Call for Essays and Interview Essays: "Audience Interactivity & Participation"

COST Action ISO906 "Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies"
Working Group 2: Audience Interactivity and Participation

Call for Essays and Interview Essays by/with policy makers and journalists on "Audience Interactivity & Participation"

The Working Group 2 of the COST action Transforming audiences, Transforming societies on Audience Interactivity and Participation is calling upon essays by policy makers and journalists and/or interview essays based on an interview with policy makers (politicians, political advisers, institutions’ officials) or journalists in relation to the theme of audience, interactivity and participation. These essays will be published on the COST official website:

http://www.cost-transforming-audiences.eu

What is COST and "Transforming Audiences, Transforming Societies"?
It is a network financed by the European Cooperation in Science and Technology (COST) framework. The objective of this network is to advance state-of-the-art of the key transformations of European audiences within a changing media landscape.

What is the Working Group 2: "Audience Interactivity and Participation"?
The group aims at looking at the possibilities and constraints of mediated public participation, the roles that new and old media institutions and professionals play in facilitating public participation and in building citizenship; the interlocking of mainstream media and nonmainstream media and their production of new hybrid organizational structures and audience participation. You can follow research of this group here:
http://www.cost-transforming-audiences.eu/node/303

What is the difference between essays and interview essays?
The self-authored essay is written on a specific topic by the author her- or himself. The interview essays are created on the basis of an interview conducted by the author of the paper. You can see an example with media companies representatives following this link:
http://www.cost-transforming-audiences.eu/node/558

What are the contributions dealing with (but not limited to)?
- Audience feedback and participation
- Cross-media and transmedia processes in relation with audiences
- The role of interactivity in communication strategies of media organizations
- Strategies with/of community networks and social media
- The changes in audience practices, in consumption and/or production

Submissions:
We welcome essays and interview essays of no more than 1500 words (references included).
Essays should be sent in .doc or .rtf format to the Working Group 2 Liaison Officers:
- For Policy Makers, LO Lucia Vesnic-Alujevic, lucy.vessal@gmail.com by November 25, 2012;
- For Journalists, LO Ana Milojevic, anamilojevic@gmail.com by November 25, 2012.

Deadlines:
November 25, 2012 - Submission of full academic essays or interview essays
December 2, 2012 - Notification of acceptance/suggestions
December 15, 2012 - Submission of final version
End of December 2012 - Publication of essays in COST website

Style Guide for Essays and interview Essays

I. GENERAL FORMATTING PRINCIPLES

In order for self-authored and interview essays to have a common outlook and design please write and submit your 3-page essays in Times New Roman style with font 12 and double line spacing. Submit the essay in .doc or .rtf format.

1. Identification

Make sure you add the following information at the beginning of the self-authored essay:
- Name of the author
- Institution
- Country
- Email Address
- Keywords

In case the author submits an interview essay make sure you add the following information at the beginning of the text:
- Name of the Author (Interviewer)
- Institution
- Country
- Email Address
&
- Name of the Interviewee
- Institution
- Country
- Date of the interview
- Keywords

This information can be typed in the upper left corner of the first page, above the title.

2. Title
Use a title that communicates the central idea of your essay. The title is to be centered atop the opening page of the essay, written in capitals in Times New Roman style with font 16. Titles are required for both self-authored and interview essays. Under the title please write in the brackets whether the essay is self-authored or an interview essay, using Times New Roman style with font 12 in italics.

3. Page numbering

Do not use a title page. The first page of text should be page 1. It may be numbered at the bottom centre, or in the upper right corner.

4. Margins and Alignment:

Top, bottom, and side margins are to be 2.4 centimeters, which is a default setting in most of word processing software, such as Word and Open Office. The text is to be left aligned.

II. ESSAY STRUCTURE

1. Opening

For self-authored essays, please indicate the subject of the essay and the focus of the essay in the opening paragraph. Make sure that the opening paragraph of the interview essay provides information about the interviewee to legitimate him/her as a relevant informer and interpreter of the theme and/or topic. This will allow readers to anticipate and understand the development of the essay. Also in the case of interview essays, please write a short introduction, introducing the topic and the interviewee.

2. Headings

You are welcome to use subheadings that indicate major sections of a paper. Please use Times New Roman style with font 14 and left-aligned.

3. Endings

In the final paragraph of self-authored essays, make sure to recall the most important concerns of the essay. At the end of these authored essays, confirm the points you have made, include the main claims, and/or suggest implications. In the case of interview essays, there is no need for a conclusion.

4. Quotations

If you quote somebody's work, please make sure to follow the exact wording, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling of the original. If you change anything within a quotation, even capitalization, place the changed part in square brackets to signal that it has been changed. Indent any long quotation (over forty words) instead of placing it in quotation marks. Indent the passage 2.4 centimeters from the left margin. When you indent a long passage, quotation marks become redundant.

5. Paragraphs

Please make sure to use one white space between paragraphs. There should also be one white space before and after long quotations. For interview essays please use separate paragraphs for questions and answers, and put the question paragraphs in bold. Make sure that it is clear who is speaking.

III. REFERENCES

You do not have to include a reference list, if you do not want to. If you do not include a reference list at the end, please make sure that the material that you refer to can be retraced. Simply mention in your text the author's name, the title of the publication and the year it appeared. If you quote somebody's work, please do add the page number as well. When you do use a reference list, list all publications that you have mentioned, used, paraphrased or quoted, at the end of your article. Use the heading "Reference list". Make sure that each reference identifies the author, title and publication details (year, place and publisher of publication). Also make sure that the format of each reference is the same, but you are free to select the reference format yourself.

In the actual text, mention the name of the author and the year of publication between brackets, like this (xxx, 2011). When you use a citation, please also add the page number(s) where the quote can be found, like this: (xxx, 2011: yy).