ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

November 15-17, 2021

Online conference

Deadline: July 31, 2021

The Scientific Committee of the XIII International Conference on Online Journalism is pleased to invite you to the Conference that will take place on the 15th,16th and 17th of November 2021, under the title “Information and Big Data in the Hybrid Media System”.

Proposals / abstracts that meet the objectives and themes of the Conference may be submitted for presentation until July 31, 2021 to the address ciberpebi.csc@ehu.eus. Notification by the Scientific Committee of accepted proposals will be made within a maximum period of one week.

• All accepted abstracts will be published in the Conference Abstract Book, with ISBN.
• Authors who wish to publish the full text of their communication must send it before October 31, 2021 and must adapt it to the style guidelines available on the Conference website. For the publication of the full texts, the authors may choose one of these two options:
• • Conference Proceedings Book, edited by the UPV / EHU, with ISBN.
  • Send the texts to the journals Mediatika (ISSN: 1988-3935) or Hipertext.net (ISSN: 1695-5498), to evaluate their possible publication, after peer review. The Editorial Board of both magazines has planned a maximum of six texts in their respective editions that will come out coinciding with the celebration of the Conference.

The presentation of communications will be done online. In this case, the communicants must present their presentation live through the Blackboard Collaborate platform and send a video of a maximum of 10 minutes in length that will be shared on the Conference website.

Given the situation generated by COVID-19, the plenary presentations will be carried out virtually through the Blackboard Collaborate platform, following the same program and schedule.

Likewise, in view of these circumstances, and to favor the opportunity for all researchers who wish to participate, the prices of the inscriptions have been reduced compared to previous editions.

We appreciate all the collaboration you can give us for the dissemination of this XIII International Conference on Online Journalism, and we will gladly give any additional information you may need.

More information on the Conference website: http://www.ciberpebi.info

Sheffield Hallam University

Applications are invited for a PhD scholarship in the area of Film Festival Studies, commencing 1st October 2021. Full details here: https://www.findaphd.com/phds/project/a-critical-cultural-history-of-sheffield-doc-fest-1986-2019/?p132643

The PhD will examine the cultural history of Sheffield Doc/Fest from its origins in the early 1990s through its evolution and growth in the early 2000s, through to its recent obtainment of charity status. Doc/Fest is a major annual international media event, which is central to the UK’s creative industries, to the international documentary community, and to the economy and cultural life of Sheffield and the wider Yorkshire region. The aim of the project will be to research the political economy of the festival to understand how it has operated as a transitional platform between the local, regional, and (inter)national.

You will investigate the relationship between Doc/Fest, the city, and the documentary community. The project will ascertain what the festival meant to stakeholders in the early 1990s and how this evolved over the subsequent decades. Sheffield and Doc/Fest are deeply interconnected. Doc/Fest was marketed as being ‘internationally’ focused, but Sheffield has always been at its centre. The festival has operated from the start as a brand promoter for the city, influencing the perception of stakeholders beyond Sheffield (delegates, filmmakers, policy makers). Major national broadcasters have sponsored the festival and, in return, expected the programming to reflect their own institutional and commercial priorities, thus shaping the cultural evolution of Doc/Fest. These issues are currently overlooked in existing histories and studies of Sheffield’s cultural industries and creative economy.

The student will make use of newly deposited archival papers, analysing and cataloguing the documents. They will also interview previous board members, company executives, festival directors, administrators, filmmakers, and festival delegates. In addition, the student will co-organise a critical history public engagement event in collaboration with Doc/Fest reflecting on the festival’s cultural evolution, key films and speakers from its past, and reflections on its future.

The PhD candidate will be supported by two external advisors at Doc/Fest: Cíntia Gill, the current festival director, and Melanie Iredale, the deputy director.

You will be joining a vibrant PhD programme in the Centre for Culture, Media & Society (CCMS). CCMS is an exciting interdisciplinary research environment with a particular concern to recognise culture as a key interlocutor for social and political change and pursues work capable of delivering critical insight and real-world impact.

You will have opportunities to learn at a range of seminars, workshops and conferences. We offer training on specific research methods via modules on the M. Res in Social Science and access to specialist media and film.

