RMeS Winter School & Graduate Symposium 2023-24
Media and Digital Citizenship
Time: TBA
Where: University of Groningen, Centre for Media and Journalism Studies
ECTS: 2 (two full days plus preparation 3 days)
Organized by: prof. dr Marcel Broersma and RMeS
For: PhD candidates who are a member of RMeS
The RMeS winter school offers PhD and RMA students the opportunity to present their current work, and receive feedback from their peers and senior scholars at the University of Groningen’s Centre for Media and Journalism Studies. Presentations can be on any topic students are working on and would like to get feedback on, ranging from chapter and article drafts to research proposals. Students will as much as possible be matched with reviewers that have expertise on their topic.
The keynotes will focus on “Media and Digital Citizenship” as the overarching theme of this winter school. In increasingly digital societies, traditional notions and practices of citizenship are increasingly revisited. Citizens increasingly engage with news and information, interact with their governments, perform civic practices, and participate in activism and politics through digital technologies. This raises questions about what it means to be a citizen in a digital, datafied and algorithmic World. Does digitalization fosters civic empowerment and democracy, or does it curbs and erodes citizenship? During the winter school we will critically engage with such shift and reconsider the concept of citizenship.
The first keynote will be by Dr. Tetyana Lokot (Dublin City University) whose research focuses on threats to digital rights, networked authoritarianism, digital resistance, internet freedom and internet governance in Eastern Europe. She is the author of Beyond the Protest Square: Digital Media and Augmented Dissent (Rowman & Littlefield, 2021), an in-depth study of protest and digital media in Ukraine’s Revolution of Dignity.
The second keynote (TBA) will provide a complementary lens on the topic of digital citizenship by delving into the relation between art and democracy. How can art-based interventions foster citizenship and have an impact in democratic and authoritarian regimes?
We will also offer a workshop on “What’s after the PhD? Working outside Academia”. We aim to offer a safe and informal environment in which PhD students can share and discuss any career related issues and doubts they have with RMeS alumni who decided to (eventually) not stay in Academia. Stefan Baack (Mozilla) and Tom Slootweg (University of Groningen), among others, will reflect on their career trajectories and share their experiences.
Practicalities
This Winter School will feature different types of sessions: 1) parallel sessions for presenting your work to peers 2) lectures by RMeS staff members and 3) a workshop on Academic career outside academia.
- PhD’s are kindly asked to submit an abstract of their paper presentation. This may regard a chapter of your dissertation, a draft for an article, or a write-up of research results, which you would like to discuss with your peers. We will group your abstracts into panels, selecting panels on the basis of your theme/subject, approach and your level of advancement in the PhD track. If you want to be in a session with one or two of your peers (people whose judgment you value, or people you haven’t worked with yet) please feel free to indicate this on your abstract. We will then try to organize panels on the basis of your proposals. You will be assigned to peer-review one paper and to chair or respond to one paper in another session. A month before the Winter School starts, you will be asked to send in your full chapter or article, which will be peer-reviewed and responded to during the Winter School.
- Lectures: tbc
- Finally, this Winter School & Graduate Seminar will also offer a workshop on Academic career outside academia.
Sign up for Winter School
If you are interested in participating and earning credit (both in EC and social credit from your peers), please
- Register for the Winter School before 3 January 2024 at the latest via our website. You will receive a confirmation email from our RMeS office.
- Please submit abstracts for individual presentations 3 January 2024. Abstracts for individual presentations are max 300 words, including a clear research question or thesis statement. Please indicate on your abstract whether you would like to be in a panel with specified other participants and/or whom you consider a suitable reviewer for your paper (although we cannot promise that all your wishes will come true…).
- You can opt for two formats in terms of paper submission:
- Those of you who are in the very early stages of your PhD, may also consider to hand in your PhD proposal, which will then be commented upon by your peers. (recommended to PhDs who have just started)
- Most PhD candidates will opt to hand in a chapter/article format: a full paper of approx. 5,000 – 6,000 words.
- Full papers of (or one of the above formats) are due by January 14, 2023. On the basis of your submissions, we will group the panels, assign reviewers and organize responses. We will distribute the papers to all panel-members and assign the tasks of writing a full peer review (1-2 pages long). Each of you will have to write one peer review.
- Presentations: During the Winter School, each participant will give a presentation of 5-10 minutes. Each presentation will receive a prepared peer review (in writing, handed in the same day, and a short oral summary of the review). Another panel member will be assigned as discussant/respondent. All session members engage in discussion and feedback.
PRACTICAL MATTERS
We invite you for drinks and dinner on Thursday night at a restaurant in Groningen; all participants and lecturers at this Winter School are invited to join. On both days, lunches, coffee and tea will be served at the university locations. As for accommodation, you are free to choose any accommodation you want. Please make all bookings yourself.
If you are not reimbursed for travel and/or accommodation by your own faculty, you can apply for remuneration from the RMeS travel-fund. Please send an e-mail outlining your request and including a preliminary budget to Chantal Olijerhoek at rmes@rug.nl. You will be notified if you qualify for financial assistance within 14 days.
