Dear AOIRs: You are encouraged to submit a paper to this JMCQ special issue: Call for Papers for a Special Issue Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Information Access and Control in an Age of Big Data Submission Deadline for Papers: June 1, 2015 Guest Editors Edward L. Carter, J.D. LL.M., Associate Professor, Brigham Young University Laurie Thomas Lee, Ph.D., Professor, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Overview In a keynote address at a 1996 conference on information policy sponsored by the U.S. government, scholar and analyst William J. Drake said, “The new information infrastructure can and should be designed to balance the needs of all parties with direct stakes in it: large corporate suppliers and users, the public sector, the non-commercial sector, small and large businesses, and individual users.”[1] However, Drake warned that conflicting interests and competing international models of information access and control could impede the achievement of this vision. He suggested that use patterns and government regulation should be monitored and managed as technological advances caused changes in mass communication. Given the impact of Big Data and technological advances in the nearly 20 years since Drake’s comment, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly proposes to publish a special issue on “Information Access and Control in an Age of Big Data.” The editorial team of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly believes this research has the potential to make an important contribution to the literature appraising the current state of information and communication technology, consumer and audience behavior, and policy and law, as well as to provide a platform for development of future research in journalism and mass communication. Papers We invite contributions to a special issue of Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly that will address access to and control of information in an age of Big Data. We encourage submissions that approach this topic from an inclusive range of fields and research methodologies within journalism and mass communication and also from other disciplines, with a focus on the implications of the topic to media and society. Papers may offer insights about technological, behavioral, policy, legal and other issues. Possible topics might include, among others, the so-called right to be forgotten on the Internet; social media and privacy; the implications of Big Data for journalism and mass communication; government and corporate surveillance; technology solutions to protect confidentiality in reporter-source relationships; access by news media and other individuals to digital records of government and other institutions; the response of journalism, public relations and advertising to challenges and opportunities in the current environment; search engine optimization and reputation management; intellectual property and freedom of expression; data protection; and the right of publicity. This special issue lends itself to research from a variety of cultural and international perspectives, and therefore papers with international and intercultural approaches are particularly encouraged. We welcome both qualitative and quantitative approaches to the topic. Details of Paper Content, Length, and Due Date Papers will undergo blind peer review. Those selected for publication will then enter the editorial publication process, resulting in publication online in January 2016 and in print in Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly in summer 2016. The deadline for full paper submissions is June 1, 2015 at https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jmcq. Authors are requested to submit manuscripts in APA Style, 6th Edition. Manuscripts in other citation styles will be considered in initial review. Other manuscript submission details for Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly are available at http://www.sagepub.com/journals/Journal202061/manuscriptSubmission. Further Information For questions regarding this special issue, please contact the guest editors: Edward L. Carter, Brigham Young University, ed_carter@byu.edu Laurie Thomas Lee, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, llee1@unl.edu ________________________________ [1] William J. Drake, Keynote Address, “Balancing Interest in the New Information Structure—National and Global Perspectives,” 1996 Federal Library and Information Center Committee Forum on Federal Information Policies, Summary of Proceedings, at http://www.loc.gov/flicc/Forum96.html#Keynote.<http://www.loc.gov/flicc/Forum96.html#Keynote> Louisa Ha, Ph.D. Associate Editor, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly Professor and Chair Department of Telecommunications Bowling Green State University Bowling Green, OH 43403 Telephone: 419-3729103 Fax: 419-372-0202