Category / Media Studies

FMC Researcher Lyle Skains Co-Edits Field-Defining Collection

THE ELECTRONIC LITERATURE ORGANIZATION PRESENTS VOLUME 4 OF FIELD-DEFINING COLLECTION

Announcing the publication of the ELECTRONIC LITERATURE COLLECTION VOLUME 4, a freely accessible, Creative Commons-licensed collection of 132 digital-born literary works from 42 author nationalities in 31 languages. ELC4 debuted at the Electronic Literature Organization Conference in Como, Italy, May 30-June 1, 2022.

The Electronic Literature Collection, hosted by the Electronic Literature Organization, defines the field of electronic literature. Each volume recognises contemporary works, trends, and emerging creators in born-digital narrative and poetry. This collection is used as a foundational teaching text in university programs incorporating studies of electronic literature, interactive narratives, and e-poetry around the world.

Selected from more than 450 works, ELC4 presents the largest group yet of author/makers writing in Afrikaans, Ancient Chinese, Arabic, Catalan, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, English, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Indonesian, isiXhosa, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Mezangelle, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Setswana, Simplified Chinese, Slovak, South African Sign Language, Spanish, Swedish, Turkish, Yoruba.

The Collection includes commercial works such as groundbreaking VR experiences and narrative video games. These join the many other works that are open access: database fictions, autoethnographies by GenZ makers, works that play with AI, geospatial storytelling via mobile phones–among many other styles and platforms.

The Electronic Literature Collection Volume 4 was edited by Kathi Inman Berens, John T. Murray, R. Lyle Skains, Rui Torres, and Mia Zamora with the assistance of an international advisory board and three student fellows.

“We made a strong effort to discover artists who were previously unknown to us,” said the Editors. “Curators in Mexico, India, West Africa, and international consultants from six continents helped us discover and evaluate works in languages we don’t speak.”

“Our driving purpose was to expand the collection in terms of diversity,” added Skains, “and to make the origins of these works searchable and transparent to all collection users.”

Teachers looking to engage students in cutting-edge literary works will find they can freely access ELC4 on their phones. Classroom computers aren’t necessary. It’s like a free textbook!

Scholars will appreciate being able to download and study the code and media assets of featured works. The Electronic Literature Organization hosts versions of the works to ensure perpetual access, even after operating systems and software are updated or become obsolete.

FREELY ACCESS THE ELECTRONIC LITERATURE COLLECTION VOLUME 4 here:
https://collection.eliterature.org/4/

ELC4 is the fourth collection published by the Electronic Literature Organization in 22 years. All four are available freely via Creative Commons license: https://collection.eliterature.org/

The Electronic Literature Organization was founded in 1999 to foster and promote the reading, writing, teaching, and understanding of literature as it develops and persists in a changing digital environment. A 501c(3) non-profit organization, ELO includes writers, artists, teachers, scholars, and developers from around the world.

Research process seminar this Tuesday at 2pm on Zoom. Applying Conversation Analysis to media texts. All welcome

You are warmly invited to this week’s FMC research process seminar. This week we are covering conversation analysis. Applied through examples of media texts but applicable across other disciplines too.

Applying Conversation Analysis to media texts – by Dr Spencer Hazel (Newcastle University)

​​This session will consider synergies between the work of the Conversation Analyst and the work of those in the media and/or performing arts tasked with producing representations of social interaction for an audience. We’ll consider both the possibilities and limitations of applying CA to media texts, and also how we can extend the field of CA by considering more closely the work that goes into producing dramatisations of social interaction.

Tuesday 18th January 2pm-3pm on Zoom

https://bournemouth-ac-uk.zoom.us/j/9292103478?pwd=UzJnNTNQWDdTNldXdjNWUnlTR1cxUT09

Meeting ID: 929 210 3478

Passcode: rps!4fmc

Hope to see you there

 

Return of the Science, Health, and Data Communications Research Series

logo - science, health, and data communications research groupThe Science, Health, and Data Communications Research Group invites you to our Autumn-Winter 2021 research series. These talks are open to the public, and encompass topics on representations of women scientists in the media, health inequalities and COVID-19, how comics are used for health messages, and how politics drives decisions around health and science.

Register for events on EventBrite.

SHDC-RG is an emerging interdisciplinary, cross-faculty group seeking to explore the ways in which specialised knowledge and information is communicated to the public, including policy-makers and front-line workers, and how mass communication (such as journalism and entertainment media) conveys and represents these areas to audiences.

 

 

Covid Comics & Public Health Messaging on Instagram

Date: Wednesday, 13 October 2021, 12-1pm UK time
Speaker: Prof. Anna Feigenbaum (with Ozlem Demirkol Tonnesen, Shannon McDavitt, Jonathan Sexton, Kufre Okon, Jose Blazquez), Bournemouth University
Further details and registration.

Healthcare Workers and Online Shaming During COVID-19

Date: Wednesday, 27 October 2021, 12-1pm UK time
Speaker: Dr. Luna Dolezal, University of Exeter
Further details and registration.

