ANDREW BARRY, POLITICAL MACHINES (2001)

Välkommen till höstens näst sista seminarium i serien KOMMUNIKATION: KULTUR,
TEKNOLOGI, VETENSKAP

Temat för HT 2007 är "Kulturteknologier och teknikkulturer"

Tid: Torsdag 6 december 2007, kl. 14-16
Plats: Torget, Lindstedtsvägen 5, plan 6, Skolan för datavetenskap och
kommunikation, KTH

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LITTERATURSEMINARIUM OM ANDREW BARRY, POLITICAL MACHINES (2001)

Abstract

Teknik- och vetenskapsstudier (STS) har utvecklats under de senaste
trettio åren med ett fokus särskilt på aktörerna i innovationsprocesser
och de politiska frågor som väcks i samband med dessa. Ofta har teknologin
och det politiska kommit att skiljas åt, men det är mycket som talar för
att analyser bör utvecklas där de studeras tillsammans: teknologi och
politik bör ses som integrerade i varandra. I sin bok Political Machines:
Governing a Technological Society (2001), argumenterar den brittiske
kulturgeografen och sociologen Andrew Barry för detta men även för att den
politiska analysen inte bara skall äga rum i anslutning till politiska
institutioner och identiteter, utan också i anslutning till den nya
tekniken. Han fokuserar på en mängd olika saker som är "inskrivna" i
teknologin, t ex nätverkande, nya medier, interaktivitet, standardisering,
teknologiska risker, etc. genom att kombinera olika forskningsfält som
kulturgeografi, politisk sociologi och antropologiska studier av teknik
har Barry initierat ett nytt och viktigt fält inom forskningen där det
analytiska objektet är teknik/politik i dess integrerade form.

Per-Anders Forstorp, docent och lektor i kommunikation på CSC kommer att
inleda diskussionen framförallt kring det första kapitlet i boken.

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Skriv ett mail om du vill få våra löpande inbjudningar.
Mer information om höstens seminarier finns på:
http://www.nada.kth.se/media/Research/k-sem/k-sem-aktuell/

Design Research Society 2008 Conference

This just in from Ramia Mazé:

DRS 2008 Call For Papers

Design Research Society 2008 Conference
16-19 July 2008 in Sheffield, UK.

We invite you to present your research at this internationally refereed conference.

Electronic Text and Textiles

e-text+textiles (e-t+t) is an interdisciplinary platform facilitating artistic investigation and production in the fields of literature, language, textiles, and material culture, promoting expression at the intersections of print, cloth, and electronic technologies.

e-t+t examines the position of text and textiles within the constantly shifting technological reality through theoretical and practice-based enquiry. It hosts creative makers, writers, researchers, and theoreticians in residence, initiates dialogue and organizes presentations and seminars. e-t+t offers professional development, networking possibilities and small-scale production facilities for visiting artists, designers, writers, and scholars from Europe and beyond.

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Research into Practice 2008

Research into Practice 2008 will be held on 31 October 2008 at the Royal Society of Arts, London, and will explore the problem of interpretation in research in the visual and performing arts.

It is characteristic of research outputs, reports and theses in traditional disciplines that they are expressed in unambiguous language. One reason for this is to establish the grounds and argument from which the conclusions derive. Another reason is to be quite clear and explicit about what is being claimed as original by the author for the research. This characteristic has the effect of reinforcing the dominant knowledge models such as "the scientific method", "empirical methods", etc. However these models come from disciplines whose aims and objectives may differ from those in the arts and humanities. There has been much discussion about the suitability of such models for the visual and performing arts, which seem to rely on a more pluralistic approach to interpretation which values the fact that different generations and different cultures find their own value in the artefact.

Does this difference of explicitness between traditional disciplines and the arts mean that their research outputs cannot be compared? What is the status of the outcomes of research in the visual and performing arts in terms of what is known or discovered? Is research in these areas actually trying to achieve something quite different, and if so what? Is the value of research something constructed by the receiver, and if so what would that mean for knowledge-models in the arts? Are its outcomes more contingent than those in other disciplines because of this difference in the role of interpretation by the reader/viewer? Does the scientific method really result in unambiguous interpretation, or conversely is interpretation really so subjective in the arts?

The conference will focus on the theory of interpretation in research in traditional disciplines and on the emerging theory of interpretation in research in the visual and performing arts.

