ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Deadline: December 9, 2019

This is a quick reminder to those of you who might be interested in contributing a chapter to the 'Ethnic journalism in the Global South' book.

The book will be submitted to Palgrave Macmillan in 2020 and if everything goes well will be published as part of the newly launched 'Palgrave Studies in Journalism and the Global South' book series: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16423 (series editors Bruce Mutsvairo, Saba Bebawi and Eddy Borges-Rey).

In this volume, we will look at ethnic journalism in the Global South through the following lenses:

• Ethnic journalism as a profession: journalistic practices, challenges (economic, technological, social, etc.) to journalists working for ethnic media outlets in the Global South, education/training of journalists, transformation of journalistic roles and functions in the digital age, etc.;
• Ethnic journalism as a social mission: the role of ethnic journalism and ethnic media in safeguarding pluralistic media landscape, fostering multicultural understanding and inclusion, protecting ethnic identities, languages and cultures in the Global South;
• Ethnic journalism and digital inequalities: how inequalities in access, skills, benefits people receive through being online hinder the development of ethnic journalism in the Global South, and what the ways to overcome these inequalities can be;
• Ownership, regulation, production and financing of ethnic media in the Global South: how ethnic media are regulated and funded; who owns such media; who produces them; how media policy in the Global South today protects media outlets in ethnic languages on a broader federal and regional/local levels;
• Ethnic journalism through case study analysis: deeper analysis of journalistic practices and ethnic media in the Global South with a focus on their managerial and editorial strategies, content specifics, target audience, distribution channels, main challenges and trends of development in the digital age, etc.

If you are interested in suggesting a chapter for this volume, please send us a one-page summary of your proposed chapter, indicating central questions, methodology, theoretical framework and expected results.

Submissions are to be sent to Anna Gladkova gladkova_a@list.ru and Sadia Jamil sadia.jamil@ymail.com before 9 December 2019.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

March 27, 2020

Dublin, Ireland

Deadline: January 6, 2020

Technological University Dublin invites submissions for its public relations and public affairs conference, SymPR&A 2020.

With a theme of ‘public relations, public affairs and societal engagement’ and an emphasis on social capital and social legitimacy, the conference invites research papers from scholars in PR and public affairs particularly, and encourages interdisciplinary contributions from scholars whose related work explores and benefits contemporary theory and practice.

Topics that are particularly welcomed in this call for papers may include, for example:

• Is societal engagement an evolution of corporate social responsibility, or a revolution?
• The challenges for societal engagement
• What are the strategic and tactical processes for societal engagement?
• How can PR&A measure both engagement and the outcomes of engagement?
• Where does societal engagement sit within schools of PR&A thought – rhetorical, critical theory, systems theory etc?
• Inter-disciplinary approaches to engagement – inter alia, sociology, mass and behavioural psychology, media reporting, ethics, linguistics, marketing, management.
• Practitioner-led case studies that explore these topics

This list is not exhaustive and imaginative proposals from disciplines outside these suggestions are welcome.

Abstracts of 300-400 words for a paper of approximately 20-25 minutes should be submitted with a short accompanying proposer biography by January 6. Submissions may be made at https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=sympra2020

The full call for papers, and details on registration can be viewed at http://www.prstudent.com/symposium.

Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The PROFECI Team at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem is looking to recruit an Arabic speaking Post-Doctoral Fellow in an ERC project about the social dynamics of projecting possible futures.

If you are a native Arabic speaker, or fluent in the Arabic language, and are interested in working on an exciting project for your postdoc studies (starting September 2020), this could be a terrific opportunity for you.

We are an international, interdisciplinary team headed by Prof. Keren Tenenboim-Weinblatt (https://scholars.huji.ac.il/tenenboim-weinblattkeren) at the Hebrew University’s Department of Communication and Journalism. The project, PROFECI, examines how scenarios about the outcomes and implications of significant political events are formulated, and how people act upon these expectations. The Post-Doctoral researcher will focus on the social construction of projections related to the war in Syria and the role of the media in this process. The position is fully funded (up to 2 years).

Suitable candidates should hold (or be close to completion of) a PhD in Communication, Middle Eastern Studies, International Relations, or related fields. Background in research on Syria and experience in text analysis are an advantage.

Applications should comprise a statement of motivation (1 page), CV including list of publications, two recommendation letters (one of them should be from the PhD supervisor), as well as one relevant publication (published or under review). Applications should be sent as PDF to Bat Sheva Hass, ERC coordinator, at bath@savion.huji.ac.il.

Review of applications will begin on January 30th, 2019 and will continue until the position is filled.

April 15-16, 2020

Unisinos University / Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos, Porto Alegre, Brazil

Deadline: February 3, 2020

Submit: an abstract in English, Portuguese or Spanish (300 words) and short biography to digilabour@gmail.com

Confirmed speakers include Niels van Doorn (Universiteit van Amsterdam) and Ludmila Costhek Abilio (Universidade Estadual de Campinas), and more to be confirmed. The conference will also host roundtables of policy makers and worker-led organizations.

The conference encourages submissions that explore one of the following issues or another related to digital labor research.

• Digital labor from various perspectives/fields/dimensions;
• Theories, methodologies and epistemologies of digital labor;
• Algorithms, data, platforms and work;
• Artificial intelligence and human work;
• Platformization of labor;
• Platform cooperativism;
• Surveillance, control and digital labor;
• Algorithmic control;
• Narratives and representations about digital labor;
• Race, class, gender and territory in digital labor;
• Entrepreneurial rationality and digital media;
• Regulation of work on digital platforms;
• Collective organization of workers in platform context (worker collectives, labor unions…);
• Platform capitalism and sharing economy;
• Health and work in digital contexts;
• Digital Labor in Latin America
• Education and work in context of platformization;
• Alternative platforms;
• Action research on digital labor.

​Results will be announced on February 17, 2020.

Organizing Committee

• Rafael Grohmann (Unisinos)
• Adriana Amaral (Unisinos)
• Alberto Efendy Maldonado (Unisinos)
• Jiani Bonin (Unisinos)
• Mario de Conto (ESCOOP)
• Daniel Abs (UFRGS)

Scientific Committee

• Ana Claudia Moreira Cardoso (UFJF)
• Arturo Arriagada (Universidad Adolfo Ibañez)
• Bianca Tavolari (INSPER)
• Carlos D’Andrea (UFMG)
• Cláudia Nonato (CPCT/ECA-USP)
• Claudia Rebechi (UTFPR)
• Claudiana Guedes (UFRRJ)
• Danila Cal (UFPA)
• Enda Brophy (Simon Fraser University)
• Graciela Natansohn (UFBA)
• Helena Martins (UFC)
• Janaína Visibeli Barros (UEMG)
• Jean-Paul Van Belle (University of Cape Town)
• Karin Fast (Karlstad University)
• Leonardo Foletto (LabCidade - FAU-USP / BaixaCultura)
• Luci Praun (UFAC)
• Mark Andrejevic (Pomona University)
• Mark Graham (University of Oxford)
• Mary Gray (Microsoft Research)
• Mayo Fuster (Universitat Oberta de Catalunya)
• Natalia Vinelli (Universidad de Buenos Aires)
• Nathalie Fragoso (InternetLab)
• Rafael Bellan (UFES)¨
• Rafael Evangelista (Unicamp)
• Ricardo Antunes (Unicamp)
• Ricardo Festi (UnB)
• Rodrigo Carelli (UFRJ)
• Rodrigo Moreno Marques (UFMG)
• Roseli Figaro (USP)
• Rudimar Baldissera (UFRGS)
• Ruy Braga (USP)
• Sarah Abdelnour (Université Paris-Dauphine)
• Sergio Amadeu (UFABC)
• Thaiane Oliveira (UFF)
• Veena Dubal (University of California)

More information: https://digilabour.com.br/simposiodigilabour/

Please send any inquiries to rafaelgrohmann@unisinos.br or digilabour@gmail.com

Special Issue on Multimedia Alternate Realities: Springer, Multimedia Tools and Applications (MTAP) journal

Deadline (expression of interest): February 15, 2020

http://altmmsi.di.fc.ul.pt

Important Dates

Expression of interest (abstract max 400 words): Feb 15, 2020

Submission: Mar 31, 2020

Manuscripts submitted before the deadline will enter the review process straightaway. If accepted, your article will proceed to be published online first and will be fully citable before issue publication.

Scope, Dimensions and Topics

Novel multimedia technologies enable us to experience other realities, to live other people's stories, or to interact in remote scenarios. Different spaces, times, situations or contexts can be entered thanks to multimedia contents and systems, which coexist with our current reality, and are sometimes so vivid and engaging that we feel we are immersed in them. These experiences may feel like an alternate reality.

