[AISWorld] AMCIS 2019: Call for Rhetoric, design, social media in information processing minitrack proposals - deadline Oct 19

[Shah, Vishal]

Track: Rhetoric, design, social media in information processing


AMCIS 2019, the 25th Americas Conference on Information Systems, August 15 - 17, 2019, Cancun, Mexico


Track Chairs:

Vishal Shah, Assistant Professor, Central Michigan University, USA, shah3v at cmich.edu<mailto:shah3 at cmich.edu>


<mailto:shah3 at cmich.edu>Carlo Gabriel Porto Bellini, Associate Professor, Federal University of Paraiba, Brazil, cgpbellini at ccsa.ufpb.br<mailto:cgpbellini at ccsa.ufpb.br>



Track Description:

Information processing has become increasingly cognitively demanding as we are confronted with information that comes to us in everyday contexts – everywhere, anytime, and anyplace –through our mobile devices and social media connections. The processing of information stems from the fundamental need to connect and be part of the world around us (Maslow 1971). Despite our need for social connection, information overload is a serious threat to our capacity to process information and make good decisions based on that information (Eppler & Mengis 2004). Accordingly, also at risk is our expectation of being effective in the digital society – i.e., of making use of technology-mediated information vis-à-vis a purpose and in a systemically healthy way (Bellini 2018). In this track, we focus primarily on the aspects that limit our effectiveness to deal with information, and how such practices may lead to bias and propaganda in society.


Bias refers to prejudice for or against a personal/political/social issue despite the lack of objective evidence to support it. As recent events throughout the world have shown, social media platforms can be vehicles to promote false narratives that amplify bias and influence public opinion. We have almost 3.2 billion active social media users in a population of 7.5 billion individuals, of which 2.95 billion are active through their mobile device (Hootsuite 2018). Given the rise in the volume and sources of information and our limited cognitive capacity, the situation is ripe for the spread of false information aka “fake news” whether by misinformation or disinformation. By misinformation, we mean false information. By disinformation, we mean the deliberate spread of false information for malicious purposes.



The ability of an individual, a collective, or state actors to use platforms like social media to spread disinformation has amplified, as evidenced recently in political campaigning and elections (Marchi 2012; Allcott & Gentzcow 2016). Misinformation is also relatively prevalent in the everyday use of social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. As recent research (Lazer et al. 2018) points out, we need a new “system of safeguards” and novel frameworks to approach this problem.



Our purpose in this track is to provide a forum for such safeguards. We encourage papers that address the broad area of information spread and technology use and their effects in biasing personal and/or political decision-making. This track specifically encourages submissions of research exploring innovative ways to identify the mechanisms and causes of spreading disinformation and ways to deal with these mechanisms in the context of rhetoric, design, and social media. We invite submissions that elaborate causes and impacts of disinformation/misinformation such as conceptual and theoretical developments, empirical research findings, case studies, research in progress, methodology papers, and other high-quality contributions. Submissions detailing research on measures (either theoretical measures or behavioral interventions, or the design of novel artifacts) to prevent the spread of misinformation/disinformation are also welcome.


Opportunities in Leading Journals:

Promising papers will be fast-tracked to BAR – Brazilian Administration Review upon the authors’ consent. BAR is the international flagship journal of the Brazilian Academy of Management (ANPAD). It is indexed in Scopus.



Developed Mini-Tracks:


Mini-track 1: Rhetoric, technology, and disinformation


Contact: James Melton, Central Michigan University, melto1jh at cmich.edu


This minitrack seeks to explore the relationship between rhetoric, social media platforms, and disinformation. One of the ways to deal with disinformation and to avoid exacerbating biases is to have a general population trained in rhetoric.  Because the discipline of rhetoric studies the effects of persuasion on audiences, it can help make those audiences more aware of mechanisms of spreading disinformation. For example, recent papers studied how to inoculate people against misinformation by asking them to play roles such as “clickbait monger” seeking to get clicks themselves or to act as “conspiracy theorist." It was found that when made aware of the ease that misinformation could be spread, people were more likely to be critical of it in the future (Roozenbeek et al. 2018; van der Linden et al. 2017). Such interventions demonstrate that rhetorical awareness of mechanisms that enable the spread of disinformation can help combat bias through awareness. We welcome papers at the intersection of rhetoric, psychology, and information systems that attempt to solve the problem of disinformation from an interdisciplinary standpoint.


Mini-track 2: User experience, human-computer interaction, and design of (dis)information


Contact: Gustav Verhulsdonck, Central Michigan University, verhu1g at cmich.edu


This minitrack seeks papers at the intersection of User Experience (UX) design, Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) and disinformation.  Design for user experiences is one way to tackle the problem of disinformation. Today’s technological devices may promote the engagement of a user by designers utilizing deep knowledge of the user’s behavior and psychology (Choi & Kim 2004; Chou & Ting 2003). Persuasive design and design for behavior motivate users to stay longer on a platform by “gaming” their behavior or decisions through the design of an interface (Fogg 2002; Lockton et al. 2010). It can range from simplifying a design with a clear call-to-action so that the user makes a purchase, coax them into staying on the platform, or from deceptive practices where threatening language is used to prevent users from opting in/out of policies (aka “confirmshaming”). Often, design practices can serve to clarify things for the user, but they may also utilize disinformation and serve the underlying economic motive of the platform. What mechanisms can help prevent disinformation from a design point of view?  Which design practices should UX designers consider to counter disinformation and develop more transparent, ethical design for users?


