New Social Media Group

Following the popularity of the social media workshop two weeks ago, myself and Thom Corah are pleased to accept the role of facilitators for a new social media group to help members explore the practicalities and possibilities of using social media for teaching and learning and more widely.

We of course do not know all there is to know about social media, but we both have good experience of various aspects of social media use and will be able to use this to help people along the various paths that they wish to travel. We also hope that group members can help each other by sharing best practice and ideas.

We propose to hold the first meeting on Thursday January 24th from 1-3pm We’ve set a side two hours for the initial meeting which ideally we’d like you to attend for at least the first 90 mins. We have arranged subsequent follow up meetings on Thursday, February 7th at 1pm and Thursday, February 21st at 1pm, where the intention is to work as a group for an hour, with some spill over time for those that have things that they have time to explore a bit further. All Meetings to be held in the usual TDU Building (near Fletcher building).

We look forward to taking things forward in the new year. Please let us know if you are coming it will help with the planning. If you have a mobile device such as laptop or tablet please bring it with you. Not everyone will need one, but we will need a few for some group work that we will do.

Look forward to seeing you soon.

Steve and Thom

1pm Wed 9 Jan 2013: An Introduction to Future Foresight, Prof Sue Thomas

"The future is like a corridor into which we can see only by the light coming from behind." Edward Weyer Jr., anthropologist

All academics are experts in the past and present of their subject. But can you hazard a prediction for what you might be teaching and researching in 2025? This session kicks off a series about 2025 with an overview of the skills we need to acquire in order to think like a futurist. Sue Thomas draws on her experience of working with the Institute for the Future in Palo Alto, California to share some ideas about what it means to develop and apply future foresight.

1pm Wed 6 Feb 2013: ABCs of Forecasting, Prof James Woudhuysen

ABCs of Forecasting
Prof James Woudhuysen, ADH
1pm Wed 6 Feb 2013

It is right to be sceptical about forecasting – but it's wrong to be too sceptical. Among the ABCs:

1 Make a folder of Issues around which to exert thought leadership. Include Asia
2 Collect and suspect more forecasts. Distinguish between real and perceived risk
3 Beware government's fondness for policy-based forecasts
4 What appears new isn't always new; what appears old isn't always old
5 The algebra of numerical forecasts is more important than the arithmetic
6 Identify tendencies and counter-tendencies, and try to synthesise them
7 Some of today's forecasts are complacent; most are full of doom
8 'The best way of predicting the future is to invent it'
9 Write an industry bible (even if it's just for internal use)

1pm Wed 23 Jan 2013: Researching future technologies and their ethical consequences, Prof Bernd Stahl

Researching future technologies and their ethical consequences
Prof Bernd Stahl, CCSR
1pm Wed 23 Jan 2013

The ETICA project (Ethical Issues of Emerging ICT Applications) ran from 2009 to 2011. This talk will detail the principles of the project, methodological problems and the eventual approach. The talk will reflect on the value and downsides of futures research. Project website: www.etica-project.eu

2025: Forecasting the Future - TDC Spring Lunchtimes

Important change of date

To accommodate those who could not make it on Tuesdays in the Autumn Term, Spring Term TDC Lunchtime Sessions will take place on Wednesdays 1pm-2pm

"The future is like a corridor into which we can see only by the light coming from behind.” Edward Weyer Jr., anthropologist

All academics are experts in the past and present of their subject. But can you hazard a prediction for what you might be teaching and researching in 2025? This series looks at the skills of future foresight and invites your own predictions.

In Spring 2013 the TDC asks colleagues to peer ahead a dozen years and think about the year 2025. What will your discipline look like in twelve years’ time? Whether your subject area is Law, Computer Science, Healthcare, English, Design, Social Work or anything else we teach or research at DMU, each will undoubtedly be different in 2025. What will be the problems, issues and opportunities facing it in 2025? What will the campus itself look like? We invite your predictions.

We will audio-record each session and create a website where your predictions will be saved for posterity.

Light Logic and Leicester

Ernest Edmonds: Light Logic
Site Gallery 17 November 2012 - 2 February 2013

A pioneer of computer generated art in the 1960s, and now creating generative sculptural light installations, Edmonds’ work references minimalist constructivism alongside a life-long interest in chance and change.  Exploring how new technologies produce new relations between artists, audiences and things, Light Logic marks the first UK solo exhibition of the artist for a decade.  Edmonds currently lives between Sydney, Australia and Hathersage, Derbyshire and has exhibited widely throughout the world

Ernest Edmonds is a multi-disciplinary artist and known as an expert on human-computer interaction. He studied Mathematics and Philosophy in London and is Professor of Computation and Creative Media at the University of Technology in Sydney. There he runs a practice-based art and technology research group, the Creativity and Cognition Studios.

