Face-Off: Facial Recognition Technologies and Humanity in an Era of Big Data.

 

Please join us on April 18th from 9:30am - 3:20pm for Boston University's international symposium Face-Off: Facial Recognition Technologies and Humanity in an Era of Big Data.  Speakers and panels are as follows:

Panel 1: Understanding Facial Recognition

How Does the Face Recognition Technology Work?
Margrit Betke, Boston University

The Biology of Facial Recognition
Mark Frank, University at Buffalo

Panel 2: Ethical Concerns and Practical Benefits

The Risks and Benefits of Facial Recognition? A New Direction Needed
Vanessa Nurock, Epidapo CNRS-UCLA & Université Paris 8

The Ethical Significance of the Face and AI Facial Recognition

Laura Specker Sullivan, Harvard Medical School’s Center for Bioethics

An Industry Perspective on Facial Recognition Technology
Derek Christensen, Accenture

Panel 3: Historical and Contemporary Uses and Abuses

Alphonse Bertillon: Issues in the “Scientific” Identification of Persons by Means of Facial Features at the Turn of the 20th Century
Pierre Piazza, Cergy-Pontoise University

The Perpetual Line-Up: Unregulated Police Face Recognition in America
Clare Garvie and Alvaro Bedoya, the Center on Privacy and Technology at Georgetown

LawJonathan Frankle, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Panel 4: Applications and Perceptions

Emotion, Classification, and Race in Facial Recognition Systems
Luke Stark, Dartmouth College

Public Perceptions and Concerns: A View from Chile
Daniel Halpern, Pontifical Catholic University of Chile

Putting a Face to a Name in Clinical Settings: Recognizing Faces in
Manifestation and Outcomes of Clinician Anonymity
Lora Appel, OpenLab University Health Network, TorontoYork University,
Toronto

For additional details and registration information, please visit the event
website <https://www.mellonphilemerge.com/events/face-off>.  Be sure to
click Read More for full details.  Space is limited, so please be sure to
register!

Contact Sarah Krongard at krongard@bu.edu with any questions.

CFP: Journalism and the search for truth in an age of social media

Call for Papers
International symposium
Journalism and the search for truth in an age of social media
Implications of “fake news” and internet trolling for democracy, politics and citizen inclusion
Boston University
April 23-25, 2017
https://demsatbu.wixsite.com/conference

As the journalism profession struggles to respond to social media’s proliferating role, fresh social scientific and philosophical perspectives are required to comprehend news in relationship to the pursuit of truth. Such perspectives will allow insight into the limits and potential of news creation. Moreover, they will yield a firmer grasp of professional journalism’s role as the public consumes and responds to news.

Social media-based production and consumption of news poses not only unprecedented challenges to journalism’s gatekeeper role in society but also to democratic processes themselves. Social media’s effects reverberate around the world, altering events on a global scale. Although there is a constantly changing kaleidoscope of particular manifestations of these challenges, questions of credibility and truthfulness as represented through information outlets have recently gained renewed prominence. 

This was an issue foreseen by James E. Katz’s 1998 article, “Struggle in cyberspace: Fact and friction on the World Wide Web.” Of course in the intervening years, this struggle has broadened well beyond the World Wide Web to encompass an array of rapidly evolving digital outlets and technologies. Indeed, the struggle has become a pivotal dimension concerning how people come to grips with their reality.

Consequently, a sense of crisis has gripped many quarters as the authority of democratic processes and institutions have been questioned. One response has been calls for action that are now reverberating throughout boardrooms, college campuses, and legislatures. In response, steps are already being taken by media giants, but to unknown effect and with virtually no transparency or accountability. Moreover, such steps have been greeted by telling criticism on philosophical, ideological and oligopolistic grounds.

To pursue a clearer understanding of the scope and implications of this dramatic struggle between fact and fiction, which now goes to the heart of the journalistic enterprise, Boston University will hold interconnected sessions April 23-25, 2017.

