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Tickets available: Understanding the Social in a Digital Age, free one day conference on Jan 8 2019
by Zoetanya Sujon 27 Nov '18

27 Nov '18

Dear AoIR, Tickets are still available for our free one day conference on 'Understanding the Social in a Digital Age: An interdisciplinary Conference on Technology, Media and the Social', on January 8th, 2019, at the University of East Anglia, Norwich. This event brigs together a range of perspectives critically examining not only the meanings of the social in contemporary digital practices across cultures, but also challenges underlying epistemologies of the social in research and popular cultures. Papers approach the topic from theoretical, conceptual, and/or empirical positions. We are really pleased to share an exciting and critical conference programme: https://understandingthesocial.com/conference-program/ Professor *Nick Couldry* and Professor *Gina Neff *will be giving keynotes at the start and close of this event. *Free tickets available from: edu.support(a)uea.ac.uk <edu.support(a)uea.ac.uk>. *Please include your name, title, dietary requirements, access requirements, and preferred pronouns. Updates available on Twitter: @SocialDigitalA2 Website: https://understandingthesocial.com/ -- 'You are marvellous. The Gods wait to delight in you.' ('The Laughing Heart' by Charles Bukowski).

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CFP: Music in the Public Service: Public Radio and Music in the Streaming Era
by Christopher Cwynar 26 Nov '18

26 Nov '18

*I am sending out the enclosed CFP in case any of the digital music or radio scholars on this list might be interested. We'd love to have some AOIR content for this symposium. * *Best,* *Chris* *Journal of Radio & Audio Media** Symposium:* *Music in the Public Service: Public Radio and Music in the Streaming Era* *Editors: Christopher Cwynar and Brian Fauteux* The current moment is a particularly interesting time to examine public radio and media due to the sheer scale of change affecting the sector: technological, socio-cultural, economic, and generational, as well as dramatic transformations in production, distribution, and reception. The shift in terminology from “public service broadcasting” to “public service media” and “public service communicators” (Bardoel and Lowe 2007) gestures towards myriad opportunities and challenges associated with the emergence of networked digital media. The music industries are experiencing a similar period of flux with the emergence of streaming and the switch from a commodity-based ownership approach to music engagement to an experience-based service approach (Wikstrom 2013). Public radio and its music programming have played important roles in the constitution of national and cultural identity (Berland 2009) and in broadcast radio’s convergence with, and/or transition to, the internet era, scholars have charted issues of regulating national music (or content) (O’Neill and Murphy 2012), examined connections between online public media and youth through music programming (Bélanger 2005), and considered the political economy of Internet music radio (Wall 2004) as well as issues of diversity of music and the public good (Hendy 2000). Recent scholarly work by this symposium’s editors has devoted consideration to notable developments in the public radio and popular music sectors at a time when streaming music has become a dominant mode of music listening. Examples include studies of: public media’s relationships to independent music, podcasting, and taste cultures (Cwynar 2015a, 2015b, 2017); international public radio partnerships through music programming (Fauteux 2016, 2017a); and, the place of public radio and music within the context of budget cuts and precarious cultural labour (Fauteux 2017b). In light of these ongoing scholarly discussions, this special symposium intends to highlight the place and role of popular music within the context of public radio broadcasting and audio media, asking: what does a public service mandate or mission (“to serve the public”) mean for the circulation of popular music, particularly in an age of streaming music and digital public media? We welcome papers that engage with this overarching question and are particularly interested in the following themes: - Public radio, music, and networked digital media (the web, apps, and mobile media) - Public