Centre for Journalism & Communication Research

Symposium - Location-Based Storytelling

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:22:08 GMT

18 June 2012
In Association with the Narrative Research Group (NRG) and Centre for Excellence in Media Practice (CEMP), Bournemouth Media School.
Venue: The Executive Business Centre Bournemouth University 89 Holdenhurst Road BH8 8EB
This symposium responds to the recent upsurge in interest in harnessing mobile technologies and mapping tools for the purposes of storytelling. Whether this involves extending our experience of existing storyworlds or creating innovative spaces for users to explore, such narratives can be potentially empowering, both in the sense of reconnecting with public places and community histories, and in terms of opening up familiar stories to new audiences and new interpretations.
For many people keen to explore the possible applications of locative media, a lack of technological know-how may be a barrier to participation. The symposium will therefore include hands-on demonstrations of existing projects, and a workshop in which attendees can gain direct experience of using relevant software. We will explore the huge potential for utilising these kinds of resources in the classroom, and for developing web based artefacts drawing on the knowledge and experiences of communities of storytellers and readers of all ages.
The event is free to attend, but places are limited so please register your interest by emailing Bronwen Thomas (bthomas@bournemouth.ac.uk). Lunch and refreshments will be provided.

For more information, visit http://symposium.bujournalism.info/

Programme (provisional)
10:45 - Welcome and Introductions.
11:00-12:00 - Professor Martin Rieser, De Montfort University, ‘The Mobile Audience and the Poetics of Space.’
12:00-13:00 - Buffet Lunch
13:00-14:00 - Tim Wright, Digital Writer/Consultant, 'Kidmapper, BlakeWalk and TheHaunter: three instances of geolocated literature and social reading in the wild'?
14:00-15:00 - Dr Robert Clark, University of East Anglia, ‘What Mapping Writing Can Tell Us About the Novels of Defoe and Austen.’
15:00-15:15 - Tea, Coffee break
15:15-16:15 - Jerome Burg, Founder of Google Lit Trips, ‘Google Lit Trips: Where Place-Based Literature Study Meets Google Earth’.
16:15-17:15 - Google Lit Trips Workshop
Close

Talk by Professor Roberta Pearson

Thu, 26 Apr 2012 11:18:08 GMT

On May 31st NRG will be hosting a talk by Professor Roberta Pearson from Nottingham University, whose work on Film and Cult TV is familiar to many. Roberta will be talking about the recent reinventions of Sherlock Holmes in the media at 5 p.m in the Screening Room (W241) in Weymouth House, Talbot Campus.

NRG News - Spring 2012

Mon, 12 Mar 2012 13:49:15 GMT

Julia Round and Bronwen Thomas have been awarded a grant from the AHRC under the Digital Transformations Call. Details of the project can be found at www.researchingreadersonline.com. The project runs from February to July and has already attracted considerable interest from academics, professionals working with readers, and readers themselves.
Julia and Bronwen have also been successful in gaining a contract with Continuum to publish a volume based on papers delivered at the Keeping it Real and Non-human Narratives symposia. Provisionally entitled Real Lives, Celebrity Stories: Narratives of Ordinary and Extraordinary People Across Media, the volume is expected to be out towards the end of next year. It includes chapters by several members of NRG as well as other leading academics in the fields of narrative theory, media and cultural studies.

Rosie Cullen has organized the 2nd Southern Script Festival, running March 17-18th at BU. The programme includes some high profile scriptwriters and provides an opportunity for budding writers to learn about pitching, networking and developing ideas for film, tv, new media, radio and theatre.

Hywel Dix gave a paper entitled ‘Cymbeline and the Display of Empire’ at the conference ‘Shakespeare and Tyranny’ at the University of Murcia in January as part of his ongoing project on Reading, Writing and Republicanism. He has a paper entitled ‘Mythopoetics for a new millennium: decoding satire in Sebastian Faulks, Amanda Craig and Jim Crace’ due to be published in the inaugural issue of C21 Literature: journal of twenty-first century writings; and another entitled ‘From Markets to Metafiction: Satires of the literary marketplace at the dawn of two new centuries’ in the journal Textes et Contextes.

