[ecrea] Call for Chapters: (R)evolutionizing Political Communication through Social Media

Call for Chapters:(R)evolutionizing Political Communication through 
Social Media



Editors

Dr. Tomaž Deželan (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)
Dr. Igor Vobic (University of Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Call for Chapters

Proposals Submission Deadline: June 15, 2014
Full Chapters Due: October 15, 2014

Introduction



For release in the Advances in Public Policy and Administration (APPA) 
Book Series.

The Advances in Public Policy and Administration (APPA) Book Series aims 
to publish scholarly publications focused on topics pertaining to the 
governance of the public domain. APPA’s focus on timely topics relating 
to government, public funding, politics, public safety, policy, and law 
enforcement is particularly relevant to academicians, government 
officials, and upper-level students seeking the most up-to-date research 
in their field.



Twitter as a broad, omnipresent, and always-on communication environment 
creates various kinds of interactions for actors in the political arena. 
Research indicates how Twitter emerges as an ambient communication space 
where politicians and their parties are in constant asynchronous 
connection with their political competitors, the media, and electorate, 
where various agents engage in a network of interactive co-constructions 
of the political arena, and where political actors seek power through a 
diverse, shared communication field. From a historical perspective, 
societal conditions that would allow for the ideas of access to and 
participatory interactions in the political sphere have never fully 
materialized because of the unequal possibilities of entry into the 
media field, the uneven distribution of communication competences, and 
the reduction of public debates as well as the legitimization of 
dominant opinions created by the powerful elite. Preliminary scholarly 
findings indicate revolutionary potentials for Twitter; however, there 
is emerging evidence of the normalization of Twitter as a tool of narrow 
political struggles and at the same time new evolutionary paths of 
political communication towards a more inclusive, multi-layered, and 
multi-directional social phenomenon.

Considering the possibilities and constraints for more dynamic and open 
communication engagement, can we speak about the dominant modes of 
political communication on social media outlets in general, and Twitter 
in particular? How has Twitter impacted political communication and to 
what extent are the existing offline power positions mirrored in this 
ambient communication environment? What are the communalities and 
particularities of articulations between Twitter, politics, and media 
across societies? Keeping in mind the challenges of setting boundaries 
between different political roles of actors engaged on Twitter, how does 
this affect the prevailing modes of governmental communication, public 
relations, journalism, and popular culture? The proposed edited book 
considers these questions as the starting points of theoretical 
reflections about Twitter, politics and communication, methodological 
reconsiderations for investigating these empirical realities, and 
comparisons of social media manifestations of political communication 
between countries. In this sense, the book brings together studies 
exploring country-specific realizations of Twitter about the ways in 
which political actors communicate to the electorate and among 
themselves. It also elaborates on the findings of these 
theoretically-informed explorations in the larger context of 
transformations in political communication. Through this prism, the book 
explores contingent connections between political communication and 
social media, as they can be forged or broken in particular political 
and social contexts and as they are manifested in different ways across 
the globe. Different relations of dominance and subordination in 
connoting, symbolizing, and evoking the prevailing conceptions of 
politics and communication shape the online character of political life.



Objective

The edited volume intends to overcome solid boundaries in studying 
structures and networks, processes and relations, as well as strategies 
and outputs in studies of political communication, and explores the 
often unrelated structural, organizational, and individual levels in the 
study of politics and online communication. Therefore, the volume seeks 
to move beyond the prevailing scarcity in one of the key areas of 
practice and study of political communication online as the project 
attempts to fully explore the relationship between Twitter, politics, 
and communication with respect to structures and networks, processes and 
relations, as well as strategies and outputs.

Thus, the editors welcome theoretically-informed and context-sensitive 
sets of case studies that will examine rarely resolved issues, such as 
how technological innovation in the politics-communication relationship 
can revitalize political communication, reconfigure power relations in 
the political economy, strengthen the political relevance of social 
media, particularly Twitter, and revive political life in general.


Target Audience

The target audience of this book will be composed of professionals, 
researchers, and students interested in the field of political 
communication who are becoming increasingly interested in more sensitive 
approaches to the study of social media and its effects, particularly 
the impact of Twitter and new technologies on the functioning of 
society. Readers are likely to be academics from a whole range of 
humanities and social science disciplines, including communication 
research, political science, public relations, and media and journalism. 
Moreover, the book will provide insights and support to researchers, 
party officials and consultants, political activists, technology 
practitioners, and students interested in the latest research on the 
impact of information technology on political life as well as the global 
patterns and local idiosyncrasies of Twitter’s appropriation.



Recommended Topics

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, theoretical 
deliberations, comparative studies and case studies of the following 
four clusters of topics:

· Political Tools and Tactics

o an adoption of new information and communication tools and tactics by 
political actors

· Restructuring of Power Relations

o a restructuring of power relations of the political economy online

· Return of the Citizen

o a reorientation in the political communication relationship with 
citizens towards a more interactive and individualized engagement

· Ambient Political Communication Mode

o an ambient awareness between political actors, social power holders, 
and the mass media



Submission Procedure

Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before June 
15, 2014, a 500 words long chapter proposal clearly explaining the 
mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. All proposals 
should be submitted through the link at the bottom of this page. Authors 
of accepted proposals will be notified byJune 15, 2014 about the status 
of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are 
expected to be submitted by October 15, 2014. All submitted chapters 
will be reviewed on a double-blind review basis. Contributors may also 
be requested to serve as reviewers for this project.



Publisher

This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea 
Group Inc.), publisher of the "Information Science Reference" (formerly 
Idea Group Reference), "Medical Information Science Reference," 
"Business Science Reference," and "Engineering Science Reference" 
imprints. For additional information regarding the publisher, please 
visit www.igi-global.com. This publication is anticipated to be released 
in 2015.



Important Dates

June 15, 2014: Proposal Submission Deadline
June 20, 2014: Notification of Acceptance
October 15, 2014: Full Chapter Submission
December 15, 2014: Review Results Returned
January 30, 2015: Revised Chapter Submission
February 15, 2015: Final Acceptance Notification
February 28, 2015: Final Chapter Submission



Inquiries

Dr. Tomaž Deželan
Faculty of Social Sciences
SI-1000 UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
Tel.: +386 1 5805 231 _ Fax: +386 1 5805 101
E-mail: (tomaz.dezelan /at/ fdv.uni-lj.si)

Dr. Igor Vobic
Faculty of Social Sciences
SI-1000 UNIVERSITY OF LJUBLJANA
Tel.: +386 1 5805 234 _ Fax: +386 1 5805 101
E-mail: (igor.vobic /at/ fdv.uni-lj.si)



Further information about this call

http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/1354



Propose a chapter for this book

http://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/submit/1354

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