Currents announces new format and call for reviews.

We are excited to announce that Currents in Electronic Literacy is moving in a new direction. The Spring 2007 issue of Currents will focus on reviews. We believe that a journal based on reviews can be of much greater relevance to the field than our past models, which consisted of a few long articles supplemented by short book reviews. However, in this new model we will conceive of "reviews" more broadly. In addition to reviewing books, we are soliciting reviews of software, websites, blogs, conferences, parallel academic programs and pedagogical practices. We hope that the new version of Currents will point out emerging trends in the field of electronic literacy.

Spring 2007 Call for Reviews:

The upcoming issue will consider electronically-mediated social networking from two angles. On the one hand, how might such varied tools as podcasts, blogs, and even Facebook effectively communicate information both inside and beyond the classroom? On the other hand, how can these and other social networking tools help to create an environment that encourages students to participate more actively in the process of knowledge creation? For example, how might using wikis in the classroom help develop students' sense of ownership over their work?

Possible items for review within the theme of social networking:

Software and Webtools such as:

• Writely
• Writeboard
• del.icio.us
• flickr
• technorati
• ma.gnolia.com
• citeulike
• connotea
• facebook
• myspace
• Cyworld
• Podcasting
• SimTeach

Literature such as:

• The Economics of Attention: Style and Substance in the Age of Information by Richard Lanham
• Code V.2 by Lawrence Lessig
• JPod by Douglas Coupland
• The Wealth of Networks: How Social Production Transforms Markets and Freedom by Yochai Benkler
• The Wisdom of Crowds by James Surowiecki

Websites such as:

• Kairosnews
• Wikipedia
• Blogging Pedagogy
• The Blogora
• Academic Commons

Submissions should be approximately 1500 words for individual reviews and 2500 for omnibus reviews of multiple texts or applications. Submission deadline is January 15, 2007. Web-based multimedia reviews are welcome. For questions or to submit reviews email ejournal@lists.cwrl.utexas.edu. Currents in Electronic Literacy is an online publication of the Computer Writing and Research Laboratory at the University of Texas, Austin. Currents strives to provide a forum for the scholarly discussion of issues pertaining to electronic literacy, widely construed. In general, Currents publishes work addressing the use of electronic texts and technologies for reading, writing, teaching, and learning in fields including but not restricted to the following: literature (in English and in other languages), rhetoric and composition, languages (English, foreign, and ESL), communications, media studies, and education. Currents in Electronic Literacy (ISSN 1524-6493) http://currents.cwrl.utexas.edu.