BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//MIT Graduate Program in Comparative Media Studies - ECPv5.16.1//NONSGML v1.0//EN
CALSCALE:GREGORIAN
METHOD:PUBLISH
X-WR-CALNAME:MIT Graduate Program in Comparative Media Studies
X-ORIGINAL-URL:https://cms.mit.edu
X-WR-CALDESC:Events for MIT Graduate Program in Comparative Media Studies
REFRESH-INTERVAL;VALUE=DURATION:PT1H
X-Robots-Tag:noindex
X-PUBLISHED-TTL:PT1H
BEGIN:VTIMEZONE
TZID:America/New_York
BEGIN:DAYLIGHT
TZOFFSETFROM:-0500
TZOFFSETTO:-0400
TZNAME:EDT
DTSTART:20180311T070000
END:DAYLIGHT
BEGIN:STANDARD
TZOFFSETFROM:-0400
TZOFFSETTO:-0500
TZNAME:EST
DTSTART:20181104T060000
END:STANDARD
END:VTIMEZONE
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180301T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180301T183000
DTSTAMP:20260503T155854
CREATED:20180116T170101Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180116T170152Z
UID:31508-1519923600-1519929000@cms.mit.edu
SUMMARY:The (Non)Americans: Tracking and Analyzing Russian Influence Operations on Twitter
DESCRIPTION:Deen Freelon\, Associate Professor\, School of Media and Journalism\, University of North Carolina\nIn late 2017\, Twitter and Facebook revealed that agents backed by the Russian government had infiltrated American political conversations for years. Posing as concerned citizens from across the ideological spectrum\, these agents surreptitiously spread propaganda disguised as home-grown political chatter. Two challenges\, one theoretical and the other methodological\, confront researchers interested in studying this campaign of information warfare. First\, the fields of communication and political science offer little theoretical guidance about how to study such tactics\, which are known as influence operations in military studies and dezinformatsiya in Russian and Slavic studies. Second\, Twitter and Facebook removed all such propagandistic content from public view upon confirming their existence\, which makes obtaining the data difficult (but not impossible). In this talk\, the University of North Carolina’s Deen Freelon will explain how he and his collaborators are addressing these challenges and present key preliminary findings from their ongoing project focused on this campaign. \nDeen Freelon is an associate professor in the School of Media and Journalism. His research covers two major areas of scholarship: 1) political expression through digital media and 2) data science and computational methods for analyzing large digital datasets. He has authored or co-authored more than 30 journal articles\, book chapters and public reports\, in addition to co-editing one scholarly book. He has served as principal investigator on grants from the Knight Foundation\, the Spencer Foundation and the U.S. Institute of Peace. He has written research-grade software to calculate intercoder reliability for content analysis (ReCal)\, analyze large-scale network data from social media (TSM)\, and collect data from Facebook (fb_scrape_public). He formerly taught at American University in Washington\, D.C.
URL:https://cms.mit.edu/event/deen-freelon-nonamericans-tracking-analyzing-russian-influence-operations-twitter/
LOCATION:MIT Building 56\, Room 114\, Access via 21 Ames Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02139\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://cms.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/Deen-Freelon.jpg
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180301T180000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180301T200000
DTSTAMP:20260503T155854
CREATED:20180226T190610Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180226T190610Z
UID:31664-1519927200-1519934400@cms.mit.edu
SUMMARY:Designing for a Neurodiverse World
DESCRIPTION:The world is a neurologically diverse place\, but the resources\, workspaces and technologies we use often don’t reflect that. Sometimes simple changes can significantly expand accessibility to people who have neurological differences like autism\, dyslexia\, ADHD\, or epilepsy\, but designers and policymakers frequently aren’t aware of issues affecting this neurodiverse community. Rosalind Picard\, director of the Affective Computing Research Group at the MIT Media Lab\, joins neuroscientist Ned Sahin\, Empowered Brain Institute CEO Rafiq Abdus-Sabur\, computer scientist Karthik Dinakar\, and disability advocate Finn Gardiner to explore what it means to be non-neurotypical\, barriers to inclusion\, and how creators can make their work more accessible. \nRafiq Abdus-Sabur is president and CEO of The Empowered Brain Institute\, a nonprofit disability advocacy and support organization for individuals with autism and their families. Rafiq is a board member for Brain Power LLC and founder of the education technology firm\, Edgewise Education. \nFinn Gardiner is a disability advocate and policy analyst specializing in intersectional disability justice and accessible technology. He is a research assistant at the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy at Brandeis University where his work focuses on public policies for autistic individuals. \nKarthik Dinakar is a computer scientist and the founder of C3PO\, or the Cambridge Computational Clinical Psychology Org\, a group of interdisciplinary researchers focused on bringing together machine learning\, causal inference and clinical psychology. \nModerator: Rosalind Picard is founder and director of the Affective Computing Research Group at MIT\, co-director of the Media Lab’s Advancing Wellbeing Initiative\, and faculty chair of MIT’s MindHandHeart Initiative. She co-founded the technology companies Empatica\, Inc.\, which creates wearable sensors and analytics to improve health\, and Affectiva\, Inc.\, which delivers technology to help measure and communicate emotion. \nThis event is sponsored by The MindHandHeart Innovation Fund and Radius at MIT. All Communications Forum events are free and open to the general public.
