ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

University of Bergen

The Department of Information Science and Media Studies has a vacant permanent position as Associate Professor in Journalism, oriented towards Information Technology. The position is a part of the Department’s commitment to Media City Bergen (MCB).

The Department of Information Science and Media Studies is an interdisciplinary, research-intensive academic environment consisting of research groups and study programmes within Media and Communication, Information Science, Interaction Design, TV Production and Journalism. The Department currently has 35 permanent academic positions and 25 PhD Candidates and Postdoctoral Fellows. There are approximately 1000 students enrolled in the Department’s BA and MA programmes.

MCB is an internationally leading knowledge cluster in the fields of Media Production and Media Technology. The Department is co-located with news media companies such as TV 2, NRK, Bergens Tidende and Bergensavisen, along with a wide range of leading media technology companies. Media City Bergen offers an international environment for innovation and knowledge development within media which excels on interaction between research, education and industry. The Department offers six study programmes within Media Production and Media Technology at MCB and leads several research and innovation projects. The Department manages modern facilities for TV and Media Production, including studios, mobile equipment and labs for post-production and sound. The Department hosts Centre for Investigative Journalism (SUJO).

Through the position in question, the Department seeks to strengthen competences within Journalism and Information Technology, often referred to as Computational Journalism within the discipline. Computational Journalism involves development and usage of Information Technology in collection, analysis, storytelling and dissemination of large amounts of data for journalistic purposes, besides analysis of such technologies in a journalistic context.

Work tasks/research and teaching areas:

The candidate will strengthen the Department’s research within the area of Journalism and Information Technology, predominantly undertake teaching duties at the BA programme in Journalism and MA programme in Investigative Journalism and facilitate cooperation with other study programmes at the Department. The academic environment in Journalism extensively cooperates with news media, and the candidate is expected to contribute to further develop this cooperation.

Qualifications and personal qualities:

• PhD in Journalism, Media Studies or other relevant discipline, with documented research interest in Information Technology; or
• PhD in Information Science, Informatics or other relevant discipline, with documented research interest in Journalism
• Documented ability to publish research relevant to the position on an international level
• News media experience is advantageous
• Teaching experience within relevant disciplines
• Ability to work independently and structurally, work in interdisciplinary teams and run seminars and workshops
• Proficiency in English, both written and verbal

The successful applicant must be willing and able to teach compulsory courses at both graduate and undergraduate level at the department. The teaching language will normally be Norwegian. The successful applicant must be able to teach in Norwegian or one of the other Scandinavian languages within two years of his/her appointment.

Pedagogical competence

Basic teaching training and experience in the supervision of students at university level is a requirement for the position as associate professor. This implies completed formal pedagogical training, as well as basic skills in planning, implementation, evaluation and development of teaching and supervision. Relevant courses in combination with actual teaching experience could replace a university pedagogy program. Should the successful applicant not have such competence at the time of appointment, he/she will be required to document such training within two years of the date of appointment.

Pedagogical training must be documented in a pedagogical portfolio which should include a documented overview of pratical experience and competence as well as a brief reflection statement. The statement should primarily describe the applicant’s own teaching philosophy and an evaluation of own teaching in relation to his/her knowledge of students’ learning at a higher education level.

We can offer:

• A good and professionally challenging working environment.
• Salary at pay grade 68 - 75 (code 1011/ Pay range 24) in the state salary scale. This currently amounts to an annual salary of NOK 615 900 - 704 900 before taxes. Further increase in salary will depend on seniority. A higher salary may be considered for a particularly well qualified applicant.
• Enrolment in the Norwegian Public Service Pension Fund
• Good welfare benefits
• The city of Bergen - a welcoming and well-connected European city with a unique mix of vibrant life and extraordinary nature

Your application must include:

• A cover-letter indicating motivation for applying as well as a summary of planned research activities and initiatives
• CV
• Five publications to be considered in the assessment, with information about where this work was published. The evaluation of the applicant’s scientific work will focus primarily on research published the last five years
• Complete list of publications
• Declarations of co-authorships
• Pedagogical portfolio
• Certified copies of diplomas and certificates
• The contact details of two references
• The application and appendices with certified translations into English or a Scandinavian language must be uploaded at Jobbnorge.no.