Along with colleagues at Manchester Metropolitan and Dundee Universities, Julia Round is organizing the Third International Comics Conference to be held at BU in June. More details can be found at www.comics.bujournalism.info.
Julia’s recent publications include ‘Fantastic alterities and The Sandman’ in Crossing Boundaries in Graphic Narrative: Essays on Forms, Series and Genres, ed. Jake Jakaitis and James F. Wurtz (Jefferson, CA: McFarland), ‘Gothic and the Graphic Novel’ in A New Companion to the Gothic, ed. David Punter (London: Blackwells, 2012), ‘Naturalising the fantastic: comics archetypes’ in Investigating Heroes: Essays on Truth, Justice and Quality TV, ed. David Simmons (Jefferson, CA: McFarland, 2012), and ‘Out of House and Holmes’ in Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy, ed. Josef Steiff. Part of the Popular Culture and Philosophy series, series ed. George A. Reisch (Chicago, IL: Open Court Press, 2011),
Julia presented a paper at Winchester University's 'Zombosium' last October and has given/is about to give guest lectures at Central St Martins (Nov 2011) and the University of Amsterdam (April 2012).

Bronwen Thomas has had a paper on Talking About Television on Twitter accepted for the Poetics and Linguistics Association conference in July, 2012. Her monograph on Fictional Dialogue is about to be published by the University of Nebraska Press (http://www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/product/Fictional-Dialogue,674950.aspx) and she has recently completed a chapter on Twitterfiction for a collection of essays called Analysing Digital Fiction edited by Alice Bell and Astrid Ensslin (Routledge 2013), and an article on Stieg Larsson to be published in a special issue of Language and Literature on contemporary crime fiction.

Watch this space for more exciting news soon of visiting speakers.

NRG News

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 08:03:09 GMT

Group News
NRG's second symposium on Nonhuman Narratives was held in April this year, and attracted an international panel of speakers. A full report on the symposium can be accessed at http://www.narratology.net/node/93
This Autumn the group will be working on ideas for funding and setting up a postgraduate degree at Bournemouth University, and in the Spring we will recommence our series of research seminars and talks (more details to follow).
News of individual activities and achievements Julia Round co-organised the Joint Annual International Conference of Comics Graphic Novels and Bande-dessinee, which was held at Manchester Metropolitan Unversity in July 2011, and presented a paper at the same. The conference was very successful, attracting over 100 delegates, and it has been agreed to hold it at BU in 2012. She has also published a chapter on Sherlock Holmes and House in an edited collection entitled Sherlock Holmes and Philosophy (part of the Popular Culture and Philosophy series, Open Court Press, 2011). Her paper proposal 'Zombies, absence and existentialism' has been accepted for Winchester University's 'Zombiosium' (zombie symposium), to be held this October, and she has been invited to act as respondent at the second annual 'Transitions' symposium, to be held at Bickbeck in November. She has also agreed to give a guest lecture at St Martin's College of Arts, London, in November. Together with Bronwen Thomas, Julia has been been preparing for publication the proceedings of the first NRG symposium (Real Lives Real Stories).
Hywel Dix has submitted a paper called 'Meta-fiction for a new Millennium: de-coding satire in Sebastian Faulks, Amanda Craig and Jim Crace' to the journal 21st Century Literature. He has also written and submitted a paper called 'The Death of the Transitive Verb: new additions to a vocabulary of society and culture' to the journal Key Words. He recently presented a paper entitled 'North and South, or, the Union and the Confederation: British reaction to 2 American revolutions' at a conference entitled 'Strange new today: Victorians, Crisis and Response' at the University of Exeter. The paper is under review with the Journal of Victorian Studies. Hywel has also had an abstract accpeted to give a paper at the conference 'Shakespeare and Tyranny' in Murcia, Spain in January 2012.
Craig Batty's new book, Movies that Move Us: Screenwriting and the Power of the Protagonist's Journey has just been published by Palgrave.
Bronwen Thomas has recently completed work on Fictional Dialogue: Speech and Conversation in the Modern and Postmodern Novel to be published next Spring by the University of Nebraska Press. The book she co-edited with Ruth Page of the University of Leicester on New Narratives: Stories and Storytelling in a Digital Age (also published by the University of Nebraska Press) will be published in December 2011. Bronwen has also completed a chapter on Twitterfiction for a volume of essays on Analysing Digitial Fiction to be published by Routledge, and an article on 'The rhetoric of social campaigning in Stieg Larsson's Millennium trilogy' to be published in a special issue of the journal Language and Literature on contemporary crime fiction.