URL:https://cms.mit.edu/event/designing-neurodiverse-world/
LOCATION:MIT Building 3\, Room 270\, 33 Massachusetts Ave (Rear)\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02319\, United States
CATEGORIES:Communications Forum
ORGANIZER;CN="MIT%20Communications%20Forum":MAILTO:couch@mit.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180308T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180308T183000
DTSTAMP:20260503T155854
CREATED:20180208T200741Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180208T201309Z
UID:31573-1520528400-1520533800@cms.mit.edu
SUMMARY:The Tip of the Iceberg: Sound Studies and the Future of Afrofuturism
DESCRIPTION:andré carrington\, Assistant Professor of African American Literature\, Drexel University\nIconic developments in the artistic and intellectual ethos known as Afrofuturism are closely linked to music: Sun Ra’s experimental jazz\, Parliament Funkadelic’s Mothership\, John Akomfrah’s film Last Angel of History. What else is on the soundtrack to a livable future? How do we pursue further innovation in the human sensorium without reproducing an “audiovisual litany” that conflates rationality with the colonial gaze and isolates Black creativity to moments of sonic disruption? andré carrington’s present research on the cultural politics of race in science fiction radio drama aims to expand the repertoire of literary adaptation studies by reintegrating critical perspectives from marginal and popular sectors of the media landscape into the advancing agendas of Afrofuturism and decolonization. \nandré carrington is a scholar of race\, gender\, and genre in Black and American cultural production. He is currently Assistant Professor of African American literature at Drexel University. His first book\, Speculative Blackness: The Future of Race in Science Fiction (Minnesota\, 2016) interrogates the cultural politics of race in the fantastic genres through studies of science fiction fanzines\, comics\, film and television\, and other speculative fiction texts.
URL:https://cms.mit.edu/event/andre-carrington-sound-studies-afrofuturism/
LOCATION:MIT Building 56\, Room 114\, Access via 21 Ames Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02139\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cms.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/andre-carrington-square.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180315T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180315T183000
DTSTAMP:20260503T155854
CREATED:20180206T151941Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180206T151941Z
UID:31565-1521133200-1521138600@cms.mit.edu
SUMMARY:Visual Representations of Race and Gender: Analyzing “Me” in #IfTheyGunnedMeDown on Tumblr
DESCRIPTION:Jenny Korn\, Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society\nOn August\, 9\, 2014\, unarmed Black 18-year-old teenager Michael Brown was shot and killed by 28-year-old White police officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson\, Missouri. As media outlets began to cover the story\, some news accounts chose an image of Brown that featured him as a high school graduate\, in the traditional cap and gown\, holding a diploma cover. Other news sources picked a different photo of Brown in a basketball jersey\, holding his fingers up in what some termed as a “gang sign.” As a response to the media bias\, Mississippi attorney C.J. Lawrence used Tumblr for online social media activism\, starting the blog #IfTheyGunnedMeDown with the subtitle “Which picture would they use?” In this talk\, Jenny Korn examines the answers of the Tumblr’s participants to the question: If “they” gunned “me” down\, which picture would “they” use to represent “me?” \nJenny Korn is a feminist activist of color for social justice and scholar of race and gender in mass media and online communication. Korn is a Fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University. Korn has been published in Feminist Media Studies; Hashtag Publics; The International Journal of Interactive Communication Systems and Technologies; The Intersectional Internet; The Journal of Communication Inquiry; Multicultural America; Popular Communication; Harvard University’s Transition; and more. Her publications have won the Outstanding Book Chapter Award from the African American Communication and Culture Division of the National Communication Association and the Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. Drawing on critical race theories and intersectional feminist theories\, Korn explores how the Internet environment resonates user assemblages of race and gender and how online producers-consumers have constructed inventive digital representations and computer-mediated communications of identity.
