ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Jessica Roberts

jessicaroberts@ucp.pt

This book provides an overview of the ways modern communication technologies and information approaches interact with human cognition to make it difficult for people to effectively find and interpret information and what journalists can do about it

The central argument of the book is that journalists and audiences can no longer afford to pretend that all information is competing on an even playing field and that it is enough for journalists to simply publish “the facts.” Effective Journalism attempts to explain the reality, rather than the ideal, of how people seek and process information, and what journalists and their audiences can do to try to create an informed public in the face of that reality.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

PART I: STRUCTURAL CHALLENGES IN OUR INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM

1. Information Proliferation

2. The Attention Economy

3. Customization and Filters and Bots

4. The Competitive Advantage of Junk News

PART II: COGNITIVE AND AFFECTIVE BARRIERS TO PROCESSING INFORMATION

5. The Dual-Process Model

6. Motivated Reasoning and Bias

7. Emotion and Information

PART III: THE SOLUTIONS

8. New Movements in Journalism

9. Strategies to Effectively Debunk False Information

10. Empathy Cultivation and Building Community

11. Effective Journalism Practices

12. Solutions for Tech Companies, Government, and the Public

Conclusion

For more information, contact the author or see: https://www.intellectbooks.com/effective-journalism

July 1-5, 2024

University of Manchester (UK)

Deadline: April 22, 2024

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to participate in the Digital Methods Summer School which we organize at the University of Manchester in the UK between 1st and 5th July 2024 (in person only).

It is an introductory course for anyone who would like to explore the benefits and limitations of innovative digital tools for analyzing a diverse range of data in humanities and social sciences. The participants will learn about mobile, geospatial and operational methods, algorithmic ethnography, text mining and data visualization, and they will reflect on pressing ethical questions arising when employing digital methods. 

For more information, please visit: https://new.express.adobe.com/webpage/PwU96KcXSNB3l or email me at lukasz.szulc@manchester.ac.uk 

We are pleased to be able to offer a limited number of bursaries for the applicants and the deadline to apply for them is the 22nd of April.

November 29, 2024

Prague, Czech Republic

Deadline: June 2, 2024

It is our pleasure to open the call for papers and presentations for the 2024 Prague Media Point Conference, which will take place on November 29, in Prague, Czech Republic.

Artificial intelligence has come with a power to dramatically shaken our economic, labour, and information systems. For the media sphere, it means yet another drastic turn on its bumpy ride towards any prospect of renewed stability. But unlike many other such turns, AI may provide professionals with a reactive (and creative) potential on a more egalitarian and therefore democratic basis. With the hindsight of coming on to two years of widely accessible AI tools, join Prague Media Point in assessing the impact on and responses of the media sphere and journalism to the two-vowel phenomenon. Be that on the job market, school curricula, newsroom policies, media regulation, journalistic solidarity, and beyond.

We seek submissions of abstracts, presentations or session proposals that focus on research, projects, and practices in the media that appear to be working and generating impact in the response to AI-induced media volatility (alternatively, which clearly demonstrate a potential to do so). We stress the importance of this AI-volatility link and the example-based approach for the submissions. The topical areas should be related to the following:

·         Reforming media/journalism education and media literacy for the new paradigm

·         Responses to increasingly precarious and volatile work conditions of journalists

·         Freelancing as the new norm

·         Building cross-journalism solidarity and new forms of collaboration

·         Internal changes at newsrooms – policies, workers, leadership, strategies

·         AI and new business models

·         Success of hitherto platform and media regulation and what to improve

·         Protecting journalism in adversity – standards, volatility, SLAAPs, pluralism, trust

·         Harnessing AI for investigative and data journalism

·         AI and English-language dominance vs. small-language media – marginalization or expansion?

·         Election super-year and beyond: what’s new on the disinfo scene, what’s missing in our responses

Please submit max 500-word abstracts or proposals + a short bio by June 2, 2024 to: precek@keynote.cz.

Please use the templates on our webpage, where you can also find more information on registration, deadlines, and fees: https://www.praguemediapoint.com/call-for-abstracts

Contact: Marek Přeček, Project Coordinator, precek@keynote.cz

September 4-7, 2024

Como, Italy

Deadline: May 24, 2024

Find out more

Apply

The TCS organising group is pleased to announce the third edition of its summer school.

