ASIS&T @ Pratt, in partnership with the ASIS&T Metro NY chapter, is proud to present the 3rd annual Spring Symposium:
(dis)connect: ethics and identity in social media
2:00PM, Saturday, May 7, 2011
Room 213 at Pratt Manhattan Campus.
We’ve put together an amazing panel to engage in conversation about the moral and ethical considerations of daily “life on the screen.”*
(dis)connect is about people.
More than Human Computer Interaction, this is about Human-to-human interaction on the computer.
This is about you.
Are you the same person online that you are “IRL?”
How does your use of language shape your online reality?
How do we create a social network that teaches people how to deal with impermanence?
Why is their rampant hate-speech in gaming communities?
“Should computer-mediated communication try to reproduce the traditional communication structures and norms that humans have evolved/developed over several millenia to manage social interactions?” (Sula)
How do we design social media for a better world?
Join us for a lively discussion, followed by a group design experiment. This is our foray into the”unconference” format where we will collectively brainstorm and collaborate in design thinking - taking the ideas generated by our discussion and putting them into action! Don’t panic, there will be coffee, food and a happy hour sponsored by ASIS&T Metro.
This event is open to the public. Everyone must register to attend -
including Pratt students! – at www.tinyurl.com/may72011. Space is limited!
Our panelists are:
Generoso Fierro 
is the Outreach Coordinator for GAMBIT, Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab, a collaboration between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the government of Singapore created to explore new directions for the development of games as a medium. There he creates video the content for their website, assists with the summer program and produces GAMBIT events. His most recent video project, “The GAMBIT Hate Speech Project” examines “the pervasive reality of exclusionary speech in online game communities”
Joanne McNeil 
is senior editor of Rhizome (
http://rhizome.org
). She is also founding editor of The Tomorrow Museum (
http://tomorrowmuseum.com
).
Chris Alen Sula recently defended his PhD. in Philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center. His research focuses on individuals’ interactions with each other and the world, including topics in metaethics, intentionality, and cognitive science, as well empirical work in moral psychology and evolutionary biology and formal models of social behavior and decision making. He is also a member of the doctoral certificate program in Interactive Technology and Pedagogy. Since 2006, he has been working with David Morrow to develop Phylo, an interactive research tool that examines the history of individuals, institutions, and ideas in philosophy.
http://chrisalensula.org/
Lance Strate is Professor of Communication and Media Studies at Fordham University, and author of Echoes and Reflections: On Media Ecology as a Field of Study, and the recently published collection, On the Binding Biases of Time and Other Essays on General Semantics and Media Ecology. He has also co-edited several anthologies, including The Legacy of McLuhan, and two editions of Communication and Cyberspace: Social Interaction in an Electronic Environment. He has also published over 100 articles and essays, and served as editor of several journals, including the Speech Communication Annual, the General Semantics Bulletin, and Explorations in Media Ecology, a journal that he was instrumental in launching. Moreover, he initiated and supervised the media ecology book series published by Hampton Press. A former department chair and graduate director at Fordham, he has recently led an initiative to set up a new program of Professional Studies in New Media. He is a founder of the Media Ecology Association, and served that organization as its first president for over a decade, as well as being a past president of the New York State Communication Association, and recently completing a three-year term as Executive Director of the Institute of General Semantics. He maintains a blog on topics related to communication and technology <
http://lancestrate.blogspot.com
>, has been active within the poetry-blogging community on MySpace, and together with several other participants is a partner in NeoPoiesis Press.
Benjamen Walker is the host and producer of Too Much Information with Benjamen Walker on WFMU Radio. “Too Much Information is the sober hangover after the digital party has run out of memes, apps and schemes. Host Benjamen Walker finds out that, in a world where everyone overshares the truth 140 characters at a time, telling tales might be the most honest thing to do.” (http://wfmu.org/playlists/TI) (His episode, “Anonymous,” in which he interviewed Jaron Lanier about problems of anonymity online, was an early inspiration for this symposium.”
This event will be moderated by Pratt grad Josh Hadro – Technology
Editor, Library Journal.
Can’t make it? Follow the discussion and share links on Twitter @asistpratt with the hashtag #discon11.