General information:

Detailed information about the position can be obtained by contacting: Head of department Leif Ove Larsen, email leif.larsen@uib.no phone +47 55 58 41 16

Practical questions about the application process should be directed to Adviser HR, Bodil Hægland, email bodil.hagland@uib.no

The state labour force shall reflect the diversity of Norwegian society to the greatest extent possible. People with immigrant backgrounds and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply

We encourage women to apply. If multiple applicants have approximately equivalent qualifications, the rules pertaining to moderate gender quotas shall apply

The University of Bergen applies the principle of public access to information when recruiting staff for academic positions.

Information about applicants may be made public even if the applicant has asked not to be named on the list of persons who have applied. The applicant must be notified if the request to be omitted is not met.

For further information about the recruitment process, click here.

About The University of Bergen

The University of Bergen is a renowned educational and research institution, organised into seven faculties and approximately 54 institutes and academic centres. Campus is located in the centre of Bergen with university areas at Nygårdshøyden, Haukeland, Marineholmen, Møllendalsveien and Årstad.

July 22-24, 2020

Jagiellonian University, Poland

Deadline: February 29, 2019

Individual paper and panel contributions are welcomed for the ninth annual international conference of the European Popular Culture Association (EPCA), to be held at Jagiellonian University, Kraków, Poland, July 22nd – 24th, 2020.

EUPOP 2020 will explore European popular culture in all its various forms. This includes, but is by no means limited to, the following topics: Climate Change in Popular Culture, European Film (past and present), Television, Music, Costume and Performance, Celebrity, The Body, Fashion, New Media, Popular Literature and Graphic Novels, Queer Studies, Sport, Curation, and Digital Culture. We also welcome abstracts which reflect the various ways of how the idea of relationship between Europe and popular culture could be formed and how the current turmoil in European identity (e.g. the legacy of totalitarianism and fascism), union, its borders and divisions are portrayed in popular cultural themes and contents.

Papers and complete panels for all strands will be subject to peer review. Proposals for individual presentations must not exceed 20 minutes in length, and those for panels limited to 90 minutes. In the latter case, please provide a short description of the panel along with individual abstracts. Poster presentations and video projections are also warmly welcomed.

There will be opportunities for networking and publishing within the EPCA. Presenters at EUPOP 2020 will be encouraged to develop their papers for publication in a number of Intellect journals, including the EPCA’s Journal of European Popular Culture. A full list of Intellect journals is available at: https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/index/

Proposals comprising a 300-word abstract, your full name, affiliation, and contact details (as a Word-file attachment, not a PDF) should be submitted to Kari Kallioniemi (kakallio@utu.fi) by 29.02.2020. Receipt of proposals will be acknowledged via e-mail, and the decision of acceptance will be notified within two weeks of submission.

The conference draft program will be announced in May 2020, along with the conference registration and accommodation details. The likely conference fee will be 150 euros (student), and 200 euros (other). The fee includes coffees, lunches, evening reception & dinner, and EPCA Membership (includes subscription to the European Journal of Popular Culture, Intellect Press).

The keynote speakers:

• Dr Tomasz Z. Majkowski (Jagiellonian University)
• Professor Mari Pajala (University of Turku)
• Professor Małgorzata Sugiera (Jagiellonian University)
• The European Popular Culture Association

The European Popular Culture Association (EPCA) promotes the study of popular culture from, in, and about Europe. Popular culture involves a wide range of activities, material forms and audiences. EPCA aims to examine and discuss these different aspects as they relate both to Europe and to Europeans across the globe, whether contemporary or historical.

EUPOP 2020 is organised by:

European Popular Culture Association (EPCA): http://epcablog.wordpress.com/

International Institute for Popular Culture (IIPC): http://iipc.utu.fi/

Kind Regards,

• EPCA President, Kari Kallioniemi, kakallio@utu.fi
• EPCA Vice-President, Pamela Church Gibson, pamelachurchgibson@gmail.com
• EPCA Secretary, Kimi Kärki, kierka@utu.fi
• EPCA Membership Secretary, Graham Roberts, grahamroberts83@gmail.com

Local Organiser Contact:

• Anna Svetlova, annaswietlowa@gmail.com
• and Olga Grzelak, olgagrzelak@gmail.com

Bournemouth University

Deadline: January 2, 2020

Salary: Starting salary from £34,804 – £40,322 per annum (pro rata) with further progression opportunities to £44,045

Closing date: Thursday, January 2, 2020 – midnight (UK time)

Please quote reference: FMC198

Bournemouth University’s vision is worldwide recognition as a leading university for inspiring learning, advancing knowledge and enriching society through the fusion of education, research and practice. Our highly skilled and creative workforce is comprised of individuals drawn from a broad cross section of the globe, who reflect a variety of backgrounds, talents, perspectives and experiences that help to build our global learning community.