radio/media and its relationship to music genres. - Cultures of taste and distinction with respect to shifts in music programming and genres (from classical to jazz/adult contemporary to indie/alternative) - Public radio/media, music, and indie/independent culture/ethos/values/ideologies - Public radio, music, and curation (radio hosts, algorithms, social/digital media work) - Public radio/media and local or regional music scenes - Public radio and music in the context of institutional collaborations - Public radio and popular music in the Global South - The shift from public radio to public media and a reconsideration of ideas about national identity and/or borders with respect to popular music - The branding of public media institutions through the use of popular music - Historical studies of public radio and music While the above topics are of particular interest, we welcome submissions on any aspect of the broader public radio and music topic. Submissions for this symposium are due by March 1, 2019*.* Submitted manuscripts undergo a blind peer review. Manuscripts should be submitted through Manuscript Central <https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hjrs>. Documents prepared in Microsoft Word are preferred and should conform to the stylistic guidelines of the American Psychological Association. Manuscripts should not exceed 6500 words (about 25 pages) and should include an abstract of no more than 100 words. In addition to the manuscript the author(s) should include a separate attachment with contact information. For more information on the *Journal of Radio & Audio Media*, please visit: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/hjrs20/current Please direct any questions in advance of your submission to the symposium editors: Brian Fauteux (fauteux(a)ualberta.ca) and/or Christopher Cwynar ( ccwynar(a)defiance.edu) References: Bardoel, Jo and Lowe, Gregory Ferrell. “From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media: The Core Challenge.” *From Public Service Broadcasting to Public Service Media*. Eds. Gregory Ferrell Lowe and Jo Bardoel. Göteborg: Nordicom, 2007: 9-28. Bélanger, Pierre C. and Andrecheck, Philipe. “CBC’s Electronic Radio 3: Connecting with the Elusive Youth.” *Journal of Radio Studies* 12.1 (2005): 120–135. Berland, Jody. “Locating Listening.” *North of Empire: Essays on the Cultural Technologies of Space*. Durham: Duke University Press, 2009: 185-209. Cwynar, Christopher. “More than a ‘VCR for Radio’: The CBC, the Radio 3 Podcast, and the Uses of an Emerging Medium.” *Journal of Radio & Audio Media* 22.2 (2015a): 190-199. Cwynar, Christopher. “NPR Music: Remediation, Curation, and National Public Radio in the Digital Convergence Era.” *Media, Culture & Society* 39.5 (2017): 680-696. Cwynar, Christopher. “Unbuttoning NPR: Assessing the Music at the Margins of *All Things Considered*.” *The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media* 13.1-2 (2015): 89-104. Fauteux, Brian. “Satellite Footprint to Cultural Lifelines: Sirius XM and the Circulation of Canadian Content.” *International Journal of Cultural Policy* 22.3 (2016): 313-330. Fauteux, Brian. “‘Songs You Need to Hear:’ Public Radio Partnerships and the Mobility of National Music.” *The Radio Journal: International Studies in Broadcast & Audio Media* 15.1 (2017a): 47-63. Fauteux, Brian. “The Radio Host and Piloted Listening in the Digital Age: CBC Radio 3 and Its Online Listening Community.” *Journal of Canadian Studies* 51.2 (2017b): 338-361. Hendy, David. “Pop Music Radio in the Public Service: BBC Radio 1 and New Music in the 1990s.” *Media, Culture & Society* 22.6 (2000): 743-761. O’Neill, Brian and Murphy, Michael J. “Canadian Content, Public Broadcasting and the Internet: CBC’s Online Strategy 1995–2000.” *Histories of Public Service Broadcasters on the Web*. Eds. M. Burns and N. Brügger. New York: Peter Lang, 2012: 163–174. Wall, Tim. “The Political Economy of Internet Music Radio.” *The Radio Journal - International Studies in Broadcast and Audio Media* 2.1 (2004): 27-44. Wikstrom, Patrik. *The Music Industry*. London: Polity, 2013 (2nd Ed). -- Christopher Cwynar, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Communication Studies Defiance College 608.250.0155 cwynar@gmail.com/ccwynar@defiance.edu <http://ccwynar@wisc.edu/cwynar@gmail.com> defiance.academia.edu/christophercwynar <http://wisc.academia.edu/christophercwynar>

