Jess

[open media]

2012-02-16T10:23:00.001-07:00

Government Begins to Backpeddle on Online Spying as StopSpying.ca Petition reaches 93K

February 15, 2012 – The government is in hot water with 93,000 Canadians after introducing a bill that would allow warrantless online spying. Known as Lawful Access, this legislation was introduced in Parliament on Tuesday as Bill C-30.

Public interest group OpenMedia.ca says that if passed unchanged, this bill will create a giant, unsecure, expensive data registry that collects the personal information of any Canadian at any time without a warrant.

Over 90,000 people to-date have signed a petition at http://www.StopSpying.ca to protest the online spying bill—a growth of 10,000 since Tuesday morning—and a survey from Canada’s Privacy Commissioner show that 83 percent of Canadians oppose warrantless surveillance measures.

Read more »

[dreaming methods :: trailer]

2012-02-12T20:44:00.002-07:00

How can you not want to read/interact with born digital narratives like this:

[green energy]

2012-02-10T19:45:00.001-07:00

I saw this over at The Plashing Vole blog (fabulous read!) and had to repost it:

[whiteness of winter]

2012-02-05T16:26:00.000-07:00

I just love these photos; makes me love winter even more!

The whiteness of winter

View more PowerPoint from Renny

[Reactivating the Unheard Avant-gardes]

2012-02-04T13:32:00.000-07:00

EAR to the [Archive] Ground – Reactivating the Unheard Avant-gardes. Case: POEX65

By Morten Søndergaard - 21/01/2012

Now, listen...

No archive is perfect. No one, I assume, will contest this claim – especially, in this day and age, where archives are everywhere and everything is miscellaneous (Wiser). It is a reasonable claim that this new way of using archives, socially and privately, has created a new understanding of what archives are – and what they are not. At least, it seems much more logical today to claim that any archive including the ‘grand’ and professional (scientific) archives of national and international libraries and museum are imperfect and even selective. People are selective in their choices and tastes and their archives are a mirror of their biases and behaviours. Personal taxonomies are contextualizing social networks. As a mirror of professional and scientific networks, it is easy to assume similar processes of (in this case academically grounded) choices and tastes taking place in the formation and construction of ‘grand’ archives.

My claim is that there are huge lacunas in the construction of the ‘grand’ archives, as well as in the construction of our ‘collective’ knowledge, and it would be tempting - if we consider the other end of the argument that Mark Wiser makes, which indicates that we may never bridge or fill all of them (the idea would be absurd) - to claim that none of it matters. The ‘homemade’ logic being that there is not anything interesting to find, anyway – and if there were, ‘they’ (the professional and scientific networks) would certainly know about it.

This paper argues that this is certainly not the case. The professional and scientific networks did not find, and do not know everything (!) – a lot of dynamic and significant cultural knowledge remain unheard of. Therefore, it is important and should be a priority to examine the lacunas and gaps (if we can find them) and understand them in a cultural and scientific context. Somehow they were excluded or sifted out of the ‘official’ construction of archived knowledge, and how and why this happened is an important scientific question to ask. Furthermore, the notion (it does not qualify as an argument) that only the important stuff made it into the archives, and that it only made it exactly because it was important, is as absurd as it is, almost, a dangerous (and not scientific) point of view.

[canadian alphabet]

2012-01-29T12:06:00.000-07:00

And yes, we say "zed" not "zee"!:

Image from Canada Fuck Yeah.

[yeg intelligent traffic systems?]

2012-01-26T22:28:00.003-07:00

Hrm...the video makes this sounds great...shame I haven't experienced the benefits...yet

[wikipedia protest]

2012-01-17T21:52:00.002-07:00

[future of publishing]

2012-01-14T11:47:00.001-07:00

Interesting article from the Guardian:

Stephen Page
guardian.co.uk, Friday 13 January 2012 15.07 GMT
Article history

Two publishers talk business in an oversize replica of a book at the Frankfurt book fair. Photograph: Frank Rumpenhorst/AP

2011 was a dramatic year for the UK books industry. Waterstones changed ownership and leadership. Ebook sales grew to around 7% of the general books market, with WHS Kobo and Apple emerging alongside the dominant Kindle, which had a major Christmas. Agents set up publishing endeavors, publishers created successful apps and writers published themselves. The contentious debate about a fair royalty rate for ebook sales continued, and Amazon set up its own publishing arm.

There's a riot of cross-dressing going on; a scramble as roles are redefined by usefulness, not legacy. What does all this mean for the Olympic year of 2012? Are we breasting the tape after a sprint from the old to the new, or are we yet even to hear the bell on a long-distance test of endurance?

In my view, while 2011 may have signalled the beginning of the end of the era of publishers-with-access-to-the-mass-market as the dominant model for book publishing, it did not signal an end to the opportunity presented by writing or publishing more generally.

Between 1680 and 1770, publishing in Britain was revolutionised – by radical politics and religion, changes in the law, shifting formats and the breaking of a monopoly on granting copyrights held by the Stationers Company. Up to that point, booksellers controlled the market, printers were strictly regulated and the government legislated to suppress the printing of radical ideas. It's not hard in retrospect to pick a side in this argument. The freedom to write is paramount, and it should be supported by the creation of audience and value (a living for writers) through excellent publishing. Eventually, the status quo was challenged and changed, opening up the thriving industry we enjoy today.

But now, as then, control of the market – expressed mainly by publishers' access to the mass market – has been undone to some degree, this time by the digital revolution. What's up for grabs, as it was in the 18th century, is the significant opportunity to be valuable to writers and readers at a time of great change. Publishing is what happens when writing journeys between author and reader; it is vital in creating an audience and value for a writer's work, and therefore of great importance to our culture. I'm not so interested in publishers, even though I run one, but I am interested in what it means to publish excellently in this new world.

So what might good publishing in the 21st century involve? There are several things at which publishers will need to excel; some new, some old. These include:

– The ability to imagine the life of a copyright in three dimensions, from book, to ebook, to app, to audio, to enhanced versions including extra content. This, along with the ability to do so dynamically as technology and behaviour change rapidly, will be crucial.

– A focus on the consumer, rather than the book trade. Expertise in consumer marketing that contends for attention in all digital spaces, alongside strength in working with both bricks and mortar and online booksellers, will be vital.

– Excellent communication with authors and readers (not just trade and media). This comes in many forms, some well-established. Social activity goes for offline as well as online. There's a reason that the publishing lunch is legendary, and that's because informal, personal dealings will remain crucial to authors (if they're not doing the publishing themselves).

– The demonstrable creation of value and the fair sharing of it. Publishers exist to create value and audience for writers, and this needs to be at the centre of all publishing endeavours.

One way for publishers to express this creation of value is through advances. Publishers provide necessary capital for writing; advances will remain an important part of many writers' income. They also invest in the creation of audience, improvements in infrastructures, and expertise around all the activities required to produce a book. Many writers may not want to make these investments – of time and money – themselves, so businesses that do this and offer good value will thrive.

There are unquestionably many new skills required in the world of publishing, but many of the old skills will still be required. While publishers will need to invest in new marketing, business models and technology skills, for example, they will also still need to offer expert editorial advice. Publishing is at its best when editors identify great work, and assist the author in its improvement; publishing businesses that do this expertly will continue to be of great value. More important than an in-depth understanding of modern publishing technologies, meanwhile, will be the understanding of what can be done with those technologies, to inspire the creation of new ways of making and communicating copyrights. While arming editors and marketers with new skills will be vital, I would rather teach our old dogs new tricks than have to teach publishing skills to outside specialists.

Finally, the men and women engaged in publishing need to be bold and exuberant. This is an extraordinary age for writing and reading, and it seems to me that this endeavour will go better if it's done with a sense of purpose and pleasure, rather than defensively. It won't turn out well for everyone currently in the business, but so what? If publishing is useful and creates value then it will be of value, whoever is doing it.

And if publishing needs a compass to guide it in this time of great change, there are two questions that need answering with a whoop and an affirmative: "is this great news for readers?" and, perhaps even more importantly, "is this great news for writers?" That is, after all, what publishing is there for, whoever is doing it.

[end of term baking]

2011-12-16T20:28:00.000-07:00

Whew, with the marking done for 200 students and a 4:00am flight to Honduras on Sunday (for my brother's wedding), I decided to do some baking for a brunch we're hosting tomorrow morning.

