640 proposals for papers, panels, workshops, roundtables, and other events for the AoIR 2016 have been submitted. The 17th annual conference of the Association of Internet Researchers ​is a transdisciplinary gathering of scholars interested in the importance of networked technologies in social processes. It will be hosted by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and the Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research. The conference will take place at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany on 5 – 8 October 2016.Guidelines and RequirementsThere are a couple items to note as you prepare your submissions. First, as in previous years, you are limited to four total contributions as main or co-contributor. We have a limited number of presentation opportunities during the conference, and we want to make sure that as many voices as possible are heard. Second, paper and panel submissions should follow our minimal formatting guidelines to simplify the review process (template available here).Finally, we want to especially encourage those of you who might be considering alternatives to the existing structures of presentation and engagement to consider submitting an experimental session.TOPIC & RELEVANCEAoIR 2016 will emphasise the relevance of the Internet in today’s culture and politics. The conference theme addresses the significance of the codes and rules that frame the Internet, as well as their playful circumvention, from technical protocols and popular platforms to the emerging, established, and contested conventions of online communities. Who are the actors both in practices of rule-making and rule-breaking, what are their motivations and resources, and how can their power relations and communicative figurations be described? How does the Internet influence the proliferation of the values that its platforms, services and infrastructures embody, and what spaces of creative resistance persist? How do various forms of technical, social, and cultural hacking subvert these orders?PRECONFERENCE WORKSHOPSWorkshops may be either half or full-day events that occur on the first day of the conference and focus on a particular topic. They may be a workshop of some kind (e.g., a publishing workshop), a methodological “bootcamp” (e.g., on ethnography or statistical analysis), an exploration of a theoretical tradition or topical area (e.g., symbolic interaction, political economy, or GIS) or anything else that may be of interest to conference delegates.ROUNDTABLE SESSIONSRoundtables encourage discussion and interaction among delegates. They may involve brief introductory presentations by organisers. Roundtables can include no more than 5 initial participants.OPEN FISHBOWLSFishbowl sessions should cover broad topics of interest to a wide segment of the AoIR community, and create a space for dialogue across different types of research. They can include no more than 5 initial participants (named fish).EXPERIMENTAL SESSIONSExperimental sessions are those that, while of interest to members or engaging with conference themes, meaningfully “push the envelope” beyond more traditional forms of conference engagement and participation and as such do not fit into any of the other proposal formats. Examples may include Ignite or pecha-kucha presentations, demonstrations, performances, installations, short-form workshops, unsessions, maker or code-based projects, or interactive experiences. DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUMThe Association of Internet Researchers believes that its emerging researchers are the best in its disparate constituent fields. In keeping with its commitment to students’ scholarship, we continue the tradition of bringing emerging and established scholars together through the AoIR 2016 Doctoral Colloquium. The colloquium offers PhD students working in internet research or a related field a special, day-long forum, to be convened on 5 October 2016. For many years, this pre-conference event has provided students with the opportunity to a concentrated amount of time with senior scholars to share research projects, address methodological and theoretical challenges, and exchange informal advice on juggling the multiple pressures associated with job searching, publishing, and finishing the dissertationInterested students should prepare a) a two-page summary of your research. This should provide a context for the research, describe the methods being used, the progress to date, and primary concerns and issues; and b) A brief statement indicating why you want to participate in this doctoral colloquium and what you hope to get out of it. These are due on or before 15 June 2016.CONFERENCE SCHOLARSHIPSIn order to increase the diversity of participation in the AoIR conferences, the Association of Internet Researchers makes available conference fee waivers and partial travel stipends ($500) per year. The number of fee waivers and travel stipends will depend first of all upon the ability of the conference budget to sustain such waivers (a judgment to be made by the AoIR Executive Committee upon the advice of the AoIR Treasurer and the local organising committee) as well as upon the quality of the applications for fee waivers. Conference scholarships are made available only to participants who have had papers accepted via the peer review process, and applications are due on 1 June 2016, after acceptances have been announced.More information will be made available regarding the scholarship application process at the conference website: aoir.org/aoir2016.IMPORTANT DATES1 March 2016: Submissions due for PAPERS, PANELS, ROUNDTABLES and FISHBOWLS, EXPERIMENTAL SESSIONS, and PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS15 March 2016: Nominations for Nancy Baym Book Award and Best Dissertation Award due5 May 2016: Notification of acceptances for presenters7 June 2016: Applications due for conference travel SCHOLARSHIPS and for DOCTORAL COLLOQUIUM1 August 2016: Early Bird Registration Deadline for all presenters5 October 2016: Workshop Day6–8 October: Conference AoIR  2016For further information and updates, please visit the conference website. Please address any questions to the Conference Chair, Cornelius Puschmann, Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society: '+'aoir2016@aoir.org'+'');
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.The AoIR 2016 will be hosted by the Alexander von Humboldt Institute for Internet and Society and the Hans-Bredow-Institut for Media Research. Cornelius Puschmann is the AoIR 2016 Conference Chair, while Wolfgang Schulz, Christian Katzenbach, Christiane Matzen, and Larissa Wunderlich make up the local organising committee.