ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

May 9-10, 2023

University of Copenhagen, Denmark

Deadline: January 9, 2023

The Communication & Democracy Section has extended the call for abstracts for next year’s section conference titled Technology in Movement, Movement in Technology to be held at the University of Copenhagen from May 08-10, 2023. The organizers are happy to receive abstracts of 300-500 words, including submissions to the PhD course by January 9, 2023.

All details can be found on the conference website:

https://comm.ku.dk/research/information-technology-and-connections/to-use-or-not-to-use/tim-talks/international-conference-phd-course/

Edited by Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz

Happy to share the recent publication by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam (INC). The INC Reader series is derived from the Institute’s conference contributions and ties together many academic and non-academic thinkers dealing with the (political) power of memes beyond virtual images. This collection emphasizes the ability of memes to serve as tactical “weapons” in times of conflict. The multimodal novelty of memes has proven its efficiency in mobilizing people in the Capitol riots, sparking memetic violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and playing a substantial information role in the Ukrainian war. It seems that in times of conflict, memetic warfare becomes more immediate and accessible than real-life demonstrations, and the distinction between the virtual and ‘real life’ no longer applies, or perhaps was never there? 

This collection deals with many of the current instances that were led by memetic responses moving through digital infrastructures, policies, regulations, and bodies. Furthermore, this collection envisions memetic tacticality as a generator of cultural revolution while asking what kind of labor that would require? What kind of tools and principles would we need? And what if the memetic logic of spreading information were applied to spread progressive ideas for a possible future?

Get the full book here (PDF)

BOOK CONTENTS

Preface

Geert Lovink 

Introduction 

Chloë Arkenbout and Laurence Scherz

MEMETIC AMMUNITION

Political Meme Toolkit: Leftist Dutch Meme Makers Share Their Trade Secrets

Chloë Arkenbout

Benevolent Edgelords: Specters of Benjamin and Memetic Ambiguity

Pierre d’Alancaisez 

Semiotics of Care and Violence: Memetization and Necropolitics During the Brazilian 2018 Presidential Elections in the Action #MarielleMultiplica

Isabel Lögfren

SUBVERSIVE MEMES TO THE RESCUE

‘Let’s Go Baby Forklift’: Fandom Governance in China within the Covid-19 76 Crisis

Jamie Wong

Playful Publics on TikTok: The Memetic Israeli-Palestinian War of #Challenge

Tom Divon 

Memes as Schemes: Dissecting the Role of Memes in Mobilizing Mobs 106 and Political Violence

Bhumika Bhattacharyya

Like a Virus

Daniel de Zeeuw, Tommaso Campagna, Eleni Maragkou, Jesper Lust and Carlo De Gaetano

CRITICAL MEME READER II MEMES AND (MENTAL) LABOR

I’m Not Lonely, I Have Memes: The Cognitive (Disembodied) Experience of 140 Depression Memes

Laurence Scherz

EVERY MEME MAKER WE KNOW IS EXHAUSTED

Anahita Neghabat and Caren Miesenberger

Not Like Other #Girlbosses: Gender, Work & the #Gatekeeping of Meme Capital

Christine H. Tran

A WORLD CRITICIZED THROUGH MEMES

Memes in the Gallery: A Party Inside an Image Ecology

Marijn Bril Get in Loser 

We’re Criticizing the Art World: Memes as the New Institutional

Critique Manique Hendricks

The Rise and Fall of Web4U (2033-2063)

Jasmine Erkan and Emma Damiani

Oprah Memes, or Dis-articulations of Affect

Katrin Köppert

Speculate — or Else! Blockchain Memes on Survival in Radical Uncertainty

Inte Gloerich

AT THE END OF THE ROAD, THERE’S MEMES

Memeing Reading // Reading Memeing

Jordi Viader Guerrero

You’ll Never Feel Alone — Thoughts on Relatability

Florian Schlittgen

The Promise of Memes: The Case of Fotonski Torpedo

Mariana Manousopoulou

‘Then We Could Explore Space, Together, Forever’: On Hope and Memes

Savriël Dillingh

Dear all, 

On 21 November, the Digital Futures Commission held a virtual launch of its new essay collection, Education Data Futures. This open access collection offers critical, practical and creative reflections identifying exciting possibilities for the beneficial uses of children’s data as well as tackling the exploitative uses (or misuse) of such data.

