[ecrea] Open Call for International Journal of Communication on "Piracy Cultures"

Open Call for International Journal of Communication on "Piracy Cultures"
Special Section to be published in 2011 [submission deadline: March 2011].

Editors Gustavo Cardoso and Manuel Castells

What are “Piracy Cultures”? Usually we look at media consumption departing from a media industry definition. We look at TV, Radio, Newspapers, Games, Internet and media contents in general departing from the idea that the access to those is made through the payment of a licence fee, subscription, or simply because it’s either paid or available for free (being supported by advertisement). That is, we look at contents and the way people interact with them within a given system of thought that looks at contents and their distribution channels as the product of relationships between media companies, organizations and individuals effectively building a commercial relationship of a contractual kind with rights and obligations.

But what if, for a moment, we turn our attention to the empirical evidence found not just in Asia, Africa and South America but also all over Europe and North America? All over the world we are witnessing a growing number of people building media relationships outside those institutionalized set of rules.

We do not intend to discuss if we are dealing with legal or illegal practises, our departure point for this call for papers is that, when a very significant number of the population is building its mediation through alternative channels of obtaining content, such a movement should be studied in order to deepen our knowledge of media cultures. Because we need a title to characterize those cultures in their diversity, but at the same time in their commonplaceness’, we propose to call it “Piracy Cultures”.

By addressing the dimension of Piracy Cultures we hope to increase our understanding of the practices and cultural drives (both individual and collective - national cultures; generational cultures, etc.) of fruition and consumption of media (cinema, TV series, music, etc.) under what is labeled, by both law and managerial cultures, as piracy.

Our aim is to give new insights as to how those current practices might evolve towards new institutionalized market practices and the changing of the perception of law or remain as counter-cultural movements, although shared by large portions of the population.

Manuel Castells and Gustavo Cardoso

Paper Submissions

The online submission deadline for papers is 31 Mar 2011. Please indicate in a cover note that the paper is intended for the special issue. Authors are advised to consult the journal's guide for authors before submitting their paper.

Authors: Submit your paper now (IJoC login page), or see the Guide for Authors.

About the Guest Editors

Gustavo Cardoso is Professor of Media, Technology and Society at the Sociology Department of ISCTE - Lisbon University Institute (Portugal). He works as well with the Department of Communications and Performance Studies of the University of Milan, IN3 (Internet Interdisciplinary Institute) in Barcelona and ICT&S at Salzburg University. During the last few years he has been a member of the international network WIP (World Internet Project) at USC Annenberg and of the European COST networks "The Impact of the Internet in Mass Media", "Broadband Society" and  "Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies". Gustavo Cardoso is Book Review Editor at IJoC and OBS Editor.

Manuel Castells is Professor of Sociology, and Director of the Internet Interdisciplinary Institute at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), in Barcelona. He is as well University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair Professor of Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is Professor Emeritus of Sociology,and Professor Emeritus of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where he taught for 24 years. Manuel Castells is Editor at IJoC. 

About IJOC

The International Journal of Communication is an online, multi-media, academic journal that adheres to the highest standards of peer review and engages established and emerging scholars from anywhere in the world. The International Journal of Communication is an interdisciplinary journal that, while centered in communication, is open and welcoming to contributions from the many disciplines and approaches that meet at the crossroads that is communication study.

Contact information

Gustavo Cardoso, Lisbon Internet and Networks Institute, ISCTE, Av.ª das Forças Armadas, 1649-026 Lisboa - Portugal
Email: (gustavo.cardoso /at/ iscte.pt); Phone: (+351) 217 941 404; Fax: (+351) 217 940 074 www.lini-research.org