ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS), Bochum, Germany

Are you studying the social, political, economic, media-related or cultural effects of digitalization? Do you want to concentrate exclusively on a project and are interested in interdisciplinary exchange?

The Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS) in Bochum, Germany, supports innovative projects that deal with the social opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation. Experts from academia and practice can apply for Fellowships and Working Groups.

The funding program is open to experts of all career stages, to all disciplines and areas of investigation, as well as to pure research and to projects that are more applied in orientation.

The funding program is continuous. Apply by 31 January 2022 for Fellowships starting from October 2022 and for Working Groups starting from January 2023.

For more information go to: www.cais.nrw/en/callforapplications/.

If you have any questions, please contact esther.laufer@cais.nrw.

University of Salzburg 

GZ A 0155/1-2021

The Department of Communication Studies, is seeking to fill a research and teaching position, in accordance with the Universities Act 2002 (UG) and the Austrian Employee Act (Angestelltengesetz) with a university assistant in accordance with § 26 of the Collective Agreement for Universities (Postdoc position). (Application group B1; the monthly salary for this position is € 3,945.90 gross (14 times per year)).

Starting date: 1 March 2022

Duration of employment: 5 years

Number of hours per week: 40

Responsibilities:

• conduct independent scientific research and teaching at the Division of Public Spheres and Inequalities,
• academic support in research and teaching, and support in research and teaching as well as participation in administrative tasks in the Public Spheres and Inequality division at the department with a focus on the research global communication and international asymmetries;
• independent teaching of 4 semester hours per week;
• experience with qualitative and/ or quantitative methods, possibility to work on habilitation (second book) is provided

Employment requirements:

• completed doctoral studies in communication science or a related field with a recognisable thematic focus
• scientific publications
• sound and differentiated knowledge of theories and methods in communication studies

Desired additional qualifications:

The application must be submitted in electronic form and, in addition to a letter of motivation, curriculum vitae and references, must include the following:

a) Presentation of achievements in science and research

b) Description of experience and activities in teaching (and, if applicable, in the supervision of young academics)

c) Concept for future plans in research and teaching and for the contribution to the internationalisation of the academic profile of the department

d) Considerations on knowledge transfer and science management as well as presentation of social and other competences

e) Good knowledge of German and a 3rd foreign language are advantageous

Desired personal qualities: independence and taking initiative, teamwork and cooperation, reliability, openness, critical skills

For further information please contact hanan.badr@plus.ac.at

How To Apply:

Please send your application, stating the reference number of the job advertisement GZ A 0155/1-2021, via e-mail to bewerbung@plus.ac.at

Application deadline is 22 December 2021

Full German job ad here: https://www.plus.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/A-0155-Postdoc-KoWi.pdf

The Paris Lodron University of Salzburg aims to increase the proportion of women among academic and general university staff, especially in management positions, and therefore expressly invites applications from qualified women. In the case of equal qualifications, women will be given priority.

Persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses who meet the required qualification criteria are expressly encouraged to apply. Information is available at +43/662/8044-2462 and at disability@plus.ac.at.

Unfortunately, travel and accommodation expenses incurred during the admission procedure cannot be reimbursed.

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

GZ A 0156/1-2021

The Department of Communication Studies is seeking to fill a research and teaching position in accordance with the Universities Act 2002 (UG) and the Austrian Employee Act (Angestelltengesetz) with a university assistant in accordance with § 26 of the Collective Agreement for Universities (PhD Position). (Application group B1; the minimum monthly salary for this position is € 2,228.60 gross (14 times per year) and may be increased on the basis of the provisions of the collective agreement by taking into account previous experience relevant to the job).

Starting date: 1 March 2022

Duration of employment: 4 years

Hours per week: 30, working hours determined by agreement

Responsibilities:

• academic support in research and teaching in the Public Spheres and Inequality division of the department as well as administrative tasks;
• independent research activities, including the writing and publication of a dissertation
• from the third year of employment onwards, independent teaching for two hours per week; cooperation in the department's research projects is expected

Employment requirements: completed diploma or master's degree in Communication Studies or a related subject with a recognisable thematic reference; commencement of the relevant doctoral studies at the University of Salzburg.

Desired additional qualifications: experience with qualitative and/or quantitative social science research methods; interest in interdisciplinary research; good knowledge of communication and media theories as well as critical theories, with a focus on media, (post)migration and participation; very good spoken and written language skills in English and German, knowledge of a 3rd foreign language is an advantage; experience in academic work is also an advantage as well as editorial experience, e.g., in content management systems or PR.

