Dear Colleagues,

Immersive media have again captured the imagination and interest of industry and academia. As a result, scholars and practitioners from diverse disciplines are now experimenting with augmented, mixed, and virtual reality technologies to create new forms of expression.

Immersive Media encompass new modes of representation that include augmented, mixed, and virtual reality experiences. Immersive media also include projection mapping installations, escape rooms, and dramatic performances. According to Jay Bolter and his colleagues, immersive media “place themselves between us and our perception of the everyday world, and in this sense, they redefine reality itself.”

Joseph Pine and James Gilmore coined the term, "Experience Economy" to describe a commercial relationship that focuses on the creation of fulfilling experiential moments for consumers. Immersive media are seen as integral to the emerging experiential market for cultural experiences. The experiential market has grown considerably across all industries including, arts, entertainment, gaming, theatre, cultural heritage, education, music, and performance.

We invite scholars across disciplines to explore how immersive media is impacting their research and practice as part of this new experience economy. We welcome submissions and are considering the full range of areas of interest including, but not limited to;

• Different forms of real-time storytelling and immersive performance.
• Approaches to interactivity in virtual and augmented reality storytelling.
• Narrative forms including fiction, non-fiction, and interactive narratives.
• The importance of choice and dramatic agency in virtual environments.
• Theoretical implications of immersive storytelling compared with traditional forms.
• The emergence of new spaces and the augmentation of space.
• Gatekeepers of immersive media experiences and BIPOC voices.
• The role of the audience considering active participants, agency, or observer.
• The ethical considerations for both the audience and the creators.
• Accessibility and the digital divide in the immersive landscape.
• User-generated content as both active and passive data sources.
• Behaviour of users/participants/avatars in immersive spaces.
• Innovations in interaction and user experience design for augmented, mixed, and virtual reality.
• AI and interactive and immersive storytelling.
• New models for relationships between creators and users of immersive media.
• Cultural labour practices and the production of experiences in immersive media.
• Sonic arts, music, and performance with immersive media.
• The potentiality of NFTs within the virtual space.
• New critical and theoretical perspectives specifically for immersive media.
• How immersive media are transforming cultural and media experiences.

Dr. Sarah Jones
Dr. Joshua A Fisher
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Journalism and Media is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1000 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• augmented reality
• virtual reality
• mixed reality
• digital storytelling
• interactive non-fiction
• immersive media
• metaverse
• design
• ethics
• new media literacies