<nettime-ann> CFP: Down to Earth - edited collection on satellites

[Mason Dixon <Mason@ArtAfterNext.org>]

.
Date: Mon, 07 May 2007 09:37:30 +0200
From: Lisa Parks <parks@filmandmedia.ucsb.edu>
To: nettime-l@bbs.thing.net
Subject: CFP: Down to Earth - edited collection on satellites

Call for Papers for Edited Collection on Satellites

Down to Earth:
Satellite Technologies, Industries and Cultures

Editors, Lisa Parks and James Schwoch


The satellite era marks its 50th anniversary in October 2007. Within  
5=20
years of the Sputnik launch, Telstar in 1962 opened the door to  
networking=20
television via satellite. By the end of the 1960s, both INTELSAT and=20
INTERSPUTNIK operated as satellite constellations capable of relaying=20
global television and other electronic information. ANIK in 1973 and  
HBO in =

1975 moved to satellite as a distribution technology for reaching  
local=20
television and cable operators, and by the early 1980s virtually  
every=20
other cable service and terrestrial TV network had followed ANIK and  
HBO=20
into the heavens. The end of this current decade will also mark the  
first=20
full generation of global satellite TV distribution: 30 years as an=20
industry norm. Television stands as just one of many significant  
examples=20
representing the integration of satellite technology and global  
information =

flows over the past half-century. Satellite industries now also  
include=20
remote sensing and global positioning systems and satellite radio and=20
broadband services as well.

Despite the centrality of satellite technologies and services in so  
many=20
aspects of contemporary life, various histories and practices key to  
these=20
systems and services remain, by comparison to other means of global=20
electronic information and entertainment, relatively unknown to most=20
observers. In the field of global media, for example, scholars and  
students =

are much more likely to be able to name the major Hollywood film  
studios=20
(whether in contemporary or historical context), the various  
television and =

cable networks of the world, the major news services, at least a  
handful of =

the leading global newspapers, or the major computer and  
entertainment=20
technology manufacturers than they are able to name individual  
satellites,=20
satellite constellations, or various services. Details about the  
satellite=20
industry, from financing to launch to service applications, remain  
hazy at=20
best. The perception of various orbits-even the awareness that there  
are=20
many possible orbital configurations-is often dim. And how and why=20
satellites help configure contemporary politics and culture at both  
global=20
and local levels is only glimpsed rather than seen in detail. These=20
knowledge gaps regarding satellite technologies, industries and  
cultures=20
are found in a wide range of fields and disciplines addressing global=20
issues.

This collection aims to expand awareness and knowledge about  
satellites=20
beyond a base of talented specialists and experts, thereby reaching  
out to=20
many more who are interested in global media and other global issues,  
yet=20
may find themselves at somewhat of an impasse when it comes to  
thinking=20
about satellites with the same familiarity as they may think about  
global=20
TV news networks, computer software m
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