BACKGROUND

The conference objective is to address questions related to digital communication and its significance in the public domain, as they are both being shaped by states and politics, technologies, business activity, publishing initiatives and communities of citizens who utilize the Internet and mobile means of communication. It will explore the relationships among new media and modes of information, the conflict and convergence with traditional forms of information and the socio-economic consequences of these processes.

The Conference is organised by the Department of Communication, Media and Culture of Panteion University with the support of Megaron Plus.

CONFERENCE THEMES

1. Economic strategies and new media: local and global, free of charge or at a cost.

The economic and corporate rationales that govern information today. The relationship between national/peripheral rationales and the globalization of information. Issues of copyright, free and at a cost news reporting.

2. Innovative technologies: screen and paper.

What are the current and expected technological changes and how do they influence the formation of the information product, in its distribution and its reception by the public? How do traditional and new technologies co-exist and merge?

3. New media, new content? The direct and indirect, the periodic and continuous, the original and copy.

How is the content of information formed in the new technological, economic and social context? What are the developments in the subject matter of media, in the procedures of reporting and feature story writing, the changes in the field of journalism and in the newsrooms?

4. New media, new audiences? Influence and interaction.

Can it be considered that interactive communication is becoming a reality? Are new media communities being formed?

5. New media, new journalists? Word and picture, analysis and recording, professionals and amateurs.

What are the developments in the journalistic profession? What are the new skills required and how do these relate to traditional work assignments and existing hierarchies? How are industrial relations influenced by the business and technological changes? What is the position of citizens in the production of information and generally in the formation of the public sphere with the use of new media?

6. Institutional and political aspects.

The consequences of the development of digital technology for regulation and the political system.