Barthes reading group

Message from Dr Sunil Manghani (who spoke on our Grad Prog a couple of years ago):

I am writing to let you know about a project I've just started which I hope might be of interest to you or colleagues and/or postgrads.

Building on the Neutral reading group in 2011, I have now turned attention to Roland Barthes' Mourning Diary. In the last few days I have begun a live(d) reading of the book using a Roland Barthes Facebook alias. In effect I'm inviting you to follow 'RB' on FB for an exploration of the Mourning Diary, which aims to slow the book down to its 'original' temporality and mode of writing (which is oddly akin to the status update of social media, albeit a fiercely private one). For fuller details of the project, see: http://neutrallife.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/mourning-diary/

To participate or simply to catch things (here and there) send a 'friend request' to 'Roland Barthes':
http://www.facebook.com/roland.barthes.73

The Manchester Hackathon - 17 November 2012

Coders, Hackers & Developers needed to shape the future of the city. 

For the first time ever, the City of Manchester invites you to dig underneath its digital skin. FutureEverything, Open Data Manchester and Manchester City Council are looking for experts and innovators to hack, code, programme and experiment with the city's sets of open data to build new applications and develop future services.

Utilising the open data sets from DataGM made available by Manchester City Council and public sector partners, participants are welcome to produce anything they wish - develop applications to help people find their way around, stay safe, discover new experiences and everything and anything in between. All data is released under the Open Government Licence.

Taking place at MadLab in the heart of Manchester's Northern Quarter on Saturday 17th November, the Manchester Hackathon is set to be an intense, productive and exciting collaboration between the brightest minds in software development and data processing. Entries from both teams and individuals are welcome, and there are cash prizes to be won for the best product at the end of the session, including;

 

• Grand Prize - £4,600*

• Best Under 21's Creation - £600

• Best Visualisation - £600

• Best Locative Application - £600

• Developer's Prize - £600

• Best Solution for an Identified Problem - £600

* £1000 prize & £3,600 development funding 

 

The prizes will be selected by a panel of independent industry experts, including Dave Carter (MDDA) and Lou Cordwell (magneticNorth).

 

The Hackathon takes place on Saturday 17th November 9am - 7pm, with a warmup and networking session beforehand at MDDA (Lower Ground Floor, 117-119 Portland St, Manchester, M1 6ED) on Friday 16th November 6.30 - 8.30pm.

 

The event is completely free to enter and open to all. Sign up here

Made in Manchester seminars

Made in Manchester is holding a series of seminars in the autumn and winter showcasing how an independent production company works.

The sessions are aimed at anyone who is interested in knowing more about independent production, its relationship with broadcasters and how to work with a company like MIM

Attendees will get the chance to hear how a programme is made, how the ideas process works and what you need to do to impress and get noticed by producers at a company like Made in Manchester. There will also be advice on the financial side of freelancing.

Please see this link for more information and how to book

http://www.madeinmanchester.tv/2012/10/28/book-now-for-special-mim-seminars/

Media City Masterclasses (30/10)

---

The University of Salford and BBC Audio Drama North would like to invite you to:

Media City Masterclasses: BBC Audio Drama North

Digital Performance Lab, University of Salford, MediaCityUK

Tuesday October 30th at 5.15pm and 7.15pm

Please join us for the first event in this new series showcasing the work of the different organisations based at MediaCityUK.

At 5.15pm, there will be a special Halloween playback of BBC Audio Drama radio play Midnight Cry of the Deathbird, a drama inspired by the classic silent horror film Nosferatu.

At 7.15pm, BBC Audio Drama North Editor Sue Roberts will be joined by writer and Prix Italia nominee Amanda Dalton for a Media City Masterclass on writing for audio drama.

This is a free event and you are welcome to attend one or both events.

Places will be allocated on a first come first served basis so it is advisable to aim to arrive at the Digital Performance Lab 10 - 15 minutes before the event.

Amaral and Murphy talks

Our thanks to Adriana Amaral (above, lecturing in MediaCityUK) and Jay Murphy --- memes to Artaud: the glories of Brazilian trash culture to the policing of French taste culture... Full MMP Grad Prog will be published in the next few days.

