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WEBCAST FEB 14 – NARALO - ICANN Accountability & Transparency Framework
by Joly MacFie 15 Feb '22

15 Feb '22

For those not following closely. Jeff Neuman posted a blog <https://www.jjnsolutions.com/post/icann-accoutability-mechsnisms-in-name-on…> expressing frustration with ICANN for dragging their feet on the reassignment of dot hiphop, and, when he had filed a formal complaint, rather than expediting, ICANN had slowed to a full stop while they investigated! 10 days later he announced the complaint had been withdrawn <https://www.jjnsolutions.com/post/dot-hip-hop-withdraws-icann-reconsiderati…> to try and move things along. (Apparently ICANN's choking point had been the knowledge that there ha been a parallel NFT registration of the domain, something one would think be immaterial.) Regardless of the facts, Jeff has argued that the case exposes flaws in ICANN's processes. ISOC Live posted: "On Monday February 14 2022 at 3pm ET (20:00 UTC) the North America At-Large Organization (NARALO) as part of its monthly member call will host a discussion of the ICANN Accountability & Transparency Framework (ATF). SPEAKERS Jonathan Zuck, NARALO ALA" [image: NARALO-ATF] <https://community.icann.org/display/NARALO/2022-02-14+NARALO+Teleconference>On *Monday February 14 2022* at *3pm ET* (20:00 UTC) the *North America At-Large Organization <https://naralo.org>* (NARALO) as part of its *monthly member call <https://community.icann.org/display/NARALO/2022-02-14+NARALO+Teleconference>* will host a discussion of the *ICANN Accountability & Transparency Framework <https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/acct-trans-frameworks-principle…>* (ATF). *SPEAKERS* *Jonathan Zuck*, NARALO ALAC Representative *Jeff Neuman*, JJN Solutions *MODERATOR* *Glenn McKnight*, Virtual School of Internet Governance (VSIG) The session will be simulcast live by the *Internet Society Puerto Rico Chapter <https://isocpr.org/>*. *SIMULCASTS* *https://facebook.com/groups/naralo <https://facebook.com/groups/naralo>* *https://facebook.com/groups/isocpr <https://facebook.com/groups/isocpr>* *https://www.facebook.com/isocpr <https://www.facebook.com/isocpr>* *https://twitter.com/isocpr <https://twitter.com/isocpr>* *https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEO1eO7Cjm0qRAu2aOReyGA <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEO1eO7Cjm0qRAu2aOReyGA> *(ISOC PR) *https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChzuz_mvdpYOw5slFEryUDg <https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChzuz_mvdpYOw5slFEryUDg>* (NARALO) *PARTICIPATE VIA ZOOM https://bit.ly/34VlhGr <https://bit.ly/34VlhGr>* *REAL TIME TEXT https://bit.ly/34TmU7m <https://bit.ly/34TmU7m>* *TWITTER #NARALO @ISOCPR <https://bit.ly/3rNSxbz> @icann @jintlaw Jonathan Zuck #ATF #accountability* *ARCHIVE https://archive.org/details/naralo-atf <https://archive.org/details/naralo-atf>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/15178/ - -- -------------------------------------- Joly MacFie +12185659365 -------------------------------------- -

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Opportunity: 3-Year 0.5 FTE Level B Research Fellow – The Digital Child – Due 23 Feb.
by Tama Leaver 15 Feb '22

