ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

January 9, 2025

Online

Dear Colleagues, 

On behalf of the Young Scientists Council at Maria Curie-Sklodowska University, we would like to invite you to a scientific event, which will be held on 9.01.2025 at 17:00 online (MS Teams platform). The guest of the webinar will be Professor Henrik Örnebring from Karlstad University in Sweden, who has been selected as the best reviewer for the journal Journalism Studies in 2020. Prof. Örnebring will share tips on how to increase your chances of getting published in key journals for the discipline of social communication and media studies. The meeting will last 60 minutes and will include a question and answer session. We encourage you to take advantage of the opportunity to meet and discuss. 

RMN UMCS Webinar 

How to satisfy reviewer #2? Increasing your chances of publication success in good journals. 

Thursday, 9.01.2025, 17.00-18.00 CET 

MS Teams 

Link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ZGFmZDEwZjctMzYxYS00NTc3LThjY2YtMWIxZjVkODQ5ZGUw%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2280dbd34a-9b20-490b-ac49-035af103ab2b%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%221d210b33-e870-4a96-ad5f-55ab186d58a5%22%7d 

Short link: https://t.ly/5ksQF

November 19, 2024

Online

Under article 40 of the Digital Services Act (DSA), vetted researchers will be able to request data from very large online platforms (VLOPs) and search engines (VLOSEs) to conduct research on systemic risks in the EU.

A draft delegated act clarifies the procedures leading to the sharing of data by VLOPs and VLOSEs with vetted researchers. It also specifies conditions for providing such data and establishes a DSA data access portal to serve as a one-stop-shop for researchers, data providers and Digital Services Coordinators (DSCs).

The European Commission is hosting a Q&A session on the delegated act, taking place online and targeted at researchers who would like to learn more about the delegated act and how it might benefit their research. 

It will take place on 19 November 2024, 10:00-11:30, and you can sign up here.

November 29, 2024

Online

The C&D section is co-organizing an online Zoom talk series titled "Voices of Change: Activism, Democracy, and Social Justice." The first talk will take place via Zoom on Nov. 29, from 10:00 to 11:30 (CET). More information on the talk and free registration can be found here: https://cts.ku.dk/projects/to-use-or-not-to-use/events/prison-media/. We have also attached a flyer for you to help promote the event (here).

This series aims to provide a platform for scholars across disciplines—including communication, sociology, political science, and law—to engage in thought-provoking discussions and pioneering research in these critical areas. It seeks to foster a space for scholars to connect, learn, and grow within a global network dedicated to advancing knowledge and dialogue on democracy, activism, and social justice. The first talk will feature Prof. Anne Kaun from Södertörn University in Stockholm, discussing her book Prison Media: Incarceration and the Infrastructures of Work and Technology (co-authored with Fredrik Stiernstedt). The book won the ICA Best Book Award in 2024.

Mirca Madianou (Goldsmiths - University of London)

Polity, November 1 2024

ISBN: 9781509559039

https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=technocolonialism-when-technology-for-good-is-harmful--9781509559022

With over 300 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, and with emergencies and climate disasters becoming more common, AI and big data are being championed as forces for good and as solutions to the complex challenges of the aid sector.

This book argues, however, that digital innovation engenders new forms of violence and entrenches power asymmetries between the global South and North. Madianou develops a new concept, technocolonialism, to capture how the convergence of digital developments with humanitarian structures, state power and market forces reinvigorates and reshapes colonial legacies. The concept of technocolonialism shifts the attention to the constitutive role that digital infrastructures, data and AI play in accentuating inequities between aid providers and people in need.

Drawing on ten years of research on the uses of digital technologies in humanitarian operations, the book examines a range of practices: from the normalization of biometric technologies and the datafication of humanitarian operations to experimentation in refugee camps, which are treated as laboratories for technological pilots. In so doing, the book opens new ground in the fields of humanitarianism and critical AI studies, and in the debates in postcolonial studies, by highlighting the fundamental role of digital technologies in reworking colonial genealogies.

