IAFOR > The Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia) > MediAsia2023 Overview

MediAsia2023 Overview

MediAsia is organised by IAFOR in association with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in Osaka University, Japan.

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Join us in Kyoto for MediAsia2023!

October 10–13, 2023 | Held in Kyoto, Japan, and Online

Welcome to The 14th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2023), held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan.

MediAsia2023 encourages academics and scholars to meet and exchange ideas and views in an international forum stimulating respectful dialogue. This event will afford an exceptional opportunity for renewing old acquaintances, making new contacts, networking, and facilitating partnerships across national and disciplinary borders.

Since its founding in 2009, IAFOR has brought people and ideas together in a variety of events and platforms to promote and celebrate interdisciplinary study, and underline its importance. IAFOR continues to engage in many cross-sectoral projects across the world, including those engaging leading universities (Virginia Tech, UCL, Singapore Management University, University of Belgrade, Lingnan University, Barcelona University, University of Hawai’i, Moscow State University), think tanks, research organisations and agencies (the East-West Center, The Center for Higher Education Research, The World Intellectual Property Organization), and collaborative projects with governments, and international governmental organisations (Government of Japan through the Prime Minister’s office, the United Nations in New York), media agencies (The Wall Street Journal, JWT, HarperCollins).

With the IAFOR Research Centre at Osaka University, we have engaged in a number of interdisciplinary initiatives we believe will have an important impact on domestic and international public policy conversations and outcomes.

IAFOR's unique global platform facilitates discussion around specific subject areas, with the goal of generating new knowledge and understanding, forging and expanding new international, intercultural and interdisciplinary research networks and partnerships. We have no doubt that MediAsia2023 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice and for the meeting of people and ideas.

MediAsia2023 will be held alongside The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2023). Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

We look forward to seeing you in Kyoto and online!

– The MediAsia2023 Programme Committee

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: Held in Kyoto, Japan, and Online
  • Dates: Tuesday, October 10, 2023 ​to Friday, October 13, 2023
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: May 12, 2023*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: July 14, 2023
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: August 25, 2023

*Submit early to take advantage of the discounted registration rates. Learn more about our registration options.

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Speakers

  • Michael Menchaca
    Michael Menchaca
    University of Hawai’i at Manoa, United States
  • Jennifer Cutler
    Jennifer Cutler
    Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, United States
  • Virgil Hawkins
    Virgil Hawkins
    Osaka University, Japan
  • Helen Johnson
    Helen Johnson
    University of Brighton, United Kingdom
  • Namie Kawabata Wilson
    Namie Kawabata Wilson
    Osaka University, Japan
  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Delio Wilson Zandamela
    Delio Wilson Zandamela
    Osaka University, Japan

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Programme

  • Consumer Connections in the Age of AI: Unleashing Potential, Navigating Challenges
    Consumer Connections in the Age of AI: Unleashing Potential, Navigating Challenges
    Keynote Presentation: Jennifer Cutler
  • Art and Media Creation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
    Art and Media Creation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
    Keynote Presentation: Michael Menchaca
  • Democratising Research at the Intersection of Creative Methods and Everyday Creativity
    Democratising Research at the Intersection of Creative Methods and Everyday Creativity
    Featured Interview: Helen Johnson
  • International News Coverage and the Role of Independent Media
    International News Coverage and the Role of Independent Media
    Featured Panel Presentation: Virgil Hawkins, Namie Kawabata Wilson, Delio Wilson Zandamela
  • To Whom Do the Senkaku (Ch. Diaoyu) Islands Belong and Why Should We Care?
    To Whom Do the Senkaku (Ch. Diaoyu) Islands Belong and Why Should We Care?
    Keynote Presentation: Brian Victoria

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Conference Committees

International Advisory Board

Dr Joseph Haldane, Chairman and CEO, IAFOR
His Excellency Professor Toshiya Hoshino, Osaka University, Japan
Professor Barbara Lockee, Virginia Tech., United States
Professor Donald E. Hall, Binghamton University, United States
Dr James W. McNally, University of Michigan, United States & NACDA Program on Aging
Professor Haruko Satoh, Osaka University, Japan
Dr Grant Black, Chuo University, Japan
Professor Dexter Da Silva, Keisen University, Japan
Professor Gary Swanson, University of Northern Colorado, United States
Professor Baden Offord, Curtin University, Australia
Professor Frank Ravitch, Michigan State University, United States
Professor William Baber, Kyoto University, Japan

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Conference Programme Committee

Dr Nasya Bahfen, La Trobe University, Australia
Dr Thomas G. Endres, University of Northern Colorado, United States
Dr Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Professor Bradley J. Hamm, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, United States
Dr Virgil Hawkins, Osaka University, Japan
Dr Celia Lam, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China
Timothy W. Pollock, Osaka Kyoiku University / Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan
Dr Paul Spicer, Hokkaido University, Japan
Professor Gary E. Swanson, University of Northern Colorado, United States (fmr.)

