MEA 2020 Convention Submission Deadline Extended to January 10, 2020

The Twenty-First Annual Convention of the Media Ecology Association Communication Choices and Challenges
June 18-21, 2020 Adelphi University, Garden City, New York
Media Ecology is a discipline whose history, perspectives, and scholarly interests incorporate a broad array of academic and professional disciplines focusing on “the study of complex communication systems asenvironments» (Christine Nystrom, 1973). Every year, the MEA convention provides a unique opportunity for academics and professionals to come together in a relaxed and collegial environment that encourages conversation and creativity.
The theme of the 2020 convention is “Communication Choices and Challenges.” In every act of communication, people make choices. We choose where, when, and how to express ourselves or locate and use information. We choose the medium that seems best suited to the task: are we trying to reach the largest possible audience, get the word out quickly, or ensure that our message reaches future generations? Do we wish to convey a deep sense of intimacy, empathy, authority, or cool distance? Are we looking for information from a wide variety of perspectives, confirmation of what we already believe, or the deepest possible exploration of an issue?
Featured speakers at the 2020 convention include Jay Rosen, press critic and author of PressThink.org, What Are Journalists For?, and countless articles and essays on American journalism; and Maryanne Wolf,international advocate for children and literacy and author of Reader, Come Home: The Reading Brain in a Digital World, Tales of Literacy for the 21stCentury, and Dyslexia, Fluency, and the Brain.
We invite all papers, thematic panels, roundtable discussion panels, creative projects, performance sessions, and other proposals of interest to media ecologists. We also encourage submissions that explore the convention theme. For example, we are interested in submissions that address choices and challenges related to
- the construction of identity and the presentation of self on social media
- the use of media to establish and/or maintain relationships (among individuals, in families, between political leaders and their constituents, in between celebrities and fans, etc.)
- representation and storytelling by producers of news and entertainment
- promotional and strategic communication—the choices involved in designing strategic messaging, as well as the impact on audience attitudes, decisions, and behaviors
- the erosion or illusion of choice due to the concentration of media ownership
- the 2020 U.S. presidential election, which will take place just months after the convention
Guidelines for Submission
Please submit paper and panel proposals, in English, by January 10, 2020 to MEA2020Convention@gmail.com.
A maximum of two submissions per author will be accepted. Authors who wish their papers to be considered for the Top Paper or Top Student Paper award must indicate this on their submission(s).
Submission Guidelines for paper and panel proposals:
1. Include title(s), abstract(s) (maximum 250 words), and contact information for each participant.
2. Outline, as relevant, how your paper or panel will fit with the convention theme.
3. Authors with papers submitted as part of a panel proposal or as a paper proposal that wish to be considered for Top Paper or Top Student Paper must send the completed paper to the convention planner by May 15, 2020.
Submission guidelines for manuscripts eligible for MEA award submissions:
1. Manuscripts should be 4,000-6,000 words (approximately 15 to 25 double-spaced pages)
2. Include a cover page with your institutional affiliation and other contact information.
3. Include an abstract (maximum 150 words).
Please direct questions to:
Peggy Cassidy, MEA2020Convention@gmail.com.
