[Air-l] ICA Preconference - CfP - After the Mobile Phone?

[Maren Hartmann]

Sorry for cross-postings & please feel free to distribute wherever 
appropriate. Thanks!

-------------------------------------------
ICA Preconference 2006
Communication and Technology Division

Call for Papers

After the Mobile Phone?
Social Changes and the Development of Mobile Communication

In a very short period of time the mobile phone has become a permanent 
feature in everyday communication. It changed existing communication 
practices and led to new social arrangements in terms of mobility and 
connectivity. It has become a ‘personal medium’ and a medium for the 
presentation of the self. It is also a medium that is used not only for 
individual, but collective communication and even for political 
mobiliza-tion. Furthermore, traditional boundaries to mass communication 
are blurred, as many contents are developed for cross-media applications 
– one-to-many content provision (Internet, news messages, games etc.) 
gets more and more popular as the technical devices become more and more 
powerful.
Research worldwide has turned to the mobile phone and begun to look at 
uses and effects. Such in-ternational and interdisciplinary research has 
by now led to considerable achievements, based on both qualitative and 
quantitative studies. But it would be improper to claim that all 
questions have been answered, es-pecially since many new research areas 
and questions emerge all the time, based on media developments. For the 
title of the pre-conference we have thus intentionally chosen a 
provocative question: Have we indeed reached the end of the era of the 
mobile phone? Or is this true only for some contexts within some 
communi-ties? Which is the current status of mobile communication in 
different countries?
The mobile phone will continue to exist as a medium for mobile 
communication. But it will also continue to develop as a hybrid medium – 
and will also continuously be ‘reinvented’ by its users. At the same 
time it is part of an overall development in mobile communication in 
which the use of the mobile phone is only a small part of overall media use.
The aim of the pre-conference is not some future prediction (which has 
already not worked properly for the mobile phone in the past). Instead, 
we aim at a view on what is happening at the moment, but also a view on 
what will drive us in the future: What do we know and where are the most 
urgent research ques-tions? What has been the focus of research thus far 
and what has to become a focus? How far do existing realizations suffice 
to explain and explore further developments in the mobile communication 
field? Especially the multiple uses of a mobile hybrid medium need to be 
looked at more closely, including the embeddedness within other forms of 
media use. Processes of convergence such as the relationship of the 
mobile phone to other (mass) media will be considered. Our special 
interest is devoted to the development beyond the mobile phone, e.g. in 
terms of Blackberries, the mobile computer or the mobile Internet, where 
the diffu-sion of wireless LANs plays a crucial role. We particularly 
invite submissions from a media economy or technological perspective.

Organizational Matters
This ICA pre-conference is scheduled for June 18, 2006 at the University 
of Erfurt. Erfurt is the state capital of Thuringia and a regular stop 
on the speed train track from Frankfurt Airport to Dresden, the site of 
the main ICA conference. Erfurt is an ancient city with medieval 
architecture and many historical monuments. In early times, the 
University of Erfurt was home of Martin Luther who was enrolled here for 
several years. Currently, the Department for Media and Communication 
offers both a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in communication. One 
main focus of research is digital media developments and their effects 
on individuals, groups and society. The conference will be co-hosted by 
the German Telekom and T-Mobile. It is a follow-up event to an earlier 
ICA pre-conference on Mobile Communication in South Korea, 2002 and the 
2005 ICA pre-conference on “Mobile Communication: Current Research and 
Future Directions” organized by the Communication and Technology Division.
The participants are invited to arrive on June 17. The following travel 
to the ICA site in Dresden (appr. two hours) will take place on June 19, 
arriving on time for the opening ceremony. Housing and food will be 
provided for all paper presenters; accommodation is available for 
reasonable prices. Travel to Dres-den is free for all participants. A 
registration fee of EUR 25 / $ 30 will be collected from non-presenters 
on site.
The incoming extended abstracts will be evaluated in a peer-review 
procedure. A maximum of eight presentations will be accepted, additional 
keynote speakers may be invited.

Abstract Submission
Submissions of extended abstracts (max. 1.000 words) need to be 
delivered until Nov. 1st, 2005 to one of the following addresses (email 
or ordinary mail). All submitters will be informed by Jan. 1st, 2006 
whether their paper was accepted or not.


Local Conference Host:
Prof. Dr. Joachim Hoeflich
University of Erfurt
Nordhaeuser Str. 63
D-99089 ERFURT
joachim.hoeflich at uni-erfurt.de
phone (+49) (361) 737-4170
fax (+49) (361) 737-4179

Contact Person for ICA:
Prof. Dr. Patrick Roessler
University of Erfurt
Nordhaeuser Str. 63
D-99089 ERFURT
Germany    Germany
patrick.roessler at uni-erfurt.de
phone (+49) (361) 737-4170
fax (+49) (361) 737-4179


-- 
Dr. Maren Hartmann – Universitaet Erfurt
Seminar fuer Medien und Kommunikation
Postfach 900 221 – D-99105 Erfurt
Phone/Fon: +49 361 737 4186 – Fax: +49 361 737 4179