Media in Transition: The Stories We Tell, The Futures We Imagine 

Edited by: Sangita Shresthova and Alfonso Hegde

Call for Submissions

Is artificial intelligence inevitable? Will it usher in a new era of creativity? Will it actually completely automate away all human creativity? How much agency do we have over AI? Is this the death of the author? Is this the end of original creative expression as we know it?  

While these questions reflect uncertainties we face around the rise of AI in the current moment, they also echo and build on hopes and fears raised in the past, prompting us to ask: What can we learn from other moments of media transition and how may these insights inform how we engage with the current moment. 

To be clear, technological change is nothing new to media-making. From the printing press, to the rise of radio, and the internet, media has been, will likely always be, in transition. To help us understand this and other moments in media transition and the imaginations they inspire, this book invites contributions that engage the complex and at times contradictory narratives we deploy to collectively make sense of moments when media technologies shift, including the current rise of artificial intelligence. By inviting articles that examine both historical and contemporary narratives, this collection uses a dialogic and case study based framework to help us understand how artists, audiences, communities, and industries continually negotiate the meaning and impact of new media technologies and how these shape our shared imaginations. 

We encourage prospective contributors to consider submitting case studies that help us unpack the narratives that surround new media technologies in relation to frames, such as:

Narratives Around Labor and Economic Reconfigurations (to be edited by Alfonso Hegde)

• Where do concerns around automation and threats to creative work reveal themselves in your case?

• Rather than automate work entirely, how do technology transitions reconfigure the types of work being performed and the conditions under which that work takes place in creative industries?

• How do technologies become characterized as “stealing” art or enabling the wide scale of theft of individually owned creative expression?

Narratives Around Creativity, Collaboration, and Co-Production (to be edited by Henry Jenkins)

• How are new media technologies sold as creative co-producers, enhancing the creative capacity of artists?

• In what ways does your case challenge conventional understandings of what is an author and what is an owner in the sense that it disrupts societal norms of what it means to be creative and whether that can be maintained through changing technological times?

• What do we mean when we describe visually-generative AI byproducts as “Machine Art”? As “Stolen Art”? How do these phrases fit into larger histories of artistic merit and ethics?

Narratives Around Resistance, Subversion, Repurposing (to be edited by Sangita Shresthova)

• How does your case reveal the phenomenon of “jerryrigging”, where users are presented as a ragtag group of rebels, pushing a particular technology beyond or using a tool against the intended use?

• How does your technology reveal processes of trial and error, where its implementation may happen in a more jagged “stop and go” style process, iterating and building over time instead of becoming widely applicable in a very straightforward way?

• How have the critics of your technology been sold to the public as naive, tech illiterate simpletons who are fighting the inevitability of innovation and “progress”?

Narratives Around Global Circulation, Cultural Politics (to be edited by William Uricchio)

• How have technologies been discussed through the lens of globalization, and the global export of either creative work and creative products?

• How do technologies potentially threaten through commodification or enable through democratization the folkloric traditions of art as an iterative, collaborative, communal practice?

We welcome case studies that engage these narratives around diverse technologies including generative AI, the phonograph/turntable, live and recorded performance, video game devices, CGI/VFX, technicolor, synchronized sound, 3D animation, organic film, digital video formats, cassettes, CDs, DVDs, and any other format that is applicable to media production.

We believe these narratives matter. They are not just commentaries —they are expressions of what we call civic imagination, which we define as the capacity to imagine alternatives to current cultural, social, political, or economic conditions. We see the civic imagination as a force with power, and as a civic arena where serious issues can be explored, critiqued, and aspirational futures can be crafted through, among other things, the stories and narratives we perceive, tell, share and create. Whether we are talking about artificial intelligence or computer generated imagery or new handheld gaming devices or the introduction of television sets, all forms of technology change within media have brought with them increasingly complex, overlapping, and varied interpretive frames that shape our collective civic imaginings of how these shifts will impact our shared futures. 

Strong preference will be given to scholarship which situates the current moment in relation to broader historical narratives and previous developments, taking insight from “when old media were new.” 

We aim to create a space for these conversations around narratives surrounding moments of media in transition. We are open to thought pieces, case studies, reflections, or historical accounts that provoke thought and reflection. Written submissions should adhere to the 5,000 word limit. 

Please use this form to submit a 300-500 word description of your piece and a brief 50 word bio by filling out this form before June 10, 2025 to be considered for publication. 

Abstracts will be reviewed by the end of August. Upon confirmation of acceptance, completed submissions will be expected on December 30, 2025. All submissions will undergo an anonymous peer review process. 

Because we value timeliness and accessibility, our goal is to publish this edited volume with Media Studies Press, a non-profit, scholar led publisher in the field of media studies. We will be submitting our proposal to the Press this summer. 

Contact shrestho(at)usc.edu and akhegde(at)usc.edu with questions.