The Faculty of Media and Communication at Bournemouth University is one of the largest of its kind in the world and has a global reputation for combining research and teaching practice. The Faculty has an enviable reputation, having developed a popular and successful suite of media production/journalism programmes at both undergraduate and post graduate levels.

As a Lecturer in Documentary, you will be able to offer a rich and insightful understanding of the contemporary media landscape and demonstrate in-depth knowledge and professional experience in Producing and Directing Documentary.

Enthusiastic about active and student-centred pedagogy, you will contribute to education delivery, including programme management as required, across a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, as well as offer an industry realistic understanding of the skills needed by the next generation of content makers.

You will also make a significant contribution to employability and help to further enhance the department’s professional networks.

Applications are especially welcome from, but not limited to, those with professional experience that spans documentary across Journalism, Factual and Authored.

You will be qualified to Doctorate level or be able to demonstrate the ability to create and disseminate knowledge at an equivalent level and the capability to convert this knowledge into a doctorate in a maximum of 3-5 years from the date of appointment. You will be research active and committed to a culture of academic excellence and continuous improvement.

For further information and discussion or the opportunity for an informal visit, please contact Dr Ashley Woodfall, Acting Head of Department – Media Production by email at awoodfall@bournemouth.ac.uk

BU values and is committed to an inclusive working environment. We seek a diverse community through attracting, developing and retaining staff from different backgrounds to contribute to inspirational learning, advancing knowledge and enriching society. To support and enable our staff to achieve a balance between work and their personal lives, we will also consider proposals for flexible working or job share arrangements.

Job Description & Person Specification at: https://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/sites/default/files/asset/document/JDPS%20FMC198_0.pdf

May 28-29, 2020

Cardiff University in Cardiff, UK

Deadline: December 15, 2019

Host: Data Justice Lab

As the generation, collection and analysis of data continues to transform key aspects of our society across economics, politics and culture, the question of participation has rarely been so pertinent. Democratic processes and traditional avenues for participation are facing challenges as state-citizen relations are increasingly shaped through data analytics and automation at the same time as alternative visions for participatory democracy and decision-making have proliferated. As citizens, we are said to be both coerced and active participants in this shift, both liberated and exploited in the use of digital tools, both more visible and more obscured in data-driven systems. How, then, should we understand civic participation in the datafied society? In what ways are we positioned as citizens in the advancement of datafication? How are decisions made, governance carried out, and systems created? What possibilities exist to intervene in, influence, create and resist power? Who gets to participate and on what terms? How might our institutions and government practices need to change? What are strategies for democratising the emergent datafied society? And what are avenues for enhancing citizen and community participation?

This two-day event explores the relationship between datafication and participation. Hosted by the Data Justice Lab at Cardiff University’s School of Journalism, Media and Culture (JOMEC), it will bring together international scholars, practitioners, activists, and community groups to discuss the possibilities and challenges of civic participation in a datafied society. Speakers include:

• Carly Kind (Ada Lovelace Institute)
• Mark Andrejevic (Monash University, Australia)
• Nanjira Sambuli (World Wide Web Foundation)
• Natalie Fenton (Goldsmiths, University of London, UK)
• Rashida Richardson (AI Now)
• Tawana Petty (Detroit Digital Justice Coalition)

The conference will include both scholarly contributions and workshops with civil society, practitioners and impacted communities in order to facilitate and advance knowledge exchange. We therefore welcome alternative formats and ideas. Themes for submissions include (but are not limited to):

• Citizen juries, assemblies and audits
• Participatory data governance and oversight
• Data commons and co-operatives
• Data activism and resistance
• Participatory design and design justice
• Digital and human labour in data
• Participation, exploitation and coercion
• Geopolitics of participation

Submissions

Deadline for 500-word abstracts: 15th of December, 2019

Submit via EasyChair: https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=datajustice2020

All submissions must include a title, author name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and full contact information (mailing address, email address). If you propose a workshop or practical demonstration, please provide a clear statement of purpose and a detailed description of activities, as well as any infrastructure requirements. Please note that time-slots for sessions are 90 minutes. If more is needed, please include an explanation.

How to get there

Cardiff is a 2-hour train journey west of London and Heathrow airport. The closest airports are Cardiff and Bristol.

Conference fee

• Full fee: £75 (early bird) / £100
• Reduced fee for students and civil society: £50 (early bird) / £75

Conference organizing committee: Lina Dencik, Arne Hintz, Joanna Redden and Emiliano Treré (Data Justice Lab, Cardiff University, UK)

For information about the Data Justice Lab, see: http://www.datajusticelab.org

Online CfP: https://datajusticelab.org/data-justice-2020/

Hashtag: #DataJustice2020

Contact for further information: https://datajusticelab.org/contact/

IASPM Canada Annual Conference 2020

June 12-14, 2020

Cape Breton University: Sydney, Nova Scotia

Submission Deadline: December 15, 2019

As we enter into a new decade it’s apt to question our place in the world. Almost sixty years ago, Marshall McLuhan notably coined the term Global Village to refer to the global spread of media content and consumption, and yet Canada still struggles with its position in the world as an imposing landmass with a relatively small population, and how that influences where and how its cultural texts are encountered. This conference seeks to address the concept of voice and sound as tied to space and place, in the broadest sense. In regards to popular music in Canada, we have established a strong identity, but one that is often defined in opposition to our more vocal neighbours to the South. As we continuously define and redefine Canadian cultural identity, and cultural outputs, this conference questions how our musical landscape has historically adapted, and will continue to adapt, to an increasingly globalized environment.

This is the first time that the IASPM Conference has been held in Cape Breton. And, as such, it opens up a great opportunity to not only address the “big sounds” that emerge out of “small places” like Cape Breton, but also wider themes of space and place in popular music, and the relationship between communities and music.

While we welcome papers on any aspects of popular music, we encourage papers that align with the conference subthemes: audiences; space & place; and populations & peripheries.

Audiences:

The digital landscape has dramatically extended the reach of niche music, local musicians, and subcultures/scenes. Potential areas of focus in this theme include, but are not limited to:

• Scenes: from “small town” roots to urban niches. The history, present, and future of local scenes.
• Digital communities/fans: the spread of Canadian pop through digitality.
• Subcultures: issues of subcultural identity in popular music
• Everyday uses of music
• Listening practices: environmental impacts; listening to music in transit
• Dance and embodied consumption

Space & Place:

Canada, as a Nation and a concept, continues to exist as both “village/settlement” and a major player on the global stage. The ways in which popular music also navigates these complicated relationships is often intimately tied how space and place is expressed in music. This can be seen not only in Canadian music, but also throughout a myriad of cultural and national identities. Potential areas of focus in this theme include, but are not limited to:

• Issues of space and place in popular music
• Land-based epistemologies and musical embodiment; the natural environment and music spaces
• “Small” nations/artists/communities on the global stage
• Live music and venues: small/hidden/underground venues; “noise” and leaking sounds; busking; rehearsal spaces
• Music-making practices in domestic spaces

Populations & Peripheries:

How does/can music become the sound of a community? This theme explores the connection between cultural identity, community, and music. In addition, it takes up the notion of peripheries to focus on the marginalized, subaltern, and/or tokenized sounds/identities, and to disrupt hegemonic paradigms. Potential areas of focus in this theme include, but are not limited to:

• Music and cultural, community, and/or national identity
• “Small” economies in smaller populations
• Issues of music policy and practice
• Making music in jail
• The sounds of Indigenous, Immigrant, Disabled, LGBTQ, and/or Ally communities

Submission Guidelines:

Abstracts of individual papers, workshops, performances and other presentations should be no longer than 300 words. The program committee is especially interested in proposals in diverse formats. Panel submissions should include a title and abstract for the panel (300 words max.) as well as titles and abstracts for the individual papers on the panel. All abstracts for a panel should be submitted together. Abstracts will be adjudicated individually, so it is possible for a panel to be accepted but not an individual paper and vice versa. Each abstract should also include a short biography of the author (100 words max.) including the institutional affiliation, if any, and email address of each author. Each abstract should also include five keywords. Submissions in French and English are acceptable. All submissions must be submitted as a single Word document with the author's last name as the document file name. Please do not submit your proposal as a PDF. Proposals will be blind reviewed.

Email Submissions To: iaspmcanada2020@gmail.com

Presentation Logistics:

Papers will be limited to 20 minutes followed by 10 minutes of questions. Panels will be limited to a maximum of 4 papers. Other presentations (workshops, film screenings, roundtables, etc.) will generally be limited to 60 minutes, but alternatives can be discussed/proposed. All participants must be members of IASPM-Canada at the time of the conference. Membership information is available on the following website: http://iaspm.ca/membership.

For questions about the conference, please contact the Program Committee Chair, Melissa Avdeeff (melissa.avdeeff@gmail.com), or Local Organizing Chair, Chris McDonald (chris_mcdonald@cbu.ca).

Program Committee Members:

• Melissa Avdeeff (Chair), Coventry University
• Vanessa Blais-Tremblay, Université du Québec à Montréal
• Sandria P. Bouliane, Université Laval
• Matt Brennan, University of Glasgow
• Mark Campbell, University of Toronto
• Marcia Ostashewski, Cape Breton University
• Maya Stitski, Queen’s University

May 12, 2020

Palais du Pharo, Marseille, France

Deadline: January 20, 2020

Website: https://www.clarin.eu/ParlaCLARIN-II

Submission page: will be communicated by 20 December 2019

Workshop Description

Parliamentary data is a major source of socially relevant content. It is available in ever larger quantities, is multilingual, accompanied by rich metadata, and has the distinguishing characteristic that it is spoken language produced in controlled circumstances which has traditionally been transcribed but is now increasingly released also in audio and video formats. All these factors require solutions related to structuring, synchronization, visualization, querying and analysis of parliamentary corpora. Furthermore, approaches to the exploitation of parliamentary corpora to their full extent also have to take into account the needs of researchers from vastly different Humanities and Social Sciences fields, such as political sciences, sociology, history, and psychology.

A successful first edition of the ParlaCLARIN scientific workshop held at LREC 2018 (https://www.clarin.eu/ParlaCLARIN) and a follow-up developmental ParlaFormat workshop held by CLARIN ERIC in 2019 (https://www.clarin.eu/event/2019/parlaformat-workshop) resulted in a good overview of the multitude of the existing parliamentary resources worldwide as well as tangible first steps towards better harmonization, interoperability and comparability of the resources and tools relevant for the study of parliamentary discussions and decisions.

The second ParlaCLARIN workshop therefore aims to bring together developers, curators and researchers of regional, national and international parliamentary debates that are suitable for research in disciplines in the Humanities and Social Sciences. We invite unpublished original work focusing on the compilation, annotation, visualisation and utilisation of parliamentary records as well as linking or comparing parliamentary records with other datasets of political discourse such as party manifestos, political speeches, political campaign debates, social media posts, etc. Apart from dissemination of the results, the workshop also aims to address the identified obstacles, discuss open issues and coordinate future efforts in this increasingly trans-national and cross-disciplinary community.

Objective

Due to the Freedom of Information Acts that are supported by the United Nations and set in place in over 100 countries worldwide, parliamentary debates are being increasingly easy to obtain, and have always been of interest to researchers from a wide range fields in Humanities and Social Sciences both for the potential influence of their content, and the specificities of the formalized, often persuasive and emotional language use in this context. As a consequence, there are many initiatives, on the national and international levels, that aim at compiling and analysing parliamentary data. The recent CLARIN-PLUS survey on parliamentary data has identified over 20 corpora of parliamentary records, with over half of them being available within the CLARIN infrastructure (https://www.clarin.eu/resource-families/parliamentary-corpora).

Given the maturity, variety, and potential of this type of language data as well as the rich metadata it is complemented with, it is urgent to gather researchers both from the side of those producing parliamentary corpora and making them available, those making use of them for linguistic, historical, political, sociological etc. research as well as those linking or comparing them with other datasets of political discourse such as party manifestos, political speeches, political campaign debates, social media posts, etc. in order to share methods and approaches of compiling, annotating and exploring parliamentary and other political language data in order to achieve harmonization of the compiled resources, and to ensure current and future comparability of research on national datasets as well as promote transnational analyses.

Topics of interest

Topics include but are not limited to:

• Creation and annotation of parliamentary data in textual, spoken and video format
• Annotation standards and best practices for parliamentary corpora
• Accessibility, querying and visualisation of parliamentary data
• Text analytics, semantic processing and linking of parliamentary and other datasets of political language data
• Parliamentary corpora and multilinguality
• Studies based on parliamentary corpora
• Studies comparing parliamentary corpora with other types of political discourse

Submission & Publication

We accept submission of long papers (up to 8 pages), short papers (up to 4 pages) and demo papers (up to 4 pages) to be presented as a long or short oral presentation at the workshop. The papers of the workshop will be published in online proceedings.

When submitting a paper from the START page, authors will be asked to provide essential information about resources (in a broad sense, i.e. also technologies, standards, evaluation kits, etc.) that have been used for the work described in the paper or are a result of your research. Moreover, ELRA encourages all LREC authors to share the described LRs (data, tools, services, etc.) to enable their reuse and replicability of experiments (including evaluation ones). For contact data, stylesheets, up-to-date details on submission and the workshop itself, please consult the workshop website.

Submission page: will be communicated by 20 December 2019

Important Dates

• Paper submission deadline: 14 February 2020
• Notification of acceptance: 13 March 2020
• Camera-ready paper: 2 April 2020
• Workshop date: 12 May 2020

Organizing Committee

• Darja Fišer, University of Ljubljana and Jožef Stefan Institute
• Franciska de Jong, CLARIN ERIC
• Maria Eskevich, CLARIN ERIC

The workshop is supported by the CLARIN research infrastructure.

To contact the organizers, please mail clarin@clarin.eu (Subject: [ParlaCLARIN@LREC2020]).

Programme Committee (in alphabetical order)

• Bente Maegaard, University of Copenhagen, Denmark
• Francesca Frontini, Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier, France
• Henk van den Heuvel, Radboud University, The Netherlands
• Jan Odijk, Utrecht University, The Netherlands
• Kaspar Beelen, The Alan Turing Institute, UK
• Klaus Illmayer, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria
• Laura Morales, Sciences Po, France
• Maciej Ogrodniczuk, Institute of Computer Science, Polish Academy of Sciences, Poland
• Maria Gavriilidou, ILSP/Athena RC, Greece
• Maria Pontiki, ILSP/Athena RC, Greece
• Monica Monachini, National Research Council of Italy, Italy
• Petya Osenova, IICT-BAS and Sofia University "St. Kl. Ohridski", Bulgaria
• Sara Tonelli, Fondazione Bruno Kessler, Italy
• Simone Paolo Ponzetto, University of Mannheim, Germany
• Stelios Piperidis, ILSP/Athena RC, Greece
• Tamás Váradi, Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary
• Tanja Wissik, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Austria
• Tomaž Erjavec, Jožef Stefan Institute

Identify, Describe and Share your LRs!

Describing your LRs in the LRE Map is now standard practice in the submission procedure of LREC (introduced in 2010 and adopted by other conferences). To continue the efforts initiated at LREC 2014 about “Sharing LRs” (data, tools, web-services, etc.), authors will have the possibility, when submitting a paper, to upload LRs in a special LREC repository. This effort of sharing LRs, linked to the LRE Map for their description, may become a new “regular” feature for conferences in our field, thus contributing to creating a common repository where everyone can deposit and share data.

As scientific work requires accurate citations of referenced work so as to allow the community to understand the whole context and also replicate the experiments conducted by other researchers, LREC 2020 endorses the need to uniquely Identify LRs through the use of the International Standard Language Resource Number (ISLRN, www.islrn.org), a Persistent Unique Identifier to be assigned to each Language Resource. The assignment of ISLRNs to LRs cited in LREC papers will be offered at submission time.

May 15-16, 2020

Goldsmiths, University of London

Keynote speakers: Gary Younge (former editor-at-large of the Guardian and author of Another Day in the Death of America), Ghada Karmi (author of Return: A Palestinian Memoir), Alan Rusbridger (author of Breaking News and former editor-in-chief of the Guardian) and Mark Curtis (author of Secret Affairs and Dirty Wars)

Opening panel: Friday, 15 May with Gary Younge, Bev Skeggs and Richard Seymour

Main conference: Saturday, 16 May. Sessions include the Guardian's relationship to: empire and history; liberalism; Brexit and populism; foreign coverage; bias and balance; feminism; regulation and the state; and philanthropy and funding.

Full programme coming soon.

For more information, email goldsmithsleverhulmecentre@gmail.com or contact the conference organisers Des Freedman (d.freedman@gold.ac.uk) and Becky Gardiner (b.gardiner@gold.ac.uk)

In May 2021, the Guardian turns 200. From its inception in Manchester in 1821 as a response to the murder of ordinary people by soldiers in the 1819 Peterloo Massacre to its historic identification with centre-left politics, the Guardian has long been a key institution in the definition and development of liberalism. The stereotype of the ‘Guardianista’, an environmentally conscious, Labour-voting, progressively minded public sector worker remains part of the popular mythology of British press history.

Yet the title has a complex lineage.

The Guardian advocated the abolition of slavery in the US, criticised the Boer War, backed women’s suffrage and supported the Republican cause in the Spanish civil war; it has published some of the most celebrated examples of investigative journalism – from the breaking of the phone hacking scandal to Edward Snowden’s revelations of US and UK surveillance programmes.

Yet it owes its existence to a cotton merchant determined to head off more radical ideas at the start of the Industrial Revolution; it opposed direct action by the suffragette movement; has at various times called for a vote for the Conservatives, Social Democrats and Liberal Democrats; supported the First Gulf War and the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia; and has been accused more recently of consistently denigrating Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership of the Labour Party. It has both fiercely defended the need for fearless, independent journalism and handed over documents and hard drives to the authorities; it has carved out a niche for itself in the UK press market as a progressive voice but has also consistently diminished more radical projects to the left.

Its business model is equally distinctive. It has been owned by the Scott Trust since 1936 and has been partially protected from the proprietorial interference that its counterparts have always faced; it has led the way in innovative design and formats and it now champions a membership model with some one million people signed up to the scheme.

Its forthcoming anniversary provides an opportunity for academics, researchers, historians and journalists to assess the contribution of the Guardian to British politics, society and culture through a major conference. We are looking for a range of contributions from more theoretical reflections on its foundational principles to empirical assessments of specific features of its coverage. In particular, we are looking for papers on:

• Historical and theoretical accounts of liberalism
• Issues of balance, bias and sourcing in Guardian journalism
• Press power, partisanship and propaganda
• The history of the Guardian with an emphasis on its founding in 1821
• Its party political affiliations and election endorsements
• Its reporting of women’s liberation and gender issues
• Its coverage of race and empire
• Foreign reporting with a particular interest in its coverage of UK military interventions
• Its reporting of Israel and Palestine
• Its business model: critiques of Trust ownership, Guardian membership and international expansion
• Its commitment to investigative journalism
• Newsroom culture and internal democracy
• The shift from ‘hard news’ to comment and opinion
• Philanthropic funding and branded content
• The Guardian, surveillance and national security

Selected papers will be invited to submit to an edited collection to be published in 2021 ahead of the Guardian’s anniversary.

The conference is organised by the Goldsmiths Leverhulme Media Research Centre and will be held in the Professor Stuart Hall building at Goldsmiths, University of London in New Cross, South East London on Saturday 9 May 2020.

University of the West of England

Deadline: January 27, 2020

The University of the West of England are delighted to announce the availability of fully-funded Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) funded PhD studentships as part of the South, West & Wales 2 Doctoral Training Partnership (SWW2)*.

UWE Bristol invites applications to undertake doctoral research that focuses on any area of:

• Digital culture
• Film and media
• Design
• Heritage
• The creative economy

As well as welcoming proposals relating to individual supervisors’ specialist expertise, we also encourage applications within these focus areas that relate to the research of one of the following four research centres:

• Centre for Fine Print Research (CFPR)
• Digital Cultures Research Centre (DCRC)
• Regional History Centre (DHC)
• Bristol Centre for Linguistics (BCL)

Each research centre has a track record of supervising interdisciplinary research projects and, in particular, practice-led research.

*The South West and Wales 2 Doctoral Training Partnership is made up of ten institutions (Aberystwyth University, Amgueddfa Cymru – National Museum Wales, Bath Spa University, University of Bristol, Cardiff University, Cranfield University, University of Exeter, University of Reading, University of Southampton, and UWE Bristol), and funded by those institutions and by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, the South, West and Wales Doctoral Training Partnership [https://www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk/] offers opportunities to Arts and Humanities PhD students for cross-institutional supervision in both disciplinary and cross-disciplinary projects. Together with our multiple arts, heritage, cultural, and creative economy partners [https://www.sww-ahdtp.ac.uk/about/our-partners/non-hei-partners/], the SWW DTP2 aims to develop researchers who will be equipped for a wide range of careers through the acquisition of research-based, employability, entrepreneurial, and interpersonal skills that are vital to the 21st-century knowledge economy.

The deadline for SWW2 applications is 27 January 2020.

For full details of eligibility, funding and research supervision areas please visit the SWW DTP 2 webpage or the UWE SWW2 webpage

Simon Fraser University

The School of Communication at Simon Fraser University invites applications from candidates for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of Critical Algorithm Studies.

Areas of research and teaching may include, but are not limited to, critical data studies; machine learning; socio-cultural informatics; social implications of data systems and infrastructures; algorithmic bias; content moderation; and/or platform studies. The successful candidate will foreground critical approaches, such as critical race studies; intersectional feminism; queer theory; trans studies; disability studies; post/colonial studies; Indigenous studies; science and technology studies; critical information studies; and/or socio-legal studies. We welcome candidates who use qualitative, quantitative, computational, digital methods, applied practices or a combination of approaches.

Situated in the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, the School of Communication's research and teaching is internationally recognized. Grounded in a critical tradition of the study of communication we are developing new and diverse research and teaching strengths to reflect contemporary and emergent issues of media and communication. For further details, see: http://www.sfu.ca/communication.html

The successful candidate will demonstrate potential for research funding and publication, for collaborative initiatives, and for working with students from diverse backgrounds. The candidate will be expected to teach and supervise students at all levels. Candidates are expected to have a completed Ph.D. (or near completion) in Communication, Media Studies, or a related discipline.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority.

SFU is an equity employer and encourages applications from all qualified individuals including women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of the university.

Candidates should submit:

• A cover letter with indication of citizenship and/or residency status
• A curriculum vitae
• Research statement
• Teaching dossier (examples of applied pedagogy are welcome)
• One (1) sample of published work
• Contact information for three referees. (Letters of reference may be requested at a later date.)

All documents should be combined into a single PDF file with bookmarks.

Please send applications directly to Brenda Baldwin, Director's Assistant, at cmnsdsec@ sfu.ca, addressed to:

Dr. J. Marontate, Director School of Communication Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, BC

V5A 1S6

Review of applications will begin on January 29, 2020 and continue until the position is filled. The start date for the successful candidate is expected to be July 1, 2020.

Under the authority of the University Act, personal information that is required by the University for academic appointment competitions will be collected. For further details, please see: http://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/faculty_openings/collection_notice.html

Simon Fraser University

The School of Communication at Simon Fraser University invites applications from outstanding candidates for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in the area of Media, Communication, and Public Engagement.

Specific areas may include, but are not limited to: social media; activism and social movements; popular culture; political communication and public opinion; advocacy; civic engagement; environmental and risk communication; global communication and social change; theories and philosophies of publics; visual communication; popular music; media storytelling; documentary and community media production and research.

We welcome approaches that include but are not limited to intersectional feminisms, transcultural studies, decolonization and postcolonial studies, critical race, governance and policy, and indigenous studies. We are searching for candidates who address these or other issues using qualitative, quantitative, computational, digital methods as well as applied practices, or a combination of approaches.

Situated in the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology, the School of Communication is a national and global leader in the discipline. The School is a dynamic site of research and teaching. Our critical tradition to the study of communication includes approaches such as media and culture, technology studies, global communication, culture industries and policy, history of communication, and applied media production, among others. This position will build on the School's history of critical engagement while developing new directions to reflect contemporary and emergent issues of media and communication. We seek an innovative colleague who will challenge traditional distinctions between critical analysis and applied approaches.

The successful candidate will have interdisciplinary and transnational/global links in their research program, demonstrated potential for research funding and publication, a track record for collaborative initiatives and experience working with students from diverse backgrounds. The candidate will be expected to teach and supervise students at all undergraduate and graduate levels and to work with partners inside and outside the University. Candidates are expected to have a completed Ph.D. (or Ph.D. near completion) in Communication, Media Studies, or a cognate discipline.

All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority.

SFU is an equity employer and encourages applications from all qualified individuals including women, persons with disabilities, visible minorities, Indigenous Peoples, people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, and others who may contribute to the further diversification of the university.

Candidates should submit:

• A cover letter with indication of citizenship and/or residency status
• A curriculum vitae
• Research statement
• Teaching dossier (examples of applied pedagogy are welcome)
• One (1) sample of published work
• Contact information for three referees. (Letters of reference may be requested at a later date.)

All documents should be combined into a single PDF file with bookmarks.

Please send applications directly to Brenda Baldwin, Director's Assistant, at cmnsdsec@sfu.ca, addressed to:

Dr. J. Marontate, Director School of Communication Simon Fraser University 8888 University Drive Burnaby, BC

V5A 1S6

Review of applications will begin on January 29, 2020 and continue until the position is filled. The start date for the successful candidate is expected to be July 1, 2020.

Under the authority of the University Act, personal information that is required by the University for academic appointment competitions will be collected.

For further details, please see: http://www.sfu.ca/vpacademic/Faculty%20Openings/Collection%20Notice.html