"Tsar to Lenin" screening

Produced by Herman Axelbank •
Narrated by Max Eastman
FILM SCREENING • MANCHESTER
WEDNESDAY 24 OCTOBER • ST PETERS HOUSE • 7pm

Precinct Centre (opposite Blackwells), Oxford Road, M13 9GH
Produced by Herman Axelbank • Narrated by Max Eastman

… AN EXTRAORDINARY CINEMATIC ACCOUNT OF THE RUSSIAN REVOLUTION

— FROM THE MASS UPRISING WHICH OVERTHREW TSARISM, TO THE
BOLSHEVIK-LED OCTOBER INSURRECTION WHICH ESTABLISHED THE FIRST
WORKERS' STATE, AND THE FINAL VICTORY OVER COUNTER-REVOLUTION
IN 1921.
IN A NEW PERIOD OF GLOBAL CAPITALIST CRISIS, TSAR TO LENIN BEARS WITNESS
TO A MOMENT IN HISTORY WHEN SOCIALIST IDEALS INSPIRED THE
GREATEST REVOLUTIONARY MOVEMENT IN WORLD HISTORY.

presented by the INTERNATIONAL YOUTH AND STUDENTS FOR SOCIAL EQUALITY
and SOCIALIST EQUALITY PARTY

e-mail sep@socialequality.org.uk • read the WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE WSWS.ORG


ABOUT THE FILM


Tsar to Lenin, first released in 1937, ranks among the twentieth
century’s greatest film documentaries.

It presents an extraordinary cinematic account of the Russian
Revolution—from the mass uprising which overthrew the centuries-old
Tsarist regime in February 1917, to the Bolshevik-led insurrection eight
months later that established the first socialist workers’ state, and the
final victory in 1921 of the new Soviet regime over counterrevolutionary
forces after a three-year-long civil war.

Based on archival footage assembled over more than a decade by the
legendary Herman Axelbank (1900-1979), Tsar to Lenin provides an
unparalleled film record of a revolutionary movement, embracing
millions, which “shook the world” and changed the course of history.

The narration by Max Eastman (1883-1969), the pioneer American
radical, conveys with emotion and humanity the drama and pathos of
the revolution. Hailed by film critics as a masterpiece upon its premier,
Tsar to Lenin aroused fierce opposition from those who feared the
consequences of its truthful portrayal of events.

First, the Stalinist organisations—which could not abide the
documentary’s depiction of the leading role played by Leon Trotsky in
the revolution and civil war—threatened a boycott of theatres that
showed the film. Later, during the McCarthyite era and the Cold War,
public showings of Tsar to Lenin were all but impossible. Seventy-five
years after its premier, the importance of Tsar to Lenin remains
undiminished. Indeed, the fresh wave of historical falsification
provoked by the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 lends to this
film exceptional relevance.

In a new period of global capitalist crisis, Tsar to Lenin bears witness
to a moment in history when socialist ideals inspired the greatest
revolutionary movement in world history.

For more information, including reviews visit: TSARTOLENIN.COM

Film Co-op Screening

Manchester Film Co-op and Manchester Open Rights Group would like to invite you to a special screening of 

*The Real Social Network* a film about the new generation of protest.

Date/Time: Tuesday 23rd of October @ 19:45pm.

Location: On The Eighth Day Cafe, 111 Oxford Road, Manchester, M1 7DU.

Admission: £3 waged, £2 unwaged/student.



Protest has changed. Between the first UK student protests in November 2010 and the global uprising in the spring of 2011, a new radicalism, fuelled by modern technology, has hit the streets.

Over 6 months of government cuts, a collective of filmmakers has had exclusive access to the backroom meetings of a group of London students as they hacked software, occupied universities and shut down banks. In the process, they've helped build the movement currently sending ripples across the globe.

The Real Social Network captures the passion, the anger and the technology that has forever changed the game between those in power and us.
---


More info and trailer:
http://www.manchesterfilm.coop/2012/10/october-23-the-real-social-network/

Facebook event:
https://www.facebook.com/events/235393763253913/ 

Neurodiversity: Experiencing Autism

It's a free event: eventbrite or telephone booking a must as there is limited seating in the DPL.

