"New Criteria for New Media" Guidelines

Originally written as an internal guideline for the University of Maine's New Media Department, "New Criteria for New Media" describes revised promotion and tenure criteria for faculty working in New Media departments. Acknowledging the increased importance of digital scholarship and publication outside the closed network of peer-reviewed paper journals, this paper argues for the need for universities to support new models of research and discussion by rewarding those who publish in non-traditional avenues. Jon Ippolito posted this paper to Rhizome recently, but it also came out in the Winter 2009 issue of Leonardo and has been circulating elsewhere. When Networked_Performance posted "New Criteria for New Media", one commentator noted that universities in the UK have long honored academics in new media and understand that many of them produce their work online. Perhaps this document is more specific to the American university system and certain pockets that exist within it, such as the University of Maine. The title of Ippolito's Rhizome post is "Prod your university into the 21st century" and no doubt some prodding is due here in the United States. For one radical approach, check Mark C. Taylor's "End the University as We Know It".