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recently out: Invisible Search and Online Search Engines (Routledge, 2019)
by Jutta Haider 16 May '19

16 May '19

Book announcement: Jutta Haider & Olof Sundin (2019), Invisible Search and Online Search Engines. The Ubiquity of Search in Everyday Life", London & NY: Routledge "This is a marvelously written, beautifully researched volume which explores the centrality of search to our lives. It ranges fluently across a number of fields to produce fresh insights into topics such as the creation of new temporalities and meaning-making in information infrastructures." Geoffrey Bowker, University of California Irvine, USA "This is an excellent book that provides a unique perspective on the field of web search studies. Jutta Haider and Olof Sundin place search where it is best placed: in everyday life. … This book, which is well-grounded in the literature from different fields, provides an excellent basis for understanding search as an integral part of everyday life." Dirk Lewandowski, Hamburg University of Applied Sciences, Germany "… it represents an important new voice in this extremely important field. " Birger Hjørland, University of Copenhagen, Denmark Description: Invisible Search and Online Search Engines considers the use of search engines in contemporary everyday life and the challenges this poses for media and information literacy. Looking for mediated information is mostly done online and arbitrated by the various tools and devices that people carry with them on a daily basis. Because of this, search engines have a significant impact on the structure of our lives, and personal and public memories. Haider and Sundin consider what this means for society, whilst also uniting research on information retrieval with research on how people actually look for and encounter information. Contents: Introduction \ Perspectives on search \ The materialities of search \ Search in everyday Life \ Search and media and information literacy \ Researching search and search as research \ Conclusion Book information can be found here: https://www.routledge.com/Invisible-Search-and-Online-Search-Engines-The-Ub… [sorry for crossposting]

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RACI Call for Applications
by Gergana Petrova 16 May '19

16 May '19

Dear colleagues, The RIPE Academic Cooperation Initiative (RACI) is again looking for talented academics in the field of Internet technology. Successful applicants receive complimentary tickets, travel and accommodation to the meetings and the opportunity to present their research. If you are working on something interesting, please apply! If you know someone in your network who is, please forward them this message. https://www.ripe.net/raci You can apply for the following two meetings by submitting an abstract and draft slides by *7 August*: - RIPE NCC Regional Meeting (24-25 September, Kyiv) - RIPE 79 (14-19 October, Rotterdam) Examples of relevant research topics include: - Network measurements and analyses - IPv6 deployment - BGP routing - Network security - Internet governance - Peering and interconnectivity - Internet of Things RACI mailing list: https://www.ripe.net/raci/mailing-list Twitter: https://twitter.com/raci_ripe RACI LinkedIn Group: https://www.ripe.net/raci/linkedin You can help by spreading the word to your academic networks. For any questions about the initiative or about applying, please email me back. Best regards, Gergana Gergana Petrova External Relations RIPE NCC

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Reminder - CfP: EASA Media Anthropology Network Workshop "The Digital Turn in Media Anthropology"
by sahana udupa 16 May '19

