Dear colleagues I'm forwarding a recent post by Steve Lyon about an e-seminar soon be held via the EASA Media Anthropology Network mailing list. These sessions are free and open to all with a genuine interest in the subject. For more info on the seminars and how to join the listserv see: http://www.media-anthropology.net/index.php/e-seminars Best wishes John Postill RMIT Melbourne ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: LYON S.M. <s.m.lyon@durham.ac.uk> Date: 21 September 2012 18:34 Subject: [Medianthro] Heads up on the next e-seminar To: medianthro <medianthro@easaonline.org> Dear List, This is just a quick email to let you all know that the next Media Anthropology Network E-Seminar will be happening very soon. The next e-seminar will be based around a paper by Daniel Miller and Jolynna Sinanan and the discussant will be Daniel Taghioff. The abstract of the paper is below. The paper itself should be available for everyone to download and read on our website about a week before the e-seminar begins on the 9th of October. The 'old hands' can skip this paragraph. For people new to the Media Anthropology e-seminars, they last two weeks and begin and end on a Tuesday (though I'm not sure how that tradition got locked in). We begin with an email from the discussant who provides some insights into what he or she considers to be some of the most important contributions of the paper or the most serious issues that would benefit from further clarification. We then give the author/s a chance to respond to the discussant's initial comments. After the author's response, the e-seminar is open to anyone on the list. We don't do strict moderation, but if the conversation is grinding down into an unproductive loop then I will contact people off list and suggest moving on. These are a great opportunity to really examine a piece of work and the ideas surrounding it, so be sure to put aside a little time to read the paper in advance. 9 October - 23 October WEBCAM AND THE THEORY OF ATTAINMENT Daniel Miller and Jolynna Sinanan (UCL). The seminar paper will begin with a summary of a book whose first draft is near to completion, concerning the impact of Webcam (mainly Skype). It provides a first introduction to what we call A Theory of Attainment, which provides the conclusion to this volume. It shows how this theory builds on earlier discussions found in the edited volume Digital Anthropology and The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach. The Theory of Attainment is intended to facilitate the anthropology of new media generally, and not just webcam. The theory is then illustrated briefly in relation to two themes: self-consciousness and intimacy. The remainder of the paper is given over to a discussion of our sense of place. It shows how webcam facilitates projects that both de-stabilise and stabilise our relationship to location. Juxtaposing these two opposed developments brings us back in conclusion to the Theory of Attainment. Discussant: Daniel Taghioff Best regards, Steve --------------------------------------------------- Dr. Stephen M. Lyon, Senior Lecturer in Anthropology Deputy Director of the Durham Global Security Institute Department of Anthropology Durham University Dawson building Durham UK DH1 3LE Telephone: Durham: 0191 334 1597 Stockton: 0191 334 0246 Fax: 0191 334 1615 Web: http://www.stephenlyon.net/ History and Anthropology: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ghan Structure and Dynamics: http://escholarship.org/uc/imbs_socdyn_sdeas ---------- End of forwarded message ---------- Dr John Postill Senior Research Fellow School of Media and Communication RMIT University Building 9.4.45, City Campus Melbourne 3001, Australia Tel: +61 3 9925 5007 Email: john.postill@rmit.edu.au Web: www.rmit.edu.au/mediacommunication