[rohrpost] International School on Digital Transformation

[Cornelia Sollfrank]

International School on Digital Transformation
Porto, Portugal
University of Porto and the University of Texas at Austin
July 19-25, 2009

http://colab.ic2.utexas.edu/dm/international-school/

Applications are now open for the first International School on  
Digital Transformation, to be held July 19-24, 2009, at the University  
of Porto in Porto, Portugal. The School is accepting applications from  
advanced students and recent graduates from around the world with an  
interest in how digital technologies are changing societies and the  
world as a whole.

The International School on Digital Transformation will be an  
intensive six-day residential program, conducted in English and  
bringing together emerging and established scholars and professionals  
from around the world. During the week-long session, innovators in  
digital communications will serve as teachers and mentors, presenting  
their current projects and research and participating in discussions  
with advanced students and professionals beginning careers in the  
field. Presenters and students will be regarded as peers during the  
School.

The School will focus on these themes:

• Democratic transformations of society through digital media
• Innovations in transparency and political participation using new  
online tools
• Grassroots civic activities using digital technologies
• Building effective communities with the Internet
• Reaching out to new users with mobile and online technologies
• Prospects for digital communication in developing regions
• Digital arts and culture in a globalized, online world

The goals of the International School include:

•  Combining lectures on current research and innovation with  
practical experience, using accessible, low-cost digital technologies
•  Providing an informal venue for sharing expertise, perspectives,  
and best practices and for mentoring advanced students
•  Fostering a sustainable network of scholars and activists in the  
field of digital technology, communication and social change

Program

The basic daily schedule will consist of one 90-minute session of  
lecture and discussion in the morning: free time for teachers and  
students to interact, converse and explore the city in the afternoon;  
and two more 90-minute lecture and discussion sessions in the evening,  
folowed by a communal meal.

The confirmed speakers for the International School on Digital  
Transformation include:

     * Sunil Abraham
       Director of Policy at the Center for Internet and Society,  
Bangalore, India; and current board member of Mahiti Infotech
     * Patricia Aufderheide
       Professor, School of Communication, American University;  
director,
       Center for Social Media at American University
     * Warigia Bowman
       Assistant Professor, Department of Public Policy Leadership,
       University of Mississippi
     * Fiorella De Cindio
       Associate Professor, Computer and Information Science Department,
       University of Milan
     * Martha Fuentes-Bautista
       Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, University of
       Massachusetts at Amherst
     * Stephanie Hankey/Marek Tuszynski (tentative)
       Co-founders and directors, Tactical Technology Collective
     * Lisa Nakamura (associate faculty)
       Professor, Institute of Communication Research; Director, Asian
       American Studies Program, University of Illinois at Urbana- 
Champaign
     * Tapan Parikh
       Assistant Professor, School of Information, University of  
California
       at Berkeley
     * Tiago Peixoto
       Researcher, European University Institute, Florence, Italy
     * Alison Powell
       SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute, Oxford  
University
     * Andrew Rasiej
       Founder of Personal Democracy Forum and techPresident
     * Nicholas Reville
       Executive director, Participatory Culture Foundation
     * Scott Robinson
       Professor, Department of Anthropology, Universidad Autónoma  
Metropolitana
     * Jorge Martins Rosa
       Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Sciences;  
Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, New University of Lisbon
     * Christian Sandvig
       Associate Professor, Department of Communication; faculty member,
       Project on Public Policy and Advanced Communication Technology,
       University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
     * Doug Schuler
       Program Director, Public Sphere Project, an initiative of  
Computer
       Professionals for Social Responsibility
     * Leslie Regan Shade
       Associate Professor, Department of Communication Studies,  
Concordia University
     * Maripaz Silva (associate faculty)
     * Laura Stein
       Assistant Professor, Radio-Television-Film Department,  
University of
       Texas at Austin
     * Siva Vaidhyanathan
       Associate Professor, University of Virginia, Media Studies and  
Law;
       Fellow, Institute for the Future of the Book
     * Katrin Verclas
       Co-founder and editor of Mobileactive.org

The International School on Digital Transformation is a program of the  
University of Texas Austin-Portugal Colaboratory, or CoLab. The co- 
directors of the School are Drs. Sharon Strover and Karen Gustafson,  
and Gary Chapman, of the University of Texas at Austin.

The School will be held at the Rectory, a building of the University  
of Porto in the center of the city. Student housing will consist of  
nearby hotels, and the cost of the School will include a shared hotel  
room, two meals per day (breakfast and dinner) and the program itself.  
The week will also include a cultural activity offered to all School  
participants.

The estimated cost of the International School on Digital  
Transformation will be between €300 and €400. Travel to Porto,  
Portugal, is not supported; students must find and pay for their own  
travel to Porto.

The student application, and more specific information for students,  
are available at this link. <http://colab.ic2.utexas.edu/dm/international-school/isdt-student-registration-page/ 
 >

Porto, Portugal

Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1996, Porto is known for  
its spectacular architecture and medieval alleyways, and it is also  
compact, allowing visitors to easily explore the central city on foot.  
Porto is on the Douro River and also near the Atlantic Ocean. It is  
famous for its port wine from the inland Portuguese wine region along  
the Douro River valley.

During the free afternoons, students and teachers may explore the  
sidewalk café culture on Santa Catarina Street, a nearby pedestrian  
shopping area, or walk across the Dom Luís I Bridge spanning the Douro  
River to the promenade, restaurants, and port houses in Vila Nova de  
Gaia, directly opposite central Porto. Short river cruises may be  
taken in barcos rabelos, flat-bottomed boats traditionally used to  
ferry shipments of port wine.

While Porto is famous for its ancient Roman ramparts and Gothic  
churches, it is also home to the Casa da Música concert hall, a superb  
example of modern architecture, finished in 2005, that has become an  
icon of the city. The Serralves Museum is a major cultural institution  
which hosts rotating exhibitions of contemporary art and which  
features a world-class garden.

In the late evenings, Porto hosts a thriving clubbing culture, and the  
city’s nightspots attract DJs from around the world.

Porto has an international airport and is also served by trains from  
Lisbon and from Spain. By train, Porto is approximately three and a  
half hours north of Lisbon.

Please direct questions regarding the program to Karen Gustafson, at kegustafson at mail.utexas.edu 
.