Research-based perspectives invited, especially from younger scholars. Travel and lodging support available for paper presenters. Send abstracts to lcrocker@bu.edu

MARCH 7, 2017
New Extended Deadline ~
250 WORD ABSTRACTS DUE EMAIL TO LCROCKER@BU.EDU

CFP: Streaming, Binge-Watching & Second Screening: Online Social Television in Perspective

Streaming, Binge-Watching & Second Screening: Online Social Television in Perspective

Overview

Television has been transformed. It is not a just fixed, flickering screen in living rooms and public spaces around the world anymore. In the contemporary sense, television has literally cut the cord to become a mobile, always-on, and personalized experience that is informed by recommendations and algorithms. Seeing “what’s on” TV from a hierarchical schedule provided by a handful of dominant media producers and distribution systems is fading into memory or no longer exists for billions of television viewers around the world.
Previous work in on streaming television and social media has suggested that “While the process of storytelling is technologically agnostic, each communication vehicle offers specific affordances that encourage certain behaviors and interactions” (Groshek & Krongard, 2016, p. 3). However, there is still only a relatively limited body of research about streaming television, binge-watching, and the use of television in combination with other social media platforms across a wide range of social, political, personal, emotional, and health areas.
Thus, the Division of Emerging Media Studies at Boston University is hosting a two-day conference to address the most pressing issues related to streaming television, binge-watching and television’s growing intersection with social media. We hope this event, which is scheduled to take place in The Castle, one of the most historic and intimate meeting halls on the Boston University campus from April 20th – 21st, will provide a platform for the collective expertise of International Scientific Advisory Board members as well as other researchers working in the area to make an impact unique to the field. As conference organizers, we do not want to place parameters on contributions, which can be empirical, theoretical, thought exercises, essays, reflections, analyses, qualitative, quantitative, observations – any scholarly approach is welcome.
In terms of topics, we ask prospective contributors to feel free to draw on their expertise and vision, but of course there are a wide range of topics that relate to streaming television and second screening in terms of adoption, use, or content, such as (but not limited to):

• Mobile devices
• Life satisfaction
• Human relationships
• Health communication
• Civility and elections
• Political and civic participation
• Television platforms
• Social networks
• Artificial intelligence
• Algorithms
• Metadata and meta-analyses
• Academic performance

At this stage, abstracts should be approximately 500 words, including references and figures, and can be submitted by email to conference coordinator Jessica Bonner (jbonner@bu.edu) no later than March 13, 2017. There are no specific author guidelines, but we do ask that authors be consistent in using the referencing style of their choice. Full papers (from approximately 2,5000 – 9,000 words) will be due to discussants one week before the conference. For those interested, we will be pursuing options for a special issue of these proceedings with a leading journal.
Practitioners and subject-matter experts will be invited to give brief papers on selected topics which will then be followed by interrogative discussion. In addition, drawing on an open, peer-reviewed “call for papers,” additional scholars and practitioners will be included in the sessions. The format of the talks will be to organize them into panels. In each panel there will be a brief presentation by the paper author followed by an extended commentary from among panelists.
Audiences, both attending in-person and participating via live-streaming sessions, will have an opportunity to raise questions and contribute viewpoints. Ample time is also scheduled for informal discussion so that discrete ideas can be explored in depth and serendipitous interpersonal connections can be forged. Following the conference, selected papers will be published online and in special issues of peer-reviewed journals so that the ideas developed and expressed during the conference can receive wide circulation. Some talks and interview excerpts will also be posted online to further the event’s impact.

Agenda (subject to change)

DAY ONE, Thursday, April 20, 2017
12:30 PM: Welcoming remarks by Dean Tom Fiedler, College of Communication, Boston University
12:45 PM: Lunch and opening address on the transformation of television; followed by informal discussion
2:15 PM: Panel 1.1 on the implications of streaming television, binge-watching and second screening
3:45 PM: Keynote address, “The Social Life of Screens” by Professor Pablo J. Boczkowski (Northwestern University)
5:00 PM: Reception
6:45 PM: Dinner — Location TBA
DAY TWO, Friday, April 21, 2017
9:30 AM: Registration & coffee
10:00 AM: Panel 2.1 on the implications of streaming television, binge-watching and second screening
12:30 PM: Lunch and poster presentations, informal discussion and networking session
2:00 PM: Panel 2.2 on the implications of streaming television, binge-watching and second screening
3:30 PM: Keynote address by Professor Homero Gil de Zúñiga (University of Vienna)
5:00 PM: Reception

International Scientific Advisory Board Members:

• Ahmed al-Rawi (Concordia University)
• Luca Barra (University of Bologna)
• Britt Christensen (Zayed University)
• Pedro Ferreira (Carnegie Mellon University)
• Homero Gil de Zúñiga (University of Vienna)
• Mareike Jenner (Anglia Ruskin University)
• Elana Levine (University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee)
• Seth Lewis (University of Oregon)
• Amanda Lotz (University of Michigan)
• Grant McCracken (Berkman Center, Harvard University)
• Peppino Ortoleva (University of Torino)
• Matthew Pittman (University of Oregon)
• Mark Stewart (University of Amsterdam)
• Chuck Tryon (Fayetteville State University)

* Institutional affiliations are for identification purposes and do not imply endorsement.

