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Communication and Digital Culture

Mark Nunes, Chair

The Communication and Digital Culture (CDC) Area of the Popular Culture Association/American Culture Association (PCA/ACA) focuses on the impact of the internet, new media, and other modes of digital communication on contemporary culture. Each year, the CDC Area presents a themed call for papers for the annual PCA/ACA National Conference. The 2009 PCA/ACA National Conference will be held April 8-11, 2009 in New Orleans, LA.

2009 PCA/ACA-CDC Call for Papers

Free…as in Labor

Corporations are increasingly counting upon the activity of a “participatory consumer” to provide the content for sites that directly or indirectly generate revenue. Twenty five years ago, GNU operating system activist Richard Stallman famously distinguished the “free” in free software as “free as in free speech, not as in free beer.” What kind of “free” is the labor of a participatory culture? How does the appropriation of this work by major corporations complicate our understanding of “free labor?”

Possible topics include:

Wikipedia and the Academy
"Immaterial" Labor
Gift Economies Online
Convergence & Consumer/Producers
Free/Libre Open Source Software
DIY Media
Intellectual Property
Marx & the Digital Economy
Warez Subcultures
Fan Culture Appropriation

Submit a 250 word maximum proposal to:

Mark Nunes, Chair
Department of English, Technical Communication, and Media Arts
Southern Polytechnic State University
Marietta, GA  30060-2896
mnunes(at)spsu.edu

Deadline for Submissions: November 30, 2008


Note: Communication and Digital Culture is a themed area. Submissions off-theme should be submitted to:
 Internet Culture Area Chair, Montana Miller, montanm(at)bgnet.bgsu.edu
Game Studies Area Co-Chairs, digitalgames.pcaaca(at)gmail.com