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Reminder: Digital Diasporas cfp deadline 1 December 2018
by Naomi Wells 26 Nov '18

26 Nov '18

*Reminder: The cfp for ‘Digital Diasporas’ closes on 1 December 2018* Digital Diasporas: Interdisciplinary Perspectives, 6-7 June 2019 Venue: School of Advanced Study, Senate House, University of London<https://www.sas.ac.uk/about-us/contact-us> Conference website: https://crosslanguagedynamics.blogs.sas.ac.uk/digital-diasporas/<https://crosslanguagedynamics.blogs.sas.ac.uk/digital-diasporas/> #DigitalDiasporas Since Appadurai wrote on the intertwined phenomena of electronic media and migration as disruptive and defining features of modern subjectivity (1996), the relationship between digital technologies and diasporic communities has emerged as a critical area of study across a number of disciplines. However, such research risks remaining isolated within disciplinary silos, often despite the similar processes, practices and materials studied. This conference aims to inspire greater dialogue across disciplinary boundaries in order to develop a richer understanding of the role of the digital in creating and sustaining diasporic connections and communities, and of how diasporic groups and individuals transform and shape digital tools and technologies for their own creative and strategic purposes. Through this dialogue it is hoped that new transdisciplinary ways of working may develop which challenge knowledge fragmentation in order to confront the complexity of the contemporary context of intensified cultural and linguistic flows and new patterns of human mobility. At the same time, drawing attention to diasporic narratives and approaches to digital culture and technologies can function as both critique and challenge to centralised narratives of digital progress and development often restricted to predominantly Anglophone contexts. We especially welcome research which pays attention to the linguistic and cultural dimensions of digital technologies and media. This is, however, not restricted to any specific geographical area, language or type of community. Equally, the digital is intended to encompass the fullest range of digital practices, materials and technologies, while the conference aims to include methodological and analytical approaches ranging across, for example, ethnographic, cultural studies and computational approaches. Areas of particular, but not exclusive, interest include: * Social media and migration focused research; * Multilingualism and digitally mediated communications; * Histories of the internet and web archives research; * Ethnographies of the internet and uses of digital technologies (including research combining offline-online methods); * Digital media, cultural and visual studies; * Digital and diasporic cultural memory; * Digitally mapping and visualising migrations and diasporic networks, with attention to ethical and political concerns. Invited keynote and panel speakers include [more to be announced]: Jannis Androutsopoulos (Universität Hamburg); Tobias Blanke (King’s College London); Alexandra Georgakopoulou (King’s College London); Agnieszka Lyons (Queen Mary, University of London); Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths, University of London); Sandra Ponzanesi (Utrecht University); Roopika Risam (Salem State University); Caroline Tagg (The Open University); Funda Ustek-Spilda (London School of Economics/Goldsmiths); Janet Zmroczek (British Library) We invite abstract submissions for 20-minute presentations. Abstracts should be between 150-300 words in length (the bibliography does not count towards the word limit). Presentations can be on previously published research or ongoing projects. We intend to develop a Special Issue or edited volume which will include an invited selection of the research presented at the conference. In order to incorporate emerging work in progress, particularly from ongoing PhD projects, the conference will have space for a smaller number of lightning research talks of 5-7 minutes for which we also invite abstracts of 100-200 words. Please submit through EasyChair: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dd2019<https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=dd2019> The deadline for submissions is 1 December 2018. Accepted papers will be confirmed in February 2019. We also have a small number of bursaries of £100 to contribute towards travel and/or accommodation costs for postgraduate students or Early Career Researchers (within 8 years of receiving the PhD) whose submissions are accepted and who have restricted access to alternative funding for conference attendance. If you would like to be considered for an award, please attach with your submission a pdf or word document with a short statement of no more than 300 words explaining what the benefits of attending the conference would be for you and your research. Conference team: Francielle Carpenedo, Doctoral Researcher, School of Advanced Study Saskia Huc-Hepher, Senior Lecturer in French, University of Westminster Dong Nguyen, Research Fellow, Alan Turing Institute Naomi Wells, Research Fellow, School of Advanced Study Jane Winters, Chair of Digital Humanities, School of Advanced Study This conference is funded as part of the translingual strand of the AHRC ‘Cross-Language Dynamics: Reshaping Community<https://crosslanguagedynamics.blogs.sas.ac.uk/>’ project (part of the Open World Research Initiative) and is led by the Institute of Modern Languages Research<https://modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/> and Digital Humanities<https://www.sas.ac.uk/projects-and-initiatives/digital-humanities> at the School of Advanced Study (University of London). Dr Naomi Wells Postdoctoral Research Associate in Translingual Communities and Digital Humanities Institute of Modern Languages Research School of Advanced Study | University of London Room 238 | Senate House | Malet Street | London WC1E 7HU | UK Email: naomi.wells(a)sas.ac.uk http://modernlanguages.sas.ac.uk/ https://crosslanguagedynamics.blogs.sas.ac.uk/

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Africa Oxford Internet Research Fellowship Opportunity
by Eleanor Marchant 26 Nov '18

26 Nov '18

Hi Everyone, I'm circulating details of a great fully-funded fellowship opportunity for African scholars to write and collaborate with peers at Oxford University for a period of 4-8 weeks. The fellowship dates are usually sometime around July - September, but are flexible. It's a great opportunity for African faculty members who need time away from teaching and other duties to get some writing done. The program is currently accepting applicants for the 2019 fellowship cohort. Details for the fellowship are here: Most relevant to this listserv, my colleagues and I at the Programme in Comparative Media Law and Policy at Oxford University would love to find someone for this fellowship who might be interested in collaborating with us on an ongoing research project we are running on internet and conflict in Africa (http://pcmlp.socleg.ox.ac.uk/conflictnet/) . That includes the political economy of "connecting the unconnected" in remote regions in Africa, the role of the internet in the lives of conflict affected migrants, and the relationship between social media, misinformation and conflict in the African context. There is great scope for the fellow to help shape the project as it evolves. My best, Eleanor ELEANOR R MARCHANT PHD ConflictNET<https://www.law.ox.ac.uk/research-and-subject-groups/politics-and-practice-…> Postdoctoral Fellow Programme in Comparative Media Law & Policy Centre for Socio-Legal Studies University of Oxford Tw: @ermarchant<https://twitter.com/ermarchant>

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Applications now open for OII Summer Doctoral Programme
by Victoria Nash 26 Nov '18

26 Nov '18

Dear colleagues, I am delighted to announce that we are now accepting applications for the Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral programme 2019, which will be held in Oxford from 1st-12th July next year. The application deadline is Monday 18 February and information and the application are available on our website: https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/study/summer-doctoral-programme/ . We also have SDP alumni blogs<https://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/blog/tag/sdp-student-voices/> on our website as a way for prospective applicants to learn more about the programme. It would be wonderful if you could help us spread the word to any excellent PhD students conducting dissertation research on topics related to the societal implications of digital technologies. Best wishes, Vicki Nash Dr Victoria Nash Deputy Director Senior Policy Fellow Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/ Tel: 01865 287231 Tw: VickiNashOII

