ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

We kindly invite you to participate in the 4th edition of the Young Media and Communication Scholars Mentoring Program of the Polish Communication Association. The Mentoring Program is addressed to Ph.D. and MA students who want to develop their research competencies under the guidance of an experienced mentor, being a PCA member. In the 4th edition of the Mentoring Program, the recruitment is in Polish and English.

The deadline for applications is 10 December 2021. Application form and detailed information are available here: https://www.ptks.pl/en/programs/pca-mentoring-program

We are looking forward to your applications!

If you have any additional questions, do not hesitate to contact the program coordinator, Roksana M. Zdunek: mentoring.fmmik@gmail.com

Moment

Deadline: March 1, 2022

Whatever we call image today has for sure a different definition than that of its previous definitions suggested in a number of study areas such as history of art, aesthetics, critical theory, media, and cultural studies. As a matter of fact, W.J.T. Mitchell presents us a quite broad perspective with his categorical distinctions about what we should understand by graphic, optical, perceptual, mental, and verbal images, and how we should connect the images in our minds with words and pictures. Moreover, with his conceptualization “pictorial turn”, Mitchell states that visual studies in this era have a different and special status in comparison to the past. Today, we live in a culture pretty much formed by a universe of images that goes far beyond the paintings of Giorgio Vasari in the 16th century.

In light of the technological developments of the last four decades, visual culture comes into prominence more than before. It is an interdisciplinary study area that considers both traditional images and new technological appearances of images. As is very well known, the 1980s were the years of a paradigmatic change in social sciences and art studies in terms of methodology and perspective. In the same way, also the history of art has undergone a paradigmatic change. Accordingly, unlike the art historians of the Renaissance, the art historians such as Svetlana Alpers and Michael Baxandall argued that representations did not originate solely from a one-way relationship between the artist and the art. The common ground of both of these art historians was that productions of art were the consequences of the cultural features of their time. They argued that the Renaissance periods in the Netherlands and in Italy were stylistically and contextually sui generis experiences due to the cultural periods they were passing through. In view of this approach, pursuing the social life of images turned out to be more attractive than the images themselves. In other words, rather than centering the image as artwork and focusing on the production processes, how the images are looked at and perceived is questioned.

We can definitely claim that the suggestions of Alpers and Baxandall are still relevant in this century. However, the greatest difference is that the image they focused on is still the object of the history of art. Whereas today we know by experience that our knowledge of seeing is not only limited to the universe of visual arts like the Dutch bourgeois of the 17th century. Then, we have been long ahead of the limited universe of images constituting the visual culture of the Dutch bourgeoisie, which is mostly comprised of oil paintings.

Here we talk particularly about a visual life world that originated along with the modernization period, proceeded by means of the voyeuristic/scopic regime in the 19th and 20th century, and reached its peak in the era of converging communication and media technologies that juxtapose different images ranging from ultrasound to the images taken by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles.

As Nicholas Mirzoeff points out, the period we live in has changed the spatio-temporal conditions where visual culture dwells, and transformed the production, distribution, and consumption practices of image making. According to him, the specificity of the field we call visual culture today should be elaborated even further. In the visual culture of the 1990s images were positioned within some specific spatio-temporal settings such as movie theatres, museums, galleries or even the living rooms of homes through television. Whereas today, images are limitless and everywhere. To put it explicitly, today there are more than 50 billion images shared only on Instagram, and 5 billion videos watched in 3.25 billion hours on YouTube. Comparing this visual flow to the golden age of the Netherlands between the years 1640-1659 in which almost 1.4 million paintings were produced, it is possible to claim that today the image has not only risen in quantity but also become highly varied, and has become an inseparable part of our personal and collective lives. In line with all these, we can also say that images alone constitute a visual culture that, alongside new media opportunities, rearranges our relationship to images. Not only do we go toward the images, but the images also come to us. Not only do we look at them, but they also look at us. As average people, we go beyond being only the consumers of images and become producers as well. Moreover, digital technologies have considerably destabilized the defining characters of the image. The issues of image authenticity and uniqueness, as well as ownership and copyright processes in digital media, are becoming increasingly complicated. Along with them, also the theoretical discussions regarding these issues flourish.

