ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

University of Liverpool - Department of Communication and Media

Closing Date: February 27, 2019, 17:00

We are seeking to appoint a Head of Department and Chair in Communication and Media. As the Head of Department, working alongside the Dean of School you will be an active member of the School Management Team and will provide academic leadership in contributing to the strategic plan and annual operation of the School. You will lead and develop the Department of Communication and Media, refining and implementing our education and research strategies with plans to increase student numbers, enhance staff research and collaboration, ensuring an outward looking research agenda with embedded opportunities for impact activity.

As Chair in Communication and Media, you will assume a professorial role in the School and will be expected to establish research and teaching contributions alongside the headship responsibilities.

The role of Head of Department will be for 5 years initially from 1 August 2019 and will be offered with a permanent post at Professorial level.

• Salary: Negotiable
  
• Hours: Full Time
  
• Contract Type: Fixed-Term/Contract
  
• Placed On: January 14, 2019
  
• Closes: February 27, 2019
  
• Job Ref: 010917
  
• Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of the Arts
  

For full details and to apply online, please visit: https://recruit.liverpool.ac.uk

Edited by: Kirsten Drotner, Vince Dziekan, Ross Parry, Kim Christian Schrøder

The Routledge Handbook of Museums, Media and Communic

ation explores what it means to take mediated communication as a key concept for museum studies and as a sensitizing lens for media-related muse

um practice on the ground. Including contributions from experts around the world, this original and innovative Handbook shares a nuanced and precise understanding of media, media concepts and media terminology, rehearsing new locations for writing on museum media and giving voice to new subject alignments. As a whole, the volume breaks new ground by reframing mediate

d museum communication as a resource for an inclusive understanding of current museum developments.

A 20% discount applies to direct purchase via the Routledge website - enter the code HUM19 at checkout.

Publisher link is here: https://www.routledge.com/The-Routledge-Handbook-of-Museums-Media-and-Communication/Drotner-Dziekan-Parry-Schroder/p/book/9781138676305

Edited by Samuel Mateus (Madeira University)

Deadline: March 1

The book aims to provide an insightful, easy to understand, approach to an emerging field. It is committed to assume a multidisciplinary viewpoint and summon up developing domains within contemporary rhetoric in order to offer the reader a comprehensive assessment of Media’s persuasive dimension.

Also, it puts into prominence the role of Rhetoric in the configuration and practice of Media Studies as well as evidencing the new possibilities Media introduced in rhetoric and persuasion processes.

The edited book will present the state-of-the-art research providing a useful (conceptual and methodological) tool. His goal is to provide a starting point to the study of the many forms by which media takes us to think, feel, and act.

The Media Rhetoric book calls for a comprehensive collection of essays by international scholars and media rhetoric practitioners, opening up a space for dialogue between the academy and industry. This interdisciplinary book will be informed by fields including rhetoric, digital rhetoric, visual rhetoric, advertising rhetoric, captology and procedural rhetorical. Together they can offer an insightful perspective on the manifold expression the media persuasion takes today.

Chapters in the following areas of research are welcome:

• Captology
  
• Procedural Rhetoric
  
• Digital Rhetoric (including online rhetoric, websites and Blogs)
  
• Visual Rhetoric
  
• Advertising Rhetoric
  
• Online Persuasion (including Social Media)
  
• General Persuasion and Rhetoric in VideoGames
  
• Case studies on Media Rhetoric
  

Proposals should be sent by email (in a PDF document) to the Editor(sammateu@gmail.com) by March 1, 2019.

They should include an abstract (250 words) and a short contributor bio (three paragraphs including institutional affiliation, position and recent publications).

Chapters are expected to be approximately 6000–7500 words.

Please note that the submission date for full papers is October 4th, 2019.

The book is due to the end of 2020.

Contributors can address all inquiries and questions to: Dr. Samuel Mateus.

