[ecrea] CfP New Media and Citizenship in Asia - ICA 2012 Preconference

Call for papers
*New Media and Citizenship in Asia: *
*Social Media, Politics, and Community-Building*
*International Communication Association 2012 Preconference*
*Phoenix AZ, USA* - *May 24, 2012*
http://www.politicalcommunication.org/announcements.html#icaasia

*Abstracts of no more than 500 words are due on _November 28, 2011_*.

The role of new communication technologies, such as the internet, social 
media, and mobile phones in political and civic engagement has generated 
significant interest not only from scholars, but also from 
organizations, politicians, and ordinary citizens. While recent events 
in the Middle East help recognize the potential of new communication 
media as an agent contributing to macro-level political changes, these 
new communication tools are also actively utilized in more traditional 
political processes, such as electoral campaigns. Also important is 
people's everyday use of new communication technologies, which research 
has uncovered as providing an opportunity to encounter public affairs 
news and discourse, enhance understanding of issues, and get involved in 
civic and political activities.

This preconference aims to showcase innovative scholarly work examining 
various subjects concerning the role of social media, mobile phones, and 
other new communication technologies in the formation of democratic 
citizenship-writ large---in Asia. The preconference seeks studies that 
address relevant topics in a particular Asian country, and welcomes 
comparative research on Asian countries or Asian and non-Asian 
countries. The preconference encourages researchers to explore diverse 
topics, and possible areas include (but are not limited to): use of 
social media, mobile phones, and other new communication technologies in 
elections; influence of new media on citizen choices, participation, and 
knowledge; political elites' use of new media; use of social media by 
civic and grassroots groups; social media and civic engagement; new 
media and community; political talk and social media; patterns of new 
media use and political and civic consequences; trends in social media; 
cloud computing and collective action; changes in news consumption; 
computational social science.

Up to 15 papers will be selected through a peer-review process and 
divided into three or four interactive panels. Selected papers will be 
published in an edited volume or a special issue of a journal.

*Travel Grants*

Travel grants will be available to participants, particularly those who 
are from developing/transitional countries that appear in Tiers B and C 
on the ICA country tier chart (country of residence, not of origin). All 
graduate students who are first authors or presenters will be provided 
with a travel grant.


*Submission guidelines*

Abstracts of no more than 500 words are due on November 28, 2011.
Submit your abstract to (kwak /at/ umich.edu) as an MS Word attachment (please 
use your full name to label the file).
The authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by 15 December, 2011.
Final papers (5,000-8,000 words) are due by March 15, 2012.

*Organizers*

Nojin Kwak, Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies, 
Director of the Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan, USA

Marko M. Skoric, Assistant Professor, Division of Communication 
Research, Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang 
Technological University, Singapore

Scott Campbell, Associate Professor, Department of Communication 
Studies, University of Michigan, USA

Junho Choi, Assistant Professor, Graduate School of Information, Yonsei 
University, South Korea


*Supported by*

Nam Center for Korean Studies, University of Michigan, USA

Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang 
Technological University, Singapore

Political Communication Division, ICA