[Air-L] CFP Theme section: Changing orders of knowledge? Encyclopaedias in transition

[Jutta Haider]

 CALL FOR PAPERS

 Theme section: Changing orders of knowledge? Encyclopaedias in transition

 To appear in the peer-reviewed journal Culture Unbound: Journal of Current
Cultural Research

 Guest editors: Jutta Haider & Olof Sundin, Department of Arts and Cultural
Sciences, Lund University, Sweden

 We are witnessing a transition period for encyclopaedias and encyclopaedic
knowledge. Since the 1990s alone encyclopaedias have gone through several
remediations: from printed volumes to CD-ROM, from CD-ROM to on-line
editions on the web and most recently as smartphone applications. Nowadays
encyclopaedic knowledge is produced, distributed and used largely within
digital networks. Mobile devices make it always available, everywhere.
While understandably a lot has been said about Wikipedia and from almost
every angle, other contemporary encyclopaedias have not received that much
attention in research. Yet they are two sides of the same coin. This theme
section wants to contribute to changing the balance somewhat.

 The modern encyclopaedia, with its roots in the enlightenment, has come to
symbolise learning and education. In the West it has since long been a
yardstick for what is accepted as public knowledge in a given time and
culture. It stands for trustworthiness and stability, at the same time as
it has always changed hand in hand with cultural and technical
developments. Most recently their production, consumption, use,
distribution and significance, all are undergoing profound changes. At the
same time as these changes contribute to re-structuring what encyclopaedias
and encyclopaedic knowledge are, this type of knowledge is more easily
accessible, more in demand and more often referred to than ever before.

 For this theme section we invite authors to reflect upon the encounter,
productive or otherwise, between encyclopaedic knowledge formed by a
plethora of traditions and the constantly changing material conditions for
production, communication, use and circulation of knowledge. In particular
so-called traditional encyclopaedias in their contemporary digital
manifestations are in focus. While emphasis on relevant sociotechnical and
cultural aspects of the present is encouraged, there will be some room for
historical studies that focus on encyclopaedias in transition and for
studies on Wikipedia (and other new forms from social and cultural
perspectives of encyclopaedias and related phenomena)

 Topics of interest might be, but are not limited to:
• Everyday meaning of encyclopaedias and encyclopaedic knowledge.
• Encyclopaedias in the classroom and other educational uses.
• Economic aspects and the role of changed business-models.
• Critical studies of encyclopaedic knowledge.
• Globalisation of knowledge and the role of encyclopaedias.
• Production of encyclopaedias and encyclopaedic knowledge.
• Encyclopaedias as a yardstick for public knowledge.
• Communication of encyclopaedias and encyclopaedic knowledge.
• The situatedeness of encyclopaedias in the networked society.

 We are also looking for relevant book reviews for this issue!

 Please indicate your interest in contributing by submitting a title and
short abstract (approximately 500 words) before 1st April 2013. The
deadline for full papers is 1st of October 2013 and publication is planned
for the spring of 2014. The articles should between 4,000 and 10,000 words
long. Please send enquires, abstracts and finished papers to
jutta.haider at kultur.lu.se or olof.sundin at kultur.lu.se

 Culture Unbound: Journal of Current Cultural Research is an academic
journal for border-crossing cultural research, including cultural studies
as well as other interdisciplinary and transnational currents. It serves as
a forum with a wider scope than existing journals for cultural studies or
other, more specific, subfields of cultural research and it is globally
open to articles from all areas in this large field.
http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/index.html

 For a guide for authors please refer to:
http://www.cultureunbound.ep.liu.se/instructions-for-authors.html.