Video on the work of the DMU Transdisciplinary Common Room

The Transdisciplinary Common Room at De Montfort University provides a relaxed and congenial space for transdisciplinary conversations about Research, Teaching and Innovation. This short film made in 2013 by Lisa Gee and Tove Dalenius looks at the work of the Common Room. Thanks to all the colleagues and guests featured here.

Change of Management at the TDC

IMPORTANT UPDATE, JUNE 2013

From July 2013, Dr Francesca Franco of the IOCT will be managing the TDC Talks schedule. If you have ideas for next year please email her at ffranco@dmu.ac.uk

WordPress as online CV and Personal Development Auditor

Transdisciplinary DMU Social Media Group Lunchtime Discussion

April 18^th 1-2pm   WordPress as online CV and Personal Development Auditor

Venue: Transdisciplinary Common Room (old doctors surgery -near Fletcher building)

One interesting fact about social media is that the tools often can be used in many wide and varied ways that the original creators never thought of. To start to appreciate the power and versatility of the WordPress blogging platform, in this upcoming lunchtime session we will explore some of the features of WordPress  by explaining how WordPress can be used as an online CV and Personal Development Auditor.

As is usual this initial topic is intended to spark discussion on the featured themes of the session – in this case WordPress, Blogging, CV Building and Personal Development.

A regular session of face to face and online sessions will gradually evolve from May onwards. We look forward to seeing new faces at this event on the 18^th. If you want more information about the group please contact Steve Mackenzie (smackenzie@dmu.ac.uk ) or Thom Corah (tcorah@dmu.ac.uk). For those attending and especially those that cannot make the event please join our google plus or Facebook Groups. 

Update April 2013

Thanks to all who attended last semester's talks. No more events are planned for this academic year. Further news to follow.

New Student-led Transdisciplinary Discussion Group

Good evening to all,

At 4pm this Friday I'll be hosting the first meeting of an informal discussion group focused on introducing research students to some basic elements of Transdisciplinarity.

As a joint venture with the Postgraduate Research Students' Association, this group will serve several purposes; to provide a relaxed setting for new research students to discuss and debate the ways research is approached in other fields, to develop presentation and discussion skills amongst fellow students from a range of different disciplines, and to provide an extra channel through which the range of events offered by the TDC can be promoted to research students.

It is my intention to demonstrate, for new researchers, that extending the scope of one's practice to engaging other fields of study need not be an intimidating experience. I also recognise that even more experienced students can still find research to be a very solitary experience, and I feel that the collaborative environment offered by the TDC could provide a way for us to challenge that.

The first meeting will simply be to discuss what people would like to get out of such sessions - particularly regarding how often we should meet. I have been promoting this via the PRSA Facebook page and had resoundingly positive feedback welcoming the proposal. Although many people declared their interest and support, obviously the key thing I'll need to get this project off the ground is numbers. If anyone could direct me towards other channels I could use to promote the group, or has any students of their own who they feel would either benefit from or contribute well to this group, I'd be very grateful to know.

Many thanks,

David Hucklesby
PRSA Rep to the TDC Committee (and vice-versa)

Getting Social and Improving Productivity, Thu, Feb 7th 1pm

TDU Social Media Group

This group seeks to advise and support members on how social media can help them individually, for teaching, for research, for communication and collaboration and for business. In fact we will explore as many of the varying aspects of social media that the group wishes to.

As we look to develop the DMU’S transdisciplinary unit's social media group we are going to start this week with a 10 minute presentation introducing a simple but very effective web based productivity tool called evernote. The rest of the session will be assigned to drinking coffee and chewing cud on various topics related to social media.

We welcome all levels, whether they be inexperienced or regular users of social media. We are all learning whatever our level of experience. Please come along.

Look forward to seeing you at the next meeting (TDU Common Room, near Fletcher Building).

