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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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Call for Contributions: MoneyLab #6 in Siegen, March 7-8, 2019
by Geert Lovink 23 Nov '18

23 Nov '18

MoneyLab #6: Infrastructures of Money Call for contributions Siegen (Germany), 7-8 March 2019 The cryptocurrency spectacle might not be over yet, but its spectacular boom and bust has given way to the banality of the blockchain, to a more subtle and pervasive set of effects. So what is happening in this current post-hype situation? Imaginaries of a “cashless society” are becoming very real now, a vision rapidly being realised through cryptocurrencies and other token-based digital moneys. Banks are anxious to avoid falling behind. If institutions start to worry about “disruption” and “not being digital enough”, the tides might really start to shift. Yet going beyond finance to think more broadly, the affordances of blockchain applications allow for novel forms of exchange and data practices. Commercial platforms see a new architecture for extraction that might replace the crumbling ad-based model of monetisation. Artists, activists and journalists see an infrastructure ripe for critical intervention and appropriation. At MoneyLab #6 we want to explore the new relations between money, valuation and (digital) infrastructures. “Infrastructures of Money” addresses money both as practice and as the social infrastructure and condition for cooperation. Money is not just a number written in dollars and cents, but a medium of relation and a token of trust. Situated in Siegen University’s broader Media Studies department, the Collaborative Research Center “Media of Cooperation” invites you to inquire into the socio-materialities of monetary and valuation practices. In the tradition of MoneyLab, we encourage contributors to critique social media, to explore practices of digital infrastructures, and to investigate valorisations of social life. We aim to address the tensions between global corporate infrastructures and local practices and enactments. What if we were capable of reinventing money as a medium of cooperation? We invite artistic, creative and activist contributions on “Infrastructures of Money”. Please send your contributions to moneylab(a)uni-siegen.de by 31 December 2018. Themes For MoneyLab #6 in Siegen, we welcome contributions on the following 6 themes: 1. Anthropology of Money Money is as much a question of practice as it is of infrastructure. Things are bought and sold. Money changes hands. The anthropology of money has a long tradition of exploring these localised practices of exchange through ethnographic inquiries into the relations between money, gift and credit. The quantified data units of platforms and their new digital tokens of value not only introduce new standards of exchange but also challenge anthropologists to account for situated practices and global infrastructures at the same time. It seems sociality, like everything else, can be monetised. How do these changing infrastructures alter monetary practices and our account of value? Are we in need of a new general monetary theory? 2. Finance, Automation and Surveillance Financial surveillance is still on its way up. Though practices of surveillance date back to the 19th century, there is a new intensity and ubiquity to them today. Think of transnational transparency regimes (Basel III), think of new EU regulations concerning identification in payments technologies, think of credit card transaction leaks that are quickly de-anonymised by researchers. These developments foreground the fact that technologies of accounting, scoring, and subjectivation are at the core of digital and mobile network media now. How can we think about the new distributedness and temporalisation of monetary practices? And how does machine learning transform monetary valuation, algo-trading, fintech platforms, their APIs, and financial decision-making? As regimes that automatically intervene in real-time transactions, such technologies establish, perpetuate, and remediate “orders of worth”. Of course, this desire for automation has been part of every computerisation movement. But we also recognise that money often serves as a medium of heteromation and dis-automation. Financial surveillance is frequently accompanied by infrastructural frictions and calls for accountability. We want to hear about practices that explore the seams and ruptures, the moments of break down and manual intervention. 3. Aesthetics of Financial Flows There is a rich tradition of visualising financial flows going all the way back to the 1920s. In the wake of the 2008 financial crash, understanding the often opaque operations of finance suddenly became more urgent. Visualisation practices have since been taken up by a broad array of artists and activists. By following internet cables, dissecting financial architecture, and mapping the timelines of flash crashes, these maps have given us renewed insights into a notoriously complex and incredibly high speed sector. But what do we do after the mapping is over? Are there routes from the visual to the political? How can knowledge of these systems lead to new regulation, local action and increased agency? 