ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

SOUNDS

The Societal Observatory Using Novel Data Sources (SOUNDS) is looking to fill a W3 Professorship position (m/f/x) in Compuational Social Science.

This professorial appointment is open regarding the candidate's specific research focus within the field ofcomputational social science. The successful candidate will define their own research agenda, provided thatit demonstrates excellence in computational social science, addresses current societal questions, makes useof novel digital data sources and establishes clear links with computer science.

SOUNDS is a research project at Saarland University funded through the Saarland state government’s Transformation Fund. It investigates societally relevant questions through novel digital data sources, digital behavioural traces, social media data and Al-based methods. This professorship provides the computational social science core of the SOUNDS project. It will combine social-science theory with network analysis, automated text analysis, the study of large-scale digital behavioural data, mobile sensing and Al-based modelling, addressing questions such as collective opinion formation, social cohesion and polarisation, or the role of digital platforms in public communication, and contributing to joint questions, methods and publications with the social sciences and computer science. The successful candidate will be expected to develop and lead externally funded research, including principal investigator roles in coordinated funding initiatives such as Collaborative Research Centres. Teaching duties will include computational and methodological courses, for example on the analysis of digital behavioural data, automated text analysis and network analysis. These courses will contribute to degree programmes in the social sciences, computer science, data science and psychology. The role also includes the supervision of student theses and the mentoring of early-career researchers.

We are looking for a researcher with excellent international standing in computational social science and a strong record of working with novel digital data sources applied to societally relevant questions. Your expertise should include computational methods such as network analysis, automated text analysis, the analysis of large-scale digital behavioural data and Al-based modelling. You should be open to a formal affiliation with the Department of Computer Science. You will have an established international researchnetwork, an excellent record of high-impact publication and of third-party funding, including grants secured and applications submitted. You should also be prepared to take on principal investigator roles in coordinated funding initiatives such as Collaborative Research Centres. A willingness to teach in English is expected, as is the willingness to teach in German in the medium term.

Application deadline: October 15th, 2026

Full call for applications: https://www.uni-saarland.de/fileadmin/upload/verwaltung/stellen/Wissenschaftler/W2906_W3_SOUNDS_CompSocScien_EN.pdf

SOUNDS

The Societal Observatory Using Novel Data Sources (SOUNDS) is looking to fill a W2 Professorship position (W3 tenure track, m/f/x) in Political, Social or Communication Science.

This professorial appointment is open regarding the candidate's specific research focus within the field of political, social or communication science. The successful candidate will define their own research agenda, provided that it demonstrates excellence in the field, addresses current societal questions, makes use of novel digital data sources and establishes clear links with computer science.

SOUNDS is a research project at Saarland University funded through the Saarland state government’s Transformation Fund. It investigates societally relevant questions through novel digital data sources, digital behavioural traces, social media data and Al-based methods. Based in the department of European Social Research, the person appointed to this position will work at the intersection of political science, sociology and communication science. They will pursue theory-driven, comparative research on public communication and societal change with data-driven methods, addressing questions such as political and social opinion formation, the mediated public sphere, or processes of social change. The professorship will also contribute to the development of joint research questions, methods and publications with the wider SOUNDS project and computer science.

We expect you to develop and lead externally funded research, including third-party funding applications at national and European level and to participate actively in coordinated funding initiatives such as Collaborative Research Centres. Your teaching duties will include courses on empirical social research, digital communication research and computational methods, which will also be offered as part of related degree programmes in neighbouring disciplines. The role also includes the supervision of student theses and the mentoring of early-career researchers.

We are looking for a researcher with excellent academic standing in political science, sociology and/or communication science, with an empirical and quantitative focus, and a strong record of working with novel digital data sources to address societally relevant questions. You should also be open to formal affiliation with the Department of Computer Science. You will have an established international research network and an excellent track record of relevant publication and of third-party funding, including grants awarded, applications submitted or applications being prepared. A willingness to teach in English is expected, as is the willingness to teach in German in the medium term. The tenure evaluation follows the criteria of the university's tenure-track regulations.