Applications are now open!

The spectre of digital capitalism is haunting the world.

The so-called “AI boom” of the past few years has now taken centre stage in the public debate, scientific research, and in the political agendas of international institutions.

As the Global North seems to have embarked on a relentless journey towards the digital restructuring of our societies, the digital transition has given rise to new problems regarding the societal and political implications of new technologies.

Is a new form of digital capitalism emerging from the interplay of digital technology and pre-existing social relations? What is the direct impact of digital technology on human labour? How does this affect our life as a whole? And how is it revolutionising the public sphere? More urgently, what is the role of emancipatory politics in this scenario?

These are some of the questions that tech enthusiasts and technophobes alike are ill-prepared to address.

The third edition of the Lake Como Summer School in Critical Theory of Society will gather scholars of renowned reputation to discuss these issues from different perspectives.

Application deadline: Friday, 24 May 2024 at 11:59 p.m. CET (UTC + 01:00)

Keynote speakers

Gavin Mueller

Rachel O’Dwyer

Tiziano Bonini

Emiliano Treré

Workshops

Philip Di Salvo 

Gala Hernández López

Tilburg University

Apply here: https://career5.successfactors.eu/career?career%5fns=job%5flisting&company=S003974031P&navBarLevel=JOB%5fSEARCH&rcm%5fsite%5flocale=en%5fUS&career_job_req_id=22221&selected_lang=en_US&jobAlertController_jobAlertId=&jobAlertController_jobAlertName=&browserTimeZone=Europe/Amsterdam&_s.crb=ufd4NqRTWrQhxMhEorPUf%2fhLIFsxLDAKVVWZUTYb3ho%3d

Position in brief

School : Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences

Department : Culture Studies

Location : Tilburg

Monthly gross salary (0,8 FTE) € 2976,- till  € 3348,-

Duration of employment contract : 24 months

Weekly hours : 32 (0.8 fte) 

The Department of Culture Studies at Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences, Tilburg University is seeking to appoint a junior researcher (postdoctoral) for a new project on Digitalization in the Global South. The successful candidate will conduct outstanding research on the growing use of digital technologies in Asia, Africa, and/or Latin America and help manage a proposed research lab that will serve as a hub for the project. The appointment is for two years (0.8 fte/32 hours a week). Find out more information about the department on TSHD- DCU. 

The position is open to candidates with a research profile in data science, digital humanities, science and technology studies, media and communication studies, culture studies, information science, internet governance, or a related area. The successful candidate will be expected to carry out innovative research on the social, political, and economic impact of digitalization in one or more regions of the Global South, with a focus on digital policymaking. They will also be expected to participate in the management of a research lab, including online content development and the organization of activities such as roundtable discussions and colloquia, under the supervision of dr. Saif Shahin and dr. Mingyi Hou.

Your Responsibilities

• The main duties of the position are as follows:
  
• Produce cutting-edge scholarship as part of a new research lab on digitalization in the Global South;
  
• Produce original content for the lab’s website, such as research briefs, policy summaries, and/or data-driven reports;
  
• Curate documents and procure and archive data from public sources for the website;
  
• Help organize periodic roundtable meetings with scholars on campus;
  
• Help organize an international symposium;
  
• Publicize the work of the lab on social media; and
  
• Help secure research funding to expand the work of the lab.
  

Selection Criteria

The successful candidate will meet the following expectations:

Essential

• Have, or be close to completing, a doctoral degree in data science, digital humanities, science and technology studies, media and communication studies, culture studies, information science, internet governance, or a related area;
  
• A publication record commensurate with the candidate’s career stage;
  
• An outstanding program of empirical research related to digitalization in the Global South;
  
• Evidence of the potential to obtain significant peer-reviewed research funding;
  
• Demonstrated ability to collaborate with colleagues;
  
• Proficiency in academic-level written and spoken English;
  
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills, including the ability to communicate with non-academic audiences; and
  
• Awareness of legal and ethical principles related to digital research.