I'm planning on making croissant sandwiches a la caprese (filled with fresh toms and bocconcini and fresh basil), with roast beef and a horseradish cream and simple smoked ham with mustard and arugula. Yum. But, for the baking, I decided to try my hand at mini quiches AND dark chocolate muffins.

Hubby and baby tried both experiments (I hadn't baked either before and it's my own recipe) and they went down well - baby even ate TWO!

The Quiche Recipe
8 eggs
1/4 cup of flour (I used self-raising)
spinach
cheese (whatever you really want to put in!)
salt
pepper (to taste)
splash of white wine

I just mixed it all up together! If you wanted it extra light, you could do the egg whites separately and gently stir them in at the end.

Double Chocolate Muffins

1 3/4 cups of flour (I used self raising)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1 cup of milk
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla (I used Madagascar extract, don't use essence!)
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of veg oil
3/4 cup of chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate chips and chunks)
1/4 cup of cocoa

I mixed it all up and then just before popping them into the oven I sprinkled them all with extra chocolate chips AND some sugar...naughty I know but now there's a lovely, crunchy top!

[high-tech coffee maker :: I want one!]

2011-12-08T21:21:00.000-07:00

This is fabulous - sleek, swift and uses and iPad app. Plus, I think this "creative technology" might well fall into a device requiring transliterate skills.

[my undergrad agriculture, life & environmental science students]

2011-12-07T20:02:00.001-07:00

This term was the first time I had taught a face-to-face class in just over a year. I've been running a Master's course on new media narratives for the Faculty of Extension at the University of Alberta, but this term marked the beginning of a communications course for the ALES faculty.

Although this course had been running for some time, I was able to instil some technological changes...mainly, I hoped to guide students through online communication; how to use Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Blogger and more in a literate and business sense. I think the term was successful and so far, informal feedback (via tweets and blog comments!) is very positive.

Today marked the final class of term and three students agreed to do a summary of the term. They created this fabulous video. Please enjoy:

[winter clouds]

2011-12-04T17:12:00.001-07:00

[Jess's Blog as a Snowflake]

2011-12-04T13:00:00.001-07:00

Miarcel Salanthe created Webpages As Graphs, a visualizer applet that will turn any weblink into a graphic form. You can view the graph being plotted in real-time as little colored nodes branch out into snowflake-like patterns. Each color dot represents a certain aspect of the web structure, such as blue if for links, red is for tables, violet for images and so on.
Webpages As Graphs uses Processing, Traer Physics and HTMLParser. Salathe has also provided instructions on how to print out the graph into poster-size.

via PSFK.

Image from here.

[google for research: infographic]

2011-11-24T17:20:00.001-07:00

This would be useful to stick up in classrooms or on class blogs. Thanks to Jenica Rhee for the infographic.
Created by: HackCollege

[Are you Gay or Do You Enjoy A Drink? No Job for You at Georgia's Shorter University]

2011-11-20T18:16:00.001-07:00

In this day an age, this is especially disgraceful!

Georgia’s Shorter University to make staff sign 'statement of faith' pledge

Image from Times Free Press.

ROME, Ga. — For decades, Shorter University has given students like Nick DiPillo, faculty member Ben Harris and former professor and alumna Betty Zane Morris a place to grow spiritually and academically.

But the new university president’s requirement of a “statement of faith” — in essence a pledge requiring faculty members to promise they are not gay and will refrain from drinking alcohol except in their own homes — has alarmed many on campus, who say it infringes on personal freedoms and attempts to legislate morality.

“I reject as acceptable all sexual activity not in agreement with the Bible, including, but not limited to, premarital sex, adultery, and homosexuality,” reads the statement.

It’s just one sentence in a 270-word document that also requires faculty to be active members of a Christian church and to refrain from drinking in public — even having wine in a restaurant. But it is placing the small, respected liberal arts college in headlines across the country and squarely at the crossroads of faith and learning, as its motto says.

“This institution has been a Christian school for 138 years, and we never were asked to sign anything to make that happen,” said Morris, whose husband and children also are Shorter alumni.

“Jesus couldn’t be a teacher here now. He drank wine in public. He was a Jew, and he associated with disreputable people,” said Morris, who taught communications at the school for 46 years.

University President Donald Dowless said Shorter’s administration and board — most appointed by the Southern Baptist Convention and the Georgia Baptist Convention — knew there would be some opposition.

“We recognize there may be people who do not agree with this and, in good conscience, cannot sign it. We wish them well. We hope they will be receptive to it,” Dowless said.

Those who cannot or will not sign the statement will not have their contracts renewed.

Read the entire article here.

[infographic: digital literacy in the classroom]

2011-11-10T11:04:00.001-07:00

In academia there continues to be a lot (a lot!) of discussion about the pros and cons of allowing (or enabling?!) students to use social media in class. There are quite a few (the majority it seems) of professors and teachers who think students should NOT use laptops or smartphones in class. They are a distraction is the oft' touted reason. Well my students in #ALES204 and in New Media Narratives & Publishing at the University of Alberta, know I think differently! And, in many of our lectures I've tried to highlight why it is so important that we all learn to become digitally literate. It is more than just using Facebook, but learning to use it for specific purposes (like to promote oneself for a job) and learning to make some aspects of our profiles private. We're also learning that tweeting about research-related information can generate new connections - possibly even with future employees.

So, it is with this in mind that I share with you an infographic sent to me from Jenica Rhee. It is called The Digital Promise. What do you think?

Created by: Online Schools

[occupy wallstreet photo from Brighton]

2011-11-06T20:39:00.002-07:00

Saw this photo on Boing Boing - makes you wonder:

Photo was taken by Bob Jaroc.

[social media in university]

2011-10-31T11:16:00.000-06:00

I have had to jump over a few hurdles in order to bring social media into some of my university teaching. Aspects of privacy are usually the hardest to circumvent.

Reading this article though is sure to raise educators' and learners' hackles...after all the effort of bringing social media into a classroom and developing skills of transliteracy (so students and educators can employ the tools in a meaningful and life-long learning context), Sam Houston State University is setting back all that work.

Their draft social-media policy is requiring that ANYONE with a campus-related Twitter, Facebook or other online account give administrators editing privileges. RIDICULOUS! To give someone editing privileges means they have full access to all of your data, and they can alter your information (your tweets, your Facebook status, even your privacy settings).

No thanks!

[social media & employability]

2011-10-23T17:02:00.000-06:00

Image by Reppler via Mashable

[infographic: world food crisis]

2011-10-18T13:36:00.000-06:00

Thanks to Jenica Rhee for sending this great infographic along! This will be of interest to my Agricultural, Life & Environmental Science students too:

Created by: Public Health DegreeYou can see the infographic here too: http://www.publichealthdegree.com/world-food-crisis/

[social media in my undergrad. class: front page uni news]

2011-10-05T20:54:00.000-06:00

I love this! I was interviewed a couple of weeks ago by Alex Migdal for the University of Alberta's newspaper, the Gateway. Amazingly, the story made the front page (w00t w00t) and Alex shared with readers how I'm using social media tools like Twitter in my undergrad. communications course for the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences.

Image appears in The Gateway, taken by Dan McKechnie

Profs bring technology to classroom with Twitter and podcasts

Alex Migdal
Staff Reporter

Oct 05, 2011

When Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences (ALES) instructor Jessica Laccetti first told her class of 160 students to use their smartphones and laptops to tweet about her class, there were surprised looks all around. Some students even emailed her after class to make sure they had heard her correctly.

“The first day, I think one person came with a laptop,” Laccetti said with a laugh. “I took a picture of the class on the second lecture and you can suddenly see the myriad of laptops.”

Laccetti isn’t encouraging aimless internet surfing during class though. Rather, she’s teaching ALES 204 – Communication Theory and Practice, a class that she said is devoted to providing ALES students “basic communication skills and bringing it into the new world.”

The class represents a change in the way instructors are teaching at the University of Alberta, implementing online and networking tools to make education relevant in the digital age.

Social media is an integral part of that new age, which explains why students in the class are immersed in it from day one. They’re introduced to various applications like Twitter, LinkedIn, and Delicious, and also create their own blogs for use as an electronic portfolio.

