ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

October 12-14, 2022

Örebro University, Sweden

Deadline: March 1, 2022

Welcome to the 26th Arab US Association for Communication Educators Conference (AUSACE). The conference will be hosted by and held in Örebro, Sweden between 12-14 October 2022.

The aim of this year’s conference is to explore and critique how journalism is redefining its identity and reimagining its practices against the economic, cultural, and technological challenges especially in a fake news era.

Studies show that fake news and false rumors spread six times faster on Twitter than any attempts to correct or clarify in response. Many more people are only seeing the first version of a story, not the following ones with updates, making it even more imperative that journalists get the facts right on the first go. Incidents of racism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia have risen past their previous peak levels following the 9/11 terrorist attacks and the 2010 Arab spring. Misinformation, hateful rhetoric and discourses about the motives, and citizenship status of these groups have all led to harassment, graffiti, and mass shootings. From fake news to the deep fake, being in a digital era expanded possibilities for fabrication and falsehood are endangering the fourth estate, especially when many people are turning their minds to the future of journalism.

Given crises in our political and cultural worlds, along with advances in multi faceted communication technologies, we must turn our attention to the future of journalism. How, in the future, are we to know the difference between truth, myth and lies? And how can our scholarship and education help? We are open to work that considers the role of journalism and journalists, as well as media and communication studies that consider professional cultures and practices, organizational and economic conditions, local and hyper local media, civic engagement and public sphere, text and content, and audiences.

We invite proposals that address this multifaceted phenomenon focusing on topics that include, but are not limited to, the following:

1. Professional identities and organizational cultures

2. Local and hyper-local media

3. Social and civil functions of local journalism and impact on the public sphere

4. Participatory/citizen journalism, community media

5. Audience

6. Emerging trends in digital storytelling, immersive journalism, data visualization

7. New forms of journalism activism including but not limited to migrant journalism, political activism, etc.

8. How the public and journalists contribute to, perceive, and deal with misinformation, disinformation, and fake new

Successful abstracts will be considered for inclusion in a Special Issue proposal to be submitted to Nordic Journal of Media Studies and Cultural.

Working language for the conference is both Arabic and English.

Please send abstracts to Ahmed El Gody: ahmed.elgody@oru.se

For further inquiries regarding AUSACE, contact the President, Dr. Yousef Alfailakawi: yalfailakawi@yahoo.com

Key dates:

• Abstract of 250-500 words maximum submission is March 01, 2022.
• Authors notified of acceptance: April 04, 2022
• Full papers due: August 22, 2022

Please send abstracts to: Ahmed El Gody

For inquiries regarding AUSACE, contact the President,

Dr. Yousef Alfailakawi Yousef Alfaiakawi

Makings Journal (special issue)

Deadline: March 21, 2022

The theme for this special issue of Makings is ‘Creative Higher Education: Curriculum and Pedagogy’. The aim is to bring together research which explores curricula and pedagogies for Art, Design and Media courses, with an emphasis on practical arts and media production courses. We welcome submissions from emerging researchers and educators with limited experience of academic research. We encourage a diverse range of submissions from conventional to practice-based contributions (visual, video, audio, etc.) for the ‘Studio’ section of the journal .

Despite having an important role to play, the cultural and creative industries are among the most effected by the pandemic, resulting in a very challenging employment landscape for creative graduates. Over the last few years, we have witnessed significant changes in Creative Higher Education, specifically for practice-based subjects which have suffered from restricted access to resources and facilities. There are a highly diverse range of courses linked to the cultural and creative industries but there is relatively little knowledge about the pedagogy and curriculum offered through these courses (Cunningham and Flew, 2019). Inequalities of access to opportunities, digital poverty and ongoing insecurities across the cultural and creative industries workforce have heightened the need to tackle issues of social justice in the curriculum. Saha (2013) argues that a ‘critical multicultural pedagogy’ can only be developed through the students’ experience of making and engaging in creative processes to produce new narratives.

Art, Design and Media courses have tended to prepare students as ‘industry-ready’, nurturing enthusiasm for cultural and creative industries work, sometimes with less opportunities for critical, ethical and socially engaged debates. The current insecurities facing Creative Higher Education and the cultural and creative industries sector present an opportunity to interrogate current practices and encourage educators to engage critically with the future of learning and teaching in Art, Design and Media courses. In addition, the Covid-19 pandemic has further problematised the sector, on the one hand demonstrating its vulnerability and underlying inequalities (Banks and O’Connor, 2021), whilst on the other hand demonstrating levels of agility and innovation in the face of lockdowns and economic crisis (Travkina and Sacco, 2020).

