Dear colleagues, please feel free to forward it to interested groups. best, Wenhong ********************* CALL FOR PAPERS ********************* The Internet, Social Networks and Civic Engagement in Chinese Societies A Special Issue for Information, Communication & Society (iCS) Guest editor: Wenhong Chen Aim and Scope The Internet and digital media have become conduits and locales where millions of Chinese share information and engage in creative expression and social participation. The Arab Spring and the relative lack of response in China highlight the importance of understanding the Internet implications in specific social context. Yet, compared to their growing prevalence and significance, research on the contingent, non-linear, and sometimes paradoxical impacts of digital media and technologies in Chinese societies remains theoretically underdeveloped and empirically understudied. Taking an eclectic approach, this special issue aims to advance a balanced and context-rich understanding of how digital media and technologies afford the construction of social networks and participation in civic engagement in Chinese societies including mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, and the global Chinese Diaspora. It aims to reveal both the transformative power and the limitations of the Internet and other new communication technologies. It welcomes work with diverse theoretical and empirical approaches. Contributors are encouraged to examine the implications of the Internet and other new communication technologies for social networks and civic engagement, including but not limited to: • How do digital technologies and media allow actors to form and maintain social networks on- and offline? • What are the patterns and structure of Chinese social networks straddling boundaries of geography, identities, and issues in the Internet age? • How do access to and memberships in such networks vary by class, gender, generation, urban-rural gaps as well as differential digital media skills and literacy? • How does digital mediated communication contribute to an informed, connected, and engaged public in Chinese societies? • To what extent do digital media and technologies facilitate transparency and enhance the visibility of oppressed groups, in particular in comparison with print and broadcast media under tighter government control? • To what extent do glocalized, transnational networks affect access and mobilization of resources for social development and change? Logistics and Timeline • A 300-500 word abstract should be sent via email to the special issue editor by May 15, 2012. • Initial screening decisions will be made by May 30, 2012. • Authors of accepted abstracts should submit a full paper to http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/rics by August 15, 2012. • Authors must specify that the submission is for the special issue on The Internet, Social Networks and Civic Engagement in Chinese Societies. All submission will be subject to the journal's standard peer review process. Authors should follow the Information for Contributors of Manuscripts as published in iCS website. Information about the journal can be found at www.informaworld.com/ics • The special issue will be published in September 2013. • For inquiries or submission of full papers, please contact Wenhong Chen Assistant Professor Department of Radio-TV-Film, College of Communication University of Texas at Austin 1 University Station A0800 Austin, TX 78712 T: 512-471-4952 F: 512-471-4077 wenhong_chen@mail.utexas.edu Cheers, Wenhong Wenhong Chen Assistant Professor Department of Radio-TV-Film, College of Communication 1 University Station A0800, CMA 6.136 University of Texas at Austin 2504 WHITIS AVE STOP A0800 AUSTIN, TX  78712-1067 T: 512-471-4952 F: 512-471-4077 wenhong_chen@mail.utexas.edu