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Announcements
A collection of STS news items, in the order submitted, including grants
and awards, new books and other publications, and people news.
Updated July 4, 2009 By Chris Kortright
Travel/Research Grant: D. Kim Foundation for the History of Science and Technology in East Asia
Updated July 4, 2009
Deadline: August 15, 2009
The D. Kim Foundation for the History of Science and Technology in East Asia is pleased to offer two Traveling/Research Grants. Established in 2008 the D. Kim Foundation is dedicated to furthering the study of the history of science and technology in East Asia since the start of the 20th Century.
The Foundation provides fellowships and grants to encourage and support graduate students and young scholars in the field.
Traveling/Research Grant
Eligibility: Must present a paper at an international conference, workshop or annual meeting, or do a short-term research project (less than a month).
Amount of award: Up to $2,500
Deadline for application: August 15, 2009
For further information visit our website: http://www.dkimfoundation.org/
New MA programme in Digital Anthropology at University College London
Updated July 4, 2009
Application deadline: September 28, 2009
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/anthropology/digital-anthropology/
Digital technologies have become ubiquitous. From Facebook, Youtube and Flickr to PowerPoint, Google Earth and Second Life. Museum displays migrate to the internet, family communication in the Diaspora is dominated by new media, artists work with digital films and images. Anthropology and ethnographic research is fundamental to understanding the local consequences of these innovations, and to create theories that help us acknowledge, understand and engage with them. Today's students need to become proficient with digital technologies as research and communication tools. Through combining technical skills with appreciation of social effects, students will be trained for further research and involvement in this emergent world.
This MA brings together three key components in the study of digital culture:
1. Skills training in digital technologies, including our own Digital Lab, from internet and digital film editing to e-curation and digital ethnography.
2. Anthropological theories of virtualism, materiality/immateriality and digitisation.
3. Understanding the consequences of digital culture through the ethnographic study of its social and regional impact.
Bursaries
There is a £5,000 annual bursary specifically for this and the MA in Material and Visual Culture, as well as 3 x £1,000 bursaries for all anthropology MA programmes. All those who have submitted an application by 30 June 2009 will automatically be considered and no additional application form is necessary.
The Dept. of Anthropology at UCL is the world's leading centre for the study of Material and Visual Culture. We publish The Journal of Material Culture and several relevant book series. We have nine specialist staff in material and visual culture. We currently supervise nearly fifty PhD students specifically in this field, including many with topics in Digital Anthropology.
The programme is suitable both for those with a prior degree in anthropology but also for those with degrees in neighbouring disciplines who wish to be trained in anthropological and related approaches to digital culture. There is scope for those with specialist interests to work closely with designers, curators, communication specialists as well as our own digital studio. In addition to its importance for careers such as media, design and museums, digital technology is also integral to development, theoretical and applied anthropology.
For further information about this course contact d.miller@ucl.ac.uk
For making an application, note that the UCL bureaucracy may take a while to catch up with what is a new course, so in order to ensure your application is received we recommend that you download the application form from:
http://www.ucl.ac.uk/prospective-students/graduate-study/application-admission downloadable-applications
And send this directly to:
Prof. Daniel Miller
Department of Anthropology
University College London
14 Taviton Street
London WC1H OBW
University College London has over 3,500 research staff and 17,000 students, ranking among the top three multi-faculty research and teaching universities in the UK. Located in the heart of Bloomsbury among the unique research resources of central London, which include excellent museum facilities as well as a dense network of specialist research and higher education institutions, the College provides an outstanding research base. The Department of Anthropology combines social and biological anthropology and material culture. Members of the Department carry out research in 49 countries, edit four international journals and run five research seminar series and specialist postgraduate research groups. There are over 140 postgraduate students funded by AHRC, ESRC, NERC, MRC, London University, British Academy, Institute of Zoology, Natural History Museum, Overseas Research Studentships, staff research programme awards, and various national governmental and international awards. UCL is thus one of the largest centres in the world for the training of PhD students in Anthropology. The Department encourages pure and theoretical research as well as providing strong links with applied and development projects. As well as holding top research standing, the Department has been rated excellent in successive teaching quality audits. There are 7 taught Masters courses and several undergraduate degrees (BSc Anthropology, BSc in Human Sciences, and Intercalated BScs in Medical Anthropology). The Department maintains a student-centred approach to teaching, with a full tutorial system for its 300-strong undergraduate population. The Material Culture section of the Department contains six members of staff and may be considered a world centre for such studies. Amongst other activities members of this group edit the Journal of Material Culture, the journal Home Cultures, and several book series and recently developed the weblog at materialworldblog.com.
