Below is a list of all the speaker’s abstracts and bios in order of appearance in the conference:
November 11th 2011
KEYNOTE SPEAKER
michel.clement(at)uni-hamburg.de
ABSTRACT: Based on a large data set from the German book market, we estimate the effect of a well-known TV reviewer (Elke Heidenreich) on book sales in the short, mid and long term. We contribute to the existing literature about critics in measuring the advertising effect of critics in the entertainment industry. Furthermore, we control for the selection bias of critics who might be biased towards potential best-sellers or star authors and prefer to review these books. Consequently, the probability to review a book by the reviewer will strongly correlate with book sales raising the question of causality. Therefore, we reduce this selection bias by using a combination of propensity score-matching and difference-in-differences methods. Our study of the advertiser’s role of an individual critic produces two key findings. First, our analysis shows that mass media critics are influencers – even when they are just predicting well. Our empirical study supports our theoretical reasoning, because we find strong dynamic effects on sales by the reviews of Elke Heidenreich. Second, our probit analysis reveals substantial indications about selection effects of individual critics which allow publishers to better address critics in order to “motivate” them to review a new book.
BIO: Professor Dr. Michel Clement joined the University of Hamburg in 2006 and holds the chair for Marketing and Media Management at the Institute for Marketing and Media. He has been a faculty member at the University of Passau (Marketing & Services in 2005/2006) and the Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel (Innovation, New Media and Marketing from 2002-2005).
Professor Clement holds a doctoral degree in marketing and a master’s degree in business administration (marketing, innovation management and psychology) from the Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel.
During 1999-2002 he worked in several management positions in the media industry: In September 1999 he joined Bertelsmann mediaSystems as a consultant for media technologies. He worked in the “Think Tank” and was responsible for scouting new technologies within the media industry. He was specialized on peer-to-peer networks, devices, TV, agent technologies, and venture consulting. One year later he joined the Bertelsmann eCommerce Group where he reported directly to the CEO. In 2000 he founded with two partners Snoopstar.com GmbH, a software company of the Bertelsmann Direct Group. He served as a vice president (responsible for finance, business development, and marketing) in the board of the company.
In his research he focuses on managing entertainment media products, new technologies, and customer management.
SESSION 1 – “CULTURES & IDENTITIES”
Some innovative methodological features and results from a comparative study of the daily press in Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Sweden”
Sara.nofri(at)uni-hamburg.de
ABSTRACT: In spite of environmental policy convergence within the EU and of common environmental problems like e.g. those due to global warming, a public sphere and a common debate about environmental issues have not really been established within the EU yet.
A key-role in shaping public sphere and public debate about environmental issues in Europe is played by the media. The medium “daily press”, however, still used for delivering in-depth information and pointing out backgrounds and details about current issues, addresses prevalently national audiences, which have their own language and their own ways of communicating and perceiving what environmental issues consist of. Also the media output side presents significant differences between “journalistic cultures” (Hallin and Mancini, 2004) that need to be accounted for. Nevertheless, a common basis for discussion or at least a greater awareness of cultural differences are necessary, if common problems have to be tackled democratically, thoroughly and together.
With these premises, the author has carried out a multilingual and interdisciplinary study at the University of Hamburg. The study describes the ways in which the national press of four European countries (Germany, Great Britain, Italy and Sweden) deals with environmental issues and portrays which sources, themes and stakeholders take the floor. Through a both quantitative and qualitative content analysis of eight newspapers, differences in form and content of environmental press coverage are pointed out, thereby showing how in the European Union different “cultures of environment” and different “cultures of communication” coexist. Interviews with journalists who cover the environmental news for their newspapers add sharpness to the picture of European environmental journalism in the printed press.
The author would be glad to present some innovative methodological details behind her multilingual research study, some results of the empirical study, and the outcome of some interviews, as an anticipation of her soon-to-be-published piece of research. The statement “Innovative methodological details” refers to the fact that, unlike in this case, very few media research studies draw from library science in organising systematic multilingual database or bibliographical research, and they seldom account for more than one language or culture when carrying out a content analysis or interviews. Cultures and identities, however, can be the subject of scientific research itself, not only its object.
BIO: Sara Nofri, 33, is going to be awarded her PhD in Communication Science at the University of Hamburg in the coming days. She holds an MA in Conference Interpreting and Translation Studies at the University of Bologna, studied Political Science and Scandinavian Studies at the Ruhr-University Bochum and was awarded a Hans-Böckler Foundation PhD scholarship. Thanks to several EU scholarships (SOCRATES, COMENIUS, LEONARDO) she was able to study, travel, teach and carry out research in different European countries, mostly in Sweden, Italy, Germany and the UK. These are the countries she wrote her doctoral thesis about, comparing multilingually, quantitatively and qualitatively their press coverage of environmental issues, and carrying out interviews with environmental journalists from those countries. Currently, she teaches classes at the Departments of Journalism and of Advanced Academic Training (court interpreting) of the University of Hamburg. She also was able to gain significant experience in several professional sectors, such as research (e.g. Wuppertal Institut für Klima, Umwelt, Energie), research funding , events with an international background, and education.
