CFP: Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents

CFP: Communicating with Machines: Interventions with Digital Agents

Date & Time: Thursday, 25 May 2017; 8:30 - 16:00
Venue: San Diego Hilton Bayfront **ON-SITE**

Organizers:
Autumn Edwards, Western Michigan U; Chad Edwards, Western Michigan U; Andrea L. Guzman, Northern Illinois U; David J. Gunkel, Northern Illinois U; Steve Jones, U of Illinois at Chicago; U; Austin Lee, Northern Kentucky U; Seth C. Lewis, University of Oregon; Jake Liang, Chapman U; Patric Spence, U of Kentucky



Cost of Registration & Attendance:
Faculty $75 USD/ Student $50 USD

Sponsors:
Northern Illinois U, Department of Communication
Northern Kentucky U, College of Informatics
U of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Communication
U of Kentucky, College of Communication & Information, School of Information Science
U of Oregon, Shirley Papé Chair In Electronic Media, School of Journalism and Communication
Western Michigan U, Communication and Social Robotics Lab

Deadline for submissions: 31 January 2017

Digital interlocutors are increasingly standing in for humans in communication contexts. This pre-conference focuses on communication with and between humans and digital interlocutors that has the potential to engage, alter, and disrupt “normal” events, practices, and phenomena. We invite scholars from across ICA’s divisions and a variety of epistemological and methodological backgrounds to discuss their work related to Human-Machine Communication (HMC) interventions, which encompasses Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction, and Human-Agent Interaction, in this full-day pre-conference. We seek to raise awareness of and further develop HMC research and the scholarly community surrounding it.

Notification of acceptance: 15 February 2017

Participant Acknowledgment: Accepted participants will be listed along with the titles of their presentations in both the ICA Conference and the HMC Preconference programs.

Preconference Focus: As artificial intelligence, robotics, and ICTs continue to develop and merge, we are increasingly interacting with digital interlocutors such as voice-based agents, robots, and social bots. We also are sending and receiving messages to and from wearable devices. We directly interact with the technologies surrounding us, and digital entities have been and continue to stand in for humans in everyday communication contexts. The recent surge of digital interlocutors into quotidian routines has been accompanied with questions – voiced by leading scientists as well as the average person – regarding the ramifications of these technologies and our interactions with them.

In concert with the conference theme of "Intervention," our pre-conference focuses on communication with and between humans and digital interlocutors that has the potential to engage, alter, and disrupt “normal” events, practices, and phenomena. We invite scholars from across ICA’s divisions and a variety of epistemological and methodological backgrounds to discuss their work related to HMC interventions, which encompasses Human-Computer Interaction, Human-Robot Interaction, and Human-Agent Interaction, in this full-day pre-conference. We will focus on the individual, cultural, and philosophical implications of the various ways in which we interact with machines. Possible topic areas for participant presentations include, but are not limited to, communicative practices between humans and digital interlocutors, the integration of artificial entities into private, professional, and political spaces, the incorporation of AI into journalism and other media industries, cultural discourse surrounding these technologies, relationship dynamics between humans and machines, reinterpretations and representations of humans as digital entities, and intercultural aspects of HMC. We invite scholars from ICA’s many divisions to discuss their work regarding the individual, cultural, and philosophical implications of machine/digital interventions. We seek to raise awareness of and further develop HMC research and the scholarly community surrounding it. We hope to continue the conversation from last year’s post-conference in Japan.

Preconference format: Our goal is to provide a space for participants to present their research and engage in conversation with one another. We have adopted a two-tiered format in which some scholars will be invited to deliver a paper presentation while others will be invited to take part in a poster session. More details are forthcoming.

Papers: (750-1,000 words excluding references). Papers should detail what the scholar plans to present and how it relates to the overall focus of the preconference on human-machine communication. We are interested in all forms of scholarship (theoretical, empirical, etc).

Papers should be submitted as an attachment to Autumn Edwards: autumn.edwards@wmich.edu

Job: CSIRO Postdoctoral Fellow in Augmented Reality for Decision Support

Job: Postdoctoral Fellow – Digiscape, Augmented and Virtual Reality

CSIRO: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation
Canberra, ACT, Australia

http://www.researchcareer.com.au/jobs/5810-csiro/53558

Deadline: January 9, 2017 or until filled

• Do you want to make a difference?
• Build Augmented Reality systems to support decision making in agriculture
• Join CSIRO’s Data61 and make an impact

As a Postdoctoral Fellow you will carry out innovative, impactful research that will lead to novel and important scientific outcomes, including carrying software engineering and programming for rapid pro-typing of Augmented Reality (AR) systems.