This professorial position is a fixed-term public sector appointment ('Beamtenverhältnis auf Zeit') for a maximum period of five years. If the tenure evaluation procedure (teaching appraisal and external assessment of research work) is positive, the appointee will be promoted to a permanent professorship (lifetime tenure) at the German academic salary scale W3.

Deadline for applications: October 15th, 2026

Full call for applications: https://www.uni-saarland.de/fileadmin/upload/verwaltung/stellen/Wissenschaftler/W2905_W2TTW3_SOUNDS_PolSocComScien_EN.pdf

October 9, 2026 (12:10-18:00)

University of Helsinki, Main Building, Hall F3017 or remotely at https://video.helsinki.fi/unitube/live-stream.html?room=l73.

Deadline: September 30, 2026

The Russian invasion of Ukraine, Finland's accession to NATO, and wider shifts in the international order have transformed public debate, journalism, and media representations of security, identity, and geopolitics. How do these changes reshape journalistic practices, public narratives, and understandings of the world around us? The symposium brings together researchers studying the changing relationship between media, war, security, and geopolitical imaginaries.

The event presents key findings from three research projects funded by the Helsingin Sanomat Foundation's special call "War Became the Topic: What Is the Role of the Media?"

The research projects are:

• Forces of Change in War Journalism: Open Source Intelligence, Information Warfare, and Patriotic Pressure by Joonas Koivukoski & Markus Ojala (PI) (University of Helsinki)
  
• Imagined West: Occidentalist Narratives in Finnish News Media in the Context of the War in Ukraine by Jukka Jouhki (PI), Jere Kyyrö & Suvi Mononen (Tampere University)
  
• Journalism, Media and the New Security Challenge: The Securitization of the Eastern Border in Media Debate Marko Ampuja, Mervi Pantti (PI), Nuppu Pelevina & Erjon Sjenderi (University of Helsinki)
  

Programme

12:10-12:15 Welcome

12:15-13:00 Keynote: Antal Wozniak (University of Manchester)

13:00-14:00 Presentations associated with the Imagined West project: Jukka Jouhki & Jere Kyyrö (Tampere University), Kiryl Kascian (Vilnius University), Elise Kraatila (Tampere University), Sisanda Nkoala & Doniquah Allies (University of the Western Cape), Vladyslav Vodko (Odessa I. I. Mechnikov National University) and Stanislav Hrabovetskyi (University of Vienna), Matti Puranen (Finnish National Defence University).

14:00-14:20 Coffee break

14:20-15:20 Presentations associated with the projects Forces of Change in War Journalism: Markus Ojala (University of Helsinki), and Journalism, Media and New Security Challenges: Mervi Pantti & Risto Kunelius (University of Helsinki).

15:20-15:40 Coffee break

15:40-16:40 Panel discussion: Noora Kotilainen (University of Helsinki), Ville Similä (Helsingin Sanomat), Antal Wozniak (University of Manchester), Johanna Vuorelma (Tampere University).

16:40-16:50 Final words

17:00-18:00 Finger food & refreshments

Register by 30 September here.

June 9-11, 2027

University of Groningen

Deadline: November 15, 2026

RESAW 2027 addresses the theme Engaging Public Internet Histories, bringing together theoretical, methodological, empirical, and creative reflections on the role and value of public history in shaping understandings of the web of the past. In recent years, web historical research has steadily increased. Histories have more impact when translated into forms that engage wider publics. By drawing on the practices and principles of public history, web history can move beyond academic scholarship to foster dialogue, participation, and critical reflection on the internet’s cultural, social, and political significance. Ideally, as Faye Sayer put it, ‘public history in action acts to […] help communities to understand their place in modern society and the world around them’ (Sayer, 2015, p. 3). The conference therefore explores how the stories of the web can be researched, interpreted, communicated, and co-created with diverse audiences, ensuring that internet histories become meaningful public histories.

