ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Rothenberger, Liane; Löffelholz, Martin; Weaver, David H. (2024) (Eds.)

Palgrave Macmillan

This handbook critically analyzes cross‐border news production and “transnational journalism cultures” in the evolving field of cross-border journalism. As the era of the internet has further expanded the border‐transcending production, dissemination and reception of news, and with transnational co‐operations like the European Broadcasting Union and BBC World News demonstrating different kinds of cross‐border journalism, the handbook considers the field with a range of international contributions. It explores cross-border journalism from conceptual and empirical angles and includes perspectives on the the systemic contexts of cross‐border journalism, its structures and routines, changes in production processes, and the shifting roles of actors in digital environments. It examines cross-border journalism across regions and concludes with discussions on the future of cross-border journalism, including the influence of automation, algorithmisation, virtual reality and AI. 

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-23023-3

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-23023-3

University of Manchester, UK

Job reference: HUM-024314

Salary: £57,696-£68,857 per annum depending on experience

Faculty/Organisational Unit: Humanities

Location: Oxford Road

Employment type: Permanent

Division/Team: Art History and Cultural Practices

Hours Per Week: 35

Closing date: 07/02/2024

Contract Duration: n/a

School/Directorate: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures

Apply here: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=27763 

The University of Manchester invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time Senior Lectureship in Digital Media and Culture (Teaching & Research contract).

The successful candidate will have a PhD in media and communication or in a related field. We are particularly but not exclusively interested in candidates with a track record of research with social impact and/or expertise in one or both of the following domains:

• Race and digital technology

• Digital media and the environment

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the development, delivery and administration of teaching on the new BA and MA programmes in Digital Media, Culture and Society, which offer advanced study in the critique and design of digital media and technology with a particular focus on their cultural and social implications. The successful candidate will also be expected to conduct research and publish work that meets standards of world-leading or international excellence and complements the research strengths of the Digital Humanities, Media and Culture team.

What can you expect in return?

Our diverse job opportunities all include a top benefits package that includes many features that are hard to find in the private sector:

• Generous annual leave allowance, including Christmas/New Year closure;

• Pension scheme membership to provide benefits for you and your family;

• Well-being programme with counselling, fitness and leading sports facilities;

• Learning and development opportunities;

• Season ticket loans for public transport;

• Cycle to Work Scheme;

• Workplace nursery scheme;

• Staff recognition schemes;

• Staff discounts on a range of products and services including travel and high street savings.

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status.  All appointments are made on merit.

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here

Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.          

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Any recruitment enquiries from recruitment agencies should be directed to People.Recruitment@manchester.ac.uk.

Any CV’s submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews: Email: lukasz.szulc@manchester.ac.uk 

General enquiries: Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk 

Technical support: https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home 

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Please see the following link for more details, application form and the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=27763 

University of Manchester, UK

Job reference: HUM-024312

Salary: £40,521-£56,021 per annum depending on experience

Faculty/Organisational Unit: Humanities

Location: Oxford Road

Employment type: Permanent

Division/Team: Art History and Cultural Practices

Hours Per Week: 35

Closing date: 07/02/2024

Contract Duration: n/a

School/Directorate: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures

Apply here: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=27761 

The University of Manchester invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time Lectureship in Digital Media and Culture (Teaching & Scholarship contract).

The successful candidate will have a PhD in media and communication or in a related field. We are particularly interested in candidates with expertise in one or both of the following domains:

• Race and digital technology

• Digital media and the environment

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the development, delivery and administration of teaching on the new BA and MA programmes in Digital Media, Culture and Society, which offer advanced study in the critique and design of digital media and technology with a particular focus on their cultural and social implications.

The University will actively foster a culture of inclusion and diversity and will seek to achieve true equality of opportunity for all members of its community.

What you will get in return:

• Fantastic market leading Pension scheme

• Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme

• Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays

• Additional paid closure over the Christmas period

• Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status. All appointments are made on merit.

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here.

Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.   

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies.

Any recruitment enquiries from recruitment agencies should be directed to People.Recruitment@manchester.ac.uk.