16 May '19

Dear All, Apologies for cross-posting. A gentle reminder that the deadline for submitting abstracts for the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Media Anthropology Network Workshop "The Digital Turn in Media Anthropology" on the 11th of October 2019 at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich is getting closer (please see details below). All the best. ***** *Organizers* Sahana Udupa (LMU Munich) Elisabetta Costa (University of Groningen) Philipp Budka (University of Vienna)* * *Date & Venue* 11 October 2019 Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) Munich, Germany *Abstract* By building on the Media Anthropology Network panel at the EASA 2018 conference in Stockholm and the follow-up e-seminar from 16 Oct. - 9 Nov. 2018 (http://www.media-anthropology.net/index.php/e-seminars) this workshop critically explores “the digital turn” in the anthropological study of media, and aims to push further ethnographic knowledge into the role that digital media technologies play in people's everyday life and broader sociopolitical transformations. In so doing, this workshop contributes to the reassessment of media anthropology in digital times, and raises critical questions on how digital media have posed new epistemological challenges, inspired methodological innovations, and offered opportunities for political activism for media anthropologists. A key question that drives this discussion is whether the digital turn has reconfigured the classic distinction between “home” and “field” through temporally intensified “horizontal” networks on a global scale. Have these connections – culturally translated across different societies – collapsed the distinction between “home” and “field”? As users and researchers of digital media, how do we rework anthropology’s classic conundrum of home-field, distance-nearness and us-other in radically progressive ways? What does the “digital turn” entail in terms of how we engage research participants, and how do we use these new pathways to critique the multidirectional “colonial matrix of power” (Mignalo & Walsh, 2007) that is riding on the very infrastructure of contemporary digital media? We invite scholars to engage with these questions through various topic fields they are researching, and consider this reflexive move as an important step towards challenging “the global fact” of racial, gender, ethnic and religion-based exclusions. We also invite scholars to bring cases of innovative use of digital research to overcome prevailing hierarchies in anthropological knowledge production – between researchers and research participants, as well as within the academic community. Drawing from their own research, and from their engagement with relevant literatures, workshop participants will ask the following questions: What is the present state of anthropological study on digital media technologies and their impact on culture and society? What are the main questions in need of urgent research (especially in connection to decolonizing media/digital anthropology, gender, visuality, extreme movements and speech)? How have digital technologies transformed (media) anthropology and how does the future look for media anthropologists? What is the role of digital technology in transforming knowledge production and dissemination in media anthropology? How can anthropologists contribute to the interdisciplinary effort of theorizing digital media practices and digital technologies? Who will be the main beneficiaries of this research, both in academia and beyond? We invite ethnographic and/or theoretical papers that focus on the above questions. Participants who need travel support to attend the workshop are invited to mention the same (limited financial support is available for travel and accommodation). *In a single word document, please send your abstracts of 1000 words and a short bio (100 words) stating your current affiliation, mentioning whether you are an EASA member.* Please use the filename format: authorlastname_digitalturnworkshop2019, and send this *no later than 1 June 2019* to digitalturnworkshop(a)ethnologie.lmu.de Selected participants will be notified by 30 June 2019. EASA members will get the first preference in travel bursaries. *** Sahana Udupa Professor of Media Anthropology Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität (LMU) Munich Principal Investigator ERC Project: www.fordigitaldignity.com Politics of Abusive Exchange on Social Media <https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1461444817698776>(*New Media & Society*) Extreme speech online <https://ijoc.org/index.php/ijoc/article/view/5843>(*International Journal of Communication*)

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Just out: Geert Lovink, Sad by Design, On Platform Nihilism (Pluto Press, 2019)
by Geert Lovink 15 May '19

15 May '19

"A scathing indictment of a technology that transforms the very notion of self into a sharing platform" Eva Illouz, author of Why Love Hurts: A Sociological Explanation "Lovink dissects our digital addictions with the dynamite power of critical theory. A savage journey into the heart of the digital self, and a wake-up call to break free of our own enslavement" Donatella della Ratta, author of Shooting a Revolution "A searing criticism of platform nihilism, considered above all as a perversion of computational design" Bernard Stiegler, author of The Age of Disruption Sadness is now a design problem. The highs and lows of melancholy are coded into social media platforms. After all the clicking, browsing, swiping and liking, all we are left with is the flat and empty aftermath of time lost to the app. Sad by Design offers a critical analysis of the growing social media controversies such as fake news, toxic viral memes and online addiction. The failed search for a grand design has resulted in depoliticed internet studies which are unable to generate either radical critique or a search for alternatives. The table of content: Introduction: Society of the Social Overcoming the Disillusioned Internet Social Media as Ideology Distraction and its Discontents Sad by Design Media-Network-Platform: Three Architectures From Registration to Extermination: On Technological Violence Narcissus Confirmed: Technologies of the Minimal Selfie Mask Design as Aesthetics of the Faceless Memes as Strategy: European Origins and Debates Before Building the Avant-Garde of the Commons Sad by Design came out in Italian late March and will also appear in Spanish and German in July/September 2019. Book information about the English edition can be found here: https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745339344/sad-by-design/ <https://www.plutobooks.com/9780745339344/sad-by-design/>. There will be a book launch in London on May 23 2019 where Geert Lovink will have a dialogue with Athina Karatzogianni: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sad-by-design-on-platform-nihilism-w-geert-l… <https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/sad-by-design-on-platform-nihilism-w-geert-l…> An Amsterdam event is scheduled in the @droog space (Staalstraat) on June 18 at 17.00. See: www.selfdesign.nl <http://www.selfdesign.nl/>.

