Call for Papers: 2010 Semiotic Society of America Annual Meeting

“The Semiotics of Space” is a non-restrictive conference theme

1. The Semiotic Society of America http://www.uwf.edu/tprewitt/SSA.htm, in conjunction with the University of Louisville, invites the submission of abstracts, including proposals for organized panels (either three or four papers), for presentation at its 35th Annual Meeting, to be held Thursday 21 October through Sunday 24 October 2010 at the Marriott Louisville Downtown, Louisville, KY 40202, USA.

2. Hotel reservations at $129.00 USD per night (single) can be made for the Marriott Louisville Downtown (280 West Jefferson Street, Louisville, KY 40202) by calling 1-800-228-9290 (the direct line to reservations) or by calling the hotel’s general line (502) 627-5045, and asking for the specific dates you want under the Semiotic Society of America block, which block begins, for those wishing to arrive the day before the Conference begins with the evening of Wednesday 20 October 2010.  For a direct link for electronic reservations go to http://www.marriott.com/Semiotic Society. The cut-off date is 22 September 2010 for the SSA room rate, or sale of the reserved block, whichever comes first — so early reservation is advised.   The cost of a room for one night is $129.00 plus an occupancy tax of $10.97 and a room tax of $8.40 for a total of $148.36. KEY: To help you with planning your arrival and departure times, please note: the Conference will open with a Plenary Address at 2 pm on Thursday 21 October 2010, to be followed by a 4-paper parallel sessions beginning at 3:45 pm; the Conference will close on Sunday 24 October 2010 at 11:30 am following a morning Plenary Roundtable and 3-paper parallel sessions.

3. The non-restrictive theme of the meeting is “The Semiotics of Space.”  Papers on any aspect of the theme, and either of a theoretical or of an applied nature, are welcome.  However, an explicit tie-in to the theme is NOT required.

4. Proposals should be made in the form of abstracts of approximately 150 words for evaluation by the Program Committee.  Email address & full information concerning institutional affiliation and academic status (the latter is primarily for determining eligibility for awards), as applicable, should accompany the abstract submissions.  Abstracts, together with index key-words and AV requirements (only if necessary: try to avoid) for individual papers or panels, should be submitted directly to Professor Frank Nuessel (fhnues01@louisville.edu).  The abstracts are not to have special fonts or graphics and are to be in the body of the email.  Professor Nuessel will circulate the submissions to the Program Committee members and communicate acceptance/rejection decisions.  His office phone is 502-852-0503.  Student submissions will be eligible for the Kevelson Award for “best student paper presented at the SSA Annual Meeting.”

5. The Meeting Program has space for 104 papers in total.  Submissions will be considered on a “first-come, first-served basis” until the cut-off date for hotel registration, 22 September 2010, or until the program space is filled, whichever comes first.  However, proposals received by 30 May 2010 will be given preference on the final program; early submission of proposals, both for individual papers and for panels — the earlier the better — is recommended, and is the only sure way to be relatively guaranteed of space on the program.  Panel abstracts are to be submitted along with the individual abstracts for the papers (three or four) to be presented on the panel.  Each speaker will have 30 minutes.  Recommended use of the time is 20 minutes for presentation and 10 minutes for discussion.

6. To be eligible for publication in the Semiotics 2010 Proceedings Volume, presented papers must be submitted to Karen Haworth, University of West Florida (khaworth@uwf.edu), in final form conformed to the SSA Style Sheet in WordPerfect, Word, or RTF format no later than twelve days after the close of the meeting: in the final paper, use program defaults so far as possible —no special fonts, margins, or formats.  8 November 2010 is the SSA Proceedings submission deadline. Questions concerning the 2010 Proceedings may be directed to either Karen Haworth or Terry Prewitt.

7. Please note that in accord with Article 4, Section 4, of the SSA Constitution, “Only Individual, Student, and Honorary members in good standing may offer papers to the Program Committee for oral presentation at meetings of the Society”.  Membership can be updated or established by contacting Ms Pam Swope at 1+800–444–2419, or on-line at www.pdcnet.org.  Membership in good standing should be taken care of at or before the time of abstract submission.  Only invited speakers are exempted from this constitutional requirement.  In addition to your required membership, your acceptance on the program is not complete until you register for the conference.  The registration fee is set at $150 USD for regular members, $75 USD for students.  Luncheon and Banquet fees for the Friday and Saturday Plenary Papers will be an additional $90 USD, which will cover all four meals (the Society is subvening 50% of the actual meal cost).  Registration for the 2010 Annual Meeting, as well as membership, is through www.pdcnet.org Please note that once you reach this site (“Philosophy and Documentation Center”), you will need to click on “Memberships”, and then on “Societies and Organizations”, and then on “Semiotic Society of America”. Under “Memberships”, there is a second choice called “Conference Registrations”.