Dear list, A few weeks ago I posted a call for help trying to find someone to help with a chapter on Chinese social media for the book I am editing with Katie Ellis - Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives. We received a very enthusiastic response and I would like to thanks everyone who contacted us, or passed the message along. Following this, and in consultation with the perspective authors who contacted us, we are now looking at a second volume that looks more broadly at Chinese language social media and hence this call for papers. Kind Regards, Mike Dr Mike Kent PhD Murd., Grad. Cert. Edu. (Adult & Tertiary) Murd., BA (Hons) Murd., BA W.Aust. Senior Lecturer, Department of Internet Studies School of Media, Culture and Creative Arts :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: http://www.cultware.com/current-research/chinese-social-media-today-critical -perspectives-abstracts-due-15-july-2015 Call For Papers: Chinese Social Media Today: Critical Perspectives Edited by Dr Katie Ellis & Dr Mike Kent, Internet Studies, Curtin University Abstracts Due 15 July 2015 At the end of 2013 Chinese was the second most used language online with nearly six hundred and fifty million users. It was also one of the fasted growing language groups. Whereas with other language groups the ever growing presence of Facebook, Twitter and the suit of Google social media has encroached on, and in many cases supplanted, any native language specific social media platform the restrictions placed by the Chinese government on foreign access to its domestic internet population has led to the development of many uniquely Chinese language platforms. Sina Weibo has more than twice the number of users of Twitter. Platforms like Renren, Pengyou. QQ and Youku also have significant user bases. Over time these platforms are also attracting western organisations and celebrities as a way of developing their profile in the Chinese language market Much of the critical writing addressing social media has a very western facing and English language focus. This is not at all surprising with social networking platforms from the United States playing such a dominant role in this area globally. However there is a significant gap in the literature - particularly in English language publications - when it comes to this significant part of this internet mediated phenomena. This book seeks to fill this gap by bring together scholars from a variety of backgrounds and areas of expertise to address critical perspectives on Chinese language social media. Areas of interest that chapters might address include . Specific case studies of social media use and social media platforms . The role of social media in the Chinese diaspora . The role of Chinese social media in specific countries or by specific communities . Political activism and social media . The role of more western focused social media platforms for Chinese language users Submission procedure: Potential authors are invited to submit chapter abstract of no more than 500 words, including a title, 4 to 6 keywords, and a brief bio, by email to both Dr Mike Kent <m.kent@curtin.edu.au> and Dr Katie Ellis <katie.ellis@curtin.edu.au> by 15 July 2015. (Please indicate in your proposal if you wish to use any visual material, and how you have or will gain copyright clearance for visual material.) Authors will receive a response by 15 August 2015, with those provisionally accepted due as chapters of no more than 6000 words (including references) by 15 November 2015. About the editors: The editors are both from the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Dr Katie Ellis is Senior Research Fellow in the Department of Internet Studies at Curtin University. Her research focuses on disability and the media extending across both representation and active possibilities for social inclusion. Her books include Disability and New Media (2011 with Mike Kent), Disabling Diversity (2008), Disability, Ageing and Obesity: Popular Media Identifications (2014; with Debbie Rodan & Pia Lebeck), Disability and the Media (2015; with Gerard Goggin), and Disability and Popular Culture (2015). Dr Mike Kent is a senior lecturer in the department of Internet studies. Mike's research focus is in higher education and particularly online education, as well as online social networking platforms. His edited collection, An Education in Facebook? Higher Education and the World's Largest Social Network, was released in 2014 through Routledge. His other area of research interest is on people with disabilities and their use of, and access to, information technology and the Internet. His edited collection, with Katie Ellis, Disability and Social Media: Global Perspectives will be available through Ashgate in 2016 and his book also with Katie Ellis Disability and New Media was published in 2011.