colleagues, for New Media & Society we are guest editing a special issue on "Automating Communication in the Digital Society: Contexts, Consequences, Critique“. The forthcoming publication aims to study how subjectivity, autonomy, agency, and empowerment become defined and reconfigured in these novel human-machine encounters. Because automation, and the related processes of digitization, datafication, and algorithmization, are set to redefine most if not all sectors of society, they have become a research interest across the academy. We invite contributions that take issue with the conditions and consequences of automation and offer critical perspectives on the transition of human activity into machine operations. Extended Abstracts are due June 15, 2022. Please see the call below and here: https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/zemki/about-zemki/news/call-for-papers-for-spe… Deadline for extended abstracts is June 15, 2022. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have questions. Best, Christian Katzenbach (Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen; Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin) Christian Pentzold (Department of Communication and Media Studies, Leipzig University) — Call for Papers for Special Issue in New Media and Society Deadline for Abstract Submission: June 15, 2022 Automating Communication in the Digital Society: Contexts, Consequences, Critique Special Issue Editors Christian Katzenbach (Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen; Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society, Berlin) Christian Pentzold (Department of Communication and Media Studies, Leipzig University) Automation has momentum. Automation is a defining feature of today’s societies. Automation converts the production of content, the distribution of information and messages, the curation of media use, and the governance of our networked lives into machine operations. All of these areas are increasingly shaped by algorithmically-driven processes and automated agents. They help to automate the selection and filtering of news feeds and search engines, they attribute relevance and popularity, perform content moderation and fact-checking. Automated agents like social bots participate in organizational communication such as customer service and, as a potential force of manipulation, also seem to intervene in election campaigns. As of today, innovations in smart companions and artificial intelligence are driven by ambitions to delegate physical motoric functions, cognitive processes, decisions, and evaluations to increasingly autonomous and capable technology. This is not a one-way transfer from humans to machines. Rather, we also witness environments where people come to act in an automatic fashion, where human contributions feed into processes of automation and help to improve them. In consequence, the special issue of New Media & Society aims to study how subjectivity, autonomy, agency, and empowerment become defined and reconfigured in these novel human-machine encounters. We invite contributions that take issue with the conditions and consequences of automation and offer critical perspectives on the transition of human activity into machine operations. Because automation, and the related processes of digitization, datafication, and algorithmization, are set to redefine most if not all sectors of society, they have become a research interest across the academy. We are especially interested in submissions that shed light across these themes: Contexts: The ideology, infrastructures, and procedures around automatisation have a long history of mechanical inventions that implicate expectations of efficiency and enhancement but also engender fears of alienation and inorexable domination. What are the dominating sociotechnical imaginaries around automation? Inquiries into automation open up a broad array of topics from the history of ideas around human capabilities and machine capacities via political or economic arguments about the implications of automation on prosperity or democracy up to ethical, legal, and technological challenges. Hence, possible questions are: Can there be alternative visions for automation? What is to be learned from historical moments of people protesting and refusing the automation of labor and life? CfP for a Special Issue: Automating Communication: Contexts, Consequences, Critique 2 Consequences: Automating communication affects and involves a variety of actors: when algorithms produce content this changes the effort and role of journalists. So we for instance ask: How do media actors engage with algorithmic content production? How does automated communication affect media use and media effects? Are journalists “gaming” the algorithms of platforms, and how? Who creates the tools and affordances that automate communication—and under which conditions? What happens when low-wage employees execute highly automated tasks, partly in order to mimic algorithms and artificial intelligence (“fauxtomation”)? New and (semi-)automated actors such as trolls, connected activists, and social bots alter the strategies of campaigning and the way parties and other organizations plan their activities. Who are these actors, and are they actors at all? Who can be held accountable for automated communication? Does automated communication cause dissonance and disrupt public spheres, and if so, how is this happening and can automation be a cure as well? What are challenges and possible solutions for regulation and media policy? Critique: The story of automating communication can be told from two perspectives: the few who are shaping, designing, programming and implementing automation technologies, and the many who are using and become part of automated communication. In this regard, automation raises questions of power and power relations. Automating core features of democracy such as the assignment of relevance and legitimacy to issues, actors, and specific content, based on data and algorithms controlled and operated by a few private companies challenges notions of transparency, due process, and legitimacy. What are the regulatory measures to curb this power? And can automation provide meaningful answers to social problems? What is the impact of the increasing automatic detection of content deemed illegitimate (e.g., hate speech, copyright violation, nudity) in social media and comment sections? What is the role of datafication for automated and automating communication? Studying automated communication often involves computational methods and trace data. But qualitative methods such as ethnography, interviews or observations can also help us to understand how automation comes about and actors use or make sense of automated communication. Particularly research focusing on social media platforms faces severe challenges of data access and data management nowadays, dealing with data protection regulation, privacy issues, and proprietary data. Analyses of automated actors, such as bots, rely on black-boxed tools and call for interdisciplinary approaches. We thus also invite submissions with a critical perspective on research methods and research ethics. Timeline 1,000 to 1,500 word abstracts should be submitted by June 15, 2022 via the submission form at https://forms.gle/3Kxrf2wNrpqVaGno8. The abstract should articulate: 1) the issue or research question to be discussed, 2) the methodological or critical framework used, and 3) the expected findings or conclusions. Feel free to consult with the Special Issue Editors about your article ideas and potential angles or approaches. Decisions will be communicated to the authors by September 15, 2022. Invited paper submissions will be due March 1, 2023 and will be submitted directly to the submission site for New Media & Society: https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/nms where they will undergo peer review following the usual procedures of New Media & Society. Please note that the invitation to submit a full article does not guarantee acceptance into the special issue. Contact Christian Katzenbach, katzenbach(a)uni-bremen.de Christian Pentzold, christian.pentzold(a)uni-leipzig.de — Prof. Dr. Christian Katzenbach Professor of Media and Communication Centre for Media, Communication & Information Research (ZeMKI), University of Bremen www.uni-bremen.de/zemki Associated Researcher Alexander von Humboldt Institut for Internet and Society (HIIG) www.hiig.de

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