[creative industry phd opportunities: queensland uni]

Calling for applications for the upcoming scholarship round at the ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation in Brisbane, Australia:

Queensland University of Technology
ARC Centre of Excellence for Creative Industries and Innovation (CCI)
Research Higher Degree Project Opportunities

                   
September 2009 Scholarship Round

If you are considering applying for a scholarship in the current September round to pursue postgraduate research studies you may wish to consider connecting with projects we have in development here at the Centre (CCI) and pursue your studies with us at QUT. These projects will link you with industry, government or other partners in order to enhance your networks, the applications of your research, and potentially open up career opportunities as a result of your studies.

Here are a few of the project areas to give you a taste of these opportunities:

* Innovation and sustainability in Australian games and interactive entertainment with companies such as Firemint and Infinite Interactive, and government agencies such as the Australia Council (key contact person John Banks Ph: (07) 3138 8764; email: ja.banks@qut.edu.au)

* Australia's creative engagements with Asia in such fields as design, architecture, fashion and digital media with partners such as Austrade (Key contact person Michael Keane Ph: (07) 3138 3757;email: m.keane@qut.edu.au)

* Designing creative clusters in China and Japan with partners such as Arup (Key contact person Justin O'Connor ph: 0402 395 008; email: justin.oconnor@qut.edu.au)

* International development and empowerment through ICTs in south Asia with partners such as Intel and UNESCO (Key Contact Person: Jo Tacchi Ph: (07) 3138 8178; email: j.tacchi@qut.edu.au)

* Urban regeneration and creative reuses of space with partners such as eastern seaboard city councils and state government agencies (Key Contact Person: Justin O'Connor Ph: 0402 395 008; email: justin.oconnor@qut.edu.au)

Please note the QUT closing date for scholarship applications is Wednesday 30 September for international students and Friday 9 October 2009 for domestic students.

To apply go to: http://www.rsc.qut.edu.au/future/scholarships/Annual_round_awards.jsp

If you have any questions in regards to the application process please contact Britta Froehling (Ph: (07) 3138 3716; email: britta.froehling@qut.edu.au).

General inquiries about the Centre's research agenda and supervision capacity can be addressed to the Director, Stuart Cunningham Ph: (07) 3138 3743; email: s.cunningham@qut.edu.au.

[american army takes on some web 2.0 ideas]

"Join the Army, where you can edit all that you can edit.

In July, in a sharp break from tradition, the Army began encouraging its personnel — from the privates to the generals — to go online and collaboratively rewrite seven of the field manuals that give instructions on all aspects of Army life.

The program uses the same software behind the online encyclopedia Wikipedia and could potentially lead to hundreds of Army guides being “wikified.” The goal, say the officers behind the effort, is to tap more experience and advice from battle-tested soldiers rather than relying on the specialists within the Army’s array of colleges and research centers who have traditionally written the manuals.

“For a couple hundred years, the Army has been writing doctrine in a particular way, and for a couple months, we have been doing it online in this wiki,” said Col. Charles J. Burnett, the director of the Army’s Battle Command Knowledge System. “The only ones who could write doctrine were the select few. Now, imagine the challenge in accepting that anybody can go on the wiki and make a change — that is a big challenge, culturally.”

In recent years, collaborative projects like the Firefox Internet browser or Wikipedia pages have flourished with the growth of the Internet, showing the power of thousands of contributors pulling together.

Not surprisingly, top-down, centralized institutions have resisted such tools, fearing the loss of control that comes with empowering anyone along the chain of command to contribute.

Yet the Army seems willing to accept some loss of control. Under the three-month pilot program, the current version of each guide can be edited by anyone around the world who has been issued the ID card that allows access to the Army Internet system. About 200 other highly practical field manuals that will be renamed Army Tactics, Techniques and Procedures, or A.T.T.P., will be candidates for wikification.

As is true with Wikipedia, those changes will appear immediately on the site, though there is a team assigned to each manual to review new edits. Unlike Wikipedia, however, there will be no anonymous contributors.

Many in the Army have been suspicious about the idea, questioning if each soldier — specialist or not — should have an equal right to create doctrine, Colonel Burnett said.

“We’ve gotten the whole gamut of responses from black to white,” he said, “ ‘The best thing since sliced bread’ to ‘the craziest idea I have ever heard.’ ”

The colonel said that he was hopeful that by reaching out to the 140,000 members of the Army’s online forums, he would be tapping the kind of people who would be comfortable collaborating on the Web.

“Our motto is, ‘If you ever thought what would I do if the Army let me write doctrine, now is your chance,’ ” he said."

