ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

May 22-23, 2025

Erasmus University Rotterdam, Netherlands

Deadline for abstracts: January 15, 2025

ECREA Communication & Democracy Section Off-Year Conference

https://automatingdemocracy.wordpress.com/ 

A kind reminder that the deadline for abstract submissions for the ECREA Communication & Democracy Section's off-year conference, Automating Democracy: AI Use Between Social Justice and Social Control is coming up on January 15, 2025. The conference will explore the transformative effects of artificial intelligence (AI) on democratic processes, focusing on two inter-related themes:   

•AI & governance

•AI & citizen participation

We are also excited to announce our keynote speakers for the conference:

• Prof. Dr. Madalina Busuioc, Full Professor of Public Governance in the Department of Political Science and Public Administration, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
  
• Dr. Simone Natale, Associate Professor in Media Theory and History at the University of Turin
  

The two-day event will also include a practitioner-scholar roundtable facilitating a dialogue on current practices and challenges of AI-use for progressive social change between civil society representatives and conference participants. 

For additional information on submissions, fees and proposed timeline, please visit our conference website https://automatingdemocracy.wordpress.com/

Conference organizing committee

• Dr. Delia Dumitrica, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  
• Dr. Ofra Klein, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  
• Victoria Balan, Erasmus University Rotterdam
  
• Dr. Giuliana Sorce, Tubingen University
  
• Dr. Jun Liu, University of Copenhagen
  
• Dr. Arianna Bussoletti, Sapienza Universita di Roma
  

IJFMA Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026)

Deadline: February 21,2025

The editorial board of the International Journal of Film and Media Arts is pleased to announce an open call for submissions for Vol. 11 No. 1 (2026) Do Comics Have Electric Dreams? Comics and Technology, in collaboration with the two guest editors Marco Fraga da Silva and Pedro Moura.  

Considering media as “socially embedded sites for the ongoing negotiation of meaning” (Lisa Giltman), their relationship with technologies has always been one of co-evolution. Their interconnectedness is so profound and varied that it has led to a plethora of theoretical approaches with multiple specific, differentiated notions, such as multimedia, intermedia, transmedia, cross-media, each with their own valence and focus.

Stemming from multiple strands such as narrative drawing, caricature, press and satirical literature, comics (considered as a whole, and not as specific textual formats such as strips, wordless novels, comic books, graphic novels, tankonbon, etc.) have emerged as a medium of and on its own. From its early 19th century stages up to today, and within multiple national and global traditions, comics have been considered under many guises, such as a form of art, an IP factory, or a technology onto itself, able to be employed for multiple discourse purposes or having some of its elements appropriated by both art and commerce to convey specific meaning-making dimensions, e.g., “crass popular culture” in Roy Lichtenstein appropriative art, or the use of the split screen in Ang Lee's 2003 Hulk to represent parallel narration and traumatic dissociation.

Historically speaking, print media comics have established immediate mutual relationships with several other media in their earliest appearances, either through adaptation (e.g., L'arroseur arrosé, Ally Sloper, radio serials), early transmediation (e.g., L. Frank Baum's World of Oz), or remediating them into its' own formal specificities (page composition, narrative voices, technology representation and social-cultural negotiation, and so on). Today there are multiple challenges, thanks to the increasing use of comics as parts of transmedia projects, the usage of multiple digital devices, the emergence of AI platforms (such as Neural Canvas and ComicsMaker.ai, among others), the good fortune of webtoons as smartphone-friendly texts, and so on. As new or adapted technologies and media enter the fray, so do themes and topicalities, reading protocols, changes in styles and engagement, etc. One fundamental question could arise: are comics simply yet another curtailment by the “demands of capitalism” or can they contribute to a “radical attention” (Julia Bell) in our lives?

The International Journal of Film and Media Arts is an open access, promoted by the FilmEU - European University and Film and Media Arts Department - Lusófona University, Lisboa, Portugal. IJFMA is a semiannual publication focusing on all areas of film and media arts research. Since June 2020, IJFMA was accepted for indexation in Scopus from Elsevier, reaching the Q2 level in Visual Arts.

While chapters on the intermedial relationships between comics and traditional and historical media (press, poster art, theatre, animation, cinema, radio, television) are most welcome, or even a broader sense of “media archeology” (Jussi Parikka), we are looking forward for contributions that address late 20th and 21st century “new” media. From video games, internet-native media, interactive streaming, geolocation storytelling, pod/videocasting, or others, while considering issues of digitisation, the use of digital tools, Artificial Intelligence (AI) or Machine Learning (ML) assisted production, etc., that negotiate with the medium of comics. The facets of creation, promotion, distribution and reception are equally important, but so are those of digital fandom and participatory culture, web-based archives, and conservation, file-sharing, piracy, and other critical practices.

We wish to understand the place of comics within a broad material, cultural and political context of the contemporary digital and social-media-suffused world we live in. How do comics inform, interact, or mirror such a world? What is their role in communicative approaches or the entertainment industries? What is their weight within transmedia franchises? What is their impact on the economic field? How have new or newly integrated technologies changed them and the way we consume them?

Here are some possible topics of discussion:

• New digital production and distribution options for comics;
  
• Affordances and hindrances of digital tools for comics-creation, including web-based, transmedia worldbuilding tools;
  
• Ethical, political, and creative impacts on the use of ML and AI in creation and reception, and changes in the scalability of comics styles and production;
  
• Repurposing of (traditional) comics in digital platforms and new ways of fashioning spectatorship via new digital-native or influenced texts, technologies and institutional reading contexts;
  
• Changes in storytelling, materiality and the readerly experience brought forth by digital means (motion, animation, interactivity, sound, colouring, lighting, augmented reality);
  
• Comics in transmedia and in convergence culture;
  
• The media/tech, economic, or narratological dimensions of digital comics, webcomics, webtoons, etc.;
  
• The renegotiation of comics' identity as “print media” with the emergence of digital-native comics forms;
  
• Comics as Big Data: computational analysis of large corpora;
  

We are looking forward to collecting several chapters (minimum: 7 500, maximum: 40 000 characters)

Abstracts to be submitted by 2025 February 21st.

Please provide two Word documents (.doc) with:

• ABSTRACT, no longer than 500 words with 5 keywords.
  

The abstract should not have any reference to the authors or the institution they belong to. The authors must ensure that their manuscripts are prepared in such a way that they do not reveal their identities to reviewers, either directly or indirectly.

• BIO, no longer than 50/70 words. Name, Email address and institutional affiliation.
  

Please submit your abstract, here: https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/ijfma/about/submissions

When submitting, include the Open Call for which your paper should be reviewed.

Submissions will be reviewed by at least 2 peer reviewers. Accepted abstracts will be given guidelines for the preparation and submission of the final text for the 2nd round of double-blind peer reviews.

No fees are requested for submission or processing.

For inquiries: anna.coutinho@ulusofona.pt

IJFMA Vol. 10 No. 3 Dossier II

Deadline: June 30, 2025

The editorial board of the International Journal of Film and Media Arts is pleased to announce an open call for submissions for Vol. 10 No. 3, Dossier 2 What Future for the Cinema of Small European Countries?, in collaboration with the European Project Crescine.

The question posed in the title of this call for papers is not rhetorical; it reflects an urgent need to critically examine and actively engage with the current and future state of cinema in Europe’s smaller nations. This question invites scholars, practitioners, and policymakers to challenge the prevailing paradigms in film studies, which have historically emphasised a binary view of Hollywood versus European/World cinema.

Such dichotomies often obscure the unique dynamics and opportunities that shape the film industries of small European countries. In the current landscape, characterised by uncertainty brought about by rapid technological changes and an increasingly competitive global market, a reassessment of these frameworks is not only timely but necessary.

As film and media studies continue to shift away from grand narratives toward nuanced perspectives, new avenues for multidisciplinary and holistic inquiries are surfacing. This call for papers seeks contributions that treat cinema not as an isolated artistic form but as a socio-cultural and economic phenomenon deeply embedded in its surrounding environment. Such a stance integrates an approach that considers film as something that cannot be detached from its extra-cinematic context and combines it with a vision that contemplates issues related to cultural diversity, innovative disruption and changes in how audiences have access to – and engage with – films and audiovisual content. The goal is to create a dialogue that addresses cinema’s relationship with broader cultural, political, and economic realities in small European contexts, as well as the critical factors that these countries face due to paradigm changes and external circumstances.

The challenges faced by the film industries of small European countries are unique. Often, they must contend with limited funding, restricted access to distribution channels, and an ever-present struggle to maintain cultural specificity in the era of the “glocal”. In this environment, supply and demand are increasingly being disrupted by digital streaming platforms, which offer new funding opportunities, reach and visibility while heightening market competition and promoting cultural homogenisation. “CresCine: Increasing the international competitiveness of film industries in small European markets”, a project that started in 2023, has been looking into these issues (and more) and tackling the realities of the film industries of today from a myriad of angles. As its dissemination reaches full steam, this call for papers invites submissions that blend historical, theoretical, and empirical insights. We welcome contributions from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including but not limited to film studies, cultural policy, sociology, economics, and media studies. Contributors are encouraged to consider how the unique positioning of small European cinemas may offer fresh insights into larger debates within global film studies, including those around sustainability, diversity, technological innovation, labour conditions, production methods, clusterisation, and audience engagement.

Through this call, we hope to foster a robust exchange of ideas that will not only illuminate the unique conditions of cinema in small European countries but also offer pathways for these industries to navigate the complexities of the 21st-century media landscape.

This issue of the International Journal of Film and Media Arts invites everyone with a research interest in the topic to submit papers that deal with but are not limited to the topics and questions of:

• Knowledge About Small European Film Industries and Markets: what are the specificities of these markets? How do these markets fare in comparison (with each other and with markets from other countries with similar dimension/population)? What are the blind spots of the current literature and statistics on film markets?
  
• Sustainability in, and of, Film Industries: How are small European countries building resilient film industries? What models of funding, institutional support, or cross-border collaboration are proving effective or necessary in these contexts? How can good environmental practices and precepts inform new production paradigms?
  
• Technological Transformation and Digital Disruption: What are the impacts of digital and streaming technologies on the production, distribution, and consumption of films? How is AI disrupting the traditional value chain and its links? How are small countries leveraging or responding to these changes?
• Cultural Policy and Film as a Cultural Good: What roles do national and regional policies play in supporting cinema in smaller markets? How can cultural policies promote balance between local industries and participation in a global media environment, and what is the stance of different stakeholders in this matter?
  
• Audience Dynamics and Access: How are audience behaviours changing when it comes to accessing film and choosing what to watch? How do shifts in distribution models, such as streaming and on-demand platforms, affect local film industries and cultural consumption in small European countries?
  
• Cinema as a Reflection of Cultural Identity: In what ways do films from smaller European nations reflect, challenge, or reshape notions of cultural and national identity? How can cinema still encompass linguistic diversity and regional narratives under the pressure of today’s markets? What are the specificities of the films from small European industries?
• Film and Economics: Are intra-cinematic aspects of films becoming different due to extra-cinematic circumstances? What are the current labour conditions in small European countries, and what can workers in these industries expect in the future?
  
• Methodologies: how can film and media studies become even more multidisciplinary? To what extent can methodologies from areas that are usually outside the scope of film and media studies feed more information into this field, help answer longstanding questions and create beneficial bridges?

Keywords: Film Industries; Small European Countries; SVoD; Economics; Audiences.

Full Papers to be submitted by June 30, 2025.

Provide two Word documents (.doc) with:

1. Full Paper prepared for blind peer review.

The document should not mention the authors or the institution they belong to. The authors must ensure that their manuscripts are prepared so that they do not reveal their identities to reviewers, either directly or indirectly.

2. Title Page:

a) Name (Preferred Public Name)

b) Affiliation of each author (university + country)

c) ORCID (optional)

d) Short bio (max. 50 words) per author

e) Acknowledgements (if needed)

Please submit your full paper on the IJFMA website under the Submission section.

When submitting, include the Open Call for which your paper should be reviewed.

Website: https://revistas.ulusofona.pt/index.php/ijfma/about/submissions

Schedule for publication:

• Submission of full paper: 30th June 2025
  
• Feedback on full papers: 15th September 2025
  
• Final revisions: 30th October 2025
  
• Publication date: December 2025

Submissions will be made anonymously. Submissions will be reviewed by at least 2 peer reviewers.

No fees are requested for submission or processing.

This special Dossier is been prepared in collaboration with the European Project CresCine (101094988 — CresCine — HORIZON-CL2-2022-HERITAGE-01).

For inquiries: anna.coutinho@ulusofona.pt

Diana Garrisi

• The book constitutes an original interdisciplinary contribution to the media history of the human body
  
• It explores the cultural and historical foundations of wound representation in Western media
  
• The case study approach generates an in-depth examination of the connection between dermatology and the Victorian press

About this book

Drawing on a wide range of primary sources, this book explains what made skin newsworthy in Victorian Britain. It represents a unique contribution to the media history of the human body by delving into the cultural and historical underpinnings of wound representation in Western culture. Employing a case study approach, the book provides a comprehensive exploration of the interplay between dermatology and the Victorian press. This work suggests that there was a mutually constitutive relationship between skin reporting and the formal evolution of news discourse during the nineteenth century. Narratives related to skin, such as wounds caused by corporal punishment, plagues resulting from neglect in workhouses, and occupational skin diseases, emerged as defining features of Victorian newspapers. Notably, media coverage of wounded skin assumed a central rhetorical position in debates pertaining to discipline, abuse, poverty, labour, and social norms, a legacy still discernible in contemporary journalism. Analysing the mediation of the wounded body in Victorian Britain offers a unique insight into the foundations of modern journalism. It sheds light on the impossibility of maintaining an objective framework when observing and reporting on bodies in pain. Paradoxically, news writers and commentators of that era navigated this challenge by encapsulating such narratives within rhetorical constructs that provided a template for the evolution of contemporary news values.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-75368-8

September 17-19, 2025

Karlstad (Sweden)

Deadline: April 14, 2025

Passion is a multifaceted concept that encompasses not only joy and intense emotional investment but also pain and suffering. Passion’s significance in the realm of media, visual cultures and artistic practices serves as a driving force behind the relationship people develop with technologies, platforms, content, and forms of creation, as well as with places, territories and other spatial formations. The rise of digital media has amplified a cultural turn to passion, as individuals and communities increasingly pursue activities they love, often translating personal interests into online expressions, creative projects, and even careers. Likewise, new media platforms serve to foster and channel various forms of spatial attachments and engagements, ranging from local entrepreneurship to geo-political battles. 

(Geo)media technologies facilitate such multifaceted passionate engagement. In neoliberal markets, passion is also commodified through the concept of passionate labor, where individuals are encouraged to transform their zeal for specific subjects into monetizable content or professional endeavors. This creates a dialectic tension, as the passion-driven work promoted by social media platforms often blurs the borders between leisure and labor. It also challenges longstanding geographies of work and gives rise to new spaces and mobilities at the intersection of leisure and labor (e.g., digital nomadism). 

Moreover, the debates surrounding passion in media and visual cultures are not unidirectional; they are countered by forms of resistance that challenge dominant narratives of media-driven enthusiasm. These counter-passions critique the pressure to constantly access, engage, create, evaluate, and consume content, or places, pointing to the negative consequences of excessive digital immersion. Media’s role in shaping affective structures around passion thus reveals both the empowering and detrimental effects of intense emotional engagement.

The 6th International Geomedia Conference Transforming Passions marks the 10th anniversary of the Geomedia conference series and explores, among other dimensions: refocusing emotional energy to imagine alternative futures and push for systemic changes; questioning the role of media in relation to individuals’ and groups’ emotional investments into space and place; reorienting personal affective experiences into collective action; reevaluating the risks associated with commodified or exploited passion in digital labor; and redefining current understandings of passion into new forms that are artistic, social, political, or technologically mediated.

We welcome contributions that address issues of, but do not have to be limited to:

• spaces and places of mediated intimacy and (com)passion
  
• affective dimensions of digital (media) labor
  
• passion in representations of space and place 
  
• feelings and experiences of connection / disconnection 
  
• passion’s states of being and modes of becoming
  
• passions and desires of the self and their surroundings
  
• (geo)media and love of place and/or environment
  
• geopolitics and the mediation of affect 
  
• passion, media and territorialization
  
• temporalities and proximities of passion
  
• affective dimensions of mobility and tourism 
  
• (social) media and performance of love, hate, and everything in-between
  
• solid and unstable forms of passion, passion and privilege, passion and glitches, failures and uncertainties
  
• passion and the public sphere
  
• transformative potential of passion’s fragilities and vulnerabilities
  
• passion and its boundaries or excessiveness
  
• environmental and sustainable passions
  
• mediating emotions in times of political and social turmoil
  
• the democratic role of passion
  
• passion as a form of agency
  
• passion as a concept and/or method in research and activism
  
• cocreating passion in and through artistic practice
  
• transmedia and transdisciplinary perspectives of passion

The International Geomedia Conference 2025 welcomes proposals from film, media and cultural studies, game studies, communication studies, journalism, media anthropology, human and cultural geography, urban studies, design, cultural and artistic practices and the arts.  

The theme Transforming Passions will be addressed through invited keynote sessions, plenary panels and workshops, audiovisual screenings and conversations. Participants are encouraged to submit proposals for individual papers, artistic contributions, audiovisual essays, workshops or paper sessions addressing the conference theme. 

Keynote speakers:

Confirmed speakers include Paul C. Adams (University of Texas at Austin, USA), Mark Deuze (University of Amsterdam, NL), Annette Hill (Jönköping University, SE), Jyoti Mistry (University of Gothenburg, SE), Kaarina Nikunen (Tampere University, FI), Erika Polson (University of Denver, USA), Jenny Sundén (Södertörn University, SE) 

Abstract submissions:

The Geomedia Conference 2025 invites proposals for individual papers, thematic panels, audiovisual essays, workshops or paper sessions in English through the conference submission system opening in February 2025. 

Each proposal should include the following information:

• Title
  
• Abstract
  
• Presentation format
  
• Biographical note of max. 100 words
  
• 3-5 keywords
  

Individual Paper proposals, Artistic Contribution proposal, Audiovisual Essay proposal: The authors submit abstracts of 250-300 words. Accepted papers are grouped by the organizers into sessions of 3-4 papers each according to thematic fitting. 

Thematic Panel proposals: The panel chair submits a single pdf document proposal consisting of 3-4 individual paper abstracts of 200-250 words along with a general panel presentation of 200-250 words.  

Workshop proposals: The workshop chair submits a single pdf document proposal consisting of individual workshop contribution abstracts of 200-250 words each, if applicable, along with a general workshop presentation of 250-300 words. 

Publication opportunities: Selected papers and contributions from the conference may be considered for publication in an edited volume and/or a special journal issue.

Conference timeline:

February 2025: Submission system opens for individual papers, thematic panels, artistic contributions and audiovisual essays

14 April 2025: Submission system closes for individual papers, thematic panels, artistic contributions and audiovisual essays

26 May 2025: Notes of acceptance are out and registration opens 

More information, including conference fee and practical information, will be added to the conference website continuously: www.kau.se/transformingpassions 

If you have any questions, feel free to email us at: geomedia2025@kau.se

The conference is organized by the Centre for Geomedia Studies at Karlstad University, Sweden. There will also be events taking place across the city of Karlstad.  

For the organizers at the Department of Geography, Media and Communication, Karlstad University, Sweden:

• Georgia Aitaki, Conference Director
  
• Doris Posch, Conference Co-Director
  
• André Jansson, Director of the Centre for Geomedia Studies
  
• Richard Ek, Head of Scientific Committee
  

Application deadline: January 15, 2025, 23:59 CET

Are you a PhD candidate or a post-doctoral researcher in a non-tenure position looking for opportunities for professional development, international networking, and academic leadership experience? The Young Scholars Network (YECREA) seeks to fill 18 vacant representative positions across various sections, networks, and temporary working groups across the ECREA. 

The role involves organizing academic events, facilitating networking opportunities, and supporting early-career scholars within specific ECREA sections. 

For the complete call for applications, including detailed position descriptions, eligibility requirements, and application guidelines, please visit: https://yecrea.eu/2024/12/10/call-for-applications-yecrea-section-representatives-2025-18-vacant-positions/  

For questions, contact: yecreanetwork@gmail.com 

June 11, 2025, 9:00 am–5:00 pm

University of Denver, Colorado, USA

Deadline: February 1, 2025

Theme: Exploring visual communication’s role in documenting and influencing social change amidst technological and sociopolitical transitions. 

Focus Areas:

Phenomena-oriented: Examining visual representations of events and trends, including the impact of technologies like generative AI on issues such as disinformation and creative expression.

Actor/Agent-oriented: Research on individuals, groups, and organizations creating and engaging with visual content during transitions (e.g., visual storytelling, photojournalism).

Method-oriented: Exploring methodologies for studying visual meaning-making and innovative tools for analysis.

Participation:

Traditional Research: Submit anonymized extended abstracts (1,000 words) by February 1, 2025.

Research Escalator: Submit work-in-progress abstracts (500 words) for mentorship pairing.

Full CfP:

https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.icahdq.org/resource/resmgr/conference/2025/pc-cfp-frames-transition.pdf

Submit abstracts by February 1, 2025: https://bit.ly/4fdwT68

Notifications: March 11, 2025

Co-sponsors: ICA Global Communication and Social Change Division

Registration: $50 (includes lunch and refreshments). Invitation-only participation. Notifications by March 11, 2025.

June 18-20, 2025

University of Lincoln (UK)

Deadline (extended): December 20, 2025

We’re delighted to announce our keynotes:

• Dr Debashree Mukherjee (Columbia University, USA)
  
• Dr Kate Terkanian (Bournemouth University, UK)
  

This seventh iteration of the Women’s Film and Television History Network conference will foreground transnational and transmedial approaches to histories of women’s work in and across film, television and related media. The conference seeks to expand women’s film and TV histories by exploring cross-border and cross-medial relationships.

An 'entangled’ approach to film, TV and media historiography problematises national and mono-medial histories (Cronqvist and Hilgert, 2017). It recognises the complex processes by which film and television are made, distributed, seen and received across borders, be they geographical, cultural, ideological or otherwise defined, and in dialogue with other media.

This compels us to ‘read against the grain’ of existing histories, paying attention to ‘how historical silences are produced’ (Hilmes, 2017). These are the fundamentals of feminist media historiography, and this conference aims to bring women’s voices, figures, organisations, and stories into the light, giving them sharper focus. The conference will emphasise women’s roles in these entanglements. Our understanding of ‘women’ is inclusive and gender-expansive.

We encourage transmedial approaches that account for the role of women in the long histories of media convergence in different social and cultural contexts, as well as related practices, such as divergence, conglomeration, inter- and cross-mediality. ‘Media’ is defined broadly.  Work that engages with (interconnected) histories of women’s film and television beyond Western contexts is welcome.   

We are calling for papers in any area of women’s film and television history, but especially those that respond to the theme, on topics such as, but not limited to: 

•             Entangled and / or transnational women’s media histories and historiography: theory, practice, challenges 

•             Case studies of film and TV workers across national or medial borders

•             Historicising women’s role in digital or online screen media production, distribution, consumption, promotion, publicity or criticism.

•             Media convergence pre- and post-digital media

•             Feminist and/or decolonising approaches to media archaeology

•             Methodological challenges and approaches to entangled media histories

•             Entangled histories in cinema and TV industries beyond the mainstream e.g. amateur cinema, community television, independent and activist film and TV.

We welcome proposals in the following three formats:

1.            15-minute presentations, including the following information: 

2.            pre-constituted panels with a maximum of 4 speakers (panel length will be 90 minutes and should include at least 15 minutes for discussion). Pre-constituted panel proposals should include:

Panels can also be constituted as roundtables, workshops or other non-standard forms. Please contact the organising team to discuss ideas.

3.            Practice-led contributions which address women’s histories in film, television and audio/visual media are encouraged. Please submit: 

If accepted, practice-led contributions may be presented as part of panels or as a limited number of separate sessions/screenings and/or made available to delegates online.  

Please submit here: https://forms.office.com/e/NvRLHtdNa2

Extended deadline for proposals: 20 December 2024. The acceptance of your proposal will be communicated to you by the end of January 2025.

If you have any questions please contact Hannah Andrews (handrews@lincoln.ac.uk) and/or Jeongmee Kim (jkim@lincoln.ac.uk). On behalf of the conference organising team: Hannah Andrews, Diane Charlesworth, Jeongmee Kim, and Frances Morgan.

merzWissenschaft, the scientific edition of the media-educational journal merz │ medien + erziehung

Deadline: January 13, 2025

Supervising Editors: Katrin Döveling (Hochschule Darmstadt, University of Applied Sciences), Margreth Lünenborg (Freie Universität Berlin) and the merzWissenschaft editorial team

"Powered by emotions" was the slogan recently chosen by a prominent German television channel to advertise its broadcast program, an indication of the significance of emotions in entertainment communications. The title of a current news podcast is "Feel the news". Here emotions are explicitly mobilized in the encounter with the news. In digital communication, algorithmically-based selection and distribution of media content ranges ultimately make a substantial contribution to evoking and reinforcing emotions and bringing them into the widest possible circulation. Feelings of expectation, curiosity, anger, empathy or abhorrence increase the amount of time users remain on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube; here these platforms differ from one another in terms of their respective unique "emotional architectures" (Wahl-Jorgensen, 2019).

Films evoke our sympathy, immersive VR and AR technologies make it possible for us to empathize with other entities. Negative political stereotypes as well as denigrations based on skin color, ethnicity, sexuality or gender are often the product of emotionally-based media experiences of 'foreign' and 'different'. Attraction to media content ranges as well as experience of media use are substantially affective and based on emotion. Media science and communication science research has long seen emotion as relevant and investigated emotion primarily in areas involving media-psychological consideration of entertainment communications. However, in the meantime the field of research has expanded considerably – at the level of media content ranges, emotions are becoming highly significant in all fields. Whether news about war or other crises, computer game design, presence of social media influencers, suspense dramaturgy in series or curating playlists – the evocation, regulation, intensification and levelling of emotions all play a central role in all aspects of production, presentation and reception of media content ranges. Sensor-driven media such as wearables even realize a direct feedback loop in which sensory experience of the human body is registered and extended, amplified and levelled by media impulses. Thus for example algorithmically-based music selection adapts itself to match the user's pulse rate. A very wide variety of phenomena and irregularities are to be found, both on the media content range side and on the part of media users.

In the field of emotion, media psychological research has made extensive progress in understanding emotions in the reception and impact of a wide range of media. Media-sociological and media-cultural analyses capture the significance of emotions in experiencing media as a social-cultural process. Arlie Hochschild has used the terms 'emotional labor' and 'feeling rules' to clearly delineate the extent of social and cultural formation of emotions and of how emotions themselves in turn form social interaction. Using emojis, pressing the 'like' button and the collaborative design of ironic or sarcastic memes are an exemplary expression of this which also highlights the significance of visual communication. Here media-educational research is interested in the way emotions are influenced by (early-childhood) media use, what the consequences of (intensive) media consumption are for emotion regulation abilities and how the media-based experience of emotion can be practically utilized in learning processes. Simple, uni-directional assumptions on effect have long been a thing of the past. Instead, emotions and the experience of emotion are understood as an essential component of daily interaction with media. From a media-educational perspective this means for example investigation of how parents handle the emotions of their children in media education, which role emotions play in how youth deal with misinformation, how emotions can support (digital) entitlement, or, more broadly speaking, how media appropriation and mental health interact. This type of relational understanding of emotion however entails considerable challenges in both theoretical and empirical terms. Raymond Williams' historical concept of the "structures of feeling" (1977) has given rise to analyses of "emotional regimes" (Reddy, 2001) and – under digital conditions – of the encounter with "infra-structures of feeling" (Coleman, 2018).

Does media and communication science have adequately differentiated theoretical concepts of emotion and affect which are capable of describing and explaining this complex interaction? What theoretical, methodical and methodological challenges does a relational understanding of emotion entail? How can interdisciplinary collaboration enrich communication science research on emotion? And what is the (additional) relevance of communication science research on emotion to (media) educational questions?

We look forward to receiving submissions based on this foundation which critically explore the relationship between emotions and media from a variety of perspectives. Both empirical articles and theoretical-conceptual contributions are welcome. Here the focus should center in particular on the relevance of emotions and emotion research to (media) educational practice.

• What definition of emotion appears adequate for research in digital media landscapes?

• What understanding of emotion manifests in media production by professional stakeholders (journalists, filmmakers, game developers, etc.) and non-professional stakeholders (users, influencers, etc.)?

• How can the significance of emotion as a component part of media content ranges be identified conceptually and empirically and at the same time as a dimension in experiencing media?

• What role does emotion play in the process of creating content?

• What is the influence of emotion on the selection and curation of content (page design, program design, algorithmic selection)

• How can emotions be identified in visual communication?

• What is the role of feeling rules in peer communication via (digital) media content ranges and in dealing with media?

• How can emotional involvement be utilized in learning processes? Can "affective media practices" (Lünenborg et al., 2021) be conceptually useful?

• How is the knowledge of (our own) emotions changed by interaction with media?

• What is the impact of social context on the genesis of emotions?

• How do social media affect the emotional experience of young media users (digital stress, self-expression, digital health)?

• Does permanent networking give rise to new forms of "digital affect culture" (Döveling & Seyfert, 2023) and if so, how can these forms be empirically identified?

• To what extent are emotions taken into account in modeling media literacy?

• What is the significance of emotional experience in media appropriation concepts?

Submissions focusing on specific emotions (e. g. vicarious embarrassment, schadenfreude) and their connection to media content ranges and types of media use are also welcome.

Abstracts with a maximum length of 6,000 characters (including blank spaces) can be submitted to the merz-editorial team (merz@jff.de) until January 13, 2025. Please upload your abstracts at https://www.merz-zeitschrift.de/about/submissions. Submissions should follow the merzWissenschaft layout specifications, available at https://www.merz-zeitschrift.de/manuskriptrichtlinien/. The length of the articles should not exceed a maximum of approximately 4,000 words. Please feel free to contact Susanne Eggert, Fon: +49.89.68989.152, E-Mail: susanne.eggert@jff.de

DEADLINES AT A GLANCE

• 13 January 2025: Submission of abstracts to merz@jff.de

• 3 February 2025: Decision on acceptance/ rejection of abstracts

• 19 May 2025: Submission of articles

• May/June 2025: Assessment phase (double-blind peer review)

• June/July 2025: Revision phase (multi-phase when appropriate)

• End of November 2025: merzWissenschaft 2025 published

August 4-10, 2025

Södertörn University, Sweden

Deadline: February 14, 2025

The ECREA European Media and Communication Doctoral Summer School is an opportunity for European doctoral students to present and develop their ongoing PhD projects and build valuable networks. It brings together members of the European research community to explore contemporary issues within media and communication studies within a supportive social setting. Our main aim is to provide you with support, insights, and guidance through a variety of activities, including individual feedback seminars with leading media and communication scholars.

Call and grants call can be found here: https://ecrea.eu/page-18213