Dear colleagues, Robert Gehl and I would like to invite you to consider contributing to our proposed *edited collection exploring the technological, social, cultural, and ethical aspects of socialbots*. Please see the attached Call for Papers and do not hesitate to contact us with questions, or to discuss the idea further. For those of you who are thinking of contributing, this is a reminder that the deadline for abstracts is approaching: * • 500 word abstracts due to socialbotbook@robertwgehl.org <socialbotbook@robertwgehl.org>: October 15, 2014* ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Many users of the Internet are aware of the existence of bots: automated programs that work behind the scenes to come up with search suggestions, check the weather, filter emails, or clean up Wikipedia entries. A new form of software robot has been making its presence felt in social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter lately – the socialbot. Unlike more familiar bots, socialbots are built to appear human. While a weatherbot will tell you if it's sunny and a spambot will incessantly peddle Viagra, socialbots will ask you questions, have conversations, like your posts, retweet you, and become your friend. All the while, if they're well-programmed, you won't know that you're tweeting and friending with a robot... (read more in the attached CFP) ------ Best, Maria --- Dr. Maria Bakardjieva Professor, Department of Communication and Culture University of Calgary, Canada