[Air-L] Reminder: online conference ‘Automation and data-driven journalism beyond the Western world: actors, practices, and socio-political impact’

Fri Feb 12 02:34:21 PST 2021

There are only a few days left to submit your paper and panel proposals for
our upcoming online conference on 'Automation and data-driven journalism
beyond the Western world'. Deadline: 15 February.

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The research project ‘Sustainable journalism for the algorithmic future’ in
partnership with the Aleksanteri Institute and Swedish School of Social
Sciences of the University of Helsinki invite the submission of papers to
be presented at the online conference

*Automation and data-driven journalism beyond the Western world: Actors,
practices, and socio-political impact*

*Keynote speaker: Prof. Payal Arora, Erasmus University Rotterdam*

Algorithmic systems and other data-driven practices exert increasing
influence over today’s societies, reshaping how social and economic systems
function (Gillespie 2014). Algorithms are society’s new “power brokers,”
dictating the stories that we pay attention to, the activities we
participate in, and the people we connect with (Kitchin 2017). The news
media is among those industries where artificial intelligence and
algorithms are making strides and reordering the playing field as their use
diversifies and expands. AI and algorithmic systems are implemented in
newsrooms at various stages of the workflow: from smart tools that assist
journalists in producing stories to the fully automated production of news
articles, and from audience data analysis that informs editorial decisions
to algorithmic recommendation systems that match specific content to users.
On social media platforms, that form an increasingly central node in news
consumption, algorithms not only generate news feeds based on our
acquaintances’ actions and advertisers’ preferences (Van Dijck & Poell
2013) but also perform as actors with their own judgment (Carlson 2018).
The algorithmic systems employed by social media platforms, news
aggregators and other recommender systems can therefore affect the
journalistic process and professional practices of media practitioners.

Current scholarly debate on these issues prioritizes and builds upon
empirical studies conducted in democratic, Western contexts. Much less is
known about the drivers of digital innovation uptake and its
socio-political impact in other political and cultural contexts, and this
is problematic. Countries such as China, Russia, India, Brazil, South
Africa and South Korea do implement global or introduce their own AI-driven
tools in their news media This challenges the mediated reality they produce
and can, in turn, affect global media agendas  (e.g., in the international
activities of Chinese Xinhua, Russian RT and Arab Al Jazeera). At the same
time, the socio-political impact of news and disinformation amplified
through social media is evident across the Global South, where moderation
efforts by global platforms lag behind.

This online conference strives to place the discussion of automation and
data-driven journalism beyond the Western and Anglophone world. We build
upon previous research (Hanitzsch et al 2019, Henkel et al 2020)
demonstrating that media innovation and its adoption develop differently
depending on the specific characteristics of media systems and markets.
Understanding the algorithmic turn in journalism as a socially constructed
process – dependent on a country’s journalistic culture, news media’s
formal and informal institutions , and the societal role of media – we
propose an alternative list of questions to be added to the discussion.
When the main media outlets are owned or controlled by the state, who
benefits from the automation of media processes, and in what way? When
censorship and self-censorship are embedded into journalist professional
culture, will the implementation of algorithmic systems lead to more
freedom and independence of journalists, or vice versa?  How does the
economic efficiency promised by automation leverage the
political/ideological efficiency of media institutions in authoritarian
contexts? What is the importance of algorithmic systems in spreading and
amplifying propaganda and disinformation in different media systems?

We welcome both disciplinary and interdisciplinary perspectives and studies
employing various social scientific methods, including comparative
case-studies, ethnography, socio-legal, and STS studies. Submissions could
address, but are not limited to, the following areas:

·      The effects of algorithmic and AI-driven tools on professional
practices and routines in newsrooms;

·      Media interlopers and newcomers to the media industry – from IT
developers in newsrooms to the role of big technological companies;

·      Implications of AI and data-driven journalism on the public value of
news media;

·      Disinformation, fake news and fact checking;

·      The influence of global social media platforms and their algorithmic
recommender systems on media outlets;

·      Robotised, algorithmic, augmented, computational, data-driven and
other innovative forms of journalism: challenges and opportunities across
the globe.

*We accept two types of submissions:*

·      Individual paper submissions should be written in English and
contain a clear outline of the argument, theoretical framework, methodology
and results. Abstracts should be between 250 and 500 words.

·      Panel proposals should be written in English and consist of a panel
rationale (300 words) and abstracts of three papers (max. 250 words per
paper).

*Please submit your proposal through the submission portal:*

https://www.lyyti.fi/reg/Automation_and_datadriven_journalism_beyond_the_Western_world_actors_practices_and_sociopolitical_impact_8402

*Important dates:*

Deadline for paper and panel submissions:

February 15, 2021 23:59 UTC+2

Selections results:

March 15, 2021

The conference will be organized as online event. The hosts will strive to
accommodate participants’ respective time zones.

*Host and organizers:*

The event is hosted by the University of Helsinki and organised by Dr. Olga
Dovbysh (Aleksanteri Institute, U Helsinki), Hanna Tuulonen (Swedish School
of Social Sciences, U Helsinki) and Dr. Mariëlle Wijermars (Maastricht
University; Aleksanteri Institute, U Helsinki).

Should you have any questions about the conference, please contact Olga
Dovbysh: olga.dovbysh [at] helsinki [dot] fi or check the conference
website: https://blogs.helsinki.fi/automation-in-media/