[ecrea] CfP: Media Mutations 7, Bologna, May 26-27 - Space Invaders: games and contemporary media ecosystems

DEADLINE: Sunday, 15th February 2015

You can also read the CfP here: 
http://www.mediamutations.org/media-mutations-7-call-for-papers/
For more information about the Media Mutations project and previous 
editions: http://www.mediamutations.org/
Please direct any queries about the conference and the CfP to 
(mediamutations.org /at/ gmail.com)


CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Media Mutations 7.

Space
Invaders. The impact of digital games in contemporary media
ecosystems

Bologna,
Dipartimento delle Arti, Salone Marescotti, May 26th
and 27th
2015

Confirmed
keynote speaker: Tanya Krzywinska (Falmouth University)

Organized
by: Paolo Noto (Università di Bologna), Riccardo Fassone (Università di
Torino), Claudio Pires Franco (University of Bedfordshire)

In
the past years digital games have progressively become more
visible in the media ecosystem, and now occupy a
prominent position, economically and culturally, in the mediascape.

As
a consequence, scholars in TV and Film Studies have been incorporating
the study of video games into their field of interests, working in
particular on the aesthetic and narrative relationship between digital
games and other media. Scholarly production has
extensively focused, on the one hand, on issues such as intermediality,
narrative aspects in digital games as well as on modes of
representation and enunciation and, on the other hand, on playful
aspects of the cinematic and televisual narration.

What
seems to be nearly absent in this field of analysis is a more
structured reflection on the impact of digital games in the
contemporary media ecosystem. In particular, we
would like to foster a further exploration of the spaces traditionally
occupied by cinema and television that have been significantly
modified, both by the pervasiveness of digital games and by the design
of gameful products. Moreover, we encourage an exploration of current
and potential technological developments that determine interactions
and convergences in the different aspects of production between video
games and other media.

Coherently
with its previous editions, Media Mutations
7 encourages ecosystemic analyses, encompassing games and play and
their role within the wider space of media, of
the aspects listed below. We accept proposals for 20 minute papers on:

*

Space
of creation and production: What kind of unprecedented products emerge
from the coexistence between games and other creative objects? What
types of products have been subject to mutations
triggered by the increasing presence of digital games in the media 
ecosystem? How might models of production and
creative work migrate between games and other media?
How does the increasing importance of games affect the organization of
contemporary media franchises? To what extent
the need to engage viewers through playful elements influences the
styles of writing and filmmaking? How has this changed the professional
routines as well as the geography of workplaces? What are the potential
educational applications of video games and how do they relate to the
use of other media in the same context?


*

Space
of
delivery and consumption: How are games showcased and sold in physical
as well as digital stores, in competition (or in collaboration) with
other items, such as films and TV series? What are the forms of
monetization and the marketing strategies they adopt in the competition
for the limited resources of users’ money and time? How are promotional
practices and discourses of games affected by other media,
and vice versa? How are forms of interactive technology and
distribution contributing to the development of new cross-media
experiences, such as second screens, mobile media
, augmented reality and the like?


*

Space
of
discussion: How have games achieved a culturally legitimate status? How
are games brought into traditional spaces of exhibition? What is the
meaning of buzzwords, such as interactive, immersive, gamification and
transmedia according to the contexts in which they are employed (in
academia, marketing, industry, etc.)?


We
will also consider proposals on the following subjects:

serious
games, advergames, interactive Web-docs, educational games, amusement
parks, gamification of blockbuster movies and TV, Alternate Reality
Games (ARG), casual games.

The
official languages of the conference are English and Italian. Extended
abstracts of up to 1.000 words (for 20-minute talks) should be sent to 
(mediamutations.org /at/ gmail.com)
by February
15th
2015.
Please attach a brief biography (maximum 150 words) and an optional
selected bibliography (up to ten titles) relevant to the conference
theme.



A
registration fee will be requested after notification of paper
acceptance (€40 for speakers; admission to the conference is free for
students). For more information on the previous editions of Media 
Mutations, please check
the conference's website,
www.mediamutations.org.


---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chaussée de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------