It's time to look back on 2023 – the second year for the Center for Geomedia Studies. First and foremost, I want to thank you for all the valuable contributions and efforts that collectively build our shared research environment!
The examples below, taken from our news feed, provide a glimpse of what we were up to during 2023. But much more also took place.
New externally funded projects started – others continued. A new Geomedia Phd, Henrik Bergius, joined us. Several international exchanges for both researchers and Phd candidates were organized with our partners in places like Rotterdam and Tampere.
A series of prominent researchers visited our Geomedia Speaker Series, and our new discussion forum, Geomedia Research Relay, continued to evolve as a natural social and intellectual hub for all Geomedia enthusiasts.
We began the work of defining key central concepts for Geomedia. Besides two guest professors, we also hosted visiting guest researchers. The Geomedia podcast attracted new guests and listeners, not to mention all the new publications that emerged from the world of Geomedia, further developing our research field.
With all of this in retrospect, and more besides, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
//André Jansson, Director of Geomedia
HOPE AND HOPEFUL TRENDS IN OUR CONTEMPORARY DIGITALISED WORLD AT THE FOCUS OF THIS YEAR’S GEOMEDIA CONFERENCE
This year’s international Geomedia conference was held 20–22 September in Tampere, Finland, under the theme “Digital Geographies of Hope”. Eleven people from Karlstad University took part in the conference, which was organised in collaboration with Tampere University.
THE DIFFERENT FACES AND LATENCY OF ACTIVISM
Media and communication research has been focused on Russian propaganda – also referred to as “counter-discourse” – whereas my research interest is fairly unexplored.
GEOMEDIA RESEARCHERS PARTICIPATED IN CONFERENCE ON SPACE AND PLACES
The conference “Locating media industries: Cities, space, places” was held at King´s College in London in the summer. Four researchers from Geomedia attended.
THE ANDER VISITING PROFESSOR IN GEOMEDIA STUDIES, PABLO ABEND
- It is interesting because media is not only a means to represent geographic space as the use of the term in the geographic disciplines indicates. Geomedia is also about dividing, layering and cotting across space. Media assemblages span their own spaces, they create hybrid spaces, that alter your perception of and our practices in space.
RESEARCH PROJECT “SÁMI TRAIL OF TEARS WALKING TRAIL” PRESENTED AT CAPE TOWN CONFERENCE
- The conference theme was “visual sovereignty”, which includes ways for indigenous communities around the world to have ownership and control of for instance materials and photo archives that depict their history, culture, language, and identity.
THE PORTRAYAL OF ETHNICITY MAKES A DIFFERENCE IN THE MARKETING OF RESTAURANTS
A foreign background is often described as a liability in entrepreneurship. Research at Karlstad University shows how the combination of three digital strategies turn ethnicity into a marketing asset.
EVEN GLOOMY SETTINGS CAN GENERATE SCREEN TOURISM
It is not only beautiful and vast landscapes as seen in "The Lord of the Rings" and medieval castles in "Game of Thrones" that attract screen tourists. In the genre Nordic Noir, a bridge under a grey sky between Sweden and Denmark can be seen as just as exciting.