Read more here: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/14/business/14army.html?_r=1&pagewanted=2

[employment: lectureship in new media]

This is an amazing position at the University of Leeds...makes me (almost) wish I was in the U.K.:

Closing Date: 17th July 2009

Lectureship in New Media
(Job reference: 317127)
Faculty of Performance, Visual Arts and Communications
Institute of Communications Studies

The institute of Communication Studies seeks to appoint a Lecturer in New Media from
2 September 2009 or as soon afterward as is mutually convenient.

You will deliver teaching and research primarily in areas related to New Media at
both undergraduate and postgraduate level, but may also be asked to teach more
generally in other areas of media and communications. Essential teaching
requirements are ‘Design for New Media’ and ‘New Media, Planning and Gaming’. You
will also be required to take responsibility for student project work. You will be
expected to play a leading role in the continued development of the programme in New
Media and undertake supervision of undergraduate, postgraduate and PhD projects and
dissertations.

You will possess a PhD, or have such an award pending and be able to demonstrate a
developing research profile with a clear indication of future plans and potential
commensurate with aspirations to an 'international' standard of excellence.

See http://ics.leeds.ac.uk for more information on the Institute of Communications
Studies or http://hr.leeds.ac.uk/jobs/ViewJob.aspx?CId=3&JId=416 for more details
about the post.

University Grade 7 (£32,458 – £35,469 p.a.)
Salary: Lecturer Grade 7 (£32,458 - £35,469)
Apply using: Application form, CV and Equal Opportunities Monitoring form
Download an application form: (pdf version) | (Word version)

Informal enquiries: to Dr Stephen Sobol, New Media Programme Head, email
s.c.sobol@leeds.ac.uk, tel +44 (0)113 343 6247 or Professor Gary Rawnsley, Director
of the ICS, email g.d.rawnsley@leeds.ac.uk , tel +44 (0)113 343 6906.

Send completed applications to:
email vpaempl@leeds.ac.uk, or by post to:

VPAEMPL,
PVAC,
Faculty Office,
Man-Made Fibres Building,
University of Leeds,
LS2 9JT

Closing date: 17 July 2009

[going paperless = a tidier desk]

Time for some procrastinating after all my work today...by procrastinating I erm...mean work. Because, everyone knows that tidying up one's work area is really part of the job description and...a tidy desk means more work gets done which has nothing to do with procrastination...


1) What do I do with the myriad of business cards I've collected from conferences, meetings, interviews and general travels (you'd be surprised who one can meet on the train out of London). Ah ha. I'll send my clutter cards over to shoeboxed and because it is now mashed with evernote, it means I'll be able to folksonomize all my cards...hey, tagging business cards, that'll make them way more searchable.

2) Next, looking around I see my desk has a lovely collection of receipts; train tickets, that ever-necessary coffee in the morning from the station shop, museum tickets etc...I think my receipts or pixily will be able to help. Interesting with my receipts, seems that they're partnering with shops so that receipts begin as digital copies rather than paper in the first place. This is how pixily works:

3) Ok. So papers on my desk are disappearing...but what about all those wires. Ugh, mouse wire, keyboard wire, web cam wire, camera cable, power cord, external hard drive cable, speaker wires, headset cables, printer, scanner...the list goes on. I think I'll be ordering the nice blue cable turtle from, hurrah, a uk company. So this doesn't really help me use less paper...but it does help with the digital tidying.

4) Some fiction books that I won't read again, an unopened box of Christmas crackers (don't ask) and some photo frames are going to my local freecycle site. Most already off to good homes.

5) Of course, what desk would be complete without a few old mobiles scattered around? With all my important information (i.e. my memory) in my snazzy pink blackberry, I can send my old mobiles to envirofone and even make a bit of cash in the process.

6) Online banking means no more silly paper statements messing up my lovely and now visible desk!

7) I'll be using remindr to, wait for it, remind me to do things like return those pesky library books that have been sitting on my desk, all used and ready for the bookshelf. I can also use remindr when little kitty needs to be combed (trying to keep fur balls at bay), bring in the laundry, return that dvd or pay the newspaper bill...I can get reminders to my mobile, via twitter, e-mail or gtalk. Excellent stuff.

8) Instead and jotting notes while I talk on the 'phone, I'll add my scribblings directly to a google doc or perhaps if I'm driving, I'll add my voice notes (hands-free of course) as a memo to spinvox.

9) So I'm addicted to my lovely pink leather filofax (how old school, I know) and I get a good overview of my time because I can flick though pages and see weeks and months at a glance. However, a useful online tool is google's calendar where I can let friends and family add their info too so it becomes more like a community calendar. There's an app. for my blackberry too so I can sync the two, perfect.

10) Though most of my communication is done online, there are times when I need to send physical post. Handily, the Royal Mail now lets me buy stamps online which I can then print out. So, no more books of stamps sliding to hide indefinitely under my keyboard.

