Nilgai: Khajuraho, Harbin Hot Spring's field notes as poetry, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, UC Berkeley talk on Khajuraho

Hello Sari,

Very nice to meet you and nice to talk about Khajuraho in the UC Berkeley anthropology department, especially vis-a-vis your talk there (yesterday - http://www.tourismstudies.org/news_archive/Vijayakumar2013.htm), and vis-a-vis the conference in Switzerland on "Tourism Imaginaire.'

When I looked through my blog again, I found first only one reference to Khajoraho in a poem as field notes :) I wrote in 2010, -

"The Minarets and Lake Ediza: Harbin Poem Field Notes"
http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/12/minarets-and-lake-ediza-harbin-poem.html -

which also touches on aspects of Harbin that I appreciate, and ethnographically especially.


And then I searched my blog again under Khajuraho and found a few further entries (and a few unpublished ones, including an interview with Ishvara, Harbin's founder :):


"Fish: Who are those Harbin artisans - (are they French? - yes, some are) - who keep the Harbin waters clean, Spiritual and Intimate?" -

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/09/fish-who-are-those-harbin-artisans-are.html -


"Wilson's Bird of Paradise: Friends' Dalton Letter" ...
http://scottmacleod.com/daltonletter.htm ... can be helpful ... & enjoyable" -

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2011/04/friends-dalton-letter.html -


(I've since changed the spelling to khajuraho for all of my blog entries).


Looking forward to your talk, and see you perhaps before then.

Regards and Namaste, :)
Scott



I also added you in academia.edu and you can see my Harbin talk at UC Berkeley in the Gifford Room in the Department of Anthropology from last year.

:)
Scott




Hi Scott,

It was very nice to meet you too. And it was great to know that you have visited Khajuraho. Looking forward to talk more about it soon.
Your poem on Harbin is a wonderful read. The idea of a virtual Harbin is enticing. I will try to read more from your blog soon. So many interesting things under the categories list.

Thank you for adding me on academia.edu. I definitely want to see your last year's talk.

More soon,
Sari




Hi Sari,

Thanks for your email.

I enjoyed this video -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oczaIplm9k - and music on your Tumblr page - "Remembering Raghav Sreyas" ( here http://life-in-the-bay.tumblr.com/post/29066881204/ethereal-the-music-is-so-disturbingly-good-that ) ... I enjoy Raga too a lot ... esp. Ravi Shankar's (see the Raga category, for example, in my blog).


Here's the Khajuraho 15 minute video in the Treasures of the World series in German, I mentioned :

Khajuraho, Indien, Folge 171
Liebesspiele für die Götter (Love play of the Gods)
http://www.swr.de/schaetze-der-welt/-/id=5355190/did=7045896/pv=video/nid=5355190/1d56bhw/

(I critiqued other Schaetze der Welt videos and their representations of some Middle Eastern UNESCO WHS for a peer-reviewed chapter I wrote, published in 2006).

And in terms of internet video representation, here's a fairly typical Youtube with more views than many:

India - Khajuraho Erotic Temples - Travel - Jim Rogers World Adventure -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAGGdyUqyyQ.


I like the Khajuraho video that is linked to in my poem video notes -

"The Minarets and Lake Ediza: Harbin Poem Field Notes"
http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2010/12/minarets-and-lake-ediza-harbin-poem.html -

but none of the videos I know of are like being there, yet the videos often provide much information and video of things I might not have otherwise seen, for example. All are stimulating and somehow beautiful though, in their representation of sublime Khajuraho. It's an interesting field site for a life time of study :) as is Harbin :)

How to 'realize' the bliss (if blissful they are) of such representations in novel and exploratory ways are interesting questions, both ethnographically and in life (touristically too?) - and perhaps of Khajuraho as well as Harbin. More about this later perhaps.

If I can be of help in any way with your presentation (which is already written, it looked like), please let me know.

Happy Khajuraho,
Scott





Hi Sari,

I like this video because it's reflective and it presents an appreciative and thoughtful point of view, both eastern and western, about Khajuraho -
https://myspace.com/theloveplayofthegods/video/the-love-play-of-the-gods-trailer/107381214 .

What do you think of this video?

