Notices: General Announcements
Volume 11, Number 3
May, 2001
Visual Arts Day: November 15
Please visit http://www.risingartist.com/visualartsday.htm to learn more about Visual Arts Day. There is a grass roots movement to establish November 15th (Georgia O'Keeffe's Birthday) as an international day to recognize the visual arts. Presently no such day exists.
November 15, 2000 was proclaimed Visual Arts Day in Wisconsin, USA, by Governor Tommy Thompson. Now Secretary Thompson is on President Bush's cabinet, and the chances of a Presidential Proclamation are high. Simultaneously, we are encouraging support from individual countries and the United Nations.
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Volunteer for Africa
Campus California TG is a new non-profit organization offering programs where participants of all different nationalities and backgrounds come together to learn about our global community and to take actions that have a positive impact on the world.
The first program which will start at CCTG is the Development Instructor Program. A Development Instructor is a volunteer who, after six months of training, travels to and works at a development project in Africa, Asia, or South America. The program is fourteen months long and is divided into three distinct segments: six months of training at CCTG, six months of development work in Africa, and two months of information work back at CCTG. During the first part of the program, participants will live, work, and study at CCTG, situated in the mountains of northern California, in an area of great natural beauty. The natural environment is of prime importance for CCTG. During these six months, each participant will prepare, together with teammates and teachers, to be personally, practically, and theoretically ready for the challenges awaiting in Africa. The first team will, among other things, learn Portuguese prior to their departure for Mozambique.
For the second part of the program, the group will go to Mozambique, Africa, in September 2001. They will work as Development Instructors in Africa for six months. The team will work together with the International Humana People to People Movement running a variety of projects designed to improve the living conditions for some of the poorest people on the planet. Some of the projects are as follows:
CHILD AID
A Development Instructor working in one of the Child Aid projects would organize the community to build a school and get it running, teach children, and help adults in the community to start up parent committees as well as all sorts of childrens clubs, ranging from sports, to the advancement of science and technology, to the advancement of democracy and human rights, etc. Furthermore, the Child Aid projects support families in their own efforts to improve their lives, by building latrines, planting trees, building wells and firewood saving stoves, etc.
TCE
TCE (Total Control of the Epidemic) is a new strategy and program to combat the spread of AIDS. AIDS is threatening to kill millions and leave millions of orphans in Africa. The Development Instructor will work in the establishing phase of this program, will combat AIDS by spreading knowledge and awareness, and will organize whole communities in the battle.
CHILDREN'S TOWN
A Children's Town is a place where orphans live together without parents. In a Children's Town project, the Development Instructors would work at a school for street kids, work with the local teachers, and run many extra-curricular school programs. Often, the development instuctor will act as a surrogate parent, nurturing children of all ages, working in the fields with them to grow vegetables, and helping them to acquire food, clothing, healthcare, and an education.
FARMING
A Development Instructor working at one of the Farming projects will teach farmers about economy, how to budget, how to organize and plan in order to improve the yield of their crops, as well as help to form clubs to better market their products. Farmers will learn to work together in cooperation, and this will in turn strengthen the economy of the community.
CLOTHES SALE
Through the Clothes Sale projects, the Development Instructor will raise funds to support all of these projects. In addition, local people will have access to affordable second-hand clothing sent in from Europe and the USA.
For the third period of the program, the Development Instructor team will return to CCTG for two months and hold seminars at different schools in the USA about what they accomplished in Africa. They will also do what is needed to get the next Development Instructor team started.
CCTG is part of an international movement of institutes and colleges in Europe and the USA that for years have been offering Development Instuctor programs. CCTG is a partner with the Humana People to People movement that carries out development work on four continents, and it also belongs to a world-wide family of institutes that are training and placing Development Instructors. With these connections, CCTG has access to a very rich and resource filled web of experiences.
What makes CCTG unique is that no prior experience is needed to participate. Each all-inclusive team is made up of people from many backgrounds and nationalities, which makes the experience more enriching for each participant, as well as for the people in Africa who will recieve our assistance.
