ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

 Dear Colleagues,

We are conducting a study on the usage and perception of generative AI in research among communication scholars (broadly construed) and the best practices to minimizing the risks of such use. The goal of the study is to write a guideline for best practices in using generative AI in research based on the consensus among the field (if any). 

Link to the survey: https://uva.fra1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0Mwl409scAMC4oS

We expect the survey to take no more than 10 minutes. We will not collect any personal information, but there will be a field to leave your contact details if you are happy for us to contact you for further questions. The survey will remain open until 10 February. 

Please feel free to distribution the survey invitation with any colleagues whom might be interested!

Digital Communication Methods Lab, 

Amsterdam School of Communication Research

Call for Chapters

Deadline (EXTENDED): January 30, 2025

This edited volume seeks contributions from scholars whose subject matter, methods, or researcher identities resonate with what might be considered peripheral in communication studies. We aim to explore how diverse perspectives—often shaped by specific contexts, marginalized identities or cases, or alternative approaches—can challenge, expand or be an alternative to traditional paradigms, perspectives and cases in the field. The concept of the periphery is not defined here as a rigid geographic or socio-political category, nor is it a simple counterpoint to the North or Western paradigms. Instead, we understand the periphery as a space where various ‘ways of being’ and ‘ways of doing’ emerge, offering insights into communication processes and practices. We define the periphery in three interconnected ways. First, it can reflect geographic and contextual realities rooted in specific locations and their challenges. Second, it may describe the researcher's identity, which, while often tied to context, can stand apart from geographic definitions. Third, it relates to the subject matter and theoretical gaze, especially when these are understudied, overlooked, challenge dominant paradigms, or offer alternative epistemologies. The full call text is available at ipcc.bilgi.edu.tr/call-for-chapters/

We welcome submissions that address, but are not limited to, the following themes:

Researcher Situatedness and Methodology

- Reflections on how researchers’ contexts, identities, or positionalities influence their approaches, perspectives, and contributions to media and communication studies.

- Explorations of methodologies that embrace situatedness, such as autoethnography or reflective practices, as a means to deepen our understanding of communication phenomena.

Diverse or Transgressive Communication Spaces and Practices

- Analyses of how communicative practices—particularly in less conventional or transgressive spaces like digital sex work, hacktivism, or grassroots art movements—shape identity, expression, and community.

- Studies highlighting understudied or alternative communication practices, including those rooted in indigenous knowledge systems, oral traditions, and embodied performances.

Expanding Theoretical Boundaries in Communication Studies

- Contributions that challenge, extend, or reimagine dominant theories in media and communication studies.

- Theoretical insights from underrepresented regions or traditions, such as Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Oceania, or Latin America.

- Understudied areas of communication, including theories or methods from other disciplines—such as ethics, political science, or performative arts.

Non-Human Subjectivity and Communication

- Investigations into the role of non-human subjectivities (e.g., animals, plants, or artificial intelligence) in communication processes and how these subjectivities challenge traditional human-centered paradigms, especially in non-Western contexts.

- Analyses and case studies of embodied, non-verbal, or other-than-human communicative practices that engage with human-animal, human-environment relationships, or offer theoretical and practical implications of decentering the human gaze.

Beyond the Digital Turn

- Explorations of non-digital communication spaces and practices—such as those in architecture, urban spaces, theater, or other embodied forms—and their contributions to the discipline.

- Research that revisits non-digital media to expand the understanding of communication in a digital-first world.

Economic Class and Communication

- Inquiries into how economic class shapes communication practices, representation, and access in varied contexts.

- Perspectives that place economic inequality at the forefront of communication studies, offering alternative ways of thinking about class and media.

Knowledge Production in Communication Studies

- Discussions on the structural biases in academic publishing and scholarship that influence which voices and perspectives are elevated or marginalized. Implications of working in authoritarian contexts.

- Critical engagements with global and local knowledge hierarchies, offering alternatives to reductive binaries and promoting diverse epistemologies.

Perspectives and Challenges of Early-career Scholars

- Considerations of the experiences of early-career researchers in regard to academic and professional challenges, particularly in peripheral or undervalued contexts.

- Innovations in methodology or theory that arise from the particular perspectives of early-career scholars.

