It’s hard to escape the practices of mining. In some ways, we have become obsessed with mining. Mining occupies discussions about the economy, the environment, the labour market, politics and land rights. Our airports are packed full with high-vis people flying to and from mine sites. We seem to view mining as a limitless pit of gold which we can explore/exploit for personal financial gain and to secure research funding.
And it’s as if there are no limits to what we are willing to mine. The literal interpretation of ‘mining’ is the extraction of something from the ground. But in addition to such mining of physical resources, the exploitation of information at large scale – known as data mining – is also turning into a burgeoning industry, generating new intellectual and economic opportunities while raising complex ethical concerns. In all its forms, ‘mining’ therefore is easily associated with engineering, geology, mathematics, economics, sociology, and other scientific practices. But where are the cultural analyses of ‘mining’?
Where are the articles that engage critically and cleverly with the business and stories of mining? If we consider ‘mining’ through the lens of gender or ethnicity, through queer studies, poststructuralism or feminism, through the media or critical accounts of academic intervention, what do we come up with? Are there ways of viewing mining that are not tied to the ‘hard’ sciences? What different views of mining emerge when we view it through a more comprehensive, multidisciplinary lens? The business of mining is not just a matter of extracting minerals from the ground which we can then use for their intended purpose. Data mining is also not just an extraction of ‘big data’ that uncovers some hidden, absolute truths waiting to be found. The ways we choose to analyse mining result in the way we view this business.
This issue of M/C Journal will focus on the differing interpretations and application of ‘mining’. Specifically, we hope to re-envision mining as a cultural practice which can be read in multiple ways. We therefore invite authors to offer some innovative interpretations of how mining works, and to explore and expand on the cultures of mining. We encourage authors to speak outside the dominant narrative of mining as a process of extraction of the real and to explore how mining can be viewed otherwise.

Areas for consideration include:
• the workplace cultures of mine site workplaces and the behaviours of miners
• reinterpretations of the history of mining
• reinterpretations of the practice of mining as a site of economic development or environmental damage
• critiques of emerging practices in data mining
• explorations of the data mining industry as it establishes itself
• analyses of the relationship between mining and community, environment and people
• feminist approaches to mining
• gender, sex and sexuality—and their relationship to mining
• mining and ownership, privacy, security

Prospective contributors should email an abstract of 100-250 words and a brief biography to the issue editors. Abstracts should include the article title and should describe your research question, approach, and argument. Biographies should be about three sentences (maximum 75 words) and should include your institutional affiliation and research interests. Articles should be 3000 words (plus bibliography). All articles will be refereed and must adhere to MLA style (6th edition).

Details
Article deadline: 1 Mar. 2013
Release date: 1 May. 2013
Editors: Dean Laplonge and Axel Bruns
Please submit articles through this website (http://www.media-culture.org.au/). Send any enquiries to mining@journal.media-culture.org.au.