What is media today? How is media studies defined? How have media technologies transformed media theory and practice? What are the futures of media and how are they evolving?

What is Media? is the sixth in a series of conferences that have explored the past, current and future of various media. With media including a wider and wider range of concepts, products, services, and institutions, the definition of media continues to be in a state of flux. Important questions abound and we will address a sweeping range of issues at the What is Media? event next April in Portland, Oregon.

The conference will feature a unique coalescing of media scholars, government and community officials, industry professionals, alumni, and students, as well as artists, filmmakers, grassroots community organizations, and the public. The event will feature keynote speakers, roundtables, paper presentations, and special events, in an attempt to answer questions about the ever-evolving nature of media.

We welcome proposals from scholars, curators, and artists on the following topics (as well as others):
• What is a medium? What distinguishes a medium from the media? How are they changing? What are the new emerging media? What are immersive media?
• What is media studies? What is the relationship between media, communication, and film studies?
• How does media studies relate to other areas of inquiry and other disciplines?
• What are current approaches to the study of media effects, media audiences, and media psychology?
• What can media professionals learn from media studies and vice versa?
• What is media industry studies? and its relationship to political economy and media economics?
• What is citizen/civic media? and the roles/responsibilities of the media in contemporary democracy?
• What are media ecologies? In what ways do they address the environmental crisis?
• How is media similar/different in various cultures? and the significance of media in a global context?
• What new economic, cultural, political, and social factors are affecting media?
• How does media studies highlight gender, race, and/or indigenous concerns?
• What is the philosophy of media? media ethics? media aesthetics?
• How does science and technology studies deal with media?
• What is mediation and/or mediatization?
• What are the relationships between media technologies and media content?
• What are the positive/negative consequences of media technologies for the public interest?
• What are the current trends in media education and media literacy?
• How have media technologies been embraced by spiritual/contemplative organizations?
• Where do media, the arts and sciences converge (e.g. intermedia, biomedia, etc.)?
• What laws, regulations, and/or policies are appropriate for the media today?
• What are the emerging discourses of media, surveillance and cybersecurity?
• What is media archaeology? What can media history teach us about the future of media?

Conference Organizers:
Janet Wasko and Jeremy Swartz aka Jher (University of Oregon)

Send 100-150 word abstracts of installations by JANUARY 20, 2016 to:
Janet Wasko • jwasko@uoregon.edu

School of Journalism and Communication
University of Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-1275 USA