ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

University of Salzburg

The Center for ICT&S Unit of the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Salzburg is seeking applications for a research fellow position (research and teaching). Renumeration corresponds to the Austrian Universities Act (“Universitätsgesetz”), the Employment Contracts Act (“Angestelltengesetz”) and § 26 of the collective wage agreement (“Kollektivvertrag” - grade: Postdoc). (Classification B1; the monthly remuneration for this position is € 4,061.50 gross. (14 times per year)).

Start of employment: 1 October 2022

Duration of employment: 5 years

Weekly working hours: 40

Distribution of working hours: by arrangement

Job description: The candidate is expected to conduct independent research and teaching and to support the research, teaching and administration of the Center for ICT&S. The candidate is expected to teach four semester hours per week. The Center focuses on the interdependencies of digital and social change and investigates the effects of digitalisation on the individual and society. The Center for ICT&S is also responsible for running a doctoral school on “Digital Society and Democracy”. The candidate is expected to conduct excellent independent research on current issues in the field of digitalisation and society, co-initiate and participate in grant-funded projects (currently including “Risks to democracy from conspiracy theories on the internet”), organise conferences and edit publications. The successful candidate will be given the opportunity to gain further qualifications.

Requirements: Completed doctoral studies in Communication Studies or another related subject, relevant teaching experience; academic track record of relevant publications and conference papers, good knowledge of English or German.

Desired additional qualifications: Experience working in a university setting; good knowledge of languages, particularly English (including teaching experience); willingness to learn German; clear idea of own future research profile; experience in writing research funding proposals; record of conducting research projects (nationally and internationally); organising scientific conferences, digital competences.

Desired personal qualities: Enthusiasm for the subject area of digitalisation and society, especially in the above-mentioned fields; good communication and team skills; flexibility and ability to work under pressure; enthusiasm for imparting knowledge; strong social skills, especially in student support; ability to work in a goal-oriented, effective and solution-oriented manner.

Telephone information will be provided on +43/662-8044/4833.

Application deadline until 15th August 2022.

The Paris Lodron University of Salzburg aims to increase the proportion of women among academic and general university staff, especially in leadership positions, and therefore explicitly invites qualified women to apply. Where a male and female candidate have equal qualifications, female candidates are given priority. Persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses who meet the required criteria are strongly encouraged to apply. Information can be obtained by calling +43/662/8044-2462 or by visiting disability@plus.ac.at.

Unfortunately, travel and accommodation expenses that arise during the application process cannot be reimbursed.

Admissions are made in accordance with the provisions of the Universities Act 2002 (UG) and the Employment Contracts Act.

https://www.plus.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/ENGLISH-A-0160-PostDoc-FB-Kommunikationswissenschaften.pdf

0ctober 7, 2022

PhD Research Webinar

Deadline: August 20, 2022

Convened by Nancy Gakahu, University of Leeds, UK

IAMCR is pleased to invite applications for the 2022 IAMCR presidential PhD Research Webinar on “Communication, Citizenship and Representative Democracy: Theoretical and Practical Approaches” convened by Nancy Gakahu, University of Leeds, UK. This webinar intends to bring together doctoral scholars to discuss the place and role of citizens in representative democracy, and mainly, how citizens use various media and communication channels and platforms to connect and engage with the political class.

The role and place of citizens in a representative democracy is an important but overlooked component in governance and democratic fronts. This problem stems from misconceptions of political engagements as mere activities done to the people, thereby elevating the actions of the representative (politicians) over those of the represented (the citizens). In a representative democracy, however, citizens have a deliberative role and should be regarded as partners with their representatives. Representative democracy is at its best when it involves pursuits that are done ‘with the people.’

We encourage a wide range of topics from doctoral students who are interested in the subject of Media, Politics, Communication and Democracy

Potential topics include (but are not limited to):

*How do citizens utilise various media (electronic, print, digital, social) for democratic engagement?

