[ecrea] Call for Papers - ECPR General Conference Oslo (6-9 Sept. 2017) "Political Sciences and the Big Data Challenge From Big Data in Politics to the Politics of Big Data"

In occasion of the next ECPR General Conference (Oslo 6-9 September 
2017) we invite papers for any of the panels in the section "Political 
Sciences and the Big Data Challenge From Big Data in Politics to the 
Politics of Big Data".
More detailed info on panels and the overall section can be found below.


Please submit paper proposals to (elena.pavan /at/ sns.it) 
<mailto:(elena.pavan /at/ sns.it)>and (alice.mattoni /at/ sns.it) 
<mailto:(alice.mattoni /at/ sns.it)>by *January the 15^th 2017* including the 
following info:

- papers titles and abstracts (no more than 500 words)

- institutional affliliation

- institutional email address


We will then arrange the selected papers in panels and submit them to 
the ECPR via their electronic platform.

Please note that paper authors must be registered in the ECPR electronic 
platform with the email address they will include in the paper proposals.


All the best


Alice Mattoni and Elena Pavan


***


*CALL FOR PAPERS *

*ECPR General Conference – 6-9 September 2017, Oslo*

**

*Section title*

*
*

*Political Sciences and the Big Data Challenge From Big Data in Politics 
to the Politics of Big Data*

*
*

*Section organizers*

Chair: Elena Pavan, Scuola Normale Superiore

Co-chair: Alice Mattoni, Scuola Normale Superiore

*
*

*Section outline and themes*

This section aims to open a much-needed space for developing within the 
ECPR context a critical and informed reflection on the multi-faceted 
nexus between Big Data and political science. It understands Big Data 
not solely in terms of large-scale datasets of textual or digital data 
that require us to tune our research practices. More radically, it 
starts from a conceptualization of Big Data as a complex set of 
cultural, political and scientific knowledge practices that challenge 
the traditional modes in which research questions are posed and framed, 
analyses are performed, as well as the ways in which results are 
communicated to the public and thus affect public discourse and debates. 
Consistently, the section comprises a set of panels that aim to 
investigate two interrelated aspects. On the one hand, panels will 
engage with how Big Data are leveraging our understanding of political 
dynamics within complex societies. In this respect, the section will 
consider applications of Big Data in connection to public opinion and 
institutional politics (party dynamics, political communications, etc.) 
as well as in relation to the study of contemporary forms of collective 
action and unconventional political participation (social movements, 
digital activism and the like). On the other, panels will develop a 
specific take on Big Data, considering how they become a contested 
research and political terrain, and thus inviting critical reflections 
on methodological and epistemological implications but also on the power 
dynamics that entwine with the increased datification of our societies. 
In this sense, this Section offers a unique occasion to foster the 
convergence of scholars and researchers currently working on the value 
of Big Data for studying politics but also on the politics of Big Data 
themselves. With this aim in mind, the panels in this Section will 
welcome papers employing different theoretical, empirical and 
methodological approaches on Big Data, with a single-case or a 
comparative multinational and/or multiplatform perspective. More 
specifically, the Section will welcome papers on the following topics.

*
*

*Big data, public opinion and institutional politics*

Digital social behaviors and, particularly, social media communications 
and interactions are increasingly considered a fundamental component of 
electoral campaigns, governmental and legislative dynamics as well as of 
the relationships and the interactions between party members and 
political leaders with their constituencies. Thus, it is in the online 
public discourse unravelling on social media platforms that politicians 
and policy-makers lean to an increasing extent to have the pulse of 
ongoing and ever evolving political trends and public opinions. This 
panel invites papers that apply Big Data to the study of contemporary 
political institutional and/or public opinion dynamics with national or 
comparative perspectives thus providing a space to inquiry about how 
this type of data and related methodological and analytical practices 
can leverage our understanding of traditional political science topics.

*
*

*Big data and unconventional political participations*

The rapid diffusion and increased use of social media platforms in 
grassroots politics has relevant consequences for the organization of 
social movements and their forms of protest. While more traditional 
forms of collective actions still exist, grassroots politics often 
follows a logic of connective action according to which collective 
actors are less central than in the past for the success of 
mobilizations. Moreover, activists lean increasingly on web-based 
platforms and internet services that produce Big Data flows worldwide. 
This panel invites papers that investigate to what extent Big Data are 
changing the way in which activists organize and protest with national 
or comparative perspectives thus providing a space to inquiry about how 
this type of data and related methodological and analytical practices 
can leverage our understanding of grassroots political participation today.

*
*

*A paradigm shift for political science? Discussing Big Data 
epistemology and its implication for political studies*

Recent events, such as the last USA Presidential elections, have clearly 
shown the potentials and, perhaps, even to a larger extent, the 
criticalities of predictive analytical practices in the study of 
political dynamics. The time seems more than ripe to begin re-addressing 
the methodological practices that underpin our understanding of 
sociopolitical dynamics – in particular in relation to our extensive use 
of large-scale digital and textual datasets which are deemed to be 
“representative” of citizens’ political preferences, desires, and 
priorities. Consistently, this panel invites papers that address, 
theoretically or empirically, the potentialities and the criticalities 
of Big Data as a new epistemological practice for producing valid and 
socially relevant scientific knowledge in the field of political science.

*
*

*Big data as a political terrain: deconstructing and approaching 
critically datification*

Big Data are not a neutral field of practice and knowledge, in 
particular when it comes to politics.Political actors, economic actors 
and media actors understand in different ways the concept of big data. 
More precisely, when political parties and social movements engage with 
Big Data, they often evoke specific, and contrasting, understanding of 
what datification processes means in and for politics. This panel 
invites papers that deconstruct and approach critically processes of 
datification in contemporary politics by looking at the intersections 
between different political cultures and (big) data cultures, focusing 
on the discourses and imaginaries that political actors develop around 
Big Data, and investigating the media practices related to the 
construction, manipulation and subversion of Big Data within the 
political realm.

*
*

*How to submit a paper*

Please submit paper proposals to (elena.pavan /at/ sns.it) 
<mailto:(elena.pavan /at/ sns.it)>and (alice.mattoni /at/ sns.it) 
<mailto:(alice.mattoni /at/ sns.it)>by January the 15^th 2017 including the 
following info:

- papers titles and abstracts (no more than 500 words)

- institutional affliliation

- institutional email address

We will then arrange the selected papers in panels and submit them to 
the ECPR via their electronic platform.

Please note that paper authors must be registered in the ECPR electronic 
platform with the email address they will include in the paper proposals.


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