[Discussion] CFP: Currents in Electronic Literacy (7/1/05; e-journal issue)

[Sule Tarakcioglu]

The Fall 2005 issue of Currents in Electronic Literacy will publish
article-length submissions related to the theme below. Currents is also
seeking reviews of recent texts. For a list of suggested titles, see
<http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/currents/fall04/reviewcfp.html>.

Theme: "Beyond the Digital Divide? Investigations of Internet Access and
Agency in a Mobile Era"

The phrase =93digital divide=94 was coined over 10 years ago to raise
questions about who has access to wired environments and internet
resources. These questions often centered around how economic
factors=97-as well as race, gender, age, and disability=97-create
inequalities in technological literacy and the availability of
technology. How does the proliferation of mobile devices and networks
(e.g., handhelds and Wi-Fi) and new forms of internet publishing and
wireless communication (e.g., blogs and texting) bridge, change or widen
the digital divide? Who uses these technologies, and how do they use
them? We invite submissions which take up these questions of digital
agency and access in a variety of ways. Submissions might address but
are not limited to the following:

-What new barriers or opportunities have blogs, text messaging, cell
phone email, photoblogging, PDAs and smartphones, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, etc.
created? Do these shift focus from passive reception of information to
active production of content?

-What happens to students in computer environments who are somehow =93les=
s
prepared=94 than their peers? What kinds of learning environments foster
development of necessary technical skills? How are skills deemed
=93necessary=94 or =93sufficient=94? What are the criteria?

-With the emergence of technological knowledge amongst youth, is the
professoriate now placed on the =93other side=94 of the digital divide? I=
f
so, how does this divide affect classroom pedagogy?

-What is the impact of new technologies on political discourse? How can
new technologies be used for effecting social change? For example, does
street journalism challenge the corporate hold on journalism? To what
extent has texting, versus voice calling, become the means of
spontaneous social organization and protest?

-Given the syndication of blog rolls and/or the distinction between blog
authors and blog readers, are blogs a form of peer-to-peer news?

-Are the =93old divides=94 of gender, class, race,(dis)ability, and age
still visible? What are the new divides?

-How and for whom has content aggregation changed the Web?

-How are the affordances of mobile devices shaping the modes and media
of internet communication, such as multimodal browsing, audioblogging,
and podcasting?

-How has the Internet confronted barriers of distance and disability in
telephone communication? Have video and speech relay services changed
our conceptions of phone use and phone users?

Submissions are due by July 1, 2005. For submission
instructions, see
<http://www.cwrl.utexas.edu/currents/fall04/submissions.html>.



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