[ecrea] CFP Deconstructing Media Convergence

DECONSTRUCTING MEDIA CONVERGENCE
http://mediadeconvergence.icts.sbg.ac.at/ (new website)

***Please find a reminder as the submission of abstracts is now 
approaching (May, 1st, 2013)***

The Innovation in Cultural and Creative Institutions (ICCI) Unit of the 
Center for Advanced Studies and Research in Information and 
Communication Technologies & Society (ICT&S Center) led by prof. Josef 
Trappel is organising a conference focussed on the topic ‘Deconstructing 
Media Convergence’ that will take place at the University of Salzburg 
from the 21st to 23rd of November 2013.

CALL FOR PAPER

Until today, the concept of convergence is widely used as a buzzword for 
outlining the impact of digitization. Opposing the idea of convergence 
as a single solution, this workshop seeks to challenge this concept, 
bring together up-to-date research exploring the diversity of current 
developments in media and communications and draw attention to the 
inconsistencies in media convergence discourse. These concern changing 
values, practices, organisational settings and business models of 
cultural and creative industries and other institutions.

Against this background a set of key questions can be raised: What are 
the distinctions that are worth being looked at more closely in media 
and communication convergence research? In what way are services, 
technologies and texts being regrouped within the innovation process? 
How are tendencies of convergence (or de-convergence) expressed in the 
use of media? What are the implications of modularity and mass 
customization in the field of media and communications? What is the 
relationship between technological convergence and the organisational 
design? How do the users cope with the increased complexity that is 
characteristic of a converging (or de-converging) media landscape?

Themes may include, but are not limited to, explorations of the 
following topics:

+ Materializations of convergence/de-convergence in different fields of 
media research and with regard to different technologies like the mobile 
phone, tablets or the networked television

+ Paradigmatic shifts in the conceptualisation of convergence/de-convergence

+ Challenges and implications of convergence/de-convergence for the 
users like the increased demand for  technical know-how and media 
expertise or the differentiation of the domestic media ensemble

+ Meaning production and cultural practices associated with media 
convergence/de-convergence

+ Convergence as rationale of mergers and acquisitions, or 
de-convergence as rationale of spin-offs and split-offs within/between 
media and ICT companies and associations

+ Analysis of increasing complexity of media and ICT ecosystems and 
value chains

+ Cultures of convergence/de-convergence between the online and the 
offline world

Full details of the call can be found on the following webpage:
http://mediadeconvergence.icts.sbg.ac.at/call-for-papers/

The conference is organised in multiple sessions comprising of all the 
participants. The number of participants will be limited to 25.

Since the organising committee aims at using the proceedings of the 
conference for an edited volume of an established communication journal 
(yet to be confirmed) we ask for original, unpublished work on one of 
the themes explicated above. If you have any queries regarding the 
suitability of your potential contribution or any other inquiries, 
please contact the organising committee.

ABSTRACTS of maximum 500 words should be submitted by email to Corinna 
Peil (email: (corinna.peil /at/ sbg.ac.at) <mailto:(corinna.peil /at/ sbg.ac.at)>) and 
Sergio Sparviero (email: (sergio.sparviero /at/ sbg.ac.at) 
<mailto:(sergio.sparviero /at/ sbg.ac.at)>) no later than May the 1st 2013.

Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their proposals by JULY 
the 1st 2013.

Drafts, but full versions of the papers will then be due by October 15th 
2013, and they will be circulated among the participants before the 
conference .

Best Regards,

Sergio Sparviero

PhD. MSc. Lic. Sc. Eco.
Universität Salzburg | Fachbereich Kommunikationswissenschaft
Abteilung Medienpolitik und Medienökonomie
Rudolfskai 42 | 5020 Salzburg |AUSTRIA
Tel: +43 (0) 662 8044 4121
Academia.edu: http://sbg.academia.edu/SergioSparviero
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=41315103
<http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=41315103>