This special issue seeks to encourage research-informed teaching (curriculum and pedagogy), which explores contemporary debates for Art, Design and Media education. An exploration of Creative Higher Education Curriculum and Pedagogy could consider the following themes:

• Sustainability and Creative Higher Education Curriculum and Pedagogy
• Social justice and inequalities in Cultural and Creative Sectors
• Research informed curriculum for practice-based arts and media courses
• Creative thinking as a pedagogy to address sustainability in the curriculum
• DIY approaches to explore ethical and social justice in the cultural and creative industries
• Creative methodologies for teaching and learning
• Rethinking pedagogic pathways to creative and cultural work
• Critical Praxis: pedagogies and curriculums for change
• Educating in a pandemic: challenges and opportunities

Please submit a 300-word abstract for the journal’s next issue, themed “Creative Higher Education: curriculum & pedagogy” for a guest edited special issue of Makings – an open-access, peer-reviewed journal on the cultural and creative industries. Practice-based contributions (or contributions in the form of shorter think-pieces, essays, or in various multimedia formats) will be published in the Studio section of the journal. For more information please contact Annette Naudin annette.naudin@bcu.ac.uk. For more information about the journal and contributor guidelines please check Makings journal.

Timeline

Abstracts and acceptances:

Submission deadline for abstracts by Monday 21st March 2022

Acceptance by Friday 29th April 2022

Articles:

Final articles / contributions by Monday 4th July 2022

Revised articles / contributions by Monday 5th September 2022

Publication October / November 2022

Writing retreat (online):

There will be an invitation for early career or emerging researchers, whose abstracts have been accepted, to take part in an online half day writing retreat. This is an opportunity to develop your abstract into a full contribution in a supportive environment. The retreat will be facilitated by the special issue guest editors. This will take place in May 2022, exact date TBC.

Special issue guest co-editors

Dr Emma Agusita is a Senior Lecturer in Digital and Cultural Production and Media Communications at the University of the West of England. Emma has a background in creative production and a longstanding interest in the use of creative and media practices for social justice and civic participation. Her research interests include Creative and Participatory Pedagogies, Critical Visual Methodologies, Media Education and Creative Enterprise Education.

Dr Annette Naudin is Associate Professor with responsibility for Learning and Teaching at Birmingham Institute for Media and English. Annette is interested in the relationship between creative work and Higher Education curriculum and pedagogy. Annette has led a number of impactful research projects exploring cultural and creative industries work, cultural policy and inequality in the sector, working with organisations such as Arts Connect UK and Birmingham City Council. Annette is an Erasmus funded visiting Professor at the Latvian Cultural Academy.

Ben-Gurion University of the Negev

The Department of Communication Studies at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev invites outstanding candidates to apply for a tenure-track position. Hebrew-speaking communication scholars are encouraged to apply.

Call for candidates closing date: March 1, 2022

Position starting date: October 1, 2022

To have the application considered, please submit the following documents in the link below:

• Cover letter that includes highlights of your profile
• Curriculum vitae (CV)
• Research statement that outlines main areas of current and future research
• Teaching statement that outlines teaching philosophy and areas
• Names, affiliations, and contact info of three or four referees (one from the supervisor; at least two additional “independent” referees)
• Two writing samples of recent research publications

Letters of reference will be requested from applicants selected for interviews.

The rank will be determined according to the selected applicant’s experience and achievements.

Link to apply: https://bguacademicrecruitment.force.com/Recruiters/VF_BGUPositions?Id=02i5I00000Aq1NN

For more information about the department see: https://in.bgu.ac.il/en/humsos/comm-Studies/Pages/about.aspx

For more information, please contact Prof. Galit Nimrod: gnimrod@bgu.ac.il

31 January - 4 February 2022 | Lisbon, Portugal

NOVA University Lisbon

Deadline: January 20, 2022

iNOVA Media Lab invites for the SMART Data Sprint 2022, which will be held from 31 January to 4 February in a hybrid format — online and in-person, at NOVA University Lisbon. The Sprint is part of the Digital Media Winter Institute, an annual meeting focused on digital methods. The next edition theme is about the Discussing Methods Making.

Participants from around the world will connect to attend keynote lectures, short talks and join applied research projects. We are glad to receive Deen Freelon (School of Journalism and Media, the University of North Carolina, USA) and Katrin Tiidenberg (Osaluskultuuri professor / Professor of Participatory Culture BFM, Tallinn University, Estonia) with keynote talks, a masterclass with Warren Pearce (iHuman, the University of Sheffield, UK) and an opening talk with Janna Joceli Omena (NOVA University Lisbon, iNOVA Media Lab & Public Data Lab).

Applications open on November 15, 2021, and close on January 20, 2022.

Main audience: doctoral students and scholars interested in developing research from the perspective of digital methods.

See the call for applications on the #SMARTDataSprint research blog

https://smart.inovamedialab.org/2022-discussing-methods-making

September 18-21, 2022

Vienna, Austria

Deadline: March 7, 2022

RIPE@2022 conference

The 11th biennial RIPE conference is sponsored by ORF, Austria’s public service media (PSM) provider, and hosted by the University of Vienna. The conference theme invites paper proposals that are relevant for advancing understandings of journalistic theory and practice in the context of a complicated set of challenges related to digital disruption, globalization, commercialization, information disorder, and the importance of fair, free and independent information and news provision that has been a persistent responsibility of public service media organizations over the decades.

Elaboration of the Conference Theme

Digital technologies have created enormous disruptions for media systems and companies, and ushered in consequential shifts in economic as well as political power. More media of more types are motivated by commercial imperatives even as the editorial function has become endangered. New media platforms are increasingly influential and used sources for ‘news’ and information and resist being defined as media companies. The big tech big data corporations have substantial influence on public communication today. National PSM providers remain important in principle but are often at severe disadvantage in many respects, including economic funding, political support, commercial pressure and competition, channel proliferation, and fundamentally as a consequence of the enormity of changes in the scope and scale of competition.