‘The public’ in public history should not be seen as monolithic. Therefore, this conference urges scholars to take up the question of how to write not just about, but for and with specific audiences, to do justice to the multivocality of the past. This is increasingly happening amid rapid technological innovation and global conflicts. Phenomena such as polarisation and generative AI increasingly reshape how heritage data is accessed, owned and controlled, and definitions of ‘access,’ ‘memory,’ and ‘publicness’become blurred. What does it mean to engage in public web history in such contexts, where topics are often highly contemporary and may provoke public debate or backlash? ‘The web’ is not a fixed object; it means different things at different times for different people, invoking different practices. To adequately preserve digital heritage and write public history, we need to bring together various approaches and perspectives from the field. How can researchers navigate their own positionality and potential vulnerability, particularly for early-career scholars? How do we do justice to personal experiences of (everyday) people without disregarding established narratives of designers and pioneers? Ideally, this call benefits a more lively, representative, and inclusive understanding of web history.

Based on this central theme, we invite scholars, archivists and other professionals to reflect on topics including, but not limited to, the following:

1) Contemporary challenges and technologies

• Impact of societal tensions and developments, such as polarisation and geopolitical
  
• conflicts, on public web history.
  
• Emerging questions concerning the usage of generative AI (e.g. accessibility,
  
• surveillance, ownership, research).
  
• Forms of crisis archiving and the inclusion of citizens in bottom-up processes.
  
• Potential and blind spots of technostalgic initiatives and collections.
  

2) Inclusive public histories

• Regional and local histories.
  
• Marginalised communities, for example, LGBTQ+ communities, the role of women in building the web.
  
• Non-Western perspectives, particularly from the Global Majority.
  
• Age and generational experiences of and on the web.
  

3) Sources and methods

• User-generated content across different timelines (early web, social media, metaverse).
  
• Reflections on common or novel methods in doing public web history research.
  
• Including the public: community-driven initiatives, citizen science, participatory action research, oral history.
  

4) Narrative Forms and Formats

• Data stories (e.g. interactive timelines, emulations, visualisations, interactive interfaces).
  
• Storytelling and narration (e.g. documentaries, personal reflections, micro-histories or grand-narratives).
  
• The inclusion of personal sources or private/domestic archives.
  
• Presentations and exhibitions.
  

Possible formats

• Individual papers of 15 minutes (500-word abstract).
  
• Panel sessions consisting of three individual papers of 15 minutes, introduced by a chair (500-word abstract for each paper, a brief 300-word description of the purpose of the panel).
  
• Other unconventional proposals, such as lightning talks, roundtables, etc., are welcome (300-word abstract).
  
• Demonstrations and (virtual) exhibitions (500-word abstract including specific requests concerning technology or space).
  
• “My PhD in 5 Minutes” (300-word abstract).
  

Acceptance of submissions is based on double-blind peer review.

Possible formats for the pre-conference day

Submissions related to web archives are welcome from all fields and disciplines, and we would particularly encourage workshops related to tools, hands-on, as well as training sessions and demos.

• Workshops, demos or hands-on sessions (500-word abstract, specifying the expected duration).
  
• Q+A or discussion sessions (for example, for early-career scholars). 

The deadline for submissions (including the pre-conference day) is 15 November 2026.

To submit a proposal: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=resaw2027

See also the conference website: https://resaw27.neocities.org/

Timetable

• 15 November 2026: Deadline for submissions
  
• January 2027: Notifications of acceptance
  
• February 2027: Preliminary Programme
  
• March 2027: Registrations open (fees: 90 euros for advanced scholars, 50 euros for PhD students)
  
• 9 June 2027: Pre-conferences and demos
  
• 10-11 June 2027: Conference
  

Local Organizers

University of Groningen

Susan Aasman Nathalie Fridzema Marije Miedema Rik Smit Jesper Verhoef

AN-ICON. Studies in Environmental Images

Submission deadline: January 31, 2027

The issue explores the relations between death, mourning, media, images, and technologies, including digital afterlives, posthumous AI, immersive encounters with the dead, mediated mourning, spectral communication, and the mortality of media themselves.

The full Call for Papers is available here: https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/anicon/announcement/view/1039 

Edited By: Axel Bruns, Gunn Enli, Anders Olof Larsson, Jessica Yarin Robinson, Tanja Bosch, Kateryna Kasianenko

We are excited to share that we have recently published the second edition of the Routledge Companion to Social Media and Politics. The first edition of the Companion, published in 2016 (Bruns et al., 2016), arrived at a time of epochal change, even if few of our authors and editors were fully aware of it at the time. Similarly, the new edition captures a new critical point: generative AI and other emerging technologies may either accelerate the crises of disinformation, polarisation, and democratic decline, or open new spaces for civic innovation, regulation, and accountability. 

This updated and expanded volume brings together cutting-edge research across six continents to provide a comprehensive, global, up-to-date review of political uses of social media. In its 32 chapters, it covers the good, the bad, and the as-yet-uncertain of current developments in the uses of social media in political contexts, ten years on from the first book. It is organised into six sections: Concepts, Challenges, Policies, Problems, Platforms, and Possibilities, each featuring chapters by leading researchers in the field that address these themes from a wide variety of viewpoints. The politics of digital platforms remain unsettled, and this Companion provides a critical map of the present while pointing to the possibilities and futures that will define the next decade of social media and politics.

You can access the e-book version of the volume here: https://tinyurl.com/rcsmp2nded. The link includes direct access to the open-access chapters, and institutional or paid access where available. We encourage you to recommend the volume to your university library. 

If you enjoy podcasts, listen to two of our editors discuss the vision and the process behind the creation of the updated volume (via Pocket Cast or wherever you get your podcasts).

January 12-15, 2027

Lisbon, Portugal

Deadline: December 15, 2026

Human dignity is perhaps more at risk today than at any other time in recent memory. Subject to targeted threats like exploitation, misrepresentation and humiliation alongside the more subtle erosion caused by persistent violence, exclusion and inequality, most of us live within entrenched systems that deny us some form of recognition, agency and the right to speak freely or dissent from those in power. Exacerbated by the tumult and uncertainty of war, geopolitical tension, tribalism, exclusionary politics and victimization, today’s realities force growing numbers of individuals into silence, left unable to cope with loss, invisibility, worthlessness, disregard, displacement and dehumanization. Dignity flounders when suffering is normalized, empathy diminished and the protection of human rights abandoned. Today, even threats to dignity that were long avoided or banned—such as public shaming, brute objectification, ignominy, spectacles of violence and hate speech—are back in our lives with a vengeance.

So perhaps it is no surprise that dignity prompts more responses and questions than scholars can easily settle. Some see dignity as an unassailable right—echoing Immanuel Kant’s famous dictum that dignity requires treating individuals as ends, not means—while others maintain its vagueness undercuts its conceptual worth. Some perseverate whether dignity is a value or status, and others wonder whether the concept of dignity is primarily moral, legal or political in nature. Larger questions of impact—how dignity’s repudiation can best be stymied, against which institutions and structures does dignity need to be assessed or with which institutions and structures can it best thrive—remain out of reach. All the while, threats to human dignity continue to loom large, even as we have not figured out how best to identify them, much less wrestle with their resolution.

Hannah Arendt steers us toward the media as a solution to dignity’s predicaments. In her seminal work The Human Condition, she not only makes clear that totalitarianism destroys people’s dignity but also that the respect for human dignity entails recognizing others as “builders of worlds or cobuilders of a common world.” Respect for—or violation of—the right of others to live a dignified life is manifested not only in concrete actions but also in mediated narratives that cultivate empathy or hostility, shaping the humanization or dehumanization of individuals, communities and even nations. Dignity, therefore, is not only safeguarded or threatened by political institutions but is also continuously negotiated within media environments, through communicative practices and regimes of representation.

