Call for papers
for a panel of the ECCR ?New media technologies? section
@ The First European Communication Conference
KIT, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, November 24-26, 2005

We would like to invite abstracts for contributions to a panel of the
?New media technologies? section of the ECCR, the European Consortium
for Communications Research (http://www.eccr.info/) at the First
European Communication Conference (http://www.ecc2005.nl/) in Amsterdam
in November.

The ECCR aims to strengthen the European research area in media and
communication research. Joining forces with the ECA (the European
Communication Association ? http://www.eca.org) for this conference, the
ECCR is currently expanding its scope. Its links with the IAMCR are
still strong, but the emphasis is on facilitating a consolidation of
European networking seen as here as additional to, not exclusive from,
other networks.

Within the existing CfP of the overall conference (to which we have to
send the panel applications), we would like to concentrate on the
second set of topics: ?State-of-the-art research and theory building?
which includes  Assessments of the theories and methods developed in the
field during the past half century as well as analytical work on lessons
learned; Critical summaries of research findings in the various
(sub)fields of European communication research; Comparative
intra-European communication research; Innovative methodologies,
pedagogies and theories; State-of-the-art research findings; Future
studies in communication and mediation: issues and methods.

The ?New media technologies? section shares the aim of strengthening the
European networking efforts. It aims to be a forum that brings together
researchers in the field from a variety of backgrounds. The emphasis of
the current leadership team is on media and communications studies,
cultural studies as well as the representation and sociology of
technology. The first emphasis within the section will be on technology
and its particular role in relation to both everyday life and cultural
theory. This applies to technological and cultural forms and their
intersections and crystallisations.   Recognising the importance of new
media and technologies within the conduct of everyday lives around the
world, but also emphasising the limitations of possible changes, this
panel aims to  concentrate on the axes of new media and technologies as
they move across communicational and interactional fields. Possible
contributions could cover fields such as the aesthetics and form of new
media; digital illiteracy; the domestication of technologies; metaphors
of new media; political economies; and cultural theories of technology.
Abstracts of no more than 800 words should be sent by April 27th to
Maren Hartmann ([log in to unmask]).

The section was only recently founded and is currently in its formation
phase. Thus any contribution made now can help to define what this
section?s role within the ECCR shall be. The conference will be the
official inauguration of this newly formed section. A section meeting
will take place in Amsterdam. Here, new members will be welcomed and
asked to contribute to the content-formation of the section. Thus a
draft of the ?letter of intent? of the section will be open to
discussion.  Maren Hartmann (Erfurt, D) Kate O?Riordan
(Lancaster/Sussex, UK) Caroline Bassett (Sussex, UK)