Countries and populations around the world are challenged by trends summarized as fake news, mis- and disinformation campaigns, filter bubbles and the algorithmic production of personalized content – especially news. The collapse of editorial responsibility has resulted in a systemic condition characterized by nontransparency and unaccountability. All of this gravely endangers the health and vitalbity of the public sphere for democratic societies, and undermines PSM in both institutional and operational aspects. As people increasingly cruise the internet universe of commercial social media, trust and performance for quality journalism is seriously at risk.

The historic paradigm has prioritized the creation and maintenance of independent media based on professional, accountable journalistic skills and practices as an essential for democratic practice. For this reason, the press has been conceptualized as the Fourth Estate of power (alongside Executive, Legislative and Judicial) in democratic societies. This understanding of the institutional framework that has protected PSM’s role in the Fourth Estate is under attack from political and business interests in an increasing number of countries. PSM is under stress in traditional broadcasting and even more so in the online environment that is largely governed by commercial interests that manage a corporatized Internet with profound potential consequences given the powerful influences of social media. At the same time, societies are struggling to cope with massive social disruption manifest in polarization and fragmentation, nationalistic protectionism, xenophobic politics, sophisticated new forms of clandestine propaganda and cyber-strategies that seek to undermine democracy and foment unrest.

A series of crucial questions invite serious consideration: How can PSM keep pace with these dynamics and mitigate the damaging consequences of digital transformation? How can PSM effectively compete with the dominance of digital media giants and serve as a counterbalance? How can PSM resist the alarming constellation of pressures opposing them and develop appropriate answers to maintain their role and function as independent, trusted sources of truthful, fair and balanced information dedicated to serving the whole of society? How can PSM be distinctive in providing and defending Quality Journalism in the digital age, avoid being caught up in the problem of filter bubbles, escape the risk of unwittingly engaging with fake news, safeguard independence and advance media pluralism and content diversity?

The RIPE@2022 conference will address one of the most challenging contemporary topics facing PSM in the digital age. We invite paper proposals that are relevant to these concerns about the role of public service journalism as an essential and foundational part of the Fourth Estate to effectively challenge the negative impact of the fifth power.

Topics of Specified Interest

Empirical and comparative research is especially needed that addresses the following topics that will ultimately frame the workgroup structure for the RIPE@2022 conference in Vienna:

1. Policy developments affecting news and journalism for PSM organizations

• Comparative and/or indepth analysis of trends and changes in media policy affecting PSM’s role and function as a news and current affairs provider

• Challenges in the growth of populist politics and the politization of information for partisan interests

• Complications and potential solutions for policy affecting domestic information and news provision given the proliferation of transnational actors and pressures

• Other topics and aspects related to media policy and legal developments affecting PSM news and current affairs journalism, especially challenges to safeguards for independence

2. Developments in journalistic and editorial practice in the digital media environment

• Addressing sophisticated forms of propaganda from domestic and international sources that are intentional and strategically designed to stir unrest and undermine democracy

• Internal strategies and policies developed by PSM organizations to cope with a range of challenges involving fake news, filter bubbles, mis- and disinformation, etc.

• New approaches to news and current affairs provision and programming, including formats and genres intended to serve either general or particular populations

• PSM’s role and ambitions in news provision at the international level

• Challenges and developments in journalistic codes of ethics for PSM today, and the need for independence in practice and provision

• Other topics and aspects affecting PSM news and current affairs journalism

3. Challenges and opportunities posed by commercial interests as the fifth power

• Ways and degrees to which the rise of commercial power and pressures can be reasonably understood as posing a 5th power or estate in contemporary democracies

• Strategies, developments and impact of commercial news on PSM’s position and capacity. May be targeted to one or more levels of engagement (local, national, global, etc.)

• Changing competitive dynamics and related challenges as well as opportunities this creats for PSM news organizations and operations

• Linkages between state interests and commercial interests affecting the capacity of PSM journalism to remain free, truthful, critical and independent

• Other topics and aspects related to the rise of commercial pressures on PSM journalism

4. Challenges and developments in news and current affairs across relevant platforms

• Cross-platform journalistic and editorial strategies and practices in news provision today

• Emerging technological opportunities and threats for PSM news production and provision

• Organizational and operational restructuring initiatives in the area of news and current affairs, especially as these are a response to commercial and other competitive pressures

• Requirements, complications and competencies related to online news provision by PSM companies

• Partnerships with other public and private sector organizations or companies in the development of strategies and operations to enhance PSM news and current affairs services

• Other topics and aspects related to organizational and operational developments in PSM journalism

5. Criteria for PSM as the Fourth Estate in the digital ecology

• The role and regulatory framework of PSM in terms of requirements or expectations for distinctiveness in its mission and remits in the digital ecology

• Criteria for safeguarding accountability and independence from political and business interests in the governance and practice of journalism today

• Approaches for guaranteeing universality and accessibility for society with a focus on innovation

• Strategies and practices for building and maintaining public trust and institutional credibility in PSM news and current affairs provision

