CALL FOR COMPETITIVE PAPERS AND COMPLETE PANEL PROPOSALS

THE MEDIA ECOLOGY ASSOCIATION AT THE 96th ANNUAL CONVENTION OF THE NATIONAL COMMUNICATION ASSOCIATION

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 14–WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2010

BUILDING BRIDGES

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: FEBRUARY 17, 2010 (NO exceptions)

MEA/NCA Program Planner: Thom Gencarelli thom.gencarelli@manhattan.edu

The Media Ecology Association, an official affiliate organization of NCA, invites submission of competitive papers and complete panel proposals addressing critical, methodological, research, and/or theoretical issues in media ecology: the study of the leading or defining role of technology and technique, modes of information, and codes of communication in human affairs (e.g., language and culture, technology and culture, orality and literacy, medium theory, media history, the symbolic structure or grammar of communication media and its implications, etc.).

In addition, this year’s conference theme, “Building Bridges”—arising, in part, out of San Francisco’s iconic Golden Gate Bridge—might be said to be especially significant for media ecology, and to suggest innumerable possibilities for addressing bridges we continue to build, plan to build, need to build, and/or still only imagine.

Submission Method and Deadline
Online submission will be accepted through the All Academic system on or before Wednesday, February 17, 2010 (NO exceptions). The URL for the NCA 2010 convention online system at All Academic, Inc. is http://convention3.allacademic.com/one/nca/nca10/. Please follow NCA’s online convention submission/review guidelines on the NCA home page: http://www.natcom.org/.

Types of Submissions
Interested colleagues are encouraged to submit competitive papers or complete panel proposals that address the convention theme as it relates to the study of media ecology. (Conformity with the NCA convention theme is, of course, not a requirement for submission.) The MEA program will accept the following two types of submissions: papers, as in competitive papers; and complete panel proposals, in the form of Common Theme Paper Presentations and Roundtables.

Competitive Papers: All competitive papers should be between 20 and 25 pages in length and have (a) a title; (b) a 250–500-word abstract; and (c) no personal identification of the author in the abstract or throughout the paper. (Please remove all personal identification before uploading the document online.) Competitive papers will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: (a) a firm grounding in the established literature; (b) sound arguments with well-substantiated ideas; (c) clear expression of ideas; (d) a clear media-ecological orientation; and (e) a contribution to the general understanding of media ecology. If your submission is a student and/or debut paper, please be sure to indicate this.

Also, submitters should indicate their willingness to present as part of a Scholar-to-Scholar (S2S) program session. We have been asked to schedule our top papers panel twice: once in the traditional format and once as an S2S—which would allow more convention attendees to see and hear the cream of our crop. (This will also give us an additional panel slot.)

Complete Panel Proposals: There are two types of program panels: “Paper Sessions” and “Roundtables.”
- Paper Sessions are composed of a group of panelists with titled presentations centered upon a common theme. This type of panel does not list an abstract in the final printed convention program, because the titles of the individual presentations indicate the topic for discussion. Instead, proposers of this first type of panel must submit a rationale. Complete panel proposals of this type will therefore include (a) a panel title describing the panel’s overall focus; (b) a list of names of the panel chair, presenters, and respondent (if any), with their affiliations; (c) the title of each paper on the panel; (d) an abstract of no more than 75 words for each paper; and (e) a rationale of no more than 250 words for the program panel.
- Roundtables are composed of a group of panelists who discuss a specific topic that is described in an abstract that will also be printed in the convention program. These panelists do not title their presentations. For this type of panel, submitters may use the exact same text for both the abstract and rationale if they do not wish to create a separate rationale. (Reviewers will use the rationale when evaluating this type of panel.) Complete panel proposals in this format will therefore include (a) a panel title describing the panel’s overall focus; (b) a list of names of the panel chair and presenters, with their affiliations; (c) an abstract of no more than 250 words; and (d) a rationale of no more than 250 words.

All complete panel discussion or paper session proposals will be evaluated on the basis of the following criteria: (a) solid organization and preparation, with clear indication of the focus and rationale of the panel; (b) clear, strong integration/coherence among the topics of the individual papers or presentations; (c) interest to MEA members; (d) a clear media-ecological orientation; and (e) a contribution to the general understanding of media ecology.

All submitters are also asked to consider creative collaborations and co-sponsorship with other units.

All complete papers and panel proposals must be submitted via All Academic: http://convention3.allacademic.com/one/nca/nca10/. NO submissions will be accepted after February 17, 2010.

The MEA has seven panel slots available for this convention. As a standard practice, panels consisting of competitively refereed and accepted complete papers will receive priority ranking and scheduling privilege. Also, since we have limited panel allocations and hope to engage more of our colleagues in the MEA’s program, we urge all prospective contributors to send in only one submission—one complete paper or participation on only one proposed panel. (Please also note that NO submissions may be made to more than one unit.)

Ethical Guidelines for Convention Submissions
All submitters will be required to read and agree to the statement on Ethical Guidelines for Convention Submissions, as part of the online submission process via All Academic, and in order to complete their submission.

NCA Policy: Audio/Visual Equipment
NCA policy entails providing reasonable A/V support of presentations at its annual convention. However, equipment requests must be kept to a minimum because of their high cost. Submitters must therefore adhere to the following guidelines:

A/V equipment requests MUST be made at the same time as the paper or panel’s submission, and will be screened by the program planner.
NCA will normally approve requests for the following equipment: easels, flip charts, and LCD projectors.
NCA will NOT normally approve requests for equipment such as laptops, speakers, transparency projectors, VCR or DVD players, camcorders, satellite links, teleconference/webinar equipment, or Internet connections.

Individuals may, of course, elect to rent equipment for/at the convention at their own expense.