[Air-l] CFP: Special Issue on Convergence Culture

[danah boyd]

Convergence ? The International Journal of Research into New Media
Technologies

Call for Papers ? Special Issue on ?Convergence Culture?

Guest editors:
Mark Deuze, Indiana University (mdeuze at indiana.edu) and Henry  
Jenkins, MIT
(henry3 at mit.edu).

This call invites submissions for a special issue on ?Convergence  
Culture?:
the worldwide emergence of increasingly collaborative practices  
between media
producers and consumers. Examples are television fan sites, game  
modifications
(?mods?) and machinema, citizen journalism, interactive advertising and
word-of-mouth marketing, transmedia storytelling (for example using  
games,
movies, television, websites and comics), and so on. Convergence  
culture is
both a top-down corporate-driven process and a bottomup consumer-driven
process. Media companies are learning how to accelerate the flow of  
media
content across delivery channels to expand revenue opportunities,  
broaden
markets and reinforce viewer commitments. Consumers are learning how  
to use
these different media technologies to bring the flow of media more  
fully under
their control and to interact with other users. We welcome  
submissions from a
variety of disciplinary, theoretical and methodological backgrounds  
exploring
the changing role and organization of work and productivity in the  
cultural and
creative industries under the influence of convergence culture, as  
well as on
creative processes initiated by or involving the people formerly  
known as the
audience.

Specific topics and issues to be covered in this special issue for  
example are:

?	Case studies of media companies adopting convergence culture;
?	Case studies of specific fan communities and their relationships  
with media
producers;
?	explorations of transmedia storytelling, viral marketing, and  
Alternate
Reality;
?	Gaming as forms that tap the emerging relations between media  
producers and
consumers;
?	Mapping of ethical, political, economical and cultural changes and
challenges in an emerging convergence culture;
?	Quantitative and/or qualitative empirical work on the production,  
content,
and/or consumption of media messages in the context of convergence  
culture;
?	Research focusing on convergence culture in the context of specific  
media
industries (such as: computer and video games, advertising, journalism,
television);
?	International comparative work on convergence culture in media  
production.

Convergence has four sections: Debates which are short polemics (usually
1000-3000 words); Articles which are refereed case study research  
articles
(7000-11,000 words); Feature Reports which offer a critical overview  
of current
research by reviewing a conference, exhibition or festival (4000-8000  
words);
and Reviews which cover books, exhibitions, conferences, CD-ROMs,  
websites etc
(1000-1500 words). Submissions should be formatted using the Harvard  
reference
method. Full details of  referencing style and guidelines can be  
found on the
journal website at http://convergence.luton.ac.uk/.

Proposals for papers should be directed to the editors. The deadline for
submission of research articles is February 1st, 2007. The special  
issue will
be published (by Sage) in February 2008.