The Fan Studies Network

In Association with Birmingham City University, The Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research and the London College of Communication.

CALL FOR PAPERS: Punk NOW!!

Following the dynamic emergence of punk in the UK, USA and Europe in the 1970s, the subculture spread widely. As punk and new wave gained commercial and critical success, together with an attractive notoriety, it soon began an ongoing journey around the globe – both as a product and as an ideology. Punk, then, despite its omnipresence in contemporary underground and popular cultures, is clearly more than legacy music. More than forty years after the proto-punk progenitors of Detroit and New York unconsciously launched an underground revolution, to continue what some of the 60’s and 70’s anarchic counter culture propagated, and after untold premature obituaries, it appears that punk – in terms of music, philosophy, and identity – remains in rude health.

Punk scenes continue to thrive as far afield as Russia, South America, India, Pakistan, China, Japan, Eastern Europe, Africa, the Middle East and Indonesia – 2011 saw the first official record release from a Saudi Arabian punk band, Sound of Ruby, while other scenes have established their mark in Madagascar, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, even Tibet and the Himalayas. Meanwhile, nearer to home, an underground punk scene never actually went away and continues to ‘mutate and survive’– ranging from the continued support for longstanding bands and scenes, to the network of emerging small-scale gigs, fanzines, music distribution, (sub)cultural and political activities of a truly cross-generational subculture.

This joint conference and postgraduate symposium seeks to illuminate the current landscape of contemporary punk in all of its global, musical, political and (sub) cultural manifestations. Suggested topics include (but are not limited to)

·        International/national contemporary punk scenes and networks

·        Contemporary punk and politics

·        Contemporary punk and gender

·        Subcultural scenes, tribes and neo-tribes informed/influenced by punk

·        Contemporary punk identity

·        The Design and Aesthetics of Contemporary Punk

·        Contemporary punk fanzines and digital publishing

·        Ageing in a contemporary punk scene

·        The old and the new; inter/intra generational scenes, retro scenes, controversy and tensions.

·        Fan practices in contemporary punk;

·        Contemporary punk as resistance

·        Contemporary punk music: Musicology, performance, new genres and hybridization

·        Punk commodities and consumerism: From the role of the boutique to the online punk distro

·        Contemporary punk and digital media; digital production, distribution and consumption. DiY media, YouTube, social media.

·        Punk for Sale: New genres and hybrid musical developments in punk musical aesthetics

The programme will consist of keynote speakers (tbc) and a number of thematically grouped panels for both academics and postgraduates.  By creating a dual purpose to the conference the Punk Scholars Network aims to bring together established academics and the next generation of punk scholars in a supportive and colloquial environment, which we hope will encourage networking opportunities, ideas exchange and potential future research collaborations.

Post graduates and graduates can present work-in-progress papers on their PhD thesis, Master’s dissertation or graduate dissertation.

Alongside this the organisers plan to have an art exhibition exploring the visual identity of contemporary punk and live music from Birmingham’s resilient punk scene.

Each paper should last no more than 20 minutes and proposals should be submitted in the form of an abstract of c.250 words. All proposal submissions should also include:

§  Full title of the paper

§  Full name, contact details, 150 word biography and institutional affiliation

§  Your academic status-post graduate/graduate or ‘established’ academic (this is for the purpose of panel allocation)

§  Any requirements (projector, CD/DVD player, OHP, etc)

Deadline for receipt of proposals/abstracts is 31st June 2015.

Proposals should be sent in the form of an abstract as an  e-mail attachment tomatt.grimes@bcu.ac.uk.

The conference programme will be announced in September 2015.

The conference and symposium is scheduled to take place at Birmingham City University either 29th/30th of October 2015 or 5th/6th November 2015 (TBC).

It is intended that a book of conference proceedings will published.

Call for Submissions to a Special Issue of the Journal of Popular Film and Television on Holmes Onscreen (Tentative Title)

Edited by Tom Ue, Department of English, University College London

Heralded by The Telegraph as a ‘global phenomenon,’ BBC’s Sherlock is now one of the most commercially and critically successful television series of all time. The global recognition of Sherlock, combined with the recent discovery of Arthur Berthelet’s 1916 silent film Sherlock Holmes starring William Gillette in his only screen appearance as the famous sleuth, makes it especially timely for film scholars, students, and audiences to reassess the cultural legacy of Holmes onscreen. Forthcoming work by Hills (2016) and Poore (2016) argue strongly for Holmes as a continuing source of scholarly interest, spurring us to look at Holmes’ filmic lives.

This special issue of the Journal of Popular Film and Television will bring together original scholarship on Holmes adaptations. This collection will draw upon, and build on, recent work on Holmes’ reception by Porter (2012), Vanacker and Wynne (2012), and Stein and Busse (2012), and on Holmes’ early readers and viewers by Clarke (2014) and Werner (2014) by historicizing and by exploring manifestations of Holmes in films and on television. Holmes Onscreen (tentative title) will analyze the reasons behind Holmes’ continuing fascination for viewers and examine their treatments of a wide range of social issues including race, gender, terrorism, and international relations. This special issue will expand upon the conversations that began in New Directions in Sherlock, a one-day symposium organized by Tom Ue and held at University College London. We encourage new historical, theoretical, analytical, and critical perspectives on Holmesian adaptations, both the canonical and the neglected, with a view of furthering scholarship both about the character and about his persistence in filmic imagination.

Sample topics:

Holmes and women
Holmes and men
Holmes and the world
Holmes and the form of detective writing
Holmes and fear
Holmes and doubt
Sherlock and Holmes
Holmes in black and white
Holmes and comedy
Holmes and the neo-Victorians
William Gillette and Holmes
Holmes and Raffles
Holmes in theatre and film
Holmes and the family film
Holmes’ reception

Please note that papers that involve only literature/film and/or literature/television comparisons will not be considered. Please direct your queries and your 200-word working abstract, along with a one-paragraph biography, to Tom Ue at ue_tom@hotmail.com by 15 July, and feedback will be returned by 20 July. Completed papers of no more than 25 double-spaced and MLA-styled pages are due 15 November, whence they will be sent out for peer review.

Special themed issue – Inside-the-scenes: The rise of experiential cinema

Guest Editors: Sarah Atkinson and Helen W. Kennedy, University of Brighton

In recent years, there has been a growing trend toward the creation of a cinema that escapes beyond the boundaries of the auditorium whereby film-screenings are augmented by synchronous live performance, site-specific locations, technological intervention[1], social media engagement, and all manner of simultaneous interactive moments including singing[2], dancing, eating, drinking[3] and smelling[4].  Whilst recognizing that these experiences are not radically new (some belong in a continuum of peripheral marketing around film screenings that have existed since early cinema) we do now see these previously marginal experiences (i.e.  The Rocky Horror Picture Show) beginning to find access to a much wider public, and a significant rise in organisations dedicated to the design and delivery of augmented cinematic main events (such as Secret Cinema[5] and Sneaky Experience). We would like to make the distinction between the focus of this CFP – which is directed toward the study of ‘event-led’ cinema – the creation of live events around a particular film screening, and its contrasting proposition – ‘event cinema’ – thecoverage of live events in cinema auditoriums (such as sport, opera and theatre – around which there is already much lively academic discussion, and an organization established to support such activities[6]). This CFP is situated with the context of a growing demand for atmospheric, immersive and participatory cinematic experiences and the recent turn towards event-led distribution models, within a burgeoning experience economy. This area presents a fertile site for analysis and one that remains relatively untapped within past and current academic literature. This special issue aims to bring together the latest audience research into these areas to interrogate and explore the experiential cinema economy and to provide deepened understandings of recent immersive cinema phenomena through the analysis of both industrial and audience perspectives; to reveal economic, social and technological imperatives which underpin these innovations; and to evolve new conceptual frameworks and language of analyses suitable for their study.

The editors are particularly interested in encouraging submissions from a range of research contexts and from a diversity of methodological approaches. We are happy to receive submissions from a variety of disciplines such as film, media, games, theatre & social media studies. We are keen to encourage submissions from work that has combined multiple methodologies leading to innovations in audience research. Contributions will be welcomed, but are not limited to, articles addressing the following questions or areas of enquiry:

·      To what extent do these experiences extend and intensify narrative affect, heighten spectatorial absorption and enable vicarious audience engagement?

·      How are non-fictional augmentations such as cast and crew satellite link-ups to Q&A staged in order to engage an audience with a greater expectations of interactivity?

·      What new business models are emerging? At recent film festival events, industry talk and focus has turned to ‘eventising’. This is high on the agenda of an industry seeking to evolve new business models which address an apparent audience demand for enhanced and/or augmented experiences.  

·      How do such experiences embrace or challenge existing fan practices including cosplay?

·      How are the relations and tensions between the experience economy and the social media economy played out within these experiences?  (i.e. participation in events engendered by the experience economy  provide audience members who are engaged in the social media economy with the fodder with which to sustain their voracious social media streams)

·      How far can these augmented cinematic events be understood with recourse to a wider understanding of a shift in focus towards the design of experiences and multiple points of access around key (and often much loved) intellectual properties?

·      Where do the boundaries of the filmic-text, traditionally the key site for analysis in film studies, begin and end within immersive and participatory cinema experiences?

While we expect that not every submission will include any specific kind of audience research, we would welcome submissions that address the implications their investigations and arguments have for audience experience.

Please submit 500-word abstracts along with 100-word author biographies to both :

Sarah Atkinson:   S.A.Atkinson@brighton.ac.ukand Helen Kennedy: h.kennedy@brighton.ac.uk

·      Deadline for abstracts: Tuesday 5thMay, 2015

·      Decisions issued to authors: w/b 1st June, 2015

·      Deadline for full papers: Tuesday 1st September, 2015

·      Journal publication: May 2016

Please see journal information including submission guidelines at: http://www.participations.org/

[1] The first 4DX cinema opened in the UK earlier this year in Milton Keynes, UK.

[2] See http://www.singalonga.net

[3] Last year, Edible Cinema delivered a screening of Paolo Sorrentino’s The Great Beauty, using ‘taste, aroma and texture to heighten the viewers’ sensory experience of the film’s most famous scenes.’

[4] Polyester, the 1981 John Waters film was recently re-screened at 35 UK cinemas, in the way that it was originally intended, accompanied by audience interaction with the Odorama ‘Scratch n’ Sniff’ cards, as part of the National Scalarama film festival.

[5] The editors have themselves carried out extensive analyses of Secret Cinema, see bothAtkinson, S. and Kennedy, H. (2015):

–        Tell no one: Cinema as game-space – Audience participation, performance and play, G|A|M|E: The Italian Journal of Game Studies, 5/2015

–        Not so secret cinema: when independent immersive cinematic events go mainstream, SCMS conference, Montreal, March 2015

[6] The Event Cinema Association seeks to support and promote event cinema – see http://www.eventcinemaassociation.org/

6-8 January 2016

Canterbury Christ Church University

Theme: Communities

Deadline for proposals: 8 September 2015

We are pleased to invite you to submit abstracts, panel proposals and 
posters for the next Annual MeCCSA Conference, to be held 6-8 January 
2016 at the School of Media, Art and Design, Canterbury Christ Church 
University, Canterbury, UK.

The theme of the MeCCSA 2016 is ‘Communities’. We invite papers and 
panel proposals that address this theme, examining how we might advance thinking on for example: communities in the digital age; communities and the commons; communities and cultures; communities on the margins; local and community media; politics and policies of communities; community engagement and cohesion; inclusion and exclusion in communities; communities and the past; media, cultural and communication practices of different types of communities.