al.bunten(at)gmail.com
BIO: Alex is an MA Euroculture graduate (2009-2011) from Uppsala University (Sweden) and the University of Deusto (Spain). His thesis work and main research interests are related to European town twinning (sister cities) and the role of cultural diplomacy. Previously, he studied a BA in English Literature at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. He is currently working in Russia as the Assistant Director of Studies for BKC International House Moscow. In his spare time, Alex writes freelance and works closely with the Erasmus Mundus Association Communications Team on a variety of projects.
lora.p.markova(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: This presentation is a part of a larger research project that aims at studying how far transcultural identities have been represented in European artistic expressions and how far these artistic discourses shape the construction of European identities in-between cultures, discursive spheres, real and symbolic spaces. Thus, the dialectic relationship between representation and identity and how they mutually (re)produce each other will be constantly reinvented. The research focuses on European productions with glocal character, questioning if they transcend transcultural codes and symbols. Furthermore, the project tries to explore whether the communicative space between producers and receivers of cultural content could be conceptualized as a ‘third space’ with transcultural potential.
In order to render which artistic discourses are generated in European cultural space, the presentation will refer to visual media and cinematic representations. The oeuvre of European creators from diaspora and immigrant communities will be taken into consideration, since their work is often marked by the complex dynamics between European and non-European sentiments and the cultural sensitivity of in-betweenness. As ‘others within‘ they perform the freedom of being different from others as well as from their own selves in the interstice between cultures, roots and spatial distances. Thus, transculturality will be also studied as an integral element of the conceptual and aesthetic dimensions of their work.
BIO: Lora’s research interests focus on (new) media arts, interactivity and modes of contemporary spectatorship, transculturality and transcendence of aesthetic codes and cultural repertoires. Currently, she is completing an Erasmus Mundus MA in Euroculture at Deusto University – Bilbao, Spain, Georg-August University – Goettingen, Germany and Pune University, India. Lora holds a master’s degree in Media Culture (2007) and a Cum Laude master’s degree in Arts and Heritage: Policy, Management and Education (2008) from Maastricht University, The Netherlands. She has worked for the European research project Inside Installations: Preservation and Presentation of Installation Art at the Netherlands Institute for Cultural Heritage (ICN) – Amsterdam within the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science. Lora has also conducted research and published reviews on video art for the Netherlands Media Art Institute (NIMk) – Amsterdam. Her professional realization in media, communication and graphic design involves work in the private sector as well as a Blue-book traineeship at the European Commission, Brussels. Apart from following her academic interests, Lora is a practicing visual artist with a BA in Animation Cinema.
yaracastanheira(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Are there connections among cultural distinctions, the field of tension generated by them and the self-perception? This is a central question which this paper pursues within the framework of cultural studies. To do this, theoretical approaches to alterity and ‘otherness’ were critically analyzed and put in connection with conceptions of the ‘self’ and of the other as well as with constructions of authenticity and identity.
The object of this research is the blogosphere, to be more precise, the blogs of six Brazilian women residents in Germany. The analysis goes from their reasons to start a blog, passing through the blogs’ names, the bloggers’ self-presentations, the content provided online up to the discourses used by the bloggers.
The data evaluation was based on the following main categories, created from the reading of the blogs: self-images; images of the other; ways to protect and stabilize both types of images; and reflections on life “in-between Worlds”. Which stereotypes do these women use to build either self-images or images of the other? How do they protect those stereotypes against daily experiences? These questions form an essential part of the investigation.
BIO: Yara Castanheira is a cinema buff and currently works as a translator and a cultural producer in Berlin. She received an Erasmus Mundus Masters of Arts in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies from the Universities of Kassel (Germany) and London (England). She also holds a BA in Communication and a Journalist degree from the University of Minas Gerais (Brazil).
amanze18(at)yahoo.com
ABSTRACT: Among other nations in Europe, the UK has always been known for its disposition to non-British and non-European nationals. This tolerance would logically be deduced from the aftermath of the days of imperialism, cordial relations with her former colonies and the whole idea of a Commonwealth of Nations. However, things have taken a strange turn, with the British spearheading the latest European trend of fortified borders and an aggression towards members of minority communities. Thus, it did not come as a surprise when Brian True May, the co-creator of a renowned British crime drama, Midsomer Murders, claimed that the TV series was the ‘last bastion of Englishness’ and it would not work if ethnic minorities were involved. This statement caused a huge furor in Britain and all of Europe, and it led to the suspension of True May. True May’s attitude towards minority groups seems to have re-emerged on the EU political scene, with David Cameron, Angela Merkel and Nicholas Sarkozy re-echoing with one voice that multiculturalism has failed in Europe.
It is on account of recent debates on fears of the loss of Englishness and the European identity crisis that this conference paper will focus on raising certain culturally sensitive issues. Is it really fears about the loss of European cultural values that has led to the condemnation of multiculturalism? Or is this just another anti-immigration sentiment sweeping forcefully across Britain and the rest of Europe? What sort of multiculturalism has failed in Europe? Is it multiculturalism as a lived experience that encourages respect and mutual understanding? Or multiculturalism as a political process that manages difference by putting people into ethnic boxes? The lessons from Ander Breivik’s massacre of innocent youths in Norway could be a clarion call for Europe to realise that right-wing extremism and the phobia for non-European cultural expressions could lead to an implosion, or a catastrophic rupture from within.
