Talk Media to Me

In the fifth episode of Talk Media to Me, PhD Council member Maud Rebergen (RUG) and her colleague Nathalie Fridzema (RUG) talk about their history with Habbo Hotel, an online game from their youth which has recently been making a big comeback. They also discuss their media months, which (at time of recording in July) revolved around HBO's House of the Dragon and the European Football Championship.

In this episode of Talk Media to Me, council members Nataliia Vdovychenko (TU) and Dennis Jansen (UU) discuss their lives as media scholars studying the intersection of war and media, in Ukraine and the Netherlands respectively. Why is it important and meaningful to study such a topic? How do you keep yourself sane when dealing with such heavy subject matter? They also talk about their 'media month', which at the time of recording in late June was still very much about the new instalment of the Mad Max franchise: Furiosa. (You can now stream it on HBO Max!)

 In this third episode of Talk Media to Me, PhD council member Zheyu Shang (UL) and her colleague Ye Jiang (UL) talk about fan fiction and fandom on Chinese social media platforms. They start with an impressive piece of fan fiction work that creates a romantic relationship between Tomie (the heroine of a Japanese horror manga series Tomie) and Iron Man (from the Marvel Universe). Ye shares her experiences as a fan fiction reader, creator, and researcher. From fan fiction, they further discuss how fan fiction production and fan community behaviors become more influenced by platform rules and state regulations in China.

In this second episode of Talk Media to Me, council members Bartosz Zerebecki (EUR) and Bjorn Beijnon (UvA) talk about their media month. What kept them busy in February and March? As media scholars, they ask themselves what diverse representation in media actually means. Going back to their childhood memories, they talk about queerness in media, diversity in blockbuster movies, and para-social relationships with movie and television characters.

We have rebranded ourselves! In this first episode of the new season, council members Dennis Janssen (UU) and Bjorn Beijnon (UvA) talk about their media month. What kept them busy in December and January? As media scholars, they ask themselves if it is possible to change your experience of media consumption: can media scholars still watch/read/play/listen to media 'uncritically'? Does that ruin the experience? Is it ethically correct to be an 'aca-fan' in media studies? You'll hear all about it in this pilot episode.

This is the third of three special episodes that were recorded during the RMeS/NICA career event in June 2023. In this episode, Bjorn Beijnon (UvA) interviews Thomas Poell, Professor of Data, Culture & Institutions at the University of Amsterdam. Thomas tells about his journey as an academic scholar and gives tips and tricks on how to thrive in academia. How do you know if academia is the place where you want to work in? How do you get recognized within a university as a starting scholar?  In this episode Thomas provides some tips, tricks, and practical suggestions for these questions.

This is the second of three special episodes that were recorded during the RMeS/NICA career event in June 2023. In this episode, Bjorn Beijnon (UvA) interviews Karin van Es, Associate Professor of Media and Culture Studies at Utrecht University.  Karin shares her academic journey and how she found the balance in working with people in- and outside academia. How do you make sure that your research stays connected to world? What can researchers do to rightly manage all potential stakeholders in a research project? Karin provides in this episode some tips, tricks, and practical suggestions for these questions.

This is the first of three special episodes that were recorded during the RMeS/NICA career event in June 2023. In this episode, Bjorn Beijnon (UvA) interviews Pepita Hesselberth, director of NICA and lecturer in Film and Digital Media at Leiden University.  Pepita shares her academic journey and which choices she has made to find funding for her research. How do you write just the right PhD proposal? How do you make sure that your research is appealing to NWO?  Pepita provides in this episode some tips, tricks, and practical suggestions for these questions.

Bartosz Zerebecki (EUR) interviews Lejo Siepe, a director of the Media Training Center Northern Netherlands. Lejo is a journalist for daily and weekly newspapers, radio and TV programs. He made several documentaries, wrote countless articles, and published four books. In this episode, Lejo gives advice to scholars about connecting media and making scientific research more available to the publics through media.

Bjorn Beijnon (UvA) interviews Mirko Tobias Schäfer (UU), Associate Professor at the Department for Media and Culture Studies, Utrecht University. His publications cover user participation in cultural production, datafication, politics of software design and communication in social media. In this episode, Mirko shares his experiences with the co-creation of knowledge with partners 'in the field'. As one of the co-founders of the Utrecht Data School, Mirko evaluates how you as a researcher build relationships with stakeholders in your research, and how you make sure that your research is also impactful. What are the best ways to find partnerships with institutions and organizations? How do you find the right balance between what your partners want and what you want as a researcher? Mirko provides some tips, tricks, and many practical suggestions in this interview.