[Air-L] CFP: Digital Citizenship and Activism: Questions of Power and Participation Online

[Jakob Svensson]

Call for Papers: Special Issue of JeDEM (eJournal of eDemocracy & Open 
Government): Vol. 4 (1)

Digital Citizenship and Activism: Questions of Power and Participation 
Online

GUEST EDITORS

Dr. Maria Bakardjieva (University of Calgary, Canada)
Dr. Jakob Svensson (Karlstad University, Sweden)
Dr. Marko M. Skoric (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore)
Nowadays, when citizens, activists and participants in social movements want 
to voice their opinions and negotiate their political identities they 
increasingly do so in hybrid media environments that are particularly 
suitable for mobilisation, organisation and discussion. With a massive 
increase in online social networking, digital infrastructures are lowering 
the threshold for political involvement. This, in turn, is considerably 
shifting the power dynamics of participation. Digital storytelling, for 
example, has become part of the strategies used by contemporary political 
activists. While strategies in the past revolved mainly around the attempts 
to influence the mass media and gatekeepers, today more and more citizens 
are becoming reporters and commentators themselves, often providing 
first-hand, real-time coverage of offline political activities.

However, some have questioned the notion of social networking platforms as 
tools for social change and/or horizontal power structures, in particular in 
relation to issues of surveillance and data privacy. These sorts of critical 
views have been voiced in public debates on the implications of corporate 
ownership of social networks. Another question that has been raised is 
whether “clicktivism” is eroding the physical or embodied participation 
constituting traditional offline activism. It must be also taken into 
account that very few movements have succeed through mediated activism 
alone.

Hence, on the one hand we are witnessing how increasing access to the 
internet has resulted in an array of new strategies and success stories for 
contemporary activism, in particular with regards to mobilisation. On the 
other hand, we are still groping in the dark when it comes to understanding 
the place of digital participatory activities in the shifting landscapes of 
power in late modernity. For this special issue of JeDEM, we invite 
scholarly research to shed light on the issues of power and participation 
online.

TOPICS CAN INCLUDE, BUT ARE NOT LIMITED TO:

Digital divides, hierarchy and marginalisation in political collectives, 
citizen networks and social movements
Identity negotiation in digital activism and online collective action
The intersections of individual, collective and connective identities in 
political movements online
Socio-psychological aspects of political communication online
Slacktivism, clicktivism, micro-activism and socio-political change
Empirical accounts of shifting power relations and citizen/community 
empowerment in contemporary political participatory initiatives
Mappings of power relations in online political networks
Online platforms for mediated sociability and social capital creation and 
their role in civic mobilization
The politics of privacy and surveillance in a networked world
New governmental policies and networks
Examples of new media strategies, real-time coverage and networked 
organisation in social and ad-hoc movements
Implications and criticism of corporate ownership of social networks
Social media activism in emerging and transitional democracies
Multimedia configuations and citizens’ involvement in the public sphere
Relevant articles from different national and disciplinary perspectives are 
welcome. We also encourage authors to submit policy papers and case studies, 
as well as critical essays analyzing existing methods and approaches.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Articles submitted for consideration must be written in English.
Length of paper: 7,500-12,000 words, including footnotes.
Template and guidelines are available 
athttp://www.jedem.org/about/submissions#authorGuidelines

IMPORTANT DATES

Call for papers 01.03.2012
Submission deadline 11.06.2012
Editor decision 16.07.2012
Camera ready paper 06.08.2012

CONTACT

Judith Schossböck, Managing Editor
Centre for E-Government, Danube University Krems
Email: judith.schossboeck at donau-uni.ac.at
Phone: +43 (0)2732 893-2309





Jakob Svensson, Ph. D.

Director HumanIT (www.kau.se/en/humanit)
Ass. Prof. in Media and Communication Studies
Karlstad University
65188 Karlstad - Sweden

+ 46 (0) 54  700 1893
jakob.svensson at kau.se