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                Dear colleagues,
<br>
<br>Apologies for any double posting.
<br>
<br>Please help circulate this Call for Papers. The special issue proposal
<br>"Geomedia Histories" has been enthusiastically greeted by the editor of New
<br>Media and Society. (Link to journal website:
<br>https://journals.sagepub.com/home/nms)
<br>
<br>New Media & Society
<br>Special Issue
<br>Geomedia Histories
<br>
<br>Abstract Deadline: November 1st 2020.
<br>
<br>Edited by: Karin Fast (Karlstad University) and Pablo Abend (University of
<br>Siegen)
<br>
<br>Overview
<br>There has been an increased interest in the process of place-making by means
<br>of technology. Spurred by the spatial turn in the humanities and social
<br>sciences, and the appearance of new location-aware technologies, the nexus
<br>between geography and media came into focus of media and communication
<br>studies. While the majority of work within the field of geography and media
<br>focus on contemporary developments, this volume wants to address the nexus of
<br>geography and media from a historical perspective. Such a perspective serves
<br>to counterbalance dominant discourses - produced not least by ICT companies
<br>and policy makers but also by academics - about the "revolutionary" traits of
<br>new location-aware media.
<br>The objects of study are geomedia (e.g. Thielmann, 2010; Lapenta, 2011;
<br>McQuire, 2016; Abend, 2017; Fast et al, 2018). The term is used for a wide
<br>variety of phenomena in many contexts. In geography and adjacent fields, for
<br>example, geomedia refers dominantly to visual media used to communicate
<br>geographic knowledge about the earth like (digital) maps and globes. Within
<br>media and communication studies a wider definition has been developed. Here,
<br>geomedia qualifies as an umbrella term used for assemblages of technologies,
<br>processes, operations and practices that socio-technologically reorganize our
<br>encounter with space and place (Dring/Thielmann, 2009). This includes
<br>localizing technologies, augmented-reality applications and data practices.
<br>In addition, geomedia can be used as a concept for describing the state which
<br>media is currently entering. Seen this way, geomedia is not referring to a
<br>bundle of specific types of media, but rather serves as a label for the
<br>particular condition(s) brought about by location-aware and location-based
<br>technologies in interplay with wider social, economic, cultural or political
<br>trends. Certain trajectories such as convergence, ubiquity,
<br>location-awareness, and real-time feedback can be followed, with geomedia
<br>sitting at the intersection of these developments (McQuire, 2016). Therefore,
<br>the volume is interested in investigations into the starting points of these
<br>trajectories.
<br>With this in mind, geomedia can be understood in the double sense of media
<br>that is situated - its use being bound to a specific place - and media that
<br>situates - producing and altering space and place. In order to account for
<br>this productive dimension of geomedia, one has to move away from the
<br>representational qualities of media and attend to its placemaking powers.
<br>Space gets continually socio-technically re-organized through processes of
<br>mediatization. But this re-organization is not only the work of circulating
<br>representations of space - e.g. in the sense of a power of maps. It is also,
<br>and perhaps to an even greater extent, the result of our concrete interactions
<br>with technology. Technology is not only a tool to discover and understand the
<br>world, but also a productive force that is granted a certain agency in the
<br>production of space and the making of place. Methodologically, this can be
<br>translated into a call to de-center the media by looking at the practices and
<br>operations surrounding geomedia technologies rather than concentrate on
<br>representations, since representations are not the start but an intermediate
<br>outcome of these processes. This poses additional challenges for historical
<br>research.
<br>
<br>The volume welcomes research that engages in questions pertaining to geomedia
<br>histories, such as, for example:
<br>-	What is the historical backdrop of today's place-aware geomedia
<br>technologies?
<br>-	What are the historical equivalents to contemporary geomedia affordances?
<br>-	Where can we look for the starting points of various socio-technological
<br>trajectories that are constitutive of today's geomedia condition (e.g.
<br>convergence, ubiquity, location-awareness, real-time feedback, etc.)?
<br>-	How can we trace past geomedia uses and practices?
<br>-	Who were the "early adopters" of geomedia?
<br>-	How can we account for past changes in power structures introduced or
<br>sustained by geomedia?
<br>-	Who were the early geomedia producers, advocates or stakeholders? (e.g.
<br>foundational industries, authorities, organizations, etc.).
<br>
<br>If you have any other perspectives on geomedia histories, share them with us
<br>in your paper proposal.
<br>
<br>References
<br>Abend, P. (2017). From map reading to geobrowsing: Methodological
<br>reconsiderations for geomedia. In Felgenhauer, T. & Gbler, K. (Eds.).
<br>Geographies of Digital Culture. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
<br>Dring, J., Thielmann, T. (Eds.) (2009). Mediengeographie: Theorie - Analyse -
<br>Diskussion. Bielefeld: transcript.
<br>Fast, K., Jansson, A., Lindell, J., Bengtsson, L.R. & Tesfahuney, M. (Eds.)
<br>(2018). Geomedia Studies: Spaces and Mobilities in Mediatized Worlds. London:
<br>Routledge.
<br>Lapenta, F. (2011). Geomedia: on location-based media, the changing status of
<br>collective image production and the emergence of social navigation systems.
<br>Visual Studies, 26(1), 14-24.
<br>McQuire, S. (2016). Geomedia: Networked Cities and the Future of Public Space.
<br>Cambridge, UK: Polity.
<br>Thielmann, T. (2010). Locative media and mediated localities. Aether: The
<br>Journal of Media Geography, 5(1), 1-17.
<br>Research Areas
<br>
<br>We welcome contributions by scholars of Science and Technology Studies, Media
<br>and Communication Studies, History of Computing, Media History, Communication
<br>Geography, Media Geography, Geomedia Studies, or from adjacent fields of
<br>research.
<br>
<br>Deadlines and contact information
<br>Please send your abstract (maximum 250 words) and a short biographical note
<br>(maximum 50 words) to karin.fast@kau.se and pablo.abend@uni-siegen.de until
<br>November 1st, 2020. Based on the abstracts, the editors will pre-select
<br>authors that will be invited to submit a full paper. The first drafts of the
<br>full manuscripts are due on May 31st, 2021. All full papers will be
<br>double-blind peer reviewed, which means that we cannot guarantee that your
<br>paper gets accepted even if your abstract is.
<br>
<br>Contact (corresponding editor)
<br>Karin Fast (PhD)
<br>Associate Professor in Media and Communication Studies
<br>Department of Geography, Media and Communication
<br>Karlstad University
<br>Sweden
<br>Karin.fast@kau.se
<br>
<br>---
<br>Dr. Pablo Abend
<br>Scientific Coordinator
<br>Graduate School "Locating Media"
<br>University of Siegen
<br>room AE-B 201
<br>+49 (0)271 740 2080
<br>
<br>http://www.locatingmedia.uni-siegen.de/
<br>https://www.facebook.com/locatingmedia
<br>https://twitter.com/locatingmedia
<br>
<br>Co-Editor Journal Digital Culture & Society
<br>http://digicults.org/
<br>
<br>[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pdf which had a name of Cfp Geomedia Histories FINAL.pdf]
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