[ecrea] CFP - Compromised Data? New paradigms in social media theory and methods

CFP - Compromised Data? New paradigms in social media theory and methods 
<http://infoscapelab.ca/news/cfp-compromised-data-new-paradigms-social-media-theory-and-methods>

October 28 and 29, 2013 - Ryerson University. Organizers: Greg Elmer 
(Ryerson University), Ganaele Langlois (U. of Ontario Institute of 
Technology), & Joanna Redden (Ryerson University)

Proposals for papers (750-1000 words) are due August 1st, 2013. 
Decisions will be communicated by August 15. Partial funding for travel 
and hotel expenses will be available for this event. Please direct 
questions and proposals to Greg Elmer, Bell Globemedia Research Chair 
and Director, Infoscape Centre for the Study of Social Media, Ryerson 
University <(gelmer /at/ ryerson.ca) <mailto:(gelmer /at/ ryerson.ca)>>.

Confirmed speakers: Jean Burgess (Queensland University of Technology), 
Axel Bruns (Queensland University of Technology), Daniel Paré (U. of 
Ottawa), Mary Francoli (Carleton U.), Anatoliy Gruzd (Dalhousie U.)

There has been a data rush in the past decade -- one brought about by 
the ubiquity of online communication, social media in particular 
(Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, etc.), and by the adoption within the 
Social Science and Humanities of analytical software-based tools. Such 
practices, tools, and data sets seemingly promise a new digital 
enlightenment, where social roles, patterns of communication, political 
and economic debates and controversies are thrown open to the public, 
researchers, and users. Yet, scholarly and public research into social 
media is notoriously difficult because of the proprietary nature of most 
social media platforms and the consequent difficulty of extracting data 
from these platforms. Furthermore, data mining and analysis raise 
crucial issues concerning about the ethics of social media research. 
Finally, the digital research paradigm itself is not without 
limitations: can all aspects of life, including emotions and affective 
ties be translated into data without losing something essential about 
the fluidity of social life and the complexity of communication?

This colloquium focuses on the critical juncture between the birth of 
new research paradigms, methods and tools, and the increasingly complex 
politics of social media as contested global platforms, data 
repositories, and sources of rich revenue streams. Key to this juncture 
is the question of data, from the nature of data itself to its 
privatization and monetization; from the accessibility of data to 
understanding how it can both represent and betray social phenomena.

This colloquium seeks position papers that interrogate the theoretical 
and methodological challenges presented by the availability, formatting, 
and ownership of socially mediated data-objects, meta-data, and 
so-called "big" data. The aim of the colloquium is to develop new 
paradigms for critical social media research that seek to understand how 
social media data impact our understanding of the broader social, 
political and economic implications of social media platforms and their 
users/communities.

The colloquium will focus on four areas of research: the politics of 
social media interfaces, tracking media objects, big data pitfalls, and 
transformative practices within social media. Examples of possible 
topics follow below.

1. The politics of the interface between social media and users- social 
media
accounts

- data-mining, data-collecting, user labour and work

- governance and regulation of users and data: legal, political and 
aesthetics

- history of social media interfaces and functions

- APIs and programmable data

2. Tracking and mapping media objects, stories, debates, and controversies

- Tracking stories through data-objects

- cross-platform analysis and methods

- new paradigms of social network analysis

3. Rethinking Big Data in social media research

-administrative and critical perspectives

- the limits of sentiment and other automated analyses

-human/machine produced (meta)data

- live or real-time research with big data

- small, thick, or streamed data

4. Transformative platforms, collaborative agendas, and new data-publics

- the promise and sustainability of activist platforms

- governance, transparency and accountability

- the potential of open-data projects

- radical publicities, hacks and events

- Academic and public social media research vs. research for 
surveillance or commercial purposes

Funding for this event is made available by the Social Science and 
Humanities Research
Council of Canada (SSHRC).