ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Trappel, Josef, Department of Communication Studies, University of Salzburg, Austria.

Tomaz, Tales. Department of Communication Studies, University of Salzburg, Austria.

Responsible organisation: Nordic Council of Ministers, Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research (NORDICOM)

2022 (English)

Collection (editor) (Other academic)

Abstract [en]

The Media for Democracy Monitor (MDM) assesses the performance of leading news media in mature democracies with regard to the three core dimensions of democracy: freedom, equality, and control. After monitoring 10 countries in 2011, the MDM project expanded to cover the leading news media of 18 democracies in 2021.

In this book, the most salient results from the MDM were selected to undergo cross-country and longitudinal comparison, searching for patterns and tendencies across countries, with a particular focus on the influence of digitalisation. Some of the key results are the ubiquitousness of the news media’s financial crisis, increasing consumption gaps as younger generations prefer online platforms, and persisting gender inequalities, both in news content and in newsrooms. However, the volume also shows that the reach of news media remains high, the watchdog role and investigative journalism are increasingly relevant in daily practice, and that public service media, in general, continues to play a vital role for democracy. These results have implications for media policies, regulations, and practices to improve news quality and, ultimately, democracy worldwide.

Place, publisher, year, edition, pages: Gothenburg: Nordicom, University of Gothenburg , 2022. , p. 360

National Category: Media Studies

Research subject: Media

Identifiers

URN: urn:nbn:se:norden:org:diva-12325

DOI: 10.48335/9789188855589

ISBN: 978-91-88855-58-9 (electronic)

OAI: oai:DiVA.org:norden-12325

DiVA, id: diva2:1641194

Available from: 2022-03-01 Created: 2022-03-01 Last updated: 2022-03-08

Bibliographically approved

http://norden.diva-portal.org/smash/record.jsf?pid=diva2%3A1641194&dswid=-5121

LSE

Salary from £37,197 to £44,802 pa inclusive with potential to progress to £48,168 pa inclusive of London allowance

This is a fixed term appointment for two years, starting from 1 July 2022.

Applications are invited from outstanding candidates in the field of Media and Communications. The successful candidate will join an established and successful Department which graduates 300+ MSc students a year and is ranked #1 in the UK and #3 globally in our field (2021 QS World University Rankings).

The post-holder will contribute to the Department's teaching (undergraduate, postgraduate) and specifically, to a new undergraduate course. The successful candidate will teach on the Showcase Portfolio: Media, Power and Communications Practice. They will manage the course administration and help prepare and deliver teaching materials, mark formative and summative work, and support the learning and development of undergraduate students taking the course. They will also support teaching in other areas of the Department's work including postgraduate and, potentially, new extended education courses.

Candidates should have completed or be close to completing a PhD in Media and Communications or a closely related discipline. They will also have a developing research record in media and communications subject area(s), experience of teaching strategic communication from a critical perspective, evidence of teaching experience at undergraduate and graduate level, and will possess excellent written and presentation skills

We offer an occupational pension scheme, generous annual leave and excellent training and development opportunities.

For further information about the post, please see the how to apply document, job description and the person specification.

To apply for this post, please go to https://jobs.lse.ac.uk/Vacancies/W/2649/0/339242/15539/lse-fellow-in-media-and-communications.

If you have any technical queries with applying on the online system, please use the "contact us" links at the bottom of the LSE Jobs page.

Should you have any queries about the role, please email Professor Lee Edwards, L.Edwards2@lse.ac.uk.

The closing date for receipt of applications is Sunday 24 April 2022 (23.59 UK time). Regrettably, we are unable to accept any late applications.

An LSE Fellowship is intended to be an entry route to an academic career and is deemed by the School to be a career development position. As such, applicants who have already been employed as a LSE Fellow for three years in total are not eligible to apply. If you have any queries about this please contact the HR Division.

LSE is committed to building a diverse, equitable and truly inclusive university.

October 19, 2022

Hybrid conference

Deadline: May 15, 2022

ECREA Pre-conference: Communication History section & International and Intercultural communication section

Venue: two offline sites at Aarhus University (Denmark) and Beijing Foreign Studies University (China) with joint online panels via ZOOM.

