Held on November 5-6 at the University of Strathclyde (Glasgow) the Annual Conference of the Media and Politics Group of the Political Studies Association.

Friendly but always deep discussions about many important topics of the present debate about politics and communcation.

Mediaresearch thanks Michael Higgins, Brian McNair and the University of Strathclyde for the warm hospitality and the contributions to our studies.

Mediaresearch remembers and commemorates Claude Lévi-Strauss

E’ morta a Milano la poetessa Alda Merini. Aveva 78 anni.

Il presidente della Repubblica, Giorgio Napolitano, si è detto profondamente rattristato: “Viene meno – ha aggiunto – una ispirata e limpida voce poetica”.
Era considerata la più grande poetessa italiana vivente.

Alda Merini

La comunità francescana di Assisi ha rilasciato un comunicato ufficiale, in cui fra l’altro si dice: “La comunità francescana del Sacro convento di Assisi affida al Signore l’anima della poetessa Alda Merini e partecipa al dolore di chi sta soffrendo per la sua perdita”.

Introduction to Social Network Analysis (using UCINET).

11th-13th January 2010

Martin Everett
Nick Crossley
Elisa Bellotti
Mark Tranmer

School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.

This is an introductory course, covering the concepts, methods and data analysis techniques of social network analysis. The course begins with a general introduction to the distinct goals and perspectives of social network analysis, followed by a practical discussion of network data, covering issues of collection, validity, visualization, and mathematical/computer representation. We then take up the methods of detection and description of structural properties, such as centrality, cohesion, subgroups, etc. Finally, we consider how to frame and test network hypotheses. This is a hands on course largely based around the use of UCINET software, and will give participants experience of analyzing real social network data using the techniques covered in the workshop. Towards the end of the workshop, a gentle introduction to statistical models for social networks, such as p* models, is also given. No prior knowledge of social network analysis is assumed for this course.

Information and booking form
http://www.ccsr.ac.uk/courses/socialnetwork/

Documentary Now!

A Conference on the Contemporary Contexts and Possibilities of the Documentary
Conference Location: Birkbeck College, London
Dates: Fri/Sat 15/16 January 2010

Documentary Now! is back. Now an annual fixture on the UK documentary scene, the conference brings together scholars, filmmakers, students, and interested members of the public to discuss current trends in documentary film, from the return of documentary as a theatrical box office phenomenon, to broadcast television, the web, and beyond. It explores questions of industry, audiences, aesthetics, political engagement, documentary’s relationship to the mainstream media and other many other issues. What’s new in documentary? Where is documentary headed?

Speakers include:
Florian Thahlhofer (creator of Korsakow System for Interactive Documentaries)

Possible themes for the conference include but are not limited to:

• Animated Documentary
• The Documentary Archive
• New Documentary Forms and Technologies
• Documentary Trends from around the World
• Incorporation of amateur video
• Fair use and intellectual property

More information about the conference venue and registration will be forthcoming. See Centre for Research in Film and Audiovisual Cultures (CRFAC) at Roehampton University

POLIS in partnership with OFCOM panel discussion

Date: Tuesday 24 November 2009
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue: Sheikh Zayed Theatre, New Academic Building – London School of Economics and Poltical Sciences
Speakers: Professor David Buckingham, Ranjana Das, Dr Chris Davies, Professor Sonia Livingstone, Dr Rebecca Willet
Chair: Charlie Beckett

Enabling media literacy for ‘digital natives’ – a contradiction in terms?
Professor Sonia Livingstone, Department of Media and Communications, LSE

Talking about their generation: constructions of the digital learner
Professor David Buckingham, Institute of Education

Q & A

Teenagers using the internet: riders, drivers, dabblers and outsiders
Dr Chris Davies, University of Oxford

Power relations, play and boredom in teens’ online interactions
Dr Rebekah Willet, Institute of Education

Panel Reflections
Ranjana Das, POLIS Silverstone Scholar 2009

This event is free and open to all, but pre-registration is required.  RSVP polis@lse.ac.uk|.

UNIVERSITY OF DUNDEE HISTORY PROGRAMME SCHOOL OF HUMANITIES
Studentship/Graduate Teaching Assistantship European Doctorate in Women’s and Gender History Bursary of £5,000 per annum plus fees paid. Fixed-term for three years.
Applications are invited for a Studentship/Graduate Teaching
Assistantship in History. Preference will be given to candidates interested in participating in the European Doctorate in Women’s and Gender History in which Dundee is a partner institution.