Desired personal skills: teamwork, cooperation, reliability, taking initiative, openness, critical skills

For further information write to hanan.badr@plus.ac.at

Please send your application, stating the reference number of the job advertisement GZ A 0156/1-2021, via e-mail to bewerbung@plus.ac.at

Application deadline is 22 December 2021

Full German job ad here: https://www.plus.ac.at/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/A-0156-Diss-KoWi.pdf

The Paris Lodron University of Salzburg aims to increase the proportion of women among academic and general university staff, especially in management positions, and therefore expressly invites applications from qualified women. In the case of equal qualifications, women will be given priority.

Persons with disabilities or chronic illnesses who meet the required qualification criteria are expressly encouraged to apply. Information is available at +43/662/8044-2462 and at disability@plus.ac.at.

Unfortunately, travel and accommodation expenses incurred during the admission procedure cannot be reimbursed.

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

December 9

I am pleased to invite you to the next in the series of IPRA Thought Leadership webinars. The webinar Science based reputation management: insight, influence and persuasion will be presented by Ashwani Singla, founding managing partner at Astrum, India on Thursday 9 December 2021 at 12.00 GMT/UCT (unadjusted).

What is the webinar content?

The webinar will explore science-based reputation management considering aspects of insight, influence and persuasion. Drawing on examples from Asia we will consider the five aspects of reputation management which are:

• Discover and define the persuadables
• Discover and define the drivers of opinion
• Define and develop sources of influence and information
• Define and develop your Big Picture Story
• Deliver your communication by being holistic yet focused.
• The webinar will be followed by an interactive Q&A session.

How to join

Register here at Airmeet.

A reminder will be sent 1 hour before the event.

Background to IPRA

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. We do this through networking, our code of conduct and intellectual leadership of the profession. IPRA is the organiser of public relations' annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA's services enable PR professionals to collaborate and be recognised. Members create content via our Thought Leadership essays, social media and our consultative status with the United Nations. GWA winners demonstrate PR excellence. IPRA welcomes all those who share our aims and who wish to be part of the IPRA worldwide fellowship. For more see www.ipra.org

Background to Ashwani Singla

Ashwani Singla is the founding managing partner of Astrum, India’s first specialist reputation management advisory that uses science to understand and shape public opinion. In his two decades of experience, he has been a trusted advisor and strategist for both c-suite executives and political leaders. He has advised Indian and multinational corporations across a range of sectors. He has been an election campaign strategist and pollster for national and regional political parties and has been involved in election campaigns for close to a decade, including the defining 2014 campaign of India’s BJP. Prior to founding Astrum, Ashwani was the CEO of Genesis Burson-Marsteller and Asia MD of Penn Schoen Berland. He is also the founder executive director of Impact Research & Measurement.

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.orgTelephone +44 1634 818308

Special issue of Communication, Culture and Critique (Vol. 16, No. 1, March 2023)

Abstracts due December 15, 2021

Editors: Bo Ruberg (University of California, Irvine) and Whit Pow (New York University)

Contribution length: 6,000 to 7,000 words, inclusive of all notes and references

Trans studies and game studies—the academic study of video games, analog games, and play—have many productive points of resonance. Transgender people have long made and played games, despite the misconception that trans inclusion is a recent addition to the medium. Trans representation in games has had its own long-standing yet rocky history, while trans players themselves have for years used game spaces for their own radical purposes: exploring gender identity and alternate modes of embodiment in ludic and often digital spaces. Even in the face of transphobia, trans designers, programmers, artists, and fans have worked to trans games themselves: repurposing games and reimagining them in ways that resist and refuse the dominant cis-normativity of games culture. These are only some of the myriad ways that trans issues have come to intertwine with games.

The intersection of trans experience and games is not yet as codified an area of study as queer game studies, which allows for a great deal of potential and possibility as work on the intersection of trans lives and games continues to grow. We take this special issue as an opportunity to turn toward community imaginings of the past, present, and future of trans game studies. While an imagined trans game studies has much to draw from the established sub-field of queer game studies, trans game studies (like trans studies more broadly) must be understood as distinct from the study of queerness. Addressing trans experiences and trans lives in games may necessitate its own set of approaches, methodologies, theories, and archives. It may also raise its own array of rich new perspectives and productive contradictions between this widely influential media form and the realities of trans life.

This special issue of Communication, Culture & Critique calls for the envisioning of—and a critical self-reflection on—a trans game studies. We understand this issue to be exploratory in spirit, driven by an interest in speculative futures, reimagined histories, and alternate presents. What is trans game studies? What has it been, what is it now, and what would we like to see it become? We are particularly interested in contributions from authors who themselves identify as part of trans (game) communities—as well as those who are similarly invested in the importance of positioning trans life, and Black and Indigenous trans lives and trans lives of color, as inseparable from the study and the design of games and computational media.

