From stephen at melbpc.org.au Wed Dec 1 06:35:33 2010 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen at melbpc.org.au) Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 05:35:33 GMT Subject: ::fibreculture:: One Feel Good Story Message-ID: <20101201053533.2163B9A9@eagle.melbpc.org.au> Changing our world .. Internet Society Member Newsletter: http://isoc.org/wp/newsletter ISOC Community Grants Programme Project Showcase: Marovo Lagoon Learning Network, Solomon Islands. Contributed by Ian Thomson (Internet Society Pacific Islands Chapter) (Remember, the OLPC laptops readily "talk with each other" via wireless) "The Marovo Lagoon is a remote part of the Western province of the Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean. It is a unique double reef lagoon some 50 miles long and 10 miles wide, with approximately 30 villages scattered around the edges. Communication has been accomplished by canoe, a very expensive satellite phone, and an unreliable HF radio system. The Marovo Learning Network project was implemented with the help of the Internet Society Community Grants scheme and a few visionaries, not least of which was the principal of the combined college and primary school. The "Net" part of the project was a simple VSAT and Solar powered wifi point to point network connecting up to 15 villages. The really important part was the "Learning" bit. The project started the learning development by deploying 130 OLPC laptops to primary school children and teachers, but this was only the start of an incredible learning program developed mostly by the local community. (One of the points we connected to the Internet was a local tourist operator who offers stunning holidays with some of the best diving in the world.) Since then, many grateful guests have donated laptops and other equipment to the local schools. One has even brokered a collaboration between the school and a top of the range private school in Sydney. The school teachers have amazed us in their ability to use the OLPCs and other ICTs to really improve the education of the children. The principal estimates those children with access to an OLPC computer are one academic year ahead of their fellow students. The latest project to kick off is a wiki site on a local server that hosts a UNESCO vernacular environmental encyclopedia. (Marovo has its own unique language). The teachers and students are now learning to add their own material to the wiki, taking photos with the web cam in the OLPC, recording stories told by elders and writing up their traditional knowledge in their own language. And they are now planning for a Community FM Radio station. Just think that 3 years ago, they only had a crackly HF Radio, which only sometimes worked. We are really amazed at how the building of a wifi network can kick-start such strong community learning. Well done to the Internet Society for having the foresight and flexibility to start this all going." -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child OLPC Mission Statement: "To create educational opportunities for the world's poorest children by providing each child with a rugged, low-cost, low-power, connected laptop with content and software designed for collaborative, joyful, self- empowered learning." "It's an education project, not a laptop project." Nicholas Negroponte The OLPC includes mobile networking based on the 802.11s wireless mesh network protocol, allowing students to collaborate on activities and to share Internet access from one connection. The wireless networking has much greater range than typical consumer laptops. The XO-1 has also been designed to be lower cost and much longer-lived than typical laptops. Here's how to help: http://laptop.org/en/participate/index.shtml and: http://laptop.org/xo/amazon/ -- Cheers, Stephen From ned at nedrossiter.org Fri Dec 3 08:34:01 2010 From: ned at nedrossiter.org (Ned Rossiter) Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 15:34:01 +0800 Subject: ::fibreculture:: cfp: Connected Communities: global or local2local? Message-ID: Digital Resources in the Humanities and Arts Conference 2011 Connected Communities: global or local2local? The DRHA 2011 Conference Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts Sunday 4th September - Wednesday 7th September 2011 University of Nottingham Ningbo, China, with add on option of Saturday 3rd September in Shanghai http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cas/ digitalresearchinthehumanitiesarts2011/index.aspx In 2011 the DRHA conference will explore the new connectivities in societies and cultures which are enabled by the blending of virtual and physical space, the traversing of time and space through the virtual, and the evolution of