Any CV’s submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews: Email: lukasz.szulc@manchester.ac.uk 

General enquiries: Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk  

Technical support: https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home 

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date.

Please see the following link for more details, application form and the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=27761 

University of Manchester

Job reference: HUM-024313 

Salary: £40, 521-£56,021 per annum depending on experience 

Faculty/Organisational Unit: Humanities 

Location: Oxford Road 

Employment type: Permanent 

Division/Team: Art History and Cultural Practices 

Hours Per Week: 35 

Closing date: 07/02/2024 

Contract Duration: n/a 

School/Directorate: School of Arts, Languages and Cultures 

Apply here: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=27762  

The University of Manchester invites applications from suitably qualified candidates for a full-time  Lectureship in Digital Humanities (Teaching & Research contract). 

The successful candidate will have a PhD in Digital Humanities or in any of the humanities subject areas in the School of Arts, Languages, and Cultures. We are interested in candidates with expertise in one or several of the following methods applied to research in the humanities: 

∙Computational humanities 

∙Natural language processing/text mining 

∙Network analysis in the humanities 

The successful candidate will be expected to contribute to the development, delivery and administration of teaching on the new BA and MA programmes in Digital Media, Culture and Society, which offer advanced study in the critique and design of digital media and technology with a particular focus on their cultural and social implications, as well as to the Minor in Digital Humanities. The successful candidate will also be expected to conduct research and publish work that meets standards of international excellence and complements the research strengths of the Digital Humanities, Media and Culture team. 

The University will actively foster a culture of inclusion and diversity and will seek to achieve true equality of opportunity for all members of its community. 

What you will get in return: 

∙Fantastic market leading Pension scheme 

∙Excellent employee health and wellbeing services including an Employee Assistance Programme 

∙Exceptional starting annual leave entitlement, plus bank holidays 

∙Additional paid closure over the Christmas period 

∙Local and national discounts at a range of major retailers 

As an equal opportunities employer we welcome applicants from all sections of the community regardless of age, sex, gender (or gender identity), ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation and transgender status.  All appointments are made on merit.  

Our University is positive about flexible working – you can find out more here. 

Hybrid working arrangements may be considered.       

Please note that we are unable to respond to enquiries, accept CVs or applications from Recruitment Agencies. 

Any recruitment enquiries from recruitment agencies should be directed to People.Recruitment@manchester.ac.uk. 

Any CV’s submitted by a recruitment agency will be considered a gift.  

Enquiries about the vacancy, shortlisting and interviews: Email: luca.scholz@manchester.ac.uk  

General enquiries: Email: People.recruitment@manchester.ac.uk      

Technical support: https://jobseekersupport.jobtrain.co.uk/support/home  

This vacancy will close for applications at midnight on the closing date. 

Please see the following link for more details, application form and the Further Particulars document which contains the person specification criteria: https://www.jobs.manchester.ac.uk/Job/JobDetail?JobId=27762

Deadline: February 29, 2024

https://www.uni-muenster.de/Kowi/institut/arbeitsbereiche/call-for-contributions-ecrea-book.shtml

Amidst the hype around generative AI, critical approaches are demonstrating how technologies of automation foster forms of exploitation in relation to natural resources and the environment, labour and working conditions as well as social injustice. This edited volume seeks to contribute a comprehensive media and communication research perspective on the socio-ecological relations that emerge from practices of use and development of “AI”. We are looking for contributions that analyze the manifold social processes and related tensions that contribute towards manifesting AI infrastructures, with their underlying ideologies, power dynamics, forms of exploitation, extractivism, inequalities etc. This call for contributions follows an invitation by the ECREA Open Access Book Series Committee to develop a proposal for a volume on “AI Infrastructures and Sustainability”.  

Full information

Call for Contributions for an Open Access publication with Palgrave as part of the ECREA Open Access Book Series

Proposal for an edited book on AI Infrastructures and Sustainability

Deadline: 29.02.2024

Editors: Anne Mollen, Sigrid Kannengießer, Fieke Jansen, Julia Velkova

This call for contributions follows an invitation by the ECREA Open Access Book Series Committee to develop a proposal for a volume on “AI Infrastructures and Sustainability”. The Committee has invited overall three publications to develop full proposals – one of which will be selected as Open Access publication with Palgrave as part of the ECREA book series.