Postdoc researcher: Dr Ana Maria Lopez Cepeda

Wed, 03 Aug 2011 18:24:43 GMT

Dr Ana Maria Lopez Cepeda is a visiting postdoctoral researcher associated with the Journalism Research Group here in the Media School during August 2011. Ana earned her doctorate in Communication Sciences at the University of Santiago de Compostela (USC) in Spain, and will be joining the School of Journalism at the University of Castilla La Mancha this autumn. Ana’s research addresses a number of issues relevant to colleagues across the breadth of the Media School, in particular with respect to public communication and new media (not least e-government, elections and social networks).

She is contactable on Ana.LopezCepeda@uclm.es

Nonhuman Narratives - Wednesday 27 April 2011

Mon, 28 Mar 2011 13:38:43 GMT

The Narrative Research Group, based in the Media School, will be hosting their second symposium at the Executive Business Centre on Wednesday 27 April. The theme of the symposium is ‘Non-human Narratives’. The plenary speaker is Professor David Herman of Ohio State University, and panels will include discussion of posthumanism and the inhuman, focusing on subjects as diverse as vampire fan cultures, animals in the movies and narratives of serial killers.

Further details and a booking form may be obtained by following the link below or by emailing the organisers Bronwen Thomas bthomas@bournemouth.ac.uk or Julia Round jround@bournemouth.ac.uk

http://media.bournemouth.ac.uk/research/narrative-research-group.html

JRG Talks Autumn Term 2010

Tue, 30 Nov 2010 11:06:32 GMT

Tuesday 16 Nov, 11:00 in CG23

Comparative European Journalism: Trends and Tendencies from Six Countries
Dr. HENRIK ÖRNEBRING, University of Oxford

Tuesday 7 Dec, 11:00 in P335

Home Invasion Moral Panic
LOUISE MATTHEWS, Bournemouth University

Wednesday 15 Dec, 14:00 in PG146

The Politics of Media in Argentina and South America: A case study of the Christina Fernandez Kirchner Administration
Dr. ERNESTO VIVARES, FLACSO, Quito, Ecuador
This talk is organised in in collaboration with Media School Latin America Research Group.

NRG Talks This Term - Update

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 11:21:33 GMT

All at 4 p.m in W242 unless stated otherwise

20 October - Julia Round, Reconstructing Alice Cooper: ‘From the Inside’ to The Last Temptation.

10 November - Jake Wallis Simons, Another route to Auschwitz: Memory, writing, fiction.

24 November - Lorraine Warren, Southampton University, The entrepreneur as hero and jester; enacting the entrepreneurial discourse (This will take place in W327)

1 December - Hywel Dix, Reading, Writing and Republicanism

8 Dec – Antia Biressi, Roehampton University, Benefit Busters: welfare, social enterprise and makeover television

CFP: Mediating Environmental Change: Exploring The Way Forward

Tue, 09 Nov 2010 12:11:15 GMT

4 March, 2011

Symposium organised by the

Centre for Journalism and Communication Research at The Media School, Bournemouth University

In collaboration with the

MeCCSA Climate Change, Environment and Sustainability Network

Full details on MeCCSA CCES website.