BIO: Paul is a PhD candidate in the Erasmus Mundus Joint Doctorate programme Cultural Studies in Literary Interzones. He is currently involved in a series of seminars in the Università degli studi di Bergamo (Italy) and will be working in various graduate centres in the University of Perpignan, University of Sydney Australia and University of Tubingen, Germany. Paul is an MA Crossways in European Humanities graduate (2008-2010) from the University of St. Andrews (Scotland), Université de Perpignan (France), and Università degli studi di Bergamo (Italy). His research focuses on the literary and cultural productions of African migrants in Europe. Thus he examines African communities in Britain and France as complex interzonal spaces of decentralization and resistance. This approach is interdisciplinary as he plans to fuse comparative literature and transcultural studies in his scrutiny of the 21st century African migration phenomenon. In his spare time, Paul is involved with the institute for cultural diplomacy in Berlin and has keen interests in cyber cultures, digital humanities and neo-slavery. He also hopes to develop his masters’ research project on the challenges of intercultural dialogue between Africa and the Western world.
SESSION 2 – “COMMUNICATION & DEMOCRACY”
kathrin.voss(at)uni-hamburg.de
ABSTRACT: E-Petitioning and other forms of online grassroots campaigning have become a common tool for NGOs as well as for lobbyist groups. Long established NGOs as well as small single issues organizations use these online tools to put their topics on the political agenda. But e-petitioning has also changed the organizational landscape of the civil society by creating new organizations like Moveon.org or Avaaz.org. The presentation will look at different forms of e-petitioning and examines the risks of online grassroots campaigns as well as the effects e-petitions have.
BIO: Since 2003 Dr Voss has been a freelance consultant and lecturer for public relations, organizational development and fundraising, mostly for non-profit-organizations. She studied Political Science with a major in comparative politics at the University of Hamburg from 1994 to 1999. Her research interests are in political communication, public relations, lobbying, internet communication / web 2.0, non-governmental organizations, and social movements. Her current research is centred around E-Petitioning and E-Mail-Campaigning – Effects and Impact.
amaranta.alfaro(at)uni-hamburg.de
ABSTRACT: This research will examine the uses of social network sites (SNS) to identify its potential in reinforcing social cohesion in Chile. Through the observation and study of the uses and participation features of young people coming from different socio-economical and educational backgrounds, on Chilean citizen movement groups on Facebook. How are these platforms being used for civic engagement purposes among the different groups? Are they minimizing disparities and encouraging integration and participation among young users? Are they fostering social cohesion by offering a space to bond and interact with like-minded-others around a particular issue regardless their educational or socio-economical differences? These are some of the question this research will try to answer.
BIO: She is a PhD student in the Graduate School for Media & Communication at Hamburg University. She received an Erasmus Mundus Master of Arts in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies from the universities of Roskilde (Denmark) and Kassel (Germany). She also holds a BA in Communication, and a Journalist Degree from the Diego Portales University (Chile). Her current research interest is the integration and participation possibilities of social media in Chile and Latin America. She hopes to link the latter with her interest on social cohesion and development in the region.
carolinedessen(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: This research tries to answer the following question: Are new media encouraging more activism in the Brazilian society? To find an answer I based my research on a specific case in Brazil, the Ficha Limpa law, which was a project proposed by the civil society aiming to forbid politicians, who had been convicted by law, to run for elections. Ficha Limpa´s project was the first one to make use of new media to promote and support their campaign ideals. The positive result with the achievement of 1,3 million signatures on the petition, and its approval by the Congress was only possible with the support of both traditional and new media, which published and broadcast the discussion, promoting the debate and awareness about the topic. Some said that this was the biggest social movement in Brazil after the impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Melo in 1992, and definitely the first big one to make use of the new media.
BIO: Caroline d’Essen graduated in Communication Science in Brazil and finished her Masters Program in “Media and Globalization” in Germany. She worked for radio, television and various magazines in Brazil. From 2006 to 2009 she worked as a professor in the Journalism Department at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. During this time she also worked as a Communication Coordinator of JA!, an environmental Mozambican NGO. She currently works as a global campaigner at the international organization Avaaz and the topic of her thesis was the relation between the new media and the social activism in Brazil
borislava.miteva(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: In an era of advanced technologies, which allow for accelerated mobility and efficient long-distance communication people have the opportunity to participate in a borderless dialogue regarding increasingly complex EU issues, such as the economic instability, migration experiences , and new forms of democratic participation. Based on a recent survey, these three broad topics have been voted as the most important concerns of people across Europe, which is precisely why the public debates and activities under the umbrella of the Transeuropa Festival 2012 will revolve around them. Inspired by the idea of a bottom-up governance, the Transeuropa Network organizes various local events throughout the year, allowing for dialogue among European citizens. The presentation goes into the objectives and principles of the network, the organization and opportunities for involvement through local groups, along with an outline of the past and upcoming festival activities. As such, the presentation is not intended to be simply informative, but would require feedback on ways for facilitating the Europe-wide political participation, and specifically the upcoming festival, and would thus serve as a medium for discussing the encompassing theme of Communication and Democracy.
