Prof. Dr. Nina Janich

Organized by the Department of German Linguistics at the Institute of Linguistics and Literature of TU Darmstadt, Prof. Dr. Nina Janich, Dr. Nina Kalwa, Maike Sänger, MA & Niklas Simon, MA

Please send applications for a lecture, panel, workshop, or poster – see call – in the form of an extended abstract (4000-6000 characters) until October 21, 2018 in electronic form (* .doc, * docx, * .rtf, no pdf!) to the expert group spokesman Philipp Niemann (philipp.niemann(at)kit.edu) and to the organizers: Nina Janich, janich(at)linglit.tu-darmstadt.de, Nina Kalwa, kalwa(at)linglit.tu-darmstadt.de

Call for Papers: “Digitality – Mediality – Discourse: Methods of Media Discourse Analysis”

The rapid development of digital forms of communication, the increasingly diverse possibilities of integrating linked texts, images/visualizations, film, sound, up to real-time scenes, the differences in longevity (and, thus, source reliability) of virtual texts, the different dialogical formats and interactive potentials of the Internet leads to new methodological challenges in the analysis of media language and media discourses. Compared to traditional media communication, online communication represents an increase in complexity that challenges the existing description categories of mass communication research. Instead of selective, monological, one-sided, and single-level communication structures, online communication is built on dialogical, multi-level, and sequential structures. Generally, but especially in the field of the digital humanities, we find new computer-aided methods of corpus collection and processing, media, communication and/or linguistic analysis of language/text/discourse as well as the preparation and presentation of the results – from approaches in the scope of corpus and computer linguistics to new possibilities of reception research and digital visualization methods. Thus, it is all the more important to focus on interdisciplinary exchange regarding digital research infrastructures and innovative discourse as well as on methods of media analysis, on the critical reflection of digitization processes in the field, and on the theoretical-methodological meta-level. Against this background, the specialist group meeting is supposed to further a broad interdisciplinary discussion on innovative methods of media discourse analysis. Both qualitative and quantitative methods as well as combinations are to be considered. It is also necessary to examine which discourse, dialog, and text-specific analytic approaches are suitable for examining the newly created communication landscape and how these approaches can be extended or modified if necessary. Accordingly, we are interested in contributions addressing the methodological approaches of media-language and media-discourse-analytical research – approaches that break new ground, critically reflect on or expand old paths, or pursue their cognitive interests through method triangulation and interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary cooperation. Thus, lectures could focus on the following methodological contexts:

Discourse analysis (media-scientific, linguistic, sociological, political-scientific, historical, philosophical, multimodal) digitally supported reception research on expectations and communication effects among different discourse actors

• Corpus linguistics – text technology – computational linguistics
• Visual linguistics / visual communication research / multimodal discourse analysis
• Content analysis of discourses
• Sentiment analysis
• Research on the relationship between science and the public in science and science discourses (e.g. focusing on empathy in science communication)
• The role of digital communication in (domestic) political discourses
• Research on the role of normative and ethical aspects in media discourses (e.g. cyberbullying, hate speech)
• …

We welcome sample analyzes to demonstrate innovative methods as well as methodological reflections and discussions – for example regarding the following questions:

• What possibilities of structuring and typology (forms of interaction, formats, types of text, dialogue patterns, communicative practices, etc.) can be used to counter the digital dissolution of media communication?
• What theoretical approaches and methods are needed to capture the dynamics of digital media communication (interactivity, theme development, appropriation and post-processing, hypertextuality, multimodality)?
• How can follow-up communication (online commentary, “TV tweeting ”, etc.) be investigated and what conclusions are possible regarding reception and public opinion?
• To what extent can discourses still be investigated and separated from each other, i.e. how can consistent corpora be formed and to what extent must different, possibly interdisciplinary, discourse worlds be included in analyzes (or in what other ways can they be addressed)?
• How can the multifaceted manifestations of multimodality, multimedia, and intermediality be meaningfully processed and brought together, or be equally evaluated in analyzes?
• What potential does the integration of qualitative, quantitative, and computer-aided methods have with regard to the analysis of digital communication processes?
• In what ways are methods of communication and discourse analysis connected to classical fields of communication science (e.g. journalism research, science communication, reception and impact research, gender research, etc.)? How can apply a micro and a macro perspective to the field of media communication?

Thus, the specialist group also addresses aspects that were discussed at the conference “Discourse Analysis in the Communication Science and Media Research – Theory, Procedure, Findings” of the communication and media science network Qualitative Methoden in Munich 2017 and during the conference network Diskurs interdisziplinär – and which are also treated – from a linguistic point of view – in the DFG Network Diskurse digital and at several symposia of the Annual Meeting 2018 of the Gesellschaft für Angewandte Linguistik (GAL) e.V. in Essen. Therefore, the focus of the specialist group meeting lies on the question of how to address current media developments in a methodologically innovative way. Another aim is to include other disciplines from beyond the field of media and communication science for interdisciplinary exchange.

Downloads

Call for Papers (opens in new tab)

Conference programme (opens in new tab)

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Contact

Prof. Nina Janich

Room S4|23 107
Tel.: +49 6151 16 57398
Fax: +49 6151 16 57411
e-mail: janich(at)linglit.tu-…

Dr. Nina Kalwa

R00m S4|23 109
Tel.: +49 6151 16 57399
Fax: +49 6151 16 57411
e-mail: kalwa(at)linglit.tu-…

Niklas Simon

Room S4|23 109
Tel.: +49 6151 16 57399
Fax: +49 6151 16 57411
e-mail: simon(at)linglit.tu-…