4. Blockchains Beyond Fintech Beyond the cryptocurrency hype of the last decade, the underlying principles and technologies known as the blockchain have now become widely dispersed. From health to academic research, energy to governance, copyright law to fine art, actors and organisations in various social fields are exploring the blockchain. Unleashed from its niche origins in cryptography and electronic currency, the blockchain’s data decentralisation is now held up as the solution for every problem. Sustainable energy? Blockchain! Higher quality research? Blockchain! Fairer globalisation? Blockchain! Today the blockchain is everywhere. But just as important as its ubiquity is its perceived maturity. No longer the risky venture of the startup or the experimental tinkering of cypherpunks, blockchains are quickly becoming part of commercial platforms with significant investment that implement the concept at scale. Alongside these corporate implementations, the blockchain has also found its way into civil society, grassroots initiatives, NGOs, and art institutions. Yet the ‘blockchain’ is ambiguous and open-ended. Whether impressive, peculiar, or even corrupt, each implementation asserts its own version of what a decentralised data practice means and what it should be used for. In this varied landscape, the tensions that make up its ‘trustless’ transactions—secure and transparent yet anonymous—become blurry or sometimes even mutually exclusive. In practice, excluding trust might require consent, or registration might trump anonymity. As new flavours and understandings of the blockchain proliferate, how can the blockchain be used “for the good”? And what are the real sociotechnical problems we need to address? 5. European Populism and the Geopolitics of Finance Like many places in the world, Europe is witnessing the establishment of a new political landscape where populism plays a major role. How does finance feature within this? How would the 5 Star Movement in Italy establish national sovereignty over the financial sector? How does the ECB and Brussels respond to all of this? And what is the state of Eastern European nationalism in this post-Brexit age? From its libertarian origins to our contemporary moment of alt-right nationalism, cryptocurrencies have always been as much a political vehicle as a strict medium of financial exchange. 6. Monetising the Social – Socialising Money The monetisation of the social is proliferating far beyond the crude ad-based models on early social media platforms. From influencer marketing on Instagram to third party app economies built on platforms and the constant re-valorisation of social media data in rankings, ratings and analytics, we ask how emergent digital infrastructures monetise the social today. At the same time, we seem to be witnessing an emerging socialisation of money, from financial literacy communities to DIY investment schemes and financial products that cut out the middleman of the bank. How will our social lives be the foundation of new economic models and how is the socialisation of money informing the financial sector? About MoneyLab The MoneyLab network was founded by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. MoneyLab considers, critiques and intervenes within our new digital economy. It is a network of artists, activists, and geeks experimenting with forms of financial democratisation in contexts such as crowdfunding, cryptocurrencies and the blockchain, cashless society, and Universal Basic Income. We question persistent beliefs, from Calvinist austerity, growth, and up-scaling, to trustless automated decision-making and freedom on the dark web, from (anarcho-)capitalist dreams of the days of yore to the special sauce of neoliberal entrepreneurialism and its right-wing libertarian counterparts. The black box of finance has been etched into the imagination of the public and there has rarely been a more generous context to manifest working alternatives for the 99%. Cooperative platforms, decentralised technologies and direct democracy movements indicate profound attempts to rebalance the distribution of wealth and power. As resistance towards poverty, precarity, tax havens, algorithmic speculation, and financial crimes grows, the challenge ahead is to find ways to improve and sustain such financial experiments and to intervene in current debates both inside and outside of our established political systems. Before arriving in Siegen, MoneyLab has included 5 international conferences and 2 globally distributed readers: MoneyLab #1 - Coining Alternatives: Amsterdam, 2014 MoneyLab #2 - Economies of Dissent: Amsterdam, 2015 MoneyLab Reader: An Intervention in Digital Economy, 2015 MoneyLab #3 - Failing Better: Amsterdam, 2016 MoneyLab Reader #2: Overcoming the Hype, 2018 MoneyLab #4 - Art, Culture, and Financial Activism: London, 2018 MoneyLab #5 - Matters of Currency: Buffalo, NY, 2018 Practical Information Moneylab #6 will take place from 7-8 March 2019 at the Museum für Gegenwartskunst <https://www.mgk-siegen.de/>, Unteres Schloß 1, 57072 Siegen. Further information about the schedule, directions and accommodations in Siegen will be released soon. For questions about the event, please email: moneylab(a)uni-siegen.de. We can issue letters of invitation to help you apply for travel grants. URL: https://www.networkcultures.org/moneylab/events/moneylab-6 Twitter handle: #inframoney Organised by Carolin Gerlitz, Sebastian Gießmann, Inte Gloerich, Geert Lovink and Ronja Trischler. MoneyLab #6 is a collaboration between the Institute of Network Cultures, Amsterdam (NL) and the Cooperative Research Centre “Media of Cooperation”, Siegen (DE).