BIO: Borislava Miteva has a Bachelor’s double degree in Social studies and Italian studies from the University of British Columbia and the University of Bologna. In March 2011 she obtained her honors MA Euroculture from the University of Groningen and Jagiellonian University. Nominated at the European studies Intensive Programme 2010, her article “Europeanization of the ‘European’ values and the emerging EU image” was recently published in an online journal. Nevertheless, during the Master’s programme most of her research and projects focused on issues related to different marginalized communities. Accordingly, she sees her professional development within the fields of human rights and/or social development.
gudetaseifu(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Today more than any time in recorded human history, national security considerations and the war against terrorism has heightened the desire of states to justify restrictions on fundamental human rights including freedom of expression and the flow of information to an unprecedented degree. Security interest and freedom of expression are often regarded as being on opposite poles. Although this has a grain of truth, the idea that they are in perpetual tension is far from the truth precisely because security is a precondition for the enjoyment of all rights including freedom of expression. Restricting freedom of speech without meeting a strict test of justification in the name of national security weakens the very foundation of a democratic society. It may even result in suppression of legitimate political debate and eventually put us on the slippery slope of sliding back to tyranny. Major International Human Rights Instruments have laid strict conditions under which freedom of expression can be restricted to serve genuine threats to national security. Despite the existence of these standards under international human rights law, the advent of ‘new security driven international order’ has persuaded many states to adopt restrictive counter-terrorism laws that curtail free speech and other fundamental human rights in one or another form to buttress their struggle against terrorism. Ethiopia, where I come from, has ranked itself on the list of states that have enacted anti-terrorism legislation introducing content-based restriction on free speech. My presentation will focus on this anti-terrorism legislation in light of the rights and limitations to freedom of expression enshrined under regional and international human rights instruments.
BIO: Tura recently received his MA degree in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies from Aarhus University & IOE, University of London under the CoMundus Scholarship Programme. He also has an MA degree in Journalism and Communication, LLM degree in Law and BA degree in English Language and Literature from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. He has six years work experience in the capacity of public relations and Communication Manager in an NGO and different financial institutions in Ethiopia. Tura has also published a book entitled “Self-regulation of the Private Press in Ethiopia: Prospects and Challenges”. Furthermore, he also contributed a journal article dealing with land tenure security in Ethiopia on Addis Ababa University Law Faculty Journal. His areas of research interest are Media and Democracy, Comparative studies of Media Regulations and Laws, and Human Rights Law.
November 12th, 2011
CAREER TALKS
d.guenther(at)dobu-verlag.de
ABSTRACT: Publishing your first scientific work marks an important event in your scientific career. My talk will focus on a scientific publication seen from the point of view of a publishing house – as a commercial product – and therefore analysed by the four “P”s of product management (product, place, price, promotion). The aim of the contribution is to show the main implications, which should be taken into account whenever you plan to publish you manuscript, and to enable you to have your scientific work published in the most efficient way possible.
BIO: Donate Guenther went to school in Germany, France and Canada. From 1981-1987 she studied Linguistics, Politics and Psychology at the University of Hamburg. While working as a business consultant (Complex System Change) until 2006, she founded the scientific publishing house Documentation & Books Publishing (DOBU, or Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Dokumentation & Buch) in 1998 and the French publishing and distribution company CLADOLE in 2011. In addition to her professional work as publisher, she is preparing a PHD on Social Identity, Culture and Change – The ERASMUS Experience - at the University of Montpellier III in France.
r.suarez(at)hans-bredow-institut.de
ABSTRACT: Deciding to pursue an academic career is not an easy choice. First of all, it is very improbable that the candidate has a clear picture of what it means and implies. Secondly, although the ways and steps are very different in each country, they tend to result in a quite long, complex and exhausting path in most of the cases. Finally, even when a master student or doctoral candidate are in the right track, luck becomes a determining variable. Unfortunately, luck is a scarce resource.
Having said that, an academic career could be described as a learning and personal growth process characterized by a high level of uncertainty. A happy end is never ensured, but the combination of a thorough planning, soft skills and personal determination might help to achieve the aimed goals.
In this talk, I will share my personal experience and ideas about why and how to:
- face your PhD
- plan your life after the PhD
- develop your personal and academic profile
- improve your soft skills
- attend to conferences and carry out research visits abroad
- promote yourself and your work
BIO: Roberto Suárez Candel (Ph.D. 2009 Pompeu Fabra University – Barcelona, Spain) works as a Marie Curie post-doctoral researcher at the Hans-Bredow-Institut für Medienforschung an der Universität Hamburg (Germany). Since February 2010, he has been in charge of a EU funded project that analyses the redefinition and reposition of public service broadcasting in the multiplatform media scenario [www.psb-digital.eu]. In addition to public service media, his main research interests are media policy and regulation, media structure and media technological innovation, particularly hybrid television. In his PhD dissertation, which has been awarded with two research prizes (2010 – Catalan Audiovisual Council; 2006 – Fundación Autor SGAE), he compared the public policies for the implementation of digital terrestrial television carried out in Sweden and Spain. From 2002 until the end of 2009, he worked as a researcher and associated lecturer at the Department of Communication of the Pompeu Fabra University.
