CALL FOR CHAPTERS
Edited Book by the Audience & Reception Studies Section of ECREA
Abstract submission deadline: July 1, 2009
The 'Social' Media User
European Perspectives on Cultural and Social Scientific Audience Research
Edited by Helena Bilandzic and Geoffroy Patriarche
There is a long tradition of research in both critical/cultural and
social scientific paradigms in communication science that describes
or explains (new) media use as a social activity. For example,
audiences use newspapers to be able to talk about current topics,
watch television to spend time with their families, or use ICTs to
build relationships and form communities. The purpose of this book
is to offer a state-of-the-art review of a variety of contemporary
approaches to the 'social' media user. Submissions will be used to
compose a proposal for an edited book that will be submitted to the
ECREA book series in December 2009. If the proposal is supported by
ECREA, the book will be published as an official ECREA publication
and will receive wide attention by distribution to second year
individual ECREA members, and to the coordinators of associated and
institutional ECREA members..
The European landscape of audience research is very heterogeneous,
including a broad variety of scientific perspectives ranging from
interpretative approaches (that often root in humanities and follow
a rather hermeneutic paradigm) to 'counting' and statistic-based
approaches that try to follow the paradigm of natural sciences
(e.g., media psychology). This book will help to further our
understanding of the existing approaches towards the 'social' media
user - their diversity, their strengths and weaknesses, their shared
assumptions, but also their potential incompatibilities. By focusing
on one specific topic, the book will manifest one of ECREA's basic
principles, which is to emerge as an integrative platform for
European media and communication scholars.
Chapters should focus on one aspect of the 'social' media user and
media use as a social activity - for example, subcultures,
communities, parasocial relationships, actual and constructed
audiences, social motives for media use, or interactions during
media use. The book aims to provide an easy-to-understand systematic
overview of different scientific perspectives; thus, chapters should
elaborate the theoretical background in detail and give a systematic
literature review on the chosen research field. As the book also
aims at illuminating and comparing scientific paradigms in Audience
studies, we ask authors to contextualize their approach in a general
underlying scientific field or paradigm (e.g., cultural studies,
reception research, sociology of ICTs, media psychology). A study
representative of the theory and the field/paradigm should then be
used to provide an example for the approach. Theory and paradigmatic
issues should compose two thirds of the chapter, the exemplary
study one third. Authors should write their chapter in a simple
and comprehensive style to provide the opportunity for a wide
audience (media researchers from different paradigms, students,
practitioners, interested public) to acquaint themselves with the
basic logic of the perspective.
The selection process for contribution will be twofold:
1. Authors submit chapter proposals of approx. 200 words by July 1,
2009. Submissions will be reviewed by the editors according to the
following criteria: (1) scientific quality of the chapter, (2)
relevance and originality of the approach, (3) contribution to
theory, (4) appropriateness of methodology and (5) appropriateness
of chapter for the book. As part of the ECREA series, editors will
also consider ECREA membership, diversity of countries and gender as
well as presence of young scholars among authors as additional
criteria for selection.
2. When selected at the first stage, authors will be invited to
contribute full chapters to the book, pending the decision of the
ECREA board to fund the book proposal. Full chapters will be needed
in autumn 2010.
TIMELINE
July 1, 2009 Deadline for chapter proposals (200 words)
September 15, 2009 Notice of acceptance to authors and invitation to
revise chapter proposals
November 1, 2009 Deadline for revised chapter proposals
December 31, 2009 Submission for consideration to the ECREA book series
March 1, 2010 Notice of acceptance to authors and invitation to
submit full chapters
October 1, 2010 Deadline for full chapters
Dr. Helena Bilandzic
University of Erfurt
Department for Media und Communication
Nordhaeuser Str. 63
99089 Erfurt, Germany
Phone +49 (0)361 / 737-4182
Fax +49 (0)361 / 737-4179
