[ecrea] 6th International Conference Comparative Media Studies CfP

  6^th International Conference
COMPARATIVE MEDIA STUDIES IN TODAY’S WORLD

Theme for 2018: Emotions vs. Rationality in Mediated Discussions

Time: April 17–19, 2018
Place: St. Petersburg, Russia
Working language: English

CALL FOR PAPERS

Emotions have always been part of the public discourse as a key baking 
agent polarizing social groups, helping to aggregate interests, and 
shaping decision-making. From protest solidarity to compassion fatigue, 
it is the emotions that distance the public sphere from its reason-based 
ideal and at the same time make the discussions more appealing to media 
audiences. And while rationality has produced a major line in media 
studies, emotions /per se/ have been a smaller research focus. Today, we 
still lack knowledge on how emotional and rational arguments go together 
in mediated discussions, especially in comparative perspective.

  And this lack has become even more acute in the 2010s, with the 
extreme ‘emotionalization’ of election campaigns and referenda, 
‘border-building thinking’, the new rise of international militant 
rhetoric,, use of televised shock by terrorists, and affective debates 
on social networks virtually everywhere including the USA, Europe, 
Russia, and the Middle East. In the climate of information spinning and 
alt-news, the Habermassian all-encompassing public sphere seems 
impossible as never before. But at the same time, computer-mediated 
communication has opened doors for cross-cultural solidarity campaigning 
on inequalities and human rights, as well as to opportunities of visual 
ad audiovisual expression of feelings on a mass scale.

Thus, the conference is seeking contributions that deal with 
rationality, irrationality, emotions and affects in mediated 
communication. We especially welcome comparative research but do not 
limit ourselves to it, as case studies may be crucial for understanding 
trends. The aim of the conference is to go beyond statements on ‘fake 
news’ and ‘propaganda reborn’ and to look deeper into causes and 
consequences of the communicative shifts of the recent times. We hope to 
link communication researchers to their colleagues in wider social 
sciences, including sociology, public memory studies, social psychology, 
and international relations, as well as to linguists, mathematicians, 
and computer scientists interested in media research.

  In 2018, the conference will have three tracks:

·The ‘Theory’ track, traditional for the conference, will deal with 
emotionality and rationality in communication from a variety of 
theoretical perspectives.

· The ‘Political&Social’ track will explore the linkages between 
emotionality in politics and that in political communication, emotions 
in political talk in media and social communicative milieus, rationality 
and affect in public argumentation, and other aspects of emotionalized 
media discussions on the issues of today’s agendas.

·The ‘Tech&Methods’ track will focus on detecting emotions and linking 
it to other methodologies of social research including (but not limited 
to) automated methods such as social network analysis, detection of 
discussion topics, or user homophily studies. Here, the goal is to link 
the methods and the national/comparative contexts for better 
understanding of the changes in communication around the world.

Among other topics, the conference will focus on:

·Emotions and media: revitalizing the research approaches

·Rational public spheres and their limitations in the real world

·Affective publics and emotional communities online and offline

·Emotions, journalistic standards, and media practices

·Emotions and media effects: gaining and losing audiences by emotions

·Emotional factors in media consumption

·Emotions and rationality in today’s political communication

·Emotions and connective action: from individual feelings to collective 
expression

·Emotions in fake news and media satire

·Emotions as border builders: communicating fear and alienation

·Reputational communication and character assassination

·Emotions as trivializers: cute cats and depoliticization of online 
discussions


·Methodologies of social research on emotions

·Sentiment analysis for traditional and social media

· Semantics in detecting emotions

·User polarization detection: do emotions play a role?

·Insta-, Tele-, and other –grams in dealing with our emotions

·Emotions and anonymity online

----
On the Conference

Since 2013, the conference has gathered experts in comparative media 
research, including Paolo Mancini, Larry Gross, Silvio Waisbord, Katrin 
Voltmer, Nico Carpentier, Susanne Fengler, Elena Vartanova, Thomas 
Hanitzsch, Daya Thussu and many others.

The conference is an integral part of ‘Media in Modern World’ Annual 
Forum which will be held by St. Petersburg State University for the 
57^th time in 2018. Thus, interested audience is ensured, and you may 
wish to take part in the Plenary Session (with simultaneous translation 
into English) and all sorts of discussions at the Annual Forum on April 
19-20.

----
Preliminary program

April 16, 2018

3 – 5 pm – Registration

April 17, 2018

9 – 9.30 am – Registration / Welcome speeches

9.30 – 11.00 am – Plenary podium discussion on the role of emotions in 
media content

11.30 am – 1 pm – Keynote speeches

1 – 2 pm – lunch

2 – 5 pm – Parallel panels

5 – 6.30 pm – Round tables and book presentations

7 pm – Get-together

  April 18, 2018

10 – 10.45 am – Keynote speech

11 am – 1 pm – Parallel panels

1 – 2 pm – lunch

2 – 3 pm – Parallel panels

4 – 6 pm – Guided tour to the State Hermitage

  April 19, 2018

5 – 6.30 pm – Russian-German workshop round table and film screening (in 
collaboration with the German Week in St. Petersburg)

  ---

Deadlines and other dates

Please send us an abstract of max 300 words specifying the scope, 
method, and main results of your research paper by January 15, 2018 to 
(applicationspb2017 /at/ spbu.ru) <mailto:(applicationspb2017 /at/ spbu.ru)> as MS 
Word or Adobe Acrobat files attached to the letter.

Panel submissions are also welcome. Please submit a one-page description 
of your panel and up to four 150-word abstracts showing the relevance of 
the papers to the panel topic to the same conference address by January 
15, 2018.

All applications will be double-blind peer-reviewed, so please attach 
the names, titles, contact details, and affiliations of the authors on a 
separate sheet.

  January 26, 2018 – notifications of acceptance and informing on visa 
support

February 10, 2018 – deadline to confirm participation

March 1, 2018 – deadline for early-bird registration

April 1, 2018 – deadline for regular registration

Please note that _there will be no on-site registration payment 
procedures_; please ensure your participation by paying the 
participation fee before April 1, 2018.

  ---

Visa support

St.Petersburg State University provides visa support for the conference 
participants. Visa invitation letters will be sent out on request.

  ---

Participation fees

Presenter, UN Tier 1 country:

100 euro (early-bird: 80 euro), or 7000 roubles (early-bird: 5600 roubles)

Presenter, UN Tier 2 country:

80 euro (early-bird: 60 euro), or 5600 roubles (early-bird: 4200 roubles)

Presenter, UN Tier 3 country:

70 euro (early-bird: 50 euro), or 5000 roubles (early-bird: 3500 roubles)

Panel participation:

200 euro (early-bird: 170 euro), or 14000 roubles (early-bird: 12000 
roubles)

Student presenter – 20 euro, or 1500 roubles

Non-presenting participant – 20 euro, or 1500 roubles

  The lists of countries by tier may be found here: 
https://www.icahdq.org/page/tiers

  Please note that the price for the entrance tickets to the State 
Hermitage is to be paid extra at the museum and is currently 10 euro, or 
700 roubles.

  ---

Program steering committee

Nico Carpentier (Belgium – Sweden)

Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska (Poland)

Kaarle Nordenstreng (Finland)

Florian Toepfl (Germany)

Katrin Voltmer (UK)

---

Local organizing committee

Svetlana Bodrunova

Anna Smoliarova

Alexander Marchenko

  ---

In case of any queries, please send us your questions to 
(applicationspb2017 /at/ spbu.ru) <mailto:(applicationspb2017 /at/ spbu.ru)>.

We’re looking forward to welcoming you in St. Petersburg!

---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------