“Working with Social Media”
ak.kuetemeyer(at)gmx.de
ABSTRACT: Citizen journalists, Twitter-revolution, social journalism: There is whole bunch of buzz words related to social media. And social media is said to reshape the world, in particular journalism. But still there is only a minority of (not only) German editors and freelancers who actually use Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare in a professional manner – and know about the impact of these tools. This presentation aims to give a quick overview of how social media does change – and enrich – journalistic work and education.
BIO: Brought up near Heidelberg and unsure what to do she decided to do “something with media”. Tried out a lot and ended up in the north of Germany studying journalism (early focusing on the blogosphere). After instructive experiences at the Bild-Zeitung, a TV-Talk-Show and a news agency she finally spent two years reporting about local issues and crime for the Frankfurter Rundschau. Moving to Hamburg in 2008 she started as an editor for a women’s magazine writing about sex and the Internet and soon got offered a job to teach (upcoming) journalists in blogging and audio slideshows. By now she is a convinced freelancer whose income is based on three pillars: lecturing, writing and social media.
clemens.matuschek(at)web.de
ABSTRACT: According to the Basic Law for the Federal Republic of Germany, “Every person shall have the right freely to express and disseminate his opinions in speech, writing and pictures […]. Freedom of the press […] shall be guaranteed.” This means anybody has the right to call him- or herself a journalist. However, actually becoming a journalist is far more complicated. One can choose the academic path by studying journalism and communications science, or take the hands-on route through internships and traineeships, or attend a private or corporate journalism school, or combine some or all these paths, or simply take one’s chances as a freelancer.
This session sorts out the various paths of becoming a journalist, based on academic research and personal experiences. Additionally, speaker Matuschek reflect on his experience with the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg and how this new concert hall affects Hamburg’s music scene and music journalists.
BIO: Clemens Matuschek has been working in the field of music journalism for about ten years. As chief editor of the Elbphilharmonie Concert series related to Hamburg’s new concert hall, he is responsible for concert program notes, brochures, artist interviews and various other topics. Matuschek studied Journalism and Communication Studies as well as Musicology at the University of Hamburg and Indiana University Bloomington (USA) from which he received his MA. He won scholarships from the German National Academic Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service and the Rainer Horstmann Fellowship. He is currently working on a dissertation about music journalism. As a music and film critic, Matuschek worked for various German and American newspapers, such as DIE ZEIT and Hamburger Abendblatt. He has also designed front page graphics for the arts section of DIE ZEIT. He has been writing concert program notes for several German symphony orchestras, liner notes for CD booklets, and texts for a series of lectures given by Gottfried Wagner at Indiana University. He has been teaching classes on journalistic writing, online journalism, newspaper layout and web design as well as scientific methods in the field of communications research at the University of Hamburg, Hamburg Media School, and Indiana University. Since 2007 he has been teaching a class on music journalism at the University of Hamburg’s Institute of Musicology.
haoqiancbn(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Brief introduction about my 10-year UK-China working experience as a journalist. The change of my attitude and understanding towards the concept of professional journalism after I moved from Shanghai to London. I will give people an idea about the difference between China’s definition of Professional Journalism and that of the Western world, in order to tell people why there’s lack of professional journalism in China.
While there is huge progress which is ongoing in China in terms of journalism following the emerging of micro-blogging, there are some scenarios of the future of Chinese media industry in a globalised world.
My understanding of how to justify in a globalised world in order to follow a professional journalism role, as a Chinese journalist based in Europe. Besides, how to build a career in China as a journalist, whether work for a Chinese media or a western media.
BIO: After 7-year working experience for Chinese media, working as an investigative reporter following by being a financial report, I joined SINA one year ago, being the first full-time employee for the finance channel of Sina.com in Europe, my task is to cover public issues and economic news, as well as attending international conferences and expanding Sina.com’s European market. SINA Corporation is the largest online media company and MVAS provider in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and the global Chinese communities, listed in NASDAQ (Public, NASDAQ:SINA). I coordinated the news coverage plan for Davos World Economy Forum Summit in Switzerland in January 2010, as well as covering the G20 meeting in Paris, and will continue to cover their ongoing progress.
