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CSA 2020 – Internet, Technology, and Digital Sociology (ITDS) Research Cluster Sessions CSA 2020 – Internet, Technology, and Digital Sociology (ITDS) Research Cluster Sessions This year the ITDS cluster is affiliated with 7 regular sessions, totaling 38 presentations. More information, including the presentation abstracts, can be found online on the CSA conference program. Place, Community, and Social Relationships in the Digital Age (ITD6) Wednesday June 3 at 10:30am - 12:00pm (Location: SSC 2020) Organizers: Andrew D. Nevin and Anabel Quan-Haase Chair: Charlotte Nau As digital technologies continue to reduce geographic barriers to communication and interaction, they have played an increasingly important role in the re-imagining of community and the changing meaning attached to social spaces and relationships. In this session, theoretical and empirical papers discuss the role of social media and locative media in shaping our understanding of community, both in terms of physical places and online environments. These presentations offer new insights into how technology impacts experiences of urban spaces, the development of social capital, the dissolution of relationships, and the dynamics of community engagement in the digital age. 1. The Future will not be Instagrammed: Resistance, Gentrification, and the Re-Conceptualization of Community through Place-based Social Media (Kyle Rich, Brock University; Ashleigh Weeden, University of Guelph; @Parkdalelife) 2. Right to the Queer City: A Theoretical Framework for Investigating LGBTQ+ Uses of Locative Media in Urban Spaces (Darryl Pieber, Western University) 3. Streaks, Stories, and Social Capital: Understanding How Teenagers Use Snapchat from a Bourdieusian Framework (Brianna Green, University of Guelph) 4. Throwaway_Relationship: Reddit as the Social Conveyor Belt of the Uncoupling Process (Yagana Samim, University of Toronto; Nathan Ly, University of Toronto; Saba Raja, University of Toronto) 5. Humanizing through Humor: A Qualitative Media Analysis of Canadian Police Use of Humor on Twitter (Vincenzo Soave, Western University) Sociological Insights on Cybercrime and Deviance (ITD1) Wednesday June 3 at 1:30pm - 3:00pm (Location: SSC 2020) Organizer: Ryan Broll Chair: Ryan Broll From communications to social media to the Internet of Things, there is little doubt that technology continues to occupy an ever greater space in our personal and social lives. As news stories and empirical accounts demonstrate, the continued expansion of technology represents both opportunities and challenges for Canadians. Cybercrime and deviance represent two broad categories of such challenges, and sociologists are among the foremost scholars investigating human-centric problems and solutions. This session brings together those studying diverse topics at the intersection of the internet, technology, and digital sociology and criminology by considering topics including identity theft and fraud, cyber-psychopathy and associated harms, the dark web, and the broader consequences of cybercrime on social and emotional well-being. 1. "I Was Just Freaking Out": The Experiences of Identity Theft Victims in Ontario (Dylan Reynolds, University of Guelph) 2. 419: Life, Liberty and Nigerian Cybercrime (Patience Adamu, Ryerson University) 3. Cyber-Psychopathy Revisited: Validation and Updated Findings (Andrew D. Nevin, University of Toronto) 4. Cyber-Driven Suicides (Shila Khayambashi, York University) 5. Examining the Extent and Features of Drug Sales on the Dark Web (Shu Liu, Mount Royal University; Tanya E. Trussler, Mount Royal University; Sara Amin, The University of the South Pacific) 6. Consequences of Fear of Cybercrime in Europe: Differentiating between Functional and Dysfunctional Behaviours (Matthew Williams, Cardiff University; Michael Levi, Cardiff University; Luca Giommoni, Cardiff University; Steven Cook, Cardiff University) Understanding Fake News: Misinformation, Disinformation and Manipulation (ITD2) Wednesday June 3 at 3:30pm - 5:00pm (Location: SSC 2020) Organizer: Michael Adorjan Chair: Molly-Gloria Harper In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica scandal, where information disseminated online was used to manipulate voters during the 2016 United States presidential election, concern has emerged over ‘fake news’ and its impacts, both online and offline. However, some argue that beyond the concept of fake news, it is important to distinguish between “disinformation”, which refers to “information that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organization or country,” and “misinformation”, which refers to “information that is false, but not created with the intention of causing harm”. Indeed, how the online medium serves to fundamentally manipulate users based on the interpretation of what one consumes