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Introductory readings on AI
by Luis Hestres 23 Nov '18

23 Nov '18

Hi everyone, I would like to include a unit or two about AI in the next iteration of my intro to digital communication course (a 200-level course). Can you recommend some accessible introductory readings about AI? Preferably I could get a couple that discuss the pros and cons of AI and also discuss how AI is already being applied vs. what’s coming down the pipeline. Thanks, Luis - - - - - Dr. Luis E. Hestres Assistant Professor Department of Communication The University of Texas at San Antonio One UTSA Circle San Antonio, TX 78249-0732 http://www.luishestres.com<http://www.luishestres.com/> Want to support our tax deductible nonprofit work by contributing to the UTSA department of communication? Please visit: https://giving.utsa.edu/FriendsofCommunication Thanks for your support!

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WhatsApp studies
by NORDIANA BINTI AHMAD KHARMAN SHAH 23 Nov '18

23 Nov '18

Hi, It would be very helpful if anyone could share current studies/materials on WhatsApp specifically as platform for knowledge sharing/communication? Thank you. -- " PENAFIAN: E-mel ini dan apa-apa fail yang dikepilkan bersamanya ("Mesej") adalah ditujukan hanya untuk kegunaan penerima(-penerima) yang termaklum di atas dan mungkin mengandungi maklumat sulit. Anda dengan ini dimaklumkan bahawa mengambil apa jua tindakan bersandarkan kepada, membuat penilaian, mengulang hantar, menghebah, mengedar, mencetak, atau menyalin Mesej ini atau sebahagian daripadanya oleh sesiapa selain daripada penerima(-penerima) yang termaklum di atas adalah dilarang. Jika anda telah menerima Mesej ini kerana kesilapan, anda mesti menghapuskan Mesej ini dengan segera dan memaklumkan kepada penghantar Mesej ini menerusi balasan e-mel. Pendapat-pendapat, rumusan-rumusan, dan sebarang maklumat lain di dalam Mesej ini yang tidak berkait dengan urusan rasmi Universiti Malaya adalah difahami sebagai bukan dikeluar atau diperakui oleh mana-mana pihak yang disebut. DISCLAIMER: This e-mail and any files transmitted with it ("Message") is intended only for the use of the recipient(s) named above and may contain confidential information. You are hereby notified that the taking of any action in reliance upon, or any review, retransmission, dissemination, distribution, printing or copying of this Message or any part thereof by anyone other than the intended recipient(s) is strictly prohibited. If you have received this Message in error, you should delete this Message immediately and advise the sender by return e-mail. Opinions, conclusions and other information in this Message that do not relate to the official business of University of Malaya shall be understood as neither given nor endorsed by any of the forementioned. "

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DEADLINE SAT DEC 1st: Funded PhD student opportunities at the School of Information Sciences at Illinois
by Jodi Schneider 22 Nov '18

22 Nov '18

I draw your attention to the upcoming deadline for PhD applications at the Illinois iSchool: Saturday December 1st. Faculty in the Conceptual Foundations Group are recruiting, including myself: Jodi Schneider - information quality, medical literature, argumentation theory, knowledge representation, semantic technology, and information organization Karen Wickett - Applications of logic, philosophy, and knowledge representation to metadata management and data curation Numerous other topics below. Feel free to reach out with questions. -Jodi http://jodischneider.com/jodi.html ---- Funded PhD student opportunities at the School of Information Sciences at Illinois We invite applications from highly motivated students from all backgrounds to join our world-renowned research and scholarship program at the School of Information Sciences, the iSchool at Illinois. Our PhD program in Library and Information Science is the oldest existing LIS doctoral program in the U.S. with over 240 graduates. Recent graduates from our PhD program have become faculty members at institutions such as the University of Michigan, University of Washington, University of Maryland, and UCLA, professionals at Baidu and Google, and academic library professionals at the Library of Congress, Princeton University, and the University of Chicago. We guarantee up to four years of funding in the form of research, teaching, and service assistantships, including tuition waivers and stipends. We also offer travel support for our PhD students. Students receive one-on-one mentorship from faculty with a global reputation for excellence in scholarship and high impact science. The School's flexible program ensures that each student is provided with the intellectual guidance and experiences necessary to prepare them for vibrant research careers in a wide range of academic, business, and government settings. We highly value interdisciplinary work at our school. Our faculty and students conduct exciting research on a broad range of topics: * Community informatics * Data curation * Data science * Digital archives and libraries * Digital humanities * Health and bioinformatics * History of information * Human-centered data science, Computational social science * Human-computer interaction, User experience, Computer supported cooperative work * Information access * Information literacy * Information policy, privacy, security, and ethics * Information retrieval * Information visualization * Informetrics * Libraries and librarianship * Machine learning * Natural language processing, Text mining, Text analysis * Network science * Organization of knowledge and information * Scientific data and knowledge practices * Youth services and digital youth For more on our vision see http://ischool.illinois.edu/research/vision For more about our faculty visit http://ischool.illinois.edu/people/faculty APPLICATION To apply, go to https://ischool.illinois.edu/degrees-programs/phd-library-and-information-s… This page also contains detailed information about the application process and the link for submitting your application. Application deadline is Saturday, December 01, 2018, at 11:00 p.m., Central Time. We especially encourage students from historically and statistically underrepresented minority groups to apply. MORE INFORMATION For additional information about our PhD program, see http://ischool.illinois.edu/academics/degrees/phd or contact ischool-phd(a)illinois.edu For questions, please contact Dr. Jana Diesner, PhD Program Director, at jdiesner(a)illinois.edu.