We aim, then, to shift the discussion of dignity by asking what role do the media play in dignity’s centering and assailment. How do the media help and hinder its presence? As sites of symbolic power, the media both witness and report on dignity’s ascendance and descendance as well as on the conditions that promote its intensification and diminishment. They also give it shape, by determining whose dignity matters and in which way, whose voices are heard and whose remain silenced. Can the media help ensure a more widespread sense of individual and collective worth, acceptance and belonging? And should we expect them to do so? 

In today’s challenging and uncertainty times, the 2027 Lisbon Winter School for the Study of Communication will discuss the interconnections between Media and Dignity. Dignity can be addressed from a wide range of perspectives, understood as a moral construct but also as a communicative practice that is enacted, negotiated, and either affirmed or violated through language, representation and public visibility. How do the media represent individuals, communities and nations that are presented as threats in political discourses? How do communication practices reproduce or contest stereotypes that legitimize discrimination? And what about those faced to live or flee war: how are their voices made (in)visible? Beyond the media, how do activists use different communitive tools to promote human dignity? Which strategies can be used to push back on exclusionary politics and its promotion of the “other” as unworthy of living a dignified life? How do online harassment, political intimidation and precarious labor conditions undermine journalists’ and media practioners’ capacity to act as advocates of human dignity? These are just some of the questions we aim to debate at the 7th edition of the Lisbon Winter School for the Study of Communication—a venture begun by the Faculty of Human Sciences (Universidade Católica Portuguesa) and the Center for Media@Risk (Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania)—and now coordinated by the Faculty of Human Sciences (Universidade Católica Portuguesa), the Annenberg Schools for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California, the Chinese University of Hong Kong’s School of Journalism and Communication, the University of Helsinki’s Institute for Social Sciences and Humanities and The Europaeum.

We welcome proposals by doctoral students and early career post-doctoral researchers from all over the world to discuss the intertwined relations between media and dignity in different geographies and temporalities. The list below illustrates some of topics for possible consideration. Other topics dealing with media and dignity are also welcome:

-       Human dignity in war and tragedy

-       Covering loss, suffering and displacement

-       Media activism and the promotion of human dignity

-       Otherness and dignity

-       Loss of reputation

-       Us versus Them narratives

-       Stereotypes and misrepresentations 

-       Visibility and invisibility in the media 

-       Symbolic exclusion versus mutual recognition

-       The effect of sensationalism on representation 

-       Attacks on free speech

-       Online harassment and political threats and intimidation

-       Digital media and humiliation

-       Reality TV

-       Cyberbullying, trolling, image based violence and online harassment

-       Exclusionary politics and dehumanization 

-       Discursive eroding of human dignity

-       Human rights amidst war and exclusionary politics

-       Denouncing hate speech and aggression against gender, racial and religious minorities

-       The platformization of news: reducing journalists to content producers

-       Media, precarity and professional dignity

-       Algorithms, AI and human dignity

-       The eroding of human dignity in specific national or regional contexts

-       … 

PAPER PROPOSALS

Proposals should be sent to lisbonwinterschool@ucp.pt no later than 15 September 2026 and include a paper title, extended abstract in English (700 words), name, e-mail address, institutional affiliation and a brief bio (max. 100 words) mentioning ongoing research. Applicants will be informed of the result of their submissions by early October. 

FULL PAPER SUBMISSION 

Presenters will be required to submit full papers (max. 20 pages, 1.5 spacing) by 15 December 2026. The papers will be shared with the respondents but will not be published online. After the Lisbon Winter School, the authors of some of the best papers may be invited to publish their work in a special journal issue.  

