Call for Submissions: Papers (extended abstracts), Panels and Posters

2014 SOCIAL MEDIA & SOCIETY CONFERENCE (#SMSociety14)
September 27-28, 2014, Toronto, Canada
Conference website: http://SocialMediaAndSociety.com/

KEYNOTE: Keith N. Hampton, Rutgers University
INDUSTRY KEYNOTE: John Weigelt, National Technology Officer, Microsoft
Canada

IMPORTANT DATES
Paper & Panel Abstracts Due: April 18, 2014
Paper & Panel Notification: May 19, 2014
Poster Abstracts Due: May 23, 2014
Poster Notification: June 13, 2014
Conference Dates: September 27-28, 2014

DESCRIPTION
We live in an era of “Big Data”. Petabyte and exabyte-size datasets
are becoming increasingly common.  Much of the data is coming from
social media in the form of user-generated content. What do we do with
all of these “social” data and how do we make sense of it all? What
are the inherent challenges and issues surrounding working with social
media data? How are social media platforms and the data that they
generate changing us as individuals, changing our organizations and
changing our society? Additionally what are the political, ethical,
privacy, and security implications of the wide availability of these
data? These are just a few questions that we have for this year’s
participants of the 2014 Social Media & Society Conference
(#SMSociety14).

The Social Media & Society Conference is an annual gathering of
leading social media researchers from around the world.  Now, in its
5th year, the 2014 Conference will be held in Toronto, Canada from
September 27 to 28. From its inception, the conference has focused on
the best practices for studying the impact and implications of social
media on society.  The conference offers an intensive two-day program
comprising of paper presentations, panel discussions, and posters
covering wide-ranging topics related to social media. Organized by the
Social Media Lab at Dalhousie University, the conference provides
attendees an opportunity to exchange ideas, present their original
research, learn about recently completed and work-in-progress studies,
and strengthen connections with their peers. Last year’s conference
hosted nearly 200 attendees, featured research from 90+ scholars and
practitioners across several fields from over 60 institutions in 15
different countries.

SUBMISSION PROCESS
We invite you to submit papers (extended abstracts), panel proposals
and posters on a variety of topics including (but not limited to!):
Social Media & Big Data, Social Media Impact on Society, Theories &
Methods, and Online/Offline Communities. Full papers are not required
for this conference, only an extended abstract (~500 words, excluding
references) on a completed or well-developed project related to the
broad theme of “Social Media & Society.” All submissions will be
peer-reviewed. If selected, the author(s) will be invited to give a
15-minute oral presentation followed by a 5 min Q&A period at the
conference.

Author(s) of accepted paper abstracts will also be invited to submit
their full papers to the new Big Data & Society Journal published by
SAGE.

Instructions for authors and more information is available at
http://SocialMediaAndSociety.com

TOPICS OF INTEREST
Social Media & Big Data
– Visualization of Social Media Data
– Social Media Data Mining
– Scalability Issues and Social Media Data
– Social Media Analytics

Social Media Impact on Society
– Private Self/Public Self
– The Sharing/Attention Economy
– Virality & Memes
– Political Mobilization & Engagement
– Social Media and Health
– Social Media and Business (Marketing, PR, HR, Risk Management, etc.)
– Social Media and Academia (Alternative Metrics. Learning Analytics, etc.)
– Social Media and Public Administration
– Social Media and the News

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

Online/Offline Communities
– Trust and Credibility in Social Media
– Online Community Detection
– Influential User Detection
– Online Identity
– Case Studies of Online and/or Offline Communities Formed on Social Media

CONFERENCE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Anatoliy Gruzd, Dalhousie University, Canada
Barry Wellman. University of Toronto, Canada
Philip Mai, Dalhousie University, Canada
Jenna Jacobson, University of Toronto, Canada