[Discussion] Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs

[Gonul Pultar]

Call for Papers
Into the Blogosphere: Rhetoric, Community, and Culture of Weblogs
ABSTRACTS DUE JUNE 30, 2003

Ed. by the University of Minnesota Blog Collective
Smiljana Antonijevic, Laura Gurak, Laurie Johnson, Jim Oliver, Clancy
Ratliff, Jessica Reyman, Sathya Yesuraja

The editors invite submissions for a new online edited collection
exploring
discursive, visual, and other communicative features of weblogs. We are
interested in submissions that analyze and critique situated cases and
examples drawn from weblogs and the weblog community. Although we are
open
to a wide range of scholarly approaches, our primary interest is in
essays
that comment upon specific features of the weblog and that treat the
weblog
as always a part of a larger community network.
Categories around which essays may cohere include:
--Social and Psychological Perspectives
--Visual Features, including Interface Design and Navigation
--Rhetorical and Linguistic Features of Weblog Discourse
--Pedagogical Implications
--Intellectual Property
--Race, Class, and Gender
--Intercultural Communication
Because blogs, like the Internet, have a global reach, we encourage an
international scope as well.

Along with this being the first scholarly collection of its type focused
on
weblog as rhetorical artifact, we are also taking an innovative approach
to
publishing and intellectual property. Weblogs represent the power of
regular
people to use the Internet for publishing. The ethos of blogging is
collaborative and values the sharing of ideas; bloggers are not
dependent on
publishers to get their words out. In the same manner, the editors of
this
collection will publish the collection online. We will use a peer-review
process to ensure scholarly quality. But like a weblog, the collection
will
be available to all, although authors will retain their own copyrights.
We
intend to obtain a version of a Creative Commons license.

The members of the collective welcome the opportunity to discuss the
scope
of the collection or directions for essays with prospective authors. We
may
be contacted at collection@intotheblogosphere.org.

Abstracts of approximately 250 words should clearly identify the
disciplinary focus as well as the specific case or artifact to be
studied.
Send abstracts via email by midnight, June 30, 2003. Our editorial
collective will review the abstracts and make an initial selection. We
will
respond by early August. Full submissions of approximately 3,000 words
will
be due in November; these essays will be peer-reviewed.