The proposed volume

Amidst the hype around generative AI, critical data studies as well as media and communication research have been exploring the “anatomy of AI” (Crawford & Joler, 2018), showing how technologies of automation, mostly labelled as Artificial Intelligence (AI), foster forms of exploitation in relation to natural resources and the environment, labour and working conditions as well as social injustice. While  engineering-oriented fields, such as Machine Learning (ML), approach  intra- and intergenerational justice  under the label of “sustainability” and  “ethics”, the proposed book acknowledges that AI infrastructures cannot be reduced to questions of technology and its design but need to be addressed as sociotechnical issues and relations (Parks et al. 2023; Plantin & Punathambekar, 2019). This edited volume seeks to contribute a comprehensive media and communication research perspective on the socio-ecological relations that emerge from practices of use and development of “AI”, and their far-reaching implications to justice, environments, and infrastructures. The book extends the work of scholars in environmental media and critical data studies that is concerned with the materialities and environmental relations that sustain digital media (Starosielski and Walker 2016; Gabrys 2011; Crawford & Joler, 2018), and calls for developing critical and transformative perspectives. We are looking for contributions that analyze the manifold social processes and related tensions that contribute towards manifesting AI infrastructures, with their underlying ideologies, power dynamics, forms of exploitation, extractivism, inequalities etc., developing alternative critical vocabularies, interventions, and approaches to “sustainability”.

Call for Contributions

The proposed volume assembles research in media and communications on AI infrastructures in relation to questions of sustainability. We invite critical theoretical, historical, methodological, and empirical reflections on the “sustainability” of technologies that go under the label of “AI”. Contributions could include analyses of how sustainability, infrastructures or other related notions can be conceptualized in relation to technologies of automation – to deconstruct how AI-related narratives, imaginaries, norms, practices etc. with their ensuing implications manifest in infrastructures of automated communication. We also welcome authors to introduce new concepts that contribute to create more affective, transformative, theoretically nuanced narratives and understandings of how to make liveable relations with AI. Considering the necessity for a great socio-ecological transformation, the proposed volume also encourages reflections on transformative perspectives in media and communication research, addressing media and communication’s role in the shaping and transforming of societies increasingly becoming reliant on technologies of automation.

Submission details and expected time frame for publication

We are seeking abstracts (250-300 words, excluding references) to be submitted until February, 29 2024 to anne.mollen@uni-muenster.de addressing – but not limited to – one or more of the following topics:

• Critical theoretical, conceptual, empirical, and methodological work on "AI", infrastructures and sustainability in media and communication research
  
• Critical discussions of sustainability, sustainability narratives and normative frameworks in relation to AI infrastructures
  
• Imaginaries of sustainability and AI (their construction as well as resistance to it)
  
• Human rights and digital justice implications of AI
  
• Extractivism and AI (labour, data, resources etc.), including AI-related protest and movements
  
• Intersectional perspectives on AI and sustainability
  
• Resource consumption and environmental impacts of AI
  
• Intersections of AI with local and energy politics
  
• Market concentration, political economy, geopolitical perspectives and global distributional (in)justices in relation to AI infrastructures
  
• Bias and discrimination in AI infrastructures, representation, and AI
  
• Transformative and transdisciplinary perspectives on AI and sustainability

Media and communication research can contribute with nuanced, critical, and normative analyses on the socio-technical relations that make and sustain AI infrastructures. This perspective is direly needed in the discussion of AI and sustainability, which needs to be acknowledged as more than a technical concern to which technical solutions can be found. A comprehensive media and communication perspective can instead assess the manifestations, contestations, and historical continuities in the emergence of AI infrastructures while reflecting on matters of sustainability. With the proposed volume we are calling on scholars to orient discussions on automation as well as human-machine-interaction emerging in relation to media and communications towards an interrogation of the infrastructures, practices, and more-than-human relations that constitute the operations of technologies that go under the label of “AI” through the lens of sustainability.

