ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Tampere University

Together, Tampere University and Tampere University of Applied Sciences form a higher education community that places faith in people and scientific knowledge. Leading experts in the fields of technology, health and society are changing the world at Finland’s second largest multidisciplinary higher education institution. Read more.

We are now seeking a Professor of Practice in the field of Journalism for fixed term employment between 2 August 2021 and 30 June 2022.

The position is located in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences at Tampere University. The Communication Sciences Unit conducts research that delves into our increasingly digital media landscape and the role of communication technologies in reshaping not only our thoughts and sensibilities but also our relations with others. Our three research centres (COMET, TRIM and T7) create new knowledge of the impact of publicity, gamification and theatre on our society and culture. Students admitted to our multidisciplinary degree programme in communications acquire a broad base of knowledge and go on to pursue careers in journalism, media research, information research and speech communication. Our degree programme in theatre arts brings together artistic, professional and societal perspectives.

Job Description

The purpose of the position is to integrate practical working life with university teaching and research. The position places special emphasis on practical knowledge of the field of journalism and is intended for a journalist who is accomplished in his or her own field. The successful candidate will be expected to share his or her experience and make a significant contribution to the development of teaching and research in journalism.

The duties will include:

• teaching journalism on the different levels of journalist education by holding lectures, workshops and small-scale seminars
• developing the specialist field of journalism and its teaching on the basis of a separate curriculum and a work plan
• participating in the operations and continuing education of the unit’s research community.

The Professor of Practice will be subject to the annualised hours scheme according to a confirmed work plan. The hours of work for staff under this scheme work is 1,612 hours per year. Depending on other duties, the number of classroom teaching hours will be 160–240 hours per year.

Requirements

• Practical expertise in the field as demonstrated through strong journalistic accomplishments
• The ability to teach journalistic operations. Teaching languages are Finnish and/or English
• The necessary cooperation and interpersonal skills

We appreciate a visionary view of the future of journalism and the ability to analyze one’s own and others’ expertise and integrate the findings into teaching.

We are hoping to receive applications from experienced journalists who have practised journalism in different roles. The successful candidate may have expertise in any of the broad range of areas relating to journalism, for example

• internationalizing, technologizing environment of journalism (datafication, artificial intelligence etc.)
• evolving and emerging genres of journalism (investigative journalism, data journalism, etc.)
• new and changing working conditions in journalism (entrepreneurship, remote working, etc.)

The position does not require a doctorate, scientific qualifications or other scientific accomplishments usually required from professors.

The selection will be made based on the application documents. The work plan will be emphasised in the selection.

We offer

We offer the successful candidate an opportunity to work and build networks in an environment which combines in a unique way our high-quality societally oriented journalism research and teaching in an editorial environment utilizing multimedia channels with talented and motivated students. The degree programme in journalism at Tampere University is the leading actor in Finland and is also internationally recognized.

The appointment will be for a fixed term from 2 August 2021 to 30 June 2022. The position has a contracted salary with a starting level of approx. 6500e. Please state your salary request in your application.

We offer a wide range of staff benefits, such as occupational health care, flexible working possibilities (remote-/contact teaching), excellent sports facilities on campus and several restaurants and cafés on campus with staff discounts. Please read more about working at Tampere University.

How to apply

Please submit your application and the required attachments through our online recruitment system (link below).

The closing date for applications is 26 April 2021 at 23.59 EEST, UTC +2. Please attach your documents in PDF format.

The following documents must be attached to the application:

1. A work plan proposal for the professorship term. In the proposal, it is possible to tell tentatively about forms of teaching you would be using (eg lectures, workshops, seminars, group work, etc.) how you would organize teaching and other activities during the working year (teaching is divided into four periods) possible journalistic or academic publications (eg story, book, research article).

2. A motivational letter, including a review of your accomplishments and activities that are relevant for the position.

3. A CV detailing information about your degrees and work experience.

For more information

Enquiries concerning the contents of the position, job description and the work plan: Head of Unit (Communications) Iiris Ruoho, iiris.ruoho@tuni.fi, tel. +358 40 190 4150

Inquiries concerning recruitment practices: HR Specialist Katri Haapamäki, katri.haapamaki@tuni.fi, +358 50 574 5749

University of Groningen

The Arts, Culture and Media programme of the University of Groningen is looking for a highly motivated full-time Assistant Professor in film studies (in Dutch: universitair docent). Date of appointment: 1 February 2022.

The candidate is expected to have a broad expertise in film history, film theory, and film analysis. The position combines teaching (60%) and research (40%): while we expect a willingness to teach in a wide range of areas, the research profile of the candidate can be very specific, adding to the already existing expertise of the film staff or opening it to new perspectives.

