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[ecrea] Call for Chapters: (R)evolutionizing Political Communication through Social Media

Tue Apr 29 11:49:59 GMT 2014





Call for Chapters:(R)evolutionizing Political Communication through Social Media



Editors

Dr. Tomaž Deželan (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Dr. Igor Vobic (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Call for Chapters

Proposals Submission Deadline: June 15, 2014
Full Chapters Due: October 15, 2014

Introduction



For release in the Advances in Public Policy and Administration (APPA) Book Series.

The Advances in Public Policy and Administration (APPA) Book Series aims to publish scholarly publications focused on topics pertaining to the governance of the public domain. APPA’s focus on timely topics relating to government, public funding, politics, public safety, policy, and law enforcement is particularly relevant to academicians, government officials, and upper-level students seeking the most up-to-date research in their field.



Twitter as a broad, omnipresent, and always-on communication environment creates various kinds of interactions for actors in the political arena. Research indicates how Twitter emerges as an ambient communication space where politicians and their parties are in constant asynchronous connection with their political competitors, the media, and electorate, where various agents engage in a network of interactive co-constructions of the political arena, and where political actors seek power through a diverse, shared communication field. From a historical perspective, societal conditions that would allow for the ideas of access to and participatory interactions in the political sphere have never fully materialized because of the unequal possibilities of entry into the media field, the uneven distribution of communication competences, and the reduction of public debates as well as the legitimization of dominant opinions created by the powerful elite. Preliminary scholarly findings indicate revolutionary potentials for Twitter; however, there is emerging evidence of the normalization of Twitter as a tool of narrow political struggles and at the same time new evolutionary paths of political communication towards a more inclusive, multi-layered, and multi-directional social phenomenon.

Considering the possibilities and constraints for more dynamic and open communication engagement, can we speak about the dominant modes of political communication on social media outlets in general, and Twitter in particular? How has Twitter impacted political communication and to what extent are the existing offline power positions mirrored in this ambient communication environment? What are the communalities and particularities of articulations between Twitter, politics, and media across societies? Keeping in mind the challenges of setting boundaries between different political roles of actors engaged on Twitter, how does this affect the prevailing modes of governmental communication, public relations, journalism, and popular culture? The proposed edited book considers these questions as the starting points of theoretical reflections about Twitter, politics and communication, methodological reconsiderations for investigating these empirical realities, and comparisons of social media manifestations of political communication between countries. In this sense, the book brings together studies exploring country-specific realizations of Twitter about the ways in which political actors communicate to the electorate and among themselves. It also elaborates on the findings of these theoretically-informed explorations in the larger context of transformations in political communication. Through this prism, the book explores contingent connections between political communication and social media, as they can be forged or broken in particular political and social contexts and as they are manifested in different ways across the globe. Different relations of dominance and subordination in connoting, symbolizing, and evoking the prevailing conceptions of politics and communication shape the online character of political life.



Objective

The edited volume intends to overcome solid boundaries in studying structures and networks, processes and relations, as well as strategies and outputs in studies of political communication, and explores the often unrelated structural, organizational, and individual levels in the study of politics and online communication. Therefore, the volume seeks to move beyond the prevailing scarcity in one of the key areas of practice and study of political communication online as the project attempts to fully explore the relationship between Twitter, politics, and communication with respect to structures and networks, processes and relations, as well as strategies and outputs.

Thus, the editors welcome theoretically-informed and context-sensitive sets of case studies that will examine rarely resolved issues, such as how technological innovation in the politics-communication relationship can revitalize political communication, reconfigure power relations in the political economy, strengthen the political relevance of social media, particularly Twitter, and revive political life in general.


Target Audience

The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals, researchers, and students interested in the field of political communication who are becoming increasingly interested in more sensitive approaches to the study of social media and its effects, particularly the impact of Twitter and new technologies on the functioning of society. Readers are likely to be academics from a whole range of humanities and social science disciplines, including communication research, political science, public relations, and media and journalism. Moreover, the book will provide insights and support to researchers, party officials and consultants, political activists, technology practitioners, and students interested in the latest research on the impact of information technology on political life as well as the global patterns and local idiosyncrasies of Twitter’s appropriation.



Recommended Topics

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, theoretical deliberations, comparative studies and case studies of the following four clusters of topics:

· Political Tools and Tactics

o an adoption of new information and communication tools and tactics by political actors

· Restructuring of Power Relations

o a restructuring of power relations of the political economy online

· Return of the Citizen

o a reorientation in the political communication relationship with citizens towards a more interactive and individualized engagement

· Ambient Political Communication Mode

o an ambient awareness between political actors, social power holders, and the mass media



Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before June 15, 2014, a 500 words long chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. All proposals should be submitted through the link at the bottom of this page. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified byJune 15, 2014 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by October 15, 2014. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.



Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," "Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2015.



Important Dates

June 15, 2014: Proposal Submission Deadline
June 20, 2014: Notification of Acceptance
October 15, 2014: Full Chapter Submission
December 15, 2014: Review Results Returned
January 30, 2015: Revised Chapter Submission
February 15, 2015: Final Acceptance Notification
February 28, 2015: Final Chapter Submission



Inquiries

Dr. Tomaž Deželan
Faculty of Social Sciences
SI-1000 UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
Tel.: +386 1 5805 231 _ Fax: +386 1 5805 101
E-mail: (tomaz.dezelan /at/ fdv.uni-lj.si)

Dr. Igor Vobic
Faculty of Social Sciences
SI-1000 UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
Tel.: +386 1 5805 234 _ Fax: +386 1 5805 101
E-mail: (igor.vobic /at/ fdv.uni-lj.si)



Further information about this call

http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/1354



Propose a chapter for this book

http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/submit/1354

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