Assistant or Associate Professor in History & Applications of Media, Virginia Commonwealth University

Virginia Commonwealth University invites applications for a joint tenure-track position in the departments of English and History focusing on the historical evolution of media, their interactions and impact on communication and culture. Linked to the proposed Ph.D. in Media, Art, and Text, this Media Studies position will emphasize convergences among various traditional and new media. VCU is especially interested in candidates with expertise in at least two of the following areas:

–History of the book
–History of film
–U.S. history with a focus on the evolution of media
–Verbal and visual rhetoric and literacy in the digital age

Ph.D. required in either English, History, American Studies, Media Studies, or other appropriate field. Application materials due November 28, 2005. For details and application requirements, contact Richard Fine in the VCU Department of English.

Ad Verbum

Ad VerbumAd Verbum is a piece of text-based interactive fiction for which wordplay is the primary game mechanic. Inspired particularly by the Oulipo’s explorations of writing under constraint, Ad Verbum adds another layer — readers must respond with examples of constrained writing in order to move forward, and also determine the nature of each scene’s constraint via careful reading and experimentation. See the Directory entry for more information about this piece.

noulipo Experimental Writing Conference

On October 28-29 (today and tomorrow) the second annual experimental writing conference hosted by the CalArts MFA Writing Program focuses on the legacy of Oulipo — the Ouvroir de Littérature Potentielle (“workshop of potential literature”) founded in Paris 45 years ago. Comprising writers, poets, mathematicians and logicians, the group has formulated playful and exotic new “constraints” as alternatives to the hidebound rules of traditional literary forms. This conference presents two members of the group, including its current President, as well as a host of American, Canadian and English writers influenced by them in varying degrees: Caroline Bergvall, Christian Bök, Johanna Drucker, Paul Fournel, Tan Lin, Bernadette Mayer, Ian Monk, Harryette Mullen, Douglas Nufer, Vanessa Place, Janet Sarbanes, Juliana Spahr, Brian Kim Stefans, Rodrigo Toscano, & Rob Wittig (see schedule for details).

ACLS Digital Innovation Fellowships

The American Council of Learned Societies has announced its first annual competition for the ACLS Digital Innovation Fellowships, underwritten by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The program invites applications to pursue “digitally-based research projects in all disciplines of the humanities and humanities-related social sciences.” ACLS will award up to five fellowships to support an academic year “dedicated to work on a major scholarly project that takes a digital form.” Each fellowship carries a stipend of up to $55,000 toward an academic year’s leave, and provides for project costs up to $25,000.

Projects might include, but are not limited to:

–Digital research archives
–New media representations of extant data
–innovative databases
–Digital tools that further humanistic research

ACLS does not support creative works (i.e., novels or films), textbooks, straightforward translations, or purely pedagogical projects.

For complete information and application instructions, visit the ACLS Digital Innovation Fellowships online. The deadline for receipt of applications is November 10, 2005.

CFP: Special Issue of Convergence to Commemorate trAce’s 10th Anniversary

Guest-editors Simon Mills, Gavin Stewart and Sue Thomas invite submissions to a special issue of Convergence: The International Journal of New Media Technologies, commemorating trAce’s 10th anniversary. The theme of the Winter 2006 issue will be “An End to the New? Re-Assessing the Claims for New Media Writing”. The editors seek essays that re-assess claims made for new media writing over the last decade; challenge the dominant ideologies and terminologies of the field; and provide a critical re-evaluation of new media writing in all its forms. The deadline for receipt of final drafts of papers is January 30, 2006. For the full call, contact Gavin Stewart.

Associate Professor Position in NCSU Dept. of Communication

North Carolina State University Department of Communication seeks to hire a media scholar for an Associate Professor position to teach in both the undergraduate and graduate programs, as well as conduct communication research.

Requirements include a PhD in Communication, a substantial research program, and teaching experience in a specialty, including all aspects of digital and media studies, that enhances one or more of the Department’s emphases: Communication technology, health communication, intercultural & international communication, interpersonal, organizational communication, public relations, political communication and rhetoric.

The position begins August 16, 2006.Applications received will begin being reviewed by December 1, 2005 until position is filled. For application procedures, contact Sara Reese.

Vectors 2 Now Online

“Mobility,” issue #2 of Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular, is now online.

“Mobility” includes work ranging from a rhizomatic exploration of the historical representation of the Irish to a manifesto for creating academic superheroes. Featured scholars include David Lloyd, JaneMcGonigal, the Labyrinth Project, Julian Bleecker, the Guantanamobile Project, Todd Presner, and Dietmar Offenhuber. Vectors is edited by Tara McPherson and Steve Anderson with creative direction by Erik Loyer and Raegan Kelly.

Vectors is an international peer-reviewed electronic journal dedicated to expanding the potentials of academic publication via emergent and transitional media. Vectors brings together visionary scholars with cutting-edge designers and technologists to propose a thorough rethinking of the dynamic relationship of form to content in academic research, focusing on the ways technology shapes, transforms and reconfigures social and cultural relations.

Also available in the Vectors Archive: Issue #1: “Evidence”.

Professor of Digital Technology & Culture Position at Washington State University (Vancouver campus)

The Department of Digital Technology & Culture at Washington State University invites applications for an upper-level Assistant or Associate Professor of Digital Technology and Culture on the Vancouver campus located in the Portland, Oregon metropolitan area, beginning August2006. The successful candidate will be expected to direct theinterdisciplinary program in Digital Technology and Culture, teach undergraduate and graduate classes with a 2-2 teaching load, pursue an active research agenda, and engage in service activities/administrative activities for the department, university, and community. We seek someone to teach in the interdisciplinary B.A. degree program in Digital Technology and Culture, (currently administered by the Department of English) a liberal arts-based curriculum exploring relationships between technology and meaning-making both in historical and contemporary contexts. Terminal degree in appropriate field required. Discipline open, with special consideration given to candidates with proven national research profile in digital technology as social practice and teaching experience in higher education. A focus on and concern for diversity is highly desired. Concentrations might include informatics, media studies, digital diversity, artificial intelligence, among other fields. A demonstrated potential for excellence in both teaching and research isrequired. The appointment is at the upper-level Assistant or Associate Professor rank. The salary is competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience. Deadline for submission of applications will be December 15, 2005.

Candidates must provide TWO copies of each of the following: letter of application summarizing qualifications, current curriculum vitae, three letters of reference, graduate transcripts, and teaching evaluations (if available). Send application materials to:

Linda Weidmann, Clerical Manager
Digital Technology and Culture Search Committee
Washington State University Vancouver
14204 NE Salmon Creek Avenue
Vancouver, WA 98686-9600