ORGANIZERS

Nelson Ribeiro & Barbie Zelizer 

CONVENORS

Sarah Banet-Weiser,  Risto Kunelius & Francis Lee

For more information visit lisbonwinterschool.com

Edited by : Jorge Vázquez-Herrero, María-Cruz Negreira-Rey, and Ana-Isabel Rodríguez-Vázquez

'TikTok Journalism' offers an international perspective on news, media, and journalists in the age of platforms and short-form video

The book 'TikTok Journalism: News, Media, and Journalists in the Short Video Era' has recently been published by Peter Lang. This collective work compiles international research and perspectives on the evolution and challenges of news and journalism on TikTok.

TikTok has become an increasingly central platform in the contemporary media landscape, transforming how news is produced, distributed, and consumed. As media platformization advances, news organizations and journalists are adapting to an environment shaped by algorithmic recommendations, virality, platform affordances, emerging formats, trends, and new forms of audience engagement.

The volume includes 31 chapters authored by 58 scholars from 15 countries, and is organized into five thematic sections: understanding and researching TikTok journalism; news media outlets; journalists; audiences and the public sphere; and information disorders and fact-checking. The book features a foreword by Claudia Mellado, professor and researcher at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Valparaíso.

This book is the first in our field to capture TikTok's profound influence on journalism worldwide. With a globally diverse ensemble of authors and case studies, TikTok Journalism sets the agenda for understanding how news is being reshaped by short video, algorithmic culture, and platform logics -and why that matters for the future of media and public life.

Seth C. Lewis – University of Virginia

TikTok Journalism is a timely and comprehensive volume that examines how journalism is evolving on a hugely popular short-form video platform. By bringing together diverse perspectives and contexts, the book offers a space for a much-needed reflection on what journalism is, what it should be, and what it could become.

Edson C. Tandoc Jr. – Nanyang Technological University Singapore

The book is edited by Jorge Vázquez-Herrero, María-Cruz Negreira-Rey, and Ana-Isabel Rodríguez-Vázquez, with the support of the Novos Medios research group (Universidade de Santiago de Compostela). 'TikTok Journalism' is now available through Peter Lang's website and other platforms, and it will become open access within one year.

The #ECC2026, hosted by the Department of Media Studies and Journalism at Masaryk University, titled "Shifting Grounds: Paths, Connections, and Futures," takes place from 8-11 September in the Czech Republic. The 2026 ECC theme captures the urgency and potential of communication in shaping multiple possible futures and brings together interdisciplinary perspectives on current academic challenges. Stay in touch with #ECC2026 on Facebook, BlueSky and LinkedIn. 

Follow the conference on Facebook and Bluesky for regular updates, highlights, and moments from Brno. If LinkedIn is your preferred platform, follow the Department of Media Studies and Communication, where we will share the most important conference highlights.

Sofie Van Bauwel, Tonny Krijnen

This is not merely a book on methods; it is a toolbox designed to provide students with the critical guidelines and ethical reflections needed to conduct research on gender and media. It serves as an indispensable researcher’s companion, guiding them through every step – from selecting a research topic to drawing meaningful conclusions from their analysis.

The emphasis is on critical thinking and reflection in relation to inequalities, power, and privilege, encouraging readers to consider the consequences of research choices and guiding them through difficult dilemmas in relation to methods and ethics. With a focus on mass media, this book discusses a variety of methods and methodologies that can be used to study media representations, production, and consumption. Throughout, textboxes, references to further reading, exercises, and contemporary case studies help readers understand how to apply specific methodologies and methods in their research.

Researching Gender and Media: Tools, Guidelines, and Ethical Reflections is essential reading for any student interested in conducting research on gender and media, from undergraduate to graduate level. This book will also benefit instructors teaching research methods courses with a focus on gender and media.

More information on the book can be found on https://www.routledge.com/Researching-Gender-and-Media-Tools-Guidelines-and-Ethical-Reflections/VanBauwel-Krijnen/p/book/9781032490908