IAFOR > The Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC) > KAMC2021 Overview

KAMC2021 Overview

Special Announcement: KAMC2021 will be held Online

Due to continued uncertainties surrounding the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, IAFOR has made the decision to hold KAMC2021 entirely online via Zoom.

View the Conference Programme

Join us online for KAMC2021!

November 09–12, 2021 | Held online from Kyoto, Japan

Welcome to The 2nd Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2021), held in partnership with the IAFOR Research Centre at the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, Japan.

Kyoto at sunset

KAMC2021 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 KAMC2021 will offer a remarkable opportunity for the sharing of research and best practice and for the meeting of people and ideas.

The 2nd Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC2021) will be held alongside The 12th Asian Conference on Media, Communication & Film (MediAsia2021). Registration for either conference will allow delegates to attend sessions in the other.

We look forward to seeing you online!

– The KAMC2021 Organising Committee

Nasya Bahfen, La Trobe University, Australia
Joseph Haldane, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
Bradley J. Hamm, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA
Virgil Hawkins, Osaka University, Japan
Eric Hawkinson, Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
Celia Lam, University of Nottingham Ningbo, China
Timothy W. Pollock, Osaka Kyoiku University & Hagoromo University of International Studies, Japan
Paul Spicer, Hiroshima Jogakuin University, Japan
Gary E. Swanson, University of Northern Colorado, USA (fmr.)

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

IAFOR Journal of Education (Scopus Indexed Journal)

This conference is associated with the Scopus and DOAJ listed IAFOR Journal of Education.
 

Key Information
  • Venue & Location: Held online from Kyoto, Japan
  • Dates: Tuesday, November 09, 2021 ​to Friday, November 12, 2021
  • Early Bird Abstract Submission Deadline: June 20, 2021*
  • Final Abstract Submission Deadline: August 20, 2021
  • Registration Deadline for Presenters: September 30, 2021

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

Submit an Abstract
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Speakers

  • Mehrasa Alizadeh
    Mehrasa Alizadeh
    Osaka University Cybermedia Center, Japan
  • Eric Hawkinson
    Eric Hawkinson
    Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
  • Amelia Ijiri
    Amelia Ijiri
    Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan
  • Earl Jackson
    Earl Jackson
    Asia University, Taiwan & University of California, United States
  • Jay Klaphake
    Jay Klaphake
    Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
  • Angus McGregor
    Angus McGregor
    Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan & Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School, Japan
  • Corey Noxon
    Corey Noxon
    Ritsumeikan University, Japan & Lake Biwa Museum, Japan
  • Brian Victoria
    Brian Victoria
    Oxford Centre for Buddhist Studies, UK
  • Kojiro Yano
    Kojiro Yano
    Osaka Institute of Technology, Japan

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Programme

  • When Media Watches You – The Rise of Immersive Technology
    When Media Watches You – The Rise of Immersive Technology
    Keynote Presentation: Eric Hawkinson
  • Immersive Media Design Showcase
    Immersive Media Design Showcase
    Workshop Presentation: Mehrasa Alizadeh, Eric Hawkinson, Amelia Ijiri, Jay Klaphake, Angus McGregor, Corey Noxon & Kojiro Yano
  • Spectacle and Scrutiny: The Analytic Image in Japanese Cinema
    Spectacle and Scrutiny: The Analytic Image in Japanese Cinema
    Keynote Presentation: Earl Jackson
  • ‘Holy War’ as Portrayed in Japanese Films, 1937-45
    ‘Holy War’ as Portrayed in Japanese Films, 1937-45
    Keynote Presentation: Brian Victoria

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Organising Committee

The Organising Committee of The 2nd Kyoto Conference on Arts, Media & Culture (KAMC) is composed of distinguished academics who are experts in their fields. Organising Committee members may also be members of IAFOR's International Academic Advisory Board. The Organising Committee is responsible for nominating and vetting Keynote and Featured Speakers; developing the conference programme, including special workshops, panels, targeted sessions, and so forth; event outreach and promotion; recommending and attracting future Organising Committee members; working with IAFOR to select PhD students and early career academics for IAFOR-funded grants and scholarships; and overseeing the reviewing of abstracts submitted to the conference.

