ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

February 24-25, 2022,

Mendrisio (Switzerland)

Deadline: August 20, 2021

In the last decades, more and more scholars have claimed for an inclusion of maintenance among the key topics and key questions of technology (Edgerton 2007, Jackson 2014, Russell and Vinsel 2018, Henke and Sims 2020,). Communication and media studies have just partially included in their methodological and analytical tools reflections on maintenance (see Balbi and Leggero 2020; Weber and Krebs 2021) and this paper-based workshop aims to advance in this aspect adding another fundamental yet underestimated layer in communication and maintenance research: the longue durée.

Maintenance of communication infrastructures, for example, is a long-term process lasting for decades or even centuries. On the one hand, roads, networks and cables are constantly maintained to keep them functioning but, on the other, to understand their strategic relevance is important to adopt a longue durée perspective (Braudel 1958), since those channels of communication have often political, economic, and socio-cultural relevance. Sometimes, maintenance has a strong effect not only in preserving communication infrastructures, but also in modifying or even dismantling them. In long terms, communications can be radically changed because of maintenance and transformed into something totally different from what was originally to be maintained.

Furthermore, despite or even because of maintenance and its related costs, communication infrastructures are abandoned in favor of other and apparently most “advanced” technologies of communication, whose maintenance is easier for example. This is typical when new technologies of communication emerge or when new cultures of maintenance appear.

Finally, communication maintenance in longue durée can also be considered in political and cultural terms. Sometimes, the technological dimension of the communication infrastructure to be maintained is secondary and political ideologies are more relevant: national or regional demands, (fake or real) ethnical ancestries, centers and peripheries, mountains and flatlands, cultural claims are all relevant in deciding to maintain an old and misused road, an undersea cable, a trait of railway, etc.

This workshop will host methodological and empirical approaches and we aim for contributions ranging from history to anthropology, from geography to political studies, from economics to obviously communication and transportation studies. The papers will have to deal with the topic of maintenance in communication in long-term at large, have to discuss about problems and challenges, opportunities and successes as well as failures, cultural changes and continuities over time in thinking the maintenance of communication. Papers should be focused not only on one specific point in time but take into account decades and centuries in order to grasp the hidden changes and undersea continuities which are not evident.

This two-day workshop will be held in person, if possible.

Important dates and deadlines

- In order to proceed with the selection we ask for a 300-word abstract to be sent to gabriele.balbi@usi.ch and roberto.leggero@usi.ch by 20 August 2021.

- The selected participants will be notified by 20 September 2021 and they will have to provide a draft paper of max 5’000 words by 31 January 2022.

- This paper will be discussed collectively during the workshop on 24-25 February 2022, held in Mendrisio (Switzerland).

Organizing Committee

- Gabriele Balbi, USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland)

- Stefan Krebs, University of Luxembourg (Luxemburg)

- Roberto Leggero, USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland)

- Massimo Rospocher, Italian-German Historical Institute, Trent (Italy)

- Andrew Russell, SUNY Polytechnic Institute (US)

- Hitomi Sato, Konan University (Japan)

- Heike Weber, Technische Universität Berlin (Germany)

Local Organizers

- Laboratorio di Storia delle Alpi, USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland)

- Institute of Media and Journalism, USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland)

For more info, please see http://www.labisalp.arc.usi.ch/it/news/detail/31277

Complutense University Madrid

Supervisor: Loreto Corredoira

https://oficinaeuropea.ucm.es/eoi-ucm/expression-of-interest

Group description Modern times

Based on a broad conception of audiovisual heritage that includes cinema, television, radio, video and audio recordings and photographs, this group at the Complutense University (Chair Modern Times https://www.ucm.es/modern-times/) is focused on the analysis of European audiovisual heritage with a special emphasis on transformations in the Digital Single Market and on access to its works and services.

The Group combines the experience of a highly reputed master’s programme on Audiovisual Heritage at Complutense University (WEB: https://www.ucm.es/master_patrimonio_audiovisual/) with innovative research (including PhD supervision) and transfer activities.

The members of the Chair lead by Corredoira are part of the teaching personnel for this latter master’s, which brings together seven different university departments. Prof. Ramos Arenas also teaches at the School of Art, and Prof. Ramos Simón on the master’s in Documentation. The Chair should contribute to strengthening a specifically European approach to matters regarding our common audiovisual heritage.

