ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

September 15-16, 2022

Milan, Italy

Deadline: June 1, 2022

Facoltà di Scienze Politiche e Sociali

Facoltà di Scienze Linguistiche e Letterature Straniere

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore

Scientific Committee: Gabriele Balbi (USI - Università della Svizzera Italiana), Giovanni Boccia Artieri (Università degli Studi di Urbino “Carlo Bo”), Arturo Cattaneo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Luca Castellin (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Fausto Colombo (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Chiara Continisio (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Ruggero Eugeni (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Guido Gili (Università degli Studi del Molise), Giacomo Manzoli (Alma Mater Studiorum – Università di Bologna), Alberto Marinelli (Sapienza Università di Roma), Andrea Minuz (Sapienza Università di Roma), Federica Missaglia (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Damiano Palano (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Francesca Pasquali (Università degli Studi di Bergamo), Enrico Reggiani (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Massimo Scaglioni (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Nicoletta Vittadini (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore), Maria Teresa Zanola (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

Conference Organized by: Valerio Alfonso Bruno, Antonio Campati, Paolo Carelli, Anna Sfardini (Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore)

Local Organizing Committee: Edoardo Maria Castelli, Maria Grazia Contu, Mattia Galli, Stefano Guerini Rocco, Joyce Faelli.

Conference Venue: Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano.

In the last two decades, media and cultural production has been characterized by an increasing representation of dystopian worlds and alternative and “possible universes”, as narrative tools to describe fears and contradictions of human beings face to the uncertainty of the future as well as the reworkings of the past and the memory. The pandemic emergence has accentuated this particular creative process, not only in the direction of health and epidemiological topics, but – more in general – towards a reconfiguration of new imageries about catastrophes and other social, cultural and technological upheavals.

As part of a wider project on the so-called “clash of narratives” and its media representation and political use and mobilization, carried out by Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore also through the project of an “Atlas of dystopian storytelling” (www.unicatt.it/atlantedistopiemediali), the International Conference aims to focus, from a strong multidisciplinary perspective - including media, political, literary, linguistic, sociological and cultural studies - on the various ways the theme of dystopia has become relevant and massive in contemporary popular culture, both in traditional and digital forms, highlighting how it has changed across different languages and formats, also in the direction of a strong transmediality (novels, comics, movies, TV series, videogames, digital and social platforms, political discourses and so on).

Dystopic societies have always been present in literature, film and media studies, but there is no doubt that they heavily emerged in recent cultural production as the result of deep social and political transformations that occurred in Western and non-Western societies after the collapse of twentieth-century ideologies and traumatic events – such as the attack on the Twin Towers or the current pandemic crisis. Thus, new narratives have emerged, often representing neo-populist or conspiracy theories on one hand, and apocalyptic future or “parallel present” on the other. The scenario of popular culture products reflects and also forges contemporary fears and anxieties within a society characterized by the domain of the technique, migrations and nomadic processes, democratic and environmental crisis, health emergencies; all aspects that underline the fragility of our societies and reconfigure concepts of space (production and representation of places, both real and fictional) and time (the role of past, present and future in dystopic media narratives), providing a cartography of complex trajectories and hybridizations of media, genres, and discourses of dystopias in popular culture and social practices.

Possible topics for proposals may include (but are not limited to):

• Digital dystopias and dystopias within the digital eco-system;
• Technological dystopias in past and present narratives;
• Health emergencies and pandemic;
• Environmental catastrophes as critical rethorics against current ecological and economic models and in favour of sustainable and green policies;
• Relationship between human beings and technology and role and representation of AI;
• Crisis of democratic societies and consequences for geopolitical balances in light of the emergence of conspiracy theories;
• Conflicts and splits in contemporary societies and struggles for power;
• Migrations and allegorical use of diversity and new forms of cohabitation;
• Integration of dystopic dynamics and narrative pipe within conventional media products;
• Ucronic stories, “what if” mechanisms and the reinvention of the past;
• Geographical references in dystopic media products: places, imaginaries, architectures, symbols, but also markets, production hubs and industry locative elements that help specific types of dystopic stories;
• Time as narrative mechanism to strenghten apocalyptic and disturbing disquiets;
• Transmediality and adaptation of literature and media contents and the creation of “dystopic” media franchises;
• Soundscapes and the description of dystopic worlds through digital and popular music.