“Journalist career & international perspectives”
helge_fuhst(at)yahoo.de
ABSTRACT: Working abroad as a journalist is a dream come true. Almost everything you see is new. Almost everything you experience is worth a story. Almost every day is exciting. After working in the United States as a journalist I have to be honest: It’s not as hard a job as working back home. When you are a reporter for the news show in your home country it’s not so easy finding a good story every day, making it “hot” and interesting for the audience. It’s actually easier reporting from abroad covering something far away, something people haven’t heard of back home – simply because it’s new and exciting. Being a foreign correspondent often isn’t the hardest job, but things are changing. As the way presidents get elected has changed (Obama’s 2008 internet success) the way people receive the news from around the world has changed. Today foreign correspondents have to be on-site the minute something happens. They don’t only talk to the camera once or twice a day when the big shows are on such as nightly news. Foreign correspondents nowadays have a full schedule: producing additional films for the internet, Twitter, Facebook, Skype (when there’s no camera yet). But no matter how busy the job gets, for a true journalist it’s still a dream come true.
BIO: Helge Fuhst was born in Hannover, Germany in 1984. He graduated from high school in the U.S. (2001) and in Germany (2003). Before going to university Fuhst participated in a year of social work. He majored in political sciences and world history from the University of Hannover (2010) and American University in Washington, D.C. (2008) writing his final thesis about “The Power of the U.S. President – The first year of Obama’s Presidency.” During the primaries (2008) he interned with NBC’s TODAY Show. There he worked with legendary journalists such as Tim Russert, Tom Brokaw, and Chris Matthews. Later he covered the presidential elections for ARD (German public television) as a producer (2008-09). Back in Germany Fuhst worked for ARD/NDR TV as a reporter in Hannover (2009-10) and became a trainee of NDR TV (2010-12). In June 2011 he published his first book, “Living the Dream – Für die Musik nach Amerika,” telling the story of a young German musician who immigrated to the United States. Starting in February 2012 Fuhst will work for Germany’s nightly news “Tagesthemen” as an editor.
SESSION 3 – “CRISIS & RISK COMMUNICATION”
“Crisis & Risk Communication: Paradigms and the Paradoxes of Convergence and Divergence”
mahmud.shameem(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Communicating risk is as old as the human race. Since the pre-historic age people have developed and applied different methods, messages and signals for identification, prediction and communication of hazardous situations and risks. Some of these techniques and tools are still in use, which we call indigenous knowledge to respond natural hazards. On contrary, scientific studies about risk and crisis communication are a recent development that has been developed in the domains of science and social sciences only in the last three decades as a follow-up of public risk perception studies.
This paper provides an overview of major development of risk and crisis communication (an offshoot of risk communication) research with an attempt to categorise the state of knowledge of the subject in different historical and disciplinary paradigms. We will analyse the evolution of risk communication studies since the early 1980s when it has been transformed from the top-down linear process to the public participatory model. As the Internet and other new communication technologies grew, access, consumption and sharing of information among the public have been increased dramatically in recent years transcending barriers of time and space. In contemporary world, the academic and social debate about risk has been also mushroomed and we have found that risks associated with natural, technological, environmental, and health hazards are often interlinked. We are now witnesses to a paradoxical development of the characters and related discourses about risk issues and events. On one hand, there are trends of globalisation of risk events/issues as local risks and risk messages cross national borders. On the other hand, there are increasing discussions of localisation of (even global) risk messages for effective risk/hazard management at the local level. Accordingly, existing risk communication literature needs to be revised and we argue for a more converged approach by integrating knowledge of risk communication developed in the fields of natural, technological, environmental and health hazards. Simultaneously, risk and crisis communication approaches should also be diverged and addressed in socio-cultural and communication contexts of a certain locality or group of people.
BIO: Shameem Mahmud is a PhD candidate and Research Associate at the University of Hamburg. He studied Mass Communication and Journalism at the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh; and Journalism, Media and Globalisation at the Universities of Aarhus, Denmark; Amsterdam, the Netherlands; and Hamburg, Germany as an Erasmus Mundus student. His main research interests are in the areas of risk communication; social psychology of risk; media and public sphere, and new media and journalism. Mr. Mahmud worked as a journalist in Bangladesh from 1998 to 2005 and as a Lecturer in Journalism from 2005 to 2008.
chengyan612(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: The Copenhagen Summit of 2009 is regarded as one of the most important climate summits in the process of international effort of combating climate change. Given the media’s great influence on people’s understanding of this issue, it is necessary to investigate the media reporting on these climate talks. It is perceived that the conflicts between developing nations and developed countries are still as big as the previous talks. China and the US as the respective representatives of these two groups attract much media attention. It is not new for the latter because the US has always been intensively represented by the media since the early years of climate talks due to its status as a world superpower and its refusal to ratify the Kyoto Protocol. However, China has never been under such focus by the media as is the case at this summit. There were many diverse discourses on China in relation to its rights and responsibilities towards climate change. The differences are largely decided by how China’s status is viewed and from which perspective climate politics is understood. In this talk, media discourses about China as an emerging country in international politics of climate change at the Copenhagen Summit are analysed in order to answer the following questions: How are the climate politics with China as an important player constructed discursively by different media? Which discourse of climate change politics is dominant and which marginalized or excluded in different media? By answering these questions the study explores the differences and similarities in media representations and identifies alternative discourses provided by the media in order to go beyond disputes and thus help facilitate a more cosmopolitan view of dealing with climate change which inherently calls for global cooperation.
