[Asis-l] Call for Conference Papers: "IPP2012: Big Data, Big Challenges?"

[David Sutcliffe]

** 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)