Authors from a wide range of disciplines, from academia to regulators, industry to the third sector have contributed to the collection. Some of the topics covered include:

The financial power brokers behind EdTech

Exploring parental trust in relation to data about their family

How children’s data can be shared safely using existing data protection laws

What EdTech can learn from FinTech

Understanding how disabled children can benefit from education data

What data stewardship could offer education

Here are links for:

The full collection of essays

Author biographies

The recording of the launch event

The Digital Futures blog, with reflections upon the event.

The Digital Futures Commission is an exciting research collaboration of unique organisations that works with innovators, policy makers, regulators, academics and civil society to unlock digital innovation in the interests of children and young people.

We focus on three areas: play in a digital world, beneficial uses of education data, and guidance for innovators. Each work stream is informed by the voices of children and underpinned by a research programme and outputs geared toward real world change for children. 

Read more about the Digital Futures Commission’s work in our blog, and sign up to our mailing list to receive updates from us. You can find us on Twitter, or LinkedIn: look for our hashtag, #DigitalFutures. 

For further information, or if you have any questions, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

June 29-30, 2023

Brno, Czech Republic

Deadline: January 15, 2023

14th Central and Eastern European Communication and Media Conference

The Department of Media Studies and Journalism at the Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic, in cooperation with the ECREA Central and East European Network organizes the 14th Central and Eastern European Communication and Media Conference CEECOM 2023 from 29th – 30th June 2023 in Brno, Czech Republic.

Conference theme

The theme of the 14th Central and Eastern European Com- munication and Media Conference is Threats, Challenges and Opportunities in Changing Central and Eastern European Media Environments.

In recent years the countries in Central and Eastern Euro- pean region, similarly to countries worldwide, face various challenges regarding their media systems. Digitalization has provided the public with diverse choices and more media products than ever before, and media routines and the repertoires of audiences have been changing contin- uously. New information environments in many countries are more fragmented and polarized, followed by growth of divergent alternatives. Legacy media and journalists in many countries in CEE region struggle with declining trust, increasing politization and growing pressure and political interference in the autonomy of the journalists. The rise of illiberal tendencies, populist and radical political actors and populists and radical communication is associated with increased political hostility towards knowledge-pro- ducing elite institutions. In populist discourses, estab- lished professional media are typically labeled as ‘fake news’ or ‘a part of liberal propaganda’, and professional journalists as enemies of people.

Moreover, during last two years the countries in region were hugely affected by two crises – COVID-19 and the Russo-Ukrainian War taking place in the region itself. Therefore, the aim of the 14th Central and Eastern Europe- an Communication and Media Conference CEECOM 2023 is to address the current issues in the region, threats and challenges the countries face and possibly future develop- ment and opportunities. To do so, the specific contexts of individual countries should be addressed with an empha- sis on the comparability to access not only the specifics of the CEE region compared to countries worldwide, but also to access the intra-regional diversity.

The organizers welcome proposals for papers in (but not strictly limited to) the following areas of interest:

• The role of media in contemporary socio-political environment
  
• Media and their role during crisis
  
• Working conditions and safety of journalists
  
• Trust in media and journalists
  
• Political polarization and the role of the media
  
• The role of recipients (in media content creation)
  
• Powerfulness vs. powerlessness of media recipients
  
• Political activism as/and a fan activism
  
• Protest media and mobilization
  
• Populist and radical political communication
• Conspiracies, disinformation and propaganda in CEE region
• Regional and local media in CEE
• The role and recent situation of public service media Media fragmentation and changing patterns of media consumption and usage
• Risks and opportunities of new media usage
• Media representation, inequalities and minorities
• Alternative media and their use
• Contemporary media industries and media market in CEE

Submission and deadline

Proposals for individual papers can be submitted by email to CEECOM2023@fss.muni.cz until 15th December 2022. Paper proposals addressing one of the proposed topics (other topics on CEE issues are also welcomed) should be specified in an abstract no longer than 150 words. Submitted abstracts will be evaluated by the members of the Scientific Committee.

Journal of Digital Social Research, special issue

Deadline (extended): December 23, 2023

War streaming on Instagram, propaganda in press photography, refugee activism on TikTok - recent European crises have shown images and videos as essential tools of communication in politics and protest, a trend mirrored in the increasing use of visual data in research methodologies. Visual data may capture practices of visual, performative, or non-verbal communication, text-image relationships, the development of visual formats, notions of aesthetics, as well as underlying meanings of symbols and codes. Extant research has since captured different elements of visual politics and protest, including social history (e.g. protest photography), political commentary or affiliation (e.g. through memes or profile picture overlays), social cues in political communication (e.g. in the form of GIFs, filters, or emoji), visual activism practices (e.g. culture-jamming, sousveillance video coverage, graphic flesh-witnessing, or video activism), and visual forms of information documentation and distribution (e.g. infographics).

Even so, new creative practices have at times challenged research practices, for example with regards to image authenticity and appropriation in mis- and disinformation campaigns (e.g. deepfakes), the role of platform affordances in new visual formats and spaces (e.g. short videos on TikTok), (mis)interpretation and differing levels of visual literacy in communications, trust in image data as factual evidence, and opaqueness in the production of visual materials. These critical debates have been particularly contentious in the arena of politics and protest, where visuals have been seen to shape political opinion and discourse, electoral campaigns, war coverage, and Covid-19 data visualisations.

In response to these trends, we are looking for methodologically oriented papers on visual politics and/or protest. This may include methodological discussions, new methods or approaches, worked examples or case studies, research on emerging visual digital phenomena, or submissions linking theory to methodology surrounding digital culture, data, or methods. Foci may be based around methods of data collection, analysis, visualisation, theorisation, or other methodological areas.

On a broad level this may include (but is not limited to):

➢ New methodological approaches in visual or multimodal data collection or analysis

➢ Platform- or format-specific mitigations in conducting visual research on politics and

protest

➢ New methodological approaches (including software tools if applicable) for capturing visuality or visual cultures in politics and protest

➢ Discussions of the relevance of technological formats, tools, and infrastructures in visual research

➢ Innovations in embedding visuals or visuality with textual, audio, or sensory materials

➢ Advancements in analysing specific political visual digital practices and/or phenomena

➢ Methodological strategies for interpreting and/or quantifying visual data

➢ Emerging approaches to visualising image or video data

➢ Suggestions or developments in the ethical treatment of visuality in politics, protest, or activism

➢ Epistemological discussions of the role of the visual in politics, protest, or social movements

➢ Advances in collecting, interpreting, and conceptualising social media data

➢ Linking theory to methodology in visual research

We are open to different article structures. However, articles should have clear contributions in the arena of methodological research by outlining or describing new methodological approaches, innovations, strategies, or frameworks. As such, they should draw on methodological scholarship in the wider field.

Submission & key dates

Extended abstracts of 400-500 words excluding reference list (references are optional) are due 15th December 2022 and should be directly to the special issue editors - see email info below. Final articles should be submitted directly via the journal website of the Journal of Digital Social Research (https://www.jdsr.io/) and have a word count of up to 8500 words inclusive of everything (abstracts, reference list, notes).

• 23rd December 2022 (extended): special issue abstract submissions
  
• 15th February 2023: End of abstract selection & communication of results
  
• 15th April 2023: Full papers due
  
• 15th July 2023: End of first review round
  
• 15th October 2023: End of second review round
  
• December 2023: Publication of special issue
  

Further details

This follows on from the ECREA online pre-conference on , which took place on 6th and 7th October 2022 with a keynote by Dr. Jing Zeng (University of Zurich), a series of lightning talks, and a panel discussion with speakers Dr. Stefania Vicari, Dr. Shana MacDonald, & Dr. Jing Zeng. This special issue call follows on from the pre-conference workshop “Visual Politics & Protest - Methodological Challenges” organised by the ECREA Visual Cultures section (see https://visualculturesecrea.wordpress.com/). Submissions to the special issue call are open to everyone. For added context, the programme can still be viewed on the pre-conference website: https://cutt.ly/visual-politics-ecrea, along with a list of references discussed during the conference.

In the case of both questions or submissions, please email us directly on the below indicated email addresses.

