ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Review of Communication Research (http://www.rcommunicationr.org) is an open-access academic journal specialized in publishing literature reviews and meta-analysis for the communication field of study. Our policy is to publish articles of the highest quality, and at the same time, we commit with our authors. For example, we do not reject a draft in the first round, and we keep working with authors to make the article publishable if we believe that the paper will help the advancement of the field.

Articles are published online as soon as accepted and listed in Scopus and Web of Science, among other databases. The articles are highly cited (e.g., average citation per item in WoS = 7.2; Scopus CiteScoreTracker 2018 = 3.0).

We are now interested in increasing the number of published papers per year. Therefore, we are inviting proposals and manuscripts in any communication subfield. We are especially interested in articles that may be of relevance to a wide audience from all over the world (i.e., not local themes.)

If you would like to submit a manuscript for publication in RCR, register and upload a draft in our journal management system (www.review-of-communication-research.org); if you have a proposal, download the form (https://rcommunicationr.org/index.php/write-an-article/call-for-proposals), fill it, and send it to the editor (editor@rcommunicationr.org). Send your proposal or manuscript as soon as possible, during March or April.

For more information, please contact: Dr. Giorgio De Marchis, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, editor@rcommunicationr.org

Deadline: April 15, 2019

Recent developments in the communication technologies have led to significant changes in the communication process and these changes vary from the way we reach information to how we perceive and distribute it.

These changes should be studied and analyzed in detail to be able to see how the concept of communication changes and how these changes can be considered either as possible improvements as well as problems to come up with solutions. This call for chapters is for an edited book titled as “Digital Transformation in Communication and Media Studies”.

The book is organized as a manual on how the digital transformation has affected communication-related issues as well as a roadmap for the possible future of this transformation. Manuscript submissions may address the following themes through a research-based approach.

Contributors are to focus on a certain or various way how the digital transformation has affected communication and media studies on below mentioned thematic areas in addition to other related themes with the above scope in mind:

• Digital transformation of television series and movies
• Media policy and regulation due to the digital transformation
• Transformation of the audience
• Digital transformation of production and post-production processes
• Digital transformation and popular culture
• Digital transformation and storytelling
• Digital culture
• Digital transformation of broadcasting techniques
• Digital transformation and social media
• Digital identity

If you would like to contribute, please submit an abstract of 250-300 words including 3-6 keywords to *digitaltransistanbul@gmail.com by no later than April 15, 2019. For further questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Istanbul University Press

Editors:

Prof. Dr. Ayşen Gül / Istanbul University

Prof. Dr. Yıldız Dilek / Istanbul University

Dr. Paul Elmer / University of Westminister"

October 29, 2019

Brussels, Belgium

Deadline: March 15, 2019

Official website of the workshop: https://www.ecreadmm.com/iic-workshop

This year the YECREA section of International and Intercultural Communication (IIC) welcomes Dr. Kate Wright, in the context of the Digital Fortress Europe Conference, to host a workshop for doctoral researchers, working in the fields of international journalism, humanitarian communication and news production processes in and about the African continent.

The aim of the workshop is for young scholars to find their own voice and mark their urgent contributions to the fields of International and Intercultural Communication. Considering the young and interdisciplinary nature of these fields and the changing landscape of media and communication technologies, it is crucial for young researchers to situate themselves in relation to existing literature and research, as well as to explore new ways of thinking about our respective research topics. This year’s YECREA activity does not only give young scholars an opportunity to get feedback from an internationally acclaimed scholar and peers, but it also aims to provide them with a set of tools which will help to think thoroughly about their own unique contribution to the field.

Dr. Kate Wright is a Chancellor’s Fellow at the University of Edinburgh in the Cultural and Creative Industries. She is a former award-winning journalist, who worked at the Africa-desk for the BBC. In 2018, she published her book ‘Who’s reporting Africa now? Non-governmental organizations, journalists and multimedia’ for Peter Lang.