Laccetti estimates that 90 per cent of students hadn’t registered to Twitter prior to starting the class. Although students were uneasy with the application at first, Laccetti said they were tweeting with ease by the fourth class.

Nowadays, a steady stream of tweets marked with the Twitter hashtag #ales204 shows students sharing their experiences with their peers. Their tweets offer a glimpse of what they’ve recently learned.

In one class last week, students were offered some valuable tips on succeeding in an interview.

Student Megan Borle typed to Lacetti, “Who knew that the first thing that people notice when you walk into a room to speak is your shoes? Never would have guessed!” Another student, Madeleine Bosnyak, reiterated a useful tidbit learned in class: “Number one thing I learnt from Wendy’s presentation was to wear red to an interview. You’ll be remembered!”

Laccetti noted that students have told her they’re able to speak to her in a more conversational manner through Twitter, which she feels is ideal for facilitating learning.

As for Facebook, Laccetti teaches student to lay off the drunken party photos and to always be aware of their potential audience.

“In my own teaching experience at the undergraduate level, I don’t feel students are entirely aware,” she said. “They realize that they’re writing for an audience but they often think that audience is just their own circle of friends who they know in real life. And on things like their blog and Twitter, I don’t think they quite realize the extent of (their readership) yet.”

“When I pointed out to them our own class blog already had 5,000 people look at it, and it’s only been up 5 days, they were really surprised,” she added.

Dealing with a large online audience is nothing new for Jonathan White, director of surgical education at the U of A, who has amassed a quarter of a million listeners with his podcast, Surgery 101.

What started off as a series of 10 basic podcasts recorded in 2008 for a surgery class of 125 students has quickly evolved into a wildly successful podcast that’s been downloaded in 116 countries.

The podcast, released every Friday, features White and an array of experts discussing a variety of surgical topics, while also offering helpful advice like, “How to avoid fainting in the ER.”

White explains the podcast adds a dimension of fun and humour to a difficult course.

“It’s nice to be creative and use humour when you’re teaching,” White said. “The other thing is it’s just reaching a ridiculous number of people.”

“I’ve taught over 700 or 800 students over the past 5 years. And the podcast has now reached a quarter of a million people. For every two students that I’ve taught, I’ve probably taught 1,000 online.”

Students are such fans of White’s podcast that they’ve walked up to him in the library asking if they could help record a podcast. He also said that the podcast has become a useful way to teach students outside of class.

“I’m starting to actually use the podcast in real life. So if a student’s coming to work with me in the clinic tomorrow, I’ll tell them we’re doing a particular case and say, ‘If I was you, I would listen to podcast 38.’ It’s starting to become practical knowledge.”

Laccetti and White both view online and digital tools as an important proponent of education nowadays, and agree that these tools have facilitated their communication with students. They both hope to see these tools play a more prominent role in the U of A’s curriculum in the years to come.

“I think (social media) is highly important and I think if we as educators are not literate enough to pass that onto our students, we are doing them a disservice,” Laccetti said. “In any field, employers, if not now, certainly in the next three of four years, are going to require that people know how to manage a Facebook profile for their business … If we’re not teaching students this aspect, we’re not giving them a fair education.”

White shared similar sentiments, noting that technology allows education to be shared to a widespread audience.

“You’re surrounded by experts all the time at the U of A and they’ve got so much information to impart, and I think the amount of people you can reach through technology is enormous.”

[62 Handy New Media Tools]

2011-10-01T19:19:00.000-06:00

Fab. finds you might have missed, via Stephanie Buck:

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The daily deals market is growing so quickly, it’s hard to get a handle on who’s using these products and what they’re using them for. This infographic will help you answer those questions and more.
4 Reasons Every Online Brand Should Explore Gamification Strategies
Incorporating game mechanics into a marketing strategy is becoming more and more popular. What’s responsible for this rise?
3 Tips for Retaining Your Software-as-a-Service Customers
How do you keep customers happy so they continue to pay for your service? Heed these 3 tips.
Design Inspiration: 7 Galleries of Excellent Ecommerce Sites
Building an online store can be challenging, and requires good design. Before diving into your next project, take a look at these examples of ecommerce done right.
3 Ways to Find Top Talent for Your Startup
Building an A-Team is critical for startup success, but where do you find top talent? Try these 3 tactics.
How Search Marketing Costs Are Evolving
Search marketing’s bull-boom years appear to be over, but that doesn’t mean the value is gone. Here’s a look at how the cost and efficacy of search marketing has changed.
4.7 Million LinkedIn Users Are Employed by Small Businesses [INFOGRAPHIC]
A four-year degree isn’t the only path to a good job, as evinced by this infographic from LinkedIn.
4 Key Considerations for Scaling Your Database
When evaluating a database solution, it’s important to make sure your database scales in a way that is optimal for the needs of your application. Here are four key things to consider.
How Mint Found Startup Success By Solving Real Problems
Mashable spoke with Mint founder Aaron Patzer about launching his startup, solving a real problem and fighting through the self-doubt that entrepreneurs face.
6 Ways Brands Can Earn More Exposure on Tumblr
Tumblr is an Internet force of nature that cannot be ignored. If you’re embarking on a Tumblr content strategy, these six tips can put you over the top.
Should You Really Quit Your Day Job in a Down Economy?
Do you have dreams to start your own business, but aren’t quite sure if this is the right time? If so, here are a few things to think about.
5 Tips for Getting Celebrities Involved With Online Cause Campaigns
Celebrities can be a huge help to any non-profit organization, but how can you actually get one or two on board? We spoke with companies that have had real success.
Fashion Blogging Grows Up: Why Advertisers Want a Piece of the Action
In this niche pocket of the blogosphere where personality (and aesthetics) are paramount, larger-than-life personas have proven potent when it comes to selling product.
Why Facebook Timeline Will Be Huge for Brands
Users have been abuzz over the possibilities of Facebook’s Timeline, but brands should be excited too. Here’s a look at the possibilities.
7 Common Questions About Startup Employee Stock Options
Whether you’re considering a job offer that includes a stock grant, or you hold stock as part of your current compensation, it’s crucial to understand the basics.
92% of Americans Take Action for Social Good [INFOGRAPHIC]
The Social Change Impact Report from Walden University shows that 92% of Americans took action for social change this past year. The series of graphics, one of which is shown below, highlight the growing importance of social change for U.S. residents.

For more business news and resources, you can follow Mashable’s business channel on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.

Image courtesy of Dawghouse Design Studio

[social media = top skills employers want]

2011-09-23T11:49:00.000-06:00

Get Ready To Hire Generation Z

Sep 23, 11 | 12:06 am

By Penelope Trunk

Just as companies have adjusted to the demands of generation Y, a new generation is set to graduate from college: generation Z.

William Strauss and Neil Howe set the standard for generational analysis in their book: Generations: The History of America's Future 1584 to 2069. The basic premise of the book is that generational traits are cyclical, and therefore predictable. The trick with predicting demographic trends based on generational tendencies is to use the research from Strauss and Howe but also the knowledge we have of what teens have been doing as they come down the pipe into the workforce.

Based on that analysis, here are five ideas for how to prepare your recruiting strategy for generation Z:

1. Go mobile

Generation Z buys products based on battery life, and they interact with their favorite brands based on mobile applications. So you can bet that you will be recruiting this generation via their phone. Generation Z is phenomenal at writing short, which means they expect most communication to fit fine into a phone screen. Want to get better at this sort of communication? Check out the book: Microstyle: The Art of Writing Little by Christopher Johnson.

2. Forget e-mail

To generation Y, e-mail is a slow, inefficient tool that you use for work. To generation Z, e-mail is intolerable. Use social tools to get to generation Y. This gives them a way to see context to you and your company right away. Generation Z will also like that you can see a lot about them right away-they will have a lot of self-confidence when it comes to being seen and known. They will not be used to hiding behind anonymity and they won't feel the need to-they'll be speed demons when it comes to information processing, and gen z will be smarter than any generation before them.

3. Ditch outdated views about college degrees

Generation Z will be the first to experiment with DIY education on a large scale. This means many of them will say no to paying absurd costs for college. For many kids, it makes more sense to skip college. Other kids will go to a small, no-name community college. It's likely that for generation Z, these alternative-college types will be the self-starters, the highly educated and the people you want to help run your company in the future. Recruit them by showing you understand why people don't want to suffer through college any longer.

