Since the 1990s, the global community has faced dramatic changes in the media and in the speed of communication, comparable only to the revolutionary developments of the 1850s and 1860s. This workshop will explore the role of communication and the media in the history of the modern world, focusing on the German and British examples. The media select information, reduce complexity, create discourses, stereotypes and perceptions, shape mass communication and promote the transfer of knowledge.

The conference, hosted by the University of Konstanz, aims to bring together ongoing research projects. Our workshop asks how, over the last two centuries, the role of the media has developed, and in which ways they have influenced social, political, and economic relations in German and British society. We welcome submissions from historians and scholars from neighbouring disciplines and encourage a variety of methodological approaches.

Topics may include, but are not limited to:
-The history of types of media (print, newspapers, cinema, radio, TV,
internet)
-Organization (circulation, flows of information, power structures)
-Media and the formation of political/ social/ cultural communities (including virtual communities)
-Social, technical, discursive "grammar" of the media
-Media and transfer of knowledge
-Media and intercultural/ social misunderstandings
-Perceptions and stereotypes
-Artefacts and the media: political/ cultural symbolism and the "languages" of monuments, exhibitions, and architecture
-Media and political communication/ mass communication

Travel expenses, accommodation and meals will be funded.

Papers will be pre-circulated. The workshop is open to academic staff and postgraduate students. The conference languages are German and English. Proposals of about 500 words, accompanied by a short CV, should be sent by July 1 to dagmar.bethe@uni-konstanz.de.

Prof. Boris Barth and Prof. Sven Reichardt in cooperation with Prof. Richard Evans