[Air-l] CFP Transformations in the Cultural and Media Industries

[Éric GEORGE]

International symposium
"Transformations in the Cultural and Media Industries (CMI )"
September 25, 26 and 27, 2006, Paris

Since the end of the eighties the Cultural and Media Industries have 
undergone profound change. This has given rise occasionally to some 
rather spectacular phenomena, which have received extensive attention 
in the media, and been commented on by "experts", policy makers and 
economic decision-makers. Among the themes which have been most 
frequently discussed one might mention notably: the move towards 
deregulation; the various huge merger operations bringing together 
industrial groups and financial centres which have lead, against a 
background of globalisation, to an unprecedented degree of 
concentration; the flow of ideas and players around the notion of 
cultural exception and cultural diversity; the development of new 
cultural, informational or communication products accessible via the 
Internet or via mobile telephones or similar tools; movements opposed 
to existing commercial offers marked by the development of small 
structures of production targeted at micro - markets but also by the 
development of piracy; shift in the balance between content 
providers, software manufacturers, hardware manufacturers and network 
operators; the development of types of content, such as "reality 
television", which have appeared in Europe over the last few years.

How should these developments be interpreted? Do they in fact 
constitute a major transformation? An examination of the current 
research into the Culture Industry, whether from the point of view of 
economics, law, sociology, political science, history, philosophy or 
communication and information sciences, the number of widely 
differing and contradictory approaches to the same issues is 
striking. A process needs to be launched which will end the current 
dispersal of existing studies. A new framework is needed.

This is therefore the main objective of the international symposium 
on transformations in the Cultural and Media Industries organized the 
25, 26 and 27 September 2006 at the Maison des Sciences de l'Homme, 
Paris Nord.

More information : 
http://www.observatoire-omic.org/omic_collevdet.php?docID=95.