CFP: 3rd Free Culture Research Conference, Oct 8-9, Berlin

Call for Papers - Abstract Deadline: June 7, 2010


The 3rd Free Culture Research Conference (FCRC)
Free Culture between Commons and Markets: Approaching the Hybrid Economy?


The Free Culture Research Conference presents a unique opportunity for
scholars whose work contributes to the promotion, study or criticism of a
Free Culture, to engage with a multidisciplinary group of academic peers and
practitioners, identify the most important research opportunities and
challenges, and attempt to chart the future of Free Culture. This event
builds upon the successful workshop held in 2009 at the Berkman Center for
Internet and Society at Harvard University, organized and attended by
renowned scholars and research institutions from the US, Europe and Asia.
The first event was held in Sapporo, Japan, in 2008, in conjunction with the
4th iCommons Summit. This year's event is larger in ambition and scope, to
provide more time for interaction in joint as well as break-out sessions. It
is hosted jointly by the Free University of Berlin and the Max Planck
Institute for the Study of Societies and will take place at October 8-9,
2010 at the Free University Campus in Berlin, in collaboration with
COMMUNIA, the European Network on the digital public domain. Funding and
support is also provided by the Heinrich Böll Foundation.

Given this year's theme and the generous support of the Free University's
School of Business and Economics, we encourage submissions at the interface
of Free Culture and business, although we welcome submissions from any
relevant discipline, will be inclusive and will maintain the
interdisciplinary nature of the event, as in previous years. Enabled by new
Internet technologies and innovative legal solutions, Free Culture prospers
in the form of new business models and via commons-based peer production,
thereby both challenging and complementing classic market institutions.
Alongside business perspectives, we expect that perspectives from law, IT,
the social sciences and humanities will help us develop a better
understanding of the challenges at hand, for individuals, business, law, the
economy, and society at large. Topics of interest include:

*    Studies on the use and growth of open/free licensing models
*    Critical analyses of the role of Creative Commons or similar models
*    The role of  Free Culture in markets, industry, government, or the
non-profit sector
*    Technical, legal or business solutions towards a hybrid economy
*    Incentives, innovation and community dynamics in open collaborative
peer production
*    Economic models for the sustainability of commons-based production
*    The economic value of the public domain
*    Business models and the public domain
*    Successes and failures of open licensing
*    Analyses of policies, court rulings or industry moves that influence
the future of Free Culture
*    Regional studies of Free Culture with global lessons
*    Best practices from open/free licensing, and the application of
different business and organizational models by specific communities or
individuals
*    Definitions of openness and freedom for different media types, users
and communities
*    Broader economic, sociopolitical, legal or cultural implications of
Free Culture initiatives and peer production practices
*    Methodological concerns in the study of Free Culture

This is the first time the event will be held in Europe, the home of many
past supporters and participants of the Free Culture workshops and also home
to millions of individual and institutional adopters of open licensing
models. We will therefore strive to promote and connect European scholars
working in relevant spheres, while also representing the global diversity of
the field.

For more information see:

*    Submission Process:
http://wikis.fu-berlin.de/display/fcrc/Submission+process
*    Venue: http://wikis.fu-berlin.de/display/fcrc/Venue
*    Organizing Committee:
http://wikis.fu-berlin.de/display/fcrc/Organizing+Committee
*    Academic Program Committee:
http://wikis.fu-berlin.de/display/fcrc/Academic+Program+Committee





Giorgos Cheliotis

Assistant Professor

Communications and New Media

Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences

National University of Singapore

CFP first regional conference "e-Learning for a changing world: global and local needs" 11-12 June 2010 - Vilnius (Lithuania)

Dear colleagues,

please disseminate the following CFP through your networks. And I hope to
see you in Vilnius.

Alexei Krivolap
Lecturer of BA-program "Media & Communication"
Director of Distance Learning Center
European Humanities University (Vilnius)
e-mail: alexei.krivolap@ehu.lt
http://www.ehu.lt/


FIRST REGIONAL CONFERENCE

"*e-Learning for a changing world: global and local needs*",

11-12 June, 2010

European Humanities University is proud to announce the First regional
conference “*e-Learning for a changing world: global and local needs*” aimed
at providing a platform for discussing current issues in online distance
learning.

Professionals and students are invited to participate.

Conference panels include the following:

   - *Global e-Learning*
      - Crossing Cultures Online
      - Inter-University Networks
      - Collaborative International Courses
   - *Life-long Learning Online*
      - Developing Skills for New Careers
      - Non-Degree Courses
   - *Media Literacy and the Digital Divide*
      - Bandwidth: the Have's and the Have-Not's
      - Copyright: Restriction or Protection
      - Software: Property or Open-source?
   - *Teaching and Learning Online*
      - Transformative Course Design
      - Engaging and Motivating Students
      - Teaching Languages Online

*Student's section*:

   - *Distance Learning: Opportunities for Students*
      - Effective eLearning: Success Stories
      - Motivation and independent learning of students in eLearning
      - Effective communication in eLearning




Planned workshops:

   - Teaching English Well Online
   - IT Question: Moodle or not Moodle?
   - Collaborative courses: methodology and practical aspects
   - New tips for e-learning
   - Workshop for tourism department: E-learning issues for Tourism
   - Online pedagogy



The working languages of the conference is English and Russian. Translation
is provided.

Papers accepted will be published in the conference prospectus.

Applications for participation and abstracts are accepted till *10**th** of*
* * *May, 2010 * through *register
form*<http://ehu-elearning-conference.ehu.lt/registration>.


*Requirements for abstracts*: 400-500 words

Those prospective participants who need a Lithuanian visa to participate in
the conference should complete relevant section in the *register
form*<http://ehu-elearning-conference.ehu.lt/registration>.
Travel grant could be provided on selection.

For additional information search the conference website: *
http://ehu-elearning-conference.ehu.lt/*<http://ehu-elearning-conference.ehu.lt/>

*Application for participation*: *
http://ehu-elearning-conference.ehu.lt/registration*<http://ehu-elearning-conference.ehu.lt/registration>

Call for Papers: Next Generation edition of Fast Capitalism

Special Issue - Call for Papers: Next Generation edition of Fast Capitalism

Fast Capitalism is a journal devoted to analyzing the impact of information and communication technologies on self, society and culture in the 21st century. It bridges the social sciences and the humanities and welcomes both disciplinary and interdisciplinary work. Because there is such an interesting body of work being pursued by graduate students and post-docs in the College of Liberal Arts and strong scholars doing strong work that pushes the academy forward, this issue seeks to highlight some of this work and offer a unique opportunity to focus on the newest members of the academy. This special issue seeks to engage critically with the intersections of self, society, and culture, particularly in terms of the speed, connectivity, and density of 21st century life.

