[csaa-forum] Introductions and Membership

[Anna Gibbs]

Audience Section

IAMCR CAIRO 2006
Knowledge Societies for All: Media and Communication Strategies
American University of Cairo
July 23 - 28, 2006
Further conference information available at http://www.iamcr.net

Call for papers
The Audience Section invites proposals for the 
IAMCR, 2006 conference in Cairo. Please follow 
the  instructions provided below for preparing 
your abstract and send by email to 
v.nightingale at uws.edu.au

Conference Theme: Knowledge Societies for All - 
Media and Communication Strategies
The conference theme offers the Audience Section 
an opportunity to reassess the theories, methods 
and issues that inform our practice as audience 
researchers.

Knowledge Communities
As knowledge communities, audiences are changing. 
The classifications of audiences we traditionally 
relied on (masses, publics and markets) are 
challenged by the fluidity and ephemeral nature 
of virtual and mobile audiences.

Digital and mobile media
The delivery of media content via mobile devices 
(cell phones; PDPs, iPods and MP3 players etc) 
suggests we need to broaden our understanding of 
the places and spaces where people are likely to 
be audiences. Digital media provoke 
reconsideration of our assumptions about the 
meaning of engagement and interactivity. The 
arrival of powerful new audience/user research 
tools for online consumer research are 
contributing to the development of new 
definitions of what entertainment means, and 
alerting us to the emergence of ways of being 
audiences and of researching them.

Panel: Audience Research for a Digital Age
As a tribute to the Cairo conference theme, the 
Audience Section will host a panel discussion 
titled Audience Research for a Digital Age. The 
panel will focus on audiences as knowledge 
communities and on ethnographic approaches to 
researching them. Discussions are under way with 
leading scholars in our field, and the panel 
composition will be announced, along with paper 
acceptances, in March, 2006.

What papers will be considered for presentation?
The Audience Section encourages the submission of 
papers that address audience theories, research 
and/or issues. For the Cairo conference we would 
particularly welcome submissions that focus on

 Audiences - knowledge communities

 Audiences and digital media

 Media and communication strategies for audience development.

 Media ethnographies
These categories are advisory, NOT exclusive. All 
papers submitted will be considered for inclusion 
in the program. Papers may be referred on to 
another IAMCR Section if, for whatever reason, 
they appear better suited to that section. We 
note in particular the synergies that exist 
between the Audience Section and the 
Participatory Communication, Community Media, 
Media Education, Gender, and Psychology and 
Public Opinion Sections.

What should your proposal include?
DO send the following:
¸ 500 word abstract
¸ Title
¸ Name
¸ Institutional affiliation
¸ Email address
This information should be included for all authors.

DO NOT include
	X	Biographical notes
	X	References.
	X	Footnotes

Important Information
Deadline for abstracts:	15th January, 2006
Acceptances announced:	1st March, 2006
Full papers due:		15th June, 2006

-- 
Dr Anna Gibbs
School of Communication Arts
University of Western Sydney
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith South DC
NSW 1797
AUSTRALIA
tel (612) 9852.5412
fax (612) 9852.5424
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