Submission Guidelines and Contributions Sought

We aim to hold an online (closed) workshop on March 22, 2025 (subject to change) in order to facilitate discussion among the potential authors. The workshop will be a medium for the authors to debate their argument with each other as well as making themselves familiar with other contributions through informal paper presentations. The target publisher (e.g. Springer, Brill Books, Routledge, Lexington Books) will also be decided during the workshop. After the workshop, the authors will have 4 months to finalize the contributions. Full chapters will be around 6,000 words including the bibliography. There will not be any fee for the workshop nor the publication for the authors.

You can send the abstracts around 500-600 words (including the references) and a 100-word author bio to cansu.koc04@bilgiedu.net by January 30, 2025 (new and final deadline). The abstract should clearly outline the theoretical framework, specific context(s), and the broader implications of the proposed chapter for communication studies. The authors will be notified about the selection results by February 20, 2025.

Editors: Cansu Koç (Istanbul Bilgi University), Ezgi Altınöz (Istanbul Bilgi University), Yusuf Yüksekdağ (Istanbul Bilgi University)

This project is stemming from the Interdisciplinary PhD Communication Conference series at Istanbul Bilgi University. The previous edited collection, Collaboration in Media Studies, was published by Routledge in 2024. 

The Urbanism/Geography/Architecture SIG is seeking submissions for its graduate student writing award to honor the exciting scholarship coming from our graduate student members. The winning article will be published in Mediapolis. Deadline for submission is January 31.

For more details, please see: https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Hg1WmhxmyUp1h3ZSc9GEXwgJHPvDhRM0R-Na7u7Cjo/edit?tab=t.0

NECSUS Special Section

Deadline: March 1, 2025

Edited by Luis Freijo (King’s College London), Asja Makarević (Goethe University), and Belén Vidal (King’s College London) 

This NECSUS Special Section invites submissions that engage with ageing in relation to the life cycles of human subjects. The section seeks bio-social, cultural, technological, philosophical and/or political reflections around questions of age and the ageing process through a critical focus on visual media that engages with this topic at the level of production, textuality and/or circulation. 

While gerontology has experienced a cultural turn in the last decade (Twigg and Martin, 2015), ageing has been an object of enquiry in cultural theory for some time (e.g. Woodward 1999; Gullette 2004), with a particular focus on images and narratives of ageing and old age (e.g. Featherstone and Wernick, eds. 1995). In contrast, media scholars have been slower to turn their attention to ageing other than as a subset of gender studies and feminist theory, with early interventions by Simone de Beauvoir (in her book-length essay La Vieillesse/The Coming of Age, originally published in 1970) and Susan Sontag (“The Double Standard of Aging”, from 1972) often credited with opening the debate and providing inspiration in relation to methods (such as anocriticism or, the theorization of age/gender intersections, Haring 2023) and approaches to the ways in which we are “aged by culture,” as Margaret M. Gullette puts it in her 2004 book of the same title.

The intense public scrutiny (after the #blacklivesmatter and #metoo global movements) of the ways gendered and racial forms of discrimination have historically structured film and media has galvanized new waves of activist and critical thought on the relation between bodies, subjectivities and modes of agency. Once more, identities have been pushed to the critical centre stage. The deconstruction of ageism in visual culture is accruing urgency in a different way. Demographic trends signal the progressive ageing of the global population (the WHO predicts that “by 2030, 1 in 6 people in the world will be aged 60 years or over, and the number of persons aged 80 years or older is expected to triple between 2020 and 2050 to reach 426 million” (“Ageing and health”, www.who.int, 1/10/2022), giving ageing subjects a new visibility at the centre of policy and governance. Narratives of decline and the crisis of care dominate the news media coverage of topics related to the third and fourth ages, even if the experience and the social standing of the ageing subject varies widely according to factors such as cultural location, access to services and disposable income. Parallel to this state of affairs, film industries worldwide continue to trade in a visual economy normatively biased towards youth, even if in some regions (Europe most prominently) audiences are ageing in tune with demographic trends (with the long-term impact of the Covid pandemic and the expansion of streaming on the habits of older cinemagoers still under assessment).