‘A rich and radical rethinking of digital humanitarianism from the perspective of postcolonial theory. Superbly evidenced and argued, this is a must-read that will define critical scholarship on humanitarianism as well as media and communications for years to come.’

Lilie Chouliaraki, London School of Economics and Political Science 

‘Technocolonialism gets at the very core of how humanitarianism is being redefined in the global context when AI technologies and datafication prevail. With analytical mastery, Madianou reveals the multiple hierarchies embedded in this subject. A must-read and timely intervention.’

Radha Sarma Hegde, New York University 

‘Madianou’s groundbreaking work…sheds light on the tangible repercussions of technocolonialism on the most vulnerable of populations, making it indispensable reading for understanding the contemporary landscape of global aid.’

Cheryll Soriano, De La Salle University, Manila 

Mirca Madianou is Professor in the Department of Media, Communications and Cultural Studies at Goldsmiths, University of London. 

For a 30% discount please use code MM30. Valid until the end of 2024 for purchases made directly on the publisher's site: https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=technocolonialism-when-technology-for-good-is-harmful--9781509559022

November 21, 2024

Sam Hind (University of Manchester) will be in conversation with Alex Gekker (University of Amsterdam) on Thursday 21st November, 4-5.30pm to launch his new book, 'Driving Decisions: How Autonomous Vehicles Make Sense of the World' (Palgrave).

The event is supported by the Centre for Digital Humanities, Cultures and Media.

To sign up for the (online) event, follow the link: https://www.qualtrics.manchester.ac.uk/jfe/form/SV_eDqtLrOJ5Cl7nNA 

About the book

Driving Decisions: How Autonomous Vehicles Make Sense of the World examines the phenomenon of autonomous driving, and the ongoing, complex, costly, and contentious quest to automate driving. Principally organized around the concept of algorithmic decision-making, the book considers how different mapping, sensing, and machine learning (ML)-dependent capabilities are gifted to autonomous vehicles through different kinds of technical work: from computer science students annotating visual data in industry-funded research centres to software engineers designing ‘end-to-end’ ML models at autonomous vehicle start-ups.

The book intends to complicate, and question, typical understandings of autonomous driving by going ‘under the hood’, challenging the technological determinism or ‘decisionism’ that advocates offer of an inevitable, fully automated, future. Drawing on seven years of research in a range of empirical contexts, the book will appeal to scholars and students in the fields of science and technology studies, media studies, digital sociology, human geography, and mobilities and transport studies.

https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-97-1749-1

January 15, 2025

Södertörn University, Stockholm

Deadline: November 20, 2024

The Centre for Baltic and East European Studies is pleased to announce call for contributions to a workshop that delves into the role of state propaganda in crafting pro-war consensus in Russia. The workshop will take place on January 15th at Södertörn University, Stockholm.

The goal of the workshop is twofold. Firstly, it aims to analyze various forms of propaganda to reconstruct the ideological environment that impacts individuals daily. Secondly, it strives to define recurring narrative structures in different forms of propaganda.

A number of travel grants are available to cover transport and accommodation costs.

More information about the workshop as well as the registration link can be found here.

Important dates:

• Deadline for applications: 20 November 2024
  
• Notification of acceptance: 2 December 2024
  
• Registration deadline for non-presenting participants in the workshop : 17 December 2024
  
• The event takes place on 15 January 2025
  

Form of event: onsite with mandatory registration

For more details, please contact: spr2024@sh.se.

University of Vienna

We are looking for a postdoc in Computational Social Science who would like to co-lead the development and application of new quantitative text models to understand how politicians engage in representing citizens in legislative speech and social media posts. The position is part of the MULTIREP project ("Multidimensional Representation: Enabling An Alternative Research Agenda on the Citizen-Politician Relationship") funded by the European Research Council and conducted at the University of Vienna.

The contract will expire end of August 2028. We offer a salary of ca. 66,500-75,000 € p.a., depending on prior experience.

Applications submitted by 25 November 2024 will receive full consideration.

Detailed information is provided here.

