13th CEECOM CONFERENCE

NEW
Communication
Revolution

Instytut Dziennikarstwa, Mediów i Komunikacji Społecznej

Invitation

22-23.10.2021 KRAKÓW

Call for paper and panel proposals

We invite abstracts of papers and panel proposals for the 13th Central and East European Communication and Media Conference (CEECOM) to be held in Cracow, Poland, October 22 and 23, 2021. The theme of the conference is the new communication revolution – a timely and rich topic due to many ongoing changes in the field of media and communication. The conference will address a diverse set of issues and will cover a wide spectrum of ideas related to the concept of communication revolution and ongoing communication and social changes. The new communication revolution may refer to various aspects of people’s social, political, economic or technological activities. We are inviting conceptual, empirical, and methodological proposals reflecting on changes related to communication itself, but also on relations between the media and mediatized communication, and the new ways of thinking, working and spending leisure time. The contributions considering the advantages and drawbacks of current trends in communication will be of special value.

The new communication revolution can be pondered at different levels. It can be explored at the macro-level, where the changes in the modes of communication impact the relationships between media institutions and political institutions. The comparative studies within the CEE region are particularly valuable in this respect. The latest works comparing media systems in Central, East and Southeast Europe may serve as a reference point here. The relations between media and politics in this region have been widely analyzed to date, and many attempts have been made to map the most characteristic features of CEE media systems, journalist autonomy, and the state of media freedom. Still, the conference contributions may be a good opportunity to revisit these questions with regard to the issue of hybridization, digitalization, automation, algorithmisation, of the information ecosystems where the tech giants play a particular role, and contemporary trends such as dis- and misinformation, leading to the audiences’ exposure to contradictory, ideologically-charged, emotion-influenced, manipulative or highly polarizing messages, or dissemination of various kinds of deception.

The new communication revolution can be also observed at the institutional level. In the past, we used to deal mainly with public and mass communication featuring organized actors. Today's mediasphere is characterized by a mix of broadcast and narrowcast, interactive media, and established and non-established communicators, which results in the co-existence of public and personalized messages therein. This situation, in many ways, challenges the traditional institutional approach. Last but not least, the micro-level can be considered. Constant use of social networking sites and instant messaging platforms changed our lives in an unprecedented manner. The particularly relevant aspect of the new communication revolution seems to be the rise of participatory culture, enabling citizens to actively co-create media content in ways that have not been seen before. It is, therefore, important to assess and analyze the individual user experience.

The conference will feature both presentations of individual research papers and thematic panels.

Paper submissions will be grouped in sessions of 4-5 papers.

A limited number of slots will be available for specialized panels, where one topic would be addressed in four to five presentations, followed by responses. Preference will be given to panels with presenters from diverse backgrounds and affiliations.