Vectors CFP, Summer Fellowship Program

2005 Summer Fellowship Call for Proposals

Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular
The University of Southern California’s Annenberg Center for Communication
is pleased to announce the second annual Vectors Summer Fellowship to
foster innovative research for its electronic publishing venture, Vectors:
Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular.
First launched in 2005, Vectors is an international electronic journal
dedicated to expanding the potentials of academic publication via emergent
and transitional media. Moving well beyond the text-with-pictures format of
much electronic publishing, Vectors proposes 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.
Vectors adheres to the highest standards of quality in a rigorously reviewed
format. The journal is edited by Tara McPherson and Steve Anderson, with
Creative Direction by Erik Loyer and Raegan Kelly, and guided by a
prestigious international board.

About the Fellowships
• Vectors Fellowships will be awarded to up to eight individuals or teams of
collaborators in the early to mid- stages of development of a scholarly
multimedia project related to the themes of Ephemera or Perception.
Completed projects will be included in Issues 3 & 4 of the journal in 2006.

Issue Three: Ephemera
• The third issue will be devoted to a broad consideration of the notion of
Ephemera and its multiple manifestations in contemporary scholarship and
digital culture.

Issue Four: Perception
• The fourth issue encourages diverse examinations of the ideological,
phenomenological, cultural, and epistemological stakes of perception, as well as explorations of the varied relationships of technology to multiple forms of perception.

About the Awards
All fellowship recipients will participate in a one-week residency June 27-July 1, 2005 at the Annenberg Center for Communication in Los Angeles, where they will have access to state of the art, Mac-based production facilities.

Fellows work in collaboration with world-class designers and Vectors’
technical support and programming team throughout their project’s
development.

The residency will include colloquia and working sessions where participants
will have the chance to develop project foundations and collectively engage
relevant issues in scholarly multimedia. Applicants need not be proficient
with new media authoring; however, evidence of the potential for successful
collaboration and scholarly innovation is desirable. Fellowship awards will
include an honorarium of $1500 for each participant or team of collaborators, in addition to travel and accommodation expenses.

About the Proposals
We are seeking project proposals that creatively address issues related to the themes of Ephemera and Perception. While the format of the journal is
meant to explore innovative forms of multimedia scholarship, we are not
necessarily looking for projects that are about new media. Rather, we are
interested in the various ways that ‘old’ and ‘new’ media suggest a
transformation of scholarship, art and communication practices and their
relevance to everyday life.

Applicants are encouraged to think beyond the computer screen to consider
possibilities created by wireless technology, handheld devices, alternative
exhibition venues, etc. Projects may translate existing scholarly work or be
entirely conceived for new media. We are particularly interested in work that re-imagines the role of the user and seeks to reach broader publics. Work that creatively explores innovations in interactivity, cross-disciplinary collaboration, or scholarly applications for newly developing scientific or engineering technologies are also encouraged.

Proposals should include the following
• Title of project and a one-sentence description
• A 3-5 page description of the project concept, goals and outcome
(this description should address questions of audience, innovative uses of
interactivity, address and form, as well the project’s contribution to the field of multimedia scholarship)
• Brief biography of each applicant, highlighting qualifications and
experience relevant to this fellowship
• Full CV for each applicant
• Anticipated resource requirements (design, technical, hardware,
software, exhibition, etc.)
• Projected timeline
• Sample media if relevant (URL, CD, DVD, VHS, Mini-DV).

Electronic submissions are preferred to:
[email protected]
Mailing address:
Vectors Summer Fellowships
Annenberg Center for Communication
746 W. Adams Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90089-7727

Priority will be given to applications received by April 4, 2005.
Fellowship recipients will be notified in late April.

Additional Information
For additional information about Vectors and the Vectors Summer Fellowship
Program, please visit: http://www.annenberg.edu/vectors
Questions may be directed to Associate Editor Steve Anderson
[email protected]