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PhD scholarship on digital media, location data, and geoprivacy at QUT
by Peta Mitchell 25 Nov '18

25 Nov '18

Hello all, and apologies for cross-posting QUT’s Digital Media Research Centre<https://research.qut.edu.au/dmrc/> is calling for applications from exceptional students to complete a PhD on digital media, location data, and geoprivacy. The scholarship is part of the Digital Media, Location Awareness, and the Politics of Geodata<https://research.qut.edu.au/dmrc/projects/digital-media-location-awareness-…> project, funded by the Australian Research Council. The closing date for applications is 10 December 2018, and more details about the scholarship are here: http://bit.ly/geoprivacy_phd. Please share with anyone who might be interested. Many thanks, Peta Associate Professor Peta Mitchell Chief Investigator, Digital Media Research Centre Research Training Coordinator, School of Communication Creative Industries Faculty l Queensland University of Technology Z6-528 l Creative Industries Precinct Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove QLD 4059, Australia CRICOS No: 00213J ph: + 61 (0)7 3138 8007 email: peta.mitchell(a)qut.edu.au<mailto:peta.mitchell@qut.edu.au> twitter: @petamitchell<https://twitter.com/petamitchell> web: https://research.qut.edu.au/dmrc/people/peta-mitchell/ ORCID: 0000-0003-4523-6685<http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4523-6685> CRICOS No: 00213J

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Deadline Approaching: Foundations of Digital Games 2019 San Luis Obispo
by Tom Apperley 24 Nov '18