15 Feb '22

Dear AoIR Folks, The Curtin University node of the ARC Centre of Excellence for the Digital Child is currently advertising for a Research Fellow (0.5 FTE, 3 Year Fixed Term, Level B) working with me in the Connected program of the Digital Child Centre. The Research Fellow will largely be occupied with examining the impact and reach of child and parent influencers across the globe, as well as questions of regulation, policy and best practice. Analysis will consist of engaging with social media and qualitative and quantitative scales, policy documents, online conversations of various forms, a range of online platforms, as well as using a range of techniques and methodologies for analysing online interaction and impact. Further details: http://staff.curtin.edu.au/job-vacancies/?ja-job=437352 Applications close on Wednesday, 23 February (9:00PM AWST). I am happy to answer any queries potential applicants might have. If possible, please share this as appropriate with colleagues and recently completed PhDs in your networks. Thanks! Cheers, Tama -- Professor Tama Leaver Internet Studies Discipline Lead School of Media, Creative Arts and Social Inquiry (MCASI) Faculty of Humanities Curtin University GPO Box U1987 Perth WA Australia 6845 Ph: (+61 8) 9266 1258 Email: t.leaver(a)curtin.edu.au Web: www.tamaleaver.net Twitter: @tamaleaver <https://twitter.com/tamaleaver> CRICOS Provider Code: 00301J (WA)

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Data for Policy 2022 - Call for Special Tracks
by Zeynep Engin 15 Feb '22

15 Feb '22

For those interested... Please circulate further. Kind regards, Zeynep ---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Data for Policy 2022 <team(a)dataforpolicy.org> Date: Thu, 10 Feb 2022 at 15:39 Subject: Call for Special Tracks - Data for Policy 2022 Data for Policy 2022 7th International Conference *Data for Policy 2022* Ecosystems of innovation and virtual-physical interactions Phase 1: 5 December - *Hong Kong* Phase 2: 9 December - *Seattle* Phase 3: 13 December - *Brussels* *Call for Special Tracks *(Deadline: 10 March 2022) dataforpolicy.org <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…> | @dataforpolicy <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…> | cambridge.org/dap <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…> | @data_and_policy <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…> The seventh edition of the international Data for Policy conferences will expand to a hybrid physical-virtual format in December 2022, with in-person conferences held in three regions. We hope that this model will allow maximal, inclusive participation from all geographic regions, while limiting environmentally unsustainable, long-distance travel. This is an experimental model that we are keen to try, to enable efficient global knowledge sharing in the post-Covid world. Nevertheless, the health and wellbeing of our community is of great importance, and we will continue to assess the global situation, and adapt our plans if this is necessary. In addition to its six established Standard Tracks, and reflecting its three-regions model this year, the Data for Policy 2022 conference highlights “Ecosystems of innovation and virtual-physical interactions” as its theme. Distinct geopolitical and virtual-physical ecosystems are emerging as everyday operations and important socio-economic decisions are increasingly outsourced to digital systems. For example, the US's open market approach empowering multinational digital corporations contrasts with greater central government control in the Chinese digital ecosystem, and radically differs from Europe’s priority on individual rights, personal privacy and digital sovereignty. Other localised ecosystems are emerging around national priorities; India focuses on the domestic economy, and Russia prioritises public and national security. The global South remains underrepresented in the global debate. The developmental trajectory for the different ecosystems will shape future governance models, democratic values, and the provision of citizen services. In an envisioned ‘metaverse’ future, boundaries between physical and virtual spaces will become even more blurred, further underlining the need to scrutinise and challenge the various systems of governance. The Data for Policy conference series is the premier global forum for multiple disciplinary and cross-sector discussions around the theories, applications and implications of data science innovation in governance and the public sector. Its associated journal, Data & Policy, published by Cambridge University Press has quickly established itself as a major venue for publishing research in the field of data-policy interactions. Data for Policy is a non-profit initiative, registered as a community interest company in the UK, supported by sustainer partners Cambridge University Press, the Alan Turing Institute and the Office for National Statistics. The conference has six standard tracks <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…>, corresponding to its areas of interest, introduced in 2021. The 2022 conference chairs also invite special track proposals, which can lead to publication of a special collection of articles in Data & Policy. Special tracks will draw on and build communities around areas of interest, with a view to continuing in future years. Proposals are directed to developing conference sessions in one or more of the areas of interest, or in relevant emerging areas. We particularly encourage authors to consider areas of importance/challenge in their regions. The theme of the conference provides another frame of reference for authors to consider, reflecting current hot topics for global dialogue. This focus should not be seen as limiting, and we welcome special track proposals on any relevant topic. Those interested in organising a special track at the Data for Policy 2022 Conference should visit the Call for Special Tracks <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…> at the Data for Policy website for full details of the submission, review and post-acceptance process. The deadline for Special Track Proposals is 10 March 2022. Following review, we will inform Special Track leads and feature successful proposals in the main call for papers for the conference. Further information about the 2022 conference is available on the Data for Policy conference website <https://dataforpolicy.us9.list-manage.com/track/click?u=0e48a758fb1eccb009e…>. Please note that some aspects of the conference are still in planning, and all those interested in submitting to or attending the conference should check the website regularly to stay up to date with conference news. For all questions related to Special Tracks at the conference, please contact team(a)dataforpolicy.org *Copyright © 2022 Data for Policy CIC, All rights reserved.*

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Invitation: Public Interest Research, 24 February 2022, 16:40-18:00 CET / online
by Katja Mayer 15 Feb '22

15 Feb '22

Dear colleagues, The Research Platform Governance of Digital Practices <https://digigov.univie.ac.at/> (University of Vienna) cordially invites you to attend a public event organized as part of the non-public international Winter School "Taming the iMonster: Regulating digital platforms" <https://digigov.univie.ac.at/teaching/digigov-virtual-winter-school-taming-…>: *Public Round Table @ DigiGov Winter School** **PUBLIC INTEREST RESEARCH* *When*: *Thursday, 24 February 2022, 16:40-18:00 (CET)* *Where*: online via Zoom *Language*: English In our workshop, we will introduce several respective public interest research projects and discuss which formats of knowledge production are best suited to conduct research on social media. *Speakers*: John Albert <https://algorithmwatch.org/en/team/john-albert/> (AlgorithmWatch) Wolfie Christl <https://wolfie.crackedlabs.org/> (Cracked Labs Vienna) Jonathan Gray <https://www.kcl.ac.uk/people/dr-jonathan-gray> (King's College London) Jürgen Pfeffer <http://www.pfeffer.at/> (Technical University Munich) Theresa Züger <https://www.hiig.de/en/theresa-zuger/> (Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society) *Moderation*: Katja Mayer <https://digigov.univie.ac.at/team/#c581098> (University of Vienna) Meropi Tzanetakis <https://digigov.univie.ac.at/team/#c733208> (University of Innsbruck) ** *Click here to register for this event <https://www.eventbrite.at/e/public-round-table-digigov-winter-school-ticket…>*. *Visit our homepage for further information <https://digigov.univie.ac.at/news-events/public-round-table-digigov-winter-…>*.

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New book out on the history of the internet’s impact on journalism
by Will Mari 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

Hi everyone! Please forgive my shameless plug, but my newest short book might be of interest to some of you: https://www.routledge.com/Newsrooms-and-the-Disruption-of-the-Internet-A-Sh… If you’re a grad student, I’d be happy to email you a PDF. Will Mati -- Dr. Will Mari Assistant Professor of Media Law and Media History Darlene and Thomas O. Ryder Professorship Manship School of Mass Communication Louisiana State University Former chair, History Division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) Corresponding editor, *Journalism History * Author of: https://upress.missouri.edu/9780826222329/the-american-newsroom/ (2021) Also author of: https://www.routledge.com/A-Short-History-of-Disruptive-Journalism-Technolo… (2019) Forthcoming: https://www.routledge.com/Newsrooms-and-the-Disruption-of-the-Internet-Inte… (2022) For an example of recent public-facing work, see: https://www.poynter.org/the-essential-workers/ <https://www.poynter.org/the-essential-workers/>

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Global Fact 9 CfA update - deadline for abstracts now extended to 25 February!
by Rebekah Larsen 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