Selection process and time frame

The editors will choose abstracts based on their suitability and consistency regarding the full proposal of the edited book. Full chapter submissions are roughly planned for by late 2024/early 2025 and publication is expected in 2025. Palgrave will be choosing between this and two other book proposals to be selected for the open access publication in the ECREA Book Series Committee and will communicate their decision in late spring 2024. Further details will be communicated after the ECREA Book Series Committee’s decision. Inquiries about the process and the Call for Contributions can be directed at anne.mollen@uni-muenster.de.

Key dates

• Feb 29, 2024: Abstract submission
  
• March 29, 2024: Notification of acceptance for book proposal
  
• Estimated May 2024: Feedback by ECREA Open Access Book Series Committee
  
• Estimated November/December 2024: First draft of chapters due
  
• Estimated January/February 2024: Final draft of chapters due
  
• Estimated publication Spring 2025
  

https://www.uni-muenster.de/Kowi/institut/arbeitsbereiche/call-for-contributions-ecrea-book.shtml

Friday, February 2, 2024 (2:00-3:30 p.m. MT) 

Online via Zoom

The Department of Communication, Media and Film at the University of Calgary presents its annual Race in Film and Media Lecture by Ramnarayan S. Rawat, University of Delaware:

Register at: https://ucalgary.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJcuf-CurTksG9UZMh5j53X6TWqErjHEbRtc

This event will be streamed via Zoom but not recorded.

Bio: Ramnarayan S. Rawat is a historian of South Asia at the University of Delaware with research interests in caste, race, and democratic practices. He is completing his second book, ‘The Language of Liberalism: The Lost History of the Dalit Public Sphere in Late Colonial India’. He is also co-editing the second Dalit Studies volume, Dalit Journeys of Dignity: Religion, Freedom, and Caste’ which is forthcoming in fall 2024. Rawat recently co-edited book, Dalit Studies, with colleague, K. Satyanarayana, based in Hyderabad (India), and published by Duke University Press, 2016. His first book, Reconsidering Untouchability: Chamars and Dalit History in North India (2011), was awarded Joseph W Elder Book prize (2009) in Social Sciences given by the American Institute of Indian Studies and it also received Honorable Mention in the Bernard Cohn book prize (2013), Association of Asian Studies. 

University of Siegen 

The DFG-funded Collaborative Research Center "Media of Cooperation" at the University of Siegen is currently looking to hire staff for a newly funded project phase.

A PhD research position in media studies (TVL 13, 65%, limited until 31 December 2027, application deadline 07.02.24) as part of our new sub-project “Bicycle Media:”, led by Julia Bee https://jobs.uni-siegen.de/job/Researcher-SFB-1187%2C-project-Bicycle-Media%2C-Cooperative-media-of-mobility-57072/1025821501/

A postdoc research position as a scientific coordinator (TVL 13, 100% limited until 31 December 2027, application deadline 14.02.24) for scientific support and coordination of the research center https://jobs.uni-siegen.de/job/Researcher-CRC-1187-Media-of-Cooperation-57072/1026008701/

The CRC is an interdisciplinary research network consisting of 15 projects and more than 60 researchers from media studies, science and technology studies, ethnology, sociology, linguistics and literature, computer science and law as well as history, education and engineering. It has been funded by the DFG (German Research Foundation) since 2016. Research focuses on the study of digitally networked media and their practices.

For further job updates and more information on the research project, please visit https://www.mediacoop.uni-siegen.de/en/news/.

Information, Communication & Society (Special Issue)

Deadline: February 15, 2024

Special Issue Editors:

• Fabian Ferrari, Utrecht University, f.l.ferrari@uu.nl
  
• Joanne Kuai, Karlstad University, joanne.kuai@kau.se
  

From democratic to authoritarian contexts, governments worldwide face the challenge of setting up oversight mechanisms for generative AI systems. The European Union recently reached an agreement for the proposed EU AI Act. A few months earlier, China had enacted one of the first laws in the world to regulate generative AI systems. Navigating this global policy landscape is challenging, not only due to differences between regulatory regimes but also because of the fast pace at which new variations of generative AI systems are developed.

