I apologize in advance for cross-postings: Call for Abstracts: Seamlessly Mobile?: Mobile Communication @ a Crossroads 2011 International Communication Association (ICA) Pre-conference Workshop http://sociomobile.org/mobile2011/Mobile2011/home.html May 25 – 26, 2011, Boston MA, USA Mobile phones are becoming increasingly adept as ubiquitous tools that serve purposes beyond that of mere voice communication. How we conceptualize mobile -mediated communication alongside computer- mediated communication is less distinct as access to the Internet becomes more integrated into mobile phone devices. Are people moving toward a more seamless integration of mobile and computer media as supporting their communication needs? Is the integration of the Internet into mobile phones shifting how people conceptualize what it means to be “online” vs. “offline”? Does this shift in mobile communication bear any social consequences? This preconference will provide a venue for innovative scholars from around the world who are doing research in the area of mobile communication. It will give them a chance to gather and discuss the challenges that this shift in the use of mobile phones poses not only for the users but for those doing research on mobile communication. We welcome abstracts that will focus on the following areas related to these provocative questions: • Patterns of mobile phone use and differences related to gender, age, lifestyle, culture, and/or access • Ethics and social responsibility of use, shifts in social expectations of remote vs. co-present others • Threats to privacy and issues of surveillance as they relate to technological innovations like GPS & location devices. • Research design and methodological challenges, including finding venues for one’s work • The expansion of online and offline social networking and its demands • Technology, design, and accessibility issues/challenges/ expansion and development (i.e. emerging markets) • Perceptions of use and imagining use beyond current capabilities (i.e. mobile fantasies, mobile art, mobile personalities, mobile witnessing/activism) The preconference will be comprised of formal panel presentations, opportunities for informal discussions, and time for networking. In addition there may be invited performances of innovative artists whose work focuses on mobile communication as it relates to the themes of this preconference. Abstracts of no more than 500 words are due by November 15, 2010. Please send them along with your name and contact information to Katie.cumiskey@csi.cuny.edu . Accepted abstracts will be notified by November 29, 2010. Final papers will be due April 1, 2011. Lead Organizers: Dr. Kathleen M. Cumiskey, Associate Professor, Psychology Department, Director of Social Media Lab, College of Staten Island/CUNY, Staten Island, NY USA; Katie.cumiskey@csi.cuny.edu Dr. Richard Ling, Head of Group Digital Culture and Mobile Communication, IT University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen S, Denmark; rili@itu.dk Dr. Scott Campbell, Assistant Professor and Pohs Fellow of Telecommunications, Department of Communication Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI USA; swcamp@umich.edu Dr. Lee Humphreys, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA; lmh13@cornell.edu Dr. Yi Fan Chen, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication and Theater Arts, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, USA; Y5Chen@odu.edu