The call for papers below is an extraordinary reopening of the original Beijing call for papers for authors who did not submit to the Beijing conference but want their work considered for Tampere.
The IAMCR’s Journalism Research & Education Section (JRE) invites the submission of abstracts of papers and proposals for panels for the 2020 Congress of the Association, which will be held from 12 to 16 July, 2020 at Tampere University in Tampere. Submissions for this extraordinary reopening will be accepted from Monday 17 February, 2020 until Monday 2 March 2020 at 23:59 UTC.
This year the central theme is Reimagining the Digital Future: Building Inclusiveness, Respect and Reciprocity, that points to that there has been an increase in wealth disparity, a disruptive international community, dysfunctional media, fragmented digital culture and growing environmental challenges during the past couple of years, and this all occurring because of cultural, economic and communication globalisation. We witness growing populism and protectionism and a dissolving consensus on global engagement and international collaboration. We notice deepening technological contestation in digital media and artificial intelligence between the world’s two economic powerhouses. We also observe a sharp decline of the quality of national and international information flows due to pervasive misinformation facilitated by social media.
These developments invoke pressing questions and challenges for media and communications scholars. What are the reasons for the fragmentation, disparity and gaps we now see? What roles have digital media communication played in these developments at both the local and global levels? What values should inform our proposals for addressing them.
This year’s conference aims to respond to those challenges by re-assessing the roles and patterns of global communication while including local voices, seeking critical reflections on the relationship between them, and exploring feasible agendas for a shared digital future based on inclusiveness, respect and reciprocity.
In the context of increasing inequalities between elites and citizens, the economically secure and marginalised, mainstream and minority cultures, and intensified political polarization, calls for greater inclusiveness of different voices in the media and equality of access and opportunities, become even more pressing. As researchers we need a more comprehensive understanding of the factors promoting and impeding inclusiveness in the ‘legacy’ print and audio-visual media domestically and globally and the roles played by existing and emerging digital media.
Having a public voice and opportunities for expression, however, does not in itself guarantee that diverse contributions to a common culture will be listened to attentively or treated with respect. IAMCR 2020 addresses respect for both diversities and shared values. Respect embodies respect for local cultural experiences and developmental models as well as respect for human dignity and international law and institutions. It embodies respect for role of ethics in developing the digital technology and for the safety and security of personal data and privacy. Exploring these issues requires us to reconsider to what extent the current global communication and technological landscapes have facilitated these dimensions of respect for diverse voices, experiences and models; and to ask what communicative values and goals would guaranteed the in the future.
Promoting inclusiveness and respect are essential preconditions for (re)imagining and developing a shared digital future that challenges and transcends political, religious, and cultural boundaries. But pursuing this goal also requires a commitment to reciprocity based on relations between public, governments and business communities rooted in a shared a commitment to inclusiveness, respect and avoiding exploitation or exacerbating divides and conflicts.
Organised by Tampere University , but built on the foundation already set by Tsinghua University and XJTLU, IAMCR 2020 is set to bring together different perspectives on how multi-stakeholders of the global and local communication and media spaces negotiates among heterogeneous communities and institutions in the hope for building an inclusive, harmonious and respectful digital future.
The JRE Section is open to panel proposals, workshop sessions, and individual research paper proposals that address the issues related to the main theme of IAMCR’s 2020 annual conference as well as for proposals that amplify the comprehension of journalism research and education relating to the IAMCR’s 2020 annual conference key theme. For instance, we look forward to proposals that address the following (but not limited to):
- Digital journalism and today’s challenges in writing and publishing news
- Journalism and its relationship with new possibilities as apps, games, computer programming, artificial intelligence
- The massive use of control systems in political and legal decision making, and its implications for journalism practice
- The way journalism addresses equality and discrimination from the point of view of migration, membership, citizenship and the “right to belong”
- Theoretical and applied research in Journalism and Human Dignity
- Digitalization of journalism and its implications at national and international level
- Theoretical and applied research in journalism, human dignity and communication
- Ethical challenges to a journalism in a digital age
- Digital journalism and the possibility to empower minority groups
- Role of journalism in addressing growing economic and social inequalities
- Safety of journalists in the digital age
- Journalism and gender in a digital environment
- Journalism and democracy
- Journalism education and research: theoretical and methodological approaches
- Journalism, news formats and narratives
Languages
JRE accepts abstract submissions in English, Spanish or French, and presentations in all these three official languages of IAMCR.
Guidelines for abstract submission
All abstracts must be submitted at https://iamcr2020.exordo.com, in English, Spanish or French. Both individual and panel submissions as well as workshop sessions are welcome.
It is expected that authors will submit only one (1) abstract. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same author, either individually or as part of any group of authors. No more than one (1) abstract can be submitted to any section or working group. Please note also that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to more than one section or working group. Any such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected. Authors submitting them risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.
Criteria for evaluation
Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
- Theoretical contribution;
- Methods;
- Quality of writing;
- Literature review;
- Relevance of the submission to the work of the Section;
- Originality and/or significance.
See important dates and deadlines to keep in mind
For further information, please consult this website, or contact the Local Organizing Committee by email: tampere2020@iamcr.org or the heads of the JRE Section:
Chair: Cláudia Lago (claudia.lago07@usp.br)
Vice-chair: Abiodun Salawu (salawuabiodun@gmail.com)
Vice-chair: Sadia Jamil (sadia.jamil@ymail.com)
Vice-chair: Oliver Hahn (oliver.hahn@uni-passau.de)