What an intriguing topic for a special issue! In our almost-completed database of machine vision in art, games and narratives<https://machine-vision.no>, we have lots of superheros - superheros are really into using image recognition, facial recognition, holograms and so on. The works aren’t tagged by “superhero” but you could search for superhero or Marvel or browse titles to find them. We’ve only looked at visual data - machine vision - so miss out on a lot of ways superheros use data in general. I was also thinking of how Nnedi Okorafor’s “Lagoon” arguably has superheros (the alien-enhanced people) as does her “The Book of Phoenix”, but there’s a lot less data and digitality in those africanfuturist enhanced humans than in Marvel. (We only found one instance of ma Anyway, if anyone is interested in using data from our machine vision database to explore superheros and machine vision data (or to use the data in any other way) please get in touch as we would love collaborators and have more data than we can use, and some resources to support such collaborations as well. And good luck, Sarah and Freyja, with what looks like a fascinating special issue! Jill Get Outlook for iOS<https://aka.ms/o0ukef> ________________________________ From: Air-L <air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org> on behalf of Sarah Young <smjacks4@asu.edu> Sent: Thursday, September 23, 2021 9:29:47 PM To: air-l@listserv.aoir.org <air-l@listserv.aoir.org> Subject: [Air-L] Digital Superheroes Call for Papers Hi All, This call for chapters might be of interest to some on this list. The Digital Age of Superheroes: Superheroes and Data Superhumans have long been leading stars of popular culture, from their inception as the masked vigilantes of the early 1900s to the recent blockbuster Marvel and DC film series and accompanying media. With the recent closure of Marvel’s Phase 3, and the seemingly unavoidable permeation of superhero genre elements to a variety of visual media, it is an apt time to look back on the genre’s explosion to prominence over the last decade. Following Peter Coogan’s proposal that superhero texts constituted a genre of its own, the superhero’s connection to nationalism (Dittmer, 2013; Murray, 2011), identity (Robbins, 1996; Brown, 2011; Easthope, 1990), mythology (Reynolds, 1992; Eco, 1972), and fan culture (Jenkins, Shresthova, Kligler-Vilenchik, and Gamber-Thompson, 2016. Brown, 2012) has been explored. The development of the superhero may be charted through its engagement in different posthuman expressions (Jeffery, 2016), and focus on social developments (Gibson, Ormrod, and Huxley, 2015). In reacting to the zeitgeist, or prevailing focus, of an era, the superhero has previously fought Nazis, participated in Cold War tensions, and addressed the careful balance of government oversight and civilian independence following acts of terrorism and subsequent legislation. How, though, are superheroes reacting to our zeitgeist, the age of digital media? How have superheroes adapted to this new world, and how might they help us understand it and our place within it? While superheroes as depicted in comics, film, and television are popular scholarly areas of inquiry, less attention has been paid to the intersection of the digital and the superhuman. Digital elements not only provide the tools or backdrops for the superhero, digital pieces can also permeate and compose the superhuman body. Superhumans can be digital themselves, their stories are increasingly delivered in digitized ways, and their use of technology can be prominent features of their superhero identity (e.g. Iron Man, Batman). We invite article abstracts on the theme of digital superheroes and their relationship with the internet and data to form a collection of essays addressing this unexplored intersection. We are particularly interested in topics that explore: - Digital superhumans - Transmedia/platform superhuman storytelling - Superhero video games - Digital distribution of superhuman genres - Importance and use of new/digital media and digital media aesthetics in superhuman genres (how do these effects change the ethos of the super?) - Superhero fan cultures and the internet - Surveillance and/or privacy and the superhuman. - Hauntology of the web and its expression in superhero texts. - Connection, community, and crisis We encourage contributions from all disciplines and interdisciplinary approaches as we aim to address a wide spectrum of angles on this intersection. Article abstracts of 300 words and a short author biography should be submitted to freyja.mccreery@york.ac.uk and sarahyoung@arizona.edu by 5pm GMT on Friday 19th November 2021 with the subject line “SuperData”. Manuscripts of approximately 5000 words will be due the following June 2022. Many thanks, Sarah Young Adjunct Instructor, University of Arizona School of Information _______________________________________________ The Air-L@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://www.aoir.org/