CFP: ‘Loneliness in the age of Mobile & Social Media’

CALL FOR PAPERS

International conference

‘Loneliness in the age of Mobile & Social Media’

Friday 23rd February 2018

University of Wolverhampton, United Kingdom 

KEYNOTES: 

Dr. Shakuntala Banaji, London School of Economics 

Dr. Jennifer Lau, King’s College London 

With the Campaign to End Loneliness launched in 2011, the BBC documentary The Age of Loneliness (2016) and then the launch of Jo Cox’s Commission on Loneliness in January 2017, loneliness makes the headlines and dealing with it is generating intense debates in the UK. Loneliness is a prevalent serious problem in our society and is associated with various health problems (Cacioppo et al. 2002; Nummela, Seppanen, Uutela, 2010; Hawkley and Cacioppo, 2010; Luo, Hawkley, Waite, Cacioppo, 2012). In recent years, loneliness has been associated with internet addiction (Durak-Batugün and Hasta, 2010; Esen and Siyez, 2011), mobile phone use (Oztunc, 2013), and mobile phone addiction (Jin and Park, 2012; Reid and Reid, 2007; Takao, Takahashi and Kitamura, 2009; Wei and Lo, 2006; Tan, Pamuk and Donder, 2013). 

Research conducted so far (Perlman, Gerson and Spinner, 1978; Salmela-Aro and Eronen, 1997; Cacioppo et al., 2002; Dykstra, 2009; Dykstra, van Tilburg, & de Jong Gierveld, 2005; De Jong-Gierveld and van Tilburg, 2010; van den Berg, Kemperman, de Kleijn and Borgers, 2015) shows that when discussing loneliness, the assumption is that we are talking about elderly people, usually ignoring young adults who also suffer from loneliness. According to Pinquart and Sorensen (2003), the prevalence and intensity of loneliness are in fact greater in young adults than in any other age group. Moreover, Victor and Yang (2012) argue that the extent of loneliness is U-shaped when mapped graphically against age, indicating that younger and older people have the highest risk of experiencing loneliness. Even so, to date, not much is known about loneliness in young adults. With the exception of only a few studies (Cacioppo, Hawkley, et al., 2006; Nicolaisen and Thorsen, 2014; Blachnio, Perpepiorka, Boruch and Balakier, 2015; Luhmann, Bohn, Holtmann, Koch and Eid, 2016), research in loneliness constantly ignores this demographic and fails to address loneliness that affects young people.

This conference aims to fill this gap in scholarship by also examining the causes and stories of loneliness among young people. As loneliness is something people are likely to experience at any age, this conference invites scholars to think about this widespread prevalent problem from innovative new perspectives. The conference is devoted to an examination of the current situation across the world from a variety of perspectives, and aims to identify and bridge the gaps in academic research on loneliness, creating new research pathways. 

*** We welcome papers from established scholars and early career researchers and PhD students. The conference will have a separate section for early career researchers, PhD and master students. 

We invite papers that engage with themes including (but not limited to): 

• Loneliness and everyday life: stories of loneliness/ episodes of loneliness, media representations of loneliness; online and offline loneliness; political loneliness; linguistic and cultural loneliness; loneliness in later life; loneliness in young people; loneliness in children/adolescents; loneliness in men vs. loneliness in women; loneliness and violence; how can transitions increase the risk of loneliness (for examples: transition to university life, pre-retirement etc.); what works in tackling loneliness?; Impact on families, neighbours, friendship, local community.
• Research methods: qualitative vs. quantitative; loneliness scales; new methods of measuring loneliness. 
• Health:  Loneliness, metal health and well-being; social isolation, depression, anxiety; loneliness and physical health; loneliness and terminal illness; loneliness and disability/students with special needs; loneliness and cognitive impairment, sight or hearing loss; preventing and alleviating loneliness; what support is in place/what resources are needed; social support, interventions and government policy.  
• New technologies: loneliness and social media; loneliness and the use of mobile phones; digital divide; big data and loneliness; what technology/technology-based services can be adopted to identify and help (mhealth, telecare, telehealth)?; creative digital interventions. 

