[ecrea] 2nd Call for Papers: International Conference: 'Creating Second Lives: Reading and Writing Virtual Communities'

>Games and virtual environments are playing an increasingly powerful role in
>Western entertainment and narrative culture. Of particular importance are
>the constant re- and de-construction of the embodied playing self and the
>post-industrialist, customisable fluidity of personal and social
>identity.This interdisciplinary conference will shed light on how virtual
>communities are read and written, i.e. constructed textually through
>linguistic and semiotic en- and decoding, by producers and receivers of
>video and massively multiplayer online games as well as virtual worlds such
>as Second Life.
>
>The conferences major intention is to bring together researchers from a
>wide range of different areas, who share an interest in semiotics,
>stylistics, codification, new media design, 3D programming and
>media/cultural studies but do not always speak the same language. The
>conference will facilitate cross-disciplinary dialogue and understanding by
>providing room and material for discussions between scholars, scientists
>and professionals from the gaming industry. By doing so, it will help
>experts identify and debate current and future developments particularly in
>relation to the textual construction of subjectivities, communities and
>ideologies. Date: 24-25 October 2008. Venue: Bangor University.
>
>Abstracts of 250-300 words are invited on any topic relating to the
>following themes and questions:
>
>- How do we read and write virtual communities, i.e. how are
>identities, communities and ideologies constructed textually and
>discursively in video games and other digital environments?
>- How are user identities coded into virtual communities?
>- To what extent and to what effect can we apply contemporary stylistic and
>semiotic theory and analysis to virtual, interactive communities?
>- How do avatars impersonate networks, communities and societies?
>- What are the roles of body and mind in virtual communities? Do they
>separate or amalgamate?
>- To what extent do we need to revisit the notions of virtual, actual
>and real in relation to entextualised social and communal worlds and
>realities?
>- How does and will 3D graphic design contribute ­ now and in the
>foreseeable future ­ to the construction of social identity?
>- What programming tools and methodologies are/may be used to create
>virtual communities and inter-'personal' relationships?
>
>Keynote speakers will include Prof Espen Aarseth, Co-founder and Editor-in-
>Chief of Gamestudies.org and author of Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic
>Literature, and Fred Hasson, founding CEO of TIGA, the UK Games Development
>Trade Association.
>
>Deadline for abstracts: 5 May 2008 (to be sent to (a.ensslin /at/ bangor.ac.uk))
>
>The Conference is organised by the NIECI Research Centre for Video Games
>and Virtual Environments and sponsored by The Game Creators Ltd.
>
>For further enquiries, please contact Astrid Ensslin at
>(a.ensslin /at/ bangor.ac.uk) or visit the Conference website at
>http://nieci.bangor.ac.uk/conf/?q=callforpapers/3.
>
>
>--
>Dr Astrid Ensslin
>Lecturer in New Media
>National Institute for Excellence in the Creative Industries (NIECI)
>Bangor University
>Bangor, Gwynedd,
>LL57 2DG
>UK
>WWW: www.bangor.ac.uk/creative_industries/astrid.php.en

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Nico Carpentier (Phd)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Katholieke Universiteit Brussel - Catholic University of Brussels
Vrijheidslaan 17 - B-1081 Brussel - Belgium
&
Facultés Universitaires Saint-Louis
Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43  - B-1000 Brussel - Belgium
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Sponsored links ;)
----------------------------
NEW BOOKS OUT
Understanding Alternative Media
by Olga Bailey, Bart Cammaerts, Nico Carpentier
(December 2007)
http://mcgraw-hill.co.uk/html/0335222102.html
----------------------------
Participation and Media Production. Critical Reflections on Content Creation.
Edited by Nico Carpentier and Benjamin De Cleen
(January 2008)
<http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm>http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm 

----------------------------
European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------------------
ECREA's Second European Communication Conference
Barcelona, 25-28 November 2008
http://www.ecrea2008barcelona.org/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

----------------
ECREA-Mailing list
----------------
This mailing list is a free service from ECREA.
---
To unsubscribe, send an email message to (majordomo /at/ listserv.vub.ac.be)
with in the body of the message (NOT in the subject): unsubscribe ecrea
---
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Postal address:
ECREA
Université Libre de Bruxelles
c/o Dept. of Information and Communication Sciences
CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50, b-1050 Bruxelles, Belgium
Email: (ecrea /at/ ulb.ac.be)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
----------------