Conference topics that might be considered include, but are not restricted to:
are unambiguous research outputs in the arts possible or desirable?
are the problems of interpretation in the arts different from other disciplines?
do the interpretational problems in arts stem from its media or from its aims?
can anything be learned from studies in interpretation in other humanities subjects?
in the historical past were issues of interpretation viewed differently?
do the arts have special advantages that compensate for any perceived disadvantages with respect to interpretation of outcomes?
how does the author/reader problem affect research?

More.

Design Interactions

The Design Interactions department at the Royal College of Art explores new roles, contexts and approaches for design in relation to the social, cultural and ethical impact of existing and emerging technologies. Projects, which are often speculative and critical, aim to inspire debate about the human consequences of different technological futures both positive and negative. Students work closely with people outside the College, designing for the complex, troubled people we are, rather than the easily satisfied consumers and users we are supposed to be. Project outcomes are expressed through a variety of media including prototypes, simulations, video and photography. Students have backgrounds in art and design, computer science, engineering and psychology.
If you are interested in finding out more please join us for our Open Day on Friday 7 December 2007. Visitors can meet and talk with students in the studio between 2.00 pm and 6.00 pm. Professor Anthony Dunne, Head of Department, will give presentations about the course at 2.00 pm and 4.00 pm.

Please visit the course website.

Figurations of Knowledge

European Conference of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) at the Center for Literary and Cultural Research Berlin (ZfL)
June 03 - 07, 2008

Conference details.

Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts

The Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) welcomes colleagues in the sciences, engineering, technology, computer science, medicine, the social sciences, the humanities, the arts, and independent scholars and artists. SLSA members share an interest in problems of science and representation, and in the cultural and social dimensions of science, technology, and medicine.

SLSA publishes the professional journal Configurations through Johns Hopkins University Press. The web site http://sls.press.jhu.edu contains information on membership and subscription rates, publications, and a directory of membership. (The membership directory is available only to current members.)

SLSA

Fringe

We would like to invite you to the launch of Fringe - a gathering for new media artists and the like in Stockholm.

Fringe will be held at Weld, on Thursday 15th November at 19:00. Presentations and performances will be followed by music and a bar.

For more information about Fringe gatherings please visit http://www.fringe.nu

For more information about Weld: http://www.weld.se

Weld is located at Norrtullsgatan 7, T-bana Odenplan.

(For a map, see http://tinyurl.com/yqswqo )


The Fringe is an initiative by the Interactive Institute.

FUTURE ANTERIOR

FUTURE ANTERIOR is a peer reviewed (refereed) journal published by the UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA PRESS. It approaches the field of historic preservation from a position of critical inquiry. A comparatively recent field of professional study, preservation often escapes direct academic challenges of its motives, goals, forms of practice and results. CALL FOR PAPERS: FUTURE ANTERIOR seeks contributions that ask these difficult questions from philosophical, theoretical, and practical perspectives. We welcome articles on all topics relevant to historic preservation. Submissions for the Winter 2008 issue must be received no later than January 7, 2008. Articles should be no more than 5000 words, with up to seven illustrations. Text must be formatted in accordance with the Chicago Manual of Style, 14th Edition. All articles must be submitted in English, and spelling should follow American convention. All submissions must be submitted electronically, on a CD or disk, accompanied by three hard copies of text and images. Text should be saved as Microsoft Word or RTF format, while accompanying images should be sent as TIFF files with a resolution of at least 300 dpi at 8by 9print size. Figures should be numbered clearly in the text. Image captions and credits must be included with submissions. It is the responsibility of the author to secure permissions for image use and pay any reproduction fees. A brief author biography (around 100 words) must accompany the text. FUTURE ANTERIOR also welcomes shorter articles of less than 2500 words and five illustrations for publication outside of the peer review process. The same submission requirements apply to these articles. Acceptance or rejection of submissions is at the discretion of the editors. Please do not send original materials, as submissions will not be returned. Please mail all submissions to: FUTURE ANTERIOR, 400 Avery Hall, Graduate Program in Historic Preservation, Columbia University, New York, NY 10027. Questions about submissions can be mailed to: futureanterior@columbia.edu

