Tag Archives: Culture

CFP for Media Transatlantic: Media Theory in North America and German-Speaking Europe

Media Transatlantic: Media Theory in North America and
German-Speaking Europe

April 8-10, 2010; University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Proposals due: Nov. 27, 2010

http://www.mediatrans.ca

Ubiquitous and indispensible, media technologies have taken on an epistemological or even ontological significance: we learn what we know, and we become what we are, through print, TV, digital, mobile and other communications. “No part of the world, no human activity,” as Sonia Livingstone says, “is untouched…. Societies worldwide are being reshaped, for better or for worse, by changes in the global media and information environment.” Seeing media as a lens or even as an a priori condition for understanding historical, social and cultural change has become increasingly prevalent and urgent on both sides of the Atlantic. However, with some notable exceptions, this work has been developing independently, producing a wide-ranging if fruitful heterogeneity. On the one side are the interdisciplinary and theoretically-engaged Medienwissenschaften (media studies), and on the other, work developing out of the Toronto school and a variety of theoretical and disciplinary traditions. The purpose of this conference is to deepen and expand transatlantic dialogue between North America and German-speaking Europe (Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in the area of media theory — and to provide an opportunity for developing connections to other contexts as well. Areas of research and scholarship relevant to this dialogue include communication, philosophy, media literacy, and literary and cultural studies.

Confirmed Keynotes:
– Kim Sawchuk (Concordia)
– Katherine Hayles (Chicago)
– Sybille Krämer (Berlin)
– Dieter Mersch (Potsdam)
– Hartmut Winkler (Paderborn)
– Geoffrey Winthrop-Young (Vancouver)

This conference invites papers, in English, focusing on such issues as:

– Recent developments in media theory in North America and central
Europe, for example:
–   Media and materiality
–   The construction of “mediality” in theory and
practice
–   Media and the (post)human
–   The “mediatic turn” as milestone or misnomer
– The foundational contributions of McLuhan, Innis and the Toronto
School, of Flusser, Luhmann, and others
– Media as means of socialization and education
– Towards a philosophy of media
– (Inter)disciplinary implications of media-theoretical developments

Abstracts should be submitted using the form provided on the conference
Website: http://www.mediatrans.ca/submit.html

Contact,

Norm Friesen
Canada Research Chair in E-Learning Practices
Thompson Rivers University
+1 250 852 6256
http://learningspaces.org/n/
New Book – Re-Thinking E-Learning Research (http://elearn.tru.ca)

Doll Web Sites Drive Girls to Stay Home and Play

Interesting article in the New York Times today about girls and social networking sites. The second page has some quotes from Sherry Turkle.

 

Call For Performance

LIVE Performance Art Biennale

October 2007 / Vancouver Canada

CALL FOR AVATAR / SECOND LIFE PERFORMANCE ARTISTS LIVE 2007 (in partnership with Ars Virtua Gallery and New Media Center) is presenting an exciting new performance art initiative in the virtual world of Second Life.

LIVE 2007 invites international Avatar performance artists to participate. The event will be simulcast as part of the festival program. Please email a brief expression of interest, avatar performance proposal, CV, bio, and links before May 1, 2007 to:

  • Jeremy O. Turner (a.k.a. Wirxli Flimflam) Director of Avatar Development, LIVE jerturner536@yahoo.ca

  • James Morgan (a.k.a. Rubiayat Shatner) Director/Curator, Ars Virtua gallery@arsvirtua.com

The LIVE Performance Art Biennale was founded in 1999 and has located Vancouver, Canada as an important and recognized node of local, national and international performance art activity and critical study.

Ars Virtua is a new media center and gallery located in the synthetic world of Second Life. It is a new type of space that leverages the tension between 3-D rendered game space and terrestrial reality, between simulated and simulation. Ars Virtua is sponsored by the CADRE Laboratory for New Media.

Web resources:

www.livebiennale.ca

www.arsvirtua.com

www.secondlife.com

www.wirxliflimflam.blogspot.com

www.slfront.blogspot.com