ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

February 26, 2019

Brussels

The problem of women’s unequal access to and representation in mainstream media is not new and research studies focused on the European media industry over at least the past 30 years, including work commissioned by EU institutions, have demonstrated the challenges women face in developing a career in the media and being represented in ways which reflect their lived experience. In 1995, the UN’s Fourth World Conference on Women took place in Beijing and from that gathering, the Beijing Platform for Action emerged as a global call to eradicate gender equality from society: one of the critical areas of concern identified was the media. In the same year, the first Global Media Monitoring Project took place which monitored how women and men appeared in news media around the globe. Every five years since the BPfA, reviews have been undertaken to see how far the original ambitions have been met, along with various ad hoc studies undertaken by NGOs, EU institutions and civil society organisations.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, each review and new piece of research finds that although there has been progress, it is slow and uncoordinated, so further indicators are developed, further strategies written. Both the European Parliament and the Council of Europe have produced research and recommendations around gender equality and the media: media organisations have been active in developing internal initiatives to support women’s careers or designed actions to monitor gender-bias in content, but they rarely tell anyone else about them. Civil society organisations and individuals have also been active over the past few years and, impatient for a gender-equal future, have been working hard to bring the issue to public attention through the use of digital platforms and hashtag activism such as #metoo and #timesup. However, despite all this good work, the goal of achieving gender equality in the media remains elusive, not least because there are no mechanisms through which to promote the good practices which have been initiated.

That is, no mechanisms until now!

We are pleased to invite you to the launch of the AGEMI (Advancing Gender Equality in Media Industries) project and web platform where you can find a range of useful resources focused on aspects of gender equality, including a Resources Bank of (around 100) Good Practices and learning resources which include mini-lectures and filmed interviews with media practitioners on topics such as representation, culture, policy, advocacy and leadership. Gender issues are rarely included as a specific aspect of journalism training so AGEMI is addressing this absence. AGEMI has also piloted two activities to build links between students and the world of work through its summer school and internships. We believe that including such activities as part of media education encourages gender-sensitivity amongst the next generation of journalists and thus has the potential to influence the wider media landscape.

As well as demonstrating the AGEMI platform, we will also hear from a range of stakeholders about the work they are doing to challenge gender inequality in the media. We believe this kind of knowledge exchange is both necessary and timely, particularly in advance of the Beijing+25 review which will take place in 2020 with the aim of informing the implementation and raising awareness of the gender-media dimensions of the 2030 gender-equality agenda. We hope you can join us to celebrate the launch of this much-needed new resource and engage in a productive dialogue and we hope to see you in Brussels.

The event is free but please register here by 19 February 2019.

For further information, please contact Karen Ross:

http://krossings.me

http://www.ncl.ac.uk/sacs/staff/profile/karen.ross

Working schedule

• 14:30 – welcome refreshments
  
• 14:40 – welcome and brief background to AGEMI
  
• 14:50 –Julie Ward MEP and Michaela Šodjrová MEP
  
• 15:20 – European Commission (speaker tbc)
  
• 15:35 - Cécile Gréboval, Council of Europe (Gender Equality Division)
  
• 15:50 – Asha Allen, European Women’s Lobby
  
• 16:05 – break
  
• 16:20 - AGEMI platform launch and demonstration
  
• 17:00 - Safia Kessas RTBF (Belgian public service broadcaster)
  
• 17:15 - Martine Simonis, AJP
  
• 17:30 – close/drinks reception
  

Mid-late April, 2020

Madrid, Spain

Deadline (EXTENDED): February 10, 2020

Since the twilight of the last century, game studies have emerged to become a legitimate discipline by which to study digital entertainment products as part of the Humanities. Deriving from this phenomenon are historical game studies, which have blossomed in the last decade and help us understand the uses of and discourses about the past in gaming. Most of the works, however, have focused on Western computer games using an analytical approach that also draws from a Western heritage, despite the importance of the Asian market, especially the Japanese one, after the 1983 crash of the American game industry. Furthermore, in recent decades the production of videogames in countries like China, South Korea and Taiwan has been reaching global audiences. Therefore, we have deemed it relevant to focus the 3rd Complutense’s Historical Game Studies Conference on this Asian phenomenon.

The 2020 Conference follows an open call for papers system. The organization will evaluate positively those contributions built on original and appropriate theoretical frames and methodological apparatuses (in preference to purely descriptive ones).

Proposals should be sent to asiangamesconference@gmail.com and will consist of a title, an abstract of no more than 400 words, up to 5 key words and a selection of bibliography in a text document with the name of the contributor. They will be blind peer reviewed by a scientific committee of five experts. The accepted languages are English and Spanish. Research topics proposed by the organization are as follows:

• History of videogames and gaming culture in East Asia: producers and developers, evolution of franchises, chronologically defined audiences, their practices and their evolution…
• Western games consumed in East Asia and vice versa: impact of historical computer game franchises around the globe, ports, localization of historical games in order to adapt their discourses to foreign audiences…
• Representations of foreign history in Asian videogames: how Asian developers reimagine foreign history (Operation Europe: Path to Victory, Uncharted Waters, Bladestorm Valkyria Chronicles…), adaptation of historical elements in contexts of fantasy (Fate, Granblue Fantasy…), historical anthropomorfism (Azur Lane, Girl’s Frontline…)…
• Representations of Asian history in Asian videogames: Sengoku Basara, Samurai Warriors, Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Nobunaga’s Ambition, Touken Ranbu…
• Computer game genres and gender/sexual identities: historical games marketed to gender-based audiences (otome games, bishoujo games), sexuality and history in East Asian games (moé)…
• Transmedia visual culture: relationship between historical games and comics (manga, manhwa, manhua), animation, film, advertisement…
• Reception dynamics: fan activities (cosplay, fanzines, doujinshi, modding, pilgrimages…), fan cultures around historical videogames…

Deadline for abstracts is February 10, 2020. Authors of selected contributions will be notified approximately one month after the deadline. The two-day long conference will be held at Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Madrid, Spain) mid-late April 2020.

If you have any questions regarding the Conference, please contact us at asiangamesconference@gmail.com. We are looking forward to your contributions.

ECREA supports young scholars and provides opportunities for their development. The Young Scholars Network (YECREA) at ECREA was established with exactly this goal in mind.

ECREA supports this Network financially. For example, last year ECREA awarded 3 grants in total amount of 3.500€ for participation at the ECREA European Media and Communication Doctoral Summer School 2018 and offered 10 Young Scholars Grants for the ECREA 2018 conference in Lugano. We would like to continue this support, ideally on a larger scale.

We kindly appeal for your support. By donating to the Young Scholars Fund you will directly support post-graduate researchers affiliated with the Young Scholars Network. We will gratefully accept any amount from individuals, groups, organisations or companies.

As a way of expressing our gratitude, you will receive a delicious box of ECREA-branded chocolates (for donations of €15 and above) or an ECREA-branded athletic t-shirt (for donations of €35 and above). Ten donations of this amount will allow us to award the conference fee for one PhD scholar. We want to assure you that the whole amount will go to the Young Scholar Fund.

If you wish to donate to the Young Scholars Fund, you can do so by clicking HERE. It is as easy as that.

Please consider donating to the Young Scholars Fund. It is a great way to encourage participation and development of emerging young scholars within ECREA. Thank you for your valuable support.

If you have any questions about donating to ECREA, contact Paweł Surowiec at treasurer@ecrea.eu.

Deadline: February 9, 2019

The University of Stirling seeks to appoint a Senior Lecturer (Grade 9) in Film and Gender Studies with a demonstrable interest and expertise in gender.

