[ecrea] CFP circulation on the commlist - Eyewitness Textures: UGC and News Coverage in the 21st Century

*Call for Papers: *

**

*Eyewitness Textures: 
<https://symposiumamateurvideojournalism.wordpress.com/>*

*User Generated Content & News Coverage in the 21^st Century 
<https://symposiumamateurvideojournalism.wordpress.com/>***

**

Extended Deadline: December 20, 2018

May 23-24, 2019, MacEwan University (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada)

Among the many changes introduced by new media technologies to news 
practices, the growing utilization of User Generated Content (UGC) is 
one of the most challenging. Members of the public are capturing 
dramatic events around the world and then sharing them, not only on 
social media platforms, but with professional news media organizations 
which are eagerly incorporating posts, tweets and images into 
professionally produced news stories. The presence of amateur content in 
news discourses is a growing phenomenon that is reshaping the profession 
of journalism, news coverage and public expectations.

The issues raised by these practices often involve tensions between 
labour precarity and professionalism, entertainment and evidence, 
centralized and decentralized management of news rooms, traditional and 
emerging forms of social media news narratives, truth and immediacy.

The symposium <https://symposiumamateurvideojournalism.wordpress.com/> 
will bring together scholars and practitioners to share ideas and 
experiences in connection with the utilization of UGC in professional 
news coverage.

The *keynote speaker on May 23 *will be *Dr. Lilie Chouliaraki*, from 
the Department of Media and Communications at the London School of 
Economics and Political Science. Dr. Chouliaraki has studied UGC in news 
production worldwide and is the author of many widely cited and award 
winning studies including:

·Chouliaraki, Lilie, ed. (2012) /_Self-mediation: new media, citizenship 
and civil selves_/. Routledge, London, UK.

·Chouliaraki, Lilie (2017) /Symbolic bordering: the self-representation 
of migrants and refugees in digital news./ Popular Communication, 15 
(2). pp. 78-94.

·Chouliaraki, Lilie (2015) /Digital witnessing in conflict zones: the 
politics of remediation./ Information, Communication and Society, 18 
(11). pp. 1362-1377.

·Chouliaraki, Lilie (2012) Re-mediation, inter-mediation, 
trans-mediation. Journalism Studies, 14 (2). pp. 267-283. Which won 
Outstanding Article of the Year Award, Journalism Studies Division, 
International Communication Association, 2014.

Among the invited talks we will have Derek Thomson, Editor-in-Chief of 
the Observer Program from France24, and representatives from BBC, 
Storyful and CBC (details forthcoming) who will present on the different 
approaches taken by each organization to integrate UGC into their news 
practices.

A selection of papers from the Symposium will be invited to be included 
in an edited collection published by a university press.

We invite scholars to submit abstracts exploring one or more of the 
following themes:

  1. How is the use of UGC reorganizing professional practices?

  * User generated content and professionalism in news rooms
  * Role and significance of verification in news production
  * The problems of fake news when working with UGC
  * The growing shift of UGC onto private networks: threats and
    opportunities
  * The challenge and opportunities of new technologies for professional
    conditions of contemporary news rooms

2.   How is UGC transforming labour practices among journalists and the 
structural organization of news media?

  * Changing labour practices in the newsroom
  * Changing structures, staffing and organization of news desks
  * Organizational changes and emerging business models
  * Emerging forms of produsers and precarious labour
  * Professional labour /vis-à-vis/ labour of love

3.   How is UGC influencing the construction of meaning in news coverage?

  * The impact of user produced content on the form and aesthetic of
    visual news
  * Role of contextualization in UGC verification services
  * The influence of non-professional producers on news narratives,
    framing and agendas
4.   What are emerging themes and tensions in non-professional practices 
of production?

  * Emerging motivations for creating UGC news content
  * Emerging practices and conventions for UGC production
  * Precarity and risk in UGC production
5.   What are the theoretical, methodological and historical 
considerations helping to understand and explain the growing use of UGC 
in professional news coverage?

**Other topics related to the above themes are welcome.

*Deadline*: Abstracts (300-500 words, including references) should be 
emailed to the convenors by *Dec. 20, 2018* clearly identified by “UGC 
2019” in the subject line. Email: *(UGC2019Conf /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(UGC2019Conf /at/ gmail.com)>***

**

*Conference fees: $75 (CDN). *This includes lunch on May 24, a cocktail 
/ dinatoire reception after the Keynote Talk, and coffee / pastries 
during breaks.

_ACCOMMODATIONS_: Rooms have been reserved with campus housing ranging 
from $79 (Summer Suite) to $129 (Boutique Hotel Room). For more 
information contact Guest Accommodation Services 
<https://www.macewan.ca/wcm/CampusServices/GuestAccommodationServices/GuestRooms/index.htm> 
directly.

For more information, got to the symposium website 
<https://symposiumamateurvideojournalism.wordpress.com/> or contact 
Michael Lithgow at: (UGC2019Conf /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(UGC2019Conf /at/ gmail.com)>

Symposium Committee:

Dr. Michael Lithgow, Assistant Professor, Athabasca University 
(Edmonton, Canada)

Dr. Michèle Martin, Professor Emerita, Carleton University (Ottawa, Canada)

Dr. Arnaud Mercier, Professeur, Université Panthéon-Assas (Paris, France)

Dr. Lucille Mazo, Professor, McKewan University (Edmonton, Canada)

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