[ecrea] CfP Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges

Call for Papers *"Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big 
Challenges?"*

The conference aims to attract papers from a range of disciplines 
analysing *Big Data* or developing approaches that dig into the 
mechanisms that large datasets do not consider. See the Call for Papers 
<http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/call-papers> (*abstract 
deadline: 1 March 2012*).

Organised by the Oxford Internet Institute <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/> 
(OII, University of Oxford) on behalf of the OII-edited academic journal 
Policy and Internet <http://www.psocommons.org/policyandinternet/>, the 
conference will place over two days (20-21 September 2012) at St Anne's 
College <http://www.st-annes.ox.ac.uk/conferences/introduction.html> in 
central Oxford, UK.

Best wishes,

   * Professor Helen Margetts <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=2>,
     Academic Convenor (Oxford Internet Institute)
   * Dr Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon <http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?id=133>
     (Oxford Internet Institute)
   * David Sutcliffe (Oxford Internet Institute)

Internet, Politics, Policy 2010
Contact: (ipp2012 /at/ oii.ox.ac.uk) <mailto:(ipp2012 /at/ oii.ox.ac.uk)>
Twitter: #ipp2012
site web: http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/welcome

*Rationale*

Recent years have seen an increasing buzz around how ‘Big Data’ can 
uncover patterns of human behaviour and help predict social trends. Most 
social activities today leave digital imprints that can be collected and 
stored in the form of large datasets of transactional data. These data 
are already being used to prevent epidemics or combat fraud and crime, 
but the research potential of these data is still underexploited.

The impact of Big Data goes beyond academic research: the behavioural 
insights gained from transactional information can also be used to drive 
evidence-based policy making and ‘nudge’ political behaviour. However, 
the technical skills necessary to analyse large datasets often prevent 
social scientists from exploiting its potential. Much detail is also 
lost in the analysis of Big Data, which emphasises aggregated patterns 
over mechanisms operating at the individual level and lacks the 
demographic information of survey data, for example.

This conference calls for papers that explore the new research frontiers 
opened up by Big Data as well as its limitations. We are looking for 
research that uses large datasets to inform old debates in political 
science, and papers that develop innovative methodological tools (from 
experiments, to crowd-sourcing, to online ethnography) to overcome the 
omissions of big datasets. The Internet, Politics, Policy 2012 
conference aims to serve as a forum to encourage discussion across 
disciplinary boundaries on how to exploit Big Data to inform policy 
debates and advance social science research.


     Programme

The conference aims to attract papers from a range of disciplines 
analysing Big Data or developing approaches that dig into the mechanisms 
that large datasets do not consider. Panels will be organised in twin 
tracks:

   * Papers in the *Politics track* will explore the insights that
     large datasets and complementary methodological tools offer in the
     analysis of political behaviour, including – but not limited to –
     mobilisations, collective action, or public opinion formation.
   * Papers in the *Policy track* will look at how behavioural insights
     gained from Big Data analysis, and from experiments in online
     settings, can inform policy debates and shape policy making,
     including e-health, on-line education, cybercrime, security and
     privacy.

These two areas are intertwined, and will be merged in plenary sessions, 
investigating the intersection of policy and politics in the Big Data era.


     Paper Submission

We welcome papers reporting on innovative research exploiting large 
datasets or applying novel methodological tools aimed to overcome the 
limitations of Big Data. We particularly welcome papers that report 
empirical results and employ analytical approaches that would not have 
been possible without access to digital information. Perspectives from 
any academic discipline are welcomed, particularly: political science, 
economics, law, sociology, information science, communications, 
philosophy, computer science, psychology, management, geography and 
medicine.

Please submit a 500-word outline in the first instance specifying the 
research question and describing the methods and data used. All outlines 
will be peer reviewed and applicants will have the opportunity to 
co-submit their paper to the journal Policy and Internet, which will 
operate a fast-track review process for accepted papers.


     Deadlines

   * Abstract deadline: 500 words to be submitted by 1 March 2012
   * Decision on abstracts: 15 April 2012
   * Poster deadline: 15 April 2012
   * Accepted paper submission deadline: 16 August 2012

All abstracts, papers and correspondence should be sent to: 
(ipp2012 /at/ oii.ox.ac.uk) <mailto:(ipp2012 /at/ oii.ox.ac.uk)>