[ecrea] 4th Annual Intersections and Intersections Conference (UWS)

4th Annual Intersections and Intersections Conference
School of Humanities and Communication Arts
University of Western Sydney
19-20 June, 2012

Venue: Building BB, Werrington South (Penrith Campus)

Full program details: http://www.uws.edu.au/postgradconf
(Attendance is free but please register by 14 June)

The School of Humanities and Communication Arts (UWS) presents 
'Interventions and Intersections', a two-day interdisciplinary 
postgraduate conference for School-based Honours and Higher Degree 
Research (HDR) candidates.

Designed to bring research students together from across the various 
disciplines of the School, the conference will offer an opportunity 
to present research in a friendly and supportive environment while 
giving students the chance to gain valuable feedback from academic staff 
and peers. Recognising that scholarship is largely a 'conversation of 
ideas', the event seeks to foster a collegial environment of 
scholarly exchange in order to enhance students' research experiences.

Participation in the conference is open to all and is an important 
feature of research training offered by the School of Humanities 
and Communication Arts.

Keynote Speakers
19 June

Assistant Professor Ulises A. Mejías

'Liberation Technology and the Arab Spring'

While the tendency in the West to refer to the Arab Spring movements as 'Twitter Revolutions' has passed, a liberal discourse of 'liberation technology' (information and communication technologies that empower social movements) continues to influence our 
ideas about networked participation. Unfortunately, this utopian discourse tends to circumvent any discussion 
of the capitalist market structure in which these tools operate. Dr 
Mejías 
suggests that liberation technologies may in fact increase opportunities for political engagement, but that they simultaneously create certain kinds of 
inequalities. To counter these inequalities, he proposes a theoretical framework for locating alternative practices of identity formation and participation.

Ulises A. 
Mejías is director of the Integrated Media graduate program and Assistant Professor in the Communication Studies 
Department at the State University of New York, College at Oswego. His book on Digital Networks is scheduled for publication in Fall of 2012 by the University of Minnesota Press.

Lisa Matthews, Director, Australia on Trial (2012)

'The Challenges, Constraints and Unexpected Joys in Making History 
Entertaining for Television'

In using examples of my work, I  will discuss the intellectual and 
practical concerns in realising history to the screen from the research 
through scripting, production and post production.  In adapting material 
there are many creative dilemmas - what to include/exclude, who's point 
of view to tell the story and most importantly the delicate dance 
between the entertainment value of the story and the allegiance to its 
factual basis. I will screen excerpts from OUTRAGE AT MOUNT RENNIE from 
the recently broadcast Australia on Trial series on ABC Television in 
April, Darwin's Brave New World, Rogue Nation (Episode Two) and Rosie's 
Secret.

Lisa Matthews has worked in the film and television industry in 
Australia and Britain for twenty five years. Her passion is unearthing 
untold stories from Australia's past. She has produced, written and 
directed several award winning short films, dramas and documentaries 
including Rosie's Secret, The Shadow of Mary Poppins, In Search of 
Bony, Art House, Ten Pound Poms, Rogue Nation, Darwin's Brave New 
World and most recently the Australia on Trial series. Her films have 
screened in local and international festivals and broadcasters include 
ABC and SBS Television, Channel Nine and THE COMEDY Channel in 
Australia; RTE Ireland, BBC and BBC2 London, ARTSWORLD UK, CBC Canada 
and AVRO The Netherlands.

Lisa is currently writing two feature film scripts and 
commences production at the end of the year for a television 
series Daughters of the Dragon to be filmed in China.


20 June

Dr Ros Bandt

'Acoustic Spaces: Site Specific Approaches in Recent Sounding 
Artworks, Medusa Dreaming, Blue Gold, Tracings'

Every Place is an acoustic space. How do we design work which brings the 
auditory sense to a new experience? What are the intersections and 
interactions between people, spaces and ideas? Ros will answer these 
questions with reference to three large recent works she has 
been creating, touring and recording in Australia, Greece, Turkey, 
Germany and Japan at a point where they are all being published on CD. 
How much can we really capture?

Ros Bandt is Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Historical and 
Philosophical Studies (SHAPS), University of Melbourne. Since 1977 she 
has pioneered 'sounding' unusual acoustic sites, audience interactive 
installations, spatial music, sound sculptures, sound playgrounds, free 
music systems and curated large scale dynamic collaborative events. Her 
numerous books and writings on sound are well known. She founded the 
award winning web-based online gallery and data base the Australian 
Sound Design Project. www.sounddesign.unimelb.edu.au

Associate Professor Colin Harvey

'Transmedia Memory Flows'

Though exact definitions of the term remain contentious, 'transmedia 
storytelling' is generally agreed to refer to processes of connected 
narrative-making across multiple media forms. Such forms might include 
novels, films, video games, comic books, websites, and varieties of 
User-Driven Content. Central to transmedia storytelling is the role 
of memory, the processes by which other elements of the storyworld are 
either recalled with fidelity, forgotten or deliberately misremembered. 
In this paper I will utilise Manuel de Landa's philosophy alongside 
insights from the field of memory studies to identify transmedia memory 
flows in relation to my own professional work as a video 
game story designer and licensed fiction writer.

Dr Colin B Harvey is a British writer and academic specialising in 
memory, fantasy and transmedia storytelling. He has worked as 
a freelance video game story designer for Sony and written licensed 
tie-in fiction for the Doctor Who and Highlander ranges. He is currently 
an Adjunct Associate Professor in the School of Humanities and 
Communication Arts, University of Western Sydney.


Please contact Sally Macarthur <(s.macarthur /at/ uws.edu.au) 
<mailto:(s.macarthur /at/ uws.edu.au)>> (Communication Arts) or David Walton 
<(d.walton /at/ uws.edu.au) <mailto:(d.walton /at/ uws.edu.au)>>  (Humanities) for 
more information.

--
Ned Rossiter
Professor of Communication
School of Humanities and Communication Arts
University of Western Sydney
Sth Werrington Campus
Locked Bag 1797
Penrith NSW 2751
Australia
+ 61 2 9852 5196 (tel)
+ 61 2 9852 5424 (fax)
(n.rossiter /at/ uws.edu.au) <mailto:(n.rossiter /at/ uws.edu.au)>