Funding

Scholarships are available to Home and International students for 3 years of full-time or 5 years of part-time funding to include:

• University tuition fees at Home levels. If you are required to pay tuition fees at the International rate you will need to fund the difference between Home and International fees.
• An annual maintenance stipend at UKRI national minimum doctoral stipend rates: £15,609 per annum for 2021/22 full-time study; £7,805 per annum for part-time study.
• £500 per annum project costs

For more information visit: Tuition fees for EU, other EEA and Swiss nationals

How to apply

We strongly recommend that you contact the project supervisors Dr Fenwick and Dr Cere before submitting an application. You will need to submit a personal statement of up to 1000 words detailing:

• Your skills and experience relevant to this project.
• Why you want to undertake this specific project.
• A brief discussion of the challenges you foresee in conducting this research.

Applicants will ideally have a master’s degree and a background in film, media, or cultural studies, with a focus on documentary, or equivalent experience. Desirably, you will be familiar with archival methods and interviews. We encourage applicants from underrepresented backgrounds, communities, and identities to apply.

Where English is not your first language you will need to submit evidence of English language proficiency at a minimum of IELTS 7.5 (or equivalent).

Sheffield Hallam welcomes applications from all candidates irrespective of age, pregnancy and maternity, disability, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion or belief, or marital or civil partnership status.

For more information about how to apply and an application form please visit https://www.shu.ac.uk/research/degrees/apply

Submit your application to culture-creativity-admissions@shu.ac.uk. The closing date for applications is 23:30, 14th June 2021.

Selection process

Interviews will take place week beginning 12th July by videoconference.

September 30-October 1, 2021

Online conference (Zoom)

Deadline: June 30, 2021

Conference by the Methods Division of the German Communication Association (DGPuK)

Description

The pandemic has generated enormous research endeavors from all scientific disciplines including the social sciences. In the field of communication, researchers studied, for instance, the diverse effects of the crisis with respect to social media and smartphone use (e.g., Huckins et al., 2020; Ellis et al., 2020), online misinformation (e.g., van der Linden et al., 2020), media exposure and psychological effects of the pandemic (e.g., Garfin et al., 2020), or communication strategies and health behaviors (e.g., Muselli et al., 2021). Besides influencing the topics of communication research, the pandemic has also led to significant changes in how we do research, as for instance, regarding our research settings as well as methods (Gruber et al., 2021), our research environments, our standards and procedures, or the interaction between researchers. Against this background, the overall question of this call is “How does COVID-19 affect communication research?”. The online conference aims to address this question in all its possible facets and dimensions. More specifically, the call for papers is open to diverse perspectives regarding how the pandemic has affected research designs, settings, instruments, standards, logics, or productivity. This involves, but is not limited to, the development of new data collection procedures, measures, or analysis techniques as well as the various ways in which research has been conducted during the pandemic covering issues such as gender diversity, research ethics, participant health, research productivity, quality and rigor, lab designs, or issues related to replicability, open science, and meta-science. We also welcome submissions focusing on methodological questions relating to research on communication and COVID-19. The call is open to all epistemological perspectives. In addition to the conference topic, there is also an “Open Call”. Detailed Call: https://methods-conference.univie.ac.at/

Guidelines

Extended Abstracts in English (max. 1.200 words including references and tables) should be submitted as an anonymized pdf-file including the topic designation (“Thematic Call” or “Open Call”). The submission site will open on June 1, 2021 at https://methods-conference.univie.ac.at/. Submissions will be administered with ConfTool.

Contact

Alice Binder (alice.binder@univie.ac.at) and Jörg Matthes (joerg.matthes@univie.ac.at), for the organizing Department

Marko Bachl (marko.bachl@uni-hohenheim.de) and Emese Domahidi (emese.domahidi@tu-ilmenau.de), for the Methods Division of the German Communication Association

London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

Salary from £36,647 to £44,140 pa inclusive with potential to progress to £47,456 pa inclusive of London allowance

Based in the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE)

This is a fixed term appointment for one year, starting from 1 September 2021, with a possibility of extension for one further year.

Applications are invited from outstanding candidates in the field of Media and Communications. The successful candidate will join an established and successful Department which graduates 300+ MSc students a year and is ranked #1 in the UK and #3 globally in our field (2021 QS World University Rankings).