Specifically you will:

• Survey literature, attend workshops and collaborate with staff in Aquaculture and the broader Agriculture domains to understand and map opportunities for AR technologies.
• Craft technology demonstrations that enable people to experience new application concepts using real/live data.
• Contribute to commercialisation efforts.
• Maintain an awareness of industry roadmaps.
• Produce high quality scientific and/or engineering papers suitable for publication in quality journals.
• Prepare and present appropriate conference papers.
• Contribute to the development of innovative concepts and ideas for further research.
• Work collaboratively with colleagues and staff across CSIRO.

Location: Canberra, ACT, Australia
Salary: $78k to $88k plus up to 15.4% super
Professional Development Budget: Yes
Term: 3 years
Reference: 29563

To be considered you will need:

• A PhD in Computer Science, Engineering or a directly related field.
• High levels of oral and written communication and ability to represent the team at national and international conferences
• Experience conducting research in interactive 3D graphics and/or computer vision in Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality and/or Web3D.
• Experience building interactive software in one of the following programming languages -Javascript, C++, C#, Python, Matlab.
• Familiarity with computer graphics engines such as Unity or Unreal and/or familiarity with Graphics Libraries such as OpenGL, Vulkan, or DirectX.
• The ability to work effectively as part of a multi—disciplinary, regionally dispersed research team and carry out tasks autonomously.
• A record of science innovation and creativity and a willingness to contribute novel ideas and approaches to support scientific investigations.
• To be able to travel to conferences, fieldwork, meetings and other events.

ABOUT CSIRO

At the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation we do the extraordinary every day. We innovate for tomorrow and help improve today – for our customers, all Australians and the world.

We imagine. We collaborate. We innovate.

Find out more www.csiro.au

ABOUT THE FUTURE SCIENCE PLATFORMS AND DIGISCAPE

Future Science Platforms (FSPs) are a major new CSIRO initiative and are multi-year investments in frontier science that will help reinvent and create new industries for Australia. In the future Australia’s agriculture.

Digiscape is the FSP that is creating next-generation decision tools to transform the agriculture and land management sector. To achieve this aim, Digiscape will bring to bear cutting edge climate science; new sources of locally and remotely sensed data; informatics for agro-ecosystems; rigorous analysis of uncertainties; and innovation in both the ICT and social dimensions of systems integration.

ABOUT AUSTRALIA AND CANBERRA

Australia is a stable, democratic and culturally diverse nation with a highly skilled workforce and one of the strongest performing economies in the world. With a spectacular natural environment, high quality of life and great diversity Australia is a sought after destination. Find out more About Australia.

Canberra is Australia’s capital city, designed for easy living, with wide tree-lined streets. It is close to snow fields and pastoral lands. The climate supports an outdoor lifestyle that engenders a strong interest in sports of all types.

TO APPLY:

Please upload 1 document only containing your CV/Resume, cover letter and any transcripts. In your application please provide sufficient, brief, relevant and specific information to enable the selection panel to assess your suitability against the selection criteria.

Please note: This is an early career position open to those with no more than 3 years research experience since completing their PhD.

To view the full position description and to apply, please visit: https://jobs.csiro.au/job/Canberra%2C-ACT-Postdoctoral-Fellow/378254200/

Application Deadline: Open until filled, however we encourage you to submit your application by January 9, 2017 as we will interview suitable candidates from this date onwards.

CFP: CRITICAL DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA STUDIES

NEW CALL FOR OPEN ACCESS BOOK PROPOSALS: CRITICAL DIGITAL AND SOCIAL MEDIA STUDIES

Critical Digital and Social Media Studies is a new open access book series edited by Professor Christian Fuchs on behalf of the Westminster Institute for Advanced Studies and published by the University of Westminster Press (UWP). We invite submissions of book proposals that fall into the scope of the series.

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Monday 30 January 2017 23:00 BST

by e-mail to Andrew Lockett (University of Westminster Press Manager), A.Lockett@westminster.ac.uk.

For full details and proposal guidelines see; http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/news

CALL DETAILS

The Critical Digital and Social Media Studies Series is published by the University of Westminster Press (http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk). The first volume in the series - Christian Fuchs: Critical Theory of Communication - has just been published and is available as gratis open access book and as affordable paperback:

http://www.uwestminsterpress.co.uk/site/books/detail/1/critical-theory-of-communication/

Example topics that the book series is interested in include: the political economy of digital and social media; digital and informational capitalism; digital labour; ideology critique in the age of social media; new developments of critical theory in the age of digital and social media; critical studies of advertising and consumer culture online; critical social media research methods; critical digital and social media ethics; working class struggles in the age of social media; the relationship of class, gender and race in the context of digital and social media; the critical analysis of the implications of big data, cloud computing, digital positivism, the Internet of things, predictive online analytics, the sharing economy, location- based data and mobile media, etc.; the role of classical critical theories for studying digital and social media; alternative social media and Internet platforms; the public sphere in the age of digital media; the critical study of the Internet economy; critical perspectives on digital democracy; critical case studies of online prosumption; public service digital and social media; commons-based digital and social media; subjectivity, consciousness, affects, worldviews and moral values in the age of digital and social media; digital art and culture in the context of critical theory; environmental and ecological aspects of digital capitalism and digital consumer culture.