We also welcome scholarly papers, panels, practice contributions, film 
screenings, and posters across the full range of interests represented by MeCCSA and its networks, including, but not limited to:

·         Film and television studies and practice

·         Radio studies and practice

·         Cultural and media policy

·         Representation, identity, ideology

·         Social movements

·         Women’s Media Studies

·         Disability Studies within media studies

·         Approaches to media pedagogy

·         Children, young people and media

·         Diasporic and ethnic minority media

·         Political communication

·         Methodological approaches

·         MeCCSA subject areas as disciplines

Confirmed plenary speakers

Confirmed speakers that will participate in keynote panels include:

·         Professor Mark Deuze, University of Amsterdam

·         Professor Jeremy Gilbert, University of East London

·         Dr Peter Lewis, London Metropolitan University

·         Professor Robin Mansell, London School of Economics

·         Sara Moseley, Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Development 
Director, Cardiff University

·         Jeremy Seabrook, Author and Journalist

·         Professor Helena Sousa, University of Minho

·         Hilary Wainwright, Journalist and Researcher, Transnational 
Institute

·         Professor Claire Wallace, University of Aberdeen

Submission guidelines

Abstracts of up to 250 words should be submitted by 8 September 2015 through the conference website (http://www.meccsa2016.co.uk/). We also welcome panel proposals and these should include a short description and rationale (200 words) together with abstracts for each of the papers (150-200 words each including details of the contributor), together with the name and contact details of the panel proposer. The panel proposer should co-ordinate the submissions for that panel as a single proposal.

Practice

We actively support the presentation of practice-as-research, in particular when there is insufficient time to present a complete work during parallel sessions. We are therefore providing a dedicated 
presentation space to display practice artefacts including screenings, 
computer-based and multi-screen work (where possible). For displaying  practice work, please include specific technical data (eg duration, format) and an URL pointing to any support material when submitting your abstract.

Conference contacts:

Website: http://www.meccsa2016.co.uk/

Email address: meccsa2016@canterbury.ac.uk

Twitter: @meccsa2016

We look forward to seeing you in Canterbury!

About MeCCSA

MeCCSA is the subject association for the field of media, communication and cultural studies in UK Higher Education. The field encompasses the study of audiovisual and print media including film and TV; journalism; radio; photography; creative writing; publishing; interactive media and the web. The field also includes higher education for media practice and 
practice research – film and TV production, journalism practice, and the use of new, digital information technologies in the arts, entertainment, 
social media and gaming. For further information please see: 
http://www.meccsa.org.uk/

About Canterbury

Canterbury is an important historical city in the south east of England, one hour by train from London. The conference will be held on the main 
campus of Canterbury Christ Church University, which is part of the 
Canterbury UNESCO World Heritage Site. The University has offered degrees in media and related subjects since 1980.  The School of Media, Art and Design currently provides undergraduate and postgraduate programmes in media and communication, journalism, film, television, radio, animation, photography, digital media, web design, graphic design and fine and applied art. The School has a strong ethos of theory-practice interchange and an interdisciplinary research culture. The School runs the Centre for Research on Communities and Cultures and is a leading player in the Centre for Practice-Based Research in the Arts.

Fanfiction and Student Learning

MediaCommons Front Page
mediacommons.odu@gmail.com

The MediaCommons Front Page Collective welcomes responses to the survey question: How can fanfiction studies enrich student learning in the classroom and within their own reading and writing practices?

This survey question seeks to explore the pedagogical and research values within intersections of fanfiction studies. Some questions that may arise: How might fanfiction be used as a teaching tool and to what end? In what ways can fanfiction and online fanfiction communities assist second language learners? How can fanfiction studies be used to deepen students’ understandings of media and their effects on audience members? How do other forms of fanfiction (such as fanvideos and fanart) change and/or challenge our perspectives on fanfiction studies?

Responses may include, but are not limited to:
-Pedagogical value for writing students and reluctant readers
-Fanfiction and transmedia adaptation
-Pedagogical value for K-12 classrooms
-Issues of copyright, intellectual property, and plagiarism
-Fanfiction and second language learning
-Fanfiction as a site for exploring identity (gender, nationality, sexuality, ethnicity)
-Stereotypes regarding who writes fanfiction (Is it a female-dominated community? Perceptions of male writers who write from female perspectives?)

The project will run from April 6th to April 24th. Responses are 400-600 words and typically focus on introducing concepts for larger discussion, with the idea that interested individuals will read and respond daily to engage authors in digital conversation. Proposals may be brief (a few sentences) and should state your topic and approach. You may submit as an individual or offer up a special cluster of responses with others. Submit proposals to mediacommons.odu@gmail.com by April 1st to be considered for inclusion in this project.

MediaCommons is an experimental project created in 2006 by Drs. Kathleen Fitzpatrick and Avi Santo, seeking to envision how a born-digital scholarly press might re-conceptualize both the processes and end-products of scholarship. MediaCommons was initially developed in collaboration with the Institute for the Future of the Book through a grant from the MacArthur Foundation and is currently supported by New York University’s Digital Library Technology Services through funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities. The site regularly receives tens of thousands of unique readers a month.

Please visit MediaCommons at: http://mediacommons.futureofthebook.org/

CFP: Convergence: Special themed issue
Vol 22, no 3 (August 2016)

Connected Viewing: Multi-Platform Media in the Digital Era
Guest Editors: Jennifer Holt and Karen Petruska

This special issue aims to bring together researchers from film, television, internet, and game studies to examine evolving trends in connected viewing, an evolution in how screen media is created, circulated, and consumed. Specifically referring to a multi-platform entertainment experience, connected viewing also relates to a larger trend across the media industries to integrate digital technology and socially networked
communication with traditional screen media practices. This special issue will explore connected viewing as a crucial frame through which we can understand contemporary media in the digital era.

Connected viewing is more than digital distribution, for it encapsulates the broader ecosystem in which digital distribution is rendered possible
and new forms of user engagement take shape. Connected viewing is as much about the aesthetic and social experience of second-screen media as it is about the intermediaries that deliver content to mobile devices and the gatekeepers that regulate access. It also extends to those firms and
individuals operating outside of the mainstream who are looking to create
innovative connections to the digital, global, and mobile audience.

This call for papers invites contributions that focus on the evolving economics, technologies, regulations, texts, and audience practices of
connected viewing. Possible topics may include digital distribution
technologies and platforms; global markets and audiences; the economics of connected viewing; web series and transmedia content; data collection and
privacy; cloud technologies and internet infrastructure; network neutrality, internet governance, and other regulatory issues; audience engagement and fandom.

Contributions on the following questions are welcome, but we are open to any substantive inquiry:

**What are the historical continuities that limit or expand the landscape
for digital media innovations?

**Legacy companies today compete not only with each other but also with new entrants like Netflix and Amazon. How is the struggle between these
companies transforming traditional media practices?

**What innovations has connected viewing brought to the production and
circulation of content, especially across platforms? How has this affected
creative labor?

**What are the emerging business models driving connected viewing, and how might these impact audience practices and priorities (i.e. in terms of
digital divides, affordable content, privacy protections, etc.)?

**What are the most dynamic connected viewing developments in Latin American, Asian, European, or emerging economic markets?

**Do “independent” companies have a competitive advantage in the connected viewing market for either film, TV, or games?

**What audiences have the advances of connected viewing left behind,
particularly considering racial, gender, class, and age differences? Alternatively, how have audiences pushed connected viewing practices forward in ways media companies have not?

**How is connected viewing transforming ideals of the public sphere and community life?

Research articles will be in the range of 6,000-8,000 words and all submissions should be formatted in the SAGE Harvard reference style.

We are also interested in publishing interviews of 3,000-5,000 words with
connected viewing creators, intermediaries, distributors, etc. If you are interested in conducting an interview for this issue, please email the editors with a brief description to determine suitability.

Please send submissions of full papers to the editors by 31 July 2015. All
correspondence and submissions to Karen Petruska (k.petruska@gmail.com).

You can read more about Convergence: The International Journal of Research
into New Media Technologies here: http://con.sagepub.com/.