Call for Paper Proposals: “Compromised Data” colloquium, October 28-29, Toronto

A call for paper proposals has been posted for a colloquium hosted by the Infoscape Research Lab at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada, on “Compromised Data? New paradigms in social media theory and methods.” The colloquium will be held October 28-29, 2013, with proposals of 750-1,000 words due by August 1st:

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.

More details are available in the full call on the Infoscape Research Lab site. Questions and paper proposals should be sent to Greg Elmer. Good luck to all who submit!