The workshop will take place on 29 October 2019 in Brussels, Belgium at the Free University of Brussels (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, VUB). This workshop precedes and will take place in the context of the two-day conference “Digital Fortress Europe: Exploring Boundaries between Media, Migration and Technology” (on 30 and 31 October 2019 in Brussels). Although it is recommendable to participate in both, you can also only submit for the conference or for the workshop as well. The workshop is open for ten participants. Further, the workshop does not involve any fee, and coffee and tea will be provided both during the morning and afternoon sessions.

General schedule for the day:

1. Morning session:

An introduction by Dr. Kate Wright on the biggest challenges in the field.

Five participants will have the opportunity to present their research project and get feedback from Dr. Kate Wright. Considering the theme of the workshop, the presentations are expected to focus on the main findings and the theoretical and methodological claims in relation to these. Overall, the session aims to help the researchers to identify their strengths and weaknesses, situate themselves better within the field and be more precise about the main outcome and contribution of their research.

2. Afternoon session:

Five participants will have the opportunity to present their research project and receive feedback from Dr. Kate Wright, followed by a general brainstorm/discussion moment on the most effective ways to address limitations of our research, to present our findings/analysis and to think together about how we can ensure that our research projects are relevant and distinctive.

The PhD workshop is organized by the European Communication Research & Education Association’s (ECREA) International & Intercultural Communication (IIC) section in collaboration with ECREA’s Diaspora, Migration & the Media (DMM) section.

The application process

It is required that the applicants submit a paper about their research project or about a specific study that is part of it (1000-2000 words), situated in the fields of International and/or Intercultural Communication, to Elke.Mahieu@UGent.be and David.Ongenaert@UGent.be before 15 March 2019.

Submission results are sent out via email at the end of April. Papers should be saved as a Word file, and include full name of the author, institutional and departmental affiliation and contact details (email and institutional postal address). Further, the paper should include:

• An introduction that should explain your research topic and research question(s).
• A brief summary of the methodological trajectory
• Main findings (if available) and how these are expected to contribute to the field theoretically, conceptually and/or methodologically.
• Minimum 3 questions/concerns you would like to be discussed during the workshop.

If you would have any further questions/comments, please do not hesitate to email the main organizers of this workshop on the following email addresses:

Elke Mahieu, Ghent University, ECREA IIC young scholars representative, Elke.Mahieu@UGent.be

David Ongenaert, Ghent University, ECREA IIC young scholars representative, David.Ongenaert@UGent.be​​​​​

July 1-2, 2019

Florence, Italy

Deadline for abstracts: March 15, 2019

July 1-2, 2019

A selection of papers presented at the symposium will be published in a special issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society (iCS).

This two-day symposium held under the auspices of the journal ‘Information, Communication & Society’ (iCS) considers the shifting terrain of contemporary democratic politics. Over the course of this decade, a wave of popular discontent swept across much of the world, stoked by the financial crisis, the ensuing austerity and deep disenchantment with political institutions in both liberal democracies and autocracies. Social movements channelled and articulated aspirations for greater democratic accountability and participation, more equitable economic policies, greater concern for social welfare and climate change. Against a secular decline in party membership, voter turnout and institutional trust, movements have rekindled a participatory imaginary challenging the status quo of many democratic countries.

Criticized for a supposed inability to enact the political and social change they advocated, social movements were harbingers of a new political vehicle, the movement party. The rise and electoral success of party movements—from Podemos in Spain, to Cinque Stelle in Italy, Jobbik in Hungary, Momentum in the UK or La Republique en Marche in France—captured aspirations for progressive change as well as anger and anxieties about globalisation, migration and the socio-economic and cultural upheaval that such processes have wrought. Occupying the breadth of the ideological spectrum—from the far right to the radical left—these movements put forward a radical criticism of political or media institutions, advocating participatory as well as populist reformulations of notions of citizenship, civic practices and organisational structures. Against the odds, they have scaled up, endured and have the potential to become entrenched despite the initially limited resources available to them. Notwithstanding their ideological differences, digital media appear to have provided important opportunities for the emergence of techno-populist ‘connective’ movements and parties in media systems largely unfavourable to them, thereby posing renewed challenges to incumbents.

