CMSTW'2021: Comparative Media Studies in Today's World - 2021 School of Journalism and Mass Communivations, St.Petersburg State University St.Petersburg, Russia, April 20-21, 2021 |
Conference website | http://cmstw2021.org |
Submission link | https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=cmstw2021 |
Abstract registration deadline | March 1, 2021 |
Submission deadline | March 1, 2021 |
CMSTW'2021 is an annual conference dedicated to comparative media and communication studies. Since 2013, it has hosted scholars from over 40 countries, including notable keynote speakers like Larry Gross, Silvio Waisbord, Katrin Voltmer, Paolo Mancini, Zizi Papacharissi, Mark Deuze, Claudia Mellado, Nico Carpentier, Andreas Hepp, Thomas Hanitzsch, Jean Burgess, and many others.
The theme for 2021 is Communication Architectures. Recently, scholars have proclaimed the rise of the platform society (Van Dijck, Poell, & De Waal, 2018). In it, affordances decide what message the medium is; algorithmic intermediaries, commercial corporations, and influencer bloggers compete in bypassing news agencies; and platforms impeach politicians. A myriad ways of simultaneous communication, both individual- and mass-oriented, creates extreme connectivity which may lead to extreme power – and may not lead to meaningful conclusions.
Yet, despite this seeming communication singularity where everything happens in parallel, a range of works emphasize the return of structure into communication – or even a new era of hierarchization. Structurally, what are we facing? Is there horizontal co-existence of communication platforms, a multi-level complex of arenas, or a brave new world of (re-)emergent hierarchies?
However, proliferation of platforms, whether horizontal or hierarchical, is only the surface of transformation. As in a house with glass walls, communication continues to be dependent on whether the public/private curtains are drawn or open. And, today, technologies of shaping publics work on dozens of levels, from locking your post for close friends to global targeting on Facebook. At some point, quantity becomes quality: variability of public/private options available for a single communication act changes the nature of human messaging.
Perhaps we need to re-assess not only the elemental complexity of the communication world. It is the fundamental formulas of communication acts, the metaphor of communication flow, the fabric of micro- and macro-deliberation that demand rethinking. And, crucial as never before, the person-level, societal, and global roles of communication architectures – and architects – need to be tied together when envisioned in academe and policing.
Fortunately, communication structures, including transnational platforms, are increasingly studied in context, pressured for transparency, and subjected to neo-imperialist and neo-Marxist criticism (Fuchs 2014). And still, there is scarce evidence of how architectonics of the mediatized public spheres relates to spread of innovation, public memory, or turnovers of public opinion. Cumulative effects of countless likes and shares, just as longitudinal impact of platform constellations, remain under-researched. This is especially true for comparative media studies.
CMSTW’2021 is dedicated to assessing communication architectures on all levels in comparative perspective – from message itself to global information infrastructure, as well as to linking structural and platform features of media and public spheres to policing, knowledge of social inequalities, and theory of human communication. The four traditional tracks of the conference will re-conceptualize the ‘platform society’ (Theory), question the pluses and highlight the minuses of ‘architectured’ communication (Political & Social), put journalism and media into comparative platform perspective (Media Industry & Journalism), and develop approaches to detection of communicative structures (Methods).
Submission Guidelines
All papers must be original and not simultaneously submitted to another journal or conference. The following paper categories are welcome:
Individual submissions:
- Full papers, 9 to 15 pages, anonymized
- Short papers, 4 to 8 pages, anonymized
- Abstracts, up to 300 words, anonymized
Group submissions:
- Panel submissions: a 300-word panel rationale plus 3 to 5 abstracts of max 150 words, free form (pdf), anonymized. Full and short papers may be submitted as parts of the panels; however, panels may also be accepted without full paper submission.
- Workshops: a 2-to-4-page workshop rationale, de-anonymized. Workshops are a special form of group participation dedicated to discussing prospective publications (collective volumes, special issues etc.) for up to 10 participants. Workshops may be open for external submissions or close (the workshop organizers provide the full list of participants). Review of papers for workshops is conducted by the workshop organizers; LOC may help in it if there are external participants. What is reviewed by the conference reviewers is the workshop description.
List of Topics
In 2021, we will keep our four traditional tracks featuring various aspects of the questions posed above. The submissions might orient to but are not limited to the following sub-topics:
THEORY track
Chair: Silvio Waisbord, George Washington University, USA
- The ‘platform society’: criticisms and extensions
- Communication architectures or communication ecosystems?
- Rethinking communication acts and communicative action
- The public/private boundaries in personal posting and globalized media
- Public spheres and their structural carcasses
- Comparing communication architectures across and within nation states
- Personality and its audiences
- Multi-level echo chambers and communication flows
- Mini-publics: small-level communication structures
- Communicative cultures and structures
- Regional perspectives on communication architectures
- Neo-imperialist critique of platform expansion
POLITICAL AND SOCIAL track
Chairs: Svetlana Bodrunova, St.Petersburg State University, Russia, and Anna Litvinenko, Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
- Social atomization, personal media worlds, and new communication platforms
- Affordances-in-practice: platform use in comparative context
- Communication architects – who are they?