With this special issue, we aim to explore the following questions:

- What is trans game design and/or what are trans games? How might trans perspectives shift the creation of games, their temporalities and spaces, or the politics of their labor and design?

- What is the place of trans people or trans issues in video game history? What might it mean to re-tell the history of games through trans perspectives or trans lives, or to use trans game studies to question existing modes of writing and thinking about history?

- What is the relationship between trans studies and game studies? What might it mean to trans the field of game studies or to bring a focus on games and play to the field of trans studies?

Building from these questions, potential article topics may include but are not limited to:

- Games (digital or analog) with trans representational content

- Games interpreted through trans lenses

- Trans game creators and/or design

- Trans lives in game history and/or trans approaches to game history

- Perspectives, experiences, and politics of Black and Indigenous trans people and trans people of color and games

- Trans embodiment in or through games

- Digital trans aesthetics in games

- Tensions between the representational and the deliberately non-representational and their relation to trans life and experience (e.g. the glitch, the pixelated, or the deliberately opaque)

- Trans issues in game culture

- Experiences of trans players

- Trans video game live streamers

- Trans game fandoms

- The place of trans topics within game studies and vice versa

- The relationship between trans game studies and queer game studies

Submission Instructions:

Please submit an abstract of approximately 500 words, not inclusive of references, to the special issue editors Bo Ruberg (bruberg@uci.edu) and Whit Pow (wpow@nyu.edu) by December 15, 2021.

No payment is required from authors.

Based on the relevance and strength of the proposed work, the special issue editors will choose a selection of the submitted abstracts and invite their authors to submit full drafts of their articles for peer review. Because all articles undergo a full anonymous peer review process, an invitation from the editors to submit does not guarantee acceptance in the issue. Notifications regarding abstract selection will be sent out by January 15, 2022. For those authors invited to submit, full articles will be due May 1, 2022. These will be submitted directly to Communication, Culture, and Critique via ScholarOne (https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cccr)

If you have any further questions, please do not hesitate to contact the co-editors, Bo Ruberg (bruberg@uci.edu) and Whit Pow (wpow@nyu.edu).

Special Issue Editors:

Bo Ruberg, Ph.D. (they/them) is an associate professor in the Department of Film and Media Studies and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. They are the author of The Queer Games Avant-Garde: How LGBTQ Game Makers Are Reimagining the Medium of Video Games (Duke University Press, 2020) and Video Games Have Always Been Queer (New York University Press, 2019) as well as the co-editor of Queer Game Studies (University of Minnesota Press, 2017).

Whit Pow, Ph.D. (they/them) is an assistant professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. Their work has been published in Feminist Media Histories, ROMchip: A Journal of Game Histories, JCMS: Journal of Cinema and Media Studies, and The Velvet Light Trap.

MARIA BAKARDJIEVA; STINA BENGTSSON; GÖRAN BOLIN AND KJELL ENGELBREKT

Based on an extended empirical research project, this book advances the theoretical, normative and practical understanding of civil society under the conditions of digital mediatization and in relation to a set of particular historical and geopolitical circumstances.

Digital Media and the Dynamics of Civil Society adds to existing knowledge of the democratizing role of digital media in communication studies by carefully tracing the trajectory of the emergent communicative and representational practices of civil society in a pair of new European democracies – Estonia and Bulgaria – facing distinctive socio-cultural and political challenges. The book combines macro and micro perspectives to illuminate the activities of civic activist and civil society organizations in the new media environment taking into account the social and cultural developments characteristic of each country. Have digital media contributed to the constitution of a new public space fostering the vitality and democratic potency of civil society in countries where it has suffered historical obstacles?

The book addresses this question by traversing the whole range between personal, group and societal beliefs, lived experiences and actions unfolding in a concrete region at a time when civic activists around the world are grappling to understand and harness the powers of digital communication.

Purchase here: https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781786616401/Digital-Media-and-the-Dynamics-of-Civil-Society-Retooling-Citizenship-in-New-EU-Democracies

My name is Mirela Polic, I am working as Marketing Manager at Xiaomi for Croatia&Slovenia and I am currently at the stage of finishing my PhD research. The aim of the research is to explore heuristics (cognitive bias) as the new communication pattern. In addition to that, I am reporter for EUPRERA's project Women in Public Relations for Croatian market, hence my intention is not only explore new communication patterns but also to explore the differences between male and female communication as well as to compare Croatian sample with international sample. 

