Call for papers - Being the Media

national | arts and media | press release Wednesday September 08, 2004 09:20 by Andrew Ó Baoill - Being the Media andrew at funferal dot org

Being the media will be an online collection of stories and essays about Irish community radio, and other participatory media, marking the 10th anniversary of the licensing of community radio in Ireland. Your contributions are invited.

In 2005 licensed community radio stations will have been on air in Ireland for 10 years. Thousands of people have become involved in making their own media, thousands more have participated as listeners, financial supporters, and partners in these ongoing experiments in non-commercial, local media production. Over the same period, the number of forms and forums for participatory media have blossomed, with weblogs, Indymedia, and community wireless networks emerging as new spaces for community interaction, and older forms such as community newsletters continuing to contribute to the fabric of our media.

Being the Media will both celebrate and critically assess the achievements of Irish community radio and other forms of participatory media. Focused primarily on the Irish experience, it will also provide an international context within which to evaluate our achievements. If we are to build on our work so far it is also important that we recognise where we have fallen short, and it is hoped that contributors will identify areas where improvements can be made.

We invite practitioners, audience members, and scholars, of participatory media, to contribute to this collection. Possible subjects include:
* Narratives, anecdotes and memoirs of experiences with Irish participatory media;
* Case studies looking at content, organisation, community interaction, and more;
* Theorization of participatory media;
* International or transnational studies that suggest lessons for the future of participatory media; and
* Manifestos, thought experiments, and musings on the possible future(s) of community radio and/or participatory media, and the potential for 'synergies' between forms.

Abstracts - preferably in email form - should be received by us by 15th February, 2005. We will review the abstracts and make an initial selection, responding by late March. Full submissions will be due in June. The editing process should be complete by late August, with publication online shortly thereafter.

Send submissions or questions to:
Andrew Ó Baoill at ../mailto:andrew@funferal.org

or by post to:
Being the Media,
42 Monivea Park,
Galway,
Ireland.

or to:
Andrew Ó Baoill,
Institute of Communications Research
228 Gregory Hall, MC-463,
Wright Street,
University of Illinois,
Urbana, IL 61801,
USA.

Further details available from:
http://beingthemedia.info or ../mailto:andrew@funferal.org