A PhD n Philosophy and Ethics of Technology ‘Persuasive Technology, Allocation of Control, and Social Values – Ethical Aspects of Persuasive Technologies at The Section of Philosophy and Ethics of Technology, Eindhoven University of Technology
Updated June 26, 2009
Deadline: July 17, 2009
A PhD (1.0 fte) in Philosophy and Ethics of Technology (V39.480)
For the NWO-project: ‘Persuasive Technology, Allocation of Control, and Social Values – Ethical Aspects of Persuasive Technologies’
http://w3.ieis.tue.nl/en/groups/pe/research/philosophyethics_of_technology/vacancies/v39480/
Application
Please send a written (printed) application letter with motivation for application, a recent, detailed Curriculum Vitae, names and contact details of (at least) two referees, and a sample of written work to:
Technische Universiteit Eindhoven
Department of Industrial Engineering and Innovation Sciences
HR Services, Pav. C 0.17
PO Box 513
5600 MB Eindhoven
The Netherlands
Applications should be received by July 17th, 2009. Please include the job vacancy code.
Call for Proposals: Robert W. Gore Materials Innovation Project Center for Contemporary History and Policy Chemical Heritage Foundation
Updated June 12, 2009
Deadline: July 31, 2009
The Center for Contemporary History and Policy (CCHP) of the Chemical Heritage Foundation is seeking scholars to write case studies on contemporary materials innovation. The case studies, typically 25-35
pages in length, will consist of empirical investigations on research and development, production, marketing, and use of new materials since ca. 1980. Studies should describe the underlying scientific and technical advances, but the primary analytical orientation should be on the broader social, economic, and political context of materials innovation, including but not limited to: the role of regulation; the influence of standards and standard-setting institutions; the role of organizational factors; the impacts of changing markets and supply chains on corporate innovation; the effects of the changing innovation environment.
The CCHP will provide selected scholars with stipends and research funds to conduct research and write the case studies, as well as other administrative support to publish and disseminate the final results.
Successful scholars will be required to visit Philadelphia for a mid-term review and a final presentation.
Selected scholars will retain copyright of the case studies, and the CHF encourages them to publish the results as scholarly articles and book chapters.
About the Gore Materials Innovation Project New materials pervade our contemporary world. From novel metal alloys and plastics, to semiconductor and biomedical materials, materials are, almost by definition, the fundamental building blocks of the human-built civilization. Nevertheless, our understanding of how materials innovations come to be has so far been extremely limited. While substantial work has been done in the field of innovation studies, materials innovation, by virtue of its invisibility, has been largely neglected barring a few exceptions of bakelite, nylon, and
duralumin.
In an age where nanotechnology claims to build new materials from the bottom up, the need to gain a better understanding of materials innovation has come increasingly to the fore. The main goals of the
Gore Materials Innovation Case Studies Project are: (1) to illuminate the innovation process of new materials; and (2) to identify current changes in the innovation environment. We hope that the case studies will help governments better prepare for economic and social changes; allow industry leaders to organize better for successful innovation; give universities tools to provide better links to industry; and offer insights to the public and nongovernmental organizations.
Begun in 2006, the Gore Materials Innovation Case Studies Project has four completed and six ongoing case studies on a variety of topics. Previous studies include: biodegradable plastics at BASF; chemically amplified photoresists at IBM; Nanomesh water-filtration system; and the role of DARPA in the development integrated photonics. Completed case studies can be viewed on the CHF website at
http://www.chemheritage.org/about/about-cchp-pubs-materials-innovation.html
Preferred Themes for 2009-2010
While we will accept proposals on all topics covered within the broad boundaries outlined above, in order to maintain the balance of the overall project, we plan to give preference to proposals engaging in the following themes.
