[Air-L] Call for Contributions | DigiMethods 2023 Colloquium: Future Proofing Journalism and Media Education in Africa

[Kayla Roux]

DigiMethods 2023: Future Proofing Journalism and Media curricula in Africa
Colloquium

The Rhodes University School of Journalism and Media Studies invites you to
join us in visualising a curriculum for our shared future as educators
teaching journalism and media in the 21st century at a colloquium entitled
Digimethods 2023: Future Proofing Journalism and Media Curricula in Africa.

At this colloquium, we are interested in what it is that the digital
enables: which new directions, new genres and forms of storytelling
characterise this shifting terrain? And how do we as educators respond to
them and apply them in our various different (and often challenging)
contexts?

Happening directly after our cutting-edge Digital Research Methods Winter
School which will empower media researchers with a range of  digital tools,
this colloquium is aimed at teachers and educators who want to think and
work together on the problem of future-proofing journalism and media
curricula in Africa.

When?
The colloquium will be held from 23-24 June 2023.

Where?
Africa Media Matrix, Rhodes University in Makhanda, South Africa.

BACKGROUND
Over a decade ago, JMS worked to imagine a future post-apartheid in a
series of Journalism Education Colloquia, which interrogated how journalism
teaching needed to respond to the demands of the post-apartheid context.

Last year, another series of colloquia saw us turn our focus to the
specific circumstances facing journalism today: including the current
‘crisis’ of journalism in the face of digitisation and defunding, and
multilingualism in journalism education.

In 2023, we continue this series of rigorous engagements with the changing
face of journalism. As media educators, we face new challenges as media
production has become almost entirely a digital practice requiring
specialised digital skills.

>From artificial intelligence and immersive storytelling to data journalism
and social media scraping: the rapidly changing digital context (both
locally and globally) poses a range of challenges - and opportunities - for
teachers, supervisors and students in African spaces.

Ours is a social context of extreme inequalities experienced along lines of
gender, income, race, age, and geographical location; it is a context that
is also characterised by highly unequal access to infrastructural,
educational, health and other services.

Given this uneven social landscape, northern approaches to teaching and
researching digital media studies and media production cannot be seamlessly
transposed to our southern space.

So, we want to bring together some of the best and brightest minds
currently working in this terrain in South Africa and the world to find
ways of ‘future-proofing’ our curricula: designing programmes and teaching
philosophies that are as flexible as they are strong, able to adapt to new
contexts and changing technologies, and properly equip our students with
the tools they need.

SUBMISSIONS

Whether you are already a seasoned digital guru or a media educator who
would like to join in on some cutting edge conversations and see how you
can use new media innovations in your teaching practice, we would love for
you to join us.

Participants are invited to make a contribution in the format of their
choice (papers, presentations, experiential narratives, demonstrations,
multimedia presentations, etc).

If you would like to participate in this colloquium, please complete the
following form, which includes a description (no longer than 750 words) of
what you would like to present at the colloquium and in which format.

Colloquium application form: https://forms.gle/EAvEzY8npP5YKeas6

Please include your name and affiliation in the email for administrative
processing.

Suggested themes for submissions

Here are some suggested themes that might spark your thinking about issues
we are responding to, as media educators living and working in this complex
digital terrain:

- What the digital enables: new directions, genres, forms of
journalism/media production
- Classroom case studies: Creative applications of new media tools and
platforms in the curriculum
-   Decolonising journalism and media education? Adapting global
technologies to local contexts
-   ‘Cyclists on the superhighway’ of media innovation: how do we teach
students the skills they need to survive and thrive in an ever-changing
world?
-   The role of new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence in
journalism and their impact on contexts in the Global South
-  Telling stories from the Global South using multimedia and new
technologies
-  Artificial intelligence and student innovation: Dangerous threat to
intellectual property, or powerful new learning tool?
-  Using immersive technologies in locative and world-building media
production
-  Creative practice-based research projects aimed at developing
journalisms for the Global South
- Developing practice-led postgraduate programmes in journalism and media
studies

Feel free to suggest another topic based on your expertise and teaching
practice. Additionally, if there are particular journalists or media
educators you think should be present, please add their names and contact
details to your submission.

See you in Makhanda, either virtually or in person!

Deadline for submission: Monday 24 April at 5pm

Email k.roux at ru.ac.za for more information or if you have any questions.

Kind regards
Kayla Roux
Digital Media Lecturer
School of Journalism and Media Studies
Rhodes University
South Africa
Kind regards
Kayla Roux
Digital Media lecturer
School of Journalism and Media Studies
Rhodes University
South Africa
+27 46 603 7137