  • Nasya Bahfen
    Nasya Bahfen
    La Trobe University, Australia
  • Joseph Haldane
    Joseph Haldane
    The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan
  • Bradley J. Hamm
    Bradley J. Hamm
    Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA
  • Virgil Hawkins
    Virgil Hawkins
    Osaka University, Japan
  • Eric Hawkinson
    Eric Hawkinson
    Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan
  • Celia Lam
    Celia Lam
    University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), China
  • Timothy W. Pollock
    Timothy W. Pollock
    Osaka Kyoiku University & Hagoromo University of International Studies, Japan
  • Paul Spicer
    Paul Spicer
    Hokkaido University, Japan
  • Gary E. Swanson
    Gary E. Swanson
    University of Northern Colorado, USA (fmr.)

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Mehrasa Alizadeh
Osaka University Cybermedia Center, Japan

Biography

Mehrasa Alizadeh is an assistant professor at the Cybermedia Center, Osaka University. She conducts collaborative research on the use of multimodal learning analytics to support learners in face-to-face and remote learning settings. Mehrasa is interested in immersive learning and virtual reality for language education.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
Eric Hawkinson
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan

Biography

Eric is a learning futurist, tinkering with and designing technologies that may better inform the future of teaching and learning. Eric is president and research coordinator of MAVR, a research group working in immersive technologies for teaching and learning, and more specifically, augmented and virtual realities in language learning. Eric's day job is at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies where he teaches courses and conducts research on issues related to technology in tourism and education. Eric also leads a team of interactive media designers for TEDxKyoto. His passion project, ARientation is an award winning, free-to-use, privacy-by-design augmented learning platform to rapidly prototype augmented learning environments, also aiming to spread awareness of increasingly aggressive data collection models using immersive technology. Eric's other projects have included augmented tourism rallies, AR community art exhibitions, mixed reality escape rooms, and other experiments in immersive technology.

Keynote Presentation (2021) | When Media Watches You – The Rise of Immersive Technology
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
Amelia Ijiri
Kyoto Institute of Technology, Japan

Biography

Amelia Ijiri is an Educational Technology Specialist and Instructional Designer who received her Master's of Science from the University of Central Missouri in 2017. Her research interests include gamifying museums using Augmented Reality, Web 3.0, and online communities. She teaches storytelling using Virtual Reality.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
Earl Jackson
Asia University, Taiwan & University of California, United States

Biography

Earl Jackson is the author of Strategies of Deviance: Studies in Gay Male Representation (Indiana University Press) as well as numerous articles on Japanese and Korean Cinema, New Narrative, and sexuality. His performances pieces have been staged in Minneapolis, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Santa Cruz, Seattle, and the Pit Inn, Shinjuku. He has worked in the Korean independent film industry in several capacities: co-director (with Kim Jeong) and editor of an experimental short travelogue, Tabi/T’abi; contributing screenwriter for Viewfinder (Kim Jeong 2008); interviewee and researcher for New Woman: Her First Song (Kim Soyoung 2004); and as actor, playing the villain in Barbie (Yi Sangwoo 2010).

He has taught at the University of Minnesota, the University of California, Santa Cruz, Korea University, the Korean National University of Arts, and National Chiao Tung University, and was a visiting scholar at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawai’i. His recent research includes a study of the relation among technology, subjectivity, and the politics that inform and circumscribe them. In addition to his research, writing and teaching, Earl Jackson has found time to contribute a full-length audio commentary to the recent Blu-ray release of the Japanese classic Blind Beast on Arrow Video, as well as a video essay for the Blu-ray release of the Japanese classic Giants and Toys, also on Arrow Video.

Earl Jackson is currently writing a book on crisis and signification in Japanese film genres, but his presentation for KAMC/MediAsia will draw on his monograph on the relations between theory and practice in Japanese cinema.

Keynote Presentation (2021) | Spectacle and Scrutiny: The Analytic Image in Japanese Cinema
Jay Klaphake
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan

Biography

Jay serves as Senior TEDx Ambassador for Japan, and is the founder of TEDxKyoto, Japan's largest TEDx event, held at the iconic Kyoto International Conference Center. The talks produced by his team have been viewed more than 12 million times and translated into 40 languages. He is currently a professor and vice-chair of the Department of Global Studies, in the Faculty of Global Engagement at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, where he teaches, among other things, law, international negotiation, and a seminar on innovation, creativity and leadership. He also serves as a member of the Kyoto International School Board of Trustees. Early in his career, Professor Klaphake worked for the United States House of Representatives, in the Office of the Minnesota Attorney General, and as executive director for the University of Minnesota Coalition for Higher Education. His research interests include Legal and Ethical Issues in Immersive Education.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
Angus McGregor
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan & Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School, Japan

Biography

Angus McGregor holds a Master’s of Applied Arts and Sciences in Global Studies from University of North Carolina at Greensboro and has been a teacher in the Course of International and Cultural Studies at Kyoto Gaidai Nishi High School in Kyoto, Japan for 28 years, currently serving as the coordinator of the course. He also teaches Model United Nations in the Department of Global Studies Department at Kyoto University of Foreign Studies. Angus is the Director of the Kansai High School Model United Nations, which held its 31st annual conference online this past June and is a member of the organizing committee for the Japan University English Model United Nations conference. He is active in the community with Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and UNESCO activities as the organizer of the ASPnet Kyoto UNESCO High School Committee, a member of the Kyoto UNESCO association, and also serves as a co-organizer of TEDxKyoto. Angus is always up for sharing good ideas over a cup of coffee.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
Corey Noxon
Ritsumeikan University, Japan & Lake Biwa Museum, Japan

Biography

Corey Noxon is an archaeologist whose research is focused on the prehistoric Jomon period in Japan. His research interests include prehistoric population estimates, residential mobility patterns, and the use of photogrammetry and other 3D technologies in archaeological research. He is currently a senior researcher at the Ritsumeikan Global Innovation Research Organization (R-GIRO) in Kyoto working on a project exploring ways in which photogrammetry and 3D modeling can be used to estimate energy expenditure related to dwelling construction. Corey also holds a position as a special researcher at the Lake Biwa Museum where he is exploring ways to incorporate photogrammetry, AR, and VR applications at the museum in order to improve visitor experiences and increase the accessibility of museum holdings to a broader audience.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
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 (2021) | 'Holy War' as Portrayed in Japanese Films, 1937-45
Kojiro Yano
Osaka Institute of Technology, Japan

Biography

Kojiro Yano was initially trained as a medical doctor in Japan and then moved to the UK to pursue his career as a computational biologist. After obtaining a PhD at the University of Liverpool, he moved to the University of Cambridge to work as a postdoctoral fellow and then as a senior research associate. In 2011 he returned to Japan to accept his current position at Osaka Institute of Technology, where he started to work on educational technology, particularly for STEM and TESOL. His current research interest is the application of VR to education. He is also involved in various projects to facilitate the introduction of VR technology to schools. His Facebook group, "Teachers' Tips for VR" is the largest group for VR education in Japan. He is a vice-chairperson of the JACET Kansai Research Committee and an editor of Computer & Education journal.

Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
When Media Watches You – The Rise of Immersive Technology
Keynote Presentation: Eric Hawkinson

Pervasive, ubiquitous, and ever watching the watchers is how the stage is seemingly being set for the next evolution in media technology. Immersive media and the metaverse is poised to integrate and merge into our realities like nothing before. Augmented, virtual, mixed, diminished, extended are new names for realities that are being layered and mingled into our daily lives. Let’s explore the possibilities both virtuous and vicious of these new realities as they move more mainstream in our media consumption and creation.

There are still so many questions and issues left to be worked out from mobile technology and media in our pockets, such as the collection of data and business models of media distribution. These issues and others have the possibility of being exacerbated. The media we carry in our pockets now gets attached to every aspect of these new realities.

So much potential abounds as well in the use of immersive technology in education, medicine, mental health, communication, and other fields. The high level of curation, interactivity, and customization makes the possibility for media to be more timely and relevant than ever before.

Join us for a discussion of the future of the metaverse as it relates to our relationship with media while we get some hands-on experience with some augmented and virtual learning environments.

Read presenters' biography
Immersive Media Design Showcase
Workshop Presentation: Mehrasa Alizadeh, Eric Hawkinson, Amelia Ijiri, Jay Klaphake, Angus McGregor, Corey Noxon & Kojiro Yano

Explore augmented and virtual environments that have been employed in various educational contexts. See case uses of immersive learning design in various fields. Get inspired to experiment with immersive media for your projects.

This workshop will be a hands-on adventure in immersive media for learning environments. Visit virtual exhibits for virtual tourism, augmented stamp rallies, simulation sessions, and other experiments in immersive learning from our team of facilitators.

Our team will be hosting a variety of virtual tours, augmented games, and other immersive media experiences such as Kyoto cultural tours in VR, Courtroom trial simulations, mixed reality environments for hybrid events, and more.

Read presenters' biography
Spectacle and Scrutiny: The Analytic Image in Japanese Cinema
Keynote Presentation: Earl Jackson

In general, the field of cinema studies presumes a binary division of labor: filmmakers create a spectacle and critics analyze them. There are vivid examples of a redistribution of that labor on the production side, however. Several major Japanese directors are also accomplished writers of film theory and the texts they have produced help us discern the critical impetus within their films as well. There are other directors who create scenes and sequences that either analyze themselves or foreground the ways in which the films compose the apparent reality as presented. Examples of both will be presented, as well as spectacles whose symptomatic qualities constitute potential meta-cinematic messages independent of their ideological intentions.

This presentation will highlight the explicit relation between theory and practice through the work of Yoshida Kiju and Masumura Yasuzo, but will begin by contrasting two cabaret films, one from 1936 that is decidedly in the symptomatic category, and another from 1950 whose display advances remarkable interventions in the gender politics of the spectacle as well as a sophisticated endorsement of consciously engaged fantasy. Time permitting, this presentation will also draw on excerpts from films by Okamoto Kihachi, Kurahara Koreyoshi, and Kawashima Yuzo as examples of self-theorizing mise-en-scène.

Read presenters' biography
‘Holy War’ as Portrayed in Japanese Films, 1937-45
Keynote Presentation: Brian Victoria

The invention of motion pictures at the end of the 19th century, followed by the advent of “talkies” in 1927, provided an effective means, together with newspapers and radio, for governments to keep their citizens informed. However, if it is true that one person’s “freedom fighter” is another’s “terrorist”, then it is also true that government “information” and government “propaganda” are closely related, so much so that, at times, they are nearly indistinguishable. At no time are the differences between the two less distinguishable than when nations go to war, for the governments of the warring parties require both the wealth and the very lives of their citizenry.

In 2001 Anne Morelli wrote a book entitled The basic Principles of War Propaganda in which she described ten principles of war propaganda that manifest themselves in the media of countries party to the conflict. Using these principles as an analytic tool, this presentation will examine a series of WWII films produced by the Imperial Japanese military, both dramas and documentaries, to reveal the nature of wartime Japanese propaganda. The presentation’s ultimate goal is to enhance participants’ ability to identify and withstand government propaganda, especially during wartime.

Read presenters' biography
Nasya Bahfen
La Trobe University, Australia

Biography

Nasya is a former journalist whose research looks at the intersections of new media, sport and diversity. She runs the Masters in Journalism at La Trobe University where she is a researcher with the Centre for Sport and Social Impact. Nasya teaches journalism and sports journalism and is also the postgraduate research coordinator for media (looking after Masters by Research and PhD students in journalism and communications).

Her previous academic work includes how race is framed in Australian journalism through sport, interview choice among young journalism students covering diversity, the incorporation of social media in journalism education, and internet use by southeast Asian and Australian Muslim youth. Her recent co-authored book (on the back of an Australian Research Council grant) explores building resilience among Jewish, Muslim, and other culturally diverse groups targeted in cyber racism, while another recent project compared social media use among Muslim students in Melbourne and New York city where she was a visiting scholar with NYU’s Center for Religion and Media.

She has a PhD in the sociology of the media and worked as a reporter and producer for fifteen years at Australian public broadcasters SBS and ABC. Her writing and commentary on sport and diversity has been published in places such as Melbourne’s Age and New Daily newspapers, the Jakarta Globe, the Straits Times, and the Brunei Times. She’s also produced hour long radio documentaries for ABC Radio National and ABC Grandstand Digital.

Nasya’s former students number in the hundreds and work in newsrooms and media roles across Australia and the world. She is regularly interviewed by Australian and international broadcasters on issues of diversity in the media, and diversity in sport. When she isn’t working on a book on sport and social inclusion, or acting as an AFL multicultural ambassador, Nasya plays indoor soccer and learns KPop dance routines.

Joseph Haldane
The International Academic Forum (IAFOR), Japan

Biography

Joseph Haldane is the Chairman and CEO of IAFOR. He is responsible for devising strategy, setting policies, forging institutional partnerships, implementing projects, and overseeing the organisation’s business and academic operations, including research, publications and events.

Dr Haldane holds a PhD from the University of London in 19th-century French Studies, and has had full-time faculty positions at the University of Paris XII Paris-Est Créteil (France), Sciences Po Paris (France), and Nagoya University of Commerce and Business (Japan), as well as visiting positions at the French Press Institute in the University of Paris II Panthéon-Assas (France), The School of Journalism at Sciences Po Paris (France), and the School of Journalism at Moscow State University (Russia).

Dr Haldane’s current research concentrates on post-war and contemporary politics and international affairs, and since 2015 he has been a Guest Professor at The Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) at Osaka University, where he teaches on the postgraduate Global Governance Course, and Co-Director of the OSIPP-IAFOR Research Centre, an interdisciplinary think tank situated within Osaka University.

He is also a Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Philology at the University of Belgrade, a Member of the International Advisory Council of the Department of Educational Foundations at the College of Education of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and a Member of the World Economic Forum’s Expert Network for Global Governance.

From 2012 to 2014, Dr Haldane served as Treasurer of the American Chamber of Commerce in Japan (Chubu Region) and he is currently a Trustee of the HOPE International Development Agency (Japan). He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society in 2012, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts in 2015.

A black belt in judo, he is married with two children, and lives in Japan.

Bradley J. Hamm
Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University, USA

Biography

Bradley J. Hamm is a full professor at the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communications at Northwestern University, USA, serving as the dean from 2012 to 2018, where he oversaw Medill's programs in Chicago, Washington, DC, and San Francisco in addition to its home campus in Evanston. Previously, he was Dean of the Indiana University School of Journalism in Bloomington and Indianapolis, USA.

Hamm's PhD is in mass communication research from the University of North Carolina, USA. He received a master’s degree in journalism from the University of South Carolina, USA, and an undergraduate degree from Catawba College in North Carolina, USA.

He also served as the interim dean and associate dean of the School of Communications at Elon University in North Carolina, USA. Hamm has taught in study abroad programs in Japan, China and the United Kingdom and started his career as a newspaper reporter. His teaching and research interests are in journalism history and media theory, particularly agenda setting theory.

He served as a trustee for the Poynter Institute and is a judge for the Scripps Howard National Journalism Awards. He serves as an independent, non-executive member of the Board of Directors for Next Digital media company of Hong Kong and Taiwan.

Virgil Hawkins
Osaka University, Japan

Biography

Dr Virgil Hawkins holds a PhD in International Public Policy from the Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP), Osaka University, where he currently serves as associate professor. He is also a research associate with the University of the Free State, South Africa.

Before joining OSIPP, Virgil Hawkins was an assistant professor at the Global Collaboration Center, Osaka University (2007-2010), and has also served with the Association of Medical Doctors of Asia (AMDA) in Cambodia (technical advisor, 2002-2004), and in Zambia (country director, 2004-2007).

Virgil Hawkins is also a co-founder of the Southern African Centre for Collaboration on Peace and Security (SACCPS). His prime research interest is in the media coverage of conflict (and the lack thereof), most notably in Africa. His most recent book is Communication and Peace: Mapping an Emerging Field, edited with Julia Hoffmann (Routledge, 2015).

Eric Hawkinson
Kyoto University of Foreign Studies, Japan

Biography

Eric is a learning futurist, tinkering with and designing technologies that may better inform the future of teaching and learning. Eric is president and research coordinator of MAVR, a research group working in immersive technologies for teaching and learning, and more specifically, augmented and virtual realities in language learning. Eric's day job is at the Kyoto University of Foreign Studies where he teaches courses and conducts research on issues related to technology in tourism and education. Eric also leads a team of interactive media designers for TEDxKyoto. His passion project, ARientation is an award winning, free-to-use, privacy-by-design augmented learning platform to rapidly prototype augmented learning environments, also aiming to spread awareness of increasingly aggressive data collection models using immersive technology. Eric's other projects have included augmented tourism rallies, AR community art exhibitions, mixed reality escape rooms, and other experiments in immersive technology.

Keynote Presentation (2021) | When Media Watches You – The Rise of Immersive Technology
Workshop Presentation (2021) | Immersive Media Design Showcase
Celia Lam
University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), China

Biography

Dr Celia Lam is an Assistant Professor (Lecturer) in Media and Cultural Studies, School of International Communications, University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC), China. She received a BMedia in Screen Production from Macquarie University, Sydney and subsequently a PhD from the University of Sydney. Her research focuses on the cultural and aesthetic impact of digital technologies on media production and consumption, audience reception and fan studies. She also has an interest in mediated self-presentation, including online identity presentation and management. In 2012 she was awarded an Endeavour Award Post-Doctoral Fellowship from the Australian Government to undertake research in the area of online identity presentation in Hong Kong. Her work has been published in journals such as Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, Northern Lights: Film & Media Studies Yearbook, and the Australian Edition of the Global Media Journal. She is an advisory board member for the Centre for Media and Celebrity Studies, editorial board member of Participations, and editor of the IAFOR Journal of Media, Communication and Film.

Timothy W. Pollock
Osaka Kyoiku University & Hagoromo University of International Studies, Japan

Biography

Timothy W. Pollock currently lectures on film and visual culture at Osaka Kyoiku University and at Hagoromo University of International Studies, Japan. He received his BA in Religious Studies from the College of William & Mary, USA, and an MA in Applied Linguistics from Monash University, Australia. He has presented papers in fields as diverse as film, semiotic theory, ethics and education, all of which were structured around the central theme of the power of multi-modal, dramatic visual narratives.

His film research is focused on the development of standards and practices in classical Japanese cinema in general, and on the later films of Ozu Yasujiro in particular, while his work in the field of semiotics has focused on the applicability of social semiotic theory to the analysis of Japanese cinema and Japanese visual culture in general.

In ethics and moral philosophy he has analyzed how ethical dilemmas are presented in contemporary Hollywood cinema, and how the presentation of these dilemmas within a dramatic, visual narrative influences our reading of them. He is currently investigating how the very modes and frameworks through which ethical dilemmas are communicated can subtly influence the deliberative process of the target audience.

A long-time resident of Japan, he also worked as an assistant editor on the second edition of the Genius Japanese-English Dictionary.

Paul Spicer
Hokkaido University, Japan

Biography

Dr Paul Spicer is currently a lecturer within the Research Faculty of International Media and Communication at Hokkaido University, in Sapporo. Paul's research lies mainly in the areas of film, and cultural studies with a specific focus on the national cinemas of Japan, and the U.K. His work has been published in a variety of leading international publications, and he has presented at a number of conferences and symposiums around the world. In addition to his research on film and culture, he has also published work on popular music, most notably a chapter for Bloomsbury which explores the lyrics of the British singer/songwriter Paul Weller and their relationship to the spiritual and religious. His current research projects include; a study on the relationship between Japanese film and Japanese socio/political issues between 1965 and 1975; and an exploration into the use of the cultural vernacular in Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998).

Gary E. Swanson
University of Northern Colorado, USA (fmr.)

Biography

Gary E. Swanson is the former Mildred S. Hansen Endowed Chair and Distinguished Journalist-in-Residence at the University of Northern Colorado, USA. From 2005-2007 Professor Swanson was a Fulbright scholar to China and lectured at Tsinghua University and the Communication University of China. In summer 2008 he was Commentator for China Central Television International (CCTV-9) and their live coverage of the Beijing Olympic Games. Swanson repeated his assignment covering the London Olympics for CCTV-4 in the summer of 2012. Previously, he was professor and director of television for nine years at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University where he taught mostly graduate broadcast students. He has been an educator for 26 years; 20 years spent teaching at the university level. Swanson is an internationally recognized and highly acclaimed documentary producer, director, editor, photojournalist, consultant and educator. He has given keynote speeches, presented workshopsretd and lectured at embassies, conferences, festivals, and universities throughout China, South Africa, India, Papua New Guinea, Japan, The Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos, Singapore, Greece, Germany, Jordan, Spain, Portugal, Peru, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Swanson has compiled a distinguished professional broadcast career spanning 13 years: From 1978 to 1991, Swanson worked for the National Broadcasting Company where he was honored with national EMMYs for producing and editing: The Silent Shame, a prime-time investigative documentary; Military Medicine, a two-part investigative series on NBC News; and Hotel Crime, an investigative news magazine piece. Swanson was an editor for "breaking news and features" for NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw, the Today Show, Sunrise, Sunday Today, NBC Overnight, A Closer Look, Monitor, and other prime time news magazines. Swanson covered "breaking news" in 26 states and Canada for the network including trips and campaigns of presidents Ronald Reagan, George Bush, and Bill Clinton. Swanson was the Fulbright distinguished lecturer and consultant in television news to the government of Portugal in 1989. In 1992, he covered the XXV Olympics in Barcelona, Spain for NBC News as field producer and cameraman. Swanson has earned more than 75 awards for broadcast excellence and photojournalism including three national EMMYs, the duPont Columbia Award, two CINE 'Golden Eagles,' 16 TELLYs, the Monte Carlo International Award, the Hamburg International Media Festival's Globe Award, the Videographer Award, The Communicator Award, the Ohio State Award, the CINDY Award, the 2011 Communitas Outstanding Professor and Educator award, the 2013 Professor of the Year award, and many others. He graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana with a Bachelor's degree in Education in 1974, and a Master's degree in Journalism in 1993.

Professor Gary E. Swanson is a member of IAFOR’s Academic Governing Board. He is Chair of the Media & Film section of the International Academic Advisory Board.

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