*** Please send abstracts of no more than 500 words, along with your name, e-mail address, academic affiliation, and a short bio to: b.fox@wlv.ac.uk 

Abstract submission deadline: December 18th, 2017

Acknowledgment of acceptance: January 10th, 2018

Registration deadline: January 20th, 2018

Conference dates: February 23rd, 2018

Deadline to send the final full papers for publication: May 28th, 2018

The conference is organized by Dr. Bianca Fox and is funded through ERAS (Early Researcher Award Scheme), School of Media and the Centre for Film, Media, Discourse and Culture, University of Wolverhampton. 

No conference fee. Registration is a must. Participants will have to cover travel and accommodation. 

*** The conference’s programme includes a ‘How to publish’ workshop delivered by Routledge, the only publisher present at the conference. 

***After the conference, a selected number of papers presented at this conference will be published as a special issue of a journal or as an edited volume. 

We are looking forward to seeing you in Wolverhampton. For more information, please contact b.fox@wlv.ac.uk 

CFP: The ASIAN CONGRESS FOR MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION (ACMC)

The ASIAN CONGRESS FOR MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION (ACMC)
2018 International Conference
in partnership with the
COLLEGE OF COMMUNICATION, NATIONAL CHENGCHI UNIVERSITY, TAIWAN

with the theme
Examining the Socio-Political Economy of Communication
27-29 October 2018
Taipei, Taiwan

Important Dates
Abstract submission deadline - on or before March 15, 2018
Abstract acceptance - maximum of 60 days after abstract submission
Full papers - on or before July 15, 2018

Full papers will be considered for the ACMC Journal after undergoing another round of blind peer review. The ACMC Journal is listed in the Web of Science (ISI) Index.

Early Bird Registration - on or before July 15, 2018
- ACMC members USD175
- non-ACMC members USD225

For more information and abstract submission, please email: <acmc2018@asianmediacongress.org>

You can also check our website at <www.asianmediacongress.org>

Submission Guidelines
Each submission should contain the following information, please use font-TAHOMA, 10 pts. And should be a WORD or RTF File:

Full name (please indicate if Mr. or Ms.)
Position/Title
Affiliation (University, College or Company)
Proposed Research Stream
Paper Title
Abstract (300 to 500 words)

• Please note that we will not accept PDF formatted submissions.
• Submissions should be sent to acmc2018@asianmediacongress.org on or before March 15, 2018

Conference Rationale
While communication technologies continue to progress and develop, societal and political forces are also influencing the changes and increasing challenges in the field of media and mass communication.
Even as marketing and media producers have gained direct access to their consumers, politicians and their machinery have also invaded the public sphere bypassing traditional mass media.

The proposed theme of the 2018 conference seeks to initiate a discourse on the paradoxes brought about by these challenges to mass media and communication as a result of the emerging social media and the changing socio-political economy of media institutions.

The ACMC Conference 2018 is pleased to invite papers addressing the conference theme. Conference streams include but are not limited to:

• Globalization of the News Media
• Public relations in the Digital Era
• Hashtag journalism and other alternative forms
• Mainstream and Alternative Media
• Commercialization of Communication
• New Paradigms in Communication Education
• Gender and Diversity
• The New Gatekeepers
• Open Government Data
• Social media potentials and pitfalls
• Communicating Youth
• Mobile networked communities

CFP:Japan in the Digital Age

Japan in the Digital Age
Call for Papers for a one-day Symposium
Saturday 28th October, 2017
The Shed, Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester

Keynote Speakers
Prof. Ian Condry, Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Mr. Kazuhito Gen-I (?? ??), award-winning media practitioner, working on 2.5 Dimension project (theatre adaptation of anime, manga and videogame)

Japan has been a place of fascination throughout the years, particularly to those interested in media and popular culture, business, science and technology, and other related areas such as transport and tourism. Yet surprisingly, there is little sustained discussion on how contemporary Japan is situated within the rapidly changing landscape of digital technologies in the New Millennium. How has digitisation changed Japanese aesthetics and values? Have mobile phone technologies altered the way Japanese business language is used? How does 'tradition' shape Japanese digital cultures? Such questions need urgent attention as currently, there are a number of significant and innovative digital initiatives in Japan which have impacted on Japanese culture and arts, technology, business and society, but are little known outside of Japan.

