[ecrea] cfp - ECREA 2012 - 4th European Communication Conference

*ECREA 2012 - 4th European Communication Conference*
Istanbul Bilgi University
Istanbul, Turkey, 24-27 October 2012

Hosted by the Turkish Communication Research Association (ILAD)
_
www.ecrea2012istanbul.eu_


The European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) 
and the Turkish Communication Research Association (ILAD), together with 
Istanbul Bilgi University, welcome the submission of abstracts for 
presentation at the 4th European Communication Conference to be held in 
Istanbul, Turkey from 24 to 27 October 2012.

The general theme of the conference is 'Social Media-Global Voices'. The 
organisers call for proposals in all fields of communication and media 
studies, but particularly invite conceptual, empirical, and 
methodological proposals on social media and global communication 
phenomena and/or on comparative research.

ECREA is pleased to accept proposals for individual papers, panels as 
well as poster presentations. All proposals must be submitted through 
the conference website _www.ecrea2012istanbul.eu_ and will be reviewed 
by the 17 ECREA thematic sections. The descriptions of the sections are 
listed further below in this message.

Abstracts should be written in English and contain a clear outline of 
the argument, the theoretical framework, and, where applicable, 
methodology and results. The preferred length of the individual 
abstracts is between 400 and 500 words (the maximum is 500 words). Panel 
proposals --which should consist of five individual contributions--, 
combine a panel abstract with five individual abstracts, each of which 
are between 400 and 500 words.

Participants may submit more than one proposal, but only one paper or 
poster by the same first author might be accepted. First authors can 
still be second (or third, etc.) author of other papers or posters, and 
can still act as chair or respondent of a panel.

All proposals should be submitted through the conference website from *1 
December 2011* to *28 February 2012*. Early submission is strongly 
encouraged. Please note that this submission deadline will not be extended.


*
Timeline
*1 December 2011: Online submission system open
28 February 2012: Deadline for online submission
30 April 2012: Notification of the acceptance
15 August 2012: End of early bird registration fee
1 October 2012: Deadline for online registration


*ECREA Thematic Sections descriptions
*/
Audience and Reception Studies/
The Audience and Reception Studies section invites contributions that 
focus on how people use and make sense of old and new media and with 
what consequences for individuals, groups, communities and societies. 
The section welcomes various approaches (theoretical/critical works, 
empirical studies, methodological discussions) and methods (quantitative 
or qualitative research, or both), and encourages submissions that cross 
disciplines (e.g. social sciences, political sciences, education 
sciences, humanities and arts, psychology) and traditional boundaries 
(e.g. between old and new media, between mass and group communication, 
between content/production and audience/ reception/effects).

/Communication and Democracy/
The Communication and Democracy section invites you to send in abstracts 
for papers as well as panel proposals focusing on the relationship 
between media, communication and democracy. Democracy is being defined 
here in a broad sense and is not merely limited to the procedural aspect 
of political systems, but also includes civic cultures. Equally, 
democracy does not only refer to (Western) models of liberal democracy, 
and media and communication relates to both more traditional (mass) 
media as well as the internet and newer forms of (digital) media and 
communication opportunities. The section-theme for 2012 Istanbul 
conference is "Social Media and Global Voices", but papers outside of 
this general theme will also be accepted. Abstracts and panel proposals 
should ideally address one of these sub-themes: democracy, participation 
and citizenship; critical approaches, theoretical challenges and 
methodological innovations; public spheres, counter-public spheres and 
beyond; media and political mobilizations, activism and protest 
cultures; the future of community media and (local) journalism (in a 
digital age) and their impact on (local) democracy; EU and/or national 
media & communication policies; civic engagement and media literacies.

/Communication History/
The Communication History section provides a forum for scholars from 
different European countries who approach communication with a 
historical perspective. The section invites contributions dealing with: 
the history of socially relevant and mass communication (e.g., the 
history of media production and institutions, history of journalism, 
public relations and advertising, new media histories, historical 
audiences); the history of communication in general (e.g., history of 
interpersonal or group communication); memory studies (e.g., mass media 
and social memory); the history of ideas related to the field of 
communication (the history of theories concerning public or mediated 
communication or the history of communication as a scientific field); 
the methodology and theory of communication history.

/Communication Law and Policy/
The Communication Law and Policy section provides a forum for the debate 
and analysis of past and current national and EU legal, regulatory and 
policy directions in the field of European media and communication. The 
field is interpreted broadly to include political, social, cultural, 
anthropological and economic questions. The section invites 
contributions (proposals for papers, posters or panels) in any area of 
(broadly understood) European media and communication law, regulation 
and policy, including historical, comparative and philosophical 
approaches to this domain. We welcome critical methodologies and 
analyses, as well as discussions on new ways of thinking about policy 
and law in the media, communication and cultural industries. We also 
welcome works that are situated at the intersection of macro-level and 
micro-level analysis, that use interdisciplinary approaches and works 
that push the boundaries of established work.

