Jess

[blog migration]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Sat, 01 May 2010 01:59:00 +0000

Blogger isn't supporting ftp anymore (arg!) so I'm in the process of migrating the blog...well, I really just want to redirect the blogspot url to my usual jesslaccetti.co.uk/musings.htm address...

hopefully this works...

[experimental society conference: lancaster]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 16:59:00 +0000

International conference: The Experimental Society, Lancaster University, 7-9 July 2010

Experimentation, with its distinctive way of joining action and knowledge, has played a crucial role in the culture and politics of modern society, but one that has a number of contradictory strands. In one strand, experimentation is associated with the opening up of the closed medieval universe into an open world of endless possibility. This story would include the development of the arts as an autonomous space for free exploration, and practices of social, cultural and political experimentation that invent new ways of living. It had perhaps its leading advocate in Friedrich Nietzsche, with his notion of life as a continuous experiment, but in the contemporary world it is also manifested in the everyday creativity (de Certeau) with which people experiment ‘casually’ with new forms of humanity, technology, space, economic exchange and political participation (Hayles, Stelarc, Soja, Ghosh, Rheingold, Lury).

Yet the dominant strand to the modern experiment has surely been that of experimental science, which from the 17^th century offered to solve the problem of social dissensus by putting all truth claims to public test, thereby replacing the received certainties of traditional society with the new certainties of objective facts and natural laws (Shapin, Schaffer, Toulmin). In performing the split between nature and culture that Bruno Latour calls the ‘modern constitution’, the experiment thus started its long relationship with social ordering, technology and power, which has helped to legitimise the instrumental paradigm of modern political action (Ezrahi), drive forward the grand projects of 20^th century high-modernist statecraft (Scott), and shape the contemporary world of evidence-based policy, clinical trials and audits. Critiques of this development include early warnings about the iron cage of instrumental rationality (Weber), twentieth century unease about technocracy and the scientisation of politics (the Frankfurt school) and autonomous technology (Ellul, Winner), and contemporary concern about the proliferation of states of exception in which experimental subjection and the reduction of the human to ‘bare life’ becomes the norm (Agamben).

It is time to ask whether the experiment is now too complicit with power to act as a carrier of the hopes of (post)modernity, or whether its emancipatory potential can be renewed through a sustained inquiry into the different forms that it takes in science and technology, in the arts and in wider culture. If experimentation and innovation have become too integrated with imaginaries of technological control, and thereby with consequent externalisations (Wynne and Felt), then further large questions arise not only for politics, but also for environmental sustainability.
However, any such project also needs to be sensitive to ways in which the key role played by experimentation in the ordering of society seems to be shifting away from the special to the general experiment – from the experiment as a bounded episode situated in time and space, to a generalised, performative experimentality. Driven by pervasive informationalisation, we can observe a number of interlinked trends, including: the acceleration and proliferation of feedback loops between action and reaction; the displacement of fixed structures by networks and dissipative structures; the abandonment of fixed goals for continuous repositioning; and the carrying out of knowledge-work in the context of application. Such trends can be observed in domains as disparate as science and innovation, network-centric digital warfare, finance capitalism, product design, software engineering, new media and popular culture. Do these add up to a systemic transformation of how society is being ordered? Are humans no longer in control of their experimental ‘projects’, and what does this mean for our conceptualisation of the human and of politics? Does this create the conditions in which a new kind of experimental society might be possible? How might we imagine this, and perhaps influence its form?
This three-day international conference is the culmination of Lancaster’s year-long research programme Experimentality, which in six two-day workshops and a range of arts events in the North West has been exploring the varieties and transformations of experimentation. It will draw on the inquiries held in these events: into experimentation and eventality, into the forms of subject and object implicated in experimentation, into the experimentality of matter itself and into the social and spatial organisation of experimentation in urban life. It will draw on recent work on experimentation as having its own logic (Hacking), as being shaped into experimental systems which produce novelty and surprise (Rheinberger), as involving pervasive everyday improvisation (Ingold), as brought to closure in different ways (Galison) and as enacted in different experimental spaces or 'truth-spots' (Gieryn). It will bring together scholars from a range of disciplines, and practitioners from different spheres of social life, to set out and debate different diagnoses and visions of the experimental society. It will be an interdisciplinary, collaborative exploration of the power of experimentation to shape the future.
Questions to be pursued in the conference will include the following:

