[ecrea] cfp - 2nd Futures of Media Conference: Shifting Spheres - The Social Impact of Digital Media

*Call For Papers:*

*2nd Futures of Media Conference: Shifting Spheres - The Social Impact 
of Digital Media, **15^th  – 16^th  November 2018**, Kuala Lumpur*

After the successful *Futures of Media Conference* last year, we are 
happy to announce the 2018 Futures of Media Conference with the title: 
*The Social Impact of Digital Media.*

Much points to the fact that we are living in an age of all-encompassing 
structural and epochal social change today.And even if this change fails 
to materialise, it is possible to observe, at least, that the entire 
world is expecting this epochal transformation. The ‘new media’ are 
being held responsible for the change – albeit not exclusively but as 
one of the most important causes. By way of proof of this currently 
unfolding change, observers like to point to an area of crucial 
importance for the self-conception of democracies – the so-called 
‘public sphere’.This sphere, which Jürgen Habermas defined in /The 
Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere/ in 1962 so as to engage 
its services in the fight against a modernity gone repressive, appears 
to be undergoing a radical, new transformation.

A transformation seen as an indicator of the change sweeping across all 
of society. Social media, which have created a new form of public sphere 
that is no longer controlled by gatekeepers but by algorithms, feature 
prominently among the factors mainly held responsible for this 
transformation. The standard buzzwords are ‘echo chamber’ and ‘filter 
bubble’; they herald a separation and radicalization along with the end 
of the intention to reach agreement on a rational basis.For many 
observers, the very future of democracy is at stake here, the belief 
being that “democratic governance rests on the capacity of and 
opportunity for citizens to engage in debate” (Hauser 1999).This takes 
us to the heart of the complex of highly relevant issues we would like 
to explore at the next ICFOM. We invite you to join us in identifying 
the possible relevance of the theory of the shifting public sphere and 
the role the ‘new media’ play in this regard, and based on this to 
broach the question of the changes in other areas or ‚spheres’.

The topics for discussion can include – but are not limited to – the 
following:

What is the new public, what is the new private?Is the idea of privacy 
being redefined or is it being discarded altogether? Do digital 
technologies help with the eradication of racism and sexism or have they 
become complicit in them? What is the relationship between Twitter, 
Facebook etc. and the legacy media? Which old mechanisms of influence 
have survived and why? Which new ones have emerged? How has device 
mobility changed media reception modes? What role does the global 
availability of media play, or do recent successful attempts at 
censorship bode ill for sustainable global accessibility in the future? 
How can a new media concept/theory be devised in the light of these 
rapid social changes? How can and should media influence future 
developments? How has globalization, the global South and the Asian 
Century redefined approaches to social media spheres? What are the 
limits of democracy? Is, as Daniel Bell argues, meritocracy an 
alternative, as it guarantees stability instead of permanent change? Is 
it possible that there is no change at all happening? Can what is 
currently happening also be described as continuity with merely gradual 
changes? Are ‘filter bubbles’ not quite as new as we assume? What 
scientific potential does the concept of the sphere have in itself? The 
Greeks referred to the ‘sound of the spheres’, Deleuze/Guattari to the 
‘mechanosphere, and – following Teilhard de Chardin –the ‘noosphere’. In 
his magnum opus, the Spheres trilogy, published between1998 and 2004, 
German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk develops a theory of spaces of 
coexistence, quintessential modes of existence from the womb. According 
to Sloterdijk, spherical life continues throughout society, separated 
into macro-spheres such as nation states. Is it possible that we are 
living in a media sphere today?**

*Abstract submission deadline: **15^th  June  2018*. Please follow the 
instructions on the conference website, 
*http://futuremediaconference.com/call-for-papers/*

All presentations will be collected in the conference proceedings. The 
best contributions will be considered for the indexed/IAFOR Journal of 
Cultural Studies./


---------------
The COMMLIST
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier. Please
use it responsibly and wisely.
--
To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit http://commlist.org/
--
Before sending a posting request, please always read the guidelines at
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://nicocarpentier.net
---------------