CFP: Changing Ecologies of Media Industries: Technology, Business, and Policy

Changing Ecologies of Media Industries: Technology, Business, and Policy

International Conference in Chuncheon, Korea, April 23-25, 2017

It is now almost two decades since the term ‘Information and Communications Technology (ICT)’ moved into media and communication studies. With the emergence and pervasiveness of the internet and digital technologies, laws, policies, and business practices have been enacted on various ICT industries around the world. New standards, regulations, and other social elements in the ICT industries are of different types, significance, scales and scopes. It is significant to critically evaluate the relationship between these standards and values in their social, political, and technological, and cultural dimensions and thereby develop models of policy development in the ICT industries. Comparative studies are also required to understand the nature of the development processes of the ICT industries around the world. Various topics arise from all levels and corners:

• Who has the power to define develop and implement the standards in the ICT industries?
• What are the roles of the state, business, and consumers in developing, maintaining, and/or contesting the boundaries of the ICT industries?
• What social values emerge in these development processes of the ICT industry?
• Which values are attached to standardization processes in each country’s ICT industry and how are they related to the government’s political stance?
• What are differences and similarities in the development processes of the ICT industries among different countries? And many other related topics.

This international conference aims at collecting papers that focus on the issues related to the ecology of the ICT industries from different angles and perspectives in social sciences, including media, communication, political science, psychology, sociology, economics, anthropology, jurisprudence, history and etc. We especially welcome papers developing models of policy development in the ICT industries.

Extended abstracts should be no longer than 1,000 words, written in English and contain a clear outline of the argument, the theoretical framework, methodology, and results (if applicable). These abstracts should be submitted by January 15, 2017 to kalshin@hallym.ac.kr  For each author, please include name, institutional affiliation, and department, title/position, and contact information. For any other inquiries, please also email to kalshin@hallym.ac.kr 

Notifications of acceptance will be sent out approximately 2 to 3 weeks after the deadline. Selected participants are then required to submit their full research paper of no more than 10,000 words by March 31, 2017.

We are pleased to offer full or partial supports for travel and accommodation to authors of high quality papers. There are a limited number of grants and thus they will be offered on a competitive basis.

Conference Organizing Committee Chair:

Shin Dong Kim, PhD. kimsd@hallym.ac.kr

Professor & Director, Institute for Communication Arts and Technology (iCat)

Hallym University, Korea

*This conference is supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea, and Hallym University.

CFP: 2017 #SMSociety Theme: Social Media for Social Good or Evil

2017 #SMSociety Theme: Social Media for Social Good or Evil

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Our online behaviour is far from virtual–it extends our offline lives. Much social media research has identified the positive opportunities of using social media; for example, how people use social media to form support groups online, participate in political uprising, raise money for charities, extend teaching and learning outside the classroom, etc. However, mirroring offline experiences, we have also seen social media being used to spread propaganda and misinformation, recruit terrorists, live stream criminal activities, reinforce echo chambers by politicians, and perpetuate hate and oppression (such as racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic behaviour). Furthermore, behind the posts are algorithms, power structures, commercial interests and other factors that surreptitiously influence our experiences on social media. So, we ask:

• What does it actually mean to use social media for social good?
• How can social media be further leveraged for social justice? What are the threats to meaningful participation and how can we overcome these threats?
• What do we know about the 4 W’s of who, what, why, where (and how) do people engage in anti-social behaviour online?
• What theoretical and methodological tools can we use to study anti-social behaviour? Can we detect such behaviour automatically?
• What are the ethics of algorithms (inclusion, accessibility, data discrimination, bots)?
• What are the legal, policy, privacy, and ethical implications of using social big data?
• Considering the proliferation of bots online, can we still trust social media data?
• And more broadly, what are the major effects of using social media on political, economic, individual, and social aspects of our society?

The 2017 International Conference on Social Media & Society (#SMSociety) invites scholarly and original submissions that relate to the broad theme of Social Media & Society. We welcome both quantitative and qualitative work which crosses interdisciplinary boundaries and expands our understanding of the current and future trends in social media research, especially those that explore some of the questions and issues raised above. 

IMPORTANT DATES

Workshops/ Technical Tutorials – Due December 5, 2016

Full and Work -in-progress (WIP) Papers – Due January 16, 2017

Posters – Due March 6, 2017

Conference – July 28-30, 2017

Please visit the Submission Page (http://socialmediaandsociety.org/submit/) for a full description of the submission types and deadlines for Workshops/Technical Tutorials, Panels, Full Papers, Work-in-Progress Papers, and Posters.)

PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES:

Full and WIP (short) papers presented at the Conference will be published in the conference proceedings by ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (ICPS)  and will be available in the ACM Digital Library. All conference presenters will also be invited to submit their extended conference paper to a special issue of the journal Social Media + Society  (http://sms.sagepub.com/) published by SAGE. 

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE:

The International Conference on Social Media & Society (#SMSociety) is an annual gathering of leading social media researchers from around the world. Now, in its 8th year, the 2017 conference will be held in Toronto, Canada on July 28-30.

From its inception, the Conference has focused on the best practices for studying the impact and implications of social media on society. Our invited industry and academic keynotes have highlighted the shifting questions and concerns for the social media research community. From introducing media multiplexity and networked individualism with Caroline Haythornthwaite and Barry Wellman in 2010 and 2011, to measuring influence with Gilad Lotan and Sharad Goel in 2012 and 2013, to defining social media research as a field with Keith Hampton in 2014, to identifying our commitments as social media researchers in policy making with Bill Dutton in 2015, to exploring the future of social media technologies with John Weigelt in 2015, to highlighting the challenges of social media data mining in the context of big data with Susan Halford and Helen Kennedy in 2016.

Organized by the Social Media Lab (http://socialmedialab.ca/) at Ted Rogers School of Management at Ryerson University, the conference provides participants with opportunities to exchange ideas, present original research, learn about recent and ongoing studies, and network with peers. The conference’s intensive three-day program features workshops, full papers, work-in-progress papers, panels, and posters. The wide-ranging topics in social media showcase research from scholars working in many fields including Communication, Computer Science, Education, Journalism, Information Science, Management, Political Science, Sociology, Social Work, etc. 

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: 

• Anatoliy Gruzd, Ryerson University, Canada – Conference Chair
• Jenna Jacobson, University of Toronto, Canada – Conference Chair
• Philip Mai, Ryerson University, Canada – Conference Chair
• Hazel Kwon, Arizona State University, USA – Poster Chair
• Bernie Hogan, Oxford Internet Institute – WIP Chair
• Jeff Hemsley, Syracuse University, USA – WIP Chair
• ADVISORY BOARD:
• William H. Dutton, Michigan State University, USA
• Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
• Barry Wellman, INSNA Founder, The Netlab Network

TOPICS OF INTEREST:

• Social Media Impact on Society
• Political Mobilization & Engagement
• Extremism & Terrorism
• Politics of Hate and Oppression
• The Sharing/Attention Economy
• Social Media & Health
• Virality & Memes

Social Media & Social Justice

• Social Media & Business (Marketing, PR, HR, Risk Management, etc.)
• Social Media & Academia (Alternative Metrics, Learning Analytics, etc.)
• Social Media & Public Administration
• Social Media & the News

Online/Offline Communities

• Trust & Credibility in Social Media
• Online Community Detection
• Influential User Detection
• Identity

Social Media & Small Data

• Case Studies of Online Communities Formed on Social Media
• Case Studies of Offline Communities that Rely on Social Media
• Sampling Issues
• Value of Small Data

Social Media & Big Data

• Visualization of Social Media Data
• Social Media Data Mining
• Scalability Issues & Social Media Data
• Social Media Analytics
• Ethics of Big Data/Algorithms

Theories & Methods

• Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches
• Opinion Mining & Sentiment Analysis
• Social Network Analysis
• Theoretical Models for Studying, Analysing and Understanding Social Media

Social Media & Mobile

• App-ification of Society
• Privacy & Security Issues in the Mobile World
• Apps for the Social Good
• Networking Apps 

CFP: International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Special Issue: Following User Pathways

International Journal of Human-Computer Interaction Special Issue: Following User Pathways
http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/est/hihc-cfb-8.2016

Call for Papers
Social media and the resulting tidal wave of available data have changed how researchers analyze communities at scale. However, the full potential for science has not yet been achieved, despite the popularity of social media analysis in the past decade. To date, few researchers invest in cross-platform analyses due to various reasons, e.g. variations in curating data, disparate methods and tools, complexity of cross-platform and mixed method analysis, methodological conflicts arising from mixed method studies, etc.
"Following user pathways: Using cross platform and mixed methods analysis in social media studies" brings together a community of researchers and professionals to address methodological, analytical, conceptual, and technological challenges and opportunities of mapping user across platforms with mixed method analysis in social media ecosystems.

See the full call and scope at: http://explore.tandfonline.com/cfp/est/hihc-cfb-8.2016?

Important Dates
Abstract Submissions (optional): 19 December 2016
Submission of papers: 1 February 2017
Notification of review results: 28 April 2017
Submission of revised papers: 15 July 2017
Notification of final review results: 15 August 2017
Expected Publication: Q1 2018