SCMSTV Online Directory

Action Committees Formed at SCMS-Vancouver
Seven new committees were constituted at our meeting in Vancouver around specific action items, and one was proposed. Below are the names of the current chairs and volunteers. But we need more help. Please email the chair to add your name to the list.

1. Media Policy Committee—Jason Mittell, chair
As reported by Jason, SCMS hopes to take a more activist role in policy, and an organization-wide committee has been formed for this purpose, working primarily on intellectual property, copyright, and fair use; this group hopes to issue policy statements for the organization, updating Kristin Thompson’s document; wants to support testimony and amicus briefs; hopes to facilitate scholars who want to participate in policy initiatives

2. Current state of TV and New Media Studies—Tim Havens, chair
Formed in response to the “In Focus” piece in the Fall 2005 issue of CINEMA JOURNAL; purpose is to rethink both the place of non-film studies within academia and within SCMS. One idea is to plan a panel or plenary at the 2007 Chicago conference. Please e-mail Tim with ideas.

3. Issues in Scholarly Publication of TV Studies Research—Amanda Lotz, chair
Purpose is outline places to publish and strategies for publishing TV work. Possible panel for 2007 Chicago conference; e-mail Amanda with ideas.

4. Non-US TV Studies—Tim Havens and Sharon Shahaf, co-chairs
Purpose is to bring attention to non-US television studies, to encourage greater sensitivity in SCMS panel composition in regard to non-US TV studies, and to encourage more international television scholars to come to SCMS

5. Scholar/Intellectual in the Public Sphere—Marsha Cassidy, chair
Should SCMS generate an experts list? Should SCMS pursue more press coverage of its Chicago conference—and, if so, how?

6. Conference Events in Chicago, 2007—John McMurria and Amanda Lotz, co-chairs
Brainstorm interesting events, places, speakers, tours, etc. for next year’s conference.

7. Sound and Popular Music—Norma Coates, chair

8. Scholarship, Grants, and Awards
Is there interest in forming a committee? Please volunteer by e-mailing Marsha Cassidy or post ideas on the listserv.

Committee Members Needed
The steering committee strongly encourages our members, especially senior faculty, to nominate themselves for the organization's various committees, particularly the Executive Council, Nominating Committee, and Program Committee.

Please note that in addition to being selected by the Nominating Committee, candidates for the Executive Council may be nominated by a minimum of twenty-five (25) SCMS members. We strongly encourage those members who are interested in running to ask for this group's endorsement well before the election.

If anyone is interested in serving on the 2006 Program Committee, please contact Krin Gabbard at kgabbard@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. We encourage members who want to serve on other SCMS committees to contact the new president, Stephen Prince (sprince@vt.edu), to express such interest.

Suggestions Needed for 2006 Plenaries
The steering committee encourages our members to propose TV and other non-film media scholars for the 2006 meeting’s plenary sessions. The conference's theme is "media and the Americas." Please submit those to Mary Kearney (mkearney@mail.utexas.edu), and we'll pass along all suggestions as a group to the Executive Council and Program Committee.

Standing Committee on Media Policy and Scholarship
In an effort to involve the larger organization in various media policy initiatives (such as fair use and intellectual property), Jason Mittell proposed at the London 2005 meeting the formation of a separate standing committee on media policy. Anyone interested in working with Jason on this proposal should contact him directly (jmittell@middlebury.edu).

Publicity and Public Scholarship Issues
In the interest of helping SCMS do more in the area of publicity, Marsha Cassidy proposed at the London 2005 meeting that the organization hire someone to do publicity. She also proposed a workshop on public scholarship for the Vancouver 2006 meeting. If anyone is interested in working with Marsha on these proposals, please contact her directly (mcassidy@uic.edu).

Spring 2002

NEW E-JOURNAL

Mark Williams (mark.j.williams@dartmouth.edu) has begun discussions on starting up an on-line journal of television and new media studies (based at Dartmouth), and he sees this group as the primary contributors to its design and content. In other words, we can help create a new, peer-reviewed journal geared around television and new media studies.

Mark is spearheading this effort, and he welcomes your design and organizational ideas, your tech skills, and (most importantly) your scholarship. Please get in touch with Mark or with Jason Mittell (jmittell@middlebury.edu) to move this idea forward.

At the SCS2002 Group meeting, the general consensus was that the working group system should be revised (see the meeting notes for an explanation). Rather than having broad categorical working groups, we now plan to have project-specific groups. The old working groups are listed below for historical interest.

We need to radically change our core focus away from an ethnocentric US-based media focus and approach television and broadcasting from an internationalist perspective without privileging the American model. This will involve putting much institutional effort into actively recruiting and involving TV scholars globally, especially those from non-English-speaking areas; this move will affect all of the other initiatives by increasing the international scope and breadth of scholarship, panels, and articles and providing alternative cultural perspectives and issues as well as comparative media studies; incorporating international and comparative perspectives into our textbooks and course curricula, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels; working to procure an accessible archive of international television texts and support materials for teaching and research.