Fast capitalism challenges notions of the modern and postmodern where traditional social institutions like work and family, education and entertainment, have blurred and fused in an accelerated, post-Fordist stage of capitalism. With new, faster, and greater numbers of mobile technology emerging every day, boundaries between the many segments of our lives seemingly disappear or break down entirely. But these invasive technologies that tether us to capital and control can also work to resist these tendencies. Through our mobile and active connections we create a public sphere where individuals and groups can express and enlighten, collaborate and organize; parents can manage their families and nurture children from the job site and on the road, challenging notions of public and private, and redefining traditional gender roles; knowledge once privileged within the confines of higher education has never been more free, more plentiful, or more available; information technologies afford connection, mitigate isolation, and even make way for social movements.

We invite contributions on these and related issues.
Suggested topics include:
•    21st century daily life, the home, family, and/or children
•    Internet and/or social media and politics, politicians, campaigns, or government
•    The culture industry, play, and/or leisure in the information age
•    21st century capital, labor, work, law, etc.
•    Cities, built environments and nature, theories of space and ecocriticism in an increasingly mobile and connected world
•    Issues of gender, race, and/or social class in a mobile and accelerated world
•    The changing face of education, the academy, and/or the public intellectual
•    Critical pedagogy and the promise of democratic education in the information age
•    Marxist explorations of social media
•    Identity politics and issues of hybridity in social/mobile media contexts
•    Globalization and the spread of technology
•    Media studies, cultural studies and philosophy of fast capitalism issues
•    Re-readings and reviews of social theory and its contributors
•    Theoretical approaches to any of the above
•    Pragmatic applications of any of the above
•    Visual or interactive explorations of any of the above

Articles between 1,500 - 8,000 words are welcome, as are alternative format submissions such as commentaries, reviews, audio, visual and digital contributions. Outlines and works in progress are also welcome. Please include a short bio. Send submissions for the special issue in .doc or .pdf format to ljacobs@uta.edu with the subject “Next Generation Submission.”

For Fast Capitalism’s editorial policy and style guidelines please got to http://fastcapitalism.com/.
For inquiries about the graduate student special issue, email Lorie Jacobs or Wilton Wright (Guest Editors): ljacobs@uta.edu or wilton.wright@mavs.uta.edu

Deadline: 15 Jun 2010
Jeremy Hunsinger
Political Science
Center for Digital Discourse and Culture
Virginia Tech
Information Ethics Fellow
Center for Information Policy Research

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/\ - against microsoft attachments

http://www.tmttlt.com 


You cannot depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.
--Mark Twain

CFP: International Conference on e-Democracy, Equity and Social Justice 2010

Dear colleagues,

With apologies for cross-postings - please disseminate the following CFP through your networks:

> -- CALL FOR PAPERS - Deadline for submissions (1st call extension): 24 May
> 2010 --
>
> IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E-DEMOCRACY, EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 2010
> Freiburg, Germany, 26 - 28 July 2010
> (http://www.edemocracy-conf.org/)
> part of the IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information
> Systems (MCCSIS 2010)
> Freiburg, Germany 26 - 31 July 2010
> (http://www.mccsis.org)
>
> * Conference background and goals
> This conference aims to encourage and foster efforts of researchers and
> practitioners by sharing cutting-edge research, innovations, models, theories
> and strategies that address issues and challenges related to cultivating
> online communities for grassroots democracy, equity and social justice.
>
> * Format of the Conference
> The conference will comprise of invited talks and oral presentations. The
> proceedings of the conference will be published in the form of a book and CD-
> ROM with ISBN, and will be available also in the IADIS Digital Library
> (accessible on-line).
>
> * Best Papers
> Selected authors of best papers will be invited to submit extended versions
> of their papers to selected journals (i.e. IADIS International Journal on
> Computer Science and Information Systems - ISSN: 1646-3692) including
> journals from INDERSCIENCE Publishers.
>
> * Types of submissions
> Full and Short Papers, Reflection Papers, Posters/Demonstrations, Tutorials,
> Panels and Doctoral Consortium.
> All submissions are subject to a blind refereeing process.
>
> * Topics for this conference include, but are not limited to:
>
>   Citizenship
> *Unleashing the power of citizens in developing countries to use the Internet
> to drive their own social & political development agenda
>
> Digital divide:
>     * Achievement of equity by bridging the digital divide and promoting
> critical and digital literacies
>
> Participation:
>     * Provision of effective online platforms for meaningful participation of
> citizens
>
> Access
>     * Optimization of wider access to democratic dialogues through successful
> community cultivation
>
> Community cultivation
>     * Enhance the benefits of social development interventions through the
> use of digital, wireless and mobile
>       technologies for cultivating communities to conduct inquiry and socio-
> political action
>
> Sustainability
>     * Facilitating sustainable grassroots, bottom up co-created solutions and
> approaches to leadership, human rights,
>       and civil society development
>
> E-mentoring
>     * Reports and reflections on the successes and failures of deploying e-
> mentoring strategies for raising political awareness, civic consciousness and
> community cultivation
>
> Transference
>     * North-South, South-South, and public-private partnerships and
> collaboration for co-creation of online communities
>
> Community Ownership & Strengthening
>     * Studies of efforts of involving citizens as stakeholders in initiatives
> to promote democracy, social justice and equity
>       by strengthening their capabilities and promoting their involvement in
> online communities.
>
>
> * Important Dates:
> - Submission Deadline (1st call extension): 24 May 2010
> - Notification to Authors (1st call extension): 14 June 2010
> - Final Camera-Ready Submission and Early Registration (1st call extension):
> Until 30 June 2010
> - Late Registration (1st call extension): After 30 June 2010
> - Conference: Freiburg, Germany, 26 - 28 July 2010
>
> * Conference Location
> The conference will be held in Freiburg, Germany.
>
> * Secretariat
> IADIS Secretariat - IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E-DEMOCRACY, EQUITY AND
> SOCIAL JUSTIVE 2010
> Rua Sao Sebastiao da Pedreira, 100, 3
> 1050-209 Lisbon, Portugal
> E-mail: secretariat@edemocracy-conf.org
> Web site: http://www.edemocracy-conf.org/
>
> * Program Committee
>
> e-Democracy, Equity and Social Justice 2010 Conference Program Chairs
> Gurmit Singh, The 3-Os Research & Consulting, Singapore/Switzerland
> Maggie McPherson, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
>
> General MCCSIS 2010 Conference Co-Chairs:
> Piet Kommers, University of Twente, The Netherlands
> Pedro Isaías, Universidade Aberta (Portuguese Open University), Portugal
> Dirk Ifenthaler, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
> Nian-Shing Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
>
> Committee Members: *
> * for committee list please refer to http://www.edemocracy-
> conf.org/committees.asp