innovative methodologies. Crossing disciplines and challenging boundaries within the humanities, arts and the creative industries, this conference will examine critically familiar notions of the ?local?, the ?global? and the ?network? across the cultural spectrum. We anticipate specific strands focusing on such topics as the following, but the conference welcomes other related suggestions: Digital connectivities in performance, composition, education, teaching and business: Telepresence and liveness Digital media Virtual realities, virtual cultures Visualisation How have the creative industries responded to these opportunities? Narratives and networks: Cultural translations Peer to peer exchange and learning New generation web infrastructures, open source communities Digital alternatives to narrative Digital spaces and histories: Site specificity in the age of the digital network New self representations- from avatars to blogs, web pages and pervasive monuments Localisation and inspiration, the impact of GPS and mobile technologies Displacement and reproduction Digital cultural heritage: the past and the present Chinese digital cultures Who owns the digital: local2local, or global? Digital inequalities National and global digitisation strategies Digital cultures and criticality New spaces for dissent: empowerment through the digital The Google Book Project and other IP debates Questions of design, usability and audience run through all of these topics. We invite original papers, panels, installations, performances and workshop sessions which address the conference theme of ?Connected Communities?. Proposals for panel sessions are particularly encouraged. Proposals for papers with attached screen-based examples, innovative and non-traditional session formats, including presentations and discussions concerning performances or installations which are to be presented, are welcome. (Please note, however, that the costs of any specialist equipment, transportation or technical support associated with presentations must be borne by the applicant.) The deadline for submissions is 31st January 2011. Abstracts should be approx 600 words. Performances, installations and screen based works should take care to answer the questions regarding space requirements and installation needs. Letters of acceptance will be sent by 11th March 2011, when registration for the conference will open. All accepted applicants will be expected to register as confirmation of their acceptance. The DRHA (Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts) conference is hosted annually by various UK academic institutes (previous conferences: http://projects.oucs.ox.ac.uk/DRHA/index.xml). This year?s conference is hosted by Nottingham University at their campus in Ningbo, China (http://www.nottingham.edu.cn/en/index.aspx). It will take place from Sunday 4th September to Wednesday 7th September 2011. Costs for the accommodation, food and conference registration fee will be a maximum of ?200 for those who book by 4 April. Please note no costs can be covered for participants, presenters or performers. We recommend you seek funds for your attendance as soon as your proposal is submitted for presentation. Pre-Conference Option There is also the option of a pre-conference gathering (for a modest additional cost). This is to join us in Shanghai for the afternoon and evening of Saturday 3rd September. A programme of events is being organised in Shanghai for that afternoon/evening and, after an overnight stay in Shanghai, an air-conditioned bus will take attendees on to the Nottingham University Campus, Ningbo (2 hours journey) to start the conference on Sunday afternoon. Please see: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/cas/ digitalresearchinthehumanitiesarts2011/index.aspx for more information. All submissions must be on-line; a link is currently under construction. Conference Co-chairs: Judith Still, University of Nottingham Ghislaine Boddington, Middlesex University/body>data>space Conference Lead: Andy White, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China Online Submission: Conference Co-chairs: Judith Still, University of Nottingham, judith.still at nottingham.ac.uk Ghislaine Boddington, Middlesex University, ghislaine at bodydataspace.net - for installations and programme queries. Conference Lead: Andy White, University of Nottingham, Ningbo, China, andrew.white at nottingham.edu.cn - for locations, on site and practical queries. Conference Co-ordinator: Lisa McCabe, University of Nottingham, lisa.mccabe at nottingham.ac.uk - for general enquiries. This is a temporary site, a redirect will be posted in due course. From geert at xs4all.nl Wed Dec 8 09:19:43 2010 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 09:19:43 +0100 Subject: ::fibreculture:: Rallies to defend Julian Assange and WikiLeaks In-Reply-To: References: Message-ID: <1C722B2D-844D-483E-844D-30DFC41DF383@xs4all.nl> For more information please visit http://wlcentral.org/ Rallies to defend Julian Assange and WikiLeaks Media release: http://wlcentral.org/node/556 Sydney: Friday, December 10, 1pm at Sydney Town Hall. Media contacts: Antony Loewenstein 0402 893 690; Simon Butler 0421 231 011. Rally information: Kylie Gilbert 0451 827 693 Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=161656067211736 Melbourne: Friday, December 10, 4:30pm at the State Library Lawns, Melbourne. Contact: Vashti Jane 0423 407 910. Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=182297491780623 Brisbane: Thursday, December 9, 5.30pm Brisbane Square CBD Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153885131325141 Brisbane: Friday, December 10, 12 noon at the Department of Foreign Affairs & Trade, 295 Anne Street, Brisbane CBD Rally information: Liam Hanlon 0435 266 613. Media contact: Jim McIlroy 0423 741 734 Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=153885131325141&index=1#%21/ event.... Hobart: Saturday, December 11, noon at the Hobart Parliament Lawns Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=171620612868329 Adelaide: Sunday, December 12, 1:00pm at Parliament House. Event page: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=182236928453862 From geert at xs4all.nl Thu Dec 9 09:06:53 2010 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Thu, 9 Dec 2010 09:06:53 +0100 Subject: ::fibreculture:: 4890 comments Message-ID: <639B7876-CECA-449D-B97D-6D1C873CBDBB@xs4all.nl> http://www.abc.net.au/unleashed/41914.html From geert at xs4all.nl Sun Dec 12 09:03:00 2010 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Sun, 12 Dec 2010 09:03:00 +0100 Subject: ::fibreculture:: 65 hours to go... support New Matilda! References: Message-ID: <669AD2B0-E5D5-4026-82C7-227855D620E9@xs4all.nl> > http://www.fundbreak.com.au/beta/index.php/archive/index/105/description/0/0 > >> New New Matilda attempts old old media strategy >> Crikey journalist Amber Jamieson writes: >> DEATH OF NEW MEDIA, MARNI CORDELL, NEW MATILDA, NEW MEDIA >> Online commentary website New Matilda has one week to raise nearly >> $60,000 in its last-ditch subscriberthon, or its virtual doors will >> be shut permanently. >> >> Nearly $10,000 was raised from individual donations in the last two >> days, so the $175,000 target figure -- "the minimum budget for one >> year, the very minimum to relaunch the site with," according to >> editor Marni Cordell -- is not impossible. >> >> The fund-raising strategy used by New Matilda is an Australian >> first for a news and commentary site. It's attempting to adopt the >> strategies of a community radio station, to "operate more like a >> public radio station than a subscriber service" and convince >> readers to support New Matilda and sign up as "supporters", >> although all content will remain free. >> >> In May Crikey revealed that New Matilda was to close in June after >> advertising and funding revenue dried up. Cordell then bought the >> publication from Duncan Turpie for the grand sum of $10 -- the same >> price Turpie paid three years earlier. In October Cordell announced >> that New Matilda was relaunching, with a critical "save New >> Matilda" style subscriberthon to raise $175,000 by December 15. >> >> New Matilda is a labour of love for Cordell, who is currently doing >> all work for it, for no money, in her spare time. Associate editor >> Catriona Menzies-Pike is being paid to work on the site full-time. >> Since the October relaunch an average of two stories per days have >> been published on the site, although all authors are now working >> voluntarily. >> >> If the $175,000 is reached, the money should fund about four days >> of work per week for Cordell and Menzies-Pike, as well as paying >> authors -- previous standard was $100 per piece -- for publishing >> two articles daily. >> >> But what sets New Matilda apart from the masses of online >> commentary and opinion? "We're a place that people go to to get >> context to what's in the news," said Cordell. "We take our role as >> editors quite seriously and everything that is published is >> thoroughly fact-checked and goes through a process of consideration >> and editing that I think other outlets don't necessarily do." >> >> Many of their writers used New Matilda as a stepping stone to hone >> their skills before then also being published elsewhere."Ben >> Eltham, Ben Pobjie, they weren't writing before I became editor and >> I think we built up a good stable of regular voices and we became >> known for that. I want to foster new talent, more often than not >> people are picking established talents from other outlets rather >> than fostering new talents and I think that's a shame," declared >> Cordell. >> >> New Matilda, founded in 2004, started as a subscription-based paid >> service, before the pay model was lifted in 2007. Is there much >> lamenting that the original subscriber model was abandoned? "I >> don't think we should have dropped the pay model, I just think we >> should have dropped the paywall. We dropped a really good revenue >> scheme and we never made up the shortfall." >> >> But why go down the community radio station-style road? "Main >> reason is we don't want to limit our audience to people who already >> know they like us," said Cordell. "The readership has really grown >> since we dropped the paywall and if we close the content we could >> lose it." >> >> Kath Letch, general manager the community broadcasting association >> of Australia and station manager for 14 years at the successful >> Melbourne community station 3RRR, understands difficult >> subscription drives and building supportive independent media >> communities. >> >> How to convince people to pledge money for something they can have >> for free? "It's about wanting to be part of that community by >> supporting it," Letch told Crikey. "It's about the content itself >> and it's also about identifying strongly with something and want to >> feel some way a part of that." >> >> Read the full story on our website >> -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From andrew.murphie at gmail.com Fri Dec 10 01:11:02 2010 From: andrew.murphie at gmail.com (Andrew Murphie) Date: Fri, 10 Dec 2010 11:11:02 +1100 Subject: ::fibreculture:: =?windows-1252?q?The_Fibreculture_Journal=97Call?= =?windows-1252?q?_for_Abstracts/Papers=97Exploring_affect_in_inter?= =?windows-1252?q?action_design=2C_interaction-based_art_and_digita?= =?windows-1252?q?l_art?= Message-ID: [please circulate] CFP- Special Issue for the Fibreculture Journal: Exploring affect in interaction design, interaction-based art and digital art http://fibreculturejournal.org/ http://fibreculturejournal.org/cfp-special-issue-of-the-fibreculture-journal-exploring-affect-in-interaction-design-interaction-based-art-and-digital-art/ ----- Please note that for this issue, initial submissions should be abstracts only Guest Editors: Thomas Markussen (?rhus School of Architecture) and Jonas Fritsch (?rhus University) abstract deadline: February 27, 2011 article deadline: June 30, 2011 publication aimed for: October, 2011 all contributors and editors must read the guidelines at http://fibreculturejournal.org/policy-and-style/ before working with the Fibreculture Journal email correspondence for this issue: Thomas dot Markussen at aarch dot dk/ jonas dot fritsch at gmail dot com -- "The notion of affect does take many forms, and you?re right to begin by emphasizing that. To get anywhere with the concept, you have to retain the manyness of its forms. It?s not something that can be reduced to one thing. Mainly, because it?s not a thing. It?s an event, or a dimension of every event. What interests me in the concept is that if you approach it respecting its variety, you are presented with a field of questioning, a problematic field, where the customary divisions that questions about subjectivity, becoming, or the political are usually couched in do not apply." (Massumi, Of Microperception and Micropolitics, p. 1) -- This special issue of the Fibreculture Journal addresses some of the contemporary challenges involved in working with affect. The issue is particularly focussed on working with affect across disciplines and practices involving interaction design, interaction-based art and/or digital technologies and digital arts. The pivotal question is this: How do we explore the ?field of questioning? that arises when you approach the affective within interaction design and digital art? What is the use of disciplinary goals when the affective has proven to be most valuable in trans-disciplinary theory? Where do we go from here, i.e. how can we continue working with the notion of affect?develop it in new theoretical, analytical and practical domains? What key concepts might emerge from this continued trajectory? How would they resonate within and with-out existing disciplines, creating novel links and assemblages? We are especially interested in the way in which changing concepts of affect are taken up within interaction design, interaction-based art and digital art. The editors are generally interested in concepts of affect that go beyond (or run beside) many of the given assumptions of interaction design, including those grounded in phenomenology. So, for