CIDRA Research Theme 2012: Science, Technology and the Arts

Professor Lucy Suchman(Lancaster)
Reconfiguring Agencies at the Interface: New Entanglements of Bodies and Machines

5pm, Tuesday 15th May 2012
John Casken Lecture Theatre, Martin Harris Centre
University of Manchester

All welcome, no booking required.  Followed by wine reception.

Abstract: Taking its inspiration from critical studies in the history, culture and politics of technology, this paper will examine configurations of persons and machines within what James Der Derian has named ‘MIME-net’, the military-industrial-media-entertainment network.  As science fiction and popular culture anxiously anticipate a future of autonomous weapons and robot soldiers, more intimate configurations of human and machine are presently in play in the form of new devices (drone aircraft, battlefield robots) for the projection of action at a distance. I offer the beginnings of an argument regarding the essential and inescapable tension between a commitment to distance, and to the requirements of ‘positive identification’ that underwrite the canons of legal killing. This tension holds not only for those involved in command and control of the front lines, but also for those of us responsible as citizens for grasping events in which we are, however indirectly, morally, politically and economically implicated.

Related event:
PG Masterclass with Lucy Suchman and Albena Yaneva (MARC)
10-11.30, Wednesday 16th May
Samuel Alexander South Wing S1.7
Recommended readings for the masterclass will be made available on the CIDRA website under "Postgraduate".

Lucy Suchman is Professor of Anthropology of Science and Technology in the Department of Sociology at Lancaster University, and Co-Director of Lancaster’s Centre for Science Studies.  Before taking up her present post she spent twenty years as a researcher at Xerox’s Palo Alto Research Center. Her research includes ethnographic studies of everyday practices of technology design and use, critical engagement with projects in the design of humanlike machines, and interdisciplinary and participatory interventions in new technology design. Her book Human-Machine Reconfigurations  (Cambridge University Press 2007) includes an annotated version her earlier Plans and Situated Actions: the problem of human-machine communication (CUP 1984).  The sequel adds five new chapters looking at relevant developments since the mid 1980s in computing and in social studies of technology.

For more information please visit the CIDRA website at http://www.arts.manchester.ac.uk/cidra/

Work at Gladstone's Library - internships

Gladstone’s Library Internships – 1st June – 31st August

Gladstone’s Library is looking for two interns who are willing to live and work at the Library for three months from 1st June to 31st August 2012 as part of the residential community. The successful applicants should be graduates, preferably with an Arts or Theology degree. They will each have a specific project and they share in staffing reception each weekend as well as covering reception at lunchtimes during the week and sharing in general evening residential and library duties.

The two posts will have specific projects. One of the posts will work in support of the Development and Marketing Office and the other will work on the library collections.

Both provide a rare opportunity to live and work in Britain’s only Prime Ministerial library. The post would suit graduates thinking of a career in librarianship or marketing.

The successful applicants will live at Gladstone’s Library free of charge. All meals will be provided. They will be given a small travel and general expenses allowance of £100 per month.

Please send CV and a letter of application indicating which of the two posts you are interested in to Peter Francis peter.francis@gladlib.org by 31st March 2012.

QUEER CHINA EVENT, THIS THURSDAY 22 MARCH

REMINDER: QUEER CHINA EVENT, THIS THURSDAY 22 MARCH

17:30–19:00 KEYNOTE ADDRESS
Professor Lisa Rofel (University of California, Santa Cruz) interviews renowned queer Chinese activist/scholars Professor Li Yinhe (Chinese Academy of Social Sciences) and Professor Cui Zi’en (Beijing Film Academy), Q&A to follow (interpretation services provided).
Location: Sackville Street Building, Entrance Hall

19:00–20:00 WINE AND DRINKS RECEPTION
Location: Sackville Street Building, Entrance Hall

All are welcome to attend this free event, but please register at http://queerchina1.eventbrite.co.uk.

Anthropology Professor Lisa Rofel is a pioneer in Chinese LGBT studies in the west and began publishing on the subject more than 10 years ago.

Sociology Professor Li Yinhe has published several books in Chinese on LGBT life in China, appears on TV and maintains an incisive blog. She has presented petitions for the past several years to China's National People’s Congress to legalize same-sex marriage.

Film Professor Cui Zi'en is a prolific filmmaker and outspoken commentator on LGBT issues in China.

