Cross-Atlantic Conversation

Cross-Atlantic Literary Conversation

Here is the link to an interview/conversation held Thursday, January 24, 2008 between the editor of Northwest Review (John Witte), from the University of Oregon, and the editor of Le Noeud des Miroirs, Jean-Pierre Pouzol. The interview was arranged by arranged by Suzanne Clark at the University of Oregon and Prof. Taffy Martin (translator), speaking from the university campus in Poitiers, France. We're using the facilities for distance education at the University of Oregon and the Université de Poitiers to explore the possibilities of research exchange.

The idea is to produce a streaming video that can be used in classes and by individuals for research.

To look at the journals we discuss, go to their sites:

The Northwest Review: http://www.uoregon.edu/~nwreview/

Le Noeud des Miroirs: http://lauranne.lauranne.free.fr/Pouzol/NoeudMiroirs/

To see the interview, go to: http://contentserver.uoregon.edu/tcs/

Web 2.0/digital text video

Thanks to Mark Watson (UO Libraries) for pointing out this video from Michael Wesch and the Digital Ethnography group at KSU:

"... a working group of Kansas State University students and faculty dedicated to exploring and extending the possibilities of digital ethnography."

Yochai Benkler webcast (Cornell Computer Policy and Law Program)

This archived webcast is long (1.5 hours) but well worth watching for anyone interested in intellectual property, social networks, open source/open repository movements, etc.

This is relevant to the New Research Summit because Professor Benkler dishes up lots of food for discussion/debate not only about law, politics, and culture, but also about education. For example, what does it mean to the academy when "critical evaluation is moving from academic seminars to blogs and wikipedia?" What does it mean for pedagogy and curriculum when virtually everyone can be a content creator as well as a consumer? How should we prepare our students for citizenship and employment in a world where "the means of production are radically decentralized" and "social sharing and exchange are a third mode of production, and the market (which responds to price signals) and the firm (which responds to managerial signals) are moving and adjusting as a result?"

It isn't all lecture, BTW -- watch for some lively and provocative remixes, including The Black Lantern's video remix of the Legendary KO's "George Bush Doesn't Care About Black People," which is a mash-up of Kanye West's "Golddigger," which is a mash-up of.... well, you get the idea.

second life news reporting

I'm not sure how many people still read this blog, but I know some discussion was going on last spring about Second Life. I thought I'd repost this BBC story here:

Online world to get news bureau
Dancers in Second Life, Linden Lab

The bureau will be staffed by Reuters media correspondent Adam Pasick who will report on the lives and business dealings of Second Life's residents.

An avatar resembling Mr Pasick, called Adam Reuters in the game, has been created to act as a virtual reporter in the world for the news agency.

Second Life has almost one million members and 400,000 of those are regular visitors to the online world.

Making headlines

While many online virtual worlds are games that encourage users to live out a fantasy existence as a warrior or wizard, Second Life is intended to be a more playful version of the real world.

Second Lifers can alter their appearance to look like animals or robots and buy outlandish homes, such as giant shoes, to live in.

The virtual world has been in the news a lot recently as real world firms establish in-game presences. Car maker Toyota is planning to offer a virtual version of its Scion xB van to Second Lifers. BBC Radio One has rented an island in the game that will be used to stage concerts.

Mr Pasick said he would act like any other correspondent and chase up news stories in Second Life.

"As strange as it might seem, it's not that different from being a reporter in the real world," he said. "Once you get used to it - it becomes very much like the job I have been doing for years."

He is also planning to explore issues that the growth of online worlds have exposed, such as the intersection between real and virtual economies.

The currency in Second Life, known as Linden dollars, can be swapped for real money and many regular players make a significant income from their game transactions. On an average day the Second Life economy involves the turnover of goods and services worth more than 400,000 dollars.

News stories will be filed to a blog and to a portable device that Reuters will make available to Second Life avatars so they can stay up to date with the latest virtual and real world news.

Media Commons; Future of the Book (USC/Annenberg)

The MediaCommons project is part of the Institute for the Future of the Book, & they seem to be doing things that relate closely to the UO's New Research Summit:

"As has been mentioned several times here, the Institute for the Future of the Book has spent much of 2006 exploring the future of electronic scholarly publishing and its many implications, including the development of alternate modes of peer-review and the possibilities for networked interaction amongst authors and texts. Over the course of the spring, we brainstormed, wrote a bunch of manifestos, and planned a meeting at which a group of primarily humanities-based scholars discussed the possibilities for a new model of academic publishing...."

Online-Only University Press & textbooks (Rice/Connexions)

Dear New Researchers:

I hope you're all having a great summer. Dave Moursand forwarded this article to my attention.

Andrew

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RICE PRESS REBORN AS ONLINE ONLY
Rice University will restart its press, which was closed in 1996, as an online-only operation, publishing peer-reviewed books and monographs. Faced with declining budgets, many libraries buy fewer books, leaving academic publishers unwilling to publish books unless they can justify the printing costs. Rice's model does away with printing, allowing the press to publish texts not published otherwise while considerably speeding up the publishing process. Because texts will be peer-reviewed, organizers hope the reborn Rice press will be as
prestigious--and as valid for tenure or promotion--as a traditional press. The press will operate through Connexions, a site that offers course materials free of charge. Separately, Connexions will also begin offering print-on-demand custom textbooks, assembled from individual modules within Connexions. The textbooks are expected to cost significantly less than comparable offerings from traditional textbook publishers.
Inside Higher Ed, 14 July 2006
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/14/rice

Our Summit in Streaming Video

Check out our Summit meeting in streaming video at:

http://media.uoregon.edu/medsvs/newresearch/