Thank you to those who have already submitted, and apologies for the multiple emails today! We decided to extend the CfA by one week after some requests. Short abstracts are now due 25 February; see the updated call below. We hope to see you, virtually or in Oslo, in June! ****** Conference: Global Fact 9 (international factchecking summit with academic track) Date: 22 June 2022 Location: Oslo, Norway Submission deadline: 25 February 2022; notifications by 25 March 2022 Global Fact 9 is the largest annual fact-checking summit, bringing together journalists, researchers, government and industry representatives, and of course, fact checkers. As the profile and community of this form of journalism grows in the face of misinformation, Global Fact provides an important venue for sharing best practices, networking, and identifying coming challenges. This year, Global Fact will be held at Oslo Metropolitan University in Oslo, Norway. Global Fact 9 is currently planned as an in-person event, from June 22 – 25, 2022. (The academic track has the potential to include hybrid online and in-person sessions.) The first day of the summit, 22 June, will be devoted to an academic track, with several invited panelists and speakers addressing topics such as: * Best academic practices in—and potential contributions to—this developing field. * Fact-checking in the context of misinformation and increasing polarization. * Directions of fact-checking, e.g., towards more debunking and tech partnerships. * (Socio)technical tools–old, new, and yet-to-be-developed–in fact-checking. * Fact-checker safety–mental, emotional, and/or physical. * Collaborations between different types of actors, based on topics, aims, regions, languages, etc. * Regulation efforts aimed at big tech and platforms, and the impact on fact-checking partnerships and funding. * Media and information literacy in the age of COVID-19 and declining institutional trust. * The importance of publicly available data (e.g., national statistics, platform insights) and other resources for fact-checkers. * Fact-checking in the context of oppression–e.g., how it can be conducted and disseminated. In addition to the invited presentations, we are reserving a portion of the academic track for lightning round presentations. These will entail discussions of your work, at whatever stage—conceptual, in progress, or finished—in a shorter time frame. Depending on the number of submissions accepted, presentations will likely be limited to 10 In addition to the invited presentations, we are reserving a portion of the academic track for lightning round presentations. These will entail discussions of your work, at whatever stage—conceptual, in progress, or finished—in a shorter time frame. Depending on the number of submissions accepted, presentations will likely be limited to 10 minutes with questions. We are particularly interested in work from early career researchers, work that focuses on marginalized communities or regions, and/or work using new or innovative methods. Potential topics might include, but are no way restricted to, the above list. If you are interested in presenting at this open session, please fill out this form<https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Eh_I_oZiUEWJEfRG_Nr6H4d…>. Please include your institutional affiliation and contact information, a title, a description of what you’d like to present (~300 words), and a paragraph on the significance (~150 words). The deadline for submissions is now 25 February 2022, and notifications of selection will be on or before 25 March 2022. If you have questions, please feel free to email rebekahl(a)oslomet.no. You can also contact the OsloMet-based team behind the Source Criticism and Mediated Disinformation<https://uni.oslomet.no/scam/> project.

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Reminder - Global Fact 9 Academic Track Abstracts due 18 February!
by Rebekah Larsen 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

Conference: Global Fact 9 (international factchecking summit with academic track) Date: 22 June 2022 Location: Oslo, Norway Submission deadline: 18 February 2022; notifications by 25 March 2022 Global Fact 9 is the largest annual fact-checking summit, bringing together journalists, researchers, government and industry representatives, and of course, fact checkers. As the profile and community of this form of journalism grows in the face of misinformation, Global Fact provides an important venue for sharing best practices, networking, and identifying coming challenges. This year, Global Fact will be held at Oslo Metropolitan University in Oslo, Norway. Global Fact 9 is currently planned as an in-person event, from June 22 – 25, 2022. (The academic track has the potential to include hybrid online and in-person sessions.) The first day of the summit, 22 June, will be devoted to an academic track, with several invited panelists and speakers addressing topics such as: * Best academic practices in—and potential contributions to—this developing field. * Fact-checking in the context of misinformation and increasing polarization. * Directions of fact-checking, e.g., towards more debunking and tech partnerships. * (Socio)technical tools–old, new, and yet-to-be-developed–in fact-checking. * Fact-checker safety–mental, emotional, and/or physical. * Collaborations between different types of actors, based on topics, aims, regions, languages, etc. * Regulation efforts aimed at big tech and platforms, and the impact on fact-checking partnerships and funding. * Media and information literacy in the age of COVID-19 and declining institutional trust. * The importance of publicly available data (e.g., national statistics, platform insights) and other resources for fact-checkers. * Fact-checking in the context of oppression–e.g., how it can be conducted and disseminated. In addition to the invited presentations, we are reserving a portion of the academic track for lightning round presentations. These will entail discussions of your work, at whatever stage—conceptual, in progress, or finished—in a shorter time frame. Depending on the number of submissions accepted, presentations will likely be limited to 10 In addition to the invited presentations, we are reserving a portion of the academic track for lightning round presentations. These will entail discussions of your work, at whatever stage—conceptual, in progress, or finished—in a shorter time frame. Depending on the number of submissions accepted, presentations will likely be limited to 10 minutes with questions. We are particularly interested in work from early career researchers, work that focuses on marginalized communities or regions, and/or work using new or innovative methods. Potential topics might include, but are no way restricted to, the above list. If you are interested in presenting at this open session, please fill out this form<https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=Eh_I_oZiUEWJEfRG_Nr6H4d…>. Please include your institutional affiliation and contact information, a title, a description of what you’d like to present (~300 words), and a paragraph on the significance (~150 words). The deadline for submissions is 18 February 2022, and notifications of selection will be on or before 25 March 2022. If you have questions, please feel free to email rebekahl(a)oslomet.no. You can also contact the OsloMet-based team behind the Source Criticism and Mediated Disinformation<https://uni.oslomet.no/scam/> project.

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Twitter’s communityabout dataviz
by RODRIGO DO ESPIRITO SANTO DA CUNHA 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

Hi, everyone! I created the first dataviz community on Twitter. You feel free to share tips and experiences with all members. We’re just getting started, but I hope it’s a fantastic journey here! Link (it’s open): https://twitter.com/i/communities/1493298862945095682 Best regards, -- *Prof. Rodrigo Cunha* Assistant Professor in Media Studies Department of Communication Federal University of Pernambuco tel. +55 81 2126.8305 Recife, Brazil ufpe.br/grid <http://www.ufpe.br/grid>

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Call for Participation: ACM CHIIR 2022 workshop on Building towards Information Interaction and Retrieval Resource Reuse - 14 March 2022
by marijn Koolen 14 Feb '22

