[artinfo] CFP: Big Data and Society

[Birchall, Clare]

CFP: Big Data and Society

  Proposed Special Issue on Veillance and Transparency:

A Critical Examination of Mutual Watching in the Post-Snowden, Big Data Era

Guest Editors: Vian Bakir, Martina Feilzer, Andrew McStay (Bangor Univ.)

We invite papers for a proposed Special Issue in Big Data and 
Society, Sage's inter-disciplinary, open access, peer-reviewed 
scholarly journal that explores the social implications of Big Data 
from social sciences, humanities and computing perspectives.

Our central proposition: today we live in a techno-cultural condition 
of increased and normalised transparency through various veillant 
forces of mutual watching.
Our central question: what are the technical, social, economic, 
political, legal, ethical and cultural implications of this situation?

Drawing on the many academic disciplines that deal with issues of 
veillance and transparency, we seek theoretical and empirical 
academic papers; artistic, activist and educational provocations (the 
journal can link to digital versions of these); and shorter 
commentary from the wide range of actors involved in these debates 
(including data regulators, intelligence and security services, 
private companies, NGOs, politicians and journalists). 

Specifically, we are interested in the following questions (each 
unpacked further below):

1.      On Theory-Practice: How useful are theories of 'veillance' in 
explaining transparency practices in the post-Snowden, 'Big Data' era?
2.      On Ethics, Values and Norms: What, if anything, can or should 
we do about practices of watching that operate without informed 
consent or adequate processes of accountability?
3.      On Regulation, Power, Resistance and Social Change: Are 
existing mechanisms of regulation and oversight able to deal with 
nation-states' desire for forced transparency, or is resistance 
required from other quarters?
4.      On Representation, Discourse and Public Understanding: What 
socio-cultural discourses and practices on veillance and transparency 
prevail; how do they position the sur/sous/veillant subject; and are 
they adequate to the task of educating and engaging people on 
abstract and secretive surveillance practices, as well as on the 
possibilities and pitfalls of sousveillance?

More details on the Call are here.

Submission Details
Proposals of no more than 1000 words are invited for consideration 
and inclusion in this proposed Special Issue of Big Data & Society 
(BD&S). All papers should foreground why Big Data practices are 
important to their central argument, as outlined in this CfP.

Proposals should be sent to the Guest Editors: v.bakir at bangor.ac.uk, 
mcstay at bangor.ac.uk, m.feilzer at bangor.ac.uk

Manuscript and Style Guidelines
As this is an online only journal, there are fewer restrictions on 
format, including the use of visualizations (which are encouraged, 
where this helps the explanation).  Full guidelines are below:
http://www.uk.sagepub.com/msg/bds.htm#Prep

Final Manuscripts should be 8,000 words for an Original Research 
Article, 3,000 words for a Commentary, and 1,000 words for an essay 
in the Early Career Research Forum section.

Peer review
All submissions of Original Research Articles to BD&S are 
double-blind, and triple peer-reviewed.
Anonymous peer review feedback will be accompanied by comments from 
the guest editors that draw on the central arguments of other papers 
selected for inclusion in order to enhance the coherence of the 
proposed Special Issue.
Commentaries, Early Career Research Forum submissions, and artistic, 
activist and educational provocations are reviewed by the Guest 
Editors.


Deadline for academic papers (original research articles and early 
career research forum essays)
*       Proposal Deadline: 15 Oct 2015
*       Notification of Acceptance: 1 Dec 2015
*       Paper Deadline: 1 May 2016
*       Reviews Returned: 31 Jul 2016
*       Revised Paper Deadline: 1 Nov 2016

Deadlines for commentaries and artistic, activist and educational provocations:
*       Proposal Deadline:  27 May 2016
*       Notification of Acceptance: 1 Jul 2016
*       Revisions Deadline: 1 Nov 2016

Anticipated Publication date for Special Issue: Jan/Feb 2017.