This just in - hopefully many of you will contribute (seems like proposals in Spanish, French and German will be considered but appears there are not enough resources for a multi-lingual call at this point) G ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Call For Article Proposals for MCP Special Issue on Civil Society Media (CSM) and Policy (Deadline Jan 28) Dear Colleagues, Apologies for cross-posting. I am currently preparing a proposal for a special issue of the Journal Media and Cultural Politics (http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/mcp/). Your proposal for an article, or suggestion of appropriate authors, themes, and relevant books for review are welcome. The special issue zooms in on groups that create and distribute media ('civil society media' organizations, or CSM) and how they are affected by the policies of governments, funders, and even other civil society groups. What do policies that support democratic grassroots media practices look like? Leads for topics and people to approach are welcome until Jan 23. Abstracts are due Jan 28, full articles April 30. A seminar is planned for contributors to discuss and deepen this work in fall this year. Planned publication is in Feb 2009. You are welcome to forward this message to interested colleagues, but PLEASE DO NOT USE THE FORWARD BUTTON of your e-mail program, but please kindly CUT AND PASTE the text into a new message. Thank you. Please find details below. I look forward to your contribution and appreciate your help with identifying the best people and topics! ======= Call For Article Proposals for MCP Special Issue on Civil Society Media (CSM) and Policy [Contents] (1) Introduction (2) key terms used in this description (3) Themes/Areas * Hot issues: * Historical & theoretical perspectives * Reviews of new books and overviews of existing literature relevant to the area (4) Timeline (TBC) (5) Guidelines (6) Contact/Submission ================================================== (1) Introduction This special issue of Media and Cultural Politics will discuss policy issues faced by citizens as media makers (not mere 'users' of technologies), especially marginalized communities and social movements. What do policies that support democratic grassroots media practices look like? Socially engaged uses of media and communication technologies have often been pioneering. However, media and communication policies have long marginalized citizens as media makers, considering them at best 'the third media sector.' Though this is historically inaccurate, policies based on such misperceptions have distorted the mediascape in favor of governments and business. Almost everywhere in the world, 'civil society media' (radical alternative, community, citizens', tactical, autonomous, social movement, indigenous, aboriginal, free media) continue to struggle for funding channels, legality, autonomous means of production and distribution, and against the commercial/governmental enclosures of creative resources. In the context of civic movements at local, national and transnational levels for media reform, resistance to copyright extensions, and struggles over internet governance, civil society groups dedicated to making and distributing media have mounted creative responses to their continued marginalization and to gain recognition as stakeholders. It is time for academics to reflect, document and analyze these developments, and provide historical, theoretical and case studies that can support necessary revisions in policy frameworks. Research on media, communication and ICT policy has ignored civil society media almost completely, treating people as individual 'users' 'consumers' or, at best, the 'public'/'voting citizens'. Recent scholarship on communication rights and democratization of communication has done much to outline the relevance of communication policy to civil society in general and to document emerging movements around it. However, the specific position of 'civil society media' is still poorly addressed. Research on media democratization often emulates the 'user' and 'consumer' rhetoric of the neoliberal discourse or the 'localist' framing of community media of a previous era. Research on alternative , tactical, and social movement media has largely ignored policy issues, emphasizing that such practices flourish at the margins, in fissures, and are even spurned on by adverse conditions. Research on community media has given some attention to the legal and policy infrastructure for specific local practices such as 'community radio' and 'public access TV,' though practices using different (or multiple) technologies and less formal practices have been ignored. This special issue aims to develop an appropriate perspective for the contemporary realities of civil society and indigenous people's media practices -- their on-the-ground struggles, their challenges in technology/policy convergence, the social and communication divides, and their relationship to transnational movements. Historical, theoretical and cross-cultural perspectives are encouraged. Co-authoring and adaptations/updated versions of important texts published in other languages are welcome. ================================================== (2) Key Terms: * 'CSM - Civil Society Media' < *note: NOT- civil society & media, not (individualized) citizens as media makers> similar to 'our media' (as used in the ourmedia/nuestros medios network): an umbrella term for citizens', community, indigenous, alternative, autonomous and tactical media and the communication practices of social movements and civic groups. The term is contested and contestable. * 'policy:' any kind of framework that shapes how governments, corporations, foundations, NGOs and other institutions/social actors set their priorities and plan action While media and information policies are the most obvious areas of concern, NGO laws, labor laws, corporate policies, urban development and cultural budgets affect them also: local, regional, national and transnational. Policy actors are not necessarily governmental. ================================================== (3) Themes/Areas: Hot issues: * how technology convergence and policy convergence affect traditional modes of lobbying, e.g. by community radio * what future for 'our media' (CSM) in digital switchover, media technology convergence & media policy convergence? * autonomous media and/vs policy reform * neoliberal and neoconservative/anti-terror policies moving in to enclose many of the communication commons that have flourished since the mid-80s, * relations of power among and within CSM organizations involved in policy interventions * media & ICT market concentration * civil society media growing & diversifying & networking * anti-terror legislation, commercial enclosures making policy intervention imperative * what future for 'our media' (CSM) in digital switchover, media technology convergence & media policy convergence? * actors and issues in policy participation from the perspective of 'our media' * relationship between our media and commercial user created content (UCC) platforms * emerging and traditional actors, networks and alliances + their agendas * actors and issues in policy participation from the perspective of 'our media' Historical & theoretical perspectives * what are some of the historical precedents for thinking about our media & policy? * highlighting the struggle for licensing and funding of community radio, public access and indigenous media * development of divisions along lines of technologies, geographies, language, position in society/world system * movement identities: our CSM as organizations/stakeholders * contribution of CSM to development of governmental policy * relationship between our media and commercial user created content platforms * alternative options to 'civil society media,' 'democratization' for framings and terms used for policy intervention * concrete relevance of communication rights framework to CSM Reviews of new books and overviews of existing literature relevant to the area ================================================== (4) Timeline (TBC) * expressions of interest, titles, suggestions for possible contributors & areas * Detailed proposals & Abstracts: Jan 2008 * Articles submitted to reviewers: April 2008 * Response from reviewers: June 2008 * Symposium including discussion of papers: early September 2008 * Revisions due: Oct 2008 * Publication: Feb 2009 ================================================== (5) Guidelines # texts should be original: partial translations from other languages will be considered if the content is updated and adapted for an English speaking audience. # case studies should be recent or historical, appropriate for 2009 publication ================== (6) Please send submissions/suggestions to e-mail: [log in to unmask]