[Air-L] Deadline CFP "The Platformization of Cultural Production" - Special Collection of SM+S

[Thomas Poell]

The deadline of the call for submissions to our special themed collection
of /Social Media + Society on “The Platformization of Cultural Production”
is approaching: May 15, 2018. As you can see below, authors of accepted
abstracts are invited to attend a workshop at the University of Toronto <
https://www.utoronto.ca> on October 8-9, 2018; Day 1 will feature
a workshop hosted by the McLuhan Centre <http://www.chi.utoronto.ca/>.

The full call is pasted below or available online here <
https://goo.gl/AmZcGn>. Please contact the editors with questions  at:
cfp at platformization.net <atcfp at platformization.net>

_____________

CALL FOR PAPERS

Special collection of Social Media + Society (Open Access Journal)

The Platformization of Cultural Production

Abstract submission deadline: May 15, 2018

Full paper submission deadline: September 15, 2018

Editors: Brooke Erin Duffy/(Cornell University), /David B. Nieborg
/(University of Toronto), /Thomas Poell /(University of Amsterdam) /

This thematic issue explores the platformization of cultural production
against the backdrop of wider transformations in the technologies,
cultures, and political economies of digital media. Platformization
describes the process by which major tech companies—GAFAM (Google, Apple,
Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft) in the West, and the so-called “three
kingdoms” of the Chinese internet (Baidu, Alibaba, and Tencent) in Asia—are
reconfiguring the production, distribution, and monetization of cultural
products and services. The logic of platformization is impacting
traditional cultural industries (e.g., music, news, museums, games, and
fashion), as well as emergent digital sectors and communities of practice,
such as livestreaming, podcasting, and “Instagramming.” Accordingly, new
industrial formations and partnerships are constantly being wrought; for
example, newspapers increasingly host their content on Facebook, and game
developers offer their products in app stores operated by Apple and Google.

Given the acceleration and intensification of digital platforms in the
cultural circuit, there is a pressing need to interrogate the stakes of
platformization for content producers and for the cultural commodities they
circulate among digitally networked audiences. We invite theoretical and/or
empirical contributions addressing platform power and political economies
vis-à-vis cultural production. Owing to the relative recency of research on
platformization, this topic warrants an interdisciplinary focus including
scholarship from such fields as media and communication studies, platform
studies, software studies, political economy of communication, (media)
production studies, and business studies. Platformization exacts widely
variable costs across different spheres of life, and regional and sectoral
boundaries. We therefore invite scholars to contribute papers which advance
our understanding of how the platformization of particular sectors and
practices takes shape within specific geo-national contexts, as well as how
this involves new modes of content moderation and algorithmic curation,
evolving forms of labour exploitation, and app-based systems of
distribution and monetization.


We are especially interested in articles that shed new light across these
themes:

   * Theoretical approaches to platformization and the social, cultural and
technological contexts of platform-dependent modes of cultural production.

   * Intersectional approaches that are sensitive to the gendered, classed,
and racial specificity of platform-dependent modes of cultural production.

   * Political economic approaches to platformization, including the
implications
for cultural producers and labor relations, as well as relationships among
different institutional actors in platform ecosystems.

   * Regional approaches to platformization. For example, the impact of the
platformization of cultural industries in particular countries, or regions,
such as the European Union.

   * Sectoral studies of specific industry sectors and modes of
cultural production and circulation such as journalism, game and music
production,
museums, or emerging ‘platform-native’ practices such streaming and
vlogging.

   * Historical approaches to platformization. Contributions that investigate
the transformation of specific production practices as they become
integrated with, or dependent on digital platforms.

   * The policy implications of platformization on a local, national
or regional
level, or studies of policy interventions.

   * Formal and informal efforts to resist platformization, such as
the development
of platform independent subscription-based distribution and monetization
models.

   * Infrastructural approaches that are sensitive to the material dimensions
of platform-based modes of cultural production.

   * Methodological interventions, which reflect on the methodologies employed
when researching cultural production in platform ecosystems.

Timeline

   * 750-word abstracts should be emailed to cfp at platformization.net by *May
15, 2018*. The abstract should articulate: 1) the issue or research
question to be discussed, 2) the methodological or critical framework used,
and 3) indicate the expected findings or conclusions. Decisions will be
communicated to the authors by *June 1, 2017*.

   * Full papers of the selected abstracts should be submitted by *September
15, 2018* to be discussed at the workshop.

   * On October 8-9, 2018 (right before AoIR2018), the special
collection editors
will organise a 2-day event hosted by the University of Toronto. Day 1 will
feature a workshop hosted by the McLuhan Centre <http://www.chi.utoronto.ca/>.
Workshop participation is not a condition for being included in the special
collection. The workshop provides all thematic issue contributors an
opportunity for debate and an initial round of feedback on the papers.
Accommodation and catering during the event will be covered for
accepted contributors. There
is limited travel support for junior scholars.

   * The deadline for submitting the revised paper for double blind peer-review
is *December 1, 2018*.

   * The planned publication date of this special collection of Social Media
+ Society is in the *second half of 2019*.