Screenscapes Past Present Future, Scan Journal, Vol 1 Number 1, May 2008; Edited by Chris Chesher, Peter Marks, Kathy Cleland.

The proliferation of screens represents a signature feature of modern and contemporary life. Screens located on computer, cinema, television or mobile platforms offer possibilities for entertainment, communication, art, manipulation and monitoring, creating new forms of identity, community, expression and social control. These developments in turn have created a rich and rapidly changing set of research initiatives within and across academic fields. In late 2007 the University of Sydney held the Screenscapes: Past Present Future conference to consider these issues and changes. Participants came from China, Germany, the United States, England, New Zealand and Australia, and the keynote speakers were Professors Lev Manovich (University of California at San Diego), Sean Cubitt (University of Melbourne) and David Trotter (University of Cambridge). The conference offered a space for examining the creation of screen communities and identities, the remediation of screen technology into other cultural forms, the history and future of screen technology, aesthetics, audiences, developments in mobile platforms, and the use of screens in visual and data surveillance. Most of the articles in this issue were presented as Screenscape papers before being expanded and refined for publication.