--
Dr Axel Bruns              http://snurb.info/ - http://produsage.org/
ARC Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation  http://cci.edu.au/
Associate Professor, Media & Communication         a.bruns@qut.edu.au
Creative Industries Faculty, Z1-515, CIP     Twitter: @snurb_dot_info
Queensland University of Technology                    +61 7 31385548
Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, Qld. 4059, Australia       CRICOS No.: 00213J

Extended Deadline - Call for Articles: Social Engineering book

** Extended and now final Deadline - Please send proposals until May 1st, 2010 ***

Dear list members,

Social Engineering is not only a fascinating field of activity, but also clearly underrepresented in academic discussions. So I would like to invite you to an edited book, covering the latest trends, discussions and developments in Social Engineering, preferably with a digital context.

Interested authors should submit an extended abstract of no more than 500 words (in English) now by May 1st, 2010. The articles should be completed within the upcoming summer. The book will be peer reviewed and published as a part of the Berlin University of the Arts Digital Class serial in 2010. The serial is an effort to raise people´s awareness of contemporary digital theory aspects in our society.

Please join our actual team from several disciplines and fields!

-- Best regards

Dr. Stephan G. Humer

CFP Virtual Community Participation and Motivation: Cross-Disciplinary Theories

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS
Extended Proposal Submission Deadline: April 13, 2010
Virtual Community Participation and Motivation: Cross-Disciplinary Theories
A book edited by Dr. Honglei Li
Swansea University, United Kingdom

To be published by IGI Global:
http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=762

Introduction
This book intends to give a comprehensive view on virtual community
participation.  With the power to gather people with similar interests
together, virtual communities have gained attention by not only
practitioners, but researchers, as well. Various studies have been done to
explore why people participate in virtual communities since it is only after
aggregating a certain amount of members that a virtual community can be
viable. Virtual community participation refers to those behaviours in which
members mainly participate. Basically, past researchers have found two types
of behaviours: lurking and active participation. Although many studies
discussed the motivations to participate in virtual communities, including
gift economy, pursuit of power, sense of belonging, sense of inclusion,
relationship building, and so forth, none of them have given a clear and
comprehensive framework on the reasons for virtual community participation.
As the field is now in a position to call for a synthesis publication to
integrate all aspects of virtual community participation theories, it’s
important to edit a book to give both researchers and general virtual
community practitioner the theoretical guidelines. This book will bring
together the issues that managers, practitioners, and researchers must
consider when planning, implementing, and managing members in virtual
communities.

Objective of the Book
The book gives in-depth coverage of state-of-the-art research on virtual
community participation. It first covers the concept of virtual community
participation, followed by several streams of virtual community
participation theories. It will be written for professionals, researchers,
practitioners, and designers who want to improve their understanding of the
strategic role of virtual community participation within the development of
digital communication.

Target Audience
This book appeals to those interested not only in virtual communities, but
also in virtual worlds, virtual teams, and even online shopping. Virtual
community researchers, as well as researchers from diverse fields--computer
science, information systems, psychology, sociology, and
telecommunications--will find valuable motivation theories discussed in this
book. But this book appeals to more than just researchers. Practitioners and
managers looking to organize virtual communities efficiently and effectively
will also benefit from the case discussions, empirical studies, and data
analysis. In addition, upper-level and graduate-level students will find
this research useful in their course work and research. Finally, this book
will be a welcome addition to academic libraries' research collections.

Recommended topics include, but are not limited to, the following:
--Virtual community participation behavior definition
--Discussion of various virtual community behaviors
--The interpersonal relationship reason of virtual community participation
--The social capital perspective of virtual community participation
--The attachment of virtual community participation
--The belonging or inclusion perspective of participation
-- Gift economy perspective of virtual community participation
--Frameworks to explain virtual community participation
--Behavior theories
--Social psychological perspective of virtual community participation
--The power side of virtual community participation
--Knowledge management motivation to participation
--The communicational perspective to participate
--The psychological perspective to participate
--The process virtualization perspective to participate

Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before April 13,
2010, a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and
concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will
be notified by May 28, 2010 about the status of their proposals and sent
chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by July 13,
2010. All submitted chapters will be reviewed on a double-blind review
basis. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this
project. Additional information about this can be found at:
http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=762.

Publisher
This book is scheduled to be published by IGI Global (formerly Idea Group
Inc.), publisher of the “Information Science Reference” (formerly Idea Group
Reference), “Medical Information Science Reference,” “Business Science
Reference,” and “Engineering Science Reference” imprints. For additional
information regarding the publisher, please visit www.igi-global.com. This
publication is anticipated to be released in 2010.

Important Dates
April 13, 2010: Proposal Submission Deadline
May 28, 2010: Notification of Acceptance
July 13, 2010: Full Chapter Submission
August 30, 2010: Review Results Returned
September 13, 2010: Final Chapter Submission
September 30, 2010:  Final Deadline

Editorial Advisory Board Members:
Mamata Bhandar, National University of Singapore, Singapore
Crystal Williams, Answers.com Community Coordinator
Thierry Nabeth, INSEAD The Business School for the World
Kathryn Ruth Stam, Syracuse University
Rik Crutzen, Maastricht University/CAPHRI
Trudy Barber, University of Portsmouth
Mei Wu, University of Macau
Tony Moore, Deloitte Consulting
Sunghee Shin, Queens College CUNY
Stephan Humer, University of the Arts Berlin

Inquiries and submissions should be forwarded electronically (Word document)
to:
Dr. Honglei Li
School of Business & Economics
Swansea University
Singleton Park, Swansea, SA2 8PP
United Kingdom
Tel.: +44 (0) 1792295680 • Fax: +44 (0) 1792295626
E-mail: hongleili@gmail.com or H.Li@swansea.ac.uk

Revista Eletrônica de Ciência Política faz chamada para dossiê sobre Eleições: Mídia e Opinião Pública

Caras (os) A Revista Eletrônica de Ciência Política abriu call for papers para seu Dossiê Eleições: Mídia e Opinião Pública. Como editor-responsável pelo Dossiê convido todos os interessados a submeter seus trabalhos à avaliação.

abraço, Afonso

A Revista Eletrônica de Ciência Política é uma revista produzida pelos discentes do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Ciência Política da Universidade Federal do Paraná.