• Other topics and aspects related to strengthening PSM’s essential role and functions as a vital part of the 4th Estate for democracies in the era of digital media

6. Declining trust in public institutions, alternative publics and strategic alliances

• Explaining the decline of public trust in institutions and the implications for PSM both as an institution and especially in news and public affairs provision

• Challenges and opportunities for PSM journalism in supporting the exercise of citizenship in the digital media environment

• The nature, concerns and dynamics of alternative publics with a focus on relationships with established institutions

• How mistrust is being handled by PSM news and journalism in organizational and content provision in increasingly polarized environments

• The identification, construction and management of strategic alliances to combat mistrust and strengthen the journalistic value of PSM news and current affairs provision

Submission Requirement

Paper proposals can be submitted via a link that will be available on the conference website (https://ripe2022.univie.ac.at) shortly (third week of January 2022). You need to register in the internal system of the University of Vienna before you can submit a proposal. A registration link can be found at the bottom of the registration page, to which you will be redirected after clicking on the submission link mentioned above.

During the registration process you will have to enter information about you and your institution. If there are several authors, you can add them and their institutions during the later submission process.

Please enter the following information into the online submission form:

• the paper’s working title,

• an extended abstract (max 1,000 words) addressing the six elements for evaluation (provided below)

• the two working group topics the paper is most closely related to.

Additionally, the abstract (including the paper’s working title) needs to be uploaded as a Microsoft Word file. Please make sure that your Word file is anonymized and does not contain any indication of the author(s) either in the text or in meta data.

All submissions will be peer-reviewed (double-blind) by a scientific committee. The evaluation criteria are:

• Relevance to the conference theme and fit with one of the working group topics.

• Newness or originality of the research (empirical) or essay (philosophical)

• Theorization and general importance

• Research methods and design (for empirical papers)

• Key findings and implications for theory

• Relevance for PSM management and practice

Empirical research is highly valued, but we also welcome insightful philosophical, critical and theory-driven papers. Comparative research is important.

RIPE conferences focus on substance, dialogue and results. We therefore limit acceptance to about 60 papers and each is assigned to one of the workgroups.

Submissions are due 7 March 2022

Decisions about acceptance will announced on 11 April 2022 including further details regarding the submission of the completed papers. Completed papers are due on 15 August 2022.

The conference happens over 2.5 days with a welcoming reception the night before the first day and the inaugural RIPE General Assembly on the afternoon of the third day. The conference language is English.

Conference fees will be announced at a later date. The fee will cover conference meals, events and materials, but not hotel accommodation or travel. Based on the level of interest, a non-obligatory social programme might be planned for the day after the conference at an additional cost for those interested to participate. The RIPE conference does not supplement personal travel costs.

May 2022

Online conference

Deadline: January 14, 2022

Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research, Birmingham City University, UK

Conference Theme: Regulating African Digital Media

The call for papers below can also be viewed using this link: https://bcmcr.org/call-for-papers-regulation-of-old-and-new-media-forms-in-africa/. Please share widely with your networks.

Increasingly more African countries are instituting laws, procedures, and policies, seeking to regulate the media ecosystem. Governments typically justify such approaches to regulation as a way to combat the negative consequences of online media usage, such as hate speech and mis/disinformation. This trend generally reflects the historical application of censorship laws that have targeted the critical press and journalistic autonomy (Obijiofor et al., 2016). The implications of this are considerable. What we are witnessing is the integration of two regulatory paradigms – for the traditional and digital media – into one, with the potential for state authorities to expand blanket censorship from media to citizen expression in ways that mirror the politics of regulation. A central issue at play here is the struggle over the appropriation and exercise of power over collective voices, with consequences for democracy, plurality, independence, dissent, and freedom.

No doubt, media and digital regulation have intensified in recent years across the globe in what has been described as the “regulatory turn” (Flew et al., 2021, p. 208). The aim, it seems, is to manage the disruptive effects of the usage of media technologies. What has been largely overlooked, however, is an overarching investigation of this trend in Africa. This is in spite of the reality that state interventions such as social media bans, which are becoming common on the continent, are disruptive in themselves. Meanwhile, the few scholarly collections which have examined separate angles of the subject have done so predominantly from the traditional media lens only (Chan-Meetoo, 2013; Sampaio-Dias et al., 2019). For instance, Chan-Meetoo’s (2013) edited collection considers how African journalists negotiate regulatory and ethical requirements demanded of them. Other works have looked at regional or linguistic peculiarities in traditional media regulation on the continent (de la Brosse and Frére, 2012; Limpitlaw, 2021). What has also been neglected is the fact that new media platforms are mainly domiciled in the West, bearing implications for digital sovereignty in Africa.