Special issue team

Suay Melisa Özkula, University of Trento suaymelisa.ozkula@unitn.it

Hadas Schlussel, Hebrew University of Jerusalem hadas.schlussel@mail.huji.ac.il

Danka Ninković Slavnić, University of Belgrade dninkovic@yahoo.com

Doron Altaratz, The Hadassah Academic College doronal@edu.hac.ac.il

Tom Divon, Hebrew University of Jerusalem zem1987@gmail.com

Flow Volume 29 Special Issue 4

Deadline: Janaury 13, 2023

The viral popularity of BeReal prophesizes the next generation of social media and social sharing platforms. The image-centric sharing platform, launched in 2020 by Alexis Barreyat and Kevin Perreau, promotes itself as a platform for people who hate social media. The platform’s 10 million active users receive a daily notification reminding them it is “time to BeReal” while allowing two minutes to snap their current moment. Already recognized as the “antidote to social media fakery” (Duffy & Gerrard, 2022), BeReal encourages authenticity through the platform’s logic and design while policing users' labor through its emphasis on capturing each post in a single shot. BeReal cultivates a return to simplicity with its minimalist interface and simple user experience flow (Boffone, 2022). In the wake of COVID-19 lockdowns, BeReal promotes a sense of digital collectiveness as users share their pandemic moments and build a digital community. With increased social media fatigue, BeReal promises a platform experience where creative work and posting practices neither center around advertisements nor influencers (McKoy & Scanlan, 2022).     

This special issue of Flow opens a space to discuss this platform. What do BeReal’s unique affordances provide for users? How do they catalyze certain user behaviors and practices over others? How will BeReal shift influencer and creative economies? Is BeReal just another social sharing fad, or will the platform have a more permanent impact on digital platform cultures? As one of the first scholarly forums about BeReal, we welcome scholars to grapple with this emerging critical conversation interrogating BeReal’s role in the following topics and beyond:

• Methodological ethics and concerns for studying BeReal
  
• Telecommunications law and media policy 
  
• The future of advertising on social platforms
  
• BeReal’s user experience
  
• Race, Gender, and BeReal
  
• Cross-cultural and/or transnational analyses of platform use
  
• Influencer economies and platform labor 
  
• Social sharing v. social media 
  
• Behind the scenes of BeReal: authenticity and curation 
  
• Social media fads
  
• Slow social media 
  
• Gamification of social platforms 
  
• Abolitionist and anti-carceral analyses of surveillance on BeReal

To be considered for this issue, please submit a completed column of 1200-1500 words, along with at least three images (.gif or .png) or embeddable audiovisual materials with image sources. Please send your column, media files, sources/citations, and a short bio to Flow’s guest editors, Jess Rauchberg and Tom Divon, at flowjournaleditors@gmail.com by January 13, 2023. This Special Issue will be published at flowjournal.org in early February. 

Flow is a critical forum on media and culture published by the Department of Radio, Television, and Film at the University of Texas at Austin. Flow’s mission is to provide a space where scholars and the public can discuss media histories, media studies, and the changing landscape of contemporary media.

References

Boffone, T. (2022, September 29). You gotta be quick when it’s time to BeReal. Retrieved from https://www.popmatters.com/bereal-social-media-gamification. 

Duffy, B.E. & Gerrard, Y. (2022, August 15). BeREal and the doomed quest for online authenticity. Retrieved from  https://www.wired.com/story/bereal-doomed-online-authenticity/. 

McKoy, K. & Scanlan, K. (2022, November 15). Could BeReal be the first successful social media channel to grow without ad support? Retrieved from https://digiday.com/marketing/could-bereal-be-the-first-successful-social-media-channel-to-grow-without-ad-support/.

Deadline: March 17, 2023

Dear colleagues,

I am writing to share the call for nominations for The International Journal of Press/Politics Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award 2023. The award honors internationally oriented books published within the last ten years that advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the linkages between news media and politics in a globalized world in a significant way. 

You can find the call for nominations at the bottom of this email and on the journal website at https://journals.sagepub.com/pb-assets/cmscontent/HIJ/2023%20IJPP%20book%20award%20announcement-1670345784.pdf.

I would be very grateful if you could consider nominating books (self-nominations are also accepted) and share this call for nominations with anyone you think may be interested in it. The deadline is March 17, 2023. 

Call for Nominations 

The International Journal of Press/Politics Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award 2023

Deadline: 17 March 2023

Nominations are invited for the annual International Journal of Press/Politics Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award, to be sent to committee members no later than March 17, 2023.