We invite abstract submissions for 20-minute papers. Abstracts should be between 150-200 words in length and should be accompanied by a brief biographical note of the speaker/s. The deadline for submissions is 1st June. Accepted papers will be confirmed by 20th June. The language of the conference will be English. Please send abstracts to atlante.distopie@unicatt.it.

September 2-3, 2022

University of Padova, Italy

Deadline: May 22, 2022

We invite doctoral researchers and early career scholars who are working in the following fields to participate in the Digital Intimacies and Emerging Adults two-day workshop which will take place in the University of Padova (Italy) on 02 and 03 September 2022 (ISRF project 2021-2022- Digital Intimacies and Emerging Adults in Southern Europe: Crisis, Pandemics and Resistances):

• Sexual content production and consumption
• Sex workers and digital platforms
• Discourses about platformed sex labour
• Sex industry and representations of the sexual body
• Intersections of age, gender, race and sexuality
• Sex work as aesthetic labour
• Intimacy repertoires in public and private spaces
• Social movement organizations around sex work and / or digital platforms
• Debates about labour precarity and digital forms of work
• Digital / online harassment connected to sex work
• Censorship and regulation of the sex industry
• The impact of mainstream financial companies in the pursuit of self-managed sex work
• The multiple meanings of pornography, post-pornography and diversity in sexuality representation
• The roles of physical media in a digital, networked, society
• Porn literacies and intimate citizenship

Keynote speakers:

Katrin Tiidenberg, Professor of participatory culture, Tallinn University

Dr. Jamie Hakim, Lecturer in Culture, Media and Creative Industries, King's College London

For this Call, please kindly submit, in no more than 1000 (a thousand) words:

• A short overview of the area of work you’re developing or plan to develop
• A short overview of the type of data that you are collecting, and that you would like to discuss and present during the Workshop
• A few ideas about the type of feedback that you would like to receive during this Workshop by the research specialists that will be attending
• A short rationale about why you think this workshop will considerably develop your research skills and how it aligns with the topics and framework(s) you are currently working on, or intend to work on.

We also ask you to include your current academic status (e.g., postdoctoral research fellow, PhD student), your host institution(s), country of origin, and whether you have any specific accessibility requirements that might impact your participation in this event.

Please send your submissions by 22nd May 2022 using the form that you can find here: https://ulusofona.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6R0mYCLhWv6CIxo

The team:

Daniel Cardoso - Universidade Lusófona, Portugal; Nova University of Lisbon, Portugal (daniel.cardoso@ulusofona.pt)

Despina Chronaki - Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece (dchronaki@jour.auth.gr)

Cosimo Marco Scarcelli - University of Padova, Italy (cosimomarco.scarcelli@unipd.it)

Eds. Gaëlle Ouvrein, Ana Jorge, & Hilde Van den Bulck

Deadline: May 15, 2022

ABOUT THE BOOK

This book aims to offer an interdisciplinary approach of a number of key topics related with celebrities and their audience: mental health, race and LGBTQ, celebrity scandals/cancel culture and influencers in non-profit sector. It does this by approaching these topics from less common perspectives. How can we analyze para-social relationships from a critical or persuasive approach? Or how can we increase our insights on celebrity commercialism from a cultural/critical perspective? Throughout the book, special attention will be paid to the disciplines of social psychology, critical/cultural studies and persuasion/marketing perspective. By concentrating on 4 main topics on celebrities and their audience, we aim to bring knowledge from different fields together to encourage academic cross-fertilization.

CHAPTER DETAILS

We welcome original contributions of both empirical and theoretical nature. Commissioned chapters will be max. 8,000 words (including references). Style, general structure and referencing guides will be provided to authors whose chapter proposals are accepted. The editors reserve the right to negotiate chapter contents to avoid content crossover, duplication and gaps.

IMPORTANT DATES

Proposals Submission Deadline: May 15, 2022

Notification of acceptance: May 30, 2022

Full Chapters Due: October 1, 2022

Questions and proposals: gaelle.ouvrein@uantwerpen.be

More information can be found here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1wxwGh8ZeAwXFLv0OCSDmAsxRNZgOU3Rr/view?usp=sharing

Call for chapters

Deadline: June 10, 2022

What does automation do with us, our environment, and our imaginaries? What do we do, conversely, with automation, its environments, and its imaginative worlds? In addition to grand narratives and technology-driven design visions about the future, what else can automation offer? The growing prevalence of automated and algorithmic systems geared towards transforming humankind’s future has raised critical questions for scholars in the social sciences and humanities.

The De Gruyter Handbook of Automated Futures addresses these questions while complicating the techno-solutionist narratives that frame automation discourse in industry and policy circles. The handbook will be a comprehensive guide to imaginaries and interactions with automation technologies that cuts across different fields and disciplines, along with critical explorations of their potential impact. Importantly, it is grounded in a pedagogy that integrates perspectives at both philosophical and practical levels – from the understanding of automated futures to the development of skills and value judgments.

My colleague Vaike Fors and I are editing this handbook, and we are inviting you to submit an abstract!

Deadline for abstracts is June 10, 2022. Feel free to reach out if you have any questions! The full call can be accessed on: http://automatedfutures.se

Please consider submitting an abstract and sharing this call in your networks!

Sanem Şahin

The book studies journalism in Cyprus to understand how journalists negotiate their roles and responsibilities in conflict-affected societies. In Cyprus, journalism has navigated through the pressures and challenges of intercommunal and political tensions. The book outlines a historical context of the conflict, also known as the Cyprus problem and discusses the news media's involvement in it. However, the primary concern is journalists' perceptions of their professional roles and external forces affecting their work. It examines the impact of political, economic and organisational influences, media ownership and technological developments on their work through interviews conducted with journalists. It studies professional and ethical challenges journalists experience, especially when reporting intercommunal relations. Finally, it explores the impact of digital media on journalism and the public debate on the Cyprus problem.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-95010-1

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Understanding Journalism

News Media and the Conflict in Cyprus

Journalistic Roles in Cyprus

The Peace Process and Journalism in Cyprus

Digital Journalism in Cyprus

Sanem Şahin is a Senior Lecturer in the School of English and Journalism at the University of Lincoln, UK. Her research interests include peace and conflict reporting, journalistic roles, national identity and marginalised communities.

Sue Curry Jansen

mediastudies.press is a scholar-led, nonprofit, no-fee open access publisher in the media, film, and communication studies fields. We are excited to announce the publication of our latest book, Sue Curry Jansen’s What Was Artificial Intelligence?.

When it was originally published in 2002, Sue Curry Jansen’s “What Was Artificial Intelligence?” attracted little notice. The long essay was published as a chapter in Jansen’s Critical Communication Theory, a book whose wisdom and erudition failed to register across the many fields it addressed. One explanation for the neglect, ironic and telling, is that Jansen’s sheer scope as an intellectual had few competent readers in the communication studies discipline into which she published the book. “What Was Artificial Intelligence?” was buried treasure. In this mediastudies.press edition, Jansen’s prescient autopsy of AI self-selling—the rhetoric of the masculinist sublime—is reprinted with a new introduction. Now an open access book, What Was Artificial Intelligence? is a message in a bottle, addressed to Musk, Bezos, and the latest generation of AI myth-makers.

The book is available online, and as a free download in PDF, ePub, and Mobi. The book is also available as a $5 paperback.

What Was Artificial Intelligence? appears in the Media Manifold series. Scholars interested in proposing volumes in this or other series are encouraged to reach out with a query.

