Apologies for cross-posting ******************************** CALL FOR POSITION PAPERS AND RESEARCH-IN-PROGRESS POSTERS What: #Influence12: Symposium & Workshop on Measuring Influence on Social Media Where: School of Information Management, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada When: September 28-29, 2012 Website: http://SocialMediaLab.ca/influence12 Twitter hashtag: #Influence12 Industry Keynote Speaker: Gilad Lotan, VP of Research & Development, Socialflow.com ABOUT THE EVENT: This is a two-day symposium and workshop organized and hosted by the Social Media Lab (http://SocialMediaLab.ca) at Dalhousie University and supported by MITACS, SSHRC, NCE GRAND, Dalhousie’s Faculty of Computer Science and Faculty of Management. It is no secret that social media has become mainstream in recent years, and its adoption has skyrocketed. As a result of its growing popularity, users’ online contributions and membership in online social networks have exploded. With a multitude of voices all talking at once on social media, finding interesting and influential voices among the masses can be difficult. The objective of this 2-day workshop is to bring together experts in social media and online social networks from both the academic and business worlds, to share ideas on the best practices around how to study the impact of social media on our society, and specifically how to measure influence on social media. The workshop will provide researchers in this area an opportunity to present and debate their ideas, and provide graduate students with the opportunity to build academic and professional contacts, present their research, and learn about latest research in this area from a multidisciplinary perspective. SCHEDULE: During the first day, the participants will present and conduct discussions based on their work in this area. Over the second day, the participants will be tasked to brainstorm and develop new metrics for studying and measuring influence and engagement on social media. REGISTRATION FEE: None STUDENT TRAVEL SUBSIDIES: A limited number of competitive travel subsidies ($500 + 3-night shared accommodation with another student in a local hotel) will be available to PhD and Postdoctoral students from Canadian academic institutions. Please indicate on your submission whether you would like to be considered for a travel subsidy. TYPES OF SUBMISSIONS: 1) Position Papers: Proposals should be in the form of a position paper (up to 1,000 words excluding references) and formatted using the ACM Proceedings Format (a template is available at http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates). The position paper must be on a completed or well-developed project relating to the main theme of the workshop. If selected, the author(s) will be invited to give a 15-minute oral presentation followed by a 5 min Q&A period. 2) “Work-in-progress” Posters: Posters will display visual presentations of early-stage projects. Proposals should be in the form of a short abstract (up to 500 words excluding references). If selected, author(s) will have an opportunity to present their poster as part of a dedicated poster session during the workshop. *All submissions are due June 15, 2012, 23:59 (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time)* and must be submitted via the EasyChair website at https://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=influence12 TOPICS OF INTEREST INCLUDE: • Influential User Detection • Information Visualization in Social Media • Mobile Applications • Online and Offline Social Networks • Online Community Detection • Online Identity • Opinion Mining and Sentiment Analysis • Political Mobilization & Engagement on Social Media • Scalability Issues and Social Media Data • Social Media and Academia (Alternative Metrics. Learning Analytics, etc.) • Social Media Mining • Social Network Analysis All submissions will be peer-reviewed by the Program Committee and evaluated based on their relevance and potential contribution to the main theme of the workshop: How do we define and measure influence on social media? The goal is to select and invite up to 50 researchers to participate in the workshop. Accepted and finalized papers and posters will be published on the Social Media Lab website after the event and promoted through various media channels. The workshop presentations will also be streamed online. IMPORTANT DATES: • Submission Deadline: June 15, 2012, 23:59 (Hawaii-Aleutian Standard Time) • Notification Date: July 15, 2012 • Camera-Ready Deadline: August 30, 2012 • Workshop Dates: September 28-29, 2012 PROGRAM COMMITTEE: * danah boyd, Microsoft Research, USA * Jean Burgess, Queensland University of Technology, Australia * Amy Bruckman, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA * Alvin Chin, Nokia Research Center, Beijing * Greg Elmer, Ryerson University, Canada * Andrea Forte, Drexel University, USA * Keith N. Hampton, Rutgers University, USA * Carolyn Hank, McGill University, Canada * Caroline Haythornthwaite, University of British Columbia, Canada * Susan Herring, Indiana University, USA * Bernie Hogan, University of Oxford, UK * Karrie Karahalios, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA * Rhonda McEwen, University of Toronto, Canada * Catherine Middleton, Ryerson University, Canada * Anabel Quan-Haase, University of Western Ontario, Canada * Diane Rasmussen Neal, University of Western Ontario, Canada * Anthony Rotolo, Syracuse University, USA * Marc Smith, Social Media Research Foundation, USA * Louise Spiteri, Dalhousie University, Canada * Monica Whitty, University of Leicester, UK For further inquiries, please contact Dr. Anatoliy Gruzd at gruzd@dal.ca