CFP: Futures of Real and Virtual Worlds

CfP: Futures of Real and Virtual Worlds
A Special exploratory Issue
Edited by: Yesha Sivan, Editor in Chief, the Journal of Virtual Worlds
Research

The Journal of Virtual Worlds Research (http://www.jvwresearch.org/) is an online, open access peer-reviewed academic journal that engages a wide spectrum of scholarship and welcomes contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that intersect with virtual worlds’ research.

Design the future
This call is about the future, or more so, possible futures. We are looking for *reflective papers (1000-3000 words) *that will describe specific angles to the real and virtual worlds. We are exploring and defining our future.  The collection of reflective futures will help us design the next 7 years of the journal.

Topics include but are not limited to:

• 3D fun
• Mini robots
• Social networks that change our mind
• Artificial limps
• New forms of hardware
• Augmented and mixed environments
• Wearables
• User generated content
• 3D printing
• Visual data streaming
• Immersive technologies
• Shopping from home
• Projections of the real
• Wireless people
• Portable friends
• The Internet of Things
• Virtual currencies
• E-readers
• …
• And more…

Motivation
The journal, JVWR, is celebrating its 8th year anniversary in 2015. In 2015 we will also publish the book “*3D3C Platforms: Applications and Tools for Three Dimensional Platforms for Community, Creation and Commerce*” published by Springer, as a summary of this field’s state of the art.

In 2008, when Jeremiah Spence founded* #JVWR*, the excitement of a flexible, user-generated world was very high. It seemed that the world of *Second Life(R)* had taken years of hardware, software, and social-ware experiences into a new level. That it would change” the world. This was yet another wave of promise of virtual reality.

In 2008, users, business analysts and academics alike used to be at awe because Second Life had millions of users; commerce was done virtually; there were grievers in virtual worlds, and people could create 3D objects by themselves.

In 2015 today, 7 years later, Facebook has more than 1.35 billion monthly active users; commerce is done with a fingerprint via Apple pay; cyber criminals are attacking real companies, and people are printing their own outfits and objects. Much has changed. *The virtual is becoming the real and the real is becoming the virtual*. It seems that the term “virtual worlds” as a key term for an academic domain, does not make sense anymore.

It is time for us, as an academic journal, to take an “academic sabbatical” to define the future of our Journal in light the possible futures of both worlds (real and virtual. Of course, this will be an active Sabbatical where we try to grapple with several questions that revolve around the nature of the field, and on how we best advance it as an academic journal.

Submission Instructions
Authors are invited to *submit original scholarly papers of 1000-3000 words* including footnotes, references, and appendices. Interested authors should submit a *full paper* by the deadline indicated below. All submissions should be made via the JVWR publishing system (see www.jvwreserach.org >

About JVWR > For Authors
<http://jvwresearch.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de4fa2a435382cb1fa67cb708&id=c2af40e211&e=3f7039199b>).

All submissions will be peer reviewed. Accepted papers will be published online in the Volume 8, Number 2 (2015) of the Journal.

Deadlines and Timeline
Authors submit full paper: *May 30, 2015*
Editors return review report and initial decision: *Jun 15, 2015*
Authors submit revised paper: *July 15, 2015*
Editors return final comments and decision: *July 31, 2015*
Authors submit final version: *August 15, 2015*
Planned Publication: *August 31, 2015*

Further Information
Please contact:
Yesha Sivan yesha.sivan AT jvwresearch DOT org
Tzafnat Shpak tzafnat.shpak AT jvwresearch DOT org

And of course, you are always welcome to:

Call details on *our website  <http://jvwresearch.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=de4fa2a435382cb1fa67cb708&id=fb71849af7&e=3f7039199b>.*

Write to us directly to* info@jvwresearch.org. <info@jvwresearch.org>*

Visit us on our Facebook <http://jvwresearch.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=de4fa2a435382cb1fa67cb708&id=15dd124046&e=3f7039199b>
   page (TheJVWR).
   - Follow us on *twitter
   <http://jvwresearch.us2.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=de4fa2a435382cb1fa67cb708&id=287357554a&e=3f7039199b>*
   @TheJVWR.

CFP: 14th IFIP International Conference on eGovernment

14th IFIP International Conference on eGovernment (IFIP EGOV2015)
7th IFIP International Conference on eParticipation (IFIP ePart2015)
31 August – 2 September 2015
Thessaloniki, Greece
www.egov-conference.org, www.epart-conference.org

CALL FOR PAPERS AND CONTRIBUTIONS

General eParticipation Track
eParticipation refers to the use of Information and Communication Technologies to enhance political participation and citizen engagement. eParticipation is by definition a multidisciplinary field of study. Today, eParticipation is particularly timely and relevant in various contexts and in diverse environments, e.g. digital democracy; participatory public service design; use of open government data in eParticipation initiatives; use of social media (e.g. Twitter, Facebook) by citizens, governments and civil servants; top-down and bottom-up eParticipation initiatives related to the economic and welfare issues, etc.

The General eParticipation Track serves as an umbrella for all eParticipation-related topics except the special-topics track of Policy Modelling and Policy Informatics (which will launch its own Call for Papers). In particular, it also covers emerging and special topics in eParticipation research.

Areas of focus and interest include but are not limited to the following
topics:

• eParticipation research including theories, methods, models and approaches;
• The role of social and mobile media and Web 2.0 in eParticipation;
• Transparency and open access for eParticipation
• Design and co-creation of participatory public services; bottom-up initiatives
• Privacy, security and ethical considerations in eParticipation
• Advances in eParticipation Domains: Online deliberation and discourse, participatory budgeting, eConsultation, ePolling, and eLegislation, eElectioneering, eCampaigning and eVoting;
• Advances in participatory policy making using policy modelling, simulation, impact assessment and visualisation methods and tools;
• eParticipation and big data
• Smart cities and the role of citizens
• Environmental Information Systems and citizen participation
• The role of eParticipation in national and global crisis situations;
• Comparative analyses of eParticipation practices;
• Impact assessment and public value considerations of eParticipation on real world decision making;
• Digital literacy and its consequences for eParticipation;
• eParticipation projects: design, implementation, evaluation, quality and impact

Formats

This track hosts two distinct formats of contributions:

• Completed research papers (max. 12 pages, published in the IFIP ePart proceedings of Springer LNCS)
• Ongoing research and innovative projects (max. 8 pages, published in alternate proceedings by IOS Press)

Beyond the tracks, the dual IFIP EGOV/ePart 2015 conference also hosts: 

• Posters (max. 2 pages), to be exposed along the welcome reception on Tuesday evening
• Workshops and panels on pertinent issues, short abstracts (2 pages), and 
• PhD colloquium submissions (max. 8 pages),

all to be included in the alternate proceedings published by IOS Press.

Prior to the conference (that is, on Sunday and Monday, August 30 and 31), a PhD student colloquium will be held providing doctoral students with an international forum guided by senior scholars for presenting their work, networking opportunities and cross-disciplinary inspiration. Read more about the submission guidelines and review criteria on the conference website.

Important Dates

• March 15, 2015—Submission of papers (hard deadline-no late submissions allowed)
• April 15, 2015—Submission of workshop/panel/poster/PhD colloquium contributions
• April 30, 2015—Notification of acceptance/rejection decisions for papers
• May 15, 2015 — Notification of acceptance for workshops/panels/posters/PhD colloquium contributions
• May 31, 2015—Camera-ready papers of completed research, of ongoing research/PhD colloquium papers, posters, workshop and panel descriptions

Submission

All papers should be submitted to: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=egov2015

CFP: Qualitative Research in Communication

Qualitative Research in Communication
International Conference

Qualitative Research in Communication
September 23-25, 2015
Bucharest, Romania

This conference  is dedicated to exploring qualitative methodology as an approach which enriches interdisciplinary understanding of communication phenomena. It aims to provide a venue for discussing related theories and methods, for presenting the results of research projects, and for assessing emerging trends.  An additional goal is to provide international researchers with a stimulating environment for cultivating current and future collaborative projects.  We invite communication scholars and interdisciplinary colleagues to contribute papers in all of these areas, but particularly welcome those addressing the following themes: mediated interpersonal communication, intergenerational communication, communication and emotion, language and social interaction, digital media, and applied communication.

