Media Presence – Mobile Modernities: The 22nd Nordic Conference on Media and Communication Research
Article Category: Introduction
Published Online: Jul 07, 2020
Page range: 3 - 6
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/nor-2016-0044
© 2016 Christa Lykke Christensen et al, published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
On 13–15 August 2015, the 22nd Nordic conference on media and communication research was held in Denmark. It took place at the Humanities Campus Amager, University of Copenhagen. The Department of Media, Cognition and Communication was the host for the NordMedia conference organised by Associate Professor Christa Lykke Christensen and Professor Anne Jerslev and in collaboration with the Section of Film, Media and Communication.
The conference theme was
Moreover, the conference theme was meant to bring into focus discussions on how the emerging environment of ubiquitous media has a significant potential for improving democratic participation, for creating new and diverse forms of artistic expressions, and for strengthening social ties across time and space. In order to assess these potentials, however, it remains important to frame and study the present media environment from a historical perspective. From a current perspective, it is further essential to consider the challenges posed by new media, which can fragment public spheres, deepen social divisions, and extend social control. The uses of media for democratic, artistic, and innovative social purposes depend more than ever on the development of appropriate global as well as national regulatory frameworks, on media literacies from cradle to grave, and on the capacity of individuals to manage their own presence in the media.
Two keynote speakers were invited to contribute with their views on the overall conference theme. The first keynote speaker was Associate Professor Lee Humphreys, Department of Communication, Cornell University who gave a speech entitled
The second keynote speaker was Professor Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Department of Media, Cognition and Communication, University of Copenhagen. The title of his speech was
Klaus Bruhn Jensen's keynote can be accessed on pages 7–22.
To further elaborate on the conference theme, two thematically focused parallel plenary panels were organised. All panellists were media and communication researchers from the Nordic countries.
The first plenary panel was invited to present short papers under the headline:
Panel participants were asked to address the political and ethical implications of the capacity of an omnipresent internet to track and document the whereabouts and actions of users across private and public contexts. Particularly, the panellists were requested to consider three main questions: What is the general state of national legislation concerning privacy in online media? What are some of the current issues being debated in the area? And, what normative principles are at stake in attempts to balance the protection of individual rights with a collective interest in an open, internet architecture?
Participants in this panel were:
Professor Liv Hausken, University of Oslo Professor Jens-Erik Mai, University of Copenhagen Professor Miyase Christensen, Stockholm University Moderator: PhD and Researcher Rikke Frank Jørgensen, The Danish Institute for Human Rights
Presentations by Jens-Erik Mai, Miyase Christensen and Rikke Frank Jørgensen can be accessed on pages 165–182.
The second plenary panel was titled:
The panellists were asked to consider the state of affairs of the Nordic media systems and to discuss to what extent and in what ways Nordic media systems still exhibit characteristics, which are worth defending, worth developing, and perhaps even worth exporting. The panellists were asked to address the following questions: In what ways have the Nordic media been enriched by recent decades’ transformations and to what extent have changes undermined the cultural policies and democratic ideals underpinning Nordic media systems? What role, if any, may media scholars play in the future development of media systems in the Nordic countries and what kind of research may help enable the Nordic societies to sustain media systems that provide rich cultural experiences, enable an informed citizenry, and encourage democratic participation?
Participants in this panel were:
Professor Trine Syvertsen, University of Oslo Professor Ingela Wadbring, Mid Sweden University Professor Hannu Nieminen, University of Helsinki Professor Ib Bondebjerg, University of Copenhagen Moderator: Professor Stig Hjarvard, University of Copenhagen
Presentations by Ib Bondebjerg and Ingela Wadbring can be accessed on pages 185–197.
332 participants registered for the conference, including 60 PhD students. Altogether there were participants from 18 different countries:
118 from Denmark 49 from Finland 63 from Norway 74 from Sweden 28 from other countries.
285 papers were presented in 11 divisions – of which the Television Studies was a newcomer, and 6 Temporary Working Groups (TWGs) – of which three were continuing from the Oslo conference in 2013 and three were new: Media and celebrity culture; Researching cross-media communication; and Media across the life course.
In this special issue of
For the last time in the history of the Nordic media and communication conferences, we wish to thank Ulla Carlsson for her support, especially during the first year of our work with the organisation of the Copenhagen conference. We are also happy to give our thanks to the new director of Nordicom, Ingela Wadbring, who together with the Nordic Planning Committee and Nordicom have supported both the NordMedia conference 2015 and the publication of this special issue. We welcome her as the new director of Nordicom and we are looking forward to fruitfully collaborating with her in the years to come within the framework of Nordic media and communication research.