Language: English

General information

The growth and influence of emerging transnational media and technology corporations are transforming global communication. Various international scholars have developed different analytical instruments in order to account for the rise of these companies, focusing especially on the powerful home governments of these firms, the country-specific-advantages, media system models, and the transcultural implication for such business expansion and content distribution (e.g. Thussu, 2000; Halin & Mancini, 2012; Nordenstreng & Thussu, 2015; Panibratov, 2015; Teer-Tomaselli et al., 2019; Tang, 2020; Thussu & Nordenstreng, 2020).

In global media history, the term of “emerging” embodies both relativist and transformative implications as the opposition to the dominant powers. From early Japanese companies’ digital disruption in the United States on manufacturing specialized devices (like digital cameras) to Chinese and South Korean telecommunication companies’ competence in mobile devices and network services worldwide; from the Bollywood and Brazilian media conglomerates’ competition with predominant media counterparts in the region to the Korean Wave impact in global entertainment consumption; from Russian and Chinese internet companies’ alternative growth in the domestic and regional markets to the South African Naspers Group becoming the parent company of Europe’s largest consumer internet firm, the fast development, business relocation and strategic capital move of emerging transnational companies is changing—visibly and invisibly—the landscape and infrastructure base of global media and communication industry.

On the one hand, such changes nourished business and cultural diversity and further transcend national and cultural boundaries. On the other hand, it also raised critical questions towards intercultural conflicts and the fragility and resilience of the global cultural ecosystem. The technology competition between the United States and China, for example, signals the “securitization” trend of policymaking in the communication industry and rising concerns over risks in data protection, information security and democracy. It also illustrates fundamental constraints of emerging companies to challenge US hegemony in the field of media and communication and extends discussions about cultural imperialism following the technology and culture decoupling in related societies. A new dimension of transcultural communication is in great need to understand the characteristics and ambitions of transnational media and technology corporations: their rising influence on the global (commercial) media system, their future move in the global race to dominate information technology, their impact on international and intercultural communication and relations, and their promises for the responsibilities to the nature, community, and world society for the next generations.

This conference welcomes research papers that try to understand the rise of emerging media-technology power from interdisciplinary perspectives, with a special focus on the trans-nationalization process of these media and technology firms and the transcultural communication challenges they have been facing in their business development, expansion, concentration, implementation, legitimization, and related (organizational, institutional, and societal) discourses. Topics include but are not limited to:

· The politics, economy and culture of emerging media and tech companies.

· The transnational growth & influence of emerging media and tech companies in the regional markets, mature markets, and third-party markets.

· Transcultural implications of the rise of emerging media and tech companies (e.g., their impact on transcultural protest movements, or on everyday communication)

· The relevance, roles, and implications of alternative movements and/or counter-movements in media and tech industries.

· Transcultural communication formats and content by emerging media and tech companies.

· Global public discourse around emerging media and tech companies, and their business strategies applied for brand building or rebuilding.

· The technology and culture decoupling amid the US-China power competition, and its impact on (lessons to) transnational corporations in other countries.

· Theoretical reflections on the changing paradigm of cultural imperialism, transcultural communication, technology diffusion and soft power in the case of media and tech companies (e.g., their role in cultural homogenization, uni-channelization, and monopolization processes).

Keynote roundtable discussion (confirmed speakers):

· Daya Thussu, Hong Kong Baptist University

· Dwayne Winseck, Carleton University

· Stephen Croucher, Massey University

· Delia Dumitrica, Erasmus University Rotterdam

· Fei JIANG, Beijing Foreign Studies University

· Gabriele Balbi, Università della Svizzera italiana

Submission Guidelines:

This conference accepts abstracts and panel proposals. All submissions should be written in English and should be submitted by 15 May 2022 to EasyChair platform.

Abstract: Individual or co-authored abstracts should be between 300-500 words (excluding the title page and references). The title page should include the title of the paper and authors’ names, academic/professional affiliations, and email address.

Panel proposal: Panel proposals are up to 4 papers and limited to 1,200 words (excluding the title page, references, and appendices).

The organizing committee will inform applicants of its decision by 1 June 2022. An extended abstract for the special-issue publication (between 1500-2000 words, excluding the title page and references) is invited to submit by 30 September 2022.

Additional Information:

Organizer:

China Media Observatory, Università della Svizzera italiana (Lugano, Switzerland)

Journal of Transcultural Communication (De Gruyter)

Co-organizer:

School of International Journalism and Communication, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Institute for a Community with Shared Future, Communication University of China

Organizer Committee:

Gabriele Balbi, Università della Svizzera italiana

Zhan Zhang, Università della Svizzera italiana

Romy Woehlert, Kindervereinigung Leipzig e.V.

Fei Jiang, Beijing Foreign Studies University

Deqiang Ji, Communication University of China

Conference contact: chinamediaobservatory@gmail.com

Reference:

Hallin, D. & Mancini, P. (2011, eds) Comparing Media Systems Beyond the Western World. Cambridge University Press.

Nordenstreng, K. & Thussu, D. (2015, eds) Mapping BRICS Media, Routledge.

Panibratov, A. (2015) Liability of Foreignness of Emerging Market Firms: The Country of Origin Effect on Russian IT Companies. Journal of East-West Business, Vol 21, issue 1.

Tang, M. (2020) Huawei Versus the United States? The Geopolitics of Exterritorial Internet Infrastructure. International Journal of Communication 14:4556-4577.

Teer-Tomaselli, R., Tomaselli, K. & Dludla, M. (2019) Peripheral capital goes global: Naspers, globalization and global media contraflow. Media, Culture & Society, Vol.4 (8) 1142-1159.

Thussu, D. (2000) International Communication: Continuity and Change. Bloomsbury Publishing.

Thussu, D. & Nordenstreng,K (2020, eds) BRICS Media: Reshaping the Global Communication Order? Routledge.

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

USI Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland)

The Institute of Media and Journalism (IMeG) at Università della Svizzera italiana (Switzerland) invites applications for a 75% per annum pro rata research and teaching PostDoc position (available for two years, subject to a positive evaluation at the end of year one).

The PostDoc Position

The PostDoc candidate will work under the scientific supervision of Prof. Gabriele Balbi (http://usi.to/cyi). The successful candidate will have shared responsibilities in the design and implementation of research projects in the fields of media and journalism studies. The Institute plans to submit research projects to funding institutions in one or more of the following areas: media history, digital journalism, digital cultures and climate change communications. Therefore, expertise in one or more of these fields is important as well as qualitative and/or quantitative methods experience.

The successful candidate will prepare and teach courses at both the Bachelor and Master level, including supervising dissertation students. Specifically, the candidate will teach a Bachelor-level course of 6 ECTS (56 hours of lectures) in the field of Sociology of Communications (in Italian) from Spring 2023.

The successful PostDoc candidate is expected to present papers at scientific conferences and produce publications in high-impact journals.

Candidates’ profile

Ideal candidates should satisfy the following requirements:

• A PhD in media or communication studies, or related disciplines.
• High personal interest in collaborative work in both teaching and research.
• Expertise in the field of media and journalism studies. The Institute particularly welcomes candidates in one or more of the following areas: media history, digital journalism, digital cultures and climate change communications.
• Skills in qualitative and/or quantitative methods are desirable.
• Excellent command of English and Italian, both written and spoken.
• A strong desire for research and publishing at high-level conferences.
• Ability to work independently and to plan and direct one’s own work.
• Ability to work in a team and autonomy in scheduling research steps. Interest for teaching and tutoring students and availability to collaborate with colleagues (engage in scientific dialogue, listen and think critically) are required.

The Application

Applications should contain: (1) a letter in which the applicants describe their research interests and the motivation to apply, (2) a complete CV, (3) copies of relevant diplomas, certificates as well as the full transcript of records, (4) a complete list of publications with details on the candidate’s contributions, (5) two reference letters, (6) the candidate’s three strongest publications, (7) a short description of no more than 300 words for a course entitled “Sociology of Communication” to be taught in Italian from Spring 2023.

Please send your application in electronic form or requests for further information to Gabriele Balbi (gabriele.balbi@usi.ch)

Applications received before 25 April 2022, will be given priority. However, applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

The starting date for this position is from the 1 September 2022. The position will be kept open until a suitable candidate has been found.

For more information, please check the call here.

Comunicazioni Sociali - Journal of Media, Performing Arts and Cultural Studies

Deadline: May 15, 2022

Special issue of Comunicazioni Sociali - Journal of Media, Performing Arts and Cultural Studies (Scopus indexed; A-class rated ANVUR) edited by Rosa Barotsi, Gloria Dagnino and Carla Mereu Keating

In the last twenty years, increasing scholarly attention has been devoted to the screen industries as a workplace and as a site of institutional and individual cultural and creative practice (e.g., Deuze 2007; Mayer, Banks and Caldwell 2009; Hesmondhalgh and Baker 2010). Studies in this field have often centred on film, television and audiovisual media production (e.g., Caldwell 2008; Barra, Bonini and Splendore 2016; Comand and Venturini 2021), although forms of labour in circulation, promotion and reception of media texts have also attracted interest (e.g. Loist 2011; Grainge and Johnson 2015; Fanchi and Garofalo 2018; Treveri Gennari et al. 2020). Within these studies, a number of scholars have interrogated and utilised gender as an analytic category in order to expose and criticise unequal and divisive labour dynamics (e.g., Foster 1997; Gaines, Vatsal and Dall’Asta 2013-; Bell 2021). The gendered division of labour and the systematic exclusion of female-identifying professionals in the screen industries persistently emerge as global, transnational issues (e.g., Gledhill and Knight 2015; Hole, Jelača, Kaplan and Petro 2016; Liddy 2020). In Italy, pioneering studies on women’s labour in the audiovisual sector can be traced back to the 1970s (Bellumori 1972; Carrano 1977), but it is only in recent years that a gender perspective has been taken on more systematically, focusing on directors (e.g., Scarparo and Luciano 2010, 2013, 2020; Cantini 2013) as well as other above- and below-the-line professions (e.g., Dall’Asta 2008; Cardone and Fanchi 2011; Cardone, Jandelli and Tognolotti 2015; Buffoni 2018; Missero 2022).

This concerted academic attention continues to raise a number of critical, theoretical and methodological, questions: how instrumental is the category of gender in exposing power dynamics and labour relations in the Italian past and present screen industries? How can we uphold intersectional feminist, queer and decolonial perspectives of gender and labour in meaningful ways? How do we redress long-established heteronormative and binary approaches? Finally, how do we tackle historical bias in archival practice and engage with the promises and limitations of digital technologies?

This special journal issue aims to foreground a range of research approaches and methods to document the intersection between gender and labour from a diachronic or synchronic perspective. It welcomes a variety of theoretical frameworks and applied case studies that identify and engage (self-)critically with past and present understandings of gendered specialisation and discrimination in the Italian screen industries, also from comparative and/or transnational perspectives. This issue concurrently serves as a platform for screen industry scholars and practitioners to reflect critically on historical relations of gender bias and power in the research process, calling them to examine consciously and explicitly the assumptions that underpin their approaches and methods and the nature and availability of their archives and data resources. We are also interested in contributions from educators and practitioners whose work integrates ethical principles in the formulation of innovative research-led teaching and creative practice.

Topics may include, but are not limited to, the following areas of investigation:

*Methodological challenges in gender-based studies of Italian screen industries.

*Gendered labour and working conditions in the Italian screen industries.

*Screen labour historiography and historical revisionism.

*Screen labour and intersectional, transfeminist, decolonial and disability studies.

*Critical inclusion studies and Italian screen industries.

*Questioning normative frameworks of employment in the Italian screen industries (political, economic, legal, policy-based).

*Histories of hidden, forgotten and/or marginalised figures in Italian screen labour.

*Gendered labour in Italian promotional screen industries.

*Ethics and aesthetics of representation, casting and performance.

*Archival research methods, experiences, challenges (politics of archiving).

*Datafication of screen research (materiality, typology, bias, interpretation and politics of data).

*Digital Humanities and research on screen labour (mapping, immersive, digitisation, online sources).

Submission details:

Please send your abstract and a 150 words biographical note by May 15, 2022 to:

• redazione.cs@unicatt.it
• roza.barotsi@unicatt.it
• gloria.dagnino@usi.ch
• c.mereukeating@bristol.ac.uk

Abstracts should be between 300 to 400 words of length (in English). All submissions should include: 5 keywords, name of author(s), institutional affiliation, contact details and a short bio for each author. Authors will be notified of proposal acceptance by May 30, 2022.

If the proposal is accepted, the author(s) will be asked to submit the full article, in English, by September 18, 2022.

Submission of a paper will be taken to imply that it is unpublished and is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

Articles must not exceed 5’000/6’000-words (including references)

For more information: http://comunicazionisociali.vitaepensiero.com/news-call-for-papers-cfp-gender-and-labour-in-the-italian-screen-industries-critical-research-approaches-and-methods-5801.html

Contributions will be submitted to a double-blind peer review process.

The issue number 1.2023 of Comunicazioni Sociali will be published in April, 2023.

“Comunicazioni Sociali” is indexed in Scopus and it is an A-class rated journal by ANVUR in: Cinema, photography and television (L-ART/06), Performing arts (L-ART/05), and Sociology of culture and communication (SPS/08).

Universidade Lusófona

Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias announces a call for the award of 5 (five) research grants, hereinafter referred to as Doctoral Research Grant, in the area of Media Arts and Communication Sciences under the European Universities Alliance for Film and Media Arts (FilmEU.

The PhD Research Grant is intended for candidates already enrolled or candidates who meet the necessary conditions to enroll in one of the following PhD Programs in Media Art and Communication (https://www.ulusofona.pt/en/phd/media-art-and-communication) and PhD in Communication Sciences (https://www.ulusofona.pt/phd/communication-sciences) who intend to develop research activities, leading to the award of a PhD academic degree, in the scope with the scientific work developed at CICANT (https://cicant.ulusofona.pt/) and FilmEU Alliance.(https://www.filmeu.eu/)

For more information: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/funding/research-fellowship-phd-cofaculhtfilmeu-fct2022

Editors: Kirill Postoutenko, Alexey Tikhomirov, Dmitri Zakharine

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-88367-6

Introduction

This book provides a systematic account of media and communication development in Soviet society from the October Revolution to the death of Stalin. Summarizing earlier research and drawing upon previously unpublished archival materials, it covers the main aspects of public and private interaction in the Soviet Union, from public broadcast to kitchen gossip.

The first part of the volume covers visual, auditory and tactile channels, such as posters, maps and monuments. The second deals with media, featuring public gatherings, personal letters, telegraph, telephone, film and radio. The concluding part surveys major boundaries and flows structuring the Soviet communicate environment. The broad scope of contributions to this volume will be of great interest to students and researchers working on the Soviet Union, and twentieth-century media and communication more broadly.

Reviews

‘Rich in empirical material and diverse in methodological approaches, this volume shows how the formative decades of the Soviet society were shaped by various forms and modes of expression, including its suppression. The coverage is very broad – from interpersonal interactions (such as kitchen gossip) to public events (such as religious rituals) to mass communication (such as radio broadcasts). Whether the contributors analyze conversational turn-taking or messaging devices, whatever media becomes an object of their analysis – auditory, visual, tactile, or electronic, the volume is always focused on the Soviet society as a system, viewed in terms of integration and control, power and resistance, authority and freedom. The reader of this volume will have a deeper understanding of how social bonds and boundaries were created during those early decades, and also how their intended and unintended consequences impact today’s social dynamics in Russia. The volume will appeal to anyone interested in Soviet and Russian society, as well as theory, history, and ecology of communication.’

—Igor Kluykanov, Professor of Communication, Eastern Washington University.

‘This is an all-inclusive tome; an invaluable resource for anyone interested in visual and material sources as well as corporeal forms of communication in a totalitarian society. It highlights the reliance on various means of communication in order to maintain control while embracing the sensory and bodily challenges to power. This is an incredibly innovative analysis of communication and media in an extraordinary time and the book will become an instant classic for both scholars and students of Soviet history.’

—Rósa Magnúsdóttir, Professor of History, University of Iceland.

Table of Contents

1 Soviet Communication and Soviet Society (1917–1953): Alignments and Tensions

Kirill Postoutenko

Part I Channels

2 Visual Channels (1): Posters and Fine Art

Judith Devlin

3 Visual Channels (2): Cityscapes

Graeme Gill

4 Visual Channels (3): Cartography

Nick Baron

5 Auditory Channels: Crowing Roosters and Wailing Sirens

Dmitri Zakharine

6 Tactile Channels: Brotherly Kisses, Handshakes, and

Flogging in a Bathhouse

Dmitri Zakharine

Part II Media

7 Public Body (1): Popular Assemblies

Lorenz Erren

8 Public Body (2): Mass Festivals

Malte Rolf

9 Public Body (3): State Celebrations and Street Festivities

Sergei Kruk

10 Private Body: Kitchen Gossip and Bedroom Whispers

Anastasiia Zaplatina

11 Public Print (1): Books and Periodicals

Christopher Stolarski

12 Public Print (2): Coins and Bank Notes

Kirill Postoutenko

13 Private Handwriting (1): Diaries

Alexey Tikhomirov

14 Private Handwriting (2): Personal Letters

Alexey Tikhomirov

15 Private Handwriting (3): Denunciations 269

François-Xavier Nérard

16 Private/Public Handwriting: Self-reports

Berthold Unfried

17 Electrical Signalling (1): Telegraph

Larissa Zakharova

18 Electrical Signalling (2): Telephone

Larissa Zakharova

19 Electrical Signalling (3): Film

Kristina Tanis

20 Electrical Signalling (4): Radio

Dmitri Zakharine

Part III Boundaries and Flows

21 Boundaries (1): “Nomenklatura” Versus the Rest

Graeme Gill

22 Boundaries (2): “Comrades” vs. Deviants

Lorenz Er

The Communication and Media Division, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Loughborough University

(1) a Lecturer in Communication and Media Studies who will contribute to our excellent research culture and teach on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. We approach communication and media as a broad field and encourage applications from any specialism, but we will particularly welcome candidates demonstrating specific expertise relevant to ‘media, memory and history’ and/or ‘media, ethnicity and race.’

(2) a Lecturer in Language and Social Interaction who will contribute to our excellent research culture and teach on our undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. We will particularly welcome applications that link language and social interaction to human-computer interaction and AI, digital and social media, and/or health communication.

Please access details of the posts and the application point here: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/join-us/outstanding/social-sciences-humanities/

The closing date for applications is 3 April.

Deadline: May 1, 2022

Edited by Piotr Siuda, Jakub Majewski & Krzysztof Chmielewski

The editors of this CfP are already in discussion with the MIT PressGAME HISTORIES SERIES editors who enthusiastically voiced support for the collection.

The website of the series: https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/series/game-histories

The Covid-19 pandemic is a historical moment with social, cultural, and economic repercussions and unprecedented government responses. The pandemic has impacted virtually every aspect of our lives regardless of where we live. This volume seeks to examine the impact of this epochal and significant period and resulting government policies, especially the lockdowns, on one particular cultural sphere: games.

In the initial months, many industry reports noted the unexpected positive impact on online digital game sales. Games weren’t just lockdown-proof, but boosted by lockdowns: stay-athome orders triggered a rush toward games as an alternative form of entertainment, and the ubiquity of mobile phones allowed wider than ever participation. This was seen in esports as it was a successful “extension” of traditional sports, and it forced immediate brand innovation and far-reaching changes in marketing strategies. On the other hand, the growth in esports online viewership came with a price, as many local arena events had to be canceled.

However, sales growth and marketing aside, the impact on the game industry overall was more complex and often pernicious. Game developers experienced a rapid and often challenging shift to remote work. This shift towards virtual communication also affected universities, where students could no longer be hosted in campus laboratories, requiring new forms of student engagement. Some digital games encountered unexpected challenges: how indeed to adapt a location-based augmented reality game to a locked-down world?

Equally complex was the impact on non-digital games. Typically designed for direct face-toface contact, board games, pen & paper role-playing games, and even live-action role-playing games and their players were forced to move online, or to employ complex safety protocols to minimize transmission risk and conform to legal requirements. With the manufacturing and shipping chain of board game components being drastically distorted, the market for board games has undergone a dramatic change. Also, the virtual market management concept overtook a fair share of the market, with the leading role of crowdfunding specialists. Largescale events were canceled, postponed, downsized, or virtualized. The same, indeed, was the case not only for game-playing events but also for industry and academic conferences.

The pandemic also affected game players, game developers, game journalists, and game scholars alike in many other ways, starting with the most direct – illness, and sometimes death. New cultural rifts also opened up due to political tensions. Some effects are temporary: others are here to stay. All deserve to be studied.

In this volume, we invite authors to reflect on the various impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on gaming, gamers, as well as those who make and study games. The volume encourages, but is not limited to, the following topics:

• Digital and non-digital games in the pandemic
• Visions of Covid-19 and other pandemics in games
• Pandemic impact on the game industry and game-related events
• Will the pandemic accelerate the evolution of the game industry (games as a social platform, expansion of the free-to-play model, mobile leading the industry, etc.)

• The pandemic and esports (e.g. growth and virtualization of esports, ongoing relations between traditional sports and esports)

• Pandemic impact on game culture and gamer communities
• Teaching and developing games in the pandemic
• AR and VR Games and VR in the service of education online
• Games and players’ well-being (games as tools for therapy and the improvement of anxiety vs. excessive use, abuse, and possible addiction)

• Ludology in the time of the pandemic
• Serious games developed for and around the pandemic
• Digitalization of board games and LARPs

TIMELINE

Deadline for Initial Proposals (Extended Abstracts): May 1, 2022

Notification of Acceptance: June 1, 2022

First Drafts Due: October 1, 2022

Editor Comments: November 1, 2022

Final Drafts Due: January 1, 2023

Please note that the dates of “Notification of Acceptance”; “First Drafts Due”; “Editor Comments”; “Final Drafts Due” may change due to the publishing process – the authors will be informed in case of any changes happening.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

Prospective authors should submit a short chapter proposal as a Word document to games.covid.book@gmail.com. The proposal should contain:

• The name and contact information of the author(s), along with a brief bio
• The title of the proposed chapter
• Extended abstract of approximately 1000-1200 words excluding references. The abstract should indicate the consistency, rigor, and relevance of the work.

Paper submissions should articulate the issue or research question to be discussed, the methodological or critical framework used, and indicate the findings or conclusions and/or the relevance to general volume. Papers can present any kind of research, analysis, or theoretical framing, but should be written so that the importance of the work can be indicated. Please note that empirical chapters should include the research question and data to be analyzed.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Please use the latest edition of the Chicago Manual of Style. The editors strongly recommend that authors follow the Chicago Manual.

Please note that chapters not adhering to the guidelines will be returned to the author(s) for revision.

EDITORS

Piotr Siuda (Primary Contact)

Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

piotr.siuda@ukw.edu.pl

Jakub Majewski

Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

jakubm@ukw.edu.pl

Krzysztof Chmielewski

Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz

k.shaman@ukw.edu.pl

Piotr Siuda (PhD) is a media studies scholar, Associate Professor at the Institute of Social Communication and Media at the Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Member of The Association of Internet Researchers and the Polish Society for Social Communication. http://piotrsiuda.com

Jakub Majewski (PhD) is an Assistant Professor at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. His research interests include role-playing games and cultural heritage, game storytelling techniques, game industry history, among others. He is also a game developer with two decades' worth of experience and a portfolio of about forty diverse games.

Krzysztof Chmielewski (MA) is a Senior Lecturer of Game Design at Kazimierz Wielki University in Bydgoszcz, Poland. LARP researcher and game designer and producer of games for different platforms (PC/mobile/AR, board/card, live games, gamebooks). R&D specialist in experiential learning and gaming solutions.