ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Deadline: December 18, 2022

The ICA 2023 conference theme Reclaiming Authenticity in Communication invites communication scholars to examine how authenticity has become a variable, rather than a constant, in public discourses and popular culture across the globe, and with what relational, social, political, and cultural implications.

ECREA will host one panel at ICA 2023 and invites the submission of panel proposals that are focused on timely and innovative topics and are diverse in terms of methodologies, theoretical standpoints and/or nationalities of the presenters. We especially encourage panel proposals which include a European perspective and a comparative research focus. This call for panel proposals is open to ECREA members of all ECREA sections and to all topics.

Please note the following information:

Panel submissions. Panels provide a good forum for the discussion of new approaches, ongoing developments, innovative ideas, and debates in the field. If you plan to submit a panel, please submit the following details: (a) Panel theme or title, (b) a 75-word description of the panel for the conference program, (c) a 400-word rationale, providing justification for the panel and the participating panelists, (d) 300- word (max) abstract of each paper, (e) names of panel participants (usually 4-5 presenters, plus an optional designated respondent), and (f) name of panel chair/organizer. In terms of diversity, we expect a strong panel proposal to (a) include contributions of at least two different countries, (b) feature gender balance, and, ideally, (c) include not more than one contribution from a single faculty, department or school. Panel proposals need to be original and may not have been submitted to ICA before or at the same time. The panel is expected to consist of personal on-site presentations (not online). Accepted panel presentations do not count towards the max. allowed individual paper presentations at the ICA conference.

Registering panelists. All panelists must be ECREA members by the time the conference takes place and agree in advance of submission to participate as panel presenters and to register for the ICA conference. ICA only provides a registration waiver for the panel convener, not for the other panelists.

How to submit?

• Email to: info@ecrea.eu

• Submission deadline is 18 December 2022, 23:59 CET

• In case of questions please contact: Andreas Schuck (a.r.t.schuck@uva.nl)

ECREA-ICA Conference Review Committee:

Andreas Schuck (U Amsterdam, chair)

Christina Holtz-Bacha (U Erlangen-Nürnberg, co-chair)

Irena Reifová (Charles U Prague, co-chair)

University of Fribourg (Switzerland)

associated with the position as chair of the Institute for Digital Communication and Media Innovation

We invite applications for the full-time position of Professor (tenured) in “Digital Communication and Datafication". The professorship is with the Department of Communi[1]cation and Media Research DCM and comes with one fully funded PhD position. Moreover, the successful candidate will chair the University’s “Institute for Digital Communication and Media Innovation” (IDCMI) in Chur and Fribourg that includes additional research positions. The main place of work is Chur; a regular presence in Fribourg including the attendance of meetings and events is required. The appointment begins in fall 2023.

Applications are due January 17, 2023.

Please find the complete job ad on our website:

https://www.unifr.ch/dcm/de/assets/public/files/jobs/2211-ProfessorshipDigitalCommunicationE.pdf

University of Bremen

Deadline: November 18, 2022

I have an open PhD Cand. position in my „Platform Governance, Media and Technology“ Lab at the University of Bremen. Please check and potentially forward to your students and colleagues. 

I am seeking someone to collaborate with my postdocs and me to better understand 

- how platforms govern communication on their sites (think: content moderation, but also beyond) 

- how the discourse on platforms is changing (Everyone: take more responsibility; Musk: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯) 

- how regulation is seeking measures to translate responsibility into accountability 

- how platform employ automates means to address content moderation on scale („AI will fix it!“) 

It’s a 3Y position, in a team 10-15 postdocs, Phd cand, and MA student assistants working with me: https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/zemki/labs/platform-governance-media-and-technology 

⚠️ Please note: The deadline is already next week, NOV 18! 

If you are interested, don’t hesitate to reach out to me at katzenbach@uni-bremen.de. Send your full application including: (1) a cover letter outlining the motivation, (2) a curriculum vitae, (3) a brief outline of a possible doctoral topic, as well as (4) final transcripts and (5) the final thesis or other publications, if applicable, ideally as one single pdf-file – to janina.fadil-kersteinvw.uni-bremen.de. 

