IAMCR - International Association for Media and Communication Research

The Mediated Communication, Public Opinion & Society section invites submissions for its open sessions at the IAMCR that will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, July 13-17, 2011. The overall conference theme is: "Cities, Creativity, Connectivity"

The role of mediated communication for creativity and connectivity became a central issue in the everyday life and is a central subject for research on its implication on private and public issues. Public opinion and its interrelations with media are central to the empowerment of citizens of the cities and to the enhancement of their quality of life. Our section will endorse the general theme and encourage our members to submit research papers around these issues.

In addition, we wish to continue our well established tradition to promote the further theoretical discussions on the contribution of prominent thinkers on the field of communication research. In the last years we organized panels that discussed the contribution of the works of Goffman, Habermas, Schutz, Bourdieu, Foucault, McLuhan and Walter Benjamin with relation to media and communication. Following that tradition we would like to organize for the Istanbul conference at least one session centred on the contribution of the works of Roland Barthes to the theory and research in the field of communication.

Further, we would like to continue to offer space for the presentation and discussion of theoretical and empirical papers about Family and Mediatization.  Despite the social and cultural changes it seems that the family is still the main place of media domestication and media use, and it is the place where children learn to operate with media and start their lifelong media career. The main question we would like to discuss is:  how this takes place today in the different cultures, different classes and with reference to the different possibilities to deal with media.

Finally, we would like to announce our long standing interest in the  discussion, development and critical assessment of the methodologies we use and we need for communication research and especially for international and cross cultural research projects, both quantitative and qualitative.

Abstracts should be sent to the MCPOS Section Heads only through the Conference website. They should be not more than 500 words long in English. Each abstract must include title, name(s), affiliation, institutional address and email address of author(s) and a short (up to 100 words) bio-data.

It is also possible to propose a full panel of no more than four participants, which should come from at least three different countries. In this case we expect the four abstracts of the participants and their short bio-data and in addition a framing text about the idea and the goal of the full panel.  It would also be recommended to present a panel chair  and a respondent.

IAMCR accepts presentations in English, French and Spanish. However, it is requested that abstracts will be submitted in English.

Papers and panels proposals will be reviewed by the two heads of section and by further specialists, named by the heads.
For more on the submission of abstracts, registration, theme, location, etc., please visit the Istanbul Conference website.

The deadlines are as follows:

February 8, 2011: Submission of abstracts

March 25, 2011: Announcement of acceptances

June 3, 2011: Full papers due

Some future information on the rules and practices of IAMCR on submission of papers and panels.

You may not submit the same abstract or paper to more than one section or working group. You may submit different papers to different sections or working groups or, as the case may be, different papers to the same section.  

If a proposal is accepted, the sender must fulfil two preconditions to be included in the final program of the section. She or he must send a full paper until June 3, 2011, register for participation at the Conference and mail a copy of the registration to the heads of section.   

Non members of IAMCR are welcome to submit and present if accepted, following the same procedure as described above.  

All submission should follow the instructions and information to be found on the IAMCR and conference websites.

Questions for further information should be addressed to the section heads.

Looking forward to seeing you in Istanbul!

Hillel Nossek
College of Management Academic Studies, Israel
hnossek[AT]colman.ac.il  

Friedrich Krotz
University of Bremen, Germany
krotz[AT]uni-bremen.de