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Research position in Cyprus on social aspects of algorithms
by Jahna Otterbacher 15 May '19

15 May '19

Dear Colleagues, [Apologies for cross-postings] The Open University of Cyprus accepts positions for the fulfillment of one (1) Research Associate position with full-time employment over two years, in the context of the H2020 project “CyCAT: Cyprus Center for Algorithmic Transparency.” The project is funded by the program H2020 – Widespread – Twinning. The project aims at developing interventions that support the needs of users, raising their awareness of algorithmic biases (i.e., social biases that are observed in algorithmic systems and tools used regularly by the public for information access, such as search engines and social media platforms). The interventions to be developed include both digital tools and educational materials for digital literacy, with an emphasis on those that shall support the specific needs of Cypriot educators, information specialists and the public more generally. CyCAT researchers based at OUC collaborate closely with our advanced partners, located at leading universities across Europe and Israel ((University of Edinburgh, University of Trento, University of Sheffield, and University of Haifa). In addition, the project provides support for carrying out scientific exchanges abroad, as well as for researchers’ participation in international scientific conferences. More information on the project and team can be found here: http://www.cycat.io/ <http://www.cycat.io/> Applications should be submitted electronically at https://recruitment.ouc.ac.cy/apply <https://recruitment.ouc.ac.cy/apply> by 10 June 2019. Feel free to contact me more directly for information about the position. Best regards, Jahna Otterbacher

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Chris Kelty interviews Lilly Irani about Chasing Innovation - fixed link
by Ilana Gershon 15 May '19

15 May '19

Dear Colleagues, Chris Kelty chatted with Lilly Irani about her new book, Chasing Innovation: Making Entrepreneurial Citizens in Modern India. It was a free-ranging discussion, touching on what it means to engage in design thinking in India, whether it is important to orient oneself toward a utopia, and so on. Please check it out: www.campanthropology.org Best, Ilana

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Fwd: New Book: Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis
by Massimo Ragnedda 15 May '19

