[ecrea] call for papers merzWissenschaft 2017

I’d like to call your attention for the following call for papers for 
merzWissenschaft which is the scientific edition of the journal merz – 
media and education (http://www.merz-zeitschrift.de/?MAIN_ID=3&NAV_ID=7).

We’re looking forward to many interesting articles.

Best regards,
Susanne Eggert

//

/merzWissenschaft /| medien + erziehung

call for papers 2017

*Media Education between Digital Humanities and Subject Orientation*

Responsible Editors: Prof. Dr. Heidrun Allert (Kiel University) and the 
/merzWissenschaft /editorial team (JFF)

//

/merzWissenschaft /2017 is working to stimulate scientific reflection on 
the challenges and consequences associated with the application of 
computer-based procedures in social science research and to anchor such 
reflection in media-educational discourse. The objective is to formulate 
a position regarding the application of digital procedures in scientific 
activities and in doing so to address the question of how digital and 
computer-based media-educational research is, can be and should be. The 
spectrum to be considered ranges from new data collection methods (e. g. 
integrated in apps) to the use of Big Data Analytics to evaluate large 
and small and possibly personalized data inventories in order to derive 
findings, up to and including the question of knowledge exchange and 
availability. The focus is on both original media-educational research 
and research in the relevant involved disciplines (Communication 
Sciences, Education, Sociology, Psychology, Information Science, etc.).

According to Schrape (2016) the term 'Big Data' refers generally to 
projected expectations of both utopias and dystopias. Given this tension 
between expectation and apprehension, existing publications in the field 
of media education are concerned primarily with the question of what 
conclusions are to be drawn for media-educational practice.

However, Big Data Analytics are being attributed a new epistemological 
access to social process. It is postulated that Data Mining approaches 
are able to represent and analyze societal processes objectively and 
independent of theoretical presuppositions, and that these approaches 
can thus be considered superior to established methods of social science 
research. This highlights the differences between 'data-driven' and 
'theory-driven' scientific approaches, also marking a threshold beyond 
which digital processes are not solely aids or tools for scientific 
activities. The question is much more to what extent these procedures 
conflict with central principles of media-educational research such as 
the subject orientation and unique adequacy of data collection methods. 
Correspondingly, media education as a scientific discipline must 
confront such approaches in a critical-reflective manner in order to 
confirm its theoretical and methodological repertoire and when necessary 
to adopt data-driven approaches or to reject them with sufficient 
justification.

Such critical reflection is a necessary concern when investigating the 
extent to which central concepts of formulating media-educational theory 
(e. g. normative orientation towards subject self-determination) are 
compatible with the implications of the digital procedures and/or where 
conflicts occur in this context. Here an important foundation is the 
encounter with human images and the subjectivization processes in the 
relationships between people, digital (media) systems and institutions 
as well as companies. The opposing poles of this current discourse are 
evident on the one hand in the prospect of computer-assisted humans as 
human-machine hybrids (or cyborgs), in which the technologies employed 
expand the abilities of the human to act. Such concepts contrast with 
theoretical traditions that regard computerized evaluation and 
decision-making procedures as limiting the human being's scope of 
action. Between these poles is the position of the co-constitutive 
intermeshing of humans and technology, where the qualities of both 
humans and technologies are emergent in practice. In this view, the 
ability to act is not (only) expanded, but rather qualitatively 
transformed. Thus representation of and reflection on the question of 
which theoretical approaches and basic assumptions are to be employed is 
an absolute prerequisite for the determination of a media-educational 
position. This is in particular the case since the platforms and 
technologies themselves already create or contribute to the creation of 
reality and are never neutral with respect to the objects relevant for 
media-educational research. This also has an impact on the associated 
discussion and helps determine which questions and processes are at the 
focus of media-educational observations.

At the same time the question arises in media-educational research as to 
who has access to relevant data inventories and to what extent 
independent research is possible using such data, since precisely that 
data generated in day-to-day media activity is not freely accessible 
(for good reason). Nevertheless digital service providers can accumulate 
an extensive amount of data that they can then evaluate using the 
appropriate methods. The inherent questions of disparate conditions and 
prerequisites for commercial and academic research require particular 
reflection and critical consideration in the societally relevant area of 
media education and media education.

In addition to the application areas and key questions already 
mentioned, a widely diverse range of approaches to integrating digital 
technologies in scientific activities is currently emerging under the 
label of Digital Humanities. Papers dealing with this type of approach, 
addressing the question of how digital (media-educational) research is, 
can or should be, are of interest.

/merzWissenschaft /2017 would like to call for theoretical or empirical 
articles that address the topic areas outlined above from the point of 
view of social science research and which can thus be instructive for 
media education. Here topics may cover the following possible areas:

·What challenges are associated with media-educational issues in 
scientific activities with respect to digitalization?

·What theoretical and normative questions arise in connection with the 
relationships among humans – media – society with respect to 
digitalization as a basis for media-educational research and practice?

·How does the current development of continuing digitalization impact 
the concept of being human in media-educational approaches?

·What new digital practices and methods are developing in 
media-educational research and/or in related disciplines? How are these 
related to central premises of the formation of media-educational theory 
such as orientation of actions, subject orientation, etc.? How are they 
to be regarded in terms of normative concepts such as media literacy and 
media education?

·What current empirical findings have already been made through the 
novel use of digital technologies in media-educational research and/or 
in related scientific areas?

·What consequences are to be expected from the scientific encounter with 
the relationships among humans – digital media – society for the 
development of media-educational models?

/merzWissenschaft /provides a forum advancing scientific analysis in 
media education and promoting progress in the theoretical foundation of 
the discipline. In this capacity /merzWissenschaft/ is calling for 
qualified papers from various relevant disciplines for the continuing 
development of expert media-educational discussions.

Of interest are original papers:

·With an empirical or theoretical foundation

·That present new findings, aspects or approaches to the topic

·That are also explicitly related to one of the subareas or topics 
outlined above or that explore a separate topic within the scope of the 
overall context of the Call.

Abstracts with a maximum length of 6,000 characters (including blank 
spaces) can be submitted to the /merz/- editorial team ((merz /at/ jff.de)) 
until no later than February 13, 2017. Submissions should follow the 
/merzWissenschaft /layout specifications, available at 
www.merz-zeitschrift.de (at merz >für autoren und autorinnen > style 
guide merz). Please contact Susanne Eggert, tel. +49 89 68 989 152, 
e-mail: (susanne.eggert /at/ jff.de) with any questions.

**

*Summary of Deadlines*

February 13, 2017: Submission of abstracts to (merz /at/ jff.de)

March 10, 2017: Final decision on acceptance/rejection of the abstracts

June 12, 2017: Submission of papers

June 12 to July 24, 2017: Assessment phase

August/September 2017: Revision phase (with multiple cycles, when 
appropriate)



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