- The power of platform and political power
- Public roles and responsibilities of communication structures
- Identity and its platform-related boundaries
- Public memory and communication structures
- Structural support and resistance to free communication flows
- Dissonance or agonism? Platforms and social conflict
- Linking structure to policy: how the state shapes communication architecture
- Liberation vs. control: platforms and surveillance practices
- Authoritarian regimes and platform society
- Global platforms and national & translational law
- Video hosting and political video content
MEDIA INDUSTRY AND JOURNALISM track
Chair: Katrin Voltmer, University of Leeds (Emeritus), UK
- Communicative capitalism and user exploitation: neo-Marxist approaches to platform economy
- Editorial strategies in content adaptation and hierarchization
- Platform despotism or protection of public safety? Banning practices of platforms
- Algorithmic propaganda and responsibilities of platforms
- Media as platform conglomerates: channel complexity vs. editorial unity
- Agenda hierarchies: local/national/global news on social media
- Community news and local information flows
- Architecturing access to media content: is paywall alive?
- Measuring success: audience estimation and editorial priorities
- How content travels: in- and cross-platform sharing and multi-level virality
- Blogging and influencing: a comparative look
- Competition of platforms on national and global markets
- Media systems as platform and discourse hierarchies
METHODS track
Chair: Olessia Koltsova, National Research University – Higher School of Economics, Russia
- Platform affordances in today’s social computing studies
- Detecting cross-platform information flows
- Unpacking platform ‘black boxes’ for research: policies and audiences
- Methodologies for cross-platform data collection and datasets
- Platform-based journalism and how to study it
- Discussion borders vs. platform borders
- Qualitative methods in platform research
- Platforms as contexts: mixed-method approaches to online discussions
- Digital threats and digital traces in communication architectures
- User experience and social media
When submitting to the conference, please start your title with naming the track, e.g. ‘THEORY A new definition of contextual knowledge for media studies’.
Committees
Steering committee
- Nico Carpentier (Belgium – Sweden)
- Boguslawa Dobek-Ostrowska (Poland)
- Kaarle Nordenstreng (Finland)
- Florian Toepfl (Germany)
- Katrin Voltmer (UK)
Local organizing committee
- Svetlana S. Bodrunova - program chair
- Anna Smoliarova - reviews chair
- Natalia Trushina - administration
Invited Speakers
- Noshir Contractor, Northwestern University, the USA
Jane S. & William J. White Professor of Behavioral Sciences, Director of the Science of Networks in Communities (SONIC) Research Group at Northwestern University; ICA President-Elect-Select for 2021–2022.
- Barbie Zelizer, Annenberg School for Communication, University of Pennsylvania, the USA
Raymond Williams Professor of Communication, Associate Dean for Research, and Director, Center for Media at Risk, at the University of Pennsylvania; ICA President (2009–2010).
- Two more keynote speakers TBC
- Invited panelists and discussants to be announced before February 15, 2021
Publications and Awards
Digital Journalism publishing opportunity
The conference steering committee will identify (based on the reviews) the best conference paper on issues that relate to digital media and online journalism. This paper will be suggested for publication in Digital Journalism (SCOPUS Q1), a distinguished journal in communication studies. Prof. Svetlana Bodrunova, the CMSTW program chair and Digital Journalism board member, will advise on how to make the paper fit the standards of the journal before submitting it to the journal peer review.
Special Issue at Future Internet
The conference has received an invitation to have a special issue at Future Internet (published by MDPI; SCOPUS Q2). For the information on the journal, see https://www.mdpi.com/journal/futureinternet.
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Prize for the best paper in the social&political track
Since 2010, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung has been a partner of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications, St.Petersburg State University. In 2020, Stiftung established a symbolic prize for the best paper in the social&political track.
Katrin Voltmer’s prize for the best PhD student paper
In 2018, CMSTW Steering committee member Katrin Voltmer (UK) established a prize for the best PhD student’s paper of the conference; since 2021, this prize is equal to 5,000 RUR.
Venue
The conference will be held virtually. Traditionally, it takes place in St. Petersburg State University, Russia; thus, virtual excursions and online get-together events will be organized instead of offline cultural activities.
Contacts
All questions about submissions should be emailed to cmstw2020@spbu.ru (we still use the 2020 email, as the correspondence on the previous conference is actively on).
The conference website will be open by February 1, 2021, at cmstw2021.org.
Sponsors
Friedrich Ebert Stiftung (Germany)
SPbU Center for International Media Research - CIMRES (Russia)
SPbU Center of German and European Studies - CGES (Russia - Germany)