[Air-l] CFP: E-Learning Journal SPecial Edition: Digital Inter-Faces

[Angela Thomas]

Special Edition of E-Learning Journal

Guest Editor:
Angela Thomas
University of Sydney
a.thomas at edfac.usyd.edu.au

Theme of the Issue:  Digital Inter-Faces

Description:

The focus of this special edition of E-Learning is ‘Digital Inter-Faces’. 
The articles in the edition will examine the issue of identity in and
around digital contexts.  As our lives become increasingly more
technologically inclusive, we face new opportunities to e-xplore,
e-xamine, e-xtend, e-xperiment, and e-volve.  Technology is changing the
ways we think about the world and the ways we position ourselves in the
world.  Our involvement in and around digital contexts has opened up a
place for living within a multiplicity of identities and through this, we
can act out our fantasies, become the Other of our desire, and just as
importantly, in the words of Eowyn, a 15 year old girl, “It's not becoming
your own hero that's the point-- it's allowing what's inside of you to show
through”.

And yet online our selves can be conveniently edited, we can be kinder and
funnier and more intelligent.  In the same series of posts about her
online life, Eowyn told me, “The person I show to others online is
outgoing, different, and not afraid to be herself”, and Shadow, a 14 year
old boy, revealed, “I am sort of a persona, me but minus the things I
don’t like about myself”.  Other children revealed to me that rather than
edited selves, they become fused selves with their online role-playing
characters.  The faces shown to others online may be masks of other
personae or characters, yet underneath are intimately fused with the self.

What are the consequences and implications of these new faces?  The faces
of our cyborg self, our edited self, our hybrid self, our fused and
blended self into another character, and the Other of our desire.  What
can we actually learn in this masquerading of fragmentedness that has
become a hallmark of post-modern identity?  In this issue of E-Learning,
our contributors discuss aspects of these issues, drawing from a range of
theoretical, sociological and political perspectives.  Thoughts about
gender, race, youth, politics, power, trust, and authenticity are
critically discussed with respect to the many faces and inter-faces of the
digital world.


Submission Deadline: January 18th, 2006
Submit to: Angela Thomas, a.thomas at edfac.usyd.edu.au

Information about the journal and papers: http://www.wwwords.co.uk/elea/?.




_______________________________________________________
Angela Thomas
Lecturer in English Education,
Faculty of Education and Social Work
University of Sydney
Phone: +61 2 9351 6229,  Fax: +61 2 9351 2606

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