[ecrea] NEW POSTGRADUATE JOURNAL - call for submissions

Dear all, 

Below is a call for submissions for the new postgraduate journal PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication.

Kind regards,

Benjamin

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Submissions are invited for 'PLATFORM: Journal of Media and

Communication', a new postgraduate journal to be launched in June 2009.
'PLATFORM' is a biannual open-access online publication started by the
Media and Communications Program, School of Culture and Communication,

University of Melbourne. It is planned to develop this journal as an
international journal.

AIMS:
* to provide a platform for Media and Communication postgraduates to
showcase, share and support the work of one another through publication,

peer-review and comments
* to provide a platform for emerging Media and Communication scholars to
build a publication record, and to contribute subsequently to other
academic publications
* to increase scholarly appreciation of Media and Communication research

across diverse theoretical, methodological and empirical interests
* to encourage international awareness and collaboration through the
discussion of issues associated with the rising significance of multiple
media and communication platforms for societies and individuals across

various globalized and localized environments.

CALL FOR PAPERS (VOLUME 1, JUNE 2009):
Theme: "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities"

Submissions are invited for the inaugural volume of PLATFORM: Journal of

Media and Communication, in the following sections:

* General Articles on an issue of relevance to the field of Media and
Communication. These may be purely theoretical, methodological, empirical
or a combination of the above. (6000-8000 words including notes and

references)
* Thematic Articles which address the theme "Mediated Mobilities:
Negotiating Identities". These may be purely theoretical, methodological,
empirical or a combination of the above. (6000-8000 words including notes

and references)
* Thematic Commentaries and Essays which provoke discussion on the theme
"Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities", and act as a platform for
future articles. (2000-3000 words including notes and references)

* Thematic Reviews which, in addressing the theme "Mediated Mobilities:
Negotiating Identities", provide accurate summaries and rigorous critiques
of books and/or websites as well as reference other works by the same

author and/or the work of other authors in a similar area. (1000 words
including notes and references)
* Interviews with scholars who have made significant contributions to the
field of Media and Communication (1000-2000 word report or transcript;

audio and/video supplements are especially encouraged)
* News on research projects, conferences, courses, book launches, and
other discipline-related events (up to 700 words)

Theme: "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities"


Globalization is transforming conventional concepts of human mobility - by
not only intensifying its scale, reach, and normality, but also catalyzing
new modes of identity and restructuring relationships of power.


Geographical mobility represents one important dimension of contemporary
globalizing mobilities. Describing the physical movement of individuals
and communities from one place to another, this form of mobility

encompasses the lived realities and increasingly realizable possibilities
of migration, travel, and translocal commute; rituals of gathering and
dispersal; as well as meanings of coming and going.

On another closely related level is social mobility, where movement is

associated with forms of inclusion and exclusion across certain networks
as well as experiences of (non- and dis-)identification in relation to
particular social categories.

However, what is particularly distinct about the contemporary globalizing

world is mediated mobility. Mobility is not just enacted through media use
and across media spaces. More often (and more importantly!), it is
performatively shaped through practices of media and technology. As
mobility is represented and reflected through media, it is influenced

through it. Occurring to various degrees of ephemerality and permanence,
this dimension of mobility (re)configures social discourses to various
extents of (ir)reversibility.

For example, a rising use of convergent mobile and immobile media as well

as non-digital and digital communication technologies facilitates both the
intensification and fragmentation of interaction between individuals and
communities worldwide. These inform the negotiations of identity across

multiple and dispersed public spheres, privileging particular modes of
being over others.

In addition to general articles in the field of Media and Communication,
PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication welcomes for its inaugural

volume thematic submissions exploring "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating
Identities" in areas such as:

* Diaspora (including Refugees)
* Cosmopolitanism - Moving Between Cultural Frameworks
* Framing 'Mobilities' (Political Communication)

* Policing 'Mobilities'
* (Trans)Local Public Spheres
* Technological Subjectivities
* The Formation of New Identities
* Place and Space
* "Network Societies"
* Sedentarism/Immobilities


SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
* December 1, 2008: Abstracts/Proposals (500 to 800 words)
* February 2, 2009: Full Papers (including 200 word abstracts and six
keywords)

Early submission is highly encouraged as the review process will commence

on submission. Please see Submission Guidelines for more details.

APPLY TO PEER REVIEW:
'PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication' also invites early career,
PhD and Masters researchers to peer-review its scholarly submissions. If

you would like to apply, please submit a 150 word bio as well as a CV
highlighting research projects, publications and paper presentations.

EDITORS:
Esther Chin
Gin Chee Tong
Amira Firdaus
Elias Mokua Nyatete


EDITORIAL BOARD:
Ingrid Volkmer
Sean Cubitt
Jenny Lee
Tamara Witschge
Mikaela Marlow
Michele Cheng Hoon Khoo
Benjamin De Cleen

For more information and full submission guidelines, visit:

http://www.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/platform

--
Esther Chin
Chief Editor
PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication

(y.chin4 /at/ pgrad.unimelb.edu.au) <http://webmail.student.unimelb.edu.au/src/compose.php?send_to=y.chin4%40pgrad.unimelb.edu.au>

PhD Candidate
Media & Communications
School of Culture and Communication

Faculty of Arts
University of Melbourne
Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Telephone: +61-3-8344-3657

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Benjamin De Cleen
Department of Communication Studies
Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Pleinlaan 2
B - 1050 Brussels
(benjamin.de.cleen /at/ vub.ac.be)