Desirable

• A track record of successful grant applications;
  
• Experience in writing for non-academic audiences;
  
• Experience in organizing research conferences or symposia;
  
• Experience in data management and/or web administration; and
  
• Proficiency in a major language from the Global South.

Terms of employment

The successful candidate will be given a two-year position. The position will be graded in the Dutch university job ranking system (UFO) as Researcher 4. Depending on the candidate's experience, the salary for this position based on 0.8 FTE is between € 2976 and € 3348 gross per month based on a salary scale 10 step 3 minimum and 10 step 6 maximum of the Collective Labour Agreement of Dutch Universities. The preferred starting date is 1 September 2024.

Tilburg University is rated among the top of Dutch employers and has excellent terms of employment, such as a holiday allowance of 8% and an end-of-year bonus of 8.3% (annually), an options model and reimbursement of moving expenses. Candidates from outside the Netherlands may qualify for a tax-free allowance equal to 30% of their taxable salary. The university will apply for such an allowance on their behalf. The Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences will provide assistance in finding suitable accommodation. The Collective Labor Agreement of Dutch Universities applies.

Information and application

The deadline for application is 15 May 2024. If you have any questions about the position or the project, please contact the project leaders, dr. Saif Shahin (s.s.shahin@tilburguniversity.edu) and dr. Mingyi Hou (m.hou@tilburguniversity.edu). For more information about the department, you may reach out to head of the Department of Culture Studies, dr. Tom Van Hout (tom.vanhout@tilburguniversity.edu). 

The only way to apply is online. To apply, please submit the following information:

• A cover letter explaining how you meet the selection criteria for the position, drawing on examples from your educational and/or professional experiences;
  
• Curriculum vitae; and
  
• Names and contact details of three references.

Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences

Research and education at the Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences (TSHD) has a unique focus on humans in the context of the globalizing digital society, on the development of artificial intelligence and interactive technologies, on their impact on communication, culture and society, and on moral and existential challenges that arise. The School of Humanities and Digital Sciences consists of four departments: Communication and Cognition, Cognitive Science and Artificial Intelligence, Culture Studies and Philosophy; several research institutes and a faculty office. Also the University College Tilburg is part of the School. Each year around 275 students commence a Bachelor or (Pre) Master Program. The School has approximately 2000 students and 250 employees.

Tilburg School of Humanities and Digital Sciences

Recruitment code

Tilburg University applies the recruitmentcode of the Dutch Association for Personnel Management & Organization Development (NVP).

Disclaimer

The text of this vacancy advertisement is copyright-protected property of Tilburg University. Use, distribution and further disclosure of the advertisement without express permission from Tilburg University is not allowed, and this applies explicitly to use by recruitment and selection agencies which do not act directly on the instructions of Tilburg University. Responses resulting from recruitment by non-contractors of Tilburg Universities will not be handled.

October 17-18, 2024

University of Edinburgh, UK

Deadline for abstracts: June 14, 2024

via https://bit.ly/IJPP2024

Also available at https://cristianvaccari.com/2024/04/04/call-for-papers-for-the-10th-annual-conference-of-the-international-journal-of-press-politics-university-of-edinburgh-uk-17-18-october-2024/.

On 17-18 October 2024, the University of Edinburgh will host the 10th annual conference of the International Journal of Press/Politics, focused on academic research on the relationship between media and political processes around the world.

The deadline for submission of abstracts is 14 June 2024. Attendees will be notified of acceptance by 1 July 2024. Registration fees will be due 30 August 2024 and full papers based on accepted abstracts will be due 4 October 2024. A selection of the best papers presented at the conference will be published in the journal after peer review. Previous special issues based on conference papers can be found here, here, and here. An editorial discussing the selection and review process for conference special issues can be found here.

The conference brings together scholars conducting internationally oriented or comparative research on the intersection between news media and politics around the world. It aims to provide a forum for academics from a wide range of disciplines, countries, and methodological approaches to advance knowledge in this area.