27 June – 1 July 2022

Utrecht, The Netherlands

Deadline: May 1, 2022

Sub-topic: SCIENCE BROKERS FOR TRANSITIONING TO A CLIMATE RESILIENT AND CIRCULAR SOCIETY

Session: Environmental Resilience Communication: Institutions, Media, Citizens

Session coordination: Dr. Enric Castelló, Universitat Rovira i Virgili, enric.castello@urv.cat

As human societies, we have entered a point of no return in terms of the consequences of climate change. Global warming is at the root of more and worse floods, wildfires, and extreme weather events. The discursive paradigm of "the fight against climate change" and its consequences is turning towards the need for parallel communicative action to promoting the management of change. Nature has resilience mechanisms that we must understand and accompany. For this, we need better Environmental Resilience Communication (ERC), an interpretive frame recently reactivated that interacts with the need to take urgent decisions to slow down global warming. ERC includes communicating and circulating knowledge of the mechanisms required to attenuate the consequences of climate change on the environment and nature: these include vegetation recovery, soil transformation, physical and chemical processes, species adaptation, and all sorts of reorganization in response to the changes. ERC also includes understanding and communicating how human societies can help foster environmental resilience. This requires joint efforts from policy makers, educational agents, institutions, media, organizations and citizens. This section welcomes proposals in the following areas.

• Analysis of ERC policies and management by all sorts of stakeholders (governments, educational agents, institutions, political parties, media, organizations, local communities, citizens).
• Discourse and frame analyses on media, political statements, organizational communication, scientific output, etc.
• Analytical and critical approaches to the relationship between ERC and Global North/South dynamics.
• Studies on the media production of ERC and people’s awareness of resilient systems, including social media, journalism, film and TV.
• Other research-based studies that consider communication complexities among stakeholders and ERC.

Abstracts must be submitted following the guidelines given by the TERRAenVISION congress. DEADLINE FOR PROPOSALS 1 MAY 2022.

ALL INFORMATION: https://terraenvision.eu

University of Zurich, Switzerland

The Science Communication Division (Prof. Dr. Mike S. Schäfer) at the Department of Communication and Media Research at the University of Zurich invites applications for a doctoral position (60%). Start of employment: August 15 or September 1, 2022.

About the position

• 3-year doctoral position (60%, paid according to cantonal salary scheme)
• Contract can be extended by an additional 3 years
• Workplace is Zurich

What would be your main tasks?

• Conduct high-quality research on science communication
• Collaborate in team projects
• Attend conferences and publish in leading communication journals
• Pursue your PhD within the period of appointment
• Teach one class per semester relevant to your research interests in our BA/MA programs
• Some organizational or administrative tasks

What should you bring to the team?

• Master’s degree in communication science or a related subject (certificate required at start of employment)
• Interest in research on science communication, preferably also on climate change communication
• Experience with computational methods of social/communication science would be welcome
• Proficiency in English and ideally also in German
• Interest in/ability to work in a team, but also to work independently on your PhD project

What can we offer you?

• Dynamic and research-oriented team
• Collegial and inspiring working atmosphere
• Excellent resources
• Track record of successful PhD supervision

How to apply

Your application should include a motivation letter, your CV, copies of degrees and relevant transcripts, and a list of scientific publications (if applicable) in one PDF file.

Further information and application details: https://www.ikmz.uzh.ch/dam/jcr:9922060a-bcba-49ff-a251-9aae305b03da/CfA2022.pdf

Event takes place: Monday, 17 October 2022

Online conference (Zoom)

Abstract deadline: 15 June, 2022

ECREA online pre-conference: Science and Environment Communication Section

Misinformation is high on the public agenda, not least in the area of science, environment and climate communication following the current pandemic, climate, and environmental crises. With this pre-conference the ECREA Science and Environment Communication Section puts a focus on how we can understand and analyse misinformation, as well as disinformation, in relation to science and environment conflicts and how we can perceive the roles of citizens that are facing different levels of misinformation in public debates. Misinformation is sometimes linked to science populism which emerges in opposition to what is perceived as elite representations of scientific and environmental dilemmas and problems. The complex and contested dichotomy between expert and lay discourses is therefore central to understanding both misinformation and science populism in science and environment conflicts.

The event furthermore encourages the exploration of the multifarious role of citizens facing mis- and disinformation as either media audiences and users or as active producers or contesters of misinformation in public spheres. The development of a hybrid media environment particularly allows citizens to play an active role in relation to misinformation and science populism. This leaves public authorities and established media institutions with several dilemmas relating to the limits and possibilities of democratic debate and public engagement in science and environment conflicts.

Topics include, but are not limited to:

• Misinformation and disinformation in science and climate communication
• Conceptualisations of science populism
• The role of digital and traditional media in the spread and/or containment of mis- and disinformation
• The complex role of citizens in science populism: activism, protest, and resistance, on- and off-line.
• Affect, misinformation, and science populism
• Case studies of misinformation and science populism: e.g. anti-Covid regulation protests, climate change denialism, anti-vaccination movements
• Public authorities’ and journalistic strategies and measures against mis- and disinformation
• Media representations of misinformation and science populism as social phenomena.

We encourage work-in-progress and alternative (visual, video, interactive) formats as well as traditional presentations.

Please send a 200-300-word abstract to:

Mette Marie Roslyng: mmroslyng@ikp.aau.dk

Participation in the event is free of charge.

September 8-9, 2022

Halifax Hall, Sheffield, UK

Deadline (extended): May 9, 2022

Drones are an increasingly important social phenomenon. Their use has the potential to change the way people see the world in the same way other technologies have, like smartphones and the internet. Generating questions that go beyond safety and security issues, their widespread use opens new debates on the relationship between media and mobility (Hildebrand, 2021), material practice (Howley, 2017), and vertical power (Kaplan, 2018). Drones are the latest technological advancement to have a significant impact in the world we live in, offering opportunities for new forms of visual communication, culture and practices.

We invite the submission of proposals for an interdisciplinary conference on these topics, ‘Drones in Society: New Visual Aesthetics’, which will be held on 8th and 9th September at Halifax Hall in Sheffield, UK. This 2-day conference will be hosted by the Department of Sociological Studies at the University of Sheffield. The updated deadline for submission is May 9 2022.

The conference is concerned with the role of drones in society and the way in which they are contributing to new visual aesthetics.

The conference invites interdisciplinary research, reflection and critique on topics including (but not limited to) the following:

• People’s perspectives on drones (and their data): surveillance, ethics and privacy issues in domestic and commercial uses.
• New visual perspectives: the creation of new visual content (drone art and amateur uses).
• Drone regulations: potential gaps in regulating domestic and commercial drones, future perspectives.
• Current uses and future applications: the implementation of drones in society.
• Drones and vertical power: the uses of drones in war zones, activism and humanitarian activities.

Proposed formats:

• Individually submitted papers (organised into panels by the DiS committee)
• Panels (3-4 individual papers)
• Roundtable discussions (led by one of the presenters)
• Visual posters

Abstracts between 300-500 words in Word format must be submitted to e.serafinelli@sheffield.ac.uk by May 9 2022.

You will be notified of the decision by June 13 2022.

Conference proceedings and selected papers will be published in a section of the forthcoming book Vision and Verticality (Palgrave), edited by Gary Bratchford and Dennis Zuev.

Confirmed keynote speaker: Julia M. Hildebrand, Assistant Professor of Communication at Eckerd College

Conference attendees will also have the opportunity to visit a drone visuals exhibition held on the evening of 8th September and participate in a workshop with two drone artists on 9th September.

Conference organised by Elisa Serafinelli and Lauren Alex O’Hagan, Department of Sociological Studies, University of Sheffield

For more information, contact e.serafinelli@sheffield.ac.uk or visit www.visualsociety.net

References

Hildebrand J. (2021): Aerial Play: Drone Medium, Mobility, Communication, and Culture. Singapore: Palgrave Mcmillan

Howley K. (2017): Drones: Media Discourse and the Public Imagination. New York: Peter Lang.

Kaplan C. (2018): Aerial Aftermaths: Wartime from Above. Durham: Duke University Press.