4. Pitch projects rather than titles

Homeschooling is a huge trend among counter-culture, no-BS generation X parents. Today, the majority of homeschoolers don't do it for religious reasons, but because they want their kids to be independent thinkers. Current education research advocates individualized project-based learning. That is, kids do not do worksheets, book reports and tests. But rather, months-long projects that have a start and finish. Then the kids evaluate what they learned in order to determine their next step. This is the type of kid that will be best equipped for the workforce. Attract these up-and-comers by talking in terms they understand: constant learning through interesting projects.

5. Be open to new ideas

The key to being attractive to generation Z is to be a lifelong learner. The days of thinking school is for learning and work is for working are gone. Generation Z will be incredulous that those days ever even existed.

Management adapted very slowly to the demands of generation Y. And generation Y surprised everyone by leveraging their demographic power to force corporations to change. Gen Z will have similar demographic power, largely because baby boomers are such a big generation and generation X is so small, so there is a big gap in the workforce that generations Y and Z will fill.

Set your company apart from the competition by being great at hiring young talent before everyone else figures it out.

[first day of school]

2011-09-08T22:28:00.002-06:00

Well, not really the first day of school but yesterday was my first day back at uni...teaching in a face-to-face classroom! It's been about a year since I've been teaching the online course, New Media Narratives & Publishing for the University of Alberta but this term (yesterday!) I start teaching ALES204: Communication: Theory and Practise. And guess what, lucky me got to redesign the syllabus for the online world! So much fun! Already the students are commenting on the class blog and saying that they're excited to use social media tools in a professional manner. Since I'm teaching for the Faculty of Agricultural, Life and Environmental Sciences I have a lot of er, scientists (?)) in my class! Quite a different bunch from my usual humanities group. I can't wait to see how these students use their newly-learnt skills to write for nutrition, animal genomics, animal science, human ecology, clothing & textiles, family ecology and more!

[this week in education]

2011-09-05T10:28:00.000-06:00

Via

Higher Education - chronicle.com

Happy Labor Day, folks.

We don’t have classes tomorrow, Monday, in honor of the holiday. When I tell that
to people who have non-academic jobs, they start to laugh uncontrollably, like
Jackie Gleason in The Honeymooners, and pound the table with their fists.
And that’s just the women.

3 shares • Read full story • Share

Angst for the educated - economist.com

MILLIONS of school-leavers in the rich world are about to bid a tearful goodbye to their
parents and start a new life at university. Some are inspired by a pure love of learning.

32 shares • Read full story • Share

Unexpected legacy left by hero of Flight 93 - Yahoo! 9/11 10th Anniversary Site via Yahoo!
News

Alice Hoagland's son Mark Bingham died saving countless lives on September 11, 2001.
She's making sure her son's legacy isn't forgotten.

170 shares • Read full story • Share

[digital media lecture series: uppsala university]

2011-08-31T17:01:00.000-06:00

Microsoft Word - Thomas Tufte_Announcement.doc

Media@UU Programme Autumn 2011

Full programme, abstracts, descriptions:

http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/MediaUU_Autumn2011.pdf

LOCATION Ekonomikum, Kyrkogårdsgatan 10, Uppsala.

* Monday, September 12, 2011, 10:00-12:30: Workshop “Digital Media and Political Change” (with Lance Bennett, Christian Christensen, Christian Fuchs, Muzammil M. Hussain, Gail Ramsay, Kristina Riegert, Alexandra Segerberg), room A138

* Thursday, September 29, 09:00-11:00, Thomas Tufte (Roskilde University, Denmark): Citizen Media and Citizen Tactics, hörsal 2 (HS2).

* Thursday, September 29, 14:00, hörsal 2 (HS2): Defence of Cecilia Strand’s dissertation “Perilous Silences and Counterproductive Narratives Pertaining to HIV/AIDS in the Ugandan, Lesotho and Namibian Press“, opponent: Thomas Tufte

* Monday, October 3, 2011, 14:15-16:00, Hart Cohen (University of Western Sydney, Australia): The Idea of “Social” in Social Media, room B105

* Wednesday, October 5, 2011, 10:00-12:00, Yuezhi Zhao (Simon Fraser University, Canada): The Politics of Intellectual Publicity in China’s Brave New Media World, room A138

* Thursday+Friday, October 6+7, 2011: Conference “Global Media Worlds and China”, Ekonomikum; keynote speakers: Yuezhi Zaho (Simon Fraser University, Canada), Daya Thussu (University of Westminster, UK), Susan Brownell (University of Missouri, USA)

* Wednesday, November 2, 2011, 15:15-17:00, Tobias Olsson (Jönköping University, Sweden): Mediated Participation and “Social” Media: Some Critical Remarks, room F332

The Media@UU lecture series is organized by the Department of Informatics and Media, Media and Communication Studies. In addition to lectures by representatives of our own department, researchers from other disciplines, as well as well-known international scholars, present current research. The series is dedicated to highlighting research on media, or media-related issues, from across the broad intellectual spectrum at Uppsala University, and beyond. It focuses on contemporary hot issues relating to the role of the media in society, such as for example: media, conflict & war, online politics, online economy, Internet/social media/web 2.0, media & globalization, or media power.

Our autumn lecture series features a workshop about digital media, political change and the Arab world, a public PhD defence, a conference about China and the media and talks about social media and citizen media.

Prof. Christian Fuchs

Chair in Media and Communication Studies

Department of Informatics and Media

Uppsala University

Kyrkogårdsgatan 10

Box 513

751 20 Uppsala

Sweden

christian.fuchs@im.uu.se

Tel +46 (0) 18 471 1019

http://fuchs.uti.at

http://www.im.uu.se

NetPolitics Blog: http://fuchs.uti.at/blog

Editor of tripleC: http://www.triple-c.se

Book "Foundations of Critical Media and Information Studies" (Routledge 2011)

Book "Internet and Society" (Paperback, Routledge 2010)

[employment: assistant, associate or full professor, information studies]

2011-08-23T17:37:00.000-06:00

The School of Information Studies (SOIS) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position in Information Studies at the rank of Assistant, Associate or Full Professor. The selected applicant will teach courses in the School’s graduate and, possibly, undergraduate programs. A PhD and MLIS (or comparable degree) are required as is demonstrated ability in research and teaching.

Applicants should have a strong background in information policy, including, but not limited to, ethical, cultural, technological or political issues as they relate to the information professions, systems, and infrastructures that make up our global information society.

Experience or demonstrated ability in design and delivery of courses in a variety of formats, including distance learning modes, is highly desirable. The Applicant should demonstrate the ability to teach in at least one of the core areas in the SOIS MLIS program and advanced graduate elective courses in her/his areas of expertise. Opportunities will also be available to teach in the School’s Bachelor of Science program in Information Science and Technology. The Applicant should be willing to work closely with doctoral students and to serve on dissertation committees. Experienced researcher a plus. Applicants who are eligible for a senior level appointment are especially encouraged to apply.

The preferred expected start date is January, 2012, and no later than August 2012.

For full details and to apply, visit the official posting (position #2730): https://jobs.uwm.edu/postings/6802

[employment: assistant professor in communications]

2011-08-22T17:30:00.000-06:00

NOTICE OF TENURE-TRACK POSITION IN COMMUNICATION STUDIES

POSITION: Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, tenure-eligible.

BEGINNING DATE: Late August 2012

QUALIFICATIONS: Ph.D. by September 1, 2012 (ABD considered). The

successful candidate should demonstrate a commitment to teaching

excellence and to maintaining an active scholarly agenda.

RESPONSIBILITIES: Full-time teaching load: 6 courses divided over

fall, January and spring terms. Teaching load will include

Introduction to Interpersonal Communication, Intercultural

Communication, Organizational Communication, Communication Theories,

electives that complement existing offerings, as well as contributions

to the interdisciplinary programs of the college. Additional duties

include advising and committee work.

SALARY: Commensurate with academic qualifications and professional experience.

Luther College, a Phi Beta Kappa institution affiliated with the

Lutheran Church (ELCA), is committed to fostering cultural diversity

in its faculty, staff, and students, and so we welcome applications

from the widest range of candidates who meet the qualifications listed

above. Women and persons of diverse ethnic backgrounds are especially

encouraged to apply. Excellent teaching is of paramount importance.