Rationale

The International Journal of Press/Politics Hazel Gaudet-Erskine Best Book Award honors internationally oriented books that advance our theoretical and empirical understanding of the linkages between news media and politics in a globalized world in a significant way. It is given annually by the International Journal of Press/Politics and sponsored by Sage Publications. 

The award committee will judge each nominated book on the following criteria: the extent to which the book contributes to internationally relevant knowledge; the significance of the problems addressed; the strength of the evidence the book relies on; conceptual innovation, clarity of writing; and the book’s ability to link journalism studies, political communication research, and other relevant fields of intellectual and scholarly inquiry.

Eligibility

Books written in English and published within the last ten years will be considered. Monographs as well as edited volumes of exceptional quality and coherence will be considered for the award. Books by current members of the award committee are ineligible and committee members will recuse themselves from discussion of books by members of their own department, works published in series that they edit, and similar circumstances.

Award committee

The award committee consists of Cristian Vaccari (Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Press/Politics), Frank Esser (chair of the Political Communication Division of ICA), and Annika Sehl (chair of the Journalism Studies Division of ICA). 

Nominations

Nominations including a rationale of no more than 350 words should be emailed to Cristian Vaccari (c.vaccari@lboro.ac.uk by March 17, 2023. Self-nominations are accepted. 

The nomination must specify why the book should receive the award by outlining the importance of the book to the study of media and politics and by identifying its international contribution and relevance. Please include links to or copies of relevant reviews in scholarly journals if applicable. 

Arrangements should be made with the publishers of nominated books for one hard copy or e-book (i.e., the full book in PDF form) to be sent by March 17 to each of the three committee members at the following addresses:

• Cristian Vaccari, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Brockington Building U3.19, Loughborough University, Epinal Way, Loughborough, Leicestershire, LE11 3TU, United Kingdom. Email: c.vaccari@lboro.ac.uk. 
  
• Frank Esser, Department of Communication and Media Research, University of Zurich, Andreas St 15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland. Email: f.esser@ikmz.uzh.ch
  
• Annika Sehl, Department of Journalism, Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, Ostenstraße 25, 85072 Eichstätt, Germany. Email: annika.sehl@ku.de 
  

Presentation

The award will be presented at the 2023 Annual Meeting of the International Communication Association and will be announced on the IJPP website. 

Past winners of the award

2022: Nikki Usher, News for the Rich, White, and Blue: How Place and Power Distort American Journalism (Columbia University Press 2021).

2021: Allissa V. Richardson, Bearing Witness While Black: African Americans, Smartphones, and the New Protest #Journalism (Oxford University Press 2020).

2020: Thomas Hanitzsch, Folker Hanusch, Jyotika Ramaprasad, and Arnold S. de Beer (Editors), Worlds of Journalism: Journalistic Cultures Around the Globe (Columbia University Press, 2019).

2019: Maria Repnikova, Media Politics in China: Improvising Power Under Authoritarianism (Cambridge University Press, 2017).

2018: Erik Albæk, Arjen van Dalen, Nael Jebril, and Claes H. de Vreese, Political Journalism in Comparative Perspective (Cambridge University Press, 2014). 

2017: Katrin Voltmer, The Media in Transitional Democracies (Polity Press, 2013).

2016: Andrew Chadwick, The Hybrid Media System: Politics and Power(Oxford University Press, 1st edition 2013).

2015: Rodney Benson, Shaping Immigration News (Cambridge University Press, 2014).

11-15 April 2023

Venice, Isle of San Servolo

Deadline: December 23, 2022

Making your voice heard in digital governance

How to promote democratic values and fundamental rights in platform governance?

The Spring School deals with regulatory and governance issues, related to digital media and platforms. In particular, this 2023 School focuses on regulatory and policy options for digital developments at the intersection of regional (European) and global levels, in a historical moment characterised by overlapping crises – overt conflict, health, environmental and care. By bringing together scholars and expert practitioners from different regions and knowledge backgrounds, the Spring School will foster interdisciplinary and intergenerational reflections upon the challenges associated with emerging world orders from a communication governance perspective, and the role of the European Union therein. Students will be involved in multiple activities, including working in groups to elaborate policy briefs on the topics discussed. Join the EuromediApp Spring School 2023 to learn how to make your voice heard in digital governance!

Who can join

PhD and advanced Master students in the field of communication studies, political science and sociology.

Participation is subject to a selection process.

