CfP: Small Media Symposium 2011, London

The Small Media Initiative invites submission of abstracts for its 2011 Small Media Symposium to be held at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London on 8-9 April 2011. Abstracts due: 10 March 2011.

Wired recently published an article entitled From Samizdat to Twitter: How Technology is Making Censorship Irrelevant. Is it? Indeed, for many, samizdat is a relic from the distant analog past. A quick glance at the news seems to suggest that we are living in the digital age of Twitter revolutions.

The role played by social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube in contentious politics continues to be passionately debated by academics, activists, politicians and pundits. While there are plenty of examples of creative new politics, the recent protests remind us that governments can simply shut communication down. The question then becomes where do we go after moving from samizdat to Twitter?

The February events in Egypt suggest that alternatives can be as low-tech as the paper leaflets with practical and tactical advice for demonstrators that have been circulating in Cairo or as high-tech as the speak-to-tweet application that lets individuals dial a phone number and leave (or listen to) a message translated to text on a Twitter page.

This wide range of communicative and political practices will be the focus of the Small Media Symposium that will take place at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London on 8-9 April 2011. See the full call here.