To register, visit http://asyetimpossible-alihossaini.eventbrite.com or call 0161 295 2929.

Name:                       Neurodiversity: Experiencing Autism

Date/time:                 Tuesday 23 October, 6.00pm-8.00pm

Venue:                     Digital Performance Laboratory, University of Salford, MediaCityUK, M50 2HE

Event summary:       Lecture by American artist and philosopher Ali Hossaini, part of the ‘As Yet Impossible’ lecture series.

Details:                    

Ali Hossaini is an artist, philosopher, writer and entrepreneur. In 2010 the New York Times described him as a "biochemist turned philosopher turned television producer turned visual poet".  During his highly prolific career he has exhibited his video works internationally whilst also maintaining executive roles in a media and technology-oriented businesses, including MSNBC, ZDTV, Oxygen Media and LAB HD where he has introduced innovations in content, interaction and distribution. This year he moved to the UK to become CEO of CAV Network, a UK-based consortium of cinemas and art centres.

For his As Yet Impossible lecture he will talk about Neurodiversity, an immersive art project that explores what it’s like to be autistic. He will describe how he is combining first person accounts of autism with neurological research and his own observations to model the condition as an immersive, multisensory installation. Ali will argue that "being in another person's skin" is scientifically possible and ethically desirable.

                                   

                                 Part of the ‘As Yet Impossible’ lecture series.

                                 Admission: Free.

                                 To register, visit http://asyetimpossible-alihossaini.eventbrite.com or call 0161 295 2929.

MMP PGR talks WEDS 17 OCTOBER

Wednesday 17 October:

Location: The Egg, MediaCityUK, Salford Quays

[Salford colleagues: please bring your ID card to gain entry; I'll be around to sign visitors in at 3 and 4 for non-Salford attendees. It's the University of Salford campus at MediaCityUK; metro stop is MediaCity]

Times: first talk 3.05-3.55. Second talk 4.10-5.00.

Guest Speaker: Professor Adriana Amaral (Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos)

Appropriation, “Trolling” and Detour: Brazilian Digital Trash Culture

The rise of digital culture and the popularization of social networks in Brazil over the last decade, has raised many issues concerning the different uses and appropriations of these ICTs. This discussion has been in the spotlight of many public debates in Brazilian society and contemporary mainstream media. Symbolic disputes between different generations, classes, subcultures and organized groups, have been going on through social networks such as Twitter and Facebook. The analysis of cultural practices of trolling and the remixing of memes that come from different sources such as the 4chan network or Brazilian media products such as Soap Operas, singers and TV News Shows may reveal political positions and discourses about how this society deals with its social classes, genders, and so on. This talk will focus on what I´m calling Brazilian digital trash that is emerging from this scene.

Adriana Amaral holds a PhD in Social Communication (2005) from PUCRS and was also a visiting scholar at Sociology Department at Boston College, USA. She is currently a Professor and Researcher at Communication Studies Graduate Program (MA/ PhD) at Universidade do Vale do Rio dos Sinos (UNISINOS)  She’s also a CNPq researcher and is a member of ABCiber and Aoir - Association of Internet Researchers. Current research includes the areas of the consumption of music through web-based social networks in its relations to fandoms, and identities and musical scenes focusing on goth and industrial music.

Guest Speaker: Jay Murphy (independent scholar / screenwriter)


Learning from Artaud: Indigenous media ecology and the contemporary Theatre of Cruelty

