[agents] CFP: BigSurv18 (Big Data, Data Science, and Survey Science) [deadline 2/28]

[aeck]

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                      CALL FOR PAPERS:   BigSurv18
  The International Conference on Big Data Meets Survey Science
                               October 25-27, 2018
                                 Barcelona, Spain
                          https://www.bigsurv18.org/
                Submission Deadline: February 28, 2018
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Explore new statistical frontiers at the intersection of survey science 
and big data!

Friendly one week reminder: submission deadline is February 28, 2018.  
Apologies for cross-posting!

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    Aim and Scope
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Attention Computer Scientists, Data Scientists, and Survey Scientists,

The first international conference on Big Data Meets Survey Science 
(BigSurv18) is currently accepting abstracts for presentation at the 
conference on the theme “Exploring New Statistical Frontiers at the 
Intersection of Survey Science and Big Data.”

BigSurv18 will be held October 25–27, 2018, at the Research and 
Expertise Centre for Survey Methodology at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra 
in Barcelona, Spain. The conference offers an opportunity to address the 
ongoing paradigm shift in how researchers produce, analyze, and use 
statistics. The event, hosted by the European Survey Research 
Association (ESRA), is intended to foster communication, collaboration, 
and understanding between two groups: (1) computer and data scientists 
focusing on emerging Big Data sources and analysis techniques and (2) 
methodologists and researchers working on traditional sources of data 
collection and statistical analyses, By combining efforts, we can 
identify and overcome academic divides and make unified survey and “Big 
Survey Data” population inference a reality.

We invite presenters from the various disciplines and around the world 
to submit an abstract for presentation at the conference. In addition, 
to accommodate differences in publication objectives and cultures across 
the disciplines, papers will be eligible for consideration in one of two 
publication outlets:

A. A peer-reviewed special issue of Social Science Computer Review 
shortly following the conference.
B. An edited conference volume to be published by John Wiley & Sons in 
2019.

In your submission, please indicate (1) if you would like your paper to 
be considered for publication and (2) state your preferred publication 
outlet. We will do our best to accommodate your request. When we notify 
you about whether your abstract was accepted, we will also let you know 
if you are under further consideration for one of these two publication 
venues.

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      Topics of Interest
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To be considered for the conference, presentations and papers should be 
broad and forward-looking; they may be original research or syntheses of 
the state of the art. The following are examples of topics that are of 
particular interest:

- Using Big Data sources—such as data from social networks, traditional 
business systems, and the Internet of Things—in statistics production
- Measuring new phenomena in society using Big Data
- Discussing methods for combining Big Data with traditional data 
sources
- Using data mining and machine learning methods to develop and 
understand population statistics
- Methods within machine learning for modelling human behaviors
- Assessing new data processing and analytical tools for Big Data
- Implementing data visualization methods for Big Data
- Designing of interfaces, virtual agents, and computational systems 
for interactive data collection
- Distributed infrastructures of data collection
- “Total Statistical Uncertainty” frameworks for estimates derived from 
nonprobability datasets
- Defining and describing data quality in a Big Data environment
- Discussing methods to deal with threats to representativeness, 
including methods for mitigating coverage issues
- Methods for dealing with variable specification inconsistencies 
across datasets
- Methods for repairing or mitigating missing data and data sparseness
- Addressing issues in population modelling and inference
- Inferential paradigms in Big Data applications
- Using Big Data in various ways for sampling frame development and 
other sampling applications
- Exploratory data analysis with Big Data
- Incorporating Big Data in a Bayesian framework
- Methods for
--- selecting relevant data streams;
--- ensuring reproducibility, traceability, and provenance;
--- using Big Data to reduce, control, and evaluate total survey error; 
and
--- evaluating quality in Big Data applications.
- Handling confidentiality and privacy
- Addressing legal and proprietary issues, as well as ethical concerns 
and the concept of harm

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      Submissions
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Please submit your abstract (500 words or fewer) to 
https://www.bigsurv18.org/conference by February 28, 2018. Your 
submission should include the title of the paper, all co-authors and 
their affiliations, and e-mail address of the lead author. In addition, 
please remember to indicate your publication preference. The author of 
each accepted paper will present it at the conference. Presenters 
accepted for the edited conference volume must submit a complete version 
of the paper by the end of 2018. Presenters accepted for consideration 
in the special issue must submit a complete version of the paper for 
peer-review by the end of July 2018. A formal paper will not be required 
of presenters who do not wish to publish in either outlet.

Current graduate students or recent graduates (2017 or 2018 only) are 
encouraged to apply for the student paper award. The authors of the two 
winning papers receive a Euro 150  award and a travel stipend of Euro 
1,400 if traveling from outside of Europe and Euro 800 if traveling from 
within Europe. For details please visit 
https://www.bigsurv18.org/abstracts

We also are interested in supporting early career scholars (graduate 
students or graduation date in 2017 or 2018) from all parts of the world 
and have established a travel award fund for this purpose. These travel 
awards include a travel stipend of Euro 1,400 if traveling from outside 
of Europe and Euro 800 if traveling from within Europe. Early career 
scholars from underrepresented regions are especially encouraged to 
apply. For details, please visit https://www.bigsurv18.org/abstracts

Questions about BigSurv18 can be directed to Antje Kirchner 
(akirchner at rti.org) or Craig Hill (chill at rti.org).

Conference Scientific Committee
Dr. Craig Hill (Chair, editorial committee): Senior Vice President, 
Survey, Computing, and Statistical Sciences, RTI International, USA
Dr. Antje Kirchner (Chair, organizing committee): Research Survey 
Methodologist, RTI International; Adjunct Research Assistant Professor, 
University of Nebraska—Lincoln, USA
Dr. Paul Biemer: Distinguished Fellow, RTI International; Associate 
Director for Survey Research, Odum Institute for Research in Social 
Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA
Dr. Trent Buskirk: Director, Center for Survey Research, and Professor, 
Department of Management Science and Information Systems, University of 
Massachusetts Boston, USA
Dr. Mario Callegaro: Senior Survey Research Scientist, Ads, Payment and 
User eXperience (APUX), Google London, UK
Dr. Ana Lucía Córdova Cazar: Assistant Professor, Political Science and 
International Relations, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Ecuador; 
Adjunct Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, 
USA
Dr. Adam Eck: Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Oberlin College, 
USA
Dr. Lilli Japec: Senior Scientific Advisor, Statistics Sweden, Sweden 
Dr. Stas Kolenikov: Senior Scientist, Abt Associates, USA Dr. Lars 
Lyberg: Inizio, Sweden
Dr. Patrick Sturgis: Professor of Research Methodology, Department of 
Social Statistics and Demography, and Director of National Centre for 
Research Methods, University of Southampton, UK