Tem como principal objetivo divulgar a produção científica de jovens pesquisadores - mestrandos, mestres e doutorandos -  em temas pertinentes à área de Ciência Política.

No sentido de fomentar intercâmbios de caráter científico entre países latino-americanos, a Revista Eletrônica de Ciência Política propõe a publicação de textos nas línguas portuguesa e espanhola.Desse modo pretendemos proporcionar um canal de comunicação acadêmico e científico entre jovens pesquisadores, vinculados a núcleos de pesquisa e estudos territorialmente distantes que apresentam convergências temáticas em suas agendas de pesquisa.

Mais informações disponíveis em

www.revistacienciapolitica.ufpr.br

 

Atenciosamente,
Editores Executivos e Comitê Editorial
  

CALL FOR PAPER CONTRACAMPO

Estimados colegas!

Continua aberta a chamada para o número 21 da Contracampo, revista do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Comunicação da UFF, avaliada como B1 no Qualis da CAPES.

 

Todas as informações podem ser encontradas diretamente na página da revista: http://www.uff.br/contracampo/index.php/revista/index

O envio dos artigos também deverá ser feito on line, acessando à página da revista.

Para esta edição, serão aceitas contribuições que reflitam sobre Convergência e Transmídia, cuja temática busca pensar o processo de consolidação da cultura da convergência e suas implicações na disseminação de narrativas transmidiáticas. Também serão aceitos artigos de temática livre, conforme as normas explicitadas na política editorial.

 
Prazo final de submissão de textos: 11 de abril de 2010

Prof. Dr. Marildo José Nercolini – Editor-chefe, em nome da Equipe Editorial.

CFP Henri Lefebvre and the ‘Next World Order’

Henri Lefebvre and the ‘Next World Order’  

 Call for Papers   Deadline: 1 April 2010
Guest Editors: Dr. Gregory Seigworth, Millersville University, USA, e-mail: gregory.seigworth@millersville.edu. Dr. Michael E. Gardiner, University of Western Ontario, Canada, e-mail: megardin@uwo.ca.
Space and Culture invites papers for a special issue on Henri Lefebvre and the ‘next world order’.

In this first decade of the 21st Century our world has grown remarkably disordered. How are we to make sense of it, and to find some horizon for hope, at the very intersection of such global-militarist calamities, fatalistic neoliberal fantasies, cyber- & postgenomic vanities, all of these innumerable everyday oscillations of the spectacular and the mundane? The heterodox (and heretical) French thinker Henri Lefebvre (1901-1991) might offer a way (or ways) to conjure some sense of order (pointing toward a next world) from amidst the upheavals of a 21st Century already in disarray. Spanning some sixty years, Lefebvre's voluminous and challenging writings touch on virtually every topic that remains crucial to the contemporary concerns of critical socio-cultural inquiry, including historiography, everyday life, space, social change and ‘micropolitics’, the state, urbanization, and utopia, to name only the most salient.

Despite his status as (in the words of Fredric Jameson) ‘the last great classic philosopher’, with the partial exception of his writings on urbanism and spatiality, for a lengthy period Lefebvre’s ideas were greatly neglected in the English-speaking world, at least outside broad historical surveys of post-war French political and social thought. One could speculate that it may be because - although his work anticipated certain aspects of postmodernist and poststructuralist thought, without succumbing to many of their excesses and non sequiturs - Lefebvre remained committed to critical Marxism and the utopian project of ‘changing life’. More surprisingly, however, was the waning interest in Lefebvre within France itself as the 20th Century drew to a close. Astonishingly, by the time of his death in 1991, none of Lefebvre’s books were in print in his native land. But the last decade has witnessed a remarkable reversal of this situation.

This special issue of Space and Culture will concern itself primarily with two key aspects of Lefebvrean thought: The first would be to engage his ideas with a variety of current theoretical currents and developments; second, to extend his thought into the analysis of particular aspects of sociocultural life in our contemporary, and increasingly globalised world, including appropriations of Lefebvrean categories and concepts in areas of intellectual production on the ostensive margins of the Western metropole.  This may include public interventions, non-traditional submissions and visual or multi-media pieces for inclusion on our website www.spaceandculture.org.  Lefebvre’s work on the colonization of space and the natural world in particular challenges prevailing orthodoxies vis-a-vis globalization. What vital tools has Henri Lefebvre left us that might provide us critical insights for confronting the demons that haunt our new century?

Papers must be in English. See http://www.spaceandculture.org/about-the-journal    or   http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdManSub.nav?prodId=Journal201511 for instructions for authors and details about the journal’s house style.  The deadline for submitting papers is 1 April 2010. Send an electronic copy as Word 6.0 attachment via email to space@ntu.ac.uk.   All submitted papers will be evaluated by the Editors, and publication decisions will be based on the double-blind peer-review process (the Editors will necessarily know the identities of all participants). The Editors are happy to receive inquiries about the issue via email.
Space and Culture is a peer-reviewed, quarterly interdisciplinary journal published by Sage. It fosters the publication of reflections on a wide range of sociospatial arenas such as the home, the built environment, architecture, urbanism, and geopolitics. It covers sociology, in particular, qualitative sociology and contemporary ethnography; communications, in particular, media studies and the Internet; cultural studies; urban studies; urban and human geography; architecture; anthropology; and consumer research. 