15 May '19

Apologies for cross posting *Out now* Bruce Mustvairo and Massimo Ragnedda, *Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis. *Amsterdam University Press https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462986855/mapping-the-digital-divide-in-afri… *Description* Despite issues associated with the digital divide, mobile telephony is growing on the continent and the rise of smartphones has given citizens easy access to social networking sites. But the digital divide, which mostly reflects on one's race, gender, socioeconomic status or geographical location, stands in the way of digital progress. What opportunities are available to tame digital disparities? How are different societies in Africa handling digital problems? What innovative methods are being used to provide citizens with access to critical information that can help improve their lives? Experiences from various locations in several sub-Saharan African countries have been carefully selected in this collection with the aim of providing an updated account on the digital divide and its impact in Africa. *Reviews* "For many years ‘the digital divide’ has been a catchphrase, often with little analytical content. This book provides studies of how the concept can be understood within an African context. The different contributions address problems related to digital opportunities as well as inhibitions to growth; thus, it has implications for how to comprehend technological, political, economic, social, and cultural development in a wider world. Of particular importance is that the book provides a theoretical understanding as well as an account of the impact of different technologies such as mobile phones." - *Helge Rønning, Professor*, Department of Media and Communications, University of Oslo, Norway "You need to take a different perspective of both the digital divide and Africa to understand the complexity of social and digital inequality in Africa. The digital divide is different in every part of the world. Reading this book you will grasp the complexity of the social, cultural and political affairs of Africa that are reinforcing the digital divide. Surprisingly, while mobile telephony is booming here, ICTs are in fact only reinforcing existing social inequality." - *Jan A.G.M. van Dijk, Professor*, Department of Communication, University of Twente, the Netherlands "This is a timely and much-needed collection that fills an important gap in the literature. It offers excellent conceptual tools and a selection of case studies that provide a useful map of the digital divide across the African continent and between Africa and the rest of the world. I especially appreciate the editors’ efforts to address African issues on their own terms and to problematize interpretive paradigms from the global north. It is a book that many will look forward to reading. I will recommend it to my students." - *Pier Paolo Frassinelli, Professor,* School of Communication, University of Johannesburg, South Africa ______________ *Massimo Ragnedda* <http://northumbria.academia.edu/MassimoRagnedda> Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication Squires Building 306f, Northumbria University, NE8 1ST Newcastle (UK) Tel: 01912437444 Visiting Professor at the Faculty of Journalism, Lomonosov Moscow State University <http://www.journ.msu.ru/eng/news/27610/> Most recent books: Bruce Mutsvairo and Massimo Ragnedda eds (2019) Mapping the Digital Divide in Africa. A Mediated Analysis. <https://www.aup.nl/en/book/9789462986855/mapping-the-digital-divide-in-afri…> Amsterdam University Press Massimo Ragnedda and Bruce Mutsvairo, eds (2018) *Digital Inclusion. An International Comparative Analysis <https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498562126/Digital-Inclusion-An-International-Co…>*, Lexington Books. Massimo Ragnedda and Glenn Muschert, eds (2018) *Theorizing Digital Divide* <http://bit.ly/2y9WSLm>, Routledge Massimo Ragnedda (2017) *The Third Digital Divide: A Weberian approach to digital inequalities* <http://bit.ly/2f8FObg>, Routledge. Latest articles: Massimo Ragnedda (2018) Conceptualizing Digital Capital <https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0736585318309316?via%3Di…>, Telematics and Informatics Massimo Ragnedda and Hanna Kreitem (2018), The three lelves of digital divide in East EU countries <http://worldofmedia.ru/volumes/2018/The%20three%20levels%20of%20digital%20d…>, World of Media Vice chair of Digital Divide Working Group, IAMCR <https://iamcr.org/s-wg/working-group/DID> Co-convenors of NINSO (Northumbria Internet and Society Research Group <https://www.northumbria.ac.uk/about-us/academic-departments/northumbria-law…> )

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a new book : Internet Democracy and Social Change: The case of Israel
by Carmit Wiesslitz, Ph.D 15 May '19

15 May '19

Hello Everyone, I am pleased to announce the publication of my new book: Internet Democracy and Social Change: The Case of Israel<https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498539791/Internet-Democracy-and-Social-Change-…> The book may be of interest not only to those who are interested in the Israeli civil society but also to those that are interested in the study of Internet and social change. Here are a few words about the book (from the cover): This book examines to what extent the democratic potential ascribed to the Internet is realized in practice, and how civil society organizations exploit the unique features of the Internet to attain their goals. This is the story of the organization members’ outlooks and impressions of digital platforms’ role as tools for social change; a story that debunks a common myth about the Internet and collective action. In a time when social media are credited with immense power in generating social change, this book serves as an important reminder that reality for activists and social change organizations is more complicated. Thus, the book sheds light on the back stage of social change organizations’ operations as they struggle to gain visibility in the infinite sea of civil groups competing for attention in the online public sphere. While many studies focus on the performative dimension of collective action (such as protests), this book highlights the challenges of these organizations’ mundane routines. Using a unique analytical perspective based on a structural-organizational approach, and a longitudinal study that utilizes a decade worth of data related to the specific case of Israel and its highly conflicted and turbulent society, the book makes a significant contribution to study of new media and to theories of Internet, democracy, and social change. For more inforamtion please visit: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498539791/Internet-Democracy-and-Social-Change-… https://www.amazon.com/Internet-Democracy-Social-Change-Israel/dp/1498539785 Best wishes, Carmit Wiesslitz, Ph.D The Department of Politics and Communication Hadassah Academic College, Jerusalem, Israel

