[Air-L] Call for Proposals - Netflix at the Nexus: Content, Practice, and Production in the Age of Streaming Television

[Theo Plothe]

Please allow my co-editor Amber Buck and I the opportunity to announce our call for papers for an edited collection on Netflix. We are seeking contributions from a variety of networks we belong to including this one, and we hope that many scholars who do work in the areas of platforms, critical media studies, and cultural practice will submit something for the collection. Please read the call below and we look forward to reading your submissions later this summer.  If you have any questions regarding the call, our early plan or ideas around the book, we’d love to chat. Thank you!


Call for Proposals
Netflix at the Nexus:
Content, Practice, and Production in the Age of Streaming Television

Netflix’s meteoric rise as an online content provider has been well documented and much debated in the popular press and in academic circles. It has been praised as the future of television (Auletta, 2014) and as “the most feared force in Hollywood” (Villarreal & James, 2016), while also decried as the end of “TV’s Golden Age” and blamed for ushering in an era where “TV shows may be briefer, lower-budget and filled with the kind of product-placement ads that audiences hate and advertisers pay for” (Thielman, 2016). Interestingly though, amongst the academic inquiry thus far, much of this research has dealt primarily with the algorithmic culture and nature of Netflix (Hallinan & Striphas, 2016; Gomez-Uribe & Hunt, 2016; Amatriain, 2013), binge watching (Jenner, 2015, 2016; Pittman, & Sheehan, 2015), engagement, (Groshek, & Krongard, 2016; Matrix, 2014); and the future of television, (Auletta, 2014).

The editors seek contributions to this collection that will broaden this discussion greatly, focusing on Netflix in three specific ways:

•      platform - How does the nature of Netflix streaming change our relationship to media? How does Netflix’s interface design impact media consumption? How does Netflix change our media consumption in mobile contexts? What are the cultural implications of Netflix’s business model?

•      content – What kind of content does Netflix privilege? How does the streaming model change serialized programming? What are these effects on narrative? Does Netflix’s streaming model prelude a more diverse offering for consumers interested in “quality TV?” Do representations in Netflix offerings differ from traditional broadcast programming? Is there a “Netflix genre,” shows produced by Netflix can be recognized as such?

•      viewer practices – What kind of viewing practices does Netflix encourage? What is the nature of viewer discourse surrounding binging and other streaming viewing practices? How do fans discuss and build community around Netflix programs? How do fans incorporate social media into their viewing habits? Do users utilize social media as a second screen when discussing their favorite programs?

Submission Process:
Interested authors should submit an initial proposal of 500 words (exc. references) by July 15, 2017. This should be sent as a Word or PDF document to editors Theo Plothe (tplothe at walsh.edu) and Amber M. Buck (ambuck at ua.edu) for consideration.
--
Theo Plothe, Ph.D.
Dept. of Communication
Walsh University
Lead Faculty, Digital Media Major