CFP: Mobile Communications in Developing Countries

Announcement and call for papers for 7th CMI Conference 2014

Title of conference: Mobile Communications in Developing Countries

Date: 17 - 18 November 2014

Venue: Aalborg University, Copenhagen, Denmark

The conference on ‘Mobile Communications in Developing Countries’ examines issues regarding the development of mobile ICT.  Issues bordering on, but not limited to mobile markets, regulations, business strategies as well as issues relating to the use of mobile communications for economic, social, and human development, will be discussed.

Participants will come from academia, business, and policy and regulation. The idea is to benefit from input from speakers and participants from developing countries as well as Europe and elsewhere.

Conference Objectives

The main objectives of this conference are:

• To discuss the developments of ICTs, mobile communications, and media
• To discuss sector specific uses of mobile communications, e.g. e-payment, e-health
• To highlight the current challenges encountered in the uptake of mobile broadband in developing countries and its impact on ICT development
• To explore ways in which ICTs and mobile technologies are used and assessed in diverse fields of education, health care, governance, businesses, social networks, banking & finance
• To assess recent methods that enhance access to mobile communications, education, health services, government services, business services such as distance education, computer-based communication methods, telemedicine, e-commerce, face booking

Who Should Attend

Faculty, Teachers, Researchers, Policy makers and Regulators, Health practitioners, Business professionals, ICT practitioners, Instructional designers, Media specialists and producers, Distance learning directors, Technology & Service providers.

Topics will include – but not limited to the following

• ICT for development
• Mobile for development
• Mobile broadband
• Information Systems
• Role of Internet Service Providers (ISPs)
• Application of Information Systems in government and businesses
• Age and gender issues in the use of Information Systems
• Digital library, distance learning, e-learning systems & technologies
• E-health & e-governance
• Databases, storage & retrieval systems (e.g. cloud computing)
• Cyber-security – governance, risk & compliance (GRC), cyber-crime
• E-commerce & e-banking in developing economies
• Social media & social networks
• Social engineering challenges and counter measures
• ICT policy & regulatory environment
• Media policy & regulatory environment

Important dates

Deadline for abstracts: 22 September

Notification of acceptance: 29 September

Deadline for Full Papers: 10 November

Submit your abstract / paper to: cmi@cmi.aau.dk

Hosts

CMI, Aalborg University Copenhagen, Denmark and Ghana Telecom University College, Accra, Ghana

Price: 100 €

CFP: ACM ITS 2014 Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces

Social ITS: Tutorial and Workshop on Theories and Applications of Social Science for Interactive Tabletops and Surfaces

In conjunction with ACM ITS 2014
Dresden, Germany
November 16, 2014

http://its2014socialscienceforis.weebly.com

Important Dates

• Submission Deadline:  September 5, 2014, 5pm PDT
• Notification to Authors:  September 23, 2014
• NEW EVENT FORMAT:  Tutorial (½ day) + Workshop (½ day):  November 16, 2014

Social ITS Tutorial + Workshop Theme

There is an increasing trend in the human-computer interaction (HCI) and interactive tabletop and surfaces (ITS) communities towards the application of social theories describing human and social behaviour into our technology designs. For example, social theories that describe how people utilize different spatial distances to engage in different types of interactions with others, how collaborative and communication practices are employed in face-to-face environments, have been appropriated by ITS researchers to create new forms of interactive surface interactions in a variety of contexts.

In this combined tutorial and workshop venue, we review and discuss social science theories relevant to the design of interactive surfaces. We aim to facilitate knowledge exchange on the inherent challenges of applying social theories to build systems, and to establish a community of practice to help develop effective strategies for successfully applying social theories to the design of Interactive Surfaces.

