Media Transatlantic: Media Theory in North America and German-Speaking Europe

From the conference website:

Ubiquitous and indispensable, media technologies have taken on an epistemological or even ontological significance:
we learn what we know, and we become what we are, through print, tv,
digital, mobile and other communications. “No part of the world, no human
activity,” as Sonia Livingstone says, “is untouched . . . Societies worldwide are
being reshaped, for better or for worse, by changes in the global media and information
environment.” Seeing media as a lens or even as an a priori condition
for understanding historical, social and cultural change has become increasingly
prevalent and urgent on both sides of the Atlantic. However, with some
notable exceptions, this work has been developing independently, producing a
wide-ranging if fruitful heterogeneity. On the one side are the interdisciplinary
and theoretically-engaged Medienwissenschaften (media studies), with over
sixty programs in universities in Germany alone. On the other side is work developing
out of the Toronto school and a variety of theoretical and disciplinary
traditions. The purpose of this conference is to deepen and expand transatlantic
dialogue between North America and German-speaking Europe (Germany,
Austria and Switzerland) in the area of media theory.

The conference website provides audio-files of the talks.