Scenarios USA

here's the url for the piece we watched in class:

http://scenariosusa.com/movies/memoir.html

other films can be found here:

http://scenariosusa.com/movies/

Call for Submissions

I thought some women in the class might be interested in this...
http://www.sealpress.com/submissions/ (scroll down to "She's Such a Geek"
Deadline: January 1, 2006

"Geeks are taking over the world. They make the most popular movies and games, pioneer new ways to communicate using technology, and create new ideas that will change the future. But the stereotype is that only men can be geeks. So when are we going to hear from the triumphant female nerds whose stories of outer space battles will inspire generations and whose inventions will change the future?
We want introspective essays that explain what being a geek has meant to you. Describe how you've fought stereotypes to be accepted among nerds. Explore why you are obsessed with topics and ideas that are supposed to be "for boys only." Tell us how you felt the day you realized that you would be devoting the rest of your life to discovering algorithms or collecting comic books. We want strong, personal writing that is also smart and critical. We don't mind if you use the word "fuck," and we don't mind if you use the word "telomerase." Be celebratory, polemical, wistful, angry, and just plain dorky."

Call for Submissions

Sorry this is for women only, but I thought some people in our class might have something to submit to this...

She's Such a Geek :An Anthology by and for Women Obsessed with Computers, Science, Comic Books, Gaming, Spaceships, and Revolution

Geeks are taking over the world. They make the most popular movies and games, pioneer new ways to communicate using technology, and create new ideas that will change the future. But the stereotype is that only men can be geeks. So when are we going to hear from the triumphant female nerds whose stories of outer space battles will inspire generations and whose inventions will change the future? More than anything, She's Such a Geek is a celebration and call to arms: it's a hopeful book which looks forward to a day when women will pilot spaceships, invent molecular motors, design the next ultra-tiny supercomputer, write epics, and run the government.
We want introspective essays that explain what being a geek has meant to you. Describe how you've fought stereotypes to be accepted among nerds. Explore why you are obsessed with topics and ideas that are supposed to be "for boys only." Tell us how you felt the day you realized that you would be devoting the rest of your life to discovering algorithms or collecting comic books. We want strong, personal writing that is also smart and critical.

Deadline: January 1, 2006

http://www.sealpress.com/submissions/ (scroll down to "She's Such a Geek" for a full description)

Representation in France

I don't know if anyone else saw this article on Thursday, but apparently representation (or a lack of representation) on television can have far reaching consequences. The article claims that the homogeneous face France tries to present to the world contributed to the unrest which has been going on in immigrant neighborhoods for the past several weeks. To quote from the article:

"The disparity between the country's monochromatic image of itself and the multicolored reality frustrates young citizens from non-European immigrant backgrounds and has added to their sense of alienation, which was expressed most graphically in the arson attacks that have swept the country this month."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/16/international/europe/16france.html?oref=login

comics to the rescue

a recent article on bbcnews: CDs and comics offer digital aid

discusses two interesting and, what they describe as, "low-tech projectswhich focus on the distribution and use of open-source stood out at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS)." (part of the UN summit in Tunisia)

also raises some interesting questions about implementation and accessibility to technologies. one quote that stood out to me: "Knowledge is seen as the font of power..."

cnn is obsessed with tv

their latest article on the ubiquity of tv can be found here

given the latest trends and shifts in format, medium, content, and production positionality, is tv still "tv"? this takes me back to some of the early conversation we had here with respect to the changing definitions of what it meant to 'watch' tv.

given the new, increased, ubiquitous availability of television, i wonder: what are the new questions we need to be asking when we think about the impact of tv on youth; about the ways that youth engage with tv; about what learning from and with tv looks like...

kaiser surveys

the kaiser family foundation just released a report titled, "Sex on TV 4" in which they discuss the frequency of sex scenes on television, how sex portrayed, sex messages (e.g., "safer sex"), etc.

also on the site: Generation M: Media in the Lives of 8-18 Year-olds

if you check out the latter, goto the full report and then open up the methodology appendix. their methods of acquiring info about media use in the lives of kids/teens are interesting. they also beg the question: what are other ways to get at this issue? are there are other questions we should be asking?

simultaneous shrinking/expansion of tv

reprint of ny times article from 10.30.05:

Television: The Extra-Large, Ultra-Small Medium

AIDS contest

Allecia's contest:

www.hearmeproject.org