This is just one of many paradoxes confronted by scholars concerned with the longer histories of representation and stereotyping of ageing in film and television (notably Cohen-Shalev 2009; Oró-Piqueras and Wohlmann 2016; Dolan 2017; Chivers 2019, or Tracy and Schrage-Früh 2021). New forms of theorisation (for example De Falco 2009; Gravagne 2013) point at the complex role of screen media as, in the words of Medina Bañón and Zecchi (2020), a technology of age, regulating and reproducing normative ideas about age and gender. In this regard, the focus on aging femininities has driven the critical agenda (e.g. see key studies by Dolan and Tincknell, 2012; Jermyn and Holmes 2015) while recent reports on gender inequality suggest that women remain mostly underrepresented in creative roles, such as film director, producer and screenwriter (Prommer and Loist 2020; Coles and Verhoeven 2021).

Conversely, some forms of film and media have become aligned with particular age groups; in this respect, more research is needed to debunk myths about social media being the preserve of those who have grown with it from a young age, while the intersections of ageing and celebrity cultures constitute an expanding field (cf Jermyn and Holmes 2015). Finally, ageing raises temporal questions of performance, creativity and late style (Bolton and Lobalzo Wright, 2016; Richardson 2019; Deng 2024) as part of wider cycles of maturity and obsolescence. Time entangles senescent creators and spectators in ways that lead us to ask how cinema and other forms of screen media registers age, and how it ages with its audiences.

We invite research contributions (including video essays) dealing with, but not limited to the following perspectives on #ageing:

• old age, third age, and fourth age in film and media
  
• performing and reading age in film and visual media
  
• narrating age
  
• transitions and ageing
  
• intergenerational relations
  
• ageing media/film cultures and industries
  
• intersectional approaches to ageing
  
• challenging narratives of decline
  
• critical approaches to successful aging
  
• ageing, illness, well-being
  
• dementia and time in film and media
  
• narratives of care
  
• old age and living arrangements on screen
  
• the care home in film and media
  
• old age and social media
  
• ageing in relation to stardom, celebrity, nostalgia and/or cinephilia
  

We look forward to receiving abstracts of 300 words, 3-5 bibliographic references, and a short biography of 100 words by 1 March 2025 via this online form. On the basis of selected abstracts, authors will be invited to submit full manuscripts by 15 July 2025 (5,000-8,000 words, revised abstract, 4-5 keywords) which will subsequently go through a blind peer review process before final acceptance for publication (expected December 2025).

Please check the guidelines at: https://necsus-ejms.org/guidelines-for-submission/. For all queries on the call for papers and the submission of abstracts, please contact Belén Vidal at belen.vidal@kcl.ac.uk.  

References  

Anonymous. ‘Ageing and health’, World Health Organization, 1 October 2022 https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health

Bolton, Lucy and Julie Lobalzo Wright (eds.) 2016. Lasting Screen Stars. Images that Fade and Personas that Endure. London: Palgrave.

Chivers, Sally. 2019. The Silvering Screen: Old Age and Disability in Cinema. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.

Cohen-Shalev, Amir. 2009. Visions of Aging: Images of the Elderly in Film. Brighton: Sussex Academic Press.

Coles, Amanda and Deb Verhoeven. 2021. Deciding on Diversity: Covid-19, Risk and Intersectional Inequality in the Canadian Film and Television Industry. Women in Film and Television Canada Coalition, Toronto.

De Beauvoir, Simone. 1972. The Coming of Age. London: Penguin.

Deng, MaoHui. 2024. Ageing, Dementia and Time in Film: Temporal Performances. Edinburgh University Press.

Dolan, Josephine and Estella Tincknell (eds.) 2012. Aging Femininities. Troubling Representations. Cambridge: Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

Dolan, Josephine. 2017. Contemporary Cinema and ‘Old Age’: Gender and the Silvering of Stardom. London: Palgrave Macmillan.

Featherstone and Wernick (eds.) 1995. Images of Aging: Cultural Representations of Later Life. New York: Routledge.

Gravagne, Pamela H. 2013. The Becoming of Age: Cinematic Visions of Mind, Body and Identity in Later Life. Jefferson: McFarland & Company.

Gullette, Margaret Morganroth. 2004. Aged by Culture. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Haring, Nicola. ‘Intersectional Ageing. An Anocritical Reading.’ 2023. In Nicole Haring, Roberta Maierhofer, Barbara Ratzenböck (eds.) Gender and Age/Aging in Popular Culture. Representations in Film, Music, Literature, and Social Media, 135-152. Aging Studies 22. Bielefeld: Transcript.

