<nettime-ann> CFP: Electronic Journal of Communication (EJC) Special Issue: Communicative Ecologies

[matthew fuller <fuller@xs4all.nl>]

.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Electronic Journal of Communication (EJC)
Special Issue: Communicative Ecologies

http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/calls/hearnfoth.htm

We invite the submission of conceptual or empirical (quantitative or 
qualitative) work on the theme of communicative ecologies in any 
place-based setting. The special issue is scheduled for publication 
in mid 2007. Deadline for completed manuscripts: 31 Oct 2006. 
Submissions should be electronic (.doc or .rtf format only, please 
avoid .pdf and .html). Inquiries about possible topics are welcome. 
Submissions and inquiries should be directed to the guest editors: 
see below.

The concept of ecology has a lot to offer communication research. We 
can define a communicative ecology as a milieu of agents who are 
connected in various ways by various exchanges (Tacchi, Slater, & 
Hearn, 2003). Broadly, it refers to the context in which the 
communication process occurs. Such an ecology can thus be thought of 
as comprising a number of mediated and unmediated forms of 
communication. In this context, use of the term is closely aligned to 
research in the field of media ecology, and is thus informed by the 
early work of Christine Nystrom (1973) and, more recently, David 
Altheide's "The Ecology of Communication" (1995). Our particular 
interest in the concept stems from our study of people in particular 
places with access to many different media. For example, we have 
studied communication patterns in inner-city apartment buildings and 
communities in rural areas. Thus we conceive of a communicative 
ecology as having three layers. A technological layer which consists 
of the devices and connecting media that enable communication and 
interaction. A social layer which consists of people and social modes 
of organising those people - which might include, for example, 
everything from friendship groups to more formal community 
organizations, as well as companies or legal entities. And finally, a 
discursive layer which is the content of communication - that is, the 
ideas or themes that constitute the known social universe that the 
ecology operates in.

Using an ecological metaphor opens up a number of interesting 
possibilities for analyzing place-based communication (e.g., in 
neighbourhoods, apartment buildings, or - on a larger scale - suburbs 
and cities). It can help us to better understand the ways social 
activities are organized, the ways people define and experience their 
environments, and the implications for social order and organization 
(Altheide, 1995, p. 9). For example, in analyzing an apartment 
complex, an ecological metaphor might suggest first examining the 
features of the population in the apartment and mapping the patterns 
of engagement within that population. In addition we could ask how 
people relate to different places within the apartment, and how this 
interaction is mediated by the use of technology. Do different groups 
form around a coffee shop? Do email or cell phone connections define 
other ecologies? Then we might also be able to study transactions 
between different ecologies. The ecological metaphor focuses on whole 
of system interactions. It also enables us to define boundaries of 
any given ecology, and to examine how the coherence of that boundary 
and the stability of each ecology is maintained. What topics of 
conversation define insiders and outsiders in the ecology? Finally, 
it also opens up the question of the social sustainability of a 
communicative ecology. Similar sorts of questions could of course be 
asked of any human communication phenomena in any place-based context.

Guest Editors:

Professor Greg Hearn
g.hearn@qut.edu.au

Dr Marcus Foth
m.foth@qut.edu.au
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