It might be interesting to meet Dr. Shobita Punja, - http://ncf.nic.in/ncf_contactus.htm - the historian in this film at some point, as well as Dr. Vikram Prakash at the University of Washington, for learning academically about Khajuraho - http://faculty.washington.edu/vprakash/ . Do you know either of them?

It's interesting to me how a specific culture - Chola and the Chandelas - about 1,000 years ago, produced these temples, in the context of age-old vedic culture of India, with such connectednesses, yet also ascetic and chaste traditions (which I associate with many/most spiritual traditions and religions ). This culture, in my interpretation, created a kind of opening to represent the erotic sublimely in art and religious sculpture, and in what is now India.


Any interest in hearing/attending some of these upcoming, UC Berkeley Philosophy talks with Crispin Wright on next Monday (at 4), T (at 4), W (at 3), or Th (at 4), and / or meeting for a coffee before or after? (On Monday I give a bagpipe lesson in the early evening, so probably won't be at Cal that day).

http://philosophy.berkeley.edu/events/upcoming

Philosophy lectures and colloquia at Cal can be very far-reaching, and another interesting culture.

In the video on your Tumblr site, - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oczaIplm9k - I also appreciate somehow the beautiful fuzziness and related connectednesses of its music, as well as a kind of vision or thinking, which I associate with amazing, mother India (which I've only visited twice :).

Do you know Ravi Shankar's CD "Three Ragas" from the late 1950s? It's a particular favorite of mine, and generates a kind of bliss in itself. :)

What moves you particularly about Khajuraho (which I may hear in your upcoming talk)? What generates bliss for you there?  ... might be a fun conversation to develop, musically even somehow. Do you play a musical instrument?

Friendly regards,
Scott


*

Hi Sari,

I enjoyed your UC Berkeley talk yesterday, as well as your description of it on the Tourism Studies' page (http://www.tourismstudies.org/news_archive/Vijayakumar2013.htm) which I've posted below.

Let's stay in communication. Nice to meet A, as well.

Scott

"

THE KHAJURAHO EXPERIENCE:
Following Flâneurs in Phantasmagoric Temples

Swetha Vijayakumar 

(MS Student, Architecture, UC Berkeley)

Friday, September 20, 5:00 PM

Gifford Room, 221 Kroeber Hall

University of California, Berkeley

Abstract:

While most temples in India are considered to be sacred sites for pilgrimage and worship, a group of temples at Khajuraho, a small town in central India, is an anomaly. The distinguishing feature of these temples is the thousands of erotic carvings that saturate its exterior walls. The mystifying carvings, often referred to as the mithuna sculptures, depict men and women in various explicitly sexual forms. Although one of the temples remains to be a pilgrimage site at the local level, in the last four decades, the entire group has gained much international recognition solely for its erotic sculptures. In this project, I study the tourism industry at Khajuraho which is a unique amalgamation of religion, culture, and eroticism. Deifying eroticism and promoting tourism using sensual imagery by an otherwise puritanical government in a fairly conservative Indian society is complex, tricky and riddled with contradictions. Khajuraho thrives on this dichotomy of being damned as pornography and transgressing of Indian culture on one hand, and on the other being endorsed to international tourists and Indian urban elites as an epitome of Indian liberalness - as the quintessential KamasutraTemple. Along with briefly discussing Khajuraho's history and the myths surrounding the temple's unique sculptures, this presentation will trace the evolution of an isolated town into a major tourist attraction, and analyze the social, cultural, and environmental impacts of a rapidly burgeoning tourism. I will explore the complex gender issues at play, and the different perceptions of foreign and Indian tourists towards exhibitionism using the theoretical frameworks of gaze and voyeurism. In doing so, I draw from advertisement strategies, marketing of tourist arts and souvenirs, and the trade of prostitution that is rampant around Khajuraho's tourist village.

Speaker Bio:

Swetha Vijayakumar is a MS student in the department of architecture at University of California, Berkeley. She is pursuing an interdisciplinary degree in History of Architecture and Environmental Design in Developing Countries. Her research interests include cultural ecologies of Hindu pilgrimage sites in South Asia, evolution of contemporary Indian temple architecture, and the traditional-modern dialectic in built environments. As a part of her thesis, she is currently studying 'spiritual theme parks' and 'touristic pilgrimages' in 21st century India. She has a Bachelor of Architecture degree from RV College of Engineering in India."

