Well this is an interesting trend. Until PJ Wall told me about it a couple of weeks ago, I was completely unaware that critical realism has provoked such interest within social informatics – in fact I was unaware of this entire field until relatively recently and I’m rather taken with it. Witness this recent special issue […]
Month: June 2014
I’ve included a screen shot below (HT @Andr_Dim) , in case the advert mysteriously vanishes from the internet. What really disgusts me about this is the shamelessness of the mission statement – this is “an exciting time for Edinburgh Napier University” in which they seek to become an “enterprising and innovative community” through expanding their […]
This is a subject I’ve wanted to research for some time but have struggled to see how. I suspect we are seeing the very early stages of a backlash against the uptake of social media by academics – encompassing both the regulation of its ‘improper’ use and the incentivisation of its ‘proper’ use, with the latter being in practice […]
I still think he should have called the book Toffs but I’m nontheless looking forward to reading it:
After a conversation at CompSocSci in which I finally grasped how Bitcoin works, I’ve been trying to learn more about it. I watched some of the live stream from the recent CyberSalon devoted to the topic. The videos from the event have now been uploaded and I’m looking forward to watching them in full. The videos are online here. […]
There’s a great post on Daniel Little’s blog which uses a critique of analytical sociology and critical realism to explore a premise which he argues they both share: ontology dictates methodology. As he frames the issue: Both groups have strong (and conflicting) ideas about social ontology, and both think that these ideas are important to the conduct […]
April 8-10 2015 University of Sunderland London Campus, South Quay, London, UK This conference, co-hosted by the Centre for Research in Media and Cultural Studies, University of Sunderland, and the Onscenity Research Network will take place on April 8-10 2015 at the University of Sunderland London Campus, London, UK Along with two keynote speakers addressing themes of intersectionality […]
This article by a sexual health therapist appeared on an Australian news website a few days ago. It cautions against identification as asexual on the grounds that it precludes ‘further exploration’. We are told that “sexuality is as normal as breathing” and that those deliberating about their possible asexuality should “do some exploring, take your time” […]
This is wonderful: (via Explore)
International conference Moments of rupture: Event and negativity in modern thought October 29 & 30, 2014 Universidad Diego Portales, Santiago de Chile **The abstract submission deadline has been extended until July 7, 2014** Keynote speakers: Andreas Kalyvas (The New School, USA) Eduardo Sabrovsky (Universidad Diego Portales, Chile) Rupture is a motif central to modernity. A certain […]
This idea occurred to me earlier today when I read this great article on Harriet Martineau for a second time. I’d first heard of Martineau through a conversation on twitter, ultimately leading to this proposal by Steve Fuller. The longer I study sociology, the more I learn about these figures, whom for whatever reason did not make it into […]
Do you imagine an audience when you write? I’ve become aware recently of how rarely I do this. The main reason for this has been the jarring experience of finding myself overly conscious about the particular audience I happen to be writing for in recent projects. I wrote a chapter on asexuality for a handbook […]
This fascinating discussion offers a penetrating critique of the politics of the world cup, reflecting on the ‘echoes of dictatorship’ that can be seen in the implementation of such a mega event within a country that has only been a democracy for a few decades. If you wonder what the next stage of post-democracy will […]
This is excellent:
Wish I could have gone to this – it sounds excellent!
In the last few years my interest in asexuality has shifted from a concern with the experience of asexual people to a preoccupation with why those who aren’t asexual find it as confusing as they do. This can seem to be a confusingly niche interest, or at least I occasionally worry that it might come across […]
I just came across this wonderful extract in a book I’m reading. I feel slightly silly quoting from a play I’ve not seen but it so perfectly expresses a thought I’ve struggled to articulate that I don’t mind: “The best moments in reading,” Alan Bennett writes in The History Boys, “are when you come across something […]
by Nina Wakeford Then Along Came STS/ And… from Nina Wakeford on Vimeo.
This looks really interesting: Call for papers for a Workshop on February 27th-28th 2015 at Goldsmiths College London Triage Devices: How Organizations Manage Commitments organised by Nils Ellebrecht (University of Freiburg) and Monika Krause (Goldsmiths College, University of London) with support from the ESRC-funded project “Triaging Values” Deadline for abstracts: September 19th, 2014 This workshop at Goldsmiths College brings […]