(1) Materials innovation in non-U.S. contexts, especially in Asia
(2) Emerging regulatory regimes in nano-materials
(3) Failed materials innovations, which become a bottleneck in technological development
For clarifications on preferred themes, please get in touch with the Program Associate, Innovation Studies Program.
How to Apply
The deadline for proposal submission is 31 July 2009.
Submissions should include:
(1) Cover letter including the following information: name; mailing address to be used for future correspondence; telephone and fax numbers; e-mail address; present rank and institution name; date Ph.D. received or expected; and title of your research project.
(2) Case study proposal of not more than 1,000 words in length.
(3) Curriculum vitae.
(4) (For graduate students only) One letter of recommendation sent directly to the Program Associate, Innovation Studies Program.
Please send the complete package to:
Chi Chan, Program Associate, Innovation Studies Program
cchan@chemheritage.org
Chemical Heritage Foundation
315 Chestnut St
Philadelphia, PA 19106
Proposals will be reviewed by CCHP and outside reviewers, and candidates will be notified of results by mid-August 2009. We expect the first draft of the selected case studies to be completed by spring
2010.
For more information about CCHP activities, please visit our website at http://www.chemheritage.org/about/about-cchp.html
To make further inquiries about the project and/or application procedure, please contact Chi Chan, Program Associate, Innovation Studies Program at 215.873.8249
ESRC Collaborative Studentship Interventions to Promote Science Engagement: Reach and Impact
Updated June 12, 2009
Deadline: July 6, 2009
University of Edinburgh, Institute for the Studies of Science, Technology and Innovation (ISSTI)
and The Scottish Government, Office of Chief Researcher
Applicants are invited for a 1+3 year ESRC PhD studentship. The Scottish Government seeks to promote public engagement in science in Scotland. This collaborative project will investigate the reach and impact of these activities across diverse publics. It will be located in the thriving research community of ISSTI.
The normal ESRC grant will apply (full fees and maintenance), with an additional supplement of £2000 p.a. Applicants must have a good honours degree and (if EU) satisfy ESRC residential requirements.
For further information and details on how to apply, see http://www.issti.ed.ac.uk/index.php?theme=study&page=ESRCSGColl
Applicants should contact Wendy Faulkner wendy.faulkner@ed.ac.uk before submitting their application. Applications should arrive by 6 July 2009.
Announcement of William T. Stearn Student Essay Prize 2009
Updated June 4, 2009
Deadline: June 30, 2009
The Society for the History of Natural History invites submissions to the William T. Stearn Student Essay Prize Competition. The prize will be awarded to the best original, unpublished, essay in the field of history of natural history. It is named in honor of the late William T. Stearn, a scholar whose work contributed much to the field and to the Society.
The competition is open to undergraduate and postgraduate students in full or part-time education. Entries will be considered by a panel of three judges appointed by the Council of the Society. The winner will receive £300 and be offered membership of the Society for one year. The winning essay will normally be published in the Society's journal Archives of natural history.
The deadline for entries is 30 June 2009. The Prize Rules and Entry Form are available for download as Adobe Acrobat (PDF) files at http://www.shnh.org/ABT_awards_WSP.htm . No essay will be considered without an accompanying entry form and proof of student status.
The 2008 Stearn Prize Essay, “All too human: responses to same-sex copulation in the common cockchafer (Melolontha melolontha (L.), 1834-1900” by Ross Brooks, appeared in Archives of natural history, volume 36, part 1.
