A Sideways Look at the General Studies Revision

The proposed GST revision has an interesting set of concentric circles in it with the "global citizen" at the center. At today's forum, someone mentioned that the current graphic being used only shows the student at the center and reinforces an egocentric mentality devoid of other humans. I was confused, since I had always seen other people in the picture. I tried to draw a quick sketch to make my case, but my quick sketches didn't really do the job. When I got back to the office, I modeled it quickly on the computer.



I've always imagined that the yellow "global citizen" circle was a person seen from overhead. He was surrounded by other citizens (in the purple ring) that he interacts with through ethical reasoning and personal responsibility.



Of course, it could be that our faculty and students are the "global citizenS" that interact with others.



Finally, as a natural scientist, I like to imagine that the big blue sphere represents the world that we try to gain knowledge of through inquiry.



However, I think other see the purple ring as a lens through which we view the world instead and that there should be blue people in here somewhere. :)

Anyway, I'm much more interested in the details of the GST review (e.g. how courses might get tagged, who is making the final decisions on classes, how much science students will be learning). However, today my mind drifted a bit to thinking about Viz Cult and how a flat image of colored concentric rings could have so many different meanings to people.

Update and Requests

Hi Viz Culters.

A few quick remarks.  

1. We are not meet this coming Thursdays (as I had once suggested) because there will be another GST forum during our meeting time.   Please consider attending this (and other) GST fora as we would like to find ways to intersect our interest in Viz Cult with the revised curriculum (when appropriate).

2.  We would like to get a better sense of the range of faculty, disciplines, and courses engaged or at least interested in visual issues.  I’ll be sending out an email in the next few days/week asking you a few questions about your role (or desired role) in working with visual culture at Elon.  I would appreciate your help with this matter.  We had some really wonderful energy at our last meeting and the time seems “right” to try to get something more formal going. 

3. In the short term, I’d like to start gathering a database of classes in visual culture so if you are teaching a course in the spring you would consider to be “intersecting with visual culture” please send me the name, title, and course day/time.  A brief description would be welcome, but for now the basics are enough.  I will compile these and make them available to our group for advising, but also — and perhaps more appropriately — for opportunities to connect faculty and expertise across campus. 

I’ll be in touch soon to reschedule our meeting.  Until then please keep sending me conference and speaker announcements!

All the best,

Evan 

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE IMAGE

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON THE IMAGE     
University of California, Los Angles, USA     
2-3 December 2010     
http://imageconference.com/

The Image Conference is a forum at which participants will interrogate the nature and functions of image-making and images. The conference has a cross-disciplinary focus, bringing together researchers, teachers and practitioners from areas of interest including: architecture, art, cognitive science, communications, computer science, cultural studies, design, education, film studies, history, linguistics, management, marketing, media studies, museum studies, philosophy, photography, psychology, religious studies, semiotics, and more.

We are pleased to hold the 2010 conference at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA.

This year's conference features the following plenary speakers:    
* Howard Besser, Director, Moving Image Archiving and Preservation, Tisch School of the Arts at NYU, New York City, USA   
* Sean Cubitt, Director, Media and Communications, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia    
* Douglas Kellner, George Kneller Chair in the Philosophy of Education, University of California, Los Angeles, USA    
* Emanuel Levy, Professor and Critic, Columbia University, New York City, USA    
* Becky Smith, Theater, Film and Television, University of California, Los Angeles, USA    

For more information about these speakers, please visit the conference website:    
http://ontheimage.com/conference-2010/plenary-speakers/ .

In addition to plenary presentations, The Image Conference includes parallel presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We invite you to respond to the conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters may submit their written papers for publication in the refereed 'International Journal of The Image'. If you are unable to attend the conference in person, virtual registrations are also available, which allow you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in the journal.

Whether you are a virtual or in-person presenter at the conference, we also encourage you to present on the conference YouTube Channel. Please select the Online Sessions link on the conference website for further details.

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 18 November 2010. Future deadlines will be announced on the conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the conference, including an online proposal submission form, may be found at the conference website: http://imageconference.com/ .

We also invite you to subscribe to our free, monthly email newsletter, and to our Facebook, RSS or Twitter feeds at http://imageconference.com/ .

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Los Angeles in December.

Yours Sincerely,

Phillip Kalantzis-Cope & Tamsyn Gilbert     
The New School For Social Research, New York City, USA       
For the Advisory Board, International Conference on the Image and The International Journal of the Image

Call for participation: THIRD UBIQUITOUS LEARNING CONFERENCE

THIRD UBIQUITOUS LEARNING CONFERENCE
University of British Columbia, Robson Square, Vancouver, Canada
10-11 December 2010
http://www.ULConference.com

The Ubiquitous Learning Conference is an interdisciplinary forum that
investigates the uses of technologies in learning, including devices with
sophisticated computing and networking capacities that are now pervasively
part of our everyday lives - from laptops to mobile phones, games, digital
music players, personal digital assistants and cameras. The conference
explores the possibilities of new forms of learning using these devices not
only in the classroom, but in a wider range of places and times than was
conventionally the case for education. Ubiquitous learning is made possible
in part by the affordances of the new, digital media. What's new about it?
What's not so new? What are the main challenges of access to these new
learning opportunities? These are among the key themes and concerns of the
conference.

The Ubiquitous Learning Conference evolved from e-Learning Symposia held in
Australia at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 2006 and 2007.
It is affiliated with the International Conference on Learning and is
connected to the Ubiquitous Learning Institute at the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign. The Ubiquitous Learning Conference was inaugurated in
2008 at the University of Illinois' Illini Center in Chicago and in 2009 at
Northeastern University in Boston. We are happy to be hosting this year's
conference in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The conference will include presentations by the following plenary speakers:
* Caroline Haythornthwaite, University of British Columbia, Canada
* Tabitha McKenzie, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand
* Gary Poole, University of British Columbia, Canada
* Catherine Wangeci K-Thuo, African Virtual University, Kenya

Please visit the conference website at
http://ubi-learn.com/conference-2010/plenary-speakers/ for more information
on these speakers and for additional speakers as they are posted.

In addition to plenary presentations, the conference also includes parallel
presentations by practitioners, teachers and researchers. We would like to
invite you to respond to the conference Call-for-Papers. Presenters may
choose to submit written papers for publication in the refereed Ubiquitous
Learning: An International Journal. If you are unable to attend the
conference in person, virtual registrations are also available which allow
you to submit a paper for refereeing and possible publication in the
Journal.

The deadline for the next round in the Call-for-Papers (a title and short
abstract) is 2 November 2010. Future deadlines will be announced on the
conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks
of submission. Full details of the conference, including an online proposal
submission form, may be found at the conference website
http://www.ULConference.com.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join
us in Vancouver in December.

Best regards,     
Garett Gietzen
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, USA
For the Advisory Board Ubiquitous Learning Conference and Ubiquitous
Learning Journal