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Conference Review Committee

IAFOR's peer review process, which involves both reciprocal review and the use of Review Committees, is overseen by conference Organising Committee members under the guidance of the Academic Governing Board. Review Committee members are established academics who hold PhDs or other terminal degrees in their fields and who have previous peer review experience.

If you would like to apply to serve on the MediAsia2023 Review Committee, please visit our application page.

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Michael Menchaca
University of Hawai’i at Manoa, United States

Biography

Michael Menchaca is Chair of the Department of Learning Design and Technology at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa. He specialises in distance education, and has designed, implemented, and coordinated online and hybrid programs for over 20 years. He served as editor for the IAFOR Journal of Education: Technologies and Education Special Edition. He was an IT specialist for many years in the public and private sector. He currently teaches and conducts research in the areas of online learning, technology integration, and social justice with technology.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | Art and Media Creation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
Jennifer Cutler
Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University, United States

Biography

Jennifer Cutler is an associate professor of marketing and computer science at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. Her research, which blends advances in social psychology, artificial intelligence, and quantitative marketing to extract insights about consumers and brands from social media, has received awards from the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI), the National Business and Economics Society, and the Max Planck Institute for Human Development. Jennifer is on the governing board for Northwestern’s cognitive science program, and teaches a variety of courses on analytics, AI, and digital marketing to MBA students, PhD students, and executives from around the globe. Furthermore, she has worked on AI and consumer research solutions with companies including Microsoft, IBM, Meta, and Adobe. Her research and insights on the digital landscape have been published in outlets including Marketing Science, the Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research, and Scientific American. Jennifer received her PhD in Business Administration from Duke University, and her ScB in Cognitive and Linguistic Sciences from Brown University.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | Consumer Connections in the Age of AI: Unleashing Potential, Navigating Challenges
Virgil Hawkins
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Virgil Hawkins is a professor specialising in world affairs and the news media, and is based at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University. He obtained his PhD in international public policy from OSIPP, where he focused on international politics, conflict, the UN Security Council and the news media. He proceeded to work for five years for a non-governmental aid organisation, primarily in Cambodia and Zambia, before returning to the university as a faculty member. He has written and edited a number of books, including Stealth Conflicts: How the World’s Worst Violence is Ignored (2008), and Communication and Peace: Mapping an Emerging Field (co-edited, 2015). His work focuses on furthering our understanding of how and why the vast majority of the world remains relatively uncovered by the news media.

To these ends, he has since shifted his focus to work at a more practical level. He co-established the Southern African Centre for Collaboration on Peace and Security (SACCPS) in 2010, which is a network that has brought together researchers and practitioners working on these issues throughout the region. He went on to establish Global News View (GNV), a large-scale media project that 1) analyses trends and deficiencies in the coverage of the world by the Japanese news media, and 2) attempts to compensate for those deficiencies by providing analysis of the state of the world in places that are undercovered.

Featured Panel Presentation (2023) | International News Coverage and The Role of Independent Media

Previous MediAsia Presentations

Featured Presentation (2019) | Climate Coverage: Getting More and Getting it Done Right
Featured Presentation (2017) | Introduction of Osaka University’s Global News View Database
Helen Johnson
University of Brighton, United Kingdom

Biography

Helen Johnson is a Principal Lecturer in Psychology, Co-Director of the Centre for Arts and Wellbeing at the University of Brighton and Principal Investigator for the AHRC Everyday Creativity Research Network. She is a significant contributor to critical social science, creative research methods and spoken word scholarship. Her work focuses on participatory and arts-based research innovations, applications of the arts in enhancing health and wellbeing, and exploring spoken word communities and practices.

With over 20 years’ experience as a spoken word artist, Helen has a unique perspective in her field. Her work extends beyond research, with active contributions to academic citizenship, community-university partnerships, public engagement, and consultancy. Her 'collaborative poetics' method and network offer a transformative approach to underpin this wide-ranging practice, using spoken word and creative writing to enhance individual and community wellbeing, build critical resilience, and reshape academic research to better serve communities, especially marginalised ones.

Her partnerships with scholars and artists span globally, including significant collaboration in Canada and the U.S.. Current research projects include enriching understandings and applications of everyday creativity, decolonisation in the context of everyday creativity and creative research methods, and community-university partnership work exploring collaborative processes and resource development.

Plenary Presentation (2023) | Democratising Research at the Intersection of Creative Methods and Everyday Creativity
Namie Kawabata Wilson
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Namie Kawabata Wilson is a graduate student at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University. Before joining OSIPP, she received her bachelor’s degree at the School of Human Sciences at Osaka University.

Namie Kawabata Wilson specialises in media studies, focusing on US election coverage. Her past research includes analysis on the claim of a ‘liberal’ media bias in the American mainstream media. Her current research analyses how the mainstream media covers Vice President Kamala Harris compared to former White male vice presidents.

Namie Kawabata Wilson has also written articles for Global News View, the independent media research organisation at Osaka University. She served as the President of the International Student Conference (2019-2020), a summer program for students around the world to discuss solutions for global issues. She was the host and organiser of the Global Youth Conference on Fully Autonomous Weapons (2020-2021), working with Human Rights Watch and the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots to submit a proposal of recommendations for the Japanese government.

Featured Panel Presentation (2023) | International News Coverage and The Role of Independent Media
Brian Victoria
Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK

Biography

Brian Victoria is a native of Omaha, Nebraska and a 1961 graduate of Nebraska Wesleyan University in Lincoln, Nebraska. He holds a MA in Buddhist Studies from Sōtō Zen sect-affiliated Komazawa University in Tokyo, and a PhD from the Department of Religious Studies at Temple University.

In addition to a second, enlarged edition of Zen At War (Rowman & Littlefield, 2006), Brian's major writings include Zen War Stories (RoutledgeCurzon, 2003); an autobiographical work in Japanese entitled Gaijin de ari, Zen bozu de ari (As a Foreigner, As a Zen Priest), published by San-ichi Shobo in 1971; Zen Master Dōgen, coauthored with Prof. Yokoi Yūhō of Aichi-gakuin University (Weatherhill, 1976); and a translation of The Zen Life by Sato Koji (Weatherhill, 1972). In addition, Brian has published numerous journal articles, focusing on the relationship of not only Buddhism but religion in general, to violence and warfare.

From 2005 to 2013 Brian was a Professor of Japanese Studies and director of the AEA “Japan and Its Buddhist Traditions Program” at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, OH, USA. From 2013 to 2015 he was a Visiting Research Fellow at the International Research Center for Japanese Studies in Kyoto, Japan. His latest book, Zen Terror: The Death of Democracy in Prewar Japan was published by Rowman & Littlefield in February 2020. Brian is currently a Senior Research Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies and a fully ordained Buddhist priest in the Sōtō Zen sect.

Keynote Presentation (2023) | To Whom Do the Senkaku (Ch. Diaoyu) Islands Belong and Why Should We Care?

Previous Presentations:

Keynote Presentation (2022) | The “Zen” of Zen Gardens: Fact or Fiction?
Keynote Presentation (2021) | 'Holy War' as Portrayed in Japanese Films, 1937-45
Delio Wilson Zandamela
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Delio Wilson Zandamela is a PhD student at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University, from which he holds a masters degree. He has previously served as a political advisor to the National Youth Council President in Mozambique and an international relations officer at Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique.

His research focuses on the determinants and nature of national and international media coverage, in particular how armed conflicts are covered. He has written on peace journalism and is currently researching the coverage of conflict in Mozambique. He has also written for Global News View (GNV), the independent media organisation at Osaka University.