Considering the above, the symposium will grapple with such questions as: what does the rising prominence of social and/or party movements mean for democracy? What are the consequences of their rise for representative democracy? What explains their presence on both the left and the right of the political spectrum? How does their digital media use bear on their organisational structures and cultures or their relationship with the media?

The symposium invites scholars and other informed observers to present papers discussing how over the last decade, social movements, party movements and other collective actors emerging in the fractured contemporary media landscape have produced knowledge, learn and develop new or overhaul existing participatory cultures and techno-populist identities; congeal competitive political agendas that challenge established political positions; rekindle trust and even faith in political leadership and democratic governance; (re)shaped (un)conventional citizenship norms, practices and action repertoires, harnessing affordances of self-publication technologies, data analytics and news media values to maximize their visibility, appeal and reach while also at times critiquing the dominant commercial logics of media and social media companies.

Building on these considerations, we encourage submissions that address but are not limited to the following aims:

• Discuss media strategies and/or tactics of social and/or party movements and individual activists, how they relate to ongoing transformation of media systems, shifting media diets and practices that are increasingly dominated by the use of digital and social media;
  
• Map the use of digital technologies in social and/or party movements, the extent to which it inflects on organisational networks, structures and cultures and whether these depart from late-modern and pre-crisis models of political organisation;
  
• Consider how support for social and/or party movements is articulated publicly in squares, on social platforms, through partisan outlets, in mainstream media or combinations thereof and potential reasons for them;
  
• Investigate the language use of social and/or party movements—and responses to it by institutions and various section of the public—particularly as it challenges deliberative norms or if it is associated with disruptive communication techniques such as click-baiting, trolling, spoofing, making use of disinformation or misinformation;
  
• Reflect on the conversion of some movements into parties, the tensions emerging between the grassroots and the leadership once social and/or party movements enter institutions and the extent to which digital media may mitigate or exacerbate such conflicts;
  
• Investigate knowledge transfer and learning processes that transform movements, their support base, organization or goals and the role of digital media in such processes;
  
• Propose ethical methodological innovations especially through the deployment of trace data gathering tools that can facilitate access to and rapport with hard-to-reach, research-apprehensive movement actors like far-right movement parties;
  
• Develop innovative qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods techniques to explore the use of digital media within social and/ or party movements;
  
• Reflect on the bearing of (digital) media and communication strategies and tactics on the electoral success of social and/or party movements in local, national or European elections;
  
• Explore contrasts in the popular mobilization and/or electoral success of populist party movements on the right and the left while contemplating the contribution that digital and social media made to it
  

We invite 500-word abstracts outlining empirical, theoretical or policy-oriented papers that address these or cognate topics. The abstract should point to study conclusions. It should be accompanied by a 100-word biography of the presenter(s) together with contact details.

Abstracts/biographies/contact details should be emailed to Dan Mercea (dan.mercea.1@city.ac.uk).

All papers presented at the symposium will receive comments from a discussant. Following the symposium, paper authors will be invited to submit their manuscripts for publication in a special issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society.

More info: http://cosmos.sns.it/news/call-for-papers-social-movements-and-parties-in-a-fractured-media-landscape/.

August 4-17, 2019

University of Oxford

Deadline: April 20, 2019

Early Decision Deadline: March 19, 2019

This year’s Media Policy Summer Institute will be held from August 4-17, 2019.

For the past twenty years, the Media Policy Summer Institute has brought together top early career scholars (including advanced PhD students, post-docs and lecturers), media lawyers and regulators, human rights activists, and policymakers from countries around the world to discuss the effects of technology, media, and policy from a global and multidisciplinary perspective. Participants have the opportunity to take part in an intensive and interdisciplinary two-week program in Oxford that blends expert instruction with participatory activity, group work, and discussion.

