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Data analysis shows power of Facebook super-users to distort discourse
by Colin Delany 11 Feb '22

11 Feb '22

Makes perfect sense, based on what we know about the Fb algorithm. The researchers have studied the patterns/effects in detail, and you might be interested in both the findings and the methodology. "And because Facebook’s algorithm rewards engagement, these superusers have enormous influence over which posts are seen first in other users’ feeds, and which are never seen at all. Even more shocking is just how nasty most of these hyper-influential users are. The most abusive people on Facebook, it turns out, are given the most power to shape what Facebook is." https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2022/02/facebook-hate-speech… --cpd "How to Use the Internet to Change the World - and Win Elections: A Comprehensive Guide to Digital Politics for Campaigns, Activists & Advocates" [Ebook] http://www.epolitics.com/winning Colin Delany Epolitics.com -- digital strategy for politics and advocacy http://www.epolitics.com 202-422-4682 cpd(a)epolitics.com @epolitics

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Two Lecturer/Senior Lecturer positions in Data, AI and Society - Information School at University of Sheffield
by Jo Bates 11 Feb '22

11 Feb '22

The Information School at University of Sheffield (UK) is currently recruiting for two new Lecturer/Senior Lecturer roles in Data, AI and Society, to join our team in preparation for the launch of our new BSc Data Science programme in 2023. As part of the team you'll be working at the forefront of efforts to embed critical social science insights into data science curricula. You can read more about our work in this field in this ACM FAccT paper <https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3351095.3372832>). We welcome applications from high-quality candidates with research expertise in Data, AI and Society. We are especially interested to hear from applicants with expertise in - information, communication or related fields, and a specialism in data/algorithm/AI studies - information/data management and governance, policies, standards and legal frameworks and including topics such as data trusts and data cooperatives The successful applicants will contribute to undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in areas such as the societal aspects of data science and new media, and data & AI governance and regulation. Deadline for applications: 2nd March 2022 -- Dr Jo Bates Senior Lecturer in Information Politics and Policy Digital Societies Research Group Information School, The University of Sheffield, Room 236, Regent Court, 211 Portobello, Sheffield, S1 4DP +44 (0)114 222 2648 Website: lifeofdata.org *I don't expect you to respond to my email outside your working hours. *

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IJOC-CfP: Artificial Intelligence and New Media in Challenges
by Seungahn Nah 11 Feb '22

11 Feb '22

*Call for Papers* *Artificial Intelligence and New Media in Challenges: Algorithmic Bias and Ethical Issues* Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies and applications have rapidly penetrated into all aspects of social, political, civic, and cultural life. Despite the exponential growth in and development of AI, algorithmic bias toward gender, age, sexuality, race/ethnicity, and ideology prevails across digital media platforms, ranging from search engines through news sites to social media. This omnipresence of algorithmic bias results in social issues, such as systematic and repeated unfairness, discrimination, and inequality, privileging certain groups over others, violating privacy, and reinforcing social and cultural biases. However, scholarship still remains unexplored in light of the causes, components, and consequences of algorithmic bias and ethical issues. Recent successes in AI are based on "black-box" machine learning models trained with a tremendous amount of data, which makes it extremely difficult to understand or interpret their underlying mechanisms despite their remarkable predictive power. Therefore, this special section calls for papers which can address these structured, longstanding issues toward individuals, groups, communities, and countries across the socio-economic and ideological spectrums. The special section is particularly interested in studies empirically demonstrating the aforementioned issues and providing solutions for a better design, development, application, and implication of AI and digital media. Thus, the following research questions are central to this special section. What are the causes of algorithmic bias and how do these relate to ethical, policy, and legal issues like privacy? What are the components of biased algorithms? To what extent does algorithmic bias produce and reproduce social and cultural biases and vice versa? How can we understand, predict, and trust the behaviors of AI systems? What are the intended or unintended consequences of a biased and discriminatory algorithm? What are the best practices in data collection and model development of AI applications? How do we detect, understand, and mitigate algorithmic bias and the connected ethical, policy, and legal issues so that scholars and developers, alike, use best practices? In doing so, the special section emphasizes an inextricably interwoven relationship among data and media bias, model bias, and social bias. That is, data and media bias leads to unbalanced training resulting in model bias. Model bias, in turn, reinforces data and media bias and produces discriminatory impacts on humans and society. Human and societal bias then produces skewed representation and participation in data and media bias. This “vicious circle” reinforces bias toward AI system and its development, use, application, and practice. Given algorithmic bias toward individuals, groups, and communities across digital media platforms and ethical issues, this special section examines, but is not limited to, the following issues: • Algorithmic bias, discrimination, and inequality toward underrepresented groups and communities • Interaction and amplification of bias between AI and media • Perceived (un)fairness of algorithm-mediated communication, system, design, and applications • (Dis)trust in algorithm news curation, recommendation, and algorithmic gatekeeping • Algorithm bias in news, filter bubbles or echo chambers, opinion polarization, and gaps in knowledge and participation • (Dis)trust in algorithm development, management, and governance • (Dis)trust in practical applications of and data-driven decision-making in AI systems • Impacts of algorithmic bias on cognitive, affectional, attitudinal, perceptual, and behavioral bias in various social, political, civic, and cultural contexts • Impacts of automated surveillance technologies (e.g. face recognition) on privacy • Explainable AI for enhancing public trust • Algorithmic and non-algorithmic solutions to assess and mitigate AI biases and risks We are open to diverse methodological approaches such as quantitative, qualitative, and computational methods. Interested authors should submit an abstract with 1,000 words maximum, alongside a title page containing a brief author bio and contact information. Below presents a detailed timeline. *Proposed Timeline:* • Abstract submission due by March 1, 2022 • Decision for full manuscripts due by May 1, 2022 • Full manuscript submission due by September 1, 2022 • Decision for publication due by December 1, 2022 • Final manuscript submission by January 1, 2023 • Anticipated publication by March 1, 2023 The final paper should be in accordance with the Journal’s Guide for Authors. https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/about/submissions#authorGuidelines Special section inquiries can be directed to the guest editors, Dr. Seungahn Nah at snah(a)uoregon.edu and Dr. Jungseock Joo at jjoo(a)comm.ucla.edu . *Guest Editors:* Dr. Seungahn Nah, University of Oregon, snah(a)uoregon.edu Dr. Jungseock Joo, University of California-Los Angeles, jjoo(a)comm.ucla.edu <seungahn.nah(a)uky.edu>

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[Call for Participation] ACM WSDM 2022
by Ugur Kursuncu 10 Feb '22

10 Feb '22

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION ACM International Conference on Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM 2022) Virtual Conference (was Tempe, Arizona, USA) February 21-25 2022 https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/ <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/> ------------- Register before February 20, 2022. ------------- WSDM (pronounced "wisdom") is one of the premier conferences on web-inspired research involving search and data mining. WSDM is a highly selective conference that includes invited talks, as well as refereed full papers. WSDM publishes original, high-quality papers related to search and data mining on the Web and the Social Web, with an emphasis on practical yet principled novel models of search and data mining, algorithm design and analysis, economic implications, and in-depth experimental analysis of accuracy and performance. The conference is now moved to a completely virtual format. This difficult decision is made in light of the latest surge in Omicron cases, enhanced travel restrictions from various parts of the world, and companies scrapping office-return deadlines without setting a new date. Conference program includes 7 workshops <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/wsdm-workshops/>, 7 tutorials <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/accepted-tutorials/>, 9 doctoral consortium presentations <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/accepted-doctoral-consortium-papers/>, 14 technical demos <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/accepted-demos/>, 160 research paper presentations <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/accepted-papers/>, industry day presentations <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/industry-day-schedule/>, smart city day presentations, and 3 exciting keynote talks on timely topics: Keynote talk by Yejin Choi <https://homes.cs.washington.edu/~yejin/> (U. Washington) - Knowledge is Power: Symbolic Knowledge Distillation, Commonsense Morality, and Multimodal Script Knowledge Keynote talk by George Karypis <http://glaros.dtc.umn.edu/> (Amazon) - Graph Neural Network Research at AWS AI Keynote talk by Ricardo Baeza-Yates <https://www.baeza.cl/> (Northeastern University) - Ethics Challenges in AI To register for the conference, please visit https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/registration/ <https://www.wsdm-conference.org/2022/registration/> Note that the registration ends on February 20, 2022.

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Call For Abstracts - Proxies, Stand-ins, and Warm-ups, a virtual symposium (April 27, 2022)
by Dylan Mulvin 10 Feb '22

10 Feb '22

Dear AoIR-ers, Annette Hill and I are excited to invite abstracts for a small, one-day symposium on the proxy, the stand-in, and the warm-up. Please see the Call for abstract below and circulate to anyone interested! — Call for Abstracts - Proxies, Stand-ins, and Warm-ups, a virtual symposium (April 27, 2022) Co-hosted by Dylan Mulvin (London School of Economics) and Annette Hill (Lund University) We invite applications for a (virtual) symposium on the proxy, the stand-in, and the warm-up to be co-hosted by the London School of Economics and Lund University. We aim to gather an eclectic and wide-ranging cohort of people exploring the emergent intersection of technology, background work, and hidden performances within media and cultural industries – the infrastructural and hidden labour of our daily lives. We offer this invitation for those who want to further interrogate the cultural dynamics of proxies. The logics of the stand-in draw attention to how certain people, and attendant material objects and infrastructures, are made to not matter and disappear from view. Our world is suffused with proxies, and the background work of the people who stand in for others, from models who pose for test images to calibrate image technologies, stand-ins for theatre and live events, warm-up acts who prepare an audience for an entertainment show, to voice-over actors, foley artists, and stunt doubles. The art of performing as a stand-in reaches far beyond the fixed realms of media and cultural industries and deep into civil society, including the medical establishment and legal institutions where we might find medical actors who offer their bodies up to trainee physicians and mock juries who come to stand-in for the ordinary citizens. This symposium will dig deeper into these stand-in dynamics while mapping an already existing and interdisciplinary investment in the surrogate logic, absent presence, and politics of proxiness. — Send abstracts to: Dylan Mulvin d.mulvin(a)lse.ac.uk <mailto:d.mulvin@lse.ac.uk> & Annette Hill annette.hill(a)kom.lu.se <mailto:annette.hill@kom.lu.se> Submission deadline: March 4, 2022 (notifications sent out by March 28) Submission details: a (maximum) 400-word abstract and a 200-word biography Warm regards, Dylan Mulvin Assistant Professor | Department of Media & Communications Programme Director | MSc in Media & Communications The London School of Economics and Political Science twitter: @dwmulvin <https://twitter.com/dwmulvin> New Book: Proxies: The Cultural Work of Standing In (MIT Press) *Open access version available here <https://bit.ly/ProxiesBook>*

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The Sharing Economy in Europe: Developments, practices, and contradictions
by Cristina Miguel 09 Feb '22

09 Feb '22

Dear all, I’m happy to share our new open-access book titled The Sharing Economy in Europe: Developments, practices, and contradictions, available at: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-86897-0 The edited collection The Sharing Economy in Europe: Developments, Practices, and Contradictions was initiated by the participants of the COST Action CA16121 ‘From Sharing to Caring: Examining Socio- Technical Aspects of the Collaborative Economy’ supported by the COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) Association. The COST Action started in 2017 and provided for participants comprehensive knowledge and experiences on the sharing (collaborative) economy, as well as networking with scholars, professionals, and practitioners working in the area. Approaching the end of the COST Action, the group of editors generated conception of this volume and invited scholars to contribute with the original papers. The book is organised in several parts that consist of eighteen chapters in which authors explore sharing economy, its features, developments, and prospects from the perspective of economy, legislation, Information technologies, communication, and sociology. The studies provide answers to the questions: How is the sharing economy understood nowadays? What roles does the sharing economy play in sharing and redistribution of goods and services across the population in order to maximise their functionality, monetary exchange, and other aspects important to societies? How the contexts of public policies, legislation, digital plat- forms, and other infrastructure interrelate with the development and function of the sharing economy? What are the contradictions of the development and recent trends in the sharing economy? What experi-ences and achievements in the sharing economy creation and practising are characteristic to European countries? The editors of the book express special acknowledgements to the COST Action CA16121 ‘Sharing & Caring’ that created a background for collaboration of the editors and contributors and funded the publication of this book in open access. Also, special thanks to Prof. Russell Belk who wrote the Foreword. Best wishes, Dr. Cristina Miguel Senior Lecturer Department of Applied IT University of Gotheburg

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Postdoc Position in Media & Internet Governance, Department of Communication and Media Research at University of Zurich
by Alena Birrer 09 Feb '22

09 Feb '22

Dear community members, The Media & Internet Governance Division (Prof. Dr. Natascha Just) at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich invites applications for an open position as senior research and teaching associate/postdoctoral researcher (80%). Start of employment: August 1, 2022 (or upon agreement). The Media & Internet Governance Division studies media policy and media economics in the convergent communications sector. Alongside research on traditional mass media, the division focuses on Internet Governance and Platform Studies. Further information and application details: https://jobs.uzh.ch/offene-stellen/senior-research-and-teaching-associate-p… Review of applications starts immediately, but the position will remain open until a qualified candidate is found. Please contact Alena Birrer, MA (a.birrer(a)ikmz.uzh.ch<mailto:a.birrer@ikmz.uzh.ch>) if you have any further questions. Alena Birrer, MA Research and Teaching Associate Media & Internet Governance Division Department of Communication and Media Research (IKMZ) University of Zurich Andreasstrasse 15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland Tel. +41 44 635 21 61, www.ikmz.uzh.ch<http://www.ikmz.uzh.ch/>

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CFP: engaging citizens in smart city development - work in progress session
by Katherine Harrison 09 Feb '22

09 Feb '22

13-14 June 2022 the “Sustainability means inclusivity” closing festival will be take place in Norrköping, Sweden. With this event, we aim to think about how sustainability and inclusivity go hand-in-hand when it comes to the successful long-term adoption of smart city technologies. By this we mean: A sustainable urban environment depends as much on creating an inclusive space that is safe, accessible and comfortable for a diverse group of citizens as it does on deploying “smart” technologies for energy efficiency or environmental protection. The closing festival aims to create dialogue between citizens, researchers and other stakeholders through a lively and engaging program of events focused around the themes of citizen science and urban gardening. The two days include presentations, kids’ activities, citizen science sessions, urban gardening, time to network, work-in-progress paper discussions and much more, all organized around sessions with our inspiring speakers (see below). *Part of the program we are planning is one or more work-in-progress sessions on the topic of engaging citizens in smart city development. We are hoping to gather researchers, professionals, activists, and others in a friendly environment fostering productive conversations on the topic. If you want to take part in the work-in-progress sessions, please send us a 250-word* position statement (not inc.references). It can be a case study, an interesting idea, a challenging question or anything you want to bring to the table.* *Send your position statement to <sustainabilitymeansinclusivity(a)gmail.com <sustainabilitymeansinclusivity(a)gmail.com>> no later than February 25, 2022.* Confirmed speakers: Lauren Klein, Winship Distinguished Research Professor and Associate Professor, Departments of English and Quantitative Theory & Methods, Emory University (https://lklein.com/ ) Francesco Pilla, Associate Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Environmental Policy, University College Dublin. ( https://people.ucd.ie/francesco.pilla ) Gabriele Ferri, Senior researcher in Civic Interaction Design and Head of Program of the M.Sc. Digital Design, Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (https://www.gabrieleferri.com/ ) Modan Akbarnazim, Architect, Planner and Process Manager with specialization in Regeneration and Development. Ramon Ribera Fumaz, Lead researcher, Urban Transformation and global change laboratory (TURBA), Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya ( http://transfer.rdi.uoc.edu/en/researcher/ribera-fumaz-ramon ) Linda Gustafsson, gender equality strategist and coordinator for the municipality's commission for social sustainability, Umeå. This festival is organized in collaboration between • “Sustainability means inclusivity: Engaging citizens in early stage smart city development” project ( https://liu.se/en/research/sustainability-means-inclusivity ) • Cities 5.0 research network (https://liu.se/en/research/cities-50) research network • Smart City & Digital Sovereignty research network ( https://liu.se/en/article/smart-city-digital-sovereignty) Festival registration opens 1 March 2022. For more information see: https://liu.se/en/article/the-sustainability-means-inclusivity-closing-fest…

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WEBCAST FEB 9: Webinar on Safer Internet and Digital Smart Villages in Kenya
by Joly MacFie 09 Feb '22

