Archive for 2011

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[ecrea] CFP: Social Media and Political Change: Journal of Communication Special Issue

Sat Jun 11 21:16:34 GMT 2011



Social Media and Political Change: Journal of Communication Special Issue (Revised Version 1.1) _http://faculty.washington.edu/pnhoward/publishing/jofcspecialissue.html
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The "Arab Spring" as well as recent events in other parts of the world have demonstrated that new communication technologies, such as mobile phones and the internet, are simultaneously new tools for social movement organizing and new tools for surveillance by authoritarian regimes. Though communication theory necessarily transcends particular technologies, software, and websites, digital media have clearly become an important part of the toolkit available to political actors. These technologies are also becoming part of the research toolkit for scholars interested in studying the changing patterns in interpersonal, political, and global communication.

How have changing patterns of interpersonal, political, and global communication created new opportunities for social movements, or new means of social control by political elites? The role of social media in new patterns of communication is especially dramatic across North Africa and the Middle East, where decades of authoritarian rule have been challenged-with varying degrees of success. Social media-broadly understood as a range of communication technologies that allow individuals to manage the flow of content across their own networks of family, friends and other social contacts-seem to have had a crucial role in the political upheaval and social protest in several countries. Mass communication has not ceased to be important, but is now joined with a variety of other media with very different properties that may reinforce, displace, counteract, or create fresh new phenomena.

Research on social media and political change outside North Africa and the Middle East is also welcome, especially if it is about countries and communities managed by authoritarian regimes, or by emerging democracies where democratic institutions and practises may be deepening or thinning. Also welcome are manuscripts on media industries, the political economy of telecommunications policy, and research that uses original data or existing data in original ways--as long as such manuscripts fit the thematic interest in social media and political change. Manuscripts should contribute to advancing our understanding of both social media and political change.

This Special Issue seeks original qualitative, comparative, and quantitative research on social media and political change, particularly as related to events in North Africa and the Middle East, but we are also receptive to work on political change in other parts of the developing world. We would welcome manuscripts from a diverse range of methodologies, and covering diverse communities and cultures. Methodological innovations or mixed method approaches are particularly encouraged, and manuscripts on the interpersonal and intergroup aspects of social movement organizing are central interest. Whatever the approach, our goal is to select manuscripts that are grounded in the actual use of social media in promoting or resisting political change in developing countries and regions. If you have questions regarding the appropriateness of a potential submission, please contact Prof. Philip N. Howard (_pnhoward@uw.edu_).

Deadline for Submission is August 15th, 2011, through _http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcom_. Manuscripts must confirm to all JOC guidelines, including the use of APA 6th edition format and a limit of 30 pages total manuscript length. Please indicate your desire to be considered for the special issue in your cover letter. For additional information, including updates in the production timeline for the issue, revisit this page. For style guidelines and examples of articles published in this journal, see the journal website. Given the tight production deadlines, good manuscript that vary too far from submission guidelines are likely to be rejected.


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