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Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Media and Creative-Cultural Industries - York University
by ganaele 22 Nov '18

22 Nov '18

Dear colleagues, Please find below a job posting in my department for a CRC in Media and Creative-Cultural Industries. All the best, Ganaele Langlois Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies York University Department of Communications Studies Canada Research Chair (Tier 2) in Media & Cultural/Creative Industries Posted: November 13, 2018 Deadline to Apply: December 31, 2018 The Department of Communication Studies at York University invites applications from outstanding early career scholars who specialize in Media & Cultural/Creative Industries to be nominated for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC). The successful CRC is expected to have the necessary qualifications to be appointed as a professorial tenure-track or tenured professor at the Assistant or Associate level. The start date for this position is July 1, 2019 or as soon as possible thereafter. The successful candidate must have a PhD in Communications or a related discipline: applications are welcome from any sub- field, with a preference for those with a specialization in Communications and Digital Media. The ideal candidate will be an excellent emerging world-class researcher with demonstrated potential for international recognition in his/her field integrating a pioneering approach to the study of the political and social benefits of research. The successful candidate will have demonstrated potential for excellence in the study of how to build, and engage in, collaborative research initiatives to address media and cultural/creative industries with an emphasis on digital cultures. The successful candidate will have demonstrated excellence or promise of excellence in teaching and scholarly research with a strong record of theoretical innovation. Preference will be given to those successful in obtaining peer-reviewed external research funding and with experience supervising graduate students and postdoctoral fellows and/or the potential to attract, develop, and retain excellent students and future researchers, while contributing to curricular development in her/his area of specialization, and participate actively in the graduate program. The successful applicant shall be eligible for prompt appointment to the Faculty of Graduate Studies. Pedagogical innovation in high priority areas such as experiential education and technology enhanced learning is preferred. The Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program seeks to attract outstanding researchers for careers at Canadian universities. Tier 2 Chairs are intended for exceptional emerging scholars (i.e., who, at the time of nomination, are within 10 years of attaining their highest degree, with consideration for career breaks) who have the acknowledged potential to lead their field of research. Appointment to a Tier 2 Chair is for five years, is renewable once, and comes with enhanced research support from the program. Applicants who are more than 10 years from their highest degree (and where career breaks exist, including maternity leave, extended sick leave, clinical training, etc.) may have their eligibility for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair assessed through the program’s Tier 2 justification process. Please see the CRC website (http://www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca/) for further eligibility details. As a research Chair, a CRC is expected to develop research linkages within and beyond York. In the case of this Chair, productive research trajectories may include collaborations with scholars across the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, as well as a number of York’s Research Centres and Institutes (www.yorku.ca/research/about/centres.html) for example: Sensorium, York’s Centre for Digital Arts and Technology , BRAIN, analysis and visualization of big data, VISTA, the Institute for Research on Innovation and Sustainability, the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, and the York Centre for Asian Research. The deadline for applications is December 31, 2018. Salary will be commensurate with qualifications and experience. All York University positions are subject to budgetary approval. Candidates should submit a signed letter of application, an up-to-date curriculum vitae, a teaching dossier, a research and research leadership plan, and a sample publication, and arrange to have three signed letters of reference sent directly to: Professor Anne MacLennan, Chair Department of Communications Office: 3019 Victor Phillip Dahdaleh Building Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies York University 4700 Keele Street Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M3J 1P3 Email: amaclenn(a)yorku.ca – (Subject line: “CRC Tier 2”) York University has a policy on Accommodation in Employment for Persons with Disabilities and is committed to working towards a barrier-free workplace and to expanding the accessibility of the workplace to persons with disabilities. If you require accommodation at any time during the hiring process, please contact Dr. MacLennan, Chair, Department of Communication Studies at comchair(a)yorku.ca. For this nomination, we are particularly interested in candidates with diverse backgrounds and especially encourage candidates in equity, diversity and inclusion categories, including members of the four designated groups (women, members of visible minorities (racialized groups), Indigenous peoples and persons with disabilities) to apply. York acknowledges the potential impact that career interruptions (e.g. maternity leave, leave due to illness, etc.) can have on a candidate’s record of research achievement. Applicants are encouraged to explain in their application the impact that career interruptions may have had on their record of research achievement; this will be taken into careful consideration during the assessment process. York University is an Affirmative Action (AA) employer and strongly values diversity, including gender and sexual diversity, within its community. The AA Program, which applies to Aboriginal people, visible minorities, people with disabilities, and women, can be found at http://acadjobs.info.yorku.ca/ or by calling the AA office at 416-736-5713. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens, Permanent Residents, and Indigenous people in Canada will be given priority. Canada_Reserach_Chair_Tier_2_in_Media_Cultural_Creative_Industries.pdf Applicants wishing to self-identify can do so by downloading, completing and submitting the forms found at: http://acadjobs.info.yorku.ca/. Please select the Affirmative Action tab under which forms pertaining to Citizenship and AA can be found. The Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) brings together internationally recognized research, a devotion to effective teaching, and a commitment to diversity, equity and social justice. The range, global sensitivity and intensity of disciplinary and interdisciplinary degree programs are mirrored by the diversity and engagement of its professors and students. Within its 21 academic units, LA&PS provides a compelling learning experience for more than 23,000 undergraduate and 1,800 graduate students. Become part of LA&PS – Canada’s most comprehensive group of academic programs and researchers in social sciences, humanities and related professional fields. LA&PS Communications Department Background The Department of Communication Studies offers students an interdisciplinary and dynamic milieu where they can develop comprehensive and critical awareness of diverse communication and media environments. Our approach to communication emphasizes the questioning and analyzing of media and technology in their relationship to social and cultural practices and the circulation of ideas and values. The research interests of our faculty reflect our diversity and excellence as a Department. Our faculty engage with communications from diverse vantage points ranging from media policy, politics and power, international development and gender and identity. These faculty interests are reflected in our comprehensive curriculum which ranges from traditional forms of mass communication to mobile technologies, web 2.0 and nanotechnology. Our courses encompass three thematic areas that include: Media, Culture and Society, Politics and Policy, & Critical Technology Studies. The Department’s Graduate Program, the Joint Ryerson-York Program in Communication & Culture, spans two universities, five faculties at York University and includes almost 150 faculty members. -- Ganaele Langlois Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies York University