Is experimentality becoming a key trope of contemporary society? Is it taking new forms, and if so with what implications?
How can we learn from the differences between the modes of experimentality operating within science, the arts and wider culture?
How do notions of experimentality intersect with other dominant notions of social change, such as societal reflexivity, liquidity, knowing capitalism, cosmopolitanism, mobility and complexity?
What dangers to human freedom are posed by new, experimental forms of power?
If a shift is occurring in modern society's ontology, so that ‘society’ is itself becoming self-interrogating, what does this mean for the social sciences?
How can the power to shape our socio-technical future be distributed more evenly in society? Can people and publics appropriate 'the experiment' so that it operates as an engine of human freedom harnessed to the task of building a common world, rather than as a tool of power?
If modern society is implicated in, perhaps dependent upon, forms of uncontrolled, unintended or blind experiment, what forms of regulatory ordering might be required?

Plenary speakers will include:

· Ulrich Beck (London School of Economics)

· Dieter Daniels (Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig)

· Bülent Diken (Lancaster University)

· Silvio Funtowicz (European Commission Joint Research Centre)

· Josephine Green (Social Innovation, Philips Design)

· Tim Ingold (University of Aberdeen)

· Scott Lash (Goldsmiths, University of London)

· Helga Nowotny (European Research Council)

· Jerome Ravetz (University of Oxford)

· Gísli Pálsson (University of Iceland)

· James Wilsdon (Royal Society)

For further information and to book a place please go to http://www.lancs.ac.uk/experimentality/event/international-conference-experimental-society

If you have a query please contact:
Anne-Marie Mumford
Institute for Advanced Studies
County South
Lancaster University
Lancaster LA1 4YD, UK
Email: a.mumford@lancaster.ac.uk
Tel: +44 (0) 1524 510816
Fax: +44 (0) 1524 510857

[digital transformation school]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 13:26:00 +0000

The International School on Digital Transformation
July 25-30
Porto, Portugal
Extended deadline for applications: May 10

Applications are now open for the second annual International School on
Digital Transformation, to be held July 25-30, 2010, at the University of
Porto in Porto, Portugal. The School is accepting applications from advanced
students and recent graduates from around the world with an interest in
digital technology and the enrichment of civil society.

The International School on Digital Transformation is an intensive six-day
residential program, conducted in English and bringing together emerging and
established scholars and professionals from a variety of countries. During
the week, innovators in digital communications will serve as teachers and
mentors, presenting current projects and engaging in discussion. Presenters
and students will be regarded as peers during the School.



Students of the School will have the opportunity to develop and apply
research design skills to projects important to civil society. Consisting of
approximately 30 students and 15 faculty members, the School seeks to create
an atmosphere of scholarly collegiality, fostering dialogue among diverse
perspectives including those of design, policy, and research backgrounds.
The daily schedule will include time for presentations, workshop-style
collaboration, and informal brainstorming sessions among faculty and
students.

The School's program will focus on these themes:

. Democratic transformations of society through digital media
. Innovations in transparency and political participation using
new online tools
. Grassroots civic activities using digital technologies
. Prospects for digital communication in developing regions
. Economically and politically galvanizing historically underserved
areas
. Developing "open cities" and municipal participation through
technological interventions.

The School will be held at the University of Porto Rectory building in the
center of the city. Students and faculty will be housed at the Hotel
Eurostars Das Artes, a nearby four-star hotel. A link to the hotel site is
below.