EAS Research Seminar, tomorrow, NEW TIME

EAS research seminar, 21 March

Sam Durrant (Leeds):

'Corporeal Community: Literature and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission'

A4 Poetry Centre, 5pm, all welcome, please circulate

EAS Research Seminar, tomorrow

EAS research seminar, 21 March

Sam Durrant (Leeds):

'Corporeal Community: Literature and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission'

A4 Poetry Centre, 4pm, all welcome, please circulate

WRITING AND THE SMALL PRESS

a one-day conference at the University of Salford

Saturday 31 March 2012 from 9am-5pm

The Old Fire Station

The Crescent

Salford

M5 4WT

9:00 Arrival: registration, tea and coffee

9:30

Introduction

PLENARY: Elizabeth Baines, novelist:

‘Jumping into the Lifeboat’

10:30 Morning session – 2 parallel sessions

Parallel session 1: Poets, Publishers and Poet-Publishers

Chair: Scott Thurston, University of Salford

Nikolai Duffy, Manchester Metropolitan University:

‘An Alternate Way of Doing Things: Burning Deck and Small Press Publishing’

Richard Barrett, University of Salford:

‘Poet, Publisher or Both? A Paper in Two Parts’

Parallel session 2: Contemporary Small Presses: Literature and Innovation

Chair: Lucie Armitt, University of Salford

Ra Page, Comma Press:

‘Publishing the Liminal’

Kevin Duffy, Bluemoose Books:

‘Independent Publishing and the Business of Books’

 12 :00 LUNCH

1 :00 PLENARY: Robert Sheppard, Edge Hill University

2 :00 Afternoon session – 2 parallel sessions

Parallel session 3: The Small Poetry Press in the Sixties

Chair: Scott Thurston, University of Salford

Ian Brinton, independent scholar:

‘Nearly Brassed Off’

Lila Matsumoto, University of Edinburgh:

‘Tumultous Blossom: The Early Years of Wild Hawthorn Press’

Parallel session 4: Publishing Workshop

Chair: Ursula Hurley, University of Salford

Alec Newman, The Knives Forks and Spoons Press, Newton-le-Willows

Ollie Wright, The Red Telephone, Manchester

Presentations followed by discussion and advice about publishing your writing and working in small press publishing

3 :30 Break for tea and coffee

4 :00 Book Launch

Erbacce Press (Liverpool) launches books by Jo Langton and Stephen Shimmans

4:30 Results of the Write Northwest competition announced by Zahid Hussain

5:00 Closing remarks

Please note that bookstall space is available throughout the day for small press publishers

Please register online here

Directions are available here

Organisers:

Lucie Armitt

l.armitt@salford.ac.uk

Ursula Hurley

u.k.hurley@salford.ac.uk

Scott Thurston

s.thurston@salford.ac.uk

School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences

University of Salford

Salford

M5 4WT

Theory after Theory

Theory after Theory: Interdisciplinary Reflections

    

      12th June 2012

  Call for Papers

Invited Speakers: Dr. Jerome De Groot, Prof. Margaret Littler, Dr. Matthew Philpotts

Theory after Theory: Interdisciplinary Reflections is a one-day conference that will take place on Tuesday, June 12th 2012 at the University of Manchester. The conference aims to bring together postgraduates from the School of Arts, Histories and Cultures and the School of Languages, Linguistics and Cultures. It aims to reflect on theoretical trends that have developed within the two Schools and will seek to examine the trajectories that theories and major theoreticians have followed across the boundaries of disciplines in the Humanities. Specifically, the conference will look at the various methodological approaches researchers take toward theory, at how empirical material interacts with theory and at the extent to which theory can illuminate and interpret cultural phenomena.

We are pleased to invite contributions of 20-minute long papers focusing on theoretical frameworks and their methodological application to the researcher's object of inquiry.

Abstracts should include the theory the researcher is using, the researcher’s object of inquiry, a brief description of how the theory is put to use to approach the material under scrutiny, and finally, how the researcher’s methodological approach toward theory differs from or is similar to other applications of the theory.

Please send abstracts (maximum 350 words) to theoryaftertheory@gmail.com by the 10^th of April 2012. Notification of Acceptance: 25^th April 2012

Please note that there are limited places, so make sure you register early by sending an email to theoryaftertheory@gmail.com, whether you are planning on sending an abstract or not.

Poems for Dickens

Northern Launch of

Our Mutual Friend: Poems for Charles Dickens

at The Portico Library and Newsroom

Acclaimed poets recite new work to celebrate Dickens’ 200^th birthday Wednesday 28^th March – 6.30 to 9.pm 

On the 28^th March renowned poets are gathering at the Portico Library in Manchester for the Northern launch of an anthology of new poems that celebrates the life of Charles Dickens in his bicentennial year.

Edited by Peter Robinson, Professor of English Language and Literature at the University of Reading, A Mutual Friend: Poems for Charles Dickens contains work prompted by incidents from his life, the characters and plots of his novels, or their afterlife in other arts and cultural memory. 

Several of the anthology’s contributors, including Ian Duhig, Jon Glover, Derryn Rees Jones, Mairi MacInnes, Carol Rumens, Susan Utting and Jeffrey Wainwright will read their poems in the glorious surroundings of The Portico Library and Newsroom. Professor Robinson said: “The anthology includes contributions from more than fifty poets of national and international standing, their work offering a series of intimate glimpses into Dickens’ place in the current poetic imagination.”

The anthology is beautifully designed in the best traditions of Two Rivers Press and the front cover is an illustration by Martin Andrews, formerly of the University of Reading’s Department of Typography.  It depicts the Mechanics Institute, Reading, now the Great Expectations Hotel & Bar, where Dickens himself visited and read and the site of the book’s “Southern” launch on February 12^th.

The Portico Library was opened in 1806 by a group of Manchester’s emerging reading public some 50 years before the advent of free libraries in the United Kingdom.  At a time when reading was being seen as a pleasurable rather than a doctrinal experience works of fiction, including poetry, were increasingly collected and read. Charles Dickens was an obvious selection and his visits to the Athenaeum and Mechanics Institute consolidated him as a favourite author in Manchester. The celebrated Elizabeth Gaskell was one of the regular contributors to Dickens’ Household Tales and the wife of The Portico’s chairman of 35 years, Unitarian minister, The Reverend William Gaskell. Since 1985 The Portico has been proud to pay homage to the literary traditions of the North of England in its biennial Portico Prize for Literature (running this year) and will take its own part in honouring Charles Dickens’ Bicentenary with an exhibition of his works and life - Children and Childhood in the life and works of Charles Dickens - during June and July. Updates will be made available on our website and on the evening of the launch of Our Mutual Friend.

Tickets including wine and nibbles at £7 each are available from The Portico Library by post, (The Portico Library, 57 Mosley Street, Manchester, M2 3HY), by telephone (0161-236 6785) and by email (admin@theportico.org.uk).

Copies of the anthology are priced at £10 and are expected to be available on the evening.

Non-Law

Want to know what a top law firm is looking for?

Join the Non-Law Society for a session on interviews and assessment centres from DLA Piper on 21st March

Wednesday 21st March
2pm until 4pm
University Place 6.206
We are hosting an event with DLA Piper on Interviews and Assessment Centres plus a talk from a trainee.

DLA Piper is a global corporate and commercial firm with 76 offices spanning 30 countries, including offices in Manchester and London.

Don't miss this opportunity to have your questions answered by graduate recruitment and trainees from a top firm!

To find out more about the firm, click here: http://www.dlapiper.com/UK/
To join our society, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/176073943340/
To join the event page, click here http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/148543921932484/
The event wil be followed by drinks with the committee-a great opportunity to find out more about the society and what we do ahead of the recruitment of a whole new committee immediatly after Easter.

ENGLISH NEEDS YOU!

ENGLISH NEEDS YOU!

 

You are currently being asked to complete the National Student Survey online. This is an opportunity for you to reflect and comment on your time as a student on the English programme at University of Manchester.

The survey only takes a few minutes, and this year, more than ever, it is vital that English has a high completion rate. The University sets great store by these tables, in a climate where all arts and humanities programmes are under enormous pressure to demonstrate their excellence and value. English can’t afford not to have a healthy return from the NSS, so please help!

We hope that our students thoroughly enjoy the education and support they receive from us. Here are some of the things we do to try and ensure all students get the most out of their time with us:

·     We offer students a remarkably wide range of courses ‒ from film and creative writing to medieval and postcolonial literature. While not every student gets on to every single course they might wish to take, most do get their top choices.

·     We have responded to student concerns to ensure that every syllabus description has a clear statement of aims, objectives and assessment so that all students know precisely what is expected of them from the outset.

·     We have introduced more comprehensive feedback forms for assessed work and now ensure that all work is returned within two weeks.

·     We have recently doubled the regular office hours during which members of staff are available for consultation, and we encourage students to make appointments to meet with us outside scheduled office hours as well.

·     We have greatly increased the availability of course materials ‒ readings, syllabi, essay and study questions, and secondary readings ‒ online, by way of Blackboard.

·     In the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise, scholarly research in English at Manchester was ranked second in the entire UK, well ahead of Oxford, Cambridge, and University of London! Our research informs the teaching you receive.

In previous NSS surveys, 95% of our students said that staff were good at explaining things, 88% said that staff made the subject interesting, 97% said that staff were enthusiastic about what they teach, and a whopping 98% said that their course was intellectually stimulating! This gives an average of 95%  ‒ compared to a university average of 83%.

Please complete the NSS at www.thestudentsurvey.com

Thank you!

CALM Manchester charity album

Greetings,

A project I've been involved with has come to fruition; Thirty One –
a compilation album featuring Elbow, Everything Everything, Delphic,
Murkage, Noel Gallagher, Jim Noir, Durutti Column and more.

To raise money for the charity CALM - which aims to provide support
for those suffering from mental illness or depression, with a focus
on reducing the high suicide rate amongst men.

There's a brilliant short video here; http://www.thirtyonesongs.com/

The tracks on the album have been sourced, chosen and compiled by me.
It’s got 31 tracks on it and has already been described as "the best
ever Manchester compilation"!  And any reviewer said; "The mixture
and quality of every track on here is first-rate, put together with
the love; thirty one tracks of pure excellence."

It's all artists with a Manchester connection working now, no
nostalgia – familiar faces and upcoming talent combining.

Please have a look at the video!

And please cconsider buying an album; you can download it on the
website or buy it from the likes of HMV, Amazon, or Piccadilly
Records. At least £7 per album sold goes directly to CALM, but it's a
great collection of music in its own right.

It's been a great project to work on.

Dave Haslem

EAS research seminar, 21 March

Sam Durrant (Leeds):

'Corporeal Community: Literature and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission'

Poetry Centre, 4pm, all welcome, please circulate

BAFTSS Awards - call for submissions

Awards

Call for Submissions to the First Annual BAFTSS Awards

The British Association for Film, Television and Screen Studies (BAFTSS) wishes to recognise the research achievements of its members through the BAFTSS Annual Awards. All BAFTSS members are eligible to submit work in the following categories (all submissions must be in the English language and must be on a topic in the field of film, television, and screen studies):

• Best Monograph (a single-authored book, published between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011)
• Best Article in a Refereed Journal (published between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011)
• Best Postgraduate Student Essay (BAFTTS Student members enrolled during the period between 1 January 2011 and 31 December 2011 on postgraduate degree courses in Film, Television or Screen Studies at a British University). Submissions in this category should be between 4,000 and 6,000 words, including footnotes and bibliography. Essays must not have been previously published, but should be of a standard that they could be submitted in their present form to a peer-reviewed journal. They can include work that has been submitted fully or in parts as an assessed degree requirement (coursework, dissertation chapter etc.). Essays written specifically for the competition are also eligible.

Deadline for all submissions is May 31, 2012.

Apart from submitting their own work, members may nominate the work of fellow members. In the latter case, contact details of both nominators and nominees must be supplied, and the nominated author must consent to being nominated. Publishers are welcome to submit the work of their authors, provided these are BAFTTS members. Publishers themselves do not need to be BAFTSS members. Only one item across all categories can be submitted by (or for) each member. The BAFTSS Awards Committee will determine the winners. The awards will be presented at a special ceremony during the BAFTTS AGM which we plan to hold on 20 September 2012. Details will be announced in due course. Award recipients will be notified prior to the event.

Membership of BAFTSS is open to anybody regardless of nationality, and book and essay awards are also open to any member who wishes to make a submission. Given the uncertainty regarding the volume of submissions – this being the first year the competition is running – we have decided to restrict the submissions in the category of student essays to UK only. We envisage that with increased financial and administrative support as BAFTSS grows, we will open this category as well to all members in future years.

Submissions should be sent via email in PDF format to the following addresses
1. For the monograph award
Email: bookaward@baftss.org
2. For the award for an article in a refereed journal
Email: articleaward@baftss.org
3. For the award for best postgraduate student essay
Email: essayaward@baftss.org

The future of the monograph

Humanities and social science researchers – can you spare twenty minutes to help us understand the future of the monograph? You could win one of several £100 Amazon vouchers by completing the OAPEN-UK Researcher Survey at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/oapenukresearcher

OAPEN-UK is an Arts and Humanities Research Council and JISC funded project exploring the issues impacting upon the publishing of scholarly monographs in the humanities and social sciences (HSS). The project is working with Taylor & Francis, Palgrave Macmillan, Berg Publishers, Liverpool University Press, University Wales Press, research funders and universities, to understand the challenges and steps required to move towards an open access publishing model for scholarly monographs. Further information on OAPEN-UK is available on the project website: www.oapen-uk.jiscebooks.org

In an open access model the monograph is made freely available – readers (or their libraries) do not have to pay to read it online, rather the costs of the publishing process (e.g.  peer review, typesetting, marketing) are recovered through alternative routes such as research grants, institutional funding or perhaps through readers purchasing print editions or particular formats for their iPad or Kindle. Various models are being tested at the moment.

OAPEN-UK has two strands: an open access pilot gathering data on the usage, sales and citations of 60 monographs, and a wider research project which explores the environment for open access publishing.

We’re six months into the project and, following a series of focus groups, have identified some key questions for researchers – both as authors and readers. We invite you to complete the researcher survey: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/oapenukresearcher. The findings from this survey will combine with interviews and surveys of other stakeholder groups to help us understand the big issues and priorities that an open access publishing model must accommodate.

To thank you for your help, if you complete the survey you will be entered into a draw for Amazon vouchers – we have three £100 vouchers, three £50 vouchers and three £25 vouchers available to win.

If you’d like any further information, please contact Ellen Collins (ellen.collins@researchinfonet.org). The OAPEN-UK website also contains more information about the project, and our findings so far.

EAS's Tabz runs for office

Please Vote Tabz #1 for Women's Officer


I'm running for Women's Officer because I believe in a Students' Union where the diversity of women students is supported and celebrated, where students are empowered to develop and deliver campaigns that matter to them, and where safety is paramount. I am an independent candidate with no party politics.

If I become Women's Officer, I will ensure:

-Tackling Governmental cuts are a priority of the Executive

-Women's political representation within the Union is protected, decided by self defining women and extended across all faculties and liberation campaigns.

-A diverse range of women, incl. student parents, postgraduates, mature, BME, international, LGBTQ and disabled women to name but a few feel represented and empowered.

For my full manifesto, please go to https://www.facebook.com/tabzforwomens or www.tabzobrienbutcher.com


Experience:

UMSU Campaigner of the Year 2010-11, Chair of Manchester Against Fees and Cuts 2010-12, The Riveters 2009-12, Actions with UKUncut, UKFeminista, Budget Blockers, Plane Stupid.
BA English Literature
MA Political Science and Human Rights

Some Endorsements:

Tabz would lead such an awesome women's campaign. She is a dedicated and creative activist, principled and passionate, with the proven experience to deliver amazing things for women students. Vote Tabz number one! - Sarah Kerton, UMSU Postgraduate and Mature Students' Officer 2011-12

Tabz is one of the most passionate campaigners I know. Once she gets involved in a campaign she is relentless and extremely hardworking. Her enthusiasm empowers others to get involved and her creativity means she can engage students. She will be the best Women's Officer UMSU has ever seen. - Amanda Walters, UMSU Campaigns Officer 2010-12

Tabz is one of the most enthusiast, optimistic and hardworking campaigners I've ever met. She has a really holistic and refreshing approach to feminism. She'll be fantastic! - Sylvia Barnett, UMSU Women's Officer 2011-12

"Tabz is a home grown, hand sewn lady activist who will take the women of Manchester to a brighter place. We're all doing it, vote Tabz for women's!" - Amaya Dent, UMSU Activities Officer 2011-12


         Vote 9th - 15th March 2012

http://www.my.manchester.ac.uk

Thank you!

Xtremuseology Flashmob