Questionnaire (completely anonymous): https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1Ch9EXzJFNe0PXg1Wv0HnMNaD0mr3AJMN8nl-8RRZwAo/edit?usp=sharing_eip_m&ts=611623d0&urp=gmail_link

Profesional de la información (Scopus Q1, WoS Q3)

Deadline: March 10, 2022

Coordinated by Luis Miguel Pedrero Esteban and Teresa Piñeiro Otero

Publication date: September-October 2022

Manuscript submission deadline: March 10th, 2022

http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com/notas/cfp-digital-audio-communication/

In the first months of 2021, the live social audio app Clubhouse became a fulgurating global phenomenon. Their success revived the orality relevance in the age of convergence (Jenkins, 2006), and promoted significant changes in other social platforms.

Despite losing its original popularity, it has made a great impact on an increasingly sonorous communicative ecosystem. The popularization of podcasts and audiobooks; the multiplication of sound streaming platforms; the interconnection between audio devices; and the consolidation of voice as a digital connection interface in smart assistants and speakers, have positioned the sound as one of the main trends in communication.

The diversification of formats and devices, and the confluence between media and screens, have created new sound species that provide more interactive and immersive experiences. This evolution from sound to sound-media requires a reconceptualization of profiles, practices, and professional work routines in this communicative ecosystem. At the meantime, the diversification of devices, platforms and formats has generated new relations between socialization and individualization of listening, between large audiences and hyper-segmentation.

Podcasts such as ‘Serial’ (This American Life, 2014-2018) in the United States or ‘El gran apagón’ (Podium Podcast, 2016-2018) in Spain reveal that exits a captive audience for sound stories, but also a social audience with an interest in interacting around those contents. Meanwhile, smartphones, tablets and wearables have promoted the emergence of personal soundscapes that are redefining our experience of space.

The interaction between socialization and individualization of listening has grown in strength during Covid-19 pandemic; mobility restrictions have been a boost for online audio: while radio has reaffirmed its role as an information and entertainment medium, other contents such as podcasts and audiobooks have experienced a great expansion even as a cultural product. The health crisis has also underlined the urgency of defining new business models for audio media.

This monograph invites the submission of research papers of analytical, theoretical, methodological or review nature, preferably of international scope, around the following axes and lines of research:

• Evolution of radio. Adaptation of listening habits, devices, channels, and distribution systems. Interactions between online and offline broadcasting. New formats and contents. Integration of artificial intelligence and other technologies in the radio production and broadcasting process.
• Podcasting. Products, genres, and formats. Creative and expressive innovations. Podcast platforms: effects on production, distribution, prescription, and personalization. The podcast as DiY media. Podcast and slow journalism.
• Sound platforms and music streaming. Editorial and commercial models. Curation using algorithms. Impact on the generation and modification of tastes and trends.

• Business models. Sound contents as part of online broadcasting and monetization strategies. Influencers in/of sound communication.
• Online radio and audio consumption trends. Audiences and participation.
• The production context. Transformations in professional routines. New professional profiles. Access and self-mediation of social groups.
• Innovative contents. Experiences in the convergence of contents, formats, and genres. Segmentation and hyper-specialization. Fiction. Documentary. Daily. Online audio as origin and expansion of transmedia universes.

• Immersive sound experiences. Alternate reality games with sound base. Audio games. Mobile urban drama.
• Audiobooks. Synthetic voices and content accessibility.Audio branding. Branded podcasts. Audio branded content. Corporate radios.

Manuscript submission

If you wish to submit an article, please read carefully the journal’s acceptance criteria and rules for authors:

http://www.profesionaldelainformacion.com/authors.html

And then send us your article through the OJS journal manager on:

https://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com/index.php/EPI/submissions

IMPORTANT FOR AUTHORS

If you are not yet registered as an author, do so here:

https://revista.profesionaldelainformacion.com/index.php/EPI/user/register

Evaluation

All articles published in EPI are double blind peer reviewed by 2 or more members of the international Scientific Committee of the journal, and other reviewers, always external to the Editorial Board. The journal undertakes to reply with the review results.

There are many calls for more education on digital media and data in all areas of education. But which topics are already covered by teachers, lecturers and trainers? Which methods and resources do they use? What works well, what resources are needed? This survey addresses educators from all educational sectors (incl. HE) who are interested in teaching about digital technologies, data security, (big) data and/or datafication.

The survey is conducted by Ina Sander, Data Justice Lab, Cardiff University. Answer are collected entirely anonymously. The survey takes 15-20 minutes and is available in English and German: https://www.soscisurvey.de/educator-survey/

December 3, 2021

Online

Greek agency V+O has been a winner of IPRA Golden World Awards over many years. To celebrate their recent 2021 success, they are hosting an event with IPRA. All members and potential GWA entrants are invited to How PR strategic and creative thinking is a key to meeting communication challenges, an online event on Friday 3 December 2021 from 13.00 – 14.00 Athens time (GMT+2).