Antonin Artaud’s film work: it is not just because of its crucial importance for Artaud’s own development, however evanescent its notions, its kernels of words-become-things, parallel worlds of time, use of sound as independent element that surrounds and invades the image, and as shock. It is not important just to the history of Surrealism, although The Seashell and the Clergyman (1928), the sole scenario of Artaud’s that was made into film, was the first Surrealist film, before it was overshadowed in notoriety by Un Chien Andalou the next year, and then L’Age d’Or (1930). Artaud’s film work is crucial because it prefigures our conversation today on the dramatic transformation, if not death of the cinematic image. If what Deleuze called “the struggle with informatics” still tends to define the cinematic image we need to ask what Artaud’s recommendations – that film show the inner mechanics and sinews, the structure, of dream, and not use dreams as mere illustration like Jean Cocteau and Luis Buñuel, but rather create a “collision enacted on the eyes” – have to tell us today. In considering what we may still have to learn from Artaud and his intense, though short-lived engagement with film, that runs most strongly through the years 1927-33, we will look at Artaud’s conception of the image, the cinematic image, in brief comparison to other two other figures foundational in their fields – Aby Warburg and Sergei Eisenstein – in terms of how they define a ‘hieroglyph’ of movement. All three had their course irrevocably marked by their encounter with the “primitive,” with extant rites. In the case of Artaud, he thought he had found a living Theatre of Cruelty among the Tarahumara Indians in Mexico in 1936, that inspired his later ritual and sound works, such as To Have Done With the Judgement of God (1947-48) that for Artaud had achieved a “miniature model” of the Theatre of Cruelty. Yet even among the Tarahumaras Artaud sought what he called in his essay on Van Gogh a “direct creation” not a revival of ancient rites. Artaud remains a challenge and can still provide valuable keys in current research on the image. This paper concludes with examples from the work of filmmaker Philippe Grandrieux, and video artist Gary Hill that provocatively broach traces of Artaud or what an Artaudian cinema could look like.                                                                     

Dr. Jay Murphy is a writer whose screenplays were finalists in 2011 and 2006 for the Sundance Screenwriting Labs; they include Vesco, based on the bestselling book by Arthur Herzog. As a critic living in New York City he contributed to Parkett, Contemporary, Metropolis, Art in America, World Art, Afterimage, Third Text, and other journals. His interactive, collaborative Internet projects have been featured in the Sundance Film Festival. In 2008 he curated gallery exhibitions in New York and Edinburgh (the latter a weekend preview selection in The Guardian); in 2009 and 2011 he organised film festivals on new work from the Arab Middle East that ran in four cities in Scotland as well as the series “First Person” of seven film-makers for Inverleith House and Filmhouse Cinema, Edinburgh (12 November, 2011 – 22 January, 2012). He completed his doctorate on Artaud at the Centre for Modern Thought/University of Aberdeen in 2011 and has organised an international conference on “Artaud Media Theory” for Goldsmiths College in London to take place in October, 2012. His web site is found at www.thing.net/~soulcity.

PhD Funding and Scholarship Opportunities

Project Summary:

These three PhD studentships explore the production and audience engagement, of the art/science projects produced by three organisations, who develop this work from within very different sectors; a large scale scientific project (UNESCO site Dyfi Biosphere, Wales), a geovisualisation organisation (Environment Systems, Wales), and a leading cultural producer (The Arts Catalyst, London). These studentships will conduct ethnographic and practice-based research at these organisations and, drawing on the knowledge and expertise of partners, combine an exploration of the processes of art/science collaboration with a study of the diverse ways these art/science projects engage with multiple audiences, whether these be rural communities, scientists and science communication professionals, artists and gallery-goers, or the ‘general’ public. Collectively, these studentships animate and extend existing debates around art/science projects, and explore of these projects in relation to science communication and contemporary curatorial practices, pointing towards ‘lessons learnt’ and future trajectories.

 The studentships will:

1.      Explore the imaginaries, practices and spatialities that animate art/science projects.

2.      Ask how the organisations that produce these projects meet the challenges they pose.

3.      Assess how art/science projects engage diverse audiences.

4.      Realize new methodologies for the study of art/science projects and their audience engagement

The deadline for applications is 22nd October 2012. The successful applicants will start in January 2013. Interviews will likely be held 8th/ 9th November.

Applications for each of the three studentship awards should be made separately following the application procedures of the relevant university, which are detailed on the links:

Aberystwyth University (with the Dyfi Biosphere): http://www.aber.ac.uk/en/iges/

University of Glasgow (with Environment Systems): http://www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/scienceengineering/graduateschool/prospectivestudents/essentialinformation/

Royal Holloway University London (with The Arts Catalyst): http://www.rhul.ac.uk/geography/prospectivestudents/postgraduateresearch/home.aspx

Candidates may apply for more than one of the studentships, but may only hold one of the awards.