CFP IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E-DEMOCRACY, EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

CALL FOR PAPERS - Deadline for submissions (new date): 29 March 2010 

IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E-DEMOCRACY, EQUITY AND SOCIAL JUSTICE 2010

> Freiburg, Germany, 26 - 28 July 2010
> (http://www.edemocracy-conf.org/)
> part of the IADIS Multi Conference on Computer Science and Information
> Systems (MCCSIS 2010)
> Freiburg, Germany 26 - 31 July 2010
> (http://www.mccsis.org)
>
> * Conference background and goals
> This conference aims to encourage and foster efforts of researchers and
> practitioners by sharing cutting-edge research, innovations, models, theories
> and strategies that address issues and challenges related to cultivating
> online communities for grassroots democracy, equity and social justice.
>
> * Format of the Conference
> The conference will comprise of invited talks and oral presentations. The
> proceedings of the conference will be published in the form of a book and CD-
> ROM with ISBN, and will be available also in the IADIS Digital Library
> (accessible on-line).
>
> * Best Papers
> Selected authors of best papers will be invited to submit extended versions
> of their papers to selected journals (i.e. IADIS International Journal on
> Computer Science and Information Systems - ISSN: 1646-3692) including
> journals from INDERSCIENCE Publishers.
>
> * Types of submissions
> Full and Short Papers, Reflection Papers, Posters/Demonstrations, Tutorials,
> Panels and Doctoral Consortium.
> All submissions are subject to a blind refereeing process.
>
> * Topics for this conference include, but are not limited to:
>
>   Citizenship
> *Unleashing the power of citizens in developing countries to use the Internet
> to drive their own social & political development agenda
>
> Digital divide:
>     * Achievement of equity by bridging the digital divide and promoting
> critical and digital literacies
>
> Participation:
>     * Provision of effective online platforms for meaningful participation of
> citizens
>
> Access
>     * Optimization of wider access to democratic dialogues through successful
> community cultivation
>
> Community cultivation
>     * Enhance the benefits of social development interventions through the
> use of digital, wireless and mobile
>       technologies for cultivating communities to conduct inquiry and socio-
> political action
>
> Sustainability
>     * Facilitating sustainable grassroots, bottom up co-created solutions and
> approaches to leadership, human rights,
>       and civil society development
>
> E-mentoring
>     * Reports and reflections on the successes and failures of deploying e-
> mentoring strategies for raising political awareness, civic consciousness and
> community cultivation
>
> Transference
>     * North-South, South-South, and public-private partnerships and
> collaboration for co-creation of online communities
>
> Community Ownership & Strengthening
>     * Studies of efforts of involving citizens as stakeholders in initiatives
> to promote democracy, social justice and equity
>       by strengthening their capabilities and promoting their involvement in
> online communities.
>
>
> * Important Dates:
> - Submission Deadline (new date): 29 March 2010
> - Notification to Authors (new date): 30 April 2010
> - Final Camera-Ready Submission and Early Registration (new date): Until 24
> May 2010
> - Late Registration (new date): After 24 May 2010
> - Conference: Freiburg, Germany, 26 - 28 July 2010
>
> * Conference Location
> The conference will be held in Freiburg, Germany.
>
> * Secretariat
> IADIS Secretariat - IADIS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE E-DEMOCRACY, EQUITY AND
> SOCIAL JUSTIVE 2010
> Rua Sao Sebastiao da Pedreira, 100, 3
> 1050-209 Lisbon, Portugal
> E-mail: secretariat@edemocracy-conf.org
> Web site: http://www.edemocracy-conf.org/
>
> * Program Committee
>
> e-Democracy, Equity and Social Justice 2010 Conference Program Chairs
> Gurmit Singh, The 3-Os Research & Consulting, Singapore/Switzerland
> Maggie McPherson, University of Leeds, United Kingdom
>
> General MCCSIS 2010 Conference Co-Chairs:
> Piet Kommers, University of Twente, The Netherlands
> Pedro Isaías, Universidade Aberta (Portuguese Open University), Portugal
> Dirk Ifenthaler, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg, Germany
> Nian-Shing Chen, National Sun Yat-sen University, Taiwan
>
> Committee Members: *
> * for committee list please refer to http://www.edemocracy-
> conf.org/committees.asp

--
Dr Axel Bruns              http://snurb.info/ - http://produsage.org/
ARC Centre for Creative Industries and Innovation  http://cci.edu.au/
Associate Professor, Media & Communication         a.bruns@qut.edu.au
Creative Industries Faculty, Z1-515, CIP     Twitter: @snurb_dot_info
Queensland University of Technology                    +61 7 31385548
Musk Ave, Kelvin Grove, Qld. 4059, Australia       CRICOS No.: 00213J

CfP special issue on war, conflict and commemoration in the age of digital reproduction

**Call for papers for the Special Issue War, Conflict and
Commemoration in the Age of Digital
Reproduction ( Autumn 2010)**


Wars,
conflicts and commemoration occupy the minds of today's users of new
media across the globe, especially those in Russia, Eurasia and Central
Europe: from digital accounts of 'wars on terror' to virtual museums of
political terror under communism; from cyberwars against websites and
databases to computer war games; from on-line anti-war organising to
virtual memorials to WWII soldiers; from photo-and video- reporting on
warfare in Kosovo, Chechnya, Gaza or Georgia to flash-mobs of political
protest or racist incitement; from digitalised personal memories and
family histories to YouTube clips featuring victorious presidential
speeches.

The aim of this special issue is
to explore the ways wars and conflicts are mediated, commemorated,
reported and discussed on the Internet as well as in other forms of new
media, including mobile phones, digital broadcasting and computer
games. What is the role of new media in understanding, representing,
negotiating and remembering (or forgetting) war and terror? What is the
status of testimony, evidence and reportage in the age of digital
reproduction? What practices of memory do new information and
communication technologies entail? What structures of feeling operate
in on-line reports and debates around military operations and human
suffering? How can digital mediations of conflict bring people and
communities together, while tearing others apart? And lastly, how can
the embodied, physical violence intensify in digital interactions, and
how can it be resisted?


This special issue of Digital Icons aims to create a forum for scholars working in the fields of war,
conflict, commemoration, digital media, and new media, while
simultaneously addressing linguistic, cultural, historical and
political aspects of new media use in Russia, Eurasia and Central
Europe. We invite original articles that focus on one or more countries
of the region, or on their diasporas. We also welcome theoretical
essays, reflection by media practitioners on their own practices,
contributions from artists and authors, and reviews of relevant
projects, books and events.

Deadline for submissions: 1 May 2010
Anticipated date of publication: October 2010
Please contact Adi Kuntsman warconflictcommemoration@googlemail.com
or DI editors editor@digitalicons.org to discuss your submission.
When
submitting your work, please include the following information: a
biographical statement (100-120 words in English) and an
abstract/description of the submission (or the first paragraph of the
essay if appropriate) (about 150 words in English).