The Department is seeking to appoint an LSE Fellow who can make important contributions to its teaching and research. This post presents an excellent opportunity for the successful candidate to expand on their teaching experience while developing their research career.

Candidates will have a completed PhD in Media and Communications or a closely related field (PhD in hand without revisions pending by date of application). Candidates must demonstrate evidence of high-quality teaching at graduate level, and an interest in contributing to teaching on methods of research in Media and Communications. Candidates will have a developing research record in the field of Media and Communications with evidence of a commitment to critically assessing theories and empirical research. Candidates must demonstrate excellent communication and presentation skills and have a commitment to equality and diversity.

We offer an occupational pension scheme, generous annual leave and excellent training and development opportunities.

For further information about the post, please see here: https://jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/3725/0/299048/15539/lse-fellow-in-media-and-communications

If you have any technical queries with applying on the online system, please use the "contact us" links at the bottom of the LSE Jobs page.

Should you have any queries about the role, please email Professor Lee Edwards, mailto:L.Edwards@lse.ac.uk.

The closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday 13 June 2021 (23.59 UK time). Regrettably, we are unable to accept any late applications.

An LSE Fellowship is intended to be an entry route to an academic career and is deemed by the School to be a career development position. As such, applicants who have already been employed as a LSE Fellow for three years in total are not eligible to apply. If you have any queries about this please contact the HR Division.

June 9, 2021

Online conference

The University of Surrey invites you to join Crises - one of the final events in the Keywords in Technology and Society series hosted by the research theme Technology and Society at the University of Surrey. Crises will consider the role of digital societies in moments of crises, with this particular edition focusing closely on the COVID19 pandemic. Each talk will address a facet of data/digital technologies in relation to the ongoing pandemic.

Speakers include

• Dr Ranjana Das, Theme Champion for Technology and Society, Department of Sociology will talk about an agenda for stronger digitally-supported mental health during and beyond the pandemic.
• Prof Caroline Scarles, School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Centre for Digital Transformation in the Visitor Economy will talk about virtual experiences of art and heritage in times of crisis.
• Dr Itziar Castello, Department of Digital Economy, Entrepreneurship and Innovation will talk about fake news, vaccination, and the strategic management of emotions in times of crises.

Please sign up here: Crises Tickets, Wed 9 Jun 2021 at 14:00 | Eventbrite

Please note that this event, and the entire series is fully public and open to anyone to attend, so please feel free to circulate this email to anyone in your wider external networks who may be interested in either this event or the wider series. 

June 17, 2021

Webinar

I am pleased to invite you to the next in the series of IPRA Thought Leadership webinars. The webinar One platform for all: the INEOS in Cologne intranet case study will be presented by the communications team from INEOS Cologne comprising Dr Anne-Gret Iturriaga Abarzua, Maite Enfedaque and Johanna Pauly on Thursday 17 June 2021 at 12.00 GMT/UCT (13.00 British Summer Time).

What is the webinar content?

Informing and engaging staff internally by enabling them to act as ambassadors in their community is crucial for the sustainable and long-term success of a company. This webinar is about a best practice example, which won the IPRA Golden World Award 2020 in the category Internal Communications, using the out-of-the box technology Office 365 to keep staff up-to-date.

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 the INEOS team

Dr Anne-Gret Iturriaga Abarzua is the Head of Communications for INEOS in Cologne. She is an IPRA board member. Next to her communication and anthropology studies in Vienna, she worked as a freelance journalist for Austrian and German media as well as for PR agencies. As a consultant in a PR agency in Vienna, she helped clients of the plastics and wood industry shaping their reputation. Before arriving to INEOS in Cologne, she was the Communications Manager for EVC (now INOVYN) in Germany.

Maite Enfedaque is the Communications Officer for INEOS in Cologne. With a bachelor’s degree in advertising and public relations and a master's degree in strategic management in global communications, she has her work experience in advertising agencies as a producer, where she was responsible for the development and execution of BTL campaigns as well as the organization of events for global consumer brands.

Johanna is Junior Communications Manager for INEOS in Cologne. She holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism and corporate communications and is a local graduate at INEOS in their graduate programme for young professionals. She has experience in event management, is responsible for donation and sponsoring activities and organises multi and cross channel communications via intranet and internet, social media and printed media.

