[ecrea] Fwd: Towards Neo-journalism ? Conference on online journalism

International Conference on Online Journalism:

*“Towards Neo-Journalism? *

*Redefining, Extending or Reconfiguring a Profession”*

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Brussels, 3 & 4 October 2012

Organizing institutions: UCL (Louvain) & FUNDP (Namur)

Submission deadline: 6 janvier 2012

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The University of Louvain (UCL) and the University of Namur (FUNDP) 
welcome the submission of papers for the International Conference 
/“Towards Neo-Journalism? Redefining, Extending or Reconfiguring a 
Profession”/ to be held in Brussels on 3 and 4 October 2012. The aim of 
the conference is to allow researchers working on online journalism from 
a variety of disciplines to meet and share research experiences and 
findings. The conference will be complemented by workshops  in the 
afternoon of 4 October bringing togehter information scholars and 
professionals. *www.neo-journalism.org <http://www.neo-journalism.org>*

*Keynote Speakers*

*Mark DEUZE*

Mark Deuze has been an Associate Professor at the Indiana University’s 
Department of Telecommunications in Bloomington (United States) since 
2006. Until 2011 he also held a joint appointment as Professor of 
Journalism and New Media at Leiden University, The Netherlands. 
Publications include seven books, including "Media Work" (2007) and 
"Managing Media Work" (2010).
He just published a book: "Media Life", a 
thematic text on the consequences of life as lived in (rather than with) 
media. And he is currently working on a new book, "Beyond Journalism", a 
theoretical work exploring the potential of conceptualizing journalism 
as seen through the acts of journalists outside of journalism.

*Alfred HERMIDA*

Alfred Hermida is an online news pioneer, digital media scholar and 
journalism educator. The BBC veteran journalist is an associate 
professor at the Graduate School of Journalism of the University of 
British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, where he leads the integrated 
journalism program. Through his research at UBC, and his earlier work at 
the BBC, he has built an international reputation as an authority on new 
media, with his work appearing in Journalism Practice, New Media and 
Society and M/C Journal. His research interests include participatory 
journalism, social media and emerging genres of digital journalism. He 
is a co-author of /Participatory Journalism: Guarding Open Gates at 
Online Newspaper/s (2011).

*Conference Theme*

Can we call 21st century journalism neo-journalism? As used in artistic 
movements, the prefix “neo” has several meanings. First and foremost, it 
means returning to certain* ancient forms and values*. When applied to 
journalism, it would refer to the revival of earlier ways of conceiving 
and of doing journalism, that is, reinventing an existing topic.



Second, the term neo-journalism implies *some criticism of the present*, 
combined with nostalgia for an idealized past. Neo-journalism may thus 
arise from journalists’ criticisms concerning early experiences of the 
appropriation of the Internet by news organizations. Their 
“appropriation techniques” aiming at producing low cost online 
journalism lead to a standardization of contents on the web and give 
rise to journalists’ criticism of normative and legal vacuums.



Third, the prefix “neo” means that some characteristics of early 
movements are* retained and reinterpreted in new settings*. The focus 
here is on new tools that may have an impact on how journalism is 
conceived and carried out online (social networking sites, blogging, 
micro-blogging, audience measurement software).



Finally, the concept of “neo-journalism” may include a *participatory* 
*ideal of empowerment*: “Like the neo-television which Casetti and Odin 
have qualified as a space of conviviality, proximity and above all 
interactivity, the term neo-journalism gathers its strength from its 
relevance to describe a kind of horizontal communication where 
traditional walls separating genres and roles played by protagonists 
disappear (the journalist is no longer the master of the sources)” 
(Murhula et al. 2008, p. 86). Today, participatory technologies (blogs, 
micro-blogging, social networks) allow a series of actors scattered 
throughout places and institutions that do not correspond with the 
traditional journalistic field to have access to public discourse. We 
can then ask what distinguishes journalists from citizens, an issue that 
has serious implications, particularly from a legal point of view.



Hence, if there were a new paradigm, it would be radical only if it took 
into account ideal - or even utopian - journalistic values, 
reintegrating into a new framework those values criticized at the 
present time. The paradigm would have to be conceived as an open space 
where the recipient takes part in a shared, networked, and interactive 
verbalization process. This call for papers aims at examining the 
emergence of neo-journalism through six research axes (see panels).

*Panel Sessions*

We particularly encourage papers that address the following research topics:

1) New Communication Structures, the Blogosphere and Participatory Media

2) Practices and Representations of Professional Online Journalists

3) New Media Regulation: The Right of Information at the Crossroads

4) (Online) Media and Language Use

5) Information Content

6) The Public's Trust in Online News Media

=> See details on the website *www.neo-journalism.org 
<http://www.neo-journalism.org>* (panels sessions)

*Key Dates*

Submission deadline (500 words): 6 january 2012 (see panel sessions)

Notification of acceptance/rejection: 1st March 2012

Submission of full papers: 1st August 2012

Registration opens: to be announced

Conference: 3-4 October 2012

*Practical Information*

Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by the scientific committee

Participation fees: 100 euros (meals included) / Free for journalists 
and for UCL and FUNDP students

Location: Brussels

Languages: French and English (Power Point presentations welcome)

Selected papers will be published after the conference.

*Local Organizing Committee*

Directed by Benoît Grevisse (Director of the School of Journalism at the 
Catholic University of Louvain).

This conference is organized within the frame of the ARC research 
project /"The transformation of the relationship with information in 
multimedia communication" /(_www.onlinejournalism.be 
<http://www.onlinejournalism.be>_).