[ecrea] Postdoctoral researcher position at UNamur (BE) in media literacy in the workplace

*Post-doctoral researcher position at the Université de Namur (UNamur, 
Belgium)*

The Research Center in Information, Law and Society (CRIDS, UNamur) is 
currently looking for outstanding candidates (m/f) for a post-doctoral 
research on “digital media uses and competences in new work practices” 
as part of LITME@WORK, a larger, multi-university research project (see 
below for description).

Candidates should send a complete CV and a cover letter highlighting 
their skills and motivation to join the project to Anne-Sophie Collard 
(<mailto:(anne-sophie.collard /at/ unamur.be)?subject=Candidate%20LITME@WORK>(anne-sophie.collard /at/ unamur.be)) 
before 23rd May 2016.

*
Profile*

- PhD in Information and Communication
- Fields: media education, digital and media literacy, digital media 
uses, or teamwork practices
- Otherwise, close academic profile, confirmed by studies and PhD in at 
least one of the above areas.
- Experience in research methods related to case study analysis and 
qualitative data collection and analysis.
- Experience in research coordination or project management is an asset.
- French (native or bilingual) and English (fluent). Dutch is an asset.
- Driver’s licence.

Duration of commitment: from 15th August 2016 to 28th February 2019.

Nature of the contract: “Chargé de recherche” (postdoctoral researcher), 
part time (75%).

Primary location: Namur, Belgium.

*
Research Project: LITME@WORK
Digital and media literacy in teamwork and distance work environments*

LITME@WORK is a four-year research project funded by Belspo (started in 
March 2015), coordinated by the Université de Namur, with the Université 
catholique de Louvain, the Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles, and the 
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
_
Research area_

Digital and media literacy / Science and technology studies / Sociology 
of ICT uses / Organization theory_
__
Keywords___
Teamwork, Work at a distance, Competences, Digital and media literacy, 
ICT uses
_
Summary of the overall project_

Digital technology has become ubiquitous in the workplace, especially 
for office workers. New ways of working individually and collectively 
gradually emerge, supported by both technological and social evolutions. 
For example, workers have to deal with increasing quantities of 
information and need to develop strategies to avoid information 
overload, teleworking becomes more and more common over the years, 
coordination between several people through (synchronous and 
asynchronous) computer-mediated communication has become commonplace, 
and workers equipped with mobile technologies may be required to perform 
part of their professional activities in mobile contexts. All these 
situations raise questions regarding the evolution of the 
infrastructures provided by organizations, the changing ways through 
which work is achieved by individuals, the new set of competences that 
they need to have, and the now complex relationships between one’s 
professional activity and private life. LITME@WORK will explore those 
questions in relation to office work practices, from clerical work to 
managerial tasks, focusing on ICT-supported teamwork and work at a distance.

Specifically, LITME@WORK will investigate the digital and media literacy 
(DML) competences called for by today’s evolving, technology-supported 
environment of work. These interrelated informational, technical and 
social competences are indeed required for practicing teamwork and work 
at a distance, as visible in activities such as distance collaboration, 
different types of teamwork, personal and shared information management, 
re-creating and maintaining one’s personal work environment throughout 
contexts of work, or managing a team at a distance. As main research 
questions, LITME@WORK will ask (1) how is DML addressed and practiced in 
today’s office work and (2) how can DML be further integrated in 
emerging team/distance work structures and practices in order to support 
efficient, stimulating and meaningful ways of working. Starting from 
these questions, LITME@WORK will pursue four objectives: (i) 
understanding changing work environments and their DML requirements, 
(ii) developing a systemic approach to DML in team/distance office work, 
(iii) providing resources for societal and policy stakeholders, and (iv) 
contributing to research efforts in relevant fields of research (DML 
studies, science and technology studies (STS), sociology of innovation, 
sociology of ICT uses, human-computer interaction studies, organisation 
theory, research on job quality and learning at work).

Relying mainly on qualitative analyses, LITME@WORK will investigate DML 
from three different but complementary perspectives, each corresponding 
to one work package: the social configuration and appropriation of (DML) 
competence frames within and across organizations, the relationship 
between work organization, workplace design and structural conditions 
for (DML) competence utilization and learning, and the relationship 
between digital media uses and competences in employees’ new work 
practices (see below). Each approach uses its specific methods, related 
to its focus and theoretical framework, but the overall methodological 
structure is the same across the work packages, the case studies are 
tightly coordinated and the final results will be integrated.

The project intends to provide an up-to-date, encompassing knowledge of 
DML in teamwork and work at a distance, which will enhance stakeholders’ 
understanding of DML and their capacity to take action. Specifically, 
LITME@WORK will deliver as main research results: a research framework 
for analysing the many aspects of DML in teamwork/distance work 
practices and environments, ranging from the broader context of 
organization structures to the point of view of individual workers 
themselves; an in-depth analysis of the ways in which organizations 
understand and negotiate the “(digitally) competent worker”; an 
up-to-date description of the changing office work competences, 
practices and structures, with a focus on teamwork and distance work 
trends; and a conceptual map and set of measurable indicators for DML 
competences aimed at serving as a resource for societal and policy 
stakeholders in terms of defining, evaluating, monitoring, recognizing 
and supporting DML in office work.

_Summary of the two work packages related to the post-doctoral researcher:_

1) WP1-Overall coordination of the project
The overarching aim of this work package is to coordinate the workplan 
and organize the dissemination of the research outputs. This WP includes 
the following tasks:
- General management. The general management consists in managing the 
day-to-day administration of the project, which includes managing 
internal communication and contacts with the follow-up committee and the 
BELSPO administration, planning and preparing coordination meetings with 
the partners, reporting on activities and finance, and feeding the 
project website with content.
- Coordinating communication tools development (i.e. website, 
information sharing space).
- Coordinating the follow-up committee. The follow-up committee brings 
together representatives from a range of actors (e.g. policy makers, 
public administrations, professional bodies, trade unions, ICT sector, 
academia) who feed the research with their needs, interests and insights.
- Coordinating the integration of the work packages. LITME@WORK brings 
together partners who have different backgrounds, each addressing one 
specific aspect of DML in the context of team or distance work.
- Disseminating the research outputs. The aim of this task is to 
disseminate findings to social actors, decision makers, scientific 
experts and other stakeholders.

2) WP4-Digital Media Uses and Competences In New Work Practices
In order to study the competences called for and developed by 
ICT-supported teamwork and distance work practices, the proposed 
research will veer away from tool-oriented approaches that reduce 
digital competences to technology-related operational skills. Such 
approaches define their unit of analysis based on the use of specific 
software or hardware tools by workers. Instead, we consider the new 
work-related competences under its scrutiny as sets of interrelated 
informational, technical and social competences that form a subset of 
the individual’s digital and media literacy. Hence, the candidate will 
collect and analyse data based on categories of activities involved in 
emerging work practices. Unlike the majority of research works dedicated 
to DML competences, which define such competences a priori before 
attempting to validate their definition, the objective pursued in this 
project is the very definition of these competences, from the 
perspective of workers, based on field observation, along with the 
definition of indicators for these competences.

--

Anne-Sophie COLLARD
Chargée de cours en communication
Directrice du Département des Sciences politiques, sociales et de la 
communication
Centre de Recherche Information, Droit et Société (CRIDS)

(anne-sophie.collard /at/ unamur.be) <mailto:(anne-sophie.collard /at/ unamur.be)>
http://staff.unamur.be/ascollar

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