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.org

Telephone +44 1634 818308

September 3, 2021

Online workshop

Deadline: May 21, 2021

YECREA Pre-Conference (ECC 2021)

The Young Scholars Network of ECREA (YECREA) is happy to invite students and early-career scholars to a workshop right before the 8th European Communication Conference (ECC) in September.

The workshop will be held online. The number of participants is not limited.

This workshop is designed for postgraduate and early-career researchers to develop practical coping mechanisms for the various expectations placed on them, such as (but not limited to): publishing pressures (while writing their PhD); getting grants and funding; teaching; getting recognition for their work in competitive environments; dealing with imposter syndrome; searching for stable employment. We will provide input by YECREA representatives as well as senior scholars and have a roundtable discussion, in which all participants can share their experiences, with a special focus on the new issues brought about by the COVID19 pandemic.

How to apply

Submissions should be sent via this digital form: https://forms.gle/Nc2SozPKiGVoXi198

All applicants should include a brief description of their motivation for participating and expectations (max 200 words) .

Applicants do not have to be members of YECREA or ECREA.

Evaluation process

Applications will be processed by the YECREA pre-conference organizers.

Registration

Participation at the event is free of charge.

If you have any questions, please contact: norbert.sinkovic@ff.uns.ac.rs

November 20-21, 2021

Online conference

Deadline:  July 31, 2021

We invite proposals from academia and industry for 20-minute papers and 80-minute panels to be presented at the international and interdisciplinary two-day online conference The Politics of Casting in Media, hosted by the Faculty of Creative Industries at the University of South Wales.

Casting is a fundamental practice in textual productions and value chain processes. Yet, more than this, who gets cast and in what roles, and those identities frequently marginalised (see Yuen, 2017) are pertinent ongoing topics of journalistic outputs, audience conversations, and academic studies. Whilst the series It’s a Sin (Channel 4, 2021) cast only LGBTQ+ actors for queer characters (Kanter, 2021), James Corden – a cis-gendered straight white male – has been criticised for his portrayal of gay masculinity in The Prom (Netflix, 2020) (Lee, 2020). This raises questions not only of character representations and notions of authenticity, but also issues surrounding the political economy of who is employed to undertake such roles and professional/celebrity cachet. Likewise, inclusive casting is more than a box-ticking exercise (Nwonka, 2020), evidenced by John Boyega criticising Disney’s increased relegation of characters of colour in the most recent Star Wars trilogy (2015-19) in favour of developing the films’ white leads (Famurewa, 2020). Yet, whilst the casting of actors and the resultant media output they act in frequently warrant analyses, the job of ‘casting [itself] is an overlooked and underresearched component of the filmmaking process’ (Warner, 2016: 177). Thus, casting needs to be critically examined vocationally as much as textually, considering the role of casting director within wider media production cultures.

Likewise, casting, much like media itself, is frequently in conversation with cultural climates and reflective of wider social relations. The Black Lives Matter movement has reignited discussions of racial depictions and the hegemonic whiteness of mainstream Anglophonic media. It has also sparked instances of change such as several white actors stepping down from voicing characters of colour in animated series (Romano 2020), and the industry investing in underrepresented communities in both above- and below-the-line roles (e.g. Kay, 2021). Yet, suggestions of Covid-19 impacting already marginalised groups working in, or seeking to enter, media industries the hardest (Eikhof, 2020) requires such schemes and promises to be further scrutinised, as do practices such as colourblind casting (Geraghty, 2020).

Fans also vocalise their feelings of cast choices, wanting to see themselves represented in, and identify with the characters of, the media they consume (Martin Jr, 2019; Marquez, 2020). Some chastise mainstream media’s Othering of non-white, queer, foreign, and disabled identities, evidenced in online commentary and meme imagery (Rendell, 2019a, 2019b). Others ‘fix’ mainstream media’s heteronormative and whitewashing practices in their own transformative work by racebending characters and writing slash fanfiction (Gilliland, 2016; Busse, 2017). Others sign online petitions as a form of collective activism that endeavours for better representations (Warner, 2018). However, other responses are far more exclusionary (Yodovich, 2020), especially relating to ongoing serial media franchises with established fandoms such as Doctor Who, Ghostbusters, and Star Wars. Accusations of political correctness over canon fidelity, highly problematic discourses of ‘blackwashing’ emerging on social media sites such as Reddit, and even the online harassment of actors of colour (Lawson, 2018) demonstrate toxic affect towards character representations. Such engagement, whether radical or reactionary, highlights how intersectional identities and socio-political beliefs inform audiences’ readings of castings at textual, paratextual, and extra-textual levels.

We particularly welcome proposals from postgraduate students, PhD candidates, early career researchers, industry experts, trade bodies, guilds, NGOs, and charities. Submissions from a variety of perspectives, theoretical underpinnings, and methodological approaches that cover all media – such as film, television, theatre, radio, animation, video games, advertising – are welcome, with possible topics including (but not limited to):

• Character representation and identity (such as race, gender, sexuality, age, class, and ‘non-normative’ bodies)
• The role of casting director within media productions
• Auditioning processes
• Support for marginalised groups gaining employment
• Marketing, paratextual, and transmedial engagement with casts
• Celebrity, stardom, and performance
• The re-casting of characters
• Media texts centring on casting, such as Black Hollywood: ‘They Gotta Have Us’ (BBC Two, 2020) and Disclosure (Netflix, 2020)

• Colourblind casting
• Casting in bi-lingual/back-to-back productions
• Audience responses to cast choices
• Fan and anti-fan practices
• Toxic audience behaviour
• Casting and Covid-19
• The political economy of casting
• International media collaborations
• Casting and pedagogy
• Casting outside of Hollywood and mainstream media
• Voice acting in radio, video games, animated media, and CGI
• Background actors, non-speaking roles, and extras
• Industry commitments to inclusion and diversity
• Tokenism and the burden of representation
• Histories of casting

We are delighted to announce that our keynote speakers for the event are Dr Kristen J. Warner (University of Alabama) and Dr Shelley Cobb (University of Southampton).

For individual papers, please send abstracts (maximum 350 words) and bios (maximum 150 words) to James Rendell (james.rendell@southwales.ac.uk). Submissions should include your name, the title of your paper, and your institutional or professional affiliation (if appropriate; we strongly welcome independent scholars and freelance professionals). We also seek proposals for 80-minute panels. Panel submissions (maximum 1050 words) should include abstracts, institutional/professional affiliations, and contact information for all speakers. As an inclusive international online conference, speakers will have the option to present live or submit pre-recorded videos.

Work Cited

Busse, K. 2017. Framing Fan Fiction: Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press.

Eikhof, D.R. 2020. COVID-19, inclusion and workforce diversity in the cultural economy: what now, what next? Cultural Trends. 29(3). pp.234-250.

Famurewa, J. 2020. John Boyega: ‘I’m the only cast member whose experience of Star Wars was based on their race’. GQ [online] 5th October. https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/culture/article/john-boyega-interview-2020

Geraghty, C. 2020. Casting for the public good: BAME casting in British film and television in the 2010s. Adaptation. pp.1-19.

Gilliland, E. 2016. Racebending fandoms and digital futurism. Transformative Works and Cultures. 22. http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2016.0702.

Kanter, J. 2021. ‘It’s A Sin’ Creator Russell T Davies Says It’s Important To Cast Gay Actors As Gay Characters. Deadline [online] 12th January. https://deadline.com/2021/01/its-a-sin-russell-t-davies-gay-actors-1234671861/

Kay, J. 2021. Netflix launches $100m fund to support underrepresented communities in film and TV. Screendaily [online] 26th February. https://www.screendaily.com/news/netflix-launches-100m-fund-to-support-underrepresented-communities-in-film-and-tv/5157475.article?fbclid=IwAR1zdtLqSzBt2DK9-4ZsQiA-qm900StISh8X4Yzql-WZAOos5pSYxP_HVcA

Lawson, C.E. 2018. Platform vulnerabilities: harassment and misogynoir in the digital attack on Leslie Jones. Information, Communication & Society. 21(6). pp.818-833.

Lee, B. 2020. James Corden proves why straight actors should think twice before playing gay. The Guardian [online] 9th December. https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/dec/09/james-corden-the-prom-netflix-proves-straight-actors-playing-gay-should-think-twice

Marquez, S. 2020. The Harry Potter fandom: What’s next for trans fans and allies? Bookstacked [online] 31st July. https://bookstacked.com/features/harry-potter-fandom-jk-rowling-transgender/

Martin Jr, A.L., 2019. Fandom while black: Misty Copeland, Black Panther, Tyler Perry and the contours of US black fandoms. International Journal of Cultural Studies. 22(6). pp.737-753.

Nwonka, C.J. 2020. Race and Ethnicity in the UK Film Industry: An Analysis of the BFI Diversity Standards. London: LSE.

Rendell, J. 2019a. Black (anti)fandom’s intersectional politicization of The Walking Dead as a transmedia franchise. Transformative Works and Cultures. 29. http://dx.doi.org/10.3983/twc.2019.1477.

Rendell, J. 2019b. A picture is worth a thousand corpses: Audiences’ affective engagement with In the Flesh and The Walking Dead through online image practices. Participations: Journal of Audience & Reception Studies. 16(2). pp.88-117

Romano, A. 2020. How voice actors are fighting to change an industry that renders them invisible. Vox [online] 1st December. https://www.vox.com/2020/7/22/21326824/white-voice-actors-black-characters-cartoons-whitewashing

Warner, K.J. 2016. Strategies for Success? Navigating Hollywood’s “Postracial” Labor Practices. In Curtin, M and Sanson, K (eds). Precarious Creativity: Global Media, Local Labor. Oakland: University of California Press. pp.172-185.

Warner, K.J. 2018. The emergence of the Iris West Defense Squad. In Click, M.A and Scott, S (eds). The Routledge Companion to Media Fandom. London: Routledge. pp.253-261.

Yodovich, N. 2020. “Finally, we get to play the doctor”: feminist female fans’ reactions to the first female Doctor Who. Feminist Media Studies. 20(8). pp.1243-1258.

Yuen. N.W. 2017. Reel Inequality: Hollywood Actors and Racism. New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press.

Call for papers and contributions for an edited collection

Deadline: July 31, 2021

Edited by Dr Simone Driessen, Bethan Jones, Dr Benjamin Litherland.

It has become increasingly clear that fandoms and participatory culture are sites of controversy, conflict and even complicity, complicating earlier assessments that sought to celebrate creativity, collegiality, and community. As we continue to make sense of the consequences of web 2.0, the study of fans – the affective bonds, identities, and productive cultures of a highly mediated and networked society – is vital in understanding our current moment, whether expressed in debates about “cancel culture” or ongoing “culture wars”. Fans have had to rethink and reassess their relationships to fan objects, consider their role in reproducing global systems of inequality, and reflect on the meaning of participation in an era that is marked by both moral ambivalence and political earnestness.

Implicitly and explicitly, fannish practices are involved in a variety of key social, political, and cultural issues across the globe. They can be seen in politics, ranging from QAnon’s role in the storming of the US Capitol building, conspiracy theories relating to the covid pandemic, and the continued expansion of the global reactionary and populist right, from Britain to India to Brazil. They can be seen in new cultural terrains produced by networked movements like #MeToo, Black Lives Matter, #OscarsSoWhite, and the accompanying activism and responses as fans come to terms with the crimes, misdemeanors, and disagreements of former faves, like Xiao Zhan, Joss Whedon, or JK Rowling. They are expressed in the strategies and tactics of inter- and intra-fandom conflicts, whether Meghan Markle and the Royal Family or some Chinese fan responses to BTS talking about the Korean war. And, pressingly, fan tourism, collector culture, and the energy use of digital culture all contribute to the ongoing climate crisis.

Scholars of participatory culture can play a key role in assessing many and more of these issues, but they will also have significant and ongoing impact on the way we conceptualize fans, fandoms, and participatory culture. This work builds on developing themes in the field. Ongoing scholarship about racism, sexism, and homophobia in prominent fan spaces is vital (Massanari, 2017; Pande, 2020; Scott, 2019), and Jonathan Gray’s conception of anti-fandom (2003; 2005; 2007) is an important moment in indicating the darker underbelly of fan cultures. Yet scholarship on QAnon and Trump fandom (Reinhardt, forthcoming; Miller, 2020), cancel and commenting culture (Clark, 2020; Ng, 2020; Barnes, 2018), reactionary fandom (Stanfill, 2020), ethical consumption (Wood, Litherland & Reed, 2020; Tyler, 2021) and serial killer fandom (Nacos, 2015; Rico, 2015) pose important questions which cannot be answered simply by reference to anti- or toxic fandom.