For more information call 530-467-4082, visit our web page at http://www.cctg.org, or e-mail info@cctg.org.
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New England Complex Systems Institute: Managing Complex Organizations
Managing Complex Organizations in a Complex World:
Leadership in Rapidly Changing Business Environments--
Learning and Adapting in Time
NECSI Executive Education Programs co-Sponsors:
Pegasus Communications
Society for Organizational Learning
SophiaBank (part of SoftBank), Japan
May 31-June 1, 2001
Charles Hotel
Harvard Square
Cambridge, MASpeakers:
Yaneer Bar-Yam, NECSI and Harvard University
Tom Petzinger, Jr., Author, The New Pioneers, and CEO LaunchCyte
Peter Senge, Society for Organizational Learning and MIT Sloan School of Management
John Sterman, MIT Sloan School of ManagementThis is a two-day practical experience on working with chaos and complexity--in the global economy, in national markets, in business-to-business interactions, and within the organization itself. We will use new insights and concepts from the field of complex systems to discuss innovative ways to survive and thrive in today's new/old economy.
Information and registration: http://necsi.org/education/exec/
Objectives:
We will identify the key properties of successful complex organizations--their structure, dynamics, information flows, and relationships--and the essential roles of leadership in responding to the rapidly changing complex world. Participants will leave prepared to pay attention to new information, ask new questions, make better decisions--to identify the right time to adapt quickly and when to stay as they are.
Approach:
The presenters will interact with participants in exploring the key concepts of managing organizations as complex systems. Questions are welcome, and discussion time will be a key part of the program. Speakers will present a cutting-edge perspective on managing business as it is: human and complex.
Audience:
This seminar is created for key decision makers and those who advise them: executives, senior management, public administrators, management consultants, organizational development professionals, and business educators.
Results:
At the end of the seminar, participants will be able to:
Identify key success factors in rapid and early adaptation to changes in the business and political climate
Value critical organizational connections--know when to create them and when to cut them
Gain insights and skills to make better decisions in uncertain situations
Manage the use of new tools--including simulation and system modeling--to analyze the behavior of complex organizations.
Speakers:
Yaneer Bar-Yam is President of the New England Complex Systems Institute, Chairman of the International Conference on Complex Systems, Managing Editor of InterJournal, and author of Dynamics of Complex Systems (1997), the only textbook to address the entire field of complex systems. Bar-Yam uses complex systems concepts to understand how organizations and patterns of behavior arise, evolve, adapt, and how we can use multiscale representations to relate fine and large scale, short and long term perspectives. Applications are to the relationship of structure and function and meeting complex challenges at all scales.
Thomas Petzinger, Jr., the author of The New Pioneers: The Men and Women Who Are Transforming the Workplace and Marketplace, spent 22 years at The Wall Street Journal as a weekly columnist, beat reporter, investigative reporter, bureau chief, and Washington economics editor. From 1995 to 1999, he wrote the paper's "Front Lines" column, a weekly exploration of entrepreneurial ideas and management trends. He also edited the paper's special edition for Jan. 1, 2000. Petzinger's earlier books are Oil & Honor: The Texaco-Pennzoil Wars (Putnam, 1987) and Hard Landing: The Epic Contest for Power and Profits that Plunged the Airlines into Chaos (Random House, 1995). Petzinger is applying his knowledge of complex systems in the new economy as founder, director, and CEO for LaunchCyte, a biotechnology incubator.
Peter M. Senge is a Senior Lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is Chairperson of the Society for Organizational Learning (SoL), a global community of corporations, researchers, and consultants dedicated to the "interdependent development of people and their institutions." He is the author of the widely acclaimed book, The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization (1990) and co-author of three field books: The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization (1994), The Dance of Change: The Challenges to Sustaining Momentum in Learning Organizations (1999), and Schools That Learn: A Fifth Discipline Fieldbook for Educators, Parents, and Everyone Who Cares About Education (2000). Harvard Business Review has identified The Fifth Discipline as one of the seminal management books of the past 75 years. The Journal of Business Strategy named Dr. Senge as one of the 24 people who had the greatest influence on business strategy over the last 100 years.
John D. Sterman, Standish Professor of Management at the MIT Sloan School, author of Business Dynamics: Systems Thinking and Modeling for a Complex World (2000), specializes in systems thinking for corporate and public policy, behavioral decision theory, nonlinear dynamics, and economic dynamics. Sterman uses system dynamics--a framework for understanding complex situations--to examine how people approach complex decisions and discover why dysfunctional dynamics persist in organizations. Using management "flight simulators" that Sterman and his students have developed, managers can design effective policies to improve the long-term performance of their organizations. Recent applications include the semiconductor, automotive, and computer industries; and issues from growth strategy to process improvement and product development.
For more information and registration see:
http://necsi.org/education/exec Executive Education Programs
New England Complex Systems Institute
24 Mt. Auburn St.
Cambridge, MA 02138
http://necsi.orgBack
How To Be a Robot
Holy Robots! Internet Artist Traffics In Electronic Experiences!
Who wants to be a robot? Everyone does, of course, or so thinks Tim Boucher, architect of a groundbreaking new cultural experiment, entitled "How to be a Robot". Combining fine art sensibility with sci-fi sensationalism, this twenty-one year old internet artist is turning the worlds of art and commerce on their heads, selling "Electronic Experiences" at such venues as www.eBay.com, www.amazon.com, and on his own website, www.HolyRobot.com.
Smashing the barriers that have long kept fine art hidden away in galleries and museums, Boucher is hawking his wares directly to the buying public on the sidewalks of the information superhighway. But wares they are not, for Boucher isn't selling any physical art objects. Rather, he is allowing people to exchange money for the "experience" of his art, which takes the form of transient internet spectacles, lasting a few short days and then vanishing completely.
Boucher's work innovates in an area where traditional visual artists have only taken perfunctory steps. "The contemporary art world is surprisingly reluctant to plunge into computers and the internet," says Boucher, an art-school dropout turned professional web-designer & software-instructor.
With auction prices ranging from a few pennies to about a hundred dollars, Boucher is finding that ordinary people with a flair for the fantastic can exhibit a great deal of interest in fine art. "Our culture tries to tell us that art is for a wealthy, educated elite, but I believe that people from all walks of life ought to be able to appreciate and afford artistic expression. And the internet is changing all that," claims Boucher, a self-professed net-addict.
"How to Be a Robot" also appeals to the prevailing futuristic undercurrent of contemporary pop culture, fueled by millenialism and the accelerating pace of technology. Perhaps hoping someday to become a full-fledged robot himself, Boucher informs, "People need to re-contexualize current media to pave the way for new technologies and new ways of thinking. I'm waiting for the day when people can live virtually their whole lives electronically."
For more information, visit http://www.holyrobot.com, email holyrobot@hotmail.com, or call Tim Boucher at (410) 728-7869.
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Gen Art/Nokia Styles 2001
Gen Art: The Leading Non-Profit Organization Dedicated to Showcasing the Best Emerging Talent
The Gen Art/Nokia Styles 2001 fashion show rocked New York at the magnificent Hammerstein Ballroom on Tuesday, April 10th. Emceed by the lovely and talented international supermodel Eva Herzigova, the show featured the looks created by 25 finalists culled from over 400 design submissions received from more than 10 countries and 28 U.S. States. The winners were:
Nokia Design Vision Award for Women's Sportswear:Allison Barr (Vancouver, British Columbia)
Nokia Design Vision Award for Menswear:Kamkyl by Douglas & Yvonne Mandel (Westmount, Quebec)
Swarovski Design Vision Award for Women's Eveningwear:Doris Josovitz (Boston, Massachusetts)
Swarovski Design Vision Award for Accessories:Mads & Mads by Gretchen Hambly (New York, NY)
Gen Art Design Vision Award for Women's Avant-Garde:dj gramann (Minneapolis, Minnesota)
Beefeater Bold New Spirit Award:Tracy Cross (Northhampton, England)
All of the winners received awards and $5,000 checks from their corporate supporter. Beefeater provided $10,000 to its winner.
Joining Title Partner Nokia, and Swarovski Crystal and Beefeater Gin, were InStyle, Modern Elixirs by John Paul Mitchell Systems and Lancôme. IMG Models was the exclusive modeling agency and supplied all of the show's runway talent. The excellent show and after-party music was provided by Onda Productions.
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University of Toronto Graduate Seminar: Understanding McLuhan
The McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology, University of Toronto, announces its first Graduate Summer Seminar: C&T 1005, "Understanding McLuhan"
Instructor: Liss Jeffrey, PhD adjunct faculty, McLuhan Program
Associate Instructor: Ira Nayman, PhD
( This seminar will draw upon the instructor's book manuscript and an extensive archive of materials gathered to support research into "The Heat and the Light of Marshall McLuhan: A Reappraisal," a 1998 McGill University doctoral thesis in Communications. A McLuhan reading room is available, and a small collection of rare materials will also be provided. Support for student production will be supplied from the byDesign eLab, incubated at the McLuhan Program in 1997, and now independent.)Thirteen sessions, Thursday June 14 through Tuesday July 31
Class meets on Tuesdays, 6-9 pm and Thursdays, 7-9 pm.
Thursdays: Lectures and seminar discussion
Tuesdays: Screenings, discussions, probes, and web work. Participation in online web and email forum will be expected.
This intensive course is designed to acquaint students and researchers with the life, works, and relevance of Marshall McLuhan (1911-1980) by retracing the development of his ideas, working through certain core texts, situating his contribution within the Toronto School of Communications, and interrogating his influence on scholarship and popular culture. The course will consist of lectures, seminar and online forum discussions, screenings, and internet and web based research and production. Registered graduate students, visiting faculty, and scholars are welcome with permission of the instructor. A course materials fee will be applied. Serious auditors are welcome, with permission.
Note: This is a multidisciplinary course, and thus familiarity with core concepts in communications, culture, media and technology studies is not presumed. The instructor's policy is to adjust course content depending on the background of the participants. Please come to the first class ready to discuss your academic and professional background and research interests.
Instructor Biography: Liss Jeffrey, PhD
Dr Liss Jeffrey holds an undergraduate degree from Harvard, a masters degree from York, and a PhD in communications from McGill University. A McLuhan scholar and former producer with CityTV, she teaches graduate seminars as an adjunct professor at the University of Toronto's McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology. She has published in the 1990s on policy implications of the impact of technological change on Canada's culture and identity, on the private television industry, and on audiences for Canada's cultural industries. In 1997, she initiated the original visionary speaker series "Canada byDesign: Building a knowledge nation using new media and policy", and with her team at the McLuhan Program and byDesign eLab, she launched the Electronic Commons web site and experiment in digital democracy. Other visionary speaker projects included PanAm byDesign and the Newmedia forum, a citizen consultation on new media policy for the CRTC in 1998. The eLab and its many partners, including McLuhan Program and Ryerson University, have continued this work into the eCommons/Agora Electronique, which last fall won a three year matching pilot grant from HRDC's Community Learning Networks Office of Learning Technologies program to power the development of a national non-profit citizen and community network (http://www.ecommons.net). Jeffrey has served since 1999 as Canada's expert to the Council of Europe's Cultural Policies and New Information Technologies for the New Millennium working group, and has just finished editing and writing for Vital Links for a Knowledge Culture: Public Access to New Information and Communications Technologies (forthcoming 2001, Council of Europe). She has spoken by invitation in North America, Europe, Japan, and China, sits on the Steering Committee of the U of T's Knowledge Media Design Institute, and also serves as the Executive Liaison, Research and Academic for the McLuhan Program.
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General Announcements
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