The awards are funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council, and the studentship pays post-graduate fees and an annual maintenance grant.

Please note that the usual AHRC eligibility rules apply to these studentships. UK residency is normally required. EU citizens may also be eligible for fees-only awards. Further details on basic eligibility requirements are available from the AHRC web-site see: http://www.ahrc.ac.uk/FundingOpportunities/Documents/GuidetoStudentFunding.pdf

Further enquiries should be made to the lead supervisors of the individual studentships:

Michael Woods: m.woods@aber.ac.uk

Deborah Dixon: dxd@aber.ac.uk

Harriet Hawkins: harriet.hawkins@rhul.ac.uk

-----------------------------

International Anthony Burgess Foundation PhD bursary

Applications are invited for a PhD bursary, to support research into the literature or music of Anthony Burgess and his contemporaries. The bursary will support a scholar beginning his or her studies in the academic year 2013-14. The bursary is tenable anywhere in the world and offers up to £15000 per annum for a maximum of three years.

Areas of research might include the literature or music of Anthony Burgess and his contemporaries, or a critical investigation into one of the areas in which Burgess published (e.g. dystopia, historical fiction, Shakespeare, Marlowe, Joyce, literary journalism, literary biography, or translation).

Applicants should submit a detailed proposal and two academic references (in English). To be eligible, applicants should already have been offered a place on an accredited university PhD programme.

For further information please write to director@anthonyburgess.org.

The closing date for applications is 1 May 2013.

www.anthonyburgess.org

Salford PGRs see "Extremity and Excess" published

A collection of essays based on last year's "Extremity and Excess" conference (report here) has just been published by the university press. Edited by Elinor Taylor, Joseph Darlington, Daniel Cookney, and Greg Bevan, the book contains papers from the fields of art, film, social science, english literature, media studies and music. The contributors and titles are as follows:

Daniel Cookney. "Post-human Pop: From Simulation to Assimilation"
Rob Gallagher. "Larger than Life: Morbidity, Megapixels and the Digital Body"
Lydia Brammer. "Siding with the Pervert: Engaging with the Twisted Hero in Japanese Ero-Guro Cinema"
Erin Whitcroft. "Hysterical Poetics: Chatterton's Excessive Desire for a 'Real' World of Words"
Victoria O'Neill. "'The simplest of proficiencies - the ability to kill my fellow men': Isaak Babel and Making Sense of Extremity"
Will Jackson. "Countering Extremism in the Name of Security: Criminalising Alternative Politics"
Rory Harron. "Exodus: A non-identity art - is everyone an artist?"
Patrick Wright. "Critical Intimacy: Lowry's Seascapes and the Art of Ekphrasis"
Marc Bosward. "Manifest Destiny".

The volume also includes full-colour, high quality reproductions of works by Marc Bosward that were originally displayed in the "Extremity and Excess" Conference, and an introduction by Joseph Darlington outlining what happened on the day and where the papers stand in relation to the event.

A link to the online shop is here - http://shop.salford.ac.uk/browse/extra_info.asp?compid=1&catid=199&modid=1&prodid=1367&deptid=6&prodvarid=0

The book is priced at £6. The price includes P&P, including international shipping. Free copies are also available if they are to be entered into a university library's holdings.

For more information please contact: j.a.darlington@edu.salford.ac.uk or extremityandexcessconference@gmail.com

Forthcoming events: Working Class Museum, Salford

1. A new version of the play 'Telling Lives' by Eric Northey will be perfomed at the Library on Wednesday 26 September at 2pm.  First performed at the 2011 24:7 Festival in Manchester, the play is based on the admission books of Prestwich Asylum and details the struggles and the resilience of patients, doctors and attendants on the eve of the First World War. Alongside the performance there will also be a short talk by the author.  Tickets £5, on the door - or in advance from 431 9131 or e.northey@gmail.com.
A performance will also take place on Friday 21 September at 1pm at the Unitarian Chapel, Cross Street, Manchester.

