The work will be published as part of the Routledge’s series, Routledge Studies in Library and Information Science, to be delivered to the publisher in 2022.
Editors:
Shengnan Yang, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington ([email protected]),
Prof. Xiaohua Zhu, School of Information Sciences at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville ([email protected])
Prof. Pnina Fichman, Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering, Indiana University, Bloomington ([email protected])
Important dates:
Proposals Submission Due: July 30, 2021
Notifications of Acceptance: August 30, 2021
Full Chapters Due: January 15, 2022
Reviewers Feedback: April 15, 2022
Final Submission Due: June 15, 2022
Introduction:
Never before have ICTs been at the center of society’s response to a global health crisis like the COVID-19 pandemic, which may have a far-reaching fallout. Although the pandemic has begun to ebb in some parts of the world, the crisis itself and the various ICTs’ interventions that occurred during this time are changing society in numerous foreseeable and unexpected ways. As societies, organizations, groups, and individuals rely on technology more than ever before, both the calculated and unintended consequences of ICTs provoke heightened interest in ethical design and social justice; these concerns are beginning to shape the next normal. This context provides a unique opportunity for us to reflect on and reexamine our relationships with ICTs as we envision the post-pandemic era.
Taking a social informatics perspective, this book emphasizes the relationships between ICTs and society during the COVID-19 pandemic. This book is based on the position that ICTs do not simply bring change to society, organizations, groups, and peoples’ lives, but that instead, ICTs are bound by the power dynamics of stakeholders and are embedded in specific contexts. This edited volume focuses on socio-technical practices, activities, and ICTs’ interventions in the context of this global pandemic. Specific attention is given to the debates around the utilization of ICTs at different stages of the crisis by a variety of stakeholders, with analysis at the individual, community, and society levels. The emphasis is on the intersection between ICTs and health, culture, social interaction, civic engagement, information dissemination, work, education, and learning.
In particular, this book aims to provide an international and comparative perspective on the use of ICTs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though people have been confronting the same health crisis around the globe, the intentions and consequences of ICTs’ use may vary by region, nation, and community. Thus, the book emphasizes international and cross-cultural work to help us understand the role of technology in different environments during various stages of the pandemic in various regions of the world.
Specific topics of interest include:
1. Misinformation and infodemics during the pandemic: identification and coping mechanisms through regulation and information literacy.
2. Information behavior during the pandemic at different levels: the diffusion, evolution, and innovation of information behavior by individuals, groups, organizations, and communities; and ICTs’ applications across different contexts.
3. Institutional cooperation during the pandemic: digital interventions for crisis response and collaboration between institutions.
4. ICTs’ innovation, creation and interventions: creative and alternative use of ICTs during the pandemic.
5. Critical perspective of ICTs during the crisis and unintended consequences.
6. Information tracking during the pandemic: the equilibrium between surveillance for public safety and data privacy protection.
Chapters are expected to have between 7,000 and 8,000 words (excluding references, figures, and tables). Only original work whose copyright is owned (or cleared) by the chapter authors and not considered for publication elsewhere can be considered for inclusion.
Submission guidelines:
1. 2-3-page (1,000-1,500 words, excluding references) chapter proposals.
2. Author’s bio (200 words).
3. Author’s contact information.
Please email chapter proposal and authors’ bios by July 30, 2021 to:
Shengnan Yang ([email protected]), Xiaohua Zhu ([email protected]), and Pnina Fichman ([email protected]).