Examples of relevant topics include, but are not limited to, the political implications of changes in media systems; the importance of different types of media for learning about and engaging with politics; the factors affecting the quality of political information and public discourse; media policy and regulation; the role of entertainment and popular culture in how people engage with current affairs; relations between political actors and journalists; how emerging applications of Artificial Intelligence affect key political communication processes; the role of visuals and emotion in the production and processing of public information; the role of different kinds of media during conflicts and crises; and political communication during and beyond elections by government, political parties, interest groups, civil society organizations, and social movements.

The journal and the conference are particularly interested in studies that represent substantial theoretical or methodological advances on these issues in an international perspective, especially by adopting comparative approaches and/or focusing on parts of the world that are under-researched in the English-language academic literature.

Titles and abstracts for papers (maximum 300 words) are invited by 14 June 2024 via the online form available at https://bit.ly/IJPP2024. Abstracts should clearly describe the key questions, the theoretical and methodological approach, the evidence presented, and the wider implications of the study for understanding the relationship between media and politics in an international perspective. Authors are encouraged to provide as much detail as possible about the spatial and temporal context of their study, the research design and methods employed, the data collected, and the main results of the analyses.

The registration fee for the conference will be GBP 300, to be paid by 30 August 2024. The fee covers two conference dinners on 16 and 17 October, lunches and coffee breaks on 17 and 18 October, and farewell drinks on 18 October. The conference will take place at the University of Edinburgh’s John McIntyre Conference Centre.

A limited number of registration fee waivers will be available for early career scholars and scholars from countries that appear in Tiers B and C of the classification adopted by the International Communication Association. Applications for fee waivers must be made via the abstract online submission form available at https://bit.ly/IJPP2024.

The conference is organized by Cristian Vaccari, Editor-in-Chief of IJPP. Please contact Professor Vaccari with questions at cvaccari@ed.ac.uk.

More about the University and the journal below.

The University of Edinburgh has been influencing history since it welcomed its first students in 1583. Through the many achievements of its staff and students, the University has delivered on its central principles of providing cutting-edge research, inspirational teaching and innovative thinking, attracting some of the greatest minds from around the globe. Politics and International Relations (PIR) is one of the largest and most vibrant subject areas at the University of Edinburgh. It is home to more than 600 undergraduates and 100 postgraduate students annually. Its alumni include government ministers, members of parliament, policy analysts, broadcasters, business leaders, teachers, and social entrepreneurs. Its world-leading research directly informs policymakers, ministers, and NGOs.

The International Journal of Press/Politics is an interdisciplinary journal for the analysis and discussion of the role of the media and politics in an international perspective. The journal publishes theoretical and empirical research which analyzes the linkages between the news media and political processes and actors around the world, emphasizes international and comparative work, and links research in the fields of political communication and journalism studies, and the disciplines of political science and media and communication. The journal is published by SAGE Publishing and is ranked 14th in Political Science and 17th in Communication according to Clarivate.

Aniki. Portuguese Journal of the Moving Image

Deadline: July 15, 2024

Coordinated by Gonzalo de Lucas (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona), Ana Daniela de Souza Gillone (Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades da Universidade de São Paulo) and Josep Lambies (ESCAC - Universitat de Barcelona).

Films made during periods of political transition provide fertile ground for analysing how history and cultural education become inscribed in the personal and corporeal memory, through gestures, emotions and new ways of expressing desires. The social changes and ideological tensions that occur in the workplace, the family and the public sphere have a clear impact not only on explicitly political militant cinema, but also on mainstream genres, in terms both of narrative and aesthetic approaches inherited from the preceding period and of elements inspired by the political events of the moment.

Actresses, who since the dawn of cinema have always made significant contributions to the cultural production of emotions, collective psychologies, social imaginaries and values, play a vital role in these periods of transition, conveying the historical and ideological tensions of their context. In many cases, the introduction of legislative changes and new social structures has been reflected in or aligned with their role as film stars and popular icons, often to a point where they become cultural symbols of the transformations themselves (e.g., Victoria Abril, Carmen Maura, Ana Belén and Ángela Molina in Spain; Lia Gama, Guida Maria, Zita Duarte and Ana Zanatti in Portugal; Fernanda Montenegro, Sônia Braga, Lucélia Santos and Fernanda Torres in Brazil; Gloria Münchmeyer, Amparo Noguera, Catalina Saavedra and Paulina Urrutia in Chile; Camila Perisé, Susú Pecoraro and Norma Aleandro in Argentina). Moreover, actresses of the new generations would often appear on screen alongside stars of the previous period, in a contrast that expressed the complex tensions between historical memory and historical amnesia.