12.30 Tue 27th November 2012 What do we mean by ‘number’? Sarah Greenfield- TDC Lunchtime

What do we mean by ‘number’?
Dr Sarah Greenfield, Centre for Computational Intelligence, FOT, DMU.
12.30 Tue 27th November 2012 in the TDC

What do we mean by ‘number’? The words above are all used to describe numbers. In this TDC session we will explore the surprising and fascinating world of numbers. No expertise in mathematics is assumed.

12.30 Tue 13th November 2012 Games, Immersive Technologies and their impact on Business and Society, David Wortley - TDC Lunchtime

Games, Immersive Technologies and their impact on Business and Society

David Wortley
12.30 Tue 13th November 2012 in the TDC

David Wortley discusses the impact of creative technologies on society and considers whether we have entered an unprecedented and highly disruptive period in mankind's history.

David Wortley is the author of "Gadgets to God - Reflections on our changing relationship with Technology". As Founding Director of the Serious Games Institute at Coventry University, he has gained an international insight into the growing impact of immersive technologies on all our lives.

DMU Wikipedia Group ?

Quite a few people can't make the Wikipedia training sessions because they are teaching or otherwise committed, but they are keen to learn. It would therefore seem to be a good idea to set up an ongoing DMU Wikipedia Group so that those who can attend are able to cascade their skills across the campus through an informal system of  mutual support and mentoring. The TDC would be delighted to host such a group but it would need a coordinator to run it. If you're interested in doing that please contact Sue Thomas to discuss practicalities.

Hands-on Wikipedia Editing Workshops open to all staff and postgraduate students

Photo: Sam Bamkin

A few weeks ago Roger Bamkin gave a very informative and entertaining TDC talk on his Monmouthpedia project. His slides are here.

There was a great deal of interest in learning the arcane art of editing Wikipedia so Roger has kindly agreed to run two hands-on workshops for us. The sessions will be held in the TDC and are open to all staff and postgraduate students across the university. Refreshments will be provided.

Registration
To help with planning, please indicate your intention to attend here.

Tuesday 6th November 2pm - 4pm INTRODUCTORY SESSION 
The basic skills of editing Wikipedia

Tuesday 20th November 2pm - 4pm FOLLOW-UP SESSION
Come back after two weeks of practice to report on your progress and troubleshoot any difficulties.

What to bring
- Your own laptop, tablet or other device to work on. This is essential for participation!
- Roger suggests that, if you wish, you might like to bring with you the url of an existing Wikipedia article that you would like to improve.

12.30 Tue 4th December - Social Media Surgery - TDC Lunchtime

http://amt.caltech.edu/resources/cartoons

Social Media Surgery
Sue Thomas, IOCT/ADH
12.30 Tue 4th December 2012 in the TDC

An informal chance to get together and share what we know about using Twitter, Facebook, Google+, Foursquare, LinkedIn, YouTube, Flickr, Pinterest, and anything else you (a) know about or (b) want to know about. Bring your laptop, phone or tablet for some hands-on sharing and we'll keep our fingers crossed there'll be enough wifi to go round.

12.30 Tue 6th November 2012 Alan Turing: Intuition and Ingenuity, Sean Clark - TDC Lunchtime

Alan Turing: Intuition and Ingenuity
Sean Clark, IOCT
12.30 Tue 6th November 2012 in the TDC

Sean Clark will introduce the Intuition and Ingenuity exhibition of artwork influenced by Alan Turing currently running at Phoenix and present a showing of the short film "Decoding Alan Turing" by Christopher Racster.

12.30 & 14.00 Tue 11 Dec 2012 Collaboration, Tessy Britton, Lunchtime talk followed by a workshop

Collaboration
Tessy Britton
Tue 11th December 2012

View Session Recording 

12.30-13.30 Lunchtime Talk
Tessy Britton presents an overview of her work on different types of collaboration

14.00-16.00 Workshop
Please indicate your interest to give us an idea of numbers
A practical workshop on the skills of collaboration. There will be opportunities to try different approaches and consider which might best suit an academic transdisciplinary environment. Refreshments will be provided.

Many colleagues are interested in transdisciplinary collaboration, but the barriers are high. Differences in disciplinary cultures and a history of institutional silos, not to mention shortage of time, are just some of the problems we face. And when you do start a collaboration, you may quickly discover that understanding each other is much harder than it seemed at first. These two sessions comprise a brief introduction to different kinds of collaboration followed by a hands-on workshop offering the chance to try out a range of methods and an invitation to consider which of them are most useful in an academic setting. You can attend either or both.

Tessy Britton is a social designer, researcher and educationalist who has worked for the past 8 years developing innovative methods for stimulating positive and collaborative approaches in wellbeing, citizen-led participation and co-production. With a life-long interest in research, knowledge and creativity Tessy’s work over the past 8 years has focused on applying innovative knowledge and ideas to new contexts. Understanding the underlying and interrelated factors which cause change within the human biological systems, between humans and within the wider organisational, community and social structures has been a key focus. Significant research projects have included: action research projects for her MA Education on cognition, emotion, wellbeing; the book Hand Made and through the research and development for Social Spaces. She was Chair of the new RSA Fellowship Council 2009/2010.

12.30 Tue 23rd Oct 2012 Unexpected Partnerships, Roland Harwood, Co-founder 100% Open - TDC Lunchtime Session

DMU Unexpected Partnerships Session from 100%Open

Unexpected Partnerships
Roland Harwood, 100% Open
12.30 Tue 23rd Oct 2012, Transdisciplinary Common Room


This session will explore how many famous innovations came from unexpected partnerships which perhaps appear obvious in hindsight, but certainly didn't at first. Roland will make the case through various case studies and exercises that “the future reveals itself through the peripheral”, and share lessons learned about how successful unexpected partners could become your next big collaboration opportunity.

Roland Harwood is Co-founder and Networks Partner at 100%Open, the open innovation agency that works with the likes of LEGO, Oxfam and Ordnance Survey to co-innovate with partners. Before that, he was Director of Open Innovation at NESTA, the UK Innovation Agency and Investment Fund. Graduating with a PhD in Physics from Edinburgh University, he has held senior innovation roles in the public and private sector and in addition has worked with hundreds of start-ups to raise venture capital and commercialise technology. He is a proud and exhausted dad of 3 and has also worked as a TV and film music producer for SonyBMG.

12.30 Tue 30th Oct 2012 The Uses of Transliteracy, Prof Sue Thomas - TDC Lunchtime

The Uses of Transliteracy
Prof Sue Thomas
12.30 Tue 30th Oct 2012, Transdisciplinary Common Room

The Uses of Transliteracy from Sue Thomas

Transliteracy is the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media from signing and orality through handwriting, print, TV, radio and film, to digital social networks.

Transliteracy Research Group

The concept was developed at DMU's Institute of Creative Technologies by a team of colleagues who subsequently co-wrote the first paper on the subject, Transliteracy Crossing Divides, First Monday, Volume 12 Number 12 - 3 December 2007.  Since that publication, transliteracy research has been independently furthered by a number of different groups: for example, in the USA it has attracted the attention of librarians and educators; in France, the first 'Translitteracies' seminar will be held at the Sorbonne in November and researchers in Australia, Canada, Portugal and India are also experimenting with it. See these citations for recent references.

This talk offers a short refresher on the main principles of transliteracy and an invitation to colleagues to consider incorporating it into their teaching and research. For more information, see the Transliteracy Research Group blog.

12.30 Tue 20th Nov 2012 Light, Logic and Leicester Prof Ernest Edmonds - TDC Lunchtime

Light, Logic and Leicester
Prof Ernest Edmonds, Director, IOCT
12.30 Tue 20th Nov 2012, Transdisciplinary Common Room

Review: My exhibition at Site Gallery (from 16th) and the Phoenix Master Class on the 19th deal with the transdisciplinary art research that I began at Leicester Polytechnic in 1968. I started transdisciplinary research (though we did not call it that) in art and technology in 1968 when a research assistant at Leicester Ploytechnic. I later built a transdisciplinary research centre around the topic of human computer interaction with the aid of a £1M grant. The Site exhibition, Light Logic, reviews some of the history and current results. The Master Class will introduce several pioneers to Leicester. This talk will review the dvelopments. Where are we now? Where next?"
http://www.ernestedmonds.com
http://www.sitegallery.org/archives/4849#.UFpADGt5mSN
Candy and Edmonds (eds). Interacting: Art, Research and the Creative Practitioner. Libri Press 2011.

Brainstorming for a TDC RIF application Tuesday 2nd October 1.30pm

If you're interested in putting together a collaborative RIF application about transdisciplinarity, stay behind after Gabriel Egan's lunchtime talk for a quick brainstorm. Tuesday 2nd October 1.30pm in the TDC

NEW! 11.00-14.00 Wed 10th October 2012 TDC DIY Brunch

TDC Do-It-Yourself Brunch
Wednesday October 10, 11am – 2pm

A chance to socialise and make use of our nice new kitchen furniture. The TDC contributes the toaster, microwave, and kettle along with tea and coffee. You contribute some food - bread, crumpets, butter, jam, cheese, ham, eggs, whatever - and we share and share alike. Drop in any time between 11-2. Why not arrange to eat with colleagues from another faculty that you never get to see?

12.30 Tue 9th Oct 2012 Commitment to Social Justice in Academia: Opportunities, Tensions and Challenges Dr Thilo Boeck TDC Lunchtime

Commitment to Social Justice in Academia: Opportunities, Tensions and Challenges
Dr Thilo Boeck, Centre for Social Action, Faculty of Health and Life Sciences
12.30 Tue 9th Oct 2012, Transdisciplinary Common Room

This session aims to share thoughts and provoke discussion around the tensions between research, income generation and a commitment to social justice.

