ECREA WEEKLY digest ARTICLES

Flinders University

•  Career defining opportunity to lead and contribute to our world class academic team.
• Flinders University is committed to innovation, excellence and student success.
• Be a part of an internationally recognised world leader in research and an innovator in contemporary education.

Flinders University is seeking an experienced Professor– Research Academic in Film, Television and Digital Media for a continuing full-time opportunity.

The Position

The Professor will lead and undertake research in the field of Film, Television and Digital Media on behalf of the College. The position will provide leadership and vision in setting the strategic research directions and goals for the area, expanding the research area through the attraction of external funding and contract income and establishing its reputation on an international scale in alignment with the strategic directions of the College and University.

The position will be responsible for engaging with industry, government and other external organisations, strengthening research collaborations internally and externally and supporting recruitment of international and domestic higher degree research students and externally funded research fellows.

The University

Flinders University is a globally focused, locally engaged institution with a reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Flinders is ranked the number one South Australian university for teaching quality, learning engagement and student support. 90% of our assessed research has been ranked at or above world standard.

Flinders’ commitment to making a positive impact is reflected in our strategic plan /Making a Difference: the 2025 Agenda/. To achieve the University’s 2025 Agenda the College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences is looking to appoint outstanding academics across a range of discipline areas and levels of seniority.

The College

The College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences enjoys a well-justified reputation for excellence in teaching and research. Encompassing teaching and research activities within languages, culture and communication, social sciences, performing and creative arts, and history and archaeology, we aim to bring together high profile interdisciplinary and disciplinary projects dedicated to major cultural, environmental, geographical, historical and social challenges of our time.

Creative Arts at Flinders

Flinders University has a long-standing history and excellent reputation as a national and international leader in the creative arts. As the first-choice provider of creative arts in SA, the Flinders creative arts program combines traditional conceptions of artistic excellence with contemporary notions of creative industry.

Flinders creative arts enjoys a world class reputation in research excellence as evidenced by the recent Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) rating of 4, recognising Flinders as the only non-Go8 university ‘Above World Class’ in Performing Arts and Creative Writing. Our Visual Effects and Entertainment Design degree is world-class, having won The Rookies award for best digital illustration school in the world in 2017 and 2018.

If you’re excited by change, if you have a passion for excellence and innovation, and if you want to work in an organisation dedicated to student success and outstanding research, this is your opportunity to make an impact.

Click "Apply Now" to be taken to our website where you can find out more, read the full position description, essential capabilities and Applicant information pack.

* Available on a full-time continuing basis

* Level E $181,307 pa

* Plus 17% employer superannuation

Please note: Pursuant to the Children’s Protection Act 1993 (SA) this position has been deemed prescribed. It is an inherent requirement of the position that the successful candidate maintains a current Child Related Employment Screening which is satisfactory to the University./

We are seeking to increase the diversity within the college, to improve equal opportunity outcomes for employees, therefore we encourage women and people from Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent to apply.

How to Apply

Full details including how to apply on-line can be found at our Jobs@Flinders website: https://www.flinders.edu.au/employment/college-humanities-arts-social-sciences-jobs

Michigan State University

The world-renowned Michigan State University College of Communication Arts and Sciences invites applications to its top-rated Information and Media (I&M) doctoral program. We anticipate 12 student positions for the 2020-2021 student cohort, with a stipend of $18,500 per academic year, an 18-credit tuition waiver (worth $27,292), student health insurance and $1000 travel support to conferences. Students accepted into the I&M program are guaranteed 3 years of funding.

For information about how to apply see https://comartsci.msu.edu/information-media-phd or contact Dr. Patricia Huddleston at huddles2@msu.edu.

Three highly ranked academic units of MSU College of Communication Arts and Sciences participate: the Department of Advertising + Public Relations, the School of Journalism and the Department of Media and Information. This interdisciplinary program integrates the social sciences, media and socio-technical systems. The faculty represent specializations in communication, advertising, public relations, journalism, economics, information studies, sociology, law, marketing and computer science. The faculty and alumni of the College include more Fellows in the International Communication Association than any other program.