Accepted papers will be programmed for one of three themed panels (see below), or in the open sessions.

1. Ageing, Communication and Technology

Panel head: Mireia Fernández-Ardèvol, IN3 - Open University of Catalonia, Barcelona (Catalonia), Spain

Ageing populations are experiencing a world that is increasingly mediated by digital devices, and influenced by their proliferation. Related questions include: How do digital and mobile technologies mediate the communication experiences and practices of older people? Does ICT use contribute to the development of personal autonomy of seniors (and if so, how)?

This panel is organized in collaboration with the ACT Project [http://actproject.ca/ ]

2. Communication and the Emotion Economy

Panel head: Liz Yeomans, Leeds Business School, Leeds Beckett University, UK

Increasingly, emotion is viewed as more than an individual psychological state, and as a social and cultural phenomenon which is also constituted 'outside' the individual. An 'emotion economy' perspective encourages us to view communication as part of a system of emotion expression, exchange, circulation, and distribution. New, related codes and rituals are subsequently developed in interpersonal, organizational, intercultural, political, and mediated contexts. Related questions include: What are the distinctive forms and practices of which constitute the emotion economy? How may qualitative methods distinctively advance this research program?

3. Digital Explorations: Research with and about Digital Media

Panel head: Ana Adi, Quadriga University of Applied Sciences in Berlin, Germany

The rise in global popularity of the Internet, its increased adoption both by organisations and individuals, and the rise of 'big data' regimes all present numerous opportunities for qualitative researchers. Related questions include: How, generally, are traditional research methodologies challenged and transformed by online application?  By the specific context of social media platforms? How do new digital research tools (e.g., crowd-sourcing, visualization, etc.) influence the design of qualitative projects, and the collection and analysis of qualitative data?

Keynote speakers for the conference will include:

Kim Sawchuk, Professor in Communication Studies, Concordia University, Canada; Bryan C. Taylor, Professor in Communication, University of Colorado Boulder, USA; Eugene Loos, Professor at Amsterdam School of Communication Research ASCoR, Department of Communication Science, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands.

Important conference deadlines include:

April 7th, 2015: Abstract submission;
May 15th, 2015: Notification of authors via email; June 20th, 2015: Full paper submission; August 30th, 2015: Notification of authors.

Abstracts

Paper abstracts (max. 300 words, followed by 3-5 keywords) should be submitted for review in MS Word format (.doc, .docx). Please use the abstract template available at: http://centrucomunicare.ro/qrc_2015/qrc_2015.html.  Please mention whether you desire consideration for programming on one of the three themed panels. Only one paper for each participant (i.e., as a first author) will be accepted. Submit abstracts as attachments in messages to the following e-mail address: corina.buzoianu@comunicare.ro. The official language of the conference is English.

Publication

All conference papers are subject to a peer-review process. All accepted papers will be published in a hard-copy, conference proceedings volume (i.e., with ISBN). Selected papers will be published in a special issue of the Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations (www.journalofcommunication.ro).

Conference Fees:

The conference fee is 100 Euro/participant. The fee includes conference attendance, conference bag, publication in conference proceedings, and consideration for publication in the Romanian Journal of Communication and Public Relations, refreshments during coffee breaks and lunch.

Conference Venue:

National University of Political and Administrative Studies, College of Communication and Public Relations, 30A Expozitiei Boulevard, Bucharest, Romania.

Sponsoring Programs and Institutions:

. National University of Political Studies and Public Administration, Romania; . ACT project, Concordia University, Canada; . University of Colorado Boulder, USA.

