[Commlist] CFP "Visibility in the Digital Age: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives"

CALL FOR PAPERS - SComS - Studies in Communication Sciences (OPEN ACCESS)

"Visibility in the Digital Age: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives“

Deadline for abstracts: July 15, 2019
(Deadline for inivited full papers: November 30, 2019)

Guest Editors: Cornelia Brantner (University of Augsburg; IWAF, Vienna) 
& Helena Stehle (University of Hohenheim)

In the digital age, calls for transparency and openness as well as for 
privacy and confidentiality prevail: Struggles for visibility occur 
simultaneously with fights for invisibility and hidden battles for power 
and privileges of interpretation. Concerns about a loss of digital 
self-determination exist just like concerns about the “right to be 
forgotten”. While a few years ago the idea of a “transparent user”–as 
the ultimate of (in)voluntary visibility–caused a broad outcry in 
society and scientific debate (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008), the debate is 
nowadays shifting towards considerations of Internet governance and 
regulation (Camenisch, Fischer-Hübner, & Hansen, 2015). The societally 
relevant aspects of visibility and invisibility in the digital age are 
increasingly discussed and analyzed. Visibility and invisibility become 
important dimensions in the description and explanation of digital 
communication. They encompass for example “(1) the availability of 
information, (2) approval to share information, and (3) the 
accessibility of information to third parties” (Stohl, Stohl, & 
Leonardi, 2016, p. 125). They can be addressed with regard to 
individuals and institutions (e.g., their ability to speak, their power 
or opinion leadership), structures and processes (e.g., in the meaning 
of becoming visible or making visible), as well as data and information 
(e.g., their accessibility or comprehensibility). Studies are, however, 
scattered across various fields of research in media and communication 
science. Therefore, the thematic section aims at gathering cutting-edge 
research on visibility and invisibility in digital publics. We invite 
submissions from different divisions in media and communication studies 
that present outstanding meta-analytical perspectives, new theoretical 
approaches, innovative methodological approaches, or lessons to be 
learned from empirical analyses.
Submissions relating (but not limited) to the following areas and 
questions are invited: * Understanding and analysis of digital 
(in)visibility: How can visiblity be conceptualized in the digital 
world? How is it connected to other concepts, e.g., transparency or 
attention? What aspects are included in the state of being visible in 
comparison to the process of becoming visible? Which theoretical 
concepts and methodological perspectives are useful and necessary to 
describe and analyze the (in)visible of digital communication? How can 
the invisible be made visible for research? How can the effects of the 
invisible, but also of the visible, be measured?
* Tensions between visibility and invisibility: What tensions between 
visibility and invisibility can be observed in society in general or in 
specific contexts? Why do they emerge? How are these tensions addressed 
by various actors, e.g., in interactions between journalists and 
audience members or in instances of cyberbullying?
* Actors, institutions, structures and processes regarding digital 
(in)visibility: Who is involved in creating, shaping or governing 
digital (in)visibility? How can structures and processes regarding 
(in)visibility be described? How are conditions and constraints of 
(in)visibility created and shaped? In what ways do processes of 
governance or management and intervolved power relations become visible 
themselves? How does the (in)visibility of information affect structures 
and processes in society in general or in specific contexts like media 
companies or other organizations? How do users deal with (in)visibility 
in their everyday media practices and how are they influenced by the 
affordances of social media or underlying societal and cultural norms?
* Sociopolitical significance and consequences of digital 
(in)visibility: What significance does (in)visibility have in the 
digital world? What positive or negative implications for sociopolitical 
frameworks and contexts arise from the influence of actors, 
technologies, processes, and practices on what users see or do not see 
online and how they see it? How does the visible frame the media- and 
non-media-related everyday life? What consequences does the 
(in)visibility of actors, opinions, or processes have for social 
coexistence, societal institutions, or foundations of democracy?

The full call for papers and author guidelines: 
https://www.hope.uzh.ch/public/journals/6/assets/SComS_CfP_VisibilityintheDigitalAge.pdf 

SUBMISSION GUIDLINES
The length of the articles in the thematic section should be between 
6,000 and 8,000 words (including abstract and references). All submitted 
papers must adhere to APA6 style (www.apastyle.org). The journal 
welcomes submissions in English, German, French, or Italian, but the 
abstract must be in English. All submissions should be sent to the guest 
editors via the following email addresses: (brantner /at/ iwaf.at) and 
(helena.stehle /at/ hohenheim.de).

The submission process consists of two phases:
* In a first step, abstracts of 500 words (plus the name(s) of the 
author(s) and affiliation(s), title, and 3 to 5 keywords) should be 
submitted no later than July 15, 2019.
* In the second step, the decision for an invitation to submit a full 
paper will be given by August 15, 2019. Invited paper submissions will 
be due November 30, 2019. The invitation to submit a full paper does not 
guarantee acceptance into the thematic section. Final acceptance depends 
on a double-blind peer review process. The expected publishing date of 
this thematic section is December 2020. Successful contributions that 
are not accepted for the thematic section will be published in other 
issues of the journal.

ABOUT SComS
SComS is an international open access journal of communication research 
that is jointly edited by the Swiss Association of Communication and 
Media Studies (SACMR) and the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the 
Università della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano). The journal is fully 
open access to both the authors and readers. The publishing home is 
HOPE, which stands for Hauptbibliothek Open Publishing Environment, 
which is offered by the Main Library of the University of Zurich based 
on the infrastructure of the Zentrale Informatik.


We look forward to receiving your submissions. If you have any 
questions, please do not hesitate to contact the guest editors: Cornelia 
Brantner ((brantner /at/ iwaf.at)) or Helena Stehle ((helena.stehle /at/ hohenheim.de)).


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