ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

May 17, 2019

Bush House ( North East) ground floor, King's College London, Strand

Deadline: March 21, 2019

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Tobias Blanke will be opening the conference and Dr. Natalie Fenton will be presenting the keynote address.

Social media platforms and the internet have become a battleground for ideas and political discussion. As the importance of these digital intermediaries has grown, many questions about how to navigate the world of digital politics in a meaningful and effective way have emerged. With the controversies surrounding the 2016 United States Presidential election, Brexit, the #MeToo movement, and other democratic conflicts across the globe, it is becoming increasingly evident that these media have come to play an essential role in structuring political discourse, social movements, and collective identity.

When the internet emerged as a global commodity, it came with promises of nascent forms of political engagement. Digital platforms gave people new methods of voicing common grievances, starting social movements, and creating an impetus towards a more just society. However, in recent years there is evidence of increased polarisation and even hostility in online networks. With curated news feed, echo chambers, and fake news, users can shape their own isolated online politics.

This conference will investigate how social media platforms and the digital are changing the nature of political discourse, online debate, and collective action. These platforms have shaped and altered many traditional forms of political involvement, such as campaign funding, candidate representation, and pertinent debates remain as to what extent digital media is enhancing or limiting democratic processes 

Digital technologies have impacted politics and social engagement in a myriad of ways, so we invite submissions that breach this theme from multifarious critical and methodological approaches and from diverse contexts. The academic implications or this broad topic are numerous, as we begin to understand more deeply how digital technologies are adapting to and transforming the political world.

Topics for discussion may include (but are not limited to):

• The role of digital media in elections across the globe

• Collective action and social movements online

• Online campaigns

• Alt-Right and populist politics

• Free speech and liberty online

• Regulation and data misuse of online political spaces

• Gender and online politics

• Big data and politics

Abstracts are to be submitted to digitalpeople.digitalpolitics@gmail.com by March 21, 2019. We are open to:

• Individual papers (250 word abstract with a short academic bio, plus any specific requirements authors may have).

• Panel proposals (250 word abstract with a short academic bio for each person, additional 250 word abstract for the panel as a whole, plus any specific requirements authors may have).

• Workshops (1.5 hours – 250 word abstract with the aims and a description of the proposed workshop, short academic bios of workshop organisers plus any specific requirements organisers may have)

• Posters/ multimedia presentations/ art (250 word abstract with a short academic bio, any relevant URLS, plus any specific requirements).

All applicants will be notified as to whether or not they have been invited to present by 15th April, 2019.

For updated information on the conference, please see the website: http://newperspectivesdh.com

May 24, 2019

Georgetown University, Washington, United States

Deadline to register: May 3, 2019

Contact: Eve Ng, evecng@hotmail.com

Non-presenters are warmly welcomed to register and attend. Early registration, by Mar 31, is $US40; regular registration (Apr 1-May 3) is $US60.

Register here.

As part of an ongoing movement to decenter white masculinity as the normative core of scholarly inquiry, the recent article, “#CommunicationSoWhite” by Chakravartty et al. (2018) in the Journal of Communicationexamined racial disparities within citational practices to make a broader intervention on ways current Communication scholarship reproduces institutional racism and sexism. The underrepresentation of scholars of color within the field in regards to citations, editorial positions, and publications and ongoing exclusion of nonwhite, feminist, queer, post-colonial, and Indigenous voices is a persistent and systemic problem in the production of disciplinary knowledge. ICA President Paula Gardner echoed similar sentiments in her 2018 presidential address, calling for steps for inclusion and diversity within the International Communication Association as well as the larger field.

This pre-conference aims to highlight, consider, and intervene in these issues. We seek submissions that address areas such as:

• The marginalization of communication scholarship in which race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and other axes of exclusion are central;
• Communication scholarship in the context of the global rise of white supremacy and right-wing ethno-nationalism movements;
• Communication scholarship from postcolonial and decolonial perspectives;
• Who tends to be hired and who serves as leaders/gatekeepers in the field;
• The politics of citation and publication;

How #CommunicationSoWhite can function as an intervention within communication studies organizations, departments, and scholarship.

We anticipate many submissions will center on the U.S. and other Western contexts; we also hope the pre-conference will provide a discussion that spans both global North and South, and we encourage participation by submitters from outside North America and the U.K.

