Practice Section Update
Sept 2007
Contents:
1. New Contact Details
2. Post at LSBU - Closing Date 1 Oct
3. URGENT!: UK Screen Heritage Strategy - online consultation Deadline 7 Sept
4. MeCCSA 2008 Conference Deadline 30 Sept
5. (Mal)Content Panel - Extended Deadline 14 Sept
1. New Contact Details:
As of 1 September I have taken a new post at the University of the West of England and my new
contact details are as follows:
Dr Charlotte Crofts
Senior Lecturer in Film Studies and Video Production
Department of Culture, Media and Drama
School of Creative Arts
University of the West of Englnad
St Matthias Campus
Oldbury Court Road
Bristol, BS16 2JP
T: 0117 328 4440
E: [log in to unmask]
My details will be updated on the MeCCSA Website shortly.
2. Post at LSBU:
If anybody is interested in applying for my old post as Senior Lecturer in Digital Film and Video at
London South Bank University, it will be advertised in the Guardian jobs section on Tuesday 11
September. The closing date is 1 October.
3. URGENT: UK Screen Heritage Strategy - online Consultation Deadline Friday 7th Sept:
Please take a moment to fill in the BFI online consultation form for the Strategy for UK Screen
Heritage: www.bfi.org.uk/screenheritage
You can download the strategy document from the website. It is crucial that the voice of higher
education media practice educators is heard in this debate - particularly as FE / HE is not
mentioned in their education strategy. Also, given the situation with BFI Publishing and BFI Library
it would be worth highlighting the importance of these as they are not mentioned in the current
document. I know we are all very busy at this time of year, but please take the time to let them
know your views. Time is short as the deadline is this Friday 1 Sept.
See MeCCSA's comments on BFI Plans: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/papers/bfi-national-
library.html
See also The Future of Screen Heritage in the UK: a Symposium on Strategy, 22 Sept, Roehampton
http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/researchcentres/crfac/events/
4. MeCCSA 2008 Conference, Wed 9 - Fri 11 Jan - Deadline 30 Sept
Don't forget to submit your abstracts to the MeCCSA 2008 Conference in Cardiff!!
As Practice Section Chair I have met with the conference organisers to discuss plans to ensure that
practice is well represented at the conference - but this can only happen if practice people actually
submit practice presentations, so please spread the word and encourage practice colleagues to
put their work forward this year.
Cardiff are very open to practice and have agreed to provide a screening space where any work
that is being presented can be also be screened in full throughout the conference.
Submission details:
• Abstracts of papers, presentations of practice and posters, no longer than 250 words, should be
sent to [log in to unmask] by 30 September 2007 in order for peer review to take place.
They will be accepted from 1 July 2007 onwards.
• For panels, let us have a short description and rationale for the whole (200 words), abstracts for
each of the papers (250 words each) and the name of the person chairing.
• If you’re screening in full material referred to in a ‘practice’ presentation, make sure you send
some DVD or VHS preview material (not the whole item) with the abstract.
• We’re aiming to produce a conference CD so will need full electronic versions of any paper (PDF
format please) shortly before the conference date.
5. (Mal)Content Panel - Extended Deadline 14th Sept
In addition to submitting your practice presentations directly to the conference, the Practice
Section is also putting a panel together on digital content, and I've extended the deadline to 14
Sept, so please see call below:
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS AND PRACTICE SCREENINGS:
The (Mal)Content Generation: Media Practice in the Digital Environment
MeCCSA 2008 Annual Conference
Cardiff, 9-11 January 2008
The internet and convergent digital technologies have had huge implications across a range of
media practices, including citizen journalism and "vanity publishing" sites such as lulu.com;
internet film distribution (from Blair Witch to YouTube.com); mobile phone distribution (blip.tv);
peer-to-peer networking (MySpace.com, FaceBook.com) and photo-sharing (Flickr.com); music
distribution (iTunes.com); digital radio; video and podcasting; interactive digital TV and 360-
degree broadcasting, not to mention gaming and the possibilities of new media. These in turn are
changing the business models of media production and "threatening" traditional industry
structures in print journalism, publishing, broadcasting, music and cinema distribution. The
profusion of screens and contexts for consumption of various types of media is matched by the
supposed democratisation of media production, in tandem with the technological means for peer-
to-peer distribution and user-generated content.
The Practice Section is interested in receiving presentations and screenings of practice on the
theme of digital content generation and its implications in terms of Practice Research, Teaching
and Professional Practice. As Practice researchers and teachers we are at the coalface of emerging
trends in digital content, but this word "content" begs many questions:
What does the term "content" imply? And what does it suggest about the "work of production" that
goes in to producing specific media texts? Is the attention span of today’s audiences becoming
too jaded to engage with content that is more considered or crafted? What are the aesthetic/
ontological implications of digital media? Is the technology dictating content? Are we dealing with
anti-content? Is anything validated as content just because it is recorded? Is "authenticity" still a
useful concept?
How are we as practitioners using the demotic/democratic possibilities of these new technologies
to advance our own research and/or teaching? How do these changing technologies demand us to
be self-reflective about our assumptions of what is "content" in our own practice and teaching?
What are the ethics of "content"? As teachers, how do we engage the "click – shoot" generation in
debates about content, philosophy, social issues and responsibility? What are the issues in terms
of intellectual copyright and cross-platform exploitation? What are the emerging business models?
How is the industry adapting to this new digital environment? How are broadcasters reacting to
the threats and opportunities presented by digital culture?
As teachers and researchers of practice, we are in the front line, engaging with these issues, we
can challenge, engage and shape the visions of future practitioners, but only if we as practitioners
engage with the technology and its possibilities.
Abstracts of 250 words outlining the presentation themes and AV requirements, should be
emailed to [log in to unmask] with "(MAL)CONTENT PANEL" in the subject line by
EXTENDED DEADLINE 14 Sept in order for the panel to be put together and submitted for peer
review by the conference organisers. Any presentations not selected for the panel will be
automatically forwarded for consideration for inclusion in the wider conference. Preview material
should be sent on DVD to Charlotte Crofts, School of Cultural Studies, University of the West of
England, St Matthias Campus, Fishponds, Bristol BS16 2JP.
Many thanks and good luck to you all with the start of term.
All the best,
Charlotte
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