2. A WEA course, 'Investigating Manchester's Industrial past', will begin at Manchester Museum on 25 September. The course will run on Tuesdays for ten weeks from 2.45-4.45pm.
From the technology that made the industrial revolution to the social movements which rallied against the pollution of profit, tutor Jamie Moloney aims, with the help of guest speakers and museum trips, to bring that period of history to life.
The course fee is: £62 (free to learners in receipt of means-related benefits).  For further details or to book a place contact Susan Danaei on 07810 415765.

3. Mikron Theatre's play about the Yorkshire Luddites, 'Can you keep a secret?', is touring this autumn. Venues include Keys Restaurant Huddersfield on 21 September, Civic Centre Leyland on 1 October, The Met in Bury on 6 October, St Peter and Paul's Church Salford on 11 Oct, Marsden Mechanics Hall on 20 October, Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester on 21 October, andThe Stubbing Wharf in Hebden Bridge on 23 October. Full details at www.mikron.org.uk

4. Marking International Day of Peace on Friday 21 September, Imperial War Museum North hosts a weekend of activities and events exploring the notion of truce, including talks on 'women and peace in history', film screenings and presentations by Manchester-based Nobel Peace Prize-winning charity Mines Advisory Group. 
Events take place from 21 to 23 September - more information here.

5. The annual national Peace History Conference takes place in Manchester this year, on Saturday 10 November at the People's HIstory Museum.  'From local to global - the north's role in peace and co-operation' aims to increase understanding of past peace movements and activity and alternative ways of responding to conflict, to inform the present and the future.  It includes presentations about 'forgotten women against war Enid Stacey and Ethel Carnie Holdsworth', and the Women's Co-operative Guild.
Early bird rate £15 (before 30 September), £20 standard, £5 concessions.  Full programme here, including pre-conference events taking place on Friday 9 November.  Send cheques, payable to GM&D CND, to Jacqui Burke, Greater Manchester & District CND, Bridge 5 Mill, 22a Beswick St, Manchester M4 7HR

Postgrad Fair (21/11)

College of Arts and Social Sciences Postgraduate Conference

Full programme now available via:
http://oppositionsconference.wordpress.com/

SPoRT programme announced for this academic year

Dear researchers ,

I am writing to let you know about some of the training opportunities available to postgraduate researchers during 2012-13.

1. The Salford Postgraduate Research Training (SPoRT) programme

SPoRT is open to all PGRs and early career researchers across the university. Aligned with the Researcher Development Framework,  it offers training on the following skills areas:

A. Knowledge and intellectul abilities: including information management, research analysis software such as NVivo and SPSS, and research methods such as interviews and focus groups.

B. Personal effectiveness: including Myers Briggs personality profiling, working in the UK, personal branding, effective job hunting, applications and CVs and other career development.  

C. Research mangement and governance: including research ethics, IPR, progression points, project management and funding

D. Engagement, influence and impact: including conference presenting, getting published, social media for research, and translating research into practice.

The full programme and details of each session are available at: 
http://www.pg.salford.ac.uk/page/sport1213

You can sign up for individual sessions through an online booking system, bookings open a month in advance of the sessions taking place: http://www.pg.salford.ac.uk/obs/   

2. Wordscope Workshops 

Postgraduate researchers can also take advantage of the Wordscope writing workshops. Wordscope is designed to help you improve your academic writing skills.

Wordscope is delivered through a series of ten progressive workshops. The first workshop introduces you to two key concepts: the complete sentence and the importance of writing consciously. After that, each workshop builds on previous ones, the level of complexity and sophistication increasing as the programme proceeds. In each workshop, you undertake writing exercises so that you can experience an immediate “hands-on” application of new skills, which at the same time gives you further practice in skills already covered. You are also asked to undertake short homework assignments. These homework assignments are vital for consolidating your understanding of and control over your developing writing skills.

You can find out more about the content of Wordscope on the website: http://wordscope.salford.ac.uk/, which also includes testimonials from students who have taken the course: http://wordscope.salford.ac.uk/index.php?s=6

Wordscope is open to all students, and you can sign up for any of the timetabled workshop groups, which will be made available on the website shortly.

**There is a Wordscope group running spefically for postgraduate researchers on Mondays from 10:30 – 12:00 in Mary Seacole 262. The first session is on Monday 1^st October.***

To register, please email wordscope-esph@salford.ac.uk indicating that you would like to join the Monday PGR group.

