ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

May 28-30, 2025

Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PA

Deadline (EXTENDED): April 30, 2025

The 18th Biennial Communication Ethics conference and the Silver Jubilee Anniversary Conference (2000-2025) of the International Communicology Institute will explore current research on the “image" and "imagination," broadly conceived, across the human sciences.

Our focus is on the phenomenological, semiotic, rhetorical and ethical foundations of communication in the experience of embodied thinking, speaking and inscribing. We seek to explore the frontiers of natural and artificial sign-systems, encounter diverse manifestations of concrete reality and abstract surreality of human imagination, and discover future domains of conscious experience that found the art and practice of human communicating.
We welcome a diversity of scholarly and creative approaches.

Problematics that presenters may consider include, but are not limited to:

• What questions are raised by recent phenomenological, semiotic, rhetorical, and critical theories of visual and mental images, visibility and nonvisibility, presence and absence, perception and expression?

• Is there a general theory of image ethics? If so, what are its foundations and some of its value limitations (e.g., psychoanalysis, journalism, design, propaganda)?

• What does it mean to "see" oneself or another? What is a just distance from which to look?

• What social, political, economic and/or ethical contradictions have emerged with new convergences among art, media, software and the communication practices they afford?

• How is the rhetoric of visual images impacted (enhanced, limited, etc.) by networked media?

• What does artificial intelligence want from images? What do images want from AI? What constitutes personification in/of the media?

• In what ways do advertisers imagine consumers?

• What pasts, presents, and futures are depicted by the visualization of digital data?

• How can we reimagine the objectives of network and social media science?

• What histories of communicology and communication ethics have yet to be written? What futures can we imagine?

The domains of the image and imagination encompass all the Arts and Sciences of expression and perception. These include, the Arts of Media: speaking, writing, painting, printing, sculpture, performance, voice; the Sciences of Media: social and media ecology, film and video, photography, screen/digital and legacy media; and Technological Media of Artificial Intelligence: ubiquitous computing, robotics, holographics and applied algorithms. Communication ethics theory, research and application corresponds with and enriches our critical understanding of each domain.

We invite completed papers or extended abstracts of 200–500 words. We also invite panel proposals of three speakers per panel. Please include a panel title with 250-word rationale, titles and 200-word abstracts for each presentation, and contributor contact information (institutional affiliation and email).
New submission deadline: April 30, 2025.

Please visit the conference website for details.

Lenka Waschková Císařová, Masaryk University, Czech Republic

Copyright 2025, Peter Lang
Series: Frontiers in Journalism Studies, editor: Scott A. Eldridge II, University of Groningen, the Netherlands
Website: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1340781

The Margins of Journalism explores the peripheral journalists and media organisations who have been overlooked in our efforts to understand a changing journalistic field. Seeing local journalists as unmapped agents of the journalistic field, this book provides a comprehensive study of local journalism in the post-socialist, post-transitional Czech media system, and conceptualises these actors as unique agents within the journalistic field. Informed by Pierre Bourdieu’s field theory, it adopts an inductive approach, presenting the stories of specific journalists derived from interviews and participant observation in the places where they work, alongside surveys of local newspapers. From these studies, this book systematically maps these peripheral, journalistic actors and their positions in the journalistic field, accounting for their relationships and the trends shaping Czech journalism to give voice to those who are not usually heard – journalists on the margins.

Pedro Jerónimo & Inês Amaral (Eds)

Journalism is facing a crisis of trust. Disinformation, political manipulation, “news deserts”, and the decline of independent media threaten access to quality information. Building Media Trust examines this global challenge and presents tangible solutions—from fostering stronger community engagement with local media to the impact of regulation and transparency in journalism. Featuring case studies from Europe, Latin and North America, and Africa, this book outlines pathways to rebuilding a more resilient and trustworthy media ecosystem.

https://labcom.ubi.pt/building-media-trust/

ISBN: 978-989-9229-26-6

Media & Jornalismo

Deadline: September 15, 2025

EDITORS:

• Juan José Sánchez Soriano - Universidad de Murcia, España; juanjose.sanchez4@um.es
  
• Rafael Ventura - Universitat de Lleida, España; rafael.ventura@udl.cat
  
• Isabel Villegas Simón - Universitat Pompeu Fabra, España isabelmaria.villegas@upf.edu
  

The research topic of this call for papers primarily focuses on studies of audience reception across various intersectionalities, including LGBTIQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, older adults, racialized communities, people with diverse body types, and women. The objective is to analyze how these social groups interpret and engage with their representation in various media formats (TV news, press, reality shows, TV series, feature films, social media, content creation platforms, etc.). Additionally, it is valuable to examine how general audiences perceive media discourses surrounding these intersectionalities. In this way, the goal is to explore both the mirror effect and the window effect within the audience. 