In the same line, the questions regarding the power of ‘the gaze’ are constantly being reformulated as well. For instance, feminist and postcolonial approaches attempt to decode the asymmetry in the relationship between the ones that look and others that are being looked at. In coherence with this critical intervention, there are also certain approaches that read the current regime of the image with a critical point of view and

call us to see the Eurocentric ‘gaze’ buried in images by exemplifying the fugitive colours and figures of the Eastern painting. They provide a never-ending discussion around visual culture and ideology with a new context and perspective.

With this call for papers, we want to question the visual culture that completely inhabits and surrounds our lives. Below you can find the suggested topics for the Visual Culture issue. However, you may submit your papers on other topics provided that they are included within the theme of the issue.

• Defining Visual Culture
• Visual Culture and Ideology
• Visual Culture and Gender
• Visual Culture and Photography
• Visual Culture and Cinema
• Visual Culture and Art
• Journalism and Photography
• Television Narratives and Popular Culture
• Visual Culture and Video Games
• States of the Image
• Photography and Digitalization
• Digital Culture and Imagery
• Social Media and Visual Contents
• Relationship between Representation and the Other
• Discipline, Surveillance and Panopticon
• Western and Eastern Images
• Visual Culture and the Body
• Visual Sociology
• Visual Anthropology
• Visual Culture and (Post-Neo) Colonialism
• Visual Culture and Memory
• Technology and New Images
• Relationship between the Image and Emotion
• Imagery and Methodology
• From Iconography to Iconology
• Media Archaeology and Images

You can submit your papers until March 1st, 2022:

SUBMISSIONS | AUTHOR GUIDELINES

Unfortunately, we do not accept papers out of the theme.

Theme Editors:

Gülsüm Depeli Sevinç & Tolga Hepdinçler

Comunicar

Deadline: December 30, 2021

We are pleased to announce that the journal 'Comunicar' (JCR-Scopus Q1) specialized in media education, is currently receiving manuscripts for the Call for Papers n. 72 about, 'The disinformation society: The impact of fake news on the public sphere' until 30 December. This issue is coordinated by Dr. Guillermo López-García (University of Valencia), Dr. Gianpietro Mazzoleni (University of Milan), and Dr. Eva Campos-Domínguez (University of Valladolid), which contributes to the analysis of erroneous, biased or false messages in terms of misinformation, disinformation, fake news and news stories that have changed social communication.

We also remind you that the journal accepts manuscripts in each of its issues with miscellaneous topics related to the scope of the journal. We invite you to read carefully the guidelines for authors and to submit your study through www.comunicarjournal.com.

Giovanna Mascheroni, Andra Siibak

What are the consequences of growing up in a datafied world in which social interaction is increasingly dependent on digital media and everyday life is shaped by algorithmic predictions? How is datafication being normalized in children’s everyday life? What are the technologies, contexts and relations that enhance children’s datafication? What are the meanings of data practices for parents, teachers, and children themselves? These are some of the questions that Mascheroni and Siibak address in Datafied childhoods: Data practices and imaginaries in children’s lives.

When the data-driven business model emerged twenty years ago, we could not have imagined how pervasive data extraction would have become in the context of everyday life, including the “institutional triangle” of children’s lives (the home, the school and the playground). Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has intensified the datafication of everyday life and our reliance on data-relations. Yet, we still know little about the nature, meanings and consequences of the data practices in which children, and the adults around them, engage. This book tries to fill in this gap in two ways. First, drawing on the authors’ knowledge of children and media studies and their own research on children’s, families’ and teachers’ interactions with multiple technologies (IoT and IoToys, artificial intelligence, algorithms, robots) in different contexts (home, school and play), it promotes a non-media-centric and child-centered approach. Second, in so doing it encourages further scholarly inquiry into the everyday as the analytical entry point to understand how datafication is transforming parenting, education, childhood and thereby the children.

Purchase here: https://www.peterlang.com/document/1140627

November 11, 2021

I am pleased to invite you to the next in the series of IPRA Thought Leadership webinars. The webinar Cyber security: insights and implications for public relations by Volker Pulskamp, senior vice president and partner, FleishmanHillard, Germany on Thursday 11 November 2021 at 12.00 GMT/UCT (unadjusted).

