Media Technology Conferences

RIPE@2008 Conference
October 8 – 11, 2008 in Germany

CALL FOR PAPER PROPOSALS

Public Service Media for Communication and Partnership

We are pleased to announce the fourth bi-annual RIPE conference, this
time hosted by ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen), Germany's national
public service television broadcasting company, and two universities:
The Medienintelligenz programme together with IAK
Medienwissenschaften at the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz
and with the Institute of Media Design at the Mainz University of
Applied Sciences. Our theme will focus on what is involved and at
stake in the transition from public service broadcasting to public
service media. What is required to secure relations with the public
as a partner? What are the strategic implications of managing a
portfolio of platforms? What are the significant long-term trends
affecting media in general and public service media in particular?
What is involved in the transformation from emphasizing content
transmission to emphasizing human communication?

Conference organisers request abstracts in six topical categories.
Comparative research will be prioritized for selection. The
organizers are especially keen for research that suggests
generalizable insights and has implications for media management.

1. Participation Dynamics
• How can people be engaged with public service media at two levels:
by managers for decision making and by makers for content
development? Indeed, what happens to the notion of 'the maker'?
• How do structures at various levels invite people to participate
or discourage their participation? For example, in the structures of
story telling and the structures of decision-making?
• Why does PSM have such problems in serving young people? How
concerned should PSM be about this?
• In what ways are PSM companies successful in facilitating public
participation in processes and practices related to democracy,
culture, learning, etc?

2. Patterns of Media Use
• How do people use media today? What are the predictors? What are
the characteristic patterns? Do use patterns vary significantly
across cultures or nations?
• What has not changed in patterns of media use over the past twenty
years?
• What are the most important effects of media use? For example, the
impact on health, social perceptions, cultural relations, etc? What
are the most important consequences of participation in online media,
especially unanticipated effects?

3. Identifying the Drivers and Meta-Trends
• Beyond the rise and fall of new media fads, what really matters?
What are the consistent factors and underlying dynamics?
• What meta-trends are especially important for understanding the
changes underway in society that have real implications for media?
What are the drivers? What should PSM be focused on for strategic and
theoretical development?
• What ought to have the strongest impact in the development of PSM
strategies?

4. Changing Aesthetics and Expectations
• How do the aesthetics of non-linear media affect the aesthetics in
all media?
• What is the experience of media today as described by ordinary
people? What do they like and want more of, and what do they find
irritating and want to change?
• What are the normative implications of interactivity and are they
valid in social practice? What is interactivity and to whom does this
actually matter?
• What is the role of social networking and collective intelligence
in relation to the needs of media audiences in general?
• What do people want from PSM? What are typical expectations, and
why?

5. Branding PSM
• What is the 'public service brand' and how can PSM keep that
in the public eye?
• What makes people want to stick with the public service brand?
• What are PSM's unique selling propositions?
• How does the PSM brand matter outside the traditional channel
structures and institutional context?
• What are recommended improvements in content management strategy
for handling the multiplicity of platforms, genres and types of content?
• How does this differ among marginal and new audiences for PSM, for
example youth, immigrants and minority language communities?

6. Refining the PSM Ethos
• What are the core ingredients of the public service ethos? What
are the criteria for legitimacy in public service media and how is
this different compared with its PSB heritage?
• What is social responsibility today? What is the role of the
public domain in an online environment? What does enlightenment mean
today? What is cohesion and pluralism? Where and how should
universalism work?
• Is the PSB ethos out of date, as some contend? If so, what is out
of date and why? What does the public no longer want?
• In what ways and to what extent is the PSM ethos suffering with
marketization and competition? What is in danger of being lost and
how could that be preserved?
• How do definitions and perceptions of 'public service' vary?
Are there common denominators? What are the strategic implications?
What are the policy implications?
• How is journalism being redefined, and why? What must be preserved
from the PSB heritage? How should PSM journalism be further developed?

PROPOSAL CRITERIA

⎫ Provide the working title of the paper
⎫ Include your name, organisational affiliation with location, and
your e-mail address
⎫ Specify the categories that would suit your contribution best
(from the above 6)
⎫ The maximum abstract length is 400 words
⎫ Format the document in Rich Font Text (.rtf format – not .doc
format)
⎫ Abstract submissions are due on or before March 31, 2008

Please send your abstract proposal as an e-mail attachment to both of
the following:

Susanne.Marschall@medienintelligenz.de Susanne Marschall
glowe@netsonic.fi Gregory F. Lowe

About 60 papers will be accepted for presentation at the conference.
All abstract submissions for the conference will be peer reviewed as
the basis for acceptance. The conference language is English.
Notification of proposal acceptance will be sent on or before April
14, 2008.

The conference registration fee will be €275 for authors. The fee
includes two nights of hotel accommodations in Mainz, as well as
meals, amenities and all conference materials. If the paper is co-
authored, then the two nights of hotel accommodation are paid for one
author. For those attending the conference but not presenting a
paper, the registration fee is €350 plus all accommodation costs.
Space is limited. The RIPE conference does not have funds to
supplement personal travel costs except for invited keynote
speakers. A conference web site that will launch as the registration
period begins in spring 2008.

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Associate professor
Per Jauert
Department of Information and Media Studies
University of Aarhus, Denmark
Helsingforsgade 14
DK-8200 Aarhus N.
Office Phone: +45 8942 9224
Office Fax: +45 8942 5950
e-mail: pjauert@imv.au.dk
www.imv.au.dk
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