International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)
Conference, June 25-29, 2013, Dublin (Ireland)
Crises, 'Creative Destruction' and the Global Power and Communication Orders
http://www.iamcr2013dublin.com

Communication Policy and Technology (CP&T) section

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Communication Policy and Technology (CP&T) Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites submissions for the IAMCR 2013 conference to be held from June 25-29, 2013 in Dublin City University in Dublin (Ireland). The deadline for submissions of extended abstracts and panel proposals is January 28, 2013.

The conference will be held under the general theme: Crises, 'Creative Destruction' and the Global Power and Communication Orders. The overall conference theme engages with the concepts of crisis and ‘creative destruction’, associated with periods of intensified flux, change and all-round, multi-dimensional processes of innovation. The theme invites reflections on whether or how the current deep economic/financial crisis and its attendant gales of ‘creative destruction’ may promote fundamental or multiple shifts in the geo-political and communication orders globally. The theme can also be linked to the ways in which users, civil society, states and markets creatively adapt their practices, strategies and tactics in the wake of a crisis, which is often accompanied by the emergence of new values and subsequently new policy frameworks.

The Communication Policy and Technology section invites contributions to this overall theme that link and integrate the different levels of policy, industry, civil society and user practices in relation to possible shifts in local, national, regional and global power relations and communication technologies. The latter fits within a framework of the techno-dialectic of changes taking place in communication and media production, diffusion and consumption, on micro, meso, and macro levels. Some claim that we are living in an Internet Age where mediated communication systems generate major opportunities for citizens/consumers/users to become and subsequently stay empowered. However, in times of crisis and techno-economic turnarounds there is also often more pressure for industries and governments to develop ever deeper forms of corporate and political control and surveillance, today through communication systems. While the proclaimed goals of power holders in such an insecure societal and economic context is to more effectively and efficiently interact with and serve their consumers and/or citizens, in reality we seem to be moving ever faster to a dystopian closed and highly monitored information and communication environment in which citizens/users are in fact disempowered. The question is to what extent and how researchers and civil society in the media and communications field can formulate answers on the levels of user empowerment and capabilities, technological (re)design, transparency, governance and market restructuring to counter and resist this trend.

Starting from the remit of the Communication Policy and Technology section, we invite submissions that take a closer look at these and related issues. In addition to our open call for papers, the CP&T section invites papers and panel proposals addressing the following particular themes that are relevant to the section, organised by a focus on governance, practices, and technology:

1 - Policy and governance
- Governance and control through technological infrastructures and algorithms
- Self- and co-regulation for privacy and trust in new media and ICT
- Transparency of government and open data in the post-Wikileaks age
- Big data, datamining, social sorting, and Internet governance
- Civic/internet liberties in relation to hacktivism and peer-to-peer file sharing
- Social, economic and legal issues related to (new) regulatory initiatives worldwide on privacy and data protection (e.g. Privacy Impact Assessments)
- Social innovation opportunities and policy
- Internet and communication systems: challenges for national and international communication policies (Theme for joint session with International Communication section)

2 - Practices
- User (dis)empowerment and mediation 
- Tactics and strategies of resistance and protest in technology design and use
- Multi-stakeholder approach in media literacy and digital literacy
- Mediated forms of mutual cooperation outside of the capitalist regime of production and consumption
- Reconfiguring trust and identity in virtual communities and user-generated content (DIY)
- Privacy, surveillance and the commodification of personal data
- Social and policy consequences of digital marketing techniques (e.g. behavioural targeting, social advertising)
- Tensions between content producers (including users and ‘produsers’) and content distributors
- Practices of end-user programming and implications for empowerment

3 - Technology 
- Construction of technology: privacy-by-design versus surveillance-by-design
- Political economy of social media
- Design and use of Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PET) / Transparency Enhancing Technologies (TET) / Privacy Feedback and Awareness tools (PFA)
- Changing policies, value networks and user practices in digital audio-visual systems
- Creativity, transparency and control through autonomous systems and ubiquitous computing (RFID, sensors,...)
- Privacy and surveillance through social, local and mobile marketing techniques (SoLoMo)
- Linking (constructive) technology assessment (STS) with requirement engineering (computer science)
- Technologies for data inference, profiling, and prediction of user behaviour

The CP&T Section will look for opportunities for hosting joint sessions with other sections and/or working groups.

Submission information

The CP&T section welcomes proposals for papers bearing on the above or related issues by submitting an extended abstract (maximum 1,000 words). Abstracts should state the title, the methods or approach used, and briefly introduce the theoretical framework and empirical research on which the paper will be based. The scholarly presentation of accepted submissions can take place in several types of sessions: paper presentation sessions (i.e. 4-5 presenters each with 12-15 minutes, requiring full paper submitted on time) and high intensity sessions (i.e. 6-8 presenters each with 5-7 minutes). While, IAMCR accepts presentations and papers in English, French and Spanish, it is requested that extended abstracts and panel proposals, if at all possible, be submitted in English to facilitate the reviewing process. 

Proposals for panels are also welcome. A proposal should have four to five papers and should provide: (1) a panel title, (2) a framing text and (3) short abstracts for all the papers with paper titles and authors. The framing text (maximum 500 words) should contain the overall idea and goal of the panel, and how it responds to the CP&T section call. A panel chair and a discussant should also be proposed. The 500 word panel framing text and the individual paper abstracts need to be submitted separately, but please be sure to add the panel name to each of the individual paper abstracts! They will be reviewed and based on this review we will accept, accept with revisions, or decline the panel.

Submission of extended abstracts, panel proposals and (if accepted) full papers can only be done online via IAMCR’s Open Conference System (OCS) at http://iamcr-ocs.org from 15 November 2012 to 28 January 2013 (midnight GMT). Submissions only sent via e-mail will not be reviewed.

It is expected that, normally, only one abstract will be submitted per person for consideration by the Conference. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two abstracts bearing the name of the same applicant either individually or as part of any group of authors to a single IAMCR conference in general. Please note also that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to other IAMCR Sections or Working Groups for consideration, after an initial submission. Such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be automatically rejected by the Open Conference System (OCS), by the Head or by the Conference Programme Reviewer. Such applicants risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.

The deadlines are: 
- January 28, 2013 (midnight GMT): Submission of extended abstracts and panels via OCS (submissions will be assessed by double blind review)
- February 28, 2013: Announcement of acceptances
- May 28, 2013: Full papers due via OCS (around 7,500 words, excluding notes and references). There is no second round of reviewing for acceptance.

If a proposal is accepted, the presenter must also register for conference participation in order to be included in the final conference programme of the Section. A CP&T best paper award will be made to one of the paper presenters, based on the full papers submitted in time.

Additional questions about the CP&T sessions (submission, themes, panels etc.) at the IAMCR 2013 conference can be addressed to Bart Cammaerts (b.cammaerts [AT] lse.ac.uk) and Jo Pierson (jo.pierson [AT] vub.ac.be). For further information on the conference (registration, theme, location, etc.), please consult the conference website <http://iamcr2013dublin.com> or contact the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) by email at <info [AT] iamcr2013dublin.com>.

Section Chair:  Jo Pierson  /  Vice-Chairs: Bart Cammaerts and Aphra Kerr


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Jo Pierson (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels (VUB)
iMinds - Digital Society
Studies on Media, Information and Telecommunication (SMIT)
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UPCOMING: EMSOC/SPION 'For Your Eyes Only' conference on privacy and security, 29/30 November.
Register here: http://emsoc.be/wec_events/for-your-eyes-only
See also at: http://www.foryoureyesonly.be/index.html