24 Nov '18

Dear Colleagues, The deadlines for FDG19 are approaching. Full details below. Tom The 14th International Conference on the Foundations of Digital Games FDG 2019 | fdg2019.org Dates of the conference: August 26-30, 2019 Location of conference: San Luis Obispo, California, USA General Chair: Foaad Khosmood Program Chairs: Johanna Pirker and Thomas Apperley Overview Foundations of Digital Games (FDG) 2019 is proud to invite research contributions in the form papers, posters and demos, doctoral consortium applications, as well as panel, competition, and workshop proposals. We invite contributions from within and across any discipline committed to advancing knowledge on the foundations of games: computer science and engineering, humanities and social sciences, arts and design, mathematics and natural sciences. Papers, Posters and Demos will receive double-blind peer reviews. All other submissions will be single-blind. All papers are guaranteed at least three reviews. Posters and Demos are guaranteed two reviews. There will be no rebuttal. As in previous years, we aim to publish the FDG 19 proceedings in the ACM Digital Library. All contributions should be submitted via EasyChair (https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=fdg2019 ). Submission Dates * Full Paper abstracts: December 21, 2018 * Full Papers: January 9, 2018 * Short Papers: January 9, 2019 * Posters / Demos: April 5, 2019 * Workshop Proposals: November 30, 2018 * Competition Proposals: January 9, 2019 * Panel Proposals: April 5, 2019 * Doctoral Consortium applications: April 5, 2019 Paper Submissions FDG invites authors to submit short (5-6 pages excluding references) or full papers (7-10 pages excluding references) reporting new research. Both short and full papers need to be anonymized and submitted in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template to a paper track. Accepted papers will be included in the proceedings under their track. In addition to the regular tracks below, FDG offers a "general" track for papers that do not fit under the tracks. The general track is not a "main" track and there is no publication or other distinctions associated with it. General track papers may be forwarded to other tracks that may be more appropriate for them. When submitting, authors are requested to select one the following tracks that fits most closely with their submission, or select the general track if this fits their submission better: Artificial and Computational Intelligence for Games This tracks focuses on the many applications of computational and artificial intelligence to the playing, design, development, improvement, and testing of video games. Topics include general game-playing AI, procedural and player-driven content generation, mixed-initiative authoring tools, computational narrative, believable agents, and AI assisted game design. Game Design and Development This track focuses on research that furthers the practice of game design and development. Submissions that examine, validate, invalidate, or create game making practices, patterns, mechanics, dynamics or aesthetics are encouraged to submit. Such work includes innovative and alternative methods of design, practical examinations of implementation protocol, socio-cultural critique of game-making culture, and empirical analysis of game-making processes and more. The focus of this track is scholarly examination of game design and development, as produced through case studies, A/B testing, review of literature, comparative analysis or other such appropriate efforts. Game Education This track is concerned with teaching of games, game development and design, and game-related concepts at all levels of education and training. Topics include design and development of curricula, instructional methods, teaching tools and techniques, technology of teaching, design and efficiency of assessment methods, learning/instructional activities, collegiate game programs, e-sports and educational program management. (Note: for research in gamified and game-based learning, please submit to Applied Games and Gameful Design track, unless it is work on game-based/gamified learning of game concepts). Games and Culture This track encompasses all the works regarding the study of games, and the impact of playing them in culture and society. Following this year's vision for the conference, we welcome analyses, ethnographic studies, and theoretical papers from anthropology, sociology, psychology, communication, and other disciplines that focus on the role of the player in history, society, and culture. Topics include the role of the player in on-line communities, casual games, e-sports, gender, race, identity, politics, religion, as well as cultural aspects of life in digital games. Player Modeling, Game Analytics and Data Visualization This track is suitable for all papers pertaining to aspects of game analytics, whether based on behavioral telemetry from digital or analogue games, or other aspects of business intelligence such as performance evaluation or process experimentation. Papers submitted to this track should advance the state-of-the-art, taking into account the knowledge bases in academia and industry, of players, processes or performance in games, derived through quantitative or mixed-methods approaches. Examples of topics include the analysis of behavioral data from games (or other processes in game development) and associated ecosystems using statistics, machine learning, including deep learning, and AI, as well as visual exploration and communication of data, insights and patterns. Computer-Human Interaction and Player Experience This track focuses on the exploration of different ways for designing and implementing interaction between the player and the game, as well as on the experiences derived from those interactions. This track will consider qualitative and quantitative experimental studies. Topics include persuasive games, augmented reality, virtual reality, novel controllers, user research, and player psychology. Applied Games and Gameful Design This track calls for papers showing results on the use of games, gaming, and game design for primary goals that are not entertainment. Topics include serious or transformational games, games with a purpose, advergames and exergames, gamification and gameful