[Commlist] CFP Interactive Film and Media Conference 2021

*Interactive Film and Media Conference 2021: New Narratives, 
Racialization, Global Crises, and Social Engagement*

*Hosted by* Ryerson University (Canada), The Glasgow School of Art 
(Scotland), University of Sao Paulo (Brazil), The University of Texas at 
Dallas (USA)
*(virtual) August 5-7, 2021*

*Abstracts deadline: April 12th, 2021*

This virtual edition of the Interactive Film and Media conference on 
‘new narratives, racialization, global crises, and social engagement’ is 
dedicated to the development, analysis, and research processing of the 
digital experience that is transforming our contemporary world vision 
through the immense range of storytelling practices, including visual 
arts, cinema, digital/graphic/interactive narratives, virtual reality, 
games, etc. The purpose of this conference is to bring together 
researchers and practitioners working in diverse disciplinary areas to 
establish an interdisciplinary framework for research on contemporary 
narratives, including case studies of the multimodal narratives across 
media and cultures.

The conference will convene entirely online and will be hosted by 
several universities. The organizers believe that now is the right 
moment to evaluate the saturation and fragmentation of media during the 
pandemic experience of the last year, as well as to discuss new online 
media interactivities in a virtual environment.

In the wake of the death of George Floyd, the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter 
has gone viral across the world raising many concerns about the media’s 
role in our society. Today, it is not enough for the media to not be 
racist: it must actively be anti-racist. It would not be an 
overestimation to say that the participation of media in discourses 
other than those centered on racism is also paramount: it played a 
decisive role in many recent social and political events, including the 
pandemic crisis. Therefore, this conference is proposing to examine how 
media around the world are dealing with the aftermath of these developments.

This conference also aims to discuss how the late proliferation of 
online social events and the increased fragmentation of the discourse 
via microblogging, subtitling, hashtags, and the enhanced sharing of 
images through screenshots, short-form videos, selfies, and video calls 
have affected interactive narratives. The pandemic brought the world 
together to fight against one common enemy while transferring all 
social, political, educational, juridical, and professional relations 
into the virtual media environments. We realized that we were less 
virtualized than we had thought: the Internet system was swamped and 
unprepared. For a while, even though the country borders were closed and 
people’s transit and migration completely ceased, the world’s political 
divisions made less sense. How would it affect our geopolitical 
perception? How have the global media divide and exclusion been 
increased by the pandemic?

We are inviting interdisciplinary proposals reflecting on the recent 
changes to the mediascape and the closely related medium of interactive 
narrative, in its many forms and iterations. Submissions that consider 
the advantages and drawbacks of the current trends in film, media, and 
interactive narratives, will be of special value, as well as those that 
develop new approaches to the process of algorithmization and 
hybridization between the information ecosystems dominated by tech 
enterprises and the mediasphere’s micro-level, where the instant-message 
apps transform our everyday lives by exposing polarized and 
contradictory messages, disseminating the misinformation. The organizers 
will consider unpublished works that present research results and/or 
theoretical reflections within the scope of Interactive Film and Media 
Studies, with a special focus on ‘new narratives, racialization, global 
crises, and social engagement’.

*Key Topics/Areas*: the following key topics/areas will be emphasized 
during the conference:
*New Narratives (Informational Media Literacy, New Media Epistemology, 
Interactive Films, Virtual Museums and Multimedia Installations, Digital 
Animation and Games: Narrative and Interactivity, Intermediality, 
Transmedia, and Remediation, Expanded Cinema and Digital Screen 
Aesthetics, Transnational Cinema, Digital Culture, Digital Art and 
Literature (eBooks, eReaders), Big data);
*Racialization (Representation Racial and Ethnic Politics: Black 
Politics, Group Identity and Consciousness, Genomic Research in Ethnic 
Minority Communities, Racial Representation Judicial Politics: 
Decision-Making and Behavior);
*Global Crises (Politics and Governance, Healthy Challenges New Normal, 
Cybersecurity, Digital Economy, ICT-driven Economic Practices);
*Social Engagement (Virtual Communities, Smart Cities, Urban Governance, 
Hacktivism and Political Engagement, Chatbots and Startups, Snack Media, 
Mobile Screens, Micro Movie, and Microblogging, AI Media Accessibility, 
Social Responsibility and Environmental Sustainability, Legitimacy, 
Public Opinion, Freedom of Expression).

*Practical Information:*
*The abstract (300 to 500 words) must be written in English, with a 
clear outline of the arguments, theoretical framework, and methodology. 
Please, note that all the proposals will undergo a peer-review process.
*This conference aims to bring together researchers, practitioners, and 
theorists for a three-day online debate. The conference will be held 
online through teleconference platforms (e.g., Zoom, Google Meet, etc.) 
for the panel discussions, and video platforms (e.g., Vimeo, YouTube, 
etc.) for papers’ presentations.
*Participants must create and make their video-presentations available 
online (e.g., Vimeo, YouTube, etc.) to be shared with the conference 
participants and attendants through the conference's blog.
*Video presentations should be no longer than 20 minutes.
*Paper submissions will be grouped in sessions of 3-4 papers.
*During the panel sessions, presenters will discuss and receive feedback 
from conference moderators and participants.
*The language of the conference is English; no translation services will 
be provided.
*Because of the urgency and importance of the themes discussed, the 
Proceedings will be published soon after the conference. Authors should 
be prepared to submit their papers (presented papers revised based on 
their panel session discussions) within a month past the conference.

*Conference Fee*: no registration fee will be charged for 
participation/presentation at this conference.

*Important Dates:*
Submission Open: Monday, March 1st, 2021
Deadline for Submissions: Monday, April 12, 2021
Notifications Sent Out: Friday, May 14, 2021
Video-Presentations and Conference Paper deadline: Monday, July 19, 2021
Revised Conference Paper Deadline: Monday, August 30, 2021

*Submitting Proposals:*
Submit an abstract (around 500 words in length including the research 
objectives, theoretical framework, methodology, and conclusions) and a 
brief Bio-CV (100 words maximum). Please fill out the Abstract 
Submission form available at https://forms.gle/tcBYQ9P9ktvaUcdP7 
<https://forms.gle/tcBYQ9P9ktvaUcdP7>

*Organizing Committee:* Hudson Moura, Chair (Ryerson University, 
Canada), Heidi Rae Cooley (The University of Texas at Dallas, USA), 
Sonia Regina Cunha (University of Sao Paulo, Brazil), Greg Elmer 
(Ryerson University, Canada), David Sweeney (The Glasgow School of Art, 
Scotland)
Conference Assistant: Irina Lyubchenko (George Brown College, Canada)
*Contact Email*: (interactivefilmconference /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(interactivefilmconference /at/ gmail.com)>
*More Information Blog 2021 IFM Conference*: 
https://interactivefilm.blogspot.com/ 
<https://interactivefilm.blogspot.com/>
*Previous Conference Proceedings*: https://bit.ly/2M8W02g 
<https://bit.ly/2M8W02g>

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