Generic visuals of Covid-19 in the news: invoking banal belonging through symbolic reiteration

Date: Wednesday, 10 November 2021, 12-1pm UK time
Speaker: Prof. Helen Kennedy, University of Sheffield
Further details and registration.

TBC

Date: Wednesday, 24 November 2021, 12-1pm UK time
Speaker: Dr. Tanya Le Roux, Bournemouth University
Further details and registration.

The Making of Collective Politics through Feminist Media

Date: Wednesday, 1 December 2021, 2-3pm UK time
Speaker: Dr. Rachel Kuo, University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill
Further details and registration.

Humanising Public Health & Challenging Infodemics: The potential of web-comics

Date: Wednesday, 8 December 2021, 2-4pm UK time
Speaker: Dr. Emmy Waldman (Harvard), Dr. Laura Happio-Kirk (UCL), Dr. Ernesto Priego (City University), Monique Jackson (Artist)
Further details and registration.

TBC

Date: Wednesday, 15 December 2021
Speaker: Prof. Julian McDougall, Bournemouth University
Further details and registration.

 

Dr. Ann Luce honoured in Malaysia on World Suicide Prevention Day

Dr. Ann Luce, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication in FMC and her colleague, Dr. Ravivarma Rao Panirselvam, a psychiatrist in the Ministry of Health at Hospital Miri were honoured by The Honorable Dato Sri Hajah Fatimah Abdullah, Minister of Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development in Sarawak, Malaysia earlier today (September 10th) for their work in creating guidelines for police on how to speak with journalists about suicide deaths and suicide attempts.

The guidelines were launched at a World Suicide Prevention Day event where policy makers, Members of Parliament and the Sarawak State Assembly learned about suicide prevention and discussed the decriminalisation of suicide within the country.

The guidelines, and an accompanying Z-fold flyer for police duty belts, have been distributed to officers within the Royal Malaysia Police in Sarawak. The guidelines advise police to identify a single point of contact (spokesperson) to discuss suicides with journalists and advise them on what type of information they should share with journalists and how to do this safely and responsibly. The guidance also states that police should avoid talking about specific suicide methods and locations of deaths. The guidelines also advise police to provide helpline information so journalists can educate the general population that suicide is a public health issue and not a criminal one.

While Malaysia’s crude suicide rate is about 5.6 per 100,000 inhabitants and below the global crude rate of 10.6 per 100,000 people, suicide rates in Malaysia have been steadily climbing since 2010. With only one psychiatrist for every 200,000 residents in the country, Malaysia falls short of the World Health Organisation recommendation of one psychiatrist to 10,000 residents. Coupled with social stigma regarding mental health and growing mental health problems amongst young people, there is a push within the country to now decriminalise suicide.

Malaysia is believed to be one of about 20 countries around the world that still treats suicide as an illegal act. There are a further 20 countries which follow Islamic or Sharia Law where suicide or suicide attempts are illegal and can be punished with jail sentences.

.

Dr. Ann Luce at Mental Health Academy Suicide Prevention Summit

Dr. Ann Luce, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication in FMC is keynoting at the Mental Health Academy Suicide Prevention Summit on Saturday, 11th September in honour of World Suicide Prevention Day (September 10th).

In partnership with the British Psychological Society (BPS), the summit aims to equip practicing mental health professionals with the most up-to-date, advanced knowledge and treatment options on suicide prevention.

With suicide rates amongst medical professionals some of the highest in the UK, Dr. Luce will share early findings from her most recent research here in Dorset on how suicide is stigmatised amongst mental health professionals, the attitudes and barriers to seeking help within mental healthcare Trusts and what Trusts need to do to make the workplace safer for mental health staff.

Dr. Ann Luce to present at Public Health/NHS South West Regional Summit

Dr. Ann Luce, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication in FMC will present at the Public Health England and NHS England South West Regional Suicide Prevention Summit tomorrow, 3rd September in honour of World Suicide Prevention Day which is on 10th September.

Dr. Luce will be presenting with Kirsty Hillier, Head of Communications for Dorset’s Integrated Care System on the communication and media strategy she created for the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group, Public Health Dorset and Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to de-escalate a cluster of suicides at a local railway station in Bournemouth in 2019-2020.

The paper, “Online and Social Media: supporting communities to respond to suspected clusters” will cover how the strategy contributed to the saving of 20 lives between October and December 2019, led to the creation of five active working groups within the multi-agency partnership: 1. Real Time Surveillance and Suicide Attempts group, 2. Communication and Media group, 3. Suicide Bereavement group, 4. High Intensity Presenters group and 5. Training group, and also de-escalated the cluster by June 2020. The paper will also discuss the importance of educating and training local MPs, Councillors, Media and Community on the responsible way to discuss suicide in face-to-face conversations as well as online.

The work is being hailed as best practice by Public Health England and NHS England and is being disseminated across the country via Integrated Care Systems and the regional summits.