12.30 Tue 2nd Oct 2012 Paperlessness, Open Access and Open Source Prof Gabriel Egan TDC Lunchtime

Update

The slides from Gabriel's talk are at:

   http://gabrielegan.com/scratch/index.odp Open Document Presentation format

   http://gabrielegan.com/scratch/index.ppt  PowerPoint format

Paperlessness, Open Access and Open Source
Prof Gabriel Egan Faculty of Art, Design & Humanities
12.30 Tue 2nd Oct 2012, Transdisciplinary Common Room

The first TDC Lunchtime Session of Autumn 2012 

This talk will combine a practical consideration of where we are in going paperless with some speculations about the future importance of Open Access and Open Source principles.

The existence of heaps of paper in an office has long been the signifier of intellectual activity and in the 20 years since computers started to appear on non-technical tutors' desks the trickle of paper has turned into a flood. In Shakespeare's depiction of Jack Cade's rebellion of 1450 the accusation against Lord Saye is that he has encouraged elitist learning by opening a grammar school, (anachronistically) promoted book printing, and worst of all ""thou has built a paper-mill"" (2 Henry 6). But the heyday of paper is coming to an end. Once the majority of our material is inside the computer, we can respond to any request--'May I see that article?', 'What are the essential materials for this course?', 'How many versions of Ode to a Nightingale are there?'--by handing over electronic copy for the questioner to reproduce at will. This fundamental change in medium has implications for the circulation of power in societies, as many of the laws regulating intellectual exchange--and associated ideas about copyright, intellectual property, and originality--are predicated on the difficulty and expense of reproduction on paper.

TDC Kitchen

TDC Kitchen

We've bought a table and chairs for the TDC kitchen. Why not meet your colleagues there for lunch?

Other TDC kitchen equipment includes a kettle, fridge, microwave, toaster, and coffee-maker.

12.30 Tue 16th Oct 2012 Augmented reality - Creating the World's First Wikipedia Town Roger Bamkin, TDC Lunchtime

Roger Bamkin, Former Director of Wikimedia UK, now working on Gibraltarpedia
12.30 Tue 16 Oct 2012, Transdisciplinary Common Room

Slides from the presentation

Creating the World's First Wikipedia Town from Sue Thomas

In only eleven years Wikipedia has grown from being the education resource that dare not speak its name to the universal arbiter of arguments in both pubs and staff rooms. This year has also seen the first County Council to partner Wikimedia to create the world's first Wikipedia Town: Monmouth a.k.a. Monmouthpedia. In one place we can see the real world matched up with its virtual counterpart, allowing people to play with augmented reality throughout an entire town. What new business models can emerge from this creation? Can British institution adapt to new ways of obtaining and sharing information? Is it possible that Wikipedia might partner a Government or "do" a whole city?

Roger Bamkin was a former mechanical engineering student at DMU back in the days when it was Leicester Polytechnic

FROM KAMPALA TO LEICESTER

Exodus

Martin Rieser - Institute of Creative
Technologies at De Montfort University

Audio Trail and Installations
14th August – 30th September

Sean Clark programmer testing Trail

Wall trail in Phoenix Cafe

Interactive Video multi-scree

This digital commission in one of a series of events and activities across Leicester that marksthe 40th anniversary of the expulsion ofUgandan Asians and their subsequent move to Leicester.

In August 1972, Ugandan dictator Idi Amin gave the Asian community 90 days notice to
leave the country. They were forced to leavealmost everything in Uganda and seek refuge in other countries such as Britain and Canada. The digital commission consists of a trail linking New Walk Museum and Art Gallery and Phoenix, a video installation in the Phoenix café multiscreen and a large wall graphic showing the trail and providing access to QR codes, located in the Phoenix café.

Next TDC Lunchtime Session 12.30 Tuesday 2nd October 2012

After polling preferences for the best time and day to hold TDC Lunchtime Sessions next term, we've settled on Tuesdays 12.30-13.30. Please put it in your calendar as a repeating weekly event!

The first session will be Tuesday 2nd October at 12.30pm. More information on how to offer a session will follow.

Teaching Critical Thought: 12.00-14.00 Monday 9th July 2012

Enthusiasm in the idea of transdisciplinarity should embrace teaching. There has been great interest in staff across the university in developing our engagement with students in critical thought. Previous discussions in the TDC and across campus have focused on what critical thought is and how we teach it. It cuts across disciplines, levels and agendas of learning, research, employability.

Reflecting on the process and on the future, we invite all those interested to share ideas on teaching critical and creative thought to think about how teaching critical thought can be promoted sustainably. What drivers are needed? How do we move forward? Will any work filter down to actual student learning in their contexts? Our experience may address some issues in part. But there are certainly more questions than answers.

If this sparks a thought, then please feel free to join us. All colleagues are welcome.

Sam Bamkin, Rob Canton, Mark Lemon.

Fixing food TDC June 20th 2012 Graham Basten

Unfortunately todays session is cancelled, but Graham Basten has created a Showme lecture which can be found at this link:  http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=DIWEz8C

Net Smart - an online session with Howard Rheingold

Wed 13 June 4pm 2012 at the TDC:
Net Smart - an online session with Howard Rheingold
Click here to watch a recording of this session. Allow the Java applet to download and launch, then use the Collaborate Playback controls to play it.

http://www.rheingold.com/netsmart

Howard Rheingold addressed the Transdisciplinary Group via a Blackboard Collaborate connection from his breakfast table in California and aimed his talk at both the room and online participants who could update google documents and contribute to chat commentaries as the talk progressed-as searchers , curators, mindmappers  and lexicon investigators. He focused on the subject of his new book Net Smart which addresses the nature of successful online participation and social networking.


Intelligent, Humane and Mindful Uses of Social Media: notes on Rheingold's talk by Jackie Calderwood and Tia Azulay.

Wed 13 June 4pm Net Smart - an online session with Howard Rheingold

HOW TO ACCESS THE LIVE SESSION
It's a good idea to test this out beforehand.
Check that your sound is turned on.
Click here to download a Java application onto your desktop, then wait while it loads.
Enter the name you want to use for the session.
Howard will talk for 45-50 minutes followed by a Q&A
NB: Online participants are limited to 50 so if you want to be sure of  hearing the talk, come to the TDC where we will log on together. Please arrive by 3.50 if possible.

Come to the TDC to meet Howard Rheingold live online from California. 

There will also be an option to join in remotely. Check back here to find out how.
This session is followed by an RSA Networking Meeting at 6pm - All Welcome

Howard Rheingold, Honorary Doctor of Technology, DMU

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.
Two ways to attend:
1. Join us in the TDC or...
2. ...log on from your own computer, wherever you are, and make sure your sound is turned on. The day before the talk, Howard will set up a virtual space using Blackboard Collaborate and send me the link. I will publish it here. The first 50 people to log in will be able to join the conversation online.

Net Smart
Mindful use of digital media means thinking about what we are doing, cultivating an ongoing inner inquiry into how we want to spend our time. Howard Rheingold outlines five fundamental digital literacies, online skills that will help us do this: attention, participation, collaboration, critical consumption of information (or ""crap detection""), and network smarts. He explains how attention works, and how we can use our attention to focus on the tiny relevant portion of the incoming tsunami of information. He describes the quality of participation that empowers the best of the bloggers, netizens, tweeters, and other online community participants; and examines how successful online collaborative enterprises contribute new knowledge to the world in new ways. He also presents a lesson on networks and network building.

There is a bigger social issue at work in digital literacy, one that goes beyond personal empowerment. If we combine our efforts wisely, it could produce a more thoughtful society: countless small acts like publishing a Web page or sharing a link could add up to a public good that enriches everybody.

Howard Rheingold, an influential writer and thinker on social media, is the author of Tools for Thought: The History and Future of Mind-Expanding Technology, The Virtual Community: Homesteading on the Electronic Frontier (both published by the MIT Press), and Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution. A former Visiting Professor at the IOCT, he received an honorary degree from DMU in 2010. Net Smart is his latest book, published April 2012

Wed 13 Jun 6pm RSA Networking Meeting - all welcome

After Howard Rheingold's session on Wed 13 June there will be an RSA Networking Meeting.  If you are a Fellow of the RSA, or just interested in finding out what they do, come along to this informal meetup in the TDC.

Wed 23 May 4pm Teatime at the TDC: AHRC call 'Care for the Future: Thinking Forward through the Past'

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

Brainstorming meeting to discuss a possible bid to the AHRC for this call. Sign up to be kept informed.

‘Care for the Future: Thinking Forward through the Past' affords an opportunity for researchers in the arts and humanities to generate new novel understandings of the relationship between the past and the future, and the challenges and opportunities of the present through a temporally inflected lens. Importantly, it offers academic researchers in these fields the opportunity to facilitate and activate collaborations with partners including those outside HEIs in the cultural and creative sectors both in the UK and internationally.

Do come along if you're interested in being involved. Please bring a copy of the supporting PDF.

Convened by Prof Sue Thomas

Wed 27 June 4pm Muddy boots welcome: Wellbeing of outdoor walking groups

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

© 2012 Natural England / Walking for Health / Paul Glendell

Group walks in green spaces are a cultural tradition in the UK. But is there any psychological benefit to putting on those hiking boots? This talk will explore an answer. Wellbeing is increasingly considered fundamental to quality of life. An expanding catalogue of research suggests that interaction with the natural environment contributes to mental, emotional, spiritual and physical wellbeing. This presentation will discuss the mental and emotional well-being of individuals who do and do not take part in a national outdoor walking programme – Walking for Health.

