Since its inception, mediatization has been a contested term within media and communication research that includes different perspectives on the interrelation between technological and sociocultural change. While it can be argued that mediatization as a meta-process is an omnipresent part of human history, mediatization research is primarily a response to the progressing digitization and datafication of society and its consequences for human interaction and sense-making. The mediatization approach is characterized by different perspectives: constructivist, institutional, material and cultural as well as critical giving academics the possibility to discuss theoretically and methodologically socio-technological change. Where traditional communication research focused on media as independent entities, mediatization research contributed by highlighting interrelations and the interweaving of media and practices within different fields of human interaction.

We want to invite researchers to discuss the past and the future of mediatization research as a broad yet unifying approach. Hence, this call addresses both established mediatization theorists, senior researchers, and early-career academics, from different backgrounds utilizing the concept of mediatization. We hope for theoretical and empirical ideas of how mediatization is currently understood and how the concept inspires future research.

We suggest the following topics:

  • main objections to mediatization research, responses and defenses
  • research challenges related to contemporary technological processes (platformization, datafication, algorithmization, artificial intelligence)
  • necessary methodological, phenomenological and ethical transformations concerning the research field
  • possible and needed new directions of development of the research field
  • existing and potential threats related to the near future of mediatization research
  • desirable transformations of particular research areas and topics (stabilized and emerging)

Planned conference day schedule

To discuss these issues, we plan a one-day online pre-conference in the week leading up to the main conference in Aarhus. First, we would like to kick off the event by allowing researchers to present their recent work on mediatization, with particular attention to the status of the field, its challenges, problems, and possible directions for development, subsequently, we would like to open up the discussion, inviting senior scholars, including Göran Bolin, Nick Couldry, Kirsten Frandsen, Andreas Hepp, Stig Hjarvard, Knut Lundby, Friedrich Krotz, Carlos A. Scolari and other guests to provide responses, comments, and to discuss and explore the future of mediatization research.

Please complete this form to submit your abstract by 30.06.2022.

The conference is free of charge.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the organizing team:

– Katarzyna Kopecka-Piech, katarzyna.kopecka.piech@gmail.com
– Rita Figueiras, ritafigueiras@fch.lisboa.ucp.pt
– Jakob Hörtnagl, jakob.hoertnagl@phil.uni-augsburg.de
– Jeannine Teichert, jeannine.teichert@uni-paderborn.de
– Mateusz Sobiech, mateusz.sobiech@o2.pl