The North Carolina Middle School Journal (NCMSJ) is a peer-reviewed journal of the North Carolina Middle School Association that is opening a new branch of its publication offerings that is designed to include all of the media options in standard use on the Web. This new branch has begun with the title of emonographs, with other formats to follow. NCMSJ is seeking compositions for a second series of emonographs, digital compositions that incorporate the wide-ranging media of the Web. The journal is seeking digital compositions that articulate and advance 21st century literacy, the vision and goals of This We Believe middle grades principles and the ISTE NETS standards for educators. This includes research techniques, viewpoints, reviews or research findings. This includes the use of any and all mixes and degrees of combinations of elements of the digital palette (below right) that communicate ways to improve and advanced education in the middle grades.

Our working definition of literacy is the ability to understand and compose what goes on a page. For the 21st century, the Web has transformed the definition of a page. Through NCMSJ's promotion of the Web's mixed media compositions, NCMSJ hopes to further promote the literacy of the 21st century with teachers and their students. The digital palette refers to the media now in common use across the pages of the Web as represented by the labeled areas in the clickable graphic to the right. This includes the capacity to compose with software for the creation and communication of text, images, video, sound, 2D animation, 3D animation, sensors and robotics, interactive compositions that range from comment boxes to video gaming designs and online team collaborations. We expect that there will come a time when authors may well include all of these options in a single composition, but as those who have learned to publish for the Web know, a single composition could involve dozens of files and more in different media formats. We understand that as a nation and a world, educators are in various stages of professional development in building their own literacy ability across this range of media so any pairing and beyond of text and other digital media are sought.

The could include a range of compositions across research focused quantitative and qualitative studies, case studies and more. The first emonograph series is but one possible model for digital scholarly expression that provides links to references that support the ideas and conjectures of an article. We believe that it is far too early to expect a uniform design or format from one volume to the next. At this stage we are far more interested in pushing the envelope of expressive possibilities. We invite your creativity, innovation and digital integration. A variety of models and formats needs to be explored and studied. This is also an excellent opportunity to team. That is, such compositions could include single author to hybrid combinations of multiple educator and student coauthor contributions, with different authors specializing in different media.

It is also likely that educators may have a concept and vision for a composition but lack sufficient digital technology skills to complete all of the idea. We would like to discuss such work with you. Our time and/or our skills may or may not be up to the task but we can often suggest intermediate ways to reach the composition goal while all of us grow our digital literacy skills.

Submission Deadline

We would like to begin working with authors now. Given sufficient interest, the next e-monograph series will come out in 2011.

Guidelines for Contributors

Material submitted for publication should be coherent, understandable, and interesting. NCMSJ will not consider compositions that have already been published or are being considered by other journals. Text should be written in American or British English with consistent language throughout. Please review spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, and the mechanical elements of text prior to submission. Acknowledge any external funding sources used to support your work.

Though this is a state journal, NCMSJ will publish authors from any point on the globe that contribute to the agendas of the middle school educators of North Carolina.

The e-monograph series is interested in:

Research Articles

The eMonograph series provides a unique way for authors to used multiple media to better tell their story whether qualitative or quantitative. Such work must connect the research to a theoretical base and provide explicit discussion that promotes generalization to the field.

Promising Practices

Use multiple media to create original presentations about institutional policies or instructional practices that will advance the preparation of future teachers and/or the professional development of practicing teachers and administrators. Such work must connect the research to a theoretical base and provide explicit discussion that promotes generalization to the field.

Interactive Archived Compositions

This is an intentional vague category as interaction on the Web has great variability. In general the concept is to use some Web technology for recording an online event and then provide monitoring of follow-up interaction through posted comments or other means for some period of time before additional contributions are ended. Contact the editor with your proposed idea for guidance.

Composition Preparation

Web-based compositions including any combination of text and media should also include references in APA format. Compositions including the fullest/widest possible range of media are encouraged, but any pairings of text and other media are also encouraged. The central threading of the ideas could be led by any media. That is, the entire submission might be in 2D animation with links out to other media, including accompanying text with bibliography. Before actual publication, authors will sign an agreement that all copyright of items belongs to them and/or provide proof of clearance on the use of media copyrighted by others of those files are a part of the submitted folder of files. We expect that the total size of the files could become a problem with our servers capacity to store and distribute it. We hope that our limits on length discussed below will be sufficient. If not the editor(s) will be in touch on ways to reduce the overall footprint of the associated files.

Format and Style

Bibliography: Your article's citations which form the bibliography connect your ideas with the prior work of others who have been thinking about your topic and concerns. The text component including bibliography must conform to APA standards as outlined in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (6th ed., 2009). Please do not remove your name in the reference section or throughout the references in the paper. Do not use (Author, 2005).

Media File Formats: Use whatever media you have. The future of the Web and its Web browsers is HTML5 so the editors may convert some of your files where needed before publication to the emerging definition of HTML5 standards for media.

Length: For mixed media Web compositions, this is much more challenging to measure than pure text which can use a word count boundary for length. Authors should build toward the idea of a 30 minute experience for the reader. For example, this 30 minute time range should include the time to read any text, watch associated videos, listen to audio and or work through some aspects of an interactive event or game. Significantly longer time commitments should be broken into smaller self-contained units that can be published in a series.

Title Sheet/Cover Page: A separate Web page titled Cover Page should be included that includes the lead author's contact information. This file will be removed from the folder that is sent to reviewers. All compositions are blind reviewed so be certain that all identifying information has been removed including the authors' employers and personal names from all associated Web pages and media. Upon successful approval for publications, these will need to be re-inserted.

Media: Associated media such as images, audio and video sheet where at all possible need to be of the best quality for transmission over the Web. There are always a series of compromises with such efforts. Authors are asked to do their best, but the review process will have the final say as to the suitability and may ask for a re-submission if a particular media is not up to par for professional publication. We recognize that "par" is a fuzzy concept on the Web.

Submission Process

There are multiple ways to accomplish this.

One approach to submit a composition for consideration is to send the Web address of the work in progress to the editor's email address below. After the editor's review for Web suitability and functionality, the editor may direct the author to upload a folder with all files relevant to the composition to the editor through a variety of different means depending on the size the files involved. All identifying information at this stage must be removed from the submission. Compositions that do not meet submission requirements will be deleted from any of our editorial systems.

A second approach is to put the associated files in a folder on a Flash drive and mail the Flash drive to the address below for NCMSJ eMonographs.

If you do not receive a confirmation email shortly after submission, please contact us immediately. The editor may decide for a variety of reasons to not accept the composition and suggest other ways to proceed.

Communication

Please feel free to contact the editorial staff for feedback regarding the suitability of an idea for digital composition, or for comments on early drafts of work. Direct your questions to:

Page version 1.15, January 15, 2011