Introduction: Transforming Scholarship through [in]Transition

Abstract

Introduction: Transforming Scholarship through [in]Transition Christine Becker (bio) With the Cinema Journal editorial team under Will Brooker nearing the end of its tenure, it is an appropriate time to look back on what we have accomplished over the past five years. Undoubtedly, the March 2014 launch and subsequent growth of [in]Transition: Journal of Videographic Film & Moving Image Studies, which developed out of a partnership between the MediaCommons digital scholarly network and Cinema Journal, is one of the most significant and potentially enduring achievements. From the start, Will Brooker set out to maintain Cinema Journal’s reputation as the top journal in the field of cinema and media studies while simultaneously expanding its sphere of influence beyond the printed page. The latter has been my job description as online editor, and, starting in the summer of 2012, together we brainstormed ways to cultivate digital satellites tied to Cinema Journal that would embody the scholarly and intellectual values that the journal and the Society for Cinema and Media Studies represented. Cinema Journal already had an online platform via library databases and the SCMS website, but those offered little more than virtual versions of the print materials. In our initial discussions, we envisioned much more: a podcast, high-resolution images and clips tied to articles, a supplement to In Focus that invited comments, an online revival of the Teaching Dossier feature, and timely reports on conferences and festivals. Brooker also conceived of the idea of open-access follow-up essays from Cinema Journal authors, thereby turning the limitation of publishing’s slow process into a bonus by inviting retrospective reflection. Most fundamentally, Brooker expressed that he wanted to foster dialogue, connections, and conversation through these efforts as a way to transcend the [End Page 126] restrictions of the print medium.1 Also, while we respected the financial imperative requiring the contents of the journal itself to remain largely available to subscribers only, we realized that with online content came the possibility of open access and the corresponding potential for a wider public reach. Those familiar with Cinema Journal over the past few years will recognize that we made good on many of these promising ideas, such as with the Aca-Media podcast, the Afterthoughts & Postscripts series on the SCMS website, the Cinema Journal Teaching Dossier series at TeachingMedia.org, and In Focus weeks at In Media Res. We had similar ambitions for supporting videographic work, but it was a foreign world to us. While the scholarly intentions of a video essay might be similar to those of a print essay, the challenge was in conceiving what kind of platform could best host videographic content and how such scholarship could be evaluated in ways comparable to the long-accepted high standards of print publication that Cinema Journal represented, especially given that none of us had ever produced or evaluated work of this sort. Continuing his aim to turn limitations into advantages, Brooker sent me an email in 2013 with advice on how to proceed: The video essay concept is complex and I don’t think any of us are especially expert in the field, so my feeling is it would be better to take our time, consult widely, and invite discussion (maybe even an SCMS workshop to discuss it?) so we make sure we do it right. It would be unfortunate for us to venture into an area that a lot of people feel strongly about, and know a lot about, and which is perhaps quite new to us, and impose our ideas rather than be guided by others.2 I quote this personal email at length because I think it effectively pinpoints why our online ventures have been such a success: we sought the help of expert, passionate partners throughout the SCMS membership to execute the ideas we thought were most worthy for Cinema Journal to pursue. Unbeknownst to us at the time of Brooker’s email, a number of SCMS members were already working toward starting an online journal devoted to video essays. Jason Mittell’s essay in this collection explains how they then contacted me, and this seemed like the perfect fulfillment of Brooker’s suggestion. We could let...