Jermyn, Deborah and Sue Holmes (eds.), 2015. Women, Celebrity, and Cultures of Ageing: Freeze Frame. London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Medina Bañón, Raquel, and Barbara Zecchi. 2020. ‘Technologies of Age: The Intersection of Feminist Film Theory and Aging Studies’. Investigaciones Feministas 11 (2): 251–62. Oró-Piqueras, Maricel, and Anita Wolhmann (eds.) 2016. Serializing Age: Aging and Old Age in TV Series. Aging Studies 7. Bielefeld: Transcript.

Sontag, Susan. 1972. ‘The Double Standard of Aging.’ Saturday Review of the Society LV (39): 29–38.

Prommer E, and Skadi Loist. 2020. ‘Where are the Female Creatives? The Status Quo of the German Screen Industry’. Women in the International Film Industry: Policy, Practice and Power. Liddy S (ed.), 43–60. Palgrave Macmillan: Basingstoke.

Richardson, Niall. 2019. Aging Femininity on Screen: The Older Woman in Contemporary Cinema. London: I.B. Tauris.

Tracy, Tony and Michaela Schrage-Früh (eds.) 2022. Ageing Masculinities in Contemporary European and Anglophone Cinema. London, New York: Routledge.

Twigg, Julia and Wendy Martin (eds.) 2015. Routledge Handbook of Cultural Gerontology. London, New York: Routledge.

Woodward, Kathleen (ed.) 1999. Figuring Age: Women, Bodies, Generations. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. 

June 5-6, 2025

Lisbon, Portugal

Deadline: February 28, 2025

2025 ECREA Workshop of the Temporary Working Group Affect, Emotion & Media

From climate change awareness to political engagement, media have always played an essential role in giving people the tools to make informed decisions to potentially enhance their quality of life and that of their communities. However, in an era where multiple layers of content and information from different sources and players coexist, it can be challenging to develop shared visions for improved quality of life and change oneself, communities, cities, the environment, and governments for the better. Emotion and affect are powerful tools to bridge this gap, capturing attention and inspiring engagement with critical quality-of-life issues.

This workshop explores the intersection of affect, emotion, and media in addressing contemporary societal challenges with impacts on well-being and the good life, focusing on quality-of-life topics such as healthy media use, climate action, equity, democracy, mobility, and responsible cities, among others. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches that combine media and communication studies with psychology, sociology, political science, and other relevant fields. Presentations may address, but are not limited to:

• Theoretical frameworks and empirical approaches for understanding affect in media communication;
  
• Empirical studies on the impact of affect and emotion in news dissemination and reception;
  
• Case studies of successful or failed affective strategies in, e.g., journalism, PR, advertisement, political campaigns, or influencer relationships;
  
• Ethical considerations in leveraging emotion for media engagement;
  
• Expressions of affect and emotion in visual communication
  
• Affect, emotions, and the role of algorithms and AI;
  
• Innovative methodologies for measuring and analyzing emotional responses to media content.
  
• Historical analyses of affect and emotion in media and their impact on society
  

Location & Date: NOVA University of Lisbon (NOVA FCSH), Av. de Berna Campus | 5 and 6 June 2025

Submission deadline: 28 February 2025

Submit an abstract (only in English) of no more than 300 words (excl. bibliography) by 28 February 2025 to dorasantossilva@fcsh.unl.pt

One file should contain no identifying information on the authors (only abstract proposal and respective title), as each abstract will be subjected to peer review. In addition, we request authors to submit – in a separate file – the title of the abstract, the authors and affiliations (plus a short bio). Notification of acceptance/rejection will be given by 10 March. 

Members and non-members of ECREA are equally welcome to submit an abstract. Proposals from PhD students and early career researchers are especially encouraged. A registration fee of €90 for researchers and €25 for PhDs students will, as of now, be required. This value includes two days of lunches and coffee breaks.

Dora Santos-Silva

Gabriela Ferreira 

Manuel Menke

Dominique Wirz

May 28-30, 2025

Universidade Nova de Lisboa, ICNOVA-FCSH-UNL, Lisbon

Deadline: January 24, 2025

This conference is hosted by the Communication Institute of Universidade Nova, FCSH.

It will have a double-blind peer review and publication of selected papers for RCL [Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens].