BIO: Yan completed her Erasmus Mundus Master of Arts in Media, Communication and Cultural Studies at Roskilde University (Denmark) and University of Kassel (Germany). Before joining the Erasmus Mundus Programme, she studied History and Education at Huazhong Normal University, Fudan University in China and Heidelberg University in Germany. Her current research interests lie in environmental communication, communication of climate change and climate politics. Since 2009 she has been working as a freelancer for China Business News, Xinhua News Agency in Denmark, and SINA.COM. She is also an active field reporter for the Erasmus Mundus Association.
mwamer1980(at)yahoo.com
ABSTRACT: This research study provides a systematic discourse analysis of US, British, Israeli and Arab influential newspapers’ coverage of three wars in the Middle East and the ways in which the participants and the events are represented in the newspapers. Data will include a sampling of the newspapers’ news reports on American invasion of Iraq in 2003, the Israeli War on Lebanon in 2006 and the Israeli War on Gaza 2008-09. Critical Discourse analysis and News Frame Analysis examine the linguistic, political and ideological contexts of the newspapers’ discourse on the coverage of three wars in the Middle East.
BIO: Mohammed Wesam Amer MA (born 1980 in Gaza) studied applied linguistics at Anglia Ruskin University-Cambridge, UK. His MA thesis examines linguistic features, ‘Transitivity selections’, used in the British Press (The Guardian and The Times) to cover the Israeli siege of the Gaza Strip, following Halliday’s Systematic Functional Grammar as a tool in CDA and Critical linguistic generally. Since May 2011, he has been a DAAD scholar and a PhD student at the Graduate School Media and Communication, University of Hamburg. Mohammed’s principle research interests lie in the field of language, politics, discourse analysis, communication, media and ideology and their relations with globalization and politics.
“Sustainable City Development Concept Based on ISO 26000”
iradani.katalia(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: According to an estimate from the London School of Economics that 75 percent of the world’s population will be urbanised by 2050 – compared with 50% today – we can state that the future of the city is the future of the world. The need is a redesign of the city jointly with strategy developers, decision makers and inhabitants, focused on slogans as that adopted by Expo 2010 Shanghai: “Better City, Better Life”. The complex problems that confront a networked 24/7 global culture call for broad design approaches in contributing to a better and more sustainable city.The concept of sustainable city development—based on ISO 26000:2010 Guidance on Social Responsibility—is about meeting the needs of society while living within the planet’s ecological limits and without jeopardizing the ability of the future generations to meet their needs. It also has three dimensions—economic, social, and environmental—which are interdependent, for instance, the elimination of poverty requires the promotion of social justice and economic development and the protection of environment. City can be described as a macro-organization which its ideal activities reflect the healthy ecosystems, social equity and good organizational governance in its performance and is objected to contribute to sustainable development.
BIO: Ira is an Indonesian who has a future goal to be the next woman leader, improving her country for the better. She completed her bachelor study on microbiology at ITB (Institut Teknologi Bandung), 2010 and conducted the final thesis project on environmental issue about “Analysis of The Role of Iron-Oxidizing Microorganisms in Acid Mine Drainage Generation by Modified-Humidity Cell Kinetic Test”. She has had various professional experiences, especially on “Good Manufacturing Practices” Project during internship in Unilever Indonesia Skin Care Factory (2009) and “ISO 26000: Guidance on Social Responsibility” Implementation Project at Aicon Global Indonesia Company (2011) which enriched her knowledge about business and management. Because of having a big interest on art and design as well as her future goal in integrating social-economic-enviromental aspects for city development, she is now studying in ReCity (City Regeneration) Erasmus Mundus Master Course Programme 2011-2013 which projected to regeneration of Port Gioia Tauro, Italy.
zoba(at)thepeoplespeak.org.uk
ABSTRACT: Chizoba plans to discuss her work as a Project Manager at The People Speak, a London-based creative network that works with communities through a process that generates excitement, gains trust, and encourages engagement. Our formats, technologies and methods are designed to engage people in conversation, innovation, play and decision-making in an open-ended and fun way. Fusing participatory performance, familiar tele/visual media formats, and network technologies, our work augments spaces into ‘public squares’ to bring communities together in which they can work collaboratively in safe and open environment. She will discuss the merits of using performance, media and technology as tools to engage people and clear the pathways to open discussion.
BIO: Chizoba “Zoba” Ezeh began her career in Transmedia Storytelling and Cross-Media Platforming in Los Angeles, California when she co-produced and co-directed the mobile and web series “Must Have” for Procter & Gamble’s teen girl website BeingGirl.com. The series won the 2007 Cine Golden Eagle Award. This passion for immersive media that allows the audiences to go deeper into a story or message as well as share their stories and experiences was the guiding force that lead Chizoba to seek a Masters. In the summer of 2010 she successfully completed her Erasmus Mundus Masters of Arts in Media, Culture and Communication. During her studies, her main areas of interest were the use of Transmedia Storytelling and Cross-media Platforming as participatory communication tools. Currently Chizoba works for The People Speak in London where she manages interactive participatory performance events.
