[Air-L] Preliminary Call for Papers MEA Convention June 23-26, 2011 University of Alberta, Canada

Janet Sternberg janet.sternberg at nyu.edu
Fri Jul 9 12:37:02 PDT 2010


Preliminary Call for Papers
The Twelfth Annual Convention
of the Media Ecology Association
June 23-26, 2011
University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada
http://www.media-ecology.org

"Space, Place, and the McLuhan Legacy"

Deadline for submissions: November 1, 2010

In 2011, the University of Alberta will host the Herbert Marshall
McLuhan Edmonton Centenary in celebration of the birth of the
influential scholar and public figure in Edmonton, Canada, on July 21,
1911. As part of the centenary festivities, the Media Ecology
Association will be holding its annual convention in the city of
Edmonton to provoke academic dialogue and raise public awareness of
media ecology and the relevance of McLuhan's body of work to today's
media-rich urban landscapes.

McLuhan gave much attention to the changing environment of the city in
the wake of technological change. As he stated in an article published
in Canadian Architect in June 1961,"[t]oday the entire human community
is being translated into 'auditory space,' or into that 'field of
simultaneous relations,' by electric broadcasting. It behooves the
architect and town planner, above all, to know what this means" (p. 52).

For McLuhan, the city is a "technological composite," a patchwork of
media and technologies built up over time and space. In this context,
new technologies may be imagined as "punctuations" in our historical
landscape, inaugurating irreversible cultural, social, and economic
changes. Locating the MEA convention in the heart of Edmonton's urban
centre will provide an occasion to reflect on the significance of this
Western Canadian city in shaping McLuhan's early explorations of
perspective as a fundamental artistic and communicational principle.

The 12th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association invites
papers, panels, creative projects, and other proposals exploring space,
place and city in the context of the McLuhan intellectual legacy. How
might media ecology inform today's architecture and city planning? What
is the relationship between urban and virtual media realities? What is
the meaning of the city in the "global village"? How do new media
technologies intertwine, intersect and reform today's urban landscapes?
A suite of themes have been developed for the Centenary, presented in
the form of five probes or heuristics, which McLuhan often used in his
teaching and public addresses: Media as extensions of the human senses;
Media as "punctuations" in history (bias of time, bias of space); Figure
and ground as a means of achieving a deep understanding of changes in
perception occasioned by new media; The city as a technological
composite; The city as classroom.

Convention submissions that reflect on these and related themes drawn
from McLuhan's legacy of thought are welcome. Submissions on any topic
of interest to Media Ecology are also encouraged.

Electronic submissions of papers and session proposals are preferred and
should be sent by November 1, 2010, to Marco Adria <marco.adria at
ualberta.ca>, Director, Graduate Program in Communications and
Technology, University of Alberta, 10230 Jasper Avenue, Edmonton, AB,
Canada T5J 4P6.

A maximum of two submissions per author will be accepted. Authors who
wish their papers to be considered for the Top Paper or Top Student
Paper award must indicate that on their submissions. All submissions
will be acknowledged. Campus housing will be available. Tours of
historic sites associated with the McLuhan legacy in Edmonton will be
offered.

Inquiries may be addressed to the Convention Coordinators:
Marco Adria (marco.adria at ualberta.ca) University of Alberta
Catherine Adams (cathy.adams at ualberta.ca) University of Alberta

Additional details will be forthcoming at
http://www.media-ecology.org





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