CALL FOR PAPERS

The Mediating Environmental Change symposium will facilitate a debate on emerging and established forms and practices of environmental reporting – including climate change, conservation and sustainability. We aim to provide a lively discussion forum evolving around pertinent issues arising from a series of panels and keynote speakers.

You are invited to express interest in contributing your reflections or findings from relevant research as outlined below.

Discussion points

Indicative list of questions that could be addressed by the symposium:

How has the internet altered environmental communication?
How are different forms of media used to mobilise protest and engagement around environmental change and politics?
How does communication of science, risk and change influence public understanding of sustainability and the environment?
What characterises reporting of environmental sustainability, climate change and conservation?
In what ways can different stakeholders work together to influence policy and bring about positive change?
How can environmental change and sustainability be incorporated into the curriculum and academic practice?

Submissions

For panel presentations, please submit abstracts of no more than 150 words by 10 January, 2011 using the online form or via email to Einar Thorsen at ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk. Please include a title, full institutional affiliation, and five key words.

Schedule

The symposium will take place on 4 March 2011 in the town centre at The Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB.

The event is open to all interested parties.

Deadline for abstracts: 10 January, 2011.

Conference outline and registration will be published shortly after.

Lunch and beverages will be provided.

NRG talks this term

Mon, 18 Oct 2010 08:21:02 GMT

1 December - Hywel Dix, Reading, Writing and Republicanism

8 Dec – Antia Biressi, Roehampton University, Benefit Busters: welfare, social enterprise and makeover television

NRG talks this term. All at 4 p.m in W242 unless stated otherwise

20 October, Julia Round, Reconstructing Alice Cooper: ‘From the Inside’ to The Last Temptation.

10 November, Jake Wallis Simons, Another route to Auschwitz: Memory, writing, fiction.

24 November, Lorraine Warren, Southampton University, The entrepreneur as hero and jester; enacting the entrepreneurial discourse (This will take place in W327)

8 Dec – Antia Biressi, Roehampton University, Benefit Busters: welfare, social enterprise and makeover television

Keeping it Real: Narratives of Ordinary and Extraordinary People Across Media, Bournemouth University, 3 September 2010

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 08:28:46 GMT

The Narrative Research Group (NRG) hosted its first symposium at the Executive Business Centre in Bournemouth on Friday 3 September. The day brought together academics working across a wide range of disciplines including media and cultural studies, journalism, political communication, literature, linguistics and business and management. The event also included contributions from practitioners, with a writing workshop run by Rosie Cullen from the Media School, and a performance of the monologue Little Boy, scripted by Bournemouth University Screenwriter in Residence, John Foster.

Panels explored the means by which ‘real people’ have been represented in a wide range of media discourses, including comics, television shows, political campaigns, oral narratives and new media forms. Many of the papers highlighted the importance of understanding the audiences of these narratives, and responding to their needs, desires and sheer presence. There was also considerable discussion of the borrowing of formats and structures across media, and of the capacity of narratives to both contain and foreground contradictions and complexities of various kinds, including those surrounding issues of ethnicity, gender, sexuality and age. In addition, the ethical responsibilities of storytelling were explored, especially with regard to the methods used for accessing these narratives, and the means employed for their subsequent dissemination.

It is hoped that this highly successful symposium will be the first of many to be convened by the Narrative Research Group. It is also hoped that such events will help to forge important links between those working on the intersections between narrative and media/cultural studies, both within the UK and beyond.

Science Journalism in a Digital Age - Call for Papers

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:48:55 GMT

SPECIAL ISSUE OF JOURNALISM: THEORY, PRACTICE AND CRITICISM

Guest Editor: Stuart Allan, Bournemouth University, UK

In taking science journalism as its focus, this special issue of Journalism will seek to contribute to current debates about the ways in which this important genre of reporting is being transformed by the changes ushered in by digital media.

Today it is readily apparent that precisely what counts as ‘science news’ is undergoing dramatic redefinition as the convergence of ‘old’ and ‘new’ media continues apace. The challenges facing the science journalist have always been formidable, of course, but the internet and associated digital technologies are bringing to bear new pressures and constraints – as well as creating fresh opportunities for innovation – deserving of our close attention. While the very future of science journalism is being called into question by some, others point to alternative approaches to science reporting that are flourishing online.

