[Air-l] CFP for book on cell phone use

[Ulla Bunz]

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Ulla Bunz



CALL FOR PAPERS FOR EDITED BOOK

THE CELL PHONE:
HISTORY, TECHNOLOGY, CULTURE

Edited by Anandam P. Kavoori and Noah Arceneaux
Dept of Telecommunications
Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication
The University of Georgia, Athens, Ga 30602

The Cell phone presents itself at the periphery of contemporary discourse about
media and culture.  TV cops use it as they rush to crime scenes, teenagers use it to
connect with their peers, terrorists are traced through calls made on their cell
phones, extra-marital affairs draw sustenance from them.  Such images, however, do
not do justice to the central role that cell phones have begun to play in
contemporary society. Cell phones lack the hype of the Internet but are fast
approaching the cultural impact of a mass medium. They have begun to shape how we
communicate; their use has created new forms of media-centered relations; and in the
marketplace they have begun  to influence patterns of media ownership and
acquisition. In the developing world—the cell phone is often the first phone for the
urban poor.  In their intersection with other technologies—text messaging, the World
Wide Web and digital
photography/video—Cell phones have changed how we look at an omnipresent cultural
technology—the “telephone.”

This edited book seeks papers that examines three overarching
issues—History, Technology and Culture-- as they relate to the Cell Phone. Papers
from all theoretical (social scientific, cultural, critical, ethnographic,
historical) perspectives are welcome.  Of special interest are papers dealing with
the impact of the Cell Phone in the developing world and with issues of identity
politics—race, gender, ethnicity  and sexuality.

Papers  may address one or more of these questions. These are suggested research
questions, not a complete template. You may wish to add to these.



History:
When did Cell Phones develop into a mass medium? What are the economic, political
and institutional factors that have had a major impact on the Cell phone industry?
What has been the relation between the history of the Internet and the Cell Phone?
What is the future of the Cell Phone as compared to the history of other media
technologies? What has been the trajectory of Cell Phone use in the developing world
as compared to the West?

Technology:
What is the technology of the Cell Phone? How did it evolve and intersect with other
media technologies (Internet, Phone, Web, Texting)? How have the design and
architecture of Cell phones (size, texture, features, color) influenced their
growth? What are the current technological limits and possibilities of the Cell
Phone? How might Cell Phone technologies grow and change in the next decade? How has
it impacted minority cultures and the developing world?

Culture:
What are the shifts in cultural sensibility that the Cell phone
represents? What kinds of normative and interactive models for
communication does the Cell phone represent? What forms of mass mediated
relationships and Identity politics does the Cell Phone configure? How do the
aesthetics of Cell phones impact behavior--especially youth and business culture?
How have Cell phones changed the structuring of daily life? How do cell phones
intersect with issues with issues of
identity-politics, especially those of race, gender and sexuality. What future
impact can the Cell phone have as it merges with web and other technologies? What is
the impact of the cell phone in developing
countries? With changing Geo-politics?

The deadline for paper abstracts is September 1, 2004.

Please send your queries via email to the corresponding editor, Noah Arceneaux at
noahax at uga.edu or via mail to Dr. Anandam P. Kavoori, Associate Professor, Dept of
Telecommunications, Grady College of
Journalism and Mass Communication, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602.