design, game-based learning and curricula, informal learning in games, and educational and other "serious" uses of entertainment games and gaming practices. Authors are encouraged to highlight the importance of the target problem that the game is addressing, and how their design or research findings makes a contribution to the current state of research on applied games and gameful design. Theory, History, and Criticism of Games This track calls for papers that approach the criticism and analysis of games from humanities-informed perspectives. Submissions are encouraged from scholars engaging in narrative, visual and software studies approaches to games and games criticism using methodologies such as archival research, hermeneutics, and oral history. This track will also consider critical theoretical and/or historical analysis of games, and game genres from perspectives such as (but not limited to) postcolonial theory, feminism, historicism, subaltern studies, queer theory, the environmental humanities, and psychoanalysis. Virtual, Augmented, and Mixed Reality in Games This track calls for high-quality original and innovative research papers facilitating virtual-, augmented- or mixed reality in game development across disciplines including Design, Production, Programming, Human Computer Interaction and Visual Art. Submissions should show genuine ways for utilizing virtual-, augmented- or mixed reality as part of the core mechanic of their work, advancing the immersive experience. Topics include VR/AR/MR systems, frameworks and toolkits, novel computer graphics techniques and game mechanics using VR-, AR or MR, user studies and evaluation, immersive gaming / serious gaming, and empirical analysis of immersion, virtual humans and avatars, Multi-user and distributed VR/AR/MR, Perception, presence, and cognition and social, economic, and technical impacts of VR/AR/MR. Posters and Demos This track recognises diverse work suitable for audience interaction more than oral presentation, as well as work in progress that benefits from extended dialogue. It aims to facilitate a forum for interactive demonstrations and exchange. We especially encourage authors working through the lens of cultures commonly considered non-mainstream, niche, or fringe to submit. Doctoral Consortium We invite PhD students to apply to the Doctoral Consortium, a forum to provide PhD students with early feedback on their research directions, from fellow students, researchers, and experienced faculty in the area. The consortium is primarily for PhD students who intend to pursue a career in academia and who will soon propose, or have recently proposed, their dissertation research although all are welcome to apply. Workshop Proposals FDG workshops are full-day, or half-day sessions focused on current and emerging game-related topics. They can provide a setting for new developments to be presented, discussed and demonstrated, or be hands-on or studio-based. We especially encourage workshops and topics that involve participants from diverse disciplinary and other backgrounds working together to explore and advance new areas of game-related scholarship. Concise workshop proposals (2-4 pages, excluding references, in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template) should include: a background sections explaining and motivating the workshop, the objectives of the workshop, planned activities, the background of the organizer(s), publication plans (if any), anticipated number of participants, and the means for soliciting and selecting participants. Workshop proposals will not be included in the conference proceedings. New for FDG 2019, we offer workshop organizers the opportunity to include part or all of their workshop proceedings in the conference main proceedings as a mini-track. To be eligible for main proceedings inclusion, workshop submissions need to meet the following requirements: * They have to be 5-10 page papers (excluding references) in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template * They have to abide by the same reviewing standards as main conference proceedings: at least three reviews per paper, at least two of which double-blind * Acceptance notifications need to be sent no later than May 21, 2019 * The workshop organizers commit to shepherd copyright clearance and camera-ready paper versions for the papers. Workshop organizers are free to make use of this option or not, or offer it to a part of their workshop (e.g., offer a "full paper" and "abstract" route). Organizers who want to make use of this opportunity should state so in their proposal and explain how they will ensure the requirements stated above will be met. Competition Proposals FDG 2019 welcomes proposals for competitions. A brief description of the competition, organizers involved and dates are required. Typically competitions are conducted prior to the conference events and winners determined. Each competition will be given time to report back on its activities and announce winners and takeaways during the conference. Proposals should be submitted in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template and will not be included in the proceedings. Panel Proposals Panels are a great opportunity to engage the FDG community on a current issue. We encourage both debate-style panels and emerging-area style panels that consolidate and explain recent work on a subject of interest to the FDG community. Panel proposals are a maximum length of 2 pages (excluding references) in the ACM SIGCONF version of the ACM Master Template and should include, topic, participants, how the panel is organized, and a citation-supported statement of why the event is relevant and topical. They will not be included in the proceedings. Statement of Values The organizers, general chair and program chairs of the Foundation of Digital Games 2019 (FDG 2019) conference affirm the event's commitment to scholarly integrity, collegiality and professionalism, and inclusivity towards scholars of all backgrounds. Please read our full statement of values. Please review the full version of CFP online: http://fdg2019.org <https://drive.google.com/u/0/settings/storage?hl=en> <https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/terms/> <https://www.google.com/intl/en/policies/privacy/> <https://www.google.com/gmail/about/policy/>