Cheers,

Scott

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nilgai

...

Northern loon: In revising my actual / virtual Harbin Hot Spring's 9 chapters' manuscript (without having built a virtual Harbin as field site for comparative, ethnographic research, in this first book), I wanted to revisit the definitions of - 'actual,' 'communication,' 'counterculture,' 'culture,' 'cyber-,' 'digital,' 'information,' 'technology,' 'information technology,' 'multimedia,' 'real,' 'Techne,' 'virtual,' 'virtual world,' and 'visionary' - in the online, Chambers 21st Century dictionary, "... my current working definitions of 'virtual' from about draft manuscript p 15 of 400 pages in my book," To the definition of technology above, I would add that technologies often facilitate reproducibility or replication, Innovations in 'defining' and generating definitions is creative; In what ways is the act of 'defining' a creation of virtuality, language-wise?, In virtual Harbin, with interactive movie realism from our home bath tubs with its correspondent relaxation response, perhaps in REI Glacier Glasses, in what ways will we be able to explore kinds of oneness and harmonizing effects that people experience in the Harbin warm pool and at Harbin?

In revising my actual / virtual Harbin Hot Springs' 9 chapters' manuscript (without having built a virtual Harbin as field site for comparative, ethnographic research, in this first book), I wanted to revisit the definitions of:

- actual, communication, counterculture, culture, cyber-, digital, information, technology, information technology, multimedia, real, Techne, virtual, virtual world, visionary -

in the online, Chambers 21st Century dictionary {e.g. http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=virtual&title=21st} (by contrast to mostly Apple dictionary 2.x definitions on my MacBook Pro laptop), which I also explored in different ways in my July 9, 2013 blog entry here:


"Loulu: Anthropology of virtual worlds, the Virtual and Techne for Boellstorff, Boellstorff video interview, Defining and thinking through the Virtual vis-a-vis information in my Harbin ethnographic book" (I've posted again Tom Boellstorff's video interview about some of these questions below).

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2013/07/loulu-anthropology-of-virtual-worlds.html


(See also - in my August 18, 2013 blog entry -

"Akia - Wikstroemia uva-ursi: In looking up the word 'virtual' in the great "Chamber's Twentieth Century Dictionary" (1901), I came across the entries of 'virtu' and 'virtue,' in which I found some relevant definitions, Under the entry 'virtue,' ... [a few definitions in] 'virtual' - "having virtue or efficacy: having the efficacy without the material part: in effect though not in fact; unreal but capable of being considered as real for some purposes" ... [and a few definitions further along] 'virtuality,' - "essential nature; potentiality," Defining and thinking through the 'Virtual'"

http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2013/08/akia-wikstroemia-uva-ursi-in-looking-up.html


*

Here are my current working definitions of 'virtual' from about draft manuscript p 15 of 400 pages in my book:

"Virtual Harbin in this book refers to 6 aspects of conceiving of the virtual (the virtual is defined in my manuscript on pp. 39, 76, 122-123, 377,  … ), as

a) “computing slang referring or relating to interaction, connection, use, etc. via the Internet” (Chambers’ 21^st century dictionary online: http://www.chambers.co.uk/search.php?query=virtual&title=21st );

b) “something not physical, but created by software to appear so” (Apple dictionary 2.x), both metaphorically, and especially vis-a-vis Harbin Hot Springs, as visionary, too; visionary here includes giving shape or form to what could be in a shared sense among human bodyminds in culture, and in Harbin's counterculture, vis-a-vis its pool area, can give this form in virtual expressions”;

c) as something “that is so in essence or effect, although not formally or actually,” so something not physical, but also “almost” or “nearly as described”;

d) “One useful definition of “virtual” is “a philosophical term meaning 'not actually, but as if'” (Boellstorff 2008:377?) especially vis-a-vis digitally constructed and informational processes, and

e) primatologically, “ … referring or relating to interaction, connection, use,” again, but here in my interpretation, symbolically or language-wise, and across primate species that use symbols (e.g. humans, orangutans, chimpanzees, and gorillas, for example);

f) "having virtue or efficacy: having the efficacy without the material part: in effect though not in fact; unreal but capable of being considered as real for some purposes" ... [and a few definitions further along] 'virtuality,' - "essential nature; potentiality," (Chambers, 1956, within the definition of “virtue”)."

