[ICTs-and-Society] Social Media PhD at Umeå University

[Mark Andrejevic]

Call For Papers: "Defining the Sensor Society"

A multi-disciplinary symposium at the University of Queensland, May 8-9,
2014

Key topic areas: Surveillance, Privacy, and Control in the Digital Era


*Rationale:* Sensors are proliferating across the networked digital
landscape in the form of smart phones, smart cameras, interactive
billboards, drones, and a growing array of fixed environmental sensors and
interactive devices and platforms. The advent of digital interactivity
means that devices which permeate our work, social, leisure, and domestic
lives can all come to double as sensors. Our cars collect detailed
information about our driving habits and destinations. Our smart phones
gather a growing array of detailed and data about our communication
activities and more. The growing network of sensors contributes to a
fast-growing stream of data about everything from the weather to the
details of our personal lives and our movements throughout the course of
the day.



This changing environment of mass information sensors is dependent on
sense-making infrastructures that include the networks whereby the data is
transmitted and shared, the databases where data are stored and analysed,
and the various platforms whereby this information is put to use. The shift
away from targeted, discrete forms of information collection to always-on,
ubiquitous, expanding and accelerating data collection results in
significant changes in our understandings of surveillance, information
processing, and privacy in the digital era.  In particular, sensor-based
forms of information collection mark a shift in focus from isolated targets
to environments, eco-systems (broadly construed), and populations. In the
sensor society all data is relevant, all data potentially useful. The
spiral of information collection is self-fuelling: too much data is no
longer the problem; it’s now the solution. More data requires more sensors,
more sensors require more infrastructure, and more infrastructure enables
further data collection. The sensor society pushes necessarily in the
direction of automated information processing, analysis, and response.  The
sensors are generating more data than is comprehensible or usable by
non-automated means: IBM estimates that sensors generate the equivalent of
a quarter-million Libraries of Congress every day (and growing).  In the
sensor society, much of the communication, interactivity, and feedback
takes place between devices and platforms: the sensor becomes the avatar of
the interactive interface.



The sensor society therefore raises significant questions about the role of
privacy, power and surveillance in the world of the ever-watching,
ever-sensing always-on interactive device. Control over the sensing
infrastructure, the databases, and the response platforms will play a
crucial role in how information is used and who benefits. This
multi-disciplinary conference seeks to open up theoretical, empirical, and
historical approaches to the sensor society.  We invite contributions that
explore the sensor society from a variety of perspectives to illuminate our
understandings of its social, political, cultural, and regulatory
implications.



For more information as the conference program develops, see:
http://cccs.uq.edu.au/sensor-society



Possible Topics:


The conference organisers welcome submissions from a variety of different
academic disciplines relating to privacy, surveillance, data analytics and
the social implications of technology. The conference will therefore
explore emerging and critical trends in privacy, including but not limited
to the following:



·     Critiquing and reforming information privacy law to address the
threats and challenges that arise from the extended use of data sensors
such as mobile phones or Google Glass;


·      The use of sensors for law enforcement and national security,
including predictive policing, drones, automated license plate readers, etc.


·      Examining the history and social consequences of data analytics;


·      The legal, social and technical implications of using sensor
collected data for policy and research;


·      Defining and examining the development of ‘workplace’ or ‘people’
analytics and its potential effect on the rights of employees;


·      Using mobile sensors and data analytics for monitoring welfare
recipients;


·      Critiquing the use of ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) to identify the
privacy implications that arise;


·      Imaging the future use of sensors in social networks and other
networked platforms.


·      Examining the use of sensors/data analytics in educational settings;


·      Examining the challenges for information storage and security that
arise from mass sensor data collection;


·      Identifying the technologies and the technical, social and legal
implications of mass sensor collection;


·      Examining the history of humans and devices as sensors and
surveillance agents;


·      The use of sensors for consumer monitoring and targeting.


·   The development of biometric sensors for applications ranging from
health care and self-monitoring to security, policing, and marketing.


·      Use of sensors for self-quantification, evaluation, and behaviour
modification.


·      The relationship between surveillance, monitoring, and environmental
sensing.


·      The ways in which sensors permeate and reconfigure space and spatial
relations.


·      Identifying the social and legal threats related to the use of
sensor collected data for law enforcement and national security purposes;

·      Examining the future of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) as mass data
collectors.



Potential Panels:

The conference organisers would also be interested to receive submissions
for participation in panel discussions relating to the following topics:



·      Google Glass

·      Apps and Smart Phones

·      Drones

·      Data mining and analytics

·



Abstract Submissions:

The conference organisers anticipate publishing invited papers in an edited
collection. Authors who would like their full conference paper to be
considered for publication should indicate so to the conference organisers
during submission. Papers for the conference should be submitted to
admin.cccs at uq.edu.au.  Submission dates are as follows:


Abstract submission details:

Length: 500 words outlining topic area, argument, and significance.
Abstracts should contribute in some way to a consideration of the sensor
society and the issues it raises. We are also happy to consider full papers.



Deadline: January 15, 2014


Author notification: February 17, 2014


Final versions of invited papers for publication due: June 30, 2014. Papers
should be 6,000-8,000 words in length, including notes and bibliography.



Venue:

The conference will be held at the University of Queensland, St Lucia
Campus, during Privacy Awareness Week, on 8 and 9 May. The University of
Queensland is one of Australia’s premier research and higher learning
institutions. It is ranked in the top 100 universities internationally and
the St. Lucia Campus is located in a picturesque suburb of Brisbane, a
short ferry ride away from downtown and the South Bank arts centres.



Registration: $100/$50 for Ph.D. students






On Mon, Dec 9, 2013 at 9:51 PM, <christian.fuchs at uti.at> wrote:

> Phd Position in Social Media and Internet Studies at Umeå University
>
> We have a 4-5 year fully funded position available for a person looking to
> write a PhD in the field of Social Media and Internet Studies. The deadline
> for applying is January 31st 2014.
>
> The position is connected to my Internet/Social Media research group at
> the Department of Sociology. The person hired will become part of the
> interdisciplinary environment for digital studies within the social
> sciences and the humanities at Umeå University. A key part of this setting
> is the Media Places Research Program (
> http://humlab.umu.se/en/research-development/media-places/). Within the
> sociological part of this project we are currently studying social media
> activism, as well as processes of collective coping with trauma through
> social media.
>
> More (Google Translated) details on the application are found here
> http://goo.gl/Cdk3is (“Position 2”)
>
> It might increase the chances of an applicant to apply for the more
> general “Position 1” as well!
>
> Contact Simon Lindgren for any clarifications
> twitter @simonlindgren
> mail simon.lindgren at umu.se<mailto:simon.lindgren at umu.se>
>
> Welcome!
>
> Simon
>
>
> Simon Lindgren : Professor
> Department of Sociology : Umeå University
> (+46)-70-5656-104 : http://simonlindgren.com<http://simonlindgren.com/>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Discussion mailing list
> Discussion at lists.icts-and-society.net
>
> http://lists.icts-and-society.net/listinfo.cgi/discussion-icts-and-society.net
>
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