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CFP: Intersectional Automations (Edited Collection) ABSTRACT DEADLINE 1 April 19
by n_rambukkana＠complexsingularities.net 24 Nov '18

24 Nov '18

(with apologies for crossposting) Intersectional Automations: Robotics, AI, Algorithms, and Equity Edited Collection (Abstracts Due 1 April 2019) This collection will explore a range of situations where robotics, biotechnological enhancement, artificial intelligence (AI), and algorithmic culture collide with intersectional social justice issues, such as race, class, gender, sexuality, ability and citizenship. Some call it the 4th industrial revolution (Brinded, 2016; Kaplan, 2015). Robots, AI, and algorithms have grown from their early uptake in some industries (such as robots in manufacturing) to an accelerating presence in other spheres ranging from customer service roles (for example, reception, check-outs, food service, driving) to professional and creative roles previously unheard-of and un-thought-of (for example, expert legal and medical systems, automated journalism, musical and artistic production (Kaplan, 2016; Ramalho, 2017; Hirsch, 2017)). The World Economic Forum warns that “this will lead to a net loss of over 5 million jobs in 15 major developed and emerging economies by 2020” (Brinded, 2016), a serious challenge to ethical labour practices, and potential looming crisis leading some to consider alternative societal models—such as Universal Basic Income (Frase, 2016), or a robot tax (Walker, 2017)—to compensate. Meanwhile, there is marked evidence that robots, AI, biotechnology, and algorithms are becoming in general and over-top of employment roles more integrated in human societies. Human-machine communication (HMC) has moved from an important yet somewhat-marginal field to lodge itself at the centre of societal workings and visions for the future. From autonomous vehicles (Bowles, 2016), to the algorithmic filtering of search results (Noble, 2018) and social media content (Gillespie, 2018), from online harassment and political boosterism via bots (Dewey, 2016; Woolley, Shorey, & Howard, 2018), to sex robots (Levy, 2007; Danaher & MacArthur, 2017), from ubiquitous AI assistants in our homes and smart devices (Guzman, 2019), to wearable tech that tracks and shares our biometric data (Forlano, 2019) and/or extends our biological capacities (Brooks, 2003; Jones, 2019), such technologies are rapidly mapping themselves onto almost every conceivable realm of human experience. And yet, there is mounting evidence that the creation and programming of robots, AI, and algorithms, being artifacts of human culture, do not escape that context, sometimes carrying into their computational logics, platforms and/or embodiments stereotypes, biases, exclusions, and other forms of privilege. One can think of True Companion’s Roxxxy sex robots that some argue have personality options based on racist and sexist stereotypes of womenhood, for example the Barely-18 “Young Yoko” and resistant “Frigid Farah” that, as Gildea and Richardson (2017) note, seem to fetishize underage girls and sexual assault. Or you could think of the abandoned Amazon HR algorithm which, after being fed years of resumes and hiring decisions, used computational logic to identify traits that that were historically associated with Amazon hiring decisions, with the view of automating part of the hiring process, and encoded a preexisting sexism from the HR data that showed that applicants with work experience or activities that included the word “Women’s,” or who were educated at all-women colleges, were often not hired (Jones, 2018). Finally, one could contemplate how polities using data aggregation and predictive algorithms to manage and make decisions about social programs, resource allocation, or policing can end up targeting and profiling poor or racialized populations, with occasionally terrifying results—such as any mistake on an online application being interpreted by an automated system as “failure to cooperate” (Eubanks, 2017). This edited collection will draw an analytical circle around these interconnected and adjacent issues, lending a critical eye to what is at stake due to the automation of aspects of culture. How do equity issues intersect with these fields? Are the pronouncements always already dire, or are there also lines of flight towards more equitable futures in which agentic artefacts and extensions can play an active part? Chapters may address one or multiple equity issues, and submissions that address emergent intersections between them will be given special consideration. Proposed chapters may address topics such as, but not limited to: – Algorithmic classism, ableism, racism, and sexism, including issues surrounding content moderation on social media (e.g., Gillespie, 2018), redlining/weblining (e.g., Eubanks, 2017), business (e.g., Jones, 2018), big data (e.g., Ferguson, 2017), or military practices such Google’s controversial Project Maven (e.g., Holt, 2018). Algorithm use to address the same issues. – Issues around robotic labour and poverty, Universal Basic Income, robotic utopias/dystopias (e.g., Frase, 2016, Kaplan, 2016). – Issues around the use of deadly autonomous or semi-autonomous robots by the military or non-state actors, such as work surrounding the Campaign Against Killer Robots (e.g., Anderson & Waxman, 2012; Crootof, 2015; Gregory, 2011; Karppi, Bolen, & Granata, 2016). – Issues surrounding sex-robotics, teledildonics, VR, and AI sexuality, including stereotypical, and sexist sex robotic “personalities” and embodiments (e.g., Gildea & Richardson, 2017); sex robots based on real people without consent (e.g., Gee, 2017); The Campaign Against Sex Robots (e.g., Richardson, 2015; Danaher, Earp, & Sandberg, 2017); teledildonic / VR stream hacking and consent (e.g., Rambukkana & Gautier, 2017; Belamire, 2017); the interplay between robotic brothels and sex worker rights and protests (e.g., Morrish, 2017; Trayner, 2017; Danaher, Earp, & Sandberg, 2017); bots masquerading as real people on dating sites (e.g., Light, 2016; Karppi, 2018); deepfakes and pornography (e.g., Maras & Alexandrou, 2018). Progressive steps to address such issues or to create equitable sexual futures. – The politics and ethics of the singularity (e.g., Korb & Nicholson, 2012) and the future status of robotic and AI workers with respect to labour, citizenship, and human rights—for example, work on Hansen Robotics’ Sophia as Saudi citizen (e.g., Weller, 2017), robotic servitude (e.g., Green, 2016), as well as the rights of humans interacting with AI (e.g., Shepherd, 2019). – Assumptions, representations, and discourse surrounding dis/ability and human augmentics, including “supercrip” and “cyborg” discourses and the potential tensions between feminist technoscience (e.g., Haraway, 1990) and critical disability studies (e.g., Allan, 2016; Cascais, 2013). – How any of these or other issues are depicted in popular or fringe fictions that contain robotic or AI characters (for example, Humans, Neuromancer, Extant, Westworld, Her, Blade Runner, Ex Machina, Ghost in the Shell, Altered Carbon, Black Mirror, Speak, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Questionable Content, etc.) My goal is to assemble a collection of exemplary abstracts and then approach some top-tier academic publishers with relevant series. If interested, please send a 750-word abstract, collection of keywords, and a 150-word bio to the editor, Dr. Nathan Rambukkana (n_rambukkana(a)complexsingularities.net) by 1 April 2019. Drafts will be due 1 October 2019 and final versions 1 April 2020. Please also email Nathan at the above address if you have any questions and feel free to repost this CFP to your networks. -- "We have to be there at the birth of ideas, the bursting outward of their force: not in books expressing them, but in events manifesting this force, in struggles carried on around ideas, for or against them." — Michel Foucault Dr. Nathan Rambukkana Assistant Professor, Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo DAWB 3-136 75 University Ave W Waterloo ON Canada N2L3C5 email: nrambukkana(a)wlu.ca <mailto:nrambukkana@wlu.ca> web: http://complexsingularities.net <http://complexsingularities.net/>

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REMINDER: Call for applications » SMART Data Sprint 2019
by Cristian Ruiz 23 Nov '18

23 Nov '18

Digital Media Winter Institute 2019 | iNova Media Lab SMART Data Sprint: Beyond visible engagement 28 January - 1 February 2019 I 9:30 - 17:30 Universidade NOVA de Lisboa Lisbon, Portugal We are pleased to invite you to SMART Data Sprint <https://smart.inovamedialab.org/> 2019. SMART Data Sprint is an intensive hands-on work, driven by online data and digital methods. For one week participants will have the chance to attend to keynote lectures, short talks, and parallel sessions of practical labs. After that, experts and scholars will invite participants to join projects and work in a collective problem. We are pleased to announce that our keynote speaker is Richard Rogers (University of Amsterdam), the director of Digital Methods Initiative and the author of Digital Methods (MIT Press, 2013). An International team of senior researchers, including Richard Rogers, and several doctoral researchers will also be leading Short Talks and Practical Labs*. We also welcome Bernhard Rieder, associate professor in New Media and Digital Culture at the University of Amsterdam, with the masterclass "From Algorithms to Diagrams: How to Study Platforms?", and a practical lab on machine learning techniques. This year, the practical labs will contemplate the following themes: » Query Design » Data Extraction Tools » Querying App Stores » Network Analysis with Gephi » Image Networks » YouTube Data Analysis » Text Analysis with Antconc and Voyant Tools » Raw Graphs » Visual content analysis with Image Plot » Extracting and analysing data with NodeXL Pro » Hybrid Classification: Combining Grounded Theory and Machine Learning Deadline for applications: 13 January 2019 For further information, please access the link http://inovamedialab.org/winter-institute-2019 Learn more about the data sprint approach in this video: #SMARTDataSprint <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bveMpEtAvug&index=1&list=PLcGiWiKtsR0_BTLB4…> On behalf of the co-organizers, Janna Joceli Omena, Elsa Caetano and Ana Marta Flores. Best regards, Cristian Ruiz -- *Cristian Jiménez Ruiz* *@CristianCJRuiz* *M.a. Communication Sciences* *SMART Research Member* *iNovaMediaLab – NOVA/FCSH* *E4Value Research Member* *IN+ **– UL/IST*

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The 27th ACM Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (UMAP 2019): Third Call for Papers
by Announce Announcements 23 Nov '18

23 Nov '18

*** THIRD CALL FOR PAPERS *** 27th ACM International Conference on User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization (ACM UMAP 2019) "Making Personalization Transparent: Giving control back to the User" Golden Bay Beach Hotel 5*, Larnaca, Cyprus, June 9-12, 2019 http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… Abstracts due: January 25, 2019 (mandatory) Papers due: February 1, 2019 BACKGROUND AND SCOPE ACM UMAP, "User Modeling, Adaptation and Personalization", is the premier international conference for researchers and practitioners working on systems that adapt to individual users, to groups of users, and that collect, represent, and model user information. ACM UMAP is sponsored by ACM SIGCHI and SIGWEB. The proceedings are published by ACM and will be part of the ACM Digital Library. ACM UMAP covers a wide variety of research areas where personalization and adaptation may be applied. This include (but is in no way limited to) a number of domains in which researchers are engendering significant innovations based on advances in user modeling and adaptation, recommender systems, adaptive educational systems, intelligent user interfaces, e-commerce, advertising, digital humanities, social networks, personalized health, entertainment, and many more. This year the conference hosts three new tracks, one on privacy and fairness, one on personalized music access, and one on personalized health. CONFIRMED INVITED SPEAKERS · Marios Avraamides, University of Cyprus · Judith Masthoff, Utrecht University · Mounia Lalmas-Roelleke, Spotify London CONFERENCE TRACKS For details, see the conference website ( http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… ). · Track 1 - Personalized Recommender Systems · Track 2 - Adaptive Hypermedia and the Semantic Web · Track 3 - Intelligent User Interfaces · Track 4 - Personalized Social Web · Track 5 - Technology-Enhanced Adaptive Learning · Track 6 - Privacy and Fairness · Track 7 - Personalized Music Access · Track 8 - Personalized Health SUBMISSION AND REVIEW PROCESS Papers have to be submitted through EasyChair: http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… Long (8 pages + references) and Short (4 pages + references) papers in ACM style, peer reviewed, original, and principled research papers addressing both the theory and practice of UMAP and papers showcasing innovative use of UMAP and exploring the benefits and challenges of applying UMAP technology in real-life applications and contexts are welcome. Long papers should present original reports of substantive new research techniques, findings, and applications of UMAP. They should place the work within the field and clearly indicate innovative aspects. Research procedures and technical methods should be presented in sufficient detail to ensure scrutiny and reproducibility. Results should be clearly communicated and implications of the contributions/findings for UMAP and beyond should be explicitly discussed. Short papers should present original and highly promising research or applications. Merit will be assessed in terms of originality and importance rather than maturity, extensive technical validation, and user studies. Papers must be formatted using the ACM SIG Standard (SIGCONF) proceedings template: http://www.cs.ucy.ac.cy/~george/lm/lm.php?tk=YWlyLUwJCQlhaXItTEBsaXN0c2Vydi… . All accepted papers will be published by ACM and will be available via the ACM Digital Library. At least one author of each accepted paper must register for the conference and present the paper there. IMPORTANT DATES · Abstracts: January 25, 2019 (mandatory) · Full paper: February 1, 2019 · Notification: March 11, 2019 · Camera-ready: April 3, 2019 Note: The submission time is 11:59pm AoE time (Anywhere on Earth). GENERAL CHAIRS · George A. Papadopoulos, University of Cyprus, Cyprus · George Samaras, University of Cyprus, Cyprus · Stephan Weibelzahl, PFH Private University of Applied Sciences, Göttingen, Germany RELATED EVENTS Separate calls will be later sent for Workshops and Tutorials, Doctoral Consortium, Demos, Late Breaking Results and Theory, Opinion and Reflection works, as they have different deadlines and submission requirements.

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