Author: Aske Kammer

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Publication alert: “Datafied news work: A scoping literature review” is out now

Aske Kammer, Lisa Merete Kristensen, and Elisabetta Petrucci have just published “Datafied news work: A scoping literature review“. The review article is a part of a special issue of Nordicom Review that inquires what research tells us about matters of media, communication, and journalism.

The abstract: This article presents a scoping review of 20 years of research literature on datafied news work, synthesising and discussing the scholarly knowledge of how the news industry makes use of digital data. The review is structured around the five “spaces of datafication” of the news industry, which allows for a holistic look at datafied news work and for accounting for the different uses of data in different areas of the organisations. Our dataset consists of 32 peer-reviewed publications on datafied news work, which have been identified through a combination of a systematic literature search in the Scopus database and a systematic sampling of key non-indexed Nordic journals and publishers. The scope is Nordic, situating the notion of datafied news work in the media-systemic context of the democratic corporatist model. In conclusion, what the research shows is that while different kinds of data are used across news organisations, data are consistently regarded as a resource; what changes, dependent upon the specific organisational context, is the understanding of when and how they constitute resources.

The article is open access, and we imagine it can be particularly useful for teaching purposes.

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The DANI team is complete!

After a long search, the DANI team is finally complete. Torbjörn Rolandsson has started as postdoctoral researcher to look into how news media, journalists, and developers work with content-management systems. Torbjörn did his PhD dissertation Spellistejournalistik: En studie av algoritmisk design, automatisering och journalistiska praktiker på Sveriges Radio at Stockholm University (2023), and he is the perfect match for the position.

Here is a picture of the research group. This is truly a dream-team. The picture is from our retreat at Kragerup Gods earlier this month, where we had the first opportunity to talk in-depth through all the subprojects and the connections between them.

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We’re hiring

Happy to announce, we’re hiring! We just posted three positions for junior researchers in the Datafied News Industry (DANI) research project. There are two postdoc positions and one PhD scholarship. The deadlines for applications are October 15 (the postdocs) and October 20, 2023 (the PhD). The successful candidates start February 1, 2024, or as soon as possible thereafter.

The first postdoc explores how audience data informs and influences the development and administration of paywalls. The second postdoc researches the use of audience data in developing digital news offerings (focus on AI). And the PhD (which is fully funded and runs three years) looks into how audience data changes journalistic practice and output. All research should pay attention to the Danish/Scandinavian case, but international comparison is very welcome. There is more information in the job postings, which are available on the website of Roskilde University. They contain all the formal stuff as well.

Questions? Contact project leader Aske Kammer.

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Want to be a Visiting Scholar at the DANI research project?

As we get ready to kick-off the Datafied News Industry (DANI) research project, we want to mention that we welcome Visiting Scholars. It is an opportunity for both junior and senior researchers within the fields of, for example, journalism studies, media management and economics, media and communication research, political science, and data science to engage with the project and with us.

Being a Visiting Scholar here means you are our guest and collaborator for a shorter period of time. There is no “template” for how long that period of time is (could be just a few days, could be a month), or for what exactly we do with that time. What we offer is office space (with high-speed broadband), good company, a nice campus, and good possibilities for collaboration. You become part of a vibrant research environment at the Department of Communication and Arts at Roskilde University. The university is close to Copenhagen and there are good connections by train.

While you are here, we expect you to actively engage with the DANI project group and the general research environment. We also expect you to present and discuss your research – either in the Journalism and Democracy research group, in classes, and/or in public talks.

We strongly encourage Visiting Scholars to use their stay with us to explore collaborations that result in co-authored publications. In fact, we give priority to stays that pursue this goal.

Here is the fine print. The research project runs from January 1, 2024, through the Summer of 2027, and we accept Visiting Scholars throughout the entire project period. A Visiting Scholar must do research that aligns with the research of the DANI project. We unfortunately cannot cover any expenses, and we cannot pay Visiting Scholars. We do not have unlimited space or bandwidth for visits. And finally: we have not done this before, so we will work some things out as we go along.

Interested? Get in touch!

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Hello, world

Just to align expectations: we do not update this blog very often. But it is nice to have it to share announcements, thoughts, and other stuff that doesn’t really belong on the main pages of this website.

Want to talk? Don’t hesitate to contact us.