[Air-L] CFP Digital Culture & Communication Section ECREA

[Fotopoulou, Aristea]

Call for Papers: Standards, Disruptions and Values in Digital Culture and Communication

Organised by the Digital Culture and Communication Section of ECREA (DCC), and the Department of Communication Studies (ICT&S Center), University of Salzburg, 26-28 November 2015

Keynote speakers:
Prof Charles Ess (University of Oslo)
Prof Helen Kennedy (University of Sheffield)

In digital culture and communication, with the pervasiveness that characterises online media, standards and values are contested, whereas well-established paths in the production and circulation of information have been newly arranged or abandoned altogether. Technical and social standards are consistent, formal and informal norms, values or conventions of doing, operating, producing, and/or performing. As the basis of technical transmission, standards in media allow transferability and interoperability, reduce complexity, and facilitate communication across formats, platforms and boundaries. As a consequence of transformations and re-orientations that continuously happen in almost all fields of the media, new technological standards, ethical codes, narrative and visual tropes are being produced.

It is therefore crucial to critically evaluate the relationship between standards and values in their social, political, technological and creative dimensions. Who has the power to define, develop and implement standards? Which values are attached to standardisation processes in creative industries and how are they related to copyright and patents in technological development? Are peer-production, open-access publishing and free-culture movements different kinds of markets or disruptions to existing models of markets? What is the relationship between technological standardisation and cultural diversity?

This workshop aims to address such questions. We welcome papers on the following issues and topics:

- Technical and social standards in digital media: How do technical standards evolve in the media industry and how are they implemented? What kind of values shape this process? What modes of interventions exist (e.g. between players like platform operators and users?)
- Visual and narrative standards and disruptions in digital culture: How are visual standards and codes built and how do they influence the comprehension of data? How do visual media and narratives introduce new canons in forms such such as remix, memes or selfies?
- Professional and ethical standards in digital contexts: Who is responsible of implementing professional ethical standards? Are there emerging frameworks? How do ethical codes inform digital culture research? How do big data contribute or condition these developments?
 
Please send abstracts by May 25, 2015 to ecreadigitalculture at gmail.com
Conference website: http://dcc.icts.sbg.ac.at/   See also: http://wp.me/p2XXkX-6v


Dr Aristea Fotopoulou
Lecturer in Media, Department of Sociology
Lancaster University
Web: http://www.lancaster.ac.uk/sociology/profiles/aristea-fotopoulou
Twitter: @aristeaf   Blog: loopingthreads.com