Key Dates

March 13: Extended abstracts (~500 words) due to organizers. Send abstracts to jbonner@bu.edu
March 20: Notification of acceptance decision.
April 13: Completed papers (~2,500 – 9,000 words) due to discussants.

April 20-21: Workshop held at Boston University.

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.

Call: 7th Budapest Visual Learning Conference – Virtual, Visual, Veridical

Call for Abstracts

7th Budapest Visual Learning Conference
November 11–12, 2016

Visual Learning: VIRTUAL – VISUAL – VERIDICAL

How do the visual and the virtual relate to each other, what are the relationships between image and truth? How can the visual be veridical, and how is the really real reflected by virtual reality? How are images handed down, and what do traditions amount to in the network age?

Invited speakers:
James E. Katz (Boston University)
Petra Aczél (Corvinus University of Budapest)
Zoltán Kövecses (Eötvös Lóránd University of Budapest)
Philipp Stoellger (Universität Heidelberg)
Kristóf Nyíri (Hungarian Academy of Sciences)

Conference to take place in Budapest, November 11–12, 2016. Conference organized by the Visual Learning Lab, Department of Technical Education, Budapest University of Technology and Economics (http://vll.mpt.bme.hu).

Contributions are invited from educational, communication and media theorists, philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and other interested scholars on the following and related topics:

• educational theory and visual learning
• resemblance, representation, reality
• image and language
• images and media theory
• visual rhetoric
• pictorial meaning
• pictorial communication — visual imagery
• visual intelligence
• the visual mind
• the image problem in the history of philosophy
• visual argument
• scientific visualization
• visualization and higher education
• images in the network age

A slot of altogether 30 minutes is planned for each presentation.

The selected papers will be published as an ISBN publication in the series Visual Learning (Peter Lang Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften) as well as in the on-line journal Opus et Educatio.

Submission of abstracts (max. 200 words) and short biographical statements (max. 100 words) by August 16, 2016. Please send your submissions to vll2016@eik.bme.hu. Those submitting abstracts will be notified of the decision concerning acceptance by August 31, 2016.

The conference venue (Budapest University of Technology and Economics, 1117 Budapest, Magyar Tudósok körútja 2, Bld. Q, Wing A) is located near downtown Budapest.

Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture features Leopoldina Fortunati

Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture features Leopoldina Fortunati

Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk

June 14, 2016

Fukuoka, Japan

The 2016 Steve Jones Internet Research Lecture features Leopoldina Fortunati (University of Udine, Italy), at 12 pm, on June 14, 2016, in Hilton Fukuoka Sea Hawk, International Communication Association’s 66^th Annual Conference, in Fukuoka, Japan.

The title of Fortunati’s lecture is “Feminism, labor and the mechanization of everyday life.”  In the lecture, Fortunati will adopt a political economy approach to examine the issue of machines diffusion in everyday life, which connects machines with labor, value production and struggles/resistance, especially by women, against the present organization and division of labor.

Fortunati will address the social and political role of machines in society, as well as social robots, which can be considered in many ways the next new media. Some social robots built in recent years in many laboratories are ready to be launched on the market and more generally placed in society. But the conceptual tools to handle this last mile to go still need to be fully developed. When an object of such technological complexity and with such rhetorical power, like robots are, is no longer used only by niches of innovators or users (such as autistic) but is proposed as a good of mass consumption, a series of problems, new themes and strategies comes into the spotlight.

This event is co-sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research (www.cccsir.com), University of Illinois, Chicago, and the International Communication Association.  For more information about this event, please contact Shing-Ling Sarina Chen, sarina.chen@uni.edu.

#Screentime 2016 - Technological Affordances and Constraints in Mediated Life

#Screentime 2016 - Technological Affordances and Constraints in Mediated Life

http://sites.bu.edu/demsconference/

The graduate students of Boston University’s Division of Emerging Media Studies invite abstracts for their second annual Conference on Emerging Media.

#Screentime aims to explore the social, emotional, and civic implications of today’s media landscape. Social forces and technological elements are driving changes in this developing field of study.This conference is an opportunity to bridge diverse perspectives on the roles of users and technology in new media, and will lay the groundwork for future research.