The appointee will contribute to doctoral, masters and undergraduate provisions within Stirling’s highly regarded film and media programme (ranked 8th in the UK in the latest Guardian rankings). The appointee will also take leadership of the MSc/MLitt in Gender Studies. While Stirling has always encouraged scholars with a diverse range of interests within the broad ambit of film and screen studies, we would be particularly interested in building capacity within the Division in areas such as science fiction and film theory.

The MSc/MLitt in Gender Studies (Applied) at the University of Stirling is unique in the UK and is attracting a growing number of students interested in placing the application of learning to real-world contexts which lies at the heart of the course. The course awards two scholarships annually specifically for students studying the MSc/MLitt in Gender Studies (Applied), the Dr Dee Amy-Chinn Gender Studies Scholarship and the Gender Studies Community Bursary. The programme has been co-ordinated since inception five years ago by the departing chair and is proving particularly popular among third sector organisations both as hosts of masters interns and as a platform for re-training.

Contract Type: Open Ended

Working Pattern: Full Time

Salary: Grade 9 (£50,132-£58,089)

Closing date: Midnight on Saturday, 9th February 2019

For further details, please see here

 May 9 – 11, 2019

Piran (Slovenia)

Deadline: February 28, 2019

Today, algorithms are present everywhere, from the most basic functions of the biggest search engines and social networking sites, to the ways formerly laborious operations are fully automatized. Even though the omnipresence of algorithms increasingly shapes and defines relations at both individual and social levels of our lives, their quasi-autonomous logic and practice remains largely opaque. Practices performed by algorithms are often seen as if they were neutral and objective, even though their logic often merely confirms and reproduces the existing contradictions, inequalities and biases. Moreover, algorithms may strengthen mechanisms of surveillance and oppression, as they are silently taking over functions that in democratic societies ought to be subjected to public scrutiny.

To provide a better understanding of how algorithms influence social relations in the wider field of communication studies, we invite proposals for presentations on a variety of topics connected to algorithms. We seek both empirical and theoretical studies, but the research should be critical in its nature and have strong theoretical foundations. Possible topics for the colloquium include, but are not limited to the issues more narrowly connected to algorithmization of journalistic and media practices, such as:

• Automatization of journalistic labour and robot-journalism,
• Transformations in news and media production,
• News credibility and professional journalistic norms in automated journalism,
• Propaganda,
• Journalistic responsibility and ethics,
• Personalisation of news production, social polarisation and divisions within society,
• Changes in funding of journalism,
• Media politics and regulation,

or to the wider issues in which algorithms are related to social communication:

• Ideology, logic and power of/in algorithms,
• Global news-flows and new types of communication inequalities,
• Search engine algorithms,
• Pitfalls of algorithmization for democratic societies,
• Political economy of algorithms (e.g. advertising, digital labour, market concentration),
• Liquefaction of the publicness/privateness divide,
• Big data and data monopolies,
• Automated inequality,
• Recent technological developments,
• Human decisions in construction of algorithms,
• Communication imperialism and platform imperialism.

EURICOM Colloquia are traditionally small-scale intellectual events with approx. 20-25 participants. This gives participants ample opportunities for in-depth discussions and presentations of research projects. The organisers welcome proposals for papers addressing any aspect of the subject and do not intend to prioritise any particular approach, method or attitude towards the issues under consideration.

In keeping with the established practice of the Colloquia, a special issue of the journal Javnost-The Public will be published containing a selection of the papers presented at the Colloquium.

Interested scholars are invited to submit abstracts for presentation at the 34th EURICOM Colloquium (approximately 250 words) to the editor of Javnost-The Public editor@javnost-thepublic.org by February 28, 2019.

Deadline for abstract submission: 28 February 2018.

Confirmation of abstract acceptance: 20 March 2019.

Deadline for draft paper submission: 6 May 2019.