/Diaspora, Migration and the Media/
Transnational and diasporic communications have brought a number of 
theoretical and methodological challenges for European communication 
research, such as those relating to the significance of the national 
public spheres, national broadcasting, multicultural media and the 
cultural and communication practices of people living in culturally 
diverse societies. The section invites and encourages theoretical and 
empirical explorations of European communications and diversity from 
across Europe and beyond. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches and 
innovative studies in all areas of media and communication research 
(media production; media texts; consumption of media and communications 
technologies; national and transnational policy; media ethics and the 
representation of difference).

/Digital Culture and Communication/
The Digital Culture and Communication section aims at exchanging and 
developing research at the European level in the developing field of 
digital media and informational culture as this is broadly defined. We 
welcome work that crosses disciplines and that operates at the 
boundaries of what might generally be allowed to constitute 
media/communication systems. The section actively seeks both empirical 
and theoretical/critical work. It therefore welcomes work that questions 
the general specificity of 'the digital' and/or uses 'the digital' to 
rethink existing media and communication theories and approaches (as 
well as research methods).

/Film Studies/
Ranging from early cinema experiences in European metropolis, to the 
contemporary blockbuster multiplexes, film has always been at the 
forefront of European popular culture. The Film Studies section invites 
for contributions that deal with film in a broad variety of aspects: 
film as content, as cultural artefact, as commercial product, as lived 
experience, as cultural and economic institution, as symbolic field of 
cultural production, as media technology, etc. We strive towards 
methodological openness and multilevel approaches on the study of 
historical and contemporary cinema: film text, context, production, 
representation and reception. Cultural studies perspectives, historical 
approaches, political economy, textual analysis, audience research all 
find their place within the section.

/Gender and Communication/
The Gender and Communication section invites empirical and/or 
theoretical contributions to the field of communication with a specific 
interest in gender and its intersections. Gender is conceptualised in a 
broad sense, aiming for inclusivity and multivocality within the field. 
Contributions can therefore address gender or gender-related issues' 
intersection with concepts such as ethnicity, identity politics, age, or 
queer studies. As with gender, the concept of media is equally open. 
Contributions might therefore adopt an interdisciplinary approach, for 
example using insights from feminist media studies, popular culture 
studies, and post-structural theory or posing philosophical questions. 
Aiming to bridge the gap between communication and gender studies, this 
section welcomes approaches that combine a focus on gender with media 
research, namely media production, content analysis of media texts and 
media use and/or reception.

/International and Intercultural Communication/
The field of International and Intercultural Communication has changed 
considerably over the last years. Globalisation and its consequences 
have forced the field to broaden its scope. Furthermore the field is 
challenged from the outside by other disciplines engaging in the debate 
on the role of communication in globalisation processes. In this section 
we welcome contributions that take a broad view on cross-border 
communication in all its forms. We define cross-border communication in 
terms of communication crossing national or/and cultural borders and we 
focus on both mediated and personal forms of communication.

/Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction/
The Interpersonal Communication and Social Interaction section welcomes 
contributions that focus on the study of human interaction and human 
communicative behaviour. The core is constituted of contacts and bonds 
between people, whether in private or public contexts, whether 
face-to-face or through various communication technologies. The research 
fields and theory development areas of interpersonal communication and 
social interaction are wide-ranging. They include interpersonal 
relationships, relationship formation, development and termination, 
group and team communication, conversational organisation, verbal and 
nonverbal communication, public speaking, radio and television 
performance, rhetoric, argumentation, persuasion and mutual influence, 
communicative competence and interpersonal skills, ethnography of 
speaking, and other related approaches to human social interaction. All 
kinds of contexts are welcome (e.g., family, work, instructional, 
political, health), as are all methodologies (qualitative, quantitative, 
mixed).

/Journalism Studies/
The Journalism Studies section is concerned with cultural, political, 
economic, social and professional aspects of journalism and news work. 
The section accordingly invites for consideration papers of high quality 
across the range of journalism studies, focussing on occupational, 
participatory, regulatory, ethical, social, technological, political, 
commercial, cultural, educational, historical and other dimensions, with 
particular reference to the European and/or global context.

/Organisational and Strategic Communication/
The section for Organizational and Strategic Communication promotes an 
active and critical dialogue among scholars in view of consolidating an 
interdisciplinary field of debate, applications and complex projects. 
Its aim is to approach and to debate on the fundamentals of corporate 
communication, and to encourage the development of research topics and 
input concepts by different scholars in various European countries or 
elsewhere. The overall objective of the section is therefore to enhance 
the European research within the field of organizational and strategic 
communications as well as to refine the conceptual and methodological 
background of the correlated practice. The participation rules of the 
section allow contributions from researchers, professors, master and 
doctoral students, as well from corporate representatives whose aim is 
to develop the internal research portfolios of their own organizations. 
The section also allows for contributions of independent specialists and 
consultants in marketing, public communication or related fields, as the 
very field of organizational communication is difficult to observe 
unless part of the organizational systems.