Furthermore, research centred on Africa has barely considered emergent regulatory practices that cover the traditional media, online harms, social media, blockchain technologies, privacy concerns, virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and the wider internet of things. This conference thus creates a space for researchers to build on previous scholarly work and to share, discuss and debate contemporary regulatory interventions in media technologies across Africa in attempts to regulate disruption, and their impact on societies. Topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Press and broadcasting regulation
• Social media regulation and online harms
• Online broadcasting regulation
• The politics of regulation
• Internet and social media bans
• Regulation as disruption
• Regulating/regulated disruption
• Platform governance and self-regulation in Africa
• Regulatory frameworks, methods, and methodologies
• Online privacy and data concerns
• Regulation, the balance of power, and digital sovereignty
• Punitive media registration
• African Union, multi-stakeholderism, and media regulation
• Regulating artificial intelligence and other new media technologies in Africa

We also invite conceptual papers and reflections on alternative, and perhaps homegrown approaches that can be exploited at the national and/or regional level on the continent to address the challenges of media and digital regulation.

Keynote Speaker: Dr Hayes Mabweazara, University of Glasgow

Abstract Submission

Please send a 300-word abstract proposal for a 20-minute presentation by 14 January 2022 to regulationafrica@protonmail.com.

Proposers will be notified of the outcome of the selection by 7 February 2022.

Abstracts should be in MS Word format and should include name, position, institutional affiliation, email address of proposer(s), and a 150-word biography.

Conference Details

Conference registration will open in early April 2022 and the conference schedule will be released afterwards. The conference will be held on Zoom and will be organised weekly in a panel format in May 2022. To make this work, a single panel (90 minutes long) will be scheduled for each of the Tuesday afternoons (UK time) in May 2022. Further details on timing will be confirmed to selected participants.

Special Issue Publication

Shortly after the conference, we will invite full papers based on the presentations for publication in a journal special issue to be announced. In your abstract submission, please indicate whether you would like your contribution to be considered for the special issue publication. Interested contributors should please note that full papers will be requested by September 2022.

About BCMCR

The Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR) was established in 2009 to develop excellent research as a core activity within the Birmingham School of Media. Our team of independent researchers at Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research (BCMCR) generates work of internationally excellent standard. BCMCR aims to produce distinctive, collaborative work within the field of media and cultural research.

Best wishes

Conference Organising Committee

For enquiries, please contact Vincent Obia (Vincent.Obia@mail.bcu.ac.uk) and Sulayman Bah (Sulayman.Bah@mail.bcu.ac.uk)

Prof. Dr. Reinhard Heinisch, M.A., Prof. Dr. Christina Holtz-Bacha, Prof. Oscar Mazzoleni, Ph.D.

Purchase the book here: https://www.nomos-shop.de/nomos/titel/political-populism-id-87178/

With a welcome expansion in cases and policy fields, the second edition of Political Populism: Handbook on Concepts, Questions and Strategies for Research brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to reflect on the fundamental challenge populism poses today. This Handbook is essential to every reader who wants to understand where populism comes from, how it manifests and how it influences policies, political actors and the very institutions that make democracy. Theoretically sophisticated, substantiated in its content yet approachable for the interest reader, this Handbook marks an important step in the appreciation of the complexity and consequences of this global phenomenon.

Annika Werner, Australian National University

Two decades of turbulent political history show that populism is here to stay, and to shape politics for a long time to come. It is considered a serious threat to traditional democratic institutions. That’s why political and communication scientists have massively engaged in studying it, in explaining it, in analyzing its features and implications. Among the several recent scholarly productions, this Handbook is perhaps the best tool put in the hands of all those who want to get a multi-dimensional yet comprehensive understanding of political populism as it is developing in Europe and in the Americas. Definitely a must-have book!

Gianpietro Mazzoleni, Università di Milano, Italy

This highly readable and detailed Handbook synthetizes a wealth of accumulated and innovative research on contemporary populism in Europe and the Americas. Drawing the insights of a distinguished group of specialists, the volume presents a comprehensive and updated view of the vibrant field of populist studies. Its four sections and thirty-four chapters provide stimulating perspectives on the theory, politics, and communicational dimensions of populism as well on emerging areas of research. A must read for anyone interested in understanding the complexities of a phenomenon that is likely to remain an enduring and unsettling presence in the political life of XXI century democracies.

Enrique Peruzzotti, Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina

This year’s ECREA Summer School took place virtually (on zoom) from September 20^th to the 24^th.  As a first-time participant, I didn’t know what to expect as I prepared my 10-page dissertation summary.  Preparing this document was extremely insightful because it provided an opportunity to think of my article-based dissertation as a whole and reflect about aspects such as the empirical material or the methods used and how they connect and make sense.  Participants also needed to include some questions they had about different aspects of their research to be answered during the sessions.

For this Summer School participants were organized in ‘flows’, which are groups of doctoral students whose topics connect in some way and are led by a senior scholar who is an expert in the field.  In my case I was part of the blue flow, led by the brilliant Andra Siibarak. The general theme of our flow was research on social media.  It was exciting to read other participants’ dissertation summaries and learn about what other people are doing, especially the diverse formats —article-based and monograph— methodologies —including qualitative and quantitative— as well as the insightful questions and doubts they wanted to clarify during the Summer School, which ranged from questions about thesis supervisors to methods and how to publish.  These questions were often applicable and useful for many of the participants, which was reassuring to many of us as we felt less isolated.  We were able to engage in a sort of collective learning process, where we discussed our own experiences and challenges as well as reflections about how to tackle them while dissertating.

