Archive for September, 2008

John Durham Peters at Columbia

September 30, 2008

First event of this fall’s communications colloquium at Columbia will be:

John Durham Peters (University of Iowa), October 3, 1-2pm, ‘Media,
Madness, and the Changing Conditions of Communication’

in room IAB 801 at Columbia (that’s in the International Affair’s Building).

Game Theory Play Money, November 7

September 18, 2008

Joost van Dreunen and the New York chapter of DiGRA organized this bash, introducing the New York Game scene. We should all come. It will be amazing.

Date: November 7, 2008
Time: 2:00pm – 5:00pm
Location: Columbia Business School, 3022 Broadway, Uris Hall, New York, NY

In collaboration with the Columbia Institute for Tele-Information, this two-part panel brings together scholars, designers and industry professionals from New York who focus on gaming. It will cover the opportunities and challenges for the various academic disciplines and game professionals that make up the NYC gaming scene.

Upcoming events at Center for Cultural Analysis at Rutgers

September 18, 2008

New Media Literacies, Gutenberg to Google

Sept 10. 1-4pm: First Seminar Meeting

Digital Humanities and the Disciplines

Oct. 2, 4:30-7pm:  Dan Cohen (George Mason), Hilary Ballon (NYU)

Oct. 3, 10-6pm:  Greg Crane (Tufts), Chris Kelty (UCLA), Martha Nell Smith (Maryland), and David Jaffee (Bard)

Sound Effects

Oct. 23:  Jonathan Sterne (Tornoto), Mark Katz (UNC), Elena Razlogova (Concordia), John Mowitt (Minnesota), Douglas Kahn (UC-Davis), Robert Fink (UCLA)

Envisioning Media Justice, Sep 24th

September 18, 2008

An Evening Envisioning Media Justice Next Wed, Sept. 24th at 6pm

Co-Presented/Sponsored by the NYC Grassroots Media Coalition (NYCGMC) and the Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net)

Next Wednesday, September 24th @ DCTV @ 6:00pm
@ Downtown Community Television Center (DCTV),
87 Lafayette Street between White & Walker in Chinatown, 3rd Floor
(Take the 6/N/R/Q/J/Z to Canal St. or the A/C to Canal St.)
Light Refreshments will be Served

In the face of increased media consolidation, we are witnessing an erosion of independent voices in the media landscape, the shrinking of public media resources and a lack of accountability by corporate media conglomerates to serve the people’s interest. Organizing for media justice means confronting and transforming the structural racism, economic injustice and corporate control in our media and communications systems.

At the 2008 NYC Grassroots Media Conference “Speaking Truth to Power: Media Justice in our Communities” we explored how to empower disenfranchised communities – those most affected by media injustice – to fight for transformation of the media system. But this conversation isn’t over.

Building on the ideas we shared back in March we are inviting conference attendees, social justice organizers, media makers, activists and concerned individuals to join us in a lively interactive workshop and discussion about the impact of corporate media on our communities, and how we can together advance a media justice agenda.

Co-Sponsoring Organizations:

The NYC Grassroots Media Coalition (NYCGMC)
www.nycgrassrootsmedia.org

Media Action Grassroots Network (MAG-Net)
www.mediagrassroots.org

For more info call (212) 757-2670 x346 or email: betty@mnn.org

RSVP here.

CITI 25th anniversary

September 18, 2008

For those with a few dollars to spare and an interest in telecommunications, this is pretty much a must-see, must-go, kinda thing.

Upcoming Free Culture NYU events

September 18, 2008
As the school year is finally getting underway, Free Culture NYU is getting into full swing. We may have only had one meeting, but there is TONS of stuff to let you know about.
In brief here is whats going on (scroll down for more info):
Saturday 9/20: Free Software Day Party: 6-9pm
Monday 9/22: One Web Day, Washington Square Park, (SEE LAWRENCE LESSIG SPEAK!) 11:45am – 2pm
Monday 9/22: Free Culture Meeting 8pm, Room********************
Wednesday 9/24: Talk with Tim Westergen, Founder of Pandora Radio 3:30pm-4:4pm
Saturday 9/27 Wikis Take Manhattan, approximately 2:30 to 6:30 (exact times TBA)

‘Democracy is a Fiction’, Simon Critchley at the New School

September 15, 2008

Critchley is always interesting, more below

BRANDING DEMOCRACY:
SIMON CRITCHLEY ON THE FAITH OF THE FAITHLESS—POLITICS AND BELIEF

Each year an inaugural lecture launches the Vera List Center for Art and Politics annual theme, defining the intellectual territory that the center will explore in public programs. This year’s theme is Branding Democracy. The lecturer introduces the theme in the broadest sense, serving as a guide to the range and richness of the topic at hand and rooting the concept within The New School’s intellectual tradition.

