The Future is Prologue: New Media, New Histories? New media encompass both new opportunities and new dilemmas for scholars. This ICA pre-conference invites participants to reflect on ways to analyze, preserve , and understand new media in a manner that is both sensitive to the past and to future needs of historical research. The history of new media is a burgeoning new subfield, but one aspect that often goes overlooked is how new media involve new ways of doing history. The purpose of this pre-conference is to focus attention on the shifting needs of historical scholarship about new media. It will include a demonstration of new technologies for collaboration and visualization under development at the Electronic Visualization Laboratory, University of Illinois at Chicago. We welcome papers on a wide array of historically-grounded themes. The following illustrations of topics suggest – but are not intended to limit – topics suitable for paper submissions: * The idea of ‘storage’ as it relates to new media and historiography. * The contextualization of historical problems in a new media milieu. * The changing meanings and implications of inscription as the internet more fully embraces a range of audio-visual forms of communication. * Ideological implications of speculations regarding the future. * The changing place of ‘the virtual’ in new media studies. * Digital history. * The reputed move away from print media to new media. * Changing meanings of the ‘global’ in relation to new media. * Ubiquity, indexing, correlation and access. * New media and transformations in the scholarly enterprise. Abstracts of 300 words should be submitted no later than November 1, 2008. Send abstracts to: David Park, Chair of the ICA Communication History Interest Group, at park@lakeforest.edu. Authors will be informed whether abstracts have been accepted by 21 November 2008. Papers will be due by May 1, 2009. The program for this pre-conference will take place all day on May 21, 2009, the date established for ICA pre-conferences. The available time allows for three consecutive blocks of short presentations and roundtable-style discussions. The pre-conference is a joint initiative by the Communication History Interest Group of the ICA, New Media & Society and the Electronic Visualization Laboratory and Department of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The pre-conference will be held at The University of Illinois at Chicago, and there will be transportation available for participants and attendees between the conference hotel and the UIC campus. Organized by * Dave Park, Chair, Communication History Interest Group, http://www.icahdq.org/sections/secdetinfo.asp?SecCode=DIV23 * Nicholas Jankowski and Steve Jones, co-editors New Media & Society, http://newmediaandsociety.com Click here for more information: http://www.icahdq.org/conferences/2009/future.asp