“重思数字迷思：数字时代的媒介化、叙事与神话”国际学术研讨会：瑞士卢加诺大学
2020年1月30-31日，由瑞士卢加诺大学（Università Svizzera Italiana）主办的主题为“重思数字迷思：数字时代的媒介化、叙事与神话”（Rethinking Digital Myths: Mediation, Narratives and Mythopoiesis in the Digital Age）的国际学术研讨会将在卢加诺举行。
会议的征文启事提出，“迷思”这一概念在欧洲媒介与文化研究中有着重要位置，特别是来源于罗兰·巴特（1957）的神话学论述——现代迷思是主导性的意识形态。最近的讨论来自加拿大传播政治经济学者文森特·莫斯可，他（2004）强调了数字技术神话如何将人们从日常生活的平庸中解放出来。然而，很少有分析会聚焦于数字神话与过去的神话有什么不同，谁造成了这种不同，以及这些神话如何渗透进了当代社会的方方面面。奥托洛娃（2009）的讨论提供了一种思路，即将数字技术视为新的神话形式的主体，也看作一种媒介，通过它，现代的迷思得以形成和散布。基于此，本次会议将从如下两个方面批判地分析“数字迷思”：第一，从乐观主义到悲观主义，重新梳理有关数字媒体的叙事；第二，观察是否有新的迷思正在当前的媒体环境中、由多样的数字传播所驱
相关的研究议题包括：
1. 数字未来的预测与愿景
2. 数字迷思的时代性
3. 数字迷思的空间与地理
4. 数字时代全球互联社会的迷思
5. 数字网络与民主：威胁与承诺
6. “数字革命”的迷思
7. 平台化与数字媒体平台
8. 数字媒体与道德恐慌
摘要提交截止日期：9月23日
*有关会议详情，请查询下附英文通告。
Rethinking Digital Myths: Mediation, Narratives and Mythopoiesis in the Digital Age
USI Università Svizzera Italiana
Lugano, Switzerland - January 30th-31st 2020
Call for papers
Organisers: Gabriele Balbi (USI, Switzerland), Luca Barra (University of Bologna, Italy), Paolo Bory (USI, Switzerland), Simone Dotto (University of Udine, Italy), Giuliana Galvagno (University of Turin, Italy), Simone Natale (Loughborough University, UK)
The term “myth” resonates widely in the foundations of European cultural and media studies, particularly in the intellectual legacy of French semiotician Roland Barthes, who described “modern mythologies” as the dominant ideologies of our time (Barthes 1957). More recently, Vincent Mosco emphasised how, in the last decades, the myth of the digital revolution still animates individuals and societies by providing new paths “that lift people out of the banality of everyday life” (Mosco 2004, 3). Little attention, however, has been given to the question of what makes myths of the digital age different to mythologies of the past, and also how and to which extent these myths permeate contemporary societies. This is an important gap if one considers that myths have characterised the most diverse cultures across thousands of years, from ancient Greece with its narratives of gods and metamorphosis, to contemporary Silicon Valley in which the myth of singularity envisions transcendence and immortality as the result of the development of digital technologies.
As recently suggested by Ortoleva (2019), one way to look at this question is to consider how digital technologies have become both the subject of new forms of myths and the medium through which contemporary mythologies are shaped and disseminated. The aim of this conference is to critically scrutinize the topic of “digital myths” from this twofold perspective: on the one hand, retracing the narratives by which digital media are and have been told, from the enthusiasms about the ‘digital revolution’ to the recent panics about the Dark Web, online surveillance and fake news; on the other, looking at how new forms of mythologies emerge, co-evolve and are fostered by and within the contemporary media landscape, informed by the peculiar dynamics of digital communication.
The conference invites empirical and theoretical contributions that critically assess “digital myths” from one or both these angles. Potential topics may include but are not limited to:
- Predictions and vision about digital futures
- The time and temporalities of digital myths
- The spaces and geographies of digital myths
- The myth of a globally connected society in the digital age
- Digital networks and democracy: threat and promises
- The myth of the “digital revolution”
- The role of digital media and social media in the construction of the social imaginary
- Urban legends and popular beliefs in the digital age.
- Community, participation, interactivity as myths of the “digital society”
- Platformization and the logic of digital media platforms
- Digital media and moral panic
- Media and myths from a media archaeology perspective
- “Low intensity myths” in the contemporary media system
- Media representations of digital technologies
- Myths on the analogue/digital transition
Submissions should include an abstract (approximately 500 words), a short biographical note of the author/authors (100 words for each speaker) and should be sent to rethinkingdigitalmyths@gmail.com by September 23, 2019.
Notifications of acceptance will be sent to authors by October 7, 2019.
A 200 Chf (approx. 200 USD - 180 euros) registration fee will be applied (lunches and coffee breaks included).