ARCHITECTURAL INQUIRIES

ARCHITECTURAL INQUIRIES. THEORIES, METHODS AND STRATEGIES IN CONTEMPORARY NORDIC ARCHITECTURAL RESEARCH /Teorier, metoder och strategier i nutida nordisk arkitekturforskning/ NORDIC-BALTIC CONFERENCE April 24-26, 2008, in Göteborg, Sweden, arranged by The Nordic Association of Architectural Research, The Nordic Architectural Academy, The Swedish Research Council Formas, The Association of Swedish Architects and Chalmers Architecture. Architectural research, including landscape architecture, urban design & development and interior architecture, is an expanding field with high relevance for urgent issues in contemporary society and environment. We invite Nordic and Baltic architectural researchers and PhD-students to discuss theories, methods and strategies in contemporary architectural research through the six interconnecting themes listed below. Conference language will be English as well as Nordic languages. CALL FOR ABSTRACTS, maximum 300 words, on the following themes: 1. Lack of theory or new theoretical frameworks 2. History and historiography: Is there a Nordic architectural research? 3. Practice relevance versus peer-review publications 4. Integrating design-based methodology 5. New technologies: impact on research problems and methodology 6. Urban research between social sciences and design. Deadline for abstracts: 10 December 2007 Conference e-mail: a-inquiries@chalmers.se Conference website: in progress. Links: www.arkitekturforskning.net or www.chalmers.se/arch/SV Questions: dyrssen@chalmers.se, caldenby@chalmers.se, fredrik@chalmers.se, lena@arch.kth.se Arranged by: Department of Architecture, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Göteborg

Forthcoming events (architecture + acoustics)

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SENSORY URBANISM An Interdisciplinary Two Day Conference: Departments of Architecture & Building Science / DMEM, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow on Tuesday 8th - Wednesday 9th January 2008 CALL FOR PAPERS We invite scholars and practitioners to submit papers for the SENSORY URBANISM, organised by the Multimodal Representation of Urban Space research group, a Design for the 21st Century initiative supported by the AHRC and EPSRC. Space - more than the surrounding objects or buildings - seems to demand to be represented not only visually, as it is not only determined by the visible surrounding objects, but also by sound and smell which are literally "in the air", and by an integrated multi-modal body experience which is related to the space itself. Nevertheless, spaces, especially urban spaces in planning processes, are today usually only represented in a visual manner. CALL FOR PAPERS: Abstracts should be no more than 300 words, and accompanied by a brief biography ofthe author(s). Abstracts should be sent by e-mail raymond.lucas@strath.ac.uk no later than Friday 16th November 2007.
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DESCRIPTIO URBIS i Rom 27-29 mars 2008. Konferensen hoppas på att få fler nordiska forskare med på sessionen Models for a Contemporary City Atlas in the Nordic context eller på någon annan del i konferensen. Abstract senast den 20 november. För vidare information se:
http://host.uniroma3.it/centri/croma/descriptiourbis/contenuti.asp?page=Home
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Institute of Acoustics Spring Conference 2008 CALL FOR PAPERS: 'WIDENING HORIZONS IN ACOUSTICS RESEARCH', 10 - 11 April 2008, University of Reading in Salford. In this session we seek to open up a dialogue about soundscapes with the wider acoustics community and to acknowledge the diverse work taking place on soundscapes within a multitude of disciplines across the UK. We invite proposals for papers that present research falling with the broad theme of soundscapes. Theoretical and empirical contributions are welcome from a quantitative, qualitative, scientific or artistic perspective. Papers arising from interdisciplinary projects are especially welcome as are those from a broad range of academic disciplines, practitioners, policy experts, the public sector, architects, planner etc. We encourage papers from researchers at all levels (undergraduate, MSc, PhD, IoA Diploma etc.) and young members in both full and part-time employment are particularly welcome. Short abstracts of approx 100 words should be sent by email to Dr Mags Adams at by 7th December 2007.

Swedish Colour Centre Foundation

The Swedish Colour Centre Foundation invites you to the AIC 2008 Interim Meeting on COLOUR - EFFECTS & AFFECTS to be held at Hasselbacken, Stockholm, Sweden on June 15-18, 2008. The conference will cover a wide range of topics related to the effects of using colour in interior and exterior design and how colours affect us. The meeting will bring together experts from all over the world to exchange the latest information on the developments in colour science, colour design, and colour psychology. Different aspects of the effect of using colour in interior and exterior design like change of colour impressions depending on distance, light sources, colour combinations and interaction of colours etc. CALL FOR PAPERS: Abstracts should be submitted via the online form on the web site www.aic2008.org or by e-mail info@aic2008.org at a maximum of two A4-sized pages and a minimum of 500 words. Deadline for submission of abstract: November 15, 2007

The Orpheus Myth in Modern Culture

CentreCATH at Leeds

The Opera North Centre, Friday 23 November - Sunday 25 November

Over three afternoons, leading speakers from the arts and academic worlds explore the enduring potency of the Orpheus Myth – from Monteverdi’s opera to American tv series, Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

As well as the discussions the conference will also feature film screenings (including Jean Cocteau’s Orphee and Marcel Camus’ Black Orpheus), poetry readings and live performance.

More information