*

So,

- actual, communication, counterculture, culture, cyber-, digital, information, technology, information technology, multimedia, real, Techne, virtual, virtual world, visionary -


actual adj 1 existing as fact; real. 2 not imagined, estimated or guessed. 3 current; present.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c as actuel, meaning 'demonstrated by one's actions': from Latin actualis.


communication noun 1 a the process or act of communicating; b the exchanging or imparting of ideas and information, etc. 2 a piece of information, a letter or a message. 3 social contact. 4 (communications) the various electronic processes by which information is conveyed from one person or place to another, especially by means of wires, cables or radio waves. 5 (communications) means or routes used for moving troops or supplies. 6 (communications) the science and activity of transmitting information, etc.


counter-culture noun a culture or way of life that deliberately rejects the perceived social norm.
ETYMOLOGY: 20c.


culture noun 1 the customs, ideas, values, etc of a particular civilization, society or social group, especially at a particular time. 2 appreciation of art, music, literature, etc. 3 improvement and development through care and training • beauty culture. 4 also in compounds the cultivation of eg plants, trees, animals, etc, especially for commercial purposes • horticulture. 5 biol a population of micro-organisms (especially bacteria), cells or tissues grown in a culture medium usually for scientific study or medical diagnosis. verb (cultured, culturing) to grow (micro-organisms, cells, tissues, etc) in a culture medium for study.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from Latin cultura, from colere to cherish or practise.


cyber- combining form denoting computers or computer networks, especially the Internet • cyberspace • cybercafe • cyberbabble.
ETYMOLOGY: From cybernetic.


digital adj 1 showing numerical information in the form of a set of digits, rather than by means of a pointer on a dial, eg as on a digital watch. 2 denoting a process or a device that operates by processing information that is supplied and stored in the form of a series of binary digits • digital recording • digital computer. 3 electronics denoting an electronic circuit that responds to and produces signals which at any given time are in one of two possible states. 4 belonging to or involving digits in any way. Compare analogue.


information noun 1 knowledge gained or given; facts; news. Often shortened to info. 2 the communicating or receiving of knowledge. Also as adj • information desk • information centre. 3 especially N Amer directory enquiries. 4 especially telecomm, computing a signal or character which represents data. 5 law an accusation made before a court or magistrate. informational adj.
ETYMOLOGY: 14c: from Latin informatio conception of an idea.


technology noun (technologies) 1 the practical use of scientific knowledge in industry and everyday life. 2 practical sciences as a group. 3 the technical skills and achievements of a particular time in history, of civilization or a group of people. technological adj. technologically adverb. technologist noun someone skilled in technology and its applications.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c: from Greek technologia systematic treatment, from techne 'art' or 'skill'.


information technology noun, computing (abbreviation IT) the use, study or production of a range of technologies (especially computer systems, digital electronics and telecommunications) to store, process and transmit information.


multimedia adj 1 in entertainment, education, etc: involving the use of a combination of different media, eg TV, radio, slides, hi-fi, visual arts. 2 computing said of a computer system: able to present and manipulate data in a variety of forms, eg text, graphics and sound, often simultaneously. singular noun a number of different media taken collectively.


real adj 1 actually or physically existing; not imaginary. 2 actual; true • the real reason. 3 not imitation; genuine; authentic • real leather. 4 a great, important or serious; b deserving to be so called • a real problem. 5 law consisting of or relating to immoveable property, such as land and houses. See also real property. 6 said of income, etc: measured in terms of its buying power rather than its nominal value • in real terms. 7 math involving or containing only real numbers. adverb, N Amer, Scots really; very • real nice. realness noun. for real slang in reality; seriously. get real! originally N Amer slang, usually exclamation be realistic! the real McCoy see under McCoy.
ETYMOLOGY: 15c: from French réel, from Latin realis, from res thing.



Techne -

No exact matches for Techne, but the following may be helpful.
technetium noun, chem (symbol Tc, atomic number 43) a radioactive metallic element that was first produced artificially by bombarding molybdenum with neutrons (now produced from uranium and plutonium), used in nuclear medicine for diagnostic purposes.
ETYMOLOGY: 1940s: Latin, from Greek technetos artificial.


virtual -

virtual adj 1 being so in effect or in practice, but not in name • a virtual state of war. 2 nearly so; almost but not quite • the virtual collapse of the steel industry. 3 computing slang referring or relating to interaction, connection, use, etc via the Internet • pay by virtual money. 4 computing said of memory or storage: appearing to be internal but actually transfer-red a segment at a time as required from (and to) back-up storage into (and out of) the smaller internal memory.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c in sense 1: from Latin virtualis, related to virtue.


virtual world -

cyberpet noun an electronic device that simulates the behaviour and requirements of a pet. Also called virtual pet.
ETYMOLOGY: 1990s.

virtual adj 1 being so in effect or in practice, but not in name • a virtual state of war. 2 nearly so; almost but not quite • the virtual collapse of the steel industry. 3 computing slang referring or relating to interaction, connection, use, etc via the Internet • pay by virtual money. 4 computing said of memory or storage: appearing to be internal but actually transfer-red a segment at a time as required from (and to) back-up storage into (and out of) the smaller internal memory.
ETYMOLOGY: 17c in sense 1: from Latin virtualis, related to virtue.

virtually adverb 1 in practice, though not strictly speaking • was virtually in charge. 2 almost; nearly.

virtual reality noun (abbreviation VR) a computer simulation of a real or artificial environment that gives the user the impression of actually being within the environment and interacting with it, eg by way of a special visor that contains two tiny television screens and special gloves fitted with sensors, which are worn by the user.


visionary adj 1 showing or marked by great foresight or imagination. 2 possible only in the imagination; impracticable; fanciful. 3 capable of seeing supernatural images or apparitions.

Tom Boellstorff talks about "Coming of Age in Second Life"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XkZMXtDEWM


*

Definitions are very fungible and can be also quite varied for any given word, and also change through time (e.g. the word 'virtual' in Chambers has changed a lot in its various editions in the past century or so, and differ from the Apple dictionary definitions)

To the definition of technology above, I would add that technologies often facilitate reproducibility or replication by tools.


Innovations in 'defining,' and generating definitions, are creative.

In what ways is the act of 'defining' a creation of virtuality, or a creation of 'the virtual,' language-wise?


*

In virtual Harbin, with interactive movie realism from our home bath tubs with its correspondent relaxation response, perhaps in REI Glacier Glasses (or the in Oculus Rift goggles), in what ways will we be able to explore kinds of oneness and harmonizing effects that people already actually experience in the Harbin warm pool and while visiting Harbin, for example, and socially, as well?

...

Rare flowers of India: 'Pure Democracy,' Per Rainie and Wellman's "Networked," their argument is specific for Networked Individualism as a new development in social theory vis-a-vis the internet, Whereas Manual Castells brings individualism vis-a-vis communalism into conversation, theoretically - see http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Castells/castells-con6.html - Rainie and Wellman characterize something new between the two, thanks to the information age and the internet.

Jim, and All, great!

On a personal note, I think that your 'Pure Democracy' involving the internet involves an every-vote-counts approach, and that while as a whole (e.g. a given collective vote) they are one ("I would melt into the system losing all semblance of individualism"), each person, or voice, who votes is an individual vote and each voice (your "a thought within the human consciousness") is a significant consciousness. The distributed internet, - accessible via the familiar nodes of laptops, desktops and mobile phones +, - now in all 242 + countries, extends such collective consciousness in the form of group decision-making, and eventually voting (both metaphorically and actually), via communication power, among many other ways.

Per Rainie and Wellman's "Networked," their argument is specific for Networked Individualism as a new development in social theory vis-a-vis the internet. See their chart on page 38 in Chapter 2, distinguishing between Group-Centered Society and Network Individualism. How to come richly into conversation with this chart is something I think we'll find fruitful for this course.

Whereas Manual Castells brings individualism vis-a-vis communalism into conversation, theoretically and sociologically, i.e. as social theory - see http://globetrotter.berkeley.edu/people/Castells/castells-con6.html - Rainie and Wellman characterize something new between the two, thanks to the information age and the internet.