The tutorial component will focus on social theories related to, but not limited to:

• Group communications
• Proxemics theory foundations
• Public and personal space
• Territoriality theories and research
• Lessons learned, new ideas, and insights about the ways social theories (that were developed in a different context than HCI) to interaction design of interactive surfaces

The workshop component will focus on:

• Feedback and thoughts gathered from discussions during the tutorial session
• Overview of participants’ work related to applications of social theories
• Workshop activities will include:
• Identifying challenges and topics of interest
• Discussion of lessons learned
• Creation of an overview on applying social theories in the ITS context

Submissions

We invite researchers to submit position papers of up to 4 pages in the SIGCHI Extended Abstract format (http://www.sigchi.org/publications/chipubform) that describe original research and outline the interest and experience in applying social science theories to the design of interactive surfaces. Selected submissions will be made available to workshop participants prior to the workshop on the workshop website (http://its2014socialscienceforis.weebly.com).

Supplementary materials (e.g., videos) can be submitted in the form of a Youtube, Vimeo, or Dropbox link, and will also be made available on the workshop website. If there is sufficient coherence in the workshop discussions, authors will be invited to work towards a summary article about the workshop outcome, resulting in a possible publication.

Please submit your position paper by September 5, 2014, 5pm PDT to:  n.marquardt@ucl.ac.uk

Organizers

Stacey D. Scott – University of Waterloo, Canada
Victor Cheung – University of Waterloo, Canada
Jo Vermeulen – Hasselt University, Belgium
Nicolai Marquardt – University College London, United Kingdom

For more details, we refer to the Social ITS Tutorial+Workshop’s website:
http://its2014socialscienceforis.weebly.com

CFP: STUDIES IN NEW MEDIA

CALL FOR BOOK PROPOSALS -- STUDIES IN NEW MEDIA

Series Editor: John Allen Hendricks

Series Editor Email: jhendricks@sfasu.edu

ABOUT THE SERIES:
This series aims to advance the theoretical and practical understanding of the emergence, adoption, and influence of new technologies. It provides a venue to explore how New Media technologies and Social
Networking Sites (SNS) are changing the media landscape in the twenty-first century. Single authored, Multi-authored, and Edited book proposals will be considered.

Books included in this series focus on topics such as:

• New Media and research methodologies
• Media technologies
• Theory development
• Video games
• Mobile content
• Policy development
• Media usage and psychology
• Political usage
• Social media technologies

PROPOSAL SUBMISSIONS:
Scholars interested in having a proposal considered should contact the series editor:

John Allen Hendricks, PhD
Chair/Professor
Stephen F. Austin State University
Department of Mass Communication
PO Box 13048, SFA Station
Nacogdoches, Texas 75962-3048
(936) 468-4001

job at Boston University

Boston University

Full-time Faculty Position in Emerging Media Studies – Fall 2015

The Department of Mass Communication at Boston University’s College of Communication is seeking a tenure track Assistant Professor in the area of mobile communication.

We are seeking scholars with methodological sophistication, particularly in quantitative analysis of attitudinal and behavioral data concerning political or interpersonal communication. Scholars with expertise in mobile communication from a variety of disciplinary perspectives are sought for this position. The successful candidate will have teaching duties mainly in the College’s graduate program in Emerging Media Studies, and will carry out a research program on the uses and effects of mobile communication and other personal communication technologies. The incumbent is also expected to actively participate in the College’s newly launched PhD program in emerging media.

The College of Communication at Boston University is a national leader in instruction and research in the communication arts and sciences. Our graduate programs focus on training scholars who are academic and industry leaders in research practice. Duties include teaching two courses per semester, in in the candidate’s specialty area, and more broadly in the College’s Emerging Media Studies Division.

The candidate will have a Ph. D. degree in Communication or in cognate or related fields.

Applicants should submit a CV, the names and contact information for three references, and a letter that includes a personal statement on teaching and research philosophy.

Formal review of applications begins no later than October 17, 2014 and will continue until the position is filled.

Materials should be sent to:
Allison Keir
Administrator, Division of Emerging Media
College of Communication
Boston University
640 Commonwealth Avenue
Boston, MA 02215

Electronic applications may be sent to akeir@bu.edu.

Questions may be directed to Professor James Katz at katz2020@bu.edu or 617-358-6091. All inquiries will be kept confidential.

Boston University is an equal opportunity employer and all qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, national origin, disability status, protected veteran status or any other characteristic protected by law. We are a VEVRAA Federal Contactor.

CFP: Journal of Social Media Studies

Journal of Social Media Studies (JSMS) is jointly edited by the Institute of Language and Communications Studies and the Macro World Publishing. The JSMS is the outstanding international journal that provides examination of social media analyses and the fields of communication sciences.

Manuscripts may be philosophical, theoretical, methodological, critical, applied, pedagogical, or empirical in nature, as well as empirical contributions as papers that address the theoretical and methodological debates within social media.

The quick (30 days) and double blind review process, rich editorial board, zero tolerance for plagiarism and high respect for publication ethics, a strong commitment for scheduled publication are the key features of the Institute’s journals. The journal accepts online submissions only.

Research areas are relevant to the journal include, but are not limited to:

• Social Communication
• Social Media and Critical Thinking
• Cultural Studies
• Social Media and Human-Computer Interaction
• Social Media Theories
• Audience and Reception Studies
• Future Social Media architecture
• Design and evaluation of innovative social media systems
• Virtual reality
• Information retrieval systems and algorithms on Social Media
• Social Media and Identity
• Social Media and Art Censorship
• Empirical studies of user behavior
• Privacy and security on social networks
• Social networks mediated communication
• Social media in educational environment
• New design techniques with Social Media

Submission and Publication Information:

Submission deadline:  October 5th, 2014
First round decisions announced:  November 20th, 2014
Authors submit revised manuscripts:  December 28, 2014
Approximate date of publication:  Jan, 2015
Number of papers:  5 to 7 papers

For more information, visit the official website of the journals:  www.macroworldpub.com

CFP: MOBICASE 2014

MOBICASE 2014
The Sixth International Conference on Mobile Computing, Applications and Services
November 06-07, 2014, Austin (Texas, USA)

http://mobicase.org/2014/

MobiCASE, the International Conference on Mobile Computing, Applications, and Services, is a confluence between academia and industry on mobile applications and services research.

Now in its sixth edition, MobiCASE is a leading scientific forum for cutting-edge research results in mobile computing, applications, and services. As in previous years, MobiCASE 2014 is scheduled to include high-quality paper presentation sessions revealing the latest in mobile computing research, industry demos of exciting mobile applications and services, and participant engagement in hands-on projects and tutorials.

Relevant topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Anticipatory Computing — e.g., predictive systems that could power mobile services such as Microsoft Cortana or Google Now
• Mobile Advertising — e.g., location-based search and the recommendation of goods/services
• Energy Efficiency — e.g., approaches for coping with battery limits
• Mobile Payments — e.g., NFC-based services and other emerging technologies
• Mobile User Interfaces — e.g., utilizing voice, eyes, gestures
• Mobile Sensing — e.g., continuous sensing, mobile vision, mHealth
• Wearable Platforms and Smartphones — e.g., software support, prototype hardware, sensing modalities
• Mobile development tools and testing methodologies — e.g., bug reporting, malware identification
• App Distribution Channels and Stores — e.g., the next steps in the evolution of app stores
• Location-based Social Networks and Media — e.g., studies of existing or novel mobile social platforms
• Mobile Cloud Computing and Mobile Web support — e.g., personal clouds, and proposed new architectures and standards

PRESENTATION & PUBLICATION

All accepted papers will be presented at MobiCASE. Papers will be published in the MobiCASE Conference Proceedings and by Springer-Verlag in the Lecture Notes of ICST (LNICST). The proceedings will be available both in book form and via the SpringerLink digital library. Selected papers will be published also in the EAI Endorsed Transactions on Mobile Communications and Applications.

IMPORTANT DATES

New Submission Deadline:  15 August 2014 (No abstract submission required!)
Notification Date:  16 Sept, 2014
Camera-Ready:  5 October, 2014

For more information, including submission requirements and links to previous MobiCASE conferences, please visit http://mobicase.org

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

General Chair:
Christine Julien, University of Texas — Austin

TPC co-Chairs:
Nic Lane, Microsoft Research
Shivakant Mishra, University of Colorado — Boulder

Poster and Demo Chair:
Jamie Payton, University of North Carolina — Charlotte

Publicity co-Chairs:
Youngki Lee, Singapore Management University
Robert LiKamWa, Rice University

Social Media Chair:
Sarfraz Nawaz, University of Cambridge

Local Chair:
Mina Guirguis, Texas State University — San Marcos

STEERING COMMITTEE

Martin Griss, Carnegie Mellon University — Silicon Valley
Thomas Phan, Samsung R&D
Petros Zerfos, IBM Research

TECHNICAL PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Mohammad Al-Mutawa, Kuwait University
Xuan Bao, Samsung Research America
Roy Campbell, University of Illinois — Urbana-Champaign
Yiqiang Chen, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Hao Chu, National Taiwan University
Eduardo Cuervo, Microsoft Research
Denzil Ferreira, COMAG — University of Oulu
Hamed Haddadi, Queen Mary University of London / Qatar Computing Research Institute
Qi Han, Colorado School of Mines
Richard Han, University of Colorado – Boulder
Fred Jiang, Intel Research
Apu Kapadia, Indiana University – Bloomington
Mikkel Baun Kjærgaard, University of Southern Denmark
Hong Lu, Intel Research
Qin Lv, University of Colorado – Boulder
Justin Manweiler, IBM Research — T.J. Watson
Tom Martin, Virginia Tech
Emiliano Miluzzo, AT&T Research
Cecillia Mascolo, University of Cambridge
Mirco Musolesi, University of Birmingham
Petteri Nurmi, University of Helsinki
Thomas Ploetz, Culture Lab — Newcastle University
Giovanni Russello, University of Auckland
Chris Schmandt, MIT
Pravin Shankar, Facebook
Jacky Shen, Microsoft Research
Larry Shi, University of Houston
Yoshito Tobe, Aoyama Gakuin University
Moustafa Youssef, Egypt-Japan University of Science & Technology
Daqing Zhang, Institut TELECOM SudParis
Kewei Sha, Oklahoma City University

CFP: Media Industries

Media Industries journal-call for papers

Priority Consideration Deadline: October 1, 2014

Submit through the online portal: mediaindustriesjournal.org

Media Industries seeks quality research for priority consideration in the publication of our first peer-reviewed research issue. While the first three issues, published quarterly from May-December 2014, feature brief commentaries written by our editorial board, beginning with our fourth issue, we will publish original scholarship relating to the media industries. We accept submissions on a rolling basis, but will prioritize submissions received by October 1, 2014 for consideration for our Spring 2015 issue.

We invite contributions that range across the full spectrum of media industries, including film, television, internet, radio, music, publishing, electronic games, advertising, and mobile communications. Submissions may explore these industries individually or examine inter-medial relations between industrial sectors. We encourage both contemporary and historical studies, and are especially interested in contributions that draw attention to global and international perspectives. Media Industries is furthermore committed to the exploration of innovative methodologies, imaginative theoretical approaches, and new research directions.

Launched this year, Media Industries is a new peer-reviewed, multi-media, open-access online journal that supports critical studies of media industries and institutions worldwide. We seek to take advantage of the online format by encouraging inclusion of multimedia elements and hyperlinks within the submitted article as well asutilizing a fully online submission process through our website.

Articles should be between 5,000 and 7,000 words inclusive of references. Full guidelines can be found on our submission page.

If you have any questions, please contact the journal at mediaindjournal@gmail.com.

To keep up-to-date with our publications and news, follow us on social media at Twitter.com/mediaindjournal and facebook.com/mediaindustriesjournal.

CFP: "From Online Sweat Shops to Silicon Savannahs" at AAG Annual Meeting

From Online Sweat Shops to Silicon Savannahs: Geographies of Production in Digital Economies of Low-Income Countries

AAG Annual Meeting <http://www.aag.org/cs/annualmeeting/call_for_papers>,
Chicago, April 21-25, 2015

*Organizers:*
Mark Graham <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=165>,
Nicolas Friederici <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=332>, and
Isis Hjorth <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=169>
University of Oxford

Throughout the early 21st century, Internet and mobile phone access in developing countries has skyrocketed, and today the majority of people on the planet are connected through information and communication technologies (ICTs). Yet, while basic ICT access is increasingly level across income groups and geographies, production in the global digital economy is still, and maybe increasingly, dominated by incumbent multinational technology corporations or fast-scaling web startups. These businesses tend to roll out their products (with some local adaptation) across the globe, but maintain their coordinating and creative activities in places like Silicon Valley, Tel Aviv, or London, exploiting both agglomeration and dispersion economies in digital production (Malecki & Moriset, 2007; Moriset & Malecki, 2009).


How does digital production in low-income countries fare in the face of this dominance? Policymakers and the private sector in several low-income countries (especially in Sub-Saharan Africa) have set out to transform their economies through ICTs, explicitly emphasizing local digital production. Two sectors that are often seen as promising are (1) low-skill/cost-competition, such as business process outsourcing and digital microwork, and (2) high-skill/entrepreneurial innovation, such as startups developing and commercializing mobile and online applications.


However, what are the concrete and realistic potentials and possibilities for low-income countries to become important hubs for digital production? What are palpable economic outcomes of Kenya’s status as the “Silicon Savannah” or Lagos as the “Silicon Lagoon,” and who are the winners and losers of local ICT entrepreneurship and innovation? Do ICTs really deliver economic inclusion and employment to remote geographies and low-income groups, or are we witnessing the rise of online sweatshops that further enhance exploitation of vulnerable populations?


This session will explore these themes, encouraging contributions from a variety of perspectives. We invite authors to consider digital production in low-income/developing countries through lenses such as:

• Empirical or theoretical perspectives on digital production and its (uneven) geographies
• Discourse around digital production and its promises and risks
• Distributions of value creation and extraction across actor groups (winners/losers)
• Tensions of scaling versus local adaptation in digital production, in application to geography and inclusion/exclusion effects
• Uneven production geographies within countries, in particular, differences and divides between rural/peri-urban/urban clusters
• Socio-demographic analyses of economic actors engaging in digital production
• Case studies of low-skill/cost-competition digital production (e.g., business process outsourcing, microwork, etc.)
• Case studies of high-skill/entrepreneurial innovation in digital production (e.g., mobile/online applications startups, technology innovation hubs)
• Analyses and recommendations for local and international policy pertaining to digital production

*Submission Procedure:*

To be considered for the session, please send your abstract of 250 words or fewer, to: mark.graham@oii.ox.ac.uk, nicolas.friederici@oii.ox.ac.uk, and
isis.hjorth@oii.ox.ac.uk


The deadline for receipt of abstracts is October 1 2014. Notification of acceptance will be before October 7. All accepted papers will then need to register for the AAG conference at aag.org. Accepted papers will be considered for a special issue or edited volume edited by the organizers.



Malecki, E. J., & Moriset, B. (2007). The paradox of a “double-edged” geography: local ecosystems of the digital economy. In The Digital Economy: Business Organization, Production Processes and Regional Developments (pp. 174–198). New York, NY: Routledge.
Moriset, B., & Malecki, E. J. (2009). Organization versus Space: The Paradoxical Geographies of the Digital Economy. Geography Compass, 3(1), 256–274.