CfP: 2017 International Conference on Social Media & Society (#SMSociety) – Toronto, Canada – July 28-30, 2017

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/people/22615592@N03

2017 #SMSociety Theme: Social Media for Social Good or Evil

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Our online behaviour is far from virtual–it extends our offline lives. Much of social media research has identified the positive opportunities of using social media; for example, how people use social media to form support groups online, participate in political uprising, raise money for charities, extend teaching and learning outside the classroom, etc. However, mirroring offline experiences, we have also seen social media being used to spread propaganda and misinformation, recruit terrorists, live stream criminal activities, reinforce ideological echo chambers, and perpetuate hate and oppression (such as racist, sexist, homophobic, and anti-Semitic behaviour). Furthermore, behind the posts are algorithms, power structures, commercial interests and other factors that surreptitiously influence our experiences on social media. So, we ask:

  • What does it actually mean to use social media for social good?
  • How can social media be further leveraged for social justice? What are the threats to meaningful participation and how can we overcome these threats?
  • What do we know about the 4 W’s of who, what, why, where (and how) do people engage in anti-social behaviour online?
  • What theoretical and methodological tools can we use to study anti-social behaviour? Can we detect such behaviour automatically?
  • What are the ethics of algorithms (inclusion, accessibility, data discrimination, bots)?
  • What are the legal, policy, privacy, and ethical implications of using social big data?
  • Considering the proliferation of bots online, can we still trust social media data?
  • And more broadly, what are the major effects of using social media on political, economic, individual, and social aspects of our society?

These are just a few questions that we will be exploring at the 2017 International Conference on Social Media and Society (#SMSociety). The Organizers invites scholarly and original submissions that relate to the broad theme of Social Media & Society. We welcome both quantitative and qualitative work which crosses interdisciplinary boundaries and expands our understanding of the current and future trends in social media research, especially those that explore some of the questions and issues raised above. 

IMPORTANT DATES

  • Workshops/ Technical TutorialsDue December 5, 2016
  • Full and Work -in-progress (WIP) PapersDue January 31, 2017 (extended)
  • Posters/PANELSDue March 20, 2017 (extended)
  • ConferenceJuly 28-30, 2017

Please visit the Submission Page (http://socialmediaandsociety.org/submit/) for a full description of the submission types and deadlines for Workshops/Technical Tutorials, Panels, Full Papers, Work-in-Progress Papers, and Posters.)

PUBLISHING OPPORTUNITIES:

Full and WIP (short) papers presented at the Conference will be published in the conference proceedings by ACM International Conference Proceeding Series (ICPS)  and will be available in the ACM Digital Library. All conference presenters will also be invited to submit their extended conference paper to a special issue of the journal Social Media + Society  (http://sms.sagepub.com/) published by SAGE. 

ABOUT THE CONFERENCE:

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: 

  • Anatoliy Gruzd, Ryerson University, Canada – Conference Chair
  • Jenna Jacobson, University of Toronto, Canada – Conference Chair
  • Philip Mai, Ryerson University, Canada – Conference Chair
  • Hazel Kwon, Arizona State University, USA – Poster Chair
  • Bernie Hogan, Oxford Internet Institute – WIP Chair
  • Jeff Hemsley, Syracuse University, USA – WIP Chair

ADVISORY BOARD:

  • William H. Dutton, Michigan State University, USA
  • Zizi Papacharissi, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA
  • Barry Wellman, INSNA Founder, The Netlab Network

TOPICS OF INTEREST:

Social Media Impact on Society
• Political Mobilization & Engagement
• Extremism & Terrorism
• Politics of Hate and Oppression
• The Sharing/Attention Economy
• Social Media & Health
• Virality & Memes

Social Media & Social Justice
• Social Media & Business (Marketing, PR, HR, Risk Management, etc.)
• Social Media & Academia (Alternative Metrics, Learning Analytics, etc.)
• Social Media & Public Administration
• Social Media & the News

Online/Offline Communities
• Trust & Credibility in Social Media
• Online Community Detection
• Influential User Detection
• Identity

Social Media & Small Data
• Case Studies of Online Communities Formed on Social Media
• Case Studies of Offline Communities that Rely on Social Media
• Sampling Issues
• Value of Small Data

Social Media & Big Data
• Visualization of Social Media Data
• Social Media Data Mining
• Scalability Issues & Social Media Data
• Social Media Analytics
• Ethics of Big Data/Algorithms

Theories & Methods
• Qualitative & Quantitative Approaches
• Opinion Mining & Sentiment Analysis
• Social Network Analysis
• Theoretical Models for Studying, Analysing and Understanding Social Media

Social Media & Mobile
• App-ification of Society
• Privacy & Security Issues in the Mobile World
• Apps for the Social Good
• Networking Apps