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Inaugural Conference of the ECREA Communication History section The Communication History thematic section of ECREA will hold its inaugural conference in Potsdam on 3-5 June 2010. Abstracts for the international workshop 'User Generated Content. Historical perspectives on the participation of audiences in social communication' have to submitted by 17 January 2010. |
| Scifo, Salvatore 31.10.2009 |
 ZZF main building, Potsdam The event is organised by the ECREA Communication History section, in collaboration with the Center for Research on Contemporary History (ZZF), Potsdam, the Historical Section of the German Communication Association (DGPuK) and the Working Committee for Historical Communication Research (AHK), Austria. Call for Papers
Especially in times of media change, when new media is integrated into everyday life, the question can be discussed to what extent new media and new opportunities of participation lead to social integration of the audience – or, on the contrary, whether the creation of multiple platforms of articulation primarily leads to a fragmentation of public discourse. Nowadays accessibility to media – at least to the WWW – is given, but the impact of user generated content on public discourse can be regarded as limited: The public sphere seems to be highly fragmented and usually rather personally than socially relevant content is produced by the users. When mass media like the popular press or TV developed, accessibility was extremely limited. However, TV provides relevant social content for large parts of society and therefore facilitates processes of social integration. Summing up, the implementation of new media can have manifold impact on society. It can include or exclude audiences and it can strengthen and weaken public discourse. The conference aims to analyze and discuss the forms and the relevance of the audience’s integration in different times, cultures and political systems. Taking this perspective different types of media can be analyzed referring their potential to enhance traditional forms of participation and to create a platform for new audiences and forms of participation. How did new media affect the formation of new publics and affect traditional publics? Moreover, in a comparative perspective it is intended to take a look not only at long-term developments but also at differences and similarities between cultures, countries and regions: What kind of public discourse was enhanced by the Enlightenment? How did users articulate their interests and connect with each other within social movements like for example the worker’s, the women’s and the peace movement? What role played “User Generated Content” in different political systems? How is it used to support or to oppose democratic but also totalitarian systems? And finally it can be discussed how “the public” and “the private” was conceptualized or has to be rearranged with regard to the historical development of content produced by audiences? Please send extended abstracts (500 words) for 15-minute presentations via email to the organizers. Abstracts should be submitted electronically via email in Microsoft Word or PDF attachments and should include a cover sheet containing corresponding author’s name, paper title, affiliation, mailing address, phone, fax number and email address etc.
Deadline for submissions is January 17, 2010. Authors whose proposals are accepted will be informed by Organizers:
Dr. Christoph Classen
Prof. Paschal Preston, Vice-Chair of the ECREA Section Communication History
Prof. Dr. Susanne Kinnebrock, Vice-Chair of the ECREA Communication History section, RWTH Aachen University, Institute for Language and Communication Studies
Contact address:
> Download this call for papers in pdf format
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