Call for Contributions: Music and Online Cultures Research Network Winter Workshop, Bristol

Music and Online Cultures Research Network Winter Workshop
4–5 January 2024, Victoria Rooms, University of Bristol, UK

Deadline: 09.11.2023

The Winter Workshop is a practical and collaborative research development event. The goal is to bring together researchers aiming to generate innovative research on music and online cultures. The event will feature structured periods of collaborative work supplemented by instructional ‘how-to’ sessions, plus opportunities for networking.

Attendees will be mostly postgraduate, postdoctoral, and early career researchers. Groups of 4 or 5 researchers will work on each project. Note that the event is not for completing existing research (e.g. individual doctoral theses) but instead facilitates the development of new collaborative projects. MOCReN will provide support to help projects develop towards publication.

There are five project areas:
-Streaming: transformations of musical mediation, consumption, and production associated with audio and video streaming platforms
- Fandom and communities: online collectivities and socialities formed around musical practices, values, and internet aesthetics
- Transmedia: music and online media in combination with video games, television, film, livestreaming and more
- Creativity and AI: online musical expressions, composition, songwriting, performance, and ‘content creation’ more generally, including cultural approaches to machine learning and generative artificial intelligence
- Platforms: musical intersections with internet technologies, power and control, commercialism, and agency

Please select one of these areas and write a short statement (max 200 words) to indicate your interest in exploring this area. Briefly include methods and case studies you may wish to use, as well as your motivations for participating in collaborative research.

Submit your application using this Google Form by 9 November.

Applicants will be selected by the MOCReN steering committee based on the significance of their indicative interests, relevance of their methods and case studies, and collaborative fit with other applicants. We are especially looking for novel and well-informed research ideas concerning music, the internet, and online cultures. Successful applicants will be notified by the end of November 2023.

Lunch and refreshments will be provided both days.

There will be a half-day ‘warm-up’ event held as an online call on 15 December 2023 to meet your colleagues and do some initial preparation. Attendance at the online warm-up and both days of the in-person workshop (4–5 January 2024 in Bristol) is required, so please ensure you are free and able to attend these dates before applying.

We look forward to hearing from you!

MOCReN Steering Committee

Joana Freitas, NOVA University of Lisbon

Steven Gamble, University of Bristol

Maria Perevedentseva, University of Salford

Ed Katrak Spencer, University of Manchester

Jenessa Williams, University of Leeds