[ecrea] The Twelfth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association - "Space, Place, and the McLuhan Legacy"

Preliminary Call for Papers

The Twelfth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
June 23-26, 2011
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada

University of Alberta

"Space, Place, and the McLuhan Legacy"

Deadline for submissions: November 1, 2010

In 2011, the University of Alberta will host the Herbert Marshall 
McLuhan Edmonton Centenary in celebration of the birth of the 
influential scholar and public figure in Edmonton, Canada, on July 
21, 1911. As part of the centenary festivities, the Media Ecology 
Association will be holding its annual convention in the city of 
Edmonton to provoke academic dialogue and raise public awareness of 
media ecology and the relevance of McLuhan's body of work to today's 
media-rich urban landscapes.

McLuhan gave much attention to the changing environment of the city 
in the wake of technological change. As he stated in an article 
published in Canadian Architect in June 1961,"[t]oday the entire 
human community is being translated into 'auditory space,' or into 
that 'field of simultaneous relations,' by electric broadcasting. It 
behooves the architect and town planner, above all, to know what this 
means" (p. 52).

For McLuhan, the city is a "technological composite," a patchwork of 
media and technologies built up over time and space. In this context, 
new technologies may be imagined as "punctuations" in our historical 
landscape, inaugurating irreversible cultural, social, and economic 
changes. Locating the MEA convention in the heart of Edmonton's urban 
centre will provide an occasion to reflect on the significance of 
this Western Canadian city in shaping McLuhan's early explorations of 
perspective as a fundamental artistic and communicational principle.

The 12th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association invites 
papers, panels, creative projects, and other proposals exploring 
space, place and city in the context of the McLuhan intellectual 
legacy. How might media ecology inform today's architecture and city 
planning? What is the relationship between urban and virtual media 
realities? What is the meaning of the city in the "global village"? 
How do new media technologies intertwine, intersect and reform 
today's urban landscapes?

A suite of themes have been developed for the Centenary, presented in 
the form of five probes or heuristics, which McLuhan often used in 
his teaching and public addresses: Media as extensions of the human 
senses; Media as "punctuations" in history (bias of time, bias of 
space); Figure and ground as a means of achieving a deep 
understanding of changes in perception occasioned by new media; The 
city as a technological composite; The city as classroom.

Convention submissions that reflect on these and related themes drawn 
from McLuhan's legacy of thought are welcome. Submissions on any 
topic of interest to Media Ecology are also encouraged.

Electronic submissions of papers and session proposals are preferred 
and should be sent by November 1, 2010, to Marco Adria <marco.adria 
at ualberta.ca>, Director, Graduate Program in Communications and 
Technology, University of Alberta, 10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB, 
Canada T5J 4P6.

A maximum of two submissions per author will be accepted. Authors who 
wish their papers to be considered for the Top Paper or Top Student 
Paper award must indicate that on their submissions. All submissions 
will be acknowledged. Campus housing will be available. Tours of 
historic sites associated with the McLuhan legacy in Edmonton will be offered.

Inquiries may be addressed to the Convention Coordinators:

     *
       Marco Adria (marco.adria at ualberta.ca) University of Alberta
     *
       Catherine Adams (cathy.adams at ualberta.ca) University of Alberta

Additional details will be forthcoming at http://www.media-ecology.org

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