What is the webinar content?

In this webinar we will hear all about implications for cyber security and how they relate to public relations. The webinar will reference case studies on cyber security crises.

The webinar will be followed by an interactive Q&A session.

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 Volker Pulskamp

Volker Pulskamp is a senior vice president and partner at FleishmanHillard and serves as head of corporate communications and crisis lead in Germany/EMEA. As member of the Global and EMEA Crisis Lead team, the ARC certified crisis counsellor has more than 24 years of PR, reputation management and crisis communications expertise, including crisis prevention, trainings and simulations. He has significant experience in issues and crisis management for leading companies across a range of sectors, often being key contact and spokesperson. As crisis and media trainer, Volker has trained more than 300 people in personal or team trainings during his career.

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.orgTelephone +44 1634 818308

December 10, 2021

Online conference

Deadline: December 5, 2021

It is with great pleasure that we announce and invite you to participate in the final conference of the SMaRT-EU project.

The conference will take place on December 10th, in online format, and will bring together researchers, practitioners and end-users to present and discuss the results of the project. The conference will also feature a number of speakers who will address topics related to new horizons and challenges for resilience towards misinformation and social media.

Save the date: 10 December 2021, from 9.30am (CEST)

The full programme is available at http://smart-toolkit.eu/smart-eu-conference/

If you wish to attend, we ask you to confirm by the 5th of December, to the email socialmediaresilience@gmail.com so that we can give more details such as the link to access the conference.

Media and Communication (special issue)

Dedadline: December 15, 2021

Editor(s): Ashley Hinck (Xavier University, USA)

More information: https://www.cogitatiopress.com/mediaandcommunication/pages/view/nextissues#OnlinePopulism

Submission of Abstracts: 1-15 December 2021

Submission of Full Papers: 15-30 April 2022

Publication of the Issue: October/December 2022

In recent years, there has been an explosion of populism across the globe. Strains of populism have been taken up by leaders like the United States’ Donald Trump, the United Kingdom’s Boris Johnson, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, India’s Narendra Modi, and Indonesia’s Joko Widodo. While these are some of the most visible instances, populism has also emerged in smaller countries like the Netherlands (Hameleers, 2019) and in the communication of political challengers like Alexey Navalny in Russia (Glazunova, 2020). Populist communication functions as a style, strategy, and ideology that constitutes a “virtuous” people and an enemy of elites who control the system and the status quo (Engesser et al., 2017; Lee, 2006).

Populists are using social media to organize and amplify populist communication (see e.g., Boulianne et al., 2020; Bucy et al., 2020; Hameleers, 2019; Peck, 2020). In an age when citizens are turning to online communities to construct their political values, beliefs, and ideologies (Bennett, 2008; Giddens, 1991; Hinck, 2019), it is not coincidental that many of these populist leaders have been bolstered by large followings of supporters online. This thematic issue examines the role online communities play in contemporary populism—how seemingly untraditional political communities online are influencing national and international politics by developing populist messages and circulating populist media.

Submissions might consider (but are not limited to) to the following:

• How might online communities provide transnational points of contact, network nodes, or flows of communication between and across nations?
• How do the social norms and values of online communities provide fertile grounds for populism?
• How do conspiracy communities, fan communities, and other online communities influence and enable populism?
• What forms and genres (like memes and deep fakes) define online populism?
• What communication strategies emerge from online communities to support populist leaders?
• What are the implications for democracy?

Roskilde University

Apply here: https://candidate.hr-manager.net/ApplicationInit.aspx?cid=1310&ProjectId=146569&DepartmentId=18969&MediaId=4618

Department of Communication and Arts (DCA), Roskilde University (RUC), invites applications for a position as Associate Professor in digital humanities, with a special focus on digital communication, digital platforms, digital business models and ”datafication”. The position is available from August 1st 2022 or as soon as possible thereafter.