Melissa Marselle is a second year PhD student at the Institute of Energy and Sustainable Development. She is an Environmental Psychologist.

This is the last session for this term. See you in October!

Wed 16 May 4pm: Drop in

No committee member is available to host the session this week so it's up to you! Drop in between 4.00-5.30 and see who else wants to share tea and conversation.

Wed 6 June 4pm: The DMU Transdisciplinary Audit: Results and Feedback

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

The DMU Transdisciplinary Audit attracted over 100 responses. What do they tell us about transdisciplinarity at DMU? Find out at this presentation and discuss the issues and opportunities ahead. With Carl Holland, Dr Kumba Jallow, Prof Sue Thomas, and Prof James Woudhuysen.

Wed 20 June 4pm: Fixing Food: diaries, phone calls & iPhones

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

Fixing Food: An interactive session discussing how transdisciplinary working could benefit the food industry, nutrition and public health. With Dr Graham Basten, HLS

Wed 9 May 4pm: Can beauty be a measure of transdisciplinary success?

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

Drawing on the idea of 'fit for purpose', I review and consider what success might look like in situations where the normal ‘knowledge affirming practices and rhetoric’ of the disciplines do not apply. Transdisciplinary research explicitly rejects such frameworks of knowledge affirmation. I consider the role of 'beauty', understood as the 'pre-conceptual ordering of experience' and 'practice-tracking' as useful indicators of success. Both draw on the counter-enlightenment, and look backwards to the scholastic era, asserting the rejection of the enlightenment account of discipline based knowledge. Paper at: http://dmu.academia.edu/RichardDavies/

Richard Davies, Youth, Community and Education Division, HLS

Wed 2 May 4pm: The Empathic Civilisation

Following on from last week's study of a brain scientist's inside view of her stroke, destroying the functions of her left brain hemisphere; we will look at the discovery of mirror neurons and the implications for science, education and our approach to "Civilization"

Professor Martin Rieser will host the discussion following this entertaining RSA Video animation

Jackie Calderwood :Modelling with Metaphor and Transdisciplinary Research

Wed 18 April 4pm 

Modelling with Metaphor and Transdisciplinary Research 

  

Jackie Calderwood gave a sociable, participatory introduction to   Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling, inviting the audience to explore their visions for a flourishing TDC. 

See the website for links to  videos.

Her Presentation can be found here:

http://www.slideshare.net/jackiecalderwood/teatime-at-the-tdc-modelling

Wed 25 April 4pm Jill Bolte Taylor's stroke of insight

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

A chance to view - or re-view - one of the most popular TED videos ever:

 (photo credit: Kip May)

One morning, a blood vessel in Jill Bolte Taylor's brain exploded. As a brain scientist, she realized she had a ringside seat to her own stroke. She watched as her brain functions shut down one by one: motion, speech, memory, self-awareness...

Amazed to find herself alive, Taylor spent eight years recovering her ability to think, walk and talk. She has become a spokesperson for stroke recovery and for the possibility of coming back from brain injury stronger than before. In her case, although the stroke damaged the left side of her brain, her recovery unleashed a torrent of creative energy from her right. From her home base in Indiana, she now travels the country on behalf of the Harvard Brain Bank as the "Singin' Scientist."

"How many brain scientists have been able to study the brain from the inside out? I've gotten as much out of this experience of losing my left mind as I have in my entire academic career."
Jill Bolte Taylor

Wed 18 April 4pm Modelling with Metaphor and Transdisciplinary Research

Teatime session in the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad. Join us at 4pm. There's always a pot of tea on the go.

Jackie Calderwood

A sociable, participatory introduction to Clean Language and Symbolic Modelling, with the invitation to explore our visions for a flourishing TDC. ‘Clean’ refers to the body of work initiated by counseling psychologist David Grove, and includes techniques utilising language, space and emergent knowledge. Taking a systemic approach, ‘Clean’ combines flexible, focused questions with client-generated metaphors which together facilitate self-modelling, information mining, change-work and rich communication.

Jackie Calderwood is in the third year of a practice-based PhD with the IOCT. Since encountering ‘Clean Language’ two years ago she has been learning, applying and interrogating the potential of ‘Clean’ as an arts methodology and research tool.

For (optional) background information have a look at these TedX talks:

Annette Crisp: Avatars in Teaching

 Avatars in teaching- the early experiences of a non technologist

Annette Crisp, Senior Lecturer in Policing, Psychology and Criminal Justice

Annette  explored both the possibilities and problems involved  in trying to bring together aspiration and actuality in developing  new  tools for teaching in an area where technology has not formerly been associated with success!

The use of avatar animation software with full lip synch capabilities was explored as a way of engaging students in crime scenarios and background theory. The session led to the formation of a constructed learning group to develop research under the aegis of the IOCT.

The presentation can be found here: http://www.slideshare.net/martinrieser1/avatars-in-teaching-the-early-experiences-of-autosavednew

TDC Update: Spring into Summer

Rosemarie Fitton and her students are redesigning the TDC

The Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC) is a living experiment in finding ways to build transdisciplinary collaboration across faculties and with external partners.  Membership currently stands at 130 staff and postgrad students within DMU plus 9 Associate Members drawn from our partners the RSA and the Leicester and Leicestershire Enterprise Partnership. Our recent audit of transdisciplinary working attracted 115 respondents. We are currently evaluating that data and will report on it next semester.

Andrew Hugill The Ins and Outs of Transdisciplinary research

Andrew Hugill gave a concise and challenging talk on the origins of academic disciplines and applications of transdisciplinary research. He highlighted the mis-alignment of the current REF and university structures with those support structures necessary for the research team collaborations needed in facing the grand challenges of the 21st Century. Europe is further ahead on this and the expectation is generally that multi-disciplinary teams are the normal mode for large projects.

  Find the talk on Slideshare Here:
http://www.slideshare.net/martinrieser1

Tue 20 Mar 12pm The Ins and Outs of Transdisciplinary Research

Discussion of the various modes of interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research, and their consequences for individuals, disciplines and universities.

Prof Andrew Hugill, Director IOCT

Wed 28 March 12pm 'Avatars' in teaching- the early experiences of a non technologist

Annette will explore both the possibilities and problems involved  in trying to bring together aspiration and actuality in developing  new  tools for teaching in an area where technology has not formerly been associated with success!

Annette Crisp, Senior Lecturer in Policing, Psychology and Criminal Justice

Wed 21 Mar 12pm CoLab: Bridging the Gap between Designers and Engineers in New Product,

This talk examines issues in multi-disciplinary design and proposes the use of CoLab to better inform choices for visual representation methods.

Eujin Pei

Fri 23 March 12pm ‘The strategic significance and dangers of computer technologies for the future of the species’ A provocation by Lord Frank Judd

The year is 4000 AD. An alien species arrives on earth. The advance guard starts to probe what confronts it. They establish that there has been an advanced form of life on the planet. The more they look the more the indications are that it reached amazingly high levels of technological achievement and communication. It seemed to have become mesmerized by the speed of communication and the accumulation of information but its ability to evaluate and digest the information had withered. It all evidently collapsed.

A Provocation by Lord Frank Judd

With Respondents
• Josie Fraser, ICT Strategy Lead (Childrens Capital) Leicester City Council
• Suhail Debar, formerly of Islamic Relief
• Dr Thilo Boeck, Centre for Social Action, HLS

Matthew Taylor at TDC

Pre-discussion

In full flow

Thu 15 March 12pm Matthew Taylor, Chief Executive of the RSA: Nudge & Aspiration

Arguably, society faces a growing gap between our aspirations and the trajectory on which we are currently set. We need tomorrow’s citizens in aggregate to be more engaged, more resourceful and more pro-social. Matthew will discuss how we can become the people we need to be to aspire to the future we say we want. In partnership with The RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce)

Wed 14 March 2pm Seminar: Two different cultures building stories together: Hollywood and transmedia storytelling

NOTE DIFFERENT TIME

Carolyn Handler Miller has decades of experience writing for both Hollywood and digital media. This talk discusses the love/hate relationship between traditional Hollywood and the digital media world, and examines the cultural misconceptions and difficulties that have to be overcome. She also draws on her own experience to describe the challenges (and unexpected pleasures) that traditional screenwriters face when they are first thrown into writing interactive digital media projects.

Tue 13 March 12pm The role of ebooks in the learning and teaching landscape

This session will start with viewing a presentation from Nicky Whitsed, Director of Library Services at the Open University on “The future is mobile: the role of ebooks in the learning and teaching landscape”, which includes an overview of the OU’s e-book platform and how the OU is delivering course materials via iTunes [video from E-books and E-content 2011]. I hope this will lead to a discussion of ways that e-books are already being used in learning and teaching, and future developments.

Alison McNab, Directorate of Library and Learning Services

Wed 7 March 12pm Storyworlds, Toby Moores

At Sleepydog we use Storyworlds to help us tackle complex problems. This talk will be a personal exploration of some of those Storyworlds:

• A future San Francisco to explore near-future tech and support a crime drama
• A transmedia music brand that works across TV, games, web and print
• A strategic planning model to support our business in a rapidly changing landscape.