/Philosophy of Communication/
The Philosophy of Communication section in particular sets out to 
consolidate a European forum for the philosophy of communication. Guided 
by the ideal of a free, rational, diverse, engaged and socially just 
Europe, the section is explicitly oriented to reflect the cultural 
variety and the variety of traditions in the history of thought, 
scholarship and science. The philosophy of communication encompasses a 
variety of concerns including reflective, theoretical, analytical, 
normative and historical questions relating to communication as a 
phenomenon, a dialectical process, a social reality, a form of 
expression, a theoretical construct or last but not at least a paradox. 
What distinguishes Philosophy of Communication from other approaches is 
the foundational dimension embodied by the section. The Philosophy of 
Communication section welcomes contributions that deal with questions 
regarding theory formation and methodology in communication scholarship, 
and with fundamental questions regarding the place of communication in 
human existence.

/Political Communication/
The Political Communication section invites empirical and/or theoretical 
contributions on the changing nature of the relationship between 
citizens, political actors and the media, old and new. We welcome papers 
that address issues such as: the implications of mediated and mediatized 
politics on the quality of modern democracy; the European political 
communication deficit; the link between political communication and 
media policy, new journalistic practices, but also rising antagonistic 
civic communicative inputs, practices and processes of the mediation and 
mediatization of politics. Similarly, we invite papers on communication 
strategies and news management of political elites; campaign 
communication; citizenship and public sphere; media effects on political 
orientations and participation; as well as interpersonal and online 
political communication. In line with the general theme of the 2012 ECC 
we are particularly interested in papers that take a comparative view on 
political communication in Europe. The section aims to bring together, 
and encourage critical and interdisciplinary approaches while creating 
dialogue between, a broad diversity of methodological and theoretical 
approaches.

/Radio Research/
Following its successful conference at the University of Minho in 
September 2011, the Radio Research Section invites proposals for ECC12. 
Abstracts are welcome from across as wide a range of interests related 
to radio as possible. We do not wish to limit the focus and scope of 
members' research in the medium, and the panels will be organized 
thematically once abstracts have been peer-reviewed and accepted. Whole 
panel proposals are also welcome, although please note that there will 
inevitably be pressure on the available timeslots in the programme. 
Panels and papers could be situated in the following fields as they 
relate to radio: audience studies; community radio; audio content 
(programming and genre); audio narratives; radio identities; parallel 
web and mobile platform content; digitisation; new or revised research 
methodologies; social networking and user-generated radio. Papers in 
languages other than English are very welcome, but in the absence of 
funding for translation services, paper proposers are encouraged to 
consider ways of communicating their research to as wide a range of 
participants as possible. This may involve showing a PowerPoint in 
English or another of the widely-used European languages.

/Science and Environment Communication/
The 21st century faces unprecedented challenges in the environment and 
science fields. The Science and Environment Communication section seeks 
to foster a strong and dynamic research network and welcomes work that 
crosses a range of disciplinary and methodological boundaries. Examples 
of topic areas include - but are far from restricted to: media 
representations of science and the environment; political and commercial 
discourse on the environment; dialogic, participatory approaches to the 
communication of research-based knowledge; communication, democracy and 
research governance; public engagement with science and the environment.

/Television Studies/
The Television Studies section aims to facilitate strong cooperation for 
European research and education in the field of television studies. In 
the face of technological and cultural changes to television 'as we know 
it', the section provides a network for TV researchers from a wide range 
of disciplines focussing on all aspects of television, both addressing 
the 'post-broadcast era' and television's history and multiple futures. 
The phenomenon of television in its broadest sense is the topic of the 
section: TV as programme, TV as aesthetic form, TV as lived experience, 
TV as cultural and economic institution, TV as part of legal and 
political actions, TV as symbolic field of cultural production, TV as 
popular entertainment, TV as media technology, TV as commodity, TV as 
part of convergence culture, etc. The section welcomes various 
approaches (theoretical, analytical, historical, empirical, critical, 
methodological) and encourages inter- and transdisciplinary work on 
television. For this conference, we would particularly but not only like 
to hear from researchers working on television and its relation to 
different forms of participatory media and new forms of interactive 
solutions such as over-the-top television. Another focus could be 
fan-like activities and television.

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============================================================================
Salvatore Scifo

General Coordinator
4th European Communication Conference
Istanbul, 24-27 October 2012
www.ecrea2012istanbul.eu

European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA)
www.ecrea.eu