We invite academics, PG students, industry researchers and practitioners for contributions which examine the transformation of Japan in the Digital Age, and the transformation of the Digital Age through Japanese culture, practice, politics, technologies, industries and beyond. The overall aim of the Symposium is to provide a supportive and inspiring environment to encourage cross-disciplinary and cross-sector dialogues, to learn about innovative digital projects in Japan, and to build a network of those engaged with Japan through their work and lives.

Suggested topics include:

• Digital technologies and Japanese popular culture (e.g. anime/manga, games, fashion)
• Japanese digital identity, politics and society
• Digital communications, Japanese language and business
• Innovative Japanese digital design and technologies

Please submit a 250-word abstract to e.miyake@mmu.ac.uk by 4th August 2017, using the following format: title + abstract; name of author(s); affiliation; email; key words. For any enquiries, please get in touch with Dr. Esperanza Miyake (e.miyake@mmu.ac.uk)?

CFP: Social Media & Social Order

Social Media & Social Order
International Conference
Oslo, Norway
30 November-2 December 2017

Keynote speakers: Chris Bail (Duke University), Nick Couldry (LSE) and Stefania Milan (University of Amsterdam)

This international conference will investigate how social media re-inscribe social order-asserting established ways in which social groups are assigned their proper place in the city or the nation. Social media are frequently imagined as vectors of transformation and disruption, and as a result very little existing research considers the continuities and conservative schemas that are reproduced by these platforms. The conference will make up for this blind spot by placing the symbols, institutions, rituals, socially induced emotions and everyday social interactions mediated and produced by digital media at the center. When, how and why do social media serve to reproduce rather than to challenge the existing order? Under which conditions, and on what levels, can challenges to the social order occur? What difference does it make to regard social media not just as a conduit but also as a site of social order?

The conference will pursue these questions by considering cases and identifying mechanisms through which social media both re-inscribe and challenge social order. These will range across several fields, including urban life, public debate, social movements, community dynamics, and religious or cultural conflict. The conference will also reflect on methodological issues in studying the social media-social order nexus, such as the relationship between computational and qualitative approaches. We will also consider the relative merits of various theoretical perspectives, including mediatisation, actor-network, figurational and practice theories.

The conference will feature reports from Cultural Conflict 2.0, a three-year project on digital media and cultural conflict funded by the Research Council of Norway based at the University of Agder, Norway, and the University of Amsterdam.

Presentations can deal with the following topics under the broader conference theme of Social Media & Social Order (but are not restricted to them):

• Racialized, classed and gendered ordering through social media
• How do social media impinge on local community relations?
• Memes, fake news and the far-right ascendancy
• Building alternate and activist social media to challenge social order
• The puzzle of aesthetic homogeneity and conformity on social media
• How hierarchy is established in digital networks
• Negotiating online and face-to-face encounters
• The relationship between 'legacy' and social media in the structuring of social order
• The logic of mutual affirmation in global/online vs. local/offline interactions

Abstracts are due by 1 August 2017. For further details and instructions for how to submit, please visit the conference website: https://social-media-and-social-order.neocities.org

If you have any questions about this call, don't hesitate to contact the organizers at cc2@uia.no.

CFP: Social Media Technology Conference & Workshop

Social Media Technology Conference & Workshop

Call for Papers, Workshops and Panels
October 5-6, 2017
Howard University
Washington, D.C.

Conference Theme – Social Media: Culture and Identity

The 7th Annual Social Media Technology Conference & Workshop is a two-day intensive conference combining panel discussions, paper presentations and workshops designed to enlighten attendees about new scholarship, professional practices and pedagogical approaches to teaching. Interested individuals can send in papers, workshop ideas and panels proposals that address a myriad of topics surrounding the theme – Social Media: Culture and Identity. This year’s theme focuses on dissecting how social media work to celebrate and heighten cultural differences and practices as well as provide a space for individuals to shape or have their identities shaped by social media usage. The goal is to bring scholars and professionals together to share their perspectives on how social media are utilized by various individuals, groups, cultures or entities to create agency, share voices and impact cultures and identities.

