September 14, 2026

Utrecht University (the Netherlands)

Deadline: May 29, 2026

Organized by Karin van Es (Utrecht University), Ramon Lobato (Swinburne University), and Mike Wayne (Erasmus University).

Powered by Special Interest Group Streaming Video.

This workshop explores media distribution in connected vehicles. Planes, trains and automobiles have been electronically mediated environments since the appearance of car radios in the 1930s. Yet recent developments in connected and autonomous transport have introduced an expanded array of media experiences, interfaces, and streaming integrations. This prompts new questions for media research: Who controls vehicular screens? What content is available–or restricted? What user experiences are offered and normalised? How are such screens regulated, and to what effect? In addressing these questions, the workshop approaches digital media as mobile and context-dependent rather than primarily domestic or platform-bound. Our aim is to relocate television, radio and other media within infrastructures of mobility, where viewing practices, technologies, and meanings are reconfigured.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Histories of car radio, mobile television, in-flight entertainment, and other transit media  
  
• Platform strategies of manufacturers, airlines, and other transport providers
  
• Prominence, discoverability and curation of media interfaces in seat-back screens and dashboards
  
• User experience, affordances and requirements of in-vehicle entertainment
  
• Jurisdiction and regulatory challenges arising from cross-border and in-transit viewing
  
• Content licensing, territorial rights, portability, and distribution models in mobile and transnational contexts
  
• Connectivity, onboard systems, streaming technologies, and the material and infrastructural conditions enabling (or constraining) viewing in transit
  
• Advertising, targeting and monetization strategies shaped by mobility, temporality, and location-specific viewing

We welcome theoretically grounded and empirically oriented contributions from media studies, law, design, sociology, mobility studies and related fields that critically engage with the workshop’s themes.

Submission details:

Abstracts of 350 words are due by 29 May 2026 along with a 100 word bio and should be sent to mediainmotionworkshop@gmail.com

Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 5 June, and accepted authors will be invited to submit extended abstracts of 1,500 words by 5 September. The workshop will be held on 14 September at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. A special issue is planned following the workshop. We also welcome expressions of interest from scholars who cannot attend the workshop but would like to be considered for the special issue. Please feel free to reach out to the organisers by email: mediainmotionworkshop@gmail.com