In exploring these concerns, this special issue’s agenda is informed by a sense of urgency. At a time when many news organizations are under intense financial pressure to trim or reduce expenditure on specialist, investigative reporting, it is all too often the case that science news is regarded as expendable. In the eyes of some, it is a luxury increasingly difficult to justify when other types of news will be more popular with audiences (and thus advertisers). CNN’s decision to cut its entire science, technology and environment news staff, for example, provoked widespread alarm when it was announced in 2008. Few commentators failed to note the irony that science issues – such as climate change, stem cell research, evolution and bio-terrorism – were proving sufficiently controversial to attract intense news coverage at the time.

Accordingly, a guiding theme of the special issue is that current assessments of the news media’s public responsibilities in a democracy can be enriched by inquiries into the changing nature of science journalism. Possible topics to be examined may include:

The political economy of science journalism
Journalists’ uses of digital technologies in science reporting
Rethinking the news values of science coverage
Scientists as news sources and the politics of expertise
The framing of controversy in science stories
The impact of blogging on science news
Audience perceptions of science news on the web
Science journalism and social networking

Prospective authors should submit an abstract of approximately 250 words by email to Stuart Allan (sallan@bournemouth.ac.uk). A selection of authors will be invited to submit a full paper according to the journal’s Notes for Contributors. Acceptance of the abstract does not guarantee publication, given that all papers will be subjected to peer review.

Timeline

Deadline for abstracts: 1 October, 2010; deadline for submission of articles: 31 December, 2010. Final revised papers due: March, 2011. Publication: Volume 12, No. 7

About Editor

Stuart Allan’s science-related publications include Environmental Risks and the Media (co-edited, 2000), Media, Risk and Science (2002), and Nanotechnology, Risk and Communication (co-authored, 2009). Recent co-written journal articles have appeared in New Genetics and Society (2005), Science Communication (2005), Health, Risk & Society (2007), Public Understanding of Science (2009), and Journal of Risk Research (2010).

Professor Stuart Allan
The Media School
Bournemouth University
Talbot Campus
Poole, Dorset
BH12 5BB
UK

sallan@bournemouth.ac.uk

Online Reporting of Elections – call for papers

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 09:47:41 GMT

JOURNALISM PRACTICE SPECIAL ISSUE CALL FOR PAPERS

Guest editor: Einar Thorsen

Elections represent a great spectacle of journalism and are therefore ideally suited to reflect upon the current and future state of journalism practice in relation to online political news and communication.

Online news reporting in its various guises is now an essential part of online political journalism. Recent examples range from political blogging and Youtube debates during the 2008 US presidential election, through the use of Twitter to report and mobilise civic uprising in the aftermath of the 2009 Iranian and Moldovan elections, to the normalising of online news during the 2010 UK general election.

Newspapers and broadcasters now invest heavily in election micro-websites. Journalists increasingly use Twitter and Facebook for breaking news or unconfirmed rumours, and also as a valuable source of ‘public sentiment’ and insight into the political process. Ordinary citizens, for their part, use social media to hold politicians and mainstream media to account.

This special edition of Journalism Practice will be an opportunity to discuss the role of online news reporting during national elections and referendums. It will provide a forum for both practitioners and academics to discuss emerging and established forms and practices of online journalism.

Comparative research is of particular interest to this special edition – either different national contexts, or different news practices within the same national context.

Suggested areas of focus include, but are not limited to:

How does online election reporting compare across different national contexts?
Has online journalism lived up to expectations during elections?
How has the Internet changed the working practices of political journalists?
How does online reporting of elections compare to print and broadcasting?
What role have citizen journalists had in the media landscape during elections?
How have Twitter and Facebook influenced the way journalists connect with audiences?
How do journalists use social media, blogs and UGC as election news sources?
What are the strengths and limitations of live blogging?
How have the features of online news impacted on election campaigns?
How have news organisations facilitated online public debates and comment?
How has online journalism helped inform electorates?