Deadline: March 1, 2019

Edited by Christina Lee and Erik Champion (Curtin University)

We are soliciting contributions for an edited book that will explore the affective landscapes – both real and imaginary – in screen tourism. Screen tourism is a burgeoning global industry whereby tourists visit locations that are featured in or are associated with film and television texts (e.g. filming locations, theme parks, the creator’s former abode). This simultaneously niche yet mainstream market has now extended the bucket list of travel destinations to include the likes of Westeros (Dubrovnik, Game of Thrones), Middle-earth (New Zealand, The Lord of the Rings), and Platform 9¾ (London, Harry Potter).

The book will explore how affective landscapes in screen tourism are sights/sites of transformation, play and possibility. It will broach a spectrum of topics, ranging from the tourist’s/fan’s affective response to place, to the strategic design of ventures to enhance the experiential through creating senses of place and narrative. The book will further advance discussions of the future potential of the industry (e.g. use of mixed/augmented reality).

'Screen Tourism and Affective Landscapes' will be a comprehensive collection of essays by international scholars and screen tourism practitioners, opening up a space for dialogue between the academy and industry. This interdisciplinary book will be informed by fields including cultural studies, tourism studies, media studies, cultural heritage and visualisation studies.

Possible areas of research include (but are not limited to):

• narrative and affective landscapes
  
• liminal spaces
  
• embodied experiences
  
• themed experiences and places
  
• augmenting place through technology
  
• modes of reality
  
• (popular) cultural heritage and authenticity
  
• the screen tourist’s gaze
  
• fandom communities and engagement
  

Chapters are expected to be approximately 6000–7500 words.

Proposals should be sent by email (in a Word document) to the Editors by March 1, 2019. This should include an abstract (250 words) and a short contributor bio (one paragraph including institutional affiliation, position and recent publications). Please note that the submission date for accepted papers is October 4, 2019.

Contributors, please address all inquiries and proposals to: Dr Christina Lee (c.lee@curtin.edu.au)

Media Mutations 11 Conference

May 20-21, 2019

University of Bologna (Italy)

Deadline: January 20, 2019

Confirmed keynote speakers

• Rachel Dwyer (SOAS University of London)
  
• Stanley Rosen (University of Southern California)
  

Organized by Marco Cucco (University of Bologna), Gertjan Willems (University of Antwerp) and Zhan Zhang (Università della Svizzera italiana)

Media products, in particular audiovisual works, have always been used both as soft power tools for shaping or branding the image and reputation of their producing countries, and as a diplomatic platform for facilitating international relations and trade. Soft power strategies involve public and private stakeholders working in different areas within a wide, complex and well-orchestrated plan. However, due to the fundamental role of culture, media always play a crucial role in any plan of soft power and strategic marketing.

The conference aims at understanding how media products serve for diplomatic and soft power purposes, with a focus on emerging markets. While traditional flows of communication moved from the Western world to other regions (as in the case of Hollywood films), nowadays the most sophisticated and innovative soft power plans are going in the opposite direction: from developing countries to Western Europe and the United States. Not only do countries like China, India, South Korea and Mexico have more and more skillful and powerful media companies and professionals, they are also intensively working and negotiating to spread their media products and brands abroad and to create international co-productions and new media ventures. Within these collaborations and expansion strategies, Western Europe and the United States also became their targeted markets.

Investigating these dynamics is very challenging for scholars. Soft power strategies are often based on “unwritten” political decisions; they usually aim at reaching intangible goals, and their analysis requires expertise from several research areas (political sciences, economics, media studies, etc.). In light of these challenges, the conference aims at a better understanding of the role played by media products in international diplomacy and as soft power tools of developing countries favoring a dialogue between scholars from different research fields and geographic areas. In line with its founding purposes, the Media Mutations conference series aims to serve as a platform for discussing methodologies, sharing expertise and promoting a multi-disciplinary approach.

The 11th edition of Media Mutations encourages submissions that cover the following subjects and topics:

• Mapping of public and private stakeholders involved in soft power strategies of emerging markets, with a focus on creative industries
  
• The role of media within soft power strategies of emerging markets
  
• Case studies of single countries (economic and cultural goals policies; international agreements; development and performance of media products, etc.)
  