For more on the Media Ecology Association, visit www.media-ecology.org
Here is the list of MEA Panels and Presentations at NCA this Month
November 14
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Social Media Affordances and Fragmented Discourse: A Genealogical Approach
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 350
Chair: Kate L. Drazner Hoyt, Pacific Lutheran University
Co-Chair: Elizabeth Brunner, Idaho State University
Respondent: George F. McHendry, Creighton University
Presentations:
Hashtags, Binarisms, and the Flattening of Discourse in a Post-Parkland Ecology
Author: Samantha Chaffin, Idaho State University
Networked Insularity: Using WeChat to Foster Activist Enclaves
Author: Elizabeth Brunner, Idaho State University
The Digital Hydrosphere: On Twitter’s Billowing, Prodigious Flood
Author: Eric S. Jenkins, University of Cincinnati
The Fragmented Architecture of Instagram: Scrolling, Swiping, and the Intimate Reaches of Neoliberal Logic
Author: Kate L. Drazner Hoyt, Pacific Lutheran University
5:00 PM – 6:15 PM
Gender and Media Ecology
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 350
Chair: Julia M. Hildebrand, Eckerd College
Co-Chair: Julia C. Richmond, Rowan University
Respondent(s):Julia C. Richmond, Rowan University
Julia M. Hildebrand, Eckerd College
Presentations:
«What would Virginia Woolf do?» Managing Women’s Midlife Demands via Facebook Support Group
Author: Alane L. Presswood, Hollins University
From the Boardroom to the Bedroom: We are F*cking Machines
Author: Bernadette Ann Bowen, Bowling Green State University
Men in the Menstrual Media Ecology
Author: David Linton, Marymount Manhattan College
Social Media Ecology and Digital Women’s Work
Author: Angela M. Cirucci, Kutztown University
The Extensions of Man, the Exclusion of Women
Author: Carolin Aronis, University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University
November 15
8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Hilton, Room Douglass (Third Floor)
Chair: Robert C. MacDougall, Curry College
Presentations:
Hey Google: A thematic analysis of Twitter users’ comments on the privacy of AI devices in the home
Author: Heather Riddell, University of West Florida
Co-Author:
Christopher Fenner, University of West Florida
Beyond People: Communication is Transhuman
Author: David K. Westerman, North Dakota State University
Co-Author(s):
Autumn P. Edwards, Western Michigan University
Patric R. Spence, University of Central Florida
Chad Edwards, Western Michigan University
The Relevance of R. D. Laing to the AI Movement: Projection and the Feeling of Being Understood
Author: Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University
Whose Perspective? The Productive Censorship of A.I.-Assisted Comment Moderation
Author: Andrew Wirzburger, University of Pennsylvania
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Top Student Papers in Media Ecology
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 335
Chair: Michael Plugh, Manhattan College
Lance A. Strate, Fordham University
Presentations:
The Racist’s Library: An Analysis of ‘Cultural Marxism’, the Hyperlink, and Sovereignty
Author: Rishi Chebrolu, University of Pittsburgh
Literacy and Internet Pornography: Media Ecology Meets Psychology
Author: Lane Grafton, Duquesne University
The Great Symbol Drain of Christianity: Neil Postman and the Postmodern Church
Author: Kati E. Sudnick, Duquesne University
The Kind of Problem a Smart City Is
Author: Austin David Hestdalen, Duquesne University
Communication as Travel: The Genre of Letters to the Dead in Public Media
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Presented During: Top Papers in Philosophy of Communication
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 329
Author: Carolin Aronis, University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University
Dancing with My Drone: Affective Entanglements and Mobile Companionship
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
Presented During: Top Student Paper Session for the Communication and the Future Division
Author: Julia M. Hildebrand, Eckerd College
12:30 PM – 1:45 PM
NCA Scholars’ Office Hours
Baltimore Convention Center, Ballroom
Lance A. Strate, Fordham University, will be holding an office hour
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Baltimore Convention Center, Ballroom
Chair: Elisabeth Bigsby, University of Illinois
Co-Chair: Thomas K. Nakayama, Northeastern University
Respondent(s):
David E. Weber, University of North Carolina, Wilmington
Peter G. Lindmark, North Dakota State University
Kyle Heuett, Ball State University
Joseph Sery, Christopher Newport University
Michael Plugh, Manhattan College
Lindsey A. Harvell-Bowman, James Madison University
Tim Steffensmeier, Kansas State University
Emily Winderman, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
Richard Huskey, University of California, Davis
Joy M. Woods, University of Texas at Austin
Presentations:
A Media Ecological Approach to the History of Music Notation: The Neume, Staff and Mensural Rhythm
Author: Barry D. Liss, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Media Ecology Perspectives on Jewish Culture and Memory
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 350
Chair: Carolin Aronis, University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University
