With apologies for cross-posting, please see below for details of our seminar. Historicizing the Digital: language practices in new and old media Mon 27th - Tues 28th June 2016 University of Leicester, UK CALL FOR PAPERS: deadline 18th April 2016 REGISTRATION: opening soon Language and new media is a rapidly emerging area of applied linguistics which considers how the affordances of digital technologies promote new linguistic strategies for identity work by individuals and communities (Seargeant and Tagg 2013). Research suggests that language use in digital spaces is highly innovative (in forms, functions, ideologies and cultural norms), and especially so for written language, such as online spelling variation, code-switching, multimodality, and sharing (Georgakoupoulou and Spilioti 2015). Our seminar, 'Historicizing the Digital', provides a space in which researchers are encouraged to re-evaluate assumptions and claims of digital communication research. The event explores the extent to which digital practices really are "new". What precedents might be found in earlier periods? What practices show continuity between the pre- and post-digital age? What practices constitute genuine innovation within digital spaces? The event invites speakers working within different historical periods who may not otherwise join in conversation to promote fresh discussions from a trans-historical perspective. Proposals should be submitted to the Conference Organisers (histthedig@gmail.com) as a Word document, containing the following information: * Title of proposal in bold * Name of presenter * Name and address of institution, telephone and email * Abstract text max. 300 words * 12pt, left-aligned, single-spaced Please visit our website for more details: www.histthedig.blogspot.co.uk<https://mail.bham.ac.uk/owa/redir.aspx?REF=wO1TlPlwFPYBiM2oGJSHYAFzFUT4XtFoxiOh4J3zLKkTg5Z_xWLTCAFodHRwOi8vd3d3Lmhpc3R0aGVkaWcuYmxvZ3Nwb3QuY28udWsv>