I was really impressed by the supportive and positive tone of the group.  Each participant had one hour devoted to their dissertation and the rest of the members had to read the summary and provide feedback.  The experience was truly great as a lot of the participants participated and provided useful comments, each session was a learning experience for us all.  At the end we were sad to say goodbye, we had built a small ‘blue flow’ virtual community and have kept in touch afterwards through a slack channel we created to maintain the momentum we experienced during the summer school. 

Daniela Jaramillo-Dent

The general call fo panels and presentations

April 20-22, 2022

Lisbon (Portugal) - online or hybrid

Deadline: January 31, 2022 (paper)/June 30, 2022 (full paper)/September 13, 2022 (panel)

SECTION ONE (I): PROLOGUE & WCSA PRESIDENTIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS

As the current President of the World Complexity Science Academy (WCSA), which is a European-based policy-modeling think-tank headquartered in Bologna, I am delighted to launch the “2022 WCSA General Call for Papers and Panels” for our 10th Worldwide Conference in Lisbon. The conference will take place online or hybrid (TBA), from April 20th to 22nd, 2022. The conference is hereby titled:

SEXY TRENDS

for an Emerging Global Governance System

THE 10TH CONFERENCE BOARD OF HONOR AND STEERING COMMITTEE

• Rudy Aernoudt, European Commission and University of Ghent
• Marcelo Amaral, Fluminense Federal University, Rio de Janeiro
• Nicoletta Bersier Ladavac, Thémis, Geneva
• Adele Bianco, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara
• Richard M. Brandt, Director of Iacocca Institute & Lehigh University
• Gerhard Chroust, Former IFSR General Secretary
• Carlton Clark, The University of Wisconsin
• György Csepeli, Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest
• Michel De Kemmeter, Club of Brussels
• Piero Dominici, University of Perugia and World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS)
• Edit Fabó, Hungarian Institute for Historical Research, Budapest
• Emilia Ferone, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara
• Polona Filipic, University of Ljubljana
• André Folloni, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba
• Fabrizio Fornari, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara
• Roberta Iannone, University La Sapienza, Rome
• Garry Jacobs, President of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) & Global Leadership Director at the United Nations Office in Geneva
• Farooq A. Kperogi, The Kennesaw State University
• Louis Klein, European School of Governance (EUSG), Berlin
• Laura Leonardi, University of Firenze
• Sergio Marotta, Suor Orsola Benincasa University, Naples
• Vincenzo Omaggio, Suor Orsola University, Naples
• Riccardo Palumbo, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara
• Angela Perulli, University of Firenze
• Sara Petroccia, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara
• Massimiliano Ruzzeddu, Niccolò Cusano University, Rome
• Alfredo L. Spilzinger, President of SFAI, Buenos Aires
• Liborio Stuppia, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara
• Ellen Taricani, The Pennsylvania State University
• Marco A. C. Villatore, Federal Universities of Paraná & Santa Catarina, Curitiba & Florianópolis
• Cassandra L. Williamson, The Arizona University

THE 10TH CONFERENCE PROGRAM EXECUTIVE CHAIR AND ORGANIZING COMMITTEE

• Giovana Camila Portolese, Special Secretariat of the Federal Revenue of Brazil, Curitiba, Executive Chair
• Natália Brasil Dib, Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná, Curitiba, Member
• Emilia Ferone, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara, Member
• Sara Petroccia, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara, Member
• Antonio Russo, University Federico II, Naples, Member
• Luigi Somma, University of Perugia, Member
• Paula Stemberg, Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, Member
• Vera Kopsaj, University Gabriele d’Annunzio, Chieti-Pescara, Member
• Romina Gurashi, University La Sapienza, Rome
• Ilaria Iannuzzi, University La Sapienza, Rome
• Melissa Sessa, University La Sapienza, Rome

SECTION TWO (II): THE WCSA CONFERENCE MANIFESTO

We are living in an Übergangszeit in which new and old, simple and complex, global and local co-evolve side by side. It is a strange time in which threats and opportunities often look like Siamese twins for example in economy and ecology, in energy and environmental policies, in autonomy and dependence. New ways of strategic-conceptual problem setting and solving are needed, especially about ways of joining forces between scholars, researchers, business, and the public in order to generate new smart alliances for the next emergence and regenerative paradigm for sustainability and thrivability.

Research-based education becomes strategic for smart global governance valuing every kind of multiple intelligence. An intelligent approach to the complexity of any relevant difference impacting globally on business, technology, science, law, administration, politics, development, artificial intelligence, smart cities, climate change and sustainability, intellectual capital, intangible wealth creation, and more requires a complex system mindset and a smart, ironic vision to get oddities and anomalies which often are first signals of emergency phenomena not yet understood. These emergent anomalies and oddities are often too shapeless to be observed and considered by masses, crowds, and everyday common sense of the boring world taken for granted. Nevertheless, these emergent oddities and anomalies often play a key and invisible role in wealth creation by redesigning its intangible asset portfolio which outputs can be incredibly sexy for the entire mankind.