Who is speaking?

IPRA president Philippe Borremans and past president Svetlana Stavreva will be in discussion with the V+O senior team comprising general manager Tonia Gogou, business unit directors Ria Psouchia and Nikos Kopsidas, as well as director Zafeira Atsidi.

What is being discussed?

This live interactive discussion will cover what it takes to win a Golden World Award, how strategic and creative thinking is key to any campaign, and how event planning and management must evolve.

Details

Friday 3 December 2021 from 13.00 – 14.00 Athens time (GMT+2) online via Microsoft Teams. Register here.

Background to IPRA

IPRA, the International Public Relations Association, was established in 1955, and is the leading global network for PR professionals in their personal capacity. IPRA aims to advance trusted communication and the ethical practice of public relations. We do this through networking, our code of conduct and intellectual leadership of the profession. IPRA is the organiser of public relations' annual global competition, the Golden World Awards for Excellence (GWA). IPRA's services enable PR professionals to collaborate and be recognised. Members create content via our Thought Leadership essays, social media and our consultative status with the United Nations. GWA winners demonstrate PR excellence. IPRA welcomes all those who share our aims and who wish to be part of the IPRA worldwide fellowship. For more see www.ipra.org

Contact

International Public Relations Association Secretariat

United Kingdom

secgen@ipra.orgTelephone +44 1634 818308

May 5 - 6, 2022

Mons, Belgium

Deadline: January 5, 2021

Abstract of 5000 signs expected by January 05, 2022

with the LASCO of the University of Louvain (UCLouvain)

Event labelled SFSIC

Short Summary:

Environmental, health, political, economic, cultural crises... There is no doubt that human activities and behaviors as well as the modes of societal and economic organizations (industrial production, intensive agriculture and livestock farming, urbanization, deforestation, poaching, etc.) are at the origin of a diversity of crises of growing magnitude. This capacity of man to significantly modify the evolution of the planet and to influence natural ecosystems and biodiversity, has opened the era of the Anthropocene. If humanity has always been confronted with infectious diseases, the Covid-19 pandemic has induced successive waves of population confinement and has highlighted the acuteness of certain economic and industrial interdependencies (drugs, masks, semi-conductors...). It also seems to be at the origin of an awareness of the limits of a system and of invitations to think about the " post pandemic world ". In this context, a number of speeches, broadcast via social networks and/or traditional media, from anonymous people and public figures from the political, economic, artistic or institutional spheres, have called for different types of changes. These positions, sometimes passionate, are based on various registers - partisan, opportunistic and/or ultra-specialized - and invite scientists to contribute to the reflections on the human and social phenomena at work; and even to make substantiated proposals to learn from the "crisis", in all its dimensions. This is how a certain number of researchers have participated in the public debate, thought, popularized, and even initiated new ways of working, teaching, and protecting health and research.

In this context, Org&Co, the study and research group on organizational communication of the SFSIC (French Society of Information & Communication Sciences), is organizing with the LASCO (UCLouvain) a conference in May 2022 in Mons (Belgium). The organizers have proposed to innovate the way of "making a conference". During the first part of the year 2021, several workshops of debates and reflections around the theme were organized to think about this "post pandemic world " - through the prism of organizational communications. This work has made it possible, among other things, to estimate that this world will in all likelihood be one of variable and discontinuous crises. And when crisis is no longer a jolt but a permanent state (Beck, 2003), it is legitimate for scientists in the field to question the contributions that organizational communications can make. This call therefore invites researchers to question, or even re-found, scientific work in this area and to propose papers aimed at observing, questioning and analyzing the discourses, practices, achievements and actions implemented in a world marked by multidimensional crises.

Conference Website: https://comorg22.sciencesconf.org/

Full Call for Papers in French below:

Appel à communication colloque Org&Co

Un monde de crises au prisme des communications organisationnelles

Avec le LASCO de l’Université catholique de Louvain

Les 5 - 6 mai 2022 - Ateliers des FUCaM - Mons - Belgique

Résumé de 5000 signes attendu pour le 05 janvier 2022

Evénement labellisé SFSIC

Le groupe d’études et de recherches Org&Co de la Société Française des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication (Sfsic) est dédié aux recherches sur la communication des organisations / organisationnelle. Il met en place régulièrement des colloques et journées d’études, ouverts aux débats critiques et aux controverses, qui questionnent les transformations organisationnelles. Flexibilité, recompositions continues, externalisations et impartitions de la production des biens et des services, basculement des logiques de l’opération à des logiques processuelles… une diversité de phénomènes contemporains font évoluer les pratiques professionnelles et invitent à questionner les communications à l’œuvre.

