On Saturday 16 June 2012, 14.00–16.30, the Tate Modern will host a conversation between German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and British geographer Nigel Thrift. For a while I’ve harboured a curiosity – still largely uninformed – about Sloterdijk’s ‘sphereology’ which is encapsulated by his three-volume magnum opus Spheres (taking in bubbles, globes and foam). I think, … Continue Reading
Two positions on the UGRG
The RGS-IBG‘s Urban Geography Research Group (UGRG) is now in the process of filling two positions on its committee: the Secretary; and the Treasurer. It seems like a long time ago now, but I served five years on the UGRG (2003-08) – technically one year beyond the normal four year term – first as a … Continue Reading
Harman’s politics of particularities?
I am a fairly regular reader of Graham Harman’s blog Object-Oriented Philosophy. Partly, of course, because his philosophy interests me, especially its implications for thinking about media, even though I certainly couldn’t claim to be doing object-oriented media research (there’s a lot of that, e.g. soon-to-be-former Birkbeck student Paul Caplan, and several of the contributions … Continue Reading
Event next week: The Art Market and the Art Museum
Matthew Morgan, a PhD student who I co-supervise with Ben Cranfield, is organizing an interesting seminar next week on The Art Market and the Art Museum, to be hosted by Birkbeck’s Centre for Media, Culture and Creative Practice. The event, and Matthew’s research, touches in part on the relations museums have with cities as well … Continue Reading
Media and cities in the Global South: questioning the questions
I recently participated in an Urban@LSE sponsored event titled Visible Cities: International Media Portrayals of Cities in the Global South. This event – a full video recording of which is available above – brought together urban geographers, media theorists and practical journalists to discuss how media tend to portray cities in the Global South. I … Continue Reading
Being a multidisciplinary researcher – with help
Bradley Garrett, author of Place Hacking – a key blog for urban explorer geeks with an added tinge of bravery – has recently announced he’s started up a very interesting business venture: Academic Media Productions, basically an audio/visual media service that partners with academic researchers. Last year I seemed to get quite worked up about … Continue Reading
Three new positions in media and cultural studies
I’ve been surprised of late to see a lot more UK academic jobs than the current HE climate would suggest. And now it’s my own department’s turn it seems to enter into the fray. This week, we in the Department of Media and Cultural Studies at Birkbeck, University of London are inviting applications from outstanding … Continue Reading
Academia in a digital/networked world: a Guardian HE Network ‘live chat’
Along with my colleagues Sophie Hope and Lorraine Lim – with whom I am co-organising a postgraduate workshop series – I have been invited to partake in a ‘Live Chat’ hosted by the Guardian Higher Education Network. That chat, which takes place on 3 June 2011, addresses the topic ‘Breaching the digital divide: How could … Continue Reading
Environmental change and digital scholarship
I recently wrote about the Doing research amongst technologies workshop series I am co-organising, and for which I co-convened the opening workshop session. I also had a pleasure of attending the second of the series, convened by a colleague from my Open University days, Joe Smith, a consummate public scholar, both in the broadcast and … Continue Reading
What is research amongst technologies?
A recent adventure in which I’ve been involved in organising (with Sophie Hope and Lorraine Lim) is a Summer Term 2011 postgraduate workshop series on Doing research amongst technologies. Aside from work going into convening the different sessions in the workshop series, I managed to talk myself into co-leading the opening workshop. Luckily, I had … Continue Reading