Geomedia update
Dear Geomedians, here is a new selection of news and points of information related to the Centre for Geomedia Studies!
2023-06-09
ANNOUNCEMENT: PABLO ABEND IS OUR NEXT ANDER VISITING PROFESSOR IN GEOMEDIA STUDIES!
Finally, we can announce the great news that our next visiting professor will be Dr. Pablo Abend, who is currently Professor in Design Theory at Burg Giebichenstein University of Art and Design Halle. Pablo will begin his work at the centre in the early fall of 2023 and continue throughout the spring of 2024. Those who attend the Geomedia conference in Tampere in September will get the chance to meet him there, and his first stay in Karlstad is scheduled for late October, week 43.
The preliminary time for Abend’s inaugural talk is October 24, at 2.30 pm, and most likely Abend will organize an online Speaker Series panel in the afternoon of November 14. Please, mark your calendars for both of these events! More information will be circulated in due time.
STIJN REIJNDERS’ GUEST PROFESSORSHIP IS COMING TO AN END
On May 22 and 23rd, we were happy to welcome our current Visiting Professor in Geomedia Studies, Stijn Reinders, back to Karlstad. On the first day of his stay, Stijn organized a workshop on the theme of “Academic self-confidence and positioning as a young academic”, and on the second day, he gave a talk at MKV’s Higher Seminar, called “Setting the Scene: Academic interventions in the media and tourism industries”. Geomedia’s upcoming network visit to the Erasmus University Rotterdam, June 14-16, will mark the end of Stijn’s guest professorship. We will make sure to thank him for his great work for Geomedia and the department.
THE CENTRE FOR GEOMEDIA STUDIES GETS CONTINUED SUPPORT
The Faculty Board recently decided to prolong the current investment in the Centre for Geomedia Studies for one more year (at a minimum).
THE GEOMEDIA DAY 2023
Many “Geomedians” participated in this year’s installation of the Geomedia Day, at Stadshotellet Elite, Karlstad, on June 1st. The theme of the day was “Keywords of Geomedia Studies”, and two workshops fueled by 67 self-reported research topics (from 13 participants) generated valuable and potentially productive discussions. The day also featured brief presentations by Cornelia and Lena about their Geomedia funded writing projects, as well as a dialogue between the management team and our Advisory Board about opportunities and challenges for our centre. The day ended with a nerve-wrecking shuffleboard tournament (congratulations to the winners!) followed by a relaxing dinner. Thanks to all of you who made this day happen!
ANNUAL REPORT 2022 SUBMITTED
As you all know, the 2022 annual report for our Centre was due in early April, 2023. The report was successfully submitted to the Faculty. We thank everyone who contributed information to the report!
REMINDER: APPLY FOR SEED FUNDING!
If you, for example, need financial support to organize a workshop, make a relevant study visit, go on a shorter application-writing retreat, or the similar, you may apply for seed money from Geomedia, at any point in time. Information about the application criteria has been circulated via Geomedia’s email list. Reach out if you want to know more.
GEOMEDIA ON SOCIAL MEDIA
If you have not seen it already, make sure to watch – and circulate – our new promotional video on YouTube.
Also, check out:
Professor Jason Dittmer’s Speaker Series video: JASON DITTMER DIPLOMATIC MATERIAL: AFFECT, ASSEMBLAGE, AND FOREIGN POLICY
Geomedia on Facebook
Geomedia on Instagram: @geomedia_kau
THE GEOMEDIA PODCAST
Don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast: GEOMEDIA PODCAST
Although we still have a couple of weeks of work ahead of us before we go on holiday, allow me to say thank you for your cooperation during this academic year! Have a relaxing summer!
// Karin
2023-02-21
Welcome Henrik!
As of February 1, Henrik Bergius is our new Geomedia PhD student. Henrik has an interest in digital exclusion in the domain of public transport. We are happy to welcome Henrik to the centre and look forward to following your PhD project!
