[Air-L] CCA 2013 Open Panel: Newness and Emergence in Digital Media / NEW DEADLINE: DEC 10

Guillaume Latzko-Toth guillaume.latzko at gmail.com
Tue Dec 4 10:16:36 PST 2012


***** Please note that the extended deadline for paper proposals is December
10, 2012***
 
Newness and Emergence in Digital Media : Theoretical, Epistemological, and
Methodological Considerations
 
During the last two decades, the volume of scholarship on ³new technologies²
and ³new media² has exploded. This is reflected at the institutional level
by the introduction of specific courses and programs, dedicated journals,
research chairs and so on. Also well established, if perhaps less common,
are the notions of emerging technology and emerging media, which seem to be
interchangeable with the former and which designate what corresponds, most
of the time, to networked digital technologies. The terms are intended to
distinguish these communication technologies from older ones, namely
³analog² electronic media, while avoiding the radical tone of discourses on
their ³revolutionary² nature. Now that the ³digital turn² seems mostly
complete ­ its concrete forms showing signs of stabilization ­ one can
ponder the relevance of maintaining in scholarly literature such phrases as
³digital media², ³new media² and ³emerging media². Are they still productive
in the sense of guiding and focusing a collective reflection that sheds
light on contemporary communication phenomena?
 
Conversely, the question of newness and related issues have always been at
the heart of communication and media studies (Gitelman, 2006; Park,
Jankowski & Jones, 2011). The same remark could be made about the notion of
emerging media. Beyond specific objects, it seems to refer to an
epistemological stance that favours the study of media technologies at a
particular moment of their existence, that is, ³at nascent stage². This is
particularly clear in the field of Internet Studies, where every two or
three years a new ³trendy² device captures the attention of researchers. One
wonders if that perpetual motion of renewal is not related, to a certain
extent, to the very essence of digital media, or what Zittrain (2008) calls
their generativity. The objective of this panel is to develop this
reflection, by bringing together theoretical and epistemological insights on
the category of ³emerging media² and its links with the digital. It also
seeks to foster a discussion on methodological consequences (at the
analytical level as well as at the level of methods of inquiry) resulting
from the choice to focus on the new and the emerging in the field of
mediated communication.
 
The panel will be part of the Technology and Emerging Media (TEM) track of
the Canadian Communication Association (CCA) conference to be held on June
5-7, 2013 in Victoria, BC, and will accomodate up to 8 papers.
 
If you are interested in presenting a paper in this panel, please
1)  submit your abstract through the conference submission system by
December 10th, 2012 (http://ocs.sfu.ca/fedcan/index.php/cca2013/cca2013 )  ;
note that you have to click on "LOG IN" to access the submission form or
create an account in the system)

2)  THEN send us a note saying that you would like your paper to be included
in the panel on ŒNewness and Emergence in Digital Media¹. Please send this
note with you abstract to both following addresses :
guillaume.latzko-toth at com.ulaval.ca, millerand.florence at uqam.ca.
 
Please note that the papers will be peer-reviewed just like any other
submission to the TEM track.
 
Feel free to contact us at the e-mail addresses provided above if you have
any question or would like further details.
 
Guillaume Latzko-Toth and Florence Millerand
Theme co-chairs, ³Technology and Emerging Media², Canadian Communication
Association
Members, Interuniversity Research Centre on Science and Technology (CIRST)
Researchers, Laboratory on Computer-Mediated Communication (LabCMO)





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