Featured Panel Presentation (2023) | International News Coverage and The Role of Independent Media
Consumer Connections in the Age of AI: Unleashing Potential, Navigating Challenges
Keynote Presentation: Jennifer Cutler

As technologies evolve, so too do the ways brands and consumers interact. This presentation examines the nexus between AI technologies and consumer dynamics and delves into advances in predicting and influencing consumer behaviour. Other topics that will be discussed include the opportunities and challenges facing marketers, advertisers, and content creators aiming to foster deeper, more intuitive connections with audiences in today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Read presenter's biography
Art and Media Creation in the Era of Artificial Intelligence
Keynote Presentation: Michael Menchaca

While AI is not yet universally integrated, it is undeniably ubiquitously deliberated. Conversations surrounding AI abound in popular media, government, industry, education, academia, and even in the home. While continued conversation might appear repetitive, the discussion remains as important as ever. A particular area of concern is the ease with which media can now be created, with AI potentially replacing all phases of creation, from pre- to post-production. Already, contemporary pre-production may consist solely of generating narrative prompts to produce media content more than prescribed design. What does this mean for print, visuals, animation, music, video, and for art creation itself? What are appropriate guidelines and measures to ensure the integrity of content and the vision and ownership of the creator? Is AI generation sufficient for mastery and originality? This session will explore the confluence of technology, media, and artificial intelligence, providing some food for thought and leaving time for discussion.

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Democratising Research at the Intersection of Creative Methods and Everyday Creativity
Featured Interview: Helen Johnson

This session builds on Helen Johnson’s work with the participatory arts-based research method, ‘collaborative poetics,’ and the AHRC Everyday Creativity Research Network to call for an academic model that is more inclusive, meaningful and impactful than that which currently predominates. Arts-based research offers a way of understanding and representing ourselves and our world that is emotive, engaging, accessible and interdisciplinary. More radically, it holds the potential for a transdisciplinarity, which expands the research landscape through mechanisms such as embodiment, fluidity, liminality, subjectivity and multi-linear or non-verbal texts. Yet much research in this field reinforces social scientists’ privileged position at the top of the knowledge hierarchy. Participatory methods enable us to challenge this dominance, with research that is democratic, community-focused, relevant, meaningful and impactful, and which mirrors arts practice by valuing process alongside ‘product.’

Both arts-based and participatory research are becoming increasingly common, responding to calls from funders, publishers and others for impactful, innovative research that is embedded in communities, and to the growing movement for decolonisation of the Academy. Too often this work remains tokenistic however. Clearly, it is just too easy to fall into the trap of consciously or unconsciously reproducing elitist academic and artistic frameworks and hierarchies (which retain our own privilege). This talk considers whether and how everyday creativity, with its focus on intrinsic value, community-based action, grassroots leadership and culturally-rooted practice might enable us to redress these limitations, finally wrenching research out of the possessive grasp of the white/Western/male-dominated Academy into the hands of diverse, global communities to create work that is truly transformative for all.

Read presenter's biography
International News Coverage and the Role of Independent Media
Featured Panel Presentation: Virgil Hawkins, Namie Kawabata Wilson, Delio Wilson Zandamela

As globalisation accelerates, the world has witnessed a great expansion in the movement of people, money, goods and services, and changes in communications technologies and allowed information to move unfettered throughout the world. Oddly, this has not brought the world closer together in terms of news coverage of the world. Recent decades have seen not an expanding but a shrinking presence of foreign correspondents and a decrease in the levels of world news coverage in many countries. Changing geopolitical interests and collapsing news business models help to explain this state of affairs. At the same time, advances in communication technologies have opened unprecedented opportunities for low-budget independent media outlets and spread both their coverage of, and distribution to the outside world. While in the vast majority of cases they cannot serve as a substitute for on-the-ground newsgathering, it would appear that they do have a role to play in propping up an industry in decline, and contributing to our knowledge about the outside world. This panel will focus the news media from this perspective.

Read presenters biographies
To Whom Do the Senkaku (Ch. Diaoyu) Islands Belong and Why Should We Care?
Keynote Presentation: Brian Victoria

As the mass media reminds us daily, the danger of war breaking out between China and the US and its allies is becoming ever more likely. Chief among US allies is Japan, now engaged in a major military buildup. Among other things, Japan justifies its military buildup on the basis of China’s allegedly unlawful incursions in the East and South China Seas, not to mention the possibility of a Chinese attack on Taiwan. In particular, Japan charges China with repeated naval incursions into its territorial waters surrounding the Senkaku Islands, the uninhabited islands which Japan claims as its sovereign territory. However, Japan never explains the background of their takeover of the islands in 1895. This presentation will explore the little-known historical background to Japan’s acquisition of the Senkaku Islands together with their role in Japan’s possible, if not likely, participation in a potential war between the US and China.

Read presenter's biography