[Commlist] CFP: Communications & Cultural Policy in the Age of the Platform

*Communications & Cultural Policy in the Age of the Platform*____

*May 7-8, 2020**____*

*McMaster University, Hamilton, ON, Canada**____*

Organized by the Communications Governance Observatory 
<https://cgo.mcmaster.ca/>and the Centre for Networked Media and 
Performance (CNMAP)at McMaster University____

Algorithms and digital platforms play increasingly important roles in 
governing how we communicate and how we discover and engage with media 
and culture. The ‘platform turn’ in dominant media systems has 
significant implications for life opportunities, employment, 
participation in the digital economy (whose content is distributed and 
prioritized?), the star system (who is promoted and how? what counts as 
success?), politics (which and whose perspective is dominant? how has 
political deliberation and debate been re-mediatized?), international 
relations (whose view of the world is dominant?) and social relations 
(how are inequities in representation reproduced and transformed?). ____

This conference will draw together researchers in Canada and beyond to 
explore the intersections between media/communications/cultural policy 
and platforms. All submissions related to this theme are welcome, 
including research in the areas of arts policy, broadcasting policy, 
communication rights, Indigenous communication and cultural policy, 
competition policy, cultural industries policy, heritage policy, 
internet policy, media policy, speech regulation, privacy, smart city 
regulation, and platform regulation. We welcome analysis and case 
studiesat all levels of policy-making, including municipal, provincial 
and federal, and Indigenous and international research. ____

Confirmed keynote speakers and presenters include Edward Greenspon 
(Public Policy Forum), Jesse Wente (Indigenous Screen Office), Sharon 
McGowan (Women in Film and Television-Vancouver, UBC), Laura Tribe (Open 
Media), Philippe Tousignant (CRTC), David Ogborn (McMaster), Jonathan 
Paquette (University of Ottawa), Philip Savage (McMaster), Leslie Regan 
Shade (University of Toronto), Tamara Shepherd (University of Calgary), 
Ira Wagman (Carleton), and Dwayne Winseck (Carleton). ____

The conference will consider the following key questions:____

__·__How can Canadian media systems respond simultaneously to the 
challenge of digital platforms and to calls for a greater diversity of 
on-screen and off-screen voices?____

__·__How are platforms taking on, or failing to take on, regulatory 
roles in the fields of communication and culture? ____

__·__How does the international political economy of platforms play out 
in media/communications/cultural policy?____

__·__How does algorithmic governance function as regulation and policy 
setting in these fields?____

__·__How are regulatory bodies in the field of communication and culture 
reconceptualizing their work in light of platforms?____

__·__What relationships and interactions do regulators, as well as arts, 
media, and cultural organizations, have with platforms?____

__·__How are regulatory bodies in the field of communication and culture 
incorporating platforms to conduct their work?____

__·__How do advocacy, activist, and social justice initiatives intercede 
in the relationships between platforms and media/communications/cultural 
policy?____

__·__How do comparative political cultures influence national regulatory 
agendas? What criteria may enable new comparative research?____

This conference welcomes submissions from all researchers, including 
doctoral and master’s students.____

Prospective participants should submit a 300-word abstract, along with a 
150-word bio, including title and institutional affiliation, for a 15-20 
minute presentation to 
https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=comcultpolicy2020# 
<https://easychair.org/my/conference?conf=comcultpolicy2020>by *December 
15^th 2019* for peer review. Invitations will be announced by January 
15^th 2020. Contributions may be invited for a publication project after 
the conference.  Questions may be addressed to Sara Bannerman at 
banners[at]mcmaster.ca <http://mcmaster.ca>. Visit the conference web 
site at http://comcultpolicy2020.ca. ____

The conference will be preserved in an online video archive. Conference 
participants will have the opportunity to contribute to a white paper 
outlining policy recommendations arising from the conference 
discussions.____


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