International School on Digital Transformation fees are:
. 370 Euros with accommodation at the Hotel Eurostars das Artes, breakfast
included . 170 Euros for Porto students with no accommodation required .
320 Euros for UT-Austin-Portugal PhD Program students with accommodation at
the Hotel Eurostars das Artes

The cost of the School includes a nightly dinner at a local restaurant
attended by all faculty and students, the daily program, and a cultural
activity. Participants are expected to be present at all dinners and
activities during the week. Travel to Porto is not supported; students must
find and pay for their own travel.

The International School on Digital Transformation is organized by the UT
Austin-Portugal program, a cooperative endeavor between the University of
Texas at Austin and some of the top universities of Portugal. The
co-directors of the School are Drs. Sharon Strover and Karen Gustafson, and
Gary Chapman of the University of Texas at Austin and Dr. Artur Pimenta
Alves of the University of Porto.

For more information about the School, its faculty, and to apply, please
visit

www.digitaltransformationschool.orghttp://www.eurostarshotels.com/EN/hotels-oporto.htmlhttp://utaustinportugal.org/cmcconnell@austin.utexas.edu.

More details on the program will be added and updated as they are confirmed.

The Eurostars Das Artes is a deluxe hotel located near many shops,
restaurants, and art galleries and it is just a few minutes' walk from the
ISDT meeting site. More information may be found at

For more information on the broader program, please see

There is limited space and the final deadline for applications is May 10.
For questions regarding the program or call for applications, please contact
Chris McConnell at

[edmonton life]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Mon, 26 Apr 2010 17:51:00 +0000

It has been 10 months of first-time home ownership and 11 months since we moved from England to Edmonton. Gosh, lots has happened in that time (new jobs, travels, friends, marriage, a baby on the way...) but what we've been really enjoying is settling into our new ( 6 year old) home. Not only have we now been excited about organising a nursery for the little one on the way, but over the last ten months, just doing the routine house maintenance hasn't been a chore but a pleasure. At last we're no longer renters and keeping someone else's abode in tip-top condition; it's our own.

Last summer (mid June), as soon as we took possession of the house, I set about planting some trees and bushes. I couldn't believe that the previous owners had lived here 6 years and hadn't planted one thing...not a flower, not a seed! I quickly found out what plants could withstand an Albertan winter and am so pleased to see that our trees have survived. I was warned that our delicate lilacs wouldn't make it (though I did pick ones that were grown in Alberta and hardy for our climate).

So far, our cherry tree, maple tree, red ash tree, lilac bushes and willow are doing well. I'm hoping the apple tree will show more signs of life soon but it is in the shadiest bit of the garden.

This summer (hopefully this weekend!) I plan to start my raised bed in which I'll grow veggies.

Besides gardening, we also wanted to get our back garden fully fenced in. For some reason the previous owners didn't bother bringing the side fences all the way to the back of the house to enclose the garden. Yesterday, a brilliant retired carpenter came and not only built us our fence, but added on two gates. I didn't want just one gate...then you're stuck in the garden on one side. This is how it looks now. We'll be able to stain the new addition in a week or so once the wood has dried out a bit more.

As you can see, there are four hinges on each gate. These are extra wide gates and the additional hinges offer that much-needed support. Also, a few of those beams on top of the gates will come off, they're there also to offer support while the cement (for the posts) dries.

And this is the view from the bottom of the garden:

And yes, there are a few patches of slow-growing grass...I have reseeded but this dry Alberta weather is not the best for grass. I'm actually looking forward to it raining!

[phd studentships: multidisciplinary new media learning]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:26:00 +0000

KTH – The Royal Institute of Technology – in Stockholm, Sweden
School of Computer Science and Communication (CSC) seeks
3-6 PhD students in Human Computer Interaction and
1 PhD student in Media Technology

The department of HCI conducts research within Human Computer Interaction, which is the study of the interaction between humans and computerized technical systems. The subject is multi-disciplinary and embraces computer science methods and tools to design system functionality adapted to the user, human science theories and methods to understand, evaluate and improve computerized technical systems for human use. It also includes methodologies for design of interactive computer systems.