You find the full official job here and below: 

https://www.uni-bremen.de/en/university/the-university-as-an-employer/job-vacancies-1/job/2041?cHash=a2529a968612b80d2ba8b54a3d7a29e1 

December 9, 2022

Deadline: December 1, 2022

You are cordially invited to an online discussion on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of the publication of ‘Bringing Discourse Theory into Media Studies: The applicability of Discourse Theoretical Analysis (DTA) for the study of media practices and discourses’ by Nico Carpentier and Benjamin De Cleen.

With (in alphabetical order of the surnames)

Yiming Chen

Vaia Doudaki

Kirill Filimonov

David Howarth

Michal Krzyzanowski

Nicolina Montesano Montessori

Yiannis Mylonas

Leen Van Brussel

Date & Time: 09 December 2022 @ 10h00 UTC / 11h00 CET / 13h00 Nairobi / 18h00 Beijing / 21h00 Sydney

Duration: 90 minutes

Location: The event will take place online. The participation link will be shared with the audience before the event. 

Registration: The event is free of charge, but pre-registration is required by 01 December. Please send an email to Mazlum Kemal Dagdelen <mazlum.dagdelen@fsv.cuni.cz> to register to the event.

Co-sponsors: Culture and Communication Research Centre (CULCORC) and Centre for the Study of Democracy, Signification and Resistance (DESIRE)

American University of Sharjah

The Department of Mass Communication at American University of Sharjah seeks early career/emerging scholars to fill two full-time faculty positions in the department beginning in Fall 2023. Applicants who are expected to complete their PhD by September 1, 2023 are welcome to apply. Successful applicants should have a doctoral degree in communication or a related field from an accredited Western university and are expected to demonstrate an emerging research agenda. Applicants should be able to teach in one or more of the following areas: production skills, digital media, communication theory, research methods, and/or other communication courses including social media production and crisis communication. Priority will be given to applicants who demonstrate experience and strength in their ability to teach diverse courses across the department’s curriculum, and who demonstrate the ability to bridge teaching knowledge and skills-based courses. A strong commitment to teaching students from diverse cultural and national backgrounds is expected. Experience in teaching advertising and public relations is advantageous. The teaching load is six courses per year and committee work is required. 

Applications are accepted digitally here until January 15, 2023: 

https://acg-apps1.aus.edu/cas/empapp/apply.php?p=MAS-22-01

Situated nearby Sharjah International Airport in the expansive University City area, and only 30 minutes from Dubai International Airport, AUS is located in a dynamic and cosmopolitan area that includes abundant opportunities for travel, entertainment, cultural experiences and natural beauty. Salary and benefits are competitive.

American University of Sharjah is a not-for-profit, independent, coeducational institution of higher education formed on American models but thoroughly grounded in Arab culture. Located in University City, Sharjah, AUS offers undergraduate and graduate degree programs to more than 5,000 students from approximately 90 nations. English is the language of instruction and the workplace. AUS has been ranked among the top ten Arab universities by QS World University Rankings every year for the past eight consecutive years.

AUS is licensed and its programs are accredited by the Commission for Academic Accreditation of the Ministry of Education's Higher Education Affairs Division in the United Arab Emirates. AUS has been accredited in the United States of America by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (1007 North Orange Street, 4th Floor, MB #166, Wilmington, DE 19801 USA) since June 2004.

MEDIAPOLIS Dossier

Deadline: January 15, 2023

Edited  by Linda Kopitz (University of Amsterdam) and Pei-Sze Chow (University of Amsterdam)

https://www.mediapolisjournal.com

“The world will look different if we move care from its current peripheral location to a place near the center of human life” (Tronto 1993)

This dossier takes as its starting point the notion of care as “our individual and common ability to provide the political, social, material and emotional conditions” (Care Collective 2020) for a more sustainable, connected and caring world. We are interested in exploring care as something that can be ‘designed’ – and situated in design.

‘Smart’ cities, ‘connected’ cities, ‘sustainable’ cities, ‘cognitive’ cities  – these approaches to urban imaginations are deeply entangled with ideas and promises of technology that will serve to care for human and non-human inhabitants and the world at large, to improve our individual and collective well-being and to offer answers to the challenges of climate change.

 Such ideologies seek to position the human at the center of the design process, while simultaneously emphasizing technological innovation as essential means to achieve ‘care’. Big data, artificial intelligence, software solutions, digital twins, and other such digital tools are drawn on in both utopian and dystopian imaginations of urban futures. From current architectural projects like Saudi Arabia’s The Line in NEOM and South Korea’s Eco Delta Smart Village to contemporary science fiction films like Tiong Bahru Social Club (2020), questions of sustainability, technology and care become almost indistinguishable from each other. If we understand “architecture as a condition for care” (Krasny 2019), exploring how caring cities are represented, designed and (ultimately) built points us to the complex connections between imagination and practice.

Some of the questions we are interested in:

# How does care become material in the imagination and construction of cities?

# How can (audio)visual representations not just construct, but also critique urban imaginaries?

# How do contemporary urban imaginaries connect to historical ideas of care and caring spaces?

# Can cities be ‘smart’ without technology?

# In what ways does caring for infrastructures lead to more (or less) caring spaces?

# How can we critique the neoliberal capitalist undercurrents that drive these design processes and imaginations?

# What are the ethics and impacts of designing happiness and well-being into urban communities via digital approaches? Is ‘care’ always ‘connected’?

# How can we approach care as both a concept and a method?

We invite contributions from diverse fields, including, but not limited to, urban studies, film/television studies, sociology, geography, gender studies, political studies, philosophy, new media theory, disconnection studies, history, and so on. We are especially interested in contributions exploring ‘Caring Cities’ from a global and interdisciplinary perspective including artistic research and architectural practice.

Please submit an abstract of  your proposed article (300 words) and a short bio (100 words) to Linda Kopitz (l.kopitz@uva.nl) and Pei-Sze Chow (p.s.chow@uva.nl) by 15 January 2023. Authors  will be informed of the selection within two weeks after the deadline. Full articles (3000-4000 words) will be due in April 2023 and will subsequently go through an anonymous peer review process. The dossier is scheduled for the  May/June 2023 issue.

Mediapolis:  A Journal of Cities and Culture is an interdisciplinary online journal of media and urban culture. We publish research across multiple academic fields — including, but not limited to, media studies, urban studies, geography, film, architecture, art history, visual culture, digital humanities, sound, and music.

December 8, 2022

I am pleased to invite you to the next in the series of IPRA Thought Leadership webinars. The webinar The digital era: is traditional PR dying? will be presented by Mohammed El Batta on Thursday 8 December 2022 at 12.00 GMT/UCT (unadjusted). 

What is the webinar content?

The webinar will discuss how traditional PR has evolved in the digital era. The discussion will shed light on how digital and social media are becoming mainstream PR and how agencies and clients are now focusing more on digital PR than traditional channels. The webinar will highlight, with examples from the Middle East region, how integrating digital marketing into PR campaigns is now a necessity and will reveal the best ways to generate media coverage in the digital era.

How to join

Register here at Airmeet. (The time shown should adjust to your device’s time zone.)

A reminder will be sent 1 hour before the event.

Background to IPRA

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. We do this through networking, our code of conduct and intellectual leadership of the profession. IPRA is the organiser of public relations' annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA's services enable PR professionals to collaborate and be recognised. Members create content via our Thought Leadership essays, social media and our consultative status with the United Nations. GWA winners demonstrate PR excellence. IPRA welcomes all those who share our aims and who wish to be part of the IPRA worldwide fellowship. For more see www.ipra.org

Background to Mohammed El Batta

Mohammed El Batta is a marketing communications professional with over 23 years of experience with clients in the Middle East, Europe and USA. His expertise spans strategic corporate communications and campaign planning, crisis management, internal communications, media relations, as well as branding and event management. Mohammed spearheaded the launch of the Let’s Talk event series bringing together marketing communications professionals from across the Middle East. He has degrees in political science from the American University in Cairo.