CFP-Iowa Journal of Communication

The deadline of the special issue has extended until April 5, 2010.


Call for papers
Iowa Journal of Communication
Special issue: Games and Culture: Asia-Pacific perspectives

As a cultural genre, online gaming has been one of the most dynamic in the world. With a relatively short period of time, online gaming has become a major entertainment tool for fun, but has also become another channel of human relationship as part of people’s actual lives. The vast popularity of online games in the world has closely matched the widespread proliferation of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), which have facilitated communication and interaction at an unprecedented level. Through games as well as related activities, youth have used these technologies to nurture friendships through their engagement in activities such as online games, instant messaging, blogging, and the like, which assist them in constructing their own tightly-knit communities.
Therefore, the booming online gaming should be seriously examined in its own socio-cultural circumstances and context vis a vis the global game industry.  Due primarily to the accelerated pace of development, the academic research on online games, however, has been correspondingly sparse and limited in scope, with domestic literature tending towards either the celebratory emphasis of positive business development or the problematics of regulation and media effects oriented concerns, such as violence and addition. While such research comprises of important contributions to the emergent scholarship on online gaming, lopsided accounts tend to foreground the readily empirical observations and aggregate data to the exclusion of other possible macro factors such as globalization, intercultural communication, transnationalization of the gaming industry, and micro, more private but resonant problems in family or social life of those concerned. 
As a region, the Asia-Pacific is characterized by diverse penetration rates of gaming and broadband technologies. Two defining locations, Asia, including South Korea and China, and North America – are seen as both online gaming centers and the largest markets to which the world looks towards as examples of the future-in-the-present. Ever since Nexon, a Korean games corporation, introduced the world’s first graphic massively multiplayer online game ‘Kingdom of the Winds’ in 1996 and two most popular games (Lineage I and II), Korea has played a central role in the PC-based online game market and digital economy. In China, online game is also becoming a social place, where new social relations, community networks, and new type of life are formed.
In this special issue to be published in September 2010, we seek to exchange our scholarship on the politics of game play and cultural context by focusing on the burgeoning Asia-Pacific region. Housing sites for global gaming production and consumption such as China, Korea, and the U.S., the region provides a wealth of divergent examples of the role of gaming as a socio-cultural phenomenon. Welcoming a range of presentations from micro ethnographic studies to macro political economy analyses, and beyond, this special issue will provide an interdisciplinary model for thinking through the politics of gaming production, representation and consumption in the region.

Suggested topics of papers would discuss games in terms of one of the following areas:

History of the growth of online gaming as a global industry, discourse, and media product
Critical Interpretation of emerging local game industries
Online games and globalization/regionalization
Convergent technologies and the impact on established modes of game play
Government regulations and types of game play
Game fandom and free labor
Gaming as social technology/media
A culturally specific aesthetic to the production and consumption of certain games
New media and experimental gaming
Gendered consumption and production of games

Deadline for this special issue of Iowa Journal of Communication: 5th April 2010. Author(s) should submit all inquires, expressions of interest and papers to Dal Yong Jin (yongjin23@gmail.com or djin@kaist.ac.kr).

All submissions are peer reviewed by two scholars. Manuscripts should be submitted electronically in Word or Word Perfect format  and confirm to the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association and should not exceed 9,000 words in length

CFP for Academic Mindtrek Conference 2010, Oct 6-8, Tampere, Finland

Academic MindTrek 2010: Call for Papers, Tutorials and Workshops
6th - 8th October, 2010, Tampere, Finland

http://www.mindtrek.org/2010/academic
=============================================================

The MindTrek Association hosts MindTrek as a yearly conference, and the Academic MindTrek conference has been a part of this unique set of events, comprising competitions, world famous keynote speakers, plenary sessions, media festivals, and workshops since 1997. It is a meeting place where experts and thinkers present results from their latest work regarding the development of Internet, interactive media, and the information society.

September 6th is the main Academic day, featuring the following themes: 1) Social Media, 2) Ambient and Ubiquitous Media, 3) Digital Games, 4) Open Source, 5)
Media Business, Media Production and Media Management.

Submission Deadlines
- 23rd Apr: Deadline for long papers, workshops and tutorial proposals (6-8 pages)
- 21st May: submission of short papers, poster presentations and tool demonstrations (3-4 pages)
- 30th July: paper submission deadline for workshops
- 1st August: Camera ready papers and copyright forms

Key-Dates
- 15th May: notification for workshops & tutorials
- 28th May: notification of acceptance/rejection for long papers
- 24th June: notification of short papers and posters
- 6th-8th October 2010: MindTrek academic conference

Third CFP on Education and Information/Communications Technologies (Extension of Deadlines)

We would like to inform you about a new set of deadlines and, consequently, to submit a paper/abstract in the area of "Education and Information/Communications Technologies" (or other area) included in The 14th World Multi-Conference on Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics: WMSCI 2010 (http://www.2010iiisconferences.org/wmsci) to be held on June 29-July 2, 2010 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

The new deadlines are the following:

Papers/Abstracts Submissions and Invited Sessions Proposals: March 10th, 2010
Authors Notifications: May 5th, 2010
Camera-ready, full papers: May 26th, 2010

You can also submit your abstract-paper to another area or any of the following conjoined and/or collocated events:
=======================================================
The SUMMER 4th International Conference on Knowledge Generation, Communication and Management: KGCM 2010 (www.2010iiisconferences.org/kgcm)

The 3rd, International Symposium on Academic Globalization: AG 2010 (www.2010iiisconferences.org/ag)

The 2nd International Symposium on Peer Reviewing: ISPR 2010 (www.2010iiisconferences.org/ispr)
=======================================================
Participants in any conference can attend the sessions of other collocated conferences, and will receive electronic proceedings, in a CD, which includes the papers presented at all conferences and symposia

Submissions for Face-to-Face or for Virtual Participation are both accepted. Both kinds of submissions will have the same reviewing process and the accepted papers will be included in the same proceedings.

Pre-Conference and Post-conference Virtual sessions (via electronic forums) will be held for each session included in the conference program, so that sessions papers can be read before the conference, and authors presenting at the same session can interact during one week before and after the conference. Authors can also participate in peer-to-peer reviewing in virtual sessions.

All Submitted papers/abstracts will go through three reviewing processes: (1) double-blind (at least three reviewers), (2) non-blind, and (3) participative peer reviews. These three kinds of review will support the selection process of those papers/abstracts that will be accepted for their presentation at the conference, as well as those to be selected for their publication in JSCI Journal.