Further Information:
http://www.shnh.org/ABT_awards_WSP.htm
New Book: Wild Design
Updated May 5, 2009
Author: Alan Marshall
Category: Architecture - Environmentally Conscious (Green); Art - Design; Nature - Reference
Format: Trade Paperback
Imprint: North Atlantic Books
# of pages: 176
Price: $ 18.95
ISBN: 978-1-55643-790-8 (1-55643-790-0)
ABOUT THIS BOOK:
In Wild Design, environmental designer and scientist Alan Marshall presents a manifesto on nature-inspired designs, including visionary concepts as well as exhibits of actual products, landscapes, and artwork from around the world. With elegant photographs and drawings, the book incorporates the ethos of sustainability by documenting many of the results of the Ecomimicry Project, an international experiment in ecodesign that marries the skills of local artists and ecologists from Western Australia and the Carpathian mountains in Eastern Europe.
All the designs treat nature as an inspiration for ecofriendly innovations. Among the fascinating possibilities: a bike helmet based on the crustacean exoskeleton, a heliotropic house, and a car fueled by algae. Marshall argues that design should be the responsibility of all, not just a technological elite, and it is in this spirit that he offers this timely, important book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Alan Marshall is the founder of the Ecomimicry Project and is currently a research fellow at Curtin University of Technology in Perth, Australia. As well as researching in Australasia, he has worked on environmental issues at several European universities and research centers, including the Institute for Advanced Studies in Graz, Austria and Presov University in Slovakia.
Click here to see page:
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?9781556437908
Website and Oral History Collection
Updated April 26, 2009
The Chemical Heritage Foundation has established a website devoted to an oral history collection based on the recipients of the Pew Scholars in the Biomedical Sciences Award and the Pew Scholars Advisory Committee Members. The collection contains well over two hundred oral histories and is continually expanding, with new oral histories being added on a regular basis.
In 1985, the Pew Charitable Trusts established the Pew Scholars Program in the Biomedical Sciences to provide four-year awards to young biomedical researchers looking into undeveloped areas of science not typically funded by national agencies. Hundreds of scientists have since received funding from the program, and have contributed significantly to the course of biomedical research in the United States. Some have gone on to receive the Nobel Prize and Howard Hughes Medical Investigator awards; many have started their own research centers and initiatives; and all have made significant contributions to the life sciences.
The histories, conducted by the University of California, Los Angeles Center for Oral History Research and the CHF, are being made available for research purposes. Detailed summaries of each oral history can be found on our web site (http://www.chemheritage.org/exhibits/ex-nav2-pew.asp); in addition, bound volumes of the oral histories are housed in CHF’s Othmer Library. Since the collection is being developed continually, with new Scholars being interviewed regularly, this website will be updated frequently to reflect new oral histories available for research.
For more information, contact:
David J. Caruso
Program Manager, Oral History
The Chemical Heritage Foundation
315 Chestnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 873-8236
Email: dcaruso@chemheritage.org
NEW BOOK: Die gläsernen Gene - Die Erfindung des Individuums im molekularen Zeitalter
Updated April 26, 2009
by Helga Nowotny, Giuseppe Testa
Suhrkamp
Edition Unseld
Price 10€
ISBN: 978-3-518-26016-6
This book emerged from the close collaboration between a science researcher and a molecular biologist. The authors analyze how the life sciences have affected and can be expected to affect society. Their “co-production” has the effect that, at the same time as the gene is scientifically redefined, so too the individual and her multi-faceted membership in social and genetic communities is defined anew. The book thoroughly explores the resulting tensions. While new scientific and biotechnological breakthroughs pose a challenge to the existing social order, human technologies contribute to the stabilization of the newly arising configurations of natural and social order. In pluralistic societies, the new forms of life combine with new forms of living together in society. The resulting arrangements between biotechnological and social innovations point in the direction that both science and the accompanying democratic experiments will go.
http://www.edition-unseld.de/titel26016-die_glaesernen_gene.html
Legislative Internship American Chemical Society Office of Public Affairs – Government Relations Summer 2009
Updated April 26, 2009
The Government Relations group in the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) at the American Chemical Society is seeking part-time (up to 20 hours/ week) or full-time (up to 40 hours/week) undergraduate or graduate student interns for Summer 2009, beginning in May. The intern will work in the ACS headquarters office located in downtown Washington, DC. The exact dates of the internship period and working schedule are negotiable. The internship will be unpaid.