Additional information about the college is available by visiting the

college website: www.luther.edu.

Review of applications begins September 15, 2011 and continues until

position is filled. The successful applicant will be required to

complete Employment Eligibility Verification Form I-9 of the U.S.

Immigration and Naturalization Service. All correspondence, including

letter of application, curriculum vitae, evidence of teaching

excellence, syllabi, three letters of recommendation, and official

graduate and undergraduate transcripts, should be sent to:

Dr. Kimberly Powell, Search Committee Chair

Department of Communication Studies

Luther College

700 College Drive

Decorah, Iowa 52101

Telephone: 319/387-1362

Fax: 319-387-1336

E-mail: powellki@luther.edu

[employment: communications assistant or associate professor]

2011-08-21T17:29:00.000-06:00

The Department of Communication Studies at Northwestern University seeks to hire in

organizational communication for an appointment beginning September 1, 2012. The

appointment will be either a tenure-track position at the rank of assistant

professor, or, in the case of a truly exceptional candidate of appropriate

experience, a tenured position at the rank of associate professor. The successful

candidate will be expected to publish innovative research, teach undergraduate and

graduate courses, and perform professional service commensurate with rank.

We welcome applicants from a range of theoretical and methodological approaches who

study either formal or informal organizations, or the process of organizing more

broadly. We are particularly interested in scholars who study the communicative

aspects of distributed work, social movement processes, innovation, globalization,

technological change, virtual worlds, or organizing processes in healthcare or the

creative industries. Potential to attract external funding is expected. The

position includes the opportunity to teach in a professional master’s degree

program.

The Department of Communication Studies supports a popular undergraduate major and

graduate programs in Media, Technology, and Society, Interaction and Social

Influence, and Rhetoric and Public Culture, as well as the interdisciplinary Ph.D.

program in Technology and Social Behavior. Through special resources for research

support and scholarly event programming, the department is able to offer rich

opportunities for scholarly development. School of Communication faculty also can

have opportunities during their career at Northwestern to teach and conduct research

at the Northwestern University campus in Doha, Qatar.

Candidates should send a letter of application, CV, a publication or work in

progress, evidence of teaching effectiveness, and three letters of reference to

Professor Ellen Wartella, Department of Communication Studies, Northwestern

University, 2240 Campus Drive, Room 2-118, Evanston, IL 60208,

orgcommsearch2011@northwestern.edu. Review of applications will begin October 1,

2011.

Northwestern University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action educator and

employer. Hiring is contingent on eligibility to work in the United States.

Organizational Communication Search Chair: Ellen Wartella

Search No. 17812

Department of Communication Studies

2240 Campus Drive, Room 2-118

Evanston, IL 60208

orgcommsearch2011@northwestern.edu

[meat cutting = postmodern frankensteins]

2011-08-17T09:03:00.001-06:00

School Of Meat Cutting

Friday 26th August 12:00 – 18:00

nnnnn, Unit 73a, Regent Studios, 8 Andrews Road, London, E8 4QN

http://nnnnn.org.uk/

A workshop in low life circuit bending, blasting, and building. Using the

circuits from various electronic detritus and building your own circuitry,

you will learn to create and construct your own psychotic synthesisers and

noise machines.

These will then be used to bind together various bits of meat and flesh

(such as sheep heads, beef heart, cow eyes, brains, skulls, etc.) to

create a some kind of deformed mutant meat machine. Through integrating

the dead flesh with electricity and electronic components, the lifeless

meat will, in a way, reanimate.

The basic idea is for everyone to work together to create some kind of

mutant sculpture which will form the center piece for the evenings

performance event.

By the end of the workshop you will have learnt how to circuit bend,

blast, and build; rewire basic electronics; build noise machines with

555's, CMOS chips and op-amps; integrate unconventional, everyday objects

into your circuits; be adept at soldering; learn how to saw through bone

and molest rotten flesh. Workshop participants take away what they've made

with them at the end, if they can salvage it from the rotten flesh.

Fee and Booking

Workshop is limited to 15 participants maximum.

£30 Unemployed/JSA/Student/etc (ID required)

£35 Employed

Fee covers all materials and equipment, but you are always welcome to

bring your own extra bits too.

To reserve a place please contact info@nnnnn.org.uk and pay online here

http://nnnnn.org.uk/doku.php?id=schoolofmeatcutting#fee_and_booking

Workshop leaders

Andy Bolus (Evil Moisture) http://schoolofmeatcutting.free.fr/

Ryan Jordan http://ryanjordan.org/

[twitter and perceived credibility of professors]

2011-08-16T09:05:00.001-06:00

Interesting findings - students who read profs' social tweets saw them as more credible:

Learning, Media and Technology

Volume 36, Issue 1, 2011

The effect of Twitter posts on students’ perceptions of instructor credibility

Preview

View full text

Download full text

Free access

DOI:10.1080/17439884.2010.534798

Kirsten A. Johnson^a*

pages 21-38

Available online: 24 Mar 2011

Abstract

Greater numbers of instructors are turning to social networking sites to communicate with students. This study examined whether posting social, scholarly, or a combination of social and scholarly information to Twitter has an impact on the perceived credibility of the instructor. Participants were assigned to one of three groups: a group that viewed social tweets, one that viewed scholarly tweets, and one that viewed a combination of social and scholarly tweets. Participants were then asked questions about the instructor’s perceived credibility. Results show that participants who viewed only the social tweets rated the instructor significantly higher in perceived credibility than the group that viewed only the scholarly tweets. No other significant differences were found among the groups. These results have implications for both teaching and learning, as there is an established link between perceived instructor credibility and positive learning outcomes.

Keywords

Twitter , credibility, social networking, trust, user‐created content

[communicating science or science communication]

2011-08-09T09:52:00.000-06:00

I'm currently working on the design of a new course for all undergrads in the Faculty of Agriculture, Life and Environmental Science at the University of Alberta. The topic: communications. I would like to align the course closely with the content - so focus the communication skills on those very pertinent to what the students are learning. I also want to entwine aspects of new media and transliteracy through the course.

I'm researching how scientists share their findings (not just peer reviewed papers but blogs, tweets, etc..) and how they "translate" scientific jargon and concepts into a generalist language that readers who come across a blog post (for example) can understand.

The notion of context comes in here and a report created by Felicity Mellor, Stephen Webster and Alice R. Bell (part of the Science Communication Group at Imperial College London) highlights the importance: http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/science_impartiality/appendix_a.pdf

[liberal or conservative: politics and parenting]

2011-07-26T20:51:00.000-06:00

This infographic sums it all up...why would anyone want to be conservative:

[in pursuit of transdisciplinarity]

2011-07-25T08:17:00.001-06:00

This interesting paper by Jeffery Sehume came to me thanks to an e-mail from Basarab Nicolescu.

The whole paper is worth a read but this paragraph particularly resounds with me, perhaps also because it parallels the thinking of transliteracy (the use of "trans"):

"Transdisciplinarity emphasises the interconnectedness of knowledge branches in improving the human condition. This approach – symbolised by the prefix ‘trans’ as distinct from ‘multi’ or ‘inter’ – looks beyond, across, and within knowledge bases or disciplines. It encourages the synthesis of learning experiences, involving actors in academia, government, industry, civil society. Transdisciplinarity argues that traditional or mainstream attempts to address problems and crises in the world have proven inadequate. Instead, what is required is an approach that recognises that knowledge creation is complex and more so for us in South Africa as a nascent nation. There are many layers of reality we have to account for – historical, contemporaneous and longitudinal."

[call for cross media projects: kids]

2011-07-23T12:06:00.001-06:00

via my linked in connections:

read more here.

Cinekid is celebrating it’s 25th anniversary! With this festive edition fast approaching, we invite everyone to come and join the festival and to send in creative and interesting projects for our markets.

We invite professionals to find production partners, qualitative children's content and to grab the possibility for networking with hundreds of other professionals in the field of child and media. Cinekid opens up the European market for your production.

Cinekid for Professionals will take place in Amsterdam, The Netherlands from October 18th until October 21st 2011.

Please send in your productions for our markets.

ScreeningClub

The ScreeningClub is Cinekid’s digital screening facility that provides a sheltered environment where informative exchanges and business transactions take place. Cinekid guarantees the quality of its catalogue (> 250 productions) by selecting only the best children’s productions. Participants include buyers, sales agents, programmers and distributors from all over the world.

Send in your short films, animations, documentaries, features and other productions for the ScreeningClub.

Entry Form

The ScreeningClub is held 18–21 October 2011.

Co-production Markets

Cinekid is looking for high quality projects for the three co-production markets!

Junior Film Market (October 20th 2011)

Looking for a co-producer or a distributor for your new film project? Or are you a financier looking for an exciting new project? The Junior Film Market is your place to be! The market selects around 15 feature length projects. Through prearranged one-on-one meetings you are given the opportunity to pitch your project.

Send in your new film project for the 8th edition of the Junior Film Market (deadline 15-08-2011).

Entry Form

Junior Television Market (October 21st 2011)

Looking for ways to finance your television programme? Or do you want to get involved in interesting initiatives? The Junior Television Market offers broadcasters and producers the possibility to present television programmes for children in development. The market selects television productions (animation, fiction, non fiction) in need of international co-financing from different countries.

Send in your new projects for the 5th edition of the Junior Television Market (deadline 15-08-2011).

Entry Form

Junior Cross Media Market (October 20th 2011)

Are you developing a creative and new cross media production? Are you looking for a co-producer or financier? The Junior Cross Media Market is the place where cutting-edge producers of children's cross media content meet one-on-one with international financiers to further the development and production of trans media projects in the kids space.

Send in your new projects for the 3rd edition of the Junior Cross Media Market (deadline 15-08-2011).

Entry Form

Cinekid Film Competition

This is your chance to win €15.000!

Send in your new feature film for our prestigious international Film Competition and win a Cinekid Lion and €15.000. Our competition programme consists of 15 international children’s films.

Please complete the online entry form and send in two DVD’s with English subtitles.

Entry Form

[postdoc: new media forms of the book

2011-07-21T20:23:00.000-06:00

Wow this is fantastic and right up my alley! I'd go for it if I were still in the U.K. Lucky you lot who are in the EU as this looks like an exciting and timely opportunity for new media, transliteracy and literature aficionados:

Post Doctoral Research Fellow 'New Media Forms of the Book'

University of Bedfordshire - Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science, Research Institute for Media Art & Design

[transdisciplinary social media position @ UC Santa Barbara]

2011-07-19T15:32:00.000-06:00

An exciting position for those involved in social media, transmedia, creative industries and creative technologies:

Connected Viewing Initiative

Project Lead (Job # CFTM 1110)

UC Santa Barbara's Carsey-Wolf Center (CWC) seeks a Project Lead to implement a new initiative of its Media Industries Project (MIP) on “connected viewing” and online media consumption. The Initiative is a collaborative venture with Warner Bros. that will investigate emerging trends in distribution and audience engagement with media products in an era of digitization and social networking. Working under the direction of MIP’s Principal Investigators and the CWC Executive Director, the Project Lead will supervise a team of researchers and conduct his/her own research. The initiative aims to deliver a variety of outcomes (e.g., publications, reports, online materials) by the end of the first year.

The Connected Viewing Initiative will be a major focus for MIP’s upcoming year. MIP is a multidisciplinary project that examines major trends reshaping the media industries and their consequences for producers, distributors and consumers. Our research agenda focuses on digitization, globalization, and creative labor. Collaborators include media studies and communication scholars, as well as industry experts in related fields (http://www.carseywolf.ucsb.edu/mip).

We are looking for an individual with a scholarly background in media industries with a focus on digital media – ideally as it relates to practices of connected viewing. Applicants should have the ability to oversee and manage a dynamic, multi-dimensional, large-scale research project with multiple teams while conducting a dedicated project of his/her own. Applicants should have expertise with issues related to the convergence of traditional and new media industries, including familiarity with relevant technologies, industry trends, professional practices, policy concerns, and social issues.

Applicants should have excellent communication and writing skills, and be comfortable interacting with high-level media professionals, scholars, and the public. A Ph.D. in media studies, communication, or a related field is required, and candidates should be published in her/his field of expertise and currently engaged in a relevant program of scholarly research.

The position is an Academic Coordinator II, Step 3 at 100% time for 12 months, which is renewable based on satisfactory performance reviews and available funding to continue the project. Full health and disability benefits are included.

Specific duties include:

• Manage and direct all development of the Connected Viewing Initiative research projects, publications, and communication

• Work closely with Warner Bros. personnel to identify key areas of shared interest and important resources for research teams

• Lead a dedicated research team and coordinate external teams

• Provide oversight of graduate student research assistants on the Initiative

• Serve as the point person for communications between Warner Bros. personnel and MIP

• Organize and convene two research summits to discuss progress and engage in collaborative consultation with team members, MIP and CWC staff, and Warner Bros. executives

• Coordinate final presentation of research to Warner Bros. at the end of the first year

• Collaborate with university development staff to continue fundraising efforts related to the Connected Viewing Initiative

The Center is especially interested in candidates who can contribute to the diversity and excellence of the academic community through research, teaching and service. University of California is an equal opportunity and affirmative action employer.

To Apply

Please submit application letter, CV and contact information for at least 3 references via email to lfrench@carseywolf.ucsb.edu:

Academic Coordinator Position (Job # CFTM1110)

University of California, Santa Barbara

Carsey-Wolf Center

Attn: LeeAnne French

4431 SS&MS Building

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-4010

Apply by 8/3/11. Open until filled.

[the cool bus]

2011-07-18T22:25:00.000-06:00

I love this bus that we spotted while ambling about the small B.C. town, Revelstoke.

[cfp: 'net tech & security]

2011-07-18T12:03:00.001-06:00

************************************************************

The 6th International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured

Transactions (ICITST-2011),

Technical Co-Sponsored by IEEE UAE Computer Chapter

December 11–14, 2011, Abu Dhabi, UAE

(www.icitst.org)

************************************************************

The 6th International Conference for Internet Technology and Secured

Transactions (ICITST-2011) is Technical Co-sponsored by IEEE UAE

Computer Chapter. The ICITST is an international refereed conference

dedicated to the advancement of the theory and practical implementation

of secured Internet transactions and to fostering discussions on information

technology evolution. The ICITST aims to provide a highly professional

and comparative academic research forum that promotes collaborative

excellence between academia and

industry.

The topics in ICITST-2011 include but are not confined to the

following areas:

Internet Application and Technology:

* Internet Architecture

* Internet of things

* Broadband Access Technologies

* Application Agents

* Boundary Issues of Internet Security

* Database Management

* Data Models for Production Systems and Services

* Artificial Intelligence and Expert Systems

* IPSec Quality of Service

* Knowledge Management

* Embedded Systems

* Defence Systems

Ubi/Cloud Computing:

* Authentication and Access Control for Data Protection in Ubi/Cloud Computing

* Context-Awareness and its Data Mining for UbiCom

* Data Grids

* Distributed Information Systems

* Human-Computer Interface and Interaction for UbiCom

* Ubiquitous Systems

* USN/RFID Service

* Smart Homes and its Business Model for UbiCom Service

* Security and its Data Management for UbiCom

* Peer to Peer Data Management

* New Novel Mechanism and Application for Ubi/Cloud Computing

Information Security:

* Trust, Privacy and Data Security

* Network Security Issues and Protocols

* Security Challenges and Content Authoring

* Cryptography

* Secure Communications

* Authentication Techniques

* Chaos-based Data Security

* MANET Security

* Wireless Sensor Network Security

* Organization Considerations in Security Policy Formulation and Implementations

* Digital Forensics and Crimes

* Biometrics

* Cyber Security

Multimedia and Web Services:

* Intelligent Multimedia and its Data Management

* Multimedia Information Systems

* Multimedia Security

* Web Databases

* Web Metrics and its Applications

* Web Mining including Web Intelligence and Web 3.0.

* Web Services

* XML and other extensible languages

* Semantic Web and Ontology

Infonomics and e-Technology:

* Infonomics

* Information Visualization

* Information Management

* Information Quality

* Technology-Enabled Information

* e-Learning

* e-Commerce

* e-Business

* e-Government

* e-Society

* System Design and Security for e-Services

* Synchronizing e-Security

IMPORTANT DATES

Full Paper Submission Date: August 26, 2011

Extended Abstract (Work in Progress) Submission Date: July 31, 2011

Proposal for Workshops and Tutorials: May 31, 2011

Notification of Workshop and Tutorial Acceptance: June 05, 2011

Proposal for Industrial Presentation: April 30, 2011

Notification of Extended Abstract Acceptance/Rejection: August 15, 2011

Notification of Industrial Presentation Acceptance: May 10, 2011

Notification of Paper Acceptance/Rejection: September 30, 2011

Camera Ready Extended Abstract Due: August 31, 2011

Camera Ready Paper Due: October 14, 2011

Early Registration Deadline (Authors only): May 01 to October 14, 2011

Late Registration Deadline (Authors only): October 14 to November 15, 2011

Participants Registration: May 01 to December 14, 2011

Conference Dates: December 11-14, 2011

For more details, please contact info@icitst.org

[online books, crowdsourcing & social media: conference]

2011-07-06T09:23:00.000-06:00

BooksOnline'11 Workshop: Online Books, Complementary Social Media and Crowdsourcing
CIKM 2011, October 24, 2011, Glasgow, UK
http://research.microsoft.com/booksonline11

Call for Contributions – submission deadline July 10, 2011

Goals

The BooksOnline workshops aim to foster research initiatives that are focused on innovation opportunities and challenges created by large collections of digital books. This year, the workshop will explore the role of social media and crowdsourcing in the context of online books, defining new user experiences on the web.

Examples of where social media is promoting online book usage include LibraryThing.com and Amazon’s book service that integrates with Kindle. Crowdsourcing has also been used in building benchmarks for the evaluation of book search engines. However, these are merely the tip of the potential opportunities that such social engagement models and platforms can offer to online book services. Since immersion and supporting infrastructure are clearly vital to the future of digital library platforms, the workshop will aim to unearth these potentials to advance both theory and development in designing user experiences and developing technology for supporting such experiences.

Confirmed Keynote Speaker

Ville Miettinnen, CEO of Microtask
“Digitalkoot - Electrifying the Finnish Cultural Heritage”
Microtask is a Finnish technology company founded to create a technology platform for crowdsourcing and distributed work. Their product, Microtask Platform, is a software platform for global distribution of short-duration tasks to online workers. The system supports automated quality assurance and provides service-level agreements for task quality and turnaround times. The most notable use case for such tasks has been human-assisted optical character recognition, for example, in digitized books.
More to be announced…
Workshop format

The one day workshop will include keynote presentations, paper presentations in panel sessions covering both ongoing research efforts and proposals for new initiatives, a poster session, and a break-out session.

Best Paper and Best Project Proposal awards

A seed fund of £3,000, provided by Microsoft Research, will be awarded to one or more selected projects or papers as judged by the workshop organizers and a selected panel of experts.

Topics of interest

We invite submissions of full research papers (up to 10 pages) describing novel developments and research, or position papers and project proposals (up to 5 pages) presenting ideas, goals or directions of work, highlighting pressing issues or opportunities for innovation involving digital books and complementary media. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:

· New paradigms for digital books, paper vs. electronic media, affordances of books and eBooks;
· Social reading, search, recommendations, navigation and annotations; sharing, collaboration and co-authoring; community building through shared content and annotation;
· Crowd as library assistant; paid and for-fun social engagement; crowdsourcing for personalization, book recommendations; hybrid computer-human systems for digital libraries;
· Virtual learning environments; eBooks in teaching; eBooks as integrated content and media; emersion in the user experience;
· Extracting semantics and knowledge from books; linking and sense making; cross-referencing, and knowledge sharing; community interests and social context;
· Evaluating eBooks, interface and interaction designs for active reading, features for collection browsing, mining social media reviews on usability issues; using crowdsourcing for evaluation;
· Infrastructures; indexing and content representation; scalability and interoperability; technologies for searching, browsing, filtering, and information extraction; integration of complementary content and services; supporting rich media experiences for online books; integrating social platforms; tagging, reviewing, recommendations;
· Universal access to online books across nations and cultures.

Important dates

Paper submission deadline: July 10, 2011
Notification of acceptance: July 31, 2011
Camera-ready deadline: August 12, 2011
Workshop: October 24, 2011

Paper submission and participation

Submissions must be written in English, formatted using the ACM templates (http://www.acm.org/sigs/publications/proceedings-templates): using the "Option 2" style. This is also the style that will be required for final papers. Papers must be submitted as pdf files.

Accepted workshop papers will be published in the CIKM workshop proceedings, which will be printed on CD only and indexed in the ACM digital library, together with the main CIKM 2011 proceedings. One author per accepted paper is required to register and attend the workshop.

To submit a research paper (6-10 pages), position paper or project proposal (2-5 pages), please go to the BooksOnline'11 Easychair submission site.

Organizers

Gabriella Kazai (Microsoft Research, UK)
Carsten Eickhoff (Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands)
Peter Brusilovsky (University of Pittsburgh, USA)
Further information

For further information, please visit http://research.microsoft.com/booksonline11/

[virtual futures conference]

2011-07-05T09:22:00.000-06:00

Yay! For those of us who couldn't make it to the University of Warwick on the 18th and 19th of June - here are the podcasts:

http://go.warwick.ac.uk/knowledge/themes/virtualfutures/

VIRTUAL FUTURES, a Cyber Conference on Art, Performance, Philosophy and Emerging Technology, returned to the University of Warwick on the 18-19 June 2011 after 15 years.

This year's highlights included presentations on artificial intelligence, bioengineering, bioethics, cybernetics, net security, performance art, social media, the future of copyright and virtual reality

Stelarc (Keynote), Dr. Dan O'Hara, Prof. Kevin Warwick, Prof. Ian Stewart, Prof. Steve Fuller, Prof. Andy Miah, Prof. Alan Chalmers, Pat Cadigan, Prof. Sue Golding, Prof. Sue Thomas, Dr. Rachel Armstrong, Mark Fisher, James Flint, Prof. Nick Fox, Dr. Richard Barbrook, Prof. Jeremy C Wyatt

Follow @virtualfutures on Twitter and join the debate at #virtualfutures

http://virtualfutures.co.uk

Note: images from virtualfutures.co.uk conference site.

[cfp: beyond the book]

2011-07-04T08:36:00.000-06:00

Workshop: BEYOND THE BINDING: EXPLORING THE FUTURE BOOK,
http://beyondthebinding.org/

Workshop @ Creativity and Cognition, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 3-6
November, 2011 http://dilab.gatech.edu/ccc/index.htm

We've also extended the deadline to July 15th.

Thanks!!

We have reached a special moment in the story of the book: today’s
youngest generation will experience literature in a vastly different
way than the generation preceding. What we call a book has always
morphed over time, but digital capabilities and the ubiquity of mobile
electronics are changing the landscape at an unprecedented pace. What
forms will the spirit of “book” take many years from now?

This workshop will be a forum for creative exploration and discussion
of the future of the book, motivated by this particular historical
moment and a desire to bring together researchers from diverse
backgrounds who are working on book-related technologies. We will
share and document visions, approaches, and techniques.

Join us at this Workshop to:

Share ideas, techniques, and approaches with researchers from diverse
disciplines.

Discuss the history, present landscape and future directions for book
technologies.

Produce a bound volume collecting new book exemplars: a book of future books.

How to participate ?

We are looking for creative explorations that preserve, reinvent, or
repurpose the functions and affordances of the book. We welcome a wide
range of practitioners from areas including engineering, interaction
design, research or art.

We encourage participants to bring along materials showcasing
prototyped concepts and works-in-progress for discussion and
inspiration.

Submit the work as a video or images with a 2 page description paper
explaining the concept, or a 4 page position paper discussing your
approach to the theme. Submissions must be sent as a pdf file
formatted according to the ACM SIGCHI Publications Format
and should not exceed 4 pages.

Submissions should be sent to beyondthebindingws@gmail.com

Important Dates:

Extended submission deadline: July 15, 2011

Notification of acceptance for submitted work: July 31, 2011

Please notice that at least one author of each accepted work must
register for the workshop and the C&C 2011 conference.

