Given the urgency of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, it seems fitting to be organizing this conference on the role of media institutions and platforms in matters of public trust in expert knowledge.
Together with Prof. José van Dijck (Utrecht University) and Daniel Kaiser (ALLEA), I’ll be working on the conference preparations for until March, next year (2021), when the conference will take place in Berlin. This event is part of a larger project we’re working on about trust in a changing media landscape characterized by emerging media forms. And both Prof. van Dijck and I will be speakers in the program.
You can read the full Call For Papers on the website of the co-orgaizing institute, but here’s an excerpt:
SOME OF THE MOST HEATED GLOBAL DISCUSSIONS OF OUR TIME DIRECTLY IMPLICATE SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE CLAIMS. IN RECENT YEARS, THE DEBATE ON CLIMATE CHANGE WAS A POPULAR AREA OF TRUST CONTESTATION, PITTING CLIMATE CHANGE DENIERS AGAINST CLIMATE SCIENTISTS AND OTHER EXPERTS. IN 2020, THE CORONA-VIRUS AND ITS AFTERMATH ADD A NEW STRESS TEST TO PUBLIC TRUST IN SCIENCE, POLITICS, AND MEDIA.
THESE (ONLINE) CONTESTATIONS SHOW HOW GEOPOLITICAL AND IDEOLOGICAL BATTLES COME TO TARGET NOT JUST POLITICAL AND SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTIONS, BUT ALSO LEGACY MEDIA OR A COMBINATION OF ALL THREE, THUS RAISING THE STAKES OF UNDERSTANDING PUBLIC TRUST UNDER CHANGING CONDITIONS.
THIS CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS THE QUESTION OF TRUST IN A CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE, ADDRESSING THE FOLLOWING THREE GENERAL QUESTIONS:
– HOW DOES TRUST IN EXPERTISE PLAY OUT IN THE CONTEXT OF A CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE, IN PARTICULAR THE TRANSFORMATION FROM LEGACY MEDIA (NEWSPAPERS, TV) TO DIGITAL PLATFORMS (SOCIAL MEDIA, BLOGS, VLOGS)?
– CAN WE DEVELOP A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF CONDITIONS OF TRUST AND TRUSTWORTHINESS IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITAL PLATFORMS AND SOCIAL MEDIA? HOW MAY CONDITIONS DIFFER IN VARIOUS (EUROPEAN) COUNTRIES OR IN THE (GEOPOLITICAL) CONTEXTS OF DIFFERENT CONTINENTS?
– WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF DIGITAL MEDIA AND ITS USERS ON (INSTITUTIONAL) TRUST IN GOVERNANCE THAT IS ROOTED IN SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE AND FACT-FINDING?
Donya Alinejad 