*Can media be utilised by citizens to undermine representative democracy?

*The interplay between media, culture, citizenship, and representative democracy.

*The interplay between media ownership, regulation, citizenship, and democratic processes.

*The transformative power of media and communication technologies in democratic politics.

*Citizen journalism and democratic processes.

To submit your paper to present in the webinar, download and complete the application form (*) and send it to Nancy Gakahu, the convenor of the webinar, and also Mazlum Kemal Dağdelen (IAMCR presidential assistant), with the subject “IAMCR Presidential PhD Research Webinar: {title of your paper proposal}" by 20 August 2022. If there are several presenters, each should fill in an individual application form and send all the forms in one email.

These are the email addresses to be used:

Nancy Gakahu > N.Gakahu@leeds.ac.uk

Mazlum Kemal Dağdelen > mazlum@iamcr.org

Acceptance of an application is based on the proposed presentation's academic quality, relevance to the field and the main topic of the webinar, and originality.

Key dates

• Deadline for the submission of application: 20th August 2022
• Announcement of accepted applications: 5th September 2022
• Deadline for submission of full presentations 30th September 2022
• Date of webinar: 7th October 2022

(*) https://iamcr.org/sites/default/files/presenter_application_form.docx

Loughborough University

Loughborough University is inviting applications for Doctoral Prize Fellowships. The scheme is open to applicants from any discipline represented at Loughborough, including Communication and Media Studies. The deadline is 1 September 2022.

These prestigious, highly competitive 2-year Research Fellowships offer a rare opportunity for outstanding postdoctoral scholars to establish their own ambitious research agenda, develop their skills as independent researchers, and position themselves as future research leaders.

We value the contribution that postdoctoral researchers make to our research community and will provide a package of support, including a Loughborough University academic mentor, dedicated training, and specialist Fellowship advice. During the Fellowship, you will be expected to submit an application for an externally funded Research Fellowship to set you on a trajectory to accelerate your research career.

Your PhD (or other doctoral qualification) must have been awarded between 1 September 2019 and 1 September 2022. This means any corrections following your viva examination must have been completed to the examiners’ satisfaction by the closing date for applications.

We value diversity and are committed to creating a positive, inclusive community. We particularly wish to encourage applications from people from BAME communities, women, those with a disability and other under-represented groups. Applications from those who may wish to work part-time are welcome.

For further details please see: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/join-us/doctoral-prize-fellowships

For informal inquiries about this opportunity in Communication & Media please contact Professor Sabina Mihelj, Direction or Research & Impact (S.Mihelj@lboro.ac.uk).

Centre for Media and Journalism Studies, Univ. of Groningen

The Centre for Media and Journalism Studies at the University of Groningen offers three postdoc positions (fulltime, for 2 years) in:

1. Digital platforms, Algorithms and Informed Citizenship

2. Platforms, Cultural Consumption and Taste Formation

3. Media and Digital In- and Exclusion

Applicants are invited to propose a specific project within the scope of these themes.

You can find more information on these positions below and via: https://www.rug.nl/let/sectorplan

Deadline for applications is: August, 28.

Starting date: Oct. 1st (possibly Nov. 1st)

The appointment includes 80% research and 20% teaching

These positions are part of a broader hire of 14 postdocs within the Humanities in the context of the Dutch sectorplan for Humanities and Social Sciences. For more info on the other 11 positions: https://www.rug.nl/let/sectorplan

For more information, feel free to contact me via: m.j.broersma@rug.nl

Best regards,

Marcel Broersma

___________________________

1. Digital platforms, Algorithms and Informed Citizenship (within the theme: Humane AI)

The development of algorithmically structured (social) media platforms changes how citizens are informed, how political and cultural identities are shaped discursively, and what levels of digital literacy citizens need in order to meaningfully participate in society. This project explores the social, cultural and political implications of the interaction between humans, AI, data and digital platforms.