For further information and updates, please consult the conference website: http://centrucomunicare.ro/qrc_2015/qrc_2015.html

For details and inquires please send an e-mail to: corina.buzoianu@comunicare.ro

Job

http://hr-jobs.lancs.ac.uk/Vacancy.aspx?ref=A1145

Lectureship in Mobile Work

50th Anniversary Lectureships - Management
Starting Salary between £33,242 - £39,685 *
Closing Date:   Sunday 22 February 2015
Interview Date:   To be confirmed
Reference:  A1145

As Lecturer in Mobile Work, you will further develop Lancaster’s already strong international reputation for research on mobilities. You will contribute to the research agendas of the Departments of Organisation, Work and Technology in the Management School and Sociology, and will play a central role in the Lancaster University Centre for Mobilities Research. More broadly you will have potential to build links with one or more of Lancaster’s School of Health and Medicine, Institute for Contemporary Arts (LICA), School of Computing and Communications, Security Lancaster and DEMAND centres, and the Work Foundation.

Your research will address the growing tendency for work to be detached from any fixed place or space. It will explore one or more of the various ways that work can be mobile, including but not limited to work completed whilst travelling, work that has a constantly changing location, work that involves virtual connectivity and mobility, work that involves constantly move between employers etc.

You will adopt a critical and theoretically informed approach to research, and in line with the interests of the Departments and Centres that the post will be associated with, will address the wider implications of mobile work for issues such as: climate change and sustainability; economic development and resilience; work and organisation; social equality, diversity, and inclusiveness; health and wellbeing, (for example in terms of work-life balance); technology and society; and smart cities and digitally enabled practice.

For further information on the 50th Anniversary Lectureship Scheme please visit http://www.aplacetoblossom.co.uk/

For an informal discussion about the post, please contact Professor James Faulconbridge on j.faulconbridge@lancaster.ac.uk

* Appointments will normally be made with starting salaries in the range £33,242 - £39,685 but appointments may be made at a more senior level including Senior Lecturer/Reader.

CFP: Screen Policies: Geographies, Economics, Technologies

Call for Chapters: Screen Policies: Geographies, Economics, Technologies

Editors: Nolwenn Mingant (Université de Nantes, France), David Newman (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Cecilia Tirtaine (Université Sorbonne nouvelle-Paris 3, France)

https://www.academia.edu/10275010/Screen_Policies_Geographies_Economics_Technologies

In 1996, Albert Moran published a seminal overview of film policy in different parts of the world. Since then, the screen media environment has significantly changed. Globalization has made the screen media environment less constrained geographically by impacting the production and distribution of screen media contents. Technologies have also revolutionized the media environment. Distribution platforms have evolved: film is now frequently digital; television content is streamed over the Internet to a variety of different screens; digital games have become a much larger and more ubiquitous medium played on a variety of devices, including cellphones. Growing synergies have appeared between different media, leading to the idea of ‘transmedia content’ and ‘media convergence.’

Government and industry policies have adapted to this changed environment. Film policies have been the first to adapt. Incentive wars have intensified between different regions across the world seeking to attract internationally mobile productions. Most States have continued to worry over suitability of some content for their local audiences, as reflected through censorship and

ratings schemes. The layering of policies over the intranational, national and supranational policy regimes has led to more complex situations. Measures to protect culture and to nurture local screen industries have been increasingly challenged under international trade regimes. Whereas previously film was at the centre of cultural policies globally, those policies are now starting to

incorporate other forms of screen media, notably video games.

Following the success of the CinEcoSA research cycle on Screen Policies (see www.cinecosa.com), we are now calling for chapter proposals for a peer-reviewed edited volume to be entitled Screen Policies: Geographies, Economics and Technologies. This volume will explore and interrogate the shifts and changes in both government and industry-based screen policies over the past 30 years.

The volume will cover different types of screens: movie theatres, television (notably video and videogames), computers (Internet), smartphones. It will include chapters that cover a diverse range of screen industries from different parts of the world, along with the interrelationship between different localities, policy regimes and technologies/media.

