CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS:

VIRTUAL POSTER SESSION

November 6, 2009:

Special session of “Convergence and Society: The Changing Media Landscape”
Co-sponsored by: University of Nevada, Reno and University of South Carolina

The same economic factors that are challenging the media are offering a similar set of challenges to academics who are exploring the changing media landscape with the full range of research tools at our disposal. This “Virtual Poster Session” is a special session of the annual “Convergence and Society” conference designed to facilitate the sharing of research among scholars who have research to share or want to see the latest research findings, but who may not have funds to travel to the conference.

The virtual poster session will take place Friday afternoon, November 6, using a combination of presentation tools to connect presenters and their research with two audiences: those in attendance at the traditional three-day conference in Reno and those who wish to participate in the session through the Internet.

Submissions should follow the conference theme, addressing issues, tools, or research findings related to any aspect of convergent journalism or media convergence. All submissions will be peer-reviewed using the same criteria as applied for the parent “Convergence and Society” conference.

This session is an experiment that seeks to apply some of the tools and techniques that are revolutionizing journalism to explore new possibilities for sharing research in a conference environment. The specific tools that will be used will not be finalized until August 2009.

Suggestions for tools, formats, etc. are encouraged and may be submitted at any time. Presenters will have the option of attending and registering for the entire conference or for the Virtual Poster Session only. (A reduced registration rate will be applied to the Virtual Poster Session.)

Faculty and graduate students are invited to submit in one of two categories:

1. Completed papers

2. Proposals or abstracts of papers in progress

Submissions may address practical, theoretical, phenomenological, critical and/or empirical approaches to digital media and information technologies. All submissions will be reviewed by a jury that will consider: 1) relevance to the conference theme, 2) the quality of the contribution, and 3) overall contribution to the field.

Papers, proposals, abstracts, and panel proposals should be electronically submitted to:

Augie Grant, Conference Co-Chair
Virtual Poster Session
e-mail: augie@sc.edu
(Please include the words, “Virtual Poster Session,” in the Subject Field)

This session and the parent conference are co-sponsored by the Reynolds School of Journalism at the University of Nevada, Reno; the College of Mass Communications and Information Studies at the University of South Carolina; and IFRA Newsplex, an advanced micro-newsroom training and research facility dedicated to news presentation techniques emerging from the convergence of print, broadcast and online media. Newsplex is a joint project of the University of South Carolina and IFRA.

Submission guidelines:

• Electronic submissions (Word or RTF attachments) are required (send to augie@sc.edu).
• A separate "cover page" file should be included with the title of the paper or panel and authors’ names, addresses, telephone numbers, and email addresses.
• Submission deadline (postmark) is June 15, 2009. All submissions will be jury-reviewed with notification to authors and organizers on or before July 31, 2009.