The American Chemical Society and its more than 154,000 member scientists and engineers represent the “human scientific capital” that drives the scientific advances and innovation that have made America the world leader it is today.
The ACS Office of Public Affairs consists of the Government Relations and Communications groups. The Governments Relations staff work with Congress, the Administration, and other industry, scientific, and education-related organizations to develop a cohesive, national innovation strategy to increase science and engineering talent and maintain America’s position at the cutting edge of science and innovation across disciplines and sectors. In addition to working
with Government Relations staff, if interested, the intern would have a chance to work with staff in the Communications group.
Responsibilities:
- Assist in drafting issue papers and work on a variety of writing tasks.
- Perform legislative research.
- Attend Congressional hearings and other briefings.
- Conduct in-depth research on science, education, energy, and national security issues.
- Work on science and general communications projects including the Act4Chemistry blog and content for the www.acs.org/policy website.
- Provide assistance to staff on other projects, e.g., help organize briefings and attend task force meetings.
- More significant responsibilities possible depending upon individual skills and interest.
Qualifications:
- Knowledge and enthusiasm for advancing science.
- Background and interest in public policy and the legislative process is preferred. Background in chemistry or the physical sciences is a plus.
- Strong computer skills.
- Strong writing and communication skills and ability to interface with large numbers of people and organizations.
- The intern will need to be able to write in a clear manner and interact with Office of Public Affairs partners in a professional manner.
- Ability to work independently after being given initial instructions.
Research Grants from the Friends of the UW Madison Libraries
Updated April 13, 2009
Deadline: Febuary 1, 2010
The Friends of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries is pleased to offer a minimum of four grants-in-aid annually, each one month in duration, for research in the humanities in any field appropriate to the library’s collections. The purpose is to foster the high-level use of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries’ rich holdings, and to make them better known and more accessible to a wider circle of scholars. Awards are $2,000 each, or $3,000 for those traveling from outside North America.
Memorial Library, the university’s principal research library is distinguished in almost every area of scholarship. It boasts world-renowned collections of:
•history of science from the Middle Ages through the Enlightenment
•pseudo science and medical and scientific quackery
•the largest American collection of avant-garde “Little Magazines”
•a rapidly growing collection of American women writers to 1920
•many other fields
Generally, applicants must have a Ph.D. or be able to demonstrate a record of solid intellectual accomplishment. Scholars and graduate students who have completed all requirements except the dissertation are also eligible.
The grants-in-aid are designed primarily to help provide access to UW—Madison library resources for people who live beyond commuting distance. Preference will be given to scholars who reside outside a 75-mile radius of Madison. The grantee is expected to be in residence during the term of the award, which may be taken up at any time during the year.
Applications are due 1 February of any year. For application forms or more information, see http://giving.library.wisc.edu/friends/grant-in-aid.shtml, or write to Friends of the University of Wisconsin—Madison Libraries, University of Wisconsin—Madison, 990 Memorial Library, 728 State St., Madison, WI 53706, or contact the Friends at 608-265-2505; fax: 608-265-2754, E-mail: friends@library.wisc.edu.
Further Information:
http://giving.library.wisc.edu/friends/grant-in-aid.shtml
NEW BOOK: Cogent Science in Context: The Science Wars, Argumentation Theory, and Habermas
Updated April 7, 2009
by William Rehg (Saint Louis University)
MIT Press (335 pages)
Price: $40/£25.95 (cloth)
ISBN-13: 978-0-262-18271-3
ISBN-10: 0-262-18271-8
Evaluating the strength of scientific claims has become increasingly pressing for policymakers and citizens who must make decisions in the face of tentative or conflicting expert claims. Cogent Science in Context approaches this challenge by analyzing the argued character of scientific claims, the ways in which scientists strive to support their conclusions with good reasons. What is it that makes scientific arguments strong or cogent, and how ought we reasonably to assess their cogency? The book addresses these questions by employing cogency as a boundary concept for a multidimensional argumentation theory that draws on disciplines ranging from logic to rhetoric and sociology. Part I of the book shows how disciplinary and conceptual oppositions in post-positivist science studies involve different approaches to the question of cogency. Part II elaborates the discourse theory of Jürgen Habermas as a possible response to those oppositions, and tests his theory against a case from high-energy physics. However, Habermas’s highly idealized approach creates difficulties for context-sensitive case analysis. Going beyond Habermas, Part III develops a critical contextualist framework that integrates insights from argumentation theory and the sociology of science, thus providing a heuristic for the interdisciplinary evaluation of arguments both within the sciences and in policy contexts.
