[ecrea] CFP ­ - Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies

>Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New MediaTechnologies
>
>
>
>Call for Papers  Special Issue on Digital Cultures of California
>Vol 15 no 1. February 2009
>
>
>EXTENDED SUBMISSION DEADLINE:  31 March 2008
>
>Guest editor:
>Julian Bleecker ((julian /at/ techkwondo.com))
>(Near Future Laboratory and University of Southern California)
>This call invites submissions for a special 
>issue related to digital cultures of California. 
>Internationally, California is a phenomenon in 
>terms of its relationship to creating, consuming 
>and analyzing the era of digital technologies. 
> From the legendary garage entrepreneurs, to the 
>multi-billion dollar culture of venture capital, 
>to stock back-dating scandals, to the epic 
>exodus of Californias IT support staff during 
>the Burning Man festival, this territory plays 
>an important role in the political, cultural and 
>economic underpinnings of digitally and 
>network-mediated lives on a global scale.
>The Bay Area of California (often referred to 
>somewhat incorrectly as Northern California) is 
>perceived as a hot-bed of technology activity. 
>Nearby Silicon Valley serves as a marker for the 
>massive funding of enterprises that shape many 
>aspects of digital culture. The new interaction 
>rituals that have come to define what social 
>life has become in many parts of the world can 
>often be traced back to this part of California. 
>New, popular and curious forms of presence 
>awareness and digital communication such as 
>Twitter and Flickr have found a comfortable home 
>here. Lifestyles of the Northern California 
>digerati have enveloped the cultural milieu, 
>often changing the social landscape to such a 
>degree that it become unrecognizable and 
>unpalatable to those less engaged in creating 
>and consuming digital cultures. Complimenting 
>the Bay Areas technology production activities 
>is Southern California  the greater Los Angeles 
>basin in particular  where Hollywood 
>sensibilities bring together entertainment with 
>technology through such things as video games, 
>mobile content distribution, digital video and 3D cinema.
>California is also the home of several colleges 
>and universities where digital technologies are 
>developed in engineering departments and 
>reflected upon from social science and 
>humanities departments. This curious 
>relationship between production and analysis 
>creates the promise of insightful 
>interdisciplinary approaches to making new kinds 
>of digital networked cultures. Many institutions 
>have made efforts to combine engineering and 
>social science practices to bolster technology 
>design. Xerox PARC probably stands as the 
>canonical example of interdisciplinary 
>approaches to digital technology design. 
>Similarly, combining arts practices with 
>technology as a kind of exploratory research and 
>development has important precedent at places 
>like Intel Berkeley Labs and PARC and at the 
>practice-based events such as the San Jose California-based Zero One festival.
>In this special issue we welcome submissions 
>which investigate, provoke and explicate the 
>California digital cultures from a variety of 
>perspectives. We are interested in papers that 
>approach this phenomenon in scholarly and, 
>particularly, approaches that emphasize 
>practice-based analysis and knowledge production.
>* What are the ways that social networks have 
>been shaped by digital techniques?
>* How has the phenomenon of the digital 
>entrepreneur evolved in the age of DIY sensibilities?
>* What are the ways that new ideas succeed or 
>fail based on their dissemination amongst the 
>elite, connected digerati, as opposed to their 
>dissemination amongst less more quotidian communities?
>* What is the nature of the matrix of 
>relationships between Hollywood entertainment, 
>the military, industry and digital technology?
>* Can the DIY culture explored in the pages of 
>Make magazine produce its own markets?
>* How does the Apple Inc. culture of product 
>design and development shape and inform popular culture?
>* How have the various interdisciplinary 
>approaches undertaken at corporate research 
>centers connected to universities such as Intel 
>Berkeley Labs shaped digital cultures?
>* What does Silicon Valley mean in other 
>geographies? How has the model of associations 
>between innovation, research and funding been 
>transplanted elsewhere and to what measures of success?
>NEW EXTENDED deadline for submission of research articles:  31 March 2008.
>
>Submissions/proposals for papers should be 
>directed to the guest editor. The special issue 
>will be published (by SAGE) in February 
>2009.  For full details of house style and 
>submission format, please consult 
>www.beds.ac.uk/Convergence <http://www.beds.ac.uk/Convergence>
>
>(For all other submissions/inquiries, please 
>contact (convergence /at/ beds.ac.uk) 
><mailto:(convergence /at/ beds.ac.uk)><mailto:(convergence /at/ beds.ac.uk)> )
>
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>----------------
>Julia Knight
>Reader in Moving Image/Co-editor, Convergence
>School of Arts, Design, Media & Culture
>University of Sunderland
>Media Building
>The Sir Tom Cowie Campus at St Peter's
>St Peter's Way
>Sunderland.  SR6 0DD
>Tel:  0191 515 2653 (direct line)
>Tel:  0191 515 2634 (switchboard)
>Fax:  0191 515 3807
>email:  (julia.knight /at/ sunderland.ac.uk)
>************
>***Please note NEW author-date style for Convergence**
>see 
>www.beds.ac.uk/convergence/callforpapers/instructions 
><http://www.beds.ac.uk/convergence/callforpapers/instructions>
>
>Convergence: The Journal of Research into New Media Technologies
>Editors: Julia Knight and Alexis Weedon
>Editorial assistant: Jason Wilson
>Associate editors: Jeanette Steemers (Europe), 
>Rebecca Coyle (Western Pacific), Amy Bruckman and Mark Deuze (North America)
>Published quarterley. ISSN 1354-8564
>Copyright of Convergence articles rests with the publisher
>Editorial e-mail: (Convergence /at/ beds.ac.uk)
>Editorial website: www.beds.ac.uk/convergence 
><http://www.beds.ac.uk/convergence>
>SAGE <http://con.sagepub.com>http://con.sagepub.com
>
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>------ End of Forwarded Message

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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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Katholieke Universiteit Brussel - Catholic University of Brussels
Vrijheidslaan 17 - B-1081 Brussel - Belgium
&
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Boulevard du Jardin Botanique 43  - B-1000 Brussel - Belgium
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----------------------------
Participation and Media Production. Critical Reflections on Content Creation.
Edited by Nico Carpentier and Benjamin De Cleen
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<http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm>http://www.c-s-p.org/Flyers/Participation-and-Media-Production--Critical-Reflections-on-Content-Creation1-84718-453-7.htm 

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European Communication Research and Education Association
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ECREA's Second European Communication Conference
Barcelona, 25-28 November 2008
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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