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  • 23.08.2019 11:14 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    November 7-9, 2019

    Birmingham City University (and related screening venues)

    Deadline: September 6, 2019

    Confirmed Guests of Honour:

    • Jen and Sylvia Soska (Rabid [2019], American Mary)
    • Norman J. Warren (Terror, Inseminoid)

    Keynote Speakers:

    • Dr Stacey Abbott, Roehampton University
    • Professor Ernest Mathijs, University of British Columbia

    Previous guests of honour attending Cine-Excess have included Victoria Price (Author of Vincent Price: A Daughter’s Biography), Pete Walker (Director of Frightmare and House of the Long Shadows), Catherine Breillat (Romance, Sex is Comedy), John Landis (An American Werewolf in London, The Blues Brothers), Roger Corman (The Masque of the Red Death, The Wild Angels), Stuart Gordon (Re-Animator, King of the Ants), Brian Yuzna (Society, The Dentist), Dario Argento (Deep Red, Suspiria), Joe Dante (The Howling, Gremlins), Franco Nero (Django, Keoma, Die Hard II), Vanessa Redgrave (Blow Up, The Devils), Ruggero Deodato (Cannibal Holocaust, House on the Edge of the Park), Enzo G. Castellari (Keoma, The Inglorious Bast***s), Sergio Martino (Torso, All the Colours of the Dark), Jeff Lieberman (Squirm, Blue Sunshine) and Pat Mills (Action Magazine, 2000 AD).

    Cine-Excess XIII is hosted by Birmingham City University and will feature a three-day academic conference alongside film industry panels and a season of related UK premieres and retrospectives taking place at screening venues across the region.

    For its 13th annual edition, Cine Excess focuses on independent visions of excess and the contribution of independent filmmakers working outside of the mainstream to an understanding of cinema, culture and identities. These range from classic cult auteurs, such as Ed Wood, to contemporary movie makers who retain a fiercely unorthodox world-view whilst moving from the margins to the mainstream (such as Kathryn Bigelow). Cine Excess Xlll further considers how indie directors negotiate and respond to their own cinema cultures and wider global trends, including those iconic British filmmakers who bring elements of subversion to national cinema traditions, such as guest of honour, Norman J. Warren. With the emergence of the women in horror filmmaker movement (as embodied by guests of honour, the Soska Sisters), a particular focus is the work of female and minority directors operating in the independent sphere. We are also interested in cult creators that explore bizarre characterisation and unorthodox approaches to narrative, or adopt extreme aesthetics associated with the post-9/11 milieu. Further topics might examine gender- and genre-crossing, settings/landscapes of excess, and obscene images of nationhood, as well as how contemporary issues, such as those pertaining to mental health, are framed through cinemas of transgression. Proposals are now invited for papers that assess the importance of independent visions of excess within these differing contexts. However, we would particularly welcome contributions focusing on the following areas:

    • Twisted Twins and Tortured Characters: The Cinema of the Soska Sisters
    • My Private Hell: The Cinema of Norman J. Warren
    • Trumped: Political Discourse in the Dissenting Image
    • Monsters Made Me Too: Women Doing Horror
    • Classic and Contemporary Case-Studies of Indie Cult Cinema
    • Cult Voices in the Age of Remakes
    • Histories of Violence: Actuality Framed Through Excess
    • New Canadian Visions of Excess
    • Perversities and Peculiarities of Excess: The Aesthetics of the Marginal
    • The Industry of Excess: Business Perspectives on Cult Film Creation
    • Indie Inside: Rebellious Voices Subverting the Mainstream
    • Excessiveness in the Lynchian Universe
    • Landscapes of Transgression: Space, Place and the Creative Mindset
    • European Visions of Transgression
    • Post-Millennial Aesthetics of Horror
    • UK Indie Auteurs
    • Supernatural Phenomena through the Indie Mindset
    • Diverse Voices, Global Indie Visions
    • Split: Framing Mental Health in Exploitation Cinema
    • Near Dark: The Cinema of Kathryn Bigelow
    • Queer Renditions of Excess
    • Experimental and Extreme: Visions of the Avant-Garde

    Please send a 300-word abstract and a short (one page) C.V. by Friday 6th September 2019 to:

    Professor Xavier Mendik (Birmingham City University): xavier.mendik@bcu.ac.uk

    Dr Fran Pheasant-Kelly (University of Wolverhampton): F.E.Pheasant-kelly@wlv.ac.uk

    A final listing of accepted presentations will be released on Monday 16th September 2019.

    Delegate fees for Cine-Excess XIII are £100/£60 (concessions). This includes entrance to the conference, related Cine-Excess screenings and industry panels. A selection of conference papers from the event are scheduled to be published in the Cine-Excess Journal. For further information and regular updates on the event (including information on guests, keynotes and screenings) please visit www.cine-excess.co.uk

  • 23.08.2019 11:02 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    October 22-24, 2020

    Library of Congress, Washington, D.C.

    Deadline: December 1, 2019

    The Radio Preservation Task Force (RPTF) of the Library of Congress invites applications for papers, panels, moderated discussions and workshops for a conference marking the centenary of broadcasting in the United States.

