Thursday, August 25, 2011

Dean's Student Advisory Council: Thursday, 1 September 2011

Dean's Student Advisory Council
Thursday, 9/1, 12 Noon, Sunnen Lounge (Pizza)


This is a great opportunity to meet the dean, hear what's going on in the School of Communications, and make suggestions. This is your chance to have a voice in what concerns you the most.


Monday, August 22, 2011

Class still open.

We've just learned that Robin Assner's section of alternative photography , ART 3560, MW 3:4:50 still has open seats, for anyone interested.

Geneva Media Conference invitation: Deadline 15 October 2011

Webster University Geneva
International Media Conference: Media Trends 2012

New Media Tools and Human Rights: More or Less Human?
March 26-27, 2012

Abstract: The aim is to investigate how new media tools have been used in the recent revolutions and uprisings taking place in Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We will look to the effects of these tools on the individual, society and culture and try to understand how they might be assessed. We will also consider how the media might deal with the ethical implications of using new media tools.

Call for papers: The questions that we wish to have addressed at the conference are based on the works discussed inLink this concept note. Papers, projects and presentations do not need to be based on these theorists, which are used more as a springboard for discussions.

Proposal deadline: Initial proposals should be submitted to lowstedt@webster.edu, rosso@webster.ch and visconti@webster.ch by October 15, 2011. The first proposal does not need to be a completed project, just an outline of what you would like to investigate. For further information please feel free to contact Tammy Rosso, Media Program Heat at rosso@webster.ch.

The conference aims to investigate and debate:
• New media and information technology from an ethical perspective by analyzing the effects of these tools on users and receivers,
• Ways in which new media tools can be used to maximize their benefits and minimize their harm on the individual, society and culture,
• Whether these tools have been used to primarily promote or inhibit political change in repressive states.

Questions to be addressed include:
• Are new media tools considered responsible for affecting political changes? Should they be? Are the new tools doing a better job at affecting change (positive and negative) than the old tools?
• Do new media allow for greater government transparency, participation and accountability? Do they serve to enhance or extend the public sphere in repressive regimes?
• What happens when everyone has become a journalist and information from around the globe is available to anyone at all times? How do we make sense of the mountains of information that we are bombarded with every day? What information are we to consider important? In other words, how are we to pass judgment?
• What happens when one uses these new tools? What sort of human beings are we becoming: less free and more robotic, i.e. increasingly programmed by others, or increasingly free to experience and appreciate more and more deeply? Or both?
• Are these new tools really so new or are they just alterations to traditional means of communicating, such as Africa’s rich oral culture? Which might lead one to question whether these “new tools” are actually changing ourselves as social beings or is it a question of changing our conceptions of what it means to be social beings?
• In the 1960s Marshall McLuhan claimed that electronic communication fosters and encourages unification and involvement in society. Was he right? If we look to the use of these new tools, what type of a society are we becoming? Are we achieving collective identity or are we merely fragmenting further than ever?
• McLuhan refers to the global village as an acoustic space and as such a return to a “tribal base.” Prior to mass mediated messages hearing was believing, but with the invention of writing seeing became believing. What then do we make of a cell phone in terms of McLuhan’s ideas? What happens when the global village is both visual and aural?
• What would McLuhan make of the impact of new media tools on the public sphere?
• Has the public sphere become more inclusive, allowing for a diversity of expression from those who formerly had no voice or has it become more divisive?
• What about Todd Gitlin’s public and private ‘sphericules’: should they be sacrificed for the greater good of the unitary public sphere? What would McLuhan have thought? How relevant can the public sphere become in the face of today’s globalized world?

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Calling All Photo Majors!

Welcome back, or welcome to Webster if you're new here.

You're invited to a meeting of all photo majors next Friday, the 26, at 11:30 am in Sverdrup 260. (For new folks, that's the main classroom where many photo classes meet, so you may well have found it already.) We'll order pizza, so if you think you're coming, it would be helpful to let Bill Barrett know.

This is not a required meeting, but is meant as a chance to meet other photo majors, find out about the Latent Image photo group (if you haven't already), hear about activities we're planning this year, discover study abroad opportunities that work well with your degree program (think Geneva!), learn about the Certificate in Entrepreneurship for Photographers taught in our Business School, and ask any questions you might have.

Friday, August 12, 2011

Studio Altius: Thursday, 25 August 2011

PHOTOGRAPHY BREW-HA-HA
Thursday, August 25, 2011
6:30pm-9ish

Come spend a relaxed evening at our NEW LOCATION of Studio Altius filled with social networking, photography discussion, and delightful beverages. This event is open to all levels of photographers. Come get connected and network with other photographers in town, bring your hottest new images to show off from Saturday's Shoot, try out new equipment from Schiller's,
hey...even bring old equipment you are looking to unload, whatever floats your boat!

Admission is only $5 or a 6-pack of beer or a bottle of wine or five dollar's worth of snacks/soda.

This month's featured speaker is Britt Story from The Knot. She will be leading a discussion (Q & A style) of current trends in the wedding industry.

Studio Altius
2301 South Big Bend Boulevard
Maplewood, MO 63143

Studio Altius Photographers Showcase

ST. LOUIS PHOTOGRAPHERS SHOWCASE

Registrations are now open for the Fall 2011 Season of the St. Louis Photographers Showcase! WEEK ONE Viewing will begin on Thursday September 15, 2011. Register now and be a part of St. Louis' Competitive Photography League. We are tweaking the rules this season to allow a three MONTH window of shooting each week.this is in comparison to the usual three WEEKS of the past. We are looking forward to a great season! For more information and to register online, follow this link:

http://www.showcase.studioaltius.com <http://www.showcase.studioaltius.com/>

BONUS POINT THEMES will be:
WEEK ONE - Travel
WEEK TWO - Happiness
WEEK THREE - Action
WEEK FOUR - Product
WEEK FIVE - Abstract
WEEK SIX - Nature
WEEK SEVEN - Dark
WEEK EIGHT - Fashion

Broncolor Test Shoot: Monday, 22 August 2011