Call for Papers: Special Issue on Discourse, Context, & Digital Dating (For the Journal “Discourse, Context, & Media”)

From Riki Thompson:

Dating Apps have fundamentally changed the communicative practices of dating with 270 million adult users of dating apps worldwide in 2020. This special issue, which is being organized for the journal Discourse, Context, & Media (DCM), aims to explore communication and discourses related to online dating contexts. Broadly, this issue aims to provide a critical contribution to the small but growing body of work on online dating and language to inform our understanding of how media technologies influence communication in the search for love, sex, and intimacy (Kavroulaki 2021; Korobov, 2011, Licoppe 2020; Mortensen 2017; Stokoe, 2010. Thompson 2022, Turowetz & Hollander, 2012). Specifically, contributions to this special issue will present empirical research about communicative practices through some form of discourse analysis and/or theoretical and methodological debates within discourse studies in relation to digital dating. Papers may focus on, but are not limited to, studies on digital dating app research methods, platform architecture, geolocation affordances, algorithms, profiles, matching, messaging, and/or online talk. Papers that consider intersections of identity, such as gender, sexuality, race, age, ability, and/or class are also welcome. Please share with your networks!

Important Dates

Deadline for the submission of proposals: Jan 15, 2023
Notification of acceptance: February 1, 2023
Expect submission of full paper (6000-8000 words): August 1, 2023

Submission Information

A 200-word abstract, highlighting research context, main aim of study, methods and analysis framework, and expected contribution to existing knowledge in reference to the aims and scope of the DCM journal.
5 keywords that reflect the topic, data, theoretical and methodological approaches.
A short bio (up to 150 words) bio with name, position and affiliation of all authors.
Submit proposals to Dr. Riki Thompson (atrikitiki@uw.edu) and mention CFP Discourse, Context, & Online Dating in the subject line. Selected authors will be invited to submit a full paper, which will undergo full peer review and determine acceptance of papers for publication.

Journal Information

Discourse, Context & Media is an international journal dedicated to exploring the full range of contemporary discourse work into mediated forms of communication in context. It provides an innovative forum to present research that addresses a variety of discourse theories, data and methods, from detailed linguistic and interactional analyses to wider studies of representation, knowledge and ideology analysed through all forms of discourse analysis.

The journal seeks empirical contributions that also address the theoretical and methodological debates within discourse studies. The journal aims to explore the challenges and opportunities provided to discourse scholars by all forms of media as context-shaped and context-renewing, and to address questions raised by new and traditional media technologies as mediated communication. Such media provide opportunities for new forms of data to be analysed, allow rethinking of existing theories and methodologies and encourage the development of new models of interaction which further our collective understanding of discourse in context. Discourse, Context & Media is especially interested in contributions that make use of innovative methods and media for the analysis and presentation of data.

Guidelines for authors regarding work published in Discourse, Context & Media is available at: http://www.elsevier.com/journals/discourse-context-and-media/2211-6958/guide-for-authors

About the Guest Editor

Dr. Riki Thompson is an Associate Professor of Digital Rhetoric & Writing at the University of Washington Tacoma. She is an internationally recognized communication and internet researcher whose work contributes to understanding how people find connection and belonging through communication literacy. Her work is especially interested in uncovering how people become excluded and marginalized in digital spaces due to technology design and digital literacies. Dr. Thompson’s work has been featured in various venues, including journals such as Visual Communication and Journal of Language and Sexuality, and mainstream media such as The Conversation, Salon, and the Seattle Times. She is currently writing a book about online dating that focuses on dating profiles, discourse, and design to interrogate the intersections of technology, identity, gender, sexuality, and normativity in relation to postdigital intimacies.

Conference: Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference 29 (Hybrid, Online-Boise State University), 9-11 March 2023

From Chris VanderStouwe:

Registration is now open for the hybrid Lavender Languages and Linguistics Conference 29, to be held at Boise State University, in Boise, ID, USA March 9-11, 2023. You are invited to attend, and to share this information with any colleagues or students who may be interested in attending, either virtually or in person.

Conference details, including lodging and travel information, are available at the conference website, available here: https://tinyurl.com/lavlang29

To register for the conference, you can visit the registration page directly here: https://commerce.cashnet.com/boisestateLavenderLanguagesConference

For any questions about the conference, please reach out to conference host/organizer Dr. Chris VanderStouwe at cvanderstouwe@boisestate.edu.

About Names: “Cleveland Evans: Why Edgar was once the king of baby names”

Edgar Allan Poe (Photo: Public Domain)

Dr. Cleveland Evans writes about names for the Omaha World-Herald. In his January 1st column, he looks at the name Edgar.

Perhaps Jan. 1 should be Founders Day at the FBI.

J. Edgar Hoover, appointed director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation at its creation in 1935, was born on New Year’s Day 1895. He remained director until his death on May 2, 1972. During his lifetime, Hoover was lauded as a crime fighter who promoted forensic laboratories. Since his death, his reputation has fallen as his use of abusive means to maintain influence have been revealed. However, he remains one of the 20th century’s most famous law enforcement leaders.

The first famous Edgar (943-975) became king of England at age 16. Though at first a frivolous womanizer, Edgar later promoted justice and religion. There was so little violence during his reign, he’s called Edgar the Peaceful. He was venerated as St. Edgar soon after his death.

Despite that, his name almost disappeared after the Norman Conquest in 1066. Shakespeare surely chose Edgar for the Duke of Gloucester’s honest son in “King Lear” (1606) because it was fit for a character from Britain’s legendary past.

Famous author Edgar Allan Poe’s parents were actors who’d performed in “King Lear” shortly before his 1809 birth. They may have also read “Edgar Huntly” (1799), a Gothic tale of sleepwalking and murder by American Charles Brockden Brown, making Edgar apt for the writer of macabre tales like “The Pit and the Pendulum.”

The hero of Sir Walter Scott’s tragic “The Bride of Lammermoor” (1819) is Edgar Ravenswood. Poe’s fame along with Scott’s and Brown’s characters made Edgar more popular in the United States than England. The 1850 U.S. census found 7,730 Edgars, while Britain’s 1851 census included only 2,273, though total populations were about equal.

Want to learn more? Read on to learn more about the name Edgar!