Prospective authors should email abstracts of 500 words to Einar Thorsen (ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk). Papers will then be invited and subject to peer review.

Deadline for submission of abstracts: 10 September 2010
Deadline for submission of articles for review: 1 December 2010
Final revised papers due: 31 March 2011 (following peer review)
Publication: end of 2011/early 2012

If you have any questions or want to discuss an idea for the special issue, please do not hesitate to get in touch. PDF version of CfP available on Routledge website.

2011 MeCCSA PGN Conference - Save the Date!

Thu, 19 Aug 2010 12:24:00 GMT

The 2011 MeCCSA Postgraduate Network Conference will be held on the 4th and 5th of July at Bournemouth University.

For details, visit: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/postgraduate-network/upcoming-events/2011-meccsa-pgn-conference-save-the-date

To reserve your place, either e-mail meccsa-pgn2011@bournemouth.ac.uk or book online at http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/meccsa

Keeping it Real: Narratives of Ordinary and Extraordinary People Across Media, Friday 3 September 2010

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:34:57 GMT

The Narrative Research Group based in the Media School at Bournemouth University is hosting an interdisciplinary one-day symposium that will examine the representation of real people across media. Invited speakers include professionals, practitioners and scholars working with stories about real people in journalism, literature, visual media, online spaces and popular culture. It is hoped that the symposium will provide a forum to bring together those interested in the intersections between narrative theory and media/cultural studies.
This event is free to attend, and coffee and lunch will be provided on the day. However, as spaces are limited, you will need to register in advance by contacting the convenors, Julia Round (jround@bournemouth.ac.uk) and Bronwen Thomas (bthomas@bournemouth.ac.uk) before Wednesday 25 August.

Date and Location: Friday 3 September 2010, The Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

Call for participation: Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward, Friday 2 July, 2010

Fri, 28 May 2010 09:23:25 GMT

Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward will bring together academics, researchers, journalists and bloggers to facilitate a debate on improving conflict reportage, relating it to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Please submit an expression of interest to contribute as a speaker (5 to 10-minute presentation), or to attend the symposium, by June 11 to Dr Chindu Sreedharan atcsreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk, or register online at http://bit.ly/9jAb9p

REPORTING WAR: EXPLORING THE WAY FORWARD
Media in conflict situations, with special focus on Iraq and Afghanistan

A Centre for Journalism and Communication Research Symposium Bournemouth University

on

Friday 2 July, 2010

at

The Executive Business Centre
Bournemouth University
89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB

Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward will bring together academics, researchers, journalists and bloggers to facilitate a debate on improving conflict reportage, relating it to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Please submit an expression of interest to contribute as a speaker (5 to 10-minute presentation), or to attend the symposium, by June 11 to Dr Chindu Sreedharan atcsreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk, or register online at http://bit.ly/9jAb9p

Below is an indicative list of questions that may be discussed at the symposium. You are welcome to suggest/contribute on other related topics as well:
• How can war and conflict reporting be improved?
• What can the analysis of the reporting of past conflicts tell us about future ones?
• What role should ‘peace journalism’ have in the future media landscape?
• In what ways does the training of journalists need to change?
• How are citizen journalists challenging traditional practices of war reporting?
• What are the ethical issues posed by social media, such as Twitter?
• How might media professionals and academics help government, military and NGO institutions redefine the priorities of war reporting?

Schedule:

The symposium will take place on Friday, 2 July, 2010 in Bournemouth, at the The Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University, 89 Holdenhurst Road, BH8 8EB. The venue is easily accessible from the train and bus stations (and close to the town centre and beach).

The event is free, open to anyone interested in exploring the topic. Please register your name by emailing Chindu Sreedharan (csreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk), or at http://bit.ly/bnxJiKby June 11.
Lunch and beverages will be provided free of charge.