Le LASCO fait partie du pôle de recherche en communication de l'Université catholique de Louvain et regroupe en son sein un ensemble de chercheurs fédérés autour de l'observation et de l'analyse des phénomènes de communication interne et externe, stratégique ou spontanée des organisations. Le LASCO développe une acceptation large de la communication des organisations entendue comme « projet praxéologique » (Bernard), qui se décline à travers 4 axes qui sont autant d’entrées sur ce champ de recherche : une entrée par les processus collaboratifs et les phénomènes de communication hybride (axe 1), une entrée par les dispositifs de communication numérique et les usages communicationnels qui les accompagnent (axe 2), une entrée par les pratiques professionnelles des acteurs de la communication (axe 3) et finalement une entrée par les enjeux contemporains de la communication (axe 4).

Argument du colloque

Crises environnementales, sanitaires, politiques, économiques, culturelles… Il ne fait aucun doute que les activités et les comportements humains ainsi que les modes d’organisations sociétales et économiques (production industrielle, agriculture et élevage intensifs, urbanisation, déforestation, braconnage, etc.) sont à l’origine d’une diversité de crises d’ampleur grandissante. Cette capacité de l’homme à modifier sensiblement l’évolution de la planète et, notamment, à influencer les écosystèmes naturels et la biodiversité, aurait ouvert l’ère de l’anthropocène. Si l’humanité s’est depuis toujours confrontée aux maladies infectieuses, la pandémie de Covid-19 a induit des vagues successives de confinement des populations et a mis en lumière l’acuité de certaines interdépendances économiques et industrielles (médicaments, masques, semi-conducteurs…). Elle semble également être à l’origine d’une prise de conscience des limites d’un système et d’invitations à penser le « monde d’après ». Dans ce contexte, nombre de discours, diffusés via les réseaux sociaux et/ou les médias traditionnels, d’anonymes et de personnages publics des milieux politiques, économiques, artistiques ou institutionnels, ont appelé à différents types de changements. Ces prises de positions parfois passionnées, relevant de registres variés - partisans, opportunistes et/ou ultra spécialisés - invitent les scientifiques à contribuer aux réflexions sur les phénomènes humains et sociaux à l’œuvre ; voire à faire des propositions étayées pour apprendre de la « crise », dans toutes ses dimensions. C’est ainsi qu’un certain nombre de chercheurs ont participé au débat public, pensé, vulgarisé, voire initié de nouvelles manières de travailler, d’enseigner, de protéger la santé et la recherche.

Dans ce contexte Org&Co, le groupe d’études et de recherche sur les communications organisationnelles de la SFSIC, organise avec le LASCO (UCLouvain) un colloque en mai 2022 à Mons (Belgique). Les organisateurs ont proposé d’innover quant à la manière de « faire colloque ». Durant la première partie de l’année 2021, plusieurs ateliers de débats et de réflexions autour de la thématique ont été organisés pour réfléchir à ce « monde d’après » - au prisme des communications organisationnelles. Ces travaux ont permis, entre autres, d’estimer que celui-ci sera selon toute vraisemblance, un monde de crises variables et discontinues. Et quand la crise n’est plus un soubresaut mais un état permanent (Beck, 2003), il est légitime pour les scientifiques du champ de se questionner sur les contributions que peuvent alors avoir les communications organisationnelles. Cet appel invite donc les chercheuses et les chercheurs à interroger, voir refonder, les travaux scientifiques en la matière et à proposer des communications visant à observer, questionner et analyser les discours, les pratiques, les réalisations et actions mises en œuvre dans un monde marqué par des crises multidimensionnelles.

Les différents axes thématiques qui structurent le présent appel sont le fruit des séminaires de cette année. Les futurs contributeurs et contributrices sont donc invités à y inscrire leur proposition :

Axe 1. Résiliences organisationnelles et expériences sensibles en contexte de dislocation des communs

Le concept de résilience, qui permet originellement de caractériser la résistance d'un matériau, est désormais adopté pour une diversité d’objets (organisme, système…). A l’échelle de l’organisation, l’intérêt porte sur les facteurs et les processus qui vont permettre d’appréhender puis de réagir (résister, s’adapter, anticiper…) aux événements défavorables et parfois inattendus. Les différentes natures de crises induites par la Covid-19 ont pu, à bien des égards, disloquer certains communs organisationnels qu’ils soient, par exemple, d’ordre processuel ou culturel. Dans ce contexte, le présent axe invite à réfléchir aux questions suivantes : quels processus info-communicationnels les organisations ont-elles mis en œuvre pour développer leur résilience dans les secteurs particulièrement impactés (culture, tourisme, industrie…) ? Quels phénomènes info-communicationnels font l’organisation dans cet environnement contraint ? Quelles expériences sensibles les individus qui font l’organisation ont-ils des phénomènes à l'œuvre ? Quels sont les apports d’une approche info-communicationnelle pour comprendre et/ou favoriser la résilience organisationnelle ? Quelles méthodes adopter pour appréhender la résilience des communs ?

