Volume 2 Issue 1 (2009) DOI:10.1349/PS1.1938-6060.A.342
Issue Introduction
Mark Williams
This issue is dedicated in loving memory to Anne Friedberg: friend, mentor, and member of the Editorial Board, who succumbed to cancer earlier this fall. We send deep condolences to her family and colleagues.
I met Anne when she joined the Ed Board for The Quarterly Review of Film Studies (for which I was Managing Editor), and recall the combination of precision and inclusiveness that she brought to a discussion that led to re-naming the journal The Quarterly Review of Film and Video. Those discussions and several chats that followed were important influences on my scholarly trajectories, and Anne's major publications, including Window Shopping: Cinema And The Postmodern (1993) and The Virtual Window: From Alberti To Microsoft (2006), have made indelible impressions on Media Studies and several other fields as well. I remain grateful to Anne for the impact she made on our field, and on me personally. She will be greatly missed.
After a too-long break between issues, we are pleased to publish this innovative and provocative new set of scholarship and theoretical exchange, featuring work on e-Media from television to Kindles to machinima.
As inaugurated in our previous issue, the entries labeled as Essays consist of new scholarship that is blind peer-reviewed. Among this excellent work, the final three texts (by Sangari, Classen, and Fuqua) represent the first presentation of related entries to be published in the Journal: three essays about catastrophe and television that have been revised and expanded from their original presentation at the May, 2006 Console-ing Passions plenary session.
We are also very pleased to present a playful, rigorous, and insightful Conversation between Scott Bukatman and Vivian Sobchack, a veteran figure in methodologies of phenomenology in Media Studies.
Working Theory is a new category in this issue, designating a blend between a "working paper," meant to elicit collegial feedback, plus a concerted demonstration of new media theory in praxis. Thanks and kudos to Lori Landay for her inventive and dedicated efforts on this project.
The issue would not exist without the help of talented students who have worked on it in various capacities: Trent Carden provided most of the mark-up; Amanda Cohen and Dylan Leavitt served as copy-editors; Dylan also web-enhanced most all of the issue; and Ziye Lin worked as a production assistant on specific entries.
With express support from the Dartmouth College Library, we have streamlined our production process to ensure more regular publication. Thanks once again to Librarian of the College Jeff Horrell and Associate Librarian for Information Management David Seaman for their confidence and support.
Special thanks to Barbara DeFelice, who has overseen the new system of operation at the Library, and who also contributed her skills with html when necessary. Matt Fisken and Sarah Tischer Scully provided crucial web video support, and Paul Merchant was always available for problem-solving. Thanks also to Jo Knowles for additional copy-editing.
Lastly, we acknowledge our authors for their talent, insight, and occasional patience. Have a happy and healthy holiday season!
Hanover, New Hampshire
December, 2009