2. Platforms, Cultural Consumption and Taste Formation (within the theme: Cultural Heritage and Identity – Creative industries, Media and Popular Culture)

As cultural consumption increasingly occurs through online platforms that employ automated recommendation systems, there is an urgent need to understand how contemporary taste affinities and boundaries are cultivated and drawn through practices and styles of consumption. This project will examine taste formation through platforms (Tiktok, YouTube, Spotify, Netflix, etc.) and the implications for cultural identities, social cohesion and political polarization.

3. Media and Digital In- and Exclusion (within the theme: Communication, information and social inequalities in a digital world).

Digitalisation and the ubiquity of online platforms offer opportunities for having better access to public services, being better informed and more participation in public debate and decision making processes. At the same time, there are major risks of digital exclusion; millions of citizens are not digitally literate enough to fully participate in a digital society. Projects within this theme could study media and digital in- and exclusion in different domains of everyday life from the perspectives of citizens, but could also focus on the role of institutions, or analyse (social) media texts.

Mario Slugan (Anthology Editor), Daniël Biltereyst (Anthology Editor)

We would like to draw attention to our new edited volume, NEW PERSPECTIVES ON EARLY CINEMA HISTORY: CONCEPTS, APPROACHES, AUDIENCES, which has recently been published by Bloomsbury. (If considering purchasing, please use code GLR E9EUK for a 35% discount).

In this book, editors Mario Slugan and Daniël Biltereyst present a theoretical reconceptualization of early cinema. To do so, they highlight the latest methods and tools for analysis, and cast new light on the experience of early cinema through the application of these concepts and methods.

The international host of contributors evaluate examples of early cinema across the globe, including The May Irwin Kiss (1896), Un homme de têtes (1900), The Terrible Turkish Executioner (1904) and Tom Tom the Piper's Son (1905). In doing so, they address the periodization of the era, emphasizing the recent boon in the availability of primary materials, the rise of digital technologies, the developments in new cinema history, and the persistence of some conceptualizations as key incentives for rethinking early cinema in theoretical and methodological terms.

They go on to highlight cutting-edge approaches to the study of early cinema, including the use of the Mediathread Platform, the formation of new datasets with the help of digital technologies, and exploring the early era in non-western cultures. Finally, the contributors revisit early cinema audiences and exhibition contexts by investigating some of the earliest screenings in Denmark and the US, exploring the details of black cinema going in Harlem, and examining exhibition practices in Germany.

Open access book proposals

Deadline: July 31, 2022

We are currently seeking contributions for a forthcoming book proposal.

Meta comes from the Greek word meta, which means “after” or “beyond”. When combined with words in English, meta- often signifies “change” or “alteration” as in the words metamorphic. So, we are at the entrance of a new universe in communication that the companies and social media groups are building, like Facebook or Instagram, that pour its resources into constructing virtual reality products and setting up the Metaverse.

This is a concept that blends augmented reality and virtual reality together, providing people with the future of the internet, where the new generations create their new digital communication universe. How will the new communication in this new universe be constructed? Are we facing a complete change of how we communicate on the internet?

Submit your 300-word abstracts and 5 key words about any of the following themes:

Metauniverse and : Communication, the Future, Violence, Narrative, Law, FakeNews, Journalism, Art, etc.

Deadline July 31st., 2022. 0.00 hours Central European Time (CET). Send proposals to raqubeni@ucm.es and to elisagut@ucm.es

Journalism Practice (special issue)

Deadline: September 1, 2022

Special Issue Editor(s)

Elias Said-Hung, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja

elias.said@unir.net

Julio Montero, Universidad Internacional de la Rioja

julio.montero@unir.net

Marta Sanchez-Esparza, Rey Juan Carlos University

marta.sanchez@urjc.es

The role of news media in promoting hate speech

This special issue of Journalism Practice looks at how hate speech spreads in environments associated with the news media. A phenomenon that in recent years has gained more significant interest, both socially and academically. The main objective of this special issue is to develop a set of studies and policies that allow us to understand and identify cases, mechanisms, and theoretical approaches that focus their attention on the practice of journalism, new narratives, and new communication scenarios that for journalistic practice and the detection of hate speech from and through digital news media.

