@suethomas

Talk for the British Computer Society, Leicester. Tuesday 2 December 08

I’m very honoured to have been invited to speak to the British Computer Society in Leicester and I’m  looking forward to an interesting discussion. It starts at 7pm, with a free buffet at 6.30pm. Open to all.

Collaborative Creative Writing New Ways of Reading – New Ways of Writing
Creative writing, indeed the very nature of text itself, is changing.  No longer bound by print, there are many opportunities for writers to experiment with new kinds of media, different voices and experimental platforms, both independently and in collaboration with other writers or other fields and disciplines.  The online MA in Creative Writing and New Media works with writers interested in experimenting with new formats and exploring the potential of new technologies in their writing.  Studying together online, these students from around the world came together in virtual space to debate the challenges of new media and look at new ways of transdisciplinary collaboration such as their 2007 collaboration with Penguin Books on the now-notorious Million Penguins Wiki Novel. 

Amplified08 Thursday 27 November 2008

It must be a year ago that Toby Moores @sleepydog and I sat in a bar in Leicester while he rolled out huge pieces of paper across the table to show me his plan for a 'network of networks', radiating out from CreativeCoffee Club, a Leicester/London based group which we set up in Autumn 2007 in partnership with David Terrar @dt and Shani Lee @shanitomorrow (and joined more recently by @sizemore).  A year ago it seemed like a grand vision which would probably be too complicated to ever materialise but Toby is nothing if not dogged and this week his idea is coming to fruition with the first event.  Amplified08 will happen at the offices of NESTA in Central London on Thursday 27 November 08 and it looks to be full capacity with 200 people.

Blurb from the blog:

Essentially, Amplified08 is an opportunity to bring together those who meet in various UK social media, technology production and mobile media and related fields to come together to share your ideas and projects, to discover new ways of working together, and to break through the generation of silos among social media communities.

We also have a lot of interest from groups who still come together virtually via Twitter and the like who will now have the chance to chew ideas over, face-to-face for the first time. We’re also welcoming groups and individuals who are quite new to social media but want to learn while adding to the experience. Importantly we’re reaching out first and foremost to practitioners who are already full of ideas and opinions.

There's a programme wiki here  and much of the event will be streamed through Twitter using the hashtag #amp08.

forthcoming: When Geeks Go Camping: finding California in cyberspace

I've had enquiries asking when this article will be available. It will be published in the February 2009 issue of Convergence: The International Journal of Research into New Media Technologies but unfortunately you have to subscribe to get access. It's the first full piece I've written for this project, and it examines the evolution of nature metaphors in computing and cyberspace via some examples of the influence of Californian outdoor life on computer culture in Silicon Valley and beyond.

I presented it in September at DRHA08 and will also give a talk on it at the University of California Santa Barbara on 24th February 2009.

Transliteracy @ University of Cambridge 12.11.2008

Many thanks to Mary Jacobus for her invitation to talk to English postgraduate students at the University of Cambridge. It was a very enjoyable experience with lively discussion, and I met some fascinating people. I promised to make the talk and slides available, so here they are along with some links relevant to the talk.

Download transliteracy_cambridge_2008.ppt
Download transliteracy_cambridge_2008.doc
Transliteracy Research Blog
Medieval Helpdesk video

about silence and slowness
John Francis Walks the Earth
Slow Communities

Michael Wesch videos about the effects of Web 2.0 on our lives and on our teaching
The Machine is Us/ing Us
A Vision of Students Today

Talking, listening, writing

updated 11.11.08

• 24 Feb 2009 When Geeks Go Camping: cyberspace and the outdoor life University of California Santa Barbara
• 2 Dec 2008 New Ways of Reading, New Ways of Writing British Computer Society, Leicester
• 27 Nov 2008 Amplified08 NESTA
• 20 Nov 2008 Transliteracy Workshop IOCT Future of Creative Technologies Conference
• 12 Nov 2008 Transliteracy  University of Cambridge
• 29 Oct 2008 How LinkedIn and Facebook can improve your professional practice DMU School of Pharmacy
• 14-17 Sep 2008 When Geeks Go Camping: cyberspace and the outdoor life Digital Resources for the Humanities and Arts
• 19-20 Jun 2008 NLab Social Networks conference, De Montfort University
• 29 May 2008 9pm BST Mark and John - The Fantasists, part of the Making of a Monster series on the Crime and Investigation Network
• 29 May - 1 Jun 2008 Visionary Landscapes, Washington State University, Vancouver, WA
• 21 Feb 2008 University of Bangor
• 3 Dec 2007 Thomas, S., Joseph, C., Laccetti, J., Mason, B., Mills, S., Perril, S., et al. (2007). Transliteracy: Crossing Divides First Monday, Volume 12 Number 12 - 3 December 2007  

Obama used social media as a vital tool in reaching huge audiences

Barack Obama has taught the world a lesson in the use of social networks. This former community organiser already knew how to connect with many different cultures and communities, then he combined that knowledge with an understanding of social media, and his reach became huge (thanks also to a large and skilfull team). Now we can learn from his success and apply his methods to our own projects. More on this in Read/Write/Web's Obama's Social Media Advantage

x-posted here

Congratulations Barack Obama

It's around 4.30am here in the UK and I'm watching CNN waiting for Obama to speak in Chicago. A few minutes ago I did what I always do at momentous times - I went outside and looked up at the sky to get a feel for how the world is now. In this city, where natural rhythms are often disrupted, birds sing all night and tonight is no different - they are out there loud and clear.

I was 16 when Martin Luther King was assassinated and I never dreamed I would see a day such as this in my lifetime.  I'm so happy that I'll be in the US on 20th January to celebrate this most important inauguration.

Obama faces a daunting task, but he harnessed social networks to mobilise a community to vote, and he will also be able to use the same methods to lever much-needed invigoration and renewal. For those of us who work in social media, this is a fantastic opportunity to find even more and better ways to use it for the benefit of everyone. A wonderful and joyous night.

Obama for President

 All my hopes are with Barack Obama to win the Presidential race on Tuesday. I do feel a lot of sympathy for Hillary Clinton, because of course one of the reasons the US can now contemplate a black President at all is that the Clintons worked so hard to change the culture and enable such a thing to happen. It's just very tough that their efforts bore fruit just at the moment when Hillary's own opportunity to get to the White House arrived.  So I'm sad for her, but very very happy for the USA that they are about to elect someone as significant and impressive as Barack Obama. I'm a UK citizen so of course cannot vote in this election, but I really wish I could, because I am so fascinated by this momentous decision and hope upon hope that America will make the right choice.