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[ecrea] Call for papers for the conference “Theorizing media change”
Wed Sep 05 15:17:50 GMT 2012
Call for papers for the conference “Theorizing media change”
Hosted by the Communication History Section of the German Communication
Association (DGPuK) and the Department for Media and Educational
Technology, Augsburg University
Time/Place: 17 – 18 January 2013, Augsburg (Germany)
Organizers: Susanne Kinnebrock, Christian Schwarzenegger, Thomas
Birkner, Maria Löblich
Yesterday the newspaper, today the news app; formerly family gathering
in front of the television at 8 pm, now, available anytime and anywhere,
“tagesschau in 100 seconds”; formerly flying paving stones, these days
shitstorms via Twitter. Media change is ubiquitous. But the various
academic disciplines studying specific phenomena of media change keep
struggling to find a concise definition of media change or even allocate
a systematic-theoretical classification to it. Mono-disciplinary
descriptions of isolated single phenomena prevail, while profound
historical perspectives – particularly in communication sciences – are
comparatively rarely applied.
In part, this may be owed to the seductive power of “the new” which is
associated with the notion of media change and tempts scholars to
interpret media change in the sense of “new media”, “new technology”,
and “media innovation”. However, such a view systematically neglects the
fact that each change has a “before”; i.e. something that had existed
before and has changed under the impact of the media and new
technologies. In order to describe and understand media change, it will
be necessary to look at the diachronic dimension of multiple forms of
change. This is the intention of the conference.
To understand media change historically, it is necessary to consider the
complementary factor in respect of change, i.e. continuity. History is
characterized by dialectics of continuity and change. The presence is
not determined by the past, but builds on the latter. Change and
continuity are not to be seen as absolute factors, but can be observed
simultaneously and in different scales: Media change does not include
all and everything with the same speed; neither does it cause a uniform,
linear development in a certain direction; continuity does not mean
rigid unchangeability. Thus, change and continuity are to be
contextualized in multiple ways, i.e. to be grounded historically.
A further reason why media change is so difficult to grasp lies in the
dialectic structure of media change. Media change refers to the change
of media (media technologies, institutions, production, content, formats
and audiences) and at the same time to the change caused by media (in
society, culture, politics, life worlds and work environments).
It is the objective of the conference to provide new insights into the
problematic fields mentioned above by contextualizing the numerous
concepts – which differ greatly among scholars and subfields of
communication studies – of media change and how it should be researched,
thus promoting the development of theories. The conference’s focus is
not on the search for “the one and only” theory of media change. It
intends to compare and historicize various theories of different scope
and may thereby help to simulate dialogue between different kinds of
research with respect to media change (or related key words such as
mediatization or mediation), to clarify specific and common features of
the approaches, as well as to illustrate possible perspectives of
integration of parallel research strands.
The conference centers on theorizing media change, however, theories are
seen in close connection with innovative methods of grasping media
change in empirical research.
Papers on the following topics would be greatly appreciated, yet
submissions are not limited to these:
· Media change in macro perspective
How can media change as a meta-process be contextualized and related to
other social processes of change? Are there any meta-theoretical
connecting factors or basics for theories of media change in
communication sciences which have been seized or which may have
heuristic potential? Which theories from other disciplines (e.g.
history, media studies and cultural studies) are suitable for diachronic
communication research?
· Discourses on new media technologies
Media and communication history has always devoted its studies to “new”
media technologies without explicitly labelling it with “media change”.
Which media technologies in a historical view prove to be extremely
stable and resistant to change, and why is that so? Which lasting
constants can be identified in discourse about new media technology,
both in the mass media and in the academia?
· Concepts of media change on micro level
How can media change be theorized on the level of individuals? What
changed practices of media use, changes in everyday life and personal
communication habits result from processes of mediatization. This
includes, on the side of the communicator, change in production
routines, and on the content side, change of formats.
· Methods of research of media change
Diachronic research designs usually define distinct points of
measurement. Media change, however, does hardly happen at a defined
point of time, it is rather a continuous process comprising retarding
and accelerating moments. Even endpoints and final states are difficult
to define. How can these characteristics be dealt with in respect of
methodology?
Papers theorizing other aspects than those described above in an
exemplary manner are likewise welcome.
The conference is organized by the Communication History Section of
German Communication Association DGPuK and the Department for Media and
Educational Technology (imb) of Augsburg University.
Presentation proposals (20 minutes each, maximum 2 pages) on the subject
fields should be sent as extended abstracts via email attachment to
(petra.cullmann /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de). Submissions are due Monday 1
October 2012 at the latest. No contributions will be accepted which have
been published or presented before at a conference in German-speaking
countries. The proposals will be reviewed in an anonymous process.
Presenter’s name and address as well as the title of the presentation
should be on a separate sheet. The abstracts should outline the content
and issue of the presentation, and illustrate its originality and
relevance with regard to the topic of the conference. Reviews will be
based on these criteria. The review results will be communicated in
early November.
The conference begins on Thursday, 17 January 2013, and end on Friday,
18 January 2013. Details on place, accommodation, etc. will follow with
a formal invitation for the conference.
Please mail abstracts to: (petra.cullmann /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de)
For any questions concerning the conference please contact
Prof. Dr. Susanne Kinnebrock
Public Communication
Department for Media and Educational Technology
University of Augsburg
86135 Augsburg / Germany
Phone ++49-(0)821-598-5665
Email: (susanne.kinnebrock /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de)
or
Christian Schwarzenegger, M.A.
Public Communication
Department for Media and Educational Technology
University of Augsburg
86135 Augsburg / Germany
Phone ++49-(0)821-598-5769
Email: (christian.schwarzenegger /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de)
--
Prof. Dr. Susanne Kinnebrock
Public Communication
Department for Media and Educational Technology
University of Augsburg
86135 Augsburg
Tel. ++49-(0)821-5985665
Email: (susanne.kinnebrock /at/ phil.uni-augsburg.de)
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