Tag Archives: Springer

Call for abstracts; Volume 2 of the International Handbook of Internet Research

This call for abstracts (received from my Writing and the Digital Life list) has a deadline of June 1, 2014. From the call,

Call for Abstracts for Chapters
Volume 2 of the International Handbook of Internet Research
(editors Jeremy Hunsinger, Lisbeth Klastrup, and Matthew Allen)

Abstracts due June 1 2014; full chapters due Sept. 1 2015

After the remarkable success of the first International Handbook of Internet Research (2010), Springer has contracted with its editors to produce a second volume. This new volume will be arranged in three sections, that address one of three different aspects of internet research: foundations, futures, and critiques. Each of these meta-themes will have its own section of the new handbook.

Foundations will approach a method, a theory, a perspective, a topic or field that has been and is still a location of significant internet research. These chapters will engage with the current and historical scholarly literature through extended reviews and also as a way of developing insights into the internet and internet research. Futures will engage with the directions the field of internet research might take over the next five years. These chapters will engage current methods, topics, perspectives, or fields that will expand and re-invent the field of internet research, particularly in light of emerging social and technological trends. The material for these chapters will define the topic they describe within the framework of internet research so that it can be understand as a place of future inquiry. Critique chapters will define and develop critical positions in the field of internet research. They can engage a theoretical perspective, a methodological perspective, a historical trend or topic in internet research and provide a critical perspective. These chapters might also define one type of critical perspective, tradition, or field in the field of internet research.

We value the way in which this call for papers will itself shape the contents, themes, and coverage of the Handbook. We encourage potential authors to present abstracts that will consolidate current internet research, critically analyse its directions past and future, and re-invent the field for the decade to come. Contributions about the internet and internet research are sought from scholars in any discipline, and from many points of view. We therefore invite internet researchers working within the fields of communication, culture, politics, sociology, law and privacy, aesthetics, games and play, surveillance and mobility, amongst others, to consider contributing to the volume.

Initially, we ask scholars and researchers to submit an 500 word abstract detailing their own chapter for one of the three sections outlined above. The abstract must follow the format presented below. After the initial round of submissions, there may be a further call for papers and/or approaches to individuals to complete the volume. The final chapters will be chosen from the submitted abstracts by the editors or invited by the editors. The chapter writers will be notified of acceptance by January 1st, 2015. The chapters will be due September 2015, should be between 6,000 and 10,000 words (inclusive of references, biographical statement and all other text).

Each abstract needs to be presented in the following form:

· Section (Either Foundations, Futures, or Critiques)

· Title of chapter

· Author name/s, institutional details

· Corresponding author’s email address

· Keywords (no more than 5)

· Abstract (no more than 500 words)

· References

Please e-mail your abstract/s to: internet.research.handbook@gmail.com

We look forward to your submissions and working with you to produce another definitive collection of thought-provoking internet research. Please feel free to distribute this CfP widely.

As I recall (accurately I hope), I met Jeremy Hunsinger some years ago at an Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference held in Vancouver in 2007 with the theme, Let’s Play. He’s an academic based at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

Good luck with your submission!

China, nanotechnology, and a roadmap update

I was happy to find an article offering an overview of China and its nanotechnology efforts (with a special emphasis on its nanobio efforts) as I’m always eager to learn more about one of the juggernauts in this field of research. The article by Al Scott and Eliza Zhou in the Life Science Leader offers this nugget (amongst others),

In April 2005, China became the first country to issue national standards for nanotechnology, thereby laying the groundwork for international standards and improving its clout in the global nanotechnology market.

This article is a welcome addition to the little information I have about China’s nanotechnology efforts. I had a few niggles. I didn’t find as much detail about the standards and China’s efforts to lay the groundwork for international standards (are they participating in international organizations’ efforts? are they leading their own international efforts?) in the article as I would like. Also, the authors don’t offer any citations, sources, or links for more information.

Luckily, the joint China/Springer [publishers] project is the process of rolling out a number of books about China and its science and technology plans as per this announcement,

Springer and the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) announce the publication of strategic reports planning the next 40 years of progress in science and technology (S&T). … All reports are co-published in English by Springer and Science Press. The Chinese edition is published by Science Press.

