19th Annual International Conference on Communication and Mass Media
10-13 May 2021, Athens, Greece Program (Athens Local Time) (Note: each presentation includes at least 10 minutes for questions and discussions if available)
Monday 10 May 2021
10.30-11.30 Registration
11.30-12.00 Opening and Welcoming Remarks:
Gregory T. Papanikos, President, ATINER
John Pavlik, Professor, Rutgers University, USA. (Video)
12.00-12.30
Lisa Stansbie, Dean, The Leeds School of Arts, Leeds Beckett University, UK. Title: Interdisciplinary Approaches: The Use of Technology in Arts and Sport during The Covid-19 Pandemic.
Interdisciplinary Proposals for the Future: The Use of Technology in Arts and Sport during The Covid-19 Pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has shown “…how closely interconnected the world has become through globalisation. Economically, technologically and more and more culturally, life is often mediated or thematised by complex imagery”[1] (Grau, 2021).
It is no surprise that arts and sports sectors have been one of the most badly hit by the current global pandemic, with access to organisations limited and mass audience events being halted for safety reasons. During 2020 through to 2021 sports and arts organisations have had to think imaginatively about engaging new and existing audiences and find unique methods to both practice and spectate arts and sports. The use of the digital has been central to this approach.
This necessity to develop innovative new ways of thinking about audience engagement and participation could change the way sports and arts are experienced in the future and might also provide a platform to bring the two disciplines together in hybrid ways. This proposal raises some fundamental considerations for both sports and arts. Can a digital experience replace liveness, interaction and audience participation? How can the use of innovation and creativity in the design of virtual tools offer a new hybrid experience that could align the disciplines of sport, culture and arts more closely?
12.30-12.45 Break
12.45-13.15 Birgitta Bestari Puspita, Lecturer, Atma Jaya University, Indonesia. Title: The Use of YouTube and Apps by Digital Moms to Support Early Childhood Learning.
This research aims to understand the use of ICT, in this context refers to internet, gadget, including apps and websites by digital moms as learning medium for early childhood. This is an explorative qualitative research. Four pairs of mother and child become the research subjects. The data show that digital moms as active users of ICT, including internet, also introduce and use the technology to support their children learning activities, eventhough it does not become the main and only medium. Early children skills include early mathematic skill, early literacy skill, socio-emeotional development, and executive function. The result shows that those all four skills can also be develop with the help of ICT. (internet, gadget, webs, dan aplications). All children in this reserach access YouTube as their entertainment source as well as learning source. One child in this research accesses a game from the gadget to learn math. All moms in this research state that ICT is important and useful for children learning activities. It starts from a very simple thing such as introducing numbers, alphabet, colors, and shapes, which is really importang for early children. However, not all informants agree that ICT can replace or fully funcion in children learning. For example, an informant says that early mathematic skill is better developed through formal learning at school. Early literacy skill and socio-emotional development are skills that could be well developed with the use of technology, for example by watching a video content about colors, numbers, typing in the search box, identify main actors in a video. The most prominenet socio-emotional development is shown when the children are capable to express their happiness because of a funny video, or when they are afraid and close their face because of a scary video, and also when they express their curiousity on a content. Apperently executive function is not easy to develop just by using technology, but it will with parents’ accompaniment in using ICT so that children can learn to choose what good for them. Besides, age becomes an important factor that affects children skill in using ICT. For example, a 6 years old child can relate a YouTube content with the his surrounding reality, including if it is good or not, which can be included in socio-emotional development as well as executive function. With the same video, the younger children do not have the same ability
13.15-13.30 Break
13:30-14:00 Sanne Holvoet, PhD Student, Ghent University, Belgium. Title: How to Empower Parental Responsibility: Parent’s Views on Personalised Advertising.
