Back when we first announced the plan to create MediaCommons, we speculated a bit about the kinds of texts that scholars might produce and discover within this network, including:

– electronic “monographs” (McKenzie Wark's GAM3R 7H30RY is a key model here), which will allow editors and authors to work together in the development of ideas that surface in blogs and other discussions, as well as in the design, production, publicizing, and review of individual and collaborative projects;

– electronic “casebooks,” which will bring together writing by many authors on a single subject — a single television program, for instance — along with pedagogical and other materials, allowing the casebooks to serve as continually evolving textbooks;

– electronic “journals,” in which editors bring together article-length texts on a range of subjects that are somehow interrelated;

– electronic reference works, in which a community collectively produces, in a mode analogous to current wiki projects, authoritative resources for research in the field;

– electronic forums, including both threaded discussions and a wealth of blogs, through which a wide range of media scholars, practitioners, policy makers, and users are able to discuss media events and texts can be discussed in real time. These nodes will promote ongoing discourse and interconnection among readers and writers, and will allow for the germination and exploration of the ideas and arguments of more sustained pieces of scholarly writing.

What we're wondering now is whether this covers your needs here. Which of these modes of publishing seem as though they'd be most productive for you? What does this list of suggestions leave out?

(In case it hasn't been made clear yet: these aren't just rhetorical questions designed to drive traffic here. We really need your input in order to design and produce the kind of network that can genuinely transform scholarly discourse. And beyond your input, we also need your help, for which we'll be asking soon.)

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