Students learn how to generate independent hypotheses and research designs, the critical importance of real-world relevancy in framing esearch studies and the art of working with multidisciplinary research teams. The I&M Ph.D. prepares students to become scholars, teachers and leaders. Graduates of the I&M PhD become leaders in academia, government, and industry.

Examples of the three doctoral research foci include:

Advertising + Public Relations

• Media psychology and persuasion
• Neuroscience and social influence
• International advertising and public relations
• Effects of media on child and family development

Journalism

• Journalism Studies
• News processing and effects
• Freedom of speech and press

Media and Information

• Social media and social computing
• Human-computer interaction, games and meaningful play
• Management information systems (policy and economics)
• Health (media, interactive computer technology, and development

January 8-10 ,2020

Brighton, UK

Deadline: August 27, 2019

ECREA Section on Science and Environmental Communication workshop at the MeCCSA

A re-occurring theme in public debates is how to understand and talk about controversies pertaining to science and the environment. As climate change is pushed further forward on the international political agenda and as new technologies emerge, dilemmas of how humans interact with nature, technologies, capital and each other once again become ever more present in public debate. This puts well-known as well as new dilemmas on the current and future role of science in society into question. On the one hand, political actors rely on science to produce the facts and evidence required as inputs in decision-making. On the other hand, the privileged position of science to provide the answers is increasingly challenged in the public domain in the face of scientific uncertainty, complexity and disagreement.

Recent developments in relation to social and digital media have in particular raised the issue of factuality and truths in public debate. Particularly questions on how to maintain scientific integrity in an increasingly politicized environment are brought forward and accentuated by social and digital media. Moreover, media technologies increasingly invade the small-scale choices of everyday lives as well as larger societal and political questions on our interaction with the environment, technologies, health, risks etc. While authors in the field either endorse or take issue with the notion of post-truth, the question still remains how to make sense of the circulations of conflicting facts in current public debates on climate-change, pollution, vaccination, food safety and many other areas. This calls for a need to understand the role of media in conveying, spreading, contesting and constructing facts and truths about science and the environment.

In two connected workshops we will address the question of how facts are presented and constructed in the media, or other public fora, in relation to environmental and scientific controversies. We welcome theoretical, methodological or empirical papers, extended abstracts and case studies presenting new knowledge concerning all aspects of the circulation, construction and contestation of facts and truths in relation to science and the environment including but not limited to:

• Analysis of the construction of truths and facts in all kinds of media and public debate
• The role of social media in constructing facts within digital networks of communication
• Visualisations of science and environmental information, debates and facts
• Public contestations of scientific doxa
• The role played by facts and the presentations of truths in deliberative or radical democratic processes relating to decisions on science and the environment
• Issues of public trust in and the legitimization of key actors (eg. public authorities, industry, media) in fact-making processes
• The role of digital literacy and journalists as educators for increasing public environmental engagement

Participating papers of a high academic standard will be considered for publication in an anthology under the workshop headline. For more information on the MeCCSA Conference see: http://www.meccsabrighton2020.co.uk

Please send your 200 word abstract to Mette Marie Roslyng by 27. August 2019: mmroslyng@hum.aau.dk

February 21, 2020

London School of Economics and Political Science

Deadline: August 31, 2019

A European Communication Research and Education Association conference co-sponsored by the ECREA Organisational and Strategic Communication section; the Department of Media and Communications, LSE; and the School of Media, Communication and Sociology, University of Leicester.

Date/Time: Friday 21 February 2020, 09:30-17:30

Venue: The Silverstone Room, Department of Media and Communications, Fawcett House (7th floor), London School of Economics and Political Science, London WC2A 2AE

We live in a time characterised by uncertainty, hybridity and complexity, when the powerful dualisms that characterised the post-Enlightenment era (nature/society, human/machine, male/female, etc.) are being problematised in a fundamental way. This conference explores how we research the promotional cultures that have become central to the liminal times in which we live. What strategies do we use to explore and attempt to understand the assemblage of technologies, texts, networks, and actors in contemporary promotion?