Anticipated specializations
1. Perceptualization
2. Processes of change
3. Mobile digital services
4. Visualization
5. Computer supported cooperation
6. E-learning

The Department of Media Technology and Graphic Arts is a multidisciplinary group focused on technology and methods for supporting human communication over distances in time and space. This includes a wide area of media, from printing and publishing to digital interactive media, from broadcast media to mobile social media. Our education and research also cover the implications and effects of using media technologies from human, social and design perspectives.

Anticipated specialization
7. E-learning

Application deadline: May 17, 2010

For more information, please visit:
http://www.kth.se/om/work-at-kth/vacancies/phd-students-in-human-computer-interaction-and-media-technology-1.58530?l=en_UK

[DMSC Governors Challenge Virtual Institute Summer 2010]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 17:19:00 +0000

Participate in the DMSC Governors Challenge Virtual Institute Summer 2010 by submitting media from your students and faculty representing your institutions and by registering to judge the media during our Institute using our semantic assessment model.

We also ask you to kindly forward our link to your networks to help us recruit participants: our website is located at www.sandboxnetwork.org

Essentially, Engaged Technology is a marriage of academic service learning/civic engagement and educational technology. Our method integrates active learning and action research in the process of building e.portfolios for students, faculty, institutions and communities based on validated multi-media and service equity.
Over the past four years of our academic media tournament, The Governors Challenge, we have evolved a guided system of:

1. Omni-disciplinary research and production of multimedia (text, audio, video and image),
2. Assessment with our semantic assessment instrument,
3. Analyze/Revise
4. Publish

Bringing those two resource bases together is an underlying design for our efforts. Partnering with the University of Virginia, UNC-CH, and Tennessee higher education, we will begin our Summer 2010 Virtual Institute for the fourth iteration of the Governors Challenge, which has been sponsored by FedEx Institute of University of Memphis, Apple Inc., Microsoft, emma, Echo, and Cisco, Tennessee Board of Regents, University of Tennessee systems and the Tennessee Campus Compact, among others.

Our vision of evolving partnerships would form a strong oversight body for an NCAA-like model of engaged scholarship. With multi-media conveying the content innovations created out of these partnerships and assessment provided from other stakeholders, personal learning spaces can be networked for capacity-building in many different areas and many different ways.

We seek to help evolve educational practice by reaching a broader talent pool of ‘flat-world outliers’ who want to create life/work options that leverage dreams, visions, and potential of heretofore silo-ed talent pools. This NCAA-like model of engaged scholarship embeds the guided learning system that will also function as a platform to engage local pre-k-12 public and private (including faith-based schools) systems to form P-20 Pathways for life-long learning.

[digital literacy across the curriculum]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:26:00 +0000

A superb find, sure to be of use to any educator. The pdf version is available as a free download from Futurelab.

By Cassie Hague and Sarah Payton, Futurelab

This handbook is aimed at educational practitioners and school leaders in both primary and secondary schools who are interested in creative and critical uses of technology in the classroom.

Although there is increasing policy and research attention paid to issues related to digital literacy, there is still relatively little information about how to put this into practice in the classroom. There is even less guidance on how teachers might combine a commitment to digital literacy with the needs of their own subject teaching. How can digital literacy be fostered, for example, in a maths or science lesson?

This handbook aims to introduce educational practitioners to the concepts and contexts of digital literacy and to support them in developing their own practice aimed at fostering the components of digital literacy in classroom subject teaching and in real school settings.

The handbook is not a comprehensive ‘how to’ guide; it provides instead a rationale, some possible strategies and some practical examples for schools to draw on. The first section details the reasons teachers should be interested in digital literacy and how it is relevant to their subject teaching. It looks at the increasing role of technology in young people’s cultures, the support they may need to benefit from their engagement with technology and the way in which digital literacy can contribute to the development of subject knowledge. The second section discusses digital literacy in practice and moves through a number of components of digital literacy discussing how these might be fostered in the classroom.

The handbook ends by looking at issues related to continuing professional development for teachers and the ways in which digital literacy can support whole-school initiatives.

It is teachers that are expert in their own school context, in the needs of their students and in the pedagogical techniques required to support learning. This handbook has been informed by the work of fourteen teachers who are interested in how technology is used in classroom teaching and who took part in Futurelab’s digital participation project. Rather than being prescriptive, it aims to provide information which will help teachers to make the best use of their own expertise to support students’ emerging digital literacy.

[fellowship opportunity at warwick]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 13:52:00 +0000

Research Fellow

University of Warwick - Department of Film and Television Studies

£27,319 - £35,646 pa

This is an exciting opportunity to work on a major new project funded by the AHRC. You will assist the project investigators (Dr Rachel Moseley, Dr Helen Wheatley, (University of Warwick) Dr Helen Wood (De Montfort University) in the successful execution of the project, undertaking original research to explore television programming made for and watched by women viewers during this significant period. You will explore the production culture, policies and decision-making which have produced television programming for women in Britain in the specified period. You will also reconstruct and analyse the programming itself, contributing to a project that aims to establish and protect that programming available in the archives. Your research will address some of the gaps in existing histories of British television and will involve substantial time working in written and audio-visual archives in Britain. There is scope within this project for you to develop your own research themes within the bounds of the project.

You will have a PhD or equivalent experience in a relevant field, experience of conducting archival research and textual analysis of television programmes or similar, a developing profile of research publications, administrative experience or capabilities and a commitment to a feminist research agenda.

Fixed Term Contract for 36 months

Informal enquiries: Dr Helen Wheatley, Department of Film and Television Studies, University of Warwick e-mail: Helen.Wheatley@warwick.ac.uk or tel: 024 7657 3871

Interview date: w/c 31 May 2010

[digital literacy and learning]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Tue, 20 Apr 2010 14:30:00 +0000

An interesting presentation on how to "restore" awe and fascination in learning using new media (there are some great ideas with augmented reality and geotagging). This definitely fits into the them of transliterate learning & pedagogy:

Digital Literacy: Rethinking Education

[wedding flowers]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 16:55:00 +0000

I saw these and just *had* to get some. We had yellow and orange Gerbera Daisies at our wedding last June...they're so cheerful. Love them!

[why to buy an ipad]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Mon, 12 Apr 2010 00:02:00 +0000

[assistant prof: creative writing & english]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 14:34:00 +0000

Be aware: the deadline is coming up - 15 May 2010

Dalhousie University

Location: Nova Scotia

The Department of English at Dalhousie University invites applications for a ten-month sessional position in Creative Writing and English at the Lecturer / Assistant Professor level, effective August 1, 2010, subject to budgetary approval. The successful applicant will teach primarily in Creative Writing but will also teach at the introductory level in English literature. The applicant should possess an MA or MFA in Creative Writing and have a strong publishing resume in Creative Writing, with at least two creative works published by reputable publishers. Preference will be given to those with experience in university-level teaching. Applications, which must include a complete curriculum vitae, a statement of writing and teaching interests, evidence of teaching effectiveness, as well as three confidential letters of reference forwarded by the referees, should be sent in hard copy to:

Dr. Christina Luckyj
Chair
Department of English
Dalhousie University
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3H 4P9

The deadline for receipt of applications is May 15, 2010.

Note: Image from the English Department at Dalhousie.

[new media academic assistant]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 19:00:00 +0000

Interesting...the University of Lethbridge is hiring an academic assistant in new media. It's a three-year term appointment but would be great for a recently finished ph.d or post-doc:

START DATE: July 1, 2010

QUALIFICATIONS: An M.F.A. with a concentration in digital media is the preferred degree. The University aspires to hire individuals who have demonstrated excellence in teaching, research and scholarship, and have potential to contribute actively in the Department of New Media and the Faculty of Fine Arts.

RESPONSIBILITIES: The successful candidate will be expected to teach core courses in interactive web development, digital video and New Media Foundations. This includes both creative and technical aspects of New Media production as well as the history and theory of New Media as it relates to contemporary culture and society. Other duties may be assigned depending upon the candidate's secondary expertise.

PROGRAM: The Faculty of Fine Arts, housed in the Centre for the Arts with state-of-the-art equipment and facilities, offers degree programs in Art, Drama, Music and New Media within the liberal arts education context and focuses on excellence in teaching and research/creative activity.

APPLICATION: Candidates should submit an application describing interest in all areas of teaching expertise, along with a current curriculum vitae, a statement of teaching philosophy, current research program and /or samples of recent research/creative work, as well as arrange for three confidential letters of reference under separate cover from people who can assess teaching and research/ creative activity.

ADDRESS: Address applications to:

Dr. Desmond Rochfort, Dean
Faculty of Fine Arts
The University of Lethbridge
4401 University Drive
Lethbridge, AB T1K 3M4
Tel: (403) 329-2155
Fax: (403) 382-7127 email: angela.luck@uleth.ca

DEADLINE: Applications must be received by the closing date of April 15, 2010.

Note: Image from University of Lethbridge.

[media, culture & communication – visiting assistant professor]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 22:33:00 +0000

Awesome position:

The Department of Media, Culture, and Communication in the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development at New York University invites applications for a Visiting Assistant Professor whose research focuses on digital media, copyright, and media technologies. The position is to begin September 1, 2010.

This is a one-year non-tenure track appointment that is renewable for an additional two years, depending upon department need and satisfactory performance.

The Department of Media, Culture, and Communication serves over 750 undergraduate majors and offers MA and PhD programs of study. The Department emphasizes interdisciplinary scholarship and encourages applications from a broad range of methodological perspectives. For more information please see: http://steinhardt.nyu.edu/mcc/.

Qualifications

The position is open to recent PhDs who have completed their dissertations within the last four years. Doctoral candidates who will have completed their degrees by September 2010 are also invited to apply.

Further information about the position can be obtained from: Marita Sturken, Chair, Department of Media, Culture, and Communication,

marita.sturken@nyu.edu.

Note: Image from School Designs.

[u.k.: new institute for web science]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 19:05:00 +0000

"Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (National)

The Government today announced the creation of the new Institute for Web Science.

It is designed to make the UK the hub of international research into the next generation of web and internet technologies and their commercialisation, and was announced by the Prime Minister alongside plans for a radical opening up of information and data to put more power in people’s hands. The Institute will conduct research, collaborate with businesses, identify opportunities for social and economic benefit, assist in commercialising research and help Government stimulate demand through procurement.

The web was originally a place where people published documents that users could search and pick up. Web 2.0 has enabled users to contribute and create web content more easily. Web 3.0 will take the web to a whole new level by publishing data in a linkable format so that users and developers can see and exploit the relationships between different sets of information.

The development of these technologies will create significant new opportunities for business and the public sector. The impact of these technologies is likely to be as important as the creation of the original web, and could generate large-scale economic benefits for the UK in the global market for web and internet technologies. The role of the Institute will be to undertake research and development, and act as a bridge between research and business, helping commercialise these new technologies. It will also advise Government on how semantic technologies can be used in the public sector, and how public procurement can be used to speed their adoption.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that £30 million would be set aside to create the Institute for Web Science. It will be headed by Sir Tim Berners Lee, the British inventor of the World Wide Web, and leading Web Science expert Professor Nigel Shadbolt.

Read more here.

[google 'phone home]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 15:42:00 +0000

Via Jason Hiner on Tech Republic:

"Google’s haphazard attitude toward data privacy was my biggest concern, and it made me want to limit to amount of data I gave to Google. Since I was already doing most of my Web searches through Google.com and handling most of my personal email through Gmail, I decided to avoid the Chrome Web browser and the Android smartphone platform.

If Google had all four of those platforms then it would have had a near-complete digital footprint of my online activities. Limiting it to two seemed wise. I was especially concerned with Chrome saving and storing my entire Web browsing history and sending it back to Google.

However, for people like me — along with concerned IT leaders and technology professionals — Google recently published a YouTube video (see below) explaining Google’s privacy approach in Chrome. In this video Google says, “Using Chrome doesn’t mean sharing any more information with Google than using any other browser.”

[twitter]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:53:00 +0000

This week it looks like twitter may be overloaded. I've encountered many error pages (checking on followers, DMs, and lists).

[conference: foundations of information science]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 15:34:00 +0000

Conference Date:
August 20-23, 2010

Deadline of Paper Submission:
May 20th, 2010

Notification of Acceptance:

June 20th, 2010

Location:

Beijing

Continuing the series of FIS Conferences (Madrid 1994, Vienna 1996, Paris 2005) a new venue will be held in Beijing 2010. In our times, an increasing number of disciplines are dealing with information in very different ways: from information society and information technology to communication studies (and related subjects like codes, meaning, knowledge, and intelligence), as well as quantum information, bioinformation, knowledge economy, network science, computer science and Internet, to name but a few. At the same time, an increasing number of scientists in the East and the West have been engaged with the foundational problems underlying this development, to such an extent that the integration of disciplines revolving around information seems an idea whose time has come. A new science of information can be envisaged that explores the possibilities of establishing a common ground, of constructing a new scientific perspective that connects the different information-related disciplines and provides a new framework for transdisciplinary research.

Topics:
1.  The Impact of a New Science of Information on Society
2.  The Position of Intelligence Science in Information Science
       a. Information and Intelligence
       b. Intelligence Science as an Engineering Informatics in Information Science
3.  The Role of Other Applied Information Science Disciplines (Computer Science, Human Computer Interaction, Computer Mediated Communication, Computer Supported Cooperative Work, Information and Communication Technologies and Society, Library and Documentation Science, …)
4.  The Basis of a New Science of Information
       a.  Feasibility of a single generic concept of information
       b.  Concepts, Principles, and Methodology of a “General Informatics” or “Theoretical Informatics”
       c.   Knowledge Structure of a Unified Theory of Information
5.   Philosophy of Information
       a.   Information Ethics
       b.   Epistemology (Information and the Scientific Method, …)
       c.   Ontology of Information
       d.   Information and Philosophy of Science (Information and the System of Sciences – Transdisciplinarity – Consilience, …)
6.   Science of Information in Real-World Systems
       a.  Science of Information in Physical and Chemical Systems (Quantum Information, Molecular Recognition, …)
       b.  Science of Information in Living Systems (Biosemiotics, Systems Biology, Bioinformation, …)
       c.   Science of Information in Human / Social Systems
              i.  Science of Information in Human Cognition (Mind-Brain Theory, Consciousness, …)
              ii.  Science of Information in Human Communication (Linguistics, Social Networking,Communication Studies, …)
              iii.  Science of Information in Human Cooperation (Collective Intelligence, Knowledge Management, Advanced Intelligence, …)
7.   Science of the Information Society / Age (Information Society Theory, Internet Research, Social Informatics, New Media Studies, …)

Read more about the conference here.

["internet is freedom"]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 23:30:00 +0000

Lawrence Lessing's speech at the Italian Parliament, "Internet is Freedom":

[interdisciplinary assistant prof. @ washington]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 21:13:00 +0000

Interesting post available at the University of Washington however it is only a 9 month term and seems to focus on teaching.

The University of Washington (UW) Bothell Science and Technology Program is accepting applications for an associate professor position with tenure in the Science and Technology Program. This full-time, nine-month position will start September 16, 2010. We are looking for stellar candidates who will contribute to the excellence of our University and our S&T Program. The successful applicant will have demonstrated distinction in research and teaching in one or more of the following areas: interactive media and design, creativity and learning, interactive video, virtual environments, visualization and visual analytic systems, interdisciplinary media approaches, and computer games.

UW Bothell’s signature approach to higher education is interdisciplinarity that promotes scholarship across our six academic programs. The successful candidate will play a key role in developing an interactive media and technology curriculum and collaborating with colleagues to create a shared culture of science, business, computer science, interactive media, technology, education and the arts. Teaching experience in varied formats, including team-based, computer-mediated and interdisciplinary approaches is also requisite for the position.

Additional requirements include an earned doctorate in appropriate discipline and/or MFA, teaching experience at the undergraduate and graduate levels, dedication to instructional innovation, demonstration of a commitment to working with diverse student and community populations, and ability to establish working relationships with regional high-tech companies.

[assistant prof. in victoria bc]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 18:04:00 +0000

I would go for this position if only for the superb location near Victoria BC (it's actually on the Hatley Park National Historic Site):

Communication - Instructor or Assistant Professor

Royal Roads University

Location: British Columbia
Date posted: 2010-03-05
Royal Roads University, Limited Term Core Faculty, School of Communication and Culture within the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences.

We invite your interest to explore our exciting new two year limited term position (at the Instructor or Assistant Professor level) at Royal Roads University (RRU). Located in beautiful, Victoria, BC our mandate is to solely offer professional degree programs with a focus on applied research. With a reputation for innovation, RRU is a leader in online delivery and primarily attracts learners who are working professionals.

The School of Communication offers three degrees in communication studies which are focused on the theory and practice of professional communication in a wide range of contexts including media, organizational and intercultural. We stress a critical-professional educational approach and we invite you to view our website for more details.

The successful applicant will have demonstrated teaching experience at undergraduate and the graduate levels in the field of communication studies, an ability to work as a team member within an interdisciplinary outcome-based curriculum, and administrative experience and abilities preferably in a University academic setting. The successful applicant will ideally have experience teaching communication theory at the undergraduate and graduate levels. A Ph.D. (or ABD) in communication or related fields in the social and applied sciences is required along with a broad theoretical understanding of communication. The following would also be strong assets in the position: applied research experience, an ability to employ adult learning and applied learning principles with mature learners, and experience in distance education teaching.

In addition to a collegial learning community, RRU offers a comprehensive compensation package to core faculty, with a salary based on rank, qualifications and experience. The term of this position is from 15 July 2010 - 15 July 2012.

For more information and to submit your application, please visit http://www.royalroads.ca/careers

Note: Image from Royal Roads University.

[a pen]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 18:17:00 +0000

Interesting digital poetry creation by Jim Andrews: “A project in visual poetry and programming. The project consists of an interactive software pen that uses four ‘nibs’ whose ‘inks’ are lettristic animations of letters.”

[creativity 2.0]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:41:00 +0000

Elizabeth Gilbert (Eat, Pray, Love) muses on creativity:

[vanilla cake]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 22:54:00 +0000

Those who know me, know I love cooking. I find it a good way to unwind and relax. Mindless stirring does wonders for my soul. Recently, I've been expanding my baking repertoire. I did a lemon cake, some scones and today I thought I'd try a vanilla cake.

I basically made my lemon cake with vanilla rather than lemon and instead of milk I used buttermilk. Steve says it's very good... The icing is a meringue style. I first dissolved some sugar (I used about 3/4 of a cup) with three egg whites in a double boiler. Then I whisked them up with a touch of salt and tartar powder in my new Kitchen Aid stand mixer (I've only wanted on for about 10 years!). Just as stiff peaks were forming I added 2 tsp of pure vanilla extract.

The final product:

[banff]

noreply@blogger.com (Jess) — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 20:30:00 +0000

More pics from the interventions conference location: