Launch of the Centre for Postdigital Cultures, 7 Feb 2018

Launch of the Centre for Postdigital Cultures

7th February 3.00pm Disruptive Media Learning Lab

Sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/launch-of-the-centre-for-postdigital-cultures-tickets-41968258190

You are invited to the launch of the Centre for Postdigital Cultures (CPC), a new Faculty Research Centre at Coventry University. The launch will include keynote talks by 3 internationally esteemed speakers:

Cornelia Sollfrank (Zurich University of the Arts)

Monika Bakke (Adam Mickiewicz University)

Mark Amerika (University of Colorado Boulder)

Sign up here (https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/launch-of-the-centre-for-postdigital-cultures-tickets-41968258190) to attend and to: 

• Listen to talks by ground breaking theorists and artists   

• Find out about Coventry University’s newest research centre 

• Meet the Postdigital Cultures community 

• Enjoy a unique performance from the Sound Book Project and a glass of wine!

The Centre for Postdigital Cultures brings together media theorists, practitioners, activists and artists. It draws on cross-disciplinary ideas associated with open and disruptive media, the posthuman, the posthumanities, the Anthropocene and the Capitalocene to explore how innovations in postdigital cultures can help 21st century society to respond to the challenges it faces at a global, national and local level:

 

• how we receive, consume and process information  

• how we learn, work, and travel  

• how we engage and regenerate our communities  

 

In particular, the Centre for Postdigital Cultures endeavours to promote the transformation to a more socially just and sustainable ‘post-capitalist’ knowledge economy. To this end, the CPC’s research includes projects funded by Jisc, the EU, the National Lottery Fund, and the Arts and Humanities Research Council. Members of the CPC are involved in editorial work for peer-reviewed journals such as Cultural Studies and Culture Machine, and in developing innovative organisations such as Open Humanities Press and the Radical Open Access Collective.

 

What Do We Mean By Postdigital Cultures?

The Centre for Postdigital Cultures belongs to the broader digital humanities field. Today, however, ‘the digital’ can no longer be understood as a separate domain of media and culture. If we actually examine the digital - rather than taking it for granted we know what it means - we soon see that digital information processing is now present in every aspect of our lives. This includes our global communication, entertainment, education, energy, banking, health, transport, manufacturing, food, and water-supply systems. The very idea of digital humanities – based as it is on a presumed difference between computing and the digital on the one hand, and the humanistic and human on the other – is therefore somewhat anachronistic and inappropriate. Attention needs to turn from ‘the digital’ to the various overlapping processes and infrastructures that shape and organise the digital, and that the digital helps to shape and organise in turn. The CPC investigates such enmeshed digital models of culture, society, and the creative economy for the 21st century world.

 

This is why the CPC has adopted the term postdigital cultures. Postdigital cultures describes what comes: after the digital; after the digital humanities; and after the humanities - including humanism and the human (i.e. the posthumanities).

Research areas covered by the centre include:

• Post-capitalist Economies

• Creative Archiving and International Heritage

• Digital Arts and Humanities

• Posthumanities

• Affirmative Disruption and Open Media

• The 21st Century University and Art School

One of the aims of the CPC is to envisage alternative forms for society in the 21st century world of postdigital media cultures, beyond the all-pervasive algorithmic surveillance and control of market capitalism and its metrics. Exploring issues of collaboration, community, the commons and the ‘Capitalocene’, the goal is to facilitate new articulations of culture and society that call for a radical rethinking of the relationship between the human, technology, the economy and the environment.

To celebrate our launch we have invited 3 internationally esteemed artists and academics to deliver public keynote lectures, which will be followed by a drinks reception and a performance by the Sound Book Project.

Where:

The Disruptive Media Learning Lab, 3rd floor, Lanchester Library, Coventry University. 

When:

February 7th 3-8pm

Schedule:

3:00-3:15pm: Opening introduction

3:15-4:00pm: Keynote Monika Bakke

4:00-4:45pm: Keynote Cornelia Sollfrank

4:45-5:15pm: Coffee break 

5:15-6:00pm: Keynote Mark Amerika and closing

6:00-8:00pm: Wine reception and performance by the Sound Book Project

 

Sound Book Project is a group of collaborating artists and musicians who use books as instruments. Books will be wound, sprung, strummed, slapped and thrown to create a soundscape that evolves around the performers. By interacting with books in new and surprising ways, the Sound Book Project enable books to speak for themselves.

The Inhumanist Manifesto: Extended Play

A new, longer version of The Inhumanist Manifesto has been published in the experimental Techne: Art+Research E-Pamphlet series.

In The Inhumanist Manifesto, Gary Hall writes that “[i]f the inhuman equals the human intertwined with the nonhuman, then the inhumanities are the humanities.” Articulating the latest version of his radical theories on posthumanism, piracy, Marxism, open access and the commons, this bold remix of Hall’s self-proclaimed pirate philosophy details his strategic repositioning of practice-based research as an alternative form of social critique.'

TECHNE is a practice-based research initiative in the digitally-expanded intermedia arts and writing founded in 2000 by Professor Mark Amerika at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The lab develops innovative research methodologies that lead to the invention of new forms of knowledge associated with intermedia art, writing, performance and scholarly research. 

Three New Research Posts in Postdigital Cultures at Coventry University

Research Fellow in Postdigital Cultures

https://staffrecruitment.coventry.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VACANCY_ID%3d991793H3NU%1BUSESSION=B87CF7351E8749A1B1EFB0A41EE81080&WVID=1861420Izv&LANG=USA

Research Associate in Postdigital Cultures

https://staffrecruitment.coventry.ac.uk/tlive_webrecruitment/wrd/run/ETREC107GF.open?VACANCY_ID%3d749637H3NU%1BUSESSION=B87CF7351E8749A1B1EFB0A41EE81080&WVID=1861420Izv&LANG=USA

[Please disable ad blockers before clicking on these links. But any problems, contact me. I'm told the following also  works: 

Go to www.coventry.ac.uk

·         Click on the ‘Careers’ tab

·         Click on ‘view current job vacancies’

·         In the section called ‘Job Title’ enter the keyword ‘research’

·         In the section called ‘Faculty / School of Service’ select ‘Faculty of Arts & Humanities’

·         At the bottom of the page Click ‘Search’

·         It will return both the ‘research associates’ and the ‘research fellow’ posts ]

---

Job title: Research Fellow in Postdigital Cultures

Job reference: REQ005591

Application closing date: 10/12/2017

Faculty / School or Service: Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Salary: £37,713 - £53,698 per annum

Package: As one of Coventry's biggest employers, we offer some pretty impressive benefits including an excellent pension scheme and generous holiday allowances. 

Job category/type: Research

Job description: Full-time, Permanent 

The Centre for Postdigital Cultures (CPC) is a new Faculty Research Centre established in 2017. Led by Prof. Gary Hall, the Centre explores how innovations in postdigital cultures can enable 21st century society to respond to the challenges it faces at a global, national and local level: 

-        how we receive, consume and process information

-        how we learn, work, and travel

-        how we engage and regenerate our communities   

The Centre for Postdigital Cultures is a major new initiative that builds on the strong and distinctive track record of scholars at the university encompassing a range of disciplines in the arts and humanities. This is the chance for you to join the CPC team at the beginning of its journey and to play a significant role in the development of impactful research activity within the emerging field of postdigital cultures. 

What Do We Mean By Postdigital Cultures?

"The digital" can no longer be understood as a separate domain of media and culture. If we actually examine the digital - rather than taking it for granted we already know what it means - we soon see that today digital information processing is present in every aspect of our lives. This includes our global communication, entertainment, education, energy, banking, health, transport, manufacturing, food, and water-supply systems. Attention therefore needs to turn from "the digital", to the various overlapping processes and infrastructures that shape and organise the digital, and that the digital helps to shape and organise in turn. 

The CPC investigates such enmeshed digital models of culture, society, and the creative economy for the 21^st century "postdigital" world. 

Research Areas covered by the Centre include: 

-        Creative Archiving and International Heritage

-        Digital Arts and Humanities

-        Post-humanities

-        Affirmative Disruption and Open Media

-        The 21st Century University and Art School

-        Post-capitalist Economies

The Research Fellow post will report to the Executive Director and will focus on:  

1.     Planning, developing and managing own and collaborative research activity, using specialist knowledge.

2.     Publishing as principal author or co-author, and disseminating research findings through papers, books, presentations at conferences (including international peer-reviewed conferences), exhibitions, performances, short courses for knowledge transfer. 

3.     Using research as a driving force for cultural, social and political change at a global, national and local level.

4.     Initiating ideas for generating income and seeking funding opportunities preparation and submission of bids and tenders.

5.     Developing research objectives, projects and proposals, and conducting individual or  collaborative research projects that demonstrate impact.

6.     Taking lead responsibility for small/medium research projects or major part of a large research programme.

7.     Contributing actively to applied research groups or communities of practice internally and/or externally. 

8.     Supervising and examining PhD students with appropriate support.    

Requirements for the post: 

-        PhD in a relevant subject.

-        Substantial experience working in research in digital culture with a national reputation in the relevant field.

-        Peer reviewed publications/ conference presentations/ other media dissemination activities nationally/internationally.

-        Competency to plan, develop, manage and lead individual and collaborative research projects

-        Willingness to participate in a multidisciplinary research team.

-        Facility to take responsibility for developing their own career in partnership with the University. 

Interview scheduled for 19 December 2017 

Click here for Job Description and Person Specification

  ---

Job title: Research Associate (x2)

Job reference: REQ005592

Application closing date: 10/12/2017

Faculty / School or Service: Faculty of Arts & Humanities

Salary: £31,611 - £40,002 per annum

Package: As one of Coventry's biggest employers, we offer some pretty impressive benefits including an excellent pension scheme and generous holiday allowances. 

Job category/type: Research

Job description: Full-time, Permanent 

The Research Associate post will report to the Executive Director and will focus on: 

1.     Planning, developing and managing own and collaborative research activity, using specialist knowledge.

2.     Using research as a driving force for cultural, social and political change at a global, national and local level.

3.     Initiating ideas for generating income and seeking funding opportunities.

4.      Developing research objectives, projects and proposals for own or collaborative research, that incorporates the principles of impact planning.

5.      Identifying new areas for research, developing new research approaches, applying innovative research methods and extend the research portfolio.

6.      Planning and managing small-scale research activities using resources, labs, studios, maker spaces and workshops as appropriate.Participating and assisting with funded projects

7.      Undertaking supervision of students. 

       
Requirements for the post: 

-         PhD in a relevant subject (or having submitted a PhD dissertation by September 2019)

-         Prior research experience related to digital cultures. 

-         Ability to write up research for publication in high profile monographs and peer reviewed journals.

-         Competency to conduct individual and collaborative research projects.

-         Willingness to participate in a multidisciplinary research team.

-         Facility to take responsibility for developing their own career in partnership with the University. 

Interview Date:  19 December 2017 

Click here for Job Description and Person Specification

Radical Open Access Website Launched

The new and updated website for the Radical Open Access Collective website is now live! 

https://radicaloa.co.uk

Formed in 2015, the Radical OA Collective is a community of scholar-led, not-for-profit presses, journals and other open access projects in the humanities and social sciences. We represent an alternative open access ecosystem and seek to create a different future for open access, one based on experimenting with not-for-profit, scholar-led approaches to publishing. You can read more about the philosophy behind the collective here: https://radicaloa.co.uk/philosophy/

As a collective, we offer mutual reliance and support for each other’s projects by sharing the knowledge and resources we have acquired. Through our projects we also aim to provide advice, support and encouragement to academics and other not-for-profit entities interested in setting up their own publishing initiatives. The current website contains a Directory of academic-led presses, which showcases the breadth and rich diversity in scholar-led presses currently operating in an international context and across numerous fields, and an Information Portal with links to resources on funding opportunities for open access books, open source publishing tools, guidelines on editing standards, ethical publishing and diversity in publishing, and OA literature useful to not-for-profit publishing endeavours. We will be further developing this into a toolkit for open access publishing in order to encourage and support others to start their own publishing projects. If you run a not-for-profit OA publishing initiative or are interested in starting your own scholar-led publishing project, we encourage you to join the Radical OA mailing list and get involved with the discussion!

Please do get in touch if you would like further information on the project or would like your publishing project to be involved.

CFP: Thermal Objects, special issue of Culture Machine

CALL FOR PAPERS

Thermal Objects – Theorizing Temperatures and the Social, Special issue of Culture Machine, Vol.17 (2018)
Edited by Elena Beregow (University of Hamburg, Germany) http://www.culturemachine.net

This special issue of Culture Machine, a peer reviewed and open access journal, will address thermal processes, bodies and media from interdisciplinary and international perspectives. When heat and cold appear in the humanities and social sciences, they are often treated exclusively as metaphors—think of Ferdinand Tönnies’s description of the modern, urbanized society as a cooling process that freezes the warm, authentic community; or Marshall McLuhan’s distinction between hot and cold media. While thermal metaphors turn out to be useful—perhaps even constitutive—tools that make abstract notions imaginable and tangible, recent discussions on the materiality of the social offer a productive background for new theorizations of temperatures that exceed their metaphorical valences.

This special issue aims to rethink the relation of metaphor and materiality: How can we theoretically account for thermal mechanisms as balance, transfer or collapse? What does it mean to perform hot or cool critical theoretical interventions? These and other questions will be investigated across three temperature-related dimensions: the senses, thermic media and thermopolitics.

Sensory studies has addressed experiences that are not explicitly listed in the classical five senses, such as the sense of motion and the sense of temperature. But is thermoception only an additional field for sensory studies, or does it also inflect our understanding of the social? In contrast to the sense of sight, which separates the seeing body from the object world, the thermal sense challenges the subject/object divide. When we move away from the human body, the question of thermoception gets even more complicated, since there is no subjective position from which temperature could be sensed. How can we theoretically think more-than-human thermal objects and elements? When we grasp thermal phenomena as media, their material characteristics and properties become visible; for instance, their rhythms and movements, and their capacity to store, transfer, and conduct, but also their relatively short half-life.

The biological notion of homeostasis, which is crucial to cybernetic thought, turns us towards important questions related to the measurement, control, and regulation of temperature, which not only takes place on the level of internal organization, but on a broader political scale (think of new thermal technologies of sensory control, as well as thermally organized biopolitics). While the special issue aims to focus attention on the importance of temperature and thermal objects to questions of climatic change, it also seeks to foreground the intrinsic thermic qualities of the social that have led to global warming’s proliferation.

Contributions are invited though not limited to the following topics:

Tempered senses

- Thermoception and the anthropology/sociology of the senses
- Skin-topologies and thermal bodies: the (dis)organization of vital energy 

- Architectural thermic spaces and tempered atmospheres
- Thermal pleasure and delight

Thermic media

- Hot and Cool in media theory
- Temperature problems of media infrastructures (e.g. heat as computing-power and engineering problem)
- Data storage and freezing information

Thermopolitics

- Figures of thermal control in utopian and dystopian fiction
- History of the sciences: historical discourses of temperature, thermodynamics and cybernetics 

- New thermal technologies: sensors, surveillance and control
- Thermal practices of resistance

Please submit your contributions to Elena Beregow (elena.beregow@wiso.uni-hamburg.de)

The deadline for submission of articles of 4000-6000 words is 19th January 2018. If you wish to discuss potential contributions ahead of submitting completed articles, please feel free to contact the editor.

Please consult Culture Machine's Guidelines for Authors: http://www.culturemachine.net/index.php/cm/about/submissions#authorGuideline