For more information, see:
http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=11780
Time & Society Review of Books website launch
Updated April 1, 2009
The journal of Time & Society has recently launched a website to support its expanding book review section. 'Time & Society Review of Books' (TSRB) is a place to find new books, make suggestions for future reviews, and to submit your review. We are also interested in reviewing exceptional conferences and workshops.
Time & Society Review of Books is at http://tsrb.wordpress.com
Time & Society publishes articles, reviews, and scholarly comment discussing the workings of time and temporality across a range of disciplines, including anthropology, geography, history, psychology, science studies and sociology. For more information on the journal please see http://tas.sagepub.com/
Laura Watts & Ida Sabelis
Book Review Editors for Time & Society
http://tsrb.wordpress.com/
Annals of Science Prize
Updated March 25, 2009
Deadline: September 30, 2009
Submit your unpublished paper to Annals of Science for a chance to win US$500 and a year's FREE subscription to this established Journal!
This prize is offered every two years to the author of an original, unpublished essay in the history of science or technology, which is not under consideration for publication elsewhere. The prize, which is
supported by Taylor & Francis, is intended for those who are currently doctoral students, or have been awarded their doctorate within the past four years. Essays should be submitted to the Editor in a form
acceptable for publication in Annals of Science. See the Journal's webpage for a style guide, www.tandf.co.uk/journals/authors/tascauth.asp
The winning essay will be published in the Journal, and the author will be awarded US$500 and 1 year's free subscription to Annals of Science!
Papers should be submitted by 30th September 2009, with the winner being notified by 31st December 2009. The Editor's decision is final.
Past Winners of the prize:
Natural Philosophical Contention Inside the Accademia del Cimento: the Properties and Effects of Heat and Cold
Luciano Boschiero
Volume 60, Issue 4, Pages 329 - 349
Rudolph Koenig's Workshop of Sound: Instruments, Theories, and the Debate over Combination Tones
David Pantalony
Volume 62, Issue 1, Pages 57 - 82
Life of µ: The Observation of the Spontaneous decay of Mesotrons and its Consequences, 1938-1947
Daniela Monaldi
Volume 62, Issue 4, Pages 419 - 455
New Book: The Social Life of Anti-Terrorism Laws
The War on Terror and the Classifications of the Dangerous Other
Updated March 25, 2009
Julia M. Eckert (ed.)
2008, 196 p.
24,80 î
ISBN 978-3-89942-964-0
This book addresses two developments in the conceptualisation of citizenship that arise from the war on terror, namely the re-culturalisation of membership in a polity and the re-moralisation of access to rights. Taking an anthropological perspective, it traces the ways in which the trans-nationalisation of the war on terror has affected notions of the dangerous other in different political and social contexts, asking what changes in the ideas of the state and of the nation have been promoted by the emerging culture of security, and how these changes affect practices of citizenship and societal group relations.
Julia M. Eckert (PhD) is associate professor at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle/Saale, Germany. Her research fields are legal anthropology, conflict theory and the anthropology of the state and citizenship.