For more details on the application process see our website or contact us at: medialaw@ox.ac.uk.

July 22-27, 2019, Zeppelin University

Friedrichshafen, Lake Constance, Germany

The forthcoming Summer Institute will discuss the opportunities and challenges to the idea of “publics” brought forth by new communication and media technologies. It builds on Raymond Williams’ idea of a “long revolution” of culture in the course of economic and political changes and expands it to the digitalization of “public spheres”, in which these interactions become visible. Using online resources, such as social network sites, citizens can participate in public discourse and make their voices heard on political issues, thus making the public sphere more diverse. Easily accessible media technologies, such as weblogs and podcasts, enable and empower their users to produce media content, which might subvert hegemonic ideas and challenge asymmetrical power relations. Nevertheless, changes in communication technologies also bear challenges to public spheres: For example, in the course of the fragmentation of the public sphere and the segmentation of its audiences, the practices and norms of public communication become particularistic as well. Online, especially through social network sites, non-democratic ideologies equally get the opportunity to reach a wider audience through malevolent hackers or automated bots. Questions of public control and media regulation arise, as hate speech and fake news become part of the digital vernacular language.

The Summer Institute will provide a sustained opportunity for critical reflection on the cultural, technological and political trajectories of digitalization that might enable or endanger publics and public spheres. Working at the intersection of Cultural Studies and Media and Communication Studies, we will analyze recent changes in interpersonal and mediated communication and their implications for future societies and media cultures.

The Institute will provide an intense and rewarding academic experience for postgraduate students and postdoctoral researchers who will have the opportunity to spend the week attending a variety of seminars and lectures. Five keynote speakers and a faculty staff of leading Cultural Studies scholars from around the world will provide further comprehensive insights to the cultural and political consequences of the digitalization of the public sphere.

The key speakers represent the global perspective on the subject and include Tanja Thomas (University of Tübingen), Margie Borschke (Macquari University Sidney); Adam Haupt (University of Cape Town), Rolien Hoyng (The Chinese University of Hong Kong), Eric Maigret (Université Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Tanja Thomas (University of Tübingen).

The faculty members are representatives of European and German Cultural Studies and include Janneke Adema (Coventry University), Ursula Ganz-Blättler (University of St. Gallen), Udo Göttlich (Zeppelin University), Martin R. Herbers (Zeppelin University), Lothar Mikos (Filmuniversität Babelsberg), Giulia Pelillo-Hestermeyer (University of Heidelberg), Aljoša Pužar (University of Ljubljana), Gilbert B. Rodman (University of Minnesota), Helene Strauss (University of the Free State, Bloemfontein), Jeffrey Wimmer (University of Augsburg), Carsten Winter (Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media), Rainer Winter (University of Klagenfurt), Matthias Wieser (University of Klagenfurt), and Sebastian Rauter-Nestler (University of Klagenfurt).

The overall participatory and informal character of the Summer Institute will give voice to the participants by offering a forum which addresses issues related to their own work specifically on the topic of “the future of publics” as well as issues of general interest. In addition, social activities from receptions and meals to informal gatherings will provide opportunities for participants, lecturers and organizers to intermingle and stimulate further conversation. The Summer Institute takes place at Zeppelin University in Friedrichshafen, Germany. Set against the beautiful backdrop of Lake Constance and the German, Austrian and Swiss Alps, participants will further enjoy a varied social program.

Please find further information on participation, fees, accommodation and the travel process on our website: http://www.zu.de/acssi2019

June 7, 2019

University of Manchester

Deadline: March 17, 2019

This conference calls for papers on the subject “identity in times of change”. The crisis of 2008 has unleashed a wave of social changes over the last decade, as well as exacerbating existing problems. The economic crash precipitated a wave of social crises, protest movements and political instability. The ephemeral hope of the Arab Spring in the Middle East turned to sectarianism and unforeseen wars. The rise of refugee mobility has engendered new political discourse.The last ten years have seen the impact of austerity and displacement; Occupy, Yellow Vest and Me Too; the rise of populism and the decline of neoliberal economics. Alongside this, escalating climate change and ominous predictions of future disaster have created a sense of constant crisis.

