*CFP* 3RD INTERNATIONAL GEOMEDIA CONFERENCE, KARLSTAD UNIVERSITY

The 3rd International Geomedia Conference

Karlstad, Sweden, 7-10 May 2019

Welcome to the 3rd International Geomedia Conference! The term geomedia captures the fundamental role of media in organizing and giving meaning to processes and activities in space. Geomedia also alludes to the geographical attributes of media, for example flows of digital signals between particular places and the infrastructures carrying those flows. The rapid expansion of mobile media, location-based services, GIS and increasingly complex patterns of surveillance/interveillance has amplified the need for critical studies and theorizations of geomedia. The 3rd Geomedia Conference welcomes contributions (full sessions/panels as well as individual papers) that analyze and problematize the relations between the any and all communication media and various forms of spatial creativity, performance and production across material, cultural, social and political dimensions. Geomedia 2019 provides a genuinely interdisciplinary arena for research carried out at the crossroads of geography, media and film studies. It also builds bridges to such fields as urban studies, rural studies, regional planning, cultural studies and tourism studies.

Keynote speakers:

Melissa Gregg - Intel Corporation, USA

Maren Hartmann - Berlin University of the Arts, Germany

Tristan Thielmann - Universität Siegen, Germany

Plenary panel: "Dreaming of Home: Film and Imaginary Territories of the Real":

Nilgun Bayraktar - California College of the Arts, USA

Christine Molloy - Film director and producer, Desperate Optimists

Les Roberts - University of Liverpool

John Lynch (chair) - Karlstad University

Film screenings and directors:

Sami Blood - Amanda Kernell (SWE)

Further Beyond - Christine Molloy (IRL)

Abstract submissions:

Geomedia 2019 welcomes proposals for individual papers as well as thematic panels in English through the conference website:

• Individual paper proposals: The author submits an abstract of 200-250 words. Accepted papers are grouped by the organizers into sessions of 5 papers according to thematic area.
• Thematic panel proposals: The chair of the panel submits a proposal consisting of 4-5 individual paper abstracts (200-250 words) along with a general panel presentation of 200-250 words.

Suggested paper topics include, but are not limited to:

• Art and event spaces 
• Cinematic geographies 
• Cosmopolitanism 
• Everyday communication geographies 
• Epistemologies and methodologies of geomedia 
• Geographies of media and culture industries 
• Geographies of news 
• Historical perspectives of geomedia 
• Home and belonging 
• Lifestyle and tourism mobilities 
• Locative and spatial media 
• Material geographies of media 
• Media ecologies 
• Mediatization and space 
• Migration and media 
• Mobility and governance 
• Policy mobilities 
• Power geometries and mobility capital
• Surveillance and spatial control 
• Urban and rural media spaces

Conference Theme:

The special theme of Geomedia 2019 is "Revisiting the Home". It responds to the prevailing need to problematize the meaning of home in an "era of globalized homelessness", in times of extended mobility (migration, tourism, multiple homes, etc.) and digital information flows (notably social media). While such ongoing transitions point to a condition where home-making becomes an increasingly liquid and de-territorialized undertaking, there is also a growing preoccupation with questions of what counts as home and who has the right to claim something as (one's) home. Home is a construct that actualizes the multilayered tensions between belonging, inclusion and security, on the one hand, and alienation, exclusion and surveillance, on the other. The theme of Geomedia 2019 centers on how media are culturally and materially integrated in and reshaping the home-place (e.g., the "smart home" and the "home-office") and connecting it to other places and spaces. It also concerns the phenomenological and discursive constructions of home, ranging from the intimate social interaction of domestic spaces to the popular (and sometimes politicized) media nostalgia of imagined communities (nation states, homelands, etc.). Ultimately, "Revisiting the Home" addresses the home as a theoretical concept and its implications for geomedia studies. The theme will be addressed through invited keynote talks, a plenary panel, film screenings and artistic installations. Participants are also encouraged to submit proposals for paper sessions addressing the conference theme.

Conference timeline:

September 24th 2018: Submission system opens January 7th 2019:

Deadline for thematic panel and individual paper proposals January 25th

2019: Notes of acceptance and registration opens February 28th 2019: Early Bird pricing ends March 15 th 2019: Last day of registration

Conference website:

Information about registration, conference programme, venue, social events and practical arrangements will be posted continuously on the conference website.

Contact:

You can reach us at info@geomedia.se

Organizers and venue:

Geomedia 2019 is hosted by the Geomedia Research Group at the Department of Geography, Media and Communication, Karlstad University, Sweden.

 

Conference director: Lena Grip

Assistant conference director: Stina Bergman

Director of the Geomedia Research Group and chair of scientific committee: André Jansson