• Case studies of particular media companies/organizations for their success/failure (corporate strategy, output, markets, economic results, etc.)
  
• Case studies of particular media products for their success/failure (content design; financing; international distribution/circulation; reception in the national market and in foreign markets)
  
• Soft power and national branding
  
• The implementation of soft power into media practices
  
• The places of networking for diplomatic and soft power purposes (fairs, markets at festivals, etc.)
  
• Relations between developing countries and international organizations (e.g. European Union, World Trade Organization, etc.) in the field of media
  
• Methodological approaches for investigating soft power strategies and their tangible/intangible results
  

The official language of the conference is English. Abstracts (300-500 words for 20-minute talks) should be sent to mediamutations.org@gmail.com by January 20th , 2019. Please attach a brief biography (maximum 150 words) and an optional selected bibliography (up to five references). Notification of acceptance will be sent by February 18 th . A registration fee will be requested after notification of paper acceptance (€60 for speakers and professionalattendants; free conference admission for students).

This Conference is financially supported by Centro Dipartimentale La Soffitta and Dipartimento delle Arti, Università di Bologna, and sponsored by the ECREA Film Studies Section.

The CFP is also available on the Media Mutations web site: https://www.mediamutations.org/about/902-2/

Deadline: February 25

The Department of Information Studies, University of Copenhagen, Denmark, invites applications for two 3-year fully funded PhD scholarships.

The candidates are expected to begin on September 1, 2019 or as soon as possible thereafter.

The PhD scholarships are open-area; we are looking for applications in all of the department’s areas of strength (read more about the department here: www.ischool.ku.dk ). We are especially interested in PhD project proposals that augment the department’s strong, international research profile in new ways and areas.

It is expected that the PhD scholars will take active part in the department’s research activities and it is a plus if the proposed research project is situated between multiple areas of research within the department’s research profile. As a minimum we expect that the proposed research project is clearly situated within the department’s research strengths and activities, and that it is clearly connected to the expertise or interest of individual faculty members or research groups in the department.

Qualification Requirements

Applicants are expected to have a strong educational background. The successful candidates will be part of a dynamic department that spans several disciplines, and the candidates must thrive in such an interdisciplinary environment. It is expected that the successful candidates take part in the department’s daily life and activities, and contribute to the development of the overall research milieu at the department.

The applicant’s qualifications for the scholarship are evaluated by taking into account the applicant’s general educational and academic background such as the applicant’s grade average, thesis grade, language competencies, publications and other academic activities given by the curriculum vitae as well as the duration of study especially during the applicant’s MA programme.

In addition, the proposed PhD project and study plan will be evaluated by taking the following into consideration; originality, choice of theory and method, disciplinary relevance, and prospects for completion within the required timeframe of 36 months.

Furthermore, applicants are encouraged to reflect on how their project relates to the research activities and the academic profile at the department.

Applications must be submitted electronically no later than February 25, 2019 at 23.59 (11.59 pm) (CET).

See full description and guidelines for application here: https://employment.ku.dk/phd/?show=148628 

ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen

Application deadline: February 17, 2019 (23:59 CET)

Duration: 1 month (either between April and June 2019 or between October and December 2019)

Salary: 3,000 euro + 1,500 euro budget for direct costs

Contract: Fee contract

The ZeMKI, Centre for Media, Communication and Information Research, University of Bremen, offers a thriving interdisciplinary research environment in the areas of media, communication and information. Involved disciplines include communication and media studies, computer science, cultural studies, educational science, studies in religion, and history. The ZeMKI invites applications from excellent researchers in the field of media, communication, and information.

