ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

University of Minho (Portugal)

International selection tender is open until 9th January 2019

http://www.cecs.uminho.pt/en/concurso-para-investigador-doutorado/

Project: AUDIRE – Audio Repository: saving sonic based memories (www.audire.pt)

Place of work: Communication and Society Research Centre – University of Minho (Portugal)

AUDIRE is a research project funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. It aims to create social awareness on the relevance of sound as a form of expression and to explore the innovative and creative potential of sound narratives. The working plan is organised into five main objectives:

a) to develop a theory of sound as an essential support for human expression and as a source of knowledge;

b) to understand how people recognise and value the acoustic environments;

c) to construct a repository of open access sound contents;

d) to create a virtual sound museum which can contribute to stimulate the creativity of emerging artists and at the same time preserve a kind of sound heritage, and

e) to promote sound literacy based on a proposal of pedagogical activities.

The research team is now recruiting a new researcher.

Candidates should fit the following main requirements:

1) to hold PhD in Communication Sciences;

2) to be proficient in Portuguese and English;

3) to present a portfolio of relevant works of technique and/or artistic production in the sound effect area.

More details available here: http://www.cecs.uminho.pt/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/CTTI_144_19_ICS-IN.pdf

Special Issue of Culture Machine

Deadline: March 1, 2020

Edited by Peter Jakobsson, Anne Kaun & Fredrik Stiernstedt

We are seeking contributions for a special issue of Culture Machine – an international open-access journal of culture and theory – exploring Machine Intelligences in Context.

Culture Machine is a series of experiments in culture and theory. Its aim is to seek out and promote scholarly work that engages provocatively with contemporary technical objects, processes and imaginaries from the North and South. Building on its open ended, non-instrumental, and exploratory approach to critical theory, Culture Machine calls for creative scholarship and research that contests globalizing technical narratives and their environmental logics of extraction.

This special issue is a long overdue confrontation with the hype surrounding artificial intelligence. The supposed blessings that AI will bestow upon datafied societies, as well as the associated dangers, are now well-known both to the academic specialist and to the general public. Representatives from the tech sector and the world of politics claim that the fourth industrial revolution will be powered by AI and that AI will eventually become ubiquitous within politics, industry, culture and in everyday life. The impulse behind this special issue is to interrogate these prophesies a bit closer and to get a look behind the shiny surfaces of these new, often unseen technologies. Because it does seem that what AI actually promises, and most of all, what it actually delivers, is neither found in the realm of the fantastic nor the uncanny, and a lot of it is not even particularly new, intelligent or artificial.

The task of this special issue is thus to provide a counter-narrative to the dominant accounts of AI. It is not a matter of debunking AI, of unmasking the ideological interests behind it or revealing its dirty algorithmic secrets, but of putting AI in its critical contexts beyond the technological sublime – ie. the myths surrounding current technological developments that are meant to inspire both awe and fantasies of control and mastery. By combining phenomena that do not normally go together, such as AI and intersectionality, this special issue seeks to un-familiarize the familiar and to make unexpected connections, while also exploring potential critical and more just futures. One question that seems particularly pertinent to ask is of the relations, substitutions and combinations of different forms of intelligence, both human and more than human, and to explore how these come together in different contexts. Contributions that employ critical perspectives from either the social sciences or the humanities are welcome, but we also invite and encourage experimental and transdisciplinary approaches, including contributions from the information sciences, software studies, and articles focused on case studies of AI with stakes for Latin America, Asia, and Africa.

It is time to move past an understanding of AI that borders towards viewing it as a technological sublime. In order to do so we should analyse it as a broad phenomenon that questions the integration of machinic forms of intelligence in lived settings, particularly across the relations it is generating in the Global South.

We welcome proposals that address, build upon and expand the following topics:

• Critical interrogations of definitions and conceptualizations of intelligence(s)
• Pluralities of machine intelligences
• Sensory capacities and AI
• The biopolitics and geopolitics of AI
• Sex, gender and AI
• Race and AI
• Critical interrogations of AI narratives
• Critical perspectives on AI sited in the Global South
• Progressive regulation of AI

Please submit a 500-word abstract and 2 page CV to peter.jakobsson@sh.se by 1 March 2020

Timeline:

• Submission of abstracts: 1 March 2020
• Notification of acceptance: 20 March 2020
• Submission of full papers: 1 September 2020
• Peer Review: 15 November 2020
• Revision: 15 December 2020
• Publication: January 2021

Fordham University

The Gabelli School of Business at Fordham University welcomes applicants to fill an opening for an assistant professor position in the Communications and Media Management Area starting in the Fall 2020 Semester.

ABOUT THE POSITION:

We are looking for faculty with strong research and teaching potential in all areas of media management, with possible research specializations in any of the following areas (this list is not exhaustive, and we are open to other areas of research as well: digital media, media economics, media strategies, media product development, social media, audience behavior and metrics - as we have immediate teaching needs in these areas.

Other areas may also include communication in international and organizational contexts.

The ideal candidate will possess a Ph.D., but ABD candidates will also be considered. All candidates should be dedicated to excellence in teaching and research.

We seek candidates who can teach undergraduate and graduate courses in one or more of the following: digital media, business of new media, and media strategy. Ability and expertise to teach courses in business communication and leadership communication is a definite plus.

ABOUT THE AREA:

Communications and Media Management Area includes scholars with experience and interest in the business of communication industries as well communication practices in business. We administer undergraduate majors and concentrations related to our field (Communications and Media Management, Digital Media and Technology) and we participate in interdisciplinary programs across campuses. We also offer MS in Media Management, and contribute to MS in Strategic Marketing Communications (online) as well as offer specialized classes to our MBA programs in the areas of media management and organizational communication. Our programs have a strong focus on international business.

The Gabelli School of Business offers courses on two campuses, one at Lincoln Center in Manhattan and one in the Fordham section of the Bronx. Faculty will teach at our Rose Hill Campus located in the Bronx where our undergraduate program is based, and our Lincoln Center Campus in Manhattan which features our graduate program and recently launched undergraduate Digital Media and Technology program. Faculty can be assigned to either campus, or both.

Fordham University is an independent, Catholic university in the Jesuit tradition and welcomes applications from men and women of all backgrounds. Fordham is an Equal Opportunity Employer. Women, people of color, and people with disabilities are encouraged to apply. Consistent with our Jesuit tradition, we believe that cultural and intellectual diversity is central to the excellence of our academic program and strive to create an academic community and campus culture that attracts and facilitates the development of teacher-scholars. We are especially interested in candidates with substantive experience and commitment to teaching and mentoring students from a range of social, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Having a diverse and inclusive community is a key part of Fordham's Strategic Plan and emphasized in University President Fr. McShane's November 2016 Response to the Diversity Task Force.

Fordham’s Gabelli School of Business is accredited by the AACSB. Hiring is subject to final budgetary approval.

REQUIREMENTS:

Applications should include:

• a cover letter outlining your areas of research and teaching philosophy
• a curriculum vitae
• names and contact information for at least three references
• a sample of scholarly work
• evidence of teaching effectiveness.

For questions about this position, please contact the Area Chair, Bozena Mierzejewska at bmierzejewska@fordham.edu.

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis. We encourage early submission as decisions will be made once suitable candidates have been identified. We will no longer view applications after January 31, 2020.

To apply, applicants should go to https://apply.interfolio.com/72576, click "Apply Now", enter your name, email, and create a password, at which point you will be immediately dropped in the application.

Deadline: February 12, 2020

We would like to invite all of you with research interests on the areas listed below to submit your work for consideration to be publish in the forthcoming book “Digital Services in Crisis, Disaster, and Emergency Situations”. We are asking for an abstract up to 1000/1500 words in English, until 12 february 2020.

Topics of interest:

• Digital services in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency planning
• Digital services in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency prevention
• Digital services in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency preparedness and mitigation
• Digital services in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency response and public policy
• Digital services in environmental Crisis, Disaster and Emergency
• Digital services in humanitarian Crisis, Disaster and Emergency
• Digital services in political Crisis and Emergency
• Digital services in nuclear Crisis, Disaster and Emergency
• Digital services in Resilience and social capital evaluation in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency situations
• Digital services Social vulnerability and resiliency in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency situations
• Instructional communication in Crisis, Disaster and Emergency situations
• Other topics related to digital services in the context of Crisis, Disaster and Emergency Situations

Please visit https://www.igi-global.com/publish/call-for-papers/call-details/4552 for more details regarding this publication and to submit your work.

Thank you very much for your consideration of this invitation, and I hope to hear from you by 12 February 2020!

Lídia Oliveira, Federico Tajariol and Liliana Gonçalves (“Digital Services in Crisis, Disaster, and Emergency Situations” Editors)

April 30–May 2, 2020

University of Oregon Portland 

Deadline (extended): January 24, 2020

whatis.uoregon.edu

What is Information? (2020) will investigate conceptualizations and implementations of information via material, representational, and hybrid frames. The conference-experience will consider information and its transformational effects and affects—from documents to data; from facts and fictions to pattern recognition; from physical information to differential equations; and from volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity to collective intelligence and wisdom.

The tenth annual What is…? examines tapestries, temperaments, and topologies of information lenses and practices—including—social and technical, mathematical and semantic, physical and biological, economic and political, cultural and environmental information. Information can thus be understood as physical, for instruction, and about epistemic systems.

Scholars, government and community officials, industry professionals, scientists, artists, students, filmmakers, grassroots community organizations, and the public are invited to collaborate. We welcome submissions for papers, panels, roundtables and installations.

Presentations / panels / installations may include the following topics (as well as others):

• What is information? Is it synonymous with data? What distinguishes information from knowledge and wisdom?
• What is truth, misinformation, or disinformation? Is information material/concrete, symbolic/abstract, or both?
• What are information science and information art? What are relationships between STEAM+ and ICT?
• How are the natural sciences and information sciences continuing to converge (e.g. bioinformatics, bioinspiration)?
• How do quantum computers differ from binary computers? What are the scales and speeds between bits & qubits?
• Is information at the core of music, architecture, design, craft, and/or science and technology studies?
• Is biology itself information or only a representation? What are data science, cultural analytics & visualization?
• How are informatics enhancing medicine and the environment via regenerative systems?
• What is the philosophy of information? What are information literacy, ethics, education, & aesthetics?
• What are networks? What are relationships between information, technology/media, and communication?
• What are information ecologies, information environments, and how do/can they facilitate public good?
• What is political economy of information? How do information and socio-cultural factors æffect each other?
• What are current approaches to the study of information professions, audiences, and psychology?
• How does information highlight gender, race, indigenous, and/or global environmental concerns?
• How can contemplation, empathy, kindness, and/or responsibility be studied via information?
• What are patterns of digital divides? What comes after an era of meta-data, post-truth, and pattern recognition?
• What are data-mining, threat detection, and privacy in a cyber-physical defense and cybersecurity age?
• Can AI, machine learning, and/or MR help us to adapt to the ever-changing transdisciplinary landscape?
• What laws/regulations/policies are appropriate for information? How are information and value(s) related?

Send 150–200 word abstracts for papers / panels / installations by JANUARY 24, 2020 to: Janet Wasko (jwasko@uoregon.edu)

Edited by Daniel Jackson, Einar Thorsen, Darren Lilleker and Nathalie Weidhase

Featuring 85 contributions from over 100 leading academics and emerging scholars, this free publication captures the immediate thoughts, reflections and early research insights on the 2019 UK General Election from the cutting edge of media and politics research.

Published just 10 days after the election, these contributions are short and accessible. Authors provide authoritative analysis of the campaign, including research findings or new theoretical insights; to bring readers original ways of understanding the election and its consequences. Contributions also bring a rich range of disciplinary influences, from political science to cultural studies, journalism studies to geography.

The publication is available as a free downloadable PDF, as a website and as a paperback report.

Website URL: http://www.electionanalysis.uk

Direct PDF download: http://eprints.bournemouth.ac.uk/33165/7/UKElectionAnalysis2019_Jackson-Thorsen-Lilleker-and-Weidhase_v1.pdf

Thanks to all of our contributors and production staff who helped make the quick turnaround possible. We hope it makes for a vibrant and engaging read!

ECREA European Communication Conference 2020

October 2-5, 2020

Braga, Portugal

Deadline: January 7, 2020

The Local and Community Media Network is calling for proposals for a panel submission to the 8th European Communication Conference on the theme of ‘Communication and trust; building safe, sustainable and promising futures’ to be held in Braga, Portugal, October 2 - 5 2020.

Focussing specifically on ‘Trust and sustainable communities: Current Trends in Local Media’, the panel would like to capture the range of approaches which underpin the many interventions in the local news landscape globally. Up to five papers can be included.

Papers which address both practice-based projects and theoretical reflections on local media, content, production and environment (including business and policy environments) and cultural and social contexts in relation to diverse communities are particularly welcome.

In order to comply with the ECREA guidelines, individual abstracts of 500 words can be submitted. Abstract titles are limited to 30 words. All abstracts must be written in English and up to 10 authors can be included. The presenting author must be listed first and only one author can be nominated as the presenting author.

Please send your abstract in the first instance to Dr Rachel Matthews at Coventry University, r.matthews@coventry.ac.uk. The deadline for submission has been extended slightly to January 7, 2020, This will enable the Network Committee to peer review contributions ahead of the ECREA deadline in mid-January.

The October conference is organised by the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and the University of Minho. For more information follow the link here: http://www.ecrea2020braga.eu/2019/10/09/http-www-ecrea2020braga-eu-call-for-papers/

Information on the MeCCSA LCM Network is available here: https://www.meccsa.org.uk/networks/local-and-community-media-network/

NY, Ithaca

Education - Dean/Senior Education

Deadline: January 28, 2020

Ithaca College invites nominations and applications for the next dean of the Roy H. Park School of Communications (the Park School). The Park School is widely acknowledged as a leader in communications education, having begun offering courses in radio in the 1930s and currently offering a comprehensive array of 10 undergraduate majors that span the applications of media, as well as professional low-residency/online master’s degrees with an overall enrollment of over 1,800. The school has also recently partnered with the School of Business and the School of Music to develop an M.B.A. in Entertainment and Media Management. Student success is supported by faculty who are active scholars and media creators, professional advisors and career development coordinators, and technical support for over $20 million of studio and portable media gear and studios. Donors have given generously over the years to help create a number of unique opportunities for Park School students, faculty and alumni, including the Park Scholar Program, the Park Center for Independent Media, the John Keshishoglou Center for Global Communications Innovation and the Jessica Savitch Endowed Programs, among others.

The next dean will be expected to address a number of key leadership opportunities, including: shaping a vision for the future; fostering interdisciplinary experiences; building an inclusive culture and enhancing diversity; evaluating academic offerings; supporting co-curricular learning; and engaging outside of campus. The successful candidate should have a proven record of leadership, the ability to support the range of communications disciplines found within the school and a strong understanding of the future of the field of communications.

Ithaca College (IC) provides a rigorous education blending liberal arts and professional programs of study. Learning at IC extends beyond the classroom to encompass a broad range of residential, professional and co-curricular opportunities. The college was founded in 1892 as Ithaca Conservatory of Music with roots in theory, practice and performance. Today it is known as a largely undergraduate institution with a liberal arts core that is fueled by the power of practice and professional education. Faculty members at Ithaca College are deeply committed to the education and development of their students and invest the time and energy to mentor and advise them. Ithaca College is committed to creating an inclusive environment and attracting a diverse body of students, faculty and staff. All members of the college community are encouraged to achieve excellence in their chosen fields and to share the responsibilities of citizenship and service in the global community. The college recently completed a strategic plan – Ithaca Forever – to guide the institution into the future.

Applications and nominations should be received by January 28, 2020 to ensure full consideration. Candidates should submit a resume or CV and cover letter in response to the opportunities and expectations described within the leadership profile.

All materials should be sent electronically via e-mail to Ithaca College’s consultants, Ryan Crawford and Rachel Bieniek, to IthacaDeanComm@wittkieffer.com. The consultants can be reached through the desk of Marietta DeMauro, executive search coordinator, at 630-575-6975.

Ithaca College values diversity and is committed to equal opportunity for all persons regardless of age, color, disability, ethnicity, marital status, national origin, race, religion, sex, sexual orientation, veteran status or any other status protected by law.

Membrana

Deadline (extended): January 6, 2020

Since the invention of photography, our relationship with the medium, the image taking apparatus and photographs as objects has always been invested with a set of beliefs in the excessive, pervasive, almost magical power of photography.

From early belief in the photography’s ‘soul-stealing’ capabilities to the contemporary belief in photography’s ‘data-stealing’ ones, our understanding of the origin of medium’s special power changed and evolved – for example from being anchored in the magical emanation of the objects onto paper to datafied signification within the omnipresent apparatus of social surveillance. But the belief in some sort of special power of photography persists, our continuous investment with mystical qualities making it one of the most enchanted technologies of present day. (more in pdf)

We invite textual and visual contributions that explore both the magical nature of photography and its power of revealing the magic of the world from (but not limited to) the following perspectives:

• Photography and the inexplicable
• Revelatory power of photography – seeing the unseen
• Revelatory power of photography – excess, abundance, and world disclosure
• Ritualistic aspects of photography/Everyday rituals as contemporary magic
• Photography and religious practices, voodoo, shamanism
• Photography and fetishism/Photographs as fetishized commodities
• Photography, trickery and/as magic
• Spirit and medium photography
• Culturally specific magical usages of photography
• Magic in contemporary art photography
• Photography and authority figures (saints, martyrs, and political leaders)
• Apotropaic uses of photography
• Phantasmagoria and photography
• Photography and the re-enchantment of modernity
• Photography, magic, and virtual reality
• - Photography, magic, and feminism
• - Photography, magic, and ecology
• - Photography, vibrant matter, and other new materialisms
• - Photography, spiritualism, and cosmology
• - Photography – magic, art or science?

More information here: http://www.membrana.si/en/cfp-membrana-magic-2020/

Share our FB CFP: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=10157146633074285&id=251553729284

On our web page: http://www.membrana.si/en/cfp-membrana-magic-2020/

The deadline for contribution proposals (150-word abstracts and/or visuals) is January 6, 2020. The deadline for finished contributions from accepted proposals is March 16, 2020. Please send proposals or contact the editors at editors(at)membrana.org.

University of Westminster

Ref. 50052068

Salary: £69,365 per annum

Department: School of Media and Communication

Location: Harrow & Central London

This post is full time and permanent, working 35 hours per week

The School of Media and Communication at the University of Westminster is looking for an experienced, strategic academic leader to join our successful School. This vacancy has been created by an internal promotion.

The successful applicant will play a key role in the School, working closely with the Head and senior leadership team to shape and implement School strategy, ensure our portfolio is innovative and stimulating, support and manage course teams, and help to maintain our high quality standards. You must be able to demonstrate your ability to manage teams and ensure an outstanding student experience. You will also have the opportunity to maintain your own teaching and research, including course leadership. This is an ideal post for an experienced academic who wants to develop their strategic role to the next level.

The School vision is to prepare students for the rapidly changing global media and communication industry through learning and teaching that is research-informed, practice-led and based on action learning. We currently offer eight undergraduate and 13 postgraduate courses covering the fields of Media Management; Digital Media, PR and Journalism; Media and Society; TV and Visual Communication; as well as a flourishing PhD programme. Several of our courses were the first of their kind and we continue to innovate, developing new programmes that reflect the changing media and communication workplace. We teach a diverse, multicultural student population.

The School incorporates the Communication and Media Research Institute (CAMRI) which performed exceptionally well in the REF 2014, and we have more than 100 academic colleagues, researchers and technicians in our team. As part of the College of Design, Creative and Digital Industries, we work closely with colleagues from arts, architecture and computing, which brings a vibrant cross-disciplinary element to our teaching and research.

The Assistant Head of School role is fixed-term and rotating for an initial period of three years (with a possible extension of two years). The appointment with the University will be on a permanent basis and the successful candidate will be appropriately qualified to meet the requirements of a Principal Lecturer / Reader or Professorial level appointment. Following completion of term as Assistant Head of School, the successful candidate would revert to permanent role of either Principal Lecturer or Professor and re-embrace their academic career within the College / School.

The University of Westminster is committed to supporting diversity and equal opportunities in our dealings with job applicants, students, staff and the public. We are fully committed to creating a stimulating and supportive learning and working environment based on mutual respect and trust. We value diversity and welcome applications from all members of the community regardless of gender, sexuality, disability or ethnic background.

For an informal discussion about this role please contact: Michaela O’Brien, Head of School, on M.Obrien@westminster.ac.uk

To apply for this vacancy please click above. Further information can be found in the job description and person specification, which can be accessed through the link below.

Closing date: midnight on 19 January 2020

Interviews are likely to be held on: 11 February 2020

Administrative contact (for queries only): Recruitment@westminster.ac.uk

Please note: We are unable to accept applications by email. All applications must be made online. CVs in isolation or incomplete application forms will not be accepted.

We are fortunate to receive a large number of applications for our vacancies. Regrettably, we are not able to provide feedback to those job applicants who are not shortlisted, as it simply would not be manageable to do so.

Embracing diversity and promoting equality.

JOB DESCRIPTION AND PERSON SPECIFICATION