Submissions are invited for 'PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication', a new postgraduate journal to be launched in June 2009. 'PLATFORM' is a biannual open-access online publication started by the Media and Communications Program, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne. It is planned to develop this journal as an international journal.

AIMS:
* to provide a platform for Media and Communication postgraduates to showcase, share and support the work of one another through publication, peer-review and comments
* to provide a platform for emerging Media and Communication scholars to build a publication record, and to contribute subsequently to other academic publications
* to increase scholarly appreciation of Media and Communication research across diverse theoretical, methodological and empirical interests
* to encourage international awareness and collaboration through the discussion of issues associated with the rising significance of multiple media and communication platforms for societies and individuals across various globalized and localized environments.

CALL FOR PAPERS (VOLUME 1, JUNE 2009):
Theme: "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities"

Submissions are invited for the inaugural volume of PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication, in the following sections:

* General Articles on an issue of relevance to the field of Media and Communication. These may be purely theoretical, methodological, empirical or a combination of the above. (6000-8000 words including notes and references)
* Thematic Articles which address the theme "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities". These may be purely theoretical, methodological, empirical or a combination of the above. (6000-8000 words including notes and references)
* Thematic Commentaries and Essays which provoke discussion on the theme "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities", and act as a platform for future articles. (2000-3000 words including notes and references)
* Thematic Reviews which, in addressing the theme "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities", provide accurate summaries and rigorous critiques of books and/or websites as well as reference other works by the same author and/or the work of other authors in a similar area. (1000 words including notes and references)
* Interviews with scholars who have made significant contributions to the field of Media and Communication (1000-2000 word report or transcript; audio and/video supplements are especially encouraged)
* News on research projects, conferences, courses, book launches, and other discipline-related events (up to 700 words)

Theme: "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities"

Globalization is transforming conventional concepts of human mobility - by not only intensifying its scale, reach, and normality, but also catalyzing new modes of identity and restructuring relationships of power.

Geographical mobility represents one important dimension of contemporary globalizing mobilities. Describing the physical movement of individuals and communities from one place to another, this form of mobility encompasses the lived realities and increasingly realizable possibilities of migration, travel, and translocal commute; rituals of gathering and dispersal; as well as meanings of coming and going.

On another closely related level is social mobility, where movement is associated with forms of inclusion and exclusion across certain networks as well as experiences of (non- and dis-)identification in relation to particular social categories.

However, what is particularly distinct about the contemporary globalizing world is mediated mobility. Mobility is not just enacted through media use and across media spaces. More often (and more importantly!), it is performatively shaped through practices of media and technology. As mobility is represented and reflected through media, it is influenced through it. Occurring to various degrees of ephemerality and permanence, this dimension of mobility (re)configures social discourses to various extents of (ir)reversibility.

For example, a rising use of convergent mobile and immobile media as well as non-digital and digital communication technologies facilitates both the intensification and fragmentation of interaction between individuals and communities worldwide. These inform the negotiations of identity across multiple and dispersed public spheres, privileging particular modes of being over others.

In addition to general articles in the field of Media and Communication, PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication welcomes for its inaugural volume thematic submissions exploring "Mediated Mobilities: Negotiating Identities" in areas such as:

* Diaspora (including Refugees)
* Cosmopolitanism - Moving Between Cultural Frameworks
* Framing 'Mobilities' (Political Communication)
* Policing 'Mobilities'
* (Trans)Local Public Spheres
* Technological Subjectivities
* The Formation of New Identities
* Place and Space
* "Network Societies"
* Sedentarism/Immobilities

SUBMISSION DEADLINES:
* December 1, 2008: Abstracts/Proposals (500 to 800 words)
* February 2, 2009: Full Papers (including 200 word abstracts and six keywords)

Early submission is highly encouraged as the review process will commence on submission. Please see Submission Guidelines for more details.

APPLY TO PEER REVIEW:
'PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication' also invites early career, PhD and Masters researchers to peer-review its scholarly submissions. If you would like to apply, please submit a 150 word bio as well as a CV highlighting research projects, publications and paper presentations.

EDITORS:
Esther Chin
Gin Chee Tong
Amira Firdaus
Elias Mokua Nyatete

EDITORIAL BOARD:
Ingrid Volkmer
Sean Cubitt
Jenny Lee
Tamara Witschge
Mikaela Marlow
Michele Cheng Hoon Khoo
Benjamin De Cleen

For more information and full submission guidelines, visit: http://www.culture-communication.unimelb.edu.au/platform

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Esther Chin
Chief Editor
PLATFORM: Journal of Media and Communication
y.chin4@pgrad.unimelb.edu.au

PhD Candidate
Media & Communications
School of Culture and Communication
Faculty of Arts
University of Melbourne
Parkville, VIC 3010, Australia
Telephone: +61-3-8344-3657