IPP 2012 - Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges?

** Call for papers **
** Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges? **
** 20-21 September 2012, University of Oxford **
** http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012 **
** Rationale **
Recent years have seen an increasing buzz around how 'Big Data' can
uncover patterns of human behaviour and help predict social trends. Most
social activities today leave digital imprints that can be collected and
stored in the form of large datasets of transactional data. These data
are already being used to prevent epidemics or combat fraud and crime,
but the research potential of these data is still underexploited.
The impact of Big Data goes beyond academic research: the behavioural
insights gained from transactional information can also be used to drive
evidence-based policy making and 'nudge' political behaviour. However,
the technical skills necessary to analyse large datasets often prevent
social scientists from exploiting its potential. Much detail is also
lost in the analysis of Big Data, which emphasises aggregated patterns
over mechanisms operating at the individual level and lacks the
demographic information of survey data, for example.
This conference calls for papers that explore the new research frontiers
opened up by Big Data as well as its limitations. We are looking for
research that uses large datasets to inform old debates in political
science, and papers that develop innovative methodological tools (from
experiments, to crowd-sourcing, to online ethnography) to overcome the
omissions of big datasets. The Internet, Politics, Policy 2012
conference aims to serve as a forum to encourage discussion across
disciplinary boundaries on how to exploit Big Data to inform policy
debates and advance social science research.
** Programme **
The conference aims to attract papers from a range of disciplines
analysing Big Data or developing approaches that dig into the mechanisms
that large datasets do not consider. Panels will be organised in twin
tracks:
- Papers in the Politics track will explore the insights that large
datasets and complementary methodological tools offer in the analysis of
political behaviour, including - but not limited to - mobilisations,
collective action, or public opinion formation;
- Papers in the Policy track will look at how behavioural insights
gained from Big Data analysis, and from experiments in online settings,
can inform policy debates and shape policy making, including e-health,
on-line education, cybercrime, security and privacy.
These two areas are intertwined, and will be merged in plenary sessions,
investigating the intersection of policy and politics in the Big Data
era.
** Keynotes **
- Duncan Watts, Principal Research Scientist, Yahoo! Research
- Second keynote pending confirmation
** Submissions **
We welcome papers reporting on innovative research exploiting large
datasets or applying novel methodological tools aimed to overcome the
limitations of Big Data. We particularly welcome papers that report
empirical results and employ analytical approaches that would not have
been possible without access to digital information. Perspectives from
any academic discipline are welcomed, particularly: political science,
economics, law, sociology, information science, communications,
philosophy, computer science, psychology, management, geography and
medicine.
Paper proposals:
Proposals should include a title and a 1000 word abstract specifying the
research question, describing the methods and data used, and summarising
the main findings. Abstracts will be peer reviewed, and the authors of
accepted proposals are expected to submit full papers prior to the
conference.
Paper submissions will be considered for a Best Paper Award of 300 GBP
(sponsored by the journal Policy and Internet). The prize will be
awarded at the closing session of the conference. As the paper is
intended to be published in a future issue of the journal, authors
should indicate whether they would like their paper to be considered for
the prize.
Poster proposals:
Posters should summarise in a visually engaging manner the purpose,
methods and results of an original piece of research. All accepted
submissions will be considered for a Best Poster Award of 300 GBP
(sponsored by Google). The prize will be awarded at the closing session
of the conference.
Paper and poster proposals should be submitted using the online form at
http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/submissions
Travel Bursaries:
We will support a limited number of competitive bursaries to contribute
to the cost of attendance for doctoral students and recent postdocs
(doctorate finished 2011). Preference will be given to paper or poster
presenters.
Please indicate in your submission if you would like to be considered
for such a bursary.
** Deadlines **
Abstract deadline: 15 March 2012
Decision on abstracts: 15 April 2012
Poster deadline: 15 April 2012
Decision on posters: 15 May 2012
Full paper submission: 15 August 2012
Conference correspondence can be sent to: ipp2012-AT-oii.ox.ac.uk
Best wishes,
Internet, Politics, Policy 2010
http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012
Contact: ipp2012-AT-oii.ox.ac.uk
Twitter: #ipp2012
Professor Helen Margetts (Oxford Internet Institute) Dr Sandra
Gonzalez-Bailon (Oxford Internet Institute) David Sutcliffe (Oxford
Internet Institute)