Scott

Hi 'Information Technology and the Network Society' course friends around the world, 

Very nice to see all of you in both Second Life and in a G+ Hangout. 

2nd hour -  

Aparna (India), Swati (India), Jessika (Indonesia), Khushboo (India), myself (SF Bay Area - west coast), Cristian (Brazil), and afterward Bilal/Max (Germany), were all able to meet in the Google + group video Hangout = 7 people. ... which is great and amazing. Sound and image qualities were quite good. Here's the video of this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQ7cBgNnkJY - with more - introductions and conversation - in the second half (accessible here eventually - https://www.youtube.com/WorldUnivandSch).

1st hour - 

Aparna, Swati, Jessika, Khushboo, myself, Cristian, Bilal/Max AND Jim (Massachusetts - East Coast) were all able to meet on Harvard's island in Second Life = 8 people.

You'll find the definition of technology I mentioned at the end of the G+ Hangout here - http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/w/page/30045719/InfoTechSoc1_2010FA - and accessible here - http://socinfotech.pbworks.com/w/page/17175578/FrontPage . 

I invite you to read Chapter 1 of Rainie and Wellman's "Networked" for next Thursday's course meeting beginning at 7am PDT (west coast time). 

And please share a paragraph (toward a certificate) about your 'I.T. and Network Society' research interests and how they might dovetail with this course to - information-technology-and-the-network-society@googlegroups.com - which is asking: 

What is information technology, broadly conceived? How did it develop? Who did it? What has been the process of diffusion into the economy and society? How and why did the Network Society take shape? What of the implications of networks in the Information Age? In this course, we’ll analyze the interaction between society and contemporary information technologies, in a multicultural and comparative perspective. In doing so, we’ll examine what data and evidence are in the social sciences, how it is used, and how it is interpreted (http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2013/09/information-technology-and-network.html). 

And please take this course as an opportunity to write further, weekly or daily even (http://www.blogger.com/ ? - are any of you already blogging), vis-a-vis your various, academic, research questions, and share this in the IT at NS Google Group ... information-technology-and-the-network-society@googlegroups.com ... which, of course, you can then use in your own academic research. 

I hope we can all find ours ways into an academic writing / generativity (in video, too?) modality, as well in this course.  

Regards, 

Scott

...

Foja Mountain Pigeon: Very glad you're joining our 'Information Technology and the Network Society' course beginning on Thursday, September 19th at 7am PDT (west coast USA) while in India, Course logistics, Some advantages of Second Life and other interactive virtual worlds

Hi Eha, and All, 

Very glad you're joining our 'Information Technology and the Network Society' course. You're the tenth person to email that you'd like to participate, and Google + group Hangouts, where we'll meet from 8:10am to 9am PDT (west coast) can accommodate up to 10 people in real time video for free.  And thank you for recently adding yourself to our Google group here - 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!members/information-technology-and-the-network-society - which we'll use and explore for conversation and idea sharing during the semester. And thank you also for adding your SL avatar's name (get avatars here - http://secondlife.com) to the Google Docs' spreadsheet, - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvXsWjm5CIcbdFVaUjdLNUE3dkc5bFhFam9HV0pQOXc&usp=sharing - and looking forward to meeting you on Thursday, September 19th in 'real time.'

Arna (a gmail address will probably make things easier) and Khush, 

You're welcome to participate in this "Information Technology and the Network Society" course, as well, but I'd ask you to wait possibly please until 8:20a PDT (west coast time) to join the G+ Hangouts in video. Each Hangout will be broadcast (and recorded), and Google just introduced a Q&A tool (for up to 1 million concurrent users) for Hangouts, and you may also be able to converse in text chat as the 11th and 12th people in this course in the Google + Hangouts. If not all ten people, who have already first registered for the course, attend on any given Thursday, say by 8:20am, then feel free to join the G+ hangout for interactive conversation possibilities (via the Conference Method -http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_Method_of_Teaching_and_Learning - which, as a beginning, involves people talking with one another, as a far-reaching mode of learning and idea generation).  