Changes in the management team
As per a decision made at our latest Geomedia management meeting (Jan 26, 2023), Richard Ek has now joined the team as a regular member. We greet Richard welcome!
The Geomedia Day: June 1, 2023
Our next Geomedia Day is preliminarily planned to take place at ‘Stadshotellet Elite’ in downtown Karlstad, on June 1, so please mark your calendars. Of course, we hope that as many of you as possible can attend this full-day event. The advisory board is invited too. More information to come!
Call for papers: Geomedia 2023 – Digital Geographies of Hope
The planning of the 5th International Geomedia Conference – Tampere, Finland, 20-22 Sep 2023 – continues. The deadline for thematic panel and individual paper proposals is approaching: March 10.
Geomedia Speaker Series and Research Relay
Our next Geomedia speakers will be Prof. Christian Fuentes, Lund University, 9-10 March, and Prof. Jason Dittmer, University College London, 4-5 May. The next research relay will take place on 6 April. Then, Christian Ritter and Ulrika Åkerlund will present their work. Further information about these events has been – and will be – circulated by Cornelia.
Geomedia on YouTube and Facebook
If you have not seen it already, make sure to watch – and circulate – our new promotional video on YouTube
Don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast as well as Geomedia on Instagram: @geomedia_kau and Facebook
// Karin Fast
2022-12-22
A new (and first) research project in Geomedia
Congratulations to Cornelia Brantner (p.i.), Raul Ferrer Conill, Michael Karlsson and Elizabeth van Couvering for the successful grant application entitled ”Den digitala infrastrukturens suveränitet: Mot en offentlig värdebaserad mediepolitik för den datadrivna svenska välfärdsstaten”! The project is funded by the Swedish Research Council (6.8 MSEK) and is the first project to be formally classified as part of the Geomedia centre.
Decisions on career grants and seed funding 2023
The management team has decided to accept three career-grant applications. The grants, which enable research time during fall 2023, are awarded to the following main applicants: Georgia Aitaki, Christian Ritter and Ulrika Åkerlund. Seed funding is awarded to Lotta Braunerhielm. Congratulations and good luck with your work!
Call for papers: Geomedia 2023 – Digital Geographies of Hope
The planning of the 5th International Geomedia Conference – Tampere, Finland, 20-22 Sep 2023 – continues. The CfP is now in circulation, including the names of our keynote speakers.
Changes in the Geomedia management team
Mekonnen Tesfahuney has decided to leave the management team. We want to thank Mekonnen for constructive work and extensive contributions to Geomedia – ever since it all started in 2013! The substitute for Mekonnen (until decision about new ordinary member) is Richard Ek. During January-August 2023, Karin Fast will be the deputy director of Geomedia while André Jansson is on parental leave.
Geomedia Speaker Series and Research Relay
Don’t miss to schedule our upcoming Speaker Series and Research Relay events! Our next Geomedia speaker will be Prof. Christian Fuentes, Lund University, 9-10 March. The research relays during spring will take place on 9 February and 6 April. Further information about these events has been – and will be – circulated by Cornelia.
With this update, the management team and I want to thank you for the great contributions you’ve made to our research centre during 2022!
Don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast as well as Geomedia on Instagram: @geomedia_kau
//André Jansson
2022-11-21
We’re currently in the darkest period of the year, but Geomedia is of course there to brighten things up for you! There are many good things to look forward to.
Geomedia Speaker Series, Global Perspectives on Media Tourism
Don’t miss our next speaker series event, which will take place on the 16 December, 10-12, via Zoom, hosted by our visiting professor Stijn Reijnders, Erasumus University Rotterdam.
Career grants and seed funding 2023
We remind you that the deadline for applying for career grants is on December 19th.
