Because we care for the planet, we do not provide printed programs. But you can download our nice and user-friendly PDF version of the program here:
The preconference will take place on July 7, 9:00am-3pm in the rooms C-005 and C-006 of the School of Communication (Facultad de Ciencias de la Información), Avenida Complutense s/n – 28040 Madrid – Spain
ONLINE PROGRAM
9:00am: Welcome and Opening Remarks
Ksenia Ermoshina, chair of the Emerging Scholars Network of the IAMCR, PhD, postdoctoral researcher at the Center for Internet and society CNRS,
Rachel Lara van Der Merwe, PhD candidate in Media Studies, Research Fellow at the Center for Media, Religion, and Culture, Graduate Research and Teaching Assistant, College of Media, Communication and Information, University of Colorado Boulder
SESSION 1: PROVOCATIONS
9:15am: Provocation Panel #1: How Should the University
Handle Difference?
1) Third Mission of Universities from Words to Action
Yulia Belinskaya, Izabela Korbie, University of Vienna
2) University Faced with Glocalization: Culture Game of Power and Discourse
Kou Meng, Ecole Normale Superieure de Paris
3) “Not Our Students”: Exploring the International University as a Site of Negotiating Race, Ethnicity, and Nationality
Gianlouis Hernandez, Università della Svizzera Italiana
10:15am: Coffee Break
10:30am: Provocation Panel #2: The Modern University &
Digital Technology
1) Social Media in the University
Alberto Montero, University of Castilla La Mancha
2) Free University = Free Software? Why Modern Universities Should Rethink their IT Systems
Ksenia Ermoshina, PhD, postdoctoral research at the Center for Internet and Society, French National Center for Scientific Research
3) Blockchain Publishing Ledger
Riaan Bothma, Henley Business School
11:30am: Provocation Panel #3: Forming New Alliances in
Higher Education
1) Reimagining Autonomy and Heteronomy of the Universities of the Future
Armen Aramyan, Moscow School of Social and Economic Sciences
2) Pressing Pause: Critical Reflections from the History of Media Studies
Andrew Ó Baoill, National University of Ireland Galway
3) A Right to Have an Opinion: Political Participation of Students in Russian Higher Education Institutions
Dmitriy Lebedev, Tea House
12:30pm: Lunch
SESSION 2: WORKSHOPS
(Detailed descriptions below)
CHOOSE
1:00pm: Workshop #1: What is Knowledge for the 21st Century University?
Led by Rachel van der Merwe, University of Colorado Boulder & the Emerging Scholars Network preconference team
OR
1:00pm: Workshop #2: Imagining the University as an Active Site of Citizenship
Led by Steph Hill, PhD student in Communication and Culture, Canada Graduate Scholar, researcher at the Global Communication Governance Lab at Ryerson University
2:00pm: Coffee Break
SESSION 3: DEBRIEF
2:10-3:00pm: Large Group Discussion & Debrief
Workshop #1: What is Knowledge for the 21st Century University?
Led by Rachel van der Merwe, University of Colorado Boulder & the Emerging Scholars Network preconference team
Historically, the university, and other similar institutions of higher learning, have positioned themselves as the primary sources of knowledge and the institutions for providing society with a definition and understanding of what knowledge is and how knowledge is obtained. Within the contemporary academy, however, post-colonial, queer, and feminist scholars have drawn attention to the ways truth and knowledge have been constructed. For example, generally, methodology within the Western construct seeks to provide a clear-cut, operational, and repeatable set of guidelines by which to extract data from a particular context in order to analyze it. Knowledge forms that cannot be easily categorized or made sense of using a Greco-Roman style logic, such as emotion or narrative or the sacred, are deemed untrustworthy though they might be drawn upon for examples or to ‘add color’ to a
manuscript.
Furthermore, such scholars have challenged existing assumptions about valid sources of knowledge and what constitutes a veritable expert. While dedicated scholars can contribute a familiarity with theory and their training in analysis and synthesis, lay collaborators bring their own wealth of experience and knowledges and paradigmatic frameworks from a wide range of ways of living. A decolonized rhizomatic understanding of the world does not assign value to knowledge based on whether or not it originated from an educational institution. What then is knowledge, and what role does the modern university play in cultivating knowledge for society? What role should society play? Religion? If we agree that we should not uncritically accept all knowledges as beneficial and meaningful—what might new, non-hierarchical, and inclusive, systems of evaluation for knowledge look like?
In this workshop, participants will first identify (1) the forms of knowledge their institutions recognize and (2) the forms of knowledge that their own work engages. The remainder of the time will be used to reflect on the forms of knowledge that are overlooked, strategize how to integrate them into our research within contemporary institutional expectations, brainstorm how to transform the system of expectations itself, and posit a new system of epistemic evaluation.
Workshop #2: Imagining the University as an Active Site of Citizenship
Led by Steph Hill, PhD student in Communication and Culture, Canada Graduate Scholar, researcher at the Global Communication Governance Lab at Ryerson University
In keeping with the theme of reimagining the university, I propose a workshop exploring how researchers can more actively present their research and engage a range of interested parties, from the public, to students and other academics. Rather than explaining what active, or activist, research might mean, this workshop will challenge participants to articulate an active application of their research agendas, and then brainstorm the tools and university supports that they would need to achieve this vision. This workshop embraces the idea of small-scale active research—research walks, community events, craft circles—as steps towards imagining the university as a public resource, built towards serving, and
creating, citizens. It takes a broad view of how and where academics can engage and encourages creative thinking about teaching, the publishing cycle, research, events on and off campus, online platforms, and the world outside the university.
The workshop will have two parts. The first will identify the types of research participants are working on, who they are trying to serve or who they might want to reach. The goal of the discussion will be for each participant to choose one or two things they are working on and develop them into a larger plan for active engagement. This will be done through discussion in small and large groups, with some group members acting as scribes. The discussion will focus on concrete questions, such as who are you planning to engage? What kinds of engagement
is most appropriate for this topic (a workshop? A party? A policy intervention?)?
What is realistic for your situation? Who are potential allies and co-planners? The second part of the workshop will focus on identifying resources individuals need, within and without the university, in order to make their plans reality, and create an initial plan for how to get access to those resources. What those resources might be will vary considerably. Groups will be encouraged to think creatively about what is available and a range of examples will be provided. Each participant will leave the workshop with at least one plan to create more active engagement between their research process and other interested parties.