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[ecrea] Conference Call: ECREA’s 6th European Communication Conference ‘Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures’

Tue Dec 01 09:57:24 GMT 2015



We warmly invite you to submit your abstract to the ECREA, 6th European Communication Conference (ECC) to be held in Prague 9 - 12 November 2016. The overarching conference theme is Mediating (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures.

ECREA in partnership with Charles University in Prague, will organise the 6th European Communication Conference (ECC). The Conference, due to take place in Prague from 9 to 12 November 2016, has chosen as its overarching theme ‘Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures’. The organisers call for proposals in all fields of communication and media studies, but particularly invite conceptual, empirical, and methodological proposals on mediated memory cultures and working through discursive dislocations and cultural traumas intrinsic to (late) modernity, that link the general conference theme to the fields pertinent to each ECREA section.


Conference theme: ‘Mediated (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures’

Discontinuity is the far side of change. Late modernity – as the unstoppable flow of permanent changes – is haunted by the disparity of its various histories, geographies, ontologies and technologies. How are media and communication practices engaged in communicating across these divides? The theme heralding European Communication Conference 2016 derives from the political history of the post-socialist region of which Prague as the conference host is a symbolic memento. After the collapse of communist totalitarianism, the countries in post-socialist Europe have been undergoing a crisis of continuity in the realms of political values, historical consciousness, moral sense of the self and the memory of the past.

The conference theme, however, reaches far beyond the post-totalitarian context and encourages its participants to reflect upon the question of how media and communication practices are involved in communicating over many other dislocations in political, cultural, temporal or spatial realms in all European countries. Acceleration in all aspects of social life generates pasts we cannot return to, territories we cannot access and selves we do not recognize any more. Are media capable of navigating through the related feelings of nostalgia, cultural trauma, guilt, shame or (be)longing? Does communication help to make sense of them?

Can a sense of home be mediated for those who are expelled from their countries or displaced by war, the paramount discontinuity? How is communication entangled in commemoration and remembering? What are the communicative means of identity building in the age of digitised archives which are not static storehouses of memories? Should we consider the media as an actor in economic discontinuities such as crisis and recession?

We cordially invite media and communication scholars to submit papers addressing these questions – together with other ramifications of the conference theme – and to share their ideas with the wide community of colleagues from Europe and beyond.


Submission and deadline

Proposals for individual papers, panels, and posters can be submitted to one of the 21 ECREA sections through the ECC conference website (http://www.ecrea2016prague.eu) from 1 December 2015 to 29 February 2016. Please see section descriptions and calls below. For section overviews, please see http://www.ecrea.eu/divisions/section.

Abstracts should be written in English and contain a clear outline of the argument, the theoretical framework, and, where applicable, methodology and results. The maximum length of individual abstracts is 500 words. Panel proposals, which should consist of five individual contributions, combine a panel rationale with five panel paper abstracts, each of which shall be a maximum length of 500 words.

Participants may submit more than one proposal, but only one paper or poster by the same presenting author will be accepted. Participants can still present in one extra session as second (or third, etc.) author of other papers or posters and can still act as chair or respondent of a panel.. All proposals should be submitted through the conference website from 1 December 2015 to 29 February 2016. Early submission is strongly encouraged. Please note that this submission deadline will not be extended. Abstracts will be published in a PDF Abstract Book. Full papers (optional) will be published via the conference submission system and available to the registered attendants after logging into the system.


Timeline
Submission of paper and panel abstracts and posters: 29 February 2016
Notification of Acceptance: 30 April 2016
End of Early Bird Registration Fee: 31 August 2016
Presenters’ registration deadline: 1 October 2016
Deadline for submission of the full papers (optional): 15 October 2016

We are looking forward to your contribution. Should you have any questions do not hesitate to contact the ECREA 2016 Conference Secretariat at (abstracts /at/ ecrea2016prague.eu).


Kind regards,

Irena Reifová (Chair of the Local Organising Committee)
Markéta Štechová (General Coordinator of the Local Organising Committee)

E-mail Contact: (info /at/ ecrea2016prague.eu)

***

Section descriptions and calls

Audience and reception studies
The Audience and Reception Studies section invites contributions that focus on how people use and make sense of old and new media and with what consequences for individuals, groups, communities and societies. The section welcomes various approaches (theoretical/critical works, empirical studies, methodological discussions) and methods (quantitative or qualitative research, or both), and encourages submissions that cross disciplines (e.g. social sciences, political sciences, education sciences, humanities and arts, psychology) and traditional boundaries (e.g. between old and new media, between mass and group communication, between content/production and audience/ reception/effects).

Communication and democracy
The Communication and Democracy section invites you to send in abstracts for papers and panel proposals focusing on the relationship between media, communication and democracy. Democracy is defined here in a broad sense. It is therefore not merely limited to institutional politics and practices, and papers and panels on non-institutional democratic practices (including social movements and NGOs) are also encouraged. Equally, democracy does not only refer to (Western) models of liberal democracy, and ‘media and communications’ relates to both more traditional (mass) media as well as to the internet and newer (digital) platforms, such as social media. The theme for the 2016 conference in Prague is "Mediating (Dis)Continuities: Contesting Pasts, Presents and Futures", but the section also invites papers outside of this general theme. Abstracts and panel proposals should ideally address one of these sub-themes: Social movement/radical/alternative media, Activism and media, Media participation, Civic resilience in times of crisis, Everyday life and civic culture, Media and struggles over independence and recognition, Organising (for) political Agency, The political economy of participatory media, Social movements and political subjectivities, Political agency and civic cultures. The Section encourages a non-media centric approach and welcomes contributions from young scholars.

Communication history
The Communication History section provides a forum for scholars who approach communication with a historical perspective. The section invites contributions dealing with a) the history of socially relevant and mass communication (e.g., the history of media production and institutions, history of journalism, public relations and advertising, new media histories, historical audiences); as well as the history of communication in general (e.g., history of interpersonal or group communication);
b) memory studies (e.g., mass media and social memory);
c) the history of ideas related to the field of communication (this includes not only the history of theories concerning public or mediated communication and the history of communication as a scientific field, but also the methodology and theory of communication history).

Communication law and policy
The Communication Law and Policy section provides a forum for the debate and analysis of past and current national and EU legal, regulatory and policy directions in the field of European media and communication. The field is interpreted broadly to include political, social, cultural, anthropological and economic questions. The section invites contributions (proposals for papers, posters or panels) in any area of (broadly understood) European media and communication law, regulation and policy, including historical, comparative and philosophical approaches to this domain. We welcome critical methodologies and analyses, as well as discussions on new ways of thinking about policy and law in the media, communication and cultural industries. We also welcome empirical studies of policy or the policy making process as well as evidence aimed at contributing to debates on current policy issues, especially those that use interdisciplinary approaches and push the boundaries of established work.

Crisis communication
The Crisis Communication Section invites contributions that focus on communication in the context of crises including precrisis, crisis, and postcrisis stages. This also includes abstracts and panel proposals on risk communication as well as a broad range of crisis types such as organizational crisis, natural disasters, terrorism attacks, war, public health crisis, political crisis, etc. The section invites contributions that analyse and discuss the theoretical, methodological, and practical implications of crises in domestic as well as international contexts. We explicitly invite scholars from different disciplinary backgrounds exploring risk and crisis communication in different fields such as politics, business, media, and civil society from different disciplinary angles (e.g., journalism, public relations, organizational communication, audience research, media psychology, political communication, management, health communication, and international/intercultural communication).
All theoretical lenses and methodological approaches are welcome.

Diaspora, migration and the media
Transnational and diasporic communications have for decades posed a number of theoretical and methodological challenges for European communication research, and the integration of digital media to these mediascapes has added further complexity to the field. The section invites and encourages theoretical and empirical explorations of European communications and diversity from across Europe and beyond. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and innovative studies in all areas of media and communication research, and focusing on transnational media formations and practices, migration and the media worlds of people who migrate, race, racism and antiracism in media practice, the politics of difference and identity in an era of media participation, media in urban spaces and convivial cultures.

Digital culture and communication
The Digital Culture and Communication section aims at sharing and developing research connected with the European context in the emergent field of digital media, culture transformations, social change and innovation. We welcome work that crosses disciplines and that operates at the boundaries of what might generally be allowed to constitute media/communication systems. The section actively seeks both empirically grounded and theoretical critical work. It therefore welcomes debates, approaches and frameworks that question the general specificity of 'the digital' and/or uses 'the digital' to rethink existing media and communication theories as well as advances in digital research methods.

Digital games research
The Digital Games Research section invites contributions dealing with digital games as cultural objects and digital gaming as a social practice and related topics. Particular interest goes to understanding the cultural, psychological and sociological implications of digital gaming as a pastime and of digital games as cultural objects and mass-market products. Thereby we employ an inclusive definition of digital games as any game played on any digital device and explicitly do not limit the scope for submissions in view of the relative youth of the domain within the field of communication studies and the dynamic nature of the field. Moreover, we welcome contributions dealing with topics traditionally associated with specific subfields such as communication, but also humanities, media psychology, education science, economics and others. Finally, we deliberately aim for both qualitative and quantitative work in the belief that both deserve equal attention and are able to reinforce one
another.

Film studies
Ranging from early cinema experiences in European metropolises to contemporary blockbusters and multiplexes, film has always been at the forefront of European popular culture and also a field of vital artistic creation. The Film Studies section invites contributions that deal with film from a broad variety of perspectives: film as cultural artefact and commercial product, as embodied and social experience, as symbolic field of cultural production, and as a mediating technology. We strive towards methodological and theoretical engagement in studies of both historical and contemporary cinema. Thus, cultural studies perspectives, historical and theoretical approaches, textual as well as institutional analysis, and audience research all find their place within the Film Studies section.

Gender and communication
The Gender and Communication section invites empirical and/or theoretical contributions to the field of communication with a specific interest in gender and its intersections. Gender is conceptualised in a broad sense, aiming for inclusivity and multivocality within the field. Contributions can therefore address gender or the intersecting of gender-related issues with concepts such as ethnicity, identity politics, age, or queer studies. As with gender, the concept of media is equally open. Contributions might therefore adopt an interdisciplinary approach, for example using insights from feminist media studies and popular culture studies -- or posing philosophical questions. Aiming to bridge the gap between communication and gender studies, this section welcomes approaches that combine a focus on gender with media research, namely media production, media analysis (diverse approaches) and media uses and/or reception studies.

International and intercultural communication
The International and Intercultural Communication section welcomes contributions that explore different forms of cross-border dialogue, exchange and flows between and/or within nations, regions, cultures, communities and individuals. We explicitly define our section's field of interest very broadly by referring to all types of cross-border, transnational or global communication as we focus on mediated and (inter)personal forms of communication and do so from the perspective of production, distribution, content and reception. The section also invites papers on the social, economic, political and cultural characteristics and consequences of globalization, power imbalances and international and intercultural communication processes.

Interpersonal communication and social interaction
The Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction section welcomes contributions that focus on the study of human interaction and human communicative behaviour. The core is constituted of contacts and bonds between people, whether in private or public contexts, whether face-to-face or through various communication technologies. The research fields and theory development areas of interpersonal communication and social interaction are wide-ranging. They include interpersonal relationships, relationship formation, development and termination, group and team communication, conversational organisation, verbal and nonverbal communication, public speaking, radio and television performance, rhetoric, argumentation, persuasion and mutual influence, communicative competence and interpersonal skills, ethnography of speaking, and other related approaches to human social interaction. All kinds of contexts are welcome (e.g., family, work, instructional, political, health), as are all
methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, mixed).

Journalism studies
The Journalism Studies section is concerned with cultural, political, economic, social and professional aspects of journalism and news work. The section accordingly invites for consideration papers of high quality across the range of journalism studies, focussing on occupational, participatory, regulatory, ethical, social, technological, political, commercial, cultural, educational, historical and other dimensions, with particular reference to the European and/or global context.

Media industries and cultural production
Media industries and cultural production Section welcomes panels and papers on all aspects of research on media and cultural production from anyone with an interest in these areas, regardless of rank or experience. The definition of cultural production we adopt includes ‘industrial’ forms, but also amateur and informal ones too. Panels and papers can be contemporary and/or historical, theoretical and/or empirical. We welcome contributions dealing with any medium or set of media, including web design, social media, and internet content production; entertainment fields such as film, music and various popular broadcasting genres, and ‘informational’ areas such as journalism, documentary and current affairs. We also welcome submissions about ‘non-media’ forms of cultural production such as theatre, dance, music, fine art. Media and cultural labour are key topics within the domain of the section, as are studies of how industries and producers seek to ‘know’ their audiences. Papers and panels that address notions of change and continuity, in line with the overall conference theme, are of course welcome – but other submissions are very welcome too.

Mediatization
Mediatization may be understood both as a new agenda within media and communication studies and as a broad theoretical framework to understand the role of the media in culture and society. As an agenda it is concerned with the empirical study of the long-term processes where media change have consequences for social and cultural change and how these changes may provide new conditions for communication and social interaction in contemporary culture and society. As a theoretical framework it tries to develop concepts, models and methods to understand these interrelationships based on a constructive dialogue with existing theories of media and communication. We invite paper, panel and poster proposals on both theoretical and empirical questions. Proposals may for instance address: historical as well as contemporary aspects of mediatization, critical perspectives on interrelationships between communicative, social and cultural change, and the interplay between mediatization and other
general processes such as globalization and personalization.

Organisational and strategic communication
The section for Organizational and Strategic Communication promotes an active and critical dialogue among scholars with the aim of consolidating an interdisciplinary field which includes public relations, corporate communication, advertising, marketing, political communication, organizational communication and other specialized communication areas. The overall objective of the section is to enhance European research within the field of organizational and strategic communication by mapping out and theorising the conceptual and methodological background of contemporary practice. Therefore, the participation rules of the section allow contributions from researchers, professors, masters and doctoral students, as well as from practitioners in relevant fields.

Philosophy of communication
The Philosophy of Communication section invites papers and panel proposals that deal with fundamental philosophical and theoretical issues in communication inquiry and practice, including questions of theory formation and methodology, old and new paradigms of communication research, key concepts in media and communication studies, new approaches to media philosophy, the contribution of specific philosophers to the field, epistemological and ethical problems of communication and media, and the role of the media in human existence. The section welcomes contributions from philosophers and communication scholars representing all philosophical and communication-theoretical perspectives and schools.

Political communication
The Political Communication section invites empirical and/or theoretical contributions on the changing nature of the relationship between citizens, political actors and the media, old and new. We welcome papers that address issues such as: the implications of mediated and mediatized politics on the quality of modern democracy; the European political communication deficit; the link between political communication and media policy, new journalistic practices, but also rising antagonistic civic communicative inputs, practices and processes of the mediation and mediatization of politics. Similarly, we invite papers on communication strategies and news management of political elites; campaign communication; citizenship and public sphere; media effects on political orientations and participation; as well as interpersonal and online political communication. Papers that take a comparative view on political communication in Europe are very welcome. The section aims to bring together, and encourage critical and interdisciplinary approaches while creating dialogue between a broad diversity of methodological and theoretical approaches.

Radio research
Modern (dis)continuities have been mediated mainly by image-based productions. Sound risks therefore to be discontinued itself as a relevant and meaningful language to contest pasts, presents and futures. Aware of the necessity to recentre some attention on the acoustic experience, Radio Research Section welcomes proposals focused not only on radio productions but more widely on sound-based media content. In tune with the conference theme, the section invites researchers to submit proposals discussing how sound may shape the interpretation of social and cultural life. Thus, papers could be situated in the following fields as they relate to radio and audio media: audience studies; community radio; audio content (programming and genre); audio narratives and acoustic language; radio identities; web and mobile platform content; digitisation; research methodologies; social networking and user-generated radio; innovation; sound art. Whole panel proposals are also welcome, although there
will inevitably be pressure on the available timeslots in the programme.

Science and environment communication
The 21st century faces unprecedented challenges in the environment and science fields. The Science and Environment Communication section seeks to foster a strong, reflexive and dynamic research network and welcomes work that crosses a range of disciplinary and methodological boundaries. Examples of topic areas include - but are far from restricted to: media representations of science and the environment; political and commercial discourse on the environment; dialogic, participatory approaches to the communication of research-based knowledge; communication, democracy and research governance; public engagement with science and the environment.

Television studies
The Television Studies section aims to facilitate strong cooperation for European research and education in the field of television studies. In the face of technological and cultural changes to television 'as we know it', the section provides a network for TV researchers from a wide range of disciplines focussing on all aspects of television, both addressing the 'post-broadcast era' and television's history and multiple futures. The phenomenon of television in its broadest sense is the topic of the section: TV as programme, TV as aesthetic form, TV as lived experience, TV as cultural and economic institution, TV as part of legal and political actions, TV as symbolic field of cultural production, TV as popular entertainment, TV as media technology, TV as commodity, TV as part of convergence culture, etc. The section welcomes various approaches (theoretical, analytical, historical, empirical, critical, methodological) and encourages inter- and transdisciplinary work on television. For this conference, we would particularly but not only like to hear from researchers working on television as a medium of transition, on continuities and disruptions in television history, on changes in audience behaviour and the social relevance of television. All contributions should look at television in the broadest sense like mentioned above.





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