Policy on travel funding
As previously announced, Geomedia has a budget for funding conference participation and travel for those who have been accepted to a conference with a Geomedia-related paper. There is still funding available for the year 2022. In addition, the management team has decided that we can cover travel expenses related to for example workshops (in relevant areas) if other funding alternatives are not available, and as long as our annual budget permits. For further information, please contact André.
Geomedia 2023 – Digital Geographies of Hope
As previously announced, the 5th International Geomedia Conference will take place in Tampere, Finland, hosted by the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication at Tampere University. The conference dates are the 20-22 September, starting with a half-day PhD workshop on the 20th. The conference theme is Digital Geographies of Hope, and the CfP will be circulated in December.
Upcoming dates in our Geomedia Research Relay series
The premiere of our new seminar series (+ social gathering) was much appreciated, and we hope to see more faces at the upcoming meetings. Please note the dates for spring 2023: 9 February and 6 April. The meetings are always at 15.00-16.30 in KaU’s new downtown seminar room, followed by a visit to a local pub. More information about the next meeting will soon be circulated by Cornelia.
If you have any information you want to share in a forthcoming Update, please let me know.
Don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast as well as Geomedia on Instagram: @geomedia_kau
//André Jansson
2022-09-16
Call for PhD student in media and communication studies with a profile in Geomedia:
Feel free to spread the word and circulate our call for a new PhD student funded by Geomedia
Geomedia 2023 to be held in Tampere, Finland
The 5th International Geomedia Conference will take place in September next year hosted by our friends at Tampere University. The conference dates and theme will soon be announced. There will be funding available for Geomedians who want to participate and present papers.
Geomedia Research Relay – premiere of our new seminar series
In our new series, we meet in an informal manner to talk about the most recent work of two Geomedia members. Our first gathering is on November 3, at 15.00-16.30 in KaU’s new downtown seminar room, followed by a visit to a local pub. We will discuss two recent papers, authored by Georgia & Vladimir and André. The two papers along with practical information will be circulated soon.
“Visual regimes of urban platformization”
Don’t miss the open lecture + workshop with our next Geomedia guest speaker, professor Agnieszka Leszczynski, on October 7.
“Stories that move”
Don’t forget to register for the inaugural lecture with our new Geomedia visiting professor Stijn Reijnders, October 11 at 15.00-16.30, followed by mingle
Don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast as well as Geomedia on Instagram: @geomedia_kau
//André Jansson
2022-06-23
Visiting Geomedia professor 2022-23
We’re happy to announce that our next Ander Visiting Professor in Geomedia Studies will be Prof. Stijn Reijnders from the Erasmus School of History, Culture and Communication at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. Prof. Reijnders is an expert on media tourism and issues related to cultural heritage and popular culture. He will visit Geomedia 2-3 times during the academic year, and his first visit will be on October 10-13. The preliminary date for his inaugural lecture is October 11. More info to follow!
Geomedia Research Relay – our new seminar series
During the upcoming fall semester we will introduce a new seminar series focusing on our own research. We call it the Geomedia Research Relay (GRR). At each seminar, the work of two invited Geomedia colleagues will be discussed. The seminar will take place in KaU’s new downtown meeting room, and will be accompanied by a social gathering. The first meeting is on November 3, at 15.00-16.30. More details will follow!
Geomedia Speaker Series
Our next event will take place on October 6-7, when we are visited by professor Agnieszka Leszczynski, Western University, Canada.
Also, in case you missed our latest online seminar on Gentrification and the Right to the Geomedia City, the recording is available.
The papers that were presented and discussed are available ahead of print at the SAGE journal page of Space and Culture.
Geomedia on MKV-podden
André and Henrik were recently interviewed by MKV-podden, run by our colleagues at Södertörn University, where we discussed Geomedia amongst other things.
Available geomedia courses for PhD students
For those of you interested in Geomedia related issues, please consider that it is possible for you as a PhD student to follow any of the four modules of the MA-programme’s first semester. Each of them gives a thematic angle to geomedia studies and can be converted into an individual study course. If you’re interested, feel free to discuss this further with me and/or your supervisor.
Funding for conference participation
Again, we want to remind everybody that there is a conference budget for Geomedia that should be used during 2022. If you are in need of funding to attend a conference – if you have a Geomedia related conference paper that has been accepted and if there is no other project that provides funding – feel free to contact me. We will allocate conference funding for as long as our budget permits.
If you have any information you want to share in a forthcoming Geomedia Update, please let me know.
Don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast as well as Geomedia on Instagram.
On behalf of the Geomedia management team, I wish you a very nice summer!
/André Jansson
Funding for conference participation
We want to remind everybody that there is a conference budget for Geomedia that should be used during 2022. If you are in need of funding to attend a conference – if you have a Geomedia related conference paper that has been accepted and if there is no other project that provides funding – feel free to contact me. We will allocate conference funding for as long as our budget permits.
Visiting PhD students
As you may already know, Betül Aydoğan, a PhD student from Galatasaray University, Turkey, is visiting us from February to August this year. Her work is on lifestyle migration, urban transformation and place narratives pertaining to a Turkish seaside town. Later in the spring, 16-25 May, we will also be visited by Leif Hemming Pedersen, Roskilde University, whose PhD project is about the struggle for recognition in times of deep mediatization. In relation to this, a PhD student roundtable discussion on mediatization research will be organized on Monday 23 May at 10-12 AM (12A424). Please, contact me or Sol if you are interested in joining.
Upcoming speaker series event
Our next event will be held online (Zoom) on Wednesday 8 June at 1-3 PM and have the theme Gentrification and the Right to the Geomedia City. Three speakers will participate: Leonieke Bolderman (University of Groningen), Jelke Bosma (University of Amsterdam) and Maja Klausen (University of Southern Denmark). Detailed information will soon be distributed.
The Geomedia website has been updated
Please have a look at the new features of our website at https://www.kau.se/en/geomedia. If you have any comments, or if you want to update any information, e.g., regarding research projects associated with Geomedia, please contact our communication officer Jonathan Strandlund
Two PhD defenses in one week
Mark your calendars for Sol Agin’s PhD defense – the first Geomedia funded dissertation – on Friday 17 June at 1-3 PM, as well as for Reinhard Handler’s defense on Tuesday 14 June at 1-3 PM. Nailing of both dissertations, 23 May.
News from our advisory board
A special issue of the journal Transformations, entitled Artificial Creativity, has recently been published (open access), edited by Bo Reimer and Bojana Romic: http://www.transformationsjournal.org/2022-issue-no-36-artificial-creativity/
If you have any information you want to share in a forthcoming Update, do let me know.
And don’t forget to follow our Geomedia podcast as well as Geomedia on Instagram: @geomedia_kau
2022-04-08
Projects on the Geomedia website
If you have research projects that are associated with Geomedia but not yet listed on our website, please contact Jonathan Strandlund. This is a good way of getting additional exposure to our work.
Films about the Geomedia MA programme on Youtube
Please check out these really good films presenting the Geomedia programme and spread them in your networks. Our students are great ambassadors.
Geomedia kick-off, 12 May
The programme was circulated in the previous email.
New members of the management team
We welcome Svetlana Chuikina to the Geomedia management team as a new member and doctoral representative, as well as her alternate Peter van Eerbeek! We also welcome three new substitute members; Georgia Aitaki, Richard Ek and Lena Grip.
Upcoming speaker series events
Our next event will be held online in June (date TBA) revolving around the forthcoming special issue of Space and Culture, entitled Gentrification and the Right to the Geomedia City (edited by Maren Hartmann & André Jansson). Three international speakers will participate. The following speaker series event will take place on location in Karlstad on 6-7 October when we are visited by Professor Agnieszka Leszczynski, well-known for her research on digital geographies. Mark your calendar!
/André Jansson