[Air-L] CFP: JASIST Special Issue “Healthier Information Ecosystems”

Mon Aug 22 04:57:22 PDT 2022

Call for Papers

This special issue of the *Journal of the Association for Information
Science and Technology* (*JASIST*), “Healthier Information Ecosystems,”
will focus on the interconnected nature of online pathologies, draw
attention to the socio-technical aspects of information technology, and
animate interdisciplinary approaches to addressing these problems. Similar
to Buckminster Fuller’s mission of “World Game,” we want to aid in
developing a wide variety of solutions (including but not limited to
technical, political, social, and educational) to the wicked problems of
our time to make “the world work for 100% of humanity, in the shortest
period of time… without ecological offense or the disadvantage of anyone.”

We invite contributions that address the socio-cultural embeddedness of the
problems plaguing information ecosystems and provide new ways of thinking
about and strategies to achieve a healthier global information environment.
We are actively seeking a broad approach to issues of healthier information
ecosystems, including both theoretical and applied, qualitative and
quantitative, as well as inside and outside the discipline of information
science and technology. We are interested in transdisciplinary
contributions that move beyond narrow, cross-sectional treatments of online
phenomena to highlight the socio-technical dynamics of online spaces framed
in cultural-historical contexts.

Themes to Consider

We are open to a wide variety of methodologies, including empirical,
theoretical, and applied. We are also open to contributions that propose
new approaches to exploring these issues and/or solutions from an
interconnected information ecosystem perspective, but such papers should
clearly explain how the proposed approaches will contribute to substantive
solutions.  Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

Definitions of healthy ecosystems

   -

   Ethical models for evaluating the health of online information ecosystems
   -

   Multilevel metrics for evaluating the health of online information
   ecosystems

Strategies for creating healthy ecosystems

   -

   Design and collective human dynamics
   -

   Disrupting systems of mis- and dis-information in politics and
   democracy, including national, state, and local politics.
   -

   Educational interventions

Connecting information to other disciplines

   -

   Information as a social, political, economic, and cultural phenomenon
   -

   Interdisciplinary perspectives and approaches to information and media
   -

   The role of information ecosystems in conspiracy theories
   -

   Interactions between online and offline decision making and behavior
   -

   Information architecture, interface design and psychological biases of
   information consumers
   -

   Engaging with systems of power; who is advantaged and who is
   disadvantaged from current or future systems

New methods of theory, research, and application of information ecosystems

   -

   Complex dynamics of information, social interaction and cognition
   -

   Social dynamics and digital media ecosystems
   -

   How policy, economic, and market forces shape algorithm design and
   development
   -

   Big data, open science, and their socio-cultural impacts
   -

   Hijacking of user-generated content and / or AI-generated content
   -

   Mis- and dis-information transference during the COVID 19 pandemic

Papers should speak to the information science community, but do so in an
interdisciplinary manner that centers on the interplay of information,
technology, and society. We are eager to receive contributions from
disciplines that might lend new perspectives, including (but not limited
to) statistical physics, complex systems, biology, environmental science,
economics, management science, organization science, communication,
psychology, anthropology, sociology, and philosophy. All contributions
should clarify how they can be used to help our information ecosystems work
for the betterment of society at large, developing an inclusive and thus
“healthy” ecosystem.

Introduction to Guest Editors

Josh Introne is an Assistant Professor in the School of Information Studies
at Syracuse University, USA, and director of the C4-Lab, which focuses on
research at the intersection of complexity, cognition, communication, and
computation. He studies the dynamics of misinformation and has partnered
with industry and non-profit agencies to develop technology solutions for
marginalized populations. jeintron at syr.edu

Charisse L’Pree Corsbie-Massay is an Associate Professor of Communications
at the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University,
USA. Trained in social psychology and critical media studies, Charisse
investigates how users think about themselves and others via media.
clcorsbi at syr.edu

Brian McKernan is a Research Assistant Professor in the School of
Information Studies at Syracuse University, USA, and an expert in
human-centered design, complex human reasoning, conspiracies and
misinformation, the study of the cultures of online communities, and game
studies. Brian conducts research and contributes to the development of
tools to help monitor strategic communication by U.S. political actors on
social media. bmckerna at syr.edu

Deana Rohlinger is a Professor of Sociology, a Director of Research for the
Institute of Politics, and an Associated Dean in the College of Social
Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University, USA. Deana’s
current research explores incivility, polarization, and extremism in
individual claims around political controversies, including Supreme Court
hearings and school shootings. drohling at fsu.edu

Olof Sundin is a professor of information studies at Lund University,
Sweden. He has extensive experience in researching the configuration of
information in contemporary society, the construction of trustworthiness,
and media and information literacy practises in schools and everyday life.
He is co-author of Paradoxes of Media and Information Literacy: The Crisis
of Information (Routledge, 2022). olof.sundin at kultur.lu.se

Francesa Tripodi is an Assistant Professor at the School of Information and
Library Science (SILS) and a Senior Research at the Center for Information
Technology and Public Life at UNC-Chapel Hill, USA. Her research examines
the relationship between social media, political partisanship, and digital
inequality; she is currently studying the cultural complexities of search
literacy and misinformation. ftripodi at email.unc.edu

Paper Development Workshop

We will be hosting an online paper development workshop on February 3,
2023. The workshop will provide an opportunity for those interested in
submitting to the special issue to present their in-progress papers and
receive feedback and guidance from the guest editors on how to develop
their research into papers suitable for the special issue. For those
interested in participating in the workshop, please submit an extended
abstract of up to 1,000 words by September 7, 2022 via the following form:
https://forms.gle/nPZ3b9gy3Wy61iyg7. Participation in the workshop is not
required for submissions to the special issue, but we encourage those
interested in submitting to the special issue to take advantage of this
opportunity and receive feedback prior to submitting papers for
consideration in the special issue.

Submission Guidelines

Submit your manuscript through your JASIST author account at
https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/jasist.  Submissions should comply with
JASIST criteria for a ‘Research Article’ and be at most 7000 words in
length.
https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/hub/journal/23301643/homepage/forauthors

Special Issue Timeline (subject to change)

   -

   Submissions due: May 1, 2023
   -

   Decisions after first round of reviews: August 1, 2023
   -

   Special Issue to be published in January 2024

More information about the CFP can be found here:
https://www.asist.org/2022/08/17/call-for-papers-jasist-special-issue-healthier-information-ecosystems%ef%bf%bc/