URL:https://cms.mit.edu/event/jenny-korn-visual-representations-race-gender-iftheygunnedmedown-tumblr/
LOCATION:MIT Building 56\, Room 114\, Access via 21 Ames Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02139\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cms.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Jenny-Korn-2x1.png
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180320T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180320T133000
DTSTAMP:20260503T155854
CREATED:20180301T142756Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180316T154637Z
UID:31744-1521547200-1521552600@cms.mit.edu
SUMMARY:Sound\, the First Rule of Immersion
DESCRIPTION:Viktor Phoenix and Jean-Pascal Beaudoin\, Headspace Studio\nSome say sound is 50% of immersion in VR but also AR and XR. How does it translate to new platforms? How should we think of music\, sound\, audio and texture in immersive media productions? With its patented sound design\, HeadSpace Studio has been designing sound spaces and 360 environments for the pioneering experiences of Felix&Paul. \nJean-Pascal Beaudoin is a sound director\, immersive audio re-recording mixer\, and music score producer based in Montreal. He is Co-founder & President\, Headspace Studio and Head of Sound\, Headspace Studio Montreal. \nWith extensive experience in the world of audio post-production and driven by a combined passion for cinematic storytelling through sound and immersive audio technology\, he established himself as a key pioneer in the emerging field of 3D positional audio for cinematic 360 videos and virtual reality. \nAlong with long time collaborators Felix & Paul Studios\, a recognized creative and technology leader in cinematic VR\, he co-founded Headspace Studio\, the first sound studio entirely focused on virtual reality content. In 2018\, the studio expanded to Los Angeles. \nWith Headspace Studio\, Jean-Pascal has worked with important partners on projects such as the Daytime Emmy® Award-winning Cirque du Soleil’s Inside the Box of Kurios\, Jurassic World: Apatosaurus\, the Primetime Emmy® Award-winning The People’s House: Inside the White House with Barack and Michelle Obama\, Space Explorers\, a VR series made in collaboration with NASA and SpaceX\, as well as Isle of Dogs: Behind the Scenes (in VR) in collaboration with Wes Anderson to be released early 2018. \nViktor Phoenix is a creative and technical audio director with expertise in interactive audio\, sound design\, and 3D positional audio for immersive media and a passion for non-linear and reactive storytelling. He is Partner & Head of Sound\, Headspace Studio Los Angeles. \nViktor has collaborated with talented partners at companies like MPC\, Sony Pictures\, The Mill\, MAP Design Lab\, Annapurna Pictures\, With.in\, The New York Times\, Kite & Lightning\, ETC@USC\, TNT\, Lionsgate\, Cloudhead Games\, and ThreeOneZero on a number of VR projects in recent years\, including Documentary Emmy®-nominated The Click Effect\, ADR1FT – winner of the 2016 award for Sound Mixing in VR from The National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers\, and Insurgent – Shatter Reality VRE – nominated for Best Sound Design at the 2015 Proto Awards. \nPhoenix was previously Sound Supervisor for the Sound Lab at Technicolor and held senior positions at AAA game developers Pandemic Studios\, an Electronic Arts-owned developer\, and Turtle Rock Studios.
URL:https://cms.mit.edu/event/sound-first-rule-immersion-viktor-phoenix-jean-pascal-beaudoin/
LOCATION:Open Doc Lab: MIT Building E15\, Room 318\, 20 Ames Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02139\, United States
CATEGORIES:Hacking VR Speaker Series
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cms.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Viktor-Phoenix-and-Jean-Pascal-Beaudoin.png
ORGANIZER;CN="Open%20Documentary%20Lab":MAILTO:opendoclab-contact@mit.edu
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20180322T170000
DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20180322T183000
DTSTAMP:20260503T155854
CREATED:20180129T131728Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20180323T185630Z
UID:31545-1521738000-1521743400@cms.mit.edu
SUMMARY:Moving Broadband from Sea to Land: Internet Infrastructure and Digital Labor in Tanzania
DESCRIPTION:Lisa Parks\, Professor in MIT Comparative Media Studies/Writing\nAs digital networks are extended across the world\, new forms of labor are required to enable and sustain mediated communication. This talk addresses the need for further critical conceptualizations of the labor and resource challenges inherent in extending the global internet from urban areas to rural\, low-income communities in various parts of the world. The East African country of Tanzania hosts four major undersea cable landings\, suggesting that the country’s 51 million people would be well integrated within global broadband fibre optic networks. Despite Tanzanians’ close proximity to major internet gateways and the country’s innovative regulatory climate (van Gorp & Maitland\, 2009)\, limited electrical and terrestrial telecommunication infrastructure prevents most citizens from benefitting from these cable landings. By 2014 only 15% of the population used the internet in Tanzania (Internet World Stats\, 2016). This study uses ethnographic fieldwork\, including site visits and interviews with workers at network facilities and data centers in Dar es Salaam and the Mara region\, to investigate the material conditions undergirding these paradoxical dynamics. Building on her past research on rural connectivity in neighboring Zambia\, CMS/W professor Lisa Parks‘ study will also explore how labor and resource conditions have effected an initiative called the Serengeti Broadband Network (SBN)\, which began in 2007 to establish broadband connectivity across 15 villages in one of Tanzania’s remote interior regions. Ultimately\, the talk will draw upon this empirical research to contribute to theorizations of labor\, infrastructure\, and (dis)connectivity in the digital era. \nLisa Parks is a global media scholar whose research focuses on three areas: satellite technologies and media cultures; critical studies of media infrastructures; and media\, militarization and surveillance. She is Principal Investigator for MIT’s Global Media Technologies and Cultures Lab.
URL:https://cms.mit.edu/event/lisa-parks-internet-infrastructure-digital-labor-tanzania/
LOCATION:MIT Building 56\, Room 114\, Access via 21 Ames Street\, Cambridge\, MA\, 02139\, United States
CATEGORIES:Colloquium
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://cms.mit.edu/wp/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Lisa-Parks-2x1.png
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR