[Commlist] cfp: Mediatization 3.0? The future of the research field Online pre-conference before the 9th European Communication Conference

*Mediatization 3.0? The future of the research field*

Online pre-conference before the *9th European Communication Conference*


12 October 2022

Zoom

Since its inception, mediatization has been a contested term within 
media and communication research that includes different perspectives on 
the interrelation between technological and sociocultural change. While 
it can be argued that mediatization as a meta-process is an omnipresent 
part of human history, mediatization research is primarily a response to 
the progressing digitization and datafication of society and its 
consequences for human interaction and sense-making. The mediatization 
approach is characterized by different perspectives: constructivist, 
institutional, material and cultural as well as critical giving 
academics the possibility to discuss theoretically and methodologically 
socio-technological change. Where traditional communication research 
focused on media as independent entities, mediatization research 
contributed by highlighting interrelations and the interweaving of media 
and practices within different fields of human interaction.

However, as technology and society change, many of the claims that set 
early mediatization research apart have become self-evident in the light 
of the ubiquity of technical gadgets, social networks, and a sprawling 
digital infrastructure. As computers of different shapes and forms have 
not only become part of all symbolic operations, they have also evolved 
into “smart” infrastructures that act as gatekeepers between humans and 
the reality they live in, affecting us on a deeper level. What was once 
theorized and studied within specific communities and practices is now a 
widely accepted fait accompli that touches every aspect of everyday life.

Through all of this, mediatization has remained a useful yet broad 
concept that offers various points of contact for researchers from 
different disciplines. At the same time, mediatization has become an 
all-encompassing umbrella term for studying social and technological 
change. Its proponents find themselves targeting and discussing their 
research within more specialized, thematically relevant contexts. With 
core issues of mediatization research being widely discussed in various 
contexts, the boundaries and benefits of mediatization research are at 
risk of becoming diluted, raising the question of what makes this 
approach unique and compelling for future research?

Mediatization approach, theory and field have met with many critical 
objections over the past years, to which valuable answers have been 
formulated. At the same time, however, the dynamics of change in the 
media environment have accelerated further; giving way to datafication, 
algorithmization, platformization, and the growing influence of 
artificial intelligence. This raises questions about the status of the 
research field of mediatization; the relationship between processes and 
meta-processes; and fundamental definitional issues about what media and 
communication are now in the context of complex technological processes 
(the importance of big data and the analysis of users’ data and 
behaviour), new economic conditions (data capitalism, forecasting and 
surveillance) and new socio-cultural conditions, including pandemic and 
post-pandemic reality.

We want to invite researchers to discuss the past and the future of 
mediatization research as a broad yet unifying approach. Hence, this 
call addresses both established mediatization theorists, senior 
researchers, and early-career academics, from different backgrounds 
utilizing the concept of mediatization. We hope for theoretical and 
empirical ideas of how mediatization is currently understood and how the 
concept inspires future research.

We suggest the following topics:

- main objections to mediatization research, responses and defenses

- research challenges related to contemporary technological processes 
(platformization, datafication, algorithmization, artificial intelligence)

- necessary methodological, phenomenological and ethical transformations 
concerning the research field

- possible and needed new directions of development of the research field

- existing and potential threats related to the near future of 
mediatization research

- desirable transformations of particular research areas and topics 
(stabilized and emerging)


Planned conference day schedule

To discuss these issues, we plan a one-day online pre-conference in the 
week leading up to the main conference in Aarhus. First, we would like 
to kick off the event by allowing researchers to present their recent 
work on mediatization, with particular attention to the status of the 
field, its challenges, problems, and possible directions for 
development, subsequently, we would like to open up the discussion, 
inviting senior scholars, including Göran Bolin, Nick Couldry, Kirsten 
Frandsen, Andreas Hepp, Stig Hjarvard, Knut Lundby, Friedrich Krotz, 
Carlos A. Scolari and other guests to provide responses, comments, and 
to discuss and explore the future of mediatization research.


Please fill the form to submit your abstract:https://bit.ly/3IyP71e 
<https://bit.ly/3IyP71e> *by 30.06.2022*.


The conference is free of charge.


If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the 
organizing team:


- Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech, (katarzyna.kopecka.piech /at/ gmail.com) 
<mailto:(katarzyna.kopecka.piech /at/ gmail.com)>

- Rita Figueiras, (ritafigueiras /at/ fch.lisboa.ucp.pt) 
<mailto:(ritafigueiras /at/ fch.lisboa.ucp.pt)>

- Jakob Hörtnagl, (jakob.hoertnagl /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de) 
<mailto:(jakob.hoertnagl /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de)>

- Jeannine Teichert, (jeannine.teichert /at/ uni-paderborn.de) 
<mailto:(jeannine.teichert /at/ uni-paderborn.de)>

- Mateusz Sobiech, (mateusz.sobiech /at/ o2.pl) <mailto:(mateusz.sobiech /at/ o2.pl)>


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