The deadline for submissions of papers, panels and workshops is on June 30, 2017. For more details, visit our official website at www.socialmediatechnologyconference.com. You can also email Dr. Tia C.M. Tyree at ttyree@howard.edu. Connect with us on Twitter and Facebook @smtechconfwork.

Sponsor

The National Communication Association, which advances Communication as the discipline that studies all forms, modes, media, and consequences of communication through humanistic, social scientific, and aesthetic inquiry. NCA serves the scholars, teachers, and practitioners who are its members by enabling and supporting their professional interests in research and teaching. Dedicated to fostering and promoting free and ethical communication, NCA promotes the widespread appreciation of the importance of communication in public and private life, the application of competent communication to improve the quality of human life and relationships, and the use of knowledge about communication to solve human problems.

CFP: Social Media and Communities

Social Media and Communities -- a "mini-track" at the
Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, (HICSS-51)
January 3-6, 2018, Hilton Waikoloa Village, Hawaii
Full paper submission deadline, June 15

We call for papers that address social networks and communities supported and/or complemented by social media for work, learning, socializing, economic and/or political processes, and/or that address theory, design, practices, use or evaluation of such social media use. ‘Communities’ is taken in a broad sense, including communities of practice, epistemic communities, or communities of inquiry, as well as fully virtual communities, and social media use that supports or complements geographically based community. We particularly encourage papers that:

• advance our understanding of social network growth, formation, structure and outcomes through social media;
• explore how socio-technical affordances relate to social media use and outcomes;
• evaluate design of social media technologies and practices for effective community development and maintenance; and
• develop theories, models and principles of social media design, use and outcomes.

We encourage the submission of exploratory and theoretical papers, as well as empirical studies.

HICSS 51 and the "Big Island"

The Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences, in its 51st year, is one of the longstanding scientific conferences and is highly ranked among information systems conferences. Diverse disciplines unified by a focus on information technologies are woven together in a matrix structure of tracks and themes. By attending HICSS you are not only reaching the audience of your track and mini-track; you also have the opportunity to learn about what is happening in related fields and meet leaders in those fields. Other mini-tracks within the Digital and Social Media track are particularly relevant: see http://hicss.hawaii.edu/tracks-51/digital-and-social-media/

With five of the world's seven climate zones, and a mixture of Hawaiian and immigrant cultures, the "Big Island" of Hawaii offers diverse outdoor activities, good food, and cultural activities.

Please see http://www.hicss.org/ for conference, venue and submission information. Papers are due June 15, 2017

Minitrack Co-Chairs:

Dan Suthers (Primary Contact)
University of Hawaii at Manoa
suthers@hawaii.edu

Karine Nahon
University of Washington and the Interdisciplinary Centre Herzliya
karineb@uw.edu

Mobile Utopia Bonfire School

Call for Applications
Mobile Utopia Bonfire School
29 October - 2 November 2017, CeMoRe, Lancaster University
http://wp.lancs.ac.uk/cemore-bonfire/

Most people are unaware of the ‘systemness’
of their everyday practices (Urry 2016:73)

From Thomas More’s Utopia (1516) to John Urry’s What is the future? (2016), utopia has been a powerful means to explore how societies change. Using utopia as a method to explore and contest futures is a powerful approach (Levitas 2013). It is at once critical, ethical, creative, and integrative.

The Mobile Utopia Bonfire School brings together senior and junior scholars from a range of different disciplines (history, social science, art, design, policy, engineering and more) to explore how futures and utopia as method relate to their research. How does ‘mobilising’ utopia as method help us understand social futures, current everyday practices and their relation to multi-scalar, intergenerational, more-than-human futures? How might ‘mobilising’ utopia as method provide deeper insight and creative leverage? Read more about the background here.

