Call for Papers: Media and Communications during the COVID-19 Pandemic (No. 6, 2020)

We invite you to participate in the special issue of “Monitoring of Public Opinion: Economic and Social Changes” journal “Media and Communications during the COVID-19 Pandemic” (No. 6, 2020). Guest editor: Sergey G. Davydov, PhD in Social Philosophy, Associate Professor at HSE University.

The social changes during the pandemic aroused tremendous interest among researchers representing various fields of scientific knowledge around the world. In our special issue, we would like to focus how COVID-19 and social restrictions related to it affected media and social communications sphere.

Main topics, expected to be discussed in the special issue:

• Formation and dynamics of public opinion around coronavirus infection: communication of government, business and society;
• Changes in patterns of media consumption and in communication practices in conditions of self-isolation;
• Discussions in the (social) media: issues of concern, actors, platforms;
• “World after COVID-19”: crisis or innovations;
• Professional practices, corporate and crisis communications in conditions of the pandemic;
• Comparative studies of social sentiment and media communications in different countries;
• The role of digital platforms for civil mobilization in a crisis;
• Innovative approaches in the field of data collection and presentation in the situation of information overload (Big Data / visualizations);
• Pandemic Dictionary: transformations of language, discourse, semantics;
• The role of memes and humor in discussions on the pandemic and its social consequences;
• The role of disinformation / conspiracy theories and countermeasures;
• The impact of the pandemic on the research industry: methodological and managerial challenges.

Send applications in Russian or English in .pdf or .doc format before the 1^st of July, 2020, to Ilya Lomakin (Editor): lomakin_i@wciom.com.

The application must contain: a title, five keywords, an abstract (about 300-500 words), information about the author: name, position / course of study, place of study or work.

In particular, the annotation must necessarily include: a description of the theoretical approach, the purpose / problem of the study, a brief description of the data (what methods were used to study and how to access the field), brief results. Applications must necessarily contain the theoretical framework that the author adheres to and his / her conclusions, otherwise they will not be accepted for consideration.

We encourage authors to use all the opportunities of e-journal adding photo-, audio- and video materials in their articles.

For approved applications, the deadline for submitting the final text of the manuscript to the editor is the 1^st of September, 2020.