The arts and artistic practices create specific modes and mediations that involve variations in attention. They perform a “tuning [of] the attention” if we are to use Lisa Nelson’s formulation in Tuning Scores (2003), which generates cadences, movements and intensities between different types of focus of fluctuating, and varyingly disinterested or distracted attention. Attention is always in movement, and according to Paul Ricoeur, it is always more or less at the service of a desire, an intention, a task, a need or a volition.

The study of variations in attention in the arts, notably performance and cinema, is also linked to how we see the world and choose what we want to show. Sensitivity is refined to give visibility to something confused with the landscape, highlighting it or co-composing with it.  When we choose a cutout, a framework for what we are going to share, we create a surplus—everything we choose not to show—and a margin—which is within the cutout of what is shown but is not reinforced as “the most relevant.” 

These choices also reveal some common ground between art and politics—the choice between what is considered relevant to be seen and made visible and what is left out of the attention with resulting implications. What we do not see (or hear, or smell) of the figure/background, such as context and focus, movement, drag, or blur, is very broad and requires a great deal of “attention training” to play, describe, and live in the arts, sciences, and ordinary everyday life.

On the other hand, the word “cadence” has a procedural and dynamic dimension that relates not only to modulations and rhythms but also to falls. “Cadere,” the word behind “cadence,” contains the idea of falling.  Falling in or out of a specific type of attention, a curiosity, a passion, or floating in attention through falls, as happens in surfing or Contact Improvisation, perfectly describes the way we live in constant “improvisation.”

For the conference Cadences: Attentional Moves in the Arts and Everyday Life, we invite talks with and about modes and “echologies” of attention—thinking of the “echo” of sound resonance—and the ecology of relationships as an intricate web of inter-affections. We invite reflections on framings, postures, positions and positionalities. We invite reflections on affection and care, craftsmanship and hospitality. 

What words, tools, movements, and cadences do we use to practice attention?

What subjectivities and communities are generated from certain practices of attention? What is left out of focus?

When we say “focus,” do we put ourselves in the place of a lens that focuses, as in the case of photography and cinema?

We accept proposals on attentional moves linked to the arts and everyday life. We invite scholars, researchers, artists, and curators to submit proposals for a 20-minute in-person presentation in English, or Portuguese.

Suggested topics (may include but are not limited to)

-Technogenetic attention.

-Tuning of attention.

-Movements of attention.

-Attention mediation.

-Attention capture and attention deficit.

-Arts. 

– Crafts, handicrafts and workshops.

– Performance studies. 

– Performance and cognition.

– Dramaturgies of attention.

– Attention, affection and care.

– Transindividual attention and community.

– Performativity of attention.

– Queer studies.

– Gender and Feminist studies.

– Black studies and Race studies.

– Disability studies.

Keynote speakers:

Yves Citton (Université Paris 8 Vincennes-Saint Denis), 

Bojana Cvejic (Oslo National Academy of Arts),

Jonathan Burrows (Centre for Dance Research Coventry University), 

Carla Fernandes (ICNOVA, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa).

Fees:

Researchers / Speakers: €120

Students: € 60

Submission guidelines

The proposals should include:

Title of the proposal; Author’s identification (name, institutional affiliation, country and e-mail); Conference topics and 3 to 5 keywords. Extended abstract (300 – 500 words), 1 or 2 images (optional), References (3 to 5), Short bio (150 words max).

Proposals must be sent in PDF format by e-mail to:  cadencesattentionalmoves@gmail.com

Conference website: http://cadencesattentionalmoves.fcsh.unl.pt

Texts and presentations must be delivered in English or Portuguese.

Selection process

Proposals can be submitted until 24 January 2025.

Proposals are assessed by double-blind peer review.

The note of acceptance will be sent by 24 February 2025.

Deadline for registration: 24 March.

A selection of conference papers will be included in RCL [Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens], to be published in 2026 by the Institute of Communication of Nova, School of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa.

Further instructions for publication of the complete papers will be sent directly to the selected authors.

September 18-19, 2025

Nova University of Lisbon (Portugal)

Deadline: January 31, 2025

https://womcomrights25.fcsh.unl.pt

In 2025, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Beijing Platform for Action (BPfA), an international policy framework adopted at the Fourth UN World Conference on Women in 1995, which established global objectives for advancing gender equality. Section J deals with gender equality in the media and calls for the participation of women in media roles and a balanced, non-stereotypical portrayal of women. It took decades of feminist activism to include Section J in the Platform. These initiatives led to the launch of the Global Media Monitoring Project, a comprehensive analysis of the portrayal of women in the news in different countries.