On the one hand, we define audiences in a broad sense, encompassing all individuals who engage with and interact with media content reflective of their time (Ha, 2020). Moreover, we propose viewing audiences not merely as passive consumers of cultural and media content, but as active agents with a crucial role in interpreting these messages (Livingstone, 2015). Therefore, it is essential to understand and explore how these audiences relate to and engage with such content, as evidenced by recent studies, such as those examining the interpretations of trans individuals regarding their representation in television series (Villegas-Simón et al., 2024). 

On the other hand, like the society in which it exists, the audience is diverse and heterogeneous (Kristensen & From, 2015). Thus, we are in a context where, historically, the representation of minority social groups has been underrepresented or often constructed through stigma and negative stereotypes (Sánchez-Soriano, 2023), as is the case with people with disabilities (Page et al., 2024) or individuals with diverse body types (Collins et al., 2024). As a result, numerous studies have focused on discourse analysis of both traditional and emerging representations (Ventura et al., 2024). However, we believe it is essential to shift the focus to the final stage of the entire media cycle: how audiences interact with these representations, examining how they engage with and respond to such content. 

At the same time, social media has allowed the emergence of new content and representations that generate seemingly more diverse discourses, but which also compete with the spread of hate speech (Miranda et al., 2024). For this reason, it is valuable to develop new research that, within the framework of intersectionality, focuses on analyzing the reception of content from any media and format, including the press, radio, and cinema, as well as social media and content creation platforms like SVODs, while focusing on the current cultural and media context. 

Topics:

• Methodologies focused on audiences and their interactions with cultural and media content. Reflections and ethics surrounding their application;
  
• Minority audiences and their media and cultural consumption, including women, LGBTIQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, older adults, racialized communities, and individuals with diverse body types;
  
• Perceptions, interactions, and responses of general audiences to content addressing diversity and intersectionality;
  
• Media literacy and intersectionality. Formal and informal learning about diversity and intersectionality through the media;
  
• Fandom and intersectionality;
  
• Youth, intersectionality, and cultural and media consumption;
  
• Digital audiences and intersectionality. Interaction, consumption, and responses to content generated on digital platforms;
  
• Meta-research focused on academic production about audiences and intersectionalities. 

IMPORTANT DATES

• Deadline for submitting articles: September 15, 2025
  
• Editors' decision: January 2026
  
• Expected publication date: April 2026
  

Media & Jornalismo (RMJ) is a peer-reviewed scientific journal, indexed in Scopus and the Web of Science (Emerging Sources Citation). Each paper is sent to two reviewers, who are invited in advance to evaluate it based on the criteria of quality, originality, and relevance in line with the aim and theme of the specific issue of the journal. 

Articles can be submitted in English, Spanish, and Portuguese. 

Manuscripts must be submitted through the journal’s website (https://impactum-journals.uc.pt/mj). Once accessing RMJ for the first time, registration is required to submit the article and track the editorial process. We recommend reviewing the Author Guidelines, Submission Conditions, and the journal's Editorial Policy. 

For more information, you can contact patriciacontreiras@fcsh.unl.pt 

City St George’s, University of London - Department of Journalism

City St George’s, University of London is the University of business, practice and the professions and brings together the expertise and excellence of City, University of London and St George’s, University of London into one institution. The combined university is now one of the largest higher education destinations for London students, combining a breadth of disciplines across health, business, policy, law, creativity, communications, science and technology. Our students are at the heart of everything that we do, and we are committed to supporting them to pursue their career and personal ambitions.

Our research is engaged, at the frontier of practice and has a positive impact on the world around us.

Background

The Journalism Department at City St George’s, University of London has been a leader in its field since 1976, with an unrivalled record of getting graduates into the best jobs in journalism. The Department is ranked number one in the UK for Journalism (Guardian University Guide 2023) and number one in the UK for graduate outcomes in Communication and Media (Complete University Guide 2024). Based in the centre of London, the Department has strong industry links, regular high-profile events, and a professional-grade studio and journalism facilities. Many of the Department’s 7000+ alumni now occupy senior positions in the media across the world.

Responsibilities

As Head of Department, you will be the academic and strategic lead with responsibility for day-to-day management, change management, and supporting and mentoring staff. You will have a track record of academic or professional practice experience and be able to evidence success in leading and delivering excellence in teaching and learning, as part of an excellent student experience. As Head of Department, you will be responsible for the oversight of the student experience and for developing and maintaining and developing a portfolio of programmes with national and international appeal. You will have responsibility for enhancing the research performance and external profile of the department, including income generating opportunities and fostering research and external engagement activity.

Person Specification

Applicants will need to have a degree, proven experience of working with or within the relevant sectors to deliver excellent outcomes. You will be either a leading researcher as evidenced through world-leading or internationally excellent publications or a practitioner with significant experience of delivering excellent education at undergraduate and postgraduate levels.

Additional Information

Closing date: 27th April 2025 at 11:59pm.

City St George’s offers a sector-leading salary, pension scheme and benefits including a comprehensive package of staff training and development.

City St George’s, University of London is committed to promoting equality, diversity and inclusion in all its activities, processes, and culture for our whole community, including staff, students and visitors.

We welcome applications regardless of age, caring responsibilities, disability, gender identity, gender reassignment, marital status, nationality, pregnancy, race and ethnic origin, religion and belief, sex, sexual orientation and socio-economic background.

City St George’s operates a guaranteed interview scheme for disabled applicants.

The University of business, practice and the professions.

Apply here: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DMP632/head-of-department-reader-professor 

AI & Society Journal

Deadline: June 30, 2025

Since the unprecedented agreement that the Writers Guild of America (WGA) managed to negotiate in relation to the use of generative AI in the workplace in 2023, cultural workers—in sectors such as music, film and television, journalism, social media content creation and gaming have been in the spotlight as one of the main exponents of how workers, individually and collectively, have responded to the development of generative AI around the world. These issues range from questions of workforce replacement and the reshaping of labor processes, working conditions, forms of building collectivities (e.g. unions, associations, cooperatives, guilds) and how cultural workers have understood the meanings and practices of AI (e.g. culturally, discursively and politically).

Themes:

This topical collection of AI & Society (AI&S) focuses on how workers in the cultural sector—understood as actors, writers, musicians, game performers, journalists, content creators, etc.—are engaging with generative AI in the workplace. It aims to analyze, on the one hand, the ways that cultural labor is being reshaped by AI in terms of labor process and cultures of production, and, on other hand, the ways that cultural workers are collectively fighting back against AI, through bargaining, co-operative formation or refusal. We are looking for articles that centre workers and work experience in relation to AI around the world. The collection will include empirically-grounded articles with original arguments covering different geographies and sectors. Topics and themes will include:

• Labor Processes: How generative AI is reshaping labor processes in the cultural sector, both within and beyond the point of production, including the role of social reproduction.
  
• Cultures of Production: How generative AI is reshaping the cultures of production and creative practices in cultural industries.
  
• Working Conditions: Experiences of everyday work with generative AI in the cultural sector around the world, and in different sub-sectors of the cultural industries.
  
• Identities: The ways that social and global hierarchies and intersectional inequalities (e.g. gender, sexuality, race, ability, nationality, class, etc.) embedded in generative AI models intersect with uses, experiences and organizations of power in the cultural industries.
  
• Data Work: The role of AI data work (Miceli & Posada 2022) in cultural industries. Who are the data workers feeding the machine (Muldoon, Graham & Cant 2024) for the cultural sector, and what are the conditions and politics of their labor?
  
• Worker Organizing: The ways that cultural workers are organizing for and against generative AI in the workplace. How are workers bargaining, campaigning, protesting and mobilizing in relation to AI? How do cultural workers intervene in policies through collective action? How do they collectively learn about and come to understand generative AI?
  
• Worker-Led Reappropriations: How cultural workers are reappropriating AI in non-dominant work arrangements, e.g. cooperatives and collectives, in terms of “computing otherwise” (Amrute & Murillo 2020)?
  
• Geographies and Value Chains: The commonalities and differences of cultural workers’ experiences in relation to generative AI. The role of global dependencies in the cultural sector in relation to AI (e.g. a fair agreement for an actor in one country can badly affect voice actors in another country). How to connect the AI value chains in the cultural industries.
  
• Industry Changes: How is generative AI changing cultural sectors at the industry level? What are the impacts of Big Tech’s increasing involvement in cultural production, especially their investments in generative AI? Who are the tech workers behind these projects on generative AI in cultural production? How is the political economy of cultural production transforming due to the introduction of generative AI?
  
• Intimacies: How generative AI is transforming the nature of relationships between cultural producers and their audiences and fans, for example through the introduction of personalized chatbots trained on the data of (micro)celebrities and through the emergence of AI-generated influencers.

Guest Editors:

• Dr Rafael Grohmann, University of Toronto, Canada, rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca
  
• Dr Daphne Idiz, University of Toronto, Canada, daphne.idiz@utoronto.ca
  
• Dr Zoë Glatt, Microsoft’s Social Media Collective, United States, zoe.glatt@microsoft.com 
  

Contribution Types:

We welcome contributions in the format of research papers (max 10K words) with substantial theoretical, methodological, and empirical interventions. Original papers will be double blind peer-reviewed by two reviewers and the editorial team.

Firstly, send a 500-word abstract to rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca, outlining a) the main argument; b) the theoretical background; c) methods; d) main findings. If your abstract is accepted, you will be invited to submit the full manuscript.

Important Dates:

• Abstract submission: 30th June 2025
  
• Manuscript submission: 31st October 2025
  
• Notifications: 28th February 2026
  
• Revised papers due: 30th April 2026

Submission:

You can find more information about formatting under the section “Submission guidelines” ​https://www.springer.com/journal/146. 

For inquiries and to submit your abstract, please contact: rafael.grohmann@utoronto.ca  with the subject “AI&S Special issue on Cultural Workers and Generative AI.”

After approval of the abstract please do submit your manuscript via the 'Submit your manuscript' button available on https://www.springer.com/journal/146. 

June 23-27, 2025

Gränna Campus, Jönköping University

Deadline (extended): April 17, 2025

Annette Hill and Joke Hermes

https://ju.se/academicwritersretreat

Writing Retreat Theme: Research Spices

What kinds of savoury and sweet spices do you add to your research practice? This academic writers’ retreat takes the metaphor of spices to explore research craft. 

We consider the seeds, roots, bark and fruits in our writing and analysis. And we reflect on layering of empirical and conceptual thinking, from whole to ground spices, toasted and roasted spices, and subtle and strong fragrances.

The retreat starts with a choice of spices and then we try out, write and reflect on the flavours and fragrances we want to create in our research craft. Each day we spend time in workshops, private writing time, go on walks by the lake and mountainside, and we cook together.

To find out more about registration, fees and the programme go here: https://ju.se/academicwritersretreat

Karlstadt University

The advertised doctoral studentship (fully funded for 4 years) is tied to the research project Beyond Fact-Checking: Detecting Frames and Disinformation in News and Social Media Content with Computational Methods(PI: Dr. Peter Maurer). The project has an interdisciplinary specialisation and will apply advanced methods for digital (computational) text analysis to identify frames  and opinions in political texts. The project also includes a comparative perspective where texts in different languages (English, Swedish, German, etc.) are analysed.  Applicants with a background in Media and communication, journalism, political science as well as computer/data science (or a related discipline) are welcome to apply.

Apply here: https://kau.varbi.com/en/what:job/jobID:806004/ 

May 14-15, 2025

Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, Romania

Deadline: April 17, 2025

The Faculty of European Studies – Babeș-Bolyai University Cluj-Napoca, The Centre for African Studies – BBU, The uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range and The University of Johannesburg, have the pleasure of announcing the organization of the 5th edition of the international conference Crisis Communication and Conflict Resolution. Dealing with Uncertainties in the New Global Political Era, which will be held on May 14th-15th, 2025.

In crisis situations, effective communication and conflict resolution strategies are important aspects that cannot be disregarded. In order to address these challenges, this international conference aims to support academics, researchers, PhD and postgraduate students, by offering them an opportunity to present their latest research results in the fields of:

• Crisis and Risk Communication
  
• Conflict Transformation and Resolution
  
• The United Nations and Conflict Resolution
  
• The European Union and Conflict Resolution
  
• Dealing with Ethnic and Religious Conflicts
  
• Political Communication
  
• Institutional and Corporate Communication
  
• Environmental Communication
  
• Mass-media Communication
  
• Cybersecurity in Politics
  
• AI in Crisis Communication
  
• Discourse Analysis
  
• Education and Learning
  

The 2025 edition will be held in a hybrid format, both onsite and online. Accepted papers will be published in a post-conference volume (e-book with ISBN).

