Unboxing Television is a series of roundtable discussions examining the evolution of television and television studies. Our goal is to create a forum for the discussion, brainstorming, and interrogation of contemporary trends in television and the evolution of television studies, in light of the increasing expansion of television. Already online and increasingly connected intimately with other media, technological platforms, places, spaces, and cultural practices, the object of the field is once again morphing. How should television and media studies adapt to keep up with this evolving entity? What is television today, and what is it becoming? How is transmediation changing the rules of television, or how is it preserving established patterns? How are old forms being re-invigorated and re-invented? What happens when online and extended television traverses the globe, or is sold on DVD, or ends up in re-run? How does it cross over time zones, geo-linguistic communities, broadcasting systems, and cultural practices?

Our hope is this event will get some snowballs rolling, and lead to publications, future conferences, collaborations, tighter networking, and a renewed sense of vision for television studies. Following in Flow's noble footsteps, we want to experiment with how academic knowledge and discussion are produced, recorded, and disseminated. As television is being pushed into experimental spaces, so too might this workshop allow room for us to move beyond dominant practices and disciplinary borders.

The event takes place November 18-19 2007 at MIT, Cambridge, MA.