Despite this foundation, gender and intersectional inequalities still exist. The media landscape of the last 30 years has seen a concentration of ownership, a decline in budgets for journalism, the rise of large tech companies and a challenging regulatory environment — all of which emphasise the need for initiatives on gender and intersectionality in the media. Although Section J advocates for women’s participation, stereotypical representations are still prevalent and women are often excluded from media decision-making processes. Gender-based violence online has increased as digital platforms have failed to effectively combat misogyny and protect women’s digital rights. This has added new forms of abuse, especially for those belonging to different minority groups and facing other forms of discrimination such as ableism, racism, lgtbqphobia, aporophobia, classism or ageism.

At a time when rights are under threat, it is necessary to continue to develop strategies for action and exchange ideas on methods to support demands for a fairer media environment. This conference aims to foster a dialogue on changes, challenges and future directions in realising gender and intersectional equality in the media. 

Format

We invite scholars, policymakers, journalists, media professionals and activists to submit a contribution on topics such as feminist media policy, digital harassment, intersectional discrimination, media representation and the role of feminist movements in shaping media policy or other topics mentioned below. Contributions dealing with intersectional and comparative approaches to media and gender issues are particularly welcome. Presentations can be inspired by research, creative, media, activist, and interdisciplinary practices and will be arranged in thematic sessions by the organising team.

Potential topics could include (but are not limited to): 

· The role of feminist movements in media and gender policy-making

· Gender and media regulation

· Online gendered harassment and abuse

· Gender and intersectional issues in media production

· Manifestations of misogyny in digital and popular media

· Gendered implications of AI / automated technologies and algorithmic communications

· Intersections of sexism, ableism, racism, lgtbqphobia, ageism, classism and other forms of oppression

· Shortcomings and possibilities of the Beijing Platform for Action 

· Pervasiveness of (neo)colonial framings in the global representation of women

· The role of affect, emotion, and authenticity within gender and communication

· Disinformation, misinformation, malinformation and threats to gender and intersectional equality

· Far-right communication, social media and women’s rights

· Alternative feminist media practices 

· Possibilities for building solidarity in and through the media, especially within the Global South and the Global North

· Specific policy issues such as privacy, surveillance, issues of data justice and others

· Feminist utopias in media production and representation.

Submission 

https://easychair.org/cfp/WomComRights25

Please submit your proposal by 31st January 2025, 23:59 (CET) and highlight how your work relates to the conference topic, methods used, and perspectives you would like to bring to the discussion. Abstracts should be no longer than 300 words. 

Registration

The cost of (in-person) attendance is 100 euros for salaried academics and other professionals, and 50 euros for students and unwaged participants. Requests for fee exemption will be handled case-by-case by the organizing committee. 

This covers conference registration and coffee breaks. Booking for the conference dinner will be available once registration is opened.

Organisation

This conference is co-organised by ICNOVA (Lisbon) and ECREA’s Gender, Sexuality and Communication Section with the support of the Digital Culture and Communication Section. The conference is partially supported by National Funds through FCT - Foundation for Science and Technology under Project refª: UIDB/05021/2020.

Hosted and sponsored by ICNOVA (Universidade NOVA de Lisboa).

For questions, please email us at WomComRights25@fcsh.unl.pt

URL: https://womcomrights25.fcsh.unl.pt

Edited by: Giuliana Sorce and Tanja Thomas (University of Tübingen)

https://www.routledge.com/New-Digital-Feminist-Interventions-Speaking-Up-Talking-Back/Sorce-Thomas/p/book/9781032795010?srsltid=AfmBOoql-fYOYTY_Ol1rdJ6TecQfDABDjMRUIEaE6glZk0fdUE_wmkjm

Drawing on the influential work of bell hooks, this edited collection highlights social justice interventions by feminist/queer/decolonial actors, groups, and collectives who recover the digital as a space for activist organizing and campaigning. In presenting a variety of sociocultural issues, such as gender violence, queer discrimination, or migrant hostility, the book centers empowerment practices in their digital forms, showcasing interventions in Asia, Europe, and the Americas—thereby critically examining the conditions for marginalized voices to speak up, talk back, and be heard in digital publics. 