In announcing the position, DCA looks to strengthen its relationship with the private sector mainly through the DigitalLead Cluster and with an ambition to focus on stakeholders in Region Zealand. Simultaneously, DCA aims to develop its research and teaching in digital communication and/or digital humanities, by focusing on new digital busines models and platforms, datafication and digitalization especially within new media and the cultural sector.

The Department of Communication and Arts is an innovative and interdisciplinary university environment, characterized by diversity with respect to theory, method and area of study in research and education. The department produces knowledge that contributes to critical research and reflexive practice in relation to development and change in society, including public institutions, private organizations, NGOs, and cultural and media institutions. Read more here. The department holds a strong environment within research and education in digitalization, and has recently launched Center for Digital Citizenship.

Responsibilities and tasks

The associate professor´s tasks and responsibilities will include research (including publication/academic dissemination) and research-based teaching (including examination and course coordination). The associate professor will be expected to teach both MA and BA levels, and across programs. Teaching at Roskilde University involves supervising problem-oriented project work (PPL – read more here) and requires an interdisciplinary approach.

It is expected that the candidate has an aptitude for external collaboration, and Roskilde University provides the candidate with a reduced teaching load of 150 hours within the first three year to cover the commitment with the cluster organisation DigitalLead.

The position also entails public dissemination of knowledge, including participation in public debate; participation in managing research, providing guidance and supervision of PhD students, assistant professors and contributing to academic assessments.

Furthermore, the associate professor is expected to maintain a steady rate of publications and to make a contribution to the research culture at the department; to attract research grants and manage research projects; provide guidance and supervision of PhD students and assistant professors; participate actively in research groups and development of new teaching activities, as well as taking part in academic assessments and other tasks requested by the department.

Applicants are referred to the university’s Faculty expectations for specifications on the required level of qualifications within research, teaching, networking, fundraising, impact and outreach etc.

Qualifications

Applicants must hold a relevant PhD degree and qualifications equivalent to a completed employment period as assistant professor in communication studies, media studies or other relevant subject areas. The ideal candidate matches the following characteristics:

• International research profile within digital methods (such as media analytics, digital network analysis, data tracking/capture, information retrieval, recommender systems, etc.) and/or digital communication (such as platformization, datafication, digital business models, data governance, etc.).
• A focus on questions of trust, ethics and transparency in processes of digitalisation and datafication.
• A keen interest in working in a cross-disciplinary fashion, as the methods mentioned above are in high demand across the department and university.
• Teaching experience in digital methods, preferably within communication studies as well as the humanities broadly.
• A keen interest in and experience with project-based teaching and teaching in an interdisciplinary environment.
• Documented pedagogical qualifications, good teaching evaluations, and the ability to innovate within the educational field.
• Ability to communicate in Danish (or possibly Swedish or Norwegian)

Moreover, the ideal candidate is expected to be enterprising and to possess good communication skills, and to be an involved participant in the department’s daily activities, in addition to being willing to engage in disciplinary and interdisciplinary collaboration across the department. At the time of appointment, the successful candidate must master English for academic purposes.

Assessment

In the assessment of the candidates, consideration will be given to:

• Research topic
• Scientific production and research potential at an international level,
• Experience with close collaboration with external stakeholders
• Strong teaching qualifications, experience with project-based learning, and interdisciplinary teaching experience,
• Ability to attract external funding in collaboration with external partners such as public authorities, private companies, NGO’s etc.
• Ability to create, promote and utilise research results
• Ability to contribute to development of the department’s internal and external cooperation

Questions

For further information about the position, please contact Dean of Humanities Julie Sommerlund (+45) 42160611/sommerlund@ruc.dk

Terms of employment

The employment is full time and you will refer to Dean of Humanities, Julie Sommerlund

The position will be filled according to the Agreement between the Danish Ministry of Finance and the Danish Confederation of Professional Associations (AC) and Job Structure for Academic Staff at Universities.

Application procedure

After the deadline for applications the Dean will shortlist applicants for assessment with assistance from the recruitment committee including the chairperson of the assessment committee.

Shortly after the application deadline all applicants will be notified whether or not their application has been selected for assessment.

The shortlisted applicants will be informed about the composition of the assessment committee, and each applicant will be given the opportunity to comment on the composition of the committee and - later on - their assessment.

