To whom it may concern, The Velvet Light Trap, a scholarly journal of film and media, produced by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Texas-Austin, has extended the deadline for its upcoming issue, Useful Media: Industrial, Educational, Institutional, until October 15th. This issue seeks submissions concerning the production, distribution, exhibition, and/or reception of educational, industrial, and other institutional film, video, television, audio, and new media, past and present. We were hoping that you would be willing to distribute our call for papers on your listserv, as it may prove interesting to your subscribers. The call is pasted below. Also included is the link to our website through the University of Texas Press, where our call can also be found. http://www.utexas.edu/utpress/journals/jvlt.html Thank you for your time and please let me know if you need any additional information from me to help distribute our call. Sincerely, Amanda McQueen Co-ordinating Editor PhD Candidate University of Wisconsin-Madison The Velvet Light Trap Call for Papers: Issue 72 Useful Media: Industrial, Educational, Institutional Submission deadline: October 15, 2012 As breakthroughs in digital technologies compel scholars to address media consumption outside the traditional contexts of the theater and the home, media historians remind us that audio/visual materials have always proliferated in other places: city halls, churches, courtrooms, classrooms, hospitals, union halls, corporate offices, factories, and laboratories. Within such alternative venues, media function as tools of education, justice, agitation, advocacy, professionalization, strategy, training, and proselytizing. These frequently overlooked uses of media, beyond art and entertainment, remind us that the patterns of production, distribution, and consumption commonly invoked by terms like “the movies” or “television” represent only certain configurations within the broader field of media practice. Recent developments in the accessibility of educational and industrial media—through the Internet Archive, YouTube postings of leaked training videos, and DVD anthology collections (e.g., Treasures from American Film Archives)—have brought these other media venues and practices to a new prominence. Likewise, an increase in scholarly attention paid to “useful” media, as in the recent anthologies Useful Cinema (Acland and Wasson, 2011) and Learning with the Lights Off (Orgeron, Orgeron, and Streible 2012), encourages us to revise our assumptions about how media function in everyday life and rethink the very definitions of media forms that scholars often take for granted. In that spirit, The Velvet Light Trap seeks essays for an issue on "useful" media. We welcome submissions concerning the production, distribution, exhibition, and/or reception of educational, industrial, and other institutional film, video, television, audio, and new media, past and present. Topics and approaches may include, but are not limited to: Examples of educational, industrial, and useful media: - media used by religious institutions, civic organizations, NGOs, unions, libraries, governments, and prisons - training films, videos, and software - closed-circuit television in educational contexts - sponsored films and institutional advertising - ambient music within institutional settings (malls, factories, restaurants, waiting rooms) - audio/visual materials in museum and factory tours - medical films - other institutional uses of sound media (records, podcasts, etc.) - audiovisual and applied media in scientific and social scientific research Approaches to studying useful media: - reception, compulsory viewing, and resistant readings - audiovisual aesthetics and stylistic trends - useful media and emotional engagement - production cultures of industrial media - histories of key practitioners and production houses - policy and educational media - useful media and ideology - representation in educational and industrial media - educational and industrial media as "found footage" - institutional media, architectural design, and spatial politics Submissions should be between 6,000 and 7,500 words (approximately 20-25 pages double-spaced), in Chicago style. Please submit an electronic copy of the paper, along with a one-page abstract, both saved as a Microsoft Word file; remove any identifying information so that the submission is suitable for anonymous review. The journal's Editorial Board will referee all submissions. Send electronic manuscripts and/or any questions to [log in to unmask] All submissions are due October 15, 2012. The Velvet Light Trap is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal of film, television, and new media studies. Graduate students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and the University of Texas-Austin coordinate issues in alternation. Our Editorial Advisory Board includes such notable scholars as Charles Acland, Richard Allen, Harry Benshoff, Mia Consalvo, Radhika Gajjala, Darrell Hamamoto, Joan Hawkins, Scott Higgins, Barbara Klinger, Jon Kraszewski, Diane Negra, Michael Newman, Alisa Perren, Yeidy Rivero, Nic Sammond, Beretta Smith-Shomade, Cristina Venegas, and Michael Williams. -- The Velvet Light Trap is a scholarly, peer-reviewed journal of film, television, and new media. It is collectively edited by graduate students at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and the University of Texas at Austin, with the support of media scholars at those institutions and throughout the world. Each issue provokes debate about critical, theoretical, and historical topics relating to a particular theme. ---- Online resources for film/TV studies may be found at ScreenSite http://www.ScreenSite.org