However, the governance of generative AI systems is not only a task for governments and regulators – it also occurs at the workplace and at the institutional level. For example, in the 2023 Hollywood labor disputes, the use of generative AI systems featured prominently. Such developments signify a need for a new understanding of generative AI governance, expanding its scope beyond a narrow focus on regulatory frameworks. As such, this special issue asks: How does the landscape of generative AI governance shape the discursive and material dimensions of generative AI systems, and what are the underlying factors influencing this development?

To address this question, the special issue invites contributions that cover a wide cultural and geographical range of case studies or comparative studies. Given that the governance of generative AI systems is a globally interconnected phenomenon, engagements with regional, national, and supranational forms of generative AI governance are encouraged. Potential empirical entry points include but are not limited to:

- Assessing the efficacy of designated AI oversight measures (e.g., risk assessments, audit procedures, red-teaming) in light of swiftly evolving material properties of generative AI systems.

- Examining strategies of generative AI providers to shape and influence governance regimes – for example, through research, lobbying, tool development, and terms of use/usage policies.

- Understanding how institutional dynamics in particular sectors and cultural industries (e.g., journalism, education, entertainment) shape the design, use and effects of generative AI systems.

- Comparing how governance regimes observe, inspect and modify generative AI systems (e.g., China’s central algorithm registry vs. the EU’s proposed database for high-risk AI systems).

- Investigating how sociotechnical imaginaries about generative AI (e.g., perceived “existential risks”) inform the design, substance and enforcement of particular regulatory frameworks.

- Connecting considerations about the global political economy of AI to geopolitical issues about digital sovereignty, as illustrated by US export controls for specific AI chips.

Submission Instructions and Timeline:

Please submit an abstract of 500-800 words (including references) to f.l.ferrari@uu.nl and joanne.kuai@kau.se no later than 15 February 2024. The abstract should specify: 1) the problem or question being addressed, 2) the paper’s methodological or analytical approach, and 3) the anticipated results or conclusions of the research. Decisions about the selection of abstracts will be communicated to authors by 15 March 2024.

The deadline for submitting invited papers is 31 August 2024. The special issue will follow the submission and review guidelines of Information, Communication & Society. Each invited paper will be peer-reviewed. An invitation to submit a full paper does not automatically ensure its acceptance in the special issue or in the journal. If you have any questions, please reach out to the guest editors via email.

Check out the full call for papers here: http://bit.ly/generative-ai-governance

Nordicom Review (special Issue)

Deadline: February 9, 2024

Editors: 

• Magnus Fredriksson, Nordicom, magnus.fredriksson@nordicom.gu.se 
  
• Johannes Bjerling, Nordicom, johannes.bjerling@nordicom.gu.se  

Important dates: 

• Deadline for extended abstracts: 9 February 2024 
  
• Invitation to submit full paper: 26 February 2024 
  
• Deadline for full submissions: 27 September 2024 
  
• Peer review: October 2024 and onwards  
  
• Expected publication: Early autumn 2025  

Nordicom invites authors to submit extended abstracts for a special issue of

Nordicom Review. The Call is for literature reviews of research on media communication and journalism and their dependence and influence on democracy. Proposals should include relevance for the Nordic region.  

Background and aim 

Media, communication, and journalism are important elements of a well-functioning democracy, and at the same time a well-functioning democracy is in many ways a condition for dynamic media systems, independent journalism, and the rights to communicate freely and access information freely. 

In response to this, research on media, communication, and journalism has always been focused on matters related to democracy – though all scholars don’t neccessarily put democracy at the forefront. However, irrespective of knowledge interest, theoretical position, or methodological approach, scholars interested in media use or effects, public discourses, media technologies, journalism, public opinion, or organised communication activities have frequently motivated their research with its implications and importance for politics and democracy. Accordingly, researchers of media, communication, and journalism have a long history of bringing important knowledge to society.  

Recent developments in research with higher levels of specialisation and a strong tendency towards compartmentalisation have made it difficult to gain thorough overviews of the knowledge developments in research. This is a shortcoming that not only affects scholars’ abilities to gain valid overviews of their research domains, but it also influences the research community’s abilities to provide substantiated knowledge to society and to be policy relevant.  

In tandem with recent developments in media systems, the circumstances for media production, the developments of communication technologies, and value transformations in the citizenry have increased the need for qualified and reliable knowledge. Particulary in a time when democracy is contested and contentious issues demand purposeful systems for knowledge distribution as well as arenas for open and inclusive public debates. 

Bringing all this together, there is a call for scholars who will take responsibility for the collection, consolidation, and distribution of knowledge regarding media, communication, journalism – and democracy. This can be done in different ways, but to systematically produce and publish comprehensive and reliable research reviews is one that evidently can contribute to the research community, public debate, and policy formation.  

For Nordicom, it is of relevance to provide a platform for this kind of work and to actively distribute it. To promote democratic values is part of our mission, and another is to actively contribute to the supply of science-based knowledge in media policy processes in the Nordic region. Thereby, our  activities and publications aim to strengthen and highlight Nordic perspectives in international media research. Here, Nordicom has a unique position at the interface between academia, industry, and politics and between Nordic and international levels. 

Topics 

The theme for the special issue is media, communication, and/or journalism, with emphasis on matters relevant for democracy.

We aim for a collection of articles with a clear relevance for contemporary democracy in the Nordic region, and we will give priority to papers with a broader approach rather than a review with focus on a single theory or similar. The articles are expected to answer the question “What do we know about X?” The topics may include, but are not limited to, the following areas: 

• The effects of journalism, campaigns, and other forms of communication on voting behaviour, political participation, or other forms of political activities among the citizenry. 
  
• Openness and secrecy among actors with democratic relevance, including public administrations, corporations, and nongovernmental organisations. 
  
• Populism, racism, misogyny, polarisation, and disintegrative aspects of media, communication, and journalism. 
  
• Practices and discourses of disinformation, manipulation, and propaganda in public debates, journalism, and other contexts. 
  
• Communication activities, activism, advocacy, and strategies to gain political influence. 
  
• Journalism and communication in times of crises.  
  
• Institutional, professional, and organisational conditions for the production of media, communication, and journalism. 
  
• The role of and conditions for public service as well as local, national, and international media systems. 
  
• The technological, political, and economic, conditions for the production, distribution, and consumption of media, communication, and journalism. 
  
• Media literacy and the knowledge and abilities among the citizenry to gain, validate, and make use of information they gain in digital and analogue contexts.  
  
• The role of media, communication, and journalism in creating, maintaining, and disrupting trust for the institutions of democracy, including media, political actors, public administrations, and actors in civil society. 
  
• Censorship, regulation, and the autonomy of journalism. 
  
• The role of media, communication, and journalism in creating and maintaining (dis)integration in multicultural contexts  

The Nordic perspective  

The Nordic perspective implies that the articles should focus on an issue or a theme that is relevant given the conditions and circumstances that characterise democracy in the Nordic region as a whole or individual countries in the region. That is to say, the Nordic perspective doesn’t mean that the overviews should be limited to research conducted by scholars in the Nordic region or limited to research focusing on the Nordic region. The Nordic relevance is to be made explicit and discussed in the article. 

Types of reviews 

There are a number of different types of literature reviews – from highly formalised methods that seek to systematically search for, appraise, and synthesise research evidence to less-formalised approaches which provide assessments of current literature regarding a theme or domain.  

For this issue, we welcome all types of reviews, but we expect all to focus on empirical research. In addition, all contributions must include a discussion regarding the following: 

• Search strategies and an argument for why certain keywords and sources have been included or excluded throughout the search process. 
  
• Selection criteria and a discussion of what material the authors have decided to include and exclude in the review 
  
• An overall assessment of the overview’s quality, strengths, and shortcomings.  
  

Procedure 

Those with an interest in contributing should write an extended abstract (max. 750 words excluding references) where the subject is described. In addition

 to this, the abstract should include a discussion about how the article fits with the overall theme, how the Nordic perspective is made relevant, and what type of review the authors will apply. 

Send your extended abstract by 9 February 2024 to editors@nordicom.gu.se and include in the subject line: “Submission to special issue”. 

Scholars invited to submit a full manuscript (6,000–8,000 words excluding references) will be notified by e-mail after the abstracts have been assessed.