Topics

Emerging Media Studies is an inherently interdisciplinary field; we welcome abstracts from a variety of perspectives and disciplines on a range of topics, including but not limited to:

• Civility, sub-cultures, and online discourse
• Uses and effects of mobile communication technologies Digital distribution and industry disruption
• Data mining on social networks
• Emerging technologies’ effects on users
• Video games and virtual worlds
• Digital communication and public health

The conference is free of charge to both presenters and attendees.This conference is aimed at graduate students to showcase their research, and as an opportunity to network with peers.

Important Dates

Abstract Submission - May 1, 2016

Acceptance Notification - June 1, 2016

Registration Deadline - TBA

Conference - June 23, 2016

Venue

10 Buick Street – 18th Floor, Student Village 1 – Boston, MA 02215

Submission Instructions

Abstracts should be no more than 300 words. Papers will be peer reviewed.

E-mail your submissions to demsconf@bu.edu

Please include your name and institutional affiliation (department/university), program and year of study, research focus/interests, and contact information (email and phone number).

Applicants will be notified of their acceptance on a rolling basis no later than June 1st, 2016.

Genes · Germs · GMOs

Genes · Germs · GMOs

1:30-5:30pm

April 20, 2016

Hillel Building (second floor)

Boston University

213 Bay State Rd, Boston, MA 02215

Reception to follow

Hosted by the Division of Emerging Media Studies

Has the power of social media disrupted scientific understanding?

Armed with just Internet connections, social-media accounts and passionate beliefs, millions of ordinary people now shape the debate on such complex-and-controversial scientific questions as personal genetic testing, genetically modified foods (GMOs), and antibiotic treatments.  This social-media activism not only can distort public understanding of these critical issues but it can disrupt governmental support and regulations.

Come hear distinguished experts discuss such questions as: How has social media empowered its users?  To what extend has the public’s engagement affected the quality of scientific debate? Have the policy outcomes improved?  Speakers include Piper Below (University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston), Kevin Folta (University of Florida), Dominique Broussard (University of Wisconsin), and Annie Waldherr (Freie Universität Berlin).

Sponsored by Boston University’s College of Communication and co-sponsored by the Office of the Vice President & Associate Provost for Research and School of Law

CFP: 13th ICA Mobile Pre-Conference: The All-Powerful Mobile

CALL FOR WORKSHOPS

13th ICA Mobile Pre-Conference:

The All-Powerful Mobile

June 8, 2016, Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan

Deadline for Workshop Proposals: December 15, 2015.

Two decades of research on the social implications of mobile-mediated communication have passed, during which the repertoire of mobile devices and mobile contents, functions and usage contexts have tremendously expanded. As we stand at the threshold of the third decade of mobile media research, we can look back at how powerful the influence of mobile media has been in several aspects of people’s everyday life, and use these insights to speculate about what the future of mobile media and mobile research may bring.

The 13th annual ICA Mobile pre-conference aims to reflect upon the influence of mobile technologies on everyday practices through the theme “The All-Powerful Mobile.” The pre-conference will be organized into Blue Sky Workshops. These workshops will provide a forum where graduate students, new faculty, and more experienced scholars can discuss their research, thus creating an opportunity to cultivate a supportive and integrated community of thinkers. The preconference will also feature an opening keynote speaker and other engaging informal, more social, activities.

We invite workshop proposals covering a broad range of topics related to the social implications of mobile media. Topics may include mobile media and civic engagement, mobile activism and social movements, mobile social media, mobile learning and education, mobile media research methods, mobile media and youth, mobile media in international contexts, mobile health, mobile cultures and art, mobile media and place, mobile journalism, mobile media usability and UX issues, mobile language, sociology/anthropology/psychology of mobile communication and mobile media histories.

Workshop proposals are welcome from scholars at all stages of their careers and across multiple disciplines related to mobile communication. We particularly encourage mobile scholars from the Asian region to submit a proposal. Each workshop will be allotted a timeslot of approximately 2 hours. Workshops should focus on the dissemination and discussion of new ideas, theory and empirical results, but can also be more practically or industry oriented. A workshop is typically organized around a consortium of 4-5 proposers who present and discuss their work, but should be open to the active partcipation of other preconference attendees. Preconference attendees can attend multiple workshops.

Submissions should include a workshop summary of 500-800 words (excluding title and references). This summary should describe:

(1) the topic and its relation to the preconference theme,

(2) the goal of the workshop

(3) the scheduled activity, detailing how participants and the audience may be involved, and

(4) the proposers and their contribution to the workshop.