Once the recruitment process is completed, all applicants will be informed of the outcome of their application.

Application

To apply for the position go to www.ruc.dk/en/job/

Only applications in English are accepted.

Applications must include:

1. Cover letter

2. CV

3. Reasearch plan (maxium 2 pages)

4. Documentation of education

5. Teaching portfolio (read more about teaching portfolio at Roskilde University here)

6. A complete list of publications

7. A maximum of 5 relevant scientific works that you want included in the assessment

If any of the publications that you want included in the assessment are the result of a joint effort, the extent and the nature of your contribution to each individual work must then be clarified in a co-author statement (find template here)

Please submit your application no later than December 12 2021.

Material received after this date will not be taken into consideration.

Roskilde University wishes to reflect the diversity of society and welcomes applications from all qualified candidates regardless of personal background.

The position is part of a larger strategic effort by Roskilde University to strengthen its research profile within research fields that open new avenues for external collaboration with the private and public sector, for example through the Danish innovation cluster organizations. Furthermore, as the Region Zealand university, Roskilde University is particularly committed to addressing the research and innovation needs of the region’s stakeholders.

University of Fribourg

The Faculty of Management, Economics and Social Sciences (SES) at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland, invites applications for a PhD position at the Chair of Political Communication and Media. The successful candidate will work as a teaching and research assistant at the Department of Communication and Media Research (DCM) and write a PhD dissertation under the supervision of Assistant Professor Alexandra Feddersen.

The DCM provides an outstanding research environment based on interdisciplinary, innovative and dynamic collaborations at the interface between communication, media, economics and management. With its emphasis on rigorous training and high-quality research, the SES Faculty provides a decisive first step for a successful research career.

Information

Start date: February 1st, 2022, or to be agreed

Contract duration: 5 years (1 year; renewable 4 years)

Employment rate: 100%; the salary will be established according to the guidelines of the University of Fribourg

Profile

Interests: The candidate is creative, motivated and passionate about research. She/he can work independently as well as in a team. She/he is ideally interested in one or more of the following areas:

- political communication;

- media selection mechanisms and/or media organizations;

- digital media;

- quantitative content analysis and/or computer-assisted text analysis;

- surveys and/or survey-embedded experiments.

Skills: Proficiency in basic quantitative methods commonly applied in social sciences. Knowledge of experimental methods, programming languages (e.g., R, Python) and/or qualitative methods is considered an additional asset.

Education: Master’s degree in communication or closely related field. The evaluation of the applications will focus on the applicant’s background, interests, attitude and potential for academic success. Admission to the doctoral studies is subject to the rules of the SES Faculty.

Languages: Full proficiency in French; effective operational proficiency in English; good knowledge of German is considered an additional asset.

Application

Questions: Questions regarding the position and/or application can be sent to Jolanda Wehrli

(jolanda.wehrli@unifr.ch).

Documents: The application must contain:

- a cover letter specifying research interests and motivations;

- a CV containing the names of two academic references;

- transcripts of completed academic training; and

- other relevant certificates (e.g., TOEFL, GMAT, …) or documents (e.g., evaluation of Master thesis).

Deadline: The application must be sent as one single PDF document to Jolanda Wehrli

(jolanda.wehrli@unifr.ch) by December 1st, 2021.

Edited by: Giuliana Sorce

This book examines the central role media and communication play in the activities of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) around the globe, how NGOs communicate with key publics, engage stakeholders, target political actors, enable input from civil society, and create participatory opportunities.

An international line-up of authors first discuss communication practices, strategies, and media uses by NGOs, providing insights into the specifics of NGO programs for social change goals and reveal particular sets of tactics NGOs commonly employ. The book then presents a set of case studies of NGO organizing from all over the world—ranging from Sudan via Brazil to China – to illustrate the particular contexts that make NGO advocacy necessary, while also highlighting successful initiatives to illuminate the important spaces NGOs occupy in civil society.

This comprehensive and wide-ranging exploration of global NGO communication will be of great interest to scholars across communication studies, media studies, public relations, organizational studies, political science, and development studies, while offering accessible pieces for practitioners and organizers.