    We seek presentations by archivists, radio and television historians, artists, information scientists, journalists, sound studies scholars, broadcasters and others highlighting how preservation can help us complicate and rethink our understandings of the history of mass media at community, local, national and international levels. We particularly welcome participants who put archival resources to work today to enrich radio, television, podcasting, music, literature, journalism, public history, installation art and other creative practices.

    The conference will take place Oct. 22nd to 24th, 2020, at the Library of Congress on Capitol Hill, in Washington D.C. Registration is free for all presenters, moderators and respondents.

    Celebrating One Hundred Years of Broadcasting

    In the United States, the radio industry began primarily as a form of wireless telegraphy used for point-to-point communication. After World War I, government licensing began for stations that were changing the medium by airing point-to-mass broadcast transmissions of music and voice. From the celebrated Election Day broadcasts of Westinghouse station KDKA on November 2, 1920 to similar services offered by hundreds of other stations from coast to coast, the industry paradigm shifted. The broadcasting model endures to the present, characterizing media systems from large commercial networks to public broadcasting, satellite radio and online streaming services, and RSS-based podcasting.

    This conference marks the centenary of that paradigm shift and investigates radio’s century of constant renewal and rebirth over the course of the intervening century, during which various radio and radio-like practices have been invented and reinvented, forgotten and remembered, in settings across the United States. We want to highlight a century dotted with “new” sound practices in this restless medium, from the first non-English programs to the first broadcasts aimed at communities of color, from the first international shortwave transmissions to the first true crime podcasts, the first educational shows to the first radio-based art. Our conference underscores the role of preservation in documenting (and even driving) the process of renewing radio from generation to generation and from community to community.

    Renewing Radio Heritage

    This meeting also takes place at a moment in which media history is itself changing, thanks to a renaissance in radio and television preservation, which has created an archive that is more diverse and richer than ever before, conveying a sharper sense of how broadcast media helped Americans articulate understanding of nation, region, class, gender, race, sexuality and ability. That is thanks in part to the work of the Radio Preservation Task Force, which for five years has been pursuing projects and partnerships to change the very archive itself in a way that necessitates fresh thinking about many firsts—and seconds, and thirds— in conventional national and international narratives of radio history.

    Created in 2014 in fulfillment of a radio preservation mandate in the Library of Congress’s National Recording Preservation Plan, the RPTF is charged with fostering collaborations between researchers and archivists to facilitate work on radio preservation, developing an online inventory of extant collections, promoting preservation of endangered radio collections, encouraging use of radio and sound archives in educational settings, and cultivating academic study of archival radio materials. It currently boasts a network of hundreds of scholars and archivists who share materials, fundraising, and best practices. The RPTF has also constructed a national database aggregating information on over 2,500 radio collections from coast to coast, and has encouraged and overseen several special issues and anthologies on radio history and preservation. It is currently developing pedagogical guides for classroom use and resources to assist with preservation of endangered radio materials. To advance its goals, the RPTF partners with over 40 local, national, and international academic, archiving, and media organizations. A full list of partner institutions is available on our conference site.

    Suggested Themes

    This conference will focus on preservation’s historic and ongoing role in documenting and shaping new research from policy studies to sound studies, and new media practices from journalism to art. To that end, we seek panels, presentations and workshops whose ambit could include, but is not limited to:

    • Highlighting a specific archive based on historic recordings that challenge assumptions about mass media history, the invention or reinvention of formats, or show outreach to new audiences.
    • Offering best practices based on experience in preservation, from digitization and metadata to fair reuse, either on air or in arts settings.
    • Exploring techniques for researching, processing or reusing the changing radio archive, such as how to use specialized methods from machine learning to deep listening.
    • Examining communities whose stories have been lost but can now come to light as a result of the RPTF’s various initiatives and caucuses, especially communities of color, native communities, women’s radio history, LGBTQ histories, as well as among differently abled communities.
    • Examining how preservation can highlight radio’s historic and ongoing role in activism, especially at the regional, local and community level.
    • Looking at international histories of radio, and at preservation practices outside the United States, particularly in Latin America and Europe, from which U.S. archivists might learn.
    • Focusing on long-arc narratives of radio history—the history of crime reporting, for instance, or civil rights radio—that stretch across the entirety of the “broadcast century” and whose history isn’t limited to one “tier” of radio, but rather can be studied in contexts from large networks to local radio and podcasts, and everywhere in between.
    • Studying how preservation methods might be adapted for emerging forms of radio beyond traditional broadcasting platforms, particularly podcasting, as well as the study of broadcast platform elements themselves, from radio tower systems to RSS.
    • Focusing on preserving recordings from arts and freeform stations, as well as exploring how the materials that RPTF projects have uncovered can be reused in contemporary art, journalism and research in the new golden era of podcasting and sound art more broadly.
    • Providing practical advice for independent archivists, particularly when it comes to public history outreach, identifying possible funding and grant writing.

    To Participate

    Proposal options include papers, pre-constituted panels, moderated discussions, and workshops. To submit a proposal, email abstracts and other materials specified below in a single document to radiotaskforce@gmail.com by December 1, 2019. For questions, please contact neil.verma@northwestern.edu.