is still a nascent area in sociological research. Thus, this session invites scholarship on fake news, as well as how the online medium can manipulate users, from a sociological perspective. Theoretical pieces framing fake news within particular sociological theoretical frameworks, empirical examinations and everything in between are welcome, with the broad focus of how we can understand fake news, and people’s understandings of fake news. 1. Fake News and the Struggle Against Lord Voldemort: An Application of Shibutani's Approach to Rumour (Mark Stobbe, Okanagan College) 2. Rallying Cry or Red Herring? On the Cultural Politics of Disinformation (Michael Christensen, Carleton University) 3. Fictional Information: A Fiction Narrative Analysis for Ideological Production and Management through Disinformation (Matty Peters, Carleton University) 4. Siloed Health Learning? Exploring the Impacts of Facebook Echo Chambers on Maternal Health Beliefs and Behaviour (Darryn Anne Wellstead, University of Ottawa) 5. Unauthentic Smiles: A Qualitative Analysis on CGI Influencers (Austin Bernier, University of Manitoba) Internet, Technology & Social Movements (ITD3) Thursday June 4 at 8:30am - 10:00am (Location: SSC 2020) Organizer: Andrey Kasimov Chair: Andrey Kasimov Internet and communication technologies have become important staples in contemporary politics and social movements. The papers in this session explore the diverse ways progressive movements have come to embrace the internet as a tool for activism at both the global and local levels. On the one hand, this session will focus on the affordances of information technologies that make them especially suited for use by political actors facing various forms of opposition from the state. On the other hand, it will explore the effects such technologies have had on the public and movement participants' own understanding and experience of technology-mediated political action and the methodological implications of conducting research in this arena. 1. A Digital Bundle - A New Social Movement Online (Jennifer Wemigwans, University of Toronto) 2. The Role of the Telegram in the Iranian Social Movements (Parizad Bahardoost, Islamic Azad University) 3. Understanding Online Activism: Motivation in Use of Social Media as a Tool of Social Movement (Yena Lee, McMaster University) 4. Influencing Societal Change, One Hashtag at a Time (Monica Pauls, University of Calgary) 5. Digitally Divided?: Online Media and Perceptions of Polarization in Atlantic Canada (Rachel McLay, Dalhousie University; Kayla Preston, Dalhousie University; Howard Ramos, Dalhousie University) 6. Methodology and #MeToo: Studying Feminist Social Movements in the Digital Era (Madelaine Coelho, University of Toronto; Rachel Meiorin, University of Toronto) The Challenges and Promises of Technology (ITD7) Thursday June 4 at 10:30am - 12:00pm (Location: SSC 2020) Organizers: Andrew D. Nevin and Anabel Quan-Haase Chair: Andrew D. Nevin As the sociological study of technology continues to grow, many questions remain unanswered regarding the social implications of digital and networked technologies on our everyday lives and on society more broadly. In this general session, theoretical and empirical papers will address the complicated nature of the intersection between technology and society, which is captured by both the challenges and promises associated with technological development. These presentations offer new directions and contributions to this research area, covering topics such as the effects of technology on democracy, social interaction in the household, and e- commerce, as well as the possibilities regarding video games, online genetics, and the presentation of self on the Internet. 1. The Effects of Social Media on Representative Democracy in Canada (Terry L. Newman, Concordia University) 2. Impacts of New Media Technologies on Social Interaction (Pamaljeet Kaur, Punjabi University Patiala Punjab) 3. E-commerce and the Emergence of New Trading Risks among Ghanaian Online Traders (Rabiu K.B. Asante, University of Ghana) 4. No Need to Reinvent the Wheel: The Case for Evaluating Existing Video Games' Effects on Social Issues (Ley Fraser, University of Manitoba) 5. Online Genetics for Health: An Empirical Investigation of How Users Matter (Salwa Khan, University of Ottawa) 6. Synthesizing Digital Self-Presentation: Young People's Ability to Refine Themselves while Online (Molly-Gloria Harper, Western University) Surveillance, Privacy, and Risk Management (ITD4) Thursday June 4 at 1:30pm - 3:00pm (Location: SSC 2020) Organizers: Andrew D. Nevin and Anabel Quan-Haase Chair: Andrew D. Nevin As digital technologies become more embedded in daily life, it has become important to critically reflect on the formal and informal surveillance practices that increasingly
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