[Commlist] CfP for a Special Issue on "Human-Machine Communication"

** Call for Papers **

** /Publizistik/ **

** Special Issue, Nov 2022 **

** Deadline 30 April 2022 **

** Submissions are accepted in English and German **

********

** “Human-Machine Communication” **

/ Guest Editors: Katrin Etzrodt, Peter Gentzel, Rinaldo Kühne, Sven 
Engesser /

Smart AI-powered machines such as virtual agents, chatbots, and social 
robots are increasingly pervading everyday lives. They are increasingly 
able to perceive their environment and act autonomously. As a result, we 
are witnessing a profound change in which communication through 
technologies is extended by communication with technologies—machines 
turn into interlocutors. This implies several theoretical, empirical, 
and methodological challenges for communication and media research, such 
as applying, changing, or reconceptualizing approaches.

To address these challenges, a systematic review of empirical findings, 
theory, and methodology in the field of human-machine communication 
(HMC) is necessary. However, research on HMC is characterized by a high 
degree of heterogeneity, which is reflected in a diversity of 
definitions, terms, research objects, topics, theories, and methods. The 
relevant literature is scattered and inconsistent, and synopses are 
scarce. Therefore, it is difficult to gain an adequate overview of the 
state of research on communication between humans and machines. Thus, 
the classification, critical discussion, and development of analytical 
concepts for the study of HMC are required.

* 1 Research objects and topics *
    ---------------------------------------
Machines as interlocutors and social actors are discussed within a 
variety of contexts. These include artificial intelligence, (social) 
robotics, digital assistants and chatbots (e.g., Amazon Alexa, Google 
Assistant, or Apple Siri), things (e.g., Internet of Things), 
environments (e.g., ambient intelligence), homes (e.g., smart homes), 
and cities (e.g., smart cities). HMC research has focused on short term, 
individual effects of communication with machines in the past decades. 
Of particular importance were social reactions of humans toward 
non-human or hybrid entities (e.g. Sundar et al. 2015) and humans’ 
inferences about the actorness or agency of such entities (cf. Reeves 
and Nass 1996). More recently, the role of machines as interlocutors as 
well as related conceptual and ethical issues (cf. Guzman 2018; Gunkel 
2020) have come to the fore. Further issues of HMC, such as contents, 
forms, and dynamics of HMC and humans’ perception and responses to 
machines have been studied in specific domains (e.g., healthcare, 
pedagogy, labor, or journalism), mainly in robotics (e.g., Zhao 2006). 
This special issue aims, on the one hand, to build on existing 
traditions and, on the other hand, to explore further perspectives.

Exemplary questions
     * What research subjects does HMC encompass? Which ones should it 
encompass?
     * What kind of “interlocutors” are machines?
     * What are the types and contents of HMC?
     * What are the effects of HMC?
     * What dynamics and practices emerge in HMC?
     * What (social) contexts play a role in HMC?

* 2 Theoretical definitions,terms and approaches *
    --------------------------------------------------------------
HMC aims at the construction and renegotiation of technologies as 
communicators. This renegotiation occurs against the backdrop of a 
disciplinary paradigm that focuses on human communication. Moving 
forward thus requires a twofold approach: To move forward, we thus have 
to expand the range of phenomena, the definitions of problems, and 
enhance the critical and analytical capacity of classical 
anthropocentric communication and media theories—which, from the 
perspective of conceptual development, are already densely intertwined 
with technical artifacts, mathematical assumptions, and engineering 
(e.g., information transmission, stimulus-response models, or the 
Shannon–Weaver model of communication) (cf. Guzman 2018; Guzman and 
Lewis 2020; Schäfer and Wessler 2020). Thus, the extent to which 
classical theories such as those of usage, reception, and effects, or 
interpersonal and computer-mediated communication can be applied to the 
analysis of HMC or need to be adapted has to be determined. In addition, 
the extent to which HMC can be enriched by approaches from other 
disciplines, such as those related to social contexts, to identity, to 
the construction of meaning, or to the negotiation of meaning, needs to 
be discussed.

Exemplary questions
     * When does “use of machines” become “interaction with machines” and
        when does interaction become “communication with machines”?
     * Which terminologies for communication between humans and machines
        have been established? How do these differ from classical 
anthropocentric
        conceptualizations of communication and the media?
     * How can theories of communication and media science be adapted 
to the
        new research object?
     * Can concepts such as interactivity, agency, and customizability 
from research
        on interactive media contribute to the analysis of HMC?
     * How do news construction, information processing, social 
coordination, and
        perceptual processes contribute to HMC?
     * What are the long-term implications of HMC from a societal and 
cultural
        perspective (e.g., with regard to tensions such as reproduction 
and change,
        complexity and simplification)?
     * How do the above-mentioned issues relate to different levels 
(micro, meso,
        and macro)? And how can these phenomena be reconciled for HMC?

* 3 Methodological challenges *
    -------------------------------------
Expanding the scope of HMC research from effects to causes, dynamics, 
and actors, coupled with the diffusion of complex technologies into an 
increasing number of social contexts, requires an enlarged 
methodological repertoire. In addition, challenges such as the 
transferability of human- and technology-specific scales to HMC and the 
inclusion of humans and machines in studies must be addressed. We 
therefore welcome contributions that systematize previous methodological 
approaches of HMC and address the methodological challenges of data 
collection and/or their analysis in HMC.

**

Colleagues interested in contributing to this special issue are invited 
to send their manuscript for review as an open Word file (in .docx 
format) and as a PDF to the editorial office of Publizistik 
((gunter.reus /at/ gmx.de) or (gunter.reus /at/ ijk.hmtm-hannover.de)) by April 30, 
2022 at the latest.

Submissions are accepted in German and English. They should not exceed 
70,000 characters for research papers and essays and 35,000 characters 
for short contributions (including spaces and reference list). Please 
ensure that the submitted manuscripts are completely anonymous. 
Furthermore, the author’s notes and manuscript guidelines of Publizistik 
for citation (citation style “Springer-APA”) at 
https://www.springer.com/journal/11616/submission-guidelines 
<https://www.springer.com/journal/11616/submission-guidelines> must be 
followed.

The acceptance of manuscripts will be decided based on a double-blind 
peer-review. Authors will likely receive feedback on the results of the 
review process in early August 2022. The special issue will presumably 
be published in issue 4/22 (November 2022).

If you have any questions, please contact Katrin Etzrodt 
((katrin.etzrodt /at/ tu-dresden.de)).

Find the entire CfP at: https://www.springer.com/journal/11616/updates 
<https://www.springer.com/journal/11616/updates> and 
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11616-021-00689-6 
<https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11616-021-00689-6>
More info about the journal: https://www.springer.com/journal/11616 
<https://www.springer.com/journal/11616>

The Journal /Publizistik/ is a hybrid open access journal, thus, no 
payment from the authors will be required.

In accordance with the DEAL agreement, articles are published as Open 
Access (i.e. for authors from DEAL contracting countries or equivalent).

Otherwise, articles will be published under the traditional 
(subscription) publishing model.
More info about the journal's open access strategy: 
https://www.springer.com/journal/11616/open-access-publishing#Fees%20and%20Funding 
<https://www.springer.com/journal/11616/open-access-publishing#Fees%20and%20Funding>

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