I would be grateful if you could circulate this information to suitable candidates.

Malmö University

Dear colleagues,

At the newly established Digital Work Futures Research Lab at Malmö University, funded by the Swedish Research Council, we offer two fully funded doctoral positions: one in Media and Communication Studies and another in Interaction Design. Our interdisciplinary research lab explores how digital transformations influence the future of work in the digital and creative industries. Please read more about the positions by following the links below. 

Doctoral student in Media and Communication Studies: The future of work with AI-infused platforms in digital and creative industries

https://web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/1015/job?site=7&lang=UK&validator=e5819a4704cd849685049472c0c17895&job_id=3684

Doctoral student in Interaction Design: Production in digital and creative industries

https://web103.reachmee.com/ext/I005/1015/job?site=7&lang=UK&validator=e5819a4704cd849685049472c0c17895&job_id=3687

The deadline for applications is January 9, 2025. 

You are most welcome to follow the Digital Work Futures Research Lab on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/digitalworkfutures/

Journalism (Special Issue)

Deadline: December 20, 2024

Guest Editors 

• Maha Bashri, United Arab Emirates University (UAE) 
  
• Lada Price, University of Sheffield (UK) 
  
• Ola Ogunyemi, University of Lincoln (UK) 
  
• Desiree Hill, University of Oklahoma (USA)  

Conflict reporters face unique psychological challenges due to repeated exposure to traumatic events. Traditionally, conflict journalism has focused on reporting from war zones and areas of armed conflict. However, this special issue adopts a broader definition, recognizing that conflict extends beyond armed warfare to include political and societal challenges. We consider conflict journalism to encompass reporting on organized crime, contentious elections, school shootings, and other situations of heightened tension or violence. This expanded view allows us to explore the complex interplay between trauma, resilience, and post-traumatic growth across a wider spectrum of high-stress reporting contexts. We aim to examine the personal, professional, and organizational factors that enable journalists to withstand and recover from traumatic experiences, contributing to the development of effective support strategies for journalists’ mental health and well-being in high-stress environments. Drawing on the concept of “collective resilience” (Dunkel Schetter & Dolbier, 2011) and recent research on resilience in high-stress professions (Fletcher & Sarkar, 2013; Šimunjak, 2023), we seek to understand how resilience can be fostered within conflict journalism. This issue will pay particular attention to the diverse experiences of journalists from different backgrounds, especially those from the Global South and female reporters in conflict zones.  

 Submission Guidelines 

Abstract submission deadline (500 words max and brief author bio -max 100 words)  should be sent no later than December 20, 2024 to traumajournalism@gmail.com  

If an abstract is selected, authors will be invited to submit a full manuscript. 

Full papers  manuscript submission deadline: September 12, 2025

More details on this call are available here.

January 19-24, 2025

Stellenbosch University, Stellenbosch, South Africa

Deadline: November 15, 2024

Greetings colleagues,

I'm organising a summer school in South Africa this January 2025. The school will focus on the significance that rhetoric and discourse has on material environmental change, and thus might might be of interest to many of you and/or your students. The school is a collaboration between the University of Groningen and Stellenbosch University.

During this summer school, participants will study the relationship between discourse, worldview, ontology and ethics, particularly in regard to questions of just sustainability transitions (in particular just water / food / energy nexus transitions). How are arguments for more sustainable ways to live on this planet being mediated to audiences? Who is doing the mediating, and how does the message change, depending on the speaker and audience?

The goal of the week is to learn the impact that discourse has on material culture and then put this into practice by working with societal stakeholders to develop powerful communicative platforms using rhetoric that is both effective and aligns with their underlying values. 

For example, how can an organic farmer, committed to decolonial ecological values, win agricultural grants from the government without resorting to capitalistic rhetoric?

You can learn more and register here: https://www.rug.nl/education/summer-winter-schools/winter_schools/winter-schools-2023-2024/discourses-of-sustainability-transitions/

Feel free to also direct questions to me at r.l.van.der.merwe@rug.nl.