We find ourselves in hybrid communication systems in which social media actively guide the readings made of traditional communication channels. A context dominates by communication strategies and new communication scenarios (e.g., tweets replies, comments, and others) based on emotions, personal beliefs, and the reduction of objective or truthful facts around specific topics. Under this scenario, news media (digital or not) and the practice of journalism assume new challenges: carrying out their professional work under digital' scenarios, characterized by new forms of narratives, communication, and relationships with potential readers and users of the content generated and published by them, not only in digital media (web) but also disseminated on Tik-Tok, Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, for example. An essential role is interpreting (without argumentation) what happens as key actors in sharing negative expressions, prejudices, and stereotypes and in the process of social normalization of them. Above all, if we consider the role, factors, and other aspects that affect and conditionate journalism and the media to moderate debates and influence public opinion from their practices in the current digital scenarios and detect content that favors the viralization of hate speech in our societies.

Beyond the vast experience around the study of the media, hate speech has been analyzed, focusing its attention on specific groups, trying to understand the motives and psychological profiles of those who use these expressions, studying it from legal perspectives, and assuming the role of news media in its proliferation. Combating hate speech in digital environments requires questioning and reflexing the context, practice, and ability of journalists and the media to become benchmarks in exercising their traditional role as gatekeepers of the news. In recent years, all before mentioned has been analyzed from different academic perspectives, at an international level, in studies aimed at showing cases, identifying factors, examining the consequence, and contributing to the theory associated with the role of news media in promoting hate speech and the growing proliferation of an increasingly polarized and favorable communicative context for the dissemination of this type of expression.

This special issue is spurred by the Hatemedia's Project (PID2020-114584GB-I00), funded by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation and executed by researchers from 8 Spanish universities.

The contributions to this special issue, from different national and international contexts, can focus (among others) on the following topics:

• Understanding how journalists are targets of hate speech and how they perceive the consequences of it and how they deal with them;
• Identifying journalists' biases and frames influence their perception of certain phenomena and groups and preparing news about them;
• Determining patterns, determinants, and potential consequences of interactive moderation of uncivil user comments by journalists;
• Identifying the types of online harassment journalists experience in today's digital landscapes.
• Identify monitoring projects and tools, as well as applied methodologies to identify and combat hate speech through the media;
• Identifying the weaknesses of the media industry and the management of content by journalists about hate speech on a massive scale;
• Understanding how hate speech is built and spread in the media. Actors who promote its spread and vulnerable groups' victims;
• Understanding practices and routines of journalists who disseminate or help combat the exposure of hate speech in public opinion;
• Studying roles and stereotypes disseminated through the news that underpin hateful attitudes towards certain groups;
• Discovering new narratives, communication, and relationships between journalists and their potential user's conditions, their role as gatekeepers of news, and their capacity to combat hate speech in the public sphere.
• Discussing the relevance of a subfield called Hate Speech Studies in news media.

Submit here:

https://think.taylorandfrancis.com/special_issues/journalism-practice-media-hate-speech/?utm_source=TFO&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743&fbclid=IwAR0enD_r0s-UpBwJEM8vhyhC9vJNaYF50ET9vkZJu_G1ahi_S2UhgcQnid0#?utm_source=CPB&utm_medium=cms&utm_campaign=JPG15743

Submission Instructions

If you are interested in participating in this special issue, please submit an extended abstract (500-750 words, not including references), accompanied by a 100-150-word bio introducing your relevant expertise and 2-3 suggested reviewers. Abstracts should be sent no later than September 1st, 2022, to elias.said@unir.net.

Upon selection, scholars will be invited to submit full papers. Article submissions should be no more than 9,000 words in length, including references, and are subject to full blind peer-review, following the peer-review procedure of Journalism Practice. Manuscripts will be submitted through the journal’s ScholarOne website (select “The role of news media in promoting hate speech”).

Faculty of Social Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Noah Mozes Department of Communication and Journalism at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem invites outstanding candidates in communication to apply for a tenure-track position starting July, 2023.

The department is particularly interested in candidates with demonstrated expertise in one of the following fields of research:

• Language, media and communication.
• Cinema and visual media.

The successful applicant will join a dynamic research-oriented faculty offering innovative undergraduate, graduate and doctoral programs. For more information about our research please visit: https://en.communication.huji.ac.il/research.

Applicants must hold a Ph.D. degree at the time of hire, and demonstrate an active research program including peer-reviewed international publications in the relevant area. The person hired will teach introductory and advanced courses in communications in their areas of specialization. They will also be expected to supervise Masters and Ph.D. students and to contribute to departmental and university service.

Full application details can be found here: https://bit.ly/2mtG5ey

Inquiries about the position should be directed to:

Professor Paul Frosh

Head, Department of Communication and Journalism,

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Email: paul.frosh@mail.huji.ac.il

Deadline for applications: September 30th, 2022.

8th Biennial Conference of the Rhetoric Society of Europe

June 1–3, 2023

Eberhard Karls University, Tübingen, Germany

Deadline: September 30, 2022

Organized by the Rhetoric Society of Europe in collaboration with the Institute for General Rhetoric and the Institute for Media Studies at Tübingen University

We are very happy to announce that proposals are now invited for panels, papers, roundtables, and other forms of presentation to be delivered at Rhetoric in Society 8, which is the biannual conference organized by the Rhetoric Society of Europe. The conference is scheduled to take place from June 1st to 3rd, 2023 at Eberhard Karls University in Tübingen, Germany.

We are planning a real conference with face-to-face conversations and in-person meetings on our campus and in town. Yet, the incalculable nature of the COVID-19 pandemic obliges us to remain precautious. However, we are optimistic and very much looking forward to welcoming you in Tübingen.

We invite proposals for:

• Papers or panels which speak directly to the conference theme (explained below);
• Papers or panels which address general issues related to the theory, analysis & practice of rhetoric in society;
• Other kinds of presentations such as roundtables, world cafés or debates.

Please note:

If you already submitted a paper for the planned and postponed conference in 2021, you have two options:

You are either invited to submit your original proposal once again.

Or you are of course invited to submit a new proposal in case you would like to change the subject or the focus of your proposal.

In any case you will be obliged to submit again. Already submitted papers will not be included in the reviewing process for the conference in 2023.

If you did not submit a paper for the planned conference in 2021, please feel encouraged and welcome to submit a proposal now.

Rhetoric as Strategic Thinking

With its focus on ‘strategy’ and ‘strategic thinking,’ the Rhetoric in Society 8 conference discusses the ways we define rhetoric as a specific form of communication, argumentation, persuasion, or mediation. Strategic thinking as a complex cognitive activity involves the mental representation of a goal as well as an understanding of the ways and means to achieve this goal through communicative action. Rhetors are expected to imagine a number of possible scenarios before deciding on a specific strategy and even to adjust this strategy during a campaign or even during a single speech. As Quintilian famously put it in his Institutio oratoria (II, 13, 2, transl. Butler): “If the whole of rhetoric could be thus embodied in one compact code, it would be an easy task of little compass: but most rules are liable to be altered by the nature of the case, circumstances time and place, and by hard necessity itself. Consequently, the all-important gift for an orator is a wise adaptability since he is called upon to meet the most varied emergencies.” The bellicose metaphor of the commander (strategos) is often used in ancient rhetorical theories to conceive of the orator’s ability to adjust a strategic plan to specific circumstances or specific audiences. Like the commander, Quintilian’s orator has to find answers “in the circumstances of the case.” (Institutio oratoria, II, 13, 5, transl. Butler)

