[Commlist] CFP Special Issue for New Media & Society: "Contextual Complexities of Violence on Digital Platforms

CFP Special Issue for New Media & Society: "Contextual Complexities of 
Violence on Digital Platforms"

We are excited to share with you this CFP for our Special Issue with New 
Media & Society devoted to "Contextual Complexities of Violence on 
Digital Platforms"

*Context*
The world now seems more fraught with violence than ever, intricately 
interwoven into the fabric of our contemporary digital ecosystem. The 
escalating accessibility and ubiquity of digital platforms across the 
globe have facilitated a corresponding rise in the frequency of violence 
perpetrated through diverse infrastructural channels. So far, studies 
have observed a growing prevalence of violence executed on and through 
digital platforms. For example, research has emphasized that platform 
affordances like Feeds and DMs provide perpetrators with new avenues to 
exert control, intimidate, surveil, and harass women (Dragiewicz et al., 
2018; Jane, 2014). Others have shown how audiovisual memes can be 
manipulated to expand and reproduce hate speech (Matamoros-Fernández et 
al., 2023), along with studies exploring the distressing psychological 
repercussions experienced by users exposed to content featuring 
real-world violence (Stubbs et al., 2022). Undoubtedly, digital 
environments have emerged as spaces that simultaneously sustain and 
expand intersecting forms of symbolic violence, including racism 
(Jakubowicz, 2017) and gender inequality (Cepeda, 2018). They have also 
become battlegrounds for countering and contesting forms of material and 
cultural violence, such as anti-racist efforts and police accountability 
(Lamont-Hill, 2018), as well as digital mobilization to advocate for 
differently-abled individuals (Mann, 2018).

Within this broad context, this special issue strives to enhance the 
understanding of the diverse forms, actors, and perceptions associated 
with online violence, serving as a crucial stride toward cultivating a 
healthier digital landscape. Specifically, as advocated by Dwyer (2017), 
we wish to emphasize the importance of contextualizing violent behavior 
and content within their respective cultural and historical frameworks. 
This call for contextualized understandings of violence arises at a time 
when addressing online harm necessitates a multifaceted approach, 
encompassing political, technical, and social dimensions, to effectively 
navigate the intricacies of local cultures. This significance is 
highlighted by Schoenebeck et al. (2023), underscoring the pivotal role 
of local culture as the foremost determinant of how individuals perceive 
violence on digital platforms. In this context, nuanced examinations of 
digital violence are indispensable for crafting fitting responses to the 
multifaceted ecologies of violence on social media. Therefore, our 
objective in this issue is to compile contributions that explore the 
impact, reach, and various manifestations of online violence as 
experienced and perceived within specific sociocultural contexts.

Underlying the goal of this call for papers is a desire to engage with 
scholars who are exploring violence on digital platforms as a cultural 
experience (Cover, 2022) that reinforces or resists existing power 
structures (Marwick, 2021; McCosker, 2014). Our call welcomes scholars 
to delve into the stickiness of mediated violence (Zelinzer, 2023), 
encouraging contributions on how online harm can serve as vehicles for 
both productive and destructive forces within contemporary cultures. We 
especially encourage interdisciplinary contributions that go beyond 
definitional or methodological issues around violence on digital 
platforms and emphasize its social, political, and ethical implications 
(Jane, 2015) on a global scale, with a particular emphasis on 
non-Western contexts. Accordingly, we invite submissions that address 
topics including, but not limited to, the following:

● Perceptions, experiences, and actors involved in the symbiotic 
relationship of offline
and digital violence within various sociocultural contexts.
● Perceptions, experiences, and actors involved in algorithmic violence 
enacted within
specific communities and contextual settings.
● Perpetuation and amplification of symbolic violence through digital 
platforms.
● Networked violence centered around attacking and revealing the 
identity of digital
personas (e.g., doxxing as a form of violence exacted on minoritized 
individuals).
● Collective mobilization and contestation to counter material and 
symbolic violence on
digital platforms.
● Escalating endorsement of violence as a method for collective 
mobilization.
● Digital resistance of platform and algorithmic bias.

*Information for authors*
Potential contributors should submit a 1,200-word abstract (excluding 
references), a 100-word bio, and the corresponding author's contact 
information to the guest editors. Feel free to consult the special issue 
editors about your article ideas and potential angles or approaches. 
After the abstracts have been selected, authors will be invited to 
submit a full paper. Please note that acceptance of an abstract does not 
guarantee publication, given that all papers will go through the 
journal’s peer review process.

*Abstract structure*
The extended abstract should present a coherent narrative on online 
violence while highlighting how the authors respond to the special issue 
call. It must emphasize the distinctive contributions of the study and 
provide an introduction to the empirical case study being explored. 
Furthermore, the abstract should outline the research methods employed 
and provide a clear indication within the findings section of the 
current stage of the work, whether it is still to be completed, in 
development, or at the writing phase.

Extended Abstract submission: April 1, 2024
Invited submission notification: May 1, 2024
Full paper submission: November 1, 2024

See the full CFP here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1MxAt0j72EYvJZ-HnTDoM6-kkWNjF6jst 
<https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1MxAt0j72EYvJZ-HnTDoM6-kkWNjF6jst>
(Publication fees will not be imposed on the authors)

For any inquiries, please feel free to contact the guest editors’ team at
(violenceondigitalplatforms /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(violenceondigitalplatforms /at/ gmail.com)>


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