ekaterina.ershova(at)icunet.ag
BIO: Ekaterina was born and raised in Ekaterinburg, Russia. She obtained her BA in Regional Studies from the Urals State University in 2007. The same year she was admitted to a Master’s degree programme in International Relations. During her Master’s studies she spent a semester abroad at the University of Bologna (Forlì, Italy). Ekaterina has always been interested in Russia’s foreign affairs. Her interest was strengthened through an internship with the representative office of Ministry of foreign affairs in Ekaterinburg and participation in the third Russian-German youth parliament in 2007 (Wiesbaden, Germany). Shortly before graduation in 2009 she received an Erasmus Mundus scholarship for studies at the University of Uppsala and the Georg-August-University of Göttingen. She spent her third semester in Göttingen doing the research track. Ekaterina completed her studies in March 2011 with her thesis entitled “From Yeltsin to Medvedev: shifts in the European dimension of Russia’s foreign policy”. She joined the Euroculture Göttingen team to assist with the organization of the international summer school “European studies” that was held in June 2011 in Göttingen. Now she is working/doing an internship at ICUnet.AG – the leading company in service, innovation and quality for intercultural consultation and assignment management.
kimyating918(at)gmail.com
ABSTRACT: Euroculture is an interdisciplinary program that focuses on Europe, covering issues ranging from politics, culture, history and society. The future prospects of alumni are broad and applicable to many different posts. Such flexibility poses both advantages and challenges. How to transform the knowledge obtained from the studies to professional skills became one’s primary task after graduation.
There are several potential career paths that humanities major can offer, taking time constraints, visa requirements, economic issues and personality into consideration, one can significantly narrow down a few suitable ones. Making such decision is only the first step.
The result of landing a career in media planning came as a pleasant one. It allows me to apply my research skills, understanding of the European society and media while developing professional know-how and sensitivity in the industry. This is just the beginning of another bigger challenge, which can only be dealt with through flexibility and sensitivity.
BIO: As a major in English Languages and Literature, followed by a Master in Euroculture, Kim chose to become a generalist, taking interest in all kinds of phenomena of the society. Kim lived in Taiwan most of her life, moved from Asia to the Netherlands, then to Spain. Currently she is residing in Frankfurt. She is intrigued to find out what makes Germany the backbone of EU in time of crisis. She will obtain a new title soon as a media planner, a new field to which she can enhance with her understanding of humananity, society and culture, as well as her continuous curiosity for exploring new knowledge.
EMA Humanities Future Challenges
tcarlyle(at)gmail.com
I’ll talk about the importance of organizing a professional network like Human[i]ties is doing. I’ll discuss a few examples of activities that can be brought to Human[i]ties and how EMA can support the Network. I would like to see some discussion and hear back from the audience, which kind of support Human[i]ties would like to see from EMA.
BIO: Thomas has graduated on his Erasmus Mundus course, the Nordsecmob, in 2009. He works at the Sintef research center in Norway, where he and his colleagues are building a SIM card with an embedded wireless antenna. Outside his engineering life, Thomas has been active is several student organizations. He joined EMA in 2009 and he has been working with Erasmus Mundus Master Courses and with the launch of EMA Professional Networks. He has been recently elected as Professional Development Coordinator at EMA.
Pattivon(at)yahoo.com
As EMA Country Representative for Chile I would contribute to this panel with the Latin American perceptive. In this sense I will share my experience and point of view on the challenges and potential opportunities in the bilateral relationships between Latin America and Europe with a focus on the Humanities. As Euromime alumni, I would contribute with a real proposals to “network” between all students & alumni, on social networks sites as well as in international conferences.
BIO: Patricia Cerda is alumni of the European Master in Media Engineering for Education, Université de Poitiers (France); Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (Madrid–Spain); Universidade Técnica de Lisboa (Portugal), between the years 2005 and 2007. She is an active participant at the Erasmus Mundus Association, where she is involved as Country Representative for Chile. Currently she is working in Paris, France as Trainer Service Coordinator in the Company VXCD/TECNILAB MULTIMEDIA (http://www.vxcd.fr), where she combines the commercial and educational perspectives in Technologies in Multimedia.
JESSICA SLATTERY (USA) OCEANS network – USA Representative
usa.coordinator(at)oceans-network.eu
BIO: Jessica Slattery Karich is an attorney and public policy advocate currently finishing transatlantic, dual M.A.’s in Central and Eastern European History and International Relations from West Virginia University, University of Tartu, and Collegium Civitas (the “Atlantis Program”) and living in Tartu, Estonia. Jessica graduated summa cum laude from the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, Minnesota in 2002 with a degree in Business Management and Communications. Thereafter she attended the University of St. Thomas, School of Law, where she graduated cum laude with specific interests in International Law, Civil Rights, and Constitutional Law. Jessica was a judicial law clerk at the Minnesota Court of Appeals and practiced law in the areas of civil litigation and legislative public policy advocacy for four years. Jessica’s areas of interest are the efforts to establish and strengthen rule of law in fragile and post-conflict societies, democratization, human rights, and comparative law. Jessica was elected USA Regional Coordinator for the OCEANS Network in September, 2011.
