[Commlist] Preserving Local Media symposium - call for papers.

Preserving local media – who cares? One-day symposium.

The Local and Community Media Network of MeCCSA is calling for 
contributions to a one-day symposium looking at the future of local and 
community media archives. The event will be held at Coventry University, 
United Kingdom on Friday, June 7, 2024.

While digitisation might be perceived to be making some aspects of local 
media more readily available, the consolidation of outlets has led to 
the disposal and destruction of many of the records relating to the 
outputs, production and significance of local media – including, for 
instance in the case of newspapers, physical publications and 
additionally photographs, business records and other associated 
documentation. This process is amplified by the comparative lack of 
attention given to local media.
In some places, alternative organisations are stepping in to preserve 
collections; this includes community groups who seek to salvage what 
they consider to be the collective memory of a place. All collectors 
find themselves faced with the myriad challenges which are associated 
with preservation.

This symposium seeks to bring together academics, publishers, archival 
practitioners and community representatives to explore the issues and 
possible solutions in relation to preserving local media archives across 
the range of formats, including newspapers, radio, local television and 
film archives, and alternative publications.
Themes for exploration might include:
•	Locating local media archives
•	The physicality of archives – including preservation and accessibility
•	The good and the bad of digitisation
•	The place of local media archives in the memory of localities
•	Community usage and involvement with local media archives  •	Archives 
and well-being
•	Oral history and local archives •	Practical approaches to dealing with 
local media archive
•	Creative responses to local media archives

The event will be held at the university library (Frederick Lanchester 
building). It will include the chance to visit the Lanchester Innovation 
Archive based in the library which documents the life and work of 
legendary motor designer and inventor Frederick Lanchester.

The symposium organisers welcome submissions for academic papers, 
panels, workshops and posters.  Abstracts outlining your proposed 
contribution should be limited to 350 words and should be sent to 
(r.matthews /at/ coventry.ac.uk) by Monday, March 11. Please include a brief 
biography. Outcomes will be communicated in early April. It is also 
expected that a publication will result from the event.

A fee of £40 will be charged to cover conference costs. A limited number 
of bursaries will be available to help support attendance by 
post-graduate students. Please indicate if you would like to be 
considered for an award.



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