Please add yourselves to the google group and the spreadsheets above, as well as get a SL avatar. Tomorrow, Thursday, we'll meet on Harvard's virtual island in Second Life at 7am PDT (west coast time) -

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Berkman/165/212/25

 -  for the first hour, and in a Google + Hangout for the second hour at 8:10am PDT, accessible here -https://plus.google.com/u/0/115890623333932577910/posts - and for which I'll also send an invitation. You'll find all this course information, and much more, on this page - http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2013/09/information-technology-and-network.html. 

All, active, course, participants' email addresses are above. 

*


Hi Jessika, and All,

I'm sorry Second Life seems to be blocked by Indonesian internet filters.

Keep trying at different times for the next while. Neal Stephenson's brainchild (in his novel "Snow Crash") of SL is a) stimulating imagination-wise, b) buildable, c) has voice and text for 40, d) with avatar communication being fascinating (e.g. anonymous, pseudonymous and actual names and information about our real life selves), and e) is 'other' enough to make it interesting in the digital age, and f) such virtual worlds will develop. Holding the course on Harvard's island has advantages as well.

It's great to have, especially, these two different forums for the conference method.

And, ITatNS people, please add your avatar names to the spreadsheet, and test Second Life for yourselves. I was actually also have problems teleporting to Harvard's island earlier today from within SL, but was able to search under "World" in the menu for "Berkman" and then successfully teleport. SL has its 'weather' but it's also interesting.

These two venues are really valuable as teaching spaces (partly because they generally work without too many glitches and they're free).

And thanks for adding your avatar name, Jessika. Please add your avatar names here, All, so we can find each other - https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvXsWjm5CIcbdFVaUjdLNUE3dkc5bFhFam9HV0pQOXc&usp=sharing .

Keep me/us posted how access proceeds, Jessika. It would be great to be able to converse in both 'spaces.'

See you all Thursday from 7am-9am west coast time.

Regards,
Scott



*

Sphere and Cris,

Sphere, and all, there is a Second Life group for this course called "Society and Information Technology," or similar, from previous years, and please join it, and/or I'll point people to it tomorrow from within SL. Cris, turn down the music on Harvard's island in SL for now with your volume button, and we'll seek to find the controls for this tomorrow.  Jess how's access to SL in Indonesia going?

All, please begin to read "Networked" (MIT 2012), the first chapter of which you'll find here - http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/networked - and here, toward the bottom, of the main course page - http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2013/09/information-technology-and-network.html. 

And please, all, procure or order the book "Networked" and proceed with reading the chapters that follow the first one. 

Here, too, is the 'Network Society,' wiki, Subject page at World University and School - 

http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Network_Society - for us to teach to (e.g. to your web camera, like Sal Khan does), share resources or ideas, and with which also to innovate (among many related-to-this-course wiki Subject pages at WUaS - http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Network_Society#World_University_and_School_Links). 

On Thursday, in the first hour, we'll get connected, and begin to explore "Networked," in terms of the conference method, and introduce ourselves (hopefully, in SL, via group texting a fair amount in the beginning, rather than using voice), and in the second hour (in a G+ Hangout), we'll begin to examine how the information society began, and where we all would like to head with this course, bringing the book "Networked" into conversation with this course on "Information Technology and the Network Society."

Curiously, and unfortunately, and also unusually, I didn't have internet access on my laptop this morning, but am looking forward toward the course with you and us all meeting tomorrow together in cyberspace.

See you soon :) 

Best,

Scott

--

- Scott MacLeod - Founder & President 

- http://scottmacleod.com/worlduniversityandschool.htm 

- World University and School - like Wikipedia with MIT OpenCourseWare (not endorsed by MIT OCW) - incorporated as a nonprofit effective April 2010. 

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Crested ibis: The beauty of the Conference Method, 'Information Technology and the Network Society' online course, Thursdays, 7am-9am PDT (west coast), Flourishing, academic generativity, free thinking, an emergent conversation, and long term idea-exchange, are goals of this course, These information technologies are amazing, and in real time, - and we are all all over the world!

The beauty of the conference method (http://worlduniversity.wikia.com/wiki/Conference_Method_of_Teaching_and_Learning) which we'll engage in this course, as well as the digital technologies we're planning to use in this course as 'classrooms' - SL and G+ Hangouts - are their real-time interactivity potential. So while I hope to produce videos in one hour of the course in the G+ Hangouts section for Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/WorldUnivandSch), interactive participation is what I'm aiming for course-wise.

