[ecrea] CFP: Social Media and Political Change: Journal of Communication Special Issue

Social Media and Political Change: Journal of Communication Special 
Issue (Revised Version 1.1) 
_http://faculty.washington.edu/pnhoward/publishing/jofcspecialissue.html
_

The "Arab Spring" as well as recent events in other parts of the world 
have demonstrated that new communication technologies, such as mobile 
phones and the internet, are simultaneously new tools for social 
movement organizing and new tools for surveillance by authoritarian 
regimes.  Though communication theory necessarily transcends particular 
technologies, software, and websites, digital media have clearly become 
an important part of the toolkit available to political actors.  These 
technologies are also becoming part of the research toolkit for scholars 
interested in studying the changing patterns in interpersonal, 
political, and global communication.

How have changing patterns of interpersonal, political, and global 
communication created new opportunities for social movements, or new 
means of social control by political elites?  The role of social media 
in new patterns of communication is especially dramatic across North 
Africa and the Middle East, where decades of authoritarian rule have 
been challenged-with varying degrees of success.  Social media-broadly 
understood as a range of communication technologies that allow 
individuals to manage the flow of content across their own networks of 
family, friends and other social contacts-seem to have had a crucial 
role in the political upheaval and social protest in several countries. 
 Mass communication has not ceased to be important, but is now joined 
with a variety of other media with very different properties that may 
reinforce, displace, counteract, or create fresh new phenomena.

Research on social media and political change outside North Africa and 
the Middle East is also welcome, especially if it is about countries and 
communities managed by authoritarian regimes, or by emerging democracies 
where democratic institutions and practises may be deepening or 
thinning. Also welcome are manuscripts on media industries, the 
political economy of telecommunications policy, and research that uses 
original data or existing data in original ways--as long as such 
manuscripts fit the thematic interest in social media and political 
change. Manuscripts should contribute to advancing our understanding of 
both social media and political change.

This Special Issue seeks original qualitative, comparative, and 
quantitative research on social media and political change, particularly 
as related to events in North Africa and the Middle East, but we are 
also receptive to work on political change in other parts of the 
developing world.  We would welcome manuscripts from a diverse range of 
methodologies, and covering diverse communities and cultures. 
 Methodological innovations or mixed method approaches are particularly 
encouraged, and manuscripts on the interpersonal and intergroup aspects 
of social movement organizing are central interest.  Whatever the 
approach, our goal is to select manuscripts that are grounded in the 
actual use of social media in promoting or resisting political change in 
developing countries and regions.  If you have questions regarding the 
appropriateness of a potential submission, please contact Prof. Philip 
N. Howard (_pnhoward@uw.edu_).

Deadline for Submission is August 15th, 2011, through 
_http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jcom_.  Manuscripts must confirm to all 
JOC guidelines, including the use of APA 6th edition format and a limit 
of 30 pages total manuscript length.  Please indicate your desire to be 
considered for the special issue in your cover letter. For additional 
information, including updates in the production timeline for the issue, 
revisit this page.  For style guidelines and examples of articles 
published in this journal, see the journal website. Given the tight 
production deadlines, good manuscript that vary too far from submission 
guidelines are likely to be rejected.