If you can't make this time, or if this group becomes fully booked, you can sign up for any of the timetabled workshop groups that still have spaces - a list of the times of these groups will be available on the Wordscope website shortly.

TedX at Salford

Be inspired in Salford

Inspirational speakers from around the world will be sharing their passion in Salford next month in a major conference of ideas celebrating the best in science, technology, art, media and academia.

The TEDx event, sponsored by the University of Salford, will include speakers ranging from Peter Hook, co-founder and bass player of Joy Division and New Order, Sir Ian Wilmut, OBE, the cloning expert who created Dolly the sheep and Professor Joe Incandela, spokesperson for the Higgs-Boson experiment and Professor of Physics at the University of California, to Ken Shamrock, American martial arts expert and international wrestler.

The full-day event will take place at The Lowry Centre on Sunday, 21 October.

Curator Mishal Saeed, Vice-President at the University of Salford’s Students’ Union, said that the conference is an opportunity for the local community.

“Local people can learn, be inspired and meet other passionate, like-minded people in the impressive environment of the Lowry Theatre,” she said.  “This event builds on the success of last year’s inaugural TEDx Salford, which was described as inspirational and remarkable.”

The University of Salford decided to become an event partner because of its commitment to the sharing of knowledge and education for all.

Last year’s taster event was oversubscribed and tickets for this event are already proving popular at half the usual TEDx price (£45 for members of the public and £25 for students).

More information about the project, including volunteering opportunities, can be found at www.tedxsalford.com

Vice-Chancellor Professor Martin Hall said: “This is a great student-led initiative, which will be delivered to a world class standard.  We’re proud to be associated with TEDx Salford and this second conference.”

Facebook - www.facebook.com/tedxsalford

Twitter- www.twitter.com/tedxsalford

Blog updates and feature articles - www.tedxsalford.com/blog

IASPM conference at Salford

Some images from the IASPM conference, hosted by the University of Salford at the MediaCityUK campus last week.

Guests included Sheila Whiteley, Bill Bruford and Barney Hoskyns (on his new book on Led Zeppelin), and a number of past and present Salford postrgrads presented papers.

Panels included a presentation by the Salford postgrads currently working on the David Sanjek Archive.



Message from Matt Brennan, Chair IASPM-UK/Ireland:

On behalf of the new IASPM-UK/Ireland executive committee, I just wanted to take a moment and thank everyone involved in making the 2012
conference in Salford such a wonderful success. Thanks in particular in Professor George McKay and all those at the University of Salford
for their hard work, excellent hospitality, and for providing a great venue to hold the conference. It must have been a particular challenge due to the sad passing of Professor David Sanjek late last year, but I think everyone will agree that he would have been pleased that the conference went ahead so swimmingly and with such a great variety of speakers, intellectual debate, and the friendliness that characterises IASPM as an organisation.

New interview with Owen Hatherley

Interview on The Quietus --- modernism and the avant-garde, localism and style, pop and architecture: expanding a number of themes that concerned Owen when presented a talk for the Salford Graduate Programme a couple of months back.

Three free talks at the Anthony Burgess Foundation

... including controversial feminist author Catherine Hakim

Discussion: The Art Of Success
August 30, 12 noon
Free, no need to book
We often have romanticised preconceptions of artists as impoverished yet passionate creators, but how does this work under the monetary and social influence of collectors, commercial galleries and institutions? This event, the first of the AND Festival salons for in 2012, will question the hierarchies of success within the cultural world, uncovering the degrees of artistic achievement through conversations with both creators and cultural brokers. Panel includes artists Jennifer Chang, Zach Blas (Queer Technologies) and Brett James.  

Discussion: The Beautiful and Damned
August 31, 12 noon
Free, no need to book
'A good face is a letter of recommendation,' novelist Henry Fielding wrote, before going on to curse the false recommendations of Nature. The Beautiful and the Damned will ask to what extent ‘erotic capital’ – beauty, good dress sense, physical fitness and sex appeal – still opens doors to people that are locked to others. Should the beautiful be damned? The panel includes artist, performer, director and writer Scottee (who stars in the Online Project Follow) and Catherine Hakim, academic and author of Honey Money: The Power of Erotic Capital.