This course is actually quite relaxed (and focuses on fascinating ideas), and you're welcome to engage it in way you would like, - academically especially. (I hope we'll all be enjoyably writing about what interests us in "Information Technology and the Network Society" in general, whether in blogs, G+ Profile, academic papers, preparation for dissertations, etc. as well). Flourishing academic generativity, free thinking, an emergent conversation, and long term idea-exchange, are goals of this course.



In addition to reading "Networked: The New Social Operating System" (MIT 2013), this course asks:

What is information technology, broadly conceived? How did it develop? Who did it? What has been the process of diffusion into the economy and society? How and why did the Network Society take shape? What of the implications of networks in the Information Age? In this course, we’ll analyze the interaction between society and contemporary information technologies, in a multicultural and comparative perspective. In doing so, we’ll examine what data and evidence are in the social sciences, how it is used, and how it is interpreted.


http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2013/09/information-technology-and-network.html.

Hi Cris, Icha, and All, 

Thank you, Cris, in Sao Paolo, Brazil, and Icha, in Varanasi, India, for your emails and welcome to 'Information Technology and the Network Society' course! 

COURSE TIME (after much communication about this among us): 

We'll meet Thursdays from 7:00am-9:00am PDT (SF Bay Area), which is 9:00pm-11:00pm in Yogyakarta, Indonesia (WIB).  

Harvard's virtual island SLURL, where we'll meet from 7am-8am Pacific Daylight Time (SF Bay Area) this Thursday, September 19th in two days, is - http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Berkman/165/212/25. Click on this link and log in to SL and you should land where we'll meet. (From within Second Life, search on the word "Berkman" (and nothing else) and click 'Teleport.' 

Then, from 8:10 am to 9 am PDT, we'll meet in a Google + group video Hangout accessible here - https://plus.google.com/u/0/115890623333932577910/posts - and I'll also send us all a G+ invitation for this. Please be patient on Thursday with both 'class rooms' as we become familiar with these technologies, and don't hesitate to email with access questions.  We'll soon connect with each other in both cyber-places and be able to help each other, as well. 

WHAT IS YOUR SL AVATAR NAME? Please email me it.

By time zone, with avatar name, from earliest to latest (please check and let me know of errors) ...

Please add your avatar name in this Google Docs' spreadsheet -  https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AvXsWjm5CIcbdFVaUjdLNUE3dkc5bFhFam9HV0pQOXc&usp=sharing .

Scott - Aphilo Aarde - 

San Francisco (U.S.A. - California)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 7:00:00 AM

PDT

UTC-7 hours

Ge - avatar name? -

Chicago (U.S.A. - Illinois)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 9:00:00 AM

CDT

UTC-5 hours

Ji - avatar name? - time zone? 

Cris - avatar name? -

São Paulo (Brazil - São Paulo)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 11:00:00 AM

BRT

UTC-3 hours

Bila - avatar name? -  

Islamabad (Pakistan)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 7:00:00 PM

PKT

UTC+5 hours

Swetha - avatar name? -

New Delhi (India - Delhi)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 7:30:00 PM

IST

UTC+5:30 hours

Parne - avatar name? - 

New Delhi (India - Delhi)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 7:30:00 PM

IST

UTC+5:30 hours

Icha - avatar name? - Varanasi, India

Varanasi (India - Uttar Pradesh)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 7:30:00 PM

IST

UTC+5:30 hours

Jess - avatar name again? -

Yogykarta (Indonesia - Jakarta Special Capital Region)

Thursday, September 19, 2013 at 9:00:00 PM

WIB

UTC+7 hours

Here's a time converter - http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/converter.html.

These information technologies are amazing, and in real time, - and we are all all over the world!

(Again, please join this group, All - 

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!members/information-technology-and-the-network-society - and all practical course information, as it grows is here - available http://worlduniversityandschool.blogspot.com/2013/09/information-technology-and-network.html). 

See you online this Thursday at 7:00 am PDT on Harvard's island in Second Life. 

Regards, 

Scott

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