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: Rethinking Digital Media and Citizenship: Conditions, Contexts, and Consequences

American Behavioral Scientist (ABS)
Special Issue Call for Papers (CFPs)

Rethinking Digital Media and Citizenship: Conditions, Contexts, and Consequences

Guest Editors:
Seungahn Nah (University of Kentucky)
Masahiro Yamamoto (University at Albany, State University of New York)


Description:
A substantial body of scholarship has long tackled how traditional and newly emerging information and communication technologies (ICTs) foster an informed, efficacious, and engaged citizenry. Despite prolific literature on digital media and citizenship, theoretical approaches and conceptual and operational definitions still diverge in different disciplines and schools. What seems particularly missing in the literature is an examination of structural conditions and/or contexts that may facilitate or hinder the role of digital media in civic engagement. Therefore, the goal of this special issue is to call for theoretically and methodologically sound scholarship that examines causes, components, and civic consequences of digital media use. Such an examination presents important practical implications and policy applications.

This special issue addresses the following major questions:

• How can digital media use and civic engagement be conceptualized, operationalized, and theorized across various theoretical perspectives in the convergence and divergence of digital media environment?
• To what extent do digital media (social and mobile), along with traditional media, influence civic engagement and how such an influence varies across communities of places, interests, practices, and beyond, as well as different ethnic groups and those who hold different socio-economic status?
• How do social contexts and conditions promote or impede the role of digital media in civic, political, and community life at multiple levels?

The special issue editors would welcome submissions addressing the following topics:

• Theoretical advancement on digital media and civic engagement in offline and online communication environments;
• Integrated theoretical framework concerning digital media and citizenship;
• Innovative conceptual and operational definitions (measurements) of digital media across various platforms;
• Social structural contexts and conditions (e.g., race, class, gender,family, school, organization, neighborhood, etc.) that affect digital media use and its effects on civic engagement;
• Linkage between online and offline civic engagement from networked community perspectives.

Submission Guidelines:
Submitted manuscripts must be in MS Word (.doc) format with a title page that includes the title of the paper, full names, affiliations, email addresses, telephone numbers, complete addresses, and biographical sketches of all authors.

Manuscripts must adhere to the APA (6th ed.) style and should contain between 6,000 and 8,000 words, including a 250-worlds abstract with 5-6 key words, all references, and notes.

Manuscripts must contain original material which has not been previously published elsewhere or is not currently under consideration by another journal.

All manuscripts should go through a blind, peer-reviewed process so no indicators of authorship should appear in the texts.

Manuscripts should be submitted directly via email to seungahn.nah@uky.edu

Timeline

• Submission deadline: April 31, 2017
• Editorial decision: June 30, 2017
• Anticipated publication date: January/February 2018

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

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 209

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’s talk is entitled “Can social media use backfire? A 6 country experiment on twitter usage in election campaigns.” 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.

After Dr. Bruter’s talk there will be a panel of discussants who will react to the talk and explore topics such as whether social media is fundamentally pro- or anti-democratic. Below is a current list of discussants. Dr. James Katz of the CMCS will moderate.

Deen Freelon is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at American University. His research expertise is in political expression through digital media and the use of computation methods to extract, preprocess, and analyze massive amounts of online data.

Anshul Jain is a Ph.D candidate in political science at Boston University. His  dissertation concentrates on the role of digital media in the participation of subgroups of the Indian diaspora in the political life of their home country.

Daniel Kreiss is an Assistant Professor in the School of Media and Journalism at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His research explores the impact of technological change on the public sphere and political practice.

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: Digital interlocutors: Theory and practice of interactions between human and machines

Call for Papers: Digital interlocutors: Theory and practice of interactions between human and machines

Computers in Human Behavior

Robots and other machine communicators are emerging in all aspects of everyday life. They are increasingly performing social and workplace roles such as teachers, caregivers, surveillance, decision-makers and personal companionship. They have the ability to improve quality of human life through assistance, enabling, for instance, independent living or providing support in work-intensive, difficult and possibly complex situations. They also can be used as educators and motivators.

