MASH 2013:Making and Sharing – Conference on audience creativity
July 4-5, 2013 (Maastricht, The Netherlands)
This interdisciplinary conference aims to critically engage in the discourse on participatory culture and the implications of (new) media tendencies towards user-created content. The innovation and appropriation of cultural objects and texts by users, fans, and gamers have changed the media landscape profoundly. We aim to engage in debates about the cultural contexts of audience activities, and the implications of the media-saturated networks in which their cultures flourish.
Details after the jump
Topics include, but are not limited to:
1. Creative Industries
– changing professional fields
– user-industry relations
– crowd funding
– fan/user labor
– copyright
2. Creative Audiences and Practices
– cultural citizenship
– fan activism, hacking, cheating
– creative appropriations made by audiences
– fidelity and transformation of audiences
– affect: care of enthusiasts/hobbyists
– media literacy
– non-users
3. Methods and Approaches
– fan studies
– game studies
– (internet) ethnography
– phenomenological accounts of internet studies
– ethical questions related to methodology
The conference aims to bridge academia and practice by also including activities and panels that are chaired by fans and game designers rather than scholars. We appreciate the submission of innovative panel ideas and teams that could help strengthen this idea.
The conference will take place in Maastricht (The Netherlands) in Lumière, an independent movie theater with a vintage charm. It will include the screening of documentaries on fandom as well as exemplary fan practices. Applicants are encouraged to submit creative fannish materials that they have worked on and that they may want to show in public.
Conference organizers
The research project on Fan Practices at Maastricht University
Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences:
Dr. Karin Wenz, Nicolle Lamerichs, Maarten Michielse and Rafael Bienia.
Abstracts can be submitted to: mash2013@gmx.com
Deadline for abstracts (up to 500 words): 11. January 2013
Facebook group: mash2013 https://www.facebook.com/groups/421512611237518/
Website: http://mash2013.wordpress.com/