    Papers. Individual archivists, scholars or artists are invited to submit an abstract for a paper of about 20 to 30 minutes in length on our conference themes. Successful applications will be organized into panels by the steering committee. Applications should include: A brief biography; contact information for the applicant including any institutional affiliation; a 400-word abstract with a title; and five keywords.

    Pre-constituted Panels. Pre-constituted panels should have 3-4 participants, plus a moderator and/or respondent. These panels will be based on the presentation of papers, with each speaker given 20 to 30 minutes to speak. Applications should include: A brief biography for each applicant; contact information for each applicant including any institutional affiliations; a 400-word abstract with a title for each paper; five keywords for each paper; a 400-word abstract explaining the goal and ambit of the panel.

    Moderated Discussions. These events will differ from pre-constituted panels in that they do not require formal prepared remarks and will instead focus on discussion and exchange. Groups of 4-6 participants may apply, with each participant expected to speak for 5-10 minutes about a current project, archival recording, or issue. Applications should include: A brief biography for each applicant; contact information for each applicant including any institutional affiliations; a 400-word abstract explaining the goal and ambit of the panel; five keywords for the panel as a whole.

    Workshops. For workshops on specific issues (e.g., digitization, grant writing, analysis tools, recording workshops), a single presenter or team leads discussion and has an open forum to field questions. Applications should include: A brief biography for the workshop leader(s); contact information including any institutional affiliations; a 400-word abstract explaining the goal and ambit of the workshop including any technical equipment that would be needed.

    The Library of Congress RPTF Conference Steering Committee

    RPTF 2020 Conference Chair: Neil Verma, Northwestern University

    NRPB Chair:

    • Christopher Sterling, George Washington University
    • Library of Congress:
    • Steve Leggett (NRPB)
    • Cary O’Dell (NRPB)

    RPTF Director: Josh Shepperd, Catholic University and Penn State University

    RPTF Assistant Director:

    • Shawn VanCour, University of California, Los Angeles
    • Conference Committee Members:
    • Matt Barton, Library of Congress
    • Claudia Calhoun, Fairfield University
    • Inés Casillas, University of California, Santa Barbara
    • Susan Douglas, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
    • Christine Ehrick, University of Louisville
    • Anna Friz, University of California, Santa Cruz
    • Kathryn Fuller-Seeley, University of Texas, Austin
    • Michele Hilmes, University of Wisconsin, Madison
    • Bob Horton, Smithsonian National Museum of American History
    • Tom McEnaney, University of California, Berkeley
    • Julie-Beth Napolin, The New School
    • Stephanie Sapienza, University of Maryland
    • Jacob Smith, Northwestern University
    • Michael Socolow, University of Maine
    • Dave Walker, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage
  • 22.08.2019 13:08 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    May 21-23, 2020

    Ann Arbor, Michigan

    Deadline: October 1, 2019

    IASPM-US 2020 Conference

    The International Association for the Study of Popular Music-United States chapter (IASPM-US) invites proposals for its annual conference, which will take place in Ann Arbor at the University of Michigan on May 21-23, 2020. We welcome abstracts on all aspects of popular music, broadly defined, from any discipline or profession, and especially encourage submissions on the many rich popular music histories of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and Detroit.

    The theme for this year’s conference is “BPM: Bodies, Places, Movements,” which intersects with Detroit and its storied place in rhythm and blues, rock, punk, pop, hip-hop, and electronic dance music, and is intended to connect the histories, philosophies, and practices of urban spaces to other historical and global popular music communities. Each year Detroit celebrates this local-meets-global history with the Movement Electronic Music Festival, which in 2020 will commence the same weekend as the IASPM-US conference.

    BPM as a marker for “Beats Per Minute” was first included on records to allow DJs to sync disco and funk selections together on the fly and has since become an important digital tool to create, alter and interweave tracks. In addition to its practical musical applications, the creation of BPM encodes an array of social and cultural histories: urban migration; industrialization and its reverberations in deindustrialization and urban renewal; the cultural, racial, and class politics of white flight, capital departure, and gentrification; social movements from the Second Great Awakening, Civil Rights, and Fair Housing through neo-conservatism, white nationalism, and millennial populism; and the myriad communities that articulate their ideals, utopias, frustrations and joys through popular music and its attendant practices, in garages, studios, music halls, warehouses, and digital spaces. Topics to consider include (but are not limited to):

    • Bodies: identities, abilities, practices, performances, communities, bodies of work, raced, classed, gendered, and sexualized bodies, modes of embodiment
    • Places: Cities, suburbs, small towns, virtual and digital spaces, stages, studios, basements, exclusive and inclusive spaces
    • Movements: social, cultural, and political movements, mobilities, dance, migration, displacement

    IASPM-US is a multidisciplinary organization, and invites proposals from and across all fields of scholarly inquiry. Conference proposals from intellectuals from outside of academia, including teachers, museum and archive professionals, musicians and music professionals, and independent scholars, are encouraged. IASPM-US is also a friendly conference for students at all levels. We especially welcome proposals from members of underrepresented groups including, but not limited to, women, Black/African American, Indigenous, and People of Color, people with disabilities, and people from LGBTQ+ communities, as well as people of different ages, socio/economic classes, nationalities, and religions. This year’s program committee consists of Justin Patch (chair), Anthony Kwame Harrison, K. E. Goldschmitt, Brian F. Wright, Rebekah Farrugia, and Kathryn Metz.

    Please submit proposals via Word document to iaspmus2020@gmail.com with “last name, first name” in the subject line no later than midnight October 1, 2019. Individual submissions should include a paper title, the presenter’s name, contact information and a 250-word abstract that identifies the methodology used, states the paper’s goals, summarizes the context and argument of the paper, and includes a brief conclusion.

    Organized panels, consisting of 3 - 4 papers, should include a 250-word description of the panel’s rationale and goals, and a 250-word abstract for each individual participating in the panel. Roundtables, consisting of a moderated conversation with 4 – 6 participants, require a single 250 word abstract and a list of roundtable members, and should designate one person as the panel chair. All individual presentations are limited to 20 minutes with a 10-minute question and answer period. Roundtables and organized panels can be allotted up to a two-hour time slot. Abstracts not adhering to the word count will not be considered.

    Please note: All conference presenters must be registered IASPM members (or must register after paper, panel, or roundtable acceptance). For membership and conference information visit: http://iaspm-us.net/

  • 22.08.2019 13:06 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Portland, Oregon

    Deadline: October 1, 2019

    Apply nowJob no: 524127

    Work type: Faculty - Tenure Track

    Location: Portland, OR

    Categories: Instruction, Journalism/Communication

    Department: School of Journalism and Communication (SOJC)

    Rank: Assistant Professor

    Annual Basis: 9 Month

    Application Deadline: To ensure consideration, please submit application materials (or nominations) by October 1, 2019. The position will remain open until filled.

    Required Application Materials

    Interested candidates should submit a letter of interest, CV, and the names of four (4) academic references. Applicants are encouraged to highlight their experience and philosophy with regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

    We invite applications from qualified candidates who share our commitment to a diverse, equitable, and inclusive learning environment. We also welcome nominations.

    We particularly welcome applications from scholars who are from populations historically underrepresented in the academy, and/or who have experience working with diverse populations.

    For inquiries about the application process, please contact SOJC Operations at 541-346-3561. Specific inquiries about the position may also be directed to the search chair Regina Lawrence, Associate Dean, SOJC Portland at: rgl@uoregon.edu.

    Position Announcement

    The University of Oregon's School of Journalism and Communication invites applications for a tenure track position for an Assistant Professor in Immersive Media Psychology to begin in fall 2020.

    We seek an individual whose research, expertise and skills in virtual/augmented/extended reality and media psychology will create innovative, interdisciplinary research exploring the cognitive implications of immersive technologies in the context of communication. This person's doctoral training may come from the fields of communications, psychology, information science, and/or human-computer interaction, with a research agenda focused on the uses, experiences, and the effects of immersive media. This person will be qualified to lead innovative, grant-funded research teams to advance theory and bridge knowledge and practice.

    This individual will provide graduate students in our Media Studies PhD program with strong theoretical orientation on the role and impact of immersive media from a psychological perspective, and will also be prepared to offer courses that bridge academia and practice, teaching undergraduates and professional masters students techniques for immersive world-building and/or immersive story-telling grounded in an understanding of uses and psychological effects of the medium. We seek a scholar who can address enduring questions of human communication in the context of immersive media, who can help develop new curriculum that further positions the SOJC as a thought leader in immersive media, and whose expertise is also cognizant of emerging industry trends.

    This position will be based at the University of Oregon's Portland campus and will take a leading role in supporting and shaping the Oregon Reality (OR) Lab. Faculty members at UO Portland gain unique research opportunities based on our "urban laboratory" environment and our proximity to a tremendous variety of technology and creative firms.

    This person will teach up to three courses per year for graduate students in the Strategic Communication and Multimedia Journalism programs in Portland, along with at least one course per year in the undergraduate public relations sequence and/or graduate programs on the Eugene campus. Specific courses to be taught may include research methods for Strategic Communication and Public Relations; media theory; and special topics courses in immersive media for strategic communication and journalistic storytelling.

    Candidates whose research programs focus on uses of immersive media with respect to marginalized communities and/or in multicultural contexts are especially encouraged to apply. We seek candidates who integrate technological skills with an ongoing program of research and who demonstrate excellence in teaching diverse students at the graduate and undergraduate levels.

    Department or Program Summary

    The School of Journalism and Communication is an ACEJMC-accredited program with a century-long history at the University of Oregon, which is a comprehensive research university and a member of the Association of American Universities (AAU). Our program thrives as a journalism and communication school known for innovation, ethics, and action. We offer four undergraduate concentrations (in Advertising, Journalism, Media Studies, and Public Relations), four professional and academic master’s programs, and a doctoral program in Media Studies

    Minimum Requirements

    PhD in Communication, Psychology, Information Science, human-computer interaction, or a related field in hand by time of appointment; demonstrated potential for teaching and research excellence; and a record of scholarly accomplishments that include publication in high quality academic journals in communication, psychology and/or related fields.

    Preferred Qualifications

    Competitive applicants will have an established research profile, peer reviewed publications, external funding experience, and a proven record of teaching experience, along with skills and experience that bridge research and practice in the field of immersive media (VR/AR/XR and/or 360 degree video).

    About the University

    The University of Oregon is one of only two Pacific Northwest members of the Association of American Universities and holds the distinction of a “very high research activity” ranking in the Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education. The UO enrolls more than 20,000 undergraduate and 3,600 graduate students representing all 50 states and nearly 100 countries. The University of Oregon is guided by a diversity framework that involves a commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion or all students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members. In recent years, the university has increased the diversity of its student body while raising average GPAs and test scores for incoming students. The UO’s 295-acre campus features state-of-the art facilities in an arboretum setting within the traditional homelands of the Kalapuya people. The UO is located in Eugene, a vibrant city of 157,000 with a wide range of cultural and culinary offerings, a pleasant climate, and a community engaged in environmental and social concerns. The campus is within easy driving distance of the Pacific Coast, the Cascade Mountains, and Portland.

    The University of Oregon is proud to offer a robust benefits package to eligible employees, including health insurance, retirement plans and paid time off. For more information about benefits, visit http://hr.uoregon.edu/careers/about-benefits.

    The University of Oregon is an equal opportunity, affirmative action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the ADA. The University encourages all qualified individuals to apply, and does not discriminate on the basis of any protected status, including veteran and disability status. The University is committed to providing reasonable accommodations to applicants and employees with disabilities. To request an accommodation in connection with the application process, please contact us at uocareers@uoregon.edu or 541-346-5112.

    UO prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, national or ethnic origin, age, religion, marital status, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender expression in all programs, activities and employment practices as required by Title IX, other applicable laws, and policies. Retaliation is prohibited by UO policy. Questions may be referred to the Title IX Coordinator, Office of Civil Rights Compliance, or to the Office for Civil Rights. Contact information, related policies, and complaint procedures are listed on the statement of non-discrimination.

    In compliance with federal law, the University of Oregon prepares an annual report on campus security and fire safety programs and services. The Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report is available online at http://police.uoregon.edu/annual-report.

  • 22.08.2019 12:59 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Flow Volume 26 Special Issue

    Deadline: August 26, 2019

    The summer of 2019 has seen a variety of news reports and stories  announcing and celebrating the accomplishments of diversity,  inclusivity, and socio-political progress across the entertainment  industries. Examples include Ali Stroker’s monumental win at the Tony  Awards (as the first wheelchair user to win an award); the casting of  Halle Bailey in Disney’s live-adaptation of The Little Mermaid; Marvel  Studios’ casting of Simu Liu, Salma Hayek, and Mahershala Ali in lead  roles as well as the hiring of non-white and non-male directors for  Phase 4 projects; the announcement that the 007 role in the James Bond  franchise will now be played by Black woman, Lashana Lynch; the  development and production of a queer-centered superhero television  series in the upcoming Batwoman on The CW; and the critically-acclaimed  and fan-lauded careers of musicians like Lil Nas X and Lizzo taking  center stage in the music industry. 

    This inaugural issue of Flow’s twenty-sixth volume, “New Faces, New  Voices, New Bodies: Current Thoughts on Media Representations,” asks  cultural and media scholars to consider these recent developments from  historical, industrial, political, economic, cultural, and national lenses. Arguably, this phenomenon has occurred before (to name a few,  the ‘70s with Blaxploitation, socially “relevant” TV programming, and  the popular embrace of funk and soul; the late ‘80s and early ‘90s with  Hollywood’s New Black Wave, the flood of Black sitcoms on network  television, and the mainstream success of hip-hop and rap; and the late  ‘90s and early ‘00s with the rise of Latinx stars in pop music,  “multiculti” ensemble casts, and the appearance of LGBTQ characters  in  primetime). This special issue seeks to understand: What is new about  this moment? How can we discuss these developments without losing sight  of the economic motives of conglomerates? How can we define and discuss  this current wave of diversity, inclusivity, and progressive action in  the industries? And to what extent are these industry strategies of  diversity and inclusivity sustainable?

    Possible topics include, but are  by no means limited to: 

    • LGBTQ identities in contemporary fiction and non-fiction media 
    • Effects of trailblazing texts and figures on the media industry 
    • Discourses of authenticity, sincerity, progress, and pandering 
    • Late-night television, political comedy, and the Trump administration 
    • Cultural and political responses to casting and production  announcements 
    • Genre-specific examinations of identity and representation 
    • Comparative analyses of historical precedents and contemporary  resurgences 
    • Conglomeration, technology, and regulation as pressure points for  diversity and inclusivity, particularly in corporate diversity  initiatives and campaigns 
    • Global perspectives of identity and representation 

    To be considered for this timely issue, please submit a completed short  essay of 1200-1500 words, along with at least three images (.png),  video, and/or new media files (GIFs, etc.), and a short bio, to Rusty  Hatchell and Selena Dickey at flowjournaleditors@gmail.com  by Monday, August 26th, 2019. The Special 

    Issue will be published at flowjournal.org  on Monday, September 16th, 2019. 