Södertörn University (Sweden)

Deadline: February 18, 2019

One doctoral studentship in Media and Communication Studies within the research area of Critical and Cultural Theory, affiliated with the Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS) (Ref no AP-2019/52)

Media and Communication Studies at Södertörn University is one of Sweden’s leading environments for media research and education. It engages with the contemporary media landscape, and is founded on a historically informed understanding in which digital communication technologies and their contexts are related to their predecessors. The research environment currently comprises around 20 researchers/lecturers, including four full professors, eight associate professors (docents), and three doctoral students. All the doctoral students have an international profile, and English is the working language for the doctoral degree programme. For more information, please click here (English version) or see www.sh.se/mkv (Swedish version).

General Syllabus for third-cycle programmes in Media and Communication Studies (English version) or Swedish version.

Critical and Cultural Theory is an interdisciplinary research environment with seven subjects in the humanities. Research focuses on critically motivated studies of cultural artefacts and human practices. For more information, please click here.

The planned research for this studentship must be relevant to the Baltic Sea region or Eastern Europe, since the position is affiliated with the Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS), www.sh.se/beegs, which is part of the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) www.sh.se/cbees, at Södertörn University.

Entry requirements

The general entry requirements are

1. a second-cycle qualification,

2. fulfilled requirements for courses comprising at least 240 credits, of which at least 60 credits were awarded in the second-cycle, or

3. substantially equivalent knowledge acquired in some other way in Sweden or abroad.

The specific entry requirements are fulfilled by an applicant who has passed courses worth at least 90 credits in Media and Communication Studies, including a degree project worth at least 15 credits, or who has acquired the equivalent knowledge abroad or through a previous qualification. The ability to assimilate academic material in English and a command of the language necessary for work on the thesis are prerequisites for admission to the degree programme.

Admission and employment

This position includes admission to third-cycle education, i.e. research level, and employment on a doctoral studentship at the School of Culture and Education at Södertörn University. The intended outcome for admitted students is a PhD. The programme covers 240 credits, which is the equivalent of four years of full-time study. The position may be extended by a maximum of one year due to the inclusion of departmental duties, i.e. education, research and/or administration (equivalent to no more than 20% of full-time). Other grounds for extension could be leave of absence because of illness or for service in the defence forces, an elected position in a trade union/student organisation, or parental leave. Provisions relating to employment on a doctoral studentship are in the Higher Education Ordinance, Chapter 5, Sections 1-7.

Date of employment: 1 September 2019

Information about entry requirements, admission regulations and third-cycle education at Södertörn University (English version) or Swedish version.

Further information

Stina Bengtsson, Director of Studies, Media and Communication Studies (third cycle), stina.bengtsson@sh.se, +46 (0)8 608 4359

Marta Edling, Chairperson, Critical and Cultural Theory, marta.edling@sh.se, +46 (0)8 608 5141

Anne Kaun, Director of Studies, Baltic and East European Graduate School (BEEGS), anne.kaun@sh.se, +46 (0)8 608 4791

Lena Casado, Human Resources Officer, School of Culture and Education, lena.casado@sh.se, +46 (0)8 608 4447

Application procedure

Please use Södertörn University´s web-based recruitment system “ReachMee”. Click on the link "ansök" (apply) at the bottom of the announcement.

Your application may be written in English or Swedish and must include:

- an application letter

- curriculum vitae

- degree certificate and certificates that demonstrate eligibility to apply for the position

- Bachelor’s essay and dissertation at second-cycle level (if applicable) in the field in accordance with the entry requirements

- a research plan (project plan) of between 1000 and 1500 words. The project’s relevance to Critical and Cultural Theory and studies of the Baltic Sea region or Eastern Europe must be clear

- two references, with contact details.

If available, a maximum of three publications may also be attached.

Incomplete applications will not be processed. Please note that one copy of everything submitted in association with your application will be kept on file at Södertörn University for two years after the post has been filled, in accordance with a directive from the Swedish National Archives.

Application deadline: February 18, 2019 at 23:59 (CET)

May 3, 2019

Birmingham City University

Deadline: February 15, 2019

Popular culture is saturated with images of men’s bodies that might once have been dismissed as homoerotic, pornographicor obscene. Now commonplace, images of sexualized male bodies inform understandings of contemporary masculinities and can be felt in the ways men experience and describe their bodies and represent themselves on and off line.