example, we would be interested in concepts of, and work with, affect that goes beyond the "personal" interaction with the technical. Here affect might be understood as an impersonal?as much as or even sometimes as opposed to an intimate?dimension of relational capacity. This is affect as proposed in the work of Deleuze and Guattari, and more recently, in very different ways, the work of Brian Massumi, Patricia Clough, Nigel Thrift, and others (see below). Here affect is comprised of intensities and speeds, in which the living and nonliving, human and nonhuman differentially affect and are affected by each other. Such new understandings of affect have consequences for both thinking about, and designing for, interaction. They often meet other concepts of affect and interaction in interesting ways. We are interested in how such concepts, and meetings of concepts, feed into the practices that we find in interaction design, interaction-based art and digital art. How do you design affectively, for instance? How can we use insights from and around the affective turn while going beyond it, mobilizing the engagement with affect in a dynamic way, creating new relational events across disciplines and practices, feeding into new ways of thinking and acting? If the concept of ongoing change is so integral to the understanding of affect, how might we actually start ?living? by it?academically, or in the manner of research-creation? What kinds of politics does the concept of affect offer? If, as Massumi states, it is possible to talk about the affective as bringing about an expanded empirical field in various disciplines, how might we continue an exploratory politics of radical change pursued by other than philosophical means? How do such questions come into interactive design, or the more general meeting of technology and the social? We invite scholars, researchers and practitioners from the fields of interaction design, interaction-based art and digital art to contribute articles that help continue to develop the notion of affect beyond the affective turn. Possible topics/questions that can be addressed include, but are in no way limited to: ? In what ways might the concept of affect challenge dominant notions of ?user experience?, ?interface?, ?interaction? and ?aesthetics of interaction? in interaction design and digital art? ? Wherein lies the difference between affective interaction and emotional interaction? ? How do media and technology engage the transition from pre-cognitive affective forces to emotions, and vice versa? ? In what way does affective interaction through media and technology relate to the construction of identity, gender, power or politics? ? What is the role of the affective in the redistribution of the sensible as it comes to the fore in interaction design, interaction-based art and digital art? ? How can analytical and philosophical frameworks of the affective be taken further within experimental and artistic practice? ? How can insights into the affective expand the empirical field in the design of media and mass communication and their effect on individual and social bodies? ? How do the social, political and aesthetic come to together in the way media and technology affectively attune our bodies? ? To what extent can affect, and practices consciously working with affect, be brought into trans-disciplinary frameworks? ? What are the ethics, the forms of evaluation in terms of modes of living, implied by the consideration of affect? ? F?lix Guattari notes, after Gregory Bateson, that there is an "ecology of bad ideas, just as there is an ecology of weeds" (Guattari, 2000: 27). What about destructive ecologies of affect? ? Are there critical limits to the cultural leverage provided by theories of affect, or does affect make us rethink the limits of critique? ? What are the relations between practice and critique, for example, in interaction design, when affect is taken into account? Below, we shall quickly outline some of the diverse approaches that inform our interests here. Please note, however, that this issue of the Fibreculture Journal is not concerned with the "affective turn" per se. Rather, assuming the importance of considering affect across a number of disciplines, we are particularly concerned with affect as it is worked with in interaction design, interaction-based art and digital art. On the other hand, we welcome explorations of theoretical issues related to the questions and practices involved. -- Having emerged in the mid-90s, the ?affective turn? marked an increased cross-disciplinary research interest in pre-cognitive bodily forces, notably in how these forces are involved in the construction of human subjectivity, identity and our engagement with other people and technology. We have now reached a point where analysis of the affective has been shown to enrich the understanding of human existence?from the micro-perceptual to the macro-political. Brian Massumi has described affect as a ?world-glue?, bringing together different levels of experience and working across traditional dichotomies. It seems that affect also has a further role to play as a kind of ?disciplinary-glue?, making disparate practices resonate through the conceptual development and practical exploration of affect?and derived concepts and analyses. Patricia Clough?s introduction to ?The Affective Turn? from 2007 is explicitly concerned with how ?the affective turn is necessary to theorizing the social? (Clough 2007). Most recently, in an afterword to a special issue on affect published by the journal Body and Society, Clough offers interesting ideas about the future of affect studies but leaves the question of technology relatively unaddressed (T. Clough, 2010). In the field of Human-Computer Interaction, however, a range of technologically?oriented experiments have been carried out in the name of Affective Computing (e.g. Picard, 2000) or Emotional Design (Norman, 2004). These approaches , however, have been criticized for reducing the complexity of the affective in an attempt to make it formalizable and structurable in computational and informational terms. Recently, this informational approach to understanding affect has been countered with what has been termed an interactional approach. Here, an alternative model of emotion as interaction is introduced, allowing for the way in which interactive systems are experienced, culturally mediated and socially constructed (Boehner, DePaula, Dourish, & Sengers, 2005). However, the relation between the affective and emotional remains relatively unexplained. All this leaves us with a possible space of resonance for many of the concepts and practices arising from the affective turn. Nigel Thrift identifies five different schools of affective thinking in ?Turbulent Passions? (Thrift, 2007). Coming out of psycho-geography and non-representational theory, these schools bring new theoretical assemblages into being. Brian Massumi offers another affective trajectory. Massumi?s work moves from Spinoza?s basic notion of affect as the ability to affect and be affected, through the writings of Gilles Deleuze, to Gilbert Simondon and Alfred N. Whitehead, at the same time deploying work in developmental psychology carried out by Daniel Stern, as well as William James? notion of radical empiricism. For Massumi the notion of the affective has been central for re-conceptualizing the emergence of subjectivity (which is not a pre-given entity). One aspect of this is and the way in which interactive media and technologies may open up new territories for engaging preindividual forces, for instance in pre-cognitive sensations and feelings in bodily experience. This re-conceptualization has not only been valuable for understanding the aesthetics of interaction as it is continuously explored in interaction-based art, digital art, design and architecture (see e.g. Massumi, 1998, 2007). It has also made it clear that we need to include the political and ethical in the notion of the aesthetic, which in Guattari's terms becomes the aesthetico-political. Bodies always find themselves affected by fields of forces? forces of ideology, techniques and practice? that attune these bodies to certain regions of action or potentialities for action (Massumi, 2008, p. 6). With the advent of new media and technologies, artists and interaction designers are offered rich opportunities for exploring the many intersections between affect, sensation and action?at the level of the individual and social body. For example, imaging technologies allow artists such as Olafur Eliasson or Bill Viola to explore microscopically affective layers of sensation, of which we may not usually be consciously aware. Or, in what has become known as tactical media, surveillance technology has been subversively in public space, either to enhance affective social attunement between bodies?as in projects by Rafael Lozano-Hemmer or Ben Rubin?or as an instrument for micro-political acts of resistance that disrupt existing systems of control and power in order to liberate the body and construct counter-publics?as seen most vividly in iSee, by The Institute for Applied Autonomy or Roderico Dominquez?s Transborder Immigration Tool. -- Bibliography Boehner, K., DePaula, R., Dourish, P., & Sengers, P. (2005). Affect: from information to interaction. In Proceedings of the 4th decennial conference on Critical computing: between sense and sensibility (pp. 59-68). ACM. Clough, P. T. (2007). Introduction. In P. T. Clough & J. O. Halley (Eds.), The Affective Turn: Theorizing the Social. Duke University Press. Clough, T. (2010). Afterword: The Future of Affect Studies. Body & Society, 16(1), 222. Massumi, B. (1998). Sensing the virtual, building the insensible. Architectural Design (Profile no. 133), 68(5/6), 16-24. Massumi, B. (2007). The thinking-feeling of what happens. In J. Brouwer & A. Mulder (Eds.), Interact or Die! NAi Uitgevers/Publishers. Massumi, B. (2008). Of Microperception and Micropolitics. Inflexions: A Journal for Research-Creation, Inflexions, 3. Norman, D. A. (2004). Emotional design: Why we love (or hate) everyday things. Basic Civitas Books. Picard, R. W. (2000). Affective computing. The MIT Press. Thrift, N. J. (2007). Non-representational theory: space, politics, affect. Routledge. -- "A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, Where am I? What he really wants to know is, Where are the other places" - Alfred North Whitehead Andrew Murphie - Associate Professor School of English, Media and Performing Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2052 Editor - The Fibreculture Journal http://fibreculturejournal.org/> web: http://www.andrewmurphie.org/ http://dynamicmedianetwork.org/ fax:612 93856812 tlf:612 93855548 email: a.murphie at unsw.edu.au room 311H, Webster Building -- "A traveller, who has lost his way, should not ask, Where am I? What he really wants to know is, Where are the other places" - Alfred North Whitehead Andrew Murphie - Associate Professor School of English, Media and Performing Arts, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia, 2052 Editor - The Fibreculture Journal http://fibreculturejournal.org/> web: http://www.andrewmurphie.org/ http://dynamicmedianetwork.org/ fax:612 93856812 tlf:612 93855548 email: a.murphie at unsw.edu.au room 311H, Webster Building -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From moorenet at gmail.com Tue Dec 14 01:00:35 2010 From: moorenet at gmail.com (Chris Moore) Date: Tue, 14 Dec 2010 11:00:35 +1100 Subject: ::fibreculture:: REMINDER CFP: Zombies in the Academy - book chapters for an interdisciplinary anthology Message-ID: *apologies for cross-posting* REMINDER: CFP: Zombies in the Academy: Living Death in Higher Education Editors: Andrew Whelan, Chris Moore and Ruth Walker Abstracts for book chapter proposals due December 15th 2010 This book will take up the momentum provided by the resurgence of interest in zombie culture to examine the relevance of the zombie trope to discussions of scholarly practice itself. We propose to canvas a range of critical accounts of the contemporary university as an atavistic culture of the undead. We are therefore seeking interdisciplinary proposals for chapters that will offer a critical account of the political, cultural and pedagogical state of the university through applying the metaphor of zombiedom to both the form and content of academic work. We encourage submissions from a range of scholars - notably in cultural and communication studies, but also potentially popular culture, sociology, film studies, game studies, political science, philosophy and education - who would be prepared to submit chapters that examine the zombie trope and its relation to the living death of higher education from a variety of perspectives. The editors of Zombies in the Academy have an agreement for publication with Intellect Press UK for 2012. The anthology will be structured in three sections around the general topics of: 1. corporatisation, bureaucratisation, and zombification of higher education; 2. digital media and moribund content distribution infecting the university; 3. zombie literacies and living dead pedagogies. Paper proposals that would fit into these sections would include essays that might: * advance the zombie trope to investigate current conditions of the academy under pressure from the ?zombie processes? of audit culture and the MacDonaldisation of higher education * consider the uncanny value of the undead as itself a means of articulating a contemporary model of critique; * analyse the theme of zombies and the academic gaze through particular films, games, text or graphic novels; * discuss the zombie contagion model as an explanatory device for the circulation of moribund content across multiple media platforms; * explore pedagogical activities that use or reflect zombie narratives; * critically investigate the rise of zombie literacies as an epidemic circulated by an unthinking student horde and/or the undead ivory tower itself * reassess the zombie metaphor as something that only offers a negative critique, and instead suggest contexts where the zombie condition might be a desirable, advantageous or alternative option in academic contexts We also welcome proposals for experimental scholarly, graphic or creative writing work that engages with the book theme. Abstracts for proposed book chapters should be 1000 words. Authors are asked to include brief biographical details along with their proposals, including name, academic affiliation and previous publications. Deadline for submissions is 15th December 2010. Please select the most appropriate book section theme for your paper, and submit proposals as an emailed attachment to the following editors: For papers on the corporatisation and zombification of higher education: - Andrew Whelan, PhD. Department of Sociology, Sciences, Media and Communication, University of Wollongong. Email: andrew_whelan at uow.edu.au For papers on digital media and technologies of contagion: - Chris Moore, PhD. Centre for Memory, Imagination & Invention, Faculty of Arts and Education, Deakin University. Email: moorenet at gmail.com For papers on zombie literacies and pedagogies: - Ruth Walker, Learning Development, University of Wollongong. Email: rwalker at uow.edu.au Anticipated timeline: - proposals due December 15th 2010 (1000 words) - contributors notified January 15th 2011 - chapters due July 1st 2011 (6,000 - 9,000 words) - edited full manuscript to publishers December 2011 - book publication 2012 with Intellect Press UK Check out our blog: http://zombieacademy.wordpress.com/ -- Dr Christopher Moore Postdoctoral Research Fellow Centre for Memory, Imagination and Invention School of Communication and Creative Arts, Faculty of Arts and Education Deakin University, 221 Burwood Highway Burwood VIC 3125 Australia c.moore at deakin.edu.au moorenet at gmail.com 03 9244 6438 Twitter: CL_Moore Scribd: Moorenet From stephen at melbpc.org.au Tue Dec 21 06:57:25 2010 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen at melbpc.org.au) Date: Tue, 21 Dec 2010 05:57:25 GMT Subject: ::fibreculture:: Season's Greetings Message-ID: <20101221055725.A123797B@eagle.melbpc.org.au> Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, nonaddictive and gender neutral celebration of the solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice, (with respect for the religious/ secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or any choice not to practice any religious or secular traditions). We also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2011, but, not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make Australia great, (not to imply that Australia is necessarily greater than any other country), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or the sexual preference of any receipient of this message. By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms: This greeting is freely transferable. This greeting implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for you, or others, and is void where prohibited by law. This wish is warranted to perform as is expected within the usual application of good tidings, for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and any warranty is limited to replacement or the issuance of a new wish. Note: No trees, whales or dolphins were harmed in the sending of this message; however, numbers of electrons were electromagnetically relocated. -- Cheers people Stephen Loosley Member, Victorian Institute of Teaching From stephen at melbpc.org.au Thu Dec 30 05:32:32 2010 From: stephen at melbpc.org.au (stephen at melbpc.org.au) Date: Thu, 30 Dec 2010 04:32:32 GMT Subject: ::fibreculture:: Google Searches, Australia 2010 Message-ID: <20101230043232.70EC7983@eagle.melbpc.org.au> Google Zeitgeist 2010: How the world searched Australia Aussies are searching more and more for social sites this year, with sites like Chatroulette, Formspring, Tumblr and Omegle showing our love for connecting with people and sharing information. We?re also getting into entertainment, with lots of searches for Event cinemas, ABC3 and, of course, the 2010 World Cup. Fastest Rising: (1-10) chatroulette formspring abc3 world cup 2010 tumblr ancestry.com.au event cinemas omegle wikileaks jetstar Most Popular: facebook youtube google ebay hotmail yahoo real estate maps commonwealth white pages Fastest Rising People: andy irons justin bieber julia gillard lara bingle katy perry kim kardashian jessica watson andrew bolt kevin rudd Most Popular Lyrics: eminem justin bieber lady gaga taylor swift rihanna airplanes dynamite teenage dream hero telephone Food and Drink: minestrone soup macaroons chicken parmigiana recipe beef stroganoff anzac biscuits pikelet bruschetta shepherds pie banana bread chicken soup Sport and Recreation: fishing boats horse bikes patterns sewing caravan monster trucks city 2 surf cycling -- Cheers, Stephen