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WEBCAST TODAY: UK Internet Governance Forum #UKIGF18
by Joly MacFie 22 Nov '18

22 Nov '18

Under way. I am running AI captions on the stream, but please tolerate (occasionally amusing) errors due to struggles with the UK accents. As keynoter Kari Lawler so accurately pointed out in her speech, AI is only as good as the data it is trained on! In another opening keynote Minister James echoed Macron's remarks at last week's IGF, promising increased government regulation --- while still protecting innovation, and recognizing and supporting the MS model. <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/DigitalCooperation> <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/coppaat20> <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/CITIDFS-ICO> <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ConnectedNE> <https://livestream.com/internetsociety2/js-nyc-nov18> <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/swissigf18> <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/iotsecurity2018-4> [image: livestream] <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ukigf18>Today, *Thursday November 22 2018*, the *UK Internet Governance Forum <https://ukigf.org.uk/events/2018-events>* (UKIGF18) is convened in London. This year’s theme is *Solutions for The Digital Age*. Guest speakers include *Kari Lawler*, one of the UK’s youngest female tech entrepreneurs, *Margot James MP*, Minister of State for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, *Desiree Miloshevic*, Internet Society Trustee, and *Olivier Crepin-Leblond*, Chair of the Internet Society UK Chapter. The event will be webcast live on the *Internet Society Livestream Channel <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/>*. London is on UTC = 5 hours ahead of NYC. *View on Livestream: https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ukigf18 <https://livestream.com/internetsociety/ukigf18>Agenda: https://ukigf.org.uk/events/2018-events/ <https://ukigf.org.uk/events/2018-events/>Twitter: #UKIGF18 http://bit.ly/ukigf18 <http://bit.ly/ukigf18>* *Permalink* https://isoc.live/10697/ <https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/%E2%80%8Bhttps://isoc.live/10697/%E2%80%8B> -- --------------------------------------------------------------- Joly MacFie 218 565 9365 Skype:punkcast -------------------------------------------------------------- -

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