11) Those cds that I used to love now sound soooo 2001...I'll be sending them to music magpie. They also accept dvds and games.

That's so much better now...

[phd position: social media]

PhD Position in Sociality and Social Media

University of Amsterdam

(Noord-Holland), hours per week

Job description
We are seeking an individual who is excited about engaging in multidisciplinary approaches to studying information, communication and related technologies in a social context. The appointee will be expected to conduct research on sociality and social media; the research should lead to international journal publications and a PhD thesis. The research can combine multiple methods of investigation, qualitative as well as quantitative. The candidate will be supervised by Prof. Rik Maes and Dr Ard Huizing, who have extensive experience in guiding doctorate students' research, and can provide guidance in a wide range of research methods as well as access to a large set of local and multinational organizations.

Human relationships are increasingly mediated by social media such as social networking sites, micro-blogging services and social recommendation sites. Such new media are said to host new forms of group interaction and togetherness. Appealing to the human tendency to bind oneself with others and thus to form and join groups to engage in interdependent relationships, they afford sociality. In turn, the design and usage of social media are continually re-created and reshaped by participants or members translating, enacting and modifying these technologies to suit their various contexts. This project will explore the co-constitutive interplay between sociality and social media, and the implications of this interplay for design and design theory. Theoretical lenses are provided by those who theorize such notions as ‘object-centred sociality' or ‘the materialization of the subject', which are mainly being developed in social theory, social studies of technology and, increasingly, organization theory. The particular research questions will be framed in line with the interests of the PhD candidate.

Requirements
Required education/skills:

• Master's degree in one of the social sciences (e.g. Information or Communication Science, Management or Business Studies, Sociology or Anthropology)
• Interest (and preferably experience) in field research
  Demonstrated mastery of both written and spoken English
• Determination to complete a PhD degree within four years

Job type: Research / Advising
Workfield(s):
- Research trainees, non-tenured lecturers, researchers(Scientific discipline: Economics)

Organization
University of Amsterdam
The University of Amsterdam (UvA) is a university with an internationally acclaimed profile, located at the heart of the Dutch capital. As well as a world center for business and research, Amsterdam is a hub of cultural and media activities. The University of Amsterdam is a member of the League of European Research Universities.

The Faculty of Economics and Business (FEB) at the University of Amsterdam conducts international research and provides academic courses in information management/systems, accounting, finance, management, organization behaviour, strategy and marketing, economics, and econometrics. The Amsterdam Business School and the Amsterdam School of Economics form part of the FEB.

The Amsterdam Business School's Information Management section is seeking an outstanding individual to fill a PhD student position in the area of sociality and social media.

Conditions of employment
Employment basis: Temporary for specified period
Duration of the contract: see below
Additional conditions of employment:
The appointment will initially be for 1.5 year, to be extended to a total of 4 years upon excellent performance (an evaluation will be held after 8 and 14 months). The salary will be in accordance with the university's regulations for academic personnel, and will range from €2042 (first year) up to a maximum of €2612 (final year) gross per month. The collective employment agreement of the Dutch universities will be applicable. The PhD thesis should be finalized within four years. In this period, the candidate will be expected to do some teaching (20% of the time).

Additional Information
Additional information about the vacancy can be obtained from:

Dr Huizing
Telephone number: 31-20-525-4356
E-mail address: im-phd@uva.nl

Or additional information can be obtained through one of the following links:

• About the organization (http://www.uva.nl/start.cfm/la=en/th=main)
• About the function (http://www.uva.nl/vacatures/vacatures.cfm/0F65D8D6-1321-B0BE-A48F280DF33B0D21)
• Amsterdam Business School (http://www.abs.uva.nl/abshome/home.cfm)
• Information Management section (http://primavera.fee.uva.nl/)

Application
You can apply for this job before 06-04-2009 (dd-mm-yyyy) by sending your application to:

Roetersstraat 11
1018 WB Amsterdam

E-mail: applications-feb@uva.nl

When applying for this job always mention the vacancynumber AT 09-5006.

[employment opportunity - lecturer art & design]

Senior Lecturer in Games Art & Design

This post is available as either:
One full time post of 35 hours per week, 52 weeks per year
OR
Two posts of 17.5 hours per week (0.5FTE), 52 weeks per year

£31,136 - £41,410 p.a. (pro-rata)
(Job evaluation pending)

As a key member of the Games Art & Design Course team you will contribute to the academic development delivery of the FdA/BA (Hons) Games Art & Design awards.

The successful candidate will be expected to have a broad understanding of contemporary context for Games development and design and will contribute to the learning, teaching and assessment within the FdA/BA (Hons) programmes.

As a practising professional, you will be active in research and knowledge transfer, using these skills to inform the quality of teaching excellence.

Reporting to the Course Leader, Games Art & Design, you will need to demonstrate experience of teaching at HE level, appropriate technical skills and knowledge and an awareness of the creative and cultural industries.

Closing date: 5th September 2008

Interviews to be held: 1st October 2008

For an application pack please email jobs@nuca.ac.uk or contact Human Resources on 01603 756243.

[Open Source Embroidery: Craft and Code at HTTP Gallery]

Ele Carpenter, a digital-textile artist who I interviewed for Furtherfield, is curating a super exhibition. It's a must-see:

Preview: Friday 16th May 6-9pm, 17th May – 15th June 2008

Open Fridays to Sundays 12-5pm

http://www.http.uk.net/

This exhibition explores the connections between the collaborative characteristics of needlework, craft and Open Source software. This project has brought together embroiderers, patch-workers, knitters, artists and computer programmers, to share their practice and make new work.

HTML Patchwork in
progress

The centre-piece of the exhibition at HTTP Gallery is the HTML Patchwork developed in response to the popularity of quilting in Sheffield, the result of a participatory project initiated by Ele Carpenter in partnership with Access Space. The patchwork is built on open principles of collective production and skill-share where each person contributes a part to the whole. The final work is a collectively stitched patchwork quilt of HTML web-safe colours with embroidered codes, and a wiki website, where the makers of each patch identify themselves and write about their sewing process. Each patch is
personalised by the sewer, often including embroidered web addresses.

telinit Ø: time for bed, Lisa Wallbank, 2007
Knitted Blog (detail),
Suzanne Hardy, 2006-

In an interview with Jess Laccetti, Ele Carpenter said about the project: "The same arguments about Open Source vs Free Software can be applied to embroidery. The needlework crafts also have to negotiate the principles of 'freedom' to create, modify and distribute, within the cultural and economic constraints of capitalism. The Open Source Embroidery project simply attempts to provide a social and practical way of discussing the issues and trying out the practice. Free Software, Open Source, amateur and professional embroiderers and programmers are welcome to contribute to the project."

Hexart GDlib Script Error, digital print on canvas, James Wallbank,
2007
Weaving network cable in progress, Paul Grimmer, 2007

The project was developed by Ele Carpenter when working as an artist in residence at Access Space in Sheffield and Isis Arts in Newcastle upon Tyne. Access Space is an open access media lab using recycled computers and open source software. Anyone can drop in and use the lab to develop their creative projects.

The exhibition at HTTP Gallery in Harringay, North London, includes works by 11 artists and makers alongside the collectively made HTML Patchwork quilt and wiki. Other works in the exhibition include Susanne Hardy’s Knit-a-Blog, a collective knitting project made by contributors from across the UK and USA, Iain Clarke’s PHP Embroidery, which explores the open source PHP programming language as a form of self-generating weaving, as well as artworks by Paul Grimmer, Tricia Grindrod, Jake Harries & Keith o’Faoláin, John Keenan, Trevor Pitt, Clare Ruddock, James Wallbank, and Lisa Wallbank.

The HTML Patchwork has been created by people at: Access Space, Art through Textiles, The Patchwork Garden, The Fat Quarters, Stocksbridge Knit n Chat, Totley Quilters, Isis Arts, and the Banff New Media Institute at the Banff Centre for the Arts, Alberta, Canada.

Events at HTTP

Preview
Your chance to meet Ele Carpenter, the curator as well of some of the other exhibiting artists, to enjoy a few drinks and conversations about the exhibition.

Open Knitting and Embroidery
evenings
Dates and times TBC

Bring your knits, your embroidery and your friends for tea, biscuits and conversation amongst the artworks.

These events are open to the public and entrance is free, however advanced booking is necessary.

Contact:
Lauren Wright,
HTTP Gallery
lauren@furtherfield.org

HTTP
Gallery
http://www.http.uk.net/
Unit A2,
Arena Design Centre
71 Ashfield Road
London N4 1LD
+44(0)79 8129
2734
Click here for map
and location details

Further info:
www.open-source-embroidery.org.uk
www.eleweekend.blogspot.com
www.access-space.org

[transliteracy and digital art]

In the recently published Digital Artists' handbook, Kristina Anderson talks about making and modding technology. At the end of her chapter she makes an interesting point:

"Maybe we can say, we are making technology in order to understand it, and understanding technology in order to make our own."

This resonates (for me) with the concept of transliteracy. We've named transliteracy in order to understand it and in beginning to understand (conceptualise, interpret etc...) transliteracy perhaps we are making it our own, as a symbol of a 21st century literacy?

[how to do a proper ppt]

Reading Digital Digressions by Richard Parent I came across this great presentation on (wait for it...) how to do great ppt presentations: