[ecrea] ECREA Communication History

   Call for Papers: “History of the Media in Transition Periods”
   4-6 September 2013
   Lisbon, Catholic University of Portugal

   Convergence and digitalization have become buzz-words employed to
   demonstrate how technological change has impacted on the media and
   is reconfiguring today’s media systems. Accordingly, media research
   in the last decade has centered itself on the contemporary changes
   operated on and by the new media sometimes over-estimating the
   transitions that are taking place and not acknowledging common
   patterns that can be found between the emergence of new media and
   the appearance of other means of communication in previous decades.
   In fact, instead of being something new brought by digitalization,
   moments of technological transition can easily be found in many
   historical periods namely throughout the 20th century. While today
   the internet and new media are inducing new patters of media
   consumption, back in the 1920s radio broadcasting facilitated change
   in everyday life by bringing entertainment into the homes while in
   the 1950s television also enabled new patterns of media consumption
   inside the home.
   The increased interest in understanding today’s new media can be
   explained by the seductive power of “the new” which leads scholars
   to interpret contemporary transitions as being the most profound in
   history. For example, it is now frequently claimed that new media
   play a crucial role in changing social habits, economic structures
   and even political regimes.  Whatever about the past, in today’s
   culture there is increasing concern and attention focused on the
   media’s active role in transition periods, i.e. during periods of
   discontinuity. When thinking about economic or political crisis, or
   even in war periods or regime changes, the media have been active
   players in mediating the new reality and promoting the discussion on
   the public sphere besides being used as instruments of cultural
   diplomacy.
   Having this background in mind, the ECREA Communication History
   Section intends to discuss the role of the media in transition
   periods either these are technological, political, economic, social
   or cultural transitions. Thus, the Section invites contributions
   from scholars who are interested in topics related to this theme and
   who can present papers and engage in the discussion at its 2013
   workshop in Lisbon that with be organized in collaboration with the
   research line “Media, Technology, Contexts” of the Research Centre
   for Communication and Culture. Extended abstracts (500 words max.),
   for a 15 minute presentation, can be submitted by e-mail to:
   (ecreacomhistory /at/ gmail.com) <mailto:(ecreacomhistory /at/ gmail.com)> until
   17 March 2013, focusing (but not limited to) the following topics:

   •       Media and technological change
   •       The emergence of new media (popular press, film, radio,
            television, internet)
   •       The role of the media in regime transitions or political
            change (emergence of authoritarian regimes,
            implementation of democracy, political shifts inside a
            particular regime)
   •       The media in periods of uncertainty (economic
            transitions, social upraises, war periods)
   •       Past economic crisis and their impact on media and
            journalism
   •       Media and the creation or alteration of social habits
   •       Changes in audience behavior and consumer/audience
            identities
   •       Mass Communication in the two World Wars or in the Inter-
            War Crises (Russian Revolution and Rise of Fascist and
            National Socialist Regimes)
   •       The role of the media in the Cold War
   •       Media change in specific European 'regions' or geo-
            political formations
   •       Theories and conceptualizations of media change in
            transition periods
   •       To what extent is historical understanding and
            explanation becoming increasingly techno-centric or media-
            centric?

   The ECREA Communication History Section is also planning to publish
   a handbook with the aim of providing a coherent set of contributions
   which yield a well-structured and relevant overview of European mass
   media history and so provide a platform for more transnational
   perspectives on relevant historical developments. The he workshop in
   Lisbon will also provide an opportunity to advance the Section's
   interests and plans for handbooks and other texts related to
   overviews of European media and communication history.

   All abstracts submitted will be subject to peer-review. Authors will
   be notified by 14 April 2013. Both ECREA members and non-members can
   submit extended abstracts to the workshop.