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PhD opportunity in Gender and AI in Health and Social Care at University of Brighton
by Aristea Fotopoulou 15 May '19

15 May '19

Please find below details re: a fully-funded 3 or 4 year PhD opportunity in Gender and AI in Health and Social Care at University of Brighton. Apply here https://www.brighton.ac.uk/research-and-enterprise/postgraduate-research-de… or make an informal enquiries to: Flis Henwood on f.henwood(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:f.henwood@brighton.ac.uk> Aristea Fotopoulou on A.Fotopoulou(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:A.Fotopoulou@brighton.ac.uk> Anya Belz on A.S.Belz(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:A.S.Belz@brighton.ac.uk> Best wishes Aristea ----------------------------- Dr Aristea Fotopoulou UKRI-AHRC Innovation Leadership Fellow PI ART/DATA/HEALTH: Data as creative material for Health & Wellbeing 2019-2021 Visiting Scholar University of Bergen, Dep Information Science and Media Studies, February-June 2019 Principal Lecturer in Media and Communication University of Brighton, School of Media Watts Building, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 4GJ A.Fotopoulou(a)brighton.ac.uk<mailto:A.Fotopoulou@brighton.ac.uk> |@aristeaf | https://aristeafotopoulou.org Research blog: http://blogs.brighton.ac.uk/artdatahealth | Webpage https://research.brighton.ac.uk/en/persons/aristea-fotopoulou ___________________________________________________________ This email has been scanned by MessageLabs' Email Security System on behalf of the University of Brighton. For more information see: https://staff.brighton.ac.uk/is/computing/Pages/Email/spam.aspx

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Vacancies for Young ICTD Fellow and the Head of Research in United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society(UNU-CS)
by Qing Huang 15 May '19

15 May '19

The United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) is currently recruiting several researcher positions. The UNU-CS is a research institute at the intersections of information and communication technology (ICT) and sustainable development. The openings are: **Visiting Senior Research Fellows*Closing date: 15 May 2019 (Application for 2019)/ 30 June 2019 (Application for 2020)https://unu.edu/about/fellowship/senior-research-fellows.html#overview <https://unu.edu/about/fellowship/senior-research-fellows.html#overview>* **Young Information and Communication Technologies and Development (ICTD) Fellow** Closing date: 30 June 2019 https://unu.edu/about/fellowship/young-information-and-communication-techno… **Visiting Research Assistant – EQUALS*Closing date: 25 May 2019* https://unu.edu/about/hr/academic/visiting-research-assistant-equals.html#o… Finally, we are about to open a new position for the *Head of Research*, which should be released soon. Please stay tuned and check back on our website. If you would like us to inform you when the job is open, please fill in the form below: https://forms.gle/dB1oho39njkcNiyk6 UNU-CS conducts UN policy-relevant research and generates solutions, addressing key issues expressed in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through high-impact innovations and frontier technologies. UNU-CS is situated in Macau Special Administrative Region (S.A.R), China, and it is the only UN entity in this region. The Pearl River Delta, which embraces Macau, Hong Kong, and Guangdong Province, is considered an emerging Silicon Valley due to its booming economy and technological innovations. The strategic location provides an exciting opportunity for researchers and experts to maximize the impact of their work. More information can be found at https://cs.unu.edu --- *Qing Huang * Communication Team United Nations University Institute on Computing and Society (UNU-CS) Casa Silva Mendes, Estrada do Engenheiro Trigo No 4, Macau SAR, China Tel: +86 13297968113 | Email: qing(a)unu.edu LinkedIn <https://www.linkedin.com/company/unu-cs/> | Facebook <https://www.facebook.com/computingandsociety> | Twitter <https://twitter.com/unu_cs?lang=en> | Website <http://cs.unu.edu/>| www.unu.edu

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