This 24-month AHRC funded research network will explore the pervasiveness of sexualized masculine embodiment across contemporary popular culture, and set an ambitious agenda for subsequent research.

The network steering group includes Begonya Enguix, Joao Florencio, Jamie Hakim, Mark McGlashan, Peter Rehberg and Florian Voros. Our first, free to attend event in Birmingham in May 2019 will set priorities for our network by addressingcontemporary concerns about men’s physical and mental well-being within the context of a sexualised culture and will focus on male body image.

We invite individual papers, pre-constituted panels, poster presentations, video presentations or position papers on topics related to masculinity and body image in the 21st century from any field of study.

The network will engage with a range of questions including but not limited to:

How is the male body sexualized across a breadth of online and offline media?

What does sexualised masculinity mean for the social and cultural construction of masculinities?

What politics underpin sexualised masculinity?

What is the relationship between debates around health and well-being  and sexualised masculinity?

How do neoliberalism, precarity, class, race, nation and geographic region impact on manifestations of sexualised masculinity across Europe?

These questions matter for popular debate and media reportage, the work of health professionals, educators and policy makers and we are keen to involve practitioners and non-academics in our discussions and events.

Please send a 300-word abstract and short bio (max. 100 words)to Professor John Mercer (john.mercer@bcu.ac.uk) and Professor Clarissa Smith (clarissa.smith@sunderland.ac.uk)

Deadline for proposals February 15, 2019

Attendance will be free.

April 12-14, 2019

High Point University, USA

Deadline for submissions: February 22, 2019

contact email: shall@highpoint.edu

Keynote Speaker: Rachel Noel Williams (Narrative Designer at Obsidian Entertainment, Lead Narrative Designer at Telltale Games, and Narrative Writer at Riot Games)

Over the history of game design, a fundamental consideration for creators is the inclusion of narrative. Some might consider the introduction of narrative in game design as radical as the introduction of sound into film. Not all games require, or even benefit from, a narrative. For those games that involve narrative – from merely situating a player to deeply involving the player in the creation of a narrative experience – this inclusion can influence the games in a multitude of ways. Through the interrelation of interactivity principles, game mechanics, and narrative elements, games can tell stories in a way no other medium can. The success of recent games such as Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead, Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Zero Dawn, and Naughty Dog’s The Last of Us delivered narratively immersive experiences for their players. Long-running franchises from Zork to King’s Quest to The Legend of Zelda have narratives that not only span multiple games but also other media such as novels, comic books, and televisual productions.

To celebrate all the ways that games incorporate, create, and advance narrative, the Game & Interactive Media Design Program at High Point University (High Point, NC) is hosting a conference on narrative games. Soliciting a wide variety of perspectives on all types of narrative games – not just video games but tabletop games, board games, card games, wargaming, and more – this conference aims to both interrogate and celebrate the interplay of games and narrative.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Balancing player agency within a narrative-driven game
  
• Franchise reboots and the impact on narrative history (such as Gears of War IV (2016) or God of War (2018))
  
• Player Reception
  
• Players’ interpretation co-construction of interactive narratives
  
• Physical and cognitive aspects of narrative interactivity
  
• Game worlds and cultures
  
• Game narratives in larger society
  
• Casual games, interactive text-based narratives, exploration and walking simulators, and other narrative-driven games outside of mainstream deployment/reception
  
• Story-telling through environment and asset design
  
• Transmedia storytelling, particularly engagement with game narrative across multiple media platforms (e.g. The Walking Dead as part of a large franchise)
  
• Intersectional discussions of representation of characters and cultures
  
• Encouraging values through narrative design
  

Abstracts should range from 250-500 words and include a sample bibliography.

Abstracts should be directed to any of the four members of the conference committee:

• Dr. Stefan Hall – shall@highpoint.edu
  
• Dr. Kris Bell – kbell@highpoint.edu
  
• Dr. Kelly Tran – ktran@highpoint.edu
  
• Mr. Brian Heagney – bheagney@highpoint.edu
  

Please indicate “Narrative Game Conference 2019” in the email header.

Conference presentations should be 20 minutes in length. Please note any AV needs in your abstract submission.

Deadline for submissions: Friday, February 22nd

Acceptance notifications: Friday, March 1st

Conference: Friday-Sunday, April 12-14th

Registration fee: $40 for faculty, $20 for students (payable on site)

The Game & Interactive Media Design program is housed within the Nido R. Qubein School of Communication at High Point University (HPU). The program was named a Top 50 Game Design program in 2017 by the Princeton Review. HPU is located in High Point, NC, which is part of the Piedmont Triad including Greensboro and Winston-Salem. High Point is a short ride from the Piedmont Triad International airport (GSO) in Greensboro, the city is directly serviced by Amtrak, and is easily accessible from I-40 by car. The program also benefits from its close proximity to the Research Triangle which houses major development studios including Epic Games, Red Storm Entertainment, and Insomniac East.

April 15-20, 2019

Dubrovnik, Croatia

ECREA CEE Network supported 8th Graduate Spring School & Research conference on Comparative Media Systems: 100 Years of Media Systems in Southeast Europe – the legacy of Yugoslavia, Inter University Center, Dubrovnik, Croatia, 15-20 April 2019

In October/December 2018 a 100 year anniversary of the first Yugoslavia passed with hardly any examination of its impact in its successor countries. In this research conference and graduate spring school we wish to examine the legacy of Yugoslavia in the present day media systems in the countries of the region. How can we explain their divergent media systems trajectories in the countries which spent 70-ish years in a shared state? Why is it that the freedom of expression, independence and autonomy of the media in the countries in the region exhibit consistently lower scores then in the countries of Central Europe, almost 30 years after the beginning of post-communist democratic transition? How do these post-communist media systems compare to media systems in western democracies, and can commonalities be found in sufficient degree so that they might be included in the same typology? Or, are these media systems so marked by their communist antecedents that they merit the special type of “post-communist media system”?

If we wished to explore the influence of socialism/communism, the likelihood of a single model of media system is most likely in southeastern Europe as these countries, having been part of one common state, would be expected to have had the most similar socialist experience. The differences in the historical and political development of the constituent states prior to the common Yugoslavian experience, and the political developments after the dissolution of the socialist Yugoslavia in 1990s, however, speak more to the contrary. The course & research conference will explore the influences from a historical institutionalist perspective (Peruško 2016). Present day media systems in Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia will be analyzed with this comparative longitudinal optics.

A special focus will be put on the socialist experience with the media in Yugoslavia, the differences or similarities of media agendas and strategies within different republics. The examples and cases of dissent in the media and popular culture will also be examined. The course will examine comparative examples from other European regions that at one time in the past 100 years were at the periphery of Europe, especially the Mediterranean countries.

The course includes a one day hands-on methodological workshop on the design and implementation of fuzzy set QCA and the accompanying statistical analysis.

Course organization & keynote lecturers

The course is organized by course directors from 6 European universities:

• Carmen Ciller, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Spain
  
• Steffen Lepa, Technische Universität Berlin, Germany
  
• Paolo Mancini, Università di Perugia, Italy
  
• Snježana Milivojević, University of Belgrade, Serbia
  
• Zrinjka Peruško, University of Zagreb, Croatia
  
• Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
  

Confirmed keynotes include Paolo Mancini, University of Perugia, Zrinjka Peruško, University of Zagreb, Antonija Čuvalo, University of Zagreb, Dina Vozab, University of Zagreb, Snježana Milivojević, University of Belgrade, Slavko Splichal, University of Ljubljana, Tarik Jusić, Analitika Sarajevo, Snezana Trpevska, Institute of Communication Studies, Skopje, Kaarle Nordestreng, University of Tampere (tbc). Other key note speakers will be announced shortly.

This eight “slow science” IUC-CMS is an interdisciplinary research conference & post-graduate course open to academics, doctoral and post-doctoral students in media, communication and related fields engaged with the issue of media and media systems, that wish to discuss their current work with established and emerging scholars and get relevant feedback.

Invited research conference participants will deliver keynote lectures with ample discussion opportunities. In this unique academic format, student course attendees will have extended opportunity to present and discuss their current own work with the course directors and other lecturers and participants in seminar form (English language) and in further informal meetings around the beautiful old-town of Dubrovnik (UNESCO World Heritage) over 5 full working days (Monday to Saturday).

The working language is English.

Participation in the course for graduate (master and doctoral) students brings 3,5 ECTS credits, and for doctoral students who present their thesis research 6 ECTS. The course is accredited and the ECTS are awarded by the Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb (www.fpzg.unizg.hr). All participants will also receive a certificate of attendance from the IUC.

Enrollment

To apply, send a CV and a motivation letter to zrinjka.perusko@gmail.com. Doctoral students who wish to present their research should also send a 300 word abstract. The course can accept 20 students, and the applications are received on a rolling basis. After notification of acceptance you need to register also on this website

The IUC requires a small enrollment fee from student participants. Participants are responsible for organizing their own lodging and travel. Affordable housing is available for IUC participants. Stipends are available from IUC for eligible participants, further information at https://www.iuc.hr/iuc-support.php. For information on these matters please contact the IUC secretariat at iuc@iuc.hr.

Venue Information

The Inter-University Centre was founded in Dubrovnik in 1972 as an independent, autonomous academic institution with the aim of promoting international co-operation between academic institutions throughout the world. Courses are held in all scientific disciplines around the year, with participation of member and affiliated universities.

Additional Information

For further information about academic matters please contact the organizing course director: professor Zrinjka Peruško zrinjka.perusko@gmail.com, Centre for Media and Communication Research (www.cim.fpzg.unizg.hr), Department of Media and Communication, Faculty of Political Science (www.fpzg.unizg.hr), University of Zagreb (www.unizg.hr).

September 12-13, 2019

University of Bremen, Germany

Deadline for submissions: January 31, 2019

With increasingly globalized digital infrastructures and a global digital political economy, we face new concentrations of power, leading to new inequalities and insecurities with respect to data ownership, data geographies and different data-related practices. It is not only a concentration of power by a few corporations, but also a concentration of the availability of data in individual regions of the world. This includes (exerting) power about data (infra)structures and processes of data creation, data collection, data access, data processing, data interpretation, data storing, data visualisations.

The Global in/securities theme of the 2019 Data Power conference attends to questions around these phenomena, asking: How does data power further or contest global in/securities? How are global in/securities constructed through or against data? How do civil society actors, government, people engage with societal and individual in/securities through and with data? What are appropriate ontologies to think about data and persons? How may we envisage a just data society? And what does decolonizing data in/securities look like?

This conference creates a space to reflect on these and other critical issues relating to data’s in/security and its decolonizing. Confirmed keynote speakers are:

• Virginia Eubanks, University at Albany, USA;
  
• Jack Linchuan Qiu, Chinese University Hongkong;
  
• Seeta Peña Gangadaran, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK;
  
• Nimmi Rangaswamy, Indian Institute of Information Technology, IIIT, Hyderabad, India.
  

Papers and panels are invited on the following – and other relevant – topics:

• Big data and humanitarianism
  
• Big/open data, corruption and public debt
  
• ‘Good’ data, data justice and well-being
  
• Critical, theoretical and feminist approaches to data in/securities
  
• Data activism, citizen engagement, indigenous data sovereignty and open data
  
• Data journalism and rhetorics of data visualization in a global perspective
  
• Data-driven governance and open data
  
• Securitization and militarization of data infrastructures
  
• Data, discrimination and inequality
  
• Emerging in/securities through algorithms and automated decision-making
  
• Forensic data, human rights and refugees
  
• Decolonizing data in/securities and data labor
  
• Machine learning, developmentalism and human security
  

To propose a panel, please select "Other" in the submission system and ensure that all submitted papers that should be considered for the proposed panel include the same headline with the panel title in the abstracts. Please note that - if a proposed panel is selected by the conference committee - all panels will be open for other selected submissions.

