Two workshops, held in the UK next Spring, address a broad range of new-media related questions. Initiated by Natalya Rulyova & Jeremy Morris (Birmingham), our own Vlad Strukov (Leeds), and Seth Graham (SSEES), they bear the overall title New Media in New Europe-Asia. The organizers are applying for CEELBAS support and plan to publish a selection of papers in a special issue of Europe-Asia Studies. Sounds good? I copy descriptions & details below. Vlad Strukov welcomes preliminary paper titles before June 10. - ER1. CREES, University of Birmingham, 26 March 2010: New Media & Society: Politics, Economics, GeographyDoes the internet provide liberation from the political and the social or is it conditioned by socio-political norms? Has the internet changed politics or has it had to fit existing political structures? Has the use of digital technologies revolutionalised election campaigns? What tactics do governments apply to use and control the internet and new media? How is hyperlinked society different from society prior to the advent of the web? Does the hyperlink connect only clusters of like-minded people or does it reach further? What is the role of flash mobs? How has the internet changed our perception of geography? How are maps on the internet different from maps on paper?Have new media brought new moral dilemmas?2. SSEES, University College London, 28 May 2010: The Nature and Culture of New MediaDo the internet and new media liberate from the hegemony of large mass communication corporations? What is the future of the mass media in the age of digital technologies: popularity versus authority? What coding and decoding strategies do new media audiences use? Do they take advantage of the limitless resources of the web? How has the dichotomy posed by the traditional contrasts between text and image changed due to new media technologies? How have social networking, blogging, and video-posting websites changed the relationship between the media and audiences? What impact have new media had on the developments in pop and celebrity culture?