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Undergraduate Journal

Department of Writing & Rhetoric Studies

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Call for Papers

Deadline: January 15, 2024

The Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Issues and Media examines issues that are relevant across global contexts, though they may be uniquely identified and experienced by individuals and groups. The on-line journal publishes a wide range of media/texts showcasing different perspectives and ideas. Both traditional and nontraditional media will be represented:

  • Essays, opinion and nonfiction texts, including research
  • Short and flash fiction, poetry, zines
  • Podcasts, music, soundscapes
  • Art, film, infographics, photography

Our goal is to provide a forum for creative and informative perspectives that educate, compel, and move. We request submissions that are mindful and provocative. They do not have to be completed drafts but can be drafts that could use an editorial eye. In other words, we are happy to work with those who submit to bring their contribution to fruition. Should your submission be selected to be included in the journal, please be prepared to engage in the editing process with our editors. The journal is open to all undergraduates in any field.

Theme/Issue for Next Volume's Submissions

 

What’s This Thing, ChatGPT?
 
Large language models, including AI chatbots like ChatGPT, have quickly become part of our communication practices. These natural language processing technologies have forever transformed human-computer interaction, and conversational Artificial Information (AI) systems are more advanced and human-like than ever before. As a result, we are confronted with new questions about the interrelationships between humans and technologies and how these tools may both improve and threaten our current modes of discourse and communication.
 
We invite submissions interrogating the information contexts being shaped by ChatGPT and related tools. Possible lines of inquiry include the following:                                                                                                                
 
  • How do machines enable and limit us?
  • What is the role of ChatGPT in higher education?
  • How can a technology like ChatGPT be used for good in society?
  • What does creativity mean in the age of AI?
  • How do current technologies create biases?
  • What are the ethical implications of composing with AI?
  • How might AI tools both afford and constrain opportunities for marginalized individuals and groups?
 
Feel free to engage with ChatGPT to draft an essay, write a poem, conduct research, create a piece of art, or a comic, etc. as you answer one of these questions or a question of your own that deals with technology and machines in culture and society. Where does the technological end and the human begin?
 
Full disclosure: the writer of this Call for Papers (CFP) used ChatGPT to help draft it and then added, deleted, and revised.

 

Submission Information

Our deadline is flexible in that submissions are accepted on a rolling basis, with a final deadline of January 15th of every year. Submissions should be sent to: undergraduatejournal@utah.edu. Submissions will be blind peer-reviewed. The journal is annually published the following January on WorldCat.

Formatting

  • MP3 for sound;
  • MP4 for filmic;
  • jpg for photography;
  • Arial 12-pt for traditional texts (we have no required fonts/sizes for creative texts).

Note

Please make sure to complete the Institutional Review Board Process at your institution or receive signed permissions from your participants if doing research with people. Also, be mindful of copyright when using photographs or other work from the internet or social media.

JOURNAL ARCHIVES

For more information, contact Maureen Mathison.

Last Updated: 12/13/23