In spring 2012, VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture published its first issue, themed ‘Making Sense of Digital Sources’. The issue came as a follow-up to the first international EUscreen conference, held at Cinecittà Luce in Rome in October 2010.
From the start, the journal showcased work on television history and culture in a European context. Most of this work emerged at the intersection of academic research and archival efforts made for the digitization of, and the online access to, audiovisual sources. The journal itself was the labour of an archival turn in European television historiography, one that brought attention to the visibility of audiovisual sources at the center stage of historical narratives. Interoperable access to television archives across national borders was deemed necessary for doing television history on a European scale. Television was showcased as a prime example of European cultural heritage. For all these reasons and more, cooperation between archives and academic research has always been at the heart of the VIEW journal. Over time, our editorial board brought together television scholars as well as broadcast archivists, each one of them with unique expertise on television histories and television heritage from across Europe. It was a deliberate gesture for the very first VIEW editorial board to draw upon active members of the European Television History Network and the EUscreen consortium. Various themed issues were dedicated to exploring the European side of television history. Issues such as ‘Europe on and Behind the Screens’, ‘European Television Memories’, ‘Television Histories in (Post)Socialist Europe’, ‘History of Private and Commercial Television in Europe’, ‘Race and European TV Histories’, ‘Television Satire in (Post)Socialist Europe’, or ‘Curation and Appropriation of Digital European Heritage’ have debated the many cultural, social and geopolitical lives of television across Europe. To this day, VIEW has remained inseparable from the communities of television scholars with a vested interest in audiovisual archives across Europe and broadcasts archivists active in making audiovisual archives available and accessible online.
Twelve and a half years is half way through a silver twenty-five-year anniversary and in some countries, such as where our publisher the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision is based, this calls for a jubilee. We use this celebratory opportunity to look back on what we have done so far and to think forward.
Editorial Mission
VIEW started out as the first peer-reviewed, multimedia and open access journal in the field of television history and television studies. It embraced an interdisciplinary profile, wanting to make space for varied perspectives on European television emerging from different disciplinary fields such as: television history and television studies, media studies, media sociology, media education, archival studies or cultural studies. At its core, the journal wanted to act in the field of European television history and historiography by:
crafting and curating a space for critical reflection on the cultural, social, economic and political role of television in Europe’s past and present, claiming television central role in Europe’s cultural heritage;
developing a multi-media platform where digitized audiovisual sources could be re-used and presented as part of historical narratives, challenging thus a long tradition of television research that had been based on the analysis of written sources;
building a community of scholars and archivists that made it possible to do and write television histories on a European scale, foregrounding transnational and European perspectives that went beyond the nation-centric televisions histories and archival access that guided television (and media) historiography until then.
These ways of acting and of positioning itself within the field of television history and historiography are still at the heart of VIEW’s current editorial practices and strategies. It has remained a core mission for VIEW to push the envelope on historical narratives that blend archival research and critical reflections with experimental forms of writing television history for digital spaces. For this reason, VIEW has been encouraging, and continues to encourage, authors to engage with modes of historical online storytelling, wherein audiovisual sources are no longer used as simple illustrations or relegated to footnotes, but visibly embedded and used as problematized evidence for the understanding of television.
Concomitantly, VIEW acknowledges that television histories and historiographies are the result of a shared labour. Scholarly expertise on television is as important as the work and knowledge of television archivists, be it that such archivists are part of archive institutions, of public service media and commercial networks, or are former television professionals who have collected, curated and shared their own historical records and knowledge of television. Some of our previous themed issues or commissioned articles have been dedicated to acknowledging the historical insights that emerge from inside professional and archival knowledge of television.
Last but not least, we are proud to offer Diamond Open Access to all our issues from the very start of the journal: thanks to the constant support by our publisher, the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, VIEW does not ask any publishing fees from its authors, and provides immediate free access to all the published papers.
Challenges
In the past twelve and a half years of the journal, we were able to make several considerations and meet several goals pertaining to our ambitions. One constant challenge has been the issue of copyrights. Embedded audiovisual material would often disappear from online spaces later on, which resulted in broken links across our publications. While the journal’s policy has been that authors retain the responsibility of clearing copyrights for their articles, such policy asked authors to act according to copyrights legislations or possibilities that they oftentimes were not knowledgeable about. VIEW editors together with their publisher, the Netherlands Institute for Sound & Vision, have assisted authors in navigating rather obfuscating copyright issues. Despite this, and considering the European scope of the journal, a much needed coherent and consistent strategy for using copyrighted material across national borders as part of open access online academic publications has lacked until recently.
At the same time, while VIEW has embraced experimental ways of narrating television history and has published audiovisual essays, interactive stories and articles showcasing rich audiovisual sources, we see further possibilities in the future for blazing the trail on online archive-based historical storytelling. For these future possibilities, our kinship with the community of archivists dedicated to making audiovisual archives available and accessible online, will remain greatly important to us.
Thinking Forward
With an eye on continuing to experiment with multimedia television histories and with different forms of online storytelling, we have been doing an in-house reorganization of our submission formats, journal sections and editorial practices.
Starting with issue 28, each VIEW issue will include a Themed Section as well as an Open Section. Themed Sections will be built around specific calls for abstracts, and will continue the monographic tradition of the journal. Open Section submissions must have a European focus and engage with topics that are relevant for television history and television studies more broadly. VIEW editors, in collaboration with the journal managers, will make a first assessment of the open submissions, before sending them further to expert reviewers. The responsible editors will discuss with the author(s) the timeline for publication for each open submission. Preferred deadlines for open submissions will be posted regularly on our website.
For both the Themed and the Open Section, VIEW Journal of European Television History and Culture welcomes two different submission formats. Both formats will be peer reviewed and distinguish themselves mainly by their length and depth of investigation:
Academic research articles and audiovisual essays
These contributions can be theoretically informed, and/or have a strong empirical and methodological focus. These contributions should have a European focus and can use a variety of approaches, including historical, medial, semiotic, sociological, pedagogical and anthropological approaches to television. Customary length for research articles is 5000-6000 words, however, shorter and longer articles are accepted as long as they remain web-friendly and make use of embedded audiovisual sources. Audiovisual essays will normally be 15-20 minutes long and be accompanied by a short introductory text by the authors presenting their methodology.
“Enthusiasm” papers and audiovisual essays
Shorter articles can focus on discussing archival sources, news from the archives as well as practice-led approaches to European television history and television historiography. They may build bridges between archival and academic communities by shining a light on audiovisual sources and archival collections; they may also share the enthusiasm that goes with finding new, neglected, or forgotten sources, and thus open the roads for further inquiry. Academics as well as archivists and television professionals are encouraged to submit contributions. The customary length for such an article is 3000 words, however shorter and longer articles are accepted as long as they remain web-friendly and rich audiovisual sources are embedded as part of the narrative. Audiovisual essays will normally be 5-10 minutes long and be accompanied by a short introductory text by the authors.
Looking back at our past issues, and looking forward to the new ones, as we publish the 25th issue and celebrate the twelve and a half anniversary of VIEW, we are happy to renew our long-lasting commitment to high quality open access publishing in the field of European television history and culture. And we are eagerly awaiting fresh and relevant research, original insights, wide trajectories and newer enthusiasms on European television, in the future submissions to our themed issues as well as to the brand-new open section. Thank you for the journey, and fingers crossed for our next steps.
VIEW editors-in-chief