Monash University

Deadline: April 12, 2019

Monash University is an energetic and dynamic university committed to high quality education, outstanding research and international engagement. A member of Australia’s Group of Eight research intensive universities, and consistently ranked among the top 100 universities worldwide, Monash is a university seeking to make a difference in everything we do, through seeking new answers and solutions to the challenges facing our world. Discover more at www.monash.edu.

The Professor of Creative & Cultural Industries, Communications & Media is in the School of Media, Film and Journalism in the Faculty of Arts. The Faculty, currently ranked 39th in the world in the QS World University rankings, is one of the largest, most diverse and dynamic arts faculties in Australia.

The School of Media, Film and Journalism is based at the Caulfield campus. Its staff conduct research in media studies, communication studies, cultural studies, journalism, film theory and criticism, media practice and related interdisciplinary fields. The School offers programs and teaching at undergraduate, honours and postgraduate levels. To learn more about the School of Media, Film and Journalism please visit: http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/mfj/

You will be able to demonstrate strong and committed leadership in teaching, research and external engagement. You will have an outstanding track record of international research achievement, including generating research income, fostering research excellence in others, mentoring junior staff and attracting high quality Higher Degree Research students. You will have an excellent capacity to create and leverage opportunities, work collegially to build collaborative partnerships across disciplines and with external stakeholders, and be able to share a vision for the future needs and development of creative and cultural industries, communications and media. The right candidate will preferably hold a doctoral qualification in a discipline which complements an area of current research within the School.

The University is keen to achieve greater gender balance in its academic leadership profile and applications from suitably qualified women are particularly encouraged.

Enquiries regarding the role can be made in confidence to:

For Australia, NZ and North America: Brenda Gibbons on +61 421 388 657 or email brenda@carolwatson.com.au

For UK, Europe and Asia: Kim Lew on +61 438 664 281 or email kim.lew@carolwatson.com

Applications: Please submit your application, including cover letter, responses to the key selection criteria and CV, directly to Debbie Dickinson at debbie@carolwatson.com.au

Closing Date: No later than 5.00pm on 12 April 2019. Early applications are encouraged.

Södertörns högskola

Deadline: April 14, 2019

Ref AP-2019/111

Södertörns högskola (Södertörn University) in south Stockholm is a dynamic institute of higher education with a unique profile and high academic standard. A large proportion of the university staff holds doctorates and there is a strong link between undergraduate education and research. Södertörn University has around 11 000 students and 840 employees.

Undergraduate and postgraduate education and research are conducted in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Life Sciences, Technology and Education. Our site is in Flemingsberg.

Södertörn University is an equal opportunities employer.

Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University is a research-intensive environment, characterised by nationally and internationally oriented research and education based on the social sciences and humanities. The profile of the subject at Södertörn University is the study of the contemporary digital media society using a historicising and critical perspective. This also entails an emphasis on interpretive perspectives and qualitative methods.

The subject has more than twenty members of staff: senior lecturers, associate professors, professors and doctoral students, and offers bachelor’s level education as degree programmes and freestanding courses, as well as offering a two-years Master’s programme and providing doctoral education in the research area of Critical and Cultural Theory. The subject also cooperates with other subjects, such as Environmental Science, and is part of Teacher Education at Södertörn University. Media and Communication Studies is located at the School of Culture and Education. A majority of the subject’s research is funded via project funding from the Foundation for Baltic and East European Studies.

Job description

Duties include teaching and supervision, as well as administration and the development of courses in Media and Communication Studies. This is done at all levels of Bachelor’s education, on programme-specific profile courses, and at Master’s level. Teaching is conducted in Swedish and English. Applicants are expected to contribute to course development at Bachelor’s and Master’s levels, to be prepared to take administrative responsibilities and to participate actively as a member of the teaching staff. Research is included at the position at 10% of full-time. Courses in and elements of media production may be included in teaching. Work in Teacher Education programmes may be included.

Qualifications

An individual is qualified for employment as senior lecturer in Media and Communication Studies if they have demonstrated educational skills, possesses a doctoral degree or the equivalent scholarly expertise or other professional skills that are of significance in relation to the position’s demands and job description.

