Conference Connections

Know of a conference that is not on this list? Contact voice@ausu.org with the details and we’ll list it in Conference Connections.

INTERNATIONAL CELTIC CONFERENCE
Oct 14-17

From October 14-17th, 2004, the University College of Cape Breton will host the International Celtic Conference, Forging a Future for Celtic Languages and Cultures, under the direction of Robert Morgan, Laurent Lavoie, Hector MacNeil and Pierre Siguret.

During the 20th century, in America and Australia a significant number of languages have disappeared, the inescapable consequence of the assimilation since the seventies. The same has happened with the Celtic languages. Our conference is organized by four professors who wish to promote a genuine interest in Celtic languages. Professor Hector MacNeil teaches Gaelic language, Professor Robert Morgan is an historian, specialist of Cape Breton History, Professor Laurent Lavoie favours the maintenance of minority languages and teaches French and Professor Pierre Siguret is a scholar in French with an intense interest in Breton.

Call for papers: We are asking for papers from scholars from everywhere. The organizing committee will invite participants with the best proposals. Different applied methodologies will be presented around the question from psycho-linguistics, social linguistics, theories of language acquisition, community development and cultural promotion. Specialists of Celtic languages will be invited together with scholars on such threatened languages as Maorie and Mi’kmaq.

Entertainment: On each night of the conference there will be live entertainment: Celtic music, songs and poetry perpetuating the formidable GĂ idhlig heritage still surviving in Cape Breton and in the various Celtic countries of the world.

For further information or contributions to enhance the intellectual and economic success of the conference, you may visit our website at http://www.uccb.ca/index1.htm or email celtic.world@uccb.ca

TRANSPORTABLE ENVIRONMENTS 2004:
April
3rd International Conference on Portable Architecture and Design

Ryerson University in Toronto, will host the international academic conference; Transportable Environments. This will be the third in aseries of conferences concerning portable architecture, buildings, landscape and design. It is being organized and co-chaired by Associate Professor Filiz Klassen of the School of Interior Design, Ryerson University and Professor Robert Kronenburg of the University of Liverpool, School of Architecture and Building Engineering, UK. The event takes place during April 2004, at the Eaton Auditorium, Rogers Communications Centre on 80 Gould. Contact Filiz Klassen at (416) 979-5000, ext. 6937 for more information.
http://www.ryerson.ca/portable/

NARRATIVE MATTERS 2004
May 20-May 23

Organized by faculty and students from St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick, and featuring an array of keynote addresses and pre-conference workshops, Narrative Matters 2004 will take place from May 20 to May 23, 2004, at the Sheraton Hotel in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. The conference is a unique experience in which theorists and practitioners, researchers and students from a variety of backgrounds and disciplines will have the opportunity to enjoy conversation and together explore the importance of narrative – or story – in countless aspects of human life.
http://www.stu.ca/conf/narrative/

ideaCity
Jun 16-18

ideaCity, a “meeting of minds”, is an annual conference held in Toronto, Ontario. It brings together some of the most interesting and fascinating personalities of our time, for three days of stimulating conversation, performances, thought-provoking ideas, and other social events.

The conference is not centred around any one discipline or industry, and there are no keynote or panel discussions. In fact, scripted speeches are forbidden; as the website states: “Everyone is in on the common narrative.” Rather than the usual Q&A sessions after a speaker has completed their talk or performance, the conference has adopted the practice of long breaks between sessions (and nightly parties) that invite conversation between speakers, performers, and attendees.

This year’s presenters are:

Michael Adams – (President and CEO, Environics, Author, Sex in the Snow)
Henry Aubin – (Investigative Journalist, Author, The Rescue of Jerusalem)
Robert Bateman – (Artist, Naturalist)
Jane Bunnett – (Modern Jazz Musician)
Ken Finkleman – (Writer, Director, Producer; The Newsroom)
Richard Greenblatt and Ted Dykstra – (2 Pianos, 4 Hands.)
Derek Hatfield – (Sailor, “Around the World Alone” yacht race)
John Ince – (Lawyer, Advocate for a more sexually ‘healthy’ culture)
Robert Kennedy Jr. – (Defender of the Environment, Lawyer, Author)
Laura Kipnis – (Cultural Theorist and Author Against Love: A Polemic)
Anita Kunz – (Editorial Cartoonist, Rolling Stone, The New Yorker)
Mers Kutt – (Inventor of the world’s first personal computer)
Sook-Yin Lee – (Musician, Actor, Filmmaker)
James Lockyer – (Lawyer; Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted)
Joseph MacInnis – (Physician, Scientist, Businessman, Deep-sea diver, Author, Environmentalist)
Lewis MacKenzie – (Commander, UN Peacekeeping Mission to ‘Sector Sarajevo’; Author)
Gabor Mate – (Physician, Author, When the Body Says No: The Cost of Hidden Stress)
Jaymie Matthews – (Astrophysicist, Mission Scientist, The MOST project)
Paul Moller – (Founder, Moller International; inventor of the Skycar)
Terry Mosher – (Political Cartoonist, The Montreal Gazette; Cartoon Editor, Maclean’s)
Robert Munsch – (International Best-Selling Children’s Author)
Cleo Paskal – (Travel Writer, The National Post; Producer, Channel 4; Contributor, The Independent)
Irene Pepperberg – (MIT Media Lab; Expert, Animal-Human Communications (Grey Parrots))
Lola Rasminsky – (Avenue Road Arts School Founder; Advocate for Arts Education)
George Rizsanyi – (Guitar Craftsmen to the Stars)
Harry Rosen – (Founder, Harry Rosen Inc.)
Eva Vertes – (Scientist, Researcher, student at Princeton; made a significant Alzheimer’s discovery at the age of 15.)
Paul Wells – (National Affairs Columnist (and ‘Back Page’ occupant), Maclean’s).

“In an age that seems to swing wildly between wide-eyed optimism and dire pessimism, perhaps our greatest challenge is to sustain a capacity for idealism. ideaCity is one small effort to establish a forum for the high ground of ideas and idealism.” (ideaCity website)

This year’s conference takes place from June 16th to the 18th in Toronto, Ontario. For more information regarding the conference, contact jenniferm@citytv.com or call 416 591 7400 x2475, or visit the conference website at http://www.ideacityonline.com/

Provided by Lonita Fraser

CONTRIBUTED BY AU’S THE INSIDER

LEARNTEC 2004 – Feb. 10 – 13 – Karlsruhe, Germany – 12th European Conference and Specialist Trade Fair for Educational and Informational Technology.
Details: http://www.learntec.de

ICDE 2004 – Feb. 18 – 21 – Hong Kong – 21st ICDE World Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education. Details: http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/hk2004/