[Air-L] Special Issue CfP Methods in Visual Politics and Protest (reminder)

[Suay Melisa Oezkula]

Dear Colleagues,

This is a brief reminder of our Call for Papers for a Special Issue on
"Methodological Developments in Visual Politics & Protest", to be published
in the Journal of Digital Social Research (https://www.jdsr.io/). Abstracts
of 400-500 words are due 15th December 2022.

Full details can be found below and on the dedicated call website:
https://www.jdsr.io/call-for-papers


*BACKGROUND TO THIS SPECIAL ISSUE*
War streaming on Instagram, propaganda in press photography, refugee
activism on TikTok - recent European crises have shown images and videos as
essential tools of communication in politics and protest, a trend mirrored
in the increasing use of visual data in research methodologies. Visual data
may capture practices of visual, performative, or non-verbal communication,
text-image relationships, the development of visual formats, notions of
aesthetics, as well as underlying meanings of symbols and codes. Extant
research has since captured different elements of visual politics and
protest, including social history (e.g. protest photography), political
commentary or affiliation (e.g. through memes or profile picture overlays),
social cues in political communication (e.g. in the form of GIFs, filters,
or emoji), visual activism practices (e.g. culture-jamming, sousveillance
video coverage, graphic flesh-witnessing, or video activism), and visual
forms of information documentation and distribution (e.g. infographics).

Even so, new creative practices have at times challenged research
practices, for example with regards to image authenticity and appropriation
in mis- and disinformation campaigns (e.g. deepfakes), the role of platform
affordances in new visual formats and spaces (e.g. short videos on TikTok),
(mis)interpretation and differing levels of visual literacy in
communications, trust in image data as factual evidence, and opaqueness in
the production of visual materials. These critical debates have been
particularly contentious in the arena of politics and protest, where
visuals have been seen to shape political opinion and discourse, electoral
campaigns, war coverage, and Covid-19 data visualisations.

In response to these trends, we are looking for methodologically oriented
papers on visual politics and/or protest. This may include methodological
discussions, new methods or approaches, worked examples or case studies,
research on emerging visual digital phenomena, or submissions linking
theory to methodology surrounding digital culture, data, or methods. Foci
may be based around methods of data collection, analysis, visualisation,
theorisation, or other methodological areas.

On a broad level this may include (but is not limited to):
➢    New methodological approaches in visual or multimodal data collection
or analysis
➢    Platform- or format-specific mitigations in conducting visual research
on politics and protest
➢    New methodological approaches (including software tools if applicable)
for capturing visuality or visual cultures in politics and protest
➢    Discussions of the relevance of technological formats, tools, and
infrastructures in visual research
➢    Innovations in embedding visuals or visuality with textual, audio, or
sensory materials
➢    Advancements in analysing specific political visual digital practices
and/or phenomena
➢    Methodological strategies for interpreting and/or quantifying visual
data
➢    Emerging approaches to visualising image or video data
➢    Suggestions or developments in the ethical treatment of visuality in
politics, protest, or activism
➢    Epistemological discussions of the role of the visual in politics,
protest, or social movements
➢    Advances in collecting, interpreting, and conceptualising social media
data
➢    Linking theory to methodology in visual research

We are open to different article structures. However, articles should have
clear contributions in the arena of methodological research by outlining or
describing new methodological approaches, innovations, strategies, or
frameworks. As such, they should draw on methodological scholarship in the
wider field.


*SUBMISSION & KEY DATES*
Extended abstracts of 400-500 words excluding reference list (references
are optional) are due 15th December 2022 and should be sent directly to the
special issue editors - see email info below. Final articles should be
submitted directly via the journal website of the Journal of Digital Social
Research (https://www.jdsr.io/) and have a word count of up to 8500 words
inclusive of everything (abstracts, reference list, notes).

15th December 2022: special issue abstract submissions
15th February 2023: End of abstract selection & communication of results
15th April 2023: Full papers due
15th July 2023: End of first review round
15th October 2023: End of second review round
December 2023: Publication of special issue


*FURTHER DETAILS*
This special issue call follows on from the pre-conference workshop “Visual
Politics & Protest - Methodological Challenges” organised by the ECREA
Visual Cultures section (see https://visualculturesecrea.wordpress.com/).
Submissions to the special issue call are, however, open to everyone. For
added context, the programme can still be viewed on the pre-conference
website: https://cutt.ly/visual-politics-ecrea, along with a list of
references discussed during the conference.

In the case of both questions or submissions, please email us directly on
the below indicated email addresses.


*SPECIAL ISSUE TEAM*
Suay Melisa Özkula, University of Trento, suaymelisa.ozkula at unitn.it
Hadas Schlussel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem,
hadas.schlussel at mail.huji.ac.il
Danka Ninković Slavnić, University of Belgrade, dninkovic at yahoo.com
Doron Altaratz, The Hadassah Academic College, doronal at edu.hac.ac.il
Tom Divon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, zem1987 at gmail.com