This special section of Computers in Human Behavior aims to examine the role of communication in human-robot interaction or social robotics. Specifically conceptualized as examining communication between people and digital interlocutors: theory and practice of interactions with digital interlocutors in the form of artificial conversation entities, artificially intelligent software agents, embodied machine communicators (robots) and technologically augmented persons (cyborgs, wearables, enhancements, etc.) with the goal of increasing understanding of the personal, relational, and social implications of communication between humans and machines and the impact of communication on the degree of personalized interaction. The section will also consider how social robots converge and diverge from accepted communicative and behavioral practices. Preference will be given to submissions that focus on communication or education, but any communicative or social aspect of human-robot interaction will be considered. Both qualitative and quantitative methodologies are encouraged.

• Manuscripts examining the following areas will be welcome
• communicative practices between humans and digital interlocutors
• the integration of artificial entities into private and professional spaces
• the incorporation of AI into education and other industries
• cultural discourse surrounding digital and robotic interlocutors
• relationship dynamics between humans and machines
• reinterpretations and representations of humans as digital entities

Before paper submission opens, potential contributors should send the guest editor a title, abstract, short synopsis of the contribution as well as a short CV or Google scholar profile.

Paper Submission opens September 1, 2017

Paper Submission due by October 1, 2017

Decision and Feedback after review December 2017

Final Submission February 2018

Anticipated Publication late spring 2018

The final paper should be in accordance with the Journal’s Guide for Authors.

Guest editor

Patric Spence, School of Information Science, University of Kentucky, patric.spence@uky.edu

CFP: ECREA Symposium Digital Democracy: Critical Perspectives in the Age of Big Data

CFP: ECREA Symposium Digital Democracy: Critical Perspectives in the Age of Big Data

10-11 November 2017, Södertörn University, Stockholm, Sweden

Joint Conference of two ECREA Sections: Communication and Democracy; and Media Industries and Cultural Production

Abstract Deadline 1 June 2017

Keynote speakers

Helen Kennedy (University of Sheffield)

Joseph Turow (University of Pennsylvania)

MikkelFlyverbom (Copenhagen Business School)

The coordinates of democracy, civic engagement and political participation are being fundamentally reconfigured in the context of digital media, Big Data and algorithmic culture, and so too are the media industries. This joint conference of the ECREA Communication and Democracy and Media Industries and Cultural Production Sections provides the opportunity to analyse and assess these changes.

The constant need to measure and capture our behavior and attitudes has consequences for our political agency and subjectivities. What do big data and algorithmic culture mean in the context of democratic participation and engagement? What are the consequences of ubiquitous surveillance, preemptive policing and social bots for our understanding of democracy and exercise of civic rights? How do current discussions of political agency in the digital age compare to previous moments of disruption in terms of the introduction of media technologies?

Big data and issues related to algorithmic governance have become a major topic of enquiry in the context of media industries as well. ‘Legacy media’ are trying to respond by integrating new digital services with their existing ones and new data-driven journalistic and media production practices emerge. This presents policy challenges, as, for example, public service media need to adapt to a situation in which data is increasingly commercialized. There are implications too for media workers in this new moment. In this context, we wish to explore issues related to the integration of Big Data and the media industries as well as online production, creativity and digital labour.

During this section conference, we aim to engage with questions concerningdatafication, media industries and (digital) democracy through addressing topics such as (but not limited to):

• Political subjectivities and political agency in the age of Big Data
• Political consequences of storing, processing and organizing of data
• Civic engagement and political participation in times of Big Data
• Surveillance and preemptive policing
• Materiality and environmental issues of Big Data and algorithmic culture
• New actors and discourses in the context of datafication
• Democratic potential of Big Data and algorithmic culture
• Algorithmic taste management in the media industries
• Archives and archiving of cultural production and civic engagement
• Media work and labour in datafied media industries
• Data Journalism

A YECREA workshop for PhD candidates and junior researchers will be organised. Details are going to be announced in early spring 2017.

