[Air-L] CFP: Why VR? Why Now?: A critical discussion of Virtual Reality experiments and experiences

[Thao Phan]

*CALL FOR PAPERS*
Why VR? Why Now?: A critical discussion of Virtual Reality experiments and
experiences

*Journal of Transformative Technologies*
http://www.ttrujournal.com.au/call-for-papers/

*Abstracts due: *
February 10th, 2017

*Issue Editors: *
Simon Young
Thao Phan
Andrew Lynch

*Contact:*
editor at ttrujournal.com.au

The ‘virtual insanity’ predicted by Jamiroquai’s Jay Kay in 1997, has
certainly arrived, bringing with it an unprecedented range of VR
technologies and software to experience for the contemporary media
consumer. While it remains to be seen which of the multitude of competing
technologies (Sony’s PlayStation VR, HTC’s Vive, Samsung’s Gear VR or even
the humble Google Cardboard) will reign supreme in the consumer market,
there has never been a more pressing time for scholarly analysis of how
this state of ‘virtual insanity’ came to be, and how we might better
comprehend its significance for the academic areas of media, screen and
cultural studies.

For its inaugural issue, The Journal of Transformative Technologies (JoTT)
invites authors whose research involves or intersects with critical
discussions of VR. Is this generation of VR experiences truly the one which
will “go mainstream”, and if so, why? Does VR have the potential to
supersede other less interactive media formats like film and television
with more immersive engagement possibilities, or will it end up on the ever
growing pile of redundant and forgotten “next big things”? How does VR’s
claims to universal appeal clash with issues of accessibility and imagined
audiences? Do contemporary VR experiences blur boundaries of genre in media
entertainment, or are they still tethered to genres laid down by older
media forms? What is the significance of aesthetics (both hardware and
software) in embodied practices of VR? How have fictional representations
of Virtual Realities and their input devices shaped expectations, or
influenced the production, of the current generation of VR technologies?

Potential topics may include, but are not limited to:

   - VR experimentation in art
   - VR experiences and genre theory
   - VR accessibility and design
   - Challenging expectations of VR experiences
   - The increasing omnipresence of mediated realities
   - VR and everyday life
   - Predictive imaginings of VR across other media forms
   - VR technologies and their futurist aesthetics
   - Haptic experiences of the imaginary through VR
   - Gamifying VR
   - VR technologies and media archaeology
   - VR and the posthuman/cyborg
   - Virtual experiences and critical studies of gender and sexuality


In addition, we also welcome submissions that deal more broadly with issues
relating to the areas of mediated realities and/or VR technology in
theoretical or critical terms. We are open to nontraditional submissions
including creative and nonlinear works.

Please send all enquiries and submissions to editor at ttrujournal.com.au.
Abstracts must be accompanied by a brief curriculum vitae.

All eligible submissions will be sent for double-blind peer-review. JoTT
does not charge authors for publication.

Abstracts to be submitted by *February 10th 2017* with full submissions due
by *May 10th 2017.*

http://www.ttrujournal.com.au/