Axe 2. Transformations des pratiques professionnelles et des organisations

Cet axe questionne les dimensions, les caractéristiques et les expressions observables de la “prise de conscience” qui serait celle des institutions, organisations et acteurs face aux enjeux de ce monde de crises. Il fait place aux travaux qui analysent le rôle conféré à la communication et à ceux qui cherchent à identifier ses contributions plus discrètes et informelles, ouvrant des possibilités ou des espaces de parole inattendus au travail et dans les collectifs de travail. Dans quelle mesure et de quelles façons se renouvelle la relation entre les organisations et leurs publics, usagers, clients ? Comment la réflexivité des communicateurs, communicatrices est-elle engagée ? En quoi ces praticien.nes participent-elles/ils à une transfiguration organisationnelle, à un renouvellement des imaginaires qui nourrissent les projets collectifs et le sens et l’expérience vécue du travail et au travail ?

Sur un autre versant, l’avenir se construit dans la continuité du mouvement de numérisation que connaissent les organisations et convoque désormais les technologies d’intelligence artificielle. Certaines entreprises se sont engagées sur la voie de l’automatisation de la communication en utilisant par exemple des agents conversationnels. Par ailleurs, des organisations publiques recourent à l’usage de l’IA pour soutenir leur prise de décisions. Les recherches présentées permettront de mieux comprendre la manière dont les technologies d'IA reconfigurent les pratiques de travail et la communication. Elles exploreront les synergies, les formes de collaboration entre les travailleurs humains et l'IA sur le lieu de travail en portant une attention particulière à la valeur communicationnelle des données générées par les algorithmes.

Axe 3: Les territoires et acteurs de la santé

L’émergence puis la propagation rapide et à l’échelle mondiale de la Covid-19 a mis en lumière une gestion sanitaire de cette nouvelle maladie que d’aucuns ont pu qualifier de difficile, désordonnée voire chaotique. Les profondeur et largeur des crises induites ont vu la participation d’une diversité d’acteurs dont en premier lieu ceux de la santé. Que ce soit du côté de l'État, des collectivités, des milieux socio-économiques mais aussi associatifs, chacun d’entre-eux a pu contribuer à résoudre, à son échelle, les nombreuses problématiques soulevées. Sur des territoires aux caractéristiques différenciées, les potentielles stratégies, pratiques et expériences de ces acteurs deviennent un objet de recherche pour la compréhension des différentes crises à l'œuvre. Et c’est dans ce système complexe où se mêlent résistances et controverses, aux “jeux d’échelles” croisés, que les pratiques info-communicationnelles apparaissent centrales. Différentes questions peuvent alors être identifiées : quelles sont les places et pratiques notamment info-communicationnelles des acteurs de la santé dans ce contexte ? Comment les différentes organisations participent de la définition ou redéfinition de ce monde en crises ? De quoi sont faits les dispositifs de santé dans la gestion des crises ?

Axe 4 : Formes d’engagements des chercheur.es et des praticien.es

Dans ce contexte de crises, les chercheurs sont plus que jamais invités à engager un ”changement de voie” (Morin, Abouessalam, 2020) à s’impliquer et à “co-construire” avec les milieux socio-économiques. Si ces injonctions ne sont pas nouvelles, la récente pandémie a accentué cette exigence de participation aux efforts de conceptualisation voire de mise en œuvre pour innover, accompagner, renouveler les organisations contemporaines. Si dans les sciences dites exactes les postures et épistémologies retenues n’entravent pas ce type de participation, dans un certain nombre de sciences humaines et sociales de telles démarches ne vont pas de soi. L’engagement du scientifique dans la Société pose un certain nombre de questions. D’un point de vue épistémologique, quels positionnements adopter face aux appels à dominante fonctionnelle et technocentrée et quelle place pour l’expression d’une recherche critique et/ou engagée ? Les concepts et théories ainsi que les méthodologies développées historiquement en communication organisationnelle demeurent-elles pertinentes face à l’émergence de nouvelles pratiques et formes organisationnelles ? Permettent-elles et à quelles conditions le développement d’une recherche inclusive ou participative fondée sur des co-constructions avec les acteurs et actrices de l’écosystème, l’intégrité des méthodes adoptées, la lutte contre les biais de genre et d’âge dans la production des savoirs ?