This working group will focus its attention towards nurturing and providing space for television studies scholarship: setting up systems for mentoring and networking on a global level; conference program planning (panels, workshops) at SCS and also in other conferences; establishing connections with other professional organizations that support television and media studies; supporting existing publications and creating new ones that provide opportunities for publishing TV scholarship; providing resources to help grad students on the job market.

This working group will focus on collecting and developing resources for TV Studies pedagogy, both within larger programs and as a specialized program focus; crafting new models and resources for TV studies curricula for departments and programs (including an expanded international focus); collecting models for course outlines; developing and sharing bibliographies and reading lists; encouraging development of textbooks and anthologies to support courses; providing support and rationale regarding the important place of media studies in the academy; providing web access to these resources.

This working group will focus its energies on the historic preservation and archiving of television texts and production records; forging stronger links with the television production communities (networks, cable, production companies) to encourage preservation; finding ways to make televisual texts more accessible for teaching and scholarship. This group should work closely with the international working group to extend preservation and archiving initiatives to include global media.

Working Group on Television, Politics and Activism
(Richard Edwards, redwards@usc.edu)

This group will be our link both to avenues of official media policy and to alternative forms of media expression. Roles might include forging links with the alternative media communities (as well as encouraging preservation and archiving the works of these producers); considering what activist roles SCSTV might play or support (one example might be with issues of racial, ethnic and gender representation in US television; another might deal with international implications of U.S. media imperialism; another might be working to establish a stronger presence with K-12 media literacy programs and secondary educators in media studies); and keeping SCSTV members informed of changing media policies internationally.