Proposals can be submitted via email to icamobile16@gmail.com. The workshop summaries will be published online and in the printed program. Submissions will be reviewed by a review committee of mobile scholars, and selected based on criteria of relevance, originality, theoretical/practical contribution, clarity of presentation, as well as fit with the conference theme. Review will be non-blind due to the workshop nature. Notifications of acceptance will be emailed to contributors by January 2016.

Mobile scholars who wish to submit a workshop proposal but are still looking for additional participants to form a consortium, are advised to use the twitter hashtag #icamobile16 or to add a post on the ICA Mobile Facebook page.

Boston University Center for Mobile Communication Studies-- April 9th Expert Workshop

Boston University Center for Mobile Communication Studies

April 9th Expert Workshop

Social media and the prospects for expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting
Expert Workshop April 9th, 2015

Although social media have demonstrated their critical role in electoral politics and many other domains including disseminating political news and information, they have not yet been effectively deployed in helping set national policy. New social media platforms could potentially expand the quality and level of public support in areas such as law enforcement, health, education, and public diplomacy.

To better understand the barriers as well as potential role, both positive and negative, of social media in setting national goals and policies, leading thinkers will be coming to Boston University’s College of Communication on April 9, 2015. With papers having been prepared in advance, the day-long event will allow in-depth analysis of the latest thinking on these issues. In addition, time will be set aside for a mapping exercise to consider what the next steps are in terms of needed future research so that the insights presented at the workshop can help inform other researchers both in the United States and beyond

We have a strong set of papers to be presented and a wide-ranging and esteemed group of participants and guests. The following is our current list of presenters and discussants

Amy Becker, Loyola University
Michael Bruter, London School of Economics
Lauren Copeland, John Carroll University
Deen Freelon, American University
Archon Fung, Harvard Kennedy School
Hahrie Han, Wellesley College
Eitan Hersh, Yale University
Phil Howard, University of Washington
David Karpf, George Washington University
Daniel Kreiss, University of North Carolina
Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, Roskilde Universitet
Richard Pineda, University of Texas at El Paso
Benjamin Schneer, Harvard University

This expert workshop is designed to bring leading thinkers in the field together to discuss what is known and what we still need to know about the role that social media can and should play in national policy-setting. Attendance at this event is very limited. For more information, please contact Jill Walsh at mobicom@bu.edu.

As part of our initiative we will be holding a public event on April 8th. For more information click here.

Boston University Center for Mobile Communication Studies-- April 8th Public Event

Boston University Center for Mobile Communication Studies

April 8th Public Event

Social media and the prospects for expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting.
Public Event April 8th at 4:30pm
Boston University College of Communication
640 Commonwealth Ave Boston, MA Room TBD

The Division of Emerging Media Studies and the Center for Mobile Communication are co-sponsoring a public event April 8, 2015 at 4:30pm on the potential role, both positive and negative, of social media in setting national goals and policies.

The power of social media appears at times almost limitless. Indeed, when explaining the reasons for ISIL’s surprising success, President Obama included in the list that they had been “savvy in terms of their social media” (CBS 60 Minutes, 9/28/14). While there is no arguing that social media have affected daily life, their impact on the conduct governance, widely considered, seems slight. This is perhaps surprising since social media offers the promise of expanded participation and more inclusive participation opportunities in governance. Yet although social media have demonstrated their critical role in electoral politics and many other domains including disseminating political news and information, they have not yet been effectively deployed in helping set national policy.

Dr. Michael Bruter will be our featured speaker for the event. Dr. Bruter publishes widely in political psychology, elections, and political behavior. His most recent book, The Future of our Democracies examines the motivations of young Europeans to engage in the political process despite their generation’s tendency to political apathy.

This event will be a wonderful opportunity to learn and network with leaders in the field of emerging media and policy-setting. Reserve your space at the public event for guaranteed seating here.

Please email Jill Walsh at mobicom@bu.edu with any questions about the event.

CFP: ICA Mobile Pre-Conference

12th ICA Mobile Pre-Conference CALL FOR PAPERS
May 20-21 (1.5 days), 2015.
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Deadline for Abstract Submissions: December 1, 2014.

Communication through mobile media has become central to people’s lives around the world, no matter age, gender, or ethnicity, and is driven by widespread adoption of a repertoire of mobile devices. Usage of mobile media is closely tied to the life circumstances of individuals. The 12th annual ICA Mobile Pre-conference will examine, scrutinize, and reflect upon the influence of this dominant new medium on everyday practices of communication through the theme “From Womb to Tomb: Mobile Research Across Genders, Generations, Ethnicities, Cultures, and Life Stages.