Background:

The last decade has seen a considerable commitment of scholarly and journalistic resources to consider the media-conflict relation, which has produced a substantial body of academic research and reflections on professional practice in times of conflict.

The resultant debates have been incisive: reportorial significance in a ‘mediatized’ world, journalistic restrictions in the ‘fog of war’, media influences over audiences, the pressure of public opinion, the dangers of ‘militaintment’ – all have been deconstructed and critiqued to provide insights into what is ‘wrong’ with the way the media have presented conflicts.

In comparison to this focus on the limitations of journalism during war, little energy has been expended on exploring ways to overcome the ‘negatives’. There appears to be a consensus that a different mode of journalism is needed, but opinion is divided on how best to go about achieving it. Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward aims to facilitate a debate into this question: how can conflict reportage be improved?

Travel funding for postgraduate students:

The Centre for Journalism and Communication Research offers a limited number of travel bursaries to Master’s and PhD students who wish to attend the symposium. To apply, please email Chindu Sreedharan (csreedharan@bournemouth.ac.uk) with a letter of interest by June 11.

The Centre for Journalism and Communication Research:

The symposium is organised by the CJCR (www.bournemouth.ac.uk/imcr/cjcr/), which brings together the Journalism Research Group and the Narrative Research Group from within the Media School, Bournemouth University. Launched in 2009, and directed by Professor Stuart Allan, the CJCR represents an array of interests and expertise, and is committed to engage in real-world issues of pressing significance.

Join Reporting War: Exploring the Way Forward on Facebook (you need to be logged in): www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=129582183722738

Postponed: Online Reporting of the 2010 UK Election Symposium, Friday 25th June, 2010

Wed, 19 May 2010 14:17:23 GMT

This symposium will be an opportunity to discuss and reflect upon the role of online news reporting during the May 2010 UK General Election. It will provide a forum for academics, researchers, journalists and bloggers to discuss emerging and established forms and practices of online election news. We aim to provide a lively discussion forum evolving around pertinent issues arising from the election campaign and aftermath.

You are invited to express interest in contributing your reflections (5-10 minutes each) or early findings from relevant research.

Please submit expressions of interest to attend or contribute as a speaker (indicating your topic) by 4th June to Einar Thorsen at ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk or using the online form.

Organised by the Centre for Journalism and Communication Research

The Media School, Bournemouth University

Friday 25th June, 2010 <-- please note that this event has been postponed until November / December 2010. Revised schedule will be published here in due course.

Discussion points

Below is an indicative list of questions that could be addressed by the symposium, though you are welcome to suggest and contribute on other relevant topics.

To what extent did online journalism live up to expectations?
How did online reporting compare to rival print and broadcasting journalism?
What role did citizen journalism have in the media landscape during the election?
How have Twitter and Facebook changed the way in which journalists connect with their audiences?
To what extent did journalists use social media, blogs and user-generated content as a source of election news?
What were the strengths and limitations of live blogging?
How did the speed, depth and immediacy of online news impact on the campaign?
To what extent did news organisations succeed in facilitating public debates and comments?
How did online journalism help inform the electorate?

Schedule

The symposium will take place 25th June postponed in the city centre at The Executive Business Centre, Bournemouth University, 89 Holdenhurst Road, Bournemouth, BH8 8EB.

The event is free and open to all interested parties, but please register your interest to attend in advance by emailing Einar Thorsen at ethorsen@bournemouth.ac.uk or using the online form.

Deadline for contributors to register interest is 4th June. Conference outline will be published shortly after.

Lunch and beverages will be provided.

Background

Elections represent a great spectacle of journalism and are therefore ideally suited to reflect upon the current and future state of political news and journalism, particularly in online contexts. In the words of Jon Snow: "Once an election is called, journalists go into overdrive. It’s a genuinely exciting time – a voyage into the unknown whose ending will affect all our lives."

The 2010 UK General Election was expected to be a historic milestone and it certainly lived up to promise. Politically it offered the closest contest in years, returning the first hung parliament since 1974, and a coalition government between the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats. The media campaign was groundbreaking too, dominated by the first ever televised prime ministerial debates, hosted by ITV, Sky and the BBC.