Respondent:
Lance A. Strate, Fordham University
Presentations:
First Nations of the Book: Understanding Judaism
Author: Lance A. Strate, Fordham University
Holocaust Memorials as Urban Medium
Author: Gary Gumpert, Urban Communication Foundation
Co-Author: Susan Drucker, Hofstra University
The Jewish Tradition of Rocks, Stones, and Bricks in Plastic Times
Author: Carolin Aronis, University of Colorado Boulder, and Colorado State University
November 16
8:00 AM – 9:15 AM
Surviving and Thriving in the Mainstream of the Maelstrom
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 350
Chair: Valerie V. Peterson, Grand Valley State University
Co-Chair: Teresita (Tere) Garza, St. Edwards University
Presenter(s):
Janine Khammash, St. Edward’s University
Jennifer Jean Reinwald, University of Pittsburgh
Ambrose N. Curtis, University of Pittsburgh
Austin David Hestdalen, Duquesne University
Respondent(s)
Brenton J. Malin, University of Pittsburgh
Teresita (Tere) Garza, St. Edwards University
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Surviving (and Thriving) in Today’s Digital Environment: Looking Back and Looking Ahead
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 350
Chair: Michael Plugh, Manhattan College
Presenter(s):
Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University
Susan Drucker, Hofstra University
Thomas F. Gencarelli, Manhattan College
Stephanie Gibson, University of Baltimore
Paul Grosswiler, University of Maine
Susan A. Jasko, California University of Pennsylvania
Paul Soukup S.J., Santa Clara University
Lance A. Strate, Fordham University
Valerie V. Peterson, Grand Valley State University
11:00 AM – 12:15 PM
Inter-Media: on Interfaces, Intermodal Communication and Interality
Baltimore Convention Center, Room 350
Chair: Robert C. MacDougall, Curry College
Presenter(s):
Eric S. Jenkins, University of Cincinnati
Peter Zhang, Grand Valley State University
Ronan Hallowell, University of Southern California
Robert C. MacDougall, Curry College
Respondent
Padrick Ritch, Curry College
Call for Submissions for EME
Submissions for Explorations in Media Ecology Vol. 19
All articles submitted should be original work and must not be under consideration by other publications.
Explorations in Media Ecology, the journal of the Media Ecology Association, accepts submissions that extend our understanding of media (defined in the broadest possible terms), that apply media ecological approaches, and/or that advance media ecology as a field of inquiry.
As an interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary publication, EME welcomes contributions embracing diverse theoretical, philosophical, and methodological approaches to the study of media and processes of mediation through language, symbols, codes, meaning, and processes of signification, abstracting, and perception; art, music, literature, aesthetics, and poetics; form, pattern, and method; materials, energy, information, technology, and technique; mind, thought, emotion, consciousness, identity, and behavior; groups, organizations, affiliations, communities; politics, economics, religion, science, education, business, and the professions; societies and cultures; history and the future; contexts, situations, systems, and environments; evolution, and ecology; the human person, human affairs, and the human condition; etc.
EME publishes peer-reviewed scholarly articles, essays, research reports, commentaries, and critical examinations, and includes several special features. Our Pedagogy Section focuses on teaching strategies and resources, pedagogical concerns, and issues relating to media ecology education; we are particularly interested in articles that share great ideas for teaching (GIFTs) media ecology in the classroom. The Probes Section features short items that are exploratory or provocative in nature. Creative writing on media ecological themes can be found in our Poetry Section. Questions and matters of concern to media ecology scholars are taken up in our Forum Section. And our Review Section includes individual book reviews and review essays.
EME is a refereed journal. Strict anonymity is accorded to both authors and referees. References and citations should follow the Harvard Referencing system, and the journal otherwise follows standard British English for spelling and punctuation.
Submissions can be uploaded online. Click here.
MEA and CATF Reception at NCA

To RSVP and learn more, click here.
Are you interested in being the MEA Facebook Moderator?
The MEA board is looking for someone who is responsible, consistent, and Facebook-literate to help moderate the MEA Facebook account. Consider this a great opportunity to contribute to the MEA and become involved. If you are a member of MEA and interested in this opportunity, please reach out to Carolin Aronis, the MEA Internet Officer.
NCA Presenters
If you are presenting at this month’s NCA convention (whether on the MEA panels or not), we would like to go to your presentations and recognize your work in a future newsletter. Please send your photos, abstracts, or blurbs to MEA internet officers Carolin or Matt.
If you talk about your presentation or the conference on social media, make sure to use the hashtags #MediaEcology or #NCA19.
MEA Member Spotlight