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Dear all, please see below the call for papers for INSCI'2018.
Sorry to be a bit late with this posting, but there is still plenty of
time to submit.

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INTERNET SCIENCE - 2018 (INSCI’2018)
  
CALL FOR PAPERS
  
Dates: October 24 to 26, 2018
Place: St.Petersburg State University, St.Petersburg, Russia
Language: English
Submission deadline: June 10, 2018
Proceedings: Axel Springer Verlag, Lecture Notes in Computer Science
(LNCS)
  
CONFERENCE THEME
  
Internet in World Regions: Digital Freedoms and Citizen Empowerment
  
With time, Internet has become a natural communicative space in many
regions of the world, while in others it still passes through the
first stages of penetration into citizenry and policing. As a
discussion milieu, Internet has been both praised for its involvement
potential, growth of local initiatives, and provision of voice to
those disempowered - and also criticized for excessive deregulation,
dark web formation, and inefficiency in bringing on public consensus.
Today, universality of approaches to Internet freedoms, as well as of
experiences of their empowerment impact, is questioned and needs
reassessment.
  
This year, the Internet Science conference focuses on the Internet as
a tool and space for (dis)empowerment of individuals and social groups
in local and regional contexts, thus forming a comparative perspective
in looking at the power of Internet in communities all around the
world. For instance, the EU has been attentive to cultivating local
online initiatives, but even within the EU, the speed of modernization
differs from state to state, with Estonia being a global leader in
e-governance. In the post-Soviet space, countries have adopted highly
varying policies in developing both digital freedoms and restrictive
Internet regulation. The USA has had a more liberal approach to
empowerment strategies but used online information to aggregate data
for citizen, voter, and consumer profiling, while in China, economic
logic has boosted online businesses within a non-competitive political
environment. Also, Middle-Eastern, Latin American, or African
perspectives on online freedoms and empowerment experiences remain
heavily under-researched.
  
Moreover, digital technologies make us rethink what (dis)empowerment
might mean beyond political life. Tech corporations like Google or
Facebook have created new forms of labour expropriation bypassing
national lawmaking, at the same time advocating for free access to
information as public commodity and providing new chances for charity,
education, and collaborative change. Cultural, educational, and even
bodily divides re-emerge today on highly competitive digitech markets
of connection, communication, monitoring, learning, and consumption,
providing both new freedoms and new handicaps for the world societies.
In the near future, being rich would mean having tech-prolonged and
tech-enhanced life; new, more severe divides may form, and the
question rises, how the Internet of today may contribute to
harmonizing social relations in our future reliant on human-computer
coexistence.
  
Thus, INSCI’2018 welcomes submissions to a wide range of topics (not
limited to) in the following six tracks:

Internet and Societal Structures
• The concepts of citizen empowerment via Internet in local and
regional contexts
• Social stratification and inequalities of group representation
online
• Internet communities, social polarization, and dialogue potential
• Socially harmful practices and content in online communication
  
Internet and Digital Politics
• Online political freedoms in policing and in effect: regional and
local perspectives
• Citizen involvement into decision-making: platforms, actors, and
experiences
• Political discussions online: issues and groups behind them
• E-governance practices of today’s authorities
• Internet regulation: security vs. openness
  
Internet and Free Communication Patterns
• Freedom of speech online: a contested area of policing
• Algorithms as new total communicative power
• Extremist and radical talk online and policies against it
• Universal Internet freedoms vs. dark web
• Post-truth practices online
  
Internet and New Political Economy
• Economic power of online platforms: expropriation of digital labour
• Digital corporations: world leaders and regional alternatives
• Analogous elites, technological precariat
• Enhancement of body and the new poor
• Digital professions and reshaping of online labour markets
  
Internet and Global Access Opportunities
• Global and local faces of today’s digital divide
• Internet and life-long learning practices around the world
• Global media online: translation and language divide
• Empowerment of disabled with new body extensions
• Post-human and tech-human individuals and societies
  
Internet and Data Protection
• Data openness vs. user protection
• Limits of privacy and anonymization
• Clouds and data protection regulation
• Global tech powers and alternative solutions
• Blockchain technologies as promise and threat
  
PARTICIPATION FORMATS
  
The conference accepts submissions of full papers (up to 15 pages of
standard Springer format) and short papers (up to 8 pages of standard
Springer format). Panel submissions (up to 4 papers with a reduced
price per paper) are also welcome.
  
The conference also welcomes half-day workshop and tutorial proposals.
The themes for them should be oriented to discussing issues and
developing skills important for Internet projects and Internet
research. A 2-3-page paper describing the academic and/or industrial
rationale for the workshop/tutorial may be included into the
conference proceedings (subject to peer-review). A range of workshops
and tutorials will also be offered by the conference organizers,
including the ones on webometrics and big textual data research.
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
  
All submitted papers must:
  
• Be written in English and be submitted in PDF format;
• Be fully anonymized (no detectable author information, including
author names, affiliations, and works mentioned in the text);
• Be formatted according to the Springer's LNCS format Proceedings
template. Information about the Springer LNCS format can be found at
https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__www.springer.de_comp_lncs_authors.html&d=DwIDaQ&c=pZJPUDQ3SB9JplYbifm4nt2lEVG5pWx2KikqINpWlZM&r=uXI5O6HThk1ULkPyaT6h2Ws3RKNKSY__GQ4DuS9UHhs&m=Hv6l9EkHN_kM3X-pKAQ9YLdoPsAcwfhsjIQlMYWPQpY&s=N4zjoYBqz5ZmA89rrJkhRD0JKHY86WKALsoSEIYcd6g&e=;
• Three to five keywords characterizing the paper should be indicated
at the end of the abstract;
• Full paper submissions should not exceed 15 pages and short paper
should not exceed 8 pages (including all text, figures, references and
appendices). We encourage a length of 12 pages for full papers and 6
for short papers;
• Submissions not conforming to the LNCS format, exceeding the
submission page limits or being obviously out of the scope of the
conference will be rejected without review.
  
Submissions should be made electronically in PDF via the electronic
submission system of the INSCI2018 Conference Management system at
EasyChair (easychair.org/conferences/?conf=insci2018 – please start
submitting starting from May 15, 2018).
  
All camera-ready papers should be corrected by following the remarks
of the referees and submitted in zip format including (1) the
camera-ready version of the authors' work in pdf format, (2) the
camera-ready version of the authors' work in editable sources format
as well as (3) the Consent to Publish signed in ink and scanned to
image file. The results described must be unpublished and must not be
under review elsewhere. Submissions must conform to Springer's LNCS
format.
  
STEERING COMMITTEE
  
Thanassis Tiropanis, University of Southampton, UK
Anna Satsiou, Centre for Research and Technology Hellas, Greece
Jonathan Cave, University of Warwick, UK
Olessia Koltsova, National Research University - Higher School of
Economics, Russia
Fabrizio Sestini, European Commission DG CONNECT, Belgium
Franco Bagnoli, University of Florence, Italy
  
ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
  
Svetlana Bodrunova, St.Petersburg State University, Russia - General
Conference Chair
Heiko Niedermayer, Technische Universität München, Germany - TCP
Co-Chair
Anna Smoliarova, St.Petersburg State University, Russia - TCP Co-Chair
Ivan Blekanov, St.Petersburg State University, Russia - Workshops
Chair
Alexander Marchenko, St.Petersburg State University, Russia - Visas
and fees
Tamara Gromova, St.Petersburg State University, Russia - Venue and
accommodation


KEY DATES
  
June 10, 2018 - submission of full and short papers
June 15, 2018 - submission of workshop/tutorial proposals (in free
form, 2 to 3 pages)
June 30, 2018 - notification of acceptance
July 15, 2018 - deadline for camera-ready papers
August 15, 2018 - early-bird online registration closes
October 1, 2018 - regular online registration closes
October 24-26, 2016 - conferencing days
  
CONFERENCE VENUE
  
Being one of the richest cities of Europe in terms of cultural and
historic heritage and the recipient of World Travel Awards for three
years in a row, St.Petersburg is a natural attraction for any
traveller. For all the conference participants, excursions will be
offered.
  
Moreover, in the recent years, St.Petersburg has been hosting a
vibrant and efficient academic community interested in Internet &
society research. With Laboratory of Internet Studies at Higher School
of Economics, Steklov Mathematical Institute of Russian Academy of
Sciences, Center for International media research, Cognitive Studies
Lab, and IT Clinic at SPbU, labs on quantum computing to e-governance
at IFMO University, St.Petersburg is a Russian hub for Internet &
society studies.
  
For over 70 years, School of Journalism and Mass Communications at
St.Petersburg State University has been a leading educational and
research entity for communication in Russia. It is home for
international conferences, including CMSTW and STRATCOM. The venue is
located at: 26, 1 line of Vasilievsky island, St.Petersburg 199004
Russia.
  
CONFERENCE FEES
  
The conference fees (subject to slight change) remain similar to the
previous years and differ according to the country of residence. UN
country tiers may be found here.
  
Conference presenter: 250 euro (early-bird), 300 euro (regular) - Tier
1
200 euro (early-bird), 250 euro (regular) - Tier 2
170 euro (early-bird), 200 euro (regular) - Tier 3
PhD student presenter: 150 euro (early-bird), 200 euro (regular) - all
tiers
Panel participation (up to 4 presenters, all tiers): 400 euro
Workshop/tutorial panel (up to 4 participants): 400 euro
Workshop/tutorial and conference access: 40 euro (early-bird), 60 euro
(regular)

TRAVEL AND ACCOMMODATION
  
For the majority of countries, traveling to Russian conferences
requires having a humanitarian visa. St.Petersburg State University
provides visa support; please note that obtaining a visa may require
up to a month.
  
The conference partners include the Sokos 4* hotels chain; the partner
hotel is Sokos Vasilievsky which is within the walking distance from
the School. Also, we advise on smaller hotels around the School and
provide places in the dorms for PhD students.

QUESTIONS?

Please contact us via [log in to unmask] in case of any queries!

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Svetlana S. Bodrunova, Prof., D.Polit.Sci.
Head, Center for International Media Research
School of Journalism and Mass Communications,
St.Petersburg State University

+7 921 933 02 14
[log in to unmask]

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