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[ecrea] Call for papers - Children cultures and Media Cultures

Sat Dec 01 16:05:39 GMT 2012




CALL FOR PAPERS



Children Cultures and Media Cultures

Special issue of Communication Management Quarterly, CM – C(asopis za Upravljanje

Komuniciranjem

http://www.fpn.bg.ac.rs/2011/10/24/cm-casopis-za-upravljanje-komuniciranjem-2/



Guest editors: Piermarco Aroldi and Cristina Ponte

COST Action IS0906, “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies”

Working Group 4 - Audience Transformation and Social Integration



1.      Main topic

In the changing landscape of (old and new) media and their audiences, convergence between children's and media cultures is an increasing field of study. Among other topics, children and young people are facing the expansion of digital TV channels addressed to kids and teens; a growing marketing investments associated to new forms of publicity in new platforms, such as the SNS sites or the mobile communication; new social practices because of changing family structure and everyday rhythms, making their lives much more institutionalised, more individualized and lived in a culture dominated by individualized and mobile media than past generations, to name but a few challenges. This special issue aims to deepen our knowledge about the relation between children cultures and media cultures as a privileged area of innovation, where a plurality of actors and stakeholders (children, parents, educators, producers, marketers, regulators, policy makers and, last but not least, scholars) constantly negotiate about the meaning of childhood itself in our globalizing societies.

This main topic can be addressed by different points of view, such as:



2.      Sub topics

· Children as cross-media users: diffusion of digital devices in the everyday life, and convergence of media brands and characters addressed to kids and teens in a cross-platform perspective, made the children a very peculiar audience, accustomed to engage with their preferred contents through a wide set of channels, technologies, formats and rituals. Both offering strategies by the producers and consumption habits by the publics can be tackled to highlight new forms of cross-media usage and new configurations of children as audience/users.

· Parental mediation and family negotiation: notwithstanding the rising of mobile connectivity and out-of-home communication, family still stands as an environment affecting both media practices and interpretations developed by the children; at the same time, structural change in the household and families, alongside with cultural change, are reconfiguring values and strategies of parental mediation. What’s new about family negotiation of media technologies and contents?

· Peer cultures and taste cultures: children are engaged in negotiating meanings and values in their peer groups, developing peculiar constellations of tastes and preferences and producing their own cultures. How do media contents enter the peer groups and contribute to shape their taste cultures? And, on the other hand, how does peer groups belonging contribute in orienting media taste and habits?

· Agency and participation: children are social actors as well as adults are; but at what extent media cultures allow – or claim for – their agency and participation? After the “media savvy” or the “digital native” kids, what kind of children audiences are the scholars approaching? What models of “active publics” are the producers developing in the children media?

· Media cultures, consumer cultures and the children: convergence between media cultures and consumer cultures is visible in such process as merchandising, where a mesh up of media texts and promotional gadgets gathers a line of commodities under one coherent concept, or product placement as a strategy of positioning a branded product within a desirable media context, trying to strengthen its image. This kind of convergence, very common in children media, rises a lot of questions about children consumptions and exploitation. How to answer them?

· Media and play: media contents and platforms largely entered the realm of children play, so to make hard to distinguish them: on the one side, videogames and consoles colonized everyday life spaces and times, often incorporating mobile and domestic screens; on the other side, toys and games refer to or involve characters and narratives derived from media blockbusters. What is the media role in driving the playing activity? How do they affect social, cognitive and identity processes connected with playing?

· Media and socialization: media cultures intertwine socialization, contributing to shape personal identity and social roles acquisition, and to define what is (or not) to be accepted as “normal” in a society; gender and age roles, moral values, lifestyles and behaviours are reproduced, confirmed and contested in the symbolic space of cultural productions, especially when addressed to children. What are the trends in media culture? And in the academic approach to this topic? What do we know about some specific issues such as gender roles, “sentimental education”, or pro-social attitudes? And what about some implications with children wellbeing and health?

· Regulation and provisions: in the last 15 years, media regulators and producers contributed in establishing a set of normative frameworks and co-regulation systems to avoid that children could be jeopardized by inappropriate contents or contacts; public and private institutions stimulated content providers to a suitable availability and a better quality in their media production and broadcasting addressed to children. Parents associations and children advocacy groups often discussed this kind of statements. What is the “state of the art” in the permanent negotiation between these different stakeholders about children and media?

· Globalization and glocalisation: we are facing globalization of both media and societies: media contents for children are more and more globalized and marketed on a global scale, and new generations are more likely to be “citizens of the globe”. What kind of relations between these processes and the claim for local cultural identities?





Manuscript submission guidelines



Length and font: The articles should be prepared in Microsoft Word programme, page format: A4; font: Times New Roman 11; double line spacing. Original articles should not exceed 8 000 words.





3.      Important dates

Submission of long abstracts (600-800 words): January, 14, 2013

Notification of the accepted proposals: February, 1, 2013

Full manuscript submission: April 29, 2013

Editorial decision of acceptance/refusal: June 30, 2013

Final version: September 30, 2013

Estimated date for publication: December 2013



4.      Contact information

Please send your proposal by email to the guest editors:

Piermarco Aroldi: (piermarco.aroldi /at/ unicatt.it)

Cristina Ponte: (cristina.ponte /at/ fcsh.unl.pt)







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