On Thursday, September 18, at 6:30 p.m., the inaugural lecture for 2008-09, “Democracy is a Fiction” will be offered by Simon Critchley, professor of philosophy, at The New School for Social Research and at University of Essex, Colchester, United Kingdom. His research focuses on the history of philosophy, literature, ethics, and politics. Critchley will discuss how democracy relies on a series of fictions, most notably the fiction of popular sovereignty as government by and for the people. He argues that such fictions serve an ultimately theological function that must be exposed and criticized. Such is one of the crucial political roles of contemporary art. Critchley will propose the idea of a supreme fiction and invoke another model of democracy closer to the anarchist tradition.

The event will take place in the Theresa Lang Community and Student Center, Arnhold Hall, 55 West 13th Street, 2nd floor. Admission is $8, and free to all students and New School faculty, staff, and alumni with ID.

A complementary art and design exhibition, “Ours: Democracy in the Age of Branding,” will run from October 15, 2008, through January 30, 2009, at the Kellen Gallery in the Sheila Johnson Design Center, 2 West 13th Street. Co-produced by Parsons The New School for Design and the Vera List Center, this show includes video, photography, sound, sculpture, and information maps, as well as lectures, performances, and participatory events that happen in a “democratic structure” designed by British artist Liam Gillick.

Heyman Center for the Humanities

September 13, 2008

The Heyman Center at Columbia just published their fall schedule, and, as always, it looks mouth-watering. Benedict Anderson, Louis Menand, Lynne Segal, Martin Jay, George Kateb, Jonathan Israel, Hendrick Hertberg, Charles Taylor, Quintin Skinner, and Art Spiegelman. Amazing, amazing, amazing. Check out the schedule here.

Bernard-Henri Levy & Slavoj Zizek in NY

September 9, 2008

BERNARD-HENRI LÉVY & SLAVOJ ZIZEK: A Debate Instigated by Paul Holdengräber
Violence & the Left in Dark Times

those who want to see the (late) Elvis of social theory and an unspecified ‘rock star’ of public philosophy (one wonders, late Ringo Starr, perhaps?) can go spend their money at https://www.smarttix.com/show.aspx?showCode=BER4

Bernard-Henri Lévy, France’s “rock-star philosopher,” and Slavoj ZIZEK, the Slovanian “Elvis of cultural theory,” will scrutinize the totalitarianisms of the past as well as those of the future, as they argue for a new political and moral vision for our times and investigate the limits of tolerance.

Does the advent of capitalism cause more violence than it prevents? Is there violence in the simple idea of the neighbor? asks Zizek in Violence: Six Sideways Reflections.

Are human rights Western or Universal? How is it that progressives themselves-those who in the past defended individual rights and fought fascism-have now become the breeding ground for new kinds of dangerous attitudes, asks Lévy in Left in Dark Times: A Stand Against New Barbarism.

[thanks to Kristen Daly]

Learning Survey Research from Top Practitioners

September 9, 2008
“Meet The Masters”

Learning Survey Research From Top Practitioners

WEDNESDAY, September 17, 2008
10:00 AM – 4:00 PM (Lunch – 12:30 – 1:30 PM)
Baruch College

School for Public Affairs Building – Room 301

135 East 22nd Street (Corner of Lexington)

NYAAPOR is pleased to offer one of our most popular workshops, designed for beginning and experienced researchers alike. This all-day seminar allows participants to learn about survey research from some of its most eminent pioneers and practitioners.

    Topics will include:
  • “Sampling 101” – Murray Edelman, Distinguished Scholar, Rutgers University
  • “Choosing a Method” – Barry Feinberg, Executive Director, GfK Custom Research
  • “Responding to RFP’s” – Maureen Michaels, President, Michaels Opinion Research
  • “You Get What You Ask For: Asking Good Questions” – Micheline “Mickey” Blum, Director, Baruch Survey Research, School of Public Affairs, Baruch College, CUNY
  • “Analyzing and Reporting the Findings” – Gary Langer, Director of Polling, ABC News
  • “Exit Polling for Commercial Research” – Joe Lenski, Executive Vice President, Edison Media Research

This seminar offers an inspiring look at the survey research process for students and beginning researchers.  In addition, more experienced researchers will have the opportunity to learn unique insights into the process from our distinguished presenters.  Comments and questions will be welcomed during each session. Lunch will be served.

PREPAID FEES: Members (NYAAPOR individual) $110; Non-members $140; Student members $60; and Honorary Lifetime Members $75.

Walk-ins – $15 extra!

Sorry, no refunds – but you can send someone in your place!

Please send a check (payable to NYAAPOR) by September 10th to:

Rosemarie Sharpe, NYAAPOR Secretariat

152 Madison Avenue – Suite 801, NY, NY 10016.

You may also register at (212) 684-0542, info@nyaapor.org, or http://www.nyaapor.org.

[thanks to Bob Shapiro and Andie Tucher]