Particular areas we are seeking chapters on include:

• Nature of Screen Policies
• Theoretical chapters and /or review of literature on screen policies around the world
• Case studies of screen industry policy in specific regions, particularly those outside of Europe and North America (though contributions from those regions are welcome as well)
• Emerging policies in developing markets
• Motivations of public powers for creating/updating/abandoning screen policies
• Criteria for aid and impact on screen media policies on media content
• State policies vs. industry-led policy (such as voluntary rating systems), partnerships between public and private spheres
• Protective policies: censorship, quotas, licensing, copyright

International Relations

• Interrelationships of policy and regulation between local, national and supra-national institutions
• Influences and impact of international trade regimes on screen policies
• Competition between regions via incentive schemes
• Co-production treaties
• Support for exports
• Role of screen policies in diplomatic relations

New technologies

• Adaptation of screen policies to the new technological context: adaptation of older models or creation of innovative models?
• Regulation of access to new technologies such as streaming TV, mobile content, video games
• Support for trans-media initiatives

Please send you proposal (title, 400-word abstract, 4 bibliographical references, brief biography) to David Newman (dbnewman@sfu.ca) and Nolwenn Mingant

(nolwenn.mingant@univ-nantes.fr) by March 1st, 2015.

Notification of acceptance: April 30th, 2015.

Completed chapters due August 25th, 2015. Chapter length: 6,000 words maximum (footnotes and bibliographical references included)

CFP: Media Industries

Call for Papers

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

We are currently seeking high-quality submissions for our second peer-reviewed issue; for full consideration for publication in this issue, authors are encouraged to submit their manuscripts by April 1, 2015.

More About Media Industries

The journal is maintained by a managing Editorial Collective and Editorial Board comprised of an international group of media industries scholars. For additional information about the Board and Collective, please visit:

Media Industries

Website: mediaindustriesjournal.org

Email: mediaindjournal@gmail.com

Facebook: facebook.com/mediaindustriesjournal

Twitter: twitter.com/mediaindjournal

CFP: Digital Freedoms: Challenges

Digital Freedoms: Challenges

The Cyber-cultures Project

Tuesday 7th July - Thursday 9th July 2015

Mansfield College, Oxford, United Kingdom

Call for Presentations:

Online freedoms have become increasingly endangered in many regions of the world. This year's Interactive Convergence will be devoted to exploring the various ways in which digital freedoms are currently challenged - as well as possible responses to such threats - within the framework of five thematic tracks. Because of the complexity of these challenges and the overlap of issues across themes, we are inviting participants of various backgrounds (academic, legislative, commercial; across disciplines) to submit proposals on several topics of interest to them. Presenters are additionally encouraged to think broadly within and across thematic tracks; we encourage submissions addressing research questions such as (though not limited to) those listed here below.

Topical Areas: Regulating Online Communities, Computer-supported Subcultures: What are strategies for preserving freedom of speech and regaining privacy online? To what extent is it really possible to preserve digital privacy? In an era when users of anonymity projects such as Tor are almost automatically considered threats to society, do there exist user-friendly strategies and applications for protecting individual communication? If such tools do exist, why have they not been more broadly adopted by the general public? In the wake of WikiLeaks and Edward Snowdon, what cyber-security issues have emerged? Is the term "privacy" itself a remnant of the past?

Internet-related legislation is an ever-present driver of network activity. What is the future of online piracy? Do current legal frameworks suffice in relation to data sharing trends? What should happen to the data and profiles of deceased persons?

Topical Areas: Social Networks, Online Communities: Social network users are increasingly targeted by online marketing. Do principles of ethical marketing even exist today? How should users desiring to maintain a social media presence avoid being disrupted by non-stop advertising? What strategies exist for creating simultaneous online user profiles which span social networking services? What are trends in user-generated content, and how might online communication culture be defined today? What services have been established with crowd-sourcing?