WCSA is a think-and-do-tank, which believes that a complexity educational-based approach to the global governance enables the observation and modeling of emergent anomalies and oddities, translating them into potential sexy trends. Through its research and educational agendas along with its publishing, divulgation, and in partnership activities, WCSA has already narrowed down some of these potential sexy trends just like, but not only:

– The Great Escape from the Caves

– Hypercitizenship

– Hypercities, smart cities and territorial systemic development

– Global citizenship and migration

– Power, politics and the emerging new world order

– The Legislation- Development-Demography-Technology (LEDDET) Cycle

– Developing a sextuple helix: public-companies-citizens-politics-media-university

– Ethical boundaries of Artificial Intelligence autonomy

– A transgenerational justice approach to sustainable development: filling the gap between present and future generations

– Climate change and sustainability

– Communication, deliberation and digital platforms: A democratic roadmap to the future

– Digital media education and Public Administration reform

– The great systemic emergence: Developing educational tools to address complex phenomena

– Value creation in an intangible wealth age

Beyond these sexy trends, the 10th WCSA Conference is open to any other contribution proposal on the intelligent global governance of complex phenomena, both on its macro processes and systems, and research-based complexity.

SECTION THREE (III): HONORARY BOARD OF WCSA ADVISORS

• Alexander Laszlo, President of the Bertalanffy Center for the Study of Systems Science, Vienna, & Director of Research at the Laszlo Institute of New Paradigm Research, WCSA Presidential Delegate
• Enrique Caceres-Nieto, National Autonomous University of Mexico, Mexico City, WCSA Medalist for Systemic Research (3rd edition)Lucio d’Alessandro, Rector of the University Suor Orsola Benincasa, NaplesPaolo de Nardis, University La Sapienza, Rome, WCSA Medalist (4th edition)Abram de Swaan, Distinguished Professor, University of Amsterdam, WCSA Medalist (4th edition)Klaus Krippendorff, University of Pennsylvania, WCSA Medalist (2nd edition)Ervin Laszlo, Club of Budapest, WCSA Medalist (1st edition)
• Loet Leydesdorff, University of Amsterdam
• Felix Ortega, University of Salamanca
• Alexander Riegler, Free University of Brussels
• Dario Rodriguez Mansilla, Diego Portales University, Santiago
• Christopher Thornhill, University of Manchester, WCSA Medalist (5th edition)

SECTION FOUR (IV): HOW TO SUBMIT A PANEL PROPOSAL

By September 13th, 2021, Panel Proposal submissions will be accepted.

The submission of the full panel proposal is in the care of the panel proponent. The panel proponent will be responsible for sending invitations to the authors (presenters), accepting all panel abstracts submitted to the panel, and facilitating the registration of presenters at the Conference.

Panel and paper proposals for any session must be submitted in English.

Panels require a minimum of five (5) and a maximum of seven (7) accepted papers to be accepted in the Conference Program. Larger or smaller panels are subject to special consideration and approval.

Panel proponents may appoint a panel chair. The panel proponent may act as a chair, co-chair or paper author in the panel.

Each panel will last approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours.

A Panel Proposal should include:

-Title of the panel

-Short Abstract/description of the panel: 500 words in length.

-Proponent: Name, affiliation, e-mail address, and WhatsApp number, profile picture and short bio (maximum of 5 lines, format Times New Roman 12)

-Indication of one (1) chair: Name, affiliation, e-mail address, and WhatsApp number

-List of five to seven (5-7) speakers: Name, affiliation, email address, and WhatsA number

-Paper abstracts: title and abstract (minimum of 200, maximum of 400 words length)

-Please do not include references in the abstracts

Any Panel Proposal should be submitted by email to the 10th WCSA Conference Organizing Committee (wcsaconferences@gmail.com) as a document (.doc or .docx extension) named after the title of the panel. In the email subject line, please specify 10th WCSA Conference: Panel Submission.

Panel Proposals will be peer-reviewed before acceptance.

By September 27th, 2021, notifications of acceptance/rejection of the Panel Proposal and instructions on how to become a WCSA member and to register in the Conference will be electronically communicated via email to the panel proponent. Panel proponents are responsible for notifying the results and the instructions to all members of their panels.

Please note that panel proponents and paper proponents (authors) do not need to be a WCSA member to submit a panel or a paper/presentation proposal, However, all proponents must become a WCSA member to register in the Conference. Proponents that are already WCSA members must be in the rule with their dues for registering in the Conference.

By October 18th, 2021, panel proponents whose Panel Proposal were accepted must confirm their participation in the Conference. For the confirmation purpose, panel proponents must ensure the completion of the registration in the Conference and the payment of the combined Membership and Conference fee both for themselves and their panel members. Please note that accepted panel proposals will only be included in the Conference Official Program after the completion of the registration and payment processes. Panel proponents Conference fee may be waived only in the case where all panel members register in the Conference and pay their dues by October 18th, 2021.

SECTION FIVE (V): HOW TO SUBMIT A PAPER PROPOSAL

By January 31st, 2022, single PAPER PROPOSAL submissions will be accepted. Single Paper Proposals may be accommodated in a specific panel or in a general Conference session. The updated list of specific panels is available on the Conference Page.

Paper proposals must be submitted in English. Each paper presentation will last approximately 15 minutes.