The moniker ‘promotional culture’ is now well-established as a way of describing the ubiquitous presence of promotional work – whether public relations, branding, advertising or other forms - in all aspects of our lives (Davis, 2013). It is enacted by organisations working in all sectors, from politics to the arts, in non-profit and commercial environments, while individuals also adopt promotional techniques in the ways they present themselves and their lives to others. However, the singularity of the term ‘culture’ belies the fluid and complex worlds that promotion is built on, engages with, and perpetuates. Organisations that use promotional tools in their strategic communication can be implicated in the worst excesses of persuasion and propaganda, yet can also contribute to positive social change (Demetrious, 2013; Miller & Dinan, 2007). Communication campaigns track, survey and instrumentalise our lives through their endless appetite for data, yet ensure organisations can deliver convenience and interest precisely because they know us so well (Turow, 2006). Mainstream public relations and advertising tactics are used to sell us cars, face creams and holidays, but are deployed to greenwash environmental damage, whitewash corporate corruption, woke-wash social causes, and frame political opportunism as strategic thinking. Promotional culture cannot be pinned down to one form, process or purpose, so how do we account for its complex modes of production and deployment in our research questions, methods and sites?

To talk about promotional /culture/ is to acknowledge the deep embeddedness of promotion in quotidian life and the importance of its circulatory dynamics (Aronczyk, 2013). Just as Williams argued that culture is a ‘whole way of life’ rather than an elite set of activities (Williams, 1981), when individuals use promotional tools and tactics on their own terms, those tools are transformed from being a mechanism of elite power and repurposed to serve our own agency. Agentic power circulates through promotional work, via digital and analogue channels, and with unpredictable outcomes (Collister, 2016; Hutchins & Tindall, 2016). In this sense, promotional culture is a continually emergent manifestation of the struggle between agency and structure, a hybrid form of power of which the outcome is never certain. Can research adequately address the tensions and power struggles that underpin all promotional work, including inequalities within and between nations and regions, whether in the Global North and the Global South? To what extent do we incorporate a wide range of sites, voices and articulations of its effects, and where are the gaps in our current practice?

This ECREA interim conference invites submissions that address the challenges of researching the complex, hybrid and liminal nature of promotion in a range of ways. Submissions may include (but are not limited to) the following topics:

• Structures of promotion – platforms, suppliers, industry structures, networked movements, industry hybridity and blurred boundaries between professional territory in theory and practice;
• Technologies of promotion – modes of production for promotional work, including digital technologies (data, AI, algorithms, bots) as well as old (but still current) techniques such as press releases, events and sponsorships, display advertising, and their effects on the development of promotional work; the power of promotional industries and the diffusion or limitation of promotional culture;
• Agents of promotion – ‘good’ and ‘bad’ practitioners and organisations; producers and/as audiences; non-human agents and their effects on promotional campaigns, circulation, and impact;
• Representations of promotion – practice, practitioners, organisations, industries and professional fields as good, bad, inevitable, normal, deficient, diverse, or a matter of professional pride, and their continuity and change over time.
• Effects of promotion – from populism in politics to excessive or ethical consumption, to social and political activism and change; from racialised, gendered and classed audiences, messages and images to subaltern discourses and representations that reassert the power of the ‘other’ on a local, national and global scale;
• Ethics of promotion – from deontological, teleological or virtue ethics, to an ethics of practice, feminist ethics, globalised ethics, or, alternatively, contractual ethics, ethics in the digital sphere, and their effects on practice;
• Methods of promotional research – challenges of researching the digital, excavating promotional ideologies, confronting professions, engaging audiences through academic work, and the risks and realities of research that can equally promote change or speak into a vacuum.