Research topic

We collaborate with different institutions and archives (such as Filmoteca española, Cinemateke Belgium, RTVE, National Library, Museums, etc.) directing projects for the management and cataloguing of audiovisual works. The Fellow will be able to make a professional stay at the chosen institution in Spain or another European country, to develop a policy for the reuse of public access works, and public domain catalogue.

It will cover preservation, custody and legal questions related to access to and dissemination of European audiovisual heritage.

Specific objectives will additionally include analysis of the transformation of the legal framework affecting audiovisual heritage projects and programmes, as well as consideration of questions concerning preservation and current digitization policies.

The innovative proposal put forward by this Chair also includes the supervision of doctoral theses (a minimum of five PhD theses and twelve master’s theses); the production of catalogues and cinema and television archival repositories.

Complutense University currently offers three official master’s programmes focused on heritage: a Historical Heritage and Museums programme, a Photographic Documentation programme (starting this year), and an Audiovisual Heritage programme. And in all of them, the Management and Legislation material is taught, which includes Intellectual Property Law.

This team will launch a new European PhD programme in 2022/2023. The syllabus for Master and PhD students will include seminars and courses on the history of European cinema and television, collective European memory, European audiovisual policies, rights management, universal access to European film management of open access archives.

Research area

Social Sciences and Humanities (SOC) Depart. of Constitutional Law

Candidatures: requirements

Curriculum vitae, publications from the last 5 years, a letter of motivation (in English and in Spanish) from the candidate indicating his/her interests and lines of research, and a letter of recommendation from a professor/researcher.

Previous experience or publications in the field (copyright, EU policy)

Lone Sorensen, University of Leeds

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-65756-7

How can we make sense of the current age of global political disruption when populism leaves norms overturned and the future form of democracy unpredictable?

Political representatives are no longer elected for their experience and expertise but out of a desire for authenticity, a direct connection to citizens, and the certainty of the truths they tell. But when populists project these ideas and claim to represent the citizenry, what is reality and what is strategic performance? This conceptually rich book explores the performative strategies of the populist politicians who disrupt the normative order with acts of ‘truth-telling’. It disentangles their complex use of media—from their appeal to news values through spectacular disruptions to sophisticated social media commentary—in repertoires of mediated performances. Based on vigorous empirical research in both established and transitional democracies, it develops a theoretical framework of populist communication in the new media environment.

April 9-14, 2021

Locarno, Switzerland

Deadline: July 25, 2021

2021 Documentary Summer School at Locarno Film Festival

Summer School Description: https://www.locarnofestival.ch/LFF/about/locarno-young/documentary-summer-school.html

Conditions of participation:

The Documentary Summer School (DSS), jointly organized by the Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI) and the Locarno Film Festival, is open to up to 36 graduate students (Master and PhD) in the fields of film, media and communication studies. Now in its 22nd edition, the DSS explores different topics relevant to the research and production of documentaries. Given the great pervasiveness with which images and representations currently spread, this year the DSS has decided to dedicate a privileged space to the intertwining of ethics, gender, documentary and, more generally, the modes of communication when we represent the other. This is particularly important when we consider that the respectful coexistence between people who differ in culture, sexual orientation, origin, and religion is becoming an issue of crucial importance in many countries. More information on the lectures and the guests can be found on the website.

Participation to the DSS and the production of a final paper on the topics of the DSS will award students 3 ECTS.

Format:

This year's DSS lectures will be offered in a hybrid format, with the possibility to participate in person or online.

There are 6 spots for students that can come to Locarno for the Festival. The participation fee is 470 CHF and includes:

- Online lectures

- Two virtual Q&As with directors of films selected for the Locarno Film Festival

- An assigned classroom with free Wi-Fi to follow the online lectures and Q&As

- Bed and breakfast for seven nights, in a single room, at the Locarno Youth Hostel (9-14 August 2021)

- Accreditation valid for Festival screenings and related Festival activities (9-14 August 2021).

There are 30 spots for students who will not be able to come to Locarno in person due to COVID-19 restriction. The participation fee is 170 CHF and includes:

- Online lectures

- Two virtual Q&As with directors of films selected for the Locarno Film Festival

- Specifically curated virtual screenings of movies from the Festival’s special sections as well as films related to the main DSS topic. 

Submissions:

Candidates shall submit via email to documentarysummerschool@gmail.com their CV and a motivation letter. Submitted dossiers will be evaluated by the scientific board, and selected participants will be notified via email within two weeks after their submission.

Further enquires can also be sent to this email address.

Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS)

Deadline: January 30, 2022

Edited by Erik Koenen (University of Bremen), Arne L. Gellrich (University of Bremen), Christian Schwarzenegger (University of Augsburg), Stefanie Averbeck-Lietz (University of Bremen) and Astrid Blome (Institute for Newspaper Research Dortmund)

We are seeking contributions for a thematic section of Studies in Communication Sciences (SComS) – a peer-reviewed platinum open-access journal of communication and media research – exploring international organizations and their communication from a historical perspective.

The Thematic Section will focus on a topic that has thus far received little attention from communication and media researchers: the history of international organizations and their communication. Since the second half of the 19th century, for numerous and diverse areas of social life, globally active international organizations of varying degrees of institutionalization and scope, both non-governmental and intergovernmental, have been founded and have dedicated themselves to the global challenges of the first modern age. The most famous of these is certainly the League of Nations (LON), which was established in 1919 as the predecessor institution of the United Nations.

From a media-historical perspective, international organizations played a highly visible role in the transnational intertwining and consolidation processes of journalism, culture, media, politics, technology, and the public sphere in the 19th and 20th centuries. Against the background of the much-discussed boundaries between secret diplomacy and public diplomacy, especially after the First World War, such organizations contributed to the development of the first arenas and forms of international and transnational public spheres whose orientation was toward global governance. To spread their concerns and goals globally, they: constantly used the latest communication technologies and the growing diversity of the media for their communication; organized and professionalized their information work; and developed specific information-policy instruments and strategies for that purpose. Woodrow Wilson’s idea of “open diplomacy” (in fact, the early forerunner of today’s public diplomacy), for example, was the idea on which the LON based its information policy.

Effects of the differentiation and organization of international organizations’ communication, such as the emergence of institutionalized public relations in these specific contexts, the development of international summit and conference journalism, the creation of publicity for international politics and, in parallel, the genesis of structures of inter- and transnational public spheres conveyed by the media, are issues and topics within this field of research, which from the perspective of media history has been by and large neglected.

To illuminate and discuss issues, research perspectives and the thematic spectrum of the history of international organizations and their communication, the guest editors request submissions which, using concrete international organizations as examples, address one or more of the problem areas and thematic focuses outlined below:

1. Communication and communication management of international organizations

How did non-governmental and intergovernmental international organizations design their communication to reach and inform the media and the public? Which actors and groups of actors did they address and how? What were the expectations regarding media and public attention? What ideas existed about the relationship between media and politics? What forms, infrastructures, instruments, concepts, and strategies were developed to generate public and media visibility of international organizations? How and by whom was information and public relations work institutionalized and standardized? How were relations with individual media and their representatives organized and professionalized?

2. International organizations, media, and journalism

What influence have international organizations had on trends in globalization and in the inter- and transnationalization of journalism and media communication? How did new forms of foreign journalism such as summit and international conference journalism develop? What position did journalistic and media practices occupy within the context of international organizations? Which international media policy agenda developed in the interaction between international organizations and media institutions, for example, with respect to: ensuring the free movement of global news; tendentious reporting and dissemination of false reports; unimpeded activity of correspondents; and international standards of press freedom and copyright? Which international organizations were established, especially in the media context?

3. International organizations in the public sphere

What notions of a global or inter- and transnational public sphere were generated in the context of international organizations? How were conferences involving international organizations publicly staged? What public image did international organizations have? On which topics and with which objectives did international organizations try to address and reach the public (e.g., disarmament, gender justice, health, nature, and environmental protection)? How were international organizations perceived beyond the mass media (e.g., in film, photography, caricature, art, literature, and posters)?

Submission guidelines

SComS welcomes submissions in English, German, French, or Italian. However, English is the preferred language of this Thematic Section. Manuscripts should be a maximum of 9000 words in length (including the abstract and all references, tables, figures, footnotes, appendices). In addition, authors may submit supplementary material that will be published as an online supplement. Authors are invited to submit original papers that are not under consideration for publication elsewhere. Articles shall be submitted using the APA reference style, 6th edition. The manuscript itself must be free of any information or references that might reveal the identity of the authors and their institution to allow double-blind peer review. Manuscripts should be submitted via the SComS platform: https://www.hope.uzh.ch/scoms/about/submissions. We ask authors to carefully prepare submissions according to all rules given in the SComS Submission Guidelines.

The expected publication date of the Thematic Section is November 2022. However, early submissions that successfully pass the review process will also be immediately published online first. Contributions that receive positive reviews but are not accepted for the Thematic Section may be considered for publication in a subsequent SComS issue within the General Section. Papers are published under the Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Authors retain the copyright and full publishing rights without restrictions.