Information/details

Please submit 250-word-paper proposals, using the online submission system at https://portal.smart-abstract.com/data-power

The deadline for paper proposals is January 31, 2019.

The conference fee is 200 Euro, and 100 Euro for students. There will be travel grants for participants from the global south and PhD student fee waivers (please indicate the need when applying)

The organising committee will select papers for a special theme proposal to be submitted to the peer reviewed journals Big Data & Society and International Communication Gazette.

For information on travel visa, please visit the webpage.

Deadline: February 11, 2019

YECREA is proud to announce the first ever task force in its history, which will be dealing with Open Access from a young scholar’s perspective. Our ambition is to inform about different Open Access models and the pitfalls or opportunities they might entail, to help navigate the messy landscape of Open Access publishing, to educate about predatory publishing and to raise awareness for the sustainability of Open Access. We are making young scholar voices heard in the strategic move towards Open Access and Open Science within Media and Communication Studies in Europe.

So please come and join us – we need your help in raising awareness for If you feel like contributing and giving something back to the great community of young scholars that YECREA represents or if you have any question about the task force, please get in touch with Anne Mollen (a.mollen@uni-muenster.de) by February 11, 2019. The YECREA task force will then start its work.

Gamevironments (special issue) by Lisa Kienzl and Kathrin Trattner

Deadline: March 1, 2019

Although video games can be seen as a prime example of a globalized media culture, questions of nation and identity have been the subject of increasing scholarly as well as public discussion in recent years. In 2018, two games in particular sparked controversy around gaming and nationalism, though in very different ways: The USAmerican first-person-shooter, Far Cry 5, and the Czech role-playing game, Kingdom Come: Deliverance. The former caused debates by creating a dystopian vision of American ultra-nationalism and fanatic religiosity, the latter was critically discussed for consolidating narratives of national romanticism.

Yet, such debates do not only concern game content: Entanglements between nation(alism), identity and gaming can also be found on the levels of video game production as well as gamer discourse. To further explore the multilayered socio-cultural and political contexts of video games and gaming, the international peer-reviewed journal gamevironments is calling for submissions for a special issue on nation(alism), identity and video gaming. We encourage reflection on the socio-political contexts, as well as on cultural influences on different types and aspects of video games and gaming culture, including educational games, the gaming industry, esports, gaming communities, etc. We particularly invite non-Western perspectives and postcolonial approaches to questions of nation(alism), identity and video gaming, as well as the role of religion within this framework.

What are the specific relationships between national political contexts and game development? Do nation building and nationalism influence various forms of representation within video games? What is the relationship between national identity building processes and religious systems in video games? What socio-political discourses accompany such representations? (How) do national(ist) discourses influence gamers’ self-identification and in-game-choices?

In this issue, we want to approach these and other questions on the levels of video game production, in-game-representation, as well as negotiations through gamers.

Topics for further investigation may include, but are not limited to, nation(alism), identity and gaming, in the specific contexts of / regarding:

• theoretical approaches
  
• postcolonial approaches
  
• gender theoretical and queer perspectives
  
• actor-centered approaches
  
• onstructions of identity/otherness
  
• national video game cultures
  
• identity building and nation(alism)
  
• history and nation building
  
• race and nation(alism)
  
• cultural heritage
  
• religion and nation(alism)
  
• museum education and/or educational games
  
• global and/or national aspects of esports, video game industries or game development
  

Guidelines

Submit a title and 300-word abstract to Lisa Kienzl (kienzl@uni-bremen.de) and Kathrin Trattner (kathrin.trattner@uni-graz.at) by 01.03.2019.

Possible formats for submission include:

a) regular academic articles

b) interviews

c) research reports

d) book reviews

e) game reviews

All articles submitted will be subject to double-blind peer-review.

For more on submission formats and guidelines see:

http://www.gamevironments.uni-bremen.de/submission-guideline/

https://www.gamevironments.uni-bremen.de/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/gvstylesheet.

Timeline

• Title and abstract submission: 01.03.2019
  
• Full text submission: 01.07.2019
  
• Review results returned: 01.09.2019
  
• Revised text submission: 15.10.2019
  
• Online publication: December 2019