The call for papers below is an extraordinary reopening of the original Beijing call for papers for authors who did not submit to the Beijing conference but want their work considered for Tampere.
The Music, Audio, Radio and Sound Working Group of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites the submission of abstracts of papers and proposals for panels for the 2020 Congress of the Association, which will be held from 12 to 16 July, 2020 at Tampere University in Tampere. Submissions for this extraordinary reopening will be accepted from Monday 17 February, 2020 until Monday 2 March 2020 at 23:59 UTC.
IAMCR conferences address many diverse topics defined by our 33 thematic sections and working groups. We also propose a single central theme to be explored throughout the conference with the aim of generating and exploring multiple perspectives in plenary sessions and in some of the sessions of the sections and working groups.
See the IAMCR 2020 general call for proposals.
The Music, Audio, Radio and Sound Working Group, IAMCR’s newest, examines audio-based forms of media through empirical and theoretical research. It provides an international space to investigate all aspects of audio-based media as an expanding field of enquiry, concerning the role of sound industries (understood broadly and including radio, music and sound industries), the content they produce, the infrastructure and actors involved in producing it (including artists, presenters, producers, journalists but also distributors, technicians, managers) and the audiences who engage with it. Visit the working group's page on the IAMCR site.
This year the central IAMCR theme is Reimagining the Digital Future: Building Inclusiveness, Respect and Reciprocity. The past three decades of cultural, economic and communication globalisation have created sharp income and wealth inequities, a divisive international community, dysfunctional media, an increasingly fragmented digital culture and an accelerating environmental crisis. We witness growing populism and protectionism and a dissolving consensus on global engagement and international collaboration. We see deepening technological contestation in digital media and artificial intelligence between the world’s two economic powerhouses. We also witness a sharp decline of the quality of national and international information flows as a result of widespread misinformation facilitated by social media.
These developments pose urgent questions and challenges for media and communications scholars. What are the reasons for the division, gaps and fragmentation we now see? What roles have digital media communication played in these developments at both the local and global levels? What values should inform our proposals for addressing them? As researchers we need a more comprehensive understanding of the factors promoting and impeding inclusiveness in the ‘legacy’ print and audio-visual media domestically and globally and the roles played by existing and emerging digital media.
This year’s conference aims to respond to those challenges by re-assessing the roles and patterns of global communication while including local voices, seeking critical reflections on the relationship between them, and exploring feasible agendas for a shared digital future based on inclusiveness, respect and reciprocity.
The MARS Working Group is open to panel proposals, workshop sessions, and individual research paper proposals that address the issues related to the main theme of IAMCR’s 2020 annual conference as well as for proposals that amplify the comprehension of research and education relating to the focus of the Working Group and the IAMCR’s 2020 annual conference key theme. For instance, we look forward to proposals that address the following (but not limited to):
- Music and audio content and digital platforms
- Sound and power: political economy of sound, radio and audio industries
- Music and audio diversity
- New sound narratives
- Radio studies
- Podcast industries, podcast communities
- Audio and gender in a digital environment
- New methodological and theoretical approaches around audio content
- Popular music and media
- New perspectives about soundscapes
- Reimagining the Digital Future: MARS Perspectives
- Music industry: synergies, interactions, structure
- Sound mediations
- IA Speakers, devices and audio content
- New audience logics
Languages
MARS accepts abstract submissions in English, Spanish, and presentations in all these three official languages of IAMCR.
Guidelines for abstract submission
Abstracts should be between 300 and 500 words. All abstracts must be submitted at https://iamcr2020.exordo.com. Abstracts sent by email will not be accepted. Both individual and panel submissions as well as workshop sessions are welcome.
It is expected that authors will submit only one (1) abstract. However, under no circumstances should there be more than two (2) abstracts bearing the name of the same author, either individually or as part of any group of authors. No more than one (1) abstract can be submitted to any section or working group. Please note also that the same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to more than one section or working group. Any such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected. Authors submitting them risk being removed entirely from the conference programme.
Criteria for evaluation
- Submitted abstracts will generally be evaluated on the basis of:
- Theoretical contribution;
- Methods;
- Quality of writing;
- Literature review;
- Relevance of the submission to the work of the Section;
- Originality and/or significance.
See important dates and deadlines to keep in mind
For further information, please consult the conference website, or contact the Local Organizing Committee by email: tampere2020@iamcr.org or the heads of the working group:
Co-Chair: Nacho Gallego (juanignacio.gallego@uc3m.es)
Co-chair: Mia Lindgren (mlindgren@swin.edu.au)