European Communication Research and Education Association
June 27-28, 2020
Faculty of Humanities, North-West University, South Africa
Deadline: February 28, 2020
Indigenous language media in Africa (ILMA) conference
The advent of social media (such as Facebook, Twitter, WhatsApp, YouTube etc.) has brought about democratisation of communication as the public that hitherto had been considered to be consumers of messages has now also become producers. The platform of social media is open to everyone who has a device, an account to use and data or access to the internet. Communication has never been better and interesting in the history of man.
However, as we celebrate this ‘power’ of communication given to the people through social media, we also need to ponder the other side of this communication. This advent of social media and with it more opportunities for free participation by citizens in debates has given impetus to insurgent politics and also brought on us the acceleration and strengthening of post-truth, fake news and hate speeches. Before the emergence of social media, there were fake news and hate speech carried by different media in the chronology of media and communication history. These phenomena have been there since the time of communication by mere words of mouth, and through the advent of print, radio and television media. It has however become more obtrusive with the emergence of social media. This has had some deleterious impact on human relationships and the society at large. It has created crisis and fueled it to monstrous proportions.
These are some of the issues we intend to focus on in this conference. Submissions can touch on any of the following points:
The list is by no means exhaustive.
Kindly submit abstracts of between 300 and 500 words to Dr. Francis Amenaghawon at olaiyagba@yahoo.com
Papers presented at the conference, after peer-review process, will be published in Habari: ILMA Book Series. Habari is the Swahili word for News. The book series editors are Professor Abiodun Salawu and Prof. Itumeleng Mekoa.
Important Dates:
1. Abstract Submission – February 28, 2020
2. Acceptance/Rejection Notice – March 15, 2020
3. Conference Registration Opens – March 30, 2020
4. Conference – June 27 – 28, 2020
Registration Fees:
Academics – R2500.00
Students – R1000.00
International participants – USD180.00
March 19, 2020
Lund University, Sweden, Department of Communication and Media
Deadline: December 12, 2019
Organisers: Annette Hill and Hario Satrio Priambodho
Break up, break down, and break away: variations on media and the breaking down of infrastructures, technicalities, texts, contexts and social relations are the basis of this international symposium Media and Breakdown. This event focuses on the play off between deconstruction and reconstruction work in media, communication and cultural studies.
Breakdown signifies wearing down, collapse, and catastrophe; this meaning of breakdown relates to media technologies and services, representations and themes in factual and fictional genres, or broader issues such as a crisis of democracy, and a thin trust between politicians, the media and publics. Breakdown also signifies taking apart something to analyse and understand how it works; this meaning of breaking down relates to deconstructing a text and its internal workings and contradictions, or forensically analysing media systems, political economics and power structures. Moments of media breakdown can reveal that which is otherwise hidden. And breakdown can be related to processes of fluidity and renewal, in the breaking down of barriers and divisions. The theme of breakdown offers a multidimensional approach to how we can understand media, culture and society as a site of collapse and repair, and as a place for theoretical and empirical analysis within media, communication and cultural studies.
The international symposium offers a platform for dialogue on media and breakdown that addresses the theme from empirical and theoretical perspectives. We invite papers related to the following themes:
The research questions include: 1. How can we critically examine media and breakdown across news, radio and television, film, arts and museums, digital and social media? 2. In what ways can we understand breakdown and repair in our analysis of media and culture? 3. What methods can we apply to the study of media and breakdown? Different disciplinary approaches to research on media and breakdown have developed in a variety of subject areas such as media, communication and cultural studies, political communication, sociology and anthropology, cultural geography, media history, film studies, art and creative practice, and memory studies. The symposium offers opportunities to seek overlaps and connections in pursuing our topic.
Confirmed speakers include Nico Carpentier (Charles University, Czech Republic), Simon Dawes (Université de Versailles Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France), Christine Geraghty (Glasgow University, UK), Joke Hermes (InHolland University, Netherlands), Annette Hill (Lund University, Sweden), and Peter Lunt (University of Leicester, UK).
Please submit an abstract of 300 words in English by December 12th 2019 to hario.priambodho@kom.lu.se.
For further information please consult our website: https://www.kom.lu.se/en/research/konferenser-och-natverkstraffar/media-and-breakdown/.
There is a registration fee of 850 SEK (90 Euros) that covers food and drink for the day and an evening buffet.
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:
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:
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.
Results will be announced on February 17, 2020.
Organizing Committee
Scientific Committee
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:
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
# Design and Evaluation of Alternate Realities Experience
# Alternate Realities Applications
Guest Editors
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.
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