Dear Colleagues, Glenn W. Muschert and I are proposing a panel on “Theorizing Digital Divides” for the Media, Communication and Cultural Studies Association (MECCSA) conference that will be hold at Northumbria University (Newcastle upon Tyne, UK), in January 2015. If you are not familiar with this association or conference, there is more information here: http://www.meccsa.org.uk/conference/. We plan to propose one or more panel session(s) at MECCSA on the topic of “Theorizing Digital Divides,” which we intend to use as point(s) of departure for an edited volume on the same topic. The intention is to create panels as an opportunity for colleagues to present their papers, and of course to have the opportunity to meet in person. We intend the panel(s) not merely as sets of talks with limited interaction among panelists, but rather as interactive opportunities for us to examine our common theme. The aim is to promote lively dialogue among experts, and to offer a venue for fruitful and satisfying discussion of how we theorize digital divides. Each session is 90 minutes, and in order to increase the interaction with the audience, we will make every attempt to limit the number of participants for each session. The final number of sessions will depend on the number of participant, and we will try to avoid parallel session in order to increase the interactivity and the discussion. As we mention, we also plan an edited volume on the topic of Theorizing Digital Divides, and we anticipate the conference sessions on this theme as a point of departure for that project. The deadline for us to propose a panel at the conference is the 1 September 2014. Therefore, if you would like to participate in the MECCSA this conference, we request that you please send us the details of the authors/participants and a brief abstract of 150-200 words. We would need to receive proposals to contribute to the MCCSA by 10 August 2014 at the latest (emailed to Massimo Ragnedda – ragnedda@gmail.com and Glenn Muschert – muschegw@MiamiOH.edu). One point that might be obvious, however which perhaps bears clarification, is that participation in the MCCSA conference panel does not imply, nor is it contingent upon, final acceptance of a manuscript for the proposed volume on theorizing digital divides. While the MECCSA panels and the planned volume may complement one another, they are nonetheless separate projects. In particular, acceptance for publication in the edited volume will require successful peer and editorial review prior to publication. We mention this simply to be clear, and to avoid any potential confusion. In organizing a number of session at the same conference, it is ultimately our intention to provide venues for those interested in digital divide studies. In all, we hope to have a number of sessions which will be of interest to you and other scholars, and we will be happy to bring together numerous innovative and dynamic scholars. For now, please feel welcome to be in contact if you have any questions or concerns. With best regards, Massimo Ragnedda (Northumbria University, UK) ragnedda@gmail.com Glenn Muschert (Miami University, USA) muschegw@MiamiOH.eduo _______________________________ Massimo Ragnedda Senior Lecturer in Mass Communication Northumbria University (Newcastle, UK) mragnedda.wordpress.com http://notizie.tiscali.it/opinioni/Ragnedda/184/ skype: massimo.ragnedda http://northumbria.academia.edu/MassimoRagnedda Twitter: @massimoragnedda