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

Tue Dec 13 22:49:42 GMT 2011



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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