[ecrea] Communicating Climate Change - A pre-conference to ECC 2012, Istanbul, 23 October

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Pre-Conference: Communicating Climate Change III - The Audience Perspective
(Changing Climate, Changing Media&  Changing Audiences)

Plato College of Higher Education, Istanbul
23 October 2012

Event organized by the Institute of Journalism and Communication
Studies, University of Hamburg (Team: Prof. Dr. Irene Neverla, Dr.
Monika Taddicken&  Shameem Mahmud), hosted by the Plato College of
Higher Education and organized in collaboration with the ECREA thematic
sections Audience and Reception Studies, and Science and Environment
Communication


Call for Papers

Over the past two decades global climate change has emerged as one of
the most intensely researched and discussed environmental and
socio-political issues. Like other disciplines, scholars from social and
behavioural sciences have spent a large amount of time and resources to
understand public perception, attitude and behaviour regarding climate
change and related issues. Multiple communication initiatives have been
undertaken by governments and non-governmental organizations with the
expectation of increasing public awareness, enhancing understanding, and
motivating people for actions towards mitigation and/or adaptation. At
the same time, we have witnessed unprecedented media coverage of the
issue across the world. Broadly speaking, all these factors have
contributed to increasing public awareness and understanding about
climate change.

Nevertheless, it is still unclear what roles the media play in relation
to audiences’ meaning-making and actions with respect to climate change.
Do audiences draw on media representations of climate change problems
and solutions in tackling risks of climate change? Are political actions
on climate change shaped by media coverage? No easy answer is available.
Research findings vary considerably between cultures, context, time,
media coverage, and types of climatic risks, along with other factors.
In recent years, the situation has become more complicated as the
definition of audiences is going through a transformation in a new
communicative landscape, which is largely shaped by the Internet and
mobile technologies. Contemporary audiences are defined as active users
or producers of media contents instead of the ‘passive’ consumers of the
past. They have more channels to access and more platforms to express
ideas and views transcending barriers of time and space. At the same
time, in the developing world we have seen a paradigmatic change in
communication systems in recent years triggered by the immense growth of
broadcast and print media as well as the introduction of new media.
Recent studies of climate change coverage in developing countries have
also shown a trend of increased coverage of the issue. But little is
known about how such coverage relates to people’s understandings and
actions in developing countries, which often are more vulnerable with
respect to the effects of climate change.

It is against this background of changing communicative landscapes that
we propose to re-examine climate change from the perspective of
audiences and media/audience relations in both western and non-western
countries. We expect that this conference will bring scholars from
different scientific disciplines and geographical locations together for
a critical assessment of existing knowledge of relations between climate
change, communication and audiences.

We invite scholarly contributions on the following topics, but other
aspects of the overall conference theme are also welcome:
• Methodological approaches for studying audiences in relation to
climate change within the changing communicative landscape
• Climate change, communication and media: what influences public
perceptions and behaviour?
• Changing climate, changing media and changing audiences
• Public understanding of climate change in western and non-western
countries
• Scientific uncertainty, risk and audience views on climate change
• Climate change, media and politics

Submission of paper proposals
Submit a maximum of 500 words abstract of your research paper as a Word
document file to the e-mail address (ccc3 /at/ uni-hamburg.de)
The last date for proposal submission is 30 April 2012.
Please include a paper title, author(s) names, affiliations, contact
address and e-mail. All paper proposals are subject to a double-blind
peer review process. The language of the pre-conference is English.

Important Dates
Abstract submission opens: 26 March 2012
Deadline for abstract submission: 30 April 2012
Notification of acceptance/rejection: 15 June 2012
Deadline for submission of full papers: 15 September 2012
Pre-Conference: 23 October 2012

Registration for the pre-conference
Further information about the registration will be available by Friday
30 March 2012 at the pre-conference page
http://www.ecrea2012istanbul.eu/pre-conference/communicating-climate-change-three.html

Pre-conference location
Plato College of Higher Education
Ayvansaray Caddesi No 33
Balat, Istanbul

Plato College of Higher Education has campuses in Balat and in Taksim.
Both campuses are located in areas of Istanbul which stand out in terms
of their cultural and social richness. Plato College of Higher Education
is spreading its roots and becoming more institutionalised in the
“street campus” which it is developing in one of the oldest areas of
settlement of the historical peninsula: Balat.

Participants can easily reach all central locations of Istanbul by
public transportation which runs from just outside the entrance of the
campus. Beyoglu/Taksim, which is Istanbul’s most dynamic location in
terms of the cultural, arts and entertainment scene, is only 10 minutes
away from the Balat Campus.

Accommodation
For a selection of recommended hotels in the central area of Taksim
Square, please visit
http://www.ecrea2012istanbul.eu/accommodation.html

Transport
The pre-conference organisers will provide free shuttle service to and
from the pre-conference venue to the main transport hub of Taksim Square.

Further information
If you have any questions regarding your abstract submission,
registration or any other issues related to the pre-conference, please
contact Shameem Mahmud at (shameem.mahmud /at/ uni-hamburg.de)
or visit the pre-conference page at
http://www.ecrea2012istanbul.eu/pre-conference/communicating-climate-change-three.html



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