Supporting journals: Synergies Roumanie and Studia Europaea UBB

Conference languages: English and French

Venue: Faculty of European Studies (1 Em. de Martonne St., Cluj-Napoca, Romania)

Important deadlines:

• April 17th, 2025 – deadline for title and abstract submission
  
• April 19th, 2025 – notice of acceptance
  
• October 2025 – deadline for paper submission (optional)
  

All paper proposal forms should be submitted to both e-mail addresses below:

delia.flanja@ubbcluj.ro & laura.herta@ubbcluj.ro

Appel à communications – Communication de crise et résolution des conflits

Organizing committee:

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Delia Pop-Flanja – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Laura-Maria Herța – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Adrian-Gabriel Corpădean – BBU

Dr. Iosif-Viorel Onuț – uOttawa-IBM Cyber Range

Prof. Dr. Bhaso Ndzendze – UJ

Prof. Dr. Sergiu Mișcoiu – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Paula Mureșan – BBU

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elena Grad-Rusu – BBU

Lect. Dr. Roxana-Maria Nistor – BBU

Lect. Dr. Andreea-Bianca Urs – BBU

Lect. Dr. Gianina Joldescu-Stan – BBU

Assist. Dr. Ramona-Alexandra Neagoș – BBU

Platforms & Society (special issue)

Deadline: May 23, 2025

Editors: Rianne Riemens, Donya Alinejad, Judith Keilbach, Anne Helmond (Utrecht University)

Call: https://journals.sagepub.com/page/pns/callforpaper 

Rationale:

Digital technologies, including cloud services and artificial intelligence (AI), are often framed as indispensable allies in the fight against climate change. At the same time, these technologies have an enormous negative environmental impact through their high demands for energy, water, and their reliance on critical raw materials. In recent years, tech companies have increasingly positioned themselves as environmentally responsible actors, working towards decarbonizing their businesses. However, these same companies have reported rising emissions linked to their AI products, still depend on fossil fuels, and continuously expand their infrastructures. Meanwhile, as knowledge brokers, they fail to address climate disinformation circulating on their platforms. Nevertheless, sustainability scholarship has a demonstrated tendency to celebrate platforms as drivers of sustainable societal change (Kuntsman and Rattle 2019; Mouthaan et al., 2022).

We invite contributions that critically engage with the complex and often contradictory relationship between platform companies, the climate crisis, and the pursuit of just, sustainable futures. We seek papers that explore the role of platform companies in the challenge of greening the digital society.

This special issue asks: How does the role of platform companies—ranging from Big Tech firms to AI startups, chip manufacturers, and cloud infrastructure providers—in the climate crisis call for new perspectives on platform power and its environmental impact? How can we analyze the infrastructural, political, and cultural power of the “new conglomerates” (Srnicek, 2024), particularly in their roles as knowledge brokers or energy intermediaries? Can we speak of a “platformization” of the climate crisis (Helmond, 2015), and if so, what does that entail? And how do these changes occur in different geographical contexts or parts of the supply chain?

We invite contributions from a diverse group of authors using a range of methods, working in different regional and institutional contexts, and focusing on a variety of case studies. Possible topics include:

  *   Methods and approaches for studying the environmental impact of digital platforms;

  *   Sustainability and waste across data infrastructures and the stack;

  *   Tech companies and CEOs as environmental actors;

  *   Theorizations of green platform capitalism and “green extractivism”;

  *   Digital platforms and the production, dissemination, and control of climate knowledge;

  *   The political economy of Big Tech and energy provision/distribution (wind, solar, geothermal, nuclear, fossil fuels) across different scales;

  *   Sustainability as a “hype” and platforms’ corporate greenwashing;

  *   Corporate environmentalism of Big Tech versus state politics (e.g. national public–private partnerships, friction in local contexts, lobby practices);

  *   Big Tech and climate justice movements (including local and Global South resistance);

  *   Visions and imaginaries of a green platform society.

Deadlines: Interested authors are invited to submit abstracts (400-500 words excl. references) to r.riemens@uu.nl<mailto:r.riemens@uu.nl> until May 23rd. After acceptance, authors will be asked to discuss first full drafts of papers during a hybrid workshop in January 2026, with official submissions due in March 2026. We aim to publish the special issue in Platforms & Society in winter 2026/2027.

You can find more information here:https://journals.sagepub.com/page/pns/callforpaper 

We look forward to receiving your abstracts.