In March 2021, the Session of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has approved a new strategic roadmap, Olympic Agenda 2020+5, consisting in 15 recommendations. The title, Olympic Agenda 2020+5, has been chosen to reflect the fact that this new roadmap is the successor to Olympic Agenda 2020 and will guide the work of the IOC until 2025. Olympic Agenda 2020+5 builds on the results of Olympic Agenda 2020 which, in the six years since it was adopted in December 2014, has had a profound impact. It has strengthened the IOC by introducing changes intended to make the Olympic Games fit for the future, safeguarded the Olympic values, and strengthened the role of sport in society. The 15 recommendations that make up Olympic Agenda 2020+5 are based on key trends concerning areas where sport and the values of Olympism can play a role in turning challenges into opportunities. The recommendations call upon the IOC to: strengthen the uniqueness and the universality of the Olympic Games; foster sustainable Olympic Games; reinforce athletes’ rights and responsibilities; continue to attract best athletes; further strengthen safe sport and the protection of clean athletes; enhance and promote the Road to the Olympic Games; coordinate the harmonisation of the sports calendar; grow digital engagement with people; encourage the development of virtual sports and further engage with video gaming communities; strengthen the role of sport as an important enabler for the UN Sustainable Development Goals; strengthen the support to refugees and populations affected by displacement; reach out beyond the Olympic community; continue to lead by example in corporate citizenship; strengthen the Olympic Movement through good governance; innovate revenue generation models. The paper aims at analysing how principles contained in the Agenda 2020+5 can redesign a more inclusive model of the Olympic Games, with respect to all the stakeholders.
14:45-15:30 Lunch
15:30-16:00 Adam Miller, Professor, University of Guelph-Humber, Canada. Title: Mutualism, Activism, and Community Performance in Wargaming’s World of Tanks.
In the massively multiplayer online (MMO) game space, digital wars unite anonymized users with an interactive simulation that takes them well beyond the passivity of mere observation, and all from the protection of a padded gaming chair. Although gameplay is interactive, its consequences remain sheltered from the impact of the real, thus deriding the suggestion that MMOs empower the user that much more than, say, an engrossing film. Yet in the game called World of Tanks (WoT), a jewel in the crown of a Belarusian video game company headquartered in Cyprus, virtual combat begets a very real form of digital activism that offers empowerment and social agency to the user. In the spring of 2017, Latvian WoT player and prolific YouTuber known to his followers as, “SirFoch,” became the unwitting instigator of coordinated user activism on a massive scale. Through extensive and proficient gameplay, SirFoch earned the coveted “community contributor” designation, which precipitated the genesis of a mutualistic relationship with the Wargaming organization. As a direct result of his player prestige, SirFoch was rewarded with advance access to Wargaming’s new digital products, such as tank avatars and their many associated modifications, or “mods.” Accessible only to a privileged few, these digital specifications became the focus of SirFoch’s many YouTube videos featuring colorful reviews of Wargaming’s forthcoming wares. Leveraging a substantial following of dedicated WoT enthusiasts, SirFoch monetized reviews based on exclusive content routinely branded with his seal of approval, a widely respected designation in the WoT community. The arrangement worked for both parties, right up until SirFoch’s concern for the quality of WoT gameplay trumped his desire to maintain a symbiotic relationship with Wargaming. Citing Wargaming’s ideological gravitation towards a “pay-to-play” model wherein player investment would negate the necessity of any real skill, SirFoch’s condemnation of the new product in particular, but Wargaming in general, clearly incited a retributive corporate ire. Stripped of his contributor status and accused of copyright infringement despite hundreds of prior videos featuring largely favorable reviews of Wargaming content, SirFoch’s honesty precipitated his seemingly permanent exile. Roused to action, scores of SirFoch disciples took to the forums with a strong anti-corporate message, championing free speech, creative freedom and above all, the preservation of game purity. Despite the allure of SirFoch’s weekly antics, these digital troops rallied not for him, but in protest of the hypocrisy that his ruin would ultimately represent. In a sociocultural environment where video games continue to be dismissed by their critics as distracting frivolities, it was an innocuous MMO that became the battleground for a kind of digital social justice. While SirFoch won the day, it was ultimately the varied members of the WoT community who benefited from an invaluable opportunity to perform democracy, mount a resistance, and have a measurable impact on their social environment. Ultimately, it was the didacticism inherent in a game that would reveal, for many users, their unleveraged potential as civic agents, capable of coordinating and implementing meaningful social change.
16:00-16:15 Break
16:15-16:45
John Pavlik, Professor, Rutgers University, USA. Title: Engaging Emerging Media: Findings from a National Survey of Use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality in Qatar.
Data from the first year of a multiyear study funded by a grant from the Qatar National Research Fund indicate public engagement with emerging media, including augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR). The theoretical frameworks of the study are based on a synthesis of the technology acceptance and adoption model and the diffusion of innovation model. Data are collected via an Emerging Media Use survey instrument developed for the investigation. We surveyed nationally representative samples of citizens and foreign residents in Qatar. Year one fieldwork was conducted via telephone between early December 2020 and early January 2021, in Arabic or English, depending on the respondent’s language preferences. The survey took about 10-15 minutes to complete. The questionnaire consists of approximately 50 questions or response items, focusing primarily on the measurement of emerging media usage in terms of time spent, frequency of use, and interest in content designed for emerging media platforms, as well as user demographics. We completed interviews with 606 respondents, including roughly half (46.86%) Qatari nationals (284) and half (53.14%) expatriate professionals (322). Slightly more than half (60.23%) are male. The age of respondents varies from 20s to 70s with a median of 37 and mean of 38. The largest portion (44.53%) of those surveyed are college educated. Two-thirds (66%) pf respondents are employed, with expatriate professionals employed at a slightly higher rate than Qatari nationals (71% compared to 58%). These demographic patterns are similar to the overall population of Qatar, which includes roughly two million expatriate professionals and 300,000 Qatari nationals. Survey findings also provide preliminary evidence that Qataris and expatriate professionals have some awareness of and engagement with emerging media platforms. Qataris have slightly greater engagement with emerging media than expats. About a quarter of those surveyed (22%) report being aware of AR. Among those aware of AR, nearly half (40%) said they have experienced AR, with the portion higher among Qataris than expat professionals (53.19% vs. 32.95%). Nearly one-third (29.09%) have used social media to share their AR experiences, with the portion greater among Qataris than expat professionals (36.00% vs. 23.33%). More than half (52.34%) reported being aware of 360-degree photos or video (a limited form of VR). Most of those (80.55%) said they had experienced 360-degree photos or video, with slightly more Qataris than expats having viewed professionally produced VR content. About a quarter of both groups (23%) have used social media to share 360-degree photos or video experiences. These findings provide preliminary support for both the technology acceptance and adoption model and the diffusion of innovation model with regard to the emerging media formats of AR and VR. Notably, Qatari nationals are found to report slightly higher acceptance of some emerging media (demonstrated through sharing on social media) and adoption (demonstrated by use of AR and VR content) rates than expatriate professionals. Further research is needed to test these findings over time and assess their robustness.
20:30-22:30 Greek Night (The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
Tuesday 11 May 2021
08:00-11:00 Urban Walk (The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
12:00-12:30 Gregory T. Papanikos, President, ATINER. Title: The Economy of Greece and the FIFA Ranking of its National Football Team. (Slides) (Full Paper)
The purpose of this study is to compare the performance of the Greek economy with the FIFA ranking of the Greek National Football in order to find out whether there exists some sort of statistical association. The period under consideration starts with the establishment of the European and Monetary Union in 1992 and ends with the current year of 2021. In 1992, FIFA started to rank national football teams which restricts the extent of time to be used in this study. The descriptive evidence presented in this paper shows that there exists strong positive association between the level of real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Greece and the ranking of its national football team.
12:30-12:45 Break
12:45-13:15 Ricardo Cardoso, PhD Student, Llieda University, Spain. Title: Image Rights of Sports Celebrities.
To present the single concept of Image Rights of Sports Celebrities and the relevant protection regime as a legal solution, we need to define the several elements that form this concept. The pawill necessarily – although briefly – present the concept of Celebrity, in particular, the concept of Sports Celebrity, and defend what should be understood in this context by Image as a transition point for what should be recognised by Right to Image in general and especially in case of Sports Celebrities. It is also our aim to identify the most relevant legal regimes and how the image rights of sports celebrities are defined and protected, identifying contact points and frictions between them. Also aim to identify signs tending towards the transposition of a single regime of Image Rights of Sports Celebrities turning – even at a state level – to the study of the legal system of Guernsey, which presents a legal framework for the protection of Image Rights. This way, our objective is to present a solution to the problem we believe we have identified, namely by protecting the image rights of sports celebrities at two levels. First, with a minimum scope attached to the right to preserve self-image – absolute, inalienable, unavailable and imprescriptible. Second, an economic right to explore Image Rights associated with the status of Celebrity Sports. The ultimate purpose is based on a proposal to conceptualise the Image Rights of Sports Celebrities as an autonomous legal reality and revealing the verification of what the Image of a Sports Celebrity has of particular importance in our new contemporary society of mass consumption. But, also, the balance between which remains the essential core and minimum scope of the protection of the expression of the personality of the free and responsible individual embodied in his right to the image. And, the emergence, ex nuovo, of the economic exploitation right as an expression of the iconic function of your image and your essential characters. To achieve this aim, it will be necessary to travel in the most consolidated legal systems in this respect, but also in other legal regimes which, although less studied, are essential, either because of their population density or because of their economy under the Image Rights of Sports Celebrities.
13:15-13:30 Break
13:30-14:00 Maria Konstantaki, Research Fellow, UK. Title: Environmental Sustainability of Olympic Games: a Review of Events, Initiatives, Impact and Hidden Aspects.
Sustainability has been coined ‘one of the most successful concepts in tourism and event studies and has experienced exponential growth since the mid-1980s’ (Hall, 2010). Despite its emergence as a popular concept, sustainability is a complex issue that has been poorly understood by stakeholders, policy makers and organisers of Olympic Games. Lohman and Dredge (2012) have noted that even though humans are a fundamental part of the natural environment leading policy makers such as the International Olympic Committee have created policies that solely consider impacts on the physical environment (i.e. transportation and pollution) while ommiting other equally significant environmental impacts such as community displacement (Porter et. al., 2009), use of facilities after the event (Hiller, 2006) and uneven distribution of benefits within the host community (Gaffney, 2010). The aim of this review is: a) to present a historical account of the evolution of sustainability as a concept, b) to discuss the issues surrounding environmental sustainability of those Summer and Winter Olympic Games that have had an impact (positive or negative) on the natural environment and c) to discuss ‘hidden’ aspects of environmental sustainability e.g. population displacement, human rights, and changes to host city residents’ quality of life. An overview of key events and developments to improve sustainability, including the Olympic Charter (IOC, 2007), the International Standards Organisation (ISO, 2010) and the Sustainable Sourcing Code (LOCOG, 2012) will be presented providing also an overview of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games environmental agenda. Even though the review focusses on Olympic Games, there are obvious implications for other mega-sport events such as the Commonwealth Games and the FIFA World Cup.
14:00-14:15 Break
14:15-14:45 Seppo Suominen, Senior Lecturer, University of Applied Sciences, Finland. Title: Sport and Cultural Events: Willingness to Pay, Facial Expressions and Skin Response.
The topic of this particular study is to combine both facial expressions, skin response and willingness to pay (WTP) using an iMotions Platform. This software solution combines biosensors in human behaviour research. The WTP is first investigated by paper and pen and then the respondents watch a video that contains different music performances and sport events. To the knowledge of the author, no such study of the relation between willingness to pay and biosensor data.
14:45-15:30 Lunch
15:30-16:00
Krzysztof Pietroszek, Assistant Professor, American University, USA. Title: Volumetric Storytelling. Merging Games and Immersive Filmmaking.
Over the last 4 decades, video games have become very popular forms of entertainment. While originally it was a form of media engaging young male audiences, video games are no popular with audiences across all ages and genders. Technological developments in games influenced various aspects of filmmaking. In particular, volumetric capture (recording of “holograms”), real-time filmmaking, once a domain of science-fiction, is now becoming available to storytellers. Actors can be captured as holograms and placed to perform in virtual or real environments. Props, set decoration, or even entire sets can be turned into photorealistic 3D models through a process known as photogrammetry. Stories told in this manner can be viewed using cave system, head mounted displays or augmented reality glasses, creating experience similar to Startrek’s Holodeck. While the technology is ready for new stories and storytelling techniques, our understanding of the language and grammar of this medium is very limited. In my talk, I will present a comparative analysis of the traditional film language with what we understand so far about the grammar of the volumetric filmmaking. I will show examples, including my own, of stories told using this new medium. I will also discus how American University students learn volumetric filmmaking through experimentation and uses of new, low cost technologies. I will argue that volumetric filmmaking is a new form of storytelling, not a mere technological extension of the traditional cinema.
16:00-16:15 Break
16:15-16:45
Spiro Doukas, Associate Professor, Husson University, USA. Title: Resident Perceptions of Former Olympic Cities: An analysis of Athens, Sochi, and Rio de Janeiro.
20:00-21:30 Dinner (The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
Wednesday 12 May 2021
Educational Islands Cruise
(The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
Thursday 13 May 2021Delphi Tour
(The event did not take place due to the limited number of attendance. Those who paid and were not able to attend will be offered a free voucher according to our policy: https://www.atiner.gr/coronavirus)
