Seminar: Wendy Willems at Malmö University

Researching everyday media cultures and social change in Africa: towards a ‘demotic turn’

Wendy Willems will speak on the above subject at an Ørecomm Open Seminar on 31 May 2012, 15–17 hrs, at Malmö University (MEDEA, Ö Varvsgatan 11). For logistical reasons, if you will be present you must register, using the form below.

The seminar will also be webcast (in real time) — [now available here]. (more…)

Ørecomm Festival 2012

Ørecomm — Centre for Communication and Glocal Change invites researchers, students and practitioners to its 2nd Festival, 14–17 September 2012. The Festival will start in Roskilde (1 day), move on to Malmö (2 days) and close in Copenhagen (1 day):

Reclaiming the Public Sphere:
Communication, Power and Social Change

(more…)

Ørecomm Open Seminar:
John Postill: Digital media and social change

“Digital media and social change: the limits and possibilities of a theory of practice approach”

John Postill will speak on the above subject at an Ørecomm Open Seminar on 16 March 2012 at Malmö University. The seminar will be webcast live on this page. Abstract and relevant other information is available here.
For logistical reasons you must register – using the form below: (more…)

Webcasts from Ørecomm seminar 27 Jan 2012:
Cees Hamelink and Robin Mansell

Lectures by Cees Hamelink and Robin Mansell are available online here.

Ørecomm Open Seminar, 21 January 2012:
Winston Mano and Thomas Tufte

Main speakers at the seminar are Thomas Tufte (Roskilde University and Ørecomm co-director) and Winston Mano (Director of Africa Media Centre, University of Westminster, UK). The seminar will be held at Malmö University, room U 302 (Ubåtshallen). Participation is open and free, but for logistical reasons you must register below. The programme: (more…)

Guest lectures at Roskilde University:
Cees Hamelink and Robin Mansell

The lectures will be held 10-12 am, Friday 27 January 2012
at Roskilde University, room 43.3.29.

Cees Hamelink:
Communication and the Escalation of Evil

The lecture is based on Cees Hamelink’s recent book Media and Conflict. The world faces explosive conflicts about the distribution and scarcity of resources, about ethnicity and religion, and about the risks of urban life. These conflicts can easily spiral out of control toward mass slaughter an evil of huge proportions that is often escalated by the media. What should be done to prevent this lethal trend? We need to understand how the spiral of escalation works. How do media create anxiety, provide space for agitation, and disconnect people?

[Both Cees Hamelink’s and Robin Mansell’s videorecorded lectures are available here.]

Robin Mansell:
Social Imaginaries of Communication Technologies

This lecture compares and contrasts two of most predominant social imaginaries of the causes and consequences of innovations in the production and use of communication technologies, critically considering the way they embrace oppositional visions of the information society and their implications for social change. The differences between them are considered in terms of the normative goals of the ‘good society’, concluding with some observations about what changes in policy and practice are essential.

For a more detailed presentation of lecturers and lectures see leaflet  here.

Seminar: John Downing at Roskilde University

“Democratic Process, Social Movements,
Their Media, and the Issue of Timescale”

John D.H. Downing will speak on this subject at an Ørecomm seminar on 30 November 2011 at Roskilde University. You are most welcome! For logistical reasons you must register – see the form below. (more…)

Ørecomm Festival 2011

Invitation

Agency in the Mediatized World is the overarching theme for the first Ørecomm festival, 9–13 September 2011, a five-day event taking place on both sides of the Öresund strait. The event is organised by the transnational research centre, Ørecomm, which works to strengthen research in the interdisciplinary field of media, communication and social change.

The festival will start in Malmö with an open three-day seminar (9–11 September) in conjunction with the international master’s programme in Communication for Development at Malmö University, stopping over in Copenhagen for a professional practitioner hearing on social media in development cooperation (12 September), and ending at Roskilde University with an academic conference by the Glocal NOMAD (Network on Media and Development) on 13 September. Seminars, hearing and conference are open and there are no fees involved. However, to attend you must register by 22 August 2011. You may register here.

For more information, see the festival webpage.

Ørecomm Open seminar:
Performing, Writing and Doing Ethnography

This seminar will present different approaches to ethnographic method in culture and media research, with regard to social activism and the public sphere in transitional societies. A common denominator is the concern for exploring unconventional cross-media or hybrid forms of presentation.

The seminar will be held on 6 June 2011 at 13-17 hrs, at Roskilde University, building 43, room 43.3.29. This Ørecomm Open Seminar is open to all, but please register here. (more…)

“Social movement media” vs. “Media for development” vs. “Knowledge-sharing”?

Open Lecture by Professor John Downing, Southern Illinois University, at K3, Medea, Kranen, Östra Varvsgatan 11 A, Malmö University: Friday 10 December 2010, 13.30 – 15.00

John Downing will explore the relation between media, communication and social change. In his presentation Professor Downing will explore the subject from three perspectives: firstly, that social movement media typically place political clashes front and center. Secondly, the frame ‘development media’ which very often presumes a fundamentally benign political order disfigured by crushing economic and health care needs. What we mean by ‘political’ also factors into this arena, not least in gender terms. (What is in view here is not politics in the sense of partisan party politics, except where that is one of the obstacles to constructive social change.) Finally, the ‘knowledge-sharing’ frame often seems totally obsessed with ‘facts’ and ‘information’. Are these three frames incompatible? In framing community media projects, local, national and transnational, should their respective adherents try to learn from each other?

The lecture is co-arranged by Glocal NOMAD, Ørecomm, Malmö University and Roskilde University. More information here (pdf).

Added: The streaming video recording of Downing’s lecture is available here.