Completed courses in teaching and learning in higher education or the equivalent are advantageous, please refer to item 2.2.1 of Södertörn University’s Appointments Procedure. The Appointments Procedure is available at www.sh.se/vacantpositions.

Basis for assessment

The basis for assessment when employing a senior lecturer is the degree of expertise required to be eligible for the position. Scholarly expertise is demonstrated through research. Educational expertise must be demonstrated through documented and recommended experience of conducting and developing courses and a written presentation of the applicant’s educational approach. Applicants must also have the personal skills necessary to meet the demands of the position. Scholarly and educational expertise must be given equal weight, please refer to items 2.2.2 and 2.2.3 of Södertörn University’s Appointments Procedure. The Appointments Procedure is available at www.sh.se/vacantpositions.

The following grounds for assessment have been established for this position (in order of importance):

• Scholarly and educational expertise in Media and Communication Studies relevant to the subject’s profile.
• Experience of and expertise in course development and administration in Media and Communication Studies
• Experience of research relevant to the Baltic Sea region and/or Eastern and Central Europe.
• Good cooperation and communication skills

The above items must be documented.

Employment

The position is full-time and until further notice. First date of employment as agreed. The university may apply a six-month probationary period.

Application

Application deadline: 14 April 2019.

Additional information

Head of Department Michael Forsman, tel: +46 (0)8 608 42 69, michael.forsman@sh.se

HR Officer Camilla Bengtsson, tel: +46 (0)8 608 51 72, camilla.bengtsson@sh.se

You apply for this position here.

You find instructions for application above at “Appointment Procedure"/"Mall för ansökan".

Observe that:

• Publications referred to must be attached to the application.
• An application that is not complete or arrives at Södertörn University after the closing date may be rejected.
• On the website sh.se/vacantpositions there is a template for applications that the applicant needs to follow.

Union representatives:

• SACO: Antonia Ribbing, tel: +46 70 602 87 61, antonia.ribbing@sh.se
• ST: Karin Magnusson, tel: +46 8 608 41 75, karin.magnusson@sh.se
• SEKO: Henry Wölling tel: +46 8 524 840 80, henry.wolling@ki.se

The current employment is valid on condition that the employment decision becomes valid.

Södertörn University may apply CV review.

Welcome with your application!

Membrana

Deadline: April 2, 2019

Throughout the twentieth century, political and social protests have become one of the most widespread forms of political contention and collective social action and are to an ever greater extent shaping the contours of public debate since the beginning of the new millennium. Unsurprisingly, within the present milieu of crumbling social consensus, growing political polarization and legitimacy crisis of key institutions of modern state, various forms of political and social protests are on the rise. Visual capabilities of new communication technologies have not only significantly changed the nature and extent of documentation and challenged the institutionalized mediation and communication, but also contributed to codification, even standardization of the visual representations of protests. Strained between symbols (e.g. tank man), metaphors (e.g. protesters giving flowers to police/military) and visual clichés (e.g. rock-throwing masked protester), images of protests and protesters play an important role in struggles over interpretation of the events, legitimacy of protester’s demands and their status as either citizens, crowds, “the people” or mobs. Moreover, protest visuals are not simply part of representation of events; they are increasingly becoming tools of political mobilization, resistance and even modes of protesting themselves through image-based activism, documentation and archiving projects and more.

We invite textual and visual contributions that explore both images of protest and protest through images from (but not limited to) the following perspectives:

• representation of protests and protesters
• protest images as icons, symbols, metaphors or clichés
• circulation and reinterpretation of protest imagery
• mimicking iconic photographs
• historical perspectives of protest imagery
• protests and photography
• changes of protest paradigm
• protests and/on social media
• archiving
• surveillance
• visual activism
• protests in art

Format of contributions

• Essays, theoretical papers, overview articles, interviews (approx. 14.000 characters with spaces), visuals encouraged.
• Theoretical articles (approx. 20.000 characters with spaces), visuals encouraged.
• Short essays, columns (approx. 6.000 characters with spaces), visuals encouraged.
• Photographic projects and artwork: proposals for non-commissioned work or samples of work.

Contributions will be published in the English edition – magazine Membrana (ISSN 2463-8501) as well as in the Slovenian edition – magazine Fotografija (ISSN 1408-3566).