Amid the chaos, we are interested in how these macro level phenomena have impacted on the way people see themselves and each other. We want to take this opportunity to understand how identities are shaped, negotiated and perceived within new social realities. We also want to explore how new identities and identity claims can be used to create new social realities, or alter existing social relations.

We would like this conference to be an opportunity to share methodological approaches to identity research, and consider new ways forward. Both theoretical work on identity and empirical case studies are welcomed and encouraged.

This conference invites papers that focus on various aspects of the following thematic areas:

• Queer rights/identities.
• Methodological considerations in identity research
• Diasporic identities
• Post-immigration crisis
• National or nationalist identities
• Activist identities
• Intersectional identities

More here

IMPORTANT DATES

• Submission deadline: March 17, 2019
• Acceptance notification: March 20, 2019
• Conference: June 7, 2019

10th Annual Small Cinemas Conference,

September 25-27, 2019

Lisbon

Deadline (extended): March 18, 2019

The 10th Annual Small Cinemas Conference will take place at ICS-ULisboa in Lisbon, Portugal, between 25 and 27 September 2019. On the topic of ‘Small Cinemas, Small Spaces’, the conference will be centered on issues of scale and spatiality in film, with the aim to explore the geographies of small cinemas. The call for papers is open for individual presentations of maximum 20 minutes, as well as for pre-constituted panels with a maximum of three presentations each. Proposals should be submitted via email to smallcinemas@ics.ulisboa.pt by Monday 18 March 2019, and include a title, an abstract of maximum 250 words, and a short bio note. The conference’s languages will be English and Portuguese.

‘Small Cinemas, Small Spaces’ aims to discuss matters of space in the cinemas of small nations, with regards to representation, the materiality and marketing of film locations, and film production, viewing and exhibition practices in peripheral film cultures. The event also wishes to bring together scholars exploring notions of space and scale in film, by considering what can be the small spaces of cinema, from early cinematic attractions to the recent dissemination of individual screens and broadcasting digital platforms.

Topics for discussion may include, but are not limited to:

• the geographies of film: how space and time are articulated in small cinemas
• representations of space in peripheral or marginal cinemas
• spaces and scales of film production, e.g. costume and set design in small cinemas
• film locations in small nation cinemas
• exhibition venues and viewing practices in small nations
• audiences’ experiences of minor cinemas
• small spaces for film exhibition
• the emergence of film societies as alternatives to the ‘large’ mainstream
• smartphones, tablets or other devices as cinematic spaces
• cinema and scale in Youtube and other digital platforms
• making films for small spaces

More information about confirmed keynote speakers, see  here.

For any questions, please write to the conference organizers at smallcinemas@ics.ulisboa.pt.

Registration fee will be a maximum of €50, which includes lunch and coffee breaks.

Loughborough University

Deadline: April 3, 2019

Job reference REQ190207

Location: Loughborough

Package: Specialist and Supporting Academic

Grade 6, £30,395 to £36,261 per annum, at a starting salary to be confirmed on offer of appointment. Subject to annual pay award.

Job description

School of Social Sciences, Loughborough University

Full-time fixed-term position for 24 months

The Department of Social Sciences is seeking to appoint a Research Associate to work with Dr Vaclav Stetka (PI) and Professor Sabina Mihelj (Co-I) on a new ESRC-funded research project "The Illiberal Turn? News Consumption, Political Polarization, and Democracy in Central and Eastern Europe". Combining survey data, digital tracking of media consumption, as well as media diaries and qualitative interviews, the project will carry out a systematic study of news consumption and political polarization in Poland, Czechia, Hungary and Serbia, at a key point in time when the region is witnessing the rise of populist leaders, resurgence of illiberal nationalism, and a shift towards authoritarian forms of government.

The primary responsibilities of the Research Associate involve quantitative data collection, analysis and management. The researcher will participate in designing of a representative population survey and carry out analyses of the data, including the use of advanced statistical methods. The successful candidate will also assist in gathering of secondary data relevant for the understanding of political and media systems of the countries studied by the project, co-author some of the publications, contribute to impact activities, and lead on website and social media development. Proficiency in one of the local languages (Czech, Polish, Hungarian, Serbian) is an advantage.

The successful applicant for the this post will be an experienced researcher with postgraduate training in sociology, media/communication studies, political science or another related discipline (PhD, or very close to completion), and with an experience in quantitative social science methodologies, particularly surveys, as well as in quantitative data analysis, including advanced statistical techniques.

Informal enquiries should be made by email to Dr Vaclav Stetka, V.Stetka@lboro.ac.uk

Closing date: 3 April 2019

Interviews (including presentation) will be held on: 16 April 2019

Please follow this link for further details.

Ekhprasis (Vol. 22, Issue 2/2019)

Deadline (extended): March 25, 2019

Issue editors: Fátima Chinita and Liviu Lutas

From times immemorial people have been telling stories to one another; humanity at large as well as entire civilizations have been built open this storytelling impetus. First orally, later through other media and art forms, stories have spread among cultures, eras, and generations engaging an ever-growing dissemination. Technical and technological developments have helped in this enterprise, across a vast array of long-lasting and canonical art forms as well as more popular and recent ones.

Film is precisely at that intersection, which makes it a privileged form for media confluences at the service of narrative spreading.

But how does this dialogue between film and other media and/or art forms operate? How are stories conveyed form the former to the latter(s), and vice versa? To what purpose and through what means?

What, if anything, changes in that transposition, and what remains the same? How does creativity work at this border-crossing and exactly what does it entail? How can film and other media be contained in or influence one another, not just in fictional-oriented works, but also, in keeping up with the times, in more factual and self-representative artistic outputs?

Volume 22, issue 2/2019 of Ekphrasis looks for novel and creative approaches on film and mediality at large, be it dual-, multi-, -inter or transmediality. We aim to contribute to the reflection on media collaboration from the perspective of the content, i.e. the subject of the films and other art works, i.e., its narrative aspects, whether fictional or not. This, of course, is highly influenced by the nature of the media/arts involved.

Therefore, we will prioritize submissions that are solidly grounded on theoretical work already published on this field and that combine the argument on content with the requirements made by the different media/arts involved.

Suggested Topics: (not limited to this sample)

• Intertextuality, intermediality, intramediality.
• Mediation, remediation, transmediation.
• Art forms as qualified media.
• Phenomena of hybridization.
• Transfer among media.
• Narrative adaptation, appropriation.
• Cinematic ekphrasis.
• Allusion, quotation, pastiche, parody, motifs.
• Remakes, sequels, prequels, spin-offs, reboots.
• Transmedia storytelling projects.
• Cinematic worlds and other media.
• Impossible worlds, characters, and narrative structures across media.
• Medium specificity and collaboration among media/arts.
• Palimpsest, embedding, layering.
• Narrative genres in-between or across media.
• Alternate realities, reworking facts and fiction.
• Myths, legends, fairytales and post-celluloid adaptation.

Deadline for abstracts of between 700 and 1000 words: MARCH 25, 2019.

Acceptance notice: April 15th 2019.

Final submission is due AUGUST 30th 2019.

Date of publication: DECEMBER 30th 2019.

Both proposals and final texts should be in English and should follow the style sheet available on our website.

The final submission should include: a 5,000-8,000-word article, including a 150-word abstract, 5-7 keywords, a list of references (only the cited works) and a 150-word author's bio. Proposals and final submissions should be formatted as

Word documents and sent to: chinita.estc@gmail.com and liviu.lutas@lnu.se

The articles should be original material not published in any other media before.

More here