Topical Area: Mobile Applications: It no longer matters how one accesses the Internet; mobile devices now compete in terms of functionality, speed, and software with traditional desktop computers. How have cloud and mobile services changed user behaviour? That app trends are emerging in tele-sports, tele-exercise, tele-health, or traffic systems?

In sum, we encourage authors to explore and discuss why - when networks are increasingly accessible, with increasingly user-friendly interfaces and lower costs - the status of online citizenship appears to be increasingly threatened because of government control, loss of privacy, endangered Internet neutrality, ubiquitous marketing, and cyber-crime.

Proposals, presentations, studies, and reports might explore topics such as:

Online Communities:

• Emerging and Potential Practices in Social Networking.
• The Psychological Impacts of Online Interaction.
• User-generated Content and Changes in Cultural Practice.
• Ubiquitous Consumption, Mobile Advertising, and Crowd-sourcing.

Design for Social Networking:

• Trends in Web Services, Interfaces and Apps.
• Accessibility, Usability, and Design.
• Quality of Experience.
• Cloud Systems.
• Convergence of Desktop and Mobile Communications.
• Semantic Web - Web 3.0.
• Metadata. Access to Data.
• Surveillance Technologies and Anonymisation Tools.
• Impact on User Behaviour.

Regulating Online Communities:

• Internet Neutrality
• Governance and Control over the Online Environment. Insufficient Legislation.
• Self-Regulation. Hactivism. Computational Privacy.
• Cyber-Activism and Social Mobilisation: Real World Impacts.
• Cyber-security and Cybercrime.
• Intellectual Property Protection. Decline of Piracy?

Computer-supported Subcultures:

• Technology-dependent/Independent Subcultures.
• Interactions between Regional, Glocal, Global, Multi-national, Intercontinental, Cross-generational and Diasporic Online Communities.

Mobile Applications:

• Mobile Applications for Social Networking, Online Marketing, Tele-Health, Traffic Systems, Distance Education and Online Entertainment.
• Promises, Expectations, Case Studies.

The Steering Group welcomes the submission of proposals for short workshops, practitioner-based activities, performances, and pre-formed panels. We particularly welcome short film screenings; photographic essays; installations; interactive talks and alternative presentation styles that encourage engagement.

What to Send:

Proposals will also be considered on any related theme. 300 word proposals should be submitted by Friday 13th March 2015. If a proposal is accepted for the conference, a full draft paper of no more than 3000 words should be submitted by Friday 22nd May 2015. Proposals should be submitted simultaneously to both Organising Chairs; proposals may be in Word or RTF formats with the following information and in this order:

a) author(s), b) affiliation as you would like it to appear in programme, c) email address, d) title of abstract, e) body of abstract, f) up to 10 keywords.

E-mails should be entitled: Cybercultures 10 Abstract Submission.

Please use plain text (Times Roman 12) and abstain from using footnotes and any special formatting, characters or emphasis (such as bold, italics or underline). We acknowledge receipt and answer to all paper proposals submitted. If you do not receive a reply from us in a week you should assume we did not receive your proposal; it might be lost in cyberspace! We suggest, then, to look for an alternative electronic route or resend.

Organising Chairs:

Daniel Riha: rihad@inter-disciplinary.net

Rob Fisher: cyber10@inter-disciplinary.net

The conference is part of the 'Critical Issues' programme of research projects. It aims to bring together people from different areas and interests to share ideas and explore various discussions which are innovative and exciting. All papers accepted for and presented at the conference must be in English and will be eligible for publication in an ISBN eBook. Selected papers may be developed for publication in a themed hard copy volume(s). All publications from the conference will require editors, to be chosen from interested delegates from the conference.

Inter-Disciplinary.Net believes it is a mark of personal courtesy and professional respect to your colleagues that all delegates should attend for the full duration of the meeting. If you are unable to make this commitment, please do not submit an abstract for presentation.

For further details of the conference, please visit:

http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/critical-issues/cyber/cybercultures/call-for-papers/

Please note: Inter-Disciplinary.Net is a not-for-profit network and we are not in a position to be able to assist with conference travel or subsistence.