The chapters in this book are organized into four sections: The first section on Activist Practices zooms in on what activists do with digital media to speak up and talk back. The second section centers various Activist Formats, engaging with different types of digital media as spaces for intervention and resistance. The third section, Activist Experience, covers the costs of doing digital feminist work. The fourth section, Activist Scholarship, speaks to the politics of researching and publishing queer and feminist digital activism in our field. 

June 11, 2025

University of Denver, Colorado, USA

Deadline: February 1, 2025

Two weeks left to submit an abstract to the ICA 2025 Pre-conference – Frames of Transition: Visual Communication in Times of Social Change

Date: Wednesday 11 June 2025, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm. 

Location: University of Denver, Colorado, USA

Abstracts due: February 1, 2025: https://bit.ly/4fdwT68

Notifications: March 11, 2025

In a world marked by rapid technological advances and sociopolitical upheavals, visual communication plays a vital role in documenting and influencing these changes. By emphasizing the theme of transition and change, this pre-conference organized by ICA Visual Communication Studies Division seeks to contribute to academic scholarship and practical applications, demonstrating how visual communication can help navigate and make sense of change. It also aims to provide a platform for cross-divisional and interdisciplinary networking between emerging and senior scholars dealing with visual communication research, inviting extended abstracts with a focus on three perspectives:

Phenomena-oriented perspective: From this perspective, we seek contributions examining events, movements, and trends represented visually, offering insights into the ways visual communication shapes and is shaped by transitional moments. We also aim to explore the impact of emerging visual production or editing technologies, such as generative AI, that contribute to new issues (e.g., AI-generated visual disinformation, deepfakes, creative expression, etc.).

Actor/agent (action)-oriented perspective: This perspective invites visual communication research with a focus on individuals, groups, and organizations involved in creating, editing, disseminating, and engaging with visual content during transitional periods. We also aim to explore how visual communication is used as a tool to address existing issues (e.g., through visual storytelling, photojournalism, novel forms of visual expression, etc.).

Method-oriented perspective: Submissions from this perspective will delve into the methodologies and techniques used to study visual representation and meaning-making during periods of change. We also aim to provide a forum for collaborative learning about innovative approaches and tools for analyzing visual communication.

How to Participate:

Send us an extended abstract for one of the following formats by 1 February 2025:

• Traditional research (1,000 words): These abstracts should be anonymized for a review committee made up of senior Division members.
  
• Research escalator (500 words): The session applications will be reviewed by potential mentors, and where matches are possible, mentees will be paired with a mentor.

Full CfP: https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.icahdq.org/resource/resmgr/conference/2025/pc-cfp-frames-transition.pdf

Registration: we are planning with a fee of $50 (includes lunch and refreshments on the day). No fees to submit an abstract.

For any queries, please contact 

Dr. Nataliia Laba - n.laba@rug.nl 

Dr. Kareem el Damanhoury - kareem.eldamanhoury@du.edu

The Journal of Radio and Audio Media (JRAM)

Deadline: April 5, 2025

Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez, University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Prof. Kim Fox, American University in Cairo

Dr. Aram Sinnreich, American University

The Journal of Radio and Audio Media (JRAM), the world’s premier radio research journal, is published semi-annually by the Broadcast Education Association. JRAM is dedicated to radio research and the new technology redefining radio’s traditional use.

As of December 2024, U.S. President Donald Trump’s appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience had over 50 million views on YouTube. His appearance on the most popular podcast in the world capped off a campaign that was part of the “podcast election” where both candidates reached voters through podcasts (Edison Research, 2024). With this amount of reach, it’s clear that some high-profile podcasts have reached the status of a mass medium (Bonini, 2015; Loviglio, 2024). Other political figures across the world have embraced podcasts, aural media, and YouTube. For example, former Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador and his successor Claudia Sheinbaum regularly use mañaneras, where they speak for over two hours in a hybrid press conference and morning show that would often veer into personal musings and confrontations with journalists (Higuera, 2024). Broadcast on television, they are also simulcast on radio and YouTube.

As political leaders embrace podcasts and other aural media several issues may emerge.

