<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">#####################################################</div><div class=""><div class=""> CALL FOR PAPERS: BigSurv18</div><div class=""> The International Conference on Big Data Meets Survey Science </div><div class=""> October 25-27, 2018</div><div class=""> Barcelona, Spain</div><div class=""> <a href="https://www.bigsurv18.org/" class="">https://www.bigsurv18.org/</a></div><div class=""> Submission Deadline: February 28, 2018</div><div class="">#####################################################</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div>Explore new statistical frontiers at the intersection of survey science and big data!<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Friendly one week reminder: submission deadline is February 28, 2018. Apologies for cross-posting!</div><div class=""><br class=""><div class="">+++++++++++++++++</div><div class=""> Aim and Scope</div><div class="">+++++++++++++++++</div><div class=""><br class=""></div>Attention Computer Scientists, Data Scientists, and Survey Scientists,<br class=""><br class="">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.” </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">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. <br class=""><br class="">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: <br class=""><br class="">A. A peer-reviewed special issue of Social Science Computer Review shortly following the conference.</div><div class="">B. An edited conference volume to be published by John Wiley & Sons in 2019.<br class=""><br class="">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.<br class=""><br class="">++++++++++++++++++<div class=""> Topics of Interest</div><div class="">++++++++++++++++++</div><div class=""><br class="">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:</div><div class=""><br class="">- Using Big Data sources—such as data from social networks, traditional business systems, and the Internet of Things—in statistics production<br class="">- Measuring new phenomena in society using Big Data<br class="">- Discussing methods for combining Big Data with traditional data sources<br class="">- Using data mining and machine learning methods to develop and understand population statistics<br class="">- Methods within machine learning for modelling human behaviors<br class="">- Assessing new data processing and analytical tools for Big Data<br class="">- Implementing data visualization methods for Big Data<br class="">- Designing of interfaces, virtual agents, and computational systems for interactive data collection<br class="">- Distributed infrastructures of data collection<br class="">- “Total Statistical Uncertainty” frameworks for estimates derived from nonprobability datasets<br class="">- Defining and describing data quality in a Big Data environment<br class="">- Discussing methods to deal with threats to representativeness, including methods for mitigating coverage issues<br class="">- Methods for dealing with variable specification inconsistencies across datasets<br class="">- Methods for repairing or mitigating missing data and data sparseness<br class="">- Addressing issues in population modelling and inference<br class="">- Inferential paradigms in Big Data applications<br class="">- Using Big Data in various ways for sampling frame development and other sampling applications<br class="">- Exploratory data analysis with Big Data<br class="">- Incorporating Big Data in a Bayesian framework<br class="">- Methods for<br class="">--- selecting relevant data streams;<br class="">--- ensuring reproducibility, traceability, and provenance;<br class="">--- using Big Data to reduce, control, and evaluate total survey error; and<br class="">--- evaluating quality in Big Data applications.<br class="">- Handling confidentiality and privacy<br class="">- Addressing legal and proprietary issues, as well as ethical concerns and the concept of harm<br class=""><br class="">++++++++++++++++</div><div class=""> Submissions</div><div class="">++++++++++++++++</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Please submit your abstract (500 words or fewer) to <a href="https://www.bigsurv18.org/conference" class="">https://www.bigsurv18.org/conference</a> 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.<br class=""><br class="">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 <a href="https://www.bigsurv18.org/abstracts" class="">https://www.bigsurv18.org/abstracts</a> <br class=""><br class="">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 <a href="https://www.bigsurv18.org/abstracts" class="">https://www.bigsurv18.org/abstracts</a> <br class=""><br class="">Questions about BigSurv18 can be directed to Antje Kirchner (<a href="mailto:akirchner@rti.org" class="">akirchner@rti.org</a>) or Craig Hill (<a href="mailto:chill@rti.org" class="">chill@rti.org</a>).<br class=""><br class="">Conference Scientific Committee<br class="">Dr. Craig Hill (Chair, editorial committee): Senior Vice President, Survey, Computing, and Statistical Sciences, RTI International, USA <br class="">Dr. Antje Kirchner (Chair, organizing committee): Research Survey Methodologist, RTI International; Adjunct Research Assistant Professor, University of Nebraska—Lincoln, USA <br class="">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 <br class="">Dr. Trent Buskirk: Director, Center for Survey Research, and Professor, Department of Management Science and Information Systems, University of Massachusetts Boston, USA </div><div class="">Dr. Mario Callegaro: Senior Survey Research Scientist, Ads, Payment and User eXperience (APUX), Google London, UK<br class="">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 <br class="">Dr. Adam Eck: Assistant Professor, Computer Science, Oberlin College, USA <br class="">Dr. Lilli Japec: Senior Scientific Advisor, Statistics Sweden, Sweden Dr. Stas Kolenikov: Senior Scientist, Abt Associates, USA Dr. Lars Lyberg: Inizio, Sweden <br class="">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</div></div></body></html>