As a ZeMKI Visiting Research Fellow, the selected candidate will delve into the versatile research activities at the interdisciplinary centre with over 60 members. Applicants should demonstrate experiences and a strong interest in collaborative research which is embraced at the ZeMKI in various ways and contexts. The selected candidate is expected to contribute to these research activities in the area of media change and transforming communications in the form of a research paper submitted to the peer-reviewed “Communicative Figurations” working paper series and a lecture in the ZeMKI Research Seminar.

Applicants must have a PhD or other doctoral degree in a relevant discipline by the application date.

We offer a lump sum allowance of 3,000 Euros plus up to 1,500 Euros for research related expenses.

To apply for this post, please send your application documents via e-mail to andreas.hepp@uni-bremen.de. The closing date for receipt of applications is February 17, 2019 (23:59 CET). We are unfortunately unable to accept any late applications.

Website: http://www.zemki.uni-bremen.de/en/research/zemki-visiting-research-fellowship.html

Deadline: January 25, 2019

The Digital Media Research Centre at QUT is seeking applications for PhD students (on stipend) to commence research in 2019 allied to one of two projects.

Internet-distributed television: Cultural, industrial and policy dynamics

Supervisor: Distinguished Professor Stuart Cunningham (s.cunningham@qut.edu.au)

This project investigates the impact of global subscription video-on-demand platforms on national television markets. As U.S.-based services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video open up these markets to unprecedented competition, the project will provide much-needed comparative analysis of how governments are responding and what the implications are for debates about local content, local screen production, and media diversity. Analysis of original production and programming strategies will identify new forms of transnational media flow. Conceptually, the project aims to advance our understanding of an emerging paradigm of globalising, multiterritory television.

The PhD project sits within a wider Australian Research Council-funded project (conducted by Ramon Lobato (RMIT University), Amanda Lotz and Stuart Cunningham (QUT)). You are invited to propose an area of focus, for example, on a particular streaming service, institution, national context, production practice, policy issue.

The Platform Governance Project: Rethinking Internet regulation as media policy

Supervisor: Professor Terry Flew (t.flew@qut.edu.au)

The Platform Governance Project is an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project that investigates the regulatory and policy implications of understanding global digital platforms as media companies. Responding to ongoing public concern about these companies’ self-management of online communication and social media, this project will address these concerns by developing detailed recommendation for reform based on international case studies, enabling media policy makers to more effectively regulate digital media platforms to better align with contemporary public interest rationales. As part of a research a team led by Professor Terry Flew (QUT), and working with Nicolas Suzor (QUT), Fiona Martin (Sydney) and Tim Dwyer (Sydney), the PhD candidate will conduct research on the changing political economy of digital platforms, the value ecology of content distributed online through these platforms, and the shifting relationship of media and communications policy to such challenges. It would be advantageous to have a research background in media and creative industries, and an interest in media law and policy.

Applications must contain the following

• A two page research proposal demonstrating alignment to the selected project including proposed project title, project outline, research question or problem statement, a brief overview of previous relevant research, objectives of the program of research and investigation, research methods/methodologies and plan including references to key literature/contextual sources.
  
• Full Curriculum Vitae including three referees (two referees must be academic).
  
• Academic Transcripts from previous undergraduate and postgraduate study.
  

Applications close midnight (ADST) January 25, 2019.

Applicants will be notified of outcome by February 15 2019.

Applications are to be sent as a single pdf to the QUT Digital Media Research Centre Coordinator at dmrc@qut.edu.au

For further information about the projects please contact the listed project supervisor directly via email.

Eligibility

To apply for this scholarship, you must meet the entry requirements for a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at QUT, including any English language requirements for international students.

You must also

• have completed a first-class Honours degree, a research Masters degree, or a coursework Masters degree with a significant research component from a recognised institution and in a cognate discipline
  
• be able to take up the scholarship and begin full-time study no later than July 2019 and enrol full-time
  
• develop a research proposal that responds to and aligns with the aims of either the Internet-distributed television or Platform Governance Project
  
• demonstrate excellent capacity and potential for research