Richard Ek, professor in human geography at Karlstad University, tell us about the Indigeneity and Visual Sovereignty conference held in Cape Town 27–28 April 2023
- 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.
Setting the Scene: Academic interventions in the media and tourism industries with our guest professor Stijn Reijnders at the Erasmus University, Rotterdam.
Title
Setting the Scene: Academic interventions in the media and tourism industries
Abstract
This presentation focuses on media tourism: the phenomenon of people travelling to places associated with films, TV series or other forms of popular culture.
Henrik, you recently began your doctoral studies in Geomedia at Karlstad University. Tell us about your background.
- I have a Master’s in cultural studies from the University of Gothenburg and an interdisciplinary background in humanities with a great interest in culture and social policy issues. I’m interested in the way geomedia affects society and culture, and the spatial aspects of media.
Tell us about your research project
- The idea is to focus on digital exclusion in public transport.
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.
During 2022, our new Geomedia research centre got off to a flying start. One way of summarizing our achievements, is to revisit what was written about Geomedia during the year. The below examples represent the interdisciplinary scope and quality of our research.
Georgia Aitaki has analysed financial crises, striving for international attention and broken hearts in countries far from home.
With her doctoral thesis ”The Private life of a nation in crisis - A study on the politics in/of Greek television fiction”, Georgia Aitaki, senior lecturer in Media and Communication Studies at Karlstad University, examined the Greek TV industry and the mechanisms involving its producers, screenwriters and filmmakers.
The music industry spends a lot of resources on creating innovative concert experiences, and the relationship between the musicians and their fans. With the show Abba Voyage, a giant step is taken towards developing and transforming an already digital industry.
Tourism, popular culture and media - Stijn Reijnders has an interdisciplinary approach to examining the role and meaning of locations in popular culture.
Stijn Reijnders is a full professor of Cultural Heritage, specialised in tourism and popular culture. He is active at the Erasmus University Rotterdam and his research is focused on the intersection of media, culture and tourism.
The climate movement groups Fridays for Future and Extinction Rebellion aim for the same goal while using different methods. Sol Agin, who recently completed her PhD in media and communication studies, has focused her research on their way of communicating about an extremely complicated subject.
When Swedish people speak up on behalf of the environment, they prefer to do so in the form of peaceful protests inspired by Greta Thunberg’s work with Fridays for Future.
Have you ever felt frustrated with all the technology surrounding you? You are not alone. In his book Rethinking Communication Geographies, André Jansson, professor of Media and Communication Studies, has compiled his research on a subject that is relevant to our digital everyday lives.
The school must be notified about sick children. Travel plans must be made. The tax returns must be finished on time.
How does the flow of news and information differ among citizens in different residential areas? In the article “The Media Day, Revisited: Rhythm, Place and Hyperlocal Information Environments”, Henrik Örnebring and Erika Hellekant-Rowe study six areas in Karlstad municipality.
If you thought that newspapers and news via radio and television – also called traditional media – were dead, you need to think again. They are very much alive.
The realities we see in TV shows are becoming more and more similar to our own reality. John Lynch is trying to describe the elements that weave TV shows and everyday life together.
Actors used to move from TV to the big screen. Today, it’s the other way around. The streaming services are attractive for actors, with big budgets and the possibility of performing a role over several seasons.
Climate change communication spans several disciplines, which in many cases have an insufficient understanding of the each other’s research traditions. Sol Agin has compiled the literature review Mapping the Field of Climate Change Communication 1993–2018.
- The purpose of our systematic literature review is to shed light on the field of environment and climate change communication, says Sol Agin, doctoral student in Media and Communication Studies.
The subject Media and Communication Studies at Karlstad University continues to advance on the Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU).
The ARWU, one of the top three most renowned university rankings in the world, now places Karlstad University in the 51-75 range – a nice leap from the 76-100 range of last year.
Michael Karlsson, head of subject and professor in Media and Communication Studies at Karlstad University, is pleased with the progress.
- I think we are s
The EU have created definitions and pilot projects based on smart villages – a concept that has emerged to shift the focus on development from cities to rural areas and small towns. Interest from community stakeholders is immense.
In the last decades, smart cities have increasingly been hailed as an urban development ideal and a solution to current and future environmental and climate-related challenges.
Didem, welcome to Karlstad university and Geomedia. Tell us about your background.
- Thank you. I research and write about emerging digital technologies and their societal implications, in particular, mobile and locative media, location technologies, mobilities, data, algorithms, machine learning, and memory.
