[Air-L] Call for papers for the special issue of the 'Media Studies' journal: 'Platformisation of cultural and audio-visual sectors in the European Union: new policies for new stakeholders'

[Pasko Bilic]

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Call for papers

Special issue of the journal Media Studies (Medijske studije):

'Platformisation of cultural and audio-visual sectors in the European 
Union: new policies for new stakeholders'

Regulation of digital technologies is high on the EU policy agenda. 
Platforms capture the attention of policy makers due to their dependence 
on user data, impacts on traditional cultural and audio-visual supply 
and demand, transnational reach, and excessive concentration of power. 
Academic approaches focusing on different facets of platforms have been 
many (e.g. Gillespie, 2010; Jin, 2015; Mansell, 2015; Srnicek, 2017; 
Rochet and Tirole, 2003) with selected authors speaking of the rise of 
platform society (van Dijck et al, 2018). The process has taken a new 
dimension with the impact of the global COVID-19 pandemic that has 
amplified citizens' usage of online platforms, both for work and for 
leisure. However, this is a multisided story where the level of digital 
inequalities in access and skills needs to be taken into account on the 
demand side. Moreover, the structural implications of supply of European 
cultural and audiovisual products via platforms also needs to be 
addressed. Policies are always lagging behind these practices, and in 
the context of dynamic platform infrastructures (Duffy et al, 2019) this 
is even more so. European Union has been active in this regard (e.g. 
Evens and Donders, 2018; Evens et al 2020), particularly with regard to 
developing strategic goals. The future impact of these policies, 
however, remains to be tested and verified.

Digital Single Market (DSM) Strategy has been one of the priorities of 
the former Commissions' objectives. Small and medium size platforms can 
contribute to growth of skills and jobs in the EU, but the domination of 
large, mainly US, businesses (e.g. Google, Amazon, Facebook, Apple, 
Microsoft, Netflix) opens up questions related to European identity, 
European integration objectives and the role EU plays in the globalised 
world (Vlassis, 2020, 2021). This is a recurring issue with the 
development of European media policies, particularly when it comes to 
balancing industrial and competitive goals with cultural and public 
service goals (e.g. Michalis, 2014; Murdock, 2014). With this special 
issue, we aim to go further from the established discussions of 
platformisation of cultural production (Poell et al, 2021). The main 
focus will be on the role of European Union policies on online platforms 
that affect supply and demand of cultural and audiovisual production. 
Attention will be given to unpacking social, political and economic 
dimensions of platformisation, moving beyond deterministic usage of 
term.

We invite papers that examine (but are not limited to) the following 
questions:

How can we interpret changes in European Union policies relating to 
online platforms and cultural and audiovisual sectors? How well, if at 
all, are they challenging US platform monopolies? How are they balancing 
market competition with cultural diversity and pluralism? What new 
stakeholders are emerging and what new policies are drafted/created?  
Analyses tackling policies and practices in other countries that bring 
comparative approaches are also welcome.

How do cultural content producers grapple with changes in platform 
governance (e.g. pricing strategies, content curation, privacy 
policies)? What are the implications for produced and distributed 
content?
What new types of creative labour practices are brought about by the 
online platforms and how can we best analyse the policies developed to 
mitigate these changes?

What are the consumption patterns of audiovisual and cultural content 
through platforms? What, if any, EU policies are targeting citizens' 
access and skills to use such content?

With the increase of the usage of online platforms during the COVID-19 
pandemic has there been an acceleration of the (re)creation of digital 
cultural policies (in Europe)? What theoretical frameworks would be best 
suited to interpret these changes?

Please note that guest editors welcome submissions on a wide variety of 
theoretical and/or empirical contributions to the study of the impact of 
platforms on (policy) developments of cultural and audiovisual sectors.

Guest editors:

Jaka Primorac, Paško Bilić and Aleksandra Uzelac, Department for Culture 
and Communication, Institute for Development and International Relations 
(IRMO), Zagreb, Croatia

Papers should be up to 8000 words, including footnotes and references. 
Detailed instructions for authors can be found here: 
https://hrcak.srce.hr/upute/guide_authors_Medijske_studije.docx
Papers should be submitted directly through the Media Studies OJS system 
where they will undergo peer review following the usual procedures of 
the journal. Available here: 
https://hrcak.srce.hr/ojs/index.php/medijske-studije/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions

The special issue is scheduled for publication in December 2022.
Deadline for submission of papers:  1st of May 2022

For more information write to: platEU at irmo.hr; jaka at irmo.hr; 
pasko at irmo.hr; auzelac at irmo.hr;
More information about the journal Media Studies: 
https://hrcak.srce.hr/medijske-studije?lang=en

This Special issue is part of activities of the Erasmus+ Jean Monnet 
project 'European Union Policies and the Platformisation of Cultural and 
Audio-visual Sectors – platEU' (2020-2022) dedicated to promoting 
discussion and reflection on EU policies related to the impact of online 
platforms on cultural and audio-visual (AV) sectors in Europe. More 
information about the project can be found at the website of the 
project: https://plateu.irmo.hr/en/

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