[csaa-forum] Workshop: New Media Regulation and Cultural Literacies

[Fran Martin]

New Media Regulation and Cultural Literacies  -- The Need for Evidence-Based Policy

The transformation of communication via networked digital media has led to a blurring between media producers and users. There are increasing calls for restriction of content that is legal in some jurisdictions but is considered offensive in Australia. This has created a new framework of risk to young people who are consumers and creators of material that conflicts with national classification standards. This project aims to (1) present evidence-based research into the kinds of communicative environments that exist in seemingly problematic online communities; (2) analyse and critique current Australian standards and strategies for regulation (3) and recommend ways that academics, policy makers and users can be brought into dialogue so as to generate more culturally literate regulatory policies.



This University of Wollongong workshop involves a series of case studies about communicative environments in specific “communities of use” that are affected by legislation aimed at preventing certain kinds of representation/speech acts. These include “Boys Love” (a female-based Japanese manga fandom dedicated to male-male romance); “extreme” music communities (user-generated music subcultures using obscene lyrics and images); teenage “sexting” (exchange of explicit visual and textual materials via new media); and transgressive art practices that challenge normative understandings of childhood as asexual. These case studies will be commented on by experts from both law and informatics – adding valuable perspectives from outside of the cultural studies paradigms adopted by most speakers.



FOR DETAILS OR TO RESERVE A PLACE:
http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/research/istr/workshops/UOW134983.html

Mark McLelland, Professor of Gender & Sexuality Studies
School of Social Sciences, Media and Communication
Arts Faculty
University of Wollongong
NSW 2522
Australia
tel: 02-4221-4305
web: http://www.uow.edu.au/arts/ssmac/staff/UOW018742.html
Latest publication: Love, Sex and Democracy in Japan during the American Occupation, New York: Macmillan,http://us.macmillan.com/lovesexanddemocracyinjapanduringtheamericanoccupation/MarkMcLelland

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