Call for Papers: Convergence: Special Issue on Youtube

Call for Papers: Convergence: Special Issue on Youtube

Vol. 24, no. 1 (February 2018)

Guest Editors: Jane Arthurs (Middlesex University), Sophia Drakopoulou (Middlesex University), Alessandro Gandini (Kings College, London)

Link: http://www.crmcs.sunderland.ac.uk/journals/convergence/cfp-feb-2018/ 

 

This special issue aims to review the development and influence of YouTube to establish not only how it has changed in the last ten years or so, but also its wider influence. It specifically aims to encourage cross-fertilisation of knowledge about YouTube and its users across different disciplines, and to identify the research questions and methods that best capture its ever-expanding reach, impact and significance.

The editors welcome contributions that explore these questions (although not limited to these):

• How has the institutionalisation of YouTube changed its nature?
• Has YouTube accelerated processes of media convergence and transformation?
• What is the changing relationship of television to YouTube?
• How have production techniques and practices developed as the platform matured?
• What communities of practice have influenced the development of YouTube norms?
• How has the development of new aesthetic forms been enabled by YouTube?
• What innovations in performance and modes of address can be detected on YouTube?
• To what degree do YouTube’s affordances operate as a social medium?
• What new forms of celebrity and fandom have emergecd on YouTube and why?
• What wider social, cultural and political changes can be attributed to YouTube’s influence?
• Why do we need to regulate the corporate power of YouTube’s owners Google?
• Is YouTube a positive space for self realisation and expression of marginalised identities?
• How do concerns over data harvesting and privacy apply to YouTube?
• How have conflicts over rights affected the monetization of YouTube activities?
• What potential does YouTube have as a repository of curated archives?
• What generic innovations has YouTube enabled and which genres have thrived on the platforms and why?
• How significant is the development of specific apps for Music, Kids and Gaming?
• What new coprorate partnerships and rivalries are developing as YouTube matures?
• How is this changing the online video industry?
• What research methods are used to study YouTube? What are their strengths and weaknesses?

Articles whould be in the range of 6000–8000 words (including all references). Please submit manuscripts by 31 January 2017 via https://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/convergence

Please direct any queries to Professor Jane Arthurs. Further information about the submission process and guidelines are available at https://uk.sagepub.com/en-gb/eur/journal/convergence#submission-guidelines

This special issue follows from the YouTube conference at Middlesex University on 23–24 September 2016.