14 Feb '22

************************************************************************* CHIIR 2022 Workshop on Building towards Information Interaction and Retrieval Resource Reuse March 14 2022, 9:00-12:00 CET and 16:00-19:00 CET This workshop is part of the ACM Conference on Human Information Interaction and Retrieval (CHIIR) 2022, taking place 14-18 March 2022 online. BIIRRR 2022 website: http://biirrr2022.aau.dk CHIIR 2022 website: https://ai.ur.de/chiir2022/home ************************************************************************* ************************** Scope ************************** The aim of the BIIRRR workshop series is to provide a forum where researchers from the full spectrum of CHIIR interests can come together to develop ideas on improving resource reuse. BIIRRR 2022 is the third edition in the series and focuses on developing recommendations for documenting and archiving the wide range of II&R research resources, and to ensure that the documentation standards are relevant and applicable to both the specifics and breadth of the CHIIR community. The openness of the II&R community must not be restricted and extensive discussions are needed on how to balance standardisation, space for innovation and for aspects that can only be documented to a limited extent. Towards this end, the workshop has two main goals: - Collect practical experiences with documentation and reuse. Each workshop session has a keynote and two presentations of experience papers providing examples of practical barriers, challenges, and approaches to documenting and reusing complex study setups. These will be used as input for a plenary discussion about the possibilities and challenges for the reuse of their research designs, data and infrastructure. - Develop recommendations for research design documentation. Research designs are the first step in documenting research resources. The second goal of the 2022 edition of the BIIRRR workshop is to start discussing and developing recommendations for research design documentation. Our explicit aim is to develop an open proposal that can be used across the full range of study types in the II&R community and that is open to further development. ************************** Workshop Programme ************************** The workshop will be highly interactive, with a few short keynote and paper presentations and lots of plenary discussion. Given that participants will be in different time zones across the world, the workshop will be held twice at two different three-hour slots, 9:00-1200 CET and 16:00-19:00 CET. The two sessions will both follow the same structure: - Introduction - Keynote - Break - Experience Papers - Break - Panel discussion - Closing Timing of the sessions: The first session will be timed to be in the evening for Asia and Oceania and in the morning for Europe and Africa. The second session will be timed to be in the evening for Europe and Africa and morning for North and South America. Keynote speakers: We are happy to announce that we have two keynotes for the two sessions: - Keynote session 1: Daniel Hienert (GESIS): Information gathering, holding, and re-use in the Social Sciences - Lessons for IIR? This talk aims to present the gathering, holding, and re-use of information in the social sciences. The directly following question is if we can use and adopt some of these patterns, lessons, or insights for data management and re-use in the field of interactive information retrieval. - Keynote session 2: Georg Buscher (Microsoft Research) Running IR Experiments with Real Users - Common Practices and Challenges. Georg will give a short overview for how A/B experiments with real users are typically evaluated in the industry in the domain of IR/search. He will particularly emphasize what kinds of metrics and processes are shared across experiments to yield comparable outcomes, and what common challenges arise. Experience papers: - Reusing the Model and Components of an IIR Study for Perceived Effects of OCR Quality Change. Kimmo Kettunen (University of Eastern Finland), Heikki Keskustalo (Tampere University), Birger Larsen (Aalborg University), Tuula Pääkkönen (National Library of Finland) and Juha Rautiainen (National Library of Finland) - Interactive Social Book Search Data as Reusable Resource. Mark M. Hall (The Open University), Marijn Koolen (Huygens Institute, KNAW Humanities Cluster) The workshop will conclude with a plenary discussion aimed at developing an open proposal for documenting research designs that can be used across the full range of study types in the II&R community and that is open to further development. More details about the programme are available on the workshop website ( http://biirrr2022.aau.dk) ********************************* Organisers ***************************** Toine Bogers (Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark) Maria Gäde (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany) Mark Hall (Open University, United Kingdom) Marijn Koolen (KNAW Humanities Cluster, Netherlands) Vivien Petras (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany) Paul Thomas (Microsoft Research, Australia) ********************************* Venue ********************************* The BIIRRR 2022 workshop will be held online on March 14, 2022, co-located with the ACM CHIIR 2022 conference. ********************************* Relevant links ***************************** BIIRRR 2022 Workshop homepage: http://biirrr2022.aau.dk Registration for BIIRRR 2022 workshop goes via CHIIR 2022: https://ai.ur.de/chiir2022/register Contact the organizers: biirrr(a)googlegroups.com

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CFP: Political communication in (times of) crisis
by Antonio Martella 13 Feb '22

