[ecrea] CfP - Virtual Reality for Pro-Social Attitude Change - Special issue of New Media & Society

We are looking for papers about virtual reality for pro-social attitude 
change, to be considered for a special issue of New Media & Society.

The approaches can be multidisciplinary and stem from several 
disciplines, including communication, psychology, digital humanities, 
and human-computer interaction. The submission procedure has two rounds: 
first*500 word abstracts by October 10, 2018,*and upon selection, a full 
paper by February 1, 2019. More information below. Please consider 
submitting and feel free to distribute the CfP, which is also 
availablein this link. <http://bit.ly/VRSpIssue>


Call for Papers: Special Issue of New Media & Society
*Virtual Reality for Pro-Social Attitude Change*


      Guest editors

  * Tanja Aitamurto, Stanford University
  * Andrea Stevenson Won, Cornell University
  * Shuo Zhou, University of Colorado


      Tentative timeline

  * • Extended abstract submission deadline: October, 10, 2018
  * • Notification on submitted abstracts: November 10, 2018
  * • Article submission deadline: February 1, 2019


      Call for Papers

In the recent years, virtual reality (VR) has become a more common 
medium both in professional and personal consumer use. As a parallel 
development, the cost of producing and publishing VR content has become 
easier with new platforms such as YouTube Virtual Reality and Facebook 
360°. VR is being produced, published and consumed more than ever, and 
as a result, virtual reality has permeated numerous domains.

While entertainment and gaming remain the dominant contexts, VR is 
increasingly deployed also in a multitude of civic applications, 
including education, healthcare, and journalism. One common theme of 
these applications is using VR for pro-social attitude change. This 
potential is supported by decades of research showing that the 
traditional game-engine based VR may be a powerful tool for affecting 
people’s attitudes (Bailenson, 2018). With its immersive features, VR 
can help users to understand other people’s perspectives better compared 
with other media. Building on this work, the scholarly inquiry has 
expanded from traditional VR to cinematic virtual reality (CVR), 
augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR), which combines several 
types of reality in one medium. The term XR refers to all aforementioned 
real-and-virtual combined environments.

These developments create space for a multitude of research questions on 
VR. Many of the discussions about virtual reality center around its 
ability to change behavior, for good or ill. Such applications of VR may 
change or enhance users’ attitudes, leading them to contribute to 
society positively. This special issue calls for papers with both 
theoretical and empirical inquiries into the use of VR for pro-social 
attitude and/or behavioral change toward others. While there is much 
current interest in virtual reality as a tool for empathy driving 
prosocial behavior, we are particularly interested in empirical work 
which refines, defines or problematizes this concept. The research 
questions we are interested in include, but are not limited to the 
following:

  * • What is the role of VR, AR, and/or MR in contributing to
    pro-social attitude change?
  * • Under what circumstances does pro-social attitude change occur in VR?
  * • Under what circumstances might such interventions backfire?
  * • How can VR efficiently balance the sense of presence and
    pro-social attitude change?
  * • How should VR interfaces be designed to maximizing the positive
    effects of VR?
  * • What are the ethical aspects related to VR and pro-social attitude
    change?

The approaches can be multidisciplinary and stem from several 
disciplines, including communication, psychology, digital humanities, 
and human-computer interaction.


      Information about submission

Proposals should consist of an extended abstract of 500-750 words (not 
including references). The extended abstract should contain the key 
elements of the paper, including the problem statement with 
justifications, methodology and the main contribution of the submission. 
The proposal should also include an abbreviated bio of the authors that 
describes their main research interests and background.

Please submit your proposal as a PDF to the e-mail address 
(specialissuevr /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(specialissuevr /at/ gmail.com)> no later than 
October 10, 2018. By November 10, 2018, the authors will be notified 
whether their abstract has been selected, and consequently if they will 
be encouraged to develop and submit an article for peer review. Finally, 
full articles (8,000 words) will be due February 1, 2019, for full blind 
review, in accordance with the journal's peer-review procedure. The 
peer-reviews will determine whether the article is accepted for 
publication in the special issue.



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