		SCMSTV ACTION ITEMS
Mission Statement Steering Committee Join SCMSTV Action Items Online Resources	Spring 2006 Action Committees Formed at SCMS-Vancouver Seven new committees were constituted at our meeting in Vancouver around specific action items, and one was proposed. Below are the names of the current chairs and volunteers. But we need more help. Please email the chair to add your name to the list. 1. Media Policy Committee—Jason Mittell, chair As reported by Jason, SCMS hopes to take a more activist role in policy, and an organization-wide committee has been formed for this purpose, working primarily on intellectual property, copyright, and fair use; this group hopes to issue policy statements for the organization, updating Kristin Thompson’s document; wants to support testimony and amicus briefs; hopes to facilitate scholars who want to participate in policy initiatives 2. Current state of TV and New Media Studies—Tim Havens, chair Formed in response to the “In Focus” piece in the Fall 2005 issue of CINEMA JOURNAL; purpose is to rethink both the place of non-film studies within academia and within SCMS. One idea is to plan a panel or plenary at the 2007 Chicago conference. Please e-mail Tim with ideas. 3. Issues in Scholarly Publication of TV Studies Research—Amanda Lotz, chair Purpose is outline places to publish and strategies for publishing TV work. Possible panel for 2007 Chicago conference; e-mail Amanda with ideas. 4. Non-US TV Studies—Tim Havens and Sharon Shahaf, co-chairs Purpose is to bring attention to non-US television studies, to encourage greater sensitivity in SCMS panel composition in regard to non-US TV studies, and to encourage more international television scholars to come to SCMS 5. Scholar/Intellectual in the Public Sphere—Marsha Cassidy, chair Should SCMS generate an experts list? Should SCMS pursue more press coverage of its Chicago conference—and, if so, how? 6. Conference Events in Chicago, 2007—John McMurria and Amanda Lotz, co-chairs Brainstorm interesting events, places, speakers, tours, etc. for next year’s conference. 7. Sound and Popular Music—Norma Coates, chair 8. Scholarship, Grants, and Awards Is there interest in forming a committee? Please volunteer by e-mailing Marsha Cassidy or post ideas on the listserv. Minutes of 2006 Vancouver SCMSTV Meeting Spring 2005 Committee Members Needed The steering committee strongly encourages our members, especially senior faculty, to nominate themselves for the organization's various committees, particularly the Executive Council, Nominating Committee, and Program Committee. Please note that in addition to being selected by the Nominating Committee, candidates for the Executive Council may be nominated by a minimum of twenty-five (25) SCMS members. We strongly encourage those members who are interested in running to ask for this group's endorsement well before the election. If anyone is interested in serving on the 2006 Program Committee, please contact Krin Gabbard at kgabbard@notes.cc.sunysb.edu. We encourage members who want to serve on other SCMS committees to contact the new president, Stephen Prince (sprince@vt.edu), to express such interest. Suggestions Needed for 2006 Plenaries The steering committee encourages our members to propose TV and other non-film media scholars for the 2006 meeting’s plenary sessions. The conference's theme is "media and the Americas." Please submit those to Mary Kearney (mkearney@mail.utexas.edu), and we'll pass along all suggestions as a group to the Executive Council and Program Committee. Standing Committee on Media Policy and Scholarship In an effort to involve the larger organization in various media policy initiatives (such as fair use and intellectual property), Jason Mittell proposed at the London 2005 meeting the formation of a separate standing committee on media policy. Anyone interested in working with Jason on this proposal should contact him directly (jmittell@middlebury.edu). Publicity and Public Scholarship Issues In the interest of helping SCMS do more in the area of publicity, Marsha Cassidy proposed at the London 2005 meeting that the organization hire someone to do publicity. She also proposed a workshop on public scholarship for the Vancouver 2006 meeting. If anyone is interested in working with Marsha on these proposals, please contact her directly (mcassidy@uic.edu). Minutes of 2005 London SCMSTV Meeting Spring 2002 NEW E-JOURNAL Mark Williams (mark.j.williams@dartmouth.edu) has begun discussions on starting up an on-line journal of television and new media studies (based at Dartmouth), and he sees this group as the primary contributors to its design and content. In other words, we can help create a new, peer-reviewed journal geared around television and new media studies. Mark is spearheading this effort, and he welcomes your design and organizational ideas, your tech skills, and (most importantly) your scholarship. Please get in touch with Mark or with Jason Mittell (jmittell@middlebury.edu) to move this idea forward. Spring 2002 At the SCS2002 Group meeting, the general consensus was that the working group system should be revised (see the meeting notes for an explanation). Rather than having broad categorical working groups, we now plan to have project-specific groups. The old working groups are listed below for historical interest. OLD WORKING GROUPS Working Group on International Television Studies (Aniko Bodroghkozy: aniko@gpu.srv.ualberta.ca and Philippe Meers: Philippe.Meers@rug.ac.be) We need to radically change our core focus away from an ethnocentric US-based media focus and approach television and broadcasting from an internationalist perspective without privileging the American model. This will involve putting much institutional effort into actively recruiting and involving TV scholars globally, especially those from non-English-speaking areas; this move will affect all of the other initiatives by increasing the international scope and breadth of scholarship, panels, and articles and providing alternative cultural perspectives and issues as well as comparative media studies; incorporating international and comparative perspectives into our textbooks and course curricula, at both the graduate and undergraduate levels; working to procure an accessible archive of international television texts and support materials for teaching and research. Working Group on Television Scholarship (Sarah Projansky: swprojansky@ucdavis.edu) This working group will focus its attention towards nurturing and providing space for television studies scholarship: setting up systems for mentoring and networking on a global level; conference program planning (panels, workshops) at SCS and also in other conferences; establishing connections with other professional organizations that support television and media studies; supporting existing publications and creating new ones that provide opportunities for publishing TV scholarship; providing resources to help grad students on the job market. SCSTV Program Development Subcommittee (Sharon Ross: rossarroyo@mail.utexas.edu and Sarah Projansky: swprojansky@ucdavis.edu) This subcommittee will define what "television studies" means to SCS members and will look at what types of television genres, approaches, and issues have been underrepresented or marginalized in SCS that an SCSTV program committee might encourage (suggestions have included advertising, journalistic programming, critical race issues, gender issues, aesthetic/textual analyses, political economy, media law and policy, cultural imperialism, television sound, popular music, non-American programs and industries, children's programming, intersections of TV with many other media, etc.). This committee will coordinate with the work of all the SCSTV working groups to assure that the annual SCS conference program includes panels, workshops, roundtables and screenings that represent the broader new vision for television studies in SCS. Working Group on Television and Media Pedagogy (Pam Wilson: wilsonpam@mindspring.com) This working group will focus on collecting and developing resources for TV Studies pedagogy, both within larger programs and as a specialized program focus; crafting new models and resources for TV studies curricula for departments and programs (including an expanded international focus); collecting models for course outlines; developing and sharing bibliographies and reading lists; encouraging development of textbooks and anthologies to support courses; providing support and rationale regarding the important place of media studies in the academy; providing web access to these resources. Working Group on Historic Television Preservation (Michael Kackman: mkackman@wppost.depaul.edu) This working group will focus its energies on the historic preservation and archiving of television texts and production records; forging stronger links with the television production communities (networks, cable, production companies) to encourage preservation; finding ways to make televisual texts more accessible for teaching and scholarship. This group should work closely with the international working group to extend preservation and archiving initiatives to include global media. Working Group on Television, Politics and Activism (Richard Edwards, redwards@usc.edu) This group will be our link both to avenues of official media policy and to alternative forms of media expression. Roles might include forging links with the alternative media communities (as well as encouraging preservation and archiving the works of these producers); considering what activist roles SCSTV might play or support (one example might be with issues of racial, ethnic and gender representation in US television; another might deal with international implications of U.S. media imperialism; another might be working to establish a stronger presence with K-12 media literacy programs and secondary educators in media studies); and keeping SCSTV members informed of changing media policies internationally. Working Group on Television and New Media (Tara McPherson: tmcphers@usc.edu and Mark Williams: mark.j.williams@dartmouth.edu)