[socio-technical summer residency: US scholars only]

Such a shame that this amazing opportunity is only open to PhD students, post-docs and pre-tenure scholars at US institutions... If you're one of them, you'll definitely be interested in this call for participation:

2009 Summer Research Institute for the Science of Socio-Technical Systems: 11-15 June, 2009
At Syracuse University's Minnowbrook Conference Center, Blue Mountain Lake, NY

Application screening begins 2 March, 2009

Eligibility: Doctoral students, Post-doctoral scholars and pre-tenure faculty at US-based institutions.

Notification: Late March, 2009 Cost: Most will be covered for accepted participants

Background
---------------
A science of socio-technical systems is emerging from research in the fields of HCI, social computing, social informatics, CSCW, sociology of computing, and other domains. The Consortium for the Science of Socio-Technical Systems (CSST) is a new organization devoted to advancing research on socio-technical systems. Building on the success of the 2008 Summer Research Institute, the CSST will, again, be hosting a summer research institute for advanced doctoral students and pre-tenure faculty in summer, 2009. A primary goal of the institute is to build a new cohort of faculty and graduate students who are interested in research on the design and interplay of technology and humans at the level of individuals, groups, organizations, and larger communities.

Examples of this kind of work include research on:
* new forms of organizing (e.g., virtual organizations, massive online activities)
* social computing (e.g., online communities, social network sites);
* distributed work (e.g., collaboratories, virtual teams and organizations);
* new technologies (e.g., recommender systems, prediction markets, ubiquitous computing);
* novel forms of production (e.g., open source software, Wikipedia);
* new forms of expression and entertainment (e.g., blogs, wikis, massive multiplayer online role-playing games);
* information and communication technologies for developing regions (e.g., cell phone-based applications to assist economic development, infrastructure development for local economic action).

Institute faculty
-------------------
With funding from the NSF, the institute will bring together a faculty of distinguished scholars in the domain of socio-technical systems with up to 30 campers, drawn from among advanced doctoral students, post-doctoral fellows, and pre-tenure faculty conducting research on socio-technical systems.

Steve Sawyer, Syracuse University, Director Tom Finholt, University of Michigan, Co-Director Mark Ackerman, University of Michigan Bill Dutton, Oxford University Jonathan Grudin, Microsoft Corporation C. Suzanne Iacono, National Science Foundation Wendy Kellogg, IBM Wayne Lutters, University of Maryland, Baltimore County Tony Salvador, Intel Corporation Suzanne Weisband, University of Arizona

Institute goals
-----------------
The goals of the institute are to:
* Expand on and strengthen connections among the cohort of researchers in this area, and build on the network of relations formed through the 2008 Summer Research Institute.
* Guide the work of the new researchers by having experts in socio-technical systems research give advice.
* Provide encouragement and support for the selection of socio-technical systems research topics.
* Illustrate the interrelationship and diversity of the field of socio-technical systems research.

How to apply
----------------
The application process requires two parts:

1. A 300 word response to this question:
*How does your research advance our scientific understanding of socio-technical systems?
* A few references, particularly if they are not to your own work, may be helpful but are not required.

2. Your current curriculum vitae (as PDF or in a Word or WordPerfect format).
Please send this response as an attachment in a common word processor format or as PDF of an email with the email subject being CSST'09 application to csst2009@syr.edu.


For further information please visit si.umich.edu/csstinstitute.

[literate cities]

Six key elements are analysed in this study to dechipher which city is the most literate (American cities only) in 2008. These include: newspaper circulation, number of bookstores, library resources, periodical publishing resources, educational attainment and Internet resources and are then compared to the population rate (but only in cities greater than 250,000).

Somewhat oddly, the study does NOT include "reading test scores or how often people read, but what kinds of literary resources are available and used."

"Cities that ranked higher for having more bookstores also have a higher proportion of people buying books online, the analysis found, and cities with newspapers that have high per-capita circulation rates also have more people reading newspapers online. Likewise, cities that ranked higher for having well-used libraries also have more booksellers."

The author of the study, Dr. John Miller, makes a very interesting observation:

"While it is too early in this study to draw conclusions, it is nevertheless striking that newspaper readership rates in the US’s global economic competitors are significantly higher than in the US. Since literacy is generally regarded as a barometer of a nation’s social, cultural, and economic health, perhaps these findings are cause for national concern."

According to the USA Today report, "Preliminary results of a related study examining international literacy paint a less optimistic outlook for the USA. It notes that in per-capita paid newspaper circulation, the USA ranks only 31st in the world, far behind other countries, including Aruba, Liechtenstein and Japan."

[conference: IT and teaching]

SITE 2009 - Charleston, South Carolina - March 2 - 6, 2009

Proposals Due: October 17 2008

Call for Presentations

Presentation Types

Proposal Submission Guide & Form

Advance Program/Registration

Deadlines

Topics

Proceedings Guidelines

Presenter Lounge

Corporate Participation

Overview

Registration Rates

Hotel & Travel Information

Charleston, South Carolina

Program Committee

Review Policy


GENERAL TOPICS:
* Assessment and E-folios
* Corporate
* Development of Future Faculty
* Digital Video
* Distance/Flexible Education
* Electronic Playground
* Equity and Social Justice
* Evaluation and Research
* Games and Simulations
* Graduate Education and Faculty Development
* Information Literacy
* Information Technology Diffusion/Integration
* International Education
* Latino/Spanish Speaking Community
* Leadership
* New Possibilities with Information Technologies
* Web/Learning Communities
* Workforce Education


See more at the conference site: http://site.aace.org/conf/

[unscientific teaching in louisiana *science* classes]

In May last year I blogged about the Creation musueum that had just opened in Kentucky devoted to telling the history of the world...according to the bible. Well, know there's the Louisian State Education Act "is designed to slip ID in "through the back door", says Forrest, who is a professor of philosophy at Southeastern Louisiana University and an expert in the history of creationism. She adds that the bill's language, which names evolution along with global warming, the origins of life and human cloning as worthy of "open and objective discussion", is an attempt to misrepresent evolution as scientifically controversial.

Forrest's testimony notwithstanding, the bill was passed by the state's legislature - by a majority of 94 to 3 in the House and by unanimous vote in the Senate. On 28 June, Louisiana's Republican governor, Piyush "Bobby" Jindal, signed the bill into law. The development has national implications, not least because Jindal is rumoured to be on Senator John McCain's shortlist as a potential running mate in his bid for the presidency.

***

Supporters of the new law clearly hope that teachers and administrators who wish to raise alternatives to evolution in science classes will feel protected if they do so. The law expressly permits the use of "supplemental" classroom materials in addition to state-approved textbooks. The LFF is now promoting the use of online "add-ons" that put a creationist spin on the contents of various science texts in use across the state, and the Discovery Institute has recently produced Explore Evolution, a glossy text that offers the standard ID critiques of evolution (see "The evolution of creationist literature"). Unlike its predecessor Of Pandas and People, which fared badly during the Dover trial, it does not use the term "intelligent design".

Because the law allows individual boards and teachers to make additions to the science curriculum without clearance from a state authority, the responsibility will lie with parents to mount a legal challenge to anything that appears to be an infringement of the separation of church and state. "In Dover, there were parents and teachers willing to step forward and say, this is not OK," says Rosenau. "But here we're seeing that people are either fine with it or they don't want to say anything because they don't want to be ostracised in their community."

Read the full article at New Scientist.

NB some of the comments in relation to this article in NS are hilarious while others are deeply saddening.

[politics 2.0]

via Wired.

[oh god - literally]

So the bible might be written by some good non-English speaking *male* authors but it remains a story. A story that some take much too seriously and a story in which others find peace. Whatever your interpretation of the bible I'm sure most people today would agree that it a story that acts as a filter (for some) for current life. How bizarre then that in PETERSBURG, Kentucky the Creation Museum has just opened. It cost 27 million American dollars to build an omage to the first story in the bible, genesis. This is a place where "Evolution gets its continual comeuppance, while biblical revelations are treated as gospel." How odd! Apparently for a growing number of Americans, the bible is the bedrock of his-tory, as the museum site proclaims: "Prepare to Believe." Now, that must be some immersive story-telling. "A fully engaging, sensory experience for guests. Murals and realistic scenery, computer-generated visual effects, over fifty exotic animals, life-sized people and dinosaur animatronics, and a special-effects theater complete with misty sea breezes and rumbling seats. These are just some of the impressive exhibits that everyone in your family will enjoy." I wonder if this will be like Disney-land for Christians: I can hear the kids begging for a ride on Noah's arc...well, they do charge you for it.

Read an article on the Creation Museum in the New York Times

For those interested in the teaching of science and not creationism a petition has been started by The Campaign to Defend the Constitution and has aimed it at educators. (the Answer in Genesis group behind the building of the Creation Museum aren't too happy with the petition)

[site stats]

I've had visits from google, yahoo, microsoft and some other techy firms but yesterday was the first visit from the U.S taxman or woman: