ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

University of Nottingham Ningbo China

Apply here: https://www.jobs.ac.uk/job/BZS998/assistant-associate-professor-in-digital-humanities

Location: Ningbo - China

Salary: £36,914 to £62,727 per annum depending on skills and experience (salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance)

Closing Date: Sunday, 10 May 2020

Reference: 181025

Contract Status: This post is available from 1 September 2020 or thereafter, and will be initially offered on a fixed-term contract with the University of Nottingham Ningbo China for a period of up to five years. This contract may be extended on an indefinite basis by mutual agreement.

Hours of Work: Full-time

Salary: Salary will be within the range of £36,914 - £62,727 per annum depending on skills and experience (salary progression beyond this scale is subject to performance). In addition, an attractive package including accommodation allowance, travel allowance and insurance will be provided for international appointments.

Responsible to: The Head of the School of International Communications

Job Outline:

An exciting opportunity has arisen to join the dynamic and growing School of International Communications (IC) at the University of Nottingham Ningbo China, the largest and fastest growing school in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. With a high research-output and close partnerships with local industry, IC represents a significant career development opportunity for an ambitious academic seeking to develop their career globally. After recruiting a number of high-level academics over the past 2 years and with the significant growth of both UG and PG programmes, IC seeks to add to this pool and so develop the international reputation of the school.

The successful candidate will conduct research and teaching broadly in the area of Digital Humanities on our BA and MA International Communications programmes. Developing this area as a core part of the IC degree is part of an overarching strategy over the 2019-2022 period. This may also involve developing and conducting research as part of the newly established Digital Heritage Centre or the AHRC Centre for Digital Copyright and IP Research in China. In addition, the candidate will be required to teach on the module ‘Web and Social Media’ which consists of a series of workshops in which students will learn basic coding skills. Candidates should therefore have a specialism in Digital Humanities, knowledge and experience in digital technologies and must be able to conduct technical research as well as teach basic programming. They will be involved in teaching, research, grantsmanship, School administration, and will work in a cooperative and collegial manner with fellow staff at all levels of seniority.

Main duties and responsibilities:

Research

• To undertake research in Digital Humanities
• To publish research in peer-reviewed publications
• To seek internal and external research funding
• To produce research suitable for dissemination to conferences, workshops and seminars (both national and international)
• To forge collaborative research links within and outside the University
• To work collaboratively within research teams and centres
• To contribute fully to the University’s research activities

Teaching

• To prepare and deliver lectures, seminars, tutorials and dissertation supervision at undergraduate and postgraduate levels in modules in the discipline of Digital Humanities.
• To support and comply with the University’s teaching quality assurance standards and procedures.
• To participate in the assessments for initial and higher degrees and diplomas of the University and to act as invigilator in such examinations as required.
• To supervise PhD students.

Administration

• To participate in the administration of the School of International Communications. This may include membership of relevant committees and working groups
• To liaise, as appropriate, with academic and administrative colleagues in Nottingham, UK
• To act as a personal tutor for both undergraduate and postgraduate students
• To take part in and contribute to staff development activities consistent with continuing professional development
• To ensure compliance with health and safety requirements in all aspects of work
• Any other duties appropriate to the post and the seniority of the person appointed

This job description may be subject to revision following discussion with the person appointed and forms part of the contract of employment.

Person Specification:

Qualifications/ Education

Essential: A PhD in an area relevant to the post;

Desirable

• Membership of relevant professional bodies;
• Working towards a Postgraduate qualification in Learning and Teaching in Higher Education or equivalent;
• Facility with quantitative and/or qualitative research methods in media and communication studies;

Skills/Training

Essential

• Ability to teach and conduct technical research in Digital Humanities;
• Research skills;
• Experience of coding skills necessary in Digital Humanities research and development;
• Excellent communication and presentation skills in English.
• Demonstrated ability to attract internal and external funding;
• The ability to develop and run new academic programmes;

Desirable

• Ability to teach one of the following other specific disciplines: game studies; digital media; creative industries; subjects core to web and social media
• Basic knowledge in data analytics and audience research
• Evidence of completion of Digital Humanities/Digital Heritage projects
• Team-working skills;

Experience

Essential

• Some experience of teaching/tutorial work in relevant subjects at undergraduate or postgraduate level in an international English speaking institution;
• Research interests and activities in line with, and complementing, the department’s research activities;
• Evidence of peer-reviewed research outputs in Digital Humanities;

Desirable

• Leadership of academic programmes and research;
• Evidence of successfully working with internal and/or external partners, and the GLAM sector;
• Experience of PhD supervision/completion;
• Knowledge of or practical experience in media production
• Contacts in Chinese media industries or with academics who specialize in research on Chinese media and communications;
• Evidence of success in a key leadership role within a university

Personal Attributes

Essential

• Personal enthusiasm to develop links between academic and professional/industry bodies;
• Ability to work effectively in a multi-cultural environment;
• Ability to work to deadlines and to prioritise tasks.

Desirable

• Evidence of working collaboratively in interdisciplinary teams;
• An understanding of the higher education context in the UK and China.

An attractive package, including accommodation allowance, flights and insurance, will be provided to all successfully appointed candidates.

All posts will be based in Ningbo and contracts will be with the University of Nottingham Ningbo, China.

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Dr. Filippo GILARDI, head of School of International Comunications email: Filippo.Gilardi@nottingham.edu.cn.Please note that applications sent directly to these email addresses will not be accepted.

To learn more about working and living in China, please visit: www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/country-profiles/china

Special Issue in Studies in Communication and Media (Issue 4/2020)

Ddeadline: May 31, 2020

Peter Gentzel, Sigrid Kannengießer, Cornelia Wallner & Jeffrey Wimmer

The social function, legitimacy and consequently the meaning of social science research is undoubtedly closely tied to the ability to criticize. In the present early 21st century, this critical dimension of social science research is confronted not only with the familiar but also with new challenges that need to be addressed.

Social science critique, in the sense of evaluating phenomena and processes, always requires the reflection and classification of ideas and values contained in the social phenomena and processes to be analysed. In order to achieve this, critique itself needs concepts, theories, socially accepted norms and ideals, which underlie analysis and guide interpretation. Necessary conditions for social science criticism have long ceased to be self-evident, due to a multitude of competing offers of knowledge and interpretation. In particular, databased strategies of optimisation oriented towards the ideal of economic efficiency – for the individual self, the entrepreneurial organisation or the efficient society – seem to be widely accepted socio-culturally and shape, e.g., public discourses as well as the objectives of organisational or institutionalisation processes. Additionally, the pluralisation of interpretation frames, and the knowledge of evaluation and orientation also goes hand in hand with their devaluation, e.g., in the form of the shortening of their half-life as part of social acceleration processes (e.g., Rosa, 2005).

For critical research not only are plurality and devaluation problematic, but these processes also disavow the (supposedly) historically stable norms and transcultural standards that form its foundation. Consequently, in the face of digitalisation, datafication and metrification, big data, algorithmic data processing and AI, scientists or journalists are seduced to proclaim the “end of theory” (e.g., M. Graham, C. Anderson) and critique (Latour, 2004) or less fatalistically, to propose a fundamental revision of understanding and the meaning of critique (e.g., Boltanski, 2011).

The social loss of significance of social science criticism can also be interpreted in another respect: as a consequence of processes of digitalisation and datafication. These contribute significantly to the transformation of the basic structures and rules of discourses and public communication. Critical scientists must therefore find new ways in postfactual times to make themselves heard in a fragmented and segmented public sphere; in a digital media world consisting of indignation, echo chambers and filter bubbles. Critique does not necessarily fall silent, but the “speechlessness of critique” in the sense of a lack of a critical social narrative leads to the fact that it is hardly heard (Voswinkel & Wagner, 2011).

Above all, communication science, which sees itself as an integrative (Kunczik & Zipfel, 2005, p. 20) and a cross-sectional science (Krotz, Hepp, & Winter, 2009, p. 5), is called upon to engage in the communicative negotiation process, both in the social sciences and in society, about the potentials and capabilities of social scientific criticism. As a discipline that deals with the “social conditions, consequences and meanings of media, public and interpersonal communication” (DGPuK, 2008), it is therefore necessary to reflect on, and further develop, one's own theoretical and analytical tools in the mutual relationship to the transformation of the disciplinary material objects communication, the public sphere and media outlined at the beginning.

Against this background, submissions are invited for the SCM 2020 Special Issue, which deal, in particular but not only, with the following topics and questions.

Topics & questions

1. Communication and media theories

Theories provide the frame of reference for scientific criticism because they deliver a normative framework; a certain perspective from which the phenomena studied are viewed. Critical reflection begins where it is questioned why which theories are used and not others, what normative perspectives a theory contains, and what this means for the results and their interpretation. The critical reflection of the explanatory power of existing theories is also necessary, especially in order to test their suitability for contemporary phenomena. In this context, the following questions, for example, are relevant:

• What (implicit) normative reference points does contemporary research in communication science contain?
• How can the approach of Cultural Studies be applied to datafication processes?
• What does historical materialism say about the data economy of the present?
• How can the alienation thesis of the Critical School be extended to communicative practices of a mediatized culture and society?
• What critical potential can be tapped with actor network theories?

2. Empirical methods and analysis data

Evidence-based research statements as a central justification argument for social relevance also means that the applied methods and underlying data sources must be subjected to critical reflection – from a methodological, a research economical or a research ethical perspective, and on a meta-level. In this context, the following questions, for example, are relevant:

• What potential does quantitative communications research have in fundamentally data-based, economic media environments? How can this compare to the potential of large Internet corporations and market research (?) companies (direct access to large amounts of data, enormous research and development departments)?
• How is the development of buying large amounts of digital data from Internet companies for social science research to be assessed?
• Are automated Big Data analyses (and their visualization forms) self-evident or is their significance negotiated in discourses? How transparent are these discourses and who conducts them?
• Which phenomena are researched with which methods and what is not empirically researched for which reasons? What does this say about current communication science?

3. Critical media practices and media criticism

Media criticism in the sense of evaluating media content, appropriation and production is a traditional research interest of communication and media studies: content analyses criticise media content and look at criticism as media content itself. Media appropriation studies criticise people's media dealings or look at critical, “alternative” media dealings; the production of media technologies is critically questioned, or the alternative production of media technologies investigated. At present, critical research focuses, in particular, on digitalisation phenomena such as self-measurement, Smart City, Big Data and datafication. In addition, diachronic and synchronous analyses of media-critical practices are addressed which explore current instances of critical counter-publicity and question the self-understanding of partial public spheres. In this context, the following questions, for example, are relevant:

• Which public discourses shape media criticism and criticism of the social role of media?
• Which critical media practices can we currently perceive? Who are the actors and against whom or what is the criticism directed?
• What are the media-critical findings on the symbolic, discursive and social role of ubiquitous global media infrastructures owned by global media corporations?
• What role does media criticism play in modern media society and what is the relationship between media criticism and social criticism?
• What are the consequences of the findings of critical research, in particular for media policy, journalism or media education?

4. Understanding of science

At present, several and different efforts can be observed to assign communication science research an active role in society. Be it in the form of collaborative co-creation of media content or technologies, or in the form of a readjustment of self-understanding.

The metrification of scientific expertise on digital platforms such as ResearchGate, Academia or Mendeley is also important for the understanding, form and significance of disciplinary research. On the one hand, this can be interpreted as a gain in transparency and an increase in the quality and comparability of scientific research. On the other hand, it also involves standardisation and classification processes, which may have negative effects on pluralism, diversity and the overall success of scientific research. In this context following questions, for example, are relevant:

• What does society criticize about communication science, and what does communication science criticize – with what yield – about itself?
• Should communication science, in the sense of an open and/or transformative science, play an active role in shaping processes of change? Or should it analyse its objects at a distance?
• Is the increasing metrification of scientific expertise (citation index, research scores etc.) an effect of data-based, economic optimisation processes in science or does it contribute to quality assurance, transparency, equality and comparability? What influence does this have on scientific creativity and quality?

Manuscript submissions

We welcome submissions that fit any of the SCM formats “Extended Paper” (50–60 pages), “Full Paper” (15–20 pages), and “Research-in-brief” (5–10 pages). Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the SCM guidelines:

• https://www.scm.nomos.de/fileadmin/scm/doc/Autorenhinweise_und_Checkliste.pdf (German)
• https://www.scm.nomos.de/fileadmin/scm/doc/Autorenhinweise_Checkliste_english_pdf (English)

Manuscripts should be submitted to jeffrey.wimmer@phil.uni-augsburg.de. Deadline for submissions will be May 31st, 2020 (Corona extension). The special issue will be published in December 2020 (SCM issue 4/2020).

References

Boltanski, L. (2011). On critique: A sociology of emancipation. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.

DGPuK (2008). Kommunikation und Medien in der Gesellschaft: Leistungen und Perspektiven der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft [Communication and media in society: Services and perspectives in communication and media studies]. Lugano, CH: DGPuK. Retrieved from https://www.dgpuk.de/de/selbstverst%C3%A4ndnis-der-dgpuk.html

Krotz, F., Hepp, A., & Winter, C. (2008). Einleitung: Theorien der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft [Introduction: Theories in communication and media studies]. In Winter, C., Hepp, A., & Krotz, F. (Eds.), Theorien der Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft. Grundlegende Diskussionen, Forschungsfelder und Theorienentwicklung (pp. 9–25). Wiesbaden, Germany: Springer VS.

Kunczik, M., & Zipfel, A. (2005): Publizistik. Ein Studienhandbuch [Publizistik. A study manual]. Köln, Germany: Böhlau.

Latour, B. (2004). Why has critique run out of steam? From matters of fact to matters of concern. Critical Inquiry, 30, 225–248.

Rosa, H. (2005). Acceleration. The change of time structures in modernism. Frankfurt am Main, Germany: Suhrkamp.

Voswinkel, S., & Wagner, G. (2011). The symbolic power of individualization and the struggle for critique. Austrian Journal of Sociology, 36, 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11614-011-0004-4

Université Laval

Number: 6877

Job posting period: 10-03-2020 to 15-04-2020

Workplace: Faculty of Letters and Humanities, Department of Information and Communication

General information

The Department of Information and Communication of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities at Laval University invites applications for a tenure-track professorship position which includes directing its Chair in science journalism.

Job Description

1. Teach at BSc, MSc, and PhD levels;
2. Assume leadership of the Chair in science journalism and implement its research and training agenda focusing at the science/media interface;
3. Secure the Chair’s role as catalyst in the re-interpretation of the shared challenges facing scientists and journalists in the ongoing mediascape through identification of the best emerging practices, including through its own research laboratory;
4. Participate in the governance and administration of the Department and of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities.

Priorities of the Chair in Science Journalism of Laval University

The Chairholder will need to focus on and develop one or several of the three following research themes:

• Journalism and communication related to science-driven societal issues:
  •  role of the media in the coverage of societal issues that involve science, particularly conflicting science, and in the curation of public debates relating to the environment and climate, public health, big data, privacy and surveillance, artificial intelligence, automation and robots, transhumanism, etc.);
• Interplay of the respective legitimacy of journalism and science in the public sphere:
  • intellectual authority in the public sphere of journalistic and scientific actors as pertaining to credibility, veracity, and authority in matters of information and knowledge;

• Professional and discursive practices in science issues:

• analysis and evaluation of journalistic and scientific discourse and postures in public debates. Development of innovative editorial strategies and journalistic practices as well as communication strategies appropriate to the ongoing contemporary flow of information. 

Selection criterias

1. PhD or PhD near completion in communication or related domain.
2. Specialization in the public communication of science.
3. Specialization in the study of media and the public sphere.
    

Additional information

Career interruptions

 In accordance with its commitment to diversity and equity, Laval University acknowledges that career interruptions like parental leave, extended sick leave, care of a family member, gender transition as well as a handicap situation or other unplanned circumstances can affect productivity and research undertakings, volunteer work, and social commitments.

Candidates are therefore invited to state, where appropriate, such situations as well as evaluate their impact on their career track since the obtention of their PhD, in order that it be accounted for in the evaluation of their candidacy.

As well, adaptation measures can be offered to persons in handicap situations regarding their special needs in the context of this position offer, in complete confidentiality. If you require such adaptation measures, you are welcome to contact the equity personnel of the Faculty of Letters and Humanities: RH@flsh.ulaval.ca (attention: Mr. Nicolas Diotte).

Teaching language requirement

Courses at Laval University are taught in French. The University offers support to its professors to achieve a functional command of spoken and written French.

Candidature

Application must be written in French and formatted as a PDF document, including:

• a cover letter of introduction;
• an up to date CV referencing three to five significant publications;
• a research program outline (six pages maximum, bibliography excluded), with a vision statement outlining structural effects of the Chair at the scale of the Department and University; and
• three letters of recommendation (sent by the respondents directly to direction@com.ulaval.ca).

More information on the Chair can be found at: https://www.cjs.ulaval.ca/

More information on the Information and Communication Department at: http://www.com.ulaval.ca

Applications should reach the Director of the Information and Communication Department, Dr. Thierry Belleguic (direction@com.ulaval.ca) at the latest on April 15th, 2020, 13:00 (Eastern Standard Time Canada).

Starting date: July 1st, 2020.

Valuing equity, diversity and excellence, Université Laval is strongly committed to provide an inclusive work and living environment for all its employees. For Université Laval, diversity is a source of wealth, and we encourage qualified individuals of all origins, sexes, sexual orientations, gender identities or expressions, as well as persons with disabilities, to apply.

Université Laval also subscribes to an equal access to employment program for women, members of visible or ethnic minorities, Aboriginal persons and persons with disabilities. Adaptation of the selection tools can be offered to persons with disabilities according to their needs and in complete confidentiality. In accordance with Canadian immigration requirements, priority will be given to qualified individuals with Canadian citizenship or permanent residency.

ECREA Visual Cultures Section Pre-Conference

October 2, 2020

Braga, Portugal

Deadline: May 17, 2020

Interest in visual forms of communication is rising, but researchers seldom get insight on how to go about one's research. During the pre-conference 'Visual Work in Progress' we will explicitly focus on ways of working with visual materials, thinking together about the pros and cons of various methodological alternatives.

The pre-conference will focus on our “visual work in progress”, mainly the conceptualization of and methodological approach to visual data in ongoing research projects. **We encourage participants to share some part of their research visual material, so that we can discuss together our 'visual work in progress'.

The workshop will be organised as ‘data sprint’. Data Sprints are inspired by hackathons organised by the open source community, and are workshops in which participants from diverse backgrounds meet physically and collaborate intensively on a pre-determined subject and dataset. The pre-conference will take place on October 2nd, and end right in time for the opening ceremony of the ECREA conference.

Submission process

Please briefly describe (max 3000 characters)

• your project/topic/research question
• the visual data that you wish to discuss (you are welcome to include examples),
• where and how you obtained it (ethics/ consent?)
• your methods or methodological approach,
• questions and challenges you are currently dealing with and you would like to discuss at the preconference

Please submit your contribution to visualwork_braga@sbg.ac.at

until 17 May 2020

Timeline

• Submission until 17 May
• Registration open in May
• Program live June

With approximately one-fifth of the world’s population currently in ockdown, the novel coronavirus (COVID–19) pandemic has drastically changed many of our lives. According to official statistics, the virus has now infected over one million individuals across 209 countries and territories, and such draconian measures are likely to have saved countless lives. But, the effects of the virus reach far beyond its biological capacity to cause illness. Originating in Wuhan, China, its rapid spread across national boundaries has drawn attention to the porous and interconnected world that we live in. The resulting economic consequences of the lockdown measures highlight the volatility of the global economy and the precarity of those whose labour sustains it. At the same time, it has transformed the way we interact with one another and understand ourselves, as new forms of creativity and solidarity emerge. In the time of coronavirus, both critical cultural analysis and sustained personal reflection are needed more than ever to put these emerging new realities into perspective.

Several leading intellectuals have already published their views on the coronavirus pandemic. Judith Butler, for one, has considered how the pandemic lays bare the radical inequalities inherent to global capitalism, drawing particular attention to the fraught politics of healthcare in the United States. Elsewhere, David Harvey has examined the broader repercussions for the dynamics of global capital accumulation; modes of consumerism that have long underpinned Western economies are now crashing before our very eyes, he says, and with potentially devastating consequences. On the other hand, philosopher Giorgio Agamben has come under criticism for his dismissal of the pandemic as a manufactured “state of exception,” aimed at facilitating a project of total control by governments and corporations, while denying the harsh reality of contagion altogether.

For the duration of the coronavirus pandemic, students at The Lisbon Consortium encourage scholars, artists and other cultural practitioners to reflect further on the multifarious impacts of this bewildering new reality. To facilitate this, we are launching a new website, Culture in Quarantine , through which we hope to publish critical writing, visual essays and other creative responses to the pandemic over the coming weeks. Later, the website will remain online to serve as an archive of our collective thoughts and experiences.

We welcome contributions of any length in the following formats:

• Essays

Personal reflections, cultural critique and analysis, adaptations or excerpts of larger research projects. Please write for a general audience and avoid too much academic jargon.

• Fiction

Creative responses to the coronavirus pandemic, including prose and poetry of all genres.

• Visual essays

All combinations of photography (or other visual material) and text are welcomed. Please indicate any specific layout requirements and we will try to accommodate.

Please also include a short biography of no more than 100 words.

Send your contributions to cultureinquarantine@gmail.com

. Submissions will be accepted and published at www.cultureinquarantine.co on an ongoing basis.

Dublin City University

The School of Communications at Dublin City University is now inviting applications from qualified candidates for up to five PhD Scholarships.

The School of Communications at DCU is home to almost 1,000 students at undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD levels. With a tradition stretching back almost 40 years, the School is defined by excellence in both teaching and research in journalism, multimedia and communications studies. In the QS global subject rankings in 2020 DCU was in the top 200 of almost 4,500 universities worldwide in the area of communications. DCU is ranked number 1 nationally in Communications & Media Studies.

The School’s academics undertake research that contributes to national and international debates and to public policy formation. They have also led research projects supported by national and international funders.

This cutting-edge research is across a range of (inter)disciplinary fields including (new) media studies, media history, journalism studies, science communication, political communication, social media studies, film and television studies, music industry studies, advertising, and cultural studies. In the past five years, the School has supported approximately 40 doctoral students to achieve PhD awards through this scheme.

The School now has an opening for up to six funded PhD scholarships (across a four-year duration). As well as a tax-free stipend of €16,000 plus fees, we also support our students with funding for conference travel and offer PhD students opportunities to gain teaching experience.

In this call, we invite applications in the following areas / themes:

Photography and new forms of picturing:

Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on the politics of photographic representation. These might include: photographic portraiture through a feminist lens, power relationships, how identity is constructed, undermined or challenged through photography, new approaches to picturing and representing specific communities, psychology around empathy and the portrait. For further information, contact Dr. Dragana Jurišić – dragana.jurisic@dcu.ie

Combatting coordinated online violence against women journalists:

Fellowship(s) in this area will investigate the nature and scale of coordinated violence (bot attacks and other forms of organised online harassment) targeted at women journalists in different countries and culturally appropriate automated responses. Proposals are welcome from applicants with a solid knowledge of digital communications platforms analysis, or experience in tracking mis- and dis-information online. For further information, contact Prof. Colleen Murrell - colleen.murrell@dcu.ie

Music, cultural production and the digital age:

Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on culture, media, and digital technologies. Possible research topics include (but are not limited to), (i) music in the digital age, (ii) the platformisation of cultural production, circulation, and consumption, and (iii) cultural labour in the digital age. Practice-based projects are eligible and a working knowledge of cultural production and related industries is desirable. For further information, contact Dr. Andreas Rauh - andreas.rauh@dcu.ie.

Novel communication of environmental issues:

Fellowship(s) in this area will focus on structural approaches to environmental crisis, focusing on the role of mediated communication in communicating environmental issues within socio-economic and socio-ecological structures. They may also investigate the role of novel and creative approaches to communicating environmental issues. Traditional or practice-based applications are welcome. For further information, contact Dr. Trish Morgan – trish.morgan@dcu.ie

Sport and Media:

Fellowship(s) in this area will ideally focus on the interrelationship of sport and media. Relevant topics include: sports fandom; sports journalism; sport and nation branding; representations of gender, race, and nation in sport; the geopolitics of sport. We also welcome applications from those interested in researching popular culture and new forms of promotion. For further information, contact Dr. Neil O’Boyle – neil.oboyle@dcu.ie

NB. Applications should consist of a 2,000 word research proposal as well as a brief CV detailing academic qualifications and professional experience to date.

NB. Applicants must contact the relevant supervisor prior to submitting an application.

NB. All applications should be submitted to Ms. Eileen Myers, Secretary, School of Communications (eileen.myers@dcu.ie), clearly indicating the theme under which they are applying.

All scholarships are due to commence on 01st October 2020.

Closing date for applications: Friday 08th May 2020

Scientific Journal "Études de communication"

Deadline (postponed): May 2, 2020

https://journals.openedition.org/edc/9101

Thematic issue coordinated by Céline Pascual-Espuny (IMSIC, Aix-Marseille University), Andrea Catellani (LASCO, RECOM, Université catholique de Louvain), Béatrice Jalenques Vigouroux (LERASS, INSA Toulouse).

In recent years, participatory research has expanded considerably in the context of renewed interest in forging links between science and society. While first centered on issues of research methodology, participatory science has evolved towards a comprehensive institutional approach. Today, participatory science programs, open science and crowdsourcing initiatives, action research, post-normal science and citizen science research projects are increasingly widespread. The work of John Dewey (1927), Kurt Lewin and Talcott Parsons (1965) and Paolo Freire -- through his contribution to the development of community-based participatory research -- laid the foundations of participatory science as a research paradigm characterized by significant researcher engagement, diversity of knowledge sources and a participatory framework which itself becomes a source of action.

Over the past twenty years, such research methodologies have posited the principle of knowledge symmetry and have sought to foster dialogue between so-called "scholarly," scientific or academic knowledge, so-called "expert" or analogical knowledge and "experiential" knowledge (Gardien, 2017, Amaré, Valran, 2017). This movement, which originated in late 19th-century environmental science research (botany, zoology, geography) for which citizen-collected data proved to be highly valuable, has now become a global phenomenon.

Democratic utopia? innovation? social imperative? Participatory research raises questions about the value accorded to different forms of knowledge as well as the value ascribed to knowledge co-constructed through participatory exchange. Participatory science postulates that knowledge arising from the convergence of different cognitive worlds transcends division and allows access to a more complete understanding of societal phenomena (Le Crosnier et al., 2013, Amaré et al., 2017). Some scholars have also pointed out the social usefulness of participatory science and its profoundly political and action-oriented nature (Billaud et al., 2017).

Beyond these considerations, participatory research practices raise questions and issues surrounding scientific methodology, the usefulness of science in society, the place of researchers and the role given to laymen in the process of knowledge construction (Ravon, 2015, Callon, 1989, Bacqué, Biewerner 2015). Conversely, participatory research brings to the fore the issue of scientific research as anchored in social reality and as a response to social demands. Finally, the key notions of empowerment and participation, which are directly linked to participatory practices, have provided perspectives for research based upon citizen engagement.

Such participatory approaches have had a significant impact on information and communication sciences. Some scholars have explored the processes of popularizing or translating scientific discourse (Yves Jeanneret, Joëlle le Marec, Igor Babou). Martin’s research (2007) focusses on issues of public participation in environmental decision-making involving native communities. By specifically addressing questions of transparency, dialogue and spaces for discussion, Martin’s work has shed light on the communicative processes used for reaching compromise through participatory exchange. Hamilton (2008) has worked on issues of convergence and divergence with regard to nuclear weapons and their environmental impact. Walker (2004) has studied environmental collaboration and conflict resolution. Philippe Roqueplo (1988), using the example of acid rain, has addressed the issues of stakeholder involvement, controversy and conflict. Nicole d'Almeida and François Allard Huver (2014) have developed a reflection on the dramaturgy of risk, while Bolin's work deals with the history of meteorology and climate change as linked to public opinion (Bolin, 2007). Other studies have focused on how communication processes create conditions for changing perceptions of climate change (Bostrom and Laschof, 2007; Brisse, Oreske and O'Reilly, 2013).

More specifically, with regard to information and communication sciences, we seek to address the following issues:

• To what extent does research carried out with lay people rather than only with peers call into question principles of scientific rigor, veracity or validity?
• How does co-constructed research articulate social needs as expressed by public institutions or local authorities with the principles of scientific independence?
• To what extent is this type of research a reflection of researchers’ commitment, whether it be political or social? Is such commitment explicit, or should it be? How do researchers "recruit" non-scientific participants? What conditions do researchers impose upon participants to ensure that research is carried out successfully?
• What discourses and communication devices are mobilized? What semantic and ideological constructs and what justifications can be observed? What "ethos" of the citizen (or amateur) researcher is created?
• With regard to implemented methodologies, do the issues of transparency and communication become more necessary or more important?
• What approaches have been developed to accompany action research?

Scientific committee (to be completed)

• François Allard-Huver (CREM, Université de Lorraine)
• Françoise Bernard (IMSIC, Aix-Marseille Université)
• Nicole D’Almeida (GRIPIC, Université Paris Sorbonne)
• Thierry De Smedt (GREMS-RECOM, UCLouvain, Belgium)
• Amaia Errecart (LabSIC, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord)
• Daniel Raichvarg (CIMEOS, Université de Bourgogne)
• Philippe Verhaegen (GREMS-RECOM, UCLouvain, Belgium)

Review process

All submissions will go through a two-part review process:

• submission of a 1500-2000 word abstract which should include a presentation of objectives and principle arguments, explain the originality of the paper and provide key bibliographical references;
• for selected abstracts, a second evaluation will be carried on completed articles.
• Instructions to authors are available on the journal's website: https://journals.openedition.org/edc/668

Proposals will be peer-reviewed according a double-blind reviewing process. Abstracts should be sent by 15 April 2020 in Word (.docx) or OpenDocument (.odt) format to the following addresses:

• celine.pascual@univ-amu.fr
• andrea.catellani@uclouvain.be
• beatrice.jalenques-vigouroux@insa-toulouse.fr

Paper proposals and final papers (35,000 characters including spaces, footnotes and bibliography) may be submitted in English or in French. No commitment to publication can be made until the full text has been read.

Important Dates

• April 15, 2020: abstract submission deadline
• May 15, 2020: notification of acceptance or refusal
• September 15, 2020: deadline for submission of the complete version of articles
• December 15, 2020: deadline for receipt of final version
• June 2021: publication of articles in Études de Communication thematic issue n° 56

The University Autònoma de Barcelona and the Institute of the Spanish Public Television (RTVE) are carrying out a study analyzing the perception and emotion of citizens on the images used to illustrate the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, which causes COVID-19, in the media. The goal is to draw conclusions to improve the rigor of information, the quality of scientific dissemination and give tools to media professionals to take care of the emotional effect that this pandemic (and other future crises of a similar nature) may have on society. People can participate by answering this survey that will last 15-20 minutes.

SURVEY LINK: https://bit.ly/2UvdNke

Special issue of Trípodos

Deadline for submissions: April 30, 2020

Publication: June 2020

Editors: Emiliana De Blasio (LUISS University, Italy), Patricia Coll (Ramon Llull University, Spain)

The COVID-19 pandemic poses a communication challenge for mass media and organisations on a global scale. For several months, crisis communication has become a crucial issue in our society, a society which is witnessing the acceleration of the process of digital transformation in all communication disciplines, including journalism, audiovisual communication, advertising and public relations. Trípodos announces a call for papers for a special issue on Communication in COVID-19 Crisis.

The objectives of the special issue are summarised in the following areas:

• Crisis communication.
• Communication of emergency services.
• Political communication during the COVID-19 crisis.
• Institutional relations by videoconference: digital protocol.
• Advertising: advertising creativity, branding at the service of health emergency, and digitalisation of marketing investment.
• Information vs infodemic.
• Journalistic routines: teleworking in mass media, TV set vs confinement, information vs entertainment.
• Scientific communication, experts and data journalism to interpret reality.
• Archive and reruns as an alternative to content production.
• Intensification of the newspaper crisis, paywalls and digital subscription models.
• Digitalisation of the audiovisual industry.
• Apps as means of communication, and big data in a health emergency situation.
• Internal communication and remote working.
• Digital platforms as a leisure area.
• Social networks: information, opinion, new privacy, influencers, newsjacking, memes, fake news.
• Digital transformation of public relations, digital events, and corporate social responsibility.
• Slow journalism vs immediacy.
• Public communication and policies.
• Emotions and loneliness through social media.
• Populist approaches to crisis (also in comparative perspective).
• Digital solidarity.

Call for papers: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1nyYhp3JhV2QmwJ-qXkohSjo_1FhA4Q17/view

Papers should be sent by April 30, 2020. In order to submit original papers, authors must be registered with the journal (www.tripodos.com) as authors. Following this step, authors must enter their user name and password, activated in the process of registering, and begin the submission process. In step 1, they must select the section “Monograph”.

Rules and instructions regarding the submission of originals can be downloaded at www.tripodos.com. For any queries, please contact the editorial team of the journal at tripodos@blanquerna.url.edu.

I certify that the information provided on this application is accurate. I understand that withholding of information or giving false information will result in a refusal to be eligible for funding.