home cooked theory

e-waste

Kristian says: “What struck me was the still existing use value of the objects. Surely if they were Very Useful two years ago they are still Very Useful today (an old car is still useful, an old wheelbarrow is useful etc etc), but these electronic things have lost some critical value that eludes me (beyond [...]

e-waste

Kate says: “This is the stuff that’s never even come out of the box since I bought my laptop, and this is what the laptop replaced; it hasn’t been turned on since. What does one need with 5 different AC adaptors?”

The e-waste meme

Despite being paid to study “new media” technology I have an aversion to buying it very often. I’ve only read a little bit about what goes on behind the scenes in producing digital gadgets and even this much makes me worried. I don’t like contributing to the possibly corrupt and certainly dangerous conditions faced by [...]

Cultural work and creative biographies symposium

Wednesday April 1st 2009
The Open University, Walton Hall, Milton Keynes MK7 6AA
Michael Young Rooms: 1, 2, 3 & 4
Organisers
Rosalind Gill, Centre for Citizenship Identities and Governance (CCIG), The Open University
Mark Banks, Department of Sociology/CRESC, The Open University
Stephanie Taylor, Department of Psychology/CCIG, The Open University
The last decade has seen a huge growth of interest in cultural [...]

Rural broadband

At the end of last week I spent two days at the University of Wollongong listening to a range of stakeholders and researchers talk about broadband. The workshop was organised around the ideas of self, place and “making do” and was an effort to talk about the cultural reality of communications infrastructure in non-metro areas [...]

Glocalising sex and gender: Travel bursaries

The workshop I mentioned yesterday has just announced that there are 4 grants available for students wishing to attend the workshop, but who usually reside outside of the Sydney urban area. There is a draft of the program here for anyone who might be thinking of going.
To apply for a grant, you will have [...]

Phew

That was close. Lots of deadlines to start the year, but now they’re mostly out of the way I can take a minute to catch up with myself. It’s probably obvious that since moving to the beach I’ve been quite reluctant to stay inside blogging after hours, with visitors and the magnificent Leonard Cohen entertaining [...]