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.org

Telephone +44 1634 818308

December 9-10, 2022

Niš, Republic of Serbia

Deadline: November 25, 2022

Second International Scientific Conference

The Department of Communications and Journalism invites you to the international scientific conference “Меdia and Challenges of the Modern Society 2022“, held this year from 9th to 10th December, in an hybrid format (online and live).

This conference is organized with the aim of bringing together scientists and researchers in the field of communication, cultural studies and related disciplines and of exchanging scientific knowledge and experiences. The conference is thematically focused on the challenges that are faced by the media and society in the era of digital technologies; therefore, the framework topics of this year’s conference are the following:

• Traditional media in the era of digital technologies

• Digital and media literacy

• Public media services, media regulation and legal aspects

• Media ethics in the digital environment

• Social networks, digital platforms and media

The official languages of the conference are Serbian and English.

Application

The application should contain the following data:

• Affiliation

• The email address of the first author

• The title of the paper

• An abstract (maximum 250)

• Key words (maximum 5 words)

It should be sent to this email address: misd@filfak.ni.ac.rs

The application should be sent no later than November 25, 2021. The applications submitted within the given deadline will be given the feedback on participation by December 5, 2021.

Papers publication

The papers which are positively reviewed will be published in the the journal “Media Studies and Applied Ethics“, in 2023. The deadline for submitting papers in English is January 31, 2023.

Instruction for the preparation of papers for publication is available at the link: https://izdanja.filfak.ni.ac.rs/casopisi/2021/media-studies-and-applied-ethics-vol-ii-no-1-2021

Registration fee

The registration fee for participation in the conference is 6000 RSD / 50 EUR.

Registration fees in RSD should be paid to the account of the Faculty of Philosophy in Niš 840-1818666-89, call number 74212142. Instructions for payment in euros are attached.

A dinner will be organized as part of the conference. It is an optional possibility, and the price of the dinner is 3000 RSD / 25 EUR.

When registering, be sure to indicate whether you are interested in dinner.

For additional information, please contact:

The Department of Communications and Journalism

Faculty of Philosophy in Niš

Ćirila i Metodija, 2, 18 000 Niš, Republic of Serbia

misd@filfak.ni.ac.rs

Media Studies and Applied Ethics (special issue)

Deadline (abstracts): 13 December 2022

Edited by Ana Milojevic (University of Bergen)

Datafication is changing every aspect of our society including journalism as one of the important fundaments of democracy. Following the news production phases (observation, production, distribution, and news consumption) Loosen (2018:4) distinguishes between four forms of datafied journalism: data-based journalism, alogrithmed journalism, automated journalism, and metrics-driven journalism. Different aspects of data driven changes in journalism have been examined in all those forms during last decades, but many blind spots are still to be filled. Therefore, the main aim of this special issue is to put audiences in the forefront of examining different forms of journalism datafication.

Namely, data journalism as the fast-growing phenomena has been attracting scholarly attention. However, most of the research has been focusing on identifying characteristics of data journalism as the emerging subfield (genres, methods, storytelling techniques) and its integration into organizations, practices, and education worldwide (e.g. Bhaskaran, Kashyap & Mishra, 2022; Fink & Anderson, 2015; Munoriyarwa, 2022; Young, Hermida, & Fulda, 2018; Wu, 2022), while far less is known about audience relation to data journalism.

In the strand of the algorithmic journalism research, studies of user interactions with algorithms have been more prominent and diversified, including user perceptions of news personalization process (Monzer, 2020), experiences of news recommender systems (Wieland, 2021), and satisfaction with algorithmic news selections (Swart, 2021; Thurman et al. 2019). However, as Shin (2022: 1168) underlines, “little is known about the ways through which readers understand and actualize the potential for trust or affordances in algorithmic journalism”.