Discussion: Too Big To Fail?
September 1, 12 noon
Free, no need to book
The Olympics brings with it a host of successes and failures for the athletes and countries taking part. But what of the host country? Join us for a post-Olympic debate on the cost of successful Games. Featuring James Kennell – who writes and studies regeneration, tourism and the Olympics – and Jennifer Jones, visiting lecturer at Birmingham City University and coordinator for #media2012, a national-wide citizen media network for London 2012.

Hidden Collections: From Archive to Asset

Hidden Collections: From Archive to Asset

Hidden Collections: From Archive to Asset is an exciting multi-disciplinary programme of workshops and industry projects which will be open to recruitment from Friday 30th August and which will run throughout the 2012-2013 academic year.  Participants will gain valuable skills in project management, communications, networking, collaborative and team working, public engagement, and the use of new methodologies.  They will gain experience in working outside of HE and outside of their disciplines.  

This programme has been funded under the AHRC’s Digital Transformations theme and aims to:

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introduce students to methods and approaches in the broad field of archives, collections and datasets from different perspectives (image, object, manuscripts, film, theatre, corpora)

 

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explore the relationships between ‘traditional’ methods of archiving/ collecting and those made possible by new technologies;

 

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offer the opportunity for students to work in small multi-disciplinary teams with an external partner (including Tate, Cambridge University Press, New Perspectives Theatre, The British Film Institute, The British School at Rome, and Nottingham Castle Museum & Gallery) on a public engagement project that will bring an element of the organisation’s collection, archive or dataset to new audiences through an enhanced digital presence.

The focus of the programme is on engaging the public with archives, collections and datasets through digital means and the students will be supported in their work by a technologist.

The programme comprises:

October 2012: a short online introduction to key issues

Written by archivist and PhD student Alex Southern with support from the Manuscripts and Special Collections team at the University of Nottingham, this online orientation package willensure that all participants have an understanding of the key themes and issues that they will encounter as they progress through the programme.  As such, participants do not need prior experience - this module is the only pre-requisite.

October 2012: a day-long introduction:

The introductory day is an opportunity for participants to meet each other and to find out more about the workshops and project elements of the programme.  In addition, the day will cover:

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cross-disciplinary/ multi-disciplinary working

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public engagement in a digital context

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the perpetual archive – key themes and concepts

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the setting of professional development goals for the duration of the programme

October 2012 –March 2013: Six workshops

Each workshop will explore methodologies and approaches to collecting, storing and communicating information about collections, archives and datasets through the lens of a discipline area: image, object, manuscripts, corpora, film, and theatre.  The workshops will be led by academics and representatives from the external partner organisation.  The focus will be on the transferability of the methodologies and approaches of each strand to other disciplines.  All students must attend a minimum of three workshops.

March 2013 –August 2013: An industry project

In early March, a residential will take place where the students divide into their project groups to develop an idea for their project.  The sandpits will be co-facilitated by academics and members of the external partner organisations.  The output of the sandpit will be a detailed project brief that the participants will then complete in their teams between March and August.  Details of the preliminary project briefs are available on the blog.

The evening of the residential will include dinner and a keynote talk.  Day two will be an introduction to techniques for digital public engagement, and case studies of existing good practice.

September 2012- – September 2013: Transferrable Skills Training

Most of the skills development is embedded into the workshops and projects.  As part of their induction to the programme, participants will create a personal development plan that will sit alongside any existing professional development training that they are undertaking as part of their PHD programme.  They will also have access to bespoke Sector Skills Toolkits designed for the Hidden Collections project by the Creative & Cultural Skills Council.

Recruitment

This programme is aimed primarily at 2nd Year PhD students in the Arts & Humanities.  There are 30 fully-subsidised places available on this scheme (five per strand).  A participant in this programme will apply by visiting http://hiddencollections.org.  Their application will be assessed by a panel of academics and industry partners and they will be notified by 3 October.  Participants are expected to attend all workshop elements of the project and to participate fully in the project.  Failure to do so will result in the subsidised place being offered to a student on the waiting list.