Call for papers

The Laboratory for Internet Studies is pleased to announce the 2nd call for papers for its second conference on the Internet and social media to be held in St. Petersburg, Russia, on September 18-19, 2014. We welcome works from a variety of disciplines on a wide range of Internet-related topics, while the special focus of the conference this year is “Social media and social movements”. This year the conference is held in cooperation with the Center for German and European Studies, St.Petersburg State University.

 

The rise of social media simultaneously opened new opportunities for “traditional” (face-to-face) social movements and proved a platform for online movements that have weak (if any) offline activities. The relationship between social media and social movements calls for revision of ‘classic’ research topics that have been studied by social movement scholars (e.g. the role of social media in mobilization, protest and coalitions building), as well as a reflection on completely new questions that have resulted from the emergence of online movements (e.g. what is the social space of online-movements, what are the forms of virtual activities).

 

The conference is aimed at the emerging – and vibrant – interdisciplinary community of scholars interested in digital society – a society where social life is embedded in rapidly developing communication technologies and media. This year, we focus on how social movements have been transformed by user-generated online activities and what impact these transformed movements have had on broader social processes. Specifically, we plan to discuss the impact of social media on social movements with regards to resource mobilization, collective action frames, construction of collective identities, and (possible) radicalization. Other topics include but are not limited to social media and political participation, the role of social media in street protests, global social movements, repertoires of online activism, social media and social movement outcomes, the social space of online movements, and methodological developments in research on social media and social movements.

 

We welcome abstracts on any of the above topics, and any other topics that analyze relationships between social media and social movements. Abstracts of proposed papers should be no more than 300 words in length. Abstracts must include the name of the proposer, title, his/her affiliation, postal and e-mail addresses.

  

Keynote speakers

Robert Ackland, Doctor at Australian National University, Lead the Virtual Observatory for the Study of Online Networks project, which is known internationally for the VOSON software for hyperlink network analysis. (confirmed)

Maria Petrova, Professor at Barcelona Graduate School of Economics, Research Director at the Center for New Media and Society. (confirmed)

Keynote of practice: (to be announced)

 

International program committee:
Sandra Gonzales-Bailon, Annenberg School of Communication, University of Pennsylvania
Jennifer Earl, Center for Information Technology and Society, University of Arizona
Sam Greene, King's Russia Institute, King's College London
Peng Hwa Ang, Singapore Internet Research Center
Ivan Klimov, Center for New Media and Society, New Economic School, Moscow
Benjamin Lind, Department of sociology, Higher School of Economics, Moscow
Nikita Basov, Centre for German and European Studies, St. Petersburg State University
Peter Meylakhs, Laboratory for Internet Studies, Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg
Olessia Koltsova, Laboratory for Internet Studies, Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg
Svetlana Bodrunova, Saint-Petersburg State University
Sergey Nikolenko, Laboratory for Internet Studies, Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg
Sergey Koltsov, Laboratory for Internet Studies, Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg
 
 
Organizing committee:
Olessia Koltsova (Chair)
Nora Kirkizh
Galina Selivanova
Daria Yudenkova
 
Requirements for submission could be found at the Registration page. There is no registration fee.

Deadline for submissions is May 26, 2014.

Notifications of acceptance: June 16, 2014

Extended abstracts of three pages (to be published on the conference website) should be submitted by August 16, 2014