Modalités de proposition de communication

Quel que soit l’axe retenu, les propositions pourront être fondées sur des recherches empiriques récentes et achevées. Les propositions pourront par exemple dresser un bilan visant à produire des apprentissages sur la base des retours d’expériences au plus fort de la pandémie, ou encore questionner les discours et les pratiques ayant une visée prospective voire transformative. Des réflexions épistémologiques ou méthodologiques appuyées sur des exemples de terrain pourront également être acceptées. La pluridisciplinarité sera valorisée. Deux formes de soumissions sont envisageables :

- Communication : les propositions de 5 000 signes maximum (espaces compris) comporteront un titre, l’axe retenu, trois mots clés, une synthèse et cinq à huit références bibliographiques. Elles seront rendues anonymes. Sur un document distinct et joint, les titres, axe et mots clés seront complétés d’une présentation du ou des auteurs (Nom, prénom, institution, laboratoire, adresse de courriel).

- Panel : les propositions de 5 000 signes maximum (espaces compris) comporteront un titre, l’axe retenu, trois mots clés, une synthèse de la thématique, cinq à huit références bibliographiques, les noms et qualités des contributeurs.rices (idéalement 4 à 6 qui peuvent être issus des milieux académiques et/ou praticiens), les nom, prénom et adresse de courriel du référent.

Dans les deux options, les propositions sont à envoyées au format Word (.docx) aux responsables scientifiques :

François Lambotte - UCLouvain : francois.lambotte@uclouvain.be

Laurent Morillon - Université des Antilles : laurent.morillon@univ-antilles.fr

Valérie Lépine - Université de Montpellier : valerie.lepine@univ.montpellier.fr

ET déposées sur la plateforme à l’adresse suivante :

https://comorg22.sciencesconf.org/

La sélection des propositions sera réalisée en double aveugle par les membres du comité scientifique. Ces derniers pourront envoyer une proposition qui sera évaluée, elle aussi, en double aveugle. Les critères de sélection seront :

- Apport scientifique et originalité de la contribution

- Explicitation convaincante des ressources théoriques mobilisées

- Exposition du design de la recherche et des méthodes utilisées

- Clarté du propos et qualité rédactionnelle.

Les actes seront publiés sur le site Org&Co. Un ouvrage collectif à partir de textes retenus par un comité scientifique distinct de celui du colloque sera publié dans l’année qui suit aux Presses Universitaires de Louvain.

Calendrier

Appel à communication : fin octobre/novembre 2021

Envoi des propositions : le 5 janvier 2022

Retour évaluation : 5 février 2022

Remise du texte complet (30 000 signes maximum incluant la bibliographie) : 15 avril 2022

Colloque : 5 et 6 mai 2022

Comité scientifique

Responsables : Laurent Morillon, Université des Antilles ; Valérie Lépine, Université Paul Valéry-Montpellier 3 ; François Lambotte, Université catholique de Louvain

Baillargeon Dany, USherbrooke

Basque Joëlle, TELUQ

Boivin Geneviève, USherbrooke

Catellani Andrea, Université catholique de Louvain

Cordelier Benoit, Université du Québec à Montréal, Québec

Cotton Anne-Marie, Artevelde Hogeschool

Desmoulins Lucile, Université Gustave Eiffel

Domenget Jean-Claude Université de Franche-Comté

Dumas Aurélia, Université de Clermont Ferrand

Foli Olivia, Université Paris 4

Gagnebien Anne, Université de Toulon

Gallot Sidonie, Université Paul Valéry - Montpellier 3

Hemont Florian, Université de Rennes 2 OU Patrascu Marcela, U de Rennes 2

Laborde Aurélie, Université Bordeaux Montaigne

Maas Elise, IHECS

Masselot Cyril, Université de Franche-Comté

Mignot Pierre, Université Toulouse 3

Roginsky Sandrine, Université catholique de Louvain

McAllum Kristie, Université de Montréal

Renard Damien, Université catholique de Louvain

Comité d’organisation

Responsable : François Lambotte, Université catholique de Louvain

Andrea Catellani, Damien Renard, Sandrine Roginsky, Lea Amand, Kevin Carillon, Raul Nuevo Gasco, Déborah Horlait, Diana Jarnea, Ines Kalaï, Axel Imbert, Olivia de Brey et Hugo Thirard.