Authors of accepted papers who registered in the conference can have access to the evaluations and possible feedback provided by the reviewers who recommended the acceptance of their papers/abstracts, so they can accordingly improve the final version of their papers. Non-registered authors will not have access to the reviews of their respective submissions.

Registration fees of an effective invited session organizer will be waived according to the policy described in the web page  (click on 'Invited Session', then on 'Benefits for the Organizers of Invited Sessions'), where you can get information about the ten benefits for an invited session organizer. For Invited Sessions Proposals, please visit the conference web site, or directly to www.2010iiisconferences.org/wmsci/organizer.asp

Authors of the best 10%-20% of the papers presented at the conference (included those virtually presented) will be invited to adapt their papers for their publication in the Journal of Systemics, Cybernetics and Informatics.

Best regards,

Conference Organizing Committee

CfP DIGITAL GAME PLAY AS SOCIOTECHNICAL PRACTICE - EASST 2010

*************************************************************************************************************
EASST Conference 2010, European Association for the Study of Science
and Technology
'Practicing Science and Technology, Performing the Social,'
University of Trento, Italy, 2-4 September 2010. Abstract submission
deadline: 15 March 2010.
http://events.unitn.it/en/easst010
**************************************************************************************************************

TRACK:

DIGITAL GAME PLAY AS SOCIOTECHNICAL PRACTICE

The Digital Game industry has become one of the fastest growing,
innovative and globalised industries in advanced Western economies and
Digital Games have become a key cultural artefact and leisure practice
in contemporary societies. Developing out of the American military
industrial and academic complex in the 1970s the study of Digital
Games design and play is the study of a range of sociotechnical
practices and the negotiations between a range of human and non-human
actors operating within systems of rules. The complexity of these
relationships brings forth a series of questions that can be
investigated using Science and Technology Studies approaches. However,
to date games studies, with few exceptions, have failed to adopt STS
approaches and the STS community has largely ignored this area of
study.

This track seeks to develop the relationship between the game studies
community and the STS community. Several research questions can be
used to guide this: What STS theories can be used to understand
Digital Games as sociotechnical phenomenon? Is the concept of practice
and the practice-based approach useful to investigate Digital Games?
Is there a relationship between power as inscribed and imposed by
artefacts and the technical dimensions of Digital Games? What rules
are inscribed into Digital Games technologies and what social worlds
do these rules describe? What contribution can the study of Digital
Games make to the STS discipline at large? And what contribution can
an STS approach make to game studies? Can we foresee an after-method
approach for Digital Games?

We invite papers that tackle the sociotechnical dimensions of Digital
Games and address some of the questions outlined above. Contributions
might include (but are not restricted to):

•       Digital Games as material semiotic artefacts
•       Digital Games as sociotechnical assemblages
•       The mess of digital games
•       Innovation in game design as actor-networking and social shaping
•       Digital Game design and/or play as performance and practice
•       Disruptive sociotechnical users’ practices (e.g. hacking, modding)
•       The scripting of gendered gaming practices
•       Governance and regulation of gaming practices


Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent by email (following
website instructions:
http://events.unitn.it/en/easst010/abstract-submission) by 2010 March
15th. Please include also a preliminary references list (up to 4).





Contact for inquiries: stefano.depaoli@nuim.ie


Convenors

Aphra Kerr is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the
National University of Ireland Maynooth.  Her research focuses on the
regulation, production and consumption of digital media and in
particular of digital games; she established and runs the industry and
community website. (www.gamedevelopers.ie)

Helen W. Kennedy is Deputy Head in the Department of Culture, Media
and Drama at the University of the West of England (UWE) in the UK.
She has been researching and writing about games since 1993 and
co-founded and chaired (from 2004 – 2009) the Play Research Group at
UWE.

Jennifer Jenson is Associate Professor of Pedagogy and Technology in
the Faculty of Education at York University. Her research interests
include gender and gameplay and the design and development of digital
games for education.

Stefano De Paoli is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of
Sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Stefano has
worked in STS since 2004 and recently his research interest has
embraced Massive Multiplayer Online Games
(http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/people/postdocs/stefano_de_paoli.shtml)

Deadline Extended CFP: IWIPS Growing Global Design Communities - London 2010

9th International Workshop of Internationalisation of Products and Systems
www.iwips2010.org
London, England, 7 - 10 July 2010
to be held in Thames Valley University.

IWIPS 2010 committee is seeking submissions on the topics of localization and globalization, with an emphasis on this year's theme: Growing Global Design Communities. The objective of the 2010 theme is to focus on the impact of international design teams on the design, evaluation, and development of products and systems.  IWIPS invites several types of submissions, including papers, case studies, research-in-progress and tutorials.  All submissions are due 15 March 2010. Accepted submissions (except tutorials) will be published in the IWIPS 2010 proceedings.

Suggested Topics for Submissions
As the world's economy recovers from the downturn, the need increases for effective, efficient, and socially responsible strategies for supporting global design communities. Strategies that address both business and human issues are of great importance. Topics of interest for IWIPS 2010 include, but are not limited to the following:


      Cross-cultural issues in IT design

        User centric strategies for economic and community development IT projects

        Revised models for global IT off-shoring, outsourcing and distributed resources

        Sociotechnical design and evaluation frameworks

        Methods for software localization / globalization

        Designing for trust

        Dealing with intercultural issues in participatory design

        The impact of Social Networks and other CMC tools across cultural boundaries

        Interactions between culture and user-centred design

        Managing geographically dispersed  multicultural design communities

        Localising usability evaluation and requirements gathering techniques

Submission Types

Papers - Papers are formal reports of completed research, organized on a modified APA model. The length of the paper should be no more than 10 pages in the proceedings format.

Case Studies - Case studies are structured descriptions of the lessons learned in applied design, evaluation, or development of products or systems within industry. The length of case studies should be between 4 to 8 pages in the proceedings format.

Research-in-Progress - Research-in-Progress briefs should provide a description of the background, procedures and methodology, anticipated results, and preliminary findings (if any) of ongoing research or applied product design, evaluation or development. The length of the Research-in-Progress brief should be 6 to 10 pages in the proceedings format. (Graduate students are encouraged to submit a brief based on their theses or dissertations.)

