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[ecrea] CFP Media Mutations 3, May 24th-25th, Bologna
Fri Feb 18 14:28:01 GMT 2011
Call for Papers
Media Mutations 3. Narrative ecosystems: environment, tools and models
Bologna, May 24th and 25th, 2011
Dipartimento di Musica e Spettacolo - Università di Bologna
In contemporary media landscape both textual
forms and media, conceived not only as technical
devices but also as social protocols for their
own usage, are dramatically changing. The
increasing interest towards cross-media
storytelling, narrative franchises, communities
and pervasiveness dynamics along with new
theoretical perspectives might trigger new
models for business and lead to deeper
interactions between researchers and creative industries.
In those areas which are adjacent to the
scientific field of media studies, such as ICTs
and marketing, the notion of ecosystem has
gained in the last few years a growing
popularity in defining a composite environment
able to integrate the energy flows originated by
users, technologies and media items. Therefore,
the primary aim of this conference is to
challenge that notion's relevance, in order to
describe the contemporary media environment. The
hypothesis behind the conference being that
ecosystems (either digital, information, or
media) share a narrative-driven core.
Possible topics for proposals include, but are by no means limited to:
* New forms of storytelling: from plot to
topical wave. Kevin Kelly stated that
?Information is not as meaningful as
connection?: in several areas, for example in
journalism, one can see that traditional
narrative patterns are gradually declining in
favor of the so-called ?topical waves?, that is
to say time-lasting waves characterized by the
prevalent presence of links and connections,
which reshape already existing contents in the
light of brand new systems of relationships.
Which are the most innovative among these forms
of storytelling? Where do they take place
within the media industry? How does collective
intelligence participate in constructing these narrations?
* Digital ecosystems and cross-media
design. As several scholars have pointed out,
convergence and cross-mediality push towards
the reshaping of informative and narrative
designs, in order to achieve tighter
connections between digital world and physical
experience. How does cross-mediality affect
narrative and informative design? In what terms
is it necessary to rethink the way experiences
of cultural consumption take place?
* New business models for narrative
ecosystems. Changes in media scenery have
redefined also the practical conditions of
existence for content producers, because of the
drop of revenues from advertising, that have
traditionally played a key role in media
business. At the same time, typical dynamics of
the gift economies are rediscovered, turning
the users/consumers into owners/subscribers,
connected through emotional links to the
initiatives they back. How can become
profitable these relations when based on
non-monetary exchanges? What is at stake (in
terms of prestige, self-gratification, self
construction in terms of simulacrum) for the
users participating in these processes? What
changes are current models of business supposed
to undergo in order to provide users with
services and composite ecosystems, instead of traditional commodities?
* Narrative ecosystems, cultural industry
and media landscape: social effects,
circulation and remediation. The traditional
model of the consumer who passively accepts the
products provided by the cultural industry
belongs, possibly once and for all, to the
past. Nevertheless, it would be helpful
redefining, according to those issues raised by
the notion of ecosystem, also the prosumer
model established in the last few years. To
what extent is it possible to fit the user's
intervention into the categories of content
appropriation and manipulation? What operations
trigger the user's involvement within the
cultural ambiance? In broader terms, what is
the role played by users/consumers in
transforming the persistent narrative universe?
* Expanding narrative universes:
theoretical update, new methodologies and case
studies. Innovations regarding both practices
and items within the media environment forces
scholars to update their analytic tools. The
categories most commonly employed in the
theoretical and analytical lexicon might be
revised, as well as defined at once, leaning on
those examples provided by narrative
ecosystems. In which way is it possible to
challenge notions such as text, context, media, ecosystem, narration?
* Hybridization, contamination, re-use and
re-working in narrative ecosystems. According
to the well known model proposed by Bolter and
Grusin, new media do not entirely replace old
media: they rather integrate them by means of
what Francesco Casetti defines relocation
processes. Hence, is it possible to raise
similar hypotheses for narrative forms? Do
narrative ecosystems function as connective
relays for themes and figures originated in
traditional narrations? Moreover, to what
extent is it possible to analyze traditional
narrative forms, especially the serial ones, in
the light of the ecosystem notion? How do
remediation/relocation processes affect the concept of intellectual property?
Abstracts of 250-300 words for papers of 20
minutes in length should be submitted via email,
along with a CV, to the Conference organiser
Veronica Innocenti
((veronica.innocenti /at/ unibo.it)<mailto:(veronica.innocenti /at/ unibo.it)>)
by March 15th 2011.
The languages of the conference are English and Italian.
Feedback deadline: March 31st 2011.
Advisory Board: Giovanni Boccia Artieri
(Università di Urbino ?Carlo Bo?), Francesco
Casetti (Yale University), Enrico Menduni
(Università di Roma Tre), Roberta Pearson
(Director of Department of Culture, Film and
Media University of Nottingham), Guglielmo Pescatore (Università di Bologna).
Confirmed keynote speakers: Roberta Pearson
(University of Nottingham), William Uricchio
(Massachussets Institute of Technology).
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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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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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