We are particularly interested in candidates specialised in the field of

● documentary film and audiovisual media (including new interactive and virtual-reality forms) and other non-fiction and non-narrative forms of art (experimental cinema, essay films, home movies, industrial films, operational images).

Other interests could include but are not limited to

● research on television, streaming platforms, new/digital audiovisual arts and their technologies

● feminism, postcolonialism, critical race theory

● cutting-edge experimental methods, hands-on empirical practices, big data approaches.

The successful candidate will teach in our bachelor’s programme in ‘Arts, Culture and Media’ as well as in our international master’s track ‘Film and Contemporary Audiovisual Media.’ The language of instruction is English. In view of a balanced formation of the film section within the programme, women and people of colour are especially encouraged to apply.

The successful candidate will become a staff member of the Arts, Culture and Media programme, which is responsible for the bachelor’s programme ‘Arts, Culture and Media’ as well as four tracks in the master’s programme ‘Arts and Culture’: ‘Film and Contemporary Audiovisual Media’; ‘Music, Theatre and Performance Studies’; ‘Arts Policy and Cultural Entrepreneurship’; and ‘Arts, Cognition and Criticism.’ It currently has 21 permanent staff members, five of whom have a focus on film studies.

Our highly international staff comprises colleagues from the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, the US, Canada, Mexico, Hungary, Greece, and Denmark. The BA programme has an annual enrolment of around 100–120 students from all parts of the world; the MA programme accepts around 60 national and international students every year (ca. 20 have an emphasis on film studies).

Research is conducted within the Groningen Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG) and its research centre Arts in Society. ICOG provides ample support in applying for grants with national and international funding agencies. There is also an annual travel budget for conference participation and other research-related trips.

The successful applicant is expected to:

● teach and supervise students in the department’s undergraduate and graduate programmes

● participate actively in curriculum development and in the design and administration of course modules, under the supervision of the head of department

● carry out and generate high-quality research in film and audiovisual media

● pursue research grants and other forms of external funding

● participate actively in international research networks and build international collaborations

● participate in the activities of the interdisciplinary research centre Arts in Society and one of its theme groups (such as Art, Medium and Moving Images or Arts, Culture and Cognition).

Qualifications

In addition to a number of basic requirements set by the University of Groningen, such as excellent social and communication skills, presentation skills, coaching skills, and a results-oriented attitude, we are looking for candidates who have

● acquired a PhD in Film Studies, Cinema Studies, (New) Media Studies or a closely related field (or will have received the PhD by 1 February 2022)

● an excellent research track record in film studies, including relevant book and article publications

● teaching experience at the university level and proven didactic abilities

● gained the Dutch University Teaching Qualification (BKO) or is prepared to do so within a year

● the motivation to acquire third-party funding on the national or international level

● a relevant national and international academic network

● the willingness to make substantial contributions to the development of the department’s research and educational programmes

● organisational experience and skills

● excellent command of English (at least CEFR B2/C1 level for reading, listening, writing and speaking)

● expected to have or gain understanding of the Dutch language (CEFR B2 for reading and listening, and CEFR B1 for writing and speaking) within two years.

Organisation

Since its foundation in 1614, the University of Groningen has established an international reputation as a dynamic and innovative university. In international rankings it regularly features among the best 100 universities in the world. Its 36.000 students, more than 23% of whom are international, are encouraged to develop their own individual talents through challenging study and career paths. The university’s Faculty of Arts is a large, dynamic faculty in the heart of the city of Groningen. It has more than 5000 students and 700 staff members and offers 16 bachelor’s programmes and over 40 master’s specialisations.

Conditions of employment

The University of Groningen offers a salary, depending on qualifications and work experience, with a minimum of € 3,746 (salary scale 11) to a maximum of € 5,826 (salary scale 12) gross per month for a full-time position. The gross salary is excluding 8% holiday allowance and an 8.3% end-of-year bonus and participation in a pension scheme for employees.

The position entails a contract combining 60% teaching tasks with 40% research-time. Favourable tax agreements may apply to non-Dutch applicants. We acknowledge that talented prospective staff often have talented partners who also wish to further their careers. The university offers

Dual Career Support in order to assist partners of new academic staff in building a new social network and looking for employment, an internship, voluntary work or further study opportunities. For more information, please check: https://www.rug.nl/…=en.

The conditions of employment comply with the Collective Labour Agreement for Dutch Universities (cao NU). For more detailed information about working conditions and working for the University of Groningen, please check: https://www.rug.nl/…ff/

The appointment will initially be on a temporary basis for 5 years with the possibility of becoming a permanent position following a positive ‘Results and Development’ assessment. The assessment for a permanent position is possible from the 3rd year onwards.

Application

Applications should include the following:

● a cover letter that explains the motivation for applying for this position

● a full curriculum vitae including a full list of publications, external funding, and talks

● a research plan of 1–2 pages which includes future ideas for grant applications

● a teaching mission that also contains descriptions of courses taught and lists teaching qualifications

● the names and contact details of two academic referees.