For questions concerning the workshop please contact the organizers:
beyondthebindingws@gmail.com

For a detailed description of the workshop and updated information:
http://beyondthebinding.org/

ORGANIZERS:

Natalie Freed1, Jie Qi1, Cristina Sylla2, Pedro Branco2,3
1 - MIT Media Lab
2 - engageLab, University of Minho /Portugal
3 - Dept. of Information Systems, University of Minho /Portugal

[digital publishing for beginners]

2011-07-03T09:16:00.000-06:00

DIGITAL PUBLISHING FOR BEGINNERS - COURSE AT THE UNLIBRARY, HARINGEY

Saturday, July 16, 2011 from 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM(GMT)

ONLY £35 - TO BOOK A PLACE GO TO http://digitalpublishing.eventbrite.com/

Course description

A practical introduction to writing, publishing and earning in the digital age brought to you by if:book, the think and do tank exploring the future of the book in the digital age.

Who is the course for?

Creative writers at all levels who want to learn how to use digital tools to develop and publish their

work, to market themselves and make money from their writing.

Who are the tutors?

We want to ensure that students receive a degree of personal attention, so we provide two tutors

Chris Meade

Co-director of the Institute for the Future of the Book and founder of if:book

London, was previously CEO of Booktrust and the Poetry Society. A writer and blogger, he’s

been published by Penguin, written for radio, the stage and the web; his multimedia novella

www.insearchoflosttim.net was described by the Independent on Sunday as “a jeu d’esprit and just

possibly the future of fiction”.

Kati Rynne

An experienced private tutor with a postgraduate degree in secondary school teaching,

Kati has spent six years at digital education company Teachers TV as project manager/web producer.

She spent a year collaborating to produce websites for writers and currently co-produces digital

literature projects. She writes fiction for young people and was a co-author of the 24hr Book. See

katirynne.com

Workshop Outline

Explore digital publishing options and consider which of them might best suit your writings.

We’ll investigate:

• ebooks (enhanced, illuminated and print on demand)

• multi-platform fictions and alternate reality games

• Blogs, websites and social media

You will look at some basic ways to promote yourself online and to reach your target readership;

check out examples of 'amplified authors' who have proven success in self-branding and

communicating with readers.

What equipment do I need to bring with me?

A laptop (optional). We will provide free wi-fi. You’re welcome to bring with you a piece of writing

you’re working on (optional).

[cfp: art, identity & technology]

2011-06-28T14:04:00.005-06:00

n cooperation with the Planetary Collegium, University of Plymouth, England, Fábrica das Artes, CCB, Lisbon and Artshare, Aveiro, Portugal are hosting the 12th Consciousness Reframed International Research Conference, entitled "PRESENCE IN THE MINDFIELD: Art, Identity and the Technology of Transformation". The conference is part of the Skilled Art Project, a consortium involving Artshare, The University of Oporto and The University of Aveiro, all in Portugal, and will take place at Centro Cultural de Belém, Lisbon, Portugal, from November 30 to December 2, 2011.

The Consciousness Reframed conference series was founded by Roy Ascott at the University of Wales in 1997. Consciousness Reframed is a forum for trans-disciplinary inquiry into art, science, technology, design and consciousness, drawing upon the expertise and insights of artists, designers, architects, performers, musicians, writers, scientists, and scholars, usually from at least 20 countries.

PRESENCE IN THE MINDFIELD:
Art, Identity and the Technology of Transformation
The conference will look at art as behaviour of mind, embedded in the physical world, but articulating its immateriality. Just as institutionalized art, with its tired orthodoxies of instruction, production and distribution, is challenged by the new technologies of knowing and perception, so our sense of self - its singularity and authenticity - is open to reconstruction and reinterpretation. In his assault on identity and authorship, the great Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa created over 70 heteronyms. “His jostling aliases,” as John Gray has put it, “expressing his belief that the individual subject - the core of European thought - is an illusion.” This exploration of the plurality of self finds is contemporary expression in the proliferation of personas and avatars through which we navigate the actual and virtual universes of our making. Transdisciplinary discourse, the adoption of new technologies, the invisible forces and fields of the sciences, the recuperation of abandoned metaphysical and spiritual models of being, can all find expression within the context of this conference.

Presentations and papers are invited from artists, and theorists in all fields!

Important dates:
Deadline for Abstracts (no more than 500 words): July 15, 2011.
Notification of Acceptance: July 17, 2011.
Deadline for Full papers(no more than 2500 words): September 4 , 2011.
Date of Publication release: November 30, 2011.
Conference date: November 30 – December 2 2011
The conference will be accompanied by a publication of full papers published in colaboration with Direcção Geral das Artes - Portuguese Ministry of Culture.

Submissions

Abstracts should be submitted as an attached document in Word (docx) or Rich Text (rtf) by e-mail to: cr12@skilledart.eu. The subject line should be tagged 'CR12 Conference'.

Requirements
Include in your submission the title of the proposed paper, full name(s) of author(s), institutional affiliation(s), and your mailing address, including email/mobile/phone and URL as applicable. Five key words, and a short biography of 100 words maximum are also required. Your Abstract must be accompanied by a declaration of intention to attend the conference. We encourage submissions to include relevant images. However, the total file size of the abstract submission should not exceed 2 MB.

Acceptance
Abstracts will be acknowledged on receipt, and authors will be notified of acceptance by July 17, 2011.

Submission of Full Papers
Your paper (no more than 2500 words) will be required by September 4, 2011. Papers received after this date will not be published. Full details of copy-ready requirements will be supplied at the time of acceptance.

Presenters Fee
In order to be included in the Abstracts publication, Conference Programme, publicity and announcements, the registration fee for presenters will be 125€ and includes the Book of Abstracts along with a copy of the Conference Proceedings. Details of how to pay the registration fee will be given on the registration form available at the time of acceptance.

More Info
For more information about to the conference please visit our website at http://artshare.com.pt/cr12 or email us through cr12@skilledart.eu

[the edmontonian: a blog story]

2011-06-21T16:37:00.001-06:00

"Because Local Still Matters"

Read about local start-up The Edmontonian here.

Jess

[open media]

Government Begins to Backpeddle on Online Spying as StopSpying.ca Petition reaches 93K

[dreaming methods :: trailer]

[green energy]

[whiteness of winter]

[Reactivating the Unheard Avant-gardes]

EAR to the [Archive] Ground – Reactivating the Unheard Avant-gardes. Case: POEX65

[canadian alphabet]

[yeg intelligent traffic systems?]

[wikipedia protest]

[future of publishing]

[end of term baking]

[high-tech coffee maker :: I want one!]

[my undergrad agriculture, life & environmental science students]

[winter clouds]

[Jess's Blog as a Snowflake]

[google for research: infographic]

[Are you Gay or Do You Enjoy A Drink? No Job for You at Georgia's Shorter University]

Georgia’s Shorter University to make staff sign 'statement of faith' pledge

[infographic: digital literacy in the classroom]

[occupy wallstreet photo from Brighton]

[social media in university]

[social media & employability]

[infographic: world food crisis]

[social media in my undergrad. class: front page uni news]

Profs bring technology to classroom with Twitter and podcasts

Alex MigdalStaff Reporter

Oct 05, 2011

[62 Handy New Media Tools]

Editorial Picks

Editorial Picks

Social Media

Tech & Mobile

Business & Marketing

[social media = top skills employers want]

Get Ready To Hire Generation Z

1. Go mobile

2. Forget e-mail

3. Ditch outdated views about college degrees

4. Pitch projects rather than titles

5. Be open to new ideas

[first day of school]

[this week in education]

[digital media lecture series: uppsala university]

[employment: assistant, associate or full professor, information studies]

[employment: assistant professor in communications]

[employment: communications assistant or associate professor]

[meat cutting = postmodern frankensteins]

[twitter and perceived credibility of professors]

[communicating science or science communication]

[liberal or conservative: politics and parenting]

[in pursuit of transdisciplinarity]

[call for cross media projects: kids]

[postdoc: new media forms of the book

Post Doctoral Research Fellow 'New Media Forms of the Book'

University of Bedfordshire - Faculty of Creative Arts, Technologies and Science, Research Institute for Media Art & Design

[transdisciplinary social media position @ UC Santa Barbara]

[the cool bus]

[cfp: 'net tech & security]

[online books, crowdsourcing & social media: conference]

[virtual futures conference]

[cfp: beyond the book]

[digital publishing for beginners]

[cfp: art, identity & technology]

[the edmontonian: a blog story]

Alex Migdal
Staff Reporter