Call for papers for a special section of Mobile Media &
Communication titled “Mobile Methods: Explorations, Innovations, and
Reflections”, to be published in volume 6:1, 2018 (http://mmc.sagepub.com)
Guest
Editors
Jeffrey Boase, PhD, Associate Professor, University of
Toronto, Canada, j.boase@utoronto.ca
Lee Humphreys, PhD, Associate Professor, Cornell University,
USA, lmh13@cornell.edu
Overview
Mobile devices have become a primary medium of everyday
life. They are a means by which close relationships are maintained, new relationships
are formed, information is acquired, entertainment is delivered, and work gets
done. As such, mobile devices have become an important new site for social science
research, and they have simultaneously inserted themselves into traditional
research sites in which quantitative and qualitative data are collected. The
implications for how data are collected and analyzed are vast and affect
researchers working in a variety of traditions. For those working in behavioural
science traditions, the large caches of detailed and highly personal
behavioural log data contained on mobile devices raise new opportunities along
with weighty ethical and methodological challenges. For those working in
interpretive traditions, the role of mobile devices in many aspects of social
life requires a rethinking of research contexts and modes. Mobile devices can
also act as new tools for data
collection, allowing participants to share and create social meaning, and
researchers to conduct on-screen surveying, experience sampling, field
experiments, technology probes, and so forth.
We seek out scholars who are methodologically reflective
about the use of mobile methods in their research, whether it be to better
understand the mobile and mediated environment or to use the mobile devices as
a lens into broader social, political or health issues, questions, and
interventions. We seek diverse mobile methods scholarship that is innovative,
rigorous, creative, and/or exploratory.
Submissions that develop or advance new mobile
methodological approaches are encouraged, as are articles that explore
epistemological issues related to mobile methods.
The articles in the special section may include, but are not
limited to, the following themes in the study of mobile methods:
- Ethical issues in mobile data collection
- Multi-method approaches to mobile data collection
- Integrating mobile devices into interviews
- Mobile data collection in field experiments
- Mobile ethnography
- Mobile methods beyond the smartphone and tablet
- Ethically tracking behaviour using mobile devices
- Implications of mobile methods for social science
- Experiential sampling using mobile devices
- Opportunities and constraints with on-screen mobile surveys
- Analyzing large and complex behavioural data collected from mobile devices
- Methods that place mobile use into broader social and situational contexts
- Location tracking in mobile research
- Mobile photo elicitation
- Ethical and methodological issues surrounding the development of data collection apps
- Mobile systems/infrastructure analysis
- Critical methods to mobile data collection
Journal Review Process and Submission Guidelines
For guidelines on preparation of manuscripts and criteria
for acceptance, please follow Mobile Media & Communication Submission Guidelines (https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal/mobile-media-communication#submission-guidelines).
Please submit an abstract of 700-800 words that clearly
states the main argument and evidence of the paper and the primary literatures
it is building upon. The abstract should also clearly articulate the submission’s
contribution to mobile methods. For empirical studies still in progress, please
outline the current state and the timeline. Also include the names, titles, and
contact information for 2-3 suggested reviewers. Abstracts are due October 1st,
2016, to j.boase@utoronto.ca (with “Mobile Methods MMC Special Issue” in the
subject line), and should be accompanied by an abbreviated biography (approx. 200-300
words).
Positively reviewed abstracts (notification by November,
2017) will be invited to submit full articles by April 1st, 2017, through http://mmc.sagepub.com.
These full articles will be peer-reviewed by two to three
reviewers and considered for acceptance. The special section will be published
in Volume 6, issue 1, January 2018. Please note that manuscripts must conform
to the guidelines for Mobile Media & Communication. Final papers should be
no longer than 7,000 words, including abstract, references, figures and tables.
In case of further questions, please contact the guest editors.
Tentative Timeline
We are targeting the Special Section publication for January
1st, 2018. The tentative timeline is:
Announce CfP: August 1st, 2016
Extended abstract submission due (700-800 words): October
1st, 2016
Notification of abstract acceptance: November, 2016
Submission of full article: April 1st, 2017
Final version due for production: September 15th, 2017
Submission of full article: 30 April 2016
Final version due for production: December 2016