The Mobile Utopia Bonfire School is organised on the fringe of the Mobile Utopia: Pasts, presents, futures Conference – jointly organised by Cemore, T2M, and Cosmobilities, 2-5 November 2017 at Lancaster University. A range of senior staff members, including Simon Bainbridge, Monika Büscher, Joe Deville, Melissa Fernández Arrigoitia, Malene Freudendal Pedersen, Kevin Hannam, Carlos Lopez Galviz, Mimi Sheller will participate. For an up-to-date list, please check here.

To participate in the Bonfire School, applicants should submit a 300 word abstract that describes their research, addressing the following questions: What are you researching? Why? What does or could utopia as a concept or method do for you? Please complete the Application Form available on the website.

Important Dates: 05 June 2017
Submission of Applications: 12 June 2017
Notification of Acceptance: 15 June 2017
Early Bird Registration closes: 25 August 2017
Registration closes :Participation is limited to 25 PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, artists, practitioners.

The Bonfire School provides opportunities to participate in a range of activities, including:
Presentation-based discussions: A speedy, fun series of 3 minute presentations about your research - What are you researching? Why? What does or could utopia as a concept or method do for you? Student, staff, postdoc presentations will be mixed, followed by discussion.

Master classes: (after Erik Olin Wright) Learning in small groups of one member of staff and 1-3 students/postdocs. Each student/postdoc has a total of ten minutes, divided roughly evenly between the student telling the senior researcher something puzzling about their research and them responding with off-the-cuff comments and suggestions. The point here is NOT for students to give a five minute summary of their research, but rather to identify a problem in need of feedback: something puzzling or confusing; a bottleneck in the project; a difficult (perhaps annoying) objection that has been raised by someone; a mysterious finding that doesn’t make sense; an intractable methodological problem; an ethical issue about the research. The senior researcher questions, comments, provides advice, constructive critique. These initial exchanges are followed by discussion.

Mentoring: In pairs or threes staff/students/postdocs discuss successes and failures related to the practicalities of research and career.

Publishing Pleasures: A one to one discussion of publication prospects and practices with Gerhard Boomgarden, senior editor, Routledge Sociology Series in a ‘publication surgery’ session. Please note: Participants wishing to take advantage of this must send in a short outline of a book proposal by 1st October to Aurora Trujillo. This can be rough. To see what might need to go into a book proposal, consult the Changing Mobilities Book Series Form (links available on the website). Scheduling of the sessions will be on a first come, first served basis.

Writing Exchange: Taking inspiration from the activities at the Bonfire school, participants will have the opportunity to produce and exchange a 500-1000 word piece of writing for constructive critique with other participants.

The Mobile Utopia Experiment: As part of the Cemore|T2M|Cosmobilities 2017 Conference (2-5 November), there will be a creative experimental pre-enactment of mobile utopia, with various activities. Participants in the Bonfire School will participate in the experiment. Please visit the website for more information about the experiment.

For further detail, please also see the Preliminary Programme on the website.

Registration Fees
Early Bird (including all meals & facilities): £350
After 15th June 2017: £450

Campus accommodation is available at a reduced rate (around £50 per person/night, including breakfast). Please note that Registration and accommodation for the Conference are separate. We’d be delighted to welcome you. (Early registration is recommended).

Bursaries and Travel Grants
A small number of bursaries and travel grants are available. Allocation is competitive and based on peer review of the research abstract submission. Please complete the Travel Grant Application Form on the website by 05 June 2017. Decisions will be made by 12 June.

Note that the Bonfire School is one of several events and we would be delighted to welcome you for the whole week:
1. Take part in all of it, the Bonfire School, the Mobile Utopia Experiment and the Mobile Utopia Conference 29th October - 5th November 2017
2. Join the Bonfire School to discuss your research and participate in the Mobile Utopia Experiment (you don't have to bring an experiment) 29th October - 2nd November 2017
3. Make a Mobile Utopia Experiment and bring it to Lancaster 1-2nd November 2017

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

With best wishes,

Monika, Carlos and Ian

Monika Büscher, Professor of Sociology
Director Centre for Mobilities Research
Associate Director for the Institute for Social Futures
Department of Sociology, Lancaster University, LA1 4YW
Office Hours: By Arrangement - Bowland North B14