[ecrea] RIPE@2008 Conference / October 8 -- 11, 2008 in Germany

RIPE@2008 Conference
October 8  11, 2008 in Germany

CALL FOR PAPER PROPOSALS

Public Service Media for Communication and Partnership

We are pleased to announce the fourth bi-annual 
RIPE conference, this time hosted by ZDF (Zweites 
Deutsches Fernsehen), Germanys national public 
service television broadcasting company, and two 
universities: The Medienintelligenz programme 
together with IAK Medienwissenschaften at the 
Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz and with 
the Institute of Media Design at the Mainz 
University of Applied Sciences. Our theme will 
focus on what is involved and at stake in the 
transition from public service broadcasting to 
public service media. What is required to secure 
relations with the public is a partner? What are 
the strategic implications of managing a 
portfolio of platforms? What are the significant 
long-term trends affecting media in general and 
public service media in particular? What is 
involved in the transformation from emphasizing 
content transmission to emphasizing human communication?

Conference organisers request abstracts in six 
topical categories. Comparative research will be 
prioritized for selection. The organizers are 
especially keen for research that suggests 
generalizable insights and has implications for media management.

1.  Participation Dynamics
    * How can people be engaged with public 
service media at two levels: by managers for 
decision making and by makers for content 
development? Indeed, what happens to the notion of the maker?
    * How do structures at various levels invite 
people to participate or discourage their 
participation? For example, in the structures of 
story telling and the structures of decision-making?
    * Why does PSM have such problems in serving 
young people? How concerned should PSM be about this?
    * In what ways are PSM companies successful 
in facilitating public participation in processes 
and practices related to democracy, culture, learning, etc?

2.  Patterns of Media Use
    * How do people use media today? What are the 
predictors? What are the characteristic patterns? 
Do use patterns vary significantly across cultures or nations?
    * What has not changed in patterns of media 
use over the past twenty years?
    * What are the most important effects of 
media use? For example, the impact on health, 
social perceptions, cultural relations, etc? What 
are the most important consequences of 
participation in online media, especially unanticipated effects?

3.  Identifying the Drivers and Meta-Trends
    * Beyond the rise and fall of new media fads, 
what really matters? What are the consistent factors and underlying dynamics?
    * What meta-trends are especially important 
for understanding the changes underway in society 
that have real implications for media? What are 
the drivers? What should PSM be focused on for 
strategic and theoretical development?
    * What ought to have the strongest impact in 
the development of PSM strategies?

4.  Changing Aesthetics and Expectations
    * How do the aesthetics of non-linear media 
affect the aesthetics in all media?
    * What is the experience of media today as 
described by ordinary people? What do they like 
and want more of, and what do they find irritating and want to change?
    * What are the normative implications of 
interactivity and are they valid in social 
practice? What is interactivity and to whom does this actually matter?
    * What is the role of social networking and 
collective intelligence in relation to the needs 
of media audiences in general?
    * What do people want from PSM? What are typical expectations, and why?

5.  Branding PSM
    * What is the public service brand and how 
can PSM keep that in the public eye?
    * What makes people want to stick with the public service brand?
    * What are PSMs unique selling propositions?
    * How does the PSM brand matter outside the 
traditional channel structures and institutional context?
    * What are recommended improvements in 
content management strategy for handling the 
multiplicity of platforms, genres and types of content?
    * How does this differ among marginal and new 
audiences for PSM, for example youth, immigrants 
and minority language communities?

6.  Refining the PSM Ethos
    * What are the core ingredients of the public 
service ethos? What are the criteria for 
legitimacy in public service media and how is 
this different compared with its PSB heritage?
    * What is social responsibility today? What 
is the role of the public domain in an online 
environment? What does enlightenment mean today? 
What is cohesion and pluralism? Where and how should universalism work?
    * Is the PSB ethos out of date, as some 
contend? If so, what is out of date and why? What 
does the public no longer want?
    * In what ways and to what extent is the PSM 
ethos suffering with marketization and 
competition? What is in danger of being lost and how could that be preserved?
    * How do definitions and perceptions of 
public service vary? Are there common 
denominators? What are the strategic 
implications? What are the policy implications?
    * How is journalism being redefined, and why? 
What must be preserved from the PSB heritage? How 
should PSM journalism be further developed?


PROPOSAL CRITERIA

ü  Provide the working title of the paper
ü  Include your name, organisational affiliation 
with location, and your e-mail address
ü  Specify the categories that would suit your 
contribution best (from the above 6)
ü  The maximum abstract length is 400 words
ü  Format the document in Rich Font Text (.rtf format  not .doc format)
ü  Abstract submissions are due on or before February 29, 2008

Please send your abstract proposal as an e-mail 
attachment to both of the following:

             (susanne.marschall /at/ uni-mainz.de) 
Susanne Marschall
             <mailto:(greg.lowe /at/ yle.fi)>(glowe /at/ netsonic.fi) 
Gregory F. Lowe

About 60 papers will be accepted for presentation 
at the conference. All abstract submissions for 
the conference will be peer reviewed as the basis 
for acceptance. The conference language is 
English. Notification of proposal acceptance will 
be sent on or before April 14, 2008.

The conference registration fee will be ¬275 for 
authors. The fee includes two nights of hotel 
accommodations in Mainz, as well as meals, 
amenities and all conference materials. If the 
paper is co-authored, then the two nights of 
hotel accommodation are paid for one author. For 
those attending the conference but not presenting 
a paper, the registration fee is ¬350 plus all 
accommodation costs. Space is limited. The RIPE 
conference does not have funds to supplement 
personal travel costs except for invited keynote 
speakers.  A conference web site that will launch 
as the registration period begins in spring 2008.


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