All dates are for this year, 2007---------- Abstract Deadline: April 10th (Articles: 3,000 - 7,000 words, refereed) (Small Articles: 1,000 - 3,000 words) (Reviews: 300 - 500 words) Notification of Successes: April 30th Submission Deadline: July 1st Publication: Mid-Late August Refractory: a Journal of Entertainment Media is a refereed, peer-reviewed, e-journal that explores the diverging and intersecting aspects of current and past entertainment media. The journal is published by the Cinema Studies Program, School of Culture and Communication, University of Melbourne. http://www.refractory.unimelb.edu.au/ ISSUE THEME: Meta-Materiality: Games, New Media, The Digital Launching as it did in 2002, The Refractory arrived on the scene just in time for its titular metaphor to get complicated, with the arrival of 'metamaterials' – artificial composites with negative refractive indices . When a wave phenomenon such as light travels between media, it changes speed and bends relative to the normal: refraction. But with just the right metamaterial, the positive refraction can be negated. The wave finds its stride – the straw in the glass looks straight – total refraction. This special issue of The Refractory aims to assess its central metaphor in relationship to games and new media with a focus on the materiality of their aesthetics, assemblages, ecologies, and networks. Some directions you may wish to consider are: - Real-world economics, class and power in games - Remediation, Adaptation, Cross-media Style and the Media's Metamateriality - Protocol, Code, Algorithms – the materiality of Digital Media - Re-representation of one medium by another: e.g. Videogame Emulations, Youtube - Arcades, public space, social mapping and locative media - Material genres: e.g. Game engines, middleware, blogs, - Mobile movements and the 'ludicity' of technology - Controller crises, free movement, and gestural remediation: e.g. Wii Sports - Who actually makes games? / A history of Tose studios - Piracy, free gaming, information control, DRM - New Media art and artistic intervention Editors: Christian McCrea // Cinema Studies Program, University of Melbourne Darshana Jayemanne // Literary Studies Program, University of Melbourne Thomas H. Apperley // Media and Communication Program, University of Melbourne All Enquires and Submissions: refractorygames@gmail.com Information for Submissions: --------------------------------------------- Abstracts should consist of a short paragraph outlining your intended approach. A short bio would also be appreciated, although anonymous heroes are welcome. Articles dealing generally with areas outlined in the home page may be submitted electronically as a rich text format document to our email address at: refractorygames@gmail.com The following disclaimer will appear on the front site: "All views expressed by the contributors to the website are those of the authors and not the Refractory (unless otherwise indicated)." NB. Although most contributions follow a standard publication format at this time, we also encourage contributors to make full and creative use of the hypertextual nature of the web. The form such contributions may take can be discussed with the editors. Images are possible (detail below), as well as off-site linking to videos, but be aware that we will have to add a further disclaimer of content at the top of your article's page. Copyright: The individual authors hold copyright. If material is re-published elsewhere it must include a statement that it was originally published by Refractory. The editors reserve the right to maintain permanent archival copies of all submissions. Images: Please include any images or other visual material with your submission. Note: In most circumstances, images cannot be included unless permission has been obtained from the copyright owner to reproduce them electronically. It is the obligation of the author to negotiate with the Refractory and obtain permission. Fair use obviously applies, but we appreciate caution in this regard. If you intend to use more than a handful of images from a source, an email to a copyright holder will usually give you usage rights. Style Guideline: Articles for Refractory should range from 3,000 to 7,000 words. These will be refereed - submission is no guarantee of acceptance. Articles for State of Play between 1,000 to 3,000 words. Reviews: should range from 300-500 words. Film and game titles are to be italicized. Films followed by the name of the director and year of the first screening in brackets after the first appearance of the title. Example: Minority Report (Steven Spielberg, 2002). Computer games followed by the name of the production company and year of release. Example: Phantasmagoria (Sierra On-Line, Inc., 1995) Articles should be referenced with footnotes: footnote markers are superscripted numerals, following punctuation. All sources must be cited in a consistent manner according to Chicago style criteria (in text version) and included in a bibliography. Citing Electronic Sources: Include Surname, First Name, "Title", original date and place of publication (if applicable), the url (for example, http://www.utopia.com), date accessed. Essay not submitted in this style will be returned. Please be gentle with your formatting. It may be pretty in Word, but for editors and website-uploaders, it is hell. For further information on referencing electronic sources see: http://www.libs.uga.edu/ref/chicago.html - the AUTHOR-DATE system