[Commlist] CfP for conference Digital Platforms and Democracy: Journalism and Political Communication in a World of Polycrisis

*Digital Platforms and Democracy: Journalism and Political Communication 
in a World of Polycrisis*

We are pleased to announce the Call for Papers for presentations at the 
forthcoming international conference entitled “Digital Platforms and 
Democracy: Journalism and Political Communication in a World of 
Polycrisis”, which will be held in November 3-5, 2023, in Athens, Greece.

Venue to be announced soon.

*Organizers:*

  * Advanced Media Institute <http://advancedmediainstitute.com/?lang=en>
  * “Communication and New Journalism” MA program, Open University of
    Cyprus <http://www.ouc.ac.cy/web/guest/home>
  * School of Law, University of Nicosia <https://www.unic.ac.cy/>
  * Media Studies Program, Doha Institute
    <https://www.dohainstitute.edu.qa/AR/Pages/default.aspx> for
    Graduate Studies
  * Department of Digital Media and Communication, Ionian University
    <https://ionio.gr/gr/>
  * Faculty of Communication and Media Studies, Cyprus University of
    Technology <https://www.cut.ac.cy/>

**

*Conference Theme & Topics *

In principle, having as many opportunities as possible for everyone to 
be “heard” in the public space would enhance meaningful discussion and 
deliberation in digital interactive environments, contributing to the 
deepening of democratic norms and values, by fostering the development 
of robust global digital publics, in which everyone has a voice.

However, humanity and democracy are currently in a major crisis and 
digitalization mediates this crisis. It is hard to question the upsurge 
of extremist public discourse, political flaming and hate speech, 
aggression in the expression of online opinions, the constant battle 
against the intractable problem of misinformation and disinformation, 
the propagation of conspiracy theories and the incitement to violence 
and facilitation of all types and forms of radicalization in digital 
spaces – phenomena that contaminate the current media ecosystem and 
society at large. The proliferation and, to a large extent, the 
normalization of toxic, harmful or abusive content is mediated and 
largely assisted by modern digital platforms, which are being leveraged 
or often weaponized by actors with diverse political agendas.

Against this background, the immediacy of digital communication has 
altered journalists’ roles and the position they often assume over any 
current issue. The challenge to go for “now” has proved overwhelming; 
double-checking or even checking has fallen prey to this. If combined 
with the long-standing appeal of image as opposed to text, with all the 
slippage that angle or focus under pressure can bring along, little room 
is left for reliable news reporting.

Additionally, the retreat of the traditional media business model, along 
with the constraints digital media have been working under, has pushed 
journalists to venture at the wilderness of social media and 
owner-operated sites and/or blogs. Initially experienced as 
freedom-of-expression havens, they have often brought about a hard 
landing to receding journalistic standards. The effort to get on-board 
some sort of sponsored content and/or much-needed advertisement has had 
a detrimental impact on editorial decisions and the overall quality of 
new content.

What is the role of Journalism in the current environment, which is 
being shaped by the internet, social media and personalized practices of 
information generation, reproduction and dissemination? How can media be 
empowered to fulfil its normatively ascribed roles in society and 
strengthen democracy in digital spaces? What are the challenges to 
media’s roles in defining and management of issues? In which way can 
digital media be organized so that they behave in the wider public 
interest or for the good of society as a whole? How can journalists 
provide a /platform /for truthful and comprehensible public political 
discourse, facilitating the formation of conductive ‘public opinion’? 
How can citizens be properly informed in an environment that is flooded 
with diverse and unverified media content?

//

/The conference themes speak to the /past, present and future, as a 
reflection of the role of media and journalism in the 21^st century. We 
invite theoretical, methodological, and empirical submissions that 
address the following themes, in an effort to spark meaningful 
conversations and probe multiple perspectives about the challenges 
facing democracy today. We hope that our discussions will help set a 
stepping stone for both academics and professional journalists to 
reflect on the ideal types of journalism practice in the current digital 
media environment as we continue to encounter challenges to and 
transformations of our digital media landscapes.