To submit to the conference, abstracts of 500 words should be submitted by 31 August 2019 to the conference organisers, at the following email: media.promotion2020@lse.ac.uk .

Decisions on papers will be made by 30 September 2019.

Full papers should be submitted by 15 January 2020, to give time for them to be circulated to conference participants.

The Department of Media and Communications at the LSE and the School of Media, Communication and Sociology at the University of Leicester are making travel stipends available for a small number of PhD students, to support their attendance at the conference. The application process for the stipends will be publicised closer to the conference date.

If you have any further questions please contact the conference organisers Lee Edwards (l.edwards2@lse.ac.uk ) or Ian Somerville (ijas1@le.ac.uk). 

November 9-10, 2019

Peking University, Beijing, China

Deadline: September 15, 2019

Medicine, Humanity and Media (MHM 2019)

The MHM 2019 International Conference on “Healthy China” and Health Communication will be held on Nov 9 and 10, 2019 at Peking University, Beijing, China. Over the past three years, MHM has become a leading venue for health communication scholarship in China attracting international and domestic scholars. MHM promises to be a highly selective and premier international forum on health communication. In 2019, we aim to accept 30 papers with highest quality. The MHM 2019 conference will include keynote speeches, panels for paper presentations, a workshop on publishing, and a roundtable on health communication curriculum development. The organizing committee is excited to invite you to participate in MHM 2019.

MHM is a multidisciplinary conference. Therefore, the conference welcomes, but does not limit to, the following topics:

1. Communication in Medical Encounters

2. Communication for Health Care Organizations

3. Social Health Campaigns and Community Health Initiatives

4. Mass Media and Health

5. Aging and Health Communication

6. New Technologies and Health Communication

7. International and Intercultural Health Communication

8. Other health communication related topics

Paper Submission

1. Submission can be in Chinese or English. This year we are accepting both full paper and abstract submissions. Full papers should be no longer than 25 pages and use a 12-point font size; double-spaced; 1 inch margins (abstract, references, tables, and figures are not included in the 25-page limit). Papers must conform to APA 6th Edition guidelines for style and formatting. Abstracts should be no longer than 500 words in length.

2. The submissions must not be previously published anywhere; and must not be submitted to any other conferences before and during the MHM 2019 review process. For any accepted paper / abstract, at least one author must register and attend the conference to present the paper.

3. All submissions should be emailed to: zengyp@pku.edu.cn

Acceptance

All submissions will be reviewed by experts in the field and judged on problem significance, originality, quality of research, quality of presentation, and value to conference attendees.

Publication

Submissions will be invited for publication in conference proceedings. Authors must submit the full paper by Oct 25, 2019 to be included in it.

Important Dates

• Paper / Abstract submission due: Sept 15, 2019
• Notification of acceptance: Sept 25, 2019
• Registration Due: Oct 10, 2019
• Full paper (if interested in publication) due: Oct 25, 2019
• Conference dates: Nov 9 and 10, 2019

Organizing committee and confirmed keynote speakers:

• Organizer: School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, China
• Sponsor: The George Institute China
• Registration Fee: Free (participants responsible for own travel and accommodation)

Academic Committee:

• Dr. Jing XU, xujing@pku.edu.cn, (School of Journalism and Communication, Peking University, China)
• Dr. Xin-ying SUN, xysun@bjmu.edu.cn (Health Science Center, Peking University, China)
• Dr. Xiaoquan ZHAO, xzhao3@gmu.edu (George Mason University, U.S.A.)
• Dr. Zhenyi LI, Zhenyi.li@royalroads.ca (Royal Roads University, Canada)
• Dr. Shaohai JIANG, cnmjs@nus.edu.sg (National University of Singapore

Confirmed keynote speakers:

• Gary Kreps, George Mason University, USA
• Xiaoquan Zhao, George Mason University, USA
• Teresa Thompson, University of Dayton, USA; Editor-in-Chief, Health Communication

All inquiries should be sent to: zengyp@pku.edu.cn

Deadline: October 15, 2019

Editors - Dr Joshua Gulam (Liverpool Hope University), Dr Sarah Feinstein (University of Leeds), and Dr Fraser Elliott (University of Salford)

We are seeking chapter proposals for an edited collection on The Fast and the Furious films.