The democratic transitions that took place in southern Europe in the 1970s as a result of the collapse of the Regime of the Colonels in Greece (1974), the Carnation Revolution in Portugal (1974) and the death of General Franco in Spain (1975) offer paradigmatic examples of the alignment of actresses’ on-screen performances with the political changes taking place. The same can be said of Eastern Europe at the time of the fall of the Berlin Wall (1989) and the communist regimes, as well as the disintegration of the Soviet Union and Yugoslavia (both in 1991). Outside Europe, other examples can be found in the periods of transition that followed the end of dictatorships in various Latin American countries, such as Argentina (1983), Brazil (1985) and Chile (1990). In all these cases, the debate over the role of women in the public sphere, and of the representation of their subjectivity and desires on screen, constituted a key concern in the films made at the time of these sociopolitical changes, and the actresses who starred in those films played an important part in this process.

The aim of this special section is to explore how, during periods of democratic transition in countries such as Spain, Portugal, Greece, Argentina, Brazil or Chile, actresses constructed distinct female subjectivities that transcended the prevailing social imperatives, in varying degrees of dialogue with the debates in feminist theory and activism. This is in line with Teresa de Lauretis’ suggestion to “return to a conception of female subjectivity in terms of the practices it involves and the needs sustained by desire when it is expressed through a woman’s body” (2000, our translation). We want to analyse the creative function of actresses in critiquing stereotypes, the degree of control they can acquire over their own self-representation, and the modes of production of new subjectivities who, based on an understanding of gender as a representation without a referent (as a representation of representations), are not afraid to manipulate traditional models and introduce unexpected forms of desire that embrace all the differences and contradictions existing in feminism on two levels: as differences that exist within feminist theory and as divisions within a single subjectivity.

Research on the evolution of actresses in periods of democratic transition can help clarify whether they create dissident, alternative or contradictory characters who expose sexual difference, on an indirect or implicit level in relation to the discourses foregrounded in the film. These subjectivities revealed in the actresses and their characters can be identified and analysed as icons of change and emancipation, constructing new forms of desire unique to the female experience and constructing other narratives about women that have rarely been shown before.

Proposed lines of research for submissions include but are not limited to:

-Analysis of the ways women are represented through the characters and specific creative work of actresses during historical processes of democratic transition;

-Studies of the production of new forms of female subjectivity through actress’ representations of narrative and visual motifs on issues such as work, economics and class relations, the family, sexuality and the body, love and desire, sexist violence, and human rights and legislative changes;

-Explorations of the cultural function of actresses through their work and their media images, in turbulent periods of sociopolitical transformation, in order to categorise stereotypes and identify forms of differentiation, dissidence and contradiction in women’s experiences;

-Studies from a gender perspective that include a conception of the actress as a creative subject in the political construction of new female imaginaries and in the filmmaking process, with a focus on periods of democratic transition.

More information

This thematic section is being coordinated by Gonzalo de Lucas (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona), Ana Daniela de Souza Gillone (Escola de Artes, Ciências e Humanidades da Universidade de São Paulo) and Josep Lambies (ESCAC - Universitat de Barcelona).

May 25, 2024

Online

Deadline: April 26, 2024

We are pleased to announce a call for abstracts / expression of interest for an online symposium to be held in late May 2024, focusing on the intricate interplay between media, politics, and democracy in the Global South. Scholars from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including but not limited to media and communication, African studies, Global South studies, and media and democracy, are invited to submit their original research papers.

Background:

Hallin and Mancini's seminal work, "Comparing Media Systems: Three Models of Media and Politics" (2004), has provided a foundational framework for understanding the complex relationship between media and democracy. However, the landscape has evolved significantly since its inception, particularly in regions like the Global South. In South Africa, for example, a burgeoning democracy a mere decade ago, the dynamics between media, politics, and democracy have undergone profound transformations. Factors such as increased media diversity, the proliferation of digital platforms, and ongoing challenges to media freedom have reshaped the terrain. 

