Call for Papers (deadline for submission: 1 May 2022) Wednesday, 19 October 2022 Aarhus (Denmark) The ECREA pre-conference is organized by DigiWorld ( https://digidemo.ifkw.lmu.de/digiworld/), a scientific collaboration network of scholars that aims at international comparisons of election campaign strategies in digital communication channels, which currently is bringing together researchers from 17 countries. The long-term goals of DigiWorld include building a continuous research network dealing with digital campaigning, user engagement, and factors influencing it. The pre-conference, however, is open to researchers both from and beyond the DigiWorld network. The health of digital democracy has become under attack from political actors who actively use social media to spread disinformation and hate speech. To what extent are these (digital) propaganda techniques used in democracies during election times? How do they affect democratic processes and participation? We want to answer these questions by revealing and comparing the online communication of parties and politicians across the political spectrum on social media during national elections in various democracies. To discuss the use of communication strategies of party and candidate accounts on social media platforms during national elections, we are particularly interested in bringing together scholars who explore the use of such platforms in the local and international arena from both the global north and the global south. It especially welcomes contributions that explore this phenomenon from a comparative perspective between social and cultural groups. The pre-conference welcomes contributions on, but is not limited to: - Digital propaganda, campaigning, and democracy - Social media and disinformation in election campaigns - Elections and online hate speech - Methodological issues in research of elections and social network sites - Ethical dilemmas in research of elections and social network sites - Comparative approaches for studying digital propaganda, campaigning, and online hate speech Abstracts of 300 words excluding references must be sent to Yossi David ( ydavid@uni-mainz.de) and Uta Russmann (uta.russmann@uibk.ac.at) no later than May 1st, 2022. The pre-conference will take place in person in Aarhus (Denmark) on October 19th, 9 to 15 (CEST). Timeline: Deadline for submission of abstracts: May 1st, 2022 Notification of acceptance: June 1st, 2022 Deadline for registrations: September 1st, 2022 Pre-conference: October 19th, 2022, 9-15 (CEST) -- Yossi David Israel professor in communication science Department of communication Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz Jakob-Welder-Weg 12 55128, Mainz, Germany ydavid@uni-mainz.de +49-6131-39-29884 Pronouns: he/him/his Department homepage <https://www.ifp.uni-mainz.de/israel-professorship-in-communication-science/> - academia.edu <https://uni-mainz.academia.edu/YossiDavid> - researchgate <https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Yossi_David2> - ORCiD <https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8020-0317>