With its ninth instalment set to arrive in cinemas this summer, and two more films slated for release by 2021, The Fast and the Furious is one of the most popular and prolific movie franchises of the twenty-first century. Indeed, the eight films in the series to date have earned a combined total of $5.1 billion at the box office, placing it ninth in the list of the highest-grossing movie franchises of all time. However, despite its immense commercial success, little has been written about The Fast and the Furious from an academic perspective (exceptions include Beltrán 2005, 2013). This lack of scholarly attention is surprising given just how representative the series is of recent cinematic trends. Few franchises better capture the excesses of the contemporary action genre than The Fast and the Furious, for example, with its outrageous set pieces, growing cast of global megastars, and increasing reliance on overseas markets.

When Universal released the first film in the series in 2001 - a mid-budget crime/action movie featuring a relatively unknown cast of actors - few could have predicted just how big the brand would become, to the point where The Fast and the Furious now has its own theme park ride, live stage show, and animated TV programme. Often dismissed as 'dumb' or 'mindless' entertainment by critics, this collection will argue that The Fast and the Furious warrants serious attention for more than just its longevity; and that close scrutiny of the series provides a valuable platform for exploring key forces and currents within the contemporary film industry: from franchise culture and global box office trends, to crossover stardom and debates around on- and off-screen diversity.

This collection would be the first book to offer an in-depth critical analysis of The Fast and the Furious, bringing together a range of scholars to explore not only the style and themes of the franchise, but also its broader cultural impact and industry legacy. As such, we envision that the book would serve as a valuable introduction for film scholars, students, and fans alike.

The book will be interdisciplinary in scope and we are open to chapters from a variety of theoretical or methodological approaches. Possible topics include but are not limited to:

• The evolution of the franchise, including changes in style, themes, and personnel across the nine films
• The role and importance of racial, national, class, and gender identity within the films
• Stardom and performance in the franchise (e.g., chapters on Vin Diesel, Michelle Rodriguez, Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, Paul Walker, and others)
• Fandom and reception (of individual films in the series, the franchise as a whole, or particular members of the cast and crew)
• The Fast and the Furious as action cinema (e.g., car stunts, fight sequences, the use of CGI, and crossover with other genres such as the heist and spy films)
• The Fast and the Furious as business and brand, including analysis of its budgeting, marketing, and distribution in North America and overseas
• Spinoffs and adaptations (e.g., Hobbs & Shaw (2019), the Universal Studios theme park ride, Fast & Furious Live, the Netflix TV show, and associated video games)

Bloomsbury have expressed an interest in the collection, and, once the abstracts are collected, a formal proposal will be submitted to the publisher in November 2019.

Please send 300-word abstracts and a short biography, or direct any enquiries, to furiousbook@gmail.com by 15th October 2019. Notifications of acceptance will be sent no later than 30th October 2019. Chapters of 6,000 words will be due by 30th July 2020.

Late Autumn School

November 21-23, 2019

Deadline: September 1, 2019

The interdisciplinary DFG Research Training Group “Trust and Communication in a Digitized World” is organizing an international and interdisciplinary Late Autumn School on “Fragile Trust? Perspectives and Challenges in a Digitized World” in Münster from 21st to 23rd November 2019.

The topic of trust is relevant to different scientific fields, such as communication science, psychology, economics, information systems, sports sciences as well as further related fields. Therefore, we invite applications from PhD and Master Students as well as early Post-docs from all research disciplines dealing with the topic of trust and digitalization.

The deadline for applications is 1st September 2019. More information: http://go.wwu.de/xkshb <https://t.co/ANGrIqJjmS> 

Edited collection

Deadline: August 21, 2019

Few slots open up for contributions to an edited collection on geographically isolated and peripheral music scenes. I am particularly interested in bringing in diverse perspectives beyond the UK/ North America and Australia/ NZ dialogues I currently have, and am particularly keen to provide this opportunity to female academics.

Please see below, and if you are interested please send your abstract to cballico@gmail.com by Wednesday August 21, 2019. Full chapters will be due October 31st, 2019.

Despite advancements in technology facilitating an ease with which geographical distance can be overcome, coupled with a shift away from a reliance on core creative centres for a range of creative and business services, peripheral and geographically isolated contemporary music scenes continue to face a range of challenges which impact upon the ways in which they connect with new audiences and industry beyond their home locale. This ranges from needing to make higher investments of time and money, to having to overcome attitudinal and cultural barriers in order to be viewed as worthy of prominent attention. More broadly, geographic isolation also impacts upon the ways in which culture can flow into these scenes, particularly in the live music setting. At the same time, however, this distance can also result in a range of benefits to these scenes in relation to the ways in which they are structured and how they function locally. This includes cultivating a recognition of the need to support one another, a high degree of expertise and skills concentrated on a small number of workers and a tight network of spaces, as well as the development of a strong work ethic to make the most of opportunities when they arise.

With a particular focus on the below themes, proposals based on place-specific music scene and industry research are now being invited from scholars around the world:

• How do these scenes construct themselves in relation to larger, 'core' scenes?
• What role do social networks and Communities of Practice play in the functioning of these scenes?
• How do temporal and financial barriers impact being able to connect with audiences and industry beyond musicians’ home locale?
• What role does migration and mobility play in ongoing career development?
• How has social media broken down barriers to larger centres?
• What role have governments played in overcoming the isolation faced by musicians and industry?
• How do industry workers navigate their careers in these centres?

Proposals for chapters should consist of a title and abstract (of no more than 250 words), bio (of no more than 100 words), affiliation and email address and be sent to cballico@gmail.com by Wednesday August 21, 2019.

Full chapters will be due October 31st 2019 and be 6- 7,000 words in length.

Please note that only abstracts that closely fit the theme will be considered.

Editors: Kalbaska, N., Sádaba, T., Cominelli, F., Cantoni, L.

FACTUM 19 Fashion Communication Conference, Ascona, Switzerland, July 21-26, 2019

This book represents a major milestone in the endeavour to understand how communication is impacting on the fashion industry and on societal fashion-related practices and values in the digital age. It presents the proceedings of FACTUM 19, the first in a series of fashion communication conferences that highlights important theoretical and empirical work in the field. Beyond documenting the latest scientific insights, the book is intended to foster the sharing of methodological approaches, expand the dialogue between communications’ studies and fashion-related disciplines, help establish an international and interdisciplinary network of scholars, and offer encouragement and fresh ideas to junior researchers. It is of high value to academics and students in the fields of fashion communication, fashion marketing, visual studies in fashion, digital transformation of the fashion industry, and the cultural heritage dimension of fashion. In addition, it is a key resource for professionals seeking sound research on fashion communication and marketing.

Buy here.

November 17-18, 2019

Montreal, Canada

Deadline: August 30, 2019

Bilingual Conference (French/English)

Active fan communities have long been engaging with the object(s) of their fandom. Sports teams, popular movies, television franchises, videogames, comic books, toys and many other cultural phenomena have inspired generations of collectors and enthusiasts, who make, buy, sell and trade in different ways objects and contents featuring their favourite characters, personae, and iconography. From these communities also emerge fans of genres or franchises that hone their skills and use the tools they have available to go past what is offered on the market. They propose their vision to whomever knows of their work or stumbles upon their creation. Therefore, fanart, fanfiction, mods, Youtube videos and Instagram posts are where many of these cultures situate themselves. This includes the toy makers, fanzine creators, the DIY game and tech communities, the chiptune composers and many others that cast themselves beyond the role of fans to become artists. That said, in each case, a form of self-distribution of content occurs that often defines their marginality.

In the field of games, more precisely of videogames, it is not uncommon to come across that phenomenon since, historically, videogames were created following tinkering practices conducted in margins of official activities (Bertie the Brain et Nimrod, 1951; OXO, 1952; Tennis for Two, 1958; Spacewar!, 1962). In this way, many games that ensued (Computer Space, 1971; Pong, 1972; Zork, 1977; Ultima, 1981) were invented by enthusiastic fans of this new media (Crowther, 1976; Adams 1979; Williams, 1982; Fulp 2003). Role playing games were also born from the appropriation of the popular Kriegspiels (war simulation games) by its players (Barker, 1940; Wesely, 1969; Arneson, Gygax et Perren, 1971; Stafford, 1974). Still today, videogame and role-playing game industries wouldn’t be as they are without the activity of their fans in margins of more official communities.

These activities by collectors, creators and tinkerers continue to grow in popularity, particularly since the arrival of the Internet where fans were able to gather, discuss and share their productions more easily. They even organise certain events (Comic Con, DCon, Maker Faire, Otakuhon, etc.) in order to celebrate their sense of belonging to these groups, in parallel to commercial productions. Some researchers have reported on this participative culture (Fiske, 1992; Jenkins, 2006; Postigo, 2007) and an entire field was also created around fan studies (Booth, 2010; Harris and Alexandre, 1998). However, in the majority of cases, those studies discuss the dimensions of these communities and engage in discourse about them, rather than creating the framework for dialoguing with them, keeping in mind the historic perspective of their practices.

As such, the co-chairs of the 5th annual game history symposium, happening during and in collaboration with two gaming conventions (MEGA and MIGS) in the Old Port of Montreal, invite members of collecting and creating communities to participate with scholars in two days of conversation and events. These activities will be centered on the personal and oral histories of fandom and hobbyist designers, their preoccupations, practices, and political economies. We are not only interested in the manifestations and history of these scenes, but also in how fandom themselves participate in the creation and distribution of historical discourse about the objects of their affection.

We aim to have proposals on a wide variety of subjects regarding the margins of gaming communities. For example, the following topics could inspire some of your proposals, without being an exhaustive list:

• Conventions, swap meets and social events;
• Collecting cultures: toys, games, videogames;
• Display and interpretive techniques through “everyday” curation;
• Social media as curatorial display: YouTubers, the “shelfie”, etc.;
• Preservation and restorations;
• User-generated content such as gaming, fanzines, filming, audio and artwork composition;
• Hobbyist and independent game designs;
• Crowdfunded games;
• Mods, modders;
• Etc.

Our vision of this year’s symposium is one where scholars will engage in discussions with members of local and international communities through panels, short presentations and round tables, but also through expositions built and shared by this event’s participants. In this spirit, we would like to extend this call for paper and invite members of those communities to present their collections and creations, either with pictures, videos or a stand that would be installed in a gallery specifically set-up for this event.

Conference features

• In partnership and during the Montreal Expo Gaming Arcade (MEGA) and the Montreal International Gaming Summit (MIGS)
• Keynote speakers: Mark J.P. Wolf (other names to be confirmed)
• Exhibits of fan creations during the symposium
• Social events and gatherings in the evening
• Publication of selected papers in a peer reviewed journal (Kinephanos)
• Strategically located in the famous Old Port of Montreal

Proposals

• 500 words plus references
• Please send your anonymized proposals to: gamehistorysymposium@gmail.com
• Deadline for the reception of proposals: August 30th, 2019
• Notification of acceptance: September 30th, 2019
• Proposals will be blindly evaluated by the organizers with the support of the scientific committee.

This conference is a joint venture between the Faculté de communication (UQAM), Faculté des Arts et des Sciences (Université de Montréal), Homo Ludens (UQAM), LUDOV (Videogames Observation and Documentation University Lab, Université de Montréal), and TAG (Technoculture, Arts and Games, Concordia University).