This will be a loosely structured conversational session.
Toby Moores, Sleepydog

Tue 6 March 12pm Multi-media, Multi-modal and Multi-disciplinary research

I will briefly present some of my current research project that involves research in multi-disciplinary subjects. -VR Interactive Environments for the Blind -Sound of Proteins -Multimedia and Audiology Network -BlindSpot

Lorenzo Picinali, Faculty of Technology

Mon 27 February 12pm Lunchtime Talk: Teaching Critical Thought

Enthusiasm in the idea of transdisciplinarity should embrace teaching. Just over a year ago at the inaugural meeting of the TD Group, we began thinking about teaching Critical and Creative Thought across faculties. Since then, the idea has taken many forms. Ideas have come and gone. We have convened a Critical Thought Summer School for final year and research students, with huge success. This will be repeated this summer.

Wed 22 Feb 12.00pm Toby Moores: Social TV

A short exploration of the Sleepydog approach to the socialisation of TV from early beginnings in 2002. I will demo a couple of interfaces and describe how we set about influencing Hollywood.

Toby Moores, Sleepydog

In the Transdisciplinary Common Room (TDC), Fletcher Quad

Don’t eat your sandwiches alone at your desk! Bring them to the TDC and enjoy an informal and stimulating lunch break. There will be a pot of tea on the go.

UdK Award for Interdisciplinary Art and Science

A NEW AWARD FROM THE UDK BERLIN !
The next competition takes place in 2012

Berlin University of the Arts (UdK)
The UdK Berlin is one of the biggest, most traditional institutions of
advanced artistic education in the world. It has the right to award
doctorates and post-doctoral lecturing qualifications and offers more
than 40 study courses covering the full spectrum of the arts and
related academic fields. With its Colleges of Fine Art, Design, Music
and Performing Arts and the Central Institute of Continuing Education
it is one of the few centres of advanced art education in Germany with
university status.

Mon 20 Feb 4.00pm Prof Ann Light: Research as Intervention: a case of transdisciplinary studying?

The first in our series of Teatime Talks. Tea and cakes are on the house.

According to Wikipedia, what sets transdisciplinary studies apart is an emphasis on real-world engagement, investigation, and participation in addressing issues and problems in a manner that explicitly destabilizes disciplinary boundaries while respecting disciplinary expertise. Tim Ingold (2012) has questioned whether it is even meaningful to talk of boundaries. Instead he rejects spatialising metaphors: “scholars do not inhabit fields but follow paths. They are, if you will, like walkers rather than cows”. He suggests that a discipline is not so much a bounded field as a tangle of pathways that happen, at least for a certain period of time, to have converged.

Thu 16 Feb 12.00pm Lunchtime Talk: Ethnography in Action! Investigating the Supermarket Experience of Elderly Consumers

Ethnography in Action! 
Investigating the Supermarket Experience of
Elderly Consumers.

Speaker: Dr Eujin Pei, Department of Product & Furniture Design
Session: Thursday 16 Feb 12:00-12:30pm at the TDC

Older consumers now comprise a large part of the population and groceries make up a major proportion of their shopping expenditure. As senior citizens become healthier and wealthier, there is a tendency for them to shop more frequently. As such, they are now perceived to be an important market segment for food retailers.

Wed 15 Feb 2pm TDC Seminar: Transmedia Books at The if:book Cafe

Tea and cakes will be provided :)

Based on his experience at the if:book Cafe at Hornsey Library, London, Chris Meade talks about the concept of the Unlibrary where people and networks matter more than collections, and the potential for transmedia publishing by local creative communities which are playful, collaborative - and resilient in the face of cutbacks.

Chris Meade, if:book

Mon 13 Feb 12.30pm Lunchtime Talk: Sustainable development - the ultimate interdisciplinary topic?

This session will start with viewing Professor Tim Jackson's TED talk, 'Reality Check', which illustrates the application of both economic and psychology thinking on the topic of sustainability. It will (hopefully) lead to a discussion of how many disciplines can explore the issue.

Dr Caroline Wilson

CFP: The Second International Conference on TRANSDISCIPLINARY IMAGING

CFP: The Second International Conference on TRANSDISCIPLINARY IMAGING at the Intersections between Art, Science and Culture

Takes place on 22 * 23, June at Victorian College of the Arts,
Federation Hall, Grant Street, Southbank, Melbourne 3006
Call for papers: Interference strategies for art
Deadline for Abstracts: March 30, 2012

The Transdisciplinary Imaging Conference seeks papers that explore the
theme of *Interference* within practices of contemporary image
making. Today we*re saturated with images from all disciplines,
whether it*s the creation of *beautiful visualisations* for
science, the torrent of images uploaded to social media services like
Flickr, or the billions of queries made to vast visual data archives
such as Google Images. These machinic interpretations of the visual and
sensorial experience of the world are producing a new spectacle of media
pollution. Machines are in many ways the new artists.

Wed 8 Feb 12-2pm Brown Bag event: Transdisciplinarity and the REF

Can transdisciplinarity fit into the REF? What practical steps can we take to make it more acceptable in the discipline-bound culture of HEFCE?

Discussion hosted by Sue Thomas in the TDC. Bring your sandwiches and drop in any time between 12-2.