media:culture:memory

Mitzi Waltz - Autism=death

Mitzi Waltz presented a paper at the Autism and Representation colloquium at Liverpool John Moores University in February entitled "Autism=death: The social and medical impact of a catastrophic medical model of autistic spectrum disorders." The colloquium was held to bring together academics from a variety of disciplines who have an interest in how autism is represented in the media, popular fiction, and medical literature. It also included contributions from authors and filmmakers with autism.

Elaine Drainville - Bursary Success

Elaine Drainville has been successful in winning a bursary to attend a SoundArt Production Lab, to create an original piece of sound art. The lab takes place in partnership with the AVFest in Newcastle, from the 6th to the 9th of March and will culminate in a collaborative performance.

The Lab will give Elaine the opportunity to develop her research working with Palestinian footage shot recently. She hopes to produce an abstract sound piece using elements of the documentary soundtrack, arabic rhythms and female harmonies. If successful, the work could be used for other research outputs including short pieces for podcasting.

Research Seminar - Neil Perryman

On Monday 13th March Neil Perryman (University of Sunderland) will present his paper Doctor Who and Media Convergence.

The research seminar begins at 6pm in room 233 of the Media Centre.

Research Seminar - Dr Ian Hunter

On Monday 6th March Dr Ian Hunter (de Montfort University) will be present his paper Beyond Boredom: Some New Ways of Thinking About Porn.

The seminar starts at 6pm in room 233 of the Media Centre.

Nick Cope - Busy Start to 2006

Following the presentation of a paper at the AMPE /MeCCSA conference in Leed in January, outlining the Media Production team’s DVD project documenting Practice as Research, Nick Cope has recently completed a new collaborative video with composer Dr Tim Howle of the University of Hull’s Creative Music technology department.

The new collaboration, ‘Son et Lumieres’, has been selected by prestigious international selection panels for screenings at the Society for Electro- Acoustic Music of the United States 2006 Conference, University of Oregon, and the Fifteenth Annual Florida Electroacoustic Music Festival, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida in March and April. It has also been selected for screening in April at the
University of Huddersfield’s

‘GEM4 - Surreal Images’ series of public performances of contemporary music works.

This follows international screenings and presentations of the previous collaboration by Nick and Tim Howle, ‘Open Circuits’, which was published this month on DVD by the MIT Press ‘Computer Music Journal’ as part of their ‘Visual Music’ edition (Volume 29, Number 4). ‘Open Circuits’ was recently screened at the Birmingham Conservatoire as part of the ‘Legacies in Technology’ programme and will also be screened in Budapest in April at the European Conference on Evolutionary Music and Art.

ESRC Information

The following link gives guidance on how to put together a strong ESRC application

http://www.esrcsocietytoday.ac.uk/ESRCInfoCentre/How/researchers/

Research Seminars - Semester 2

Here is the full list of research seminars for semester 2.

Monday 6th February - Professor Shaun Moores (University of Sunderland)
Media Uses and Everyday Environmental Experiences: A Positive Critique of Phenomenological Geography.

Monday 20th February - Professor Chris Frost
A Statistical Analysis of the Performance of the Press Complaints Commission.

Monday 6th March- Dr I.Q. Hunter (De Montfort University)
Beyond Boredom: Some New Ways of Thinking About Porn.

Monday 13th March - Neil Perryman (University of Sunderland)
Doctor Who and Media Convergence.

Monday 20th March - Professor David Walton (University of Murcia)
Cultural Studies In Spain.

Monday 3rd April - Dr Val Reardon (The College of St Marks and St John)
Moustache and Mono-brow: The Cultural Representation of Freda Kahlo.

Monday 8th May - Dr David Bell (Manchester Metropolitan University)
Winter Wonderlands: Public Outdoor Ice Rinks, Entrepreneurial Display and Festive Socialities in UK Cities.

Monday 22nd May - Professor Mick Temple (University of Staffordshire)
The Democratic Necessity for Dumbing Down.

Monday 5th June - Philip Young (University of Sunderland)
Scoop! Representations of journalism in fiction.

 

Ledbury Poetry Festival

Dr Carolyn Jess-Cooke has been invited to give a poerty reading at the Ledbury Poetry Festival in June. This is Britain's largest poetry festival and one of the most prestigious in the country. More details can be found by following the link below.

http://www.poetry-festival.com/

Alternative and Activist Media

Mitzi Waltz had her book Alternative and Activist Media published in October, 2005. It has been published by Edinburgh University Press and a US edition is expected in Spring 2006, published by Columbia University.

Mitzi Waltz Seminar

Mitzi Waltz will be presenting a paper at the School of Education on February 9, entitled Representations of Autism in Medical and Popular Culture: Implications for Educational Practice.

The seminar will run in the David Goldman building (St. Peters Campus) 4 - 5.30.

Research Seminar - Prof. Shaun Moores

Professor Shaun Moores will be presented his paper on Monday 6th February as part of the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies' Research Seminar series. The paper is entitled Media Uses and Everyday Environment Experiences: A Positive Critique of Phenomenological Geography.

The seminar begins at 6pm in the Media Centre, room 233.

AHRC and ESRC Funding Information

Please find useful information for funding bids in the following attachments.

AHRC Criteria Download notes_on_ahrc_criteria_2.doc

ESRC Funding Experience Download experience_of_esrc_funding.doc

Sounding Out 3 Information

Please find attached information relating to Sounding Out 3 which will be held at the University of Sunderland 7-9 September, 2006. The attachments can be downloaded and sent out to anyone you feel may be interested in giving a paper or just attending the conference.

Download so3_call_for_papers.doc

Download SO3_Info_latest.doc

Rebuilding Hope

Philip Young will ask Can PR be a Force for Good? at a conference looking at the aftermath of July 7 bombings to be held in Leeds on Thursday.

Around 80 delegates from local councils, police forces, healthcare trusts, PR agencies and charities, mostly senior Public Relations professionals, as well as diversity, equality and regeneration specialists will discuss issues arising from the London bombings and 'help promote future positive communication and meaningful community relations' at the CIPR Rebuilding Hope conference.

Other speakers include Colin Parry, Darcus Howe, Andy Green and Robert Webb, PRO for Cardiff City Council whose sister Laura was killed in London on July 7. Philip will post the paper and a comments on the event to his Mediations website.

Forthcoming Research Seminars

Over the next three weeks there will be a research seminar each Monday evening at 6pm in room 233 of the Media Centre.

The first (November 28th) will be delieverd by Professor Garry Whannel (University of Luton), entitled 'News, Celebrity and the Jackson verdict: a vortextual analysis'.

The second, on December 5th, is being presented by Dr Mary Talbot (University of Sunderland) and is 'Trouble With The Toxic N Word: 'Political Correctness' and Freedom of Speech in the Media'.

Finally, on December 12th Professor Deborah Thomas (University of Sunderland) will be delivering her inaugural professorial lecture, 'Some Thoughts on Life and Death in the Movies'. This paper will be preceded by a presentation from Professor Flavia Swann in room 214 of the Media Centre.

GRS Announcements

GRS Announcements can be found by clicking the link below.

Download news.htm

Sounding Out 3

Following the success of Sounding Out at Staffordshire University in 2002 and Sounding Out 2 in 2004 at the University of Nottingham, the University of Sunderland will be hosting Sounding Out 3 in September 2006 at the Media Centre on the banks of the River Wear.

As with previous events, this aims to promote links and dialogue between practitioners, students and academics concerned with sound as communication, entertainment and creative practice across converging media: including film, radio, television, video, audio-books, electro-acoustic music, sonic art, new digital media and computer games.

Proposals, contributions and input are invited from all. For further information, conference schedule and updates, please visit the website at http://www.soundfile.org/sound or email info@soundfile.org.

Alternatively if you have any ideas to contribute or would like to be involved with Sounding Out 3, you can email John Paul Green at john-paul.green@sunderland.ac.uk

   
 

Watching Doctor Who

Neil Perryman will be giving a paper on digital convergence called 'Watching Doctor Who: the future has already happened' at the next MeCCSA/AMPE conference which will be held at Leeds Metropolitan University, January 13th-15th 2006. It's still not too late to book your place at this conference and full details are available here:
http://www.meccsa.org.uk/
http://www.ampe.co.uk/conf.htm

Click the Dalek!

Elaine's Research Update

The news to date on the project is the building of the mould and first prototype, took place over the summer at the University of Sunderland's glass and ceramic centre. It is now drying out ready for the first bisque firing.

Elaine and Amir Saeed are writing a joint paper called 'Beyond Orientalism:Why Palestine is still the issue'.

This paper links theory with practice. Original video footage of Palestinians living in the occupied territories is presented in a manner that is attempting to challenge mainstream Orientalist discourses of the issue. Said (1978) notes that Western representations of Arabs are normally framed in a manner that allows little sympathy and/or understanding of their plight. These depictions are further applied to help ‘Othering’ minority groups living in the West perceived to be similar or politically sympathetic to Arabs and Palestinians. Recent research has shown a lack of knowledge regarding peoples opinion about the Palestinian/Israeli conflict.  

Research Seminar - Dr Andrew Tolson

On Monday 7th November, Dr Andrew Tolson (De Montfort University) will be presenting his paper 'Political Discourse on TV News; Talk, trust and the end of ideology'.

The seminar will be held in room 233 (Media Centre) and commences at 6pm.                     

Research Research

A new online research 'newspaper' is available at the URL listed below.

The site is extensive and includes news on funding opportunities and news on research policy.

http://www.researchresearch.com/getPage.cfm

Research Seminars - The Sex Inspectors

The research centre seminars begin again on Monday 10th October. The first paper will be presented by Dr. Clarissa Smith (University of Sunderland) and is entitled 'The Sex Inspectors'. The seminar will be held in room 233 of the Media Centre at 6pm.

FoI expert Patrick on Radio 4

Journalism's Patrick Lavelle is one of the experts interviewed on the impact of the Freedom of Information Act on BBC Radio 4's A Right To Know at 8pm tonight.  An Mp3 of the show should be available for download from here tomorrow.

Truth and PR

Philip Young contributed a well-received paper, Why ethical PR bloggers can't tell the truth, to Global PR Blog week and took part in a podcast on PR education.

GRS Announcements

Download news.htm

Off to Lisbon

Chris Rushton and Philip Young have been invited to deliver papers at the 7th Annual Congress of EUPRERA New Challenges for PR - in Lisbon between 10 and 13 November.

Last week Chris presented a paper to the Association for Journalism Education annual conference in London, titled PR in Democracy - the changing power relationships between jornalism and public relations; his Lisbon paper examines similar territory, but this time from the perspective of PR practioners and theorists (abstract below).

Philip's Lisbon paper is Weblogs: Technological tweak or paradigm shift? (abstract below). He will also be contributing to Global PR Blog Week 2, presenting a provocative piece, Why ethical PR Bloggers can't tell the truth, to next Friday's session (Sept 23).

Nick Cope - Open Circuits

Nick Cope's collaborative video/DVD 'Open Circuits' with composer Dr  Tim Howle, of the University of Hull, has been selected for screening at Musicacoustic 2005: Mix at the Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing University at  the end of October (23-30th).

This is the same piece which will be featured on a DVD accompanying the next edition of Computer Music Journal, the leading international academic journal in this field.

Welcome back, Shaun

Shaun Moores has returned to the Sunderland after working in the media and communications programme at the University of Melbourne for 18 months.

He says: "Whilst in Australia, I completed a single-authored book, Media/Theory: Thinking About Media and Communications, which was published in the Routledge 'Comedia' series in July. My current work builds on interests that I've had for a while now in issues of time, space and place. I'm looking to develop a 'positive critique' of work on 'everyday environmental experiences' (which was published some years ago in the field of phenomenological geography), considering its relevance for the study of routine media uses. In 2005-6, I'll be coordinating the postgraduate reading group, teaching MA options on 'Media in Everyday Life' and 'Modernity, Globalisation and Identity', and also contributing to and coordinating the team-taught MA 'core' module. Shaun."

Call For Papers

CFP: Film Sequels (11/30/05; collection)
Film Sequels: New Theories of Remaking and Sequelization
Eds. Carolyn Jess (University of Sunderland, UK) and Constantine Verevis (Monash University, Australia)

This edited volume will examine the complex theoretical and ideological dimensions of sequelization in recent cinema. In the light of the sequel phenomenon at the end of the twentieth-century and the subsequent influx of narrative developments in the current century which foreground notions of continuation, ‘afterwardness’, memory, and nostalgia, this volume seeks to interrogate the cultural, industrial, historical, and narrative concerns at the heart of sequel production.

Freedom of information: Is it working?

JOURNALISM lecturer Patrick Lavelle is taking to the national airwaves to outline his initial findings from a research project.
For the past few months Patrick has been researching the impact of the Freedom of Information Act on newspapers and the police service in the UK. The Act came into force in January and newspaper journalists across the UK have been using FOI to dig up hundreds of stories.
Patrick was interviewed by well-known investigative journalist Michael Crick for a BBC Radio 4 programme to be broadcast at 8pm on Tuesday, September 27.