ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Special issue on Cultural Literacies in Transition

Deadline: August 31, 2019

Guest editor: Kris Rutten (Ghent University)

On-going public and academic debate has focused on the importance of knowledge about culture and the arts, what is generally referred to as “cultural literacy”. Often the debate focuses on an alleged “lack” of such knowledge. Whereas traditional approaches to cultural literacy emphasized the importance of a shared national culture, the reading of books and the literary canon, in recent years there has been an increasing focus on what cultural “literacies” can imply within our current globalised, pluralized and media saturated societies. While the conception that the arts constitute (Western) High Culture has for a long time already been strongly criticized from a broad range of perspectives, this idea is still reflected in more traditional approaches to the importance and functions of culture and the arts.

However, contemporary societal transitions raise a number of important questions about the specific content of cultural literacies (i.e. what is still considered to be relevant and valuable knowledge about culture and the arts?), about the potential functions of culture and the arts for society (i.e. what is considered to be the societal and educational value of knowledge about and engagement with the arts?) and about the specific role of cultural institutions today (i.e. how do cultural institutions address their roles as mediator and go-between of knowledge about the arts?).

For this special issue, we therefore seek contributions that explore how cultural literacies are currently defined, practiced, contested and negotiated in relation to different contexts by focusing on the following discussions:

• What is currently considered to be valuable knowledge about culture, art and aesthetics? How is this knowledge being challenged and how is it redefined? What does this imply for art education and for the curriculum in general?
• How are the societal functions of culture and the arts framed in the public and academic debate? What are the societal and educational values that are attributed to knowledge about and engagement with the arts?
• How is the role of cultural and art institutions changing as traditional mediators of knowledge about culture and the arts? What new forms of art mediation are emerging or how can such new forms be conceptualized?

Submission guidelines:

Deadline for abstracts: Please send your abstracts of 300 words by August 31st 2019 to Kris.Rutten@UGent.be .

Notification of selected abstracts by: September 15th 2019.

Deadline for article submission: based on the selection of the abstracts full papers will need to be submitted by: *December 15th 2019.

Information and instructions for authors: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/RCRC

All completed manuscripts MUST be uploaded onto the online manuscript portal Scholar One. Go to Critical Arts on the Taylor and Francis site. There is an option on the top left pane of the screen that says ‘submit’, select this then click ‘submit online’ and follow the prompts.

Further inquiries about the special issue: Kris.Rutten@UGent.be

Alternatively, contact the Critical Arts editorial office at criticalarts@ukzn.ac.za or the editor-in-chief, Keyan Tomaselli at keyant@uj.ac.za

Critical Arts prides itself in publishing original, readable, and theoretically cutting edge articles. For more information on the history and the orientation of the journal, as well as guidelines for authors, and legal and editorial procedures, please visit: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/rcrcauth.asp

Critical Arts is now published six times annually and is indexed in the International Bibliography of Social Sciences (IBSS) and the ISI Social Science Index and Arts & Humanities Citation Index and other indexes.

Saint Paul University

Deadline: September 3, 2019

Administrative Unit : Faculty of Human Sciences

Supervisor : Dean

Hours : 35.00

Functions :

Established in 1848, Saint Paul University is the founding college of the University of Ottawa, with which it has been federated since 1965. Bilingual and on a human scale, it offers programs in canon law, conflict studies, counselling and psychotherapy, human relations, philosophy, public ethics, social communication, social innovation, and theology. Saint Paul University seeks to promote excellence in teaching, research and professional formation at the international, national, and local levels.

The Faculty of Human Sciences is seeking an assistant professor in a tenure-track position in the School of Social Communication, beginning January 2020.

Saint Paul University's School of Social Communication’s programs aim to develop competent communicators and critical thinkers for a wide range of organizations, through a blend of theoretical and practical courses.

Nature of the position:

• Teaching in both official languages;
• Supporting students from a variety of backgrounds in their academic journey;
• Active research program; and
• Participation in meetings of Faculty Council and other committees at the Faculty and University level.

Experience :

Required qualifications:

• A doctorate (Ph.D.) in communication or a related field, preferably with a specialization in media and communication studies or strategic communications;
• Academic publications and a research program in the areas of media studies and communication studies and/or strategic communications;
• Bilingualism (written/oral) - ability to teach in English and French at the undergraduate level;
• For media and communication specialist, demonstrated ability to teach in some of the following areas: Communications for Sustainable Development;

• Media and Great Social Debates; Conceptions of Society; Mass Communication; Communication Research and Methodology;
• For strategic communication specialist, demonstrated ability to teach in some of the following areas: Communication and Organizations; Public relations; Social marketing; Organizational Communication; Argumentation and Persuasion; Interpersonal Communication; Strategic Communication Tools; and
• An asset: have professional experience in one or both related fields.

Salary:

Salary and promotion are based on the current Collective Agreement.

Starting date: January 1, 2020.

Application deadline: September 3, 2019 or until position is filled

This announcement is directed primarily but not exclusively to Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada. Saint Paul University encourages applications from all qualified individuals, including women, members of visible and ethnic minorities, native peoples, and persons with disabilities.

Applicants should send a cover letter addressing how they meet the requirements for the position, a curriculum vitae, the names of three persons who can provide references upon request, and three samples of their publications to: humansciences@ustpaul.ca

Inquiries regarding the position should be directed to Dr. Sheenagh Pietrobruno, Director, School of Social Communications (spietrobruno@ustpaul.ca). Review of applications will begin on September 4, 2019 and will continue until the position is filled. Only applicants who have been shortlisted will be contacted.

MeCCSA 2020, Supplemental Call For Papers

January 8-10, 2020

University of Brighton, UK

Deadline: August 31, 2019

The Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association are pleased to invite the submission of practice-based contributions for the MeCCSA 2020 Conference, to be held from 8-10 January 2020 at the University of Brighton. The theme of the conference is Media Interactions and Environments. We actively support the presentation of practice-as-research and have a flexible approach to practice papers, presentations and the exhibition of work.

To complement the MeCCSA presentations, panels, roundtables and screenings, a dedicated exhibition space has been set up in the School of Media’s foyer gallery, to exhibit film and video, photography, sound and other media-based work. This is a light space with ample daylight, which has flexible walls for hanging of works, which can also accommodate moving image work. We also have a cinema-style screening room which can be used for short films, videos and digital work.

Contributors are invited to submit work for the gallery as part of their presentation. This may be still or moving image, projected or monitor-based work, which creatively addresses the theme of Media Interactions and Environments. This exhibition will seek to explore how mediation, screen performance, sound and photography contribute to a reconfiguration of contemporary relations and environments. All set-ups need to be simple and adaptable to existing facilities, and all delivery/transportation of work is at the cost and risk of the exhibitor.

Practice-based research proposals may take many forms. Contributors may present papers and screenings in the same sessions or as part of a separate screening strand. We also welcome shorter papers in association with short screenings. For displaying practice work, please include specific technical data (e.g. duration, format) and a URL pointing to any support material when submitting your abstract. We expect delegates who are showing work to be present at the conference.

Timeline of submissions and reviews

• Submission deadline: 31 August 2019
• Review decision: September 2019

Submit proposals to: meccsa2020@brighton.ac.uk

Website: http://www.meccsabrighton2020.co.uk

Twitter: @MeCCSA2020

April 6-7, 2020

School of Economics, Cape Town, South Africa

Deadline: December 1, 2019

https://www.monssa.org/its2020

Digital Transformation in Africa

The 3rd African International Telecommunications Society (ITS) Conference will take place at the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town on 6-7 April, 2020. The previous two African editions of the conference were hosted in Lusaka (Zambia) in 2018 and Accra (Ghana) in 2016.

The International Telecommunications Society (ITS) is an association of about 400 professionals in the information, communications, and technology sectors. The ITS Conferences provide a forum where academic, private sector, and government communities can meet to identify pressing new problems and issues, share research results, and form new relationships and approaches to address outstanding issues.

The ITS Conference in Cape Town will bring together experts, academicians, policy makers and sector regulators from South Africa and other countries in Africa, and worldwide. During 2-days conference, the participants will discuss a broad range of issues related to investments in telecommunications and Internet infrastructure, competition dynamics and regulation of digital markets, emergence of global information society and many others.

We welcome submissions on a range of topics as outlined below:

• Infrastructure investment strategies in both fixed and mobile markets
• Consolidation in mobile markets
• Digital divides – their changing nature and how they can be overcome
• Monopolisation within high-technology markets – e.g., how can markets be defined and monopolisation measured
• The socio-economic impact of new technologies – e.g., 5G, IoT, AI, blockchain
• Operator strategies – bundling, content and convergence
• The impact of OTT on the telecommunications sector
• The adoption of ICT in other sectors – manufacturing, transportation etc.
• Platforms – their scope, regulation and impact
• Encouraging ICT innovation in Africa

Submissions addressing any other subject relating to telecommunication systems and markets are also welcome. Theoretical and empirical papers are welcome, as are methodologically qualitative and quantitative papers.

Important dates

• Abstract submission open : August 1, 2019
• Deadline for abstracts : December 1, 2019
• Notification of acceptance : December 15, 2019
• Registration open: October 1, 2019
• Early registration deadline : December 31, 2019
• Deadline for final papers : January 31, 2020
• Late registration deadline: January 31, 2020

Contact

• Lukasz Grzybowski - lukasz.grzybowski@uct.ac.za
• Anders Henten – henten@cmi.aau.dk

Website of ITS: https://www.itsworld.org

Loughborough University, UK

Deadline: September 26, 2019

The Department of Communication and Media in the School of Social Sciences at Loughborough University, UK, is seeking to appoint a Research Associate to work with Dr Vaclav Stetka (PI) and Professor Sabina Mihelj (Co-I) on the ESRC-funded research project "The Illiberal Turn? News Consumption, Political Polarization, and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe". Combining survey data, digital tracking of media consumption, as well as media diaries and qualitative interviews, the project will carry out a systematic study of news consumption and political polarization in Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Serbia, at a key point in time when the region is witnessing the rise of populist leaders, resurgence of illiberal nationalism, and a shift towards authoritarian forms of government.

This Research Associate will assist with qualitative data collection, analysis and management. Apart from taking an active part in designing interviews and media diaries, the successful candidate will collect the data from one of the four countries covered by the project and assist the Co-I with the comparative analysis of qualitative data from all four countries. The researcher will also support the PI and the Co-I with the integrative analysis of qualitative and quantitative data, co-author some of the publications, and contribute to impact activities and events. Proficiency in English and one of the local languages (Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Serbian) is essential.

The successful applicant for this post will be an experienced researcher with postgraduate training in sociology, media/communication studies, cultural studies, anthropology or another related social science or humanities discipline, (PhD, or very close to completion), and with experience in qualitative social science methodologies, such as interviews and/or diaries. Demonstrable knowledge of media, politics and society in one or more Central and Eastern European countries covered by the project is also expected.

IMPORTANT: Shortlisted applicants for this post who are not selected may be offered a short-term (4-5 months) research position. Please indicate in your application/cover letter if you are interested in this.

Informal enquiries should be made by email to Professor Sabina Mihelj, S.Mihelj@lboro.ac.uk

Application Closing Date: 26 September 2019

Interviews (including presentation) will be held on: 7 October 2019

Start date: 1 January 2020

For more information on the project see our project website: https://www.illiberal-turn.eu/

For further details on the job see: https://vacancies.lboro.ac.uk/jobdesc/REQ190622.pdf.

Tallinn University (TLU)

Deadline: August 26, 2019

Tallinn University (TLU) seeks an internationally recognized scholar in digital humanities or digital culture studies to become an ERA Chair Professor in Cultural Data Analytics.

Position starts in Autumn or early Winter 2019

Tenure: The position will be tenured.

All details about the application process and what documents are needed can be found here: https://www.tlu.ee/en/professor-cultural-data-analytics

Position includes excellent remuneration package; secured substantial research funds for the first 4 years; the possibility to create own research team and an Open Lab; cooperation networks with several external cultural and media institution; strong institutional support from the university.

Profile of the candidate

TLU has won a grant for this position from the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 ERA Chair programme. The programme supports universities in their efforts to build on their reputation as leaders in research and innovation. The programme awards top researchers and their teams EUR 2.5 million over five years to establish ambitious research programmes. Estonian Research Council is expected to top it up with additional 200 000 euros from its Mobilitas scheme. After the CUDAN project ends and the position gets tenured TLU will support the Chair by its own means.

TLU has used the grant to establish a new professorship in Cultural Data Analytics (CUDAN) together with the new research team that consists of 5-7 senior researchers and at least 5 PhD students. The team will also run CUDAN Open Lab - an actual space and a cooperation platform for collaborating with external cultural and media institutions. See more about the whole CUDAN project here: http://cudan.tlu.ee

The candidate for the professorship is expected to have experience of managing research projects and/or teams in digital humanities/digital culture studies and with spearheading open stakeholder collaborations.

CUDAN ERA Chair will interconnect three TLU Schools - Baltic Film, Media, Arts and Communication School (BFM), School of Humanities (SH) and School of Digital Technologies (DTI). The ERA Chair holder will be hired as a professor at BFM.

The applicant has to have a PhD degree in digital humanities, digital culture studies or in data analytics and at least 5 years of experience in managing research teams and/or planning and implementing research and innovation projects.

More specifically the following experience is required:

• Strong academic background and international reputation in digital humanities/digital culture studies;

• Publications in international peer reviewed journals;

• Supervision of PhD students;

• Experience in formulating and managing research teams;

• Experience in planning new research projects;

• Experience in coordination of or participation in international research projects (e.g. Framework Programme, Horizon 2020);

• Collaboration with non-academic stakeholders.

The ERA Chair holder will need to reside permanently in Estonia and sign an employment contract with TLU.

The salary of the ERA Chair professor will be negotiable, but will be based on the existing experience and seniority of the candidates and equate broadly with professor salaries in Western European countries. Yet, employment in Estonia could be more beneficial due to low income tax rates (approximately 21% for this position).

TLU offers modern ergonomic working conditions and flexible schedules in a brand new campus located in the city centre. TLU employees enjoy numerous benefits in areas such recreation, health care, child care, employee training, etc. TLU allows for its professors extensive paid vacation - 65 days each year. TLU will help the newly expected professor and her/his family with the move to Estonia, relocation allowance can be negotiated.

Deadlines: The application process opened June 22nd 2019 and ends August 26th. A decision will be made in the Autumn of 2019. All the details about the process and what documents are needed can be found here: https://www.tlu.ee/en/professor-cultural-data-analytics.

See more about the CUDAN Open Lab: http://cudan.tlu.ee

CUDAN team is happy to respond to any questions and at any time about the position. Please contact us at cudan@tlu.ee.

Deadline for application: September 2, 2019

The YECREA network is calling for early-career communication researchers across Europe to apply for the vacant position as YECREA representative in the Film Studies section of ECREA.

The young scholar (YECREA) representative in each section/TWG/network of ECREA assists the managing team (consisting of a chair and two vice-chairs) in organising panels, symposiums and/or conferences, promoting the specific research area. Furthermore, the YECREA representative works to inform early-career scholars about events in the field and take part in organising events, such as pre-conference workshops or meetings.

The ‘young’ in young scholar is not a measure of age, but of career progression. Thus, all scholars in non-tenure positions (e.g. PhD’s and postdocs) are welcome to apply. It should be noted that the position as YECREA representatives is not paid.

Applications should be no more than 500 words and contain the following information:

• A heading with your name and the specific position you are applying for
• Details on your current university, position and progression
• A brief description of your research
• A brief statement on your work’s connection to the specific section, TWG or network
• A brief statement on your aspirations for improving early-career research

The managing team of YECREA (Corinna Lauerer, Norbert Šinković and Johan Farkas) will evaluate applications. The final decision on candidates will be taken in collaboration with the managing teams of each section/TWG/network.

As part of the evaluation, motivation will be emphasised as well as ensuring geographical diversity and supporting new scholars in the field.

More information about each section/TWG/network can be found at: https://www.ecrea.eu/Sections

More information about YECREA can be found at: http://yecrea.eu/

Questions can be addressed to Johan Farkas (Chair): johan.farkas@mau.se

Applications should be sent to: yecreanetwork@gmail.com

Deadline: December 31, 2019

The Professional Wresting Studies Association invites submissions for the inaugural issue of the Professional Wrestling Studies Journal, an open-access, peer-reviewed academic journal.

We welcome scholarly work from any theoretical and methodological lens that is rigorous, insightful, and expands our audience’s understanding of professional wrestling past or present as a cultural, social, political, and/or economic institution.

All submissions must be original scholarly work and free of identifying information for blind review. Written articles should be submitted as Word documents and no more than 8,000 words, inclusive of a 200-word abstract and a reference list. MLA citation style is required. Any images that are not original require copyright clearance. Articles will be converted into PDFs for publication, so hyperlinks should be active.

For multimedia productions and experimental scholarship, please contact PWSJeditor-in-chief Matt Foy (foym38@uiu.edu) to verify length and proper format in which to send the piece.

The deadline for submissions to the journal is October 31, 2019 for an April 2020 publication. Please email submissions to prowrestlingstudies@gmail.com.

Additionally, the PWSA invites submissions for their 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.

Deadline: December 15, 2019

Edited by Daniela Stelzmann (Institute for Media and Communication Studies, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany) and Josephine Ischebeck (Psychologist, Berlin, Germany).

Child sexual abuse (CSA) is a problem which takes place in the center of our society and has dramatic effects on the victims’ physical and mental health. Between 3 to 31 % of the children worldwide have been sexually abused in either offline or online environments (Barth, Bermetz, Heim, Trelle, & Tonia, 2013). Accurate estimations are difficult due to the high amount of undetected cases. Although a large percentage of children become victims in every social stratum, CSA remains a highly tabooed topic. Very few victims and other significant groups (e.g. spouses, parents, etc.) talk about their experiences, often out of fear of stigmatization (Ybarra, Strasburger & Mitchell, 2014).

Although most people did not experience CSA or do not have access to first hand reports, we have a certain mental representation of CSA including its causes and effects. We gain this indirect experience from media coverage (Jackob, 2018; Meltzer, 2019) which is – until up to date – often focused on high profile cases (Kitzinger, 2008; Popović, 2018). Information about prevention programs and follow up stories are rare (Kitzinger, 2004).

With the upcoming edited book about CSA and the media, we hope to draw attention to the status quo of this topic: From perspectives of significant groups, to possible risks and opportunities of media coverage, as well as ideas for improvement. Submissions dealing with the use of media as a platform for CSA (e.g. CSA images and videos, online grooming in social media) are also welcome.

Topics for chapters may include but are not limited to: 

• Media coverage of CSA
• Effects of media coverage for victims, offenders and other significant groups, especially regarding CSA
• Risks and opportunities of media coverage, especially regarding CSA
• How to improve media coverage about CSA
• Media and crime prevention, especially prevention of CSA
• Media influence on public and individual opinions and political discussions
• Media and stigma
• Education through media
• Journalists’ point of view and its influence on their publications
• Effects on journalists of dealing with emotional topics
• Effects of CSA for victims, offenders and other significant groups
• CSA in music, film, gaming and television
• Usage of media as a platform for CSA (e. g. CSA images and videos, online grooming)
• Your own suggested idea

Submission details

We would like to invite extended abstracts (a maximum of 500 words), accompanied by a short biographical statement, until December 15th, 2019. The submissions should contain an introduction, theoretical background, methods as well as (preliminary) results.

Please address proposals and/or any inquiries to Daniela Stelzmann (Daniela.Stelzmann@fu-berlin.de). Submission implies a commitment to publish in this volume if your work is selected for inclusion.

Your submissions will be reviewed until January 15 th, 2020. Accepted contributors will be asked to submit their full chapters of 5000 to 6500 words (including references, tables etc.) by May 31 th, 2020. The book is intended for publication with NOMOS.

April 2- 4, 2020

University of Bamberg

Deadline: September 30, 2019

3rd International Conference  in Scandalogy

The conference will focus on “Scandals in New Media Environments”. The  overarching theme serves a two-fold goal: On the one hand, we want to  intensify research on mediated scandals(cf. Entman 2012; Burkhardt 2018)  and substantiate our understanding of such forms of scandals and their  impact on societies. On the other hand, we hope to connect the study of  scandals with a larger scientific community in the broad field of  digital communication research, be it in organizational communication,  journalism studies, political communication research or other fields. 

Even to the casual observer of media and society the conference theme  appears timely because currently we seem to be living through an age of  perpetual scandalization. Arguably, digital technologies are a catalyst  in this respect. On an everyday basis, we can observe how social media  offers new means to vent emotional attacks, spark outrage, or voice  public discontent. Not only politicians, celebrities, and other  individuals in the media spotlight are subject to such firestorms.  Increasingly, ordinary citizens experience intensifying levels of  digital slander and character attacks online as well. In many cases, the  cause are simply gaffes or a careless public remark. 

The increasingly low threshold by which such incidents become the  subject of scandalous media coverage has been a matter of critique. It  may be a significant feature of an overall trend in the tabloidization  of culture and the rise of infotainment. Some authors even speak of  “unleashed scandals” (Pörksen & Detel 2012) in such “hybrid media  systems” (Chadwick 2013). 

Such scandals typically have a rather short communicative half-life  period, but may have gained a new quality through the rise of social  media and digital technologies. In this respect, participatory digital  publics can create a ‘spill-over’-effect so that the consequences of a  public gaffe may incite a more substantiated discourse in the political  system and in conventional journalistic mass media. On the other hand,  the scandalizing potential of new media requires modified strategies of  reputation management by politicians, celebrities, institutions and  corporations. 

Against this backdrop, we should inquire if we are witnessing a  transformation of mediated scandals through digital communication  practices. If so, what will be the consequences for dealing with future  scandals and cultural affairs? 

Yet, new media also offers a different perspective on journalism and  scandals as technological infrastructure and digital tools give  journalists new means to investigate hard scandals like substantial  financial or political wrongdoings. One example is the work of the  International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) and the  publication of the Panama Papers or the Paradise Papers respectively.  Such reporting can rely on data-driven analyses and may incite political  change, if further actors like online news sites, whistleblower  platforms or ordinary users comment such cases and share information. 

However, rather often these exposés do not substantiate a due process of  scandalization and fail to bring reform. If so, we should ask why  traditional reporting on scandals, despite new means of collaboration  and research, may have lost its effectiveness. 

To tackle these issues we believe that our conference theme should bring  the practitioners’ perspective into the academic field as well: Often,  journalists are limited to describing scandal cases and criticizing  scandalized actors, instead of reflecting a potential lack of (or too  much) response by the public. Possibly, academic research and journalism  could alleviate this deficit, if both fields would be more sensitive to  technological and social characteristics of new media in the process of  scandalization. We assume that professional communicators could provide  an important perspective to this as well. For example marketing- and  campaign-experts who evoke scandals with strategic goals in mind, or  media spokespersons who have to deal with online scandalization and  mitigate its consequences. Therefore, we also invite contributions that  are not limited to the academic field but deal with practical aspects of  scandals and digital media. 

Therefore, possible submissions for this conference may focus on:

• scandals in Social Network Sites and their ‘spill-over’-effects,  i. e. amplifications/ catalysts between online and offline media 
• users as opinion-leaders and scandalizers 
• tabloidization and scandals in online media 
• investigative journalism, whistleblowing and the datafication  of scandals 
• pitfalls of crisis communication in digital environments and  online firestorms 
• the power of algorithms (e. g. filter bubbles) in the reception  of scandal cases 

However, to understand scandals in new media environments, we also  suggest broadening the scope of our scientific analysis. Arguably,  scandals occur in every culture and at all times in human history, thereby constituting a part of our species’ social evolution. We would  like to encourage submissions that cover the historical perspective as  well. This can help us to understand how new media of the past (ancient  theatre, early modern pamphlets, bourgoise mass media, cinema,  television, etc.) allowed groups to effectively mediate social events  which involved the breaching of certain moral or legal codes and helped  to determine how to elicit a public response. 

Additional topics may include:

• theoretical implications of scandals and the emergence of new  media technologies 
• historical case studies analyzing the relationship between  scandalization and new communication channels and forums 

Information about paper submissions

Abstracts should not exceed 300 words. Please include an additional  short biographical note of no more than 150 words. 

As the selection of abstracts will be peer-reviewed anonymously, we ask  contributors to include a separate title page containing title,  author/s, affiliation/s, and the address, phone, fax, and e-mail of the  first author. 

Peer reviewers will evaluate all submissions based on relevance and  originality, clarity of research purpose, grounding of theoretical and  methodological approach, focus, and organization. 

We plan a publication of selected articles in a collected volume (most  likely with the Herbert von Halem Verlag  ) 

Please email abstracts to scandalogy.kowi@uni-bamberg.de  by September 30 2019.  You will receive a notification by November 8th 2019. 

Keynote

Confirmed keynote speaker is Jan Fleischhauer. It is a pleasure and an  honor to welcome Jan Fleischhauer, one of the leading German columnists  (FOCUS, DER SPIEGEL) and a regular guest in national talk shows. 

Fleischhauer is an engaged and stridently argumentative publicist. He  will give personal insights how journalists can endure heated public  debates, character attacks and scandals in digital media environments.