What is meant by the term ‘contemporary publics’ and how does that present new
directions in thinking and research around the concept of ‘public’. New notions on publics come from a range of media and communication, social, political and artistic fields of inquiry. Networked publics and micro-publics arise from digital cultures and new
media platforms; boundaries now blur amongst advertising, public relations and their targets in both physical and virtual space; journalists strive to redefine the role of public broadcasting within new and obsolete concepts of media. Blogs, personal websites,
webzines and new forms of engagement emerge within the affordances of technology like mobile phones and within intra-organisational spheres like Facebook and Twitter. Contemporary publics are transforming within urban, interior and installation spaces. Relentless
inquiries into the new domains of public and private in the era of 21st century personalised capitalism and consumer culture reveal changing rhetorical and ideological values around of the notion of the public.
This Symposium, organised and hosted by the
Persona, Celebrity, Publics (PCP) research group at Deakin University, invites you to address this complex topic from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives:
Online cultural challenges to Publics
The public(s) in public broadcasting?
Audiences/Publics tension
The nation-state and publics
Public Individuals
Status of opinion in the contemporary publics
The contemporary agora
Historical formation of the public/publics
Public intellectuals and public discourse in the 21st century
Propaganda, conflict and public opinion
Architecture and publics
Public art, space and publics
The Public, private, intimacy
Activism, agency and public spaces
Rethinking selective tradition
Affect and Publics
Public Control: Stigmatization of collectives classes, and publics
Surveillance and public space
Global publics and tourism
The contemporary crowd, flash mob and publics
The Socialisation of Publics
Public Images
Sound, noise and publics
What is public interest?
Popular culture and publics
The celebrification of public life
Politics, citizens and publics
Public scandal
Spectacle and publics
Green publics
Children, play and publics
Screening publics
Viral publics
Confirmed Keynote Speakers include:
·
John Frow, ARC Professorial Fellow, School of English, University of Sydney;
·
Tania Lewis, Vice Chancellor’s Senior Research Fellow in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT;
·
Felicity Collins, Associate Professor, School of Communication and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University;
·
Andrew Tolson, Professor of Media and Communication, School of Media and Communication, De Montfort University, UK.
Deadline for Abstracts: 4 November 2013 – please send a 250 word abstract
for consideration before the due date to Kristin Demetrious: [log in to unmask](with
the subject line “Contemporary Publics International Symposium: abstract submission”)
Determination of the success of your proposed paper/abstract will be conveyed
to you before the end of November 2013. Registration/Fees/ Accommodation details: to be posted on the PCP web site in the coming weeks. Accepted papers
need to be submitted in complete form to the organisers by
1 April 2014.
A selection of the best papers from the symposium will go into an edited collection provisionally titled
Contemporary Publics.
Palgrave has expressed an interest in receiving the proposal for such a volume.
Kristin Demetrious and Sean Redmond
On behalf of the PCP Organising Committee