Venue

The event will take place on the isle of San Servolo, at the Venice International University (VIU), just a few minutes by water bus from Piazza San Marco. See more details on how to get there: https://servizimetropolitani.ve.it/en/san-servolo-island/where-we-are.

Program

In Venice, the program includes:

• Presentation of posters
  
• Seminars, panels, interactive sessions on:
  
• • Communication governance and geopolitics
  • Technological developments challenging European governance
  • Knowledge values and emerging communication orders
• Group activities for writing policy briefs
  
• Excursion to outlandish Venice

The final program will be available in January 2023.

Fee

100 EUR per student, paid after the acceptance of application.

EuromediApp covers accommodation for the whole stay in San Servolo with full pension. The project also covers cultural excursions included in the program. EuromediApp does not cover travel costs to the venue.

Travel grant

Travel costs should be covered by the participants or their institutions. If your university does not offer any financial support for such a travel and you still need a subsidy, you can request a travel grant (reimbursing expenses up to 400 EUR).

Travel grants are limited.

You will have to submit a letter from your supervisor confirming your university does not support the participation of students in summer/winter/spring schools.

Application

Please click on “Apply” and fulfil the form, including your motivation letter (max. 500 words) and curriculum vitae (max. 2 pages), by 23rd December 2022. Selected students will be informed by 10th January 2023.

Facts & figures

This is the second school organised by the EuromediApp. See the feedback from participants of the first Winter School, held in Strobl (Austria) in February 2022:

• 70% of the participants considered it one of the 10% best academic events they have ever attended
  
• 86% of the participants indicated they were very satisfied (max. evaluation score) with the event. No student was unsatisfied
  
• After attending it, 86% of the participants would have paid a fee of 200 EUR or more (considering both value for money and their economic conditions)
  

In their own words...

“The formula was perfect: the best of working environment and the best of good mood. The flow was great. Great teachers and wonderful networking among students”

“Thank you for the great week! I could feel that you really wanted to make it special, informative and enjoyable and you put a lot of effort into organizing it. All the faculty as well as students seemed committed and happy to make the most of this time”

“I am very impressed with the quality of the input lectures and everyone’s willingness to collaborate and share knowledge with one another”

Organising committee

On behalf of the Jean Monnet Network European Media and Platform Policy (EuromediApp):

Claudia Padovani and Andrea Pettrachin (University of Padova)

Hannu Nieminen (University of Helsinki)

Helena Sousa (University of Minho)

Josef Trappel and Tales Tomaz (University of Salzburg)

Robin Mansell (London School of Economics)

September 14-15, 2023

Cardiff University (UK)

Deadline: February 17, 2023

The Future of Journalism 2023 conference invites submissions on all aspects of journalism.  

The event is hosted by the School of Journalism, Media and Culture (JOMEC) and it takes place at Cardiff University on the 14th & 15th of September. 

The organisers especially encourage contributions addressing the theme of “Journalism in troubled times: threats, opportunities and research” 

 This includes, but is not limited to, papers addressing themes such as: 

• The role of journalists and journalism in covering conflict including war, repression, and political violence 
  
• The challenges created in reporting on authoritarian and/or populist political movements  
  
• In an age of Trump, Putin, Johnson, Bolsonaro and many more, the threat to journalism’s standards, normative behaviours, and the compromises to journalistic values in covering populism/authoritarianism? 
  
• The challenges created by reporting on and/or for minority communities  
  
• The challenges of reporting systemic or existential changes, such as climate change 
  
• The accommodations made by legacy news institutions under pressure and the impact on ideals of journalistic objectivity, quality, and fairness 
  
• The role of social media in shaping audience responses to journalism and news consumption 
  
• The impact of both online and physical abuse and threat to journalistic challenge to authority 
  
• Ongoing issues around the gendering of journalism and news 
  
• The tensions between the role of legacy media and alternative media in covering crises 
  
• The changing patterns of sourcing and roles of expertise in journalism 
  
• The implications for improving journalism education associated with these developments 

Confirmed keynote speakers include Professor Jane B. Singer of City, University of London and Dr Valérie Bélair-Gagnon, Associate Professor and Cowles Fellow in Media Management, Hubbard School of Journalism and Mass Communication 

The fee for the conference is £275 (£50 for students), which includes tea and coffee breaks as well as the conference dinner (to be held on the evening of 14th September).  