Applications that are incomplete or are otherwise faulty will not be taken into consideration.

Please send your application before 3 May 2021 by means of the application form.

A first round of online job interviews is expected to be held at the end of May/beginning of June 2021. The final round of interviews (either in person in Groningen or online), which will include a short guest lecture, will take place in June 2021.

Date of entry into employment is 1 February 2022.

We are an equal opportunity employer and value diversity at our University. We are committed to building a diverse faculty so you are encouraged to apply. Our selection procedure follows the guidelines of the Recruitment code (NVP), https://www.nvp-hrnetwerk.nl/…de/ and European Commission's European Code of Conduct for recruitment of researchers, https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/…ode

Unsolicited marketing is not appreciated.

For information you can contact:

Miralda Meulman, Degree programme coordinator (for more information on the formal procedure), +31 50 363 8950., sec.amc@rug.nl

Dr. M. (Miklos) Kiss, Associate Professor of Film Studies and Head of Department Arts, Culture & Media, m.kiss@rug.nl

Please do not use the e-mail address(es) above for applications.

June 10-12, 2021

University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC)

Deadline: April 9, 2021

Conference Organisers:

Dr. Virginia Crisp, Senior Lecturer in Culture, Media & Creative Industries, King’s College, London (UK)

Dr. Gabriel Menotti, Assistant Professor in the Film & Media Department, Queen’s University (Canada)

Dr. Corey Schultz, Associate Professor in the School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Website: https://besidesthescreen.com

As a conclusion to the (slightly delayed) Besides the Screen 10th Anniversary programme of events, the 2021 conference builds upon the network’s previous work examining the continuing transformations of audiovisual practice, to investigate the reconfigurations of screen industries, cultures, spaces and places through examining sites of production, infrastructures of circulation, film festivals, film tourism, and city branding. In short, the way place/space intersects with the multiple sites of production, circulation, promotion and consumption surrounding screen (incl. Film/TV, games, interactive arts) industries and cultures. The conference will explore the more established scholarship related to these topics (film festivals, city branding, transnational co-production, film/TV tourism) as well as expanding the conversation to represent the newly established or emerging topics (e-sports, virtual concerts).

The conference will be a hybrid (physical/virtual) event hosted by the School of International Communications at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China (CN), in partnership with King’s College, London (UK) and Queen’s University (CA). As ever with BtSN events, the theme of the conference is deliberately expansive to bring together interdisciplinary perspectives and we welcome scholars emerging and established to submit proposals for papers, video essays, and short films dealing with topics such as:

• Sites of production, promotion, and consumption
• Infrastructures of circulation
• Transnational co-productions
• Media festivals and theatrical exhibition
• Film festivals
• E-sports
• Virtual events / concerts
• Film tourism
• Screen media and city branding

Submission Details: 

Paper proposals should be made via the online form on the website - https://besidesthescreen.com

and require the following information:

* abstract (under 300 words);

* 3-5 keywords;

* short biography (150 – 200 words);

* your time zone (NB: the conference will take place in Beijing Standard Time and so we will consider time zones when scheduling real-time panel discussions);

* whether you would prefer an in-person or pre-recorded presentation (due to current COVID-19 travel restrictions, we strongly anticipate that people from outside China won’t be able to attend in person).

Video essay and short film submissions (under 20 minutes) should be made via the online form and require the following information:

* a link to the film/video essay;

* a short summary (under 300 words);

* 3-5 keywords;

* biography (150 – 200 words).

If you experience an issues with the submission form please email besidesthescreen@gmail.com with the email header NINGBO21 –Submission issue. Please note, email submissions will not be accepted.

Deadline – April 9, 2021. We will accept submissions up to midnight in the proposer’s timezone.

July 1-2, 2021

Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, Norwich, UK (hybrid in-person and online)

Deadline: April 30, 2021

Research Workshop

A web version of this call is viewable here: https://japaninnorwich.org/2021/04/01/call-for-papers-internationalisation-interrupted/

On behalf of the Centre for Japanese Studies at the University of East Anglia and the Sainsbury Institute for the Study of Japanese Arts and Cultures, we invite scholars to submit papers for a special two-day workshop event to discuss the global role of Japan in relation to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics. The Olympics has historically provided an opportunity for hosting nations to showcase cultural and political strengths as well as their unity within the international community. However, Japan’s model of globalisation has been seen as more inward-looking and seeks to enhance a certain self-image rather than global ties (e.g. Iwabuchi 2015). Following this, Tokyo 2020 presents an ideal opportunity to discuss how Japan’s global role and ambitions have developed in the contemporary era.

International marketing campaigns, social media and global news reporting provide clues as to how particular images of Japan have been constructed and circulate worldwide in the lead up to Tokyo 2020. However, following the Covid-19 Pandemic and a yearlong postponement, the nation has come under new scrutiny over escalating costs, high-profile scandals and resignations, and the decision to stage the games without international spectators. For these and other reasons, Japan’s control over their international branding has weakened, and waning enthusiasm both internationally and domestically has meant Tokyo 2020 may end up causing the nation more harm than good.

Inviting scholars from a range of disciplines across the humanities, we ask, how have the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paralympics provided new contexts for discussing Japan’s international presence? Our aim is to spark discussion on the ways by which Japan has communicated itself internationally and domestically in the run up to the games, and how this enhances our understanding of the nation’s approaches to internationalisation and globalisation. We are interested in how social, political, media and other forms of communication have circulated particular images and discourses of Japan’s global role. Furthermore, we are interested in exploring both Japan’s marketed image of itself alongside the more negative discourses that have grown since the pandemic.

We invite presenters to send abstracts of no more than 250 words that consider the role of Tokyo 2020 in relation to topics including (but not limited to):

• Domestic and international media coverage
• Television, news, and social media
• Local/national responses to the Olympics
• The Covid-19 Pandemic and its effects
• Tourism
• Marketing
• Transnationalism
• Globalisation
• Cultural diversity
• Soft Power and ‘Cool Japan’
• Race, gender, and sexuality
• Disability and ableism
• ‘Cuteness’ in Olympic branding
• Comparisons with Tokyo 1964 or Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics
• Trans-Asian comparisons with Beijing 2008 or PyeongChang 2018 Winter Olympics
• Celebrities and Tokyo 2020

With restrictions in England due to end on 21st June, we welcome scholars in the UK to join us in-person in Norwich. Applicants outside of the UK or otherwise unable to travel are welcome to participate online via video-conferencing.

Please submit your paper title and 250 word (maximum), along with your name, position and institution to: Tokyo2020sisjac@gmail.com

The deadline for abstracts is Friday 30th April. Successful applicants will be notified of the outcome by Friday 14th May.

If you have any questions, please contact us through: Tokyo2020sisjac@gmail.com

Dr Christopher J. Hayes & Dr Duncan Breeze, Workshop Organisers

Comparative Cinema, issue 17 (Fall 2021)

Deadline: April 30, 2021

https://www.raco.cat/index.php/Comparativecinema/announcement/view/88

The analysis of colour as a key component of cinema has particularly animated film studies scholarship in recent years, with interest in colour encompassing among other dimensions its connections with aesthetics, affect, history and politics. Research in this area has ranged across more than a century of the medium’s existence: from the manifold possibilities of colour in the silent era in Sarah Street and Joshua Yumibe’s 'Chromatic Modernity: Color, Cinema, and Media of the 1920s' (2019), to the most recent digital developments as captured in Carolyn Kane’s 'Chromatic Algorithms: Synthetic Color, Computer Art and Aesthetics after Code' (2014), colour is a property of the film image that has remained a constant even as it has undergone dramatic changes over time.

While colour has been mined by a number of scholars for its specific national, industrial and technological potentials, the 17th issue of 'Comparative Cinema' invites contributors to approach colour for its comparative possibilities, broadly conceived. The perspective of comparison encourages contemplation at the level of close analysis, but also gestures towards larger cultural-historical questions. Sergei Eisenstein (1957) once argued that specific hues do not have absolute correspondences with isolated values or meanings, but that the significance of a particular colour is relational, ‘dependent only upon the general system of imagery’ in a given film. But beyond the systemic relations of colours within a film, the importance of colour as an element on screen might also be viewed in comparison with colour outside of cinema altogether, in other media or in terms of the sundry ideological uses to which it has been put.

This issue of 'Comparative Cinema' will be devoted specifically to the uses, effects and experiences of colour with respect to comparative film analysis. Topics may include, but are by no means limited to:

• Colour and its absence: there has been a rise of late in the ‘colorization’ of black and white films, including Peter Jackson’s 'They Shall Not Grow Old' (2018). But a number of recent accessible works of art cinema – 'Roma' (Alfonso Cuarón, 2017), 'Ida' (Paweł Pawlikowski, 2013) – have explored the absence of colour altogether. How do particular films, filmmakers, or cinematographers present colour in relation to black and white? How are certain historical ‘transitions’ from black and white to colour conceived?
• Colour and race: cinema has a vexed history of depicting people of colour, both owing to forms of systemic social and industrial exclusion, and to the racist structuring of film technologies in the reproduction of particular skin tones. What part has film colour played in this history? How have both black and white and polychromatic colour palettes constructed racial difference on screen?
• Colour and ‘reality’: in order to exert some control over the colours of the profilmic world, Michelangelo Antonioni famously painted grass, trees, buildings and roads in 'Red Desert' (1964) and 'Blow-Up' (1967). What can such examples tell us about the ambitions of colour cinema in portraying the world? How do colours on film compare with the colours of ‘reality’? What is the relationship between ‘natural colour’ and the colours of nature? How might colour be analysed in documentary filmmaking?
• Colour and nation: the historical development of colour film has varied widely in the different national film industries across the globe. How might the use of colour be tracked across different nation states? How has colour contributed to the exoticisation of certain territories throughout the history of cinema? How might relationships between global ‘centres’ and ‘peripheries’ be reconceived through the lens of colour film technologies?
• Colour and time: with the aid of such invaluable resources as Barbara Flueckiger’s Timeline of Historical Film Colors (filmcolors.org), there are many possibilities for the examination of colour over time. How do the early colourisation techniques associated with silent cinema – tinting, toning, handpainting – compare with the digital colour grading process today? How does colour in particular film prints change over time, due to vinegar syndrome, bleeding and other issues connected with the material degradation of analogue film?

'Comparative Cinema' invites the submission of complete articles addressing colour from a comparative perspective, which must be between 5500 and 7000 words long, including footnotes. Articles (in MS Word) and any accompanying images must be sent through the RACO platform, available on the journal website.

In addition to articles that respond to this particular topic, 'Comparative Cinema' is also accepting submissions for ‘Rear Window,’ a miscellaneous section of the journal that will include articles focusing on other aspects of cinema by using a comparative methodology. Please indicate in your submission if you wish to be considered for this section of the journal.

Timeline for Issue 17:

Deadline for submission of complete articles: 30/4/2021

Peer review: 30/4/2021-30/6/2021

Final copy deadline: 31/7/2021

Publication: Fall 2021

Contact: comparativecinema@upf.edu

June 17-18, 2021

Lublin, Poland

Deadline: May 16, 2021

Institute of Social Communication and Media Science - Maria Curie-Skłodowska University, Lublin

Institute of International Studies - University of Wroclaw

Research section: Mediatization – Polish Communication Association

Mediatization research offers some of the strongest and most influential social science perspectives on current societal transformation. It has been widely discussed and further developed in many regards. The explanatory power of mediatization lies in its capability to catch media related transformations, taking place in almost every domain of private and public life. While explaining the specificity of the mediatization (meta)processes it is claimed that media communication becomes increasingly advanced (in terms of media technology and the number of communication channels), takes place continuously (in different forms) and encompasses more and more research questions. Consequently, the goal of this discussion is to .deepen and widen our understanding of mediatization processes in different national contexts.

Suggested topics:

Suggested topics include, but are not limited to:

• Theory of mediatization – conceptualizations and operationalizations – the constructivist and systemic/institutional approaches;
• Investigating the (meta)process of mediatization - the methodological challenges;
• New manifestations of mediatization in different cultures, as well as in various societal, political and technological contexts;
• Mediatization of political communication – automatization, platformization, algorithimization;
• Mediatization of communication, and culture;
• Mediatyzation of journalistic practices;
• Idiosyncrasies of different domains of mediatization – education, religion, arts, music, literature, sport, consumption and other fields of private and public life;
• The deepening of mediatization process – digitalization and datafication, supersaturation of private and public life.

The goal of this academic event is to provide a forum for discussion and cooperation among mediatization scholars, as well as to give the space to deliberate on key problems of mediatization research, including new phenomena of deep mediatization.

Confirmed keynote speakers include, among others, professor Rita Figueiras (Universidade Católica Portuguesa, Vice-chair of Mediatization Section ECREA), professor Goran Bölin (University of Södertörn, Executive Board Member of ECREA)

Form: hybrid, direct and online participation, depending on the pandemic conditions.

Publication:

Selected papers will be published in international journal: Mediatization Studies (ERIH+; 20 p. MEiN): https://journals.umcs.pl/ms/

Languages of the conference: English, Polish

Abstract submission: May 16, 2021.

Full paper submission: December 30, 2021.

Detailed information and submission form:  www.umcs.pl/en/registration,18647.htm

April 23-24, 2021

We are happy to announce the programme for our forthcoming conference reflecting on 200 years of the Guardian. This will take place online on 23/24 April and you can now register for free at https://hopin.com/events/liberalism-inc-200-years-of-the-guardian . We have keynotes from Alan Rusbridger (former editor of the Guardian), Mark Curtis (founder of Declassified UK), Gary Younge (former editor-at-large, the Guardian) and Ghada Karmi (Exeter University) together with eight panels on a range of topics.

Friday 23 April

3-4pm Keynote: Mark Curtis (founder, Declassified), ‘The Guardian, the establishment and the security state’ (chaired by Hilary Wainwright)

4.10-5.30pm First set of panels

Foreign news (chaired by Omega Douglas)

• Giora Goodman and Tony Shaw: Guardian and Israel from both sides – Suez
• Victoria Brittain: ‘Third World Review’
• Christian Christensen: 'The Guardian Covers Social Democracy: Swedish Utopia or Dystopia?'

The open, liberal newsroom (chaired by James Curran)

• Colleen Murrell: Australia and the “dance with philanthropy”
• Dan Jackson, Todd Graham & Scott Wright: Open journalism
• John Holmwood: Liberal orthodoxy and religious rights

6-8pm Keynote: Gary Younge, ‘Race and Class at the Guardian’ (respondent: Richard Seymour) (chaired by Des Freedman)

Saturday 24 April

10-11am Keynote: Alan Rusbridger, ‘More than a business: the 200 year history of a newspaper which put purpose before profit’ (chaired by Natalie Fenton)

11.10-12.30 Second set of panels

Liberalism (chaired by Clea Bourne)

Alexander Zevin: Liberalism and empire
Aaron Ackerley: The Interwar years
Carole O’Reilly: The sturdy strength of traditional liberalism

Des Freedman: The Founding of the Guardian

Regulation and the state (chair TBC)

• Julian Petley: press campaign against the Guardian
• Natalie Fenton: Guardian and press regulation
• Simon Dawes: Media freedom, power and the public
• Brian Cathcart: The Guardian and Press Reform: A Wheel Come Full Circle

1.30-2.50pm Third set of panels

The Guardian and feminism (chaired by Becky Gardiner)

• Hannah Hamad: Madeline Linford, Mary Stott and the early years of the women’s page
• Lynne Segal: Reflections on feminism
• Jilly Kay and Mareile Pfanebecker: The Guardian and neoliberal femininism

Empire (chaired by Mirca Madianou)

• Richard Smith: Pan Africanism and anti-colonial struggle
• Kathy Davies: Irish war of independence
• Priya Gopal: On empire

3-4.20pm Fourth set of panels

Liberalism's others (chaired by Anamik Saha)

• Mike Wayne: The Guardian and Brexit
• Katy Brown, Aurelien Mondon & Aaron Winter: Guardian and populist hype
• Cinzia Padovani: Guardian’s coverage of the ultra-right

Bias and balance (chaired by Kate Morris)

• Tom Mills: A liberal echo chamber
• Justin Schlosberg and Mike Berry: The curse of Corbynism
• Laura Basu: The Guardian and austerity

4.30-5.30pm Keynote: Ghada Karmi, ‘Reporting the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: The Guardian’s fatal ambivalence’ (chaired by Gholam Khiabany)

Please do circulate to your networks and students and remember that you can register now for free at https://hopin.com/events/liberalism-inc-200-years-of-the-guardian

April 1, 2021

The webinar Preparing your communications team to handle Social Media manipulation will be presented by Jonathon Morgan on Thursday 1 April 2021 at 13.45 GMT/UCT (14.45 British Summer Time). Jonathon is the co-founder and chief executive officer of Yonder.

What is the webinar content?

The webinar will cover the following themes with plenty of time for a Q&A.

• Manipulative social media activity is becoming increasingly common, brands are being targeted, and traditional social analytics tools can't answer these questions.
• Communications teams are now expected to show up with answers to questions such as: Why is our brand suddenly trending? Why is our spokesperson under fire? Why are we being boycotted? Who’s behind it? How did this happen? Why didn’t we see it coming? What happens next?
• Wayfair had to deny conspiracy theories about child trafficking on its site. Peloton's valuation plunged $942M in one day after an ad went viral. GameStop stocks soared 400% when investors coordinated a short squeeze via Reddit.
• We'll look at how modern comms teams are using social intelligence so they don't get surprised by social media manipulation, and can make strategic decisions that mitigate risk and keep your team in control of the brand's story.

How to join

Register here at Airmeet.

A reminder will be sent 1 hour before the event.

Background to IPRA

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. We do this through networking, our code of conduct and intellectual leadership of the profession. IPRA is the organiser of public relations' annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA's services enable PR professionals to collaborate and be recognised. Members create content via our Thought Leadership essays, social media and our consultative status with the United Nations. GWA winners demonstrate PR excellence. IPRA welcomes all those who share our aims and who wish to be part of the IPRA worldwide fellowship. For more see www.ipra.org.

Background to Jonathon

Jonathon Morgan is co-founder and chief executive officer at Yonder. Yonder is a Social Intelligence platform that uses machine learning to analyze how narratives spread across fringe and mainstream social platforms and influence public opinion. Prior to Yonder, he published research about extremist groups manipulating social media with the Brookings Institution, The Atlantic, and the Washington Post, and presented findings at NATO's Center of Excellence for Defense Against Terrorism, the United States Institute for Peace, and the African Union. Jonathon previously served as an adviser to the US State Department, developing strategies for digital counter-terrorism. For more see https://www.yonder-ai.com

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.org

Telephone +44 1634 818308

October 22-23, 2021

Online conference

Deadline: March 30, 2021

We invite abstracts of papers and panel proposals for the 13th Central and East European Communication and Media Conference (CEECOM) to be held in Cracow, Poland, October 22 and 23, 2021. The theme of the conference is the new communication revolution – a timely and rich topic due to many ongoing changes in the field of media and communication. The conference will address a diverse set of issues and will cover a wide spectrum of ideas related to the concept of communication revolution and ongoing communication and social changes. The new communication revolution may refer to various aspects of people’s social, political, economic or technological activities. We are inviting conceptual, empirical, and methodological proposals reflecting on changes related to communication itself, but also on relations between the media and mediatized communication, and the new ways of thinking, working and spending leisure time. The contributions considering the advantages and drawbacks of current trends in communication will be of special value.

The new communication revolution can be pondered at different levels. It can be explored at the macro-level, where the changes in the modes of communication impact the relationships between media institutions and political institutions. The comparative studies within the CEE region are particularly valuable in this respect. The latest works comparing media systems in Central, East and Southeast Europe may serve as a reference point here. The relations between media and politics in this region have been widely analyzed to date, and many attempts have been made to map the most characteristic features of CEE media systems, journalist autonomy, and the state of media freedom.

Still, the conference contributions may be a good opportunity to revisit these questions with regard to the issue of hybridization, digitalization, automation, algorithmisation, of the information ecosystems where the tech giants play a particular role, and contemporary trends such as dis- and misinformation, leading to the audiences’ exposure to contradictory, ideologically-charged, emotion-influenced, manipulative or highly polarizing messages, or dissemination of various kinds of deception.

The new communication revolution can be also observed at the institutional level. In the past, we used to deal mainly with public and mass communication featuring organized actors. Today's mediasphere is characterized by a mix of broadcast and narrowcast, interactive media, and established and non-established communicators, which results in the co-existence of public and personalized messages therein. This situation, in many ways, challenges the traditional institutional approach. Last but not least, the micro-level can be considered. Constant use of social networking sites and instant messaging platforms changed our lives in an unprecedented manner. The particularly relevant aspect of the new communication revolution seems to be the rise of participatory culture, enabling citizens to actively co-create media content in ways that have not been seen before. It is, therefore, important to assess and analyze the individual user experience.

The conference will feature both presentations of individual research papers and thematic panels.

Paper submissions will be grouped in sessions of 4-5 papers.

A limited number of slots will be available for specialized panels, where one topic would be addressed in four to five presentations, followed by responses. Preference will be given to panels with presenters from diverse backgrounds and affiliations.

Please, note that all proposals will undergo a peer-review process, and will be accepted or declined accordingly.

Only one proposal per first author can be accepted.

The contribution fee for the conference participants includes:

(1) on-line participation in all conference sessions

(2) presentation of the conference paper

(3) the book of abstracts (online version),

(4) review of a full paper,

(5) publication (if the text is accepted/depending on reviewers’ recommendations),

(6) certificate of participation in the conference.

Fees:

Early bird registration

Early bird registration opens on May 15th and ends on June 30th, 2021. (10 per cent discount applies to the PCA members.)

• 70 EUR (315 PLN; PCA: 283 PLN) for participating scholars
• 50 EUR (225 PLN; PCA: 202 PLN) for doctoral students
• 30 EUR (135 PLN; PCA: 121 PLN) for graduate students

Standard registration

Standard registration opens on July 1st and ends on September 30th, 2021. (10 per cent discount applies to the PCA members.)

• 100 EUR (450 PLN; PCA: 405 PLN) for conference participants
• 80 EUR (360 PLN; PCA: 324 PLN) for doctoral students
• 60 EUR (270 PLN; PCA: 243 PLN) for graduate students

Online submission of paper and panel proposals starts on January 18th, 2021 and ends on March 30th, 2021

https://idmiksuj.edu.pl/ceecom2021/

Contact: ceecom@uj.edu.pl

April 9, 2021- 3pm

Online via Zoom

register here: https://yorku.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_nf57kdxuSySuOPKe2NIRdg

Please join us for a roundtable discussion about design justice and community-led initiatives engaged in practices for reshaping the future.

We are pleased to host a conversation about design justice with Sasha Costanza-Chock, Denise Shanté Brown, and Wesley Taylor, members of the steering committee of the Design Justice Network, an organization at the forefront of community-led design for social justice. The DJN is made up of designers, advocates, educators, and researchers, and is dedicated to reshaping existing practices and collaborative approaches to addressing injustices based on race, class, gender, and ability.

The roundtable will explore the work of the organization and the presenters as well as challenges and opportunities posed by designed inequalities disproportionately impacting on already marginalized communities. It will include remarks from Professor Alison Harvey and responses from York and Ryerson graduate students Mina Momeni, Brianna I. Wiens, and Dayna Jeffrey.

This event will include ASL interpretation.

This roundtable is co-presented with the Wendy Michener Memorial Lecture and Design Justice Dialogue Series, and with the generous support of the Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation, the Principal’s Office at Glendon College, the Institute for Research on Digital Literacies, Sensorium, Center for Feminist Research, the Digital Media program in the Department of Computational Art, the Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture at York University and Ryerson University, the Department of Design in the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, the Department of Communication Studies at Keele campus, the Communications Program at Glendon College and the Department of Social Justice Education, OISE at the University of Toronto.

Presenter bios:

Sasha Costanza-Chock is a researcher and designer who works to support community-led processes that build shared power, move towards collective liberation, and advance ecological survival. They are known for their work on networked social movements, transformative media organizing, and design justice. Sasha is a Research Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a Senior Research Fellow at the Algorithmic Justice League (ajlunited.org), and a Faculty Affiliate with the Berkman-Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University. Sasha is the author of two books and numerous journal articles, book chapters, and other research publications. Their new book, Design Justice: Community-Led Practices to Build the Worlds We Need, was published by the MIT Press in 2020. Sasha is a board member of Allied Media Projects (alliedmedia.org) and a member of the Steering Committee of the Design Justice Network (designjustice.org).

Wesley Taylor is a graphic designer, fine artist, musician and curator. He has spent many years “scene building” in the Detroit hip-hop community as both an emcee and graphic designer. He is co-founder of Emergence Media, along with Invincible. Taylor’s most recent body of work revolves around the promise of the future; he imagines that “the future” is his client and he is in charge of marketing for “the future” and branding its many possibilities. Taylor holds a graduate degree in 2-D Design from Cranbrook Academy of Art and teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. He also manages a five-person artists’ studio collective in Detroit called Talking Dolls.

Denise Shanté Brown is a holistic design strategist living in Baltimore whose life’s work centers the wellbeing and brilliance of Black womxn and folx who hold marginalized identities. Wholeheartedly and with no apologies. As the Founding Director of Black Womxn Flourish and creator of Design for the Wellbeing of Black Womxn, she has dedicated her holistic practice to actualizing liberating and vibrant futures through design. She believes that creative, hands-on healing experiences can shape possibility and embolden communities to develop the tools and strategies we need for collective wellbeing. Her processes and practices are grounded in design justice and healing justice principles, emergent strategy, nature, womanism, and the feminine economy. She holds a Masters of Arts degree in Social Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art and has designed unique health interventions, community engagement strategies, and listening session models, facilitated creative dialogue on self-compassion and mindful social practice, and conducted design-led research that emphasizes the lived experiences of the people behind the data.

Respondent bios:

Dayna Jeffrey is a PhD candidate in the Science & Technology Studies program at York University. Dayna received an MA in Communication and Culture from a joint program between York and Ryerson University and an Honors BA in Social Anthropology with a minor in Religious Studies from York University. Dayna’s academic passions surround techno-utopian ideology or super-intelligence. Dayna’s current work focuses on the implications of techno-utopian ideology, or transhumanist visions of the future, on the design of artificially intelligent technologies. Dayna considers how does past, present, and future inform technological design. Her theoretical approach focuses on the sociology of technological expectations and ideologies surrounding innovative technology. This builds on her MA work focusing on the controversies surrounding the development of strong AI, specifically by analysing how socio-political and economic issues are seemingly erased and yet transpire in contemporary techno-utopian discourses.

Brianna I. Wiens (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in Communication and Culture at York University and co-director of the qcollaborative (http://www.qcollaborative.com/), a feminist design lab. Her SSHRC-funded research draws on her experience as a mixed-race queer activist-scholar to analyze and apply feminist theories and practices, considering the possibilities and constraints of technologies and feminist methods for digital activisms. Wiens’s collaborative work has recently appeared in Feminist Media Studies, Digital Studies/Le Champ Numérique, and Leisure Sciences, and she is a co-editor of the forthcoming collection Networked Feminist Activisms (Lexington Press 2021).

Mina Momeni is a doctoral candidate in Communication and Culture at Ryerson University and a sessional lecturer at the Department of Media Studies at the University of Guelph-Humber. Her research focuses on digital media, visual culture, human-computer interaction, philosophy of technology, and political activism. Momeni is also an interdisciplinary artist, and her artwork explores the relationship between ancient culture, symbology, monuments and memories. Momeni's artwork, such as photographs, videos, multimedia and installation art have been shown in numerous group and individual exhibitions in North America, Europe, and the Middle East.