Experience of work in the UK’s TV industry – full report

This week sees the publication of the Faculty of Media & Communication’s report State of Play 2021: Management Practices in UK Unscripted Television. Described by Marcus Ryder MBE as one of the most comprehensive industry assessments in years, the report is the culmination of eight months of qualitative data analysis from a survey of people working in the unscripted sector of the UK’s TV industry. A preliminary report, based on only the quantitative findings, was published in January. This week’s full report – a document of some 100-pages – gives context, colour and detail to the worrying statistics. The picture it paints is one of a troubled industry urgently in need of reform.

Welcoming the report, Philippa Childs, Head of the union Bectu said:

“The State of Play report details the underlying problems facing freelancers in the TV industry, which give rise to shocking rates of bullying and harassment and a continuing lack of diversity in the industry.”

Whilst in many ways, UK television has been a great national success story, this success has been at the expense of those who work in the industry. The report describes experiences that would not be tolerated in any other business. The casualisation of the workforce has devolved employer risk, ultimately, to individual freelancers who have little or no protection for their own livelihoods or wellbeing. Work is characterised by last minute job bookings and last-minute cancellations; extended hours without breaks or compensation; discrimination; nepotism; sexual harassment; and workplace bullying beside the prevailing precarity that makes it almost impossible for them to challenge any of these conditions. The report, which makes six major recommendations with implications for both government policy and structural change within the industry, will feature in a panel discussion at next week’s Edinburgh Television Festival.

The UK television industry’s Broadcast magazine covered the story on Monday 16 August 2021.


The full report can be downloaded from here:

van Raalte, C., Wallis, R. and Pekalski, D., 2021. State of Play 2021: Management Practices in UK Unscripted Television. Technical Report. Poole, UK: Bournemouth University.

 

Dr John Oliver elected President of EMMA

Dr John Oliver (FMC) has been elected as President of the European Media Management Association (EMMA).

The European Media Management Association is an international not-for-profit academic organization that was founded in 2003 to support growth in media management research, scholarship and practice throughout Europe and around the world. It facilitates links between relevant national and international organisations, professional media firms, and regulatory agencies within and across public and private media sectors.

Dr Oliver has previously served for a number of years on the associations Executive Board and commented that “it’s a great honour to elected as President of Europe’s premier media management organisation and the trust placed in me and other board members will inspire us to grow and develop our media management activities over the next 2 years”.

Announcements: Clinical Research | Broadcasting | Body Image | Decarbonising Transport | NHS

Today’s announcements:

Health Secretary Matt Hancock has made an announcement on the £64 million funding provided to strengthen clinical research delivery

 

Digital Secretary Oliver Dowden has made an announcement on plans for a new broadcasting white paper

 

The House of Commons Women and Equalities Committee has published a report on the government response to the Women and Equalities Select Committee Report; ‘Changing the perfect picture: an inquiry into body image’

 

The Institute for Public Policy Research has published a report on decarbonising UK transport

 

NHS Providers has published a survey on pressure on the NHS

Suicide reporting toolkit shortlisted for Scottish award

A collaborative project between Bournemouth University and the University of Strathclyde has been shortlisted at this year’s Herald Higher Education Awards.

The Scottish awards, organised by The Herald newspaper and recognising excellence in the HE sector, has shortlisted the Suicide Reporting Toolkit, produced by both universities, in its Research of the Year category.

Created by Dr Ann Luce (Bournemouth University) and Dr Sallyanne Duncan (University of Strathclyde), the Responsible Suicide Reporting model enables journalists – and journalism students – to make ethical decisions about their storytelling whilst under pressure from various news processes. It embeds global media reporting guidelines on suicide — World Health Organisation (WHO), Samaritans, Independent Press Standards Organisation (IPSO), National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Society for Professional Journalists (SPJ) — within journalism practice and functions within the storytelling process so journalists can question their choices as they produce content.

The toolkit has been supported by IPSO, The Dart Centre for Journalism and Trauma, The Ethical Journalism Network and the Public Media Alliance. It has also been endorsed by the American Association of Suicidology and has been used by thousands of journalists worldwide.

Dr Ann Luce, Associate Professor in Journalism and Communication at BU, said, “I am absolutely thrilled and honoured that The Suicide Reporting Toolkit has been shortlisted for the Herald Higher Education Awards in the Research Project of the Year category. Responsible media reporting of suicide can changes lives for the better. It can tackle stigma, point to helplines and support and can give those with lived experience a voice.

“We know from research that reporting suicide responsibly requires sensitivity and compassion. Journalism has the potential to cause harm to vulnerable people if journalists do not report suicide responsibly and ethically. The Suicide Reporting Toolkit offers practical resources for both journalists and journalism educators to help them achieve just that.”

The Herald is owned by Newsquest, with the media group showing strong support for the toolkit. The Awards will take place virtually on 17 June 2021.

The toolkit can be found at www.suicidereportingtoolkit.com and for more information about communication and journalism courses, visit the BU website.