Steve and Thom

1pm Wed 13 Feb 2013: The Pataphysics of the Future, Prof Andrew Hugill, (Humanities, Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities) with Prof Hongji Yang (Software Technology Reseach Lab, Faculty of Technology) and Fania Raczinski (Institute Of Creative Technologies)

This talk will take Alfred Jarry's idea of pataphysics as a starting-point for future predictions in areas such as computer science, digital humanities, media arts, and literature. It suggests that the "crying need" for pataphysics first identified by King Ubu is more keenly felt than ever in an era of utilitarianism. It will unveil the 'Syzygy Surfer', a new technology that has been developed in the IOCT, that fuses pataphysics and search to create an unpredictable and divergent engine.

Recommended Reading: Hugill, Andrew (2012) 'Pataphysics: A Useless Guide. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press."

Prof Andrew Hugill, (Humanities, Faculty of Art, Design and Humanities) with Prof Hongji Yang (Software Technology Reseach Lab, Faculty of Technology) and Fania Raczinski (Institute Of Creative Technolgoies)

Wed 27 February 2013: Playing the Future (Talk) & Playtools for the Future (Workshop), Pat Kane, Lead curator at NESTA & author of The Play Ethic

Two events in the Transdisciplinary Common Room, 27th February 2013. 

1pm-2pm Lunchtime Talk - Playing The Future: how simulation, performance, making and gaming can get us us ready for the 21st century
Futurology (the discipline of anticipating possible futures) has always had an intrinsic relationship to one of our most elemental emotional and cognitive systems - play. Over-estimating the possible positive or negative consequences of one's actions, in a practice zone where risk is not fatal, is hard-wired into our evolutionary equipment as symbolic mammals. Pat Kane, curator of NESTA's forthcoming FutureFest, will show how futurology is as natural to us as daydreaming - and how a generation defined by games and simulations will take this future-consciousness to a new level.


2.30pm-4.00pm Workshop - Playtools for the Future: using Design Fiction, Gamification and SF in futurological practice 

Places are limited. Register here 

Futurology is a discipline beset with hubris, both conceptual and statistical. "All the best laid plans of mice and men...." Yet there are a range of techniques - design fictions, gamification and SF writing - which can help us navigate the future more adroitly, and enjoyably, than weighty tomes from think-tanks or corporations. This workshop will introduce, and then invite participants to briefly try out, these more expressive tools of futurology.

Pat Kane is a writer, musician, consultant and activist, based in Glasgow and London. He is Lead Curator at NESTA and the author of The Play Ethic (Macmillan, 2004), and Radical Animal: Innovation, Sustainability and Human Nature (forthcoming) (www.radicalanimal.net). He is one half of Scottish pop group Hue And Cry.

How TDC lunchtimes work
TDC Lunchtimes offer an opportunity to mix informally with colleagues from across the university. There is always a pot of tea on the go so why not bring your sandwiches and enjoy lunch with us? This term we meet every Wednesday for an hour from 1pm-2pm. There will be a talk or video or workshop for about 30 minutes, then the rest of the time will be taken up with conversation and networking around the teapot.

Location
The TDC is based in the old surgery behind Fletcher building, No.36 on the Campus Map. Access is by staff card, or ring the doorbell.

Social Media Group Kicking Off Soon

Looking ahead to the social media group meeting on Thursday (TDC Common Room 1pm). We’ll need to get to know a bit more about each other, our knowledge and abilities and the things we are interested in learning about. So ahead of the meeting if you get time:

1. Consider the main social media tools you currently use? On a scale of 1-10 where 1 is low and 10 is high, for each tool rate the following: i) your frequency of use and ii) your ability to use the tool effectively 2. Note down some key observations or questions about the tool. 3. Note down any Ideas you’d like to try out with this tool.

From this initial starting point we’ll use our first meeting to hear more about your ideas and develop a plan of action for the coming months ahead.

Should we need to cancel the session due to the weather we’ll let you know with a TD blog post on Thursday Morning.

If you are coming drop us a note in the comments. It would be good to know who is attending

Regards Steve & Thom

Roger Bamkin's Introduction to Wikipedia slides

For those who attended Roger Bamkin's Wikipedia sessions before Christmas and want to refresh their learning, here are his slides.

1pm Wed 6 March 2013: Reading into the future; the rise of total fiction? Stella Wisdom, The British Library

Stella blogged about her visit here.

Stella Wisdom, a Digital Curator at the British Library, will discuss her views on how we will be reading in 2025; looking at trends and predictions for technology developments, changes in media consumption behaviour and the implications for our current understanding of reading, game playing and film watching all as separate, distinct activities.

Stella Wisdom is currently a Digital Curator at the British Library; her professional interests are diverse and include social media, digitisation, library and information history, webarchiving, crowdsourcing, videogame culture and preservation.

Stella joined the British Library in 2006 and before relocating to London in 2010, she managed Collection Storage at the British Library's site at Boston Spa in Yorkshire. Stella has also previously worked at the Library and Information Statistics Unit based at Loughborough University, the Warburg Institute Library and the National Library of Scotland.

Stella has a BA joint honours in Art History and Information and Library Studies from the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, an MA in Museum Studies from the University of Leicester and she is a chartered member of the Chartered Institute of Library and Information Professionals (MCLIP). In 2006 Stella won the CILIP/Online Information Personal Development Award.

Email address: stella.wisdom@bl.uk
Twitter: @miss_wisdom

1pm Wed 20 March 2013: 2025 - The Emergence of Dancing Engineers? Funmi Adewole

We celebrate the end of this short season of thinking about the future with a view from Funmi Adewole, a PhD candidate in the Department of Dance. She thinks that with globalisation, the internet, changes in funding, education, Dance as a profession and a subject is evolving. Maybe 2025 will see the emergence of the dancing engineers. She recommends these blogs to look at before her session:

• http://spangbergianism.wordpress.com/2012/09/13/seventeen-points-for-the-future-of-dance/
• http://curiosity.discovery.com/question/future-of-dance
• http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/dance/9644303/Dance-in-Britain-is-under-threat-warns-head-of-Sadlers-Wells.html

1pm Wed 13 March 2013 (was 20 Feb): Science Fiction Prototyping, Dr Neil McBride

Science Fiction (SF) Prototyping is an approach to understanding the future impact of current and developing technology. Developed by Brian Johnson, as part of Intel's Tomorrow Project, it explores our possible futures through fact-based, science-based fiction. We will look at the advantages of SF prototyping, examples, tools to support science fiction prototyping, and work on our own SF prototype. See also Creative Science Foundation 2nd International Workshop and  Intel Tomorrow Project

Dr Neil McBride Centre for Computing and Social Responsibility

1pm Wed 30 Jan 2013: Learning Oasis or Learning Desert? Education in 2025, Prof Sue Thomas

(postponed from 16 Jan)

What will education look like in 2025? This workshop is a hands-on opportunity to consider the question from a future forecasting perspective.


How TDC lunchtimes work

TDC Lunchtimes offer an opportunity to mix informally with colleagues from across the university. There is always a pot of tea on the go so why not bring your sandwiches and enjoy lunch with us? This term we meet every Wednesday for an hour from 1pm-2pm. There will be a talk or video or workshop for about 30 minutes, then the rest of the time will be taken up with conversation and networking around the teapot.

Location
The TDC is based in the old surgery behind Fletcher building, No.36 on the Campus Map. Access is by staff card, or ring the doorbell

Digital Opera Symposium, Friday 1st March 2013

Still image from Secret Garden- Digital Opera by Martin Rieser and Andrew Hugill

The Digital Opera Research Group investigates all aspects of digital opera, using analytical, musicological and creative research methods. "Digital Opera" is deemed to include works that self-define as such and digital works that are conceived on an operatic scale or with operatic intentions. It is a precept of the DORG that the art-form "opera" is being substantially reinvented in the digital age. Our research concerns the nature and consequences of this reinvention. This symposium will present new works and insights from the members' activities, and that of like-minded researchers, and offer discussion time on a range of themes.

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.