We encourage all types of papers dealing with the design of disinformation exploring issues of agency, platforms, and design in light of the challenges of user experience.


Mini-track 3: Social media and disinformation


Contact: Rishikesh Jena, University of Alabama, rjena at cba.ua.edu


This minitrack seeks papers that elaborate and/or address the underlying causes of disinformation through technological means.  Researchers have identified how false information is spread more quickly, deeper, and further due to human nature accepting rumors more quickly over truthful statements (Vosoughi, Roy & Aral 2018). The use of social technologies, which allow for quick dissemination of information further encourages this dynamic by offering strong user engagement but little to no context to users. A balancing act is required in the use of these technologies between mechanisms for disseminating information while allowing us to check the validity of this information. Technological developments (algorithms, big data, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and smart technologies) hold the promise of combating misinformation. At the same time, artificial intelligence, big data, and algorithms offer little to no access to information that they make inferences about our online actions that are often used to present advertisements or information to us. In this track, we are therefore looking for research on the diverse causes of misinformation/disinformation in social technologies and a variety of ways that these technologies can help us combat it.


The above minitracks covers a broad range of research (rhetorical, psychological, behavioral, and technical/artifact-based) on disinformation, the spreading mechanism(s) behind it, its implications on political/social/personal decision making and formation of biases, and ways to prevent disinformation from entering everyday discourse. Interdisciplinary submissions are also encouraged.


Further, we invite additional minitracks along the following lines:

  *   Business models of internet companies and their relation to disinformation/misinformation
  *   Political and societal impacts of disinformation/misinformation
  *   Efficacy of measures to counter disinformation/misinformation
  *   Social bots and spreading of propaganda
  *   Characteristics of potential disinformation/misinformation
  *   Policy frameworks to combat disinformation/misinformation
  *   Proactive and reactive disinformation

Minitrack chairs will be responsible for:
a) promoting their minitrack to generate manuscript submissions to AMCIS 2019.
b) soliciting/assigning reviewers for submitted manuscripts to the minitrack.
c) providing recommendations to track chairs about each manuscript submitted to the minitrack.

To submit a minitrack proposal, you must submit:
a) minitrack chairs (names, emails, affiliation)
b) minitrack title
c) a short description of minitrack for the AMCIS 2019 website (up to 150 words)
d) call for papers for your minitrack


Important Dates:
September 20, 2018: PCS opens for Minitrack submissions
October 19, 2018: Minitrack submissions are due
October 30, 2018: Minitrack decisions are complete
November 5, 2018: Minitrack revisions are due
January 7, 2019: Manuscript submissions for AMCIS 2019 begin
March 1, 2019: AMCIS manuscript submissions closes for authors at 10:00am PST
March 7, 2019: All papers have assigned reviewers
April 15, 2019: Track Chairs recommendations are due
April 24, 2019: Camera-ready papers are due
May 1, 2019: Track session plans are due


References


Allcott, H., & Gentzkow, M. (2017). Social media and fake news in the 2016 election. Journal of Economic Perspectives, 31(2), 211-36.


Bellini, C.G.P. (2018). The ABCs of effectiveness in the digital society. Communications of the ACM, 61(7), 84-91.



Choi, D., & Kim, J. (2004). Why people continue to play online games: In search of critical design factors to increase customer loyalty to online contents. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 7(1), 11-24.



Chou, Y.J., & Ting, C. C. (2003). The role of flow experience in cyber-game addiction. CyberPsychology & Behavior, 6(6), 663-675.



Eppler, M.J., & Mengis, J. (2004). The concept of information overload: A review of literature from organization science, accounting, marketing, MIS, and related disciplines. The Information Society, 20(5), 325-344.

Fogg, B.J. (2002). Persuasive technology: Using computers to change what we think and do (interactive technologies). San Francisco, CA: Morgan Kaufmann.

Hootsuite. (2018). Global digital snapshot. Retrieved March 23, 2018, from https://wearesocial.com/blog/2018/01/global-digital-report-2018.

Lazer, D. M., Baum, M. A., Benkler, Y., Berinsky, A. J., Greenhill, K. M., et al. (2018). The science of fake news. Science, 359(6380), 1094-1096.


Lockton, D., Harrison, D., & Stanton, N.A. (2010). Design with intent: 101 patterns for influencing behaviour through design v.1.0, Windsor: Equifine.


Marchi, R. (2012). With Facebook, blogs, and fake news, teens reject journalistic “objectivity.” Journal of Communication Inquiry, 36(3), 246-262.


Maslow, A. H. (1971). The farther reaches of human nature. London, UK: Arkana/Penguin Books.


Roozenbeek, J., & van der Linden, S. (2018). The fake news game: Actively inoculating against the risk of misinformation. Journal of Risk Research, DOI: 10.1080/13669877.2018.1443491


van der Linden, S., Maibach, E., Cook, J., Leiserowitz, A., & Lewandowsky, S. (2017). Inoculating against <http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6367/1141.2> misinformation<http://science.sciencemag.org/content/358/6367/1141.2>. Science, 358(6367), 1141-1142.


Vosoughi, S., Roy, D., & Aral, S. (2018). The spread of true and false news online. Science, 2359, 1146-1151.



Thank you,


Vishal

Vishal Shah
Assistant Professor
Department of Business Information Systems
Central Michigan University
Grawn Hall - 336
Mount Pleasant, MI - 48859
Office: 989-774-4350

Email: shah3v at cmich.edu<mailto:shah3v at cmich.edu>