Tutorials - A tutorial is a comprehensive delivery, in an interactive and applied style of a core set of internationalisation or localisation skills methodologies or procedures. Tutorials should be interactive and applied in the nature of their delivery. Initial proposals should be 3 to 5 pages in length and do not have to be submitted in the proceedings format. The final submission will be between 15 to 30 pages, in the proceedings format, due on 15th of April 2010.


Important Dates

Papers, case studies, and research-in-progress briefs
Submission deadline 15 March 2010
Notification to authors 1 April 2010
Camera ready copies of papers 15 April 2010

Tutorials
Initial proposal 15 March 2010
Final submissions 15 April 2010

More info on http://www.iwips2010.org/calls.html

2nd CFP: M/C Journal 'ambient' Issue

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 15 Feb. 2010
>
>                           M/C - Media and Culture
>                      http://www.media-culture.org.au/
>            is calling for contributors to the 'ambient' issue of
>
>                                 M/C Journal
>                    http://journal.media-culture.org.au/
>
> M/C Journal is looking for new contributors. Founded in 1998, M/C is a
> crossover journal between the popular and the academic, and a blind- and
> peer-reviewed journal. Our Website at http://journal.media-culture.org.au/
> provides open access to all past issues.
>
> To find out how and in what format to contribute your work, visit
> http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/about/submissions.
>
>                         Call for Papers: 'ambient'
>                          Edited by Luke Jaaniste
>
> Ambience is all around us. Wherever we are. Conditioned as we are as
> being-in-the-world, we are always surrounded. A surrounding that affords
> meaningful pathways and places of action and thought, that is intelligently
> geared up with us. The fundamental surroundings might be the earth itself,
> upon which multiple worlds, spaces, zones, nets, webs, districts, precincts
> and the like occupy our lives, as we occupy them.
>
> Ambience can be contrasted with salience. What is salient is what is of
> immediate interest and attention. Before us right now, taken up. Hopefully,
> dear reader, these words you are reading have particular salience for you.
> Right now. But when something is taken up in our field of attention and
> action, there is so much that remains, always already there, in the
> background, in the periphery, in the ether, in the air. So when Brian Eno
> famously coined the term 'ambient music' in the 1970s - and triggered off a
> whole raft of terms like ambient video, ambient art, ambient architecture,
> ambient tv, ambient media, ambient marketing, ambient journalism, ambient
> computing, ambient screens, ambient poetics and ambient literature - he was
> doing something a little odd. Making ambience salient. In his music and in
> his discourse about it.
>
> Ambience has been palpably in place, since the dawn of time, but as way of
> talking about the world is helps gear us towards the all-around and how so
> much of being human is conditioned and affected by our surrounds, in a age
> when place and place-making has changed in dramatic ways, locally and
> globally. In this issue, we ask: what ideas and interaction take place in
> ambience?
>
> Please send a 100-word abstract to the editors at
> ambient@journal.media-culture.org.au. Articles of 3,000 words in length
> should be submitted online at http://journal.media-culture.org.au/ and
> should be prepared in accordance with the M/C Journal style guidelines,
> available at
> http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/about/submissions.
>
> Article deadline:     5 Mar. 2010
> Issue release date:   5 May 2010
>
> M/C Journal was founded (as "M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture") in 1998
> as a place of public intellectualism analysing and critiquing the meeting of
> media and culture. Contributors are directed to past issues of M/C Journal
> for examples of style and content, and to the submissions page for
> comprehensive article submission guidelines. M/C Journal articles are blind
> peer-reviewed.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Further M/C Journal issues scheduled for 2010/11:
>
> 'ambient':   article deadline 5 Mar. 2010,    release date 5 May 2010
> 'deaf':      article deadline 30 Apr. 2010,   release date 30 June 2010
> 'waste':     article deadline 25 June 2010,   release date 25 Aug. 2010
> 'pig':       article deadline 20 Aug. 2010,   release date 20 Oct. 2010
> 'coalition': article deadline 15 Oct. 2010,   release date 15 Dec. 2010
> 'doubt':     article deadline 21 Jan. 2011,   release date 23 Mar. 2011
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> M/C - Media and Culture is located at <http://www.media-culture.org.au/>.
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> M/C Journal is online at <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/>.
> All past issues of M/C Journal on various topics are available there.

Extended CFP MEA Convention June 10-13, 2010 University of Maine

Extended Call for Papers
Media Ecology Association
11th Annual Convention
June 10-13, 2010
University of Maine, Orono

Media Ecology and Natural Environments

The subject of media ecology was formed with two biological metaphors in
mind, Neil Postman wrote in "The Humanism of Media Ecology" (2000). In
biology, a medium is a substance within which a culture grows. Change
"substance" to "technology" and media ecology defines medium as a
technology within which a culture grows, forming its politics, social
organization, and ways of thinking. In biology, ecology is the study of
what constitutes a balanced and healthy natural environment. Media
ecology refers to ways that cultures maintain a healthy symbolic balance
to help keep our natural world in order. Media ecology seeks to make us
more aware that we live in two different environments. We live in both
the natural environment of air, water, animals, and plants, and the
media environment of language, images, symbols, and technologies that
shape us.

The 11th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association
<http://www.media-ecology.org> invites papers, panels, creative
projects, and other proposals exploring all facets of media ecology and
those that focus on the convention theme, examining the connections
between the two ecologies, one of culture and communication, the other
of nature and the physical sciences. Convention submissions are welcome
that draw on a wide variety of perspectives in environmental studies in
the sciences and communication, from issues such as climate change,
biodiversity, acid rain, and wildlife ecology. How do media ecology and
natural ecology intersect? How do ecologists in humanities, social
sciences, and natural sciences create dialogue with each other? Can
scholarship bring artists, communication researchers, and scientists
together? What is the relationship between primary natural and virtual
media realities? What is the history of environmental thought?

Electronic submissions of abstracts, full papers, and panel proposals
are preferred and should be sent by March 1 to Paul Grosswiler
<paulg@maine.edu>, Chair, Department of Communication and Journalism,
420 Dunn Hall, University of Maine, Orono, ME 04460. A maximum of two
submissions per author will be accepted. Authors who wish their papers
to be considered for the Top Paper or Top Student Paper award must
indicate that on their submissions. All submissions will be acknowledged.

The convention will be sponsored by the Vice President for Research, the
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Department of
Communication and Journalism at the University of Maine. Campus housing
will be available. Tours of Maine's natural environments will be offered.

http://www.media-ecology.org