A Paper Proposal should include:

-Name, affiliation, e-mail address and WhatsApp number

-Title of the paper

-Paper abstract: minimum of 200, maximum of 400 words length

-Please do not include references in the abstracts

Any Paper Proposal shall be submitted by email to the 10th WCSA Worldwide Conference Organizing Committee (wcsaconferences@gmail.com) as a document (.doc or .docx extension) named after the title of the paper. In the email subject line, please specify 10th WCSA Conference: Single Paper Submission.

Paper proponents (authors) do not need to be a WCSA member to submit a paper proposal. However, all proponents must become a WCSA member to register in the Conference. Proponents that are already WCSA members must be in the rule with their dues for registering in the Conference.

Paper Proposals will be peer-reviewed before acceptance. Please note that the acceptance of a single paper proposal in a specific panel is at the discretion of the panel proponent while the acceptance in a general Conference session is at the discretion of the WCSA scientific board.

By February 10th, 2022By February 10th, 2022, notifications of acceptance/rejection of the Paper Proposal and instructions on how to become a WCSA member and to register in the Conference will be electronically communicated via email to the proponent.

By February 28th, 2022, authors whose paper proposal were accepted must complete their registration process and pay the combined Membership and Conference fee. Please note that accepted papers will only be included in the Conference Official Program after the completion of the registration and payment processes.

SECTION SIX (VI): CONFERENCE FEES

Please note that all senior fees include a €100 membership fee, and all junior fees include a €50 membership fee.

In presence Conference

-Senior scholar/professional fee: €330

-Junior scholar/professional (under the age of 30) fee: €200

Virtual Conference on Zoom Platform

-Senior scholar/professional fee: €200

-Junior scholar/professional (under the age of 30) fee: €105

Attendance at the Conference as audience

In presence Conference

-one-day attendance fee: €50

-three-day attendance fee: €110

Virtual Conference on Zoom Platform

-one-day attendance fee: €25

-three-day attendance fee: €60

SECTION SEVEN (VII): SUBMISSION OF FULL PAPERS

By June 30st, 2022, please submit your FULL PAPER, should you wish to have your presentation to be included in the proceedings of the 10th Conference.

Please note that all full papers submitted in the framework of a WCSA Conference are subject to a double-blind peer-review process before publication.

Submissions rules will be announced in due time.

SECTION EIGHT (VIII): THE WCSA CONFERENCES PROCEEDINGS

This is our 10th Worldwide Conference. The previous nine conferences have generated several noteworthy proceedings:

1st Conference, BOLOGNA:

-The Next Global Scenarios

2nd Conference, PALERMO:

-Nuova Atlantide

3rd Conference, VIENNA:

-Mapping Systemic Knowledge

4th Conference, TENERIFE:

-Redesigning Worldwide Connections

5th Conference, BUDAPEST:

-Inventing the Future in an Age of Contingency

6th Conference, AMSTERDAM:

-Systemic Actions in Complex Scenarios

7th Conference, RIO DE JANEIRO:

-Governing Turbulence, Risk and Opportunities in the Complexity Age

8th Conference, ROME:

-RTSA v. 66, issue 3, 2019

-CEPSR v. 20, issue 76, 2019

-Cambridge Scholars Publishing, Conference book 2020

9th Conference, ISCHIA (switched into virtual due to COVID-19 Emergency)

-Cambio Journal, v.10, issue 19, 2020 (special session)

-RTSA, v. 68, issue 4, 2021

-WCSA JOURNAL SPECIAL SESSIONS, v.1, issue 2, 2020

SECTION NINTH (IX): WCSA MEDAL AWARDS, 6th Edition

The 10th WCSA Conference will be also the venue for the presentation of the sixth edition of the WCSA Medal Awards for Systemic Research, “the 2022 WCSA Medal”. The Committee for the 2022 WCSA Medal is composed of:

-Alfredo Spilzinger, Lord of Brownsel, President of SFAI, President

-André Folloni, Law Faculty Dean at PUCPR, Member

-Emilia Ferone, WCSA Deputy President, Member and Secretary

The 2022 WCSA Medal is structured into two award categories:

-The Best Lisbon Conference Presentations (Senior and Junior) Award

-The Distinguished and Outstanding Lifetime Achievement Award

For more information about the 2022 WCSA Medal, please check on our conference page.

Hoping to see you at our next conference in LISBON, I remain sincerely yours,

Prof. Andrea Pitasi, Ph.D.

WCSA Honorary Life President

University Gabriele d’Annunzio

January 12, 2022

Along 2022, online conversations on the data in our lives will count with experts like Andrew Clement (University of Toronto, Canada), Natasha Dow Schull (New York University, USA), Tarteton Gillespie (Microsoft Research and Cornell University, USA), Chris Csikszentmihalyi (Cornell University, USA), Timnit Gebru (Distributed Artificial Intelligence Research Institute, USA), Ana Lauren Hoffman (University of Washington) or Michal Czerniawski (European Data Protection Council, EU), among others.

The first conversation, to take place on January 12th (6:30 pm), is in charge of Andra Siibak (University of Tartu, Estonia), on Datafied Infancy and the Normalization of 'Data Surveillance'.

Organized by ICNOVA and IADE, the online conversations start at 6:30 pm.

Registration is free and should be made using this form.