[Air-L] Call for Submissions - Civic Media Reader (MIT Press)

[Eric Gordon]

There is a groundswell of activity in the fields of civic engagement and technologies coming from a wide range of academic and practical disciplines. But there is no volume that attempts to pull this work together under a single umbrella. The Civic Media Reader (MIT Press, 2015), edited by Eric Gordon and Paul Milhailidis, will provide a thorough exploration of the relationship between citizens, technologies and engagement in a global context and serve as a shared framework for this emerging discipline.

The book is divided into five sections– Big Picture, Modes of Engagement, Institutions and Organizations, Activism and Participation, and Methods and Collaborations– each with a host of sections that investigate how civic technologies are affecting certain policy domains, civic practices, or facilitating more efficient or meaningful participation in contemporary society. To support and enrich these theoretical chapters, we are looking for case studies in the various fields and disciplines in which civic technologies and corresponding practices have developed since the turn of the 21st Century.  A case study presents a detailed look at a particular organization, use of technology, or methodology which highlights a unique aspect of contemporary civics. Our submissions page is www.cmr-acq.tumblr.com/submitcase<http://www.cmr-acq.tumblr.com/submitcase>.

Cases will take two forms: written, descriptive pieces about 1000 words in length or multimedia cases (e.g. annotated video, audio clip, image timeline, slideshow, etc.). Successful cases will offer an overview of the organization, method, intervention or tool, and will connect it to t1he larger themes of the chapter intended to include it. Examples of cases might include Kony2012, the Harry Potter Alliance, the Civic Cloud Collaborative, Nation Builder, E-Democracy, EngagethePower.org<http://EngagethePower.org>, or Change.org<http://Change.org>. About 30 1000-word cases will be published in the print book and multimedia cases will be made available on a companion website to be launched around the time of the book’s publication. The book’s online companion will be authored on Scalar (http://scalar.usc.edu/scalar/). Scalar is a free, open source authoring and publishing platform that is designed to make it easy for authors to create born-digital scholarship. These multimedia submissions will facilitate discussion about the chapters online and offer a more interactive digital perspective on their themes and ideas. If you intend to submit a multimedia submission, please indicate it on the form. For all submissions, please specify which chapter your case is intended to accompany.

We are asking for 100-word proposals by April 25, 2014. Authors will be notified in early May. Final cases will be due by June 30. For further information about the project, please visit www.cmr-acq.tumblr.com/thebook<http://www.cmr-acq.tumblr.com/thebook> or email marissa_koors at emerson.edu<mailto:marissa_koors at emerson.edu>.

Thank you very much.

Eric Gordon and Paul Milhailidis