13 Feb '22

*Call for Papers* Political communication in (times of) crisis Annual conference of the Italian Association of Political Communication - Bologna, Italy, from 30 June to 1 July 2022. All information about the conference are available here: https://www.compol.it/eventi/convegno/convegno-2022/ As early as the 1990s, leading figures in the discipline contended that political communication has entered a prolonged phase of crisis. Jay Blumler (1997) defined this crisis as the awareness that practices of political communication had to change radically in order to maintain the fundamental function of "communication for citizenship". At the dawn of the new millennium, the increasing centrality of digital platforms in the "ecosystems of political communication" (Esser and Pfetsch 2020) gave further impetus to the perception of a mounting crisis hitting the field and discipline; and such crisis was understood in term of instability, heterogeneity, and "chaos" (McNair 2006). This idea can be found also in Andrew Chadwick's theory (2013) concerning "hybrid" reconfigurations of media systems. In fact, Chadwick, while highlighting some dysfunctionalities of the hybrid media system, rejected an exclusively negative understanding of the “permanent crisis” characterizing political communication. The second half of the 2010s was instead characterized by a new phase of pessimism, which led researchers to search tools and frameworks to study political communication in "times of crisis" (Davis 2019). Indeed, these years saw a final collapse of trust in political and media elites, a new rise of nationalism and populism, mounting information overloads for citizens, and a multiplication in existing “regimes of truth” (Waisbord 2018). Finally, the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world. The health crisis turned political, economic, and social, providing a new framework to the idea of crisis. The emergence of an unprecedented overlap between political and crisis communication produced a generalized shock that has directly affected our field of study. All actors in political and institutional communication had to face and directly manage the structural uncertainty characterizing the second modernity (Beck 1986). Therefore, the global experience of the pandemic forces scholars and practitioners in political communication to deal with a renewed concept of crisis. In this historical moment it is even more important to resist the temptation to simply choose between optimism and pessimism. On the contrary, addressing responsibly the crisis of political communication means interpreting it as a challenge and trying to provide new theoretical lenses, to develop new methods for research, and to elaborate new and renovated knowledge. The pandemic has highlighted a widespread difficulty in elaborating solid theories and concepts based on empirical evidence. At the same time, it has shown the urgency of sound research contributing to our understanding of contemporary political and social phenomena without relying exclusively on the quantity of data collected, but also on their capacity to answer relevant questions. Starting from these premises, we encourage the submission of papers that engage with the idea of crisis to address challenges faced by political communication research in the pandemic age. We are interested both in theoretical essays and empirical studies and we welcome different methodological approaches and research designs (quantitative, qualitative and mixed-methods). Issues of interest include (but are not limited to): * the nature of attention economies and dynamics of agenda building in contemporary media ecosystems, with particular reference to the pandemic period; * the organization of election campaigns in moments of exceptionality for democratic norms and practices (e.g. lockdowns, physical distancing); * trends in communication and political leadership styles during the pandemic and their implications in the relationship with other actors in the public sphere; * new forms of extra-institutional political communication related to protests, social movements, and civil society actors during the pandemic * politicization of science, health and of their communication in the public sphere, with particular reference to the relationship between democracy, freedom of expression, collective interest and public health; * transformations and degenerations of public debate in different media arenas with particular reference to incivility and polarization; * the role of data, platforms, algorithms in processes of political communication and journalism by institutional and extra-institutional actors; * transformations in political journalism, with particular attention to the boundaries between journalism and other forms of information; * the impact of AI on the transformations of political communication and journalism; * methodological and theoretical proposals dealing with the transformations of political communication emerged as a result of the pandemic experience, also in comparative perspective. Although the conference focuses on the multiple interpretations of the "crisis" in political communication, papers addressing other aspects of the relationship between media and politics are also welcome. Papers by PhD students and young researchers are warmly encouraged. Paper proposals should include name, affiliation and email address, a title, an extended abstract (600/800 words excluding references), and bibliographical references. Authors should also explicitly indicate whether they request the paper to be considered for publication (after the conference) in “Comunicazione Politica”, the flagship journal of the Italian Association of Political Communication. In the case of ex equo in the evaluations provided by referees, priority will be given to authors who have expressed interest for publication on Comunicazione Politica. Timeline - The deadline for submitting proposals is 13 March 2022. - Notification of acceptances will take place by 1 May 2022. - Contributions will be uploaded to the conference paper room by 13 June 2022. -- *skype*: antonio.martella24

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