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
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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
Neo-neoliberalism and the politics of ‘The Big Society’
It is amazing how quickly the whole notion of ‘The Big Society’ has gone from Conservative Party platform, which was actually treated fairly sceptically during the recent UK elections, to catch-all label which can be ascribed to almost any of the coalition government’s policies. Generally, at least in my read of the situation, the label … Continue Reading
Reflective light media
I was going to simply post this photo along with a pithy caption… but it reminds me of how I’ve always been enticed by the idea of mediums of light, even if that light does not necessarily communicate in some identifiably semiotic way [Update: I’ve later realised that I unintentionally lifted this basic idea straight … Continue Reading
Thinking, if not yet doing, normativity
I’ve recently indulged – too often – in ending conference or seminar papers with earnest-yet-brief gestures towards the normative side of what I’m getting at. I think this is because the overall leaning of most of my work so far is fairly ontological, but I don’t really want it to be limited in that sort … Continue Reading
Save Middlesex Philosophy on video
Save Middlesex Philosophy from Norman Hastings on Vimeo. As many will know, though for reasons I still cannot fully grasp, Middelsex University is closing its philosophy programmes, and with them, the Centre for Modern European Philosophy. This short video takes you to the scene of the crime as it were, and includes interviews with Christian … Continue Reading
The political geography of web censorship desire
An interesting move by Google. No doubt still singed from its adventure in mainland China, the search engine has created a new tool that maps countries whose government has requested or taken legal action to remove content from either YouTube or Google search results, or otherwise have asked for details about its users. For removal … Continue Reading
Being in the world: coming soon to a theatre near you
This rather enticing trailer is for a film set to premiere in April, looking at how unique human capacities connect to how people find themselves in the world (i.e. in a phenomenological sense). The film is by Tao Ruspoli, a one-time student of Hubert Dreyfus. Amongst other things, this film might just be one of … Continue Reading
Coupland gets inside McLuhan’s head
I, for one, had no idea Canadian author Douglas Coupland was writing a biography of Marshall McLuhan. Medium theory anoraks must have known for months. Well, the biography has arrived, and the Canadian media has entered into one if its wild yet rare fervours of Canadian intellectual commemoration to mark the occasion. The biography sounds … Continue Reading
You can count on coal, if not media
For some reason, I just find the whole idea of mining coal as a stable support for the uncertainties of television production hilarious. Also funny, of course, is the stark contrast implied between the grittiness of mining for coal (going down a mineshaft, the need for canaries as a warning system) and the superficiality of … Continue Reading