Published contributions

we are glad to inform you about the publication of a special issue of the International Journal of Arts and Technology, which is dedicated to our conference. It contains 9 selected papers from those presented at Benasque. You have free access to them through:

Inderscience

We are also expecting the publication of the plenary speakers' contributions in a special issue of the Journal of Media Psychology and will let you know as soon as it will be available.

In order to view the invited communications, posters and presentations click here.

Presentation

This is the first edition on Communication issues of a series of congresses being organized under the auspices of the Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pedro Pascual (CCBPP). The Congress will offer the right atmosphere for prominent researchers, active students and innovative creators and practitioners to meet and work together to make progress in the scientific study of Communication. The programs of the session takes into account one of the most relevant issues in the scientific study of the field: the relationship between entertainment and emotions during consumption of media. To reach its objectives the Congress will take a pretty unique format specially conceived to promote new ways of thinking about the subject (see it below). The program will include the most prestigious and relevant scientific experts in the area, also.

About Entertainment=emotion. Specific objectives of the congress:

- To discuss the relationship between media entertainment and emotions to inspire new ways of understanding and approaching it.

- To dare to freely expound, without holding back and with confidence, on the origins of the relationship, its manifestations and its consequences for audiences. To pay special attention to the effects on culture.

-To determine to what extent, with what strategies and what aims, media entertainment today is based on the use and exploitation of emotions.

- To assume a commitment to, through progress in knowledge, fostering the creation of media messages for entertainment that dignify citizens and contribute to an improvement in modern-day societies.

- To call for more attention to be paid by the collective to the consequences of the consumption of entertainment on modern-day societies.

- To link European, Spanish and Iberian-American researchers to their peers in all regions of the world.

How do we expect to achieve these objectives?

Through ideas and the exchange of the same, we seek to build bridges between consolidated and emerging researchers in different countries to create an exchange network that can cater for the perspectives of analysis originating from different traditions.

We hope that the blend of ideas will be rich, fruitful and suggestive, leading to novel and creative research projects that can meet needs in relation to the present-day knowledge of entertainment.

We will be especially inviting students (and their new ideas and experiences), those that are just starting out in their careers in communications research. We will be offering these new generations the chance to interrelate in equal, close, intimate and flexible conditions with the most relevant researchers of emotion and entertainment.

We will also particularly invite professionals and creators to share their practical achievements (products or performances) with researchers in order to promote the comprehension of the phenomena from a living, intuitive, and experienced point of view. This kind of exchange not only will produce different ways of understanding the relationship between entertainment and emotion but suggest new research problems and topics.

Main issues of the congress (sessions in preparation)

We will be dedicating four days of sessions to the exploration of the following relationships:

Entertainment and emotion
Entertainment and morality
Entertainment and appreciation

We will also be looking the issues that arise from the discussions during the sessions and be proposing matters for debate and reflection by those attending.

Confirmed speakers and program

We are still working on the program but we can confirm the participation of these prominent scientists:

Anne Bartsch (Martin-Luther-University Halle, Germany)
Helena Bilandzic (University of Erfurt, Germany)
Gerald C. Cupchik (University of Toronto, Canada)
Tilo Hartmann (Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands)
Christopher Klimmt (Mainz University, Germany)
Mary Beth Oliver (Penn State University, USA)
Art Raney (Florida State University, USA)
María Teresa Soto (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain)
Ron Tamborini (Michigan State University, USA)
Peter Vorderer (Free University Amsterdam, The Netherlands)

Method and organization of the sessions (a very special kind of dynamics)

To meet the objectives of the congress we have designed a very special program that is far removed from the restrictive nature so common of such events, and will instead be held in privileged natural surroundings.

The Centro de Ciencias de Benasque Pere Pascual's facilities are located in Benasque, a small village in an enclave among the Spanish Pyrenees, and the congress will be held in an area bounded by high mountains, pure air, ski resorts and delightful landscapes. It is the ideally comforting and tranquil environment for thinking and debating creatively. For more information, see http://benasque.org

Apart from the last day (Friday), when we are expecting to hold a meeting to propose issues for joint research to be worked upon in networks, and the closing conference, the remainder of the program (Monday to Thursday) will be organized in the following way:

In the mornings

1) The day will begin with a keynote session on a particular topic (that for the day), described by a senior entertainment researcher.

2) After a break, there will be a session given by a respondent (a talented and prolific junior researcher) who will propose another point of view, a different and alternative perspective to that offered on the topic of the day by the keynote speaker

3) After these presentations, there will be discussion sessions chaired by one of the other researchers in attendance (chaired discussion) in which all of the members of the congress will be able to participate actively and freely. This discussion will be based on the contributions made by the keynote and respondent.

4) After a break, there will be a new type of activity: proposals and communications by the members of the congress.

Every day, there will be sessions in which trainee researchers will be able to present everybody (and the senior academics in particular) with ideas for research. These ideas will be discussed and evaluated by everybody.

In the afternoons

After lunch and a break, we will be work in group/exchange sessions on issues selected by the organizers (on the basis of the results of the days' preliminary sessions). The participants will be freely divided into work groups. Following discussions in these groups, posters and performances will be produced. Once, the session will have ended and there will be free time for taking walks, doing sport and other special activities that are being prepared now.

