Conference Connections

CALL FOR PAPERS – Urban and Rural Flows and Counterflows
February 10-12, 2005
Splendid Isolation: Urban and Rural Flows and Counterflows in Electronic Music and Related Media
Berlin, Germany

Held in conjunction with club transmediale.05

“The relationship between communication technologies and the city has been a long and complicated one, where the density of communicative activity has often been taken as defining characteristic of urban life. By contrast, rural areas have been idealized and marked by the relative absence of these technologies, a perception which tends to obscure the social and spatial consequences of communication technologies in rural areas. Out of this dichotomous set of associations has emerged a constellation of forces, ideas, images and experiences which have defined both the city and rural zones in unique and singular ways.

The history of art and music bears many traces of this productive tension, in which being immersed in city life and rural hermitage act as polar opposites. Popular music has been identified with contrapuntal movements that fluctuate between the celebration and derogation of both the rural and the urban. Within this interplay, various technologies, in particular electronic communication, have provided the principle forms of mediation between urban and rural areas, bridging and binding people and places in multiple ways and creating new hybrid territories situated within a shared mediasphere. In this context, the challenges of cultural production in and between rural and urban regions continue to be inflected by the specific demands of electronic/digital production, distribution and consumption.

This conference intends to address topics relating to the many debates and discourses produced by the intersection of cultural production, electronic arts/media, and social relations in urban and rural settings. We encourage artists, practitioners, journalists, writers and academics to participate in what promises to be provocative conference. In keeping with the overall themes of transmediale and club transmediale [BASICS], which investigate the aesthetic and ethical foundations of a hyper-potential culture, papers should address, but need not be restricted to, the following frameworks:

* (Exo/Endo)Polis: electronic music, urban/ruraldynamics, and cultural politics
* Refashioning Networks: circuits, nodes,communities, scenes and subcultures and extended milieu
* Mediations: the rural/urban digital nexus,imagining/ representing nature in the city/the city in nature; electronicmusic and the experience of nature
* Counterflows: fluctuating movements betweenurban and rural music subcultures
* The Best of Both worlds: bridging theurban/rural divide
* Splendid Isolation: productivity betweenseclusion, media networking and boredom; sound cultures beyond the majormetropoles
* Perforating the Mainstream: marketing themargin
* Opposing Urbanity: f(r)actions of ruralsubcultures in the metropolis
* The City and Its Other: critiques from thecentre and periphery, speaking from and to rural and urban perspectives”

Abstracts should be no longer than 250 words and are due by November 15, 2004. Panel proposals are also welcome. Please submit them to: conference@transmediale.de

MEPHISTOS
March 5-6, 2005
Providence, Rhode Island USA
http://www.brown.edu/Students/Mephistos/

Mephistos is an international graduate student conference in the History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Science, Technology and Medicine. The purpose of the conference is to stimulate open discussion among graduate students. The graduate community at Brown University, in association with the Committee on Science & Technology Studies, is proud to host the twenty-third annual edition of the event.

4TH ANNUAL NATIONAL PEER SUPPORT CONFERENCE
Jan 14 – 16/2005

Details to follow:

2005 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities
Jan 13 – 16/2005
Honolulu, Hawaii USA

Contact: Attn. Andrew Burge, 2005 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities
PO Box 75036, Honolulu, HI 96836 USA
http://www.hichumanities.org/ humanities@hichumanities.org

The 3rd Annual Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities will be held from January 13 (Tuesday) to January 16 (Friday), 2005 at the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii. The 2005 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities will be the gathering place for academicians and professionals from the arts and humanities related fields from all over the world.

The main goal of the 2005 Hawaii International Conference on Arts and Humanities is to provide an opportunity for academicians and professionals from various arts and humanities related fields from all over the world to come together and learn from each other. An additional goal of the conference is to provide a place for academicians and professionals with cross-disciplinary interests related to arts and humanities to meet and interact with members inside and outside their own particular disciplines.

Topic Areas (All Areas of Arts and Humanities are Invited)

American Studies, Archeology, Architecture, Art, Art History, Dance, English, Ethnic Studies, Film, History, Landscape Architecture, Languages, Literature, Linguistics, Music, Performing Arts, Philosophy, Religion, Second Language Studies, Speech/Communication, Theatre, Visual Arts, Other Areas of Arts and Humanities, Cross-disciplinary areas of the above related to each other or other areas.

CONTRIBUTED BY AU’S THE INSIDER

iCORE (Informatics Circle of Research Excellence) Summit – Aug. 2005 -Banff.
The second annual iCORE Banff Informatics Summit will bring together leading information and communications technology (ICT) researchers for three days. The field of informatics encompasses computer science, electrical and computer engineering, physics and mathematics. (403) 210-5335. http://www.icore.ca/.

Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership Symposium – Oct. or Nov. 2005, Calgary.
The Chumir Foundation promotes an active, involved citizenry and principled leadership. (403) 244-6666. http://www.chumirethicsfoundation.ca/.

InfraEDUCA 2004 – June 25-27 – Pragati Maidan, New Delhi – The exhibition will be synergetic platform showcasing recent developments in Basic & Primary Education, Higher Education, Coaching Institutes, Specialized Courses, Vocational Training & Career Prospects, Distance Learning Systems, International Universities and Programs, E-Learning Tools and Educational Kits, Computer Education, Government Schemes and Programs etc. Details: http://www.friendzexhibitions.com/infraeduca2004/index.htm

PISTA ’04 – July 21-25 – Orlando, Florida – Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) are transforming our societies, therefore papers about research results, solutions and problems of the applications of ICT in Politics and Society are highly encouraged. Details: http://www.confinf.org/Pista04/website/default.asp

EDUTEX Bangladesh 2004 – July 28 – 30 – Dhaka, Bangladesh. EDUTEX Bangladesh 2004 is the platform for you to promote your Institutions and services and to recruit students in Bangladesh. Details: http://www.expam.com/bangladesh/

Learning Services Conference – Oct. 1-2 – Edmonton, AB.
AU’s annual Learning Services Conference returns to the Crown Plaza Chateau Lacombe in downtown Edmonton October 1 and 2, 2004. Please mark your calendar. We anticipate a great conference this year, and welcome your participation. TO REGISTER: please use the online form at http://www.athabascau.ca/collab/lsconf_reg_form.html Just fill in the blanks and click “Submit.” If the 2003 form appears, click on your refresh/reload button and it will revert to the 2004 form. TO RESERVE A ROOM at the hotel: please call 1-800-661-8801 and mention “AU conference” to qualify for the negotiated conference rate.

N.A.Web 2004 – Oct. 16-19 – Fredericton, NB – The Tenth Annual International Web-Based Teaching and Learning Conference – Details: http://naweb.unb.ca/

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.