Too often, however, scholarship relegates technology to the background, rendering it less an object of study in and of itself than a cause of, or context for, broader situations. While useful and often necessary, this tendency can have unintended consequences. It risks the assumption that technological changes automatically engender concomitant changes in our “real” object of study, when representations and practices that endure despite technological change offer equally important insight. Similarly, focusing on broader trends may steer us away from failed efforts at technological change, where entrenched structures of cultural or industrial design are exposed and tested, while treating technology as the agent of change can ignore the roles of cultural and industrial demands in technological advancement or stasis.

These are the issues the editors of The Velvet Light Trap hope to explore in its upcoming issue. Seeking case studies of historical and contemporary technological change that privilege technology itself as the object of study, they hope to focus the issue’s attention on specific technological changes in context rather than theories that explore how technology in broad terms is changing media and culture. VLT welcomes submissions that reexamine accepted histories of technological change, reveal little-known changes worthy of attention, or show important continuities despite technological change. For those interested, please send  anonymous electronic submissions between 8,000 and 10,000 words in Chicago style along with a one-page abstract by August 1, 2014. To submit a paper or to learn more, send an email to thevelvetlighttrap@gmail.com.

Over two-and-a-half days, five problematics will be addressed that have been central to the development of “television studies” as an identifiable academic endeavor and that continue to drive television scholarship: Television’s Past, Present, and Future; Television and the Nation in an Era of Globalization; Television and Politics; Television, Text, and Identity; and finally, Digital Television.

Each problematic will be discussed by a panel featuring an invited keynote speaker followed by two invited respondents and a third we aim to identify through this open call. We are particularly interested in having recent PhDs and advanced graduate students serve as respondents.

Conference Website: TV and Television Studies in the 21st Century [URL]

To Apply to the Open Call

Please review the topic statements from the keynote presenters and select the ONE that best fits your expertise. To review the preliminary statements, please click on the title of each topic here. By May 10, 2013, please submit via email (TV21Cconf@gmail.com) the following in a single document:

• A 250-word statement outlining the ideas of your 10-minute response. Please be specific; offer concrete examples and cases.
• A 3-item bibliography that suggests works key to your thinking in this area.
• A 100-word biographical statement.

The subject of your email should include the words “Open Call” and the topic to which you are responding.

We anticipate making notifications by May 30, 2013. If selected, you can expect to hear from us during the summer with further information.

Conference Organizers: Amanda Lotz and Aswin Punathambekar

Call for Submissions for a Theme Issue of Journal of Popular Film and Television

During the last decade there has been a revolution in the way viewers receive media. Digital technologies have transformed virtually every arena of image reception, whether it’s large screen movie theaters or new types of home screens, such as the iPad or smartphone. The 35 mm motion picture theater experience is virtually extinct, replaced by an auditorium capable of projecting everything from live events to digital restorations of 70 mm prints. The concept of the living-room TV set is being radically recast as either a massive home theater or a fragmented multi-screen viewing environment.

Whether it’s the ability of “movie” theaters to now transmit high-definition cultural events from all over the world or the ability of viewers to view media content anyplace and anytime, the advent of new screen technologies has helped to reshape the traditional nature of both the film and television image and how and where it is received.

This special issue of JPF&T is designed to focus on the implications of this transformation, exploring such areas as:

• How has the new all-digital theater changed the concept of “going to the movies” for filmmakers, film exhibitors, and filmgoers?
• In what ways has digital projection altered what we see and how we see it on the big screen?
• What are the major aesthetic and economic challenges of 3-D film and television?
• What impact has the transition to multi-platform viewing made on TV programming and viewer reception?
• How has HDTV transformed the meaning and the impact of the television image?
• What is the relationship of these digital transformations to previous technological changes in film and television?
• Do digital technologies ultimately erase the boundaries between the film and television industries as well as the film and television viewing experiences?

This issue encourages a variety of academic, historical, critical, analytical, and theoretical approaches, as well as submissions from authors in the popular press. Submissions should be limited to twenty-five pages, double-spaced, and conform to MLA style. Please include a fifty-word abstract and five to seven key words to facilitate online searches. Send an electronic copy no later than 1 December, 2013 to Brian Rose, Department of Communication and Media Studies, Fordham University. E-mail: bgrose@gmail.com