CALL FOR PAPERS
COMMUNICATION POLICY AND TECHNOLOGY (CP&T) Section
International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR)
28th Annual Conference, July 18-22, 2010, Braga (Portugal)
Communication and Citizenship: Rethinking Crisis and Change
http://www.iamcr2010portugal.com
The Communication Policy and Technology (CP&T) Section of the IAMCR =20
invites the submission of abstracts bearing on the Conference theme as =20=
well as on the Section sub-theme: =91Citizen Participation through =20
Technology, Access and Policy=92.
The media and technology landscape as well as relevant communication =20
policies are changing fundamentally, with a shift from mass media and =20=
personal media to media for mass self-communication. The technological =20=
facilities for mediated communication are proliferating and becoming =20
increasingly fragmented as a result of convergence and the emergence =20
and rapid spread of new media and internet technologies like =20
interactive digital broadcasting, mobile technologies, social =20
computing, internet-of-things and - more recently - cloud computing. =20
Within this transitional digital media ecosystem researchers =20
increasingly aim to understand how participation by people and =20
communities can (still) take a central position and to what end. How =20
can citizens and/or consumers be empowered in participation through =20
ICT design, usages and policy? Or what are the threats and constraints =20=
for people to become disempowered in a convergence culture? Three main =20=
areas of user (dis)empowerment are being identified as themes of =20
special interest for CP&T section: (1) market and state =20
=91feudalisation=92, (2) privacy and surveillance, and (3) inclusion and =
=20
media literacies.
The first area of concern relates to the ever increasing =20
=91feudalisation=92 of ICT applications and services by market forces =
and =20
interests. Besides this, some states are also very active in =20
controlling, monitoring and censoring the internet. This all has =20
serious consequences for the opportunities and potentialities of ICT =20
enabled participation and empowerment. In this regard the debate on =20
net neutrality and its consequences for freedom of speech, access to =20
information, etc. is highly relevant, but also issues of copyright in =20=
relation to ownership of user generated content or the posting of =20
copyright protected material on blogs and web 2.0 sites, the share =20
culture, etc.
The second focus area of privacy and surveillance is of course to some =20=
extent linked to the previous one. This refers to enhanced profiling =20
and data mining practices by private and public organisations (e.g. =20
behavioural advertising, digital footprint, deep-packet inspection =20
technology, etc.), combined with the blurring of boundaries between =20
public and private sphere in the co-creation and =91produsage=92 =
practices =20
by different types of users (e.g. lead users, citizen journalists,...).
A third area of focus deals with inclusion and multiple media =20
literacies. This perspective links in with notions of digital =20
participation that go beyond access. In the changing media =20
environment, new affordances of communication tools require a =20
reconfiguration of digital exclusion-inclusion. We need to look at =20
different levels of capabilities, but also how inclusion is (not) =20
built into specific media and technologies from a human-centred design =20=
perspective. At the same time this also means increasing the reach, =20
breadth and depth of digital media and technologies across all domains =20=
of society through multiliteracies. The question remains however to =20
what extent inclusion is always empowering, or can inclusion also lead =20=
to disempowerment.
Empirical, theoretical and analytical work on these three and other =20
related issues will form the central thrust of presentations in the =20
CP&T section at the 2010 Braga conference.
SUBMISSION INFORMATION
The CP&T section welcomes abstracts (300 - 500 words) from scholars of =20=
any academic discipline bearing on aforementioned and related issues. =20=
Abstracts should state the title as well as the methods or approaches =20=
used and introduce the empirical and theoretical material on which the =20=
paper is based. Besides the abstract title and text, each submission =20
includes author name(s), affiliation, institutional address and email =20=
address of (all) author(s). The abstracts can only be submitted via =20
the official conference abstracts and registration site: =
http://www.lasics.uminho.pt/ocs/index.php/iamcr/2010portugal/schedConf/cfp=
The deadline for the submission of abstracts is January 31, 2010. The =20=
papers will be assessed and provisionally accepted on the basis of the =20=
abstracts. You will be informed whether or not your abstract is =20
accepted by March 15, 2010. The full papers (max. 7500 words) are due =20=
April 30, 2010, in order to ensure that the authors=92 names and papers=92=
=20
titles are included in the final conference program.
Key submission guidelines:
- Deadline abstracts: January 31, 2010
- Announcement of acceptances: March 15, 2010
- Deadline full papers: April 30, 2010
- IAMCR accepts presentations in English, French and Spanish. However, =20=
it is requested that abstracts, if at all possible, be submitted in =20
English
- Individual abstracts may only be submitted to a single section/=20
working group. Please do not submit the same abstract to two or more =20
different IAMCR sections/working groups.
Additional questions (e.g. on panels) may be addressed to Maria =20
Michalis (m.michalis[AT]westminster.ac.uk) or Jo Pierson =20
(jo.pierson[AT]vub.ac.be).
Chairs: Jo Pierson and Hopeton S. Dunn (on leave, serving as acting =20
Secretary General, IAMCR)
Vice-chairs: Maria Michalis and Bart Cammaerts=