By circumventing traditional media, politicians may appear on friendly podcasts to avoid the adversarial nature of journalistic interviews and real-time fact-checks. The informal style of podcast discussions is often discussed as a benefit of the medium for both politicians and audiences (McClung & Johnson, 2010; Schlütz & Hedder, 2022). Yet, this informality may further blur the lines between celebrity and public figure, policy and personality. These issues point to podcasts’ incomplete promise as a public sphere (Sienkiewicz & Jaramillo, 2019).

To fully consider this turn, we invite papers engaging with this issue in the topics of, but not limited to:

• Historicizing the Turn to Podcasts in Campaigning
  
• The 2024 U.S. Election on Podcasts
  
• The Role of Podcasts in Shaping Public Opinion and Electoral Outcomes
  
• The Impact and Influence of the Manosphere on Politics and Culture
  
• Humor and Parasociality
  
• Ethics and Journalistic Norms
  
• Cases in the Global South
  
• Populism and Podcasting
  
• Democracy and Podcasting
  
• Podcasting as a Counterpublic
  
• Narrative Podcasts as Platforms for Social Commentary and Critique
  
• Religious Podcasts as a Site for Spiritual and Ideological Discourse
  
• Investigative Journalism Podcasts and Their Influence on Public Opinion
  

Submission Instructions

Contributions should be no longer than 7,000 words, inclusive of tables and references. Only original manuscripts will be accepted, and all submissions will undergo a blind peer review, per the journal’s policies. Invitations to submit full papers will be issued shortly after the deadline for extended abstracts, and all final papers will undergo a peer-reviewed process for final publication. For specific information about the journal’s requirements and the submission process, please see the “Instructions for Authors” page on the JRAM site.

Manuscripts should be submitted through the Manuscript Central link on https://www.beaweb.org/wp/?page_id=571 or https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/hjrs

Documents prepared in Microsoft Word are preferred and should use APA 7th for style and citation. Manuscripts should not exceed 7000 words and should include an abstract of no more than 150 words. In addition to the manuscript with no reference to the author(s), the author(s) should include a separate attachment with contact information. Please fill in the manuscript information as directed on the site.

Submission Deadlines

Scholars interested in submitting an article for the special issue should send an extended abstract of 1500 words to Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez at arthur.sotovasquez@unlv.edu for a review by April 5, 2025, 11:59 PM PT. Feedback and an invitation to submit will be provided by May 1, 2025. All final papers will undergo a peer-reviewed process for final publication and must be submitted to JRAM by August 1, 2025, 11:59 PM PT.

Extended abstracts due: April 5, 2025, 11:59 PM PT Final paper due: August 1, 2025, 11:59 PM PT The special issue is scheduled for publication in Spring 2026

Contact If you have any questions about the CFP, please send an email to Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez at arthur.sotovasquez@unlv.edu Subject line: JRAM Podcast Elections

References

Bonini, T. (2015). The ‘second age’ of podcasting: Reframing podcasting as a new digital mass medium. Quaderns del CAC, 41, 23-33.

Edison Research. (2024, November 14). In the “Podcast Election,” Trump talked to vastly more people. Edison Research. https://www.edisonresearch.com/in-the-podcast-election-trump-talked-to-vastly-more-people/

Higuera, S. (2024, March 20). Las mañaneras de López Obrador en México, una forma única de comunicación señalada por ataques a la prensa. LatAm Journalism Review. https://latamjournalismreview.org/es/articles/las-mananeras-de-lopez-obrador-en-mexico-una-forma-unica-de-comunicacion-marcada-por-ataques-a-la-prensa/

Loviglio, J. (2024). From Radio to Podcasting: Intimacy and Massification. The Velvet Light Trap, 93(1), 52-54. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/921538

McClung, S., & Johnson, K. (2010). Examining the motives of podcast users. Journal of radio & audio media, 17(1), 82-95. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376521003719391

Sienkiewicz, M., & Jaramillo, D. L. (2019). Podcasting, the intimate self, and the public sphere. Popular Communication, 17(4), 268-272. https://doi.org/10.1080/15405702.2019.1667997

Schlütz, D., & Hedder, I. (2022). Aural parasocial relations: Host–listener relationships in podcasts. Journal of Radio & Audio Media, 29(2), 457-474. https://doi.org/10.1080/19376529.2020.1870467

Contact Information: Dr. Arthur D. Soto-Vásquez 

Contact Email: arthur.sotovasquez@unlv.edu