Online news reporting in its various guises was, unlike previous elections, no longer just a curious oddity at the fringes of the media landscape, but an essential part of online political journalism. Both newspapers and broadcasters invested heavily in election micro-websites, many of which included continuous campaign updates through live blogging. Journalists used Twitter and Facebook for breaking news or unconfirmed rumours, and also as a valuable source of ‘public sentiment’ and insight into the political process. Ordinary citizens, for their part, used social media to hold politicians and mainstream media to account.

Centre for Journalism and Communication Research

The Centre for Journalism and Communication Research was launched in 2009. It brings together two research groups – the Journalism Research Group and the Narrative Research Group – from within the Media School at Bournemouth University. Researchers affiliated to the Centre represent a diverse array of interests and expertise, while sharing a commitment to engage in real-world issues of pressing significance.

Website: http://www.bournemouth.ac.uk/imcr/cjcr/

Launch of "No Such" research website

Mon, 03 May 2010 15:45:00 GMT

The "No Such" research website (http://www.nosuch-research.co.uk/) is part of a study of broadcasting and the public services under the three Thatcher governments, 1979-1992. This two year research project (January 2008-January 2010) funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council was based within the Centre for Broadcasting History Research at Bournemouth University.

It investigated the ways in which UK television and radio reflected and mediated the changing political, economic and ideological climate during the period of Margaret Thatcher’s premiership, particularly in relation to broadcasting and the National Health Service.

The “No Such” Research website is a record of this work. It is also a record of the “No Such” Symposium held at Bournemouth University on 28 January 2010 and includes papers from the Symposium link to Symposium papers list.

The researchers are Patricia Holland, Hugh Chignell and Georgia Eglezou of Bournemouth University and Sherryl Wilson of the University of the West of England. They are part of the Southern Universities Broadcasting History Group.

AHRC award No: AH/E008682/1

Recent Successes - Julia Round

Wed, 28 Apr 2010 08:41:40 GMT

Julia Round has recently had a number of successes. She presented a paper earlier this month at the Routledge Comics and Graphic Novels Conference, held at Manchester Met University. She has also had a paper accepted for the San Diego Comic Arts Conference (to be held July 2010).

Publications

Julia has signed a book contract with McFarland to produce a monograph on 'Gothic Graphic Novels', due in 2011. Her article 'Transforming Shakespeare' has been published in the collection Beyond Adaptation, edited by Frus and Williams (McFarland 2010), and she has had a further article accepted for the new edition of the Blackwells Companion to the Gothic, to be published 2011.

Conference Paper - Bronwen Thomas - 'Twitterfic'

Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:49:20 GMT

Bronwen Thomas will be presenting a paper on Twitterfic at this year's International Association of Literary Semantics Conference in Genoa in July. As part of this paper, she will be discussing Chindu Sreedharan's epicretold project. Bronwen has also been commissioned to write an article for the new Storyworlds journal edited by David Herman of Ohio State University, and has written entries on 'Dialogue' and 'Framing' for the forthcoming Blackwell Encyclopedia of the Novel.

Conference Paper - Julia Round - ''The Grandest Guignol!' The Representation of Alice Cooper in Neil Gaiman/Michael Zulli's The Last Temptation'

Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:27:44 GMT

Julia Round will be presenting a paper entitled ''The Grandest Guignol!' The Representation of Alice Cooper in Neil Gaiman/Michael Zulli's The Last Temptation' at the Comics, Genres and Cultures Conference, to be held at Manchester University in April 2010 in conjunction with Liverpool University Press and their new Journal of Comics and Graphic Novels.

This paper will discuss the construction of celebrity and identity as a form of narrative. She has also had her article ''It's all relative': Breaking Narrative Boundaries and Binaries in Garth Ennis/Steve Dillon's Preacher' accepted for publication in the forthcoming collection Beyond the Book, the first book in the new Popular Narrative Media series to be published by Liverpool University Press.