At night

After supper, the organizers will be offering surprises of media consumption for allowing participants' first hand experiences of entertainment.

Call for communications, posters and presentations

E=E invites proposals to be sent for communications, posters and presentations about the relationship between emotions and entertainment in any of the following point of view:

- Perspectives and strategies (political, economic, social, industrial, market, philosophical).
- Actors, scenarios, instruments and experiences (productions, applications, services, creation, audiovisual products, demos)
- Research methods, works and results

The best selected full papers from Entertainment=Emotion (International workshop) will be considered to be published in a special issue of the International Journal of Arts and Technology (IJART), the leading journal in the area.

The organizers encourage researchers and practitioners from all associated fields to submit innovative experiences, studies and approaches that allow a better comprehension of the relationship between entertainment and emotion in new media design, contents and consumption. Initiatives of young researchers and students are particularly welcome since E=E pursues to stimulate the emergence of fresh and original ways of looking into the phenomena. New research problems are welcome since the workshop aims to create networking and international cooperation for research.

Dates to remember

End of call for proposal period: September 7, 2009.

Communication of acceptances: September 15-16.

Registration deadline: September 20.

Final works submission (including proposals for IJART's special issue): October, 15

Regulations for the participation

a) Proposals must be sent within the set up period and observe the regulations established by the organizing committee (OC). Authors have to specify the type of proposal they send (communication, communication to be considered for publishing at IJART, poster, presentation or exhibition).

b) All of them will be evaluated by members of the OC. Their acceptance or rejection will be announced within the established period.

c) The OC may include all, or part, of the information that it receives about the participating report in all publications related with the event, both while and after it takes places (e.g. programs or records in paper or electronic format).

d) Accepted communications, posters and presentation's proposals must be presented publicly during the workshop in accordance with the definitive program. Instructions for that will be provide to accepted authors.

e) The presenters of the work must have completed their inscription following the link near the end of this web page.

Sending proposals for communications (two kinds)

1) Proposals have to be sent in English and by means of the form that appears in this site. They have to take the form of 500 words abstract.

2) The authors of the selected communication must send a definitive report in electronic format (Word document), before October 15th, to the event's contact address. The definitive text must be of a length between 3.500 and 5.000 words and has to be accompanied by an abstract of a maximum of 150 words, and five key words

3) Nevertheless, authors who want their communication to be considered for publishing at the International Journal of Arts and Technology (IJART) have to send the manuscript according to the all the author's guidelines available at http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalCODE=ijart. Authors have to indicate, specifically, when submitting their article, that they allow it to be considered in the review process. Manuscripts that don't follow those instructions won't be considered for publishing.

4) The proposal must be accompanied by a brief curriculum of the authors and their full contact details.

Sending proposals for posters

A proposal for a poster is one that is sent to be presented in the form of a panel display.

The poster session aims to share ideas and is ideal for presenting research projects, practical cases or experienced related with entertainment and emotion. The posters will be displayed during the workshop at the E=E venue. The authors may attend to consultations about their work during the space of time assigned for this in the event program.

1) Proposed posters have to be sent in English and by means of the form that appears in this site. They have to take the form of 500 words abstract.

2) The poster itself (i.e. the physical document that will be displayed), must be provided to the organizers of the workshop before the event is held and within the established period.

3) The definitive poster must be produced in DIN A1 format (59.4 x 84.1 cm) and may include photographs or diagrams to illustrate the content. Other format (audiovisual or electronic) posters are not only allowed but encourage. Nevertheless, authors are responsible for their production, installation and running.

Sending proposals for presentations, expositions or performances

The inclusion of this kind of activities within the workshop aims to stimulate the comprehension of the relationship between emotion and entertainment from a direct, sensitive, practical and/or experienced point of view. Proposals for special presentations, expositions or performances may allow the interaction of the assistants and will be displayed/produced during the workshop at the E=E venue. They have to be related to new entertainment products or applications that use emotion as vehicle of expression. The authors may present heir work during the space of time assigned for this in the event program.

1) Proposed special activities have to be sent in English and by means of the form that appears in this site. They have to take the form of 500 words abstract.

2) The activity itself must be provided to the organizers of the workshop before the event is held and within the established period.

3) Authors are responsible for all the aspects of the definitive presentation (aesthetical, technical and economical), its production, installation, and well running.

Fee and grants

The cost of attending the congress will be 100 Euros, to be paid after the participant is officially accepted around September. The workshop will have a limited number of participants. Early registration is encouraged.

Practicalities

Interested participants are invited to fill the registration form. The Scientific Committee will meet in late September to make decisions on accepted participants. Then, the Center secretariat will contact individually every accepted participant to arrange for his registration and accommodation.

There are various hotels in Benasque, offering a wide range of prices. Accepted participants will be informed of the special deals agreed with hotels. Students may prefer to share a room at a hostel (less than 200 Euros for the whole period of the workshop, meals included) or share a 2-3 bedroom apartment (similar price but no food).

To simplify the arrival and departure of participants, the Center will organize a free bus as indicated below.

November is a cold season in the Pyrenees. Participants are encouraged to bring hiking equipment to enjoy the surroundings of Benasque. The organization will also try to organize some outdoors activities.

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Further Information.

• List of participants.
• Scientific program.
• Pictures.