[Commlist] CfA - Mapping (in)nocent lies in the digital information sphere

Mapping (in)nocent lies in the digital information sphere: Causes and 
consequences
Deadline for abstracts: 30 March 2022

In 2016, fake news, as a term that is not enough to define misleading 
information that users face particularly in the social media 
environment, has become a global phenomenon via its dramatic expansion 
and the emerging discussions on the post-truth. Since 2016, many studies 
have been made to determine the problem in different manners and fight 
against the spread of information that may harm society. Despite all the 
efforts to find out who produces and spreads false information, why and 
how, and despite recent progress in detecting misleading information, 
because of the complexity of the issue, there is still a long way to go.

In recent years the digital divide has caused an uneven distribution of 
information and it has created digital inequalities. Especially during 
the pandemic, while people who have minimum access to “Information and 
Communication Technologies” (ICTs), have struggled to adapt to this new 
life which is mostly based on wires, people who have access but don’t 
have digital media literacy skills to detect false information, 
struggled to find the truth on the net because of the huge information 
pollution. Particularly, within the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic, since 
2020, many people (re)shared information about conspiracy theories about 
vaccines and their benefits or harms. Especially in transition countries 
vulnerable groups such as refugees, migrants were claimed to be 
potential Covid-19 carriers, and sometimes those rumors were utilized as 
an excuse and shaped states’ politics like illegal pushbacks of 
refugees. Additionally, in order to detect false information some 
countries adapted strict social and digital media regulations which 
raised concerns about freedom of expression. As it can be observed, the 
ways and causes of the spread of false information in the digital sphere 
seem to be “innocent lies”, but these can have harmful societal effects 
nationally and internationally. In this regard, it becomes crucial to 
map out these “nocent lies” within the complex socio-political and 
socio-economic background. In this edited book, we would like to focus 
on how the spread of misleading information in the digital sphere and as 
a result this digital information sphere full of digital threats affects 
people all around the world.

 From studies on the post-truth discussions to populism, and any form 
of information disorder, much research has been done before. Some 
academics focused on the source of false/misleading information such as 
troll armies, utilization of bot accounts, fake accounts, etc. while 
others concentrated on state regulations developed to control 
information flow, which may harm pluralism and democracy. Some others 
examined the policies of social platforms which tend to promote 
dramatic, sensational, and emotional content since algorithms of those 
platforms are profit-oriented and optimize the time that the users spend 
in the system, etc.

This edited book aims to cover different aspects of the matter within an 
interdisciplinary framework discussed in any field of social sciences 
 and other disciplines. In this regard, we would like to share a global 
call and ask for abstracts through a peer-review process. These are the 
selected topics include but are not limited to:

• Digital divide and digital inequalities
• The policy of digital platforms against the struggle with the spread 
of ‘fake news’
• Computational propaganda and algorithmic bias
• Studies on biased/racist social media algorithms
• Social media regulations of states on tackling with disinformation, 
misinformation, and fake news
• Social lynching caused by misleading/false information
• Discrimination, hate speech, racism through ‘fake news’ namely 
misinformation and disinformation
• Misinformation, disinformation, conspiracy theories and/or any form of 
an information disorder which affect society’s reception on political, 
cultural, and social agenda
• False information and conspiracy theories which have been harming 
public health during the pandemic
• Studies on (digital) media literacy related to develop a better 
understanding on the fight against ‘fake news’
• How the spread of false content in the digital sphere harms 
vulnerable, underrepresented groups (such as LGBTIQQ+, minorities, 
immigrants, refugees, other disadvantaged groups who has limited access 
to education, health, work, etc.)
• Critical studies on the discrimination of certain group of people 
because of the circulation of false information about their group identity
• Studies on the spread of hatred discourses  on social media against 
vulnerable groups through  the circulation of false information
• Studies on the false information started to spread on social media and 
covered by traditional media
• Studies on the interchanging roles between new and traditional media 
about false content
• Studies on user experience and consumer behavior which may affect 
information sphere
• Digital threats such as trolls, bots, AI  news generators, etc. which 
may harm the information sphere

Important Notice: Authors are free to suggest related subjects in 
accordance with the call for paper. Abstracts (min 300, max 500 words) 
should be sent to (information2.0book /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(information2.0book /at/ gmail.com)> by 30 March 2022.
In April 2022, authors of accepted abstracts will be informed. They are 
expected to send their final manuscript by the end of July. The 
manuscripts should be prepared according to the guidelines of Taylor and 
Francis as we are in the pre-contract process with the publisher 
(https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-your-research/writing-your-paper/journal-manuscript-layout-guide/# 
<https://authorservices.taylorandfrancis.com/publishing-your-research/writing-your-paper/journal-manuscript-layout-guide/#>).
No payment from the authors will be required.

Short Bio’s:
Tirşe Erbaysal Filibeli is an associate professor of media and 
communications. She received her M.A. degree and Ph.D. from Galatasaray 
University in Media and Communication Studies. In 2018 she co-edited 
“Journalism a Peacekeeping Agent at the Time of Conflict” and in 2020 
She edited “Information Nightmare: Fake News, Manipulation and 
Post-truth Politics in the Digital Age”. Since 2016 she is working as a 
researcher in the country team of Turkey for Media Pluralism Monitor 
Project of Centre for Media Pluralism and Freedom (CMPF) founded by EU.  
In 2016, she worked as a special rapporteur for Hrant Dink Foundation, 
Asulis Discourse, Dialogue, Democracy Laboratory and contributed the 
report entitled “A new Discourse, Dialogue and Democracy against 
Discrimination”. She is the country team leader of the ongoing Erasmus+ 
Project titled “Ermiscom Common Curricula for Diversity in Media and 
Integration of Vulnerable Groups”. She has many national and 
international publications in Turkish, English and French. Her recent 
research interests focus on algorithmic manipulation and computational 
propaganda, big data and data privacy, information disorder and 
fact-checking, disinformation/misinformation about minorities and 
othering in the post-truth era, populism, and peace studies.  She has 
been working as the chair of the Department of New Media at Bahcesehir 
University since 2018.

Melis Öneren Özbek is a PhD Candidate in Cinema and Media Studies. She 
studied Theater, Film, and Media Studies at the University of Vienna in 
Austria, where she holds her master of philosophy (Mag.phil). After 
working in the international media and communication sectors, she 
started her PhD in Cinema and Media Studies at Bahcesehir University. As 
a PhD candidate, she is currently working on her dissertation on racism 
in German media. She wrote various film and TV critics on independent 
cinema and media platforms in Turkey. She presented papers on 
acknowledged conferences about narrating xenophobia in film, racism and 
migration in German media, and published articles on New Turkish Cinema 
in SineCine (2021) and on Turkish-German cinema in Studies in European 
Cinema Journal (In Review, 2022).

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