The conference endeavors to discuss rhetoric as strategic thinking in order to both define and question a key characteristic of rhetorical communication––one that has recently gained significance in the public eye due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the verbal rearmament of public discourse. The conference intends to explore different concepts from different disciplinary backgrounds, such as argumentation, strategic maneuvering, imagination and mental simulation, rhetorical agency, situational rhetoric, literature and linguistics, political theory, communication and media studies, organizational rhetoric/communication, public relations, philosophy of language and many more. We would also like to discuss the blurring boundaries between rhetoric and other forms of strategic communication such as manipulation, propaganda, populism, or warfare, to assess the strategies applied by human and non-human actors in scripted or artificial media environments, and to explore the conditions responsible for the success or failure of rhetorical strategies and tactics in societies that are increasingly coping with polarization, radicalization, and deception.

General papers

We also invite proposals for papers and panels more generally concerned with the theory, practice or analysis of rhetoric. This may include, for example, historical scholarship, theoretical analysis and contemporary cultural or political critique; work grounded in political theory, philosophy, languages and linguistics, argumentation, literary studies, communication studies, composition, media studies, psychology, sociology, history, cultural studies and more. Papers might be comparative, national or international in focus, concerned with particular orators, ideologies or movements and focus on spoken, written or audio-visual communication.

Alternative presentations

We welcome proposals for forms of presentation other than panels and papers. This might include: roundtables addressing key rhetorical themes, works or phenomena; debates between contending positions; other, novel and effective ways of communicating research findings, claims and arguments.

How to submit a proposal

Please submit your paper proposals by September 30th, 2022 to ris8@rhetorik.uni-tuebingen.de

We will inform you about our decision in November 2022.

Please do not submit more than two proposals. Panel proposals should not comprise more than four individual papers.

Individual Paper Proposals

All individual paper proposals must be written in English and submitted to the Committee with the following information:

• Title
• Author name
• Email address
• Affiliation
• Abstract (300 words maximum)

Session Proposals

Session Organizers should submit session proposals written in English to the Committee with the following information:

Session title

• Session abstract of 300 words maximum
• List of participants including chair, presenters and discussants (if applicable), their email addresses, and the names of the institutions that they are associated with
• The related paper abstracts (300 words maximum/paper)

Slavko Splichal

The book, anchored in stimulating debates about the Enlightenment ideas of publicness, analyses historical changes in the core phenomena of publicness: possibilities, conditions and obstacles to developing a public sphere in which the public reflexively creates, articulates and expresses public opinion. It is focused on the historical transformation from “public use of reason” through the identification of “public opinion” in opinion polls to contemporary opinion mining, in which the Enlightenment idea of public expression of opinion has been displaced by the technology of extracting opinions. It heralds a new critical impetus in theory and research of publicness at a time when critical social thought is sharply criticising and even abandoning the notion of the public sphere, much like the notion of public opinion decades ago, due to its predominantly administrative use.

Readership

Undergraduate and doctoral students and researchers in sociology and political science interested in the history and theories of public opinion and the public sphere.

Key selling points

• A brief and comprehensive historical overview of the fate and perspective of two basic social science concepts, public opinion and the public sphere
• Introduction of a new conceptual model of publicness, consisting of six basic components – Visibility, Access, Reflexivity,
• Mediation, Influence, and Legitimacy (VARMIL)
• Assessment of the impact of major technological advances, such as data and opinion mining and algorithms, on the social nature of communication and research approaches
• Bridging of normative-critical theoretical conceptualizations and constructive empirical applications.

About the Author(s) / Editor(s)

Slavko Splichal is Professor of Communication and Public Opinion at the University of Ljubljana’s Faculty of Social Sciences, fellow of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts and member of Academia Europaea. He is founder and director of the European Institute for Communication and Culture and editor of its journal Javnost – The Public.