CALL FOR PAPERS
?YOUTH, NEW MEDIA & SOCIAL CHANGE?
Media Annual Conference:
Organised by the School of Social Sciences, Park Campus, University of
Northampton, UK
Date: Saturday 8th May 2010
Venue: LT-C101, University of Northampton, Park Campus, Boughton Green
Road, Northampton NN2 7AL, UK
Why this conference?
This conference gathers academics, journalists, researchers, policy makers
and civil society organisations to discuss youth use of new media and the
implication this has on identity construction, public opinion, citizenship
and social change.
Although their development is a recent phenomenon, new media have not only
opened up new opportunities for journalism but also empowered audiences
and civil society organisations with unprecedented platforms for ?free?
expression and social activism around the world. New technologies are said
to have reinvigorated a sense of a ?transnational public sphere? and
strengthened marginalized communities and provided a platform for
subcultural groups and the voiceless. The possible consequences of such
rapid developments on social and political change are not hard to imagine.
The sweeping victory of US president elect Barak Obama (in the latest
American presidential elections) characterised by the unprecedented
outreach to marginalised communities including the youth through YouTube,
Facebook, and other internet platforms is a case in point.
This conference aims to map out the above mentioned phenomena, focusing on
the role of new media in the perceived social changes. It debates how
audiences, users, civil society organisations, political/social groups and
subcultures have understood and found in these technologies the right
tools and strategies to power their work sustainably.
Conference themes:
This conference will cover (but not necessarily limited to) the following
areas of enquiry:
- Blogging and bloggers as citizen journalists; are bloggers making a
social difference?
- Satellite TV and the internet as cites of resistance/alternative media
or sets of ?censored national enclosures?
-E-campaigning and political/social groups
- How are activists/the youth interacting with platforms like ?YouTube?,
?MySpace?, ?Flicker?, ?Faithtube?, ?Facebook? and ?Blogging? to pursue
their objectives?
- Challenges of the Internet in war zones
- The new media and women empowerment amongst ethnic minorities.
- Youth subcultures and new media, what is going on?
- In the absence of real democracy in some parts of the Arab and Muslim
world is new media creating a new form of social/political capital:
e-democracy?
- What functions are the internet and satellite TV playing in mobilising
public opinion?
- What expectations and perceptions are there regarding changes in
cultural and political values?
Attendance:
Participation in this conference will be open to academics, researchers,
policy makers, government agencies, youth workers, students, parents and
other members of the public.
Fees: £35 waged; £10 non-waged and student
Call for submissions:
Abstracts of no more than 400 words, along with a short bio should be
submitted by the 30th November 2009. Papers should reflect one or more of
the conference themes mentioned above. Particularly welcome are papers
based on empirical work and a clear research method (s). Deadline for full
papers is 10th April 2010.
Selected conference papers will be published in an edited volume.
Contact:
Please send all submissions and enquiries to:
Dr Noureddine Miladi (conference coordinator),
Senior Lecturer in Media & Sociology
School of Social Sciences
University of Northampton
Park Campus
NORTHAMPTON
NN2 7AL
UK
Tel: +44 (0) 1604892104
E-mail: (noureddine.miladi /at/ northampton.ac.uk)
www.northampton.ac.uk
