SoftWhere: Software Studies Workshop at University of California San Diego, May 21-22
0 Comments Published by Jeremy Douglass May 13th, 2008 in Features.Wednesday, May 21st, from 12:30-5:00pm, the Software Studies Initiative at UC San Diego invites you to attend a public event:
SoftWhere: Software Studies Workshop 2008
SUMMARY:
Time: Wed. May 21 - Thu. May 22
Place: UPDATED:
Wed. May 21: UCSD Faculty Club, Atkinson Pavilion (public)
Thu. May 22: Atkinson Hall 5302 (private)
URL: http://workshop.softwarestudies.com/
Related: Affiliated HASTAC II Conference, UC Irvine, Thu. May 22- Sun. May 25
Directions to Faculty Club
Directions to Atkinson Hall
UCSD campus map
[Public session seating is limited. RSVP by May 19 to softwarestudies@gmail.com]
Software studies is a research field that examines software and cyberinfrastructure using approaches from humanities, cultural criticism, and social sciences. Following on the first Software Studies Workshop organized by Matthew Fuller (Rotterdam, 2006 http://pzwart.wdka.hro.nl/mdr/Seminars2/softstudworkshop), the SoftWhere @ University of California, San Diego is a foundational event bringing together key figures in this emerging area to inaugurate the field. The event aims to coalesce a high-level conversation about what it means to study software cultures, and the direction and goals of Software Studies as an emerging movement. It will take place at Calit2, a pre-eminant research center for future computing and telecommunication (http://www.calit2.net/), where the Software Studies Initiative @ UCSD is located and currently collaborating with researchers on several exciting projects. SoftWhere has has also been timed to precede (and co-ordinate with) the the HASTAC II conference (http://www.hastac.org/) which will begin in nearby U. California Irvine on Thursday evening.
The session on Wed May 21 12:30-5:00pm will be open to the public. The session will feature a rapid series of short presentations by workshop participants (see list below). The format is 5-10 minute speed-talks, modeled on the popular “Pecha Kucha” format, in which each presenter is allowed a slideshow of 20 images, each shown for 20 seconds. Attendees can expect a collage of diverse perspectives on what it means to live in software society and how to study it.
The workshop is sponsored by Calit2, CRCA, HASTAC, UCDARNet, and the UCSD Visual Arts Department.
Diigo and CommentPress go Head-to-Head (updated)
2 Comments Published by Mark Marino April 28th, 2008 in Researchers, Features, Criticism, Publications, Education.[Updated: 4/28/08…project still in planning stages]
In several postings, WRT has blogged about Diigo social annotation software (1, 2, 3) and CommentPress blogware. Both are about to go head-to-head over Jonathan Zittrain’s book The Future of the Internet–and how to stop it. Zittrain’s book has already been published online with the CommentPress system in place. Now one researcher has called in the Diigo commentators to apply a browser-based system to the business of annotation.
Editor-in-Chief of and Director of openDemocracy.net, Tony Curzon Price has invited Diigo users to join him in annotating Zittrain’s book using that system “because of diigo’s nice research-centered features.” To participate, users will contribute annotations to two lists: one focusing on summaries, the other on commentaries. However, Price is still working out the details of using Diigo for the project….Updates to follow.
In a recent presentation to the Digital Educators Consortium at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy at USC, Jeremy and I considered the relative merits of both systems — speculating about how one might serve communities differently than others. One key difference is who presents the moment for critique — is it the blog, inviting and providing a forum for feedback, or are the readers deciding to apply their comments in a group or independently. The second, more complex difference, stems from the way the two systems operate: CommentPress has thread-like comments for each paragraph while Diigo comments are individual sticky notes and in-situ annotations. This project will be an interesting test case and will no doubt be a useful contribution to the longer questions of communal annotation.
Continue reading ‘Diigo and CommentPress go Head-to-Head (updated)’
Bunk Satirizes Wikis and Los Angeles Times
0 Comments Published by Mark Marino April 9th, 2008 in hyperfic, Features, Off Topic, Text Art, Publications, Social, Multi-Modal.The 10th anniversary issue of Bunk Magazine is online with a new issue, featuring:
Los Wikiless Timespedia
The premise: The Los Angeles Times, to save its flagging enterprise, has relaunched itself in an entirely wiki format as The Los Wikiless Timespedia.
LA Times Switches to All-Wiki Format in 11th-Hour Battle for Life
In a desperate attempt to stop the involuntary leakage of its readership, the slightly less-old gray lady has tried the Depends of new media, embracing a technology that almost spelt its d-e-a-t-h in bright blue hyperlinked Arial.
The piece plays with the mode of wikis and is a consideration of how old media producers get new media wrong. By putting it in wiki-format, the Magazine allows the readers (and spambots) to supply the punchline. User contributions are featured in a stream on the front page with an RSS feed attached for subscribers.
Of course, the LA Times, famously attempted a wiki editorial page, dubbed “Wikitorial,” and were so pummeled with spam and user fighting that they had to take it down. Since then, the newspaper has avoided such sordid media forms, though it has increasingly added more user mobility on its website.
Think of it as: Write Your Own Onion or A Million Little Bunkers.
Continue reading ‘Bunk Satirizes Wikis and Los Angeles Times’
Announcing Elit Open Mouse at USC (4/25/08)
3 Comments Published by Mark Marino April 3rd, 2008 in Features, News.
CFP: Elit under the Stars (4/25/08)
Elit Open Mic/Open Mouse
April 25,2008, 7:30pm
USC, Institute for Multimedia Literacy
Calling All creators (and fans) of Electronic Literature: authors, designers, and programmers. Sign up now to present your new or favorite work of elit in our Open Mic/Open Mouse.
Venue:
Outdoors under the stars at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy, 746 West Adams Blvd., LA, CA 90089 at the University of Southern California. (see map)
Potential Genres:
- Electronic Poetry
- Hypertext
- Interactive Fiction
- Interactive Drama
- Conversational Agents
- Video Mashups
- Serious Games
- Flash Works
- Codeworks
Or you may read an excerpt of one of your favorite elit works.
Performance Spots Length: 7 Minutes Max
The performance will be Free and Open to the public.
Contact: To sign up, contact Jeremy Douglass [jeremydouglass [at] gmail]
Organized by Mark Marino, Jeremy Douglass, and Jessica Pressman with support from Holly Willis of the Institute for Multimedia Literacy and from the Electronic Literature Organization.
Continue reading ‘Announcing Elit Open Mouse at USC (4/25/08)’
Social Bookmarking Soulmates
1 Comment Published by Mark Marino March 6th, 2008 in Features, Education.Over the past few years, WRT has occasionally addressed the use of new writing technologies in the composition classroom (several posts: 1, 2, 3 and Christy’s list of Games and Pedagogy). Needless to say, these lessons might also fit a multimedia literacy course or even a social media course. This post offers an exercise in investigating the role of social bookmarking tools, such as Diigo (previously discussed wrt “Marginalia”) and del.icio.us in contemporary online research.
Social Bookmarking Soulmates
an exercise in academic social networking:
Video Follows:
