[Commlist] Webinar and Workshop Series Announcement

Workshop Series and Webinar

'Post-Pandemic' Politics & Reactionary Digital Cultures
https://reactionarypandemicpolitics.wordpress.com/

The workshop series and webinar investigate the emotional attractions
of reactionary politics, looking to build an anti-racist and
anti-misogynist politics that begins at the community level.

Each workshop will build toward portable solutions that can solve
shared problems. A key thread will be finding ways to link academic
expertise and academic funding opportunities with organisations that
can use them.

All workshops are in person at Birkbeck, University of London. Tea,
coffee, lunch and snacks will be provided. Travel reimbursement is
available.

**Workshop 1: Digital Media and Digital Data**

Friday, 11 November, 10:30 – 14:00, Birkbeck’s Bloomsbury campus

Register: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/booking/event/33611

Although digital media are fully embedded in our daily lives and
routines, they are still highly personal. Everyone has their own
personal ‘feed’ on Facebook, Twitter, TikTok, and so on. How do we
develop strategies for understanding how digital media are shaping the
work charities and activists do and the lives of the communities they
serve?

*Opening Speaker*
-Chris Ashworth, Head of Social Impact at Nominet


**Workshop 2: Local Communities and Social Media**

Friday 13 January 2023, 10:30 – 14:00, Birkbeck, University of London campus

Register: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/booking/event/33670

There is no distinction between ‘offline’ and ‘online.’ We don’t go
‘on’ digital media platforms, they are highly integrated with our
daily lives and routines. This means that when we think about
combating digital harms, we need to begin by thinking holistically
about the communities we serve. If we begin from the understanding
that digital media is deeply integrated in the daily lives of the
communities we serve, how does that shape or change the work we do?

*Opening Speakers*
Dr. Rohit Dasgupta, Senior Lecturer in Cultural Industries at the
University of Glasgow and Councillor for Canning Town South

Cllr Mumtaz Khan, Councillor for Green Street West


**Workshop 3: Digital Culture, Politics and Communication**

Friday 17 February 2023, 10:30 – 14:00, Birkbeck, University of London 
campus

Register: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/booking/event/33671

The sheer volume of communication is unprecedented, and it only
continues to grow. This can make efforts to combat digital harms feel
like a drop in a bucket, and a bucket owned and controlled by
massively powerful tech corporations. Instead of thinking about
digital communication as something ‘outside’ of our work, how can we
communicate better on and about digital media with the communities we
serve?


**Webinar**

27 October 13:30-15:30, UTC +1

Online via Teams

Register: http://www.bbk.ac.uk/booking/event/33590

This webinar launches a new Birkbeck Centre for Media and Democracy
report that charts the overlaps between covid-19 scepticism, vaccine
hesitancy and reactionary politics online. Although many far-right
extremists have aligned themselves against the public health response
to covid-19, the report documents a more ideologically ambiguous and
even incoherent form of reactionary politics taking shape around covid
scepticism.

This reactionary scepticism is advanced by the extreme right, but it
is also proving attractive to people dislocated and disconnected by
more than two years of life in a pandemic. Covid scepticism is
dominated by ‘misinformation,’ but groups organised around rejecting
mainstream consensus wear the ‘misinformation’ label as a badge of
honour. The report and the webinar investigate the emotional
attractions of reactionary politics, calling for an anti-racist and
anti-misogynist politics that begins at the community level.

**with talks from**
-Rosie Carter, Director of Policy and Engagement at HOPE not hate

-Liam Shrivastava, Communications Officer at the Institute for Race 
Relations

-Dr. Annie Kelly, a journalist and researcher focusing on
antifeminism, the far right and conspiracy theories online.

-Dr. Robert Topinka, Senior Lecturer in Media and Cultural Studies at
Birkbeck, University of London, author of the new report on
post-pandemic politics and reactionary digital cultures


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