[ecrea] CFP - 'Big Data, Big Questions, or, Accounting for Big Data' IJOC Special Section

We're sending out a call for papers for an IJOC special section on 
critical engagements with Big Data. Apologies for cross posting, and 
please get in touch if you'd like to contribute!

CFP- "Big Data, Big Questions, or, Accounting for Big Data"
International Journal of Communication
http://ijoc.org
http://socialmediacollective.org/2012/08/08/big-data-big-questions-or-accounting-for-big-data/

Guest editors: Kate Crawford (Microsoft Research, UNSW) and Mary L. Gray 
(Microsoft Research, Indiana University)
Journal editor: Larry Gross (USC)

Previously isolated data sets, from social media and demographic surveys 
to city maps and urban planning documents, are now routinely 
interlinked. Combining separate, often disparate, multi-terabyte sets of 
information reframes our capacity to see into the behaviors of --- and 
relationships between --- people, institutions and things. Researchers 
in fields as varied as computer science, geography, sociology, 
marketing, biology, economics, among many others, use the term "big 
data" to capture a wide range of activities revolving around accessing 
and analyzing these vast quantities of information. What are the 
implications of big data as a cultural, technological and analytic 
phenomenon? What are the practices of big data, the underlying 
assumptions, and ways of modeling the world? Who gets access to it, and 
what effects does this produce?

This special section will offer a range of critical engagements with the 
issues surrounding big data and its related models of knowledge. We seek 
scholarly articles from diverse fields, and a wide range of theoretical 
and methodological approaches: including media studies, communication, 
anthropology, digital humanities, computational and social sciences, 
cultural geography, history, and critical cultural studies.

Possible topics include, but are not limited to:
What is the history (or histories) of big data and its related practices?
What are the epistemological ramifications of big data?
How can computational and social sciences use big data in 
cross-disciplinary work? What are the strengths and pitfalls of new hybrids?
What are the ethics of big data use, be it in city management, social 
media research, or political campaigning?
Who gets access to big data? What are the issues of class, race, gender, 
sexuality, religion and geography?
What are the labour politics of big data research?

The International Journal of Communication is an open access journal 
(http://ijoc.org <http://ijoc.org/>). All accepted articles will be 
published online. The anticipated publication date for this Special 
Section is August 2013.

Manuscripts should conform to the IJoC author 
guidelines.  Seehttp://ijoc.org/ojs/index.php/ijoc/about/submissions#authorGuidelines
Send your abstract as your initial submission, including the title of 
your paper and a list of five potential reviewers with their titles and 
e-mail addresses by October 1, 2012 to (IJOCbigdata /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(IJOCbigdata /at/ gmail.com)>.  Your suggested reviewers will help 
streamline the peer-review process.

*Timeline*

*October 1: Abstracts due *

*November 1: Acceptance of abstracts*

*January 28: Articles due *

If you have any questions, please contact Kate Crawford at 
(kate /at/ microsoft.com) or Mary Gray at (mlg /at/ microsoft.com).


_______________________________

Kate Crawford

Principal Researcher

Microsoft Research New England, Cambridge MA

http://bit.ly/21hiPf


Associate Professor

University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia

http://bit.ly/iQwMVg