Proposals and deadlines

Please contact the editors at editors(at)membrana.org. The deadline for contribution proposals (150-word abstracts and/or visuals) is April 2, 2019. The deadline for finished contributions from accepted proposals is June 24, 2019. Please send proposals or contact the editors at editors(at)membrana.org.

About Membrana

Membrana is a contemporary photography magazine dedicated to promoting a profound and theoretically grounded understanding of photography. Its aim is to encourage new, bold, and alternative conceptions of photography as well as new and bold approaches to photography in general. Positioning itself in the space between scholarly magazines and popular publications, it offers an open forum for critical reflection on the medium, presenting both analytical texts and quality visuals. The magazine is published biannually in the summer and winter in the English language and in Slovenian under the title Fotografija by the Slovene non-profit institute Membrana.

More about the third edition can be found HERE.

Contact

Membrana, Maurerjeva 8, SI-1000, Ljubljana, Slovenia.

editors(at)membrana.org / mail(at)membrana.org

SComS - Studies in Communication Sciences (OPEN ACCES)

Deadline for abstracts: July 15, 2019

(Deadline for inivited full papers: November 30, 2019)

Guest Editors: Cornelia Brantner (University of Augsburg; IWAF, Vienna) & Helena Stehle (University of Hohenheim)

In the digital age, calls for transparency and openness as well as for privacy and confidentiality prevail: Struggles for visibility occur simultaneously with fights for invisibility and hidden battles for power and privileges of interpretation. Concerns about a loss of digital self-determination exist just like concerns about the “right to be forgotten”. While a few years ago the idea of a “transparent user”–as the ultimate of (in)voluntary visibility–caused a broad outcry in society and scientific debate (Palfrey & Gasser, 2008), the debate is nowadays shifting towards considerations of Internet governance and regulation (Camenisch, Fischer-Hübner, & Hansen, 2015). The societally relevant aspects of visibility and invisibility in the digital age are increasingly discussed and analyzed. Visibility and invisibility become important dimensions in the description and explanation of digital communication. They encompass for example “(1) the availability of information, (2) approval to share information, and (3) the accessibility of information to third parties” (Stohl, Stohl, & Leonardi, 2016, p. 125). They can be addressed with regard to individuals and institutions (e.g., their ability to speak, their power or opinion leadership), structures and processes (e.g., in the meaning of becoming visible or making visible), as well as data and information (e.g., their accessibility or comprehensibility). Studies are, however, scattered across various fields of research in media and communication science. Therefore, the thematic section aims at gathering cutting-edge research on visibility and invisibility in digital publics. We invite submissions from different divisions in media and communication studies that present outstanding meta-analytical perspectives, new theoretical approaches, innovative methodological approaches, or lessons to be learned from empirical analyses.

Submissions relating (but not limited) to the following areas and questions are invited:

• Understanding and analysis of digital (in)visibility: How can visiblity be conceptualized in the digital world? How is it connected to other concepts, e.g., transparency or attention? What aspects are included in the state of being visible in comparison to the process of becoming visible? Which theoretical concepts and methodological perspectives are useful and necessary to describe and analyze the (in)visible of digital communication? How can the invisible be made visible for research? How can the effects of the invisible, but also of the visible, be measured?
• Tensions between visibility and invisibility: What tensions between visibility and invisibility can be observed in society in general or in specific contexts? Why do they emerge? How are these tensions addressed by various actors, e.g., in interactions between journalists and audience members or in instances of cyberbullying?
• Actors, institutions, structures and processes regarding digital (in)visibility: Who is involved in creating, shaping or governing digital (in)visibility? How can structures and processes regarding (in)visibility be described? How are conditions and constraints of (in)visibility created and shaped? In what ways do processes of governance or management and intervolved power relations become visible themselves? How does the (in)visibility of information affect structures and processes in society in general or in specific contexts like media companies or other organizations? How do users deal with (in)visibility in their everyday media practices and how are they influenced by the affordances of social media or underlying societal and cultural norms?
• Sociopolitical significance and consequences of digital (in)visibility: What significance does (in)visibility have in the digital world? What positive or negative implications for sociopolitical frameworks and contexts arise from the influence of actors, technologies, processes, and practices on what users see or do not see online and how they see it? How does the visible frame the media- and non-media-related everyday life? What consequences does the (in)visibility of actors, opinions, or processes have for social coexistence, societal institutions, or foundations of democracy?

The full call for papers and author guidelines HERE.

SUBMISSION GUIDLINES

The length of the articles in the thematic section should be between 6,000 and 8,000 words (including abstract and references). All submitted papers must adhere to APA6 style (www.apastyle.org). The journal welcomes submissions in English, German, French, or Italian, but the abstract must be in English. All submissions should be sent to the guest editors via the following email addresses: brantner@iwaf.at and helena.stehle@hohenheim.de.

The submission process consists of two phases:

• In a first step, abstracts of 500 words (plus the name(s) of the author(s) and affiliation(s), title, and 3 to 5 keywords) should be submitted no later than July 15, 2019.
• In the second step, the decision for an invitation to submit a full paper will be given by August 15, 2019. Invited paper submissions will be due November 30, 2019. The invitation to submit a full paper does not guarantee acceptance into the thematic section. Final acceptance depends on a double-blind peer review process. The expected publishing date of this thematic section is December 2020. Successful contributions that are not accepted for the thematic section will be published in other issues of the journal.

ABOUT SComS

SComS is an international open access journal of communication research that is jointly edited by the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Studies (SACMR) and the Faculty of Communication Sciences of the Università della Svizzera italiana (USI Lugano). The journal is fully open access to both the authors and readers. The publishing home is HOPE, which stands for Hauptbibliothek Open Publishing Environment, which is offered by the Main Library of the University of Zurich based on the infrastructure of the Zentrale Informatik.

We look forward to receiving your submissions. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the guest editors: Cornelia Brantner (brantner@iwaf.at) or Helena Stehle (helena.stehle@hohenheim.de).

Review of Communication Research (http://www.rcommunicationr.org) is an open-access academic journal specialized in publishing literature reviews and meta-analysis for the communication field of study. Our policy is to publish articles of the highest quality, and at the same time, we commit with our authors. For example, we do not reject a draft in the first round, and we keep working with authors to make the article publishable if we believe that the paper will help the advancement of the field.

Articles are published online as soon as accepted and listed in Scopus and Web of Science, among other databases. The articles are highly cited (e.g., average citation per item in WoS = 7.2; Scopus CiteScoreTracker 2018 = 3.0).

We are now interested in increasing the number of published papers per year. Therefore, we are inviting proposals and manuscripts in any communication subfield. We are especially interested in articles that may be of relevance to a wide audience from all over the world (i.e., not local themes.)

If you would like to submit a manuscript for publication in RCR, register and upload a draft in our journal management system (www.review-of-communication-research.org); if you have a proposal, download the form (https://rcommunicationr.org/index.php/write-an-article/call-for-proposals), fill it, and send it to the editor (editor@rcommunicationr.org). Send your proposal or manuscript as soon as possible, during March or April.

For more information, please contact: Dr. Giorgio De Marchis, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, editor@rcommunicationr.org

Deadline: April 15, 2019

Recent developments in the communication technologies have led to significant changes in the communication process and these changes vary from the way we reach information to how we perceive and distribute it.

These changes should be studied and analyzed in detail to be able to see how the concept of communication changes and how these changes can be considered either as possible improvements as well as problems to come up with solutions. This call for chapters is for an edited book titled as “Digital Transformation in Communication and Media Studies”.

The book is organized as a manual on how the digital transformation has affected communication-related issues as well as a roadmap for the possible future of this transformation. Manuscript submissions may address the following themes through a research-based approach.

Contributors are to focus on a certain or various way how the digital transformation has affected communication and media studies on below mentioned thematic areas in addition to other related themes with the above scope in mind:

• Digital transformation of television series and movies
• Media policy and regulation due to the digital transformation
• Transformation of the audience
• Digital transformation of production and post-production processes
• Digital transformation and popular culture
• Digital transformation and storytelling
• Digital culture
• Digital transformation of broadcasting techniques
• Digital transformation and social media
• Digital identity

If you would like to contribute, please submit an abstract of 250-300 words including 3-6 keywords to *digitaltransistanbul@gmail.com by no later than April 15, 2019. For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Istanbul University Press

Editors:

Prof. Dr. Ayşen Gül / Istanbul University

Prof. Dr. Yıldız Dilek / Istanbul University

Dr. Paul Elmer / University of Westminister"

October 29, 2019

Brussels, Belgium

Deadline: March 15, 2019

Official website of the workshop: https://www.ecreadmm.com/iic-workshop

This year the YECREA section of International and Intercultural Communication (IIC) welcomes Dr. Kate Wright, in the context of the Digital Fortress Europe Conference, to host a workshop for doctoral researchers, working in the fields of international journalism, humanitarian communication and news production processes in and about the African continent.

The aim of the workshop is for young scholars to find their own voice and mark their urgent contributions to the fields of International and Intercultural Communication. Considering the young and interdisciplinary nature of these fields and the changing landscape of media and communication technologies, it is crucial for young researchers to situate themselves in relation to existing literature and research, as well as to explore new ways of thinking about our respective research topics. This year’s YECREA activity does not only give young scholars an opportunity to get feedback from an internationally acclaimed scholar and peers, but it also aims to provide them with a set of tools which will help to think thoroughly about their own unique contribution to the field.

Dr. Kate Wright is a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh in the Cultural and Creative Industries. She is a former award-winning journalist, who worked at the Africa-desk for the BBC. In 2018, she published her book ‘Who’s reporting Africa now? Non-governmental organizations, journalists and multimedia’ for Peter Lang.

The workshop will take place on 29 October 2019 in Brussels, Belgium at the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB). This workshop precedes and will take place in the context of the two-day conference “Digital Fortress Europe: Exploring Boundaries between Media, Migration and Technology” (on 30 and 31 October 2019 in Brussels). Although it is recommendable to participate in both, you can also only submit for the conference or for the workshop as well. The workshop is open for ten participants. Further, the workshop does not involve any fee, and coffee and tea will be provided both during the morning and afternoon sessions.

General schedule for the day:

1. Morning session:

An introduction by Dr. Kate Wright on the biggest challenges in the field.

Five participants will have the opportunity to present their research project and get feedback from Dr. Kate Wright. Considering the theme of the workshop, the presentations are expected to focus on the main findings and the theoretical and methodological claims in relation to these. Overall, the session aims to help the researchers to identify their strengths and weaknesses, situate themselves better within the field and be more precise about the main outcome and contribution of their research.

2. Afternoon session:

Five participants will have the opportunity to present their research project and receive feedback from Dr. Kate Wright, followed by a general brainstorm/discussion moment on the most effective ways to address limitations of our research, to present our findings/analysis and to think together about how we can ensure that our research projects are relevant and distinctive.

The PhD workshop is organized by the European Communication Research & Education Association’s (ECREA) International & Intercultural Communication (IIC) section in collaboration with ECREA’s Diaspora, Migration & the Media (DMM) section.

The application process

It is required that the applicants submit a paper about their research project or about a specific study that is part of it (1000-2000 words), situated in the fields of International and/or Intercultural Communication, to Elke.Mahieu@UGent.be and David.Ongenaert@UGent.be before 15 March 2019.

Submission results are sent out via email at the end of April. Papers should be saved as a Word file, and include full name of the author, institutional and departmental affiliation and contact details (email and institutional postal address). Further, the paper should include:

• An introduction that should explain your research topic and research question(s).
• A brief summary of the methodological trajectory
• Main findings (if available) and how these are expected to contribute to the field theoretically, conceptually and/or methodologically.
• Minimum 3 questions/concerns you would like to be discussed during the workshop.

If you would have any further questions/comments, please do not hesitate to email the main organizers of this workshop on the following email addresses:

Elke Mahieu, Ghent University, ECREA IIC young scholars representative, Elke.Mahieu@UGent.be

David Ongenaert, Ghent University, ECREA IIC young scholars representative, David.Ongenaert@UGent.be​​​​​

July 1-2, 2019

Florence, Italy

Deadline for abstracts: March 15, 2019

July 1-2, 2019

A selection of papers presented at the symposium will be published in a special issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society (iCS).

This two-day symposium held under the auspices of the journal ‘Information, Communication & Society’ (iCS) considers the shifting terrain of contemporary democratic politics. Over the course of this decade, a wave of popular discontent swept across much of the world, stoked by the financial crisis, the ensuing austerity and deep disenchantment with political institutions in both liberal democracies and autocracies. Social movements channelled and articulated aspirations for greater democratic accountability and participation, more equitable economic policies, greater concern for social welfare and climate change. Against a secular decline in party membership, voter turnout and institutional trust, movements have rekindled a participatory imaginary challenging the status quo of many democratic countries.