The updated hybridisation model (Hallin et al., 2021) helps to understand media markets in terms of fragmentation but does not go far enough to explore and evaluate the influence of global and local politics in the media markets, particularly in the postcolony. Additional characteristics that affect the postcolony, particularly in the Global South and especially in Africa, should better outline ethics of media practice, the continued political interventions on journalistic integrity and professionalism, and the unique specifics of digital, language, and geographical access. Blanket models that are developed for and by Western theorists have a difficult application to Global South systems, even if some aspects fit with a squeeze. 

The Hallin and Mancini (2004, 2012; Hallin et al., 2021) models are important and illuminating, but none fit exactly the media systems of postcolonial, Global South countries. The hybrid model is more appropriate and applicable, but even here the application is mixed. These models are a useful set of variables with which to understand how the media and political systems intertwine, but trying to ruthlessly force this system to fit into the blanket models would be best left for Procrustes, not communication theory. We suggest that it may be time to create a new, non-Western-centric typology of media markets that considers the intricate histories of postcolonialism, struggles of democracy, and a Fourth Industrial Revolution that steamrolls over some and yet simply leaves others behind.

Theme:

This symposium aims to critically revisit the applicability of Hallin and Mancini's Three Models theory in the context of the Global South, with a particular focus on postcolonial countries. We encourage submissions that engage with the following themes, or others:

1. Critiques and Reassessments of the Three Models Theory in the Global South

2. Comparative Analyses of Media Systems in the Global South

3. Africanization and/or Hybridization of Media Models

4. Postcolonial Trajectories of Media, Politics, and Democracy

5. Digital Disruption and Media Dynamics in Emerging Democracies

6. Development of new Media Models

Submission Guidelines:

We invite scholars to submit abstracts of no more than 300 words, along with a brief biography, by April 26th 2024. Abstracts should clearly outline the research objectives, methodologies, and theoretical frameworks employed. 

We expect the online symposium to develop into a Special Edition journal with Media and Communication in 2025. Accepted abstracts will then be developed into full papers by October 2024.

Important Dates:

Abstract Submission Deadline: April 26th 2024

Notification of Acceptance: May 3rd 2024

Symposium Dates: May 25th 2024

Submission Instructions:

Please submit your abstracts and biographies as a Word document to Dr Bernadine Jones at b.l.jones@stir.ac.uk with the subject line: "Symposium Submission - [Your Last Name]". Authors will receive a confirmation email upon successful submission.

Publication Opportunities:

Selected papers presented at the symposium will be considered for a larger event in 2025 and subsequent publication in a special issue of Media and Communication, subject to peer review.

Contact Information:

For inquiries and further information, please contact Symposium Organizers Dr Bernadine Jones (b.l.jones@stir.ac.uk) and Dr Adrian Hadland (a.hadland@stir.ac.uk).

We look forward to receiving your submissions and engaging in stimulating discussions on the evolving dynamics of media, politics, and democracy in the Global South.

Sincerely,

Dr Bernadine Jones

University of Stirling

October 24-25, 2024

Sofia University St. Kliment Ohridski, Faculty of journalism and mass communication (Sofia, Bulgaria)

Application Submission Deadline: June 30, 2024

Organizes a 5th Jubilee International Scientific Conference will be held on the 24th and 25th of October 2024 within the framework of the St. Kliment Ohridski Days on the video conference platform Teams. We most politely invite the specialists in media and communications, students and alumni of the Faculty, as well as those who are involved with the problems of the media and communication environment and culture in their various dimensions and manifestations. We welcome the interdisciplinary approach to the contemporary challenges in the education and practice of journalism and to the communication activities as a whole.

Read more: https://commed21.com/

Journal of Advertising (JA) (Special issue)

The submission deadline: November 30, 2024

Manuscripts are currently being solicited for a special issue of the Journal of Advertising (JA) dedicated to Contributions of Biometrics to Advertising Research.

BACKGROUND

Broadly speaking, biometric science uses physical, physiological, neurophysiological, or behavioral measures to observe second-by- second responses to stimuli and contexts. Biometrics can reveal implicit psychological processes that help to further understand audiences’ responses to advertising (Mundel et al., 2021). Advertising researchers have used biometrics measures for decades (e.g., Karslake 1940); employing techniques such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), electroencephalography (EEG), electrodermal activity (EDA), facial electromyography (fEMG), electrocardiography (ECG), facial expression analysis (FEA), and eye tracking (ET) to examine complex or subtle psychological processes that are unable to be captured via self-report (Beard et al., 2024; Bellman et al., 2016; Beuckels et al., 2021; Holiday et al., 2023; Lee et al., 2023; Pozhaliev et al., 2017; Read et al., 2018).

While the frequency with which biometrics have appeared in the literature has fluctuated, their value to the discipline of advertising has solidified in the past decade, particularly given recent advances in advertising theory and practice facilitated via these measures (e.g., Floyd and Weber 2020), and advances in technology – resulting in less expensive and more accessible biometric equipment. Increasingly, advertising researchers are finding new ways to employ biometric technologies, such as collecting data remotely through webcams (e.g., Mancini et al., 2023), or applying older biometric approaches to new contexts (e.g., using FEA to examine the facial displays of influencers; Holiday et al., 2023).

Scholarship in the first years of the recent wave of advertising biometric research was characterized by introducing these methods and describing their potential applications to the field (e.g., Plassman et al., 2015). Now, after a decade of contemporary biometrics advertising research, it is time to look back and assess the contributions of these methods to advertising theory and practice. Many of the theories that explain advertising effectiveness, such as the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM), were formulated using traditional, self-report measures such as thought listing (elaboration). Biometrics have the potential to disentangle, for example, different attentional processes proposed by the ELM as they occur over time (Cacioppo et al. 2012; MacInnis and Jaworski 1989). The unique advantages of biometrics data in furthering understanding of advertising theory and practice include pinpointing biological mechanisms, dissociating emotional and cognitive processes as they occur over time, measuring implicit responses, and improving behavioral predictions (Plassman et al., 2015). For this reason, despite claims that AI and computational research eliminate the need for human subjects in research (e.g., www.alpha.one), biometrics studies conducted by trained researchers in controlled laboratories or natural settings, using actual consumers, are essential to furthering understanding of the dynamics behind how advertising works.

For this Special Issue, we seek manuscripts addressing the contributions of biometrics to our understanding of advertising, both those that focus on results and theory-building (i.e., “what have we learned?”) and ones exploring the methods themselves (i.e., “what could we do?”). For example, has recent research using biometrics supported core advertising theories like the ELM? Or has biometrics research provided evidence for competing theories based on brain function, physiology, and evolutionary processes (e.g., Jones, 2019; Lang, 2014; Lee et al., 2020; Lee et al., 2023) – which are more appropriately tested by biometrics than self-report?

 Now that we can observe fleeting attention to advertising in real-time, compared to assessing attention post-hoc via self-report, what data-driven recommendations can researchers provide to advertisers for increasing the effectiveness of creative and media? How can AI improve biometric data analysis to better understand advertising theory? This Special Issue aims to investigate these questions (and others) while reflecting on the contributions of biometrics to advertising theory and practice, identifying knowledge gaps in the field, and devising new ways biometrics can address these and push the discipline forward.

POTENTIAL TOPICS

To contribute to our understanding of advertising, manuscripts considered for this special issue must connect biometric research solidly to theory and extant literature. While some processes that fall under the purview of computational social science may be applicable to biometrics research, authors employing computational approaches must also ground their hypotheses in theories of persuasion, advertising, and/or communication science. We welcome submissions with diverse approaches to relevant topics, including literature reviews, meta-analyses, and empirical research. Potential topics include:

• Overview of established or novel theoretical perspectives that inform advertising biometrics research,

• Core principles and issues in the application of advertising theory to biometrics research (how insights drawn from biometrics may differ from traditional measures, issues in conceptualization and operationalization of variables with biometric measures, the unique contributions and/or drawbacks of using biometrics measures to inform advertising theory, etc.),

• Literature reviews/meta-analyses of what has been learned from the current wave of biometrics research (e.g., theories supported),

• Conceptual literature reviews assessing the strengths and weaknesses of current theories,

• Identifying gaps in theory, and proposing extensions or new theory informed by biometrics data, along with hypotheses future research could test,

• Theoretically grounded systematic reviews of case studies and applied research identifying the most effective uses of biometrics by advertisers (e.g., ad testing, attention metrics),

• Methodological innovations particularly applicable to better understanding processes associated with the advertising creation process or message reception,

• Best practices and ethical guidelines for biometrics data collection and reporting to contribute to advertising theory (e.g., acknowledging/integrating the correlational nature of biometrics data into theory development, theoretically driven interpretation of biometrics data).