We look forward to receiving your submissions. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact guest editor Erik Koenen (ekoenen@uni-bremen.de).

Key dates:

• Submission of full papers closes on January 30, 2022.
• The first review will be provided no later than April 15, 2022.
• The revised manuscript should be submitted by June 30, 2022.
• The second review and notification of acceptance will be provided no later than September 15, 2022.
• Final papers should be submitted by November 15, 2022.
• Online first publication of accepted manuscripts up until February 2023.
• Publication of the Thematic Section is scheduled for May 2023.

June 28-29, 2021

Online event

The International Research Centre for Interactive Storytelling (IRIS) at Leeds Trinity University, warmly invite you to IRIS Days: Research Practices, a two-day research event will bring together practitioners, researchers and experts from different disciplines (including media, film, journalism, humanities, education and photography) working on the broader concept of ‘storytelling’ as a way to “reshape the spectrum of narrative expression” as defined by Jane Murray in 1997. The event will include keynote talks, workshops and a closing roundtable.

The general aim of this event is to identify a number of key issues in research and practice-led research that can be tackled successfully through a multidisciplinary approach.

A major component of this event will be a collaborative research-by-practice interactive project created by you, the participants, to be used for future research projects.

The event will be held on Microsoft Teams on the 28th and 29th of June. Attendees do not need to install or register with MS Teams to join and are welcome to participate across both days or attend as they are able.

See below for the programme and details of a sample of the speakers presenting at the event.

• To Register for the event, please follow this link: Eventbrite: IRIS Day: Research Practices
• To attend on the first day (28th June), please follow this link: IRIS Day: Research Practices (Day 1)
• To attend on the second day (29th June), please follow this link: IRIS Day: Research Practices (Day 2)
• For further information, please contact Alex Vann (a.vann@leedstrinity.ac.uk)

Please note that this event will be recorded.

Warm wishes,

The IRIS Research Team.

IRIS Research Centre

IRIS Day 2021: Research Practices

University of Bremen

The University of Bremen is seeking to fill a professorship in Communication and Media Studies in Faculty 9 Cultural Studies as soon as possible, subject to vacancy.

Remuneration Group W2

In the civil service for life

for the subject area: Communication and Media Studies with a focus on methodological innovation

(Reference number: P693/21)

The position holder (f/m/d) should represent the field of methodological innovation in research and teaching in an excellent manner. Relevance is expected both in classical quantitative methods of media and communication research as well as outstanding experience in the development of forward-looking, new methods, especially in the field of digital communication.

We are looking for a personality (f/m/d) who is able to strengthen methodological training in the social science at the University of Bremen, with a particular focus on building bridges between the high-profile areas "Minds Media and Machines" and "Social Change, Social Policy and the State". The professorship is anchored in a dynamic environment of social scientific methods development, which includes the working group "Digital Methods in Context" at the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), the Data Science Center (DSC) and the Data Centre Cohesion (DZZ) of the Research Institute for Social Cohesion at the University of Bremen. The acquisition of third-party funding and participation in collaborative research at the ZeMKI and its research cooperation with the Leibniz Institute for Media Research | Hans Bredow Institute Hamburg are fundamental requirements. The professorship is responsible for quantitative methods training in communication and media studies and develops innovative teaching concepts. Participation in the development of structured doctoral training is desired.

The following qualifications are expected for the professorship:

• subject-relevant qualification (completed academic university studies, relevant high-ranking doctorate and further academic achievements of outstanding quality in each case, demonstrated by a habilitation or habilitation-equivalent achievements),
• teaching experience in the field of quantitative methods in communication and media studies at Bachelor's and/or Master's level,
• experience in applying for third-party funding,
• willingness to take part in advanced training in higher education didactics.

Also desirable are:

• experience in interdisciplinary, internationally oriented collaborative research,
• own research experience abroad,
• experience in taking the gender perspective into account in research and teaching,proven further training/qualification in university didactics.

Non-German-speaking applicants (f/m/d) are expected to contribute to German-language teaching after 2-3 years. The appointment is based on § 18 BremHG and § 116 BremBG. Further information can be obtained from the spokesperson of the Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research (ZeMKI), Prof. Dr. Andreas Hepp (andreas.hepp@uni-bremen.de).

The University of Bremen strives to increase the proportion of women in the academic field. Among other things, it has received several awards in DFG programmes on gender equality. Applications from academics with a migration background and international applications are expressly welcomed. Severely disabled applicants are given priority if they have essentially the same professional and personal qualifications. The University offers a wide range of services to support newly appointed staff, such as a Welcome Centre, opportunities for childcare and dual careers, and offers of staff development and continuing education.

Please send your application with the usual documents (curriculum vitae, publication and teaching record, research profile, references), quoting the above reference number, by July 30th, 2021 to the address below or electronically to the Dean Prof. Dr. Dorle Dracklé (bewerbungenfb9@uni-bremen.de).

Further information on appointment procedures at the University of Bremen can be found at: https://www.uni-bremen.de/de/berufungsverfahren.html

The Dean of Faculty 9 - Cultural Studies

Prof. Dr. Dorle Dracklé

University of Bremen

PO Box 330 440

28334 Bremen

Germany

Website: https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/zemki/about-zemki/job-vacancies

September 28-29, 2021

Online conference

Deadline: June 30, 2021

The Marie Curie Innovative Training Network e-LADDA -Early Language Development in the Digital Age is thrilled to announce the network’s first (online) conference: e-LADDA CON 2021, hosted by the Universidad de Sevilla, under the title "Understanding Language and Literacy Development in the Digital Age": https://www.ntnu.edu/e-ladda/e-ladda-con-2021

Important Dates:

• Abstract submission open: 21st May, 2021
• Abstract submission closes: 30th June, 2021
• Papers accepted: 15th July, 2021
• Registration closes: 15th September, 2021

e-LADDA CON 2021 aims to bring together researchers interested in the effects of digital tools, such as tablets, mobile phones, or social robots, on language development and language outcomes from a broad perspective, with research on both typical and atypical development, and using behavioural, computational and electrophysiological measures.

The conference will have 4 invited speakers:

• Roberta Golinkoff (University of Delaware)
• Ladislao Salmerón (Universidad de Valencia)
• Kathy Hirsh-Pasek (University of Temple)
• Vicky Charisi (Joint Research Center, European Commission).

Find more information in our Call about the topics, program committee, submission guidelines and presentation format: https://easychair.org/cfp/e-LADDA-CON-2021

The abstract submissions to the conference will be received via EasyChair platform. You can make your submissions via the link below:

https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=eladdacon2021

Please make the registrations via Google Forms in the link below.

https://forms.gle/AUY5HM9Jow2TLtfW7

All questions about submissions should be emailed to hulya@us.es.

e-LADDA has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions grant agreement No 857897.

December 10, 2021

University of Lublin, Poland

Deadline:  September 30, 2021

Institute of Social Communication and Media Studies, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, Poland in partnership with Academia Europaea Wroclaw Knowledge Hub

Continuing our research meetings focused on specific issues of mediatisation chaired by eminent experts (Göran Bolin (2017), Johan Fornäs (2018), Andreas Hepp (2019),Mark Deuze (2020)), this year the workshop will take place online on 10 December 2021 and it will be led by Professor André Jansson, director of the Geomedia Research Group at the Karlstad University, Sweden.

The title of this year's edition is: counter-mediatization, digital disconnection and other reverse trends in media use.

We invite all mediatization researchers who wish to discuss their own research projects in a narrow and closed group of media scholars under the guidance of an expert. The aim of such exchange is to answer questions like:

• What are the causes and effects of the retreat from media technologies and mediated processes?
• How conscious media management, containment, contestation, negation is shaping?
• How the media environment is being desaturated and what off-the-grid life is about?
• How private, professional, social and public life is being demediated?
• What digital disconnection is and what it entails?
• How fashions, trends and tendencies such as digital detox, etc. are changing everyday media practice, as well as various aspects of private and social life?
• How are various forms of counter-mediatization related to the production of space and place?
• How are different disconnection strategies related to social power and privilege?
• How the theory of mediatization can develop in the context of the reverse trends in media use?

The idea and format of the meeting is based on a closed specialization workshop in a formula proven in the previous editions, i.e.:

• participants work on different types of materials (articles, works in progress, proposals, theses, reports, drafts etc.) under the guidance of the edition leader;
• meeting is preceded by substantive preparation by the leader and all participants on the basis of materials circulated among all participants in advance;
• during the meeting all participants focus on group discussion and expert feedback (presentations and speeches are limited to a minimum);
• seminar is preceded by an introductory lecture by the leader.

There is no conference fee.