Also, significant body of research considers audiences in form of audience analytics and metrics as central for journalism transformation, including journalistic roles (Belair-Gagnon, Zamith, and Holton, 2020), news values (Kristensen, 2021), news selection (Lamot and Van Aelst, 2020), and journalistic norms and routines (Ekström, Ramsälv and Westlund, 2021). However, this area of research is mainly focused on editors’ and journalists’ work and decision-making processes. Much less attention has been given to data-analysts as growingly important actors in media, companies providing analytics to media, existing metrics and infrastructures for audience datafication.

Therefore, we invite submissions that theorize or empirically study the role of audience datafication in journalism, as well as audience interaction and engagement with data-based and algorithmic journalism. More precisely, studies that aim to answer: How is data journalism perceived, consumed, and valued in different contexts? What kind of audience needs data journalism gratifies? Does data journalism foster audience engagement? Second, we seek submissions that examine how users perceive algorithmic features and experience algorithm systems in the context of algorithmic journalism. Third, we welcome papers that focus on the role of various technological agents and non-journalist actors that intervene in the use of audience analytics and metrics in newsrooms.

Timeline:

Abstract deadline: 13 December 2022

Manuscript deadline: 31 March 2023

No Payment from authors will be required. More information on the call:

https://izdanja.filfak.ni.ac.rs/casopisi/media-studies-and-applied-ethics

For further details please contact Ana Milojevic

(ana.milojevic@gmail.com)

References:

Belair-Gagnon, V., Zamith, R., & Holton, A. E. (2020). Role orientations and audience metrics in newsrooms: An examination of journalistic perceptions and their drivers. Digital Journalism, 8(3), 347-366.

Bhaskaran, H., Kashyap, G., & Mishra, H. (2022). Teaching Data Journalism: A Systematic Review. Journalism Practice, 1-22.

Ekström, M., Ramsälv, A., & Westlund, O. (2021). Data-driven news work culture: Reconciling tensions in epistemic values and practices of news journalism. Journalism, DOI: 14648849211052419.

Fink, K., & Anderson, C. W. (2015). Data Journalism in the United States: Beyond the “usual suspects”. Journalism studies, 16(4), 467-481.

Kristensen, L. M. (2021). Audience Metrics: Operationalizing News Value for the Digital Newsroom. Journalism Practice, DOI: 10.1080/17512786.2021.1954058

Lamot, K., & Van Aelst, P. (2020). Beaten by Chartbeat? An experimental study on the effect of real-time audience analytics on journalists’ news judgment. Journalism Studies, 21(4), 477-493.

Monzer, C., Moeller, J., Helberger, N., & Eskens, S. (2020). User perspectives on the news personalisation process: Agency, trust and utility as building blocks. Digital Journalism, 8(9), 1142-1162.

Munoriyarwa, A. (2022). Data journalism uptake in South Africa’s mainstream quotidian business news reporting practices. Journalism, 23(5), 1097-1113.

Shin, D. (2022). Expanding the role of trust in the experience of algorithmic journalism: User sensemaking of algorithmic heuristics in Korean users. Journalism Practice, 16(6), 1168-1191.

Swart, J. (2021). Experiencing algorithms: How young people understand, feel about, and engage with algorithmic news selection on social media. Social media+ society, 7(2), 20563051211008828.

Thurman, N., J. Moeller, N. Helberger, and D. Trilling. 2019. “My Friends, Editors, Algorithms, and I.” Digital Journalism 7 (4): 447–469.

Wieland, M., Von Nordheim, G.(2021). One Recommender Fits All? An Exploration of User Satisfaction With Text-Based News Recommender Systems. Media and Communication, 9(4), 208-221.

Wu, S. (2022). Asian Newsrooms in Transition: A Study of Data Journalism Forms and Functions in Singapore’s State-Mediated Press System. Journalism Studies, 23(4), 469-486.

Young, M. L., Hermida, A., & Fulda, J. (2018). What makes for great data journalism? A content analysis of data journalism awards finalists 2012–2015. Journalism practice, 12(1), 115-135.

Methodological Developments in Visual Politics & Protest (special issue)

Deadline: December 15, 2022

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).

• 15th December 2022: 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 followsonfromtheECREAonlinepre-conferenceon,whichtookplaceon6thand7th 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