Keynote Speakers
Interpreting and Translation, School of Media, Language and Communication StudiesMember, Area Studies
Topic: Advancing Audience Reception Research in Audiovisual Translation and Media Accessibility
Abstract: Audience reception research in audiovisual translation (AVT) and media accessibility (MA) has been developing and expanding in recent years due to factors such as a heightened awareness of the need to understand and cater to the needs and preferences of audiences and the growing use of more advanced, diverse and user-centred methods and approaches (Di Giovanni, 2020; Greco, 2018).
While the experimental turn in AVT and MA reception research is still in the early stages (Greco, Jankowska and Szarkowska, 2022), scholars are using increasingly sophisticated experimental methods and are working collaboratively on international studies with larger participant numbers (see the WATCH ME project). Moreover, initiatives such as the UK Subtitling Audiences Network are bringing together researchers and industry collaborators to pool expertise and develop innovative methods for AVT and MA reception research. Researchers are also adopting participatory approaches and are increasingly understanding audiences as active produsers and prosumers (Di Giovanni, 2018a; 2018b).
However, while progress has been made in recent years, many gaps, challenges and deficiencies remain to be tackled, such as the imperative for a wider adoption of user-centred, participatory approaches, the need for greater methodological rigour in experimental research, and the importance of conducting reception research with diverse audiences.
Taking the above as a starting point, in this talk I will critically examine the recent and current landscape of audience reception research in AVT and MA. With the aim of addressing one of the notable gaps in the existing research, that of the paucity of reception studies focusing on different age groups, this talk will present findings of two eye tracking experiments performed with L1 English speakers aged 9-13 years (n = 44) which sought to investigate the impact of subtitle speed and the presence and absence of sound on children’s gaze patterns and comprehension when viewing subtitled videos. The implications of the findings will be discussed in relation to the new insights offered in this important and under-researched area. I will conclude by identifying key directions and challenges for the future advancement of reception research in AVT and MA beyond the state of the art.
Dr. Sharon Black is the President of the European Association of Studies in Screen Translation and a member of the International Association for Translation and Intercultural Studies and the European Society for Translation Studies. She has been a Lecturer in Interpreting and Translation (with Spanish) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) since 2018, having completed her PhD in Translation at Queen's University Belfast in 2017.
Dr. Black has also contributed to several significant projects, including the Erasmus+ funded "Digital Accessibility for You" initiative (2019-2021), which focused on empowering young people with communication difficulties to engage with digital media for democratic participation. Additionally, she worked on the Accessible Culture and Training (ACT) project (2017-2018), which aimed to enhance arts accessibility through defining managerial roles, creating an online course, and fostering international connections.
Her review work includes contributions to journals and publishers such as Íkala, inTRAlinea, Journal of Audiovisual Translation, Parallèles, Perspectives: Studies in Translation Theory and Practice, Routledge, Target, Translation & Interpreting, Translation Spaces, UCL Press, and Universal Access in the Information Society.
Professor, Media Studies and Sociology,
School of Journalism and Media, Moody College of Communication,
Topic: Global Platforms and Media Localizations at the Crossroad of Geopolitics and Technopolitics: The Case of TikTok
Abstract: ByteDance’s parallel universe strategy has made TikTok a global sensation with significant social and cultural significance. American lawmakers and regulators have tried to ban TikTok since 2020 based on privacy, data, and national security concerns. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative data including congressional hearings, court arguments, government and corporate documents, media reports and interviews, I first examine the legal, regulatory, and political contours and contentions of the TikTok ban at the federal and state levels in the U.S. Second, I analyze the patterns, success and backfire of TikTok’s strategic responses to U.S. concerns since 2020, especially how its copying of big tech’s playbook falls short. Third, I discuss the implications of the TikTok ban for global platforms and media localizations as well as how such cases present an opportunity for media studies and advocacy.
Dr. Wenhong Chen is a professor of media studies and sociology and a Distinguished Scholar in the Robert Strauss Center for International Security and Law at the University of Texas at Austin. Dr. Chen earned her PhD in sociology from the University of Toronto and MA in Global Leadership from Fuller Seminary. She was a SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow at Duke University. Dr. Chen has more than 100 publications, including articles in top-ranked journals in the fields of communication and media studies, sociology, and management. Dr. Chen’s research has received awards from the Academy of Management, International Association of Chinese Management Research, American Sociological Association, International Communication Association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, and National Communication Association. Her research has focused on digital media technologies in entrepreneurial and organizational settings, supported by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, the Ford Foundation, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Foundation of Science and Technology of Portugal, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the East-West Center, the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada, Advanced Micro Devices, Bell Canada, and the City of Austin among others. Dr. Chen’s current project examines how U.S. and Chinese AI policies affect tech and media entrepreneurship and beyond.
An award-winning educator, Dr. Chen is a Provost’s Teaching Fellow and received the President’s Associates Teaching Excellence Award at UT Austin and the Barry Sherman Teaching Award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication.
Dr. Chen is the vice chair (2023-2025) of the Global Communication & Social Change Division, International Communication Association. She served as the founding co-director of Center for Entertainment and Media Industries at UT Austin and the chair of the Communication, Information Technologies, and Media Sociology Section of American Sociological Association.
Digital Communication and Culture, Media and Communications, School of Art
Communication & English, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Australian Research Council Laureate Fellow (2024-2028)
University of Sydney
Topic: Generative AI and Cultural Policies: Will AI Kill Local Creative Industries?
Abstract: This paper examines how artificial intelligence, especially Generative AI, affects creative workers and industries. Professor Flew will discuss how AI challenges traditional views of human creativity, explore various AI tools used in creative work, and review different perspectives on the relationship between creativity and technology. The paper will conclude with a discussion of how governments, labour unions, artists, activists and others have been responding to these challenges, with particular reference to local cultural policies.
Dr. Terry Flew is Professor of Digital Communication and Culture and Australian Research Council (ARC) Laureate Fellow at the University of Sydney. His books include The Creative Industries, Culture and Policy (SAGE, 2012), Global Creative Industries (Polity, 2013), Media Economics (Palgrave, 2015), Understanding Global Media (Palgrave, 2018), Regulating Platforms (Polity, 2021), and Digital Platform Regulation: Global Perspectives on Internet Governance (Springer, 2022). He was President of the International Communications Association (ICA) from 2019 to 2020, and is an ICA Fellow, elected in 2019. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of the Humanities (FAHA). In 2011-12 he chaired a review of the Australian media classification system for the Australian Law Reform Commission. Organisations he has advised include the OECD, Australian Communication and Media Authority, Cisco Systems, Special Broadcasting Service, Meta and Telstra. His Australian Research Council Laureate Fellowship is a five-year study (2024-2028) of Mediated Trust: Ideas, Interests, Institutions, Futures. He also leads an ARC Discovery Project on Valuing News: Aligning Individual, Institutional and Societal Perspectives and the International Digital Policy Observatory (idpo.org.au) also funded through the ARC.