Schedule

• 30.09.21 - submissions of proposals (please use the form available on the webpage: https://tiny.pl/r33v6 ; other submission will not be accepted)
• 10.10.21 - notification of acceptance of proposals
• 10.11.21- submission of materials for discussion (only pdf format is accepted)
• 11.11-9.12.21 - preparation for the workshop by the leader and all participants
• 10.12.21 - closed online workshop (Google Meets will be used)

Any substantive questions about the workshop can be answered by Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech, Maria Curie-Skłodowska University in Lublin, via email: katarzyna.kopecka.piech@gmail.com. For technical and organisational matters, please write to: tdomrv@gmail.com

July 12, 2021, 4pm-5.15pm

MeCCSA Local and Community Media Network - Virtual research seminar

Please join us to discuss latest trends and debates on AI in news media focusing on local journalism. Our speakers will be:

• Carl-Gustav Linden: AI and local news
• Neil Thurman, Bartosz Wilczek, Florian Stalph and Sina Thäsler-Kordonouri: Automation in local journalism: The views of news consumers, editors and executives in the UK and Germany
• Agnes Gulyas and Gentian Gashi: Artificial Intelligence and Journalism: A Systematic Literature Review

The event is free but please register here:

https://eur01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcoventry-ac-uk.zoom.us%2Fmeeting%2Fregister%2FtZUvd-ihpj0uGdBJDOJa0QtUnh-nE8-NqrBn&data=04%7C01%7Caa5891%40coventry.ac.uk%7C18aa3ead69bd4a4783f408d93247a801%7C4b18ab9a37654abeac7c0e0d398afd4f%7C0%7C0%7C637596105750626436%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C1000&sdata=Y79FVIj5Zkqygbf6HE57w2AcBbmk3gDAzYO8lhbSD0w%3D&reserved=0

By joining you give your consent to be recorded (this seminar will be posted online at a later date). Please mute your microphone during the main presentation, before the Q and A.

Abstract of presentations:

AI and local news

PhD Carl-Gustav Linden, Associate Professor of Data Journalism, University of Bergen, Norway

In this talk, I will analyse AI strategies in four Nordic news agencies, how they serve local newsrooms with content or applications and what plans for the future they have. The case study is based on interviews with representatives of four news agencies, STT (Finland), NTB (Norway), TT (Sweden) and Ritzau (Denmark). We will specifically explore access to digital data as a driving force for automation. The Nordic states and local government produce massive amount of open access data, also real time data, which can be used for many purposes. News agencies have good reasons to adopt new technology that makes their work more efficient and have been a leading force in news automation (Lindén, 2017; Fanta, 2017). The four Nordic news agencies have all been on the forefront when it comes to, for instance, the use of natural language technology for media purposes.

Automation in local journalism: The views of news consumers, editors and executives in the UK and Germany

Professor Neil Thurman, University of Munich, Bartosz Wilczek, University of Munich, Florian Stalph, Florian Stalph and Sina Thäsler-Kordonouri, University of Munich, Germany

This talk will present early results from two studies. The first investigates how local newspapers in Germany are adopting AI for input, throughput and output activities along the news value chain and what factors drive or constrain that adoption. Twenty online/digital editors and executives at 14 of the largest local German newspapers were interviewed, and the data analysed using cross-case pattern matching. The results reveal whether and how news automation is being used; and the factors—including linguistic, financial, and data availability—constraining its adoption. The second study is a qualitative comparative analysis of data-driven local news texts written with various levels of automation and none. Workshops were held with 31 participants from various UK regions during which they read articles from a range of sources, including PA Media’s RADAR (Reporters And Data And Robots) service, BBC News online, and local online newspaper websites. The results reveal both some of the differences between human- and machine-written local news stories and how news consumers can respond to those differences.

Artificial Intelligence and Journalism: A Systematic Literature Review

Professor Agnes Gulyas, Canterbury Christ Church University and Gentian Gashi, Canterbury Christ Church University, UK

News organisations have begun to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) into their newsrooms, to automate article production, distribution and fact-checking. Using search terms such as “Automated Journalism,” “Algorithm Journalism” and “Robot Journalism,” a systematic literature review was conducted, analysing a reduced sample of 142 journal articles. The review analysed the content of the publications in terms of definitional and theoretical approaches, methodological design, focus of news organisation and AI providers, ethical and legal considerations, as well as perceived impact of AI on journalism. Initial findings suggest that the number of journal articles published on the topic has increased significantly since 2019 and most papers present results of an empirical study, while theoretical contributions are limited. Most news organisations discussed in the papers are national or international outlets from developed countries. Research on AI providers and local news organisations appears to be scarce, which suggests less widespread use of AI in local media.