Convergence, The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, is calling for papers for its special issue “Gamifying News: Playful approaches to public engagement”.
As a natural continuation of the long-term trend of seeing ‘news as entertainment’, playful content, distributed virally, can easily influence political discourse and election outcomes, marginalising conventional gatekeepers. In addition, news consumers, in a post-trust age, are less likely to adhere to a traditional understanding of journalistic quality, struggling with the difference between algorithmic and editorial content.This special issue aims to further explore and investigate these and other interrelated factors, and how they relate to a ‘fractured’ public sphere. An increase in online sources and commentary; the diminished status of the ‘expert’; the prevalence of self-affirming online communities slaved to the algorithmic logic of social media, alongside increased scepticism of established news media, all contributeto a shift in the way the public engages with news.
[spoiler title=’The editors welcome submissions exploring these areas but not limited to:’ style=’default’ collapse_link=’true’]
·Playful perspectives on journalism
·Game mechanics, interactive newscasting, and playful affordances
·The growing influence of viral newsgames and their role of reinforcing public opinion
·Challenges to journalistic ‘professionalism’ and ethical considerations regarding the gamification of news
·Trust in content that has been authenticated through the social sphere bypassing traditional news media
·Growth of news personalisation and the dramatisation of journalism
·Innovations in performance and modes of address to drive political engagement
·Factual storytelling in immersive virtual environments (IVEs)
·Attraction to news as spectacle and entertainment
·Affective and emotional journalism, and what that might mean for news reception
·The playful public sphere and (re)conceptualizations of publics
·Historical analyses of gamified and playful journalism
·Cultural components of play and journalism
·Critical approaches to gamifying the news
·News and artificial intelligence
·Fake news and information pollution as ‘dark play’[/spoiler]
Deadline for proposals (500 words) is 7 September 2018.
Read the full call for papers.