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

Submissions should follow the manuscript format guidelines for the JA found at https://www.tandfonline.com/action/authorSubmission?show=instructions&journalCode=ujoa20. The word count should be 12,000 words maximum (including references, tables, figures, etc.).

The submission deadline is November 30, 2024.

All manuscripts should be submitted through the JA Submission Site between November 1, 2024 and November 30, 2024. The link to the submission site can be found at the JA’s website https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/ujoa20 (“Go to submission site”). Authors should select “Article Type” (e.g., research article, literature review, research note) on the first page of the submission website. On the second page, authors will be asked if this is for a specific special issue or article collection. Select “Yes” and select “SPECIAL ISSUE: Contributions of Biometrics to Advertising Research” from the drop-down menu. Please note in the cover letter that the submission is for the Special Issue on Contributions of Biometrics to Advertising Research.

• Articles will undergo blind peer review by at least two reviewers.

• The anticipated date for publication of the Special Issue is August 2025.

Please send questions about the Special Issue to the guest editors: Drs. Robert F. Potter, Steve Bellman, and Glenna L. Read at JAbiometrics@gmail.com.

REFERENCES

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Bellman, S., B. Wooley, and D. Varan. 2016. “Program–Ad Matching and Television Ad Effectiveness: A Reinquiry Using Facial Tracking Software.” Journal of Advertising 45 (1):72-7. doi:10.1080/00913367.2015.1085816

 Beuckels, E., L. Hudders, V. Cauberghe, K. Bombeke, W. Durnez, and J. Morton. 2021. “To Fit In or to Stand Out? An Eye-Tracking Study Investigating Online Banner Effectiveness in A Media Multitasking Context.” Journal of Advertising, 50 (4):461-78. doi:10.1080/00913367.2020.1870053

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Lee, S., J. Kim, G. L. Read, and S. Kim. 2023. “The Effects of In-Stream Video advertising on Ad Information Encoding: A Neurophysiological Study.” Journal of Advertising. doi:10.1080/00913367.2023.2222782

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Mancini, M., P. Cherubino, A. Martinez, A. Vozzi, S. Menicocci, S. Ferrara, A. Giorgi, P. Aricò, A. Trettel, and F. Babiloni. 2023. "What is Behind In-Stream Advertising on YouTube? A Remote Neuromarketing Study Employing Eye-Tracking and Facial Coding Techniques.” Brain Sciences 13 (10):1481. doi:10.3390/brainsci13101481

Mundel, J., G. Read., A. Almond, S. Alhabash, and J. Wilson. 2021. “Translating Consumer Neuroscience into Advertising Research and Education. American Academy of Advertising Conference Proceedings (online):88-91.

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Plassmann, H., V. Venkatraman, S. Huettel, and C. Yoon. 2015. “Consumer Neuroscience: Applications, Challenges, and Possible Solutions.” Journal of Marketing Research 52 (4):427-35. 427-35. doi:10.1509/jmr.14.0048

Pozharliev, R., W. Verbeke, and R. P. Bagozzi. 2017. “Social Consumer Neuroscience: Neurophysiological Measures of Advertising Effectiveness in a Social Context.” Journal of Advertising 46 (3):351-62. doi:10.1080/00913367.2017.1343162

Read, G. L., I. I. Van Driel, and R. F. Potter. 2018. “Same-Sex Couples in Advertisements: An Investigation of the Role of Implicit Attitudes on Cognitive Processing and Evaluation.” Journal of Advertising 47 (2):182-97. doi:10.1080/00913367.2018.1452653