    **


    *Conference Topics*

**

*Key Dynamics in the Digital Media Landscape *

  * The Political Economy of the digital News Environment
  * Algorithmic power and content moderation
  * Social media analytics and metrics
  * Shareability, speed, affective content, and viral content
  * The perils of hyper-personalization
  * The formation of audiences in digital spaces
  * Digital fatigue, digital detox, and news avoidance
  * Digital inequalities, digital divides, and digital literacies

**

*Content Creators and the Creator Economy*

•      The emerging Creator Economy ecosystem (creators, tools, 
platforms) •      Content creation, ownership, and data control

•      Debating the shift from an “attention economy” and advertising 
dependency to an “independent creator economy”

•      Does the Creator Economy recommend “democratisation” and 
“decentralization” of the information process?

•      Will the inequalities, network effects and winner-takes-most that 
characterized the platform economy be eliminated in the new creator economy?

**

*Digital Journalism and Democracy in Context*

  * Digital Journalism and news-gatekeeping
  * The normative functions of digital journalism
  * Journalists’ ideology and roles perceptions in the digital age
  * Journalism ethics in the digital media era
  * Trust in the media as sources of information
  * The implications of economic concentration of media to pluralism and
    democracy
  * Accountability and the material conditions of contemporary journalism
  * The roles of media in democratic, transitional, and authoritarian
    societies

**

*Digital Journalism Models in Practice*

  * Technological innovation and digital journalism
  * Transmedia, data driven and interactive storytelling
  * Artificial Intelligence applications in journalism and the media
  * Entrepreneurial, constructive, and solution-based journalism
  * Professional and citizen war journalism
  * Citizen and community journalism
  * Fact-Checking or Journalism?

**

*Political Communication in the Digital Media Era*

  * Civic activities and identity politics online
  * Media, social movements, and political change
  * Political communication and political structures
  * Ideology and political discourse online
  * Political participation and political communities
  * Political rhetoric and campaigns

**

*Challenges of Online Political Discourse *

  * Freedom of expression and online censorship
  * Surveillance, personal data, and privacy
  * Misinformation, conspiracy theories, false news, and post-truth culture
  * Propaganda, political flaming, and the weaponization of social media
  * Information cocoons, filter bubbles, and echo chambers
  * Computational propaganda and disinformation campaigns
  * Spam, scams, identity theft, phishing, hacking and spyware

**

*Imagining a Better World in Digital Spaces*

  * How can media, corporations, governments, and the public disrupt
    positive change in digital spaces?
  * How can media enhance social cohesion and understanding in the face
    of multipolarity and heterogeneous values?
  * Supporting fact-based knowledge and ensuring safety and freedom of
    oppression
  * Empowering diverse voices and providing tools for collaborations
  * Social media regulations and technology policy issues

**

*Conference Participants*

The CFP is addressed to members of the academic community from the 
fields of media studies, journalism, political science, and law to 
discuss and advance ideas on how public discourse and journalism evolve 
in the digital society, the creative avenues they find, the challenges 
they face and the opportunities that lie ahead.

The conference also seeks to build bridges between academia and the 
profession and between the media actors and experts of their regulation. 
Practitioners who wish to present their work and reflect on the 
conference’s interdisciplinary themes are welcome. We welcome 
laboratories and workshops to demonstrate innovative practices, discuss 
ideas and share best practices regarding any of the conference themes. 
We are particularly interested in presentations that describe 
emancipatory communication experiences that have been disruptive, 
successful, and beneficial.

*Abstract Submission & Guidelines*

Potential speakers should submit an abstract of 500 words (+/-5%) in 
English by *April, 30^th , 2023, 23:55 (Eastern European Standard 
Time)*.  All abstracts will be peer-reviewed.

Submissions should be emailed to: 
(amiretreat23 /at/ advancedmediainstitute.com) 
<mailto:(amiretreat23 /at/ advancedmediainstitute.com)>. Each participant can 
submit a presentation only once as a primary author, but there are no 
limitations as regards to co-authors.

Abstracts should be 500 words long (excluding references) and include a 
title, the author(s) affiliation and contact details (excluded from 500 
words), an introduction, a methodology part explaining in detail the 
methodological approach to the topic studied and (if possible) the main 
findings of the research. The decision will be communicated by May 21^st 
2023.

For more information, please visit our website:

https://amiretreat2023.advancedmediainstitute.com/about/



---------------
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/ commlist.org)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------