[ecrea] CFP: Convergence, Engagement and Power: Digital convergence and the challenge to global hegemony

Convergence, Engagement and Power: Digital convergence and the challenge to global hegemony.

24-25 May 2012

The 6th Annual PhD Conference
at the Institute of Communication Studies
University of Leeds

Call for Papers

> From Iran to China, Cairo to Oakland, Chechnya to Tunisia, emergent technol=
ogies are playing critical roles in the emergence, sustenance, and viabilit=
y of populist upheavals against autocratic and despotic authorities and ins=
titutions.  Empowered by the prosthetics of advanced technical devices, the=
 other '99%' appear to have broken the monopolistic access to creating and =
disseminating information, ideas and political expression. As such, the aut=
hority, legitimacy, and hegemony of traditional elites seem to be challenge=
d.

Focusing on the role of technology, these events are visibly mediated by po=
pular social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook, and blogs. These inc=
redibly popular new forms of social media permeate every aspect of everyday=
 life, revivifying the possibility of a more democratic discourse. At the s=
ame time, the innovation of these technologies originates in a global hegem=
onic system which retains their ultimate ownership in and through existing =
mass media and telecommunications conglomerates. Amidst this hybridity, the=
re is a multifaceted and multi-layered convergence which is influencing the=
 ways old and new media are produced. This begs the question of how, and to=
 what extent, people, through their engagement with this technological and =
cultural convergence, are really influencing or altering political, corpora=
te, and social power structures. Optimistic expectations and pessimistic di=
sdain are polarizing the debate. Hence, this conference poses the question;=
 to what extent are engagements with convergent media challenging or influe=
ncing hegemonies in the digital age?

In the light of these technological, cultural, social and political events,=
 we invite research students from any related discipline to submit their pa=
pers to the 6th Annual PhD Conference at the Institute of Communications St=
udies at the University of Leeds. This international conference aims at fos=
tering debate among graduate students, along with keynote addresses and pra=
ctical workshops.

Submissions related (but not limited) to the following questions are warmly=
 welcomed:

To what extent has media convergence changed the concept or perception of p=
olitical and/or economic power?
- Who now holds power?
- To what extent is information or knowledge power?
In what ways are social structures changing?
- Is technological change facilitating social change?
- How are the current dimensions of power organised: horizontal, vertical, =
or rhizomatic?
- Other dimensions of power?
Is there a relationship between convergence and culture?
- How does convergence relate to cultural identity?
- Will the next war be cultural?
- Is convergence ethnocentric/anthropocentric? Is it creating a new unseen =
digital divide?
How does media convergence affect power structures?
- Bottom up versus top down: is a reassessment needed?
- When convergence occurs, who balances power?
- Has the power balance between human and technology changed?
- Who owns - or who should own - symbolic texts in new media?

Please email a 300 word abstract plus institutional affiliation and short b=
io to the following email address by February 28, 2011 (earlier submissions=
 welcome!)
(ics-pg-conference /at/ leeds.ac.uk)<mailto:(ics-pg-conference /at/ leeds.ac.uk)>

Abstracts and papers are submitted to peer-review.

Important Dates:

Abstracts Submission
28/02/2012

Author Notification of Abstracts accepted
31/03/2012

Conference Date
24-25/05/2011

----

Christiaan M. De Beukelaer
Conference Chair

On behalf of the Organizing Committee
ICS Postgraduate Conference 2012
24-25 May 2012
Institute of Communications Studies
<http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/>University of Leeds, UK


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