We anticipate a broad range of research topics in mobile communication and welcome extended abstracts based on empirical and/or theoretical work as it relates to: civic engagement, activism and social movements, social media, learning and education, methodologies, international contexts, international development, health, cultural similarities and differences, local culture and heritage, place-based issues, journalism, politics, usability issues, user experiences and perceptions, technologies, interfaces, mobile media histories and archaeology

The pre-conference will include a workshop for emerging scholars to provide a forum where graduate students, new faculty, and early scholars can present and discuss their research with more experienced mobile researchers, thus representing an opportunity to establish and nurture a supportive and integrated community. This pre-conference also features a “best paper” competition, Professor James E. Katz (Boston University) as the closing keynote speaker, and other fun and engaging extra-curricular activities.

Submissions are welcomed from scholars at all stages of their careers and across multiple disciplines related to mobile communication. Submissions should be extended abstracts of no more than 750 words and be completed online through the main website (http://icamobile.org/2015/submissions). The deadline for submissions is 11:59 PM EST on December 1, 2014. Papers will be judged by peer review on criteria of relevance, originality, adequacy of literature review, methodology, legitimacy of conclusions, clarity of presentation, as well as fit with—and contribution to—the conference theme. Notifications of acceptance will be emailed in January 2015.

CFP: Social media and the prospects for expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting

Title: Social media and the prospects for expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting

Date and Venue: April 9, 2015, Boston University, Boston, MA USA

Abstracts Due: November 29, 2014

Decision Date: December 15, 2014

The power of social media appears at times almost limitless. Indeed, when explaining the reasons for ISIL’s surprising success, President Obama included in the list that they had been “savvy in terms of their social media” (CBS 60 Minutes, 9/28/14). Social media have been credited at least in part with not only a catastrophe in Iraq and Syria, but in catalyzing the overthrow of Middle Eastern dictators and helping elect America’s first African-American president. While there is no arguing that social media have affected daily life, their impact on the conduct governance, widely considered, seems slight. This is perhaps surprising since social media offers the promise of expanded participation and more inclusive participation opportunities in governance. That is, not only in creating more responsive policies, but better ones as well. Yet although social media have demonstrated their critical role in electoral politics and many other domains including disseminating political news and information, they have not yet been effectively deployed in helping set national policy. New social media platforms could potentially expand the quality and level of public support in areas such as law enforcement, health, education, and public diplomacy.

To better understand the barriers as well as potential role, both positive and negative, of social media in setting national goals and policies, leading thinkers will be coming to Boston University’s College of Communication on April 9, 2015. With papers having been prepared in advance, the day-long event will allow in-depth analysis of the latest thinking on these issues. In addition, time will be set aside for a mapping exercise to consider what the next steps are in terms of needed future research so that the insights presented at the workshop can help inform other researchers both in the United States and beyond. The papers and discussions from this workshop will be widely disseminated and follow-up meetings with other groups will be held. Depending on the findings presented at the workshop, further steps, such as convening a blue-ribbon panel to advance recommendations may be considered.

The format of the workshop will combine invited and competitively accepted papers. In terms of invited speakers, we have acceptances from professors at Harvard University, Oxford University, George Washington University, University of Washington, Syracuse, Wellesley, Roskilde University, and the Sorbonne, among other academic centers. Moreover, to help assure that innovative thinking and a broad array of perspectives will be included, we are circulating this call for papers. In this way, we will be able to accommodate an additional small number of paper-presenters.

Hence, we are soliciting additional papers on the workshop topic. Although we will consider for inclusion in a broad array of related topics, new and previously unpublished work that goes directly to the question at hand is of most interest to us. Those wishing to be considered as presenters should send an abstract of about 250 words to Dr. Jill Walsh (JillW@BU.edu) no later than November 29, 2014. Notice of acceptance will be given on December 15, 2014. Completed papers will be circulated on March 9, 2015 and will be made available on the Center for Mobile Communication Studies website (http://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/). Due to limited space, the number of participants must be strictly limited.

Co-organizers

James E. Katz, Ph.D., Dr.h.c., is the Feld Family Professor of Emerging Media at Boston University’s College of Communication and director of its Division of Emerging Media Studies. His latest book, The Social Media President: Barack Obama and the Politics of Digital Engagement (2013, Palgrave Macmillan), provides an in-depth exploration of the use and abuse of social media for civic participation at the White House level.

David Karpf, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Media and Public Affairs at George Washington University. His work focuses on strategic communication practices of political associations in America, with a particular interest in Internet-related strategies. Author of The MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political Advocacy (2012, Oxford University Press), Karpf highlights the disruptive role that the Internet has played in the advocacy group system and differential partisan adoption of new technologies.

support ICA mobile communication interest group

Dear International Communication Association (ICA) friends,

We are making the move to establish an ICA interest group for mobile communication. To do this we need the digital signatures of 40 plus ICA members. If you are interested in supporting this move, please go to the following link, fill in the form with your name and affiliation (after reading the attached letter to make sure that you agree with it) and send it off. If we reach the required number of signatures, there will be an organizational meeting in Puerto Rico. We hope to see you there.

https://www.soscisurvey.de/igmobilecommunication/

Rich L.

PS: please note that you need to be an ICA member in order to give a valid signature.

Skype Connections and the Gaze of Friendship and Family

This is a mini academic conference, sponsored by Skype and MSR, into research on video-mediated communications in private and domestic life. It is particularly interested in the interactional properties of these communications – the forms of talk, gaze and mutual attention rather than the HCI and design aspects (which future events might look at). It will be held on Jun 3rd and 4th at MSR Cambridge.

June 3rd and 4th, 2014, Microsoft Research Cambridge, 21 Station Rd, Cambridge, CB12FB

Chairs:

Richard Harper, Microsoft Research Cambridge.

Christian Licoppe, Telecom Paristech.

Rod Watson, Institut Marcel Mauss, Paris.

Call: This invites extended abstracts (of up to 600 words excluding title and affiliation) reporting theoretical and empirical research into the interactional order of video calling in domestic and personal life. Ethnomethodological and conversation analytic perspectives are particularly welcomed on such things as:

• the relationship between the sequential patterns of communication and the medium of Skype-type video connections in the social and family sphere;
• the methods and patterns of recipient design and repair within such communications;
• the properties and shape of topic management (e.g., news announcements and personal disclosures);
• the character and role of embodiment and embodied interaction in such communications;
• the salience of the visual and 'visual availability';
• the relation between individual instances of Skype-type communications and the larger activity assemblies of which they are a part – whether it be a routine ‘catch-up’ calls within friendship or a special occasion like a dinner or birthday celebration for a distributed family.

These are of course not exclusive and other topics are welcome.

There will be a preference for wholly original work, though research previously presented of an extremely high quality may be considered. The conference will be framed by keynote addresses by leaders in the field of interaction analysis, CA and ethnomethodology. Announcement of these will be made shortly.

A selection of papers from the conference will be prepared for a Special Issue of Pragmatics, the Journal of the International Pragmatics Association.

Selection will be made by the conference chairs and reviewing panel.

For informal enquiries about the topics and format of the event, please contact Richard Harper (r.harper@microsoft.com).

To attend email scgff@microsoft.com

Attendance at the conference is free and will include attendance at a gala dinner in Queens College, Cambridge on Tuesday, June 3rd.

Some support for researchers seeking to attend the event is available.

Accommodation and Conference schedule

Please find information on accommodation and how to find us here.

The conference programme will be finalised after extended abstracts have been accepted. 

Mobile Research for Building a Better World (International Communication Association Preconference 2014)

May 21 – 22, 2014
Seattle, WA

Mobile communication focuses on the intersection of mobility, place, technology, and culture, against a backdrop of rapid international economic and social change. The past decade of research on mobile communication has expanded on topics such as the reordering of social relationships, the global diffusion of mobile media, and the societal and psychological effects of mobile usage. This uniquely situates mobile communication for an interdisciplinary pre-conference to address positive and negative impacts of mobile-mediated communication in society. In the 11th ICA Mobile Pre-conference Workshop, in the lush Pacific Northwest, we want to reflect upon the positive and negative aspects brought to our lives by this rapid spread of mobile communication, through the theme of “Mobile Research for Building a Better World.” Complementing the main conference theme, we expect participants to promote various definitions of “the good life” – such as capital enhancement, personal freedoms, social justice, more productive interactions, and stronger social ties – or factors that impede it. We anticipate a broad range of topics in mobile communication and welcome abstracts based on empirical and theoretical work entwined with mobile communication as it relates to:

• International contexts
• International development
• Health
• Social media
• Cultural differences
• Gender
• Local culture and heritage
• Learning and education
• Journalism
• Activism and social movements
• Politics
• Civic engagement
• Usability issues
• Methodologies

10 Years On: Looking Forwards in Mobile ICT Research (International Communication Association Preconference 2013)

LSE New Academic Building (NAB)

Sardinia Street (off Kingsway), London WC2A 2AE, UK 

June 16-17, 2013 

http://icamobile.org/2013/

Aims of the Pre-Conference Workshop 

This Workshop aims to understand more about the implications of the fast moving mobile world both on the social practices of the users of mobile ICTs as well as, and following the main ICA conference theme, on the ability of researchers to deliver reliable and effective research material. This 10th Mobile Communications ICA pre-conference provides a chance to take stock, reflect on and look forward to developments in research in this field over the forthcoming years. This will include discussing the general expectations and aspirations of an invited panel of experts and exploring the future research implications of contemporary studies to be reported at the conference.

Living Inside Mobile Social Information

April 29-30, 2013 at

Boston University 

An Experts' Workshop & Public Panel Discussion

http://www.bu.edu/com/mobile-life-workshop/index.html

About the Experts' Workshop

What will social life be like when each of us has instant personal information about those around us? It is easy to conjure utopian and dystopian visions of this future. By contrast, the purpose of this workshop is to draw upon empirical evidence we already have to construct frameworks for rigorous understandings of these likely changes. Emerging technologies are increasingly offering mobile people convenient heads-up displays of situationally relevant data on an individualized basis. Such data could be based on cues such as eye-tracking or physical location in an environment. Data streams could include co-location of friends, commercial offers, tourist information, news and sports updates, and even running scans of personal characteristics of passers-by on the street. When chatting with friends, voice stress analysis and other psychological state indications could be detected and displayed to users. A host of issues will arise as people begin interacting with these technologies which will likely engage a gamut of utopian and dystopian possibilities. Google offers a point-of-view video characterizing what life might be like.

Having readily accessible information concerning the ambient environment is for many an exciting prospect though for others it is a source of concern and distress. Yet despite strong reactions to these developments, commentary on how such technologies may affect social relations and individuals' internal states has too often remained the province of casual commentators.

By contrast, drawing on research – including on topics such as ubiquitous and immersive computing, media and locational badges, and distributed context-aware applications – insights may be available concerning interactions that future users may face. Historical analogies should also prove illuminating. The purpose of this workshop therefore is to move past casual speculation and instead draw on systematic social-science based analyses of relevant issues regarding interaction under mobile conditions when information, especially socially relevant information, is widely available.

Living Inside Mobile Social Information

Mobile Communication, Community, and Locative Media Practices: From the Everyday to the Revolutionary (International Communication Association Preconference 2012)

Phoenix, AZ, USA

May 23 – 24, 2012

https://sites.google.com/site/sociomobilearchive/events/mobile2012

This preconference will provide a venue for innovative scholars from around the world who are doing research in exploring how we experience our locally-rooted mobile networked interactions and mobile communication's impact on community. It will give them a chance to gather and discuss the challenges that this shift in the use of both mobile phones and the Internet poses not only for the users but for those doing research on mobile communication. We welcome abstracts that will focus on the following areas: 

• Mobile communication and location awareness in everyday life practices; 
• New urban spatialities developed with mobile gaming and locative social media; 
• definitions of "community" in a mobile mediated context; 
• Privacy and surveillance issues as they relate to location-based social networks; 
• Identity and spatial construction through locative media art / performance design and its impact on communities; 
• Civic engagement and political participation through mobile social media, new mapping practices and location-aware technologies; 
• Learning and education potentials of mobile and location-based media

Visual Learning: Communication -- Cognition -- Curriculum

Budapest, Hungary

December 7-8, 2011

Speakers included: 

Laura Cull 

James E. Katz 

Zoltan Kovecses 

John Mullarkey 

Klaus Sachs-Hombach 

Barry Smith 

Frederik Stjernfelt 

Contributions are invited from educational, communication, and media theorists; philosophers, linguists, psychologists, and other interested scholars on the following and related topics: 

• educational theory and visual learning pictorial skills 
• pictorial communication 
• visual intelligence 
• the visual mind 
• ontology of images 
• the image problem in the history of philosophy 
• visual argument 
• diagrammatic reasoning 
• scientific visualization 
• visualization and higher education 
• information visualization 
• image and language 
• the use of images in foreign language teaching 
• image and creativity 
• images in the network age