This collection brings together some of these authors and perspectives while developing and extending these debates. We are keen to broaden the scope of the issue so that studies of fans of film and television are included alongside studies of music, literary, theatre, sports and politics. And we are especially eager to include case studies beyond the anglophone and global north. We are also interested in the practices of organizations in fan-adjacent areas such as marketing, production, branding and influencer culture. We welcome traditional essays and research papers and non-traditional formats, such as roundtables, interviews, and think-pieces, from people inside and outside of the academy. Topics might include but are not limited to:

• Conspiracy theories and/as fandom.
• ‘Culture wars’, intra- and inter-fan conflicts, and other broader disagreements or discontent about the meaning and values of popular cultural texts.
• The consequences of anti-fandom and toxic fandom.
• Expressions and practices of ethical consumption, whether via “cancel culture”, commodity activism or similar.
• The moral economies of fandom, and their consequences for the media and cultural industries.
• The ethical implications of participation, whether through fan activism, dark fandom or other.
• The environmental impact of fandom, from NFTs to fan tourism.

Please send an abstract of 300 words, along with a short author biography of 150 words to participatoryculturewars@gmail.com by 31 July 2021. Please also address any queries to this email address.

Glasgow Caledonian University

This is a full time/fixed term maternity cover for 12 months

Glasgow Caledonian University is a vibrant, multi-cultural, modern university in the centre of Glasgow. It is placed amongst the top 50 universities globally (THE Impact rankings, 2020). Our welcoming community of 20,000 students from more than 100 countries enjoy a wide range of award-winning support services and excellent facilities across each of our campuses in Glasgow, London and New York. Our University mission, commitment to the Common Good and core values of integrity, creativity, responsibility and confidence are integral to everything we do and how we deliver our mission.

An opportunity has arisen to join us as a Lecturer in Media (12-month contract). The role is based within the Department of Media & Journalism, located within Glasgow School for Business and Society. The Department delivers a wide range of programmes and research in the area of Media & Communication and Journalism.

It is essential that the applicant should have the expertise and flexibility to develop and deliver a range of modules across the broad media discipline, such as audience, discourse, fan cultures, research methods, textual analysis, ideology and/or fan cultures. It is essential that you should also have experience supervising student dissertations. It is essential that you have experience of online pedagogies, online technologies, assessment design and learning and teaching. Experience of personal tutoring is desired.

Although ideally applicants will be qualified to doctorate level in a media related discipline, given the temporary nature of this position, applicants near completion of a PhD in a Media related subject and possessing a Masters qualification with experience of both and face-to-face teaching at higher education level are welcome.

Applicants are expected to have excellent communication, planning and organisational skills. You should also be able to demonstrate a student-centred approach and an ability to work in a collaborative manner with colleagues.

Further details on this post are available by contacting Dr Ben McConville, Head of Department; Email: Ben.McConville@gcu.ac.uk

As the University for the Common Good, we are committed to embedding equality and diversity, as well as our values in everything that we do. As such, we welcome applications from all suitably qualified candidates who demonstrate the GCU Values.

Glasgow Caledonian University is committed to a fair and transparent recruitment process that is free from bias so that we can attract and retain a high performing workforce which makes a critical contribution to our success​.

As a Disability Confident 'Committed' employer, we are striving to ensure that our recruitment process is inclusive and accessible to people with disabilities. Although the Disability Confident 'Committed' level does not guarantee an interview for disabled applicants, we will make reasonable adjustments for applicants with a disability during the recruitment process.

The University offers a range of benefits including opportunities for professional development, family friendly policies, cycle to work scheme and onsite childcare facilities.

Please note that the appointment will be made on the first point of the salary scale (unless by exception).

https://www.myjobscotland.gov.uk/education/glasgow-caledonian-university/jobs/lecturer-media-217697