23/06/08

Short Course: “Digital Transformation of Organizations”

Short Course: “Digital Transformation of Organizations”

Date : From July 14th to July 19th

Venue : University of Porto (room number to be announced soon)

Number of available places : 18

Course Description:

As part of the partnership between the University of Texas at Austin and Portugal, the University of Porto will offer a short course in July 2008 titled “Digital Transformation of Organizations.” This course will be an introduction to the interesting changes changes brought to organizations by new information technologies, particularly the Internet and “Web 2.0.”

This course is meant for non-technical students and professionals, meaning that it presumes no technical background or preparation. But technical professionals may find it useful as well, as an introduction to managerial, social and political trends that are influenced by information technologies.

The theme of the course will be that all organizations are being transformed from an older paradigm of bureaucracy to a new paradigm of the network, and that organizations and economies that navigate this change will succeed and thrive. The topics that will be covered include:

- An introduction to the technologies of organizational change: the Internet, databases, “middleware,” open data standards, service-oriented architecture and “Web 2.0”;
- The new organizational toolbox: blogs, wikis, content management systems, social networking software, Open Source software and “cloud computing”;
- New collaboration models and organizational change: an introduction to the ways groups are organized online, such as through “groupware,”
- Second Life, social networking, and new collaborative tools;
- New forms of organizations: an introduction to “organizing without organizations,” “wikinomics,” new experiments in e-government, blurring the boundaries of organizations;
- Challenges for network-era managers: new forms of organizational leadership; cultural and generational conflict in the workplace; new skills and educational demands; new forms of work.

The course will consist of six three-hour sessions, from July 14 through July 19, 2008. The course will be conducted in English. In addition to covering the topics listed above, students will also be engaged with developing a collaborative Web site that will demonstrate the capabilities of new online tools. Students will be asked to read articles and other material on the Web, and also from the book Wikinomics - A Nova Economia das Multidões Inteligentes, from QuidNovi publishers (2007).


Required books for the Course:

Wikinomics (There is an edition in English and in Portuguese).

Prof. Gary Chapman’s Short bio:

Gary Chapman is director of The 21st Century Project and a member of the faculty at the Lyndon Baines Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas at Austin, the university's graduate school of public policy. He is also associate director of the university's Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute. The 21st Century Project is a research and education program about bridging public policy about technology with civic participation and democracy. Chapman was the first executive director of the national U.S. organization Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, he has served as chairman of the selection committee for the Turing Award -- the world's highest award in computer science -- and in 2000 he was named one of the "25 Most Powerful Texans in High Tech" by Texas Monthly magazine. For ten years he was an editorial columnist on technology and society for The Los Angeles Times, The Austin American-Statesman, and Texas Monthly magazine. He has been a featured speaker at conferences around the world. He was educated at Occidental College in Los Angeles and at Stanford University.

How to apply:

If you interested in applying for this workshop, please send an email to palves@inescporto.pt or sofia.santos@fct.mctes.pt with your name, occupation, short CV and a motivation letter (In English and max. 150 words) until June 30th. Please write "Application for Digital Transformation of Organizations" on the subject of the email.

No applications will be considered after this date.

For any questions please send an email to utaustinportugal@fct.mctes.pt.

22/06/08

Sociologia da blogosfera: figurações do humano e do social em blogs e hybrilogs

No número de 2007 da revista "Comunicação e Sociedade" da Universidade do Minho, foi publicado um interessante artigo de Pedro Andrade com o título:

"Sociologia da blogosfera: figurações do humano e do social em blogs e hybrilogs".

Ver artigo completo aqui:


http://revcom.portcom.intercom.org.br/index.php/cs_um/article/view/4791

29/01/08

Conference: Web 2.0 and Beyond: Applying Social and Collaborative Tools to Business

Conference
Web 2.0 and Beyond: Applying Social and Collaborative Tools to Business Problems, 5-6 March 2008, London www.unicom.co.uk/socialtools

There is an 'Early Bird' price before 18 February, and further discount for students/academics/charities.

BACKGROUND:

There is no doubt that we are now entering the "Web 2.0 generation", a time which especially values dynamic, interactive, open and collaborative. Web 2.0 is changing the way we are living and the way we do business. "The key issues for Web 2.0 users will be around authenticating who you are dealing with, as the technology is increasingly used for business purposes, including customer feedback" (Philip Virgo). However, a key challenge for them is how to integrate these new technologies within the enterprise and figure out which best
suit their needs, and will make inter- and intra- organisational communications easier and more effective. Meanwhile, although Web 2.0 becomes influential and powerful, a cross-industry survey shows that "33% said not knowing how to measure the impact of the technologies is the most serious challenge to implementing them across their company"
(Computer Weekly).

This conference presents new viewpoints and case studies explaining the value, application (and perhaps some downside) of social tools in a business context. It looks beyond the "why" of Enterprise 2.0 to explain the "how", giving all participants a true learning experience.

PRESENTERS INCLUDE:
David Gurteen, Gurteen Knowledge; Lee Bryant, Headshift; John Davies, BT; Ian Hughes, IBM; Tom Ilube, Garlik Ltd; Adrian Moss, Focus.

CASE STUDIES INCLUDE:
Will Wynne, ArenaFlowwers.com; Clare Reddington, Ed Mitchell Consulting; Joyce Lewis, University of Southampton; Ian McNairn, IBM

For brochure and more information please visit
www.unicom.co.uk/socialtools, or hetty@unicom.co.uk

Kind regards,

Hetty

23/11/07

Conferência - Researching Social Software

Ciclo de Conferências “Tecnologia e configurações do humano”

Researching Social Software

http://socialsoftware-portugal.blogspot.com/


5ª Feira, 29 de Novembro de 2007 - 16h-18h
Sala de Seminários do ICS – r/c
Instituto de Ciências Sociais
Campus de Gualtar Braga, Portugal

Conferencistas

Adrian Mackenzie (Universidade de Lancaster)
http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/mackenza

Eduardo Jorge Esperança – Dep. Sociologia, Univ. de Évora
Miguel Ferreira – Dep. Sistemas de Informação, Escola de Engenharia, Universidade do Minho
Zara Pinto-Coelho e José Pinheiro Neves – Centro de Estudos Comunicação e Sociedade (CECS), Univ. do Minho

Moderador: Nelson Zagalo (CECS – Univ. do Minho)

Organização:

Universidade do Minho

Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade

Centro de Investigação em Ciências Sociais

20/11/07

Conference: Researching Social Software - University of Minho

Workshop: Researching Social Software

30 de Novembro de 2007
14.30h-18h



Instituto de Ciências Sociais
Universidade do Minho

Campus de Gualtar
Braga




Conferencistas


14.30 h – Apresentação - Prof. Doutor Moisés de Lemos Martins – Presidente do Instituto de Ciências Sociais

14.45 - “Current debates in STS, 'software studies’. Global assemblages and post-social relationalites in social software” - Adrian Mackenzie - University of Lancaster

15.30h – “Digital Relationships” - Eduardo Jorge Esperança – Universidade de Évora

16h – “Tea for Two - Informal Scholarly Communication” - Ana Alice Baptista - Department of Information Systems - University of Minho

Ana Alice Baptista – Universidade do Minho

16.30 – “E-participation in local communities: an exploratory research about emerging networks based on blogs” - Zara Pinto-Coelho e José Pinheiro Neves – CECS – Univ. do Minho

17h - Debate

Org.

Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade
Centro de Investigação em Ciências Sociais

12/11/07

PhD Workshop: Researching Social Software

PhD Workshop
Researching Social Software28-30 November 2007
Location: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Universidade do Minho, Campus de Gualtar, Braga, Portugal















Course Leader: Adrian Mackenzie, University of Lancaster

Professor Adrian Mackenzie is Professor at the Institute for Cultural Research, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Lancaster.

His research interests include anthropology of post-representational thinking and cognition; theories of capacity, individuation, invention and differentiation; wirelessness: cultural politics of infrastructure, embