[ecrea] Call for Papers - Quaderns del CAC 44

*CALL FOR PAPERS*

*Quaderns del CAC, number 44, July 2018*

*Fake news, algorithms and filter bubbles***

**

*** Deadline for presentation of articles: April 16, 2018 ***

**

The next issue of the communication journal, Quaderns del CAC, which is 
published in three languages, Catalan, Spanish and English, is calling 
for papers to be presented for its monographic section.

*Fake news, algorithms and filter bubbles***

Fake news, filter bubbles and algorithms exist separately and can 
therefore be analysed. Their current notoriety results from them working 
together to create a veritable system that can construct parallel realities.

Fake news has always existed and information has always been 
manipulated. But in the previous environment of limited channels of 
communication, professionally organised and with institutionalised 
counterweights, it was relatively easy to detect what was fake and, if 
appropriate, penalise it, applying the rules of editorial 
accountability. The internet has radically changed this situation. On 
the one hand, distribution channels and devices to access information 
have increased exponentially. On the other, the agents producing and 
distributing content have also multiplied and their variety increased. 
In addition to professionals producing information following a series of 
conventions, including separating information from opinion, verifying 
facts, triangulation and using a variety of sources as well as 
gatekeeping to decide which events and issues are newsworthy, there are 
new corporate and individual agents which do not follow, and are not 
obliged to follow, any of these rules in carrying out their activity.

A perfect breeding ground for fake news. A large number of agents 
generate content for an infinite number of publicly or privately-owned 
distribution channels, not subject to rules of editorial accountability 
and without the filter of institutionalised professional conventions. 
This makes it very difficult to detect and block fake news. Although, in 
principle, today's hyperconnected society fosters political transparency 
and news pluralism and empowers citizens as never before, the very 
profusion of sources and content and the absence of editorial 
accountability applicable to all online activity create new risks for 
our society. In order to handle the huge amount of content available, 
large platforms and social media use search algorithms to propose to 
each user a selection of content which matches their preferences, 
deduced by algorithms based on the user's digital footprint. The 
algorithm acts as a gatekeeper without any kind of transparency in the 
criteria applied. Apart from reprehensible biases, users also run the 
risk of consuming only the information that matches their world view or 
ideology. This can create perverse situations, such as "echo chambers" 
or filter bubbles for each user, making them believe they are receiving 
/objective information on the world /rather than automatically 
pre-selected topics that match their profile. This completes the 
virtuous circle that makes fake news so effective.

Fake news is created using a credible design in an online medium that 
also has a credible appearance, and it is injected into the 
corresponding filter bubbles on social media. Using algorithms, these 
bubbles help to quickly spread the fake news item to all like-minded 
bubbles that match the bias of the fake news item, often using "bots" to 
multiply the effect and thereby helping it to go viral.

An increasing number of citizens, especially young people and minors, 
access information solely via this channel. Given the global, instant 
and viral nature of such platforms, a fake news item can create 
significant states of opinion in large segments of society. The danger 
of compartmentalisation is a logical consequence.

Fake news reaches a peak when items go beyond like-minded filter 
bubbles. This occurs particularly when traditional media pick them up 
and spread them, acting as amplifiers and, worse still, adding a patina 
of truthfulness that comes from their status as news media. The 
faltering business model of traditional media has contributed to such 
episodes, as they now have fewer resources to duly check the facts. This 
is also another consequence of using algorithms. Some media use "bots" 
with automated algorithms to produce news, which can act as a backdoor 
for fake news to enter the traditional media.

Fake news and filter bubbles become particularly important at times of 
political polarisation, such as the case of Brexit and the Catalan 
independence movement, as well as during election campaigns, such as the 
US and France.

Apart from using fake news to influence the state of opinion in favour 
of a certain political opinion or commercial interest, also important is 
the creation of a veritable fake news industry with great appeal, since 
it achieves a large number of hits on a global scale and therefore 
attracts advertising revenue.

Algorithms also play a decisive role in the digital communication of 
non-news content, both in entertainment and fiction. Using algorithms to 
process big data, provided unwittingly by users when they consume, 
generates the phenomenon of filter bubbles. Because of this phenomenon, 
content is suggested to users that matches their interests, limiting the 
diversity of products they access and resulting in a poorer cultural 
consumption experience. Equally problematic is the use of algorithms in 
the production process, with content design incorporating variables 
resulting from processing big data obtained as users consume.


Papers can cover aspects related to the following areas, as well as 
combinations thereof:

·Communication

·Journalism

·Legislation and regulations

·Politics and society

·Economics

·Technology

And among other topics:

Concept typification: fake news, post-truth, disinformation

Fake news as a means of political influence

Legislation and the state's role regarding fake news and the 
transparency of algorithms

The use of fake news in polarised political or social situations

Frame war in polarised political communication

Sources of information in the social media era

How facts and truth are handled in news discourse

Resources to detect and censure fake news

Credibility of the different news providers

Discourse-based aspects of fake news and disinformation

Mechanisms used to produce and spread fake news

Disinformation and virality

Biases employed by algorithms to decide which subjects are newsworthy

Risks to individual privacy

Ethical problems of authorship and editorial accountability

Filter bubbles and the segmentation of content consumption

The declining diversity of media diet content

Characterising filter bubbles

“Bots” in content generation

The problems of editorial accountability online

The risks of automating news production

Fake news as a business

How “bots” help content go viral

However, we also encourage you to take part in the miscellaneous 
"Articles" section, devoted to publishing current research on 
audiovisual communication and culture. There is no deadline for papers 
for this section.

Papers must be original and unpublished and must not have been submitted 
to any other journal. Papers will undergo a double blind peer review and 
the publication undertakes to inform authors whether their paper has 
been accepted or not within maximum one and a half months after it has 
been presented. Papers must be presented in accordance with the 
manuscript submissions guidelines 
<https://www.cac.cat/pfw_files/cma/recerca/quaderns_cac/Q43_guia_articles_EN.pdf>.

You can send your paper to (quadernsdelcac /at/ gencat.cat) 
<mailto:(quadernsdelcac /at/ gencat.cat)>



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