09 Feb '22

Just starting. REAL TIME TEXT https://bit.ly/3sv8xOy ISOC Live posted: "On Wednesday 9 February 2022 at 10:00-12:00 EAT (7:00-10:00 UTC) the Internet Society Kenya Chapter in collaboration with Kijiji Yeetu will hold a webinar 'Safer Internet and Digital Smart Villages in Kenya'. The event, which celebrates Safer Internet Day" [image: livestream] <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/ke-smartvillages>On *Wednesday 9 February 2022* at *10:00-12:00 EAT* (7:00-10:00 UTC) the *Internet Society Kenya Chapter <https://isoc.or.ke/>* in collaboration with *Kijiji Yeetu <https://kijijiyeetu.co.ke/>* will hold a webinar '*Safer Internet and Digital Smart Villages in Kenya*'. The event, which celebrates *Safer Internet Day 2022 <https://www.saferinternetday.org/>*, will explore the work of the Kijiji Yeetu project, a smart village platform that offers a unique ecosystem for activating villages’ resources, knowledge, and inspiration into viable development opportunities. *LIVESTREAM http://livestream.com/internetsociety/ke-smartvillages <http://livestream.com/internetsociety/ke-smartvillages>* *PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://bit.ly/34pFUKT <https://bit.ly/34pFUKT>* *REAL TIME TEXT (see ISOC.LIVE <https://isoc.live/15154>)* *TWITTER #SaferInternetDay #SID2022 #SmartVillages #Kenya <https://bit.ly/3utVUWV> @ISOC_Kenya @kijijiyeetu * *SIMULCASTS* *https://www.twitter.com/ISOC_Live/ <https://www.twitter.com/ISOC_Live/>* *https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive <https://www.twitch.tv/isoclive>* *https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/ <https://www.facebook.com/liveisoc/>* (AI Captions) *https://www.facebook.com/ISOCAfrica/ <https://www.facebook.com/ISOCAfrica/> *(AI Captions) *ARCHIVE* *https://archive.org/details/ke-smartvillages <https://archive.org/details/ke-smartvillages>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/15154/ -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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JOB: Tenure-Track Position in Digital Justice at Queen's University
by Norma Moellers 08 Feb '22

08 Feb '22

*** Apologies for cross-posting *** The Dept. of Sociology at Queen's University is seeking to fill a tenure-track position in Digital Justice starting July 1, 2022. Preferred areas of scholarship and teaching are environmental justice, racial justice, and immigration/migration. PhD in Sociology or cognate discipline is required. Application deadline: March 31, 2022. See abbreviated ad below & full ad on the dept. website: https://www.queensu.ca/sociology/sites/doswww/files/uploaded_files/Digital%…. --------------------------------------------- Tenure-track Position with Specialization in Digital Justice The Department of Sociology at Queen's University invites applications for a Tenure-track faculty position at the rank of Assistant Professor with a specialization in Digital Justice, with a preferred starting date of July 1, 2022. Candidates must have a PhD or equivalent degree in sociology or a cognate discipline completed by the start date of the appointment. The ideal candidate will have demonstrated expertise on how pervasive digitization shapes struggles for social justice and equity. Specifically, we seek a scholar whose research and teaching centres on how contemporary digital technologies like Artificial Intelligence (AI) produce, sustain, or unsettle social inequalities on a global scale. Key areas of interest to the Department include environmental justice, racial justice, and migration/immigration. The successful candidate would address, for example but not limited to, pressing matters like the environmental impact of the data economy, racism in AI, or the deployment of AI in transnational border regimes. In line with departmental and faculty EDII goals, we are seeking a scholar who approaches Digital Justice from anti-racist, anti-colonial, intersectional, or transnational positions; and we would especially welcome a scholar who works at intersections with Indigenous Studies, Black Studies, Muslim Studies or Postcolonial Studies. This position will elevate departmental expertise on pressing social justice issues related to AI and other digital technologies and will enhance two streams in the Department: Social Justice and Media, Information & Surveillance. Although the position is based in the Department of Sociology, the successful applicant will also be expected to liaise with and help support interdisciplinary programs on campus including Black Studies, Muslim Studies, Indigenous Studies, or the minor in Artificial Intelligence, as appropriate. Interdisciplinary work with other departments and faculties such as, Development Studies, Computing, Law and Engineering, is encouraged and will build on the Department's existing interdisciplinary links. A complete application consists of: * a cover letter a current Curriculum Vitae (including a list of publications); * a statement of research interests; * a statement of teaching interests and experience (including teaching outlines and evaluations if available); and, * Three letters of reference to be sent to Ms. Wendy Schuler, Department Manager at schulerw(a)queensu.ca<mailto:schulerw@queensu.ca>. The deadline for applications is March 31, 2022. Applicants should send all documents in their application packages electronically in PDF format to Ms. Wendy Schuler, Department Manager at schulerw(a)queensu.ca<mailto:schulerw@queensu.ca>.

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