Recent advancements in multimedia and related technologies together with increased computational capabilities facilitate the creation of hypermedia content with higher quality using multiple sensory channels, including audio, visual, haptic, olfactory, and taste.

Following three inspiring editions of the Multimedia Alternate Realities workshop at the ACM Multimedia conference, this MTAP Special Issue brings new opportunities to share ideas and results. Research contributions may explore how the synergy between multimedia technologies and its perceptual/cognitive effects can foster the creation of alternate realities and make their access an enriching and valuable experience. This call is open for everyone working on the broader theme of Alternate Multimedia realities, including previous workshop participants as well as new contributors. In line with this conceptual theme, we seek contributions that present multimedia technologies, methods and evaluation approaches from the perspective of "enabling other realities". In particular, one or more of the following *dimensions* must be addressed in the contributions by prospective authors, when characterizing the type of multimedia alternate realities that they are aiming for:

• Alternate - refers to what is alternate about it: different space, time, situation, and so on;
• Virtual/Augmented - how far or close to the actual reality content can be experienced, ranging from totally virtual to augmented reality (VR/AR);
• Real/Fictional - how real or fictional the content is;
• Interactive - the level of interactivity as a means of engagement and immersion;
• Immersive - level in perceptual, cognitive and emotional terms, the sense of presence and belonging, the quality of the content and the experience, imagination and engagement;
• Multisensorial - the media involved and how much mulsemedia it is, also going beyond audiovisual content to include the five senses;
• Personal - adaptation to individual preferences and contexts;
• Social - individualized vs shared experiences and communication.

We invite contributions with the goals and the perspective of enabling alternate realities experiences as characterized above, through multimedia technologies, design and evaluation methods for its creation and consumption. This involves the use of different types of media content (audiovisual, haptics, smell, and taste), increased immersion (e.g., 3D, holographic, UHD, panoramic and 360-degree visual media, and spatial audio), new interaction devices, environments, modalities, and formats.

*Topics* include but are not limited to:

# Creation and Consumption of Alternate Realities

• Capturing and sensing;
• Content production and authoring, interactive storytelling, digital narratives, cinema and TV;
• Crowdsourcing and co-creation;
• Delivery, rendering, and consumption paradigms, co-experience and communication;
• Personalization, post-processing, enhancement and real-time adaptation.

# Design and Evaluation of Alternate Realities Experience

• Engagement, immersion, flow assessment and prediction;
• Experience (QoE) evaluation through the analysis of quantitative (e.g., physiological data, self-reports, logging data) and qualitative data (e.g., interviews, observations);
• Quality of alternate reality experience measurements and metrics;
• Field trial reports and user studies.

# Alternate Realities Applications

• From more traditional to innovative applications, e.g. based on multi-device and multisensory shared content consumption, in asynchronous or live scenarios, as in telepresence;
• In domains like personal media, culture, tourism, art, education, entertainment, manufacturing, training, health and wellbeing, etc.

Guest Editors

• Teresa Chambel - LASIGE, Faculdade de Ciências, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal.
• Francesca De Simone - Centrum Wiskunde & Informatica (CWI), the Netherlands
• Rene Kaiser - Know-Center - Research Center for Data-Driven Business & Big Data Analytics, Austria
• Nimesha Ranasinghe - School of Computing and Information Science, University of Maine, ME, USA
• Wendy Van den Broeck - imec-SMIT, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium Omar Aziz Niamut - TNO, the Netherlands

Submission Guidelines

Authors should prepare their manuscript according to the Instructions for Authors available from the Multimedia Tools and Applications website. Authors should submit through the online submission site and select "1161 - Multimedia Alternate Realities" when they reach the "Article Type" step in the submission process. Submitted papers should present original, unpublished work, relevant to one of the topics of the Special Issue. All submitted papers will be evaluated on the basis of relevance, significance of contribution, technical quality, scholarship, and quality of presentation, by at least three independent reviewers. It is the policy of the journal that no submission, or substantially overlapping submission, be published or be under review at another journal or conference at any time during the review process.

Expression of Interest: by email to altmmsi@di.fc.ul.pt, subject: "AltMM SI – Expression of Interest".

April 4, 2020

Deadline: December 31, 2019

The President of the Professional Wrestling Studies Association (prowrestlingstudies.org) invites submissions for the association’s inaugural PWSA Symposium: WrestlePosium I.

This virtual symposium will happen online on Saturday, April 4th, to coincide with WrestleMania. That week has become a touchstone for all of professional wrestling, not just the World Wrestling Entertainment’s signature show. As such, the PWSA seeks to bring academic scholarship to the festivities by connecting wrestling scholars around the world to present their research and ideas.’

Presentations can be given live, via a videoconferencing tool, or be recorded and collected for viewing during that day. Additionally, all live presentations will also be recorded and collected for later viewing. Presentations and videos will be no longer than 15 minutes, but applicants can also submit ideas for roundtable discussions and complete panels. Sessions will be scheduled during the day based on the proposals.

Interested applicants should submit a 500-word proposal outlining the purpose and scope of their presentation, roundtable or panel. Proposals should include titles and contact information for all speakers. Submissions should be sent to PWSA president CarrieLynn D. Reinhard (creinhard@dom.edu).

The deadline for submissions to the symposium is December 31, 2019.

Edited by Katrin Voltmer, Christian Christensen, Irene Neverla, Nicole Stremlau, Barbara Thomass, Nebojša Vladisavljević and Herman Wasserman

This book investigates the role of media and communication in processes of democratization in different political and cultural contexts. Struggles for democratic change are periods of intense contest over the transformation of citizenship and the reconfiguration of political power. These democratization conflicts are played out within an increasingly complex media ecology where traditional modes of communication merge with new digital networks, thus bringing about multiple platforms for journalists and political actors to promote competing definitions of reality. The volume draws on extensive research in South Africa, Kenya, Egypt and Serbia to highlight the ambivalent role of the media as force for democratic change, empowerment, and accountability, as well as driver of polarization, radicalization and manipulation.

Purchase here: https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9783030167479

April 23-24, 2020

Malmö, Sweden

Deadline: January 15, 2020

Call for papers attending to the actors, logics and/or cultures behind digital technologies

A conference co-organized by Malmö University Data Society research program (http://www.mau.se/en/research/research-programmes/data-society) & the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society *in Berlin (http://www.weizenbaum-institut.de ).

Funded by the Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Sciences (http://www.rj.se/en) and the above organizing institutions Behind Data and Algorithms.

Objective

Data and algorithms are on the agenda today. Examples are abundant: How Facebook manually controls the algorithms by tweaking them, the debate whether Amazon is homophobic, whether Google is racist, or the scandal over Microsoft’s chat program Tay that quickly turned to obscene and inflammatory language after having interacted with Twitter users. Studies have also found gender biases as a consequence of image search algorithms and that black people are not recognized as humans in face-recognition algorithms. And then we have the whole Cambridge Analytica scandal and the debate on how data and algorithms can be used to manipulate elections.

There is much need for a socio-cultural approach to research on data and algorithms, by focusing on the actors and their culture(s) behind these technologies. Engineered by humans, data and algorithms embody rules, ideals and imaginations. They are encoded with human intentions that may or may not be fulfilled. Studying humans, logics and culture behind data and algorithms is therefore pivotal if we intend to have an informed discussion of power, and shifting relations of power, in contemporary data society. Here we draw upon the argument that algorithms should be understood as massive and networked, sometimes with hundreds of hands reaching into them, tuning, tweaking and experimenting with them. Still, computer programmers, software engineers and their circumstances have largely been ignored in empirical studies. In this conference we therefore aim to gather researchers exploring questions such as what logic, or combination of logics, informs the practices of designing and programming algorithms. And how the data that these algorithms base their calculation, is constructed?

We seek papers discussing any of the following exemplary questions:

Actors: Who are the people and organizations that create and maintain algorithms and other digital technologies behind the communication interfaces of platforms, apps, search engines or games? What about diversity and diversity challenges in the software industry? Under which working conditions is software produced? What are the professional norms and values of software designers, programmers and engineers?

Logics: What are the processes and rules of the game in the production of algorithms and digital technologies? What are criteria for “good” code? What are the business models behind algorithms, “big data” and artificial intelligence? How do monopolies or hegemonic actors influence the production and the design of digital technologies?

Cultures: Which norms and values inform the production of algorithms and digital technologies? Are there any specific views, ideas, narratives or imaginations of the world that inform the creation of technologies? Is there a specific culture of software creation? Are there critical, Marxist, feminist or queer approaches, and what are their contributions?

Date and Location

This conference is organized around invited presentations and an open call for papers. We invite up to 16 presentations of original and unpublished research. Selected participants are expected to attend the full conference (starting 10 am April 23 and ending 5 pm April 24).

Abstracts: maximum 500 words Deadline: Jan 15, 2020

Notification of acceptance: (around) Feb 20, 2020

Please send abstracts to team@behindthealgorithm2020.de

The conference is free of charge (thanks to our funders) and lunch will be provided presenting authors during the two days. The accepted paper presenters will have to arrange travel and accommodation themselves.

Conference venue is Malmö University, Niagara building (2 min by foot from Malmö Central Station which is located 10 minutes by train from Lund Central Station, 25 min by train from Copenhagen Airport and 40 min by train from Copenhagen Central Station), see https://mau.se/en/contact/niagara/

Attending as audience

There is a possibility to attend as audience. In case of high demand, priority will be given to students and faculty affiliated to Malmö University and Weizenbaum Institute as well as to audience committing to attend the full conference.

Conference chairs

Jakob Svensson is Full Professor of Media and Communication Studies at Malmö University, School of Arts & Communication (K3). He obtained his PhD in 2008 from Lund University (under the supervision of prof. Peter Dahlgren), and was promoted to associate professor at Karlstad University in 2014. Jakob Svensson has worked extensively on topics of political participation and digital media communication. Today his research is focused on two areas: 1) digital media and empowerment with a special focus on LGBTQI in contexts of state-sanctioned homophobia, and 2) socio-cultural approaches to data and algorithms. He is currently leading the research project Behind the Algorithm, funded by the Swedish Research council.

Ulrike Klinger is Assistant Professor for Digital Communication at Freie Universität Berlin and head of the research group “News, Campaigns and the Rationality of Public Discourse” at the Weizenbaum Institute for the Networked Society in Berlin. After her dissertation, which won the best dissertation award by the German Political Science Association 2012, she joined the IKMZ Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich. Research visits at the University of California at Santa Barbara, the HIIG Humboldt Internet Institute in Berlin and Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen followed. Her research focuses on political communication, social media, and transformations of the public sphere.

The University of Arizona

The University of Arizona invites candidates for a one-year non-renewable Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow. Discipline is open. The fellow will participate in a Mellon-funded Sawyer Seminar titled “Neoliberalism at the Neopopulist Crossroads.” This seminar will pursue the question of neoliberalism’s relationship to the rise of right-wing populist movements around the world. The project involves a comparative focus between three border zones: The United States and Latin America; the European Union and North Africa/Middle East; India and Pakistan. The Sawyer program includes participating UA faculty from Anthropology, English, Film Studies, Gender and Women’s Studies, Geography, Government and Public Policy, Latin American Studies, and Spanish and Portuguese, among others. It will also involve the participation of community members, artists, and activists from Tucson, a dynamic and diverse city that sits just 60 miles north of Nogales on the U.S.-Mexico border.

We seek a candidate interested in interdisciplinary research and comparative studies. The position will be appointed in an appropriate unit at the University of Arizona depending on the academic training and focus of the successful candidate. Regional focus or area specialization in one of our three border zones is not required.

Outstanding UA benefits include health, dental, vision, and life insurance; paid vacation, sick leave, and holidays; UA/ASU/NAU tuition reduction for the employee and qualified family members; access to UA recreation and cultural activities; and more

To see the posting click here: https://uacareers.com/postings/42603

June 15-16, 2020

Institute of Latin America Studies, Stockholms University

Deadline: January 30, 2020

The 5th conference Media and Governance in Latin America, with the theme Communication in Contested Political Scenarios will take place on June 15-16, 2020 at the Institute of Latin America Studies. The itinerant conference is held since 2014 in different European locations.

The conference’s goal is to promote an intellectual debate on the role of the media in the promotion of good governance in Latin America. By bringing together senior scholars and young researchers, this initiative seeks to provide a space of exchange about the theoretical and methodological relevance of current debates. This conference aims to address academic debates in the field of global media, media and development, and the de-westernization of media studies. It will provide international scholars the opportunity to discuss theoretical and methodological approaches, country-based case studies, comparative projects and academic collaborations in a transdisciplinary setting.

The Call for Papers to the 5th Conference Media and Governance in Latin America is now open and can be accessed here. The deadline for submissions of abstracts is January 30

Important Dates:

• Submission deadline: 30/01/2020
• Decision on acceptance: 28/02/2020
• Registration opens: 02/03/2020*
• Program release: around 20/05/2020

Contact: conference.mediagovla@gmail.com

http://lai.su.se/MGLA2020