  • 22.08.2019 12:45 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    November 18, 2019

    Doha, Qatar

    Deadline:  September 5, 2019 (23:59 PM Pacific Standard Time)

    Workshop website here.

    Co-located with Social Informatics 2019, November 18-21, Doha, Qatar.

    In recent years, we have witnessed the rise of social media, which have enabled people to virtually share information with a large number of users with little-to-no regulation or quality control. On the one hand, this has enabled anyone with a computer and internet access to rapidly create and disseminate content. On the other hand, it has also opened the door for malicious users, including automated bots, to rapidly spread disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda, which can now reach audiences at an unprecedented scale. This has resulted in the proliferation of false information that is typically created either (a) to attract network traffic in order to secure financial gain through advertising revenue (e.g. clickbait), or (b) to affect individual people's beliefs - something that can ultimately lead to influencing major events such as political elections or views on public health. There are strong indications that false information was weaponized at an unprecedented scale during the 2016 U.S. and the 2018 Brazilian presidential campaigns, among many others. The workshop aims to bring together researchers from both academia and industry to discuss bias, disinformation, misinformation, and propaganda in online news and in social media.

    Topics of interest include but are not limited to the following:

    • Bias
    • Bots
    • Check-worthiness
    • Claim extraction
    • Claim source detection
    • Clickbait
    • Deep fakes
    • Disinformation
    • Echo chambers
    • Fact-checking
    • Fake reviews
    • Harassment/bullying
    • Hate speech
    • Hyper-partisanship
    • Misinformation
    • Offensive language
    • Polarization
    • Propaganda identification/analysis
    • Seminar users
    • Source reliability
    • Stance detection
    • Supporting evidence retrieval
    • Trolls
    • Trust
    • Truth

    Submission Format

    We kindly ask you to submit abstracts addressing one of the topics above from the perspective of use cases, tools, resources, and preliminary experimental results.

    Abstracts should be in Socinfo format (see here), 1-2 pages long. Abstracts will be reviewed by the workshop organizers and the authors of selected abstracts will be assigned a time slot for a short presentation (15 minutes each) to present their ideas. Selected abstracts will be made available on this website.

    Send your submission to socinfo-bias-workshop@googlegroups.com.

    Workshop Organisers:

    • Giovanni da San Martino (Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University)
    • Preslav Nakov (Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University)
    • Alberto Barrón-Cedeño (Università di Bologna)
    • Jisun An (Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University)
    • Haewoon Kwak (Qatar Computing Research Institute, Hamad Bin Khalifa University)
    • Banu Akdenizli (Northwestern University, Qatar)
    • Marc O. Jones (Hamad Bin Khalifa University)
    • Grant Franklin Totten (Aljazeera)
  • 22.08.2019 12:31 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    June 3-5, 2020

    Braunschweig, Germany

    Deadline: September 30, 2019

    GEI Annual Conference 2020

    Organizer: Georg Eckert Institute for International Textbook Research, Member of the Leibniz Association (GEI)

    Trust is a basic condition – or more precisely an underlying condition – of human coexistence and yet one of its defining characteristics is that it usually remains implicit or latent, as something apparently taken for granted. As soon as trust is explicitly addressed in institutional contexts or in interpersonal relationships, the suspicion may arise that trust itself is lacking.

    In today’s modern society, frequently described as a (digital) knowledge and information society, trust seems to be both an indispensable requirement and a fundamental challenge. This is manifest in the prevalence of buzzwords such as ‘fake news’ or ‘fake science’ in current social debates on the undermining of trust in politics, (social) mass media, science, academia and economics as well as in institutions and organisations. On another level, beyond this primarily content-related dimension, trust is also becoming increasingly socially significant in terms of technical and digital infrastructure.

    The GEI’s annual conference, ‘In Education We TRUST?’ takes up a relatively new debate within educational research. Different (trans-)disciplinary perspectives on the manifold dimensions of trust within school education and educational media will be brought together in order to illuminate, in fresh contexts, the varying significance and potentially conflicting assessments of trust – such as, for example, ‘necessary trust’ or ‘blind trust’ – as well as its perceived contingency or absence.

    We welcome papers on the conference theme that focus particularly on the following topics:

    1. Trust in schools and educational media for schools as state-approved examples of socialisation and knowledge transfer. This refers to the central institutions of school education as well as the actions and experiences of agents and subjects.

    2. Trust in knowledge disseminated through school education and educational media. This questions trust as a discursive resource for self-assurance and self-assertion (also in relation to others or to external agency) – whether related to knowledge accepted as having a scientific basis, implicitly accepted and socialised conventions, and traditional world views or in the sense of convictions justified by religious belief or ideology.

    3. Trust in the context of the appropriation or reception of education in schools and educational media. In addition to addressing the different ways in which school knowledge is appropriated, papers on this topic should explore the diverse processes of knowledge authorisation, legitimisation and delegitimisation, relating to the competing agents and media forms used in the dissemination of knowledge and acquisition of information.

    4. Trust in the control, evaluation and quality assurance of the education process and educational media. The challenges presented by (post-)digitality and datafication in schools are a key element of this.

    5. Trust in research, its processes and findings. This refers to the infrastructures used in research and the data obtained, the validity of findings and of their publication and dissemination.

    Papers addressing the general theme of the conference are, of course, also welcome.

    The conference will employ a range of formats: from ignite presentations to interactive discussion formats. Preferred formats may be suggested in the submitted abstract.

    In order for us to select contributors we request that an abstract (max. 2,000 characters, including bibliography) and CV (max. 1 page) is sent no later than 30 September 2019 to trust@leibniz-gei.de. The final decision on contributors will be made by the end of November 2019.

    The conference will take place in Braunschweig, Germany from 3 to 5 June 2020. Conference languages will be German and English. Speakers’ travel and accommodation costs will be covered by the Georg Eckert Institute.

    To enable in-depth discussions of the topics and to facilitate the publication of the conference papers in an edited volume in the GEI’s peer-reviewed book series Schriftenreihe, we request that all accepted contributors submit a full article (of between 44,000 and 68,000 characters) by 31 March 2020.

    If you have any further questions please contact Dr Marcus Otto (otto@leibniz-gei.de).

  • 22.08.2019 11:13 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    The University of Zurich

    Deadline: October 2, 2019

    The position should be filled at the earliest opportunity. After two temporary three-year contracts the position will become tenured on the condition that the candidate passes the evaluation process. Applicants should distinguish themselves through excellent research on strategic communication and/or media management. Strategic communication means controlled communication to internal and external stakeholders and target audiences of an organization. The desired focus is on the communicator and content side (i.e. on strategies of advertising, public relations, marketing and campaign communication in the digital environment), potentially with references to effects. Media management uses precise knowledge of media markets and media consumers to make strategic decisions about designing and marketing media products and other communications offerings to meet the needs of their target audiences and the goals of the organization.

    Applications from candidates whose previous work focused only on one of the two fields mentioned above are also explicitly welcome. Expertise in strategic communication is an advantage. In the medium term, the professorship should cover both fields. Applicants are therefore asked to submit a development plan of at least two pages in which they explain how they would like to shape the content of the two fields in research and teaching. All applicants should be familiar with the subject of Communication Studies and Media Research in its breadth; they are expected to participate in teaching introductory Bachelor's and Master's classes as well as methods classes. Special attention will be paid to relevant methodological skills for strengthening the socialscientific, empirical-analytical profile of the discipline at the University of Zurich.

    Candidates should hold a PhD degree at the time of application and have an excellent record of academic achievements in the relevant field. Teaching may initially be carried out in English. Non-German speaking candidates are expected to acquire a working knowledge of German within the first three years of appointment. The University of Zurich is an equal opportunities employer and in particular strives to increase the percentage of women in leading positions. Therefore, qualified female researchers are encouraged to apply.

    The closing date for applications is October 2, 2019. Details on the application procedure are available on http://www.phil.uzh.ch/jobs.html.

    For further information, please contact Professor Mark Eisenegger at m.eisenegger@ikmz.uzh.ch. 

  • 22.08.2019 10:35 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Tobias Eberwein, Susanne Fengler, Matthias Karmasin

    Bringing together both leading international scholars and emerging academic talent, Media Accountability in the Era of Post-Truth Politics maps the current state of media accountability in Europe and provides fresh perspectives for future developments in media and communication fields.

    As the integrity of the international media landscape is challenged by far-reaching transformations and the rise of “fake news,” the need for a functional system of media regulation is greater than ever. This book addresses the pressing need to re-evaluate and redefine the notion of accountability in the fast-changing field of journalism and “information provision.” Using comparative research and empirical data, the book’s case studies address the notion of media accountability from various perspectives, considering political and societal change, economic, organisational and technological factors, and the changing role of media audiences. By collecting and juxtaposing these studies, the book provides a new discussion for the old question of how we can safeguard free and responsible media in Europe – a question that seems more urgent than ever.

    Media Accountability in the Era of Post-Truth Politics is an essential read for students and researchers in journalism, media and communication studies.

    ECREA members can get 20% off and free shipping - more info can be found on ECREA intranet.

    Purchase here.

  • 22.08.2019 10:10 | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    University of Tartu

    Deadline: September 16, 2019

    ORGANISATION/COMPANY: University of Tartu

    RESEARCH FIELD:

    • Cultural studies
    • Geography › Economic geography
    • History › Economic history
    • Sociology › Macrosociology

    RESEARCHER PROFILE: Recognised Researcher (R2)

    APPLICATION DEADLINE: 16/09/2019 23:00 - Europe/Athens

    LOCATION: Estonia › Tartu

    TYPE OF CONTRACT: Temporary

    JOB STATUS: Full-time

    HOURS PER WEEK: 40

    OFFER STARTING DATE: 01/11/2019

    Measuring Industrial Modernity (1900-2018)

    A research group in a University of Tartu, Estonia, is looking for a postdoctoral researcher to join us in studying the evolution of industrial modernity. The project is based on the Deep Transitions framework (Schot & Kanger, 2018; Kanger & Schot, 2018) that aims to conceptualize the 250-year developmental trajectory of industrial societies through the co-evolution of socio-technical systems. The key questions our team seeks to answer are as follows: 1) What are the foundational features of industrial modernity, characterizing almost every industrial society to date, that have shaped its evolution? 2) Do we see some significant ruptures along these dimensions in recent decades?

    The candidate will be a part of the team tasked with measuring long-term trends in the historical evolution of industrial societies along multiple dimensions (ideas, institutions, and practices) and on multiple scales (national, global). The project seeks to combine data from existing databases with analysis of digitized text corpora. Therefore, we are looking for a candidate with 1) competence in data analysis skills applicable to the analysis of large historical text collections; 2) methodological creativity in finding ways to utilize text corpora for tracking long-term societal trends.

    The research group is highly interdisciplinary, involving (among others) experts from sustainability transitions studies, digital humanities, history and environmental sociology. As such applicants from diverse backgrounds are welcome to apply.

    The position is funded by the Estonian Science Council and is part of the project “Reshaping Estonian energy, mobility and telecommunications systems on the verge of the Second Deep Transition”. 

    The researcher is expected to engage in the following tasks, some of which involve close collaboration with other team members:

    • Operationalizing the features of industrial modernity in order to track them in historical data
    • Extracting text corpora from public sources, organizing and storing them
    • Cleaning and processing historical OCR texts and preparing them for analysis
    • Assisting in designing and formulating collaborative procedures and workflows to study the representations of industrial modernity in historical texts utilizing the interdisciplinary domain expertise in the group
    • Conducting data analysis and text mining on historical corpora through various techniques, interpreting and integrating the results
    • Representing the findings in thematic conferences and participating in the write-up of the results for journal submission.

    See also the general job requierements for the University of Tartu (Research Fellow, pages 6 and Annex 8, page 20).

    Benefits

    By offering a comprehensive and multi-dimensional assessment of the evolution of industrial modernity the results of the project will be of interest to multiple research communities (e.g. sustainability transitions studies, sustainability science, sociology, cultural evolution). Therefore, the successful applicant will have the possibility to engage in cutting-edge research on the long-term dynamics of industrial societies, enabling to build a substantive skill and publication portfolio boosting further career development. The project also foresees annual funding for participation in international conferences. The research team at the University of Tartu provides a vibrant and supportive work atmosphere.

    Selection process

    In order to be considered for the position, the candidate must submit to the UT Human Resources Office (email: personal@ut.ee) following documents (in English, pdf format)):

    • a letter of application to the Rector,
    • academic CV, including a list of publications (including both accepted and under review)
    • a copy of a document (including its annexes) which shows the candidate to hold the required qualification (authorized translation into Estonian, English or Russian if the credential is not in one of these languages). A candidate can be required to submit the original or a certified copy of the document (including its annexes) showing the candidate to hold the required qualification. If the candidate has acquired the higher education in question abroad, he or she may be required to submit an assessment issued by the Academic Recognition Information Centre (the Estonian ENIC/NARIC) of his or her qualification in respect of the qualification requirements for the position;
    • Contact information of at least two references
    • a 2-3 page research statement on past research and future research interests, including the envisioned contribution to the project.

    Candidates will be contacted after September 16 and Skype interviews will be conducted. Final selection will be made by October 10 and work is envisioned to start from Nov 1, 2019.

    Additional comments

    The successful applicant will be employed by the University of Tartu which has been ranked as the top university in New Europe (Times Higher Education New Europe Ranking 2018). The Institute of Social Studies is an interdisciplinary research and teaching unit comprising areas from sociology to information science and communication studies. For additional information about the university see https://www.ut.ee/en/welcome.

    Required Research Experiences

    RESEARCH FIELD: Sociology › Macrosociology

    YEARS OF RESEARCH EXPERIENCE: 4 - 10

    RESEARCH FIELD: Cultural studies

    YEARS OF RESEARCH EXPERIENCE: 4 - 10

    RESEARCH FIELD: History › Economic history

    YEARS OF RESEARCH EXPERIENCE: 4 - 10

    RESEARCH FIELD: Geography › Economic geography

    YEARS OF RESEARCH EXPERIENCE: 4 - 10

    Offer Requirements

    REQUIRED LANGUAGES

    ENGLISH: Excellent

    Skills/Qualifications

    Essential

    Experience in at least two of the following areas:

    • Gathering and maintaining large digital corpora for text mining
    • Applying NLP on historical OCR texts
    • Keyword extraction, topic modeling, sentiment analysis
    • Automatic content extraction and text classification
    • Time series analysis of large text collections
    • Cultural analytic studies based on large text collection

    In addition:

    • Readiness to learn new techniques as needed
    • Excellent oral and written proficiency in English
    • Independent, creative and critical thinking, capability to cope with uncertainty.

    Desirable but not essential

    • Prior experience in studying long-term trends with quantitative tools
    • Disciplinary background in fields that have engaged in long-term and macro-level research (e.g. cultural evolution, digital humanities, historical macro-sociology, economic history, economic geography, computational history)
    • Disciplinary background in fields that have focused on the study of technology and society (e.g. history of science and technology, Science and Technology Studies, media and communication studies, innovation studies)
    • Working knowledge in sustainability transitions and long wave literature.

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