[Air-L] Extended Call for Papers MEA Convention June 23-26 2010 University of Alberta, Canada

[Janet Sternberg]

Extended 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"

Extended deadline for submissions: December 15, 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.

Please submit papers, paper abstracts, and session proposals 
electronically using the online submission system by December 15, 2010. 
Go to http://mea2011.org/ and follow the link to "Submit Proposals Online."

SUBMISSIONS WILL BE ACCEPTED IN FRENCH AS WELL AS ENGLISH. 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