www.eth.mpg.de/people/eckert.htm
For further information please visit:
http://www.transcript-verlag.de/ts964/ts964.php
If you would like to order our books, please feel free to contact our
distributor:
transaction publishers
390 Campus Drive
Somerset, NJ 07830
USA
Call toll-free (US only) 888-999-6778
Fax: 732-748-9801
Email: orders@transactionpub.com
New Book: Software and Organisations: The Biography of the Enterprise-Wide System Or How SAP Conquered the World
Updated March 25, 2009
http://www.routledge-ny.com/books/Software-and-Organisations-isbn9780415403979
* *Hardcover:* 348 pages
* *Publisher:* Routledge; 1 edition (14 Aug 2008)
* *Language* English
* *ISBN-10:* 0415403979
* *ISBN-13:* 978-0415403979
This is the first book that addresses the genesis and career of the modern day enterprise system in a comprehensive and robust manner. It does so through setting out a new approach for the study of packaged solutions and presents novel empirical studies based on in-depth ethnographic and longitudinal research conducted within supplier organisations and other relevant sites. The authors shift the debate within the social study of information systems, from one that is primarily focused on ‘implementation studies’, to one that follows software as it evolves, matures and crosses organisational boundaries. Through tracing and comparing the ‘biography’ of a number of software systems the authors develop a new vocabulary for the dynamics that surround standardised software. Original in its approach, this book draws on a number of ethnographic studies in supplier organisations, user settings, user forums, and applies theories from the Sociology of Technology, Technology Studies, Innovation Studies, and beyond. As such it will be of interest across all of these subject areas and to researchers from the wider fields of Information Systems and Business Studies
New English translations of works by Ludwik Fleck
Updated March 12, 2009
The Ludwik-Fleck-Kreis now offers open access to new English translations of key texts written by Ludwik Fleck on the topic of his involvement with typhus research in Nazi concentration camps. They
are available at: http://www.ludwik-fleck-kreis.org/index.php?pageid=64
New Book: Paradoxes of Interactivity Perspectives for Media Theory, Human-Computer Interaction, and Artistic Investigations
Updated March 12, 2009
Uwe Seifert, Jin Hyun Kim, Anthony Moore (eds.)
2008, 344 p.
35,80 î
ISBN 978-3-89942-842-1
Current findings from anthropology, genetics, prehistory, cognitive and neuroscience indicate that human nature is grounded in a co-evolution of tool use, symbolic communication, social interaction and cultural transmission. Digital information technology has recently entered as a new tool in this co-evolution, and will probably have the strongest impact on shaping the human mind in the near future. A common effort from the humanities, the sciences, art and technology is necessary to understand this
ongoing co- evolutionary process.
Interactivity is a key for understanding the new relationships formed by humans with social robots as well as interactive environments and wearables underlying this process. Of special importance for understanding interactivity are human-computer and human-robot interaction, as well as media theory and New Media Art. Paradoxes of Interactivity brings together reflections on interactivity from different theoretical perspectives, the interplay of science and art, and recent technological developments for
artistic applications, especially in the realm of sound.
Uwe Seifert is Professor of Systematic Musicology at the University of Cologne. His current research interests include embodied cognitive science of music and New Media theory.
Jin Hyun Kim is researcher at the Collaborative Research Center Media and Cultural Communication (SFB/FK 427). She is currently involved in the research project Artistic Interactivity in Hybrid Networks directed by Uwe
Seifert and Anthony Moore, which is part of the SFB/FK 427 Medien und kulturelle Kommunikation.
Anthony Moore is Professor of Art and Media Sciences at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne. His research focuses on sound computing and Greek and Asia tone systems
www.uni-koeln.de/phil-fak/muwi/c10
BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT: Communities of Practice: Fostering Peer-to-Peer Learning and Informal Knowledge Sharing in the Work Place
Updated March 5, 2009
SERIES: Information Science and Knowledge Management, Vol. 13
AUTHOR: Noriko Hara
PUBLISHER: Springer
ISBN: 978-3-540-85423-4, 138 pages
PRICE: US $129.00 (hardcover and online access)
Communities of Practice: Fostering Peer-to-Peer Learning and Informal Knowledge Sharing in the Work Place provides empirical data about CoPs by examining online and face-to-face CoPs in two public defender offices and three online communities. Noriko Hara develops an understanding of the existing theories regarding CoPs and examines how ICTs can benefit novice and experienced members of informal learning communities.
Understanding this form of learning, which is evident in many organizations and professions, can be beneficial to future organizational learning and CoPs researchers, professional organizations, and educators or trainers.
More information is available at the publisher's web site:
http://www.springer.com/computer/general/book/978-3-540-85423-4
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