[Air-L] Final Call For Papers: The 15th Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association

[Alex Kuskis]

Final Call For Papers: MEA 2014, Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada 

The Fifteenth Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association 

Confronting Technopoly: Creativity & the Creative Industries in Global
Perspective

Submission deadline:  January 15, 2014

Thursday 19th - Sunday June 22, 2014 - Ryerson University  -  Toronto,
Canada

Convention Coordinator: Phil Rose (dr.philrose at gmail.com )

To submit go to: https://www.easychair.org/account/signin.cgi?conf=mea2014 

For submission enquiries contact: Sheena Hyndman (sheena.hyndman at gmail.com )

 Keynote Speaker: Ronald J. Deibert, University of Toronto

Confirmed Participants: Eric McLuhan, Paul Heyer, William Buxton, Ellen
Rose, Lance Strate, Rick Salutin, Eric Peterson, Elena Lamberti, Robert K.
Logan, David Cayley, Janine Marchessault, William Vanderburg, Paolo Granata,
Corey Anton, Nadia Delicata

The 'Toronto School of Communication' represents one of the main
developmental pillars of the media ecology perspective. And, in 2014,
Ryerson University will host the Media Ecology Association's 15th Annual
Convention - the first to be held in the city of Toronto. The relationship
between Marshall McLuhan and the former 'Ryerson Institute of Technology'
began in the early 1950s, and the latter was later to provide the venue
where McLuhan accomplished much of the work for his "Project in
Understanding New Media" (1960). Completed for the United States Department
of Health, Education, and Welfare, this work later formed the basis for his
internationally renowned book Understanding Media (1964). A text in which
McLuhan articulates his sense of the socio-cultural role that creativity and
'integral awareness' must play for future human survival, the 50th
anniversary of its first publication coincides with our convention, which
invites papers, panels, creative projects, and other proposals presenting
research and/or exploring topics and ideas related to the convention theme.

Neil Postman's neologism 'Technopoly' - roughly what Jacques Ellul calls 'La
Technique' and what McLuhan refers to as 'technological trauma' - is a rich
concept. Denoting the digital age cultural conditions characterised by
elements such as scientific management, scientism, information overload, and
other forms of socio-technical conflict, it also includes the contemporary
moral crisis associated with 'autonomous technology', corporatism, Pentagon
capitalism, totalitarian technocracy, and American global hegemony. "Nature
and history seem to have agreed to designate us in Canada for a corporate,
artistic role," McLuhan wrote in the late 1970s.

"As the U.S.A. becomes a world environment through its resources,
technology, and enterprises, Canada takes on the function of making that
world environment perceptible to those who occupy it". In the Canadian
spirit, then, let us collectively probe the phenomenon of Technopoly in
relation to any topics, but with particular interest in how creativity and
the cultural or creative industries might evolve in relation to it, and
possibly serve to neutralise its toxic effects. Though priority will be
given to submissions that touch upon or reflect the conference theme, all
abstracts for papers, panel proposal submissions, etc. that address media
ecological topics are welcome. No more than two submissions per author will
be accepted, and authors who wish to be considered for the Top Paper or Top
Student Paper awards should submit complete manuscripts and indicate the
award for which they are applying.

The convention site - located in the heart of Toronto's downtown core - is
easily accessed by both ground and air transportation, and proximate to most
of the city's major attractions. Those visiting Toronto from afar may also
appreciate visiting nearby Niagara Falls at the Canada/U.S. border - an
environment inscribed by some as one of the 'seven wonders of the world'.

Guidelines for Submission

For Manuscripts: for MEA award submissions

1. Manuscripts should be 4,000-6,000 words (approximately 15 to 25
double-spaced pages)

2. Include a cover page (or e-submission page) with your academic or
professional affiliation and other contact information.

3. Include a 150 words abstract, with the title. Use APA, MLA or Chicago
style.

For Paper and Panel Proposals:

1. Include title, 250 words abstract, and contact information with your
proposal.

2. Outline, as relevant, how your paper or panel will fit with the
convention theme.

For more on the Media Ecology Association, visit www.media-ecology.org 
http://mcluhangalaxy.wordpress.com/