Criticized for a supposed inability to enact the political and social change they advocated, social movements were harbingers of a new political vehicle, the movement party. The rise and electoral success of party movements—from Podemos in Spain, to Cinque Stelle in Italy, Jobbik in Hungary, Momentum in the UK or La Republique en Marche in France—captured aspirations for progressive change as well as anger and anxieties about globalisation, migration and the socio-economic and cultural upheaval that such processes have wrought. Occupying the breadth of the ideological spectrum—from the far right to the radical left—these movements put forward a radical criticism of political or media institutions, advocating participatory as well as populist reformulations of notions of citizenship, civic practices and organisational structures. Against the odds, they have scaled up, endured and have the potential to become entrenched despite the initially limited resources available to them. Notwithstanding their ideological differences, digital media appear to have provided important opportunities for the emergence of techno-populist ‘connective’ movements and parties in media systems largely unfavourable to them, thereby posing renewed challenges to incumbents.

Considering the above, the symposium will grapple with such questions as: what does the rising prominence of social and/or party movements mean for democracy? What are the consequences of their rise for representative democracy? What explains their presence on both the left and the right of the political spectrum? How does their digital media use bear on their organisational structures and cultures or their relationship with the media?

The symposium invites scholars and other informed observers to present papers discussing how over the last decade, social movements, party movements and other collective actors emerging in the fractured contemporary media landscape have produced knowledge, learn and develop new or overhaul existing participatory cultures and techno-populist identities; congeal competitive political agendas that challenge established political positions; rekindle trust and even faith in political leadership and democratic governance; (re)shaped (un)conventional citizenship norms, practices and action repertoires, harnessing affordances of self-publication technologies, data analytics and news media values to maximize their visibility, appeal and reach while also at times critiquing the dominant commercial logics of media and social media companies.

Building on these considerations, we encourage submissions that address but are not limited to the following aims:

• Discuss media strategies and/or tactics of social and/or party movements and individual activists, how they relate to ongoing transformation of media systems, shifting media diets and practices that are increasingly dominated by the use of digital and social media;
  
• Map the use of digital technologies in social and/or party movements, the extent to which it inflects on organisational networks, structures and cultures and whether these depart from late-modern and pre-crisis models of political organisation;
  
• Consider how support for social and/or party movements is articulated publicly in squares, on social platforms, through partisan outlets, in mainstream media or combinations thereof and potential reasons for them;
  
• Investigate the language use of social and/or party movements—and responses to it by institutions and various section of the public—particularly as it challenges deliberative norms or if it is associated with disruptive communication techniques such as click-baiting, trolling, spoofing, making use of disinformation or misinformation;
  
• Reflect on the conversion of some movements into parties, the tensions emerging between the grassroots and the leadership once social and/or party movements enter institutions and the extent to which digital media may mitigate or exacerbate such conflicts;
  
• Investigate knowledge transfer and learning processes that transform movements, their support base, organization or goals and the role of digital media in such processes;
  
• Propose ethical methodological innovations especially through the deployment of trace data gathering tools that can facilitate access to and rapport with hard-to-reach, research-apprehensive movement actors like far-right movement parties;
  
• Develop innovative qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods techniques to explore the use of digital media within social and/ or party movements;
  
• Reflect on the bearing of (digital) media and communication strategies and tactics on the electoral success of social and/or party movements in local, national or European elections;
  
• Explore contrasts in the popular mobilization and/or electoral success of populist party movements on the right and the left while contemplating the contribution that digital and social media made to it
  

We invite 500-word abstracts outlining empirical, theoretical or policy-oriented papers that address these or cognate topics. The abstract should point to study conclusions. It should be accompanied by a 100-word biography of the presenter(s) together with contact details.

Abstracts/biographies/contact details should be emailed to Dan Mercea (dan.mercea.1@city.ac.uk).

All papers presented at the symposium will receive comments from a discussant. Following the symposium, paper authors will be invited to submit their manuscripts for publication in a special issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society.

More info: http://cosmos.sns.it/news/call-for-papers-social-movements-and-parties-in-a-fractured-media-landscape/.