The first volume of the book series, the general report, analyzes the evolution and laws governing the development of science and technology [emphasis mine], describes the decisive impact of science and technology on the modernization process, and calls for China to be fully prepared for this new round of S&T advancement. Supported by illustrations and tables of data, the volumes will provide researchers, government officials and entrepreneurs with guidance concerning research directions, the planning process, and investment. The CAS invited the nation’s most experienced and respected scientists and engineers to contribute to the reports.

Currently available,

– General Report – Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-04822-7

– Energy Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-05319-1

– Space Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-05341-2

– Marine Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-05345-0

– Science & Technology of Public Health in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-05337-5

– Advanced Materials Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-05317-7

– Science & Technology of Bio-hylic and Biomass Resources in China: A Roadmap to 2050
ISBN 978-3-642-05339-9

June 2010 is when the nanotechnology roadmap, amongst others is due,

– Mineral Resources Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Ecological and Environmental Science & Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Water Resources in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Agricultural Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Information Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Hydrocarbon Resources in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Advanced Manufacturing Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Regional Development in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Large-Scale Scientific Facilities in China: A Roadmap to 2050

– Key Interdisciplinary Cutting–Edge Science and Technology in China: A Roadmap to 2050

Nanotechnology in China: A Roadmap to 2050 [emphasis mine]

– Country and Public Safety in China: A Roadmap to 2050

Each road map is individually priced, for example,  the general report is $59.95 and the energy road map is $99.00 (both presumably in US dollars).

Nanotechnology and European NGOs; 2009 Nobel in Physics has Canadian connections; China’s nanotechnology roadmap; Canada Research Chair Hongbin Li

Lately (as in this year), there’s been a lot of substantive interest in regulating nanotechnology:

  • the recent joint Transatlantic Regulatory project which brought together the London School of Economics, Chatham House, the Environmental Law Institute and the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies (PEN) for a report and a series of presentations.  (I discussed the PEN presentation here.)
  • the recent announcement from the US Environmental Protection Agency about their new nanomaterials research which will presumably result in discussion about regulations. (I mentioned the announcement here.)
  • the January 2009 announcement by Environment Canada that they would be conducting a one time nanomaterials inventory. This type of announcement offers the distinct possibility that future regulation may be on the agenda. (I first discussed  this initiative in my Feb. 3, 2009, Feb. 4, 2009, and Feb.8, 2009 postings.)

Now a new group has issued a report, the European Environment Bureau (from the news item on Nanowerk),

The European Environmental Bureau (EEB), Europe’s largest federation of environmental citizens’ organisations, launched a report (“Nanotechnologies in the 21st Century – A Critical Review of Governance Issues in Europe and Elsewhere (October 09”)  outlining the critical governance structures needed for the safe development and use of nanotechnology.

You can read more here.

As I noted in my headline, the 2009 Nobel Prize for Physics has some Canadian connections. From the Fast Company article by Kit Eaton,

Half the prize went to Charles Kao for work that led to long-distance fiber-optic communications. Born in Shanghai, he was educated in the U.K. and worked in one of the early companies that became the current Nortel (emphasis mine). This is where he did research into the fiber-optic systems available at the time, which had been puzzling scientists and engineers by not nearing their theoretical efficiency, and remaining good only for short-distance signaling. Kao’s experiments proved the reason behind these inefficiencies was impurities in the glass making up the fibers–this effected the refractive index of the medium as well as how much light was wasted by scattering instead of being neatly piped down the fiber to the receiving electronics.

The other half of the prize was shared by Canadian (emphasis mine) Willard Boyle and American George Smith for their co-invention of the Charge-Coupled Device. This little optically-sensitive chip, with its neat shift-bit way of getting data from the individual light-sensitive pixels to the data pipe that connects the sensor to a computer, is basically the invention that made possible the whole field of digital photography.

If you have any interest in China’s science and technology scene, Springer and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have announced that they are publishing a series of reports, roadmaps for the next 40 years.  The first reports are out on Oct. 14, 2009 and there will be more in 2010. I see that one of the 2010 reports will be on nanotechnology. For more details, you can go here.

I almost missed the announcement that Dr. Hongbin Li at the University of British Columbia has received a Canada Research Chair in Molecular Nanoscience and Protein Engineering. Congratulations Dr. Li! I posted a two-part interview in 2008 that  Dr. Li kindly granted me here and here.