The Communication Policy and Technology Section of the International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) invites proposals for IAMCR 2023, to be held in Lyon, France, from 9 to 13 July (Lyon23) with an Online Conference Papers (OCP23) component from 26 June to 5 July.
The deadline for submission of proposals is 9 February 2023 at 23h59 UTC.
See the CfPs of all sections and working groups >
Conference themes
IAMCR conferences have a main conference theme that is explored from multiple perspectives throughout the conference in plenaries and other moments, including the programmes of the thematic sections and working groups. They also have many themes defined by IAMCR’s 33 thematic sections and working groups, including CP&T. Each section and working group also defines some of its own themes, which are described in their individual calls for proposals.
More details about the focus and scope of CP&T, and of potential submissions to it, can be found below. Proposals submitted to sections and working groups, including CP&T, may be centred on an aspect of the main conference theme as it relates to the central concerns of the section or working group, or they may address the additional themes identified by the section or working group in their individual calls for proposals.
Main theme – Inhabiting the planet: Challenges for media, communication and beyond
The main theme for IAMCR 2023, “Inhabiting the planet: Challenges for media, communication and beyond”, is concerned with possibilities for rethinking communication research agendas at a time when the irreversible effects of climate change is compounded by stark geopolitical, sociocultural and religious tensions in human communities. At this juncture, urgent reflection and research is needed on how we can hope to flourish today and in the future, and also how media and communication tools and environments can be positive forces and spaces for change.
Five sub-themes of this central theme have been identified: Humanity and progress; democracy; media, information and communication; cities and territories; and environmental accountability.
Consult a detailed description of the main theme and its sub-themes
The Communication Policy and Technology Section (CPT) focuses on the role of policy (broadly defined) in the development of media and communication technologies, both analogue and digital, in past, current and future societies.
For the IAMCR 2023 conference we invite papers that explore how the general theme “Inhabiting the Planet: Challenges for media, communication and beyond” relates to media and communication policy and technology. We are interested in papers related to policy issues around media, communication technologies and online platforms, ranging from print-cultures to online applications and the internet of things in different domains of society. Over the last decade, the relations between (state and regional) institutions, citizens, and corporations have been fundamentally reconfigured. This development is accelerated and complicated by the rapid rise of transnational digital media platforms and their role in public discourses, leading to policy struggles to keep up with the dynamic changes in all societal spheres. In addition, we witness the emergence of social (and populist) movements, often related to new modes of governance and participation, which reconfigure the boundaries between culture, communication and politics. And lastly, we see increasing tendencies to “re-nationalize” policies and politics related to media and the digital, leading to an increasing fragmentation of regulatory frameworks.
The CP&T section invites submissions that critically engage with these issues from a policy and technology perspective.
We welcome both papers and panel proposals addressing the following themes that fit in the general call for papers and are relevant to our section:
- Big Data and its implications for privacy, inclusiveness, respect etc.;
- Policies and debates around artificial intelligence and its ethical and social implications, including bias, discrimination, transparency and responsibility in different contexts;
- The increasing levels of automation, algorithms and quantification in different social domains (e.g. health, social welfare, finance, news and entertainment production) and its ethical and social implications;
- The use of (predictive and punitive) control systems in political and legal decision making;
- Digital sovereignty, internet fragmentation and the challenges for global internet governance;
- Policies and research into the digital divide, mobile access, media literacy, access and inclusion programmes etc.;
- Global and national media and communication governance and their role in promoting pluralism and diversity;
- International vs. national policies (e.g. trade policies and the resulting tensions between countries such as China and the US) and implications for communication and media practices
- Historical development of communication and media policies in diverse regions and countries;
- Comparative analysis of different policy regimes, their implementations and implications;
- The effectiveness of international policies and laws related to ICTs and the Internet in different regions of the world;
- The roles played by citizens, communities and organizations (both locally and globally) in shaping communication and media policies;
- Media and online governance regarding disinformation, social network bots, online harassment, hate speech, and cyberbullying, particularly as it relates to gender, race, class, ethnicity, nationality etc.;
- Policies and policy debates around recent and future communication technologies, including blockchain, 5G, IPv6, etc.;
- Policies related to online advertising and its implications for consumers and their privacy;
- Policies and debates around public service obligations, pluralism and diversity, convergence and net neutrality in broadcasting and internet/telecommunications services;
- National and regional policy initiatives, e.g. China's Belt and Road Initiative, ASEAN Plan of Action on Science, Technology and Innovation (APASTI), the Digital Service Act / Digital Market Act in the EU etc.
