[acc-cca-l] CFP Eyewitness textures: UGC and News Coverage in the 21st Century

Michael Lithgow malithgow at gmail.com
Fri Nov 9 12:29:55 MST 2018


*Call for Papers: *



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

*User Generated Content & News Coverage in the 21st 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
<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



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)














-- 

Michael A Lithgow, MA, PhD
Assistant Professor, Communication and Media Studies
Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
Athabasca University
Tel: (514) 983.1965
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