Call For Article Proposals for MCP Special Issue on Civil Society Media (CSM) and Policy

Call For Article Proposals for MCP Special Issue on Civil Society Media
(CSM) and Policy (Deadline Jan 28)


Dear Colleagues,

I am currently preparing a proposal for a special issue of the Journal
Media
and Cultural Politics (http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/mcp/). Your proposal for
an
article, or suggestion of appropriate authors, themes, and relevant
books
for review are welcome. The special issue zooms in on groups that
create and
distribute media ('civil society media' organizations, or CSM) and how
they
are affected by the policies of governments, funders, and even other
civil
society groups. What do policies that support democratic grassroots
media
practices look like?

Leads for topics and people to approach are welcome until Jan 23.
Abstracts
are due Jan 28,  full articles April 30. A seminar is planned for
contributors to discuss and deepen this work in fall this year. Planned
publication is in Feb 2009.

You are welcome to forward this message to interested colleagues, but
PLEASE
DO NOT USE THE FORWARD BUTTON of your e-mail program, but please kindly
CUT
AND PASTE the text into a new message. Thank you.

Please find details below. I look forward to your contribution and
appreciate your help with identifying the best people and topics!

=======
Call For Article Proposals for MCP Special Issue on Civil Society Media
(CSM) and Policy [Contents]

(1) Introduction
(2) key terms used in this description
(3) Themes/Areas
   * Hot issues:
   * Historical & theoretical perspectives
   * Reviews of new books and overviews of existing literature
relevant to
the area
(4) Timeline (TBC)
(5) Guidelines
(6) Contact/Submission

==================================================
(1) Introduction

This special issue of Media and Cultural Politics will discuss policy
issues
faced by citizens as media makers (not mere 'users' of technologies),
especially marginalized communities and social movements. What do
policies
that support democratic grassroots media practices look like?

Socially engaged uses of media and communication technologies have
often
been pioneering. However, media and communication policies have long
marginalized citizens as media makers, considering them at best 'the
third
media sector.' Though this is historically inaccurate, policies based
on
such misperceptions have distorted the mediascape in favor of
governments
and business. Almost everywhere in the world, 'civil society media'
(radical
alternative, community, citizens', tactical, autonomous, social
movement,
indigenous, aboriginal, free media) continue to struggle for funding
channels, legality, autonomous means of production and distribution,
and
against the commercial/governmental enclosures of creative resources.

In the context of civic movements at local, national and transnational
levels for media reform, resistance to copyright extensions, and
struggles
over internet governance, civil society groups dedicated to making and
distributing media have mounted creative responses to their continued
marginalization and to gain recognition as stakeholders. It is time for
academics to reflect, document and analyze these developments, and
provide
historical, theoretical and case studies that can support necessary
revisions in policy frameworks.

Research on media, communication and ICT policy has ignored civil
society
media almost completely, treating people as individual 'users'
'consumers'
or, at best, the 'public'/'voting citizens'. Recent scholarship on
communication rights and democratization of communication has done much
to
outline the relevance of communication policy to civil society in
general
and to document emerging movements around it. However, the specific
position
of 'civil society media' is still poorly addressed. Research on media
democratization often emulates the 'user' and 'consumer' rhetoric of
the
neoliberal discourse or the 'localist' framing of community media of a
previous era. Research on alternative , tactical, and social movement
media
has largely ignored policy issues, emphasizing that such practices
flourish
at the margins, in fissures, and are even spurned on by adverse
conditions.
Research on community media has given some attention to the legal and
policy
infrastructure for specific local practices such as 'community radio'
and
'public access TV,' though practices using different (or multiple)
technologies and less formal practices have been ignored.

This special issue aims to develop an appropriate perspective for the
contemporary realities of civil society and indigenous people's media
practices -- their on-the-ground struggles, their challenges in
technology/policy convergence, the social and communication divides,
and
their relationship to transnational movements. Historical, theoretical
and
cross-cultural perspectives are encouraged. Co-authoring and
adaptations/updated versions of important texts published in other
languages
are welcome.

==================================================
(2) Key Terms:

* 'CSM - Civil Society Media'
< *note: NOT- civil society & media, not (individualized) citizens as
media
makers>

similar to 'our media' (as used in the ourmedia/nuestros medios
network):
an umbrella term for citizens', community, indigenous, alternative,
autonomous and  tactical media and the communication practices of
social
movements and civic groups. The term is contested and contestable.

* 'policy:'
any kind of framework that shapes how governments, corporations,
foundations, NGOs and other institutions/social actors set their
priorities
and plan action
While media and information policies are the most obvious areas of
concern,
NGO laws, labor laws, corporate policies, urban development and
cultural
budgets affect them also: local, regional, national and transnational.
Policy actors are not necessarily governmental.


==================================================
(3) Themes/Areas:

Hot issues:

   * how technology convergence and policy convergence affect
traditional
modes of lobbying, e.g. by community radio
   * what future for 'our media' (CSM) in digital switchover, media
technology convergence & media policy convergence?
   * autonomous media and/vs policy reform
   * neoliberal and neoconservative/anti-terror policies moving in to
enclose many of the communication commons that have flourished since
the
mid-80s,
   * relations of power among and within CSM organizations involved in
policy interventions
   * media & ICT market concentration
   * civil society media growing & diversifying & networking
   * anti-terror legislation, commercial enclosures making policy
intervention imperative
   * what future for 'our media' (CSM) in digital switchover, media
technology convergence & media policy convergence?
   * actors and issues in policy participation from the perspective of
'our
media'
   * relationship between our media and commercial user created
content
(UCC) platforms
   * emerging and traditional actors, networks and alliances + their
agendas
   * actors and issues in policy participation from the perspective of
'our
media'

Historical & theoretical perspectives

   * what are some of the historical precedents for thinking about our
media & policy?
   * highlighting the struggle for licensing and funding of community
radio, public access and indigenous media
   * development of divisions along lines of technologies,
geographies,
language, position in society/world system
   * movement identities: our CSM as organizations/stakeholders
   * contribution of CSM to development of governmental policy
   * relationship between our media and commercial user created
content
platforms
   * alternative options to 'civil society media,' 'democratization'
for
framings and terms used for policy intervention
   * concrete relevance of communication rights framework to CSM

Reviews of new books and overviews of existing literature relevant to
the
area

==================================================
(4) Timeline (TBC)

   * expressions of interest, titles, suggestions for possible
contributors
& areas
   * Detailed proposals & Abstracts: Jan 2008
   * Articles submitted to reviewers: April 2008
   * Response from reviewers: June 2008
   * Symposium including discussion of papers: early September 2008

   * Revisions due: Oct 2008
   * Publication: Feb 2009

==================================================
(5) Guidelines
# texts should be original: partial translations from other languages
will
be considered if the content is updated and adapted for an English
speaking
audience.
# case studies should be recent or historical, appropriate for 2009
publication


==================
(6) Please send submissions/suggestions to
e-mail: a8047@mac.com