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.

From Ivona Barešová, EACS The Vice-General Secretary:

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to submit an abstract of 150 words on gender and personal names for inclusion in an online workshop to be held in September 2023. Selected papers will be published in a special issue of a Scopus-listed journal in 2024.

Dis/continuity in the representation of gender in names across languages

Editors: Ivona Barešová (Palacký University Olomouc, Czech Republic) and Jane Pilcher (Nottingham Trent University, UK)

Personal (or given) names in many countries are typically sex-specific, whether this is legally enforced or completely unregulated, and gender-neutral names are rather rare. In some languages, such as English and Japanese, names are not linguistically obligated to indicate a person’s sex category suggesting that the representation of sex and gender in names in these languages is socially motivated. Previous research on name selection in the United States pointed out that gender-neutral names tend to evolve from masculine names, and are seen as more advantageous for girls than boys, to whom sex stereotyping is more rigidly applied (Lieberson et al, 2000). However, recent developments suggest that such tendencies change over time and vary across cultures. For example, parenting and baby name websites report and reflect an increasing interest in names which do not indicate a child’s sex or gender. In Japan, not only are gender-neutral names on the rise but a number of them were originally used only for girls. In other languages, such as Czech, gender markings are linguistically obligatory, meaning that choosing to use gender-neutral names may have a larger impact on the language long-term.

Our main goal in this special issue is to advance the present state of knowledge about gender-related personal naming practices especially in contexts, observed in many countries, of recent shifts around gender equality and in conceptualizations of gender as non-binary. We aim to bring together a collection of studies dealing with gender in personal or given names across a range of languages and cultures. Contributions will incorporate the latest findings about current preferences for expressing gender in names, identifying regional and cultural specifics, and their interactions with more general trends.

We welcome contributions exploring recent trends in name selection with respect to gender in any language culture and from a variety of perspectives, and grounded in a range of disciplines – anthropology, linguistics, psychology, sociology, and other fields. Topics might include:

• transitions in gender marking on names
• the emergence of new gender-neutral names
• linguistic expressions of gender in names
• the nature and characteristics of current gender-specific and gender-neutral names
• current gender-related naming practices and their background
• motivations for the bestowal of gender-neutral names
• the influence of a gender-neutral name on the young person’s self-perception
• the perception of gender-neutral names bestowed upon girls/boys

Submissions must be in English and should be original research or general review papers about these topics.

Important dates:

Online workshop abstract deadline: 31 January 2023

Acceptance announcement: 31 March 2023

The date of the online workshop: 22 September 2023

Manuscript submission deadline: 30 November 2023

Abstracts should be e-mailed to ivona.baresova@upol.cz

Please feel free to contact either Ivona or Jane (jane.pilcher@ntu.ac.uk) if you have any queries.

From Grace Gomashie:

“The Executive Committee is pleased to announce Drs. Marcienne Martin and Rebekah Ingram as the next editors of the journal. Dr. Martin is Editor, French Language and Dr. Ingram is Editor, English Language Editor. They will serve for a three-year term, which begins this fall. We look forward to their brilliant leadership in starting this new chapter of the journal.

The appointment of the editors means that Onomastica Canadiana has resumed publication. Onomastica Canadiana is now inviting submissions in English or French. Papers in any area of onomastics are welcome. Please visit the journal’s website to submit your contributions. Please submit any question to Dr. Martin or Dr. Ingram.”

Contact information for the editors can be found on the journal’s website. You can submit contributions here.