Submission details

Please submit a 300-word abstract for individual proposals

Panel proposals should include a 300-word panel rationale plus individual 200 word abstracts from a minimum of four speakers.

All abstracts for individual as well as panel proposals should be submitted through: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=ecreadigdem2017

Deadline for submission is 1 June 2017. Notifications of acceptance will be issued by 15 August 2017.

Registration and Fees

Early bird registration €50 (until 1 September 2017)

Early bird reduced student fee €30 (until 1 September)

Full fees €75

Reduced student fee €40

OrganisingCommittee:

Göran Bolin, Hanne Bruun, David Hesmondhalgh, Anne Kaun, Maria Michalis, Maria Kyriakidou, Fredrik Stiernstedt, Julie Uldam, Julia Velkova

CFP: The Digital Everyday: Exploration or Alienation?

The Digital Everyday: Exploration or Alienation?
Centre for Digital Culture at King's College London
CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS


This international conference aims at exploring the digital everyday, understood as the transformation of everyday life practices brought about by digital technology. From how we buy, walk around, get a cab, love, break up, go to bed, meet new people and sexual partners to the way we rate services, turn on the fridge, exercise and eat, social media, apps, and Big Data are reshaping some of the most basic activities in our lives.


The conference will explore these digitally enabled transformations by looking at a number of domains affected by these shifts, for instance: of work and leisure, of friendship and love, of habits and routines. We will also explore a number of overarching dynamics and trends in the digital world that contribute to these transformations, including: processes of digital individualisation and aggregation; the elisions of spatial and temporal barriers; trends towards quantification and datafication; and the dialectic between control and alienation.


We invite participants from various intellectual traditions and streams of research including media studies, sociology, psychology, information science, computing and anthropology. Together, we will explore a number of key questions. How, for example, is digital transformation affecting everyday life? To what extent is this process one of increasing individualisation of social experience? Or might there be something more complex happening? What are the new psychological and social pathologies that result from the digital transformation of everyday life and from processes of datafication and quantification? Is digital technology allowing for new forms of control over our everyday life or is it increasing alienation, making us overly dependent on infrastructures beyond our grasp? Is digital technology contributing to extending our freedom to choose, or is it stifling us with an overabundance of options? Is it guiding us towards who we 'really' are or want to be, or is it plunging us into a hall of mirrors that only reinforces our isolation and narcissism? Is it facilitating exploration, serendipity and curiosity, or is it installing us into a pre-programmed and predictable world, into a filter bubble where choices can be more easily measured and manipulated?


Proposed paper abstracts may address the following topics: transformations of work patterns; changes in everyday life routine (sleep, meals, etc.); fitness and sport activity; love and sexual interactions; friendship and acquaintanceship; consumption and entertainment; sense of place and time; transportation and tourism; play and leisure.

The conference will comprise two plenary sessions and 4 breakout panels, and will host internationally acclaimed scholars as keynote speakers.


The conference will take on Saturday, 6th May 2017.

Abstract are due by 31 January 2017.


Abstracts should be 250 words maximum, and include the author(s) name and position, and a short title. They should be submitted via EasyChair https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=digitaleveryday17<https://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Feasychair.org%2Fconferences%2F%3Fconf%3Ddigitaleveryday17&h=6AQHINf_zAQF5f96Vs0kPgE-Au5AyzZQjg2PFYcyqEjy40Q&enc=AZP8YtbElwzbmlo4WWMQYu7LpGu22c9p3W4BC91uSOu3898OkxVxjxwi7Ayixk8q15ENaer9stlRZ224dQqiRBRsvh2BxIxJ8IE7aCVGnN4DStalFxPNkg08_DOi0FRodsqRzQX6Rw3FRnhIgWdO-rhbAgttDZjp_wEnqkTaFUti2UMNw5SIuWd3gp4X5bEAYiFTvxIKhbfQO-HDPan2DN0q&s=1>

Acceptance notices will be given on 28 February 2017.

Extended abstracts of 1,500 words are due on 15 April 2017 to be sent digitalculture@kcl.ac.uk