Please do not submit more than one abstract as first author, with no more than two abstracts in total. 

The deadline for abstracts (300 words maximum) is February 17th, 2023. Abstracts should be submitted online via the link on the page: https://cardiffjournalism.co.uk/foj2023/.  

Should you have any questions, please contact us at FoJ-conference@cardiff.ac.uk 

Drexel University

The Department of Communication in the College of Arts and Sciences at Drexel University invites applications for a full-time, tenure-track assistant professor position in Journalism, Artificial Intelligence and Digital Communication. The starting date for this position is September 1, 2023. This position is a 9-month contract with 40/40/20 responsibility in research, teaching, and service, including community outreach. The successful candidate will be reviewed for tenure after five years. Salary is competitive and commensurate with experience, and the position includes a generous startup package. 

We are seeking candidates that show a clear promise of a strong, active research program in journalism and communication in a digital media ecology driven by AI, algorithms and automation, with methodological expertise in AI and big data analysis, social media analytics, and broader, quantitative methods. We are looking for candidates who center on theories of digital media across questions of social, cultural and political issues. We invite candidates from diverse journalism and digital communication research interests, including topic areas that complement one or more of the research specializations in the department: social media and digital communication; political communication; international communication: popular and consumer culture; relationship management and corporate social responsibility; political communication; non-profit communication and advocacy.  While distinctly situated in communication studies, we welcome interdisciplinary perspectives.

The Department of Communication within the College of Arts and Sciences (CoAS) has an Undergraduate program in Communication, a Professional Master’s program in Strategic Digital Communication and a Master’s and PhD program in Communication, Culture and Media. With faculty members who are equally passionate about teaching and about cutting-edge research, the department is a leader in communication education, guiding the design of new curricular approaches to enhance student learning. The curriculum offers focus and flexibility, allowing students to define their path to success. Students learn through hands-on experiences gained in the classroom and co-operative education. 

The College of Arts and Sciences (CoAS) delivers a time-honored liberal arts education paired with Drexel’s renowned focus on applied learning. Research and scholarship in the College explore contemporary issues with an eye toward improving the common good. The College is home to a breadth of disciplines in the natural sciences, social sciences and humanities, and a focus on the now.

Required Qualifications

• PhD or Doctorate in journalism, communication, mass communication, political communication, or a related field at the time of appointment
  
• Demonstrable research profile centered around journalism and communication in an AI driven, digital media ecology, including expertise in relevant methodologies, including social media/data analytics, meta-analyses, network analysis, or other quantitative social science techniques pertaining to AI and big data. Subareas of particular interest include (but are not limited to) contemporary (e.g., AI, big data) media environment and journalism, platforms and publics (e.g., studies of mis/disinformation, civic engagement), ethics of AI and digital communication, and more
  
• Track record of publications in top academic journals and/or with top academic publishers
  
• Demonstrable network through engagement in recognized academic organizations (ICA, IAMCR, AoIR...) and international research collaborations
  
• Commitment to excellence in teaching
  
• Ability to teach undergraduate and graduate level courses in the field of journalism, digital communication, including expertise to teach advanced analytics methods
  
• Must be legally able to work in the United States
  

Preferred Qualifications

• A track record of grant application is strongly preferred but not required
  
• Teaching experience at the university level is highly desirable, and some journalism experience will be considered as a plus, but not required
  
• Online teaching experience desired
  

Location

University City- Philadelphia, PA

Special Instructions to the Applicant

Review of applications will begin December 15, 2022 until closing date of January 15, 2023. Interested candidates should submit the following materials:

• A letter of interest that describes the applicant’s program of research and other qualifications.
  
• A curriculum vitae that includes names and contact information for three references. 
  
• Two samples of recent research (i.e., journal articles, book chapters, conference papers).
  
• A teaching statement/philosophy and, if available, evidence of teaching effectiveness. 
  
• A one-page diversity statement that discusses the candidate’s skills, experiences and commitment to teaching about diversity and social justice, how the candidate’s past or future research addresses questions important to an increasingly diverse society, and any professional service that assists in achieving diversity, equity, and inclusion.
  

Please keep in mind that only applications submitted via Drexel Careers will be considered. You can find the link here.

Please address all queries to the chair of the search committee:  Dr. Asta Zelenkauskaite.