How different really is the “new media” from the “old”?
A special issue of the journal Convergence is now accepting article proposals for its upcoming special issue, entitled “Rethinking the distinction between old and new media”. The issue is guest-edited by Frederik Lesage, of Simon Fraser University, and Simone Natale, of Loughborough University.
The issue is interested in situations in which “distinctions between old and new media break down”, the guest-editors explicate. They have also provided a (non-exhaustive) list of potential topics, which includes:
- How can we rethink media change beyond the old/new media and the analogue/digital media distinctions?
- How and in which contexts are specific media technologies and artefacts attributed the qualities of oldness and/or newness?
- To what extent do definitions of old and new media change throughout time?
- To what extent are newness and oldness employed as rhetorical tropes by specific groups and individuals to animate particular visions of technological change?
- What do we mean when we consider the potential “death” of media such as print books, cinema, or television?
Article abstracts should be submitted by the end of May, and completed manuscripts are due by the end of October.
The full call for papers is available on the publisher’s website (PDF file).