[ecrea] CfP Open Panel “Newness and Emergence in Digital Media"

** CALL FOR PAPERS **
Open Panel “Newness and Emergence in Digital Media : Theoretical, 
Epistemological, and Methodological Considerations”, Annual Conference 
of the Canadian Communication Assocation, Technology and Emerging Media 
Track, June 5-7, 2013, Victoria, BC, Canada

During the last two decades, the volume of scholarship on “new 
technologies” and “new media” has exploded. This is reflected at the 
institutional level by the introduction of specific courses and 
programs, dedicated journals, research chairs and so on. Also well 
established, if perhaps less common, are the notions of emerging 
technology and emerging media, which seem to be interchangeable with the 
former and which designate what corresponds, most of the time, to 
networked digital technologies. The terms are intended to distinguish 
these communication technologies from older ones, namely “analog” 
electronic media, while avoiding the radical tone of discourses on their 
“revolutionary” nature. Now that the “digital turn” seems mostly 
complete – its concrete forms showing signs of stabilization – one can 
ponder the relevance of maintaining in scholarly literature such phrases 
as “digital media”, “new media” and “emerging media”. Are they still 
productive in the sense of guiding and focusing a collective reflection 
that sheds light on contemporary communication phenomena?

Conversely, the question of newness and related issues have always been 
at the heart of communication and media studies (Gitelman, 2006; Park, 
Jankowski & Jones, 2011). The same remark could be made about the notion 
of emerging media. Beyond specific objects, it seems to refer to an 
epistemological stance that favours the study of media technologies at a 
particular moment of their existence, that is, “at nascent stage”. This 
is particularly clear in the field of Internet Studies, where every two 
or three years a new “trendy” device captures the attention of 
researchers. One wonders if that perpetual motion of renewal is not 
related, to a certain extent, to the very essence of digital media, or 
what Zittrain (2008) calls their generativity. The objective of this 
panel is to develop this reflection, by bringing together theoretical 
and epistemological insights on the category of “emerging media” and its 
links with the digital. It also seeks to foster a discussion on 
methodological consequences (at the analytical level as well as at the 
level of methods of inquiry) resulting from the choice to focus on the 
new and the emerging in the field of mediated communication.

The panel will be part of the Technology and Emerging Media (TEM) track 
of the Canadian Communication Association (CCA) conference to be held on 
June 5-7, 2013 in Victoria, BC, and will accomodate up to 8 papers.

If you are interested in presenting a paper in this panel, please
1)  submit your abstract through the conference submission system by 
December 1st, 2012 (http://ocs.sfu.ca/fedcan/index.php/cca2013/cca2013 
<http://ocs.sfu.ca/fedcan/index.php/cca2013/cca2013>  ; note that you 
have to click on "LOG IN" to access the submission form or create an 
account in the system)

2)  THEN send us a note saying that you would like your paper to be 
included in the panel on ‘Newness and Emergence in Digital Media’. 
Please send this note with you abstract to both following addresses : 
(guillaume.latzko-toth /at/ com.ulaval.ca) 
<mailto:(guillaume.latzko-toth /at/ com.ulaval.ca)> , 
(millerand.florence /at/ uqam.ca) <mailto:(millerand.florence /at/ uqam.ca)> .

Please note that the papers will be peer-reviewed just like any other 
submission to the TEM track.

Feel free to contact us at the e-mail addresses provided above if you 
have any question or would like further details.

Guillaume Latzko-Toth and Florence Millerand
Theme co-chairs, “Technology and Emerging Media”, Canadian Communication 
Association
Members, Interuniversity Research Centre on Science and Technology (CIRST)
Researchers, Laboratory on Computer-Mediated Communication (LabCMO)



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