''Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular'' is a

peer-reviewed Peer review is the evaluation of work by one or more people with similar competencies as the producers of the work ( peers). It functions as a form of self-regulation by qualified members of a profession within the relevant field. Peer review ...

online In computer technology and telecommunications, online indicates a state of connectivity and offline indicates a disconnected state. In modern terminology, this usually refers to an Internet connection, but (especially when expressed "on line" or ...

academic journal An academic journal or scholarly journal is a periodical publication in which scholarship relating to a particular academic discipline is published. Academic journals serve as permanent and transparent forums for the presentation, scrutiny, and ...

published by the USC School of Cinematic Arts. It was established in March 2005 and covers the

digital humanities Digital humanities (DH) is an area of scholarly activity at the intersection of computing or digital technologies and the disciplines of the humanities. It includes the systematic use of digital resources in the humanities, as well as the anal ...

, publishing work that "cannot exist in print". ''Vectors'' is recognized as an experimental precursor to the digital humanities, producing and publishing a range of highly interactive works of

multimedia Multimedia is a form of communication that uses a combination of different content forms such as text, audio, images, animations, or video into a single interactive presentation, in contrast to traditio ...

scholarship.Cathy N. Davidson and David Theo Goldber
''The Future of Thinking: Learning Institutions in a Digital Age'' (MIT Press 2010) pg. 285
/ref> Comparing ''Vectors'' with more traditional digital humanities publications, Patrick Svensson notes that, "''Vectors'', on the other hand, is clearly invested in the digital as an expressive medium in an experimental and creative way".Patrick Svensso

'

Digital Humanities Quarterly ''Digital Humanities Quarterly'' is a peer-reviewed open-access academic journal covering all aspects of digital media in the humanities. The journal is also a community experiment in journal publication. The journal is funded and published by the ...

'' Vol. 4 No. 1 (2010) The journal no longer actively produces projects or provides support to journal contributors but does accept completed submissions on a rolling basis.''Vectors'' Editorial Staf
"Submissions"
/ref> The

editors-in-chief An editor-in-chief (EIC), also known as lead editor or chief editor, is a publication's editorial leader who has final responsibility for its operations and policies. The highest-ranking editor of a publication may also be titled editor, managing ...

are Tara McPherson of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and Steve F. Anderson of the UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television.

Description

Five issues were produced between 2005 and 2007, each featuring six to eight works of original scholarship produced by the ''Vectors'' editorial and design staff in collaboration with a contributing scholar. After an hiatus of five years, publication resumed in 2012 and one issue each was published in 2012 and 2013. Published projects investigate diverse, interdisciplinary topics including

evidence Evidence for a proposition is what supports this proposition. It is usually understood as an indication that the supported proposition is true. What role evidence plays and how it is conceived varies from field to field. In epistemology, evidenc ...

indigenous communities Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

, women's

prisons A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, correct ...

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long his ...

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, and

worker's rights Labor rights or workers' rights are both legal rights and human rights relating to labor relations between workers and employers. These rights are codified in national and international labor and employment law. In general, these rights influen ...

. The journal states:

This investigation at the intersection of technology and culture is not simply thematic. Rather, Vectors is realized in multimedia, melding form and content to enact a second-order examination of the mediation of everyday life. Utilizing a peer-reviewed format and under the guidance of an international board, Vectors features submissions and specially-commissioned works moving- and still-images; voice, music, and sound; computational and interactive structures; social software; and much more.

Along with '' Kairos: A Journal of Rhetoric, Technology, and Pedagogy,'' ''Vectors'' is cited as an early effort to expand the forms of scholarly electronic publishing through, "multimodal texts, which make rich use of images, audio, video and other forms of computer-processed data, enabl ngauthors to interact in new ways with their objects of study, and to create rich models of complex process and ideas."Kathleen Fitzpatrick, ''Planned Obsolescence: Publishing, Technology, and the Future of the Academy.'' New York: NYU Press, 2011. (pg. 90) ''Vectors'' focus on interaction design, database structures, and use of

rich media Interactive media normally refers to products and services on digital computer-based systems which respond to the user's actions by presenting content such as text, moving image, animation, video and audio. Since its early conception, various fo ...

was unusual in online academic publishing of its time, where text with pictures was often the norm. However, the ''Vectors'' model was based on the belief that, " nceptualization is intimately tied in with implementation, design decisions often have theoretical consequences, algorithms embody reasoning, and navigation carries interpretive weight."N. Katherine Hayles, "How We Think: Transforming Power and Digital Technologies," in: Berry, D. M. (ed.), ''Understanding Digital Humanities'' (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) pp. 42-66.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://vectors.usc.edu/ Media studies journals Publications established in 2005 English-language journals University of Southern California Open Humanities Press academic journals