Producers and Audiences, International conference 2014

Welcome

We at the department of Communication and Media are happy to welcome you to this international conference on Producers and Audiences held in Lund, March 20th 2014. Registration is now open!

Media production and audience cultures are intricately connected. Producers create, produce, distribute and sell content, formats and brands for international audiences.  We engage and disengage with creative content, formats and brands, as publics, viewers, fans, consumers and participants. And media producers and audiences can switch roles, leading a double life as creators and consumers, producers and users. Yet despite these connections, production and audience studies traditionally remain separate spheres. Recent developments in the business of media highlight radical shifts in media production, distribution, economics and cultural experiences across a range of content from television, film, radio, print, digital and mobile media. How can production and audience research allow space for broader questions about media and our engagement with it? This conference explores challenges for production and audience research, theory and practice. The aim is to examine the complex interplay between production and viewing cultures in global, political, industrial, social, and cultural contexts. The conference follows three areas of enquiry in media, communication and cultural studies: relations between producers and audiences; theories, methods and practices; and creative content for contemporary mediascapes. Areas of research enquiry include:

1. Political, social, economic and cultural relations between producers and audiences
2. Production and audience theories, methods and practices
3. Empirical research in production and/or viewing cultures across television, film, radio, print, digital and mobile media
4. Fans and anti-fans
5. International formats for global audiences

The schedule includes a combination of keynote addresses, pre-constituted panels, and open panels. Confirmed speakers include Professor John Corner (Leeds University, UK), Professor Peter Dahlgren (Lund University, Sweden), Julie Donovan (International Formats Consultant), Professor Annette Hill (Lund University, Sweden) Professor Vicki Mayer (Tulane University, USA), Jane Roscoe (Head of International Content for SBS Australia), Professor Jeanette Steemers (University of Westminster, UK), Douglas Wood (Head of Research, Shine Group). Media and communication at Lund University focuses on the study of media, society and culture. Our research addresses media and communication structures and processes in modern life. We research television, film, print media, advertising, online media and mobile technologies, within the context of politics, society and culture. The department has international expertise in four areas:

• democracy, participation and social media
• gender, health and society
• audiences and popular culture
• children and digital media

Projects are funded by organisations such as The Swedish Research Council and the EU. We are part of networks and collaborative projects in the Nordic countries, Europe and worldwide. Researchers work with public service and commercial media, policy and production sectors, and NGOs. Courses are taught in Swedish and English on a range of research specialisms for undergraduate and postgraduate students. There is a lively research culture, with an established doctoral programme, visiting researchers, regular international seminar series, conferences
and events. Lund is a lovely medieval university town with a laidback yet lively atmosphere. The conference takes place in the heart of Lund close to cafes, shopping areas and green refuges. For more information on Lund please consult www.lund.se/turism The conference is funded by Riksbankens Jubileumsfond