Deadline for applications: Monday, 2nd of November 2009.
For further details see:
http://www.dundee.ac.uk/humanities/postgrad/Studentship_History_2009.pdf

Informal enquiries may be addressed to Professor Perry Willson at
p.r.willson@dundee.ac.uk

October 13th, at Istituto Luigi Sturzo (Via delle Coppelle 35, Roma) presentation of Mauro Magatti’s latest book

Libertà immaginaria
Le illusioni del capitalismo tecno-nichilista

Ugo De Siervo, Savino Pezzotta and Andrea Riccardi will discuss about the book with the author, Mauro Magatti. The round table will be chaired by Roberto Mazzotta.

Free entrance

CALL FOR PAPERS

Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa
CAMRI Africa Media Series: University of Westminster, London, UK

1st Call: Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa Conference: 25 – 26 March 2010

Racism, Ethnicity and the Media in Africa are the topics of a 2-day interdisciplinary conference to be held at the University of Westminster from 25-26 March 2010. Not only are the concepts and practices of racism and ethnicity related and multifaceted – covering issues such as race, sex, colour, status and class – but they are also part of multi-staged pre-colonial, colonial and postcolonial realities. The crisis in global capitalism, rising levels of poverty in Africa, together with political mismanagement, appear to be fuelling unprecedented levels of racial and ethnic conflict on the continent. This debate matters because racism and ethnicity have, to a large extent, undermined African efforts that aim to achieve national unity and development. The Nigerian-Biafran War, 6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970, serves as a prominent example. More recent examples include Rwanda, where, in 1994, RTML radio played a leading role in the massacre of millions of
Rwandans. In December, 2007, Kenyan media reports and songs, during what many regarded as ethnic-divided elections, contributed to the violent clashes that killed 900 and displaced more than a quarter of a million people. The ethnic and racial killings in Darfur, the murder of albinos in Tanzania, the 2008 xenophobic attacks in South Africa and many other unreported conflicts in Africa raise many questions: How are the mass media implicated in the growing ethnic and racial conflicts and violence in Africa? In what ways are the media challenging, undermining or reinforcing issues relating to racism and ethnicity in Africa? How have African media and journalists covered racial and ethnic topics? Both old and new media have opened new spaces for debates that were formerly suppressed, but have they not also encouraged extremism? This interdisciplinary conference calls on academics, media practitioners, policy makers, journalists, Africa specialists, and
development practitioners to debate on the growing linkages between ‘racism, ethnicity and the media in Africa’. Papers may include, but are not necessarily limited to, the following:
-          Theorising representation, racism and ethnicity in Africa
-          Contemporary and historical dimensions of minority media in Africa
-          Racism and the media in Africa
-          Ethnic languages and the media in Africa
-          Global, National, Local identities and the media in Africa
-          Human rights and the media in Africa
-          Identity politics and the media in Africa
-          Suppressed imaginations and mediation of suppressed histories
-          Memory and the media in Africa
-          Hate media in Africa
-          Reporting tribal, racial and factional politics in Africa
-          Capitalism, poverty and marginalisation in the African media
-          The politics of funding and regulating minority media in Africa
-          Old and New Media (e.g. Internet, Mobile phones) in a Polarised Africa
-          Peace journalism/intercultural communication/inclusive media practices in Africa

Please e-mail your 200-word abstract to Helen Cohen at: journalism@westminster.ac.uk. All submissions must include title of conference, topic, an abstract and should list the author’s full name, with contact information and affiliation. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is 15 November 2009 and those whose abstracts are accepted will be notified by 1 December 2009.

Conference Fees:
Unwaged/Students: £50                         Waged/Non-Students: £125
Fees cover registration, conference pack, lunch, coffee/tea and wine reception

Conference Team: Prof. Colin Sparks, Dr Peter Goodwin, Dr. Roza Tsagarousianou, Dr. Winston Mano, Dr  Tarik Sabry, Helen Cohen, Maria Way and Brilliant Mhlanga

Website:http://www.wmin.ac.uk/mad/page-2192

From October 14th to 29th, the 53rd London Film Festival.

BFI London Film Festival. The website

Further informations and programme, HERE.