- Regulating online elections
- The future of the UN Internet Governance Forum
Please note that the CPT section does not cover all the spectrum of communication technology-related research. As such, it is not meant to be the primary submission venue for proposals which focus only on the role of technology for political communication (e.g. campaigning), on human-computer-interaction (e.g. user research without policy implication), on the political economy of technology without a clear connection to policy (e.g. media ownership and concentration) and similar topics without a clear policy dimension. Please note that, depending on the number of submissions received, we may not be able to redirect proposals covering such topics and submitted to CPT to more appropriate sections or working groups of IAMCR.
Contributing to the conference: Lyon23 and OCP23
There will be two ways of joining IAMCR2023:
- If you are not able to or don’t want to join the face-to-face conference in Lyon but do want to submit an online-only paper, submit your abstract to OCP23 only. If accepted, you’ll later submit your full paper to the online platform, which will be open for discussion from 26 June to 5 July.
- If you do want to join the face-to-face event, submit your abstract to Lyon23 and OCP23. If accepted you’ll submit your paper to the online platform and present it at the face-to-face conference.
Guidelines for abstracts
The CP&T section welcomes abstract proposals between 300 and 500 words for papers in line with the conference and CP&T themes, and must be submitted online here. Abstracts submitted by email will not be accepted. Abstracts should contain a title, main question or research problem, brief descriptions of the theoretical framework and method(s) used, and summarise the findings and their policy relevance.
We encourage submissions by emerging scholars and plan to hold at least one joint session with the Emerging Scholars Network Section (ESN). If you are interested see the ESN CfP and submit your proposal according to ESN following the procedures outlined.
Proposals are accepted for both single Papers and Panels. Proposals for panels can only be submitted to Lyon23 and OCP23. Panel submissions must include an abstract for each paper submitted here and a description & supplemental information submitted via this form on the conference website
The deadline to submit abstracts is 9 February 2022 at 23h59 UTC.
See important dates and deadlines to keep in mind
Requirements and Evaluation
It is expected that authors will submit only one (1) abstract. However, under no circumstances should an author submit more than two abstracts as a single author or as the lead author of a co-authored paper and no author will submit more than one abstract to the Communication Policy and Technology Section. The same abstract or another version with minor variations in title or content must not be submitted to more than one section or working group. Any such submissions will be deemed to be in breach of the conference guidelines and will be rejected.
Within CP&T, the review is conducted this way: after a first screening by the section chairs, submitted abstracts fitting the scope on the section and fulfilling the necessary requirements will be evaluated by a double-blind review on the basis of: (1) theoretical contribution, (2) methods, (3) quality of writing, (4) literature review, (5) relevance of the submission to the work of the CP&T section and (communication/technology/media) policy, and (6) originality and/or significance of the work.
If a proposal is accepted, the presenter must confirm their participation.
If your abstract is accepted, you will need to submit your full conference paper (up to 8,000 words) in order to be included in the programme.
Languages
We welcome submissions in all three official languages of IAMCR: English, French and Spanish.
For further information about the Communication Policy and Technology Section, its themes, submissions, and panels please contact the Head of the section:
Co-chair: Francesca Musiani (francesca.musiani [at] cnrs.fr), CNRS, France.
Co-chair: Julia Pohle (julia.pohle [at] wzb.eu), WZB, Germany.
Vice-chair: Jeremy Shtern (jshtern [at] ryerson.ca), Toronto Metropolitan University, Canada.
Vice-chair: Weiyu Zhang (viyucheung [at] gmail.com), National University of Singapore, Singapore.
