[ecrea] Call for papers - Children cultures and Media Cultures

CALL FOR PAPERS



Children Cultures and Media Cultures

Special issue of Communication Management Quarterly, CM – C(asopis za 
Upravljanje

Komuniciranjem

http://www.fpn.bg.ac.rs/2011/10/24/cm-casopis-za-upravljanje-komuniciranjem-2/



Guest editors: Piermarco Aroldi and Cristina Ponte

COST Action IS0906, “Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies”

Working Group 4 - Audience Transformation and Social Integration



1.      Main topic

In the changing landscape of (old and new) media and their audiences, 
convergence between children's and media cultures is an increasing field 
of study. Among other topics, children and young people are facing the 
expansion of digital TV channels addressed to kids and teens; a growing 
marketing investments associated to new forms of publicity in new 
platforms, such as the SNS sites or the mobile communication; new social 
practices because of changing family structure and everyday rhythms, 
making their lives much more institutionalised, more individualized and 
lived in a culture dominated by individualized and mobile media than 
past generations, to name but a few challenges. This special issue aims 
to deepen our knowledge about the relation between children cultures and 
media cultures as a privileged area of innovation, where a plurality of 
actors and stakeholders (children, parents, educators, producers, 
marketers, regulators, policy makers and, last but not least, scholars) 
constantly negotiate about the meaning of childhood itself in our 
globalizing societies.

This main topic can be addressed by different points of view, such as:



2.      Sub topics

·         Children as cross-media users: diffusion of digital devices in 
the everyday life, and convergence of media brands and characters 
addressed to kids and teens in a cross-platform perspective, made the 
children a very peculiar audience, accustomed to engage with their 
preferred contents through a wide set of channels, technologies, formats 
and rituals. Both offering strategies by the producers and consumption 
habits by the publics can be tackled to highlight new forms of 
cross-media usage and new configurations of children as audience/users.

·         Parental mediation and family negotiation: notwithstanding the 
rising of mobile connectivity and out-of-home communication, family 
still stands as an environment affecting both media practices and 
interpretations developed by the children; at the same time, structural 
change in the household and families, alongside with cultural change, 
are reconfiguring values and strategies of parental mediation. What’s 
new about family negotiation of media technologies and contents?

·         Peer cultures and taste cultures: children are engaged in 
negotiating meanings and values in their peer groups, developing 
peculiar constellations of tastes and preferences and producing their 
own cultures. How do media contents enter the peer groups and contribute 
to shape their taste cultures? And, on the other hand, how does peer 
groups belonging contribute in orienting media taste and habits?

·         Agency and participation: children are social actors as well 
as adults are; but at what extent media cultures allow – or claim for – 
their agency and participation? After the “media savvy” or the “digital 
native” kids, what kind of children audiences are the scholars 
approaching? What models of “active publics” are the producers 
developing in the children media?

·         Media cultures, consumer cultures and the children: 
convergence between media cultures and consumer cultures is visible in 
such process as merchandising, where a mesh up of media texts and 
promotional gadgets gathers a line of commodities under one coherent 
concept, or product placement as a strategy of positioning a branded 
product within a desirable media context, trying to strengthen its 
image. This kind of convergence, very common in children media, rises a 
lot of questions about children consumptions and exploitation. How to 
answer them?

·         Media and play: media contents and platforms largely entered 
the realm of children play, so to make hard to distinguish them: on the 
one side, videogames and consoles colonized everyday life spaces and 
times, often incorporating mobile and domestic screens; on the other 
side, toys and games refer to or involve characters and narratives 
derived from media blockbusters. What is the media role in driving the 
playing activity? How do they affect social, cognitive and identity 
processes connected with playing?

·         Media and socialization: media cultures intertwine 
socialization, contributing to shape personal identity and social roles 
acquisition, and to define what is (or not) to be accepted as “normal” 
in a society; gender and age roles, moral values, lifestyles and 
behaviours are reproduced, confirmed and contested in the symbolic space 
of cultural productions, especially when addressed to children. What are 
the trends in media culture? And in the academic approach to this topic? 
What do we know about some specific issues such as gender roles, 
“sentimental education”, or pro-social attitudes? And what about some 
implications with children wellbeing and health?

·         Regulation and provisions: in the last 15 years, media 
regulators and producers contributed in establishing a set of normative 
frameworks and co-regulation systems to avoid that children could be 
jeopardized by inappropriate contents or contacts; public and private 
institutions stimulated content providers to a suitable availability and 
a better quality in their media production and broadcasting addressed to 
children. Parents associations and children advocacy groups often 
discussed this kind of statements. What is the “state of the art” in the 
permanent negotiation between these different stakeholders about 
children and media?

·         Globalization and glocalisation: we are facing globalization 
of both media and societies: media contents for children are more and 
more globalized and marketed on a global scale, and new generations are 
more likely to be “citizens of the globe”. What kind of relations 
between these processes and the claim for local cultural identities?





Manuscript submission guidelines



Length and font: The articles should be prepared in Microsoft Word 
programme, page format: A4; font: Times New Roman 11; double line 
spacing. Original articles should not exceed 8 000 words.





3.      Important dates

Submission of long abstracts (600-800 words): January, 14, 2013

Notification of the accepted proposals: February, 1, 2013

Full manuscript submission: April 29, 2013

Editorial decision of acceptance/refusal: June 30, 2013

Final version: September 30, 2013

Estimated date for publication: December 2013



4.      Contact information

Please send your proposal by email to the guest editors:

Piermarco Aroldi: (piermarco.aroldi /at/ unicatt.it)

Cristina Ponte: (cristina.ponte /at/ fcsh.unl.pt)







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