 All submissions should be original works and must not be under consideration by other publishers. 

Contact 

Questions about the special issue and the related workshop can be addressed to Magnus Fredriksson: magnus.fredriksson@nordicom.gu.se 

About Nordicom Review 

Nordicom Review adheres to a rigorous double-blind reviewing policy, and articles are published Open Access with no processing charges for authors.

Nordicom Review includes research with relevance for the Nordic context and welcomes interdisciplinary submissions from a worldwide authorship. 

Read more about Nordicom Review here: https://www.nordicom.gu.se/en/publications/nordicom-review 

September 4-6, 2024

International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (India), University of Graz (Austria)/online

Deadline (EXTENDED): January 26, 2024

The deadline has been extended for abstract submissions to Situating Data Practices Beyond Data Universalism, the 5th International Data Power Conference, 4th – 6th September 2024, online and in person in the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B), India and the University of Graz, Austria. The new deadline is 26th January 2024.

Communication of Acceptance: 15th March 2024

More Information is available on the Data Power website.

Call for abstracts

The Data Power Conference hosts critical reflections on data’s power and the social, political, economic and cultural consequences of data’s increasing presence in our lives, workplaces, and societies. The 5th International Data Power focuses on situating data practices and looking beyond data universalism. It aims to:

• Situate data practices in the power relations that shape their creation and use in the world
  
• Explore the importance of place, space, time and context in the making of data and the effects of data power
  
• Examine the centres of data power and their infrastructures
  

In addition, the conference asks:

• What constitutes rigorous methods when it comes to researching data power locally and globally?
  
• To what extent does critical data power research need to focus on specific instances of data power in action?
  
• What generalised critiques can be made from our field?
  

To facilitate dialogues across disciplines and with stakeholders, we welcome papers from interdisciplinary teams including disciplines incorporating aspects of data science, and papers which incorporate non-academic collaborators from a range of sectors.

As always, the Data Power Conference remains concerned with in/equalities, discrimination, questions of justice, rights and freedoms, and agency and resistance. We welcome papers that engage with these matters.

There will be a keynote speaker in each of the in-person locations, details to be confirmed.

Information on paper abstracts and proposals for making & doing sessions

• Whilst we welcome papers and session proposals of all kinds, please note that this conference focuses on critical questions about data’s power and also papers that are critical and/or reflective with regards to the social and cultural consequences of the rise of data’s power.
  
• We also welcome proposals for making & doing sessions. These should aim to share practical interventions, practices of doing data studies research and other types of engaged or participatory research or hands-on workshops (e.g. data walks, data sprints, counter mapping). These sessions will take place in-person only. Remote participation in them will not be possible. (See the 4S website for great advice on how to craft such sessions,).
  
• Please submit a 250-300 word abstract for individual papers or making & doing sessions. Panel proposals should include a 250-300 word panel description + a 250-300 word abstract for each paper.
  
• The deadline is 19th January 2024.
  
• If you want to discuss special formats for paper sessions or making & doing sessions, please contact the organisers.
  

Information on conference attendance

• It will be possible to participate EITHER remotely OR in-person in one of the two locations in which the conference will take place – Centre for Information Technology and Public Policy (CITAPP) at IIIT-Bangalore (India) and BANDAS Center & Department of Sociology at University of Graz  (Austria).
  
• Building on our experience in collectively organising hybrid conferences, the conference will seek to be accessible across time zones.
  
• Conference fee: A modest fee for conference participation will be charged. Further details will be available once registration opens. Researchers without institutional support may apply for a waiver
  

Abstract submission

You can submit your abstract via our abstract submission system from 1st November.

Organizing Committee

• Janaki Srinivasan, IIIT-Bangalore (India)
  
• Amit Prakash, IIIT-Bangalore (India)
  
• Juliane Jarke, University of Graz (Austria)
  
• Helen Kennedy, University of Sheffield (UK)
  
• Jo Bates, University of Sheffield (UK)
  
• Tracey P. Lauriault, Carleton University (Canada)
  
• Thomas Zenkl and Gwendolin Barnard, local organisers @ University of Graz (Austria)