Call : Deconstructing media convergence

26-02-2013

DECONSTRUCTING MEDIA CONVERGENCE CONFERENCE in Salzburg, 21-23 November 2013

The Innovation in Cultural and Creative Institutions (ICCI) Unit of the Center for Advanced Studies and Research in Information and Communication Technologies & Society (ICT&S Center) led by prof. Josef Trappel is organising a conference focussed on the topic â•?Deconstructing Media Convergenceâ• ? that will take place at the University of Salzburg from the 21st to 23rd of November 2013.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Until today, the concept of convergence is widely used as a buzzword for outlining the impact of digitization. Opposing the idea of convergence as a single solution, this workshop seeks to challenge this concept, bring together up-to-date research exploring the diversity of current developments in media and communications and draw attention to the inconsistencies in media convergence discourse. These concern changing values, practices, organisational settings and business models of cultural and creative industries and other institutions.

Against this background a set of key questions can be raised :

· What are the distinctions that are worth being looked at more closely in media and communication convergence research ?

· In what way are services, technologies and texts being regrouped within the innovation process ?

· How are tendencies of convergence (or de-convergence) expressed in the use of media ?

· What are the implications of modularity and mass customization in the field of media and communications ?

· What is the relationship between technological convergence and
the organisational design ?

· How do the users cope with the increased complexity that is
characteristic of a converging (or de-converging) media landscape ?

Themes may include, but are not limited to, explorations of the following topics :

· Materializations of convergence/de-convergence in different fields of media research and with regard to different technologies like the mobile phone, tablets or the networked television

· Paradigmatic shifts in the conceptualisation of convergence/de-convergence

· Challenges and implications of convergence/de-convergence for the users like the increased demand for technical know-how and media expertise or the differentiation of the domestic media ensemble

· Meaning production and cultural practices associated with media convergence/de-convergence

· Convergence as rationale of mergers and acquisitions, or de-convergence as rationale of spin-offs and split-offs within/between media and ICT companies and associations

· Analysis of increasing complexity of media and ICT ecosystems and value chains

· Cultures of convergence/de-convergence between the online and the offline world

Full details of the call can be found on the following webpage :

http://www.icts.sbg.ac.at/content.php?m_id=1013&id=1013&newsdetail=173
http://www.icts.sbg.ac.at/content.php?m_id=1013&id=1013&newsdetail=173>

The conference is organised in multiple sessions comprising of all the participants. The number of participants will be limited to 25-30. Since the organising committee aims at using the proceedings of the conference for an edited volume of an established communication journal (yet to be confirmed) we ask for original, unpublished work on one of the themes explicated above. If you have any queries regarding the suitability of your potential contribution or any other inquiries, please contact the organising committee.

ABSTRACTS of maximum 500 words should be submitted by email to Corinna

Peil (email : corinna.peil@sbg.ac.at corinna.peil@sbg.ac.at> ) and Sergio Sparviero (email : sergio.sparviero@sbg.ac.at sergio.sparviero@sbg.ac.at> ) no later than May the 1st 2013.

Authors will be notified of the acceptance of their proposals by JULY the 1st 2013.

Drafts, but full versions of the papers will then be due by October 15th 2013, and they will be circulated among the participants before the symposium.