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<p class="MsoNormal">Hi everyone - submissions are now open for our 'cute' issue, with articles due by 28 Feb. 2014. The journal release date is 30 Apr. 2014<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Please contact us for further information or to submit a proposal at the following address: cute@journal.media-culture.org.au.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 9 Dec. 2013<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> M/C - Media and Culture<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> http://www.media-culture.org.au/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> is calling for contributors to the 'cute' issue of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> M/C Journal<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> http://journal.media-culture.org.au/<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">M/C Journal is inviting new contributors. Founded in 1998, M/C is a<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">crossover journal between the popular and the academic, and a blind- and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">peer-reviewed journal. Our Website at http://journal.media-culture.org.au/<http://journal.media-culture.org.au/provides><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">provides open access to all past issues.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">To find out how and in what format to contribute your work, visit<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">http://journal.media-culture.org.au/index.php/mcjournal/about/submissions.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Call for Papers: 'cute'<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> Edited by James Meese and Ramon Lobato<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cute content is a fundamental but under-researched component of the Internet<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">economy. Millions of people around the world start their day with videos of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">kittens, puppies and meerkats. Recent years have seen the rise of global<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">animal brands, such as Maru and Grumpy Cat, along with new talent agencies<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for this purpose. Online portal I Can Haz Cheezburger has received millions<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">of dollars in venture capital funding, becoming a diversified media business<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">in its own right. YouTube channels, Twitter hashtags and blog rolls form an<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">infrastructure across which a vast amount of cute-themed user-generated<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">content, as well as an increasing amount of commercially produced and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">branded material, now circulates.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Cute content can also be understood as an aesthetic tradition. Tracing the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">history of animal imagery leads us to a range of practices - kitsch<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">portraiture, stock photography, greeting card imagery - as well as newer<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">online spaces, such as the 4chan message boards, which have resignified the<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">captioned cat pic as a geek subcultural practice. Approaching cute content<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as a sphere of contemporary cultural production raises a number of questions<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for analysis. How can we contextualise digital cute content within a longer<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">history of mediated human-animal interactions? What is the nature of animal<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">celebrity and stardom? What textual forms does online cute imagery take in<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">different national and regional contexts?<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">This issue of M/C Journal invites contributions interested in exploring<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">'cute' as a mode of textual production and as a sector of the Internet<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">economy. Possible topics to be addressed include, but are not limited to,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">the following:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Histories of animal imagery in digital and pre-digital contexts<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* The specificity of particular national and regional cute cultures<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Authorship and genre in cute content<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* The political economy of cute content<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Intellectual property and attribution disputes<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Case studies of animal celebrities, memes, and cute portals<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">* Comparative perspectives on cute cultures<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Prospective contributors should email an abstract of 100-250 words and a<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">brief biography to the issue editors. Abstracts should include the article<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">title and should describe your research question, approach, and argument.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Biographies should be about three sentences (maximum 75 words) and should<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">include your institutional affiliation and research interests. Articles<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">should be 3000 words (plus bibliography). All articles will be refereed and<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">must adhere to MLA style (6th edition).<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Article deadline: 28 Feb. 2014<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Issue release date: 30 Apr. 2014<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">M/C Journal was founded (as "M/C - A Journal of Media and Culture") in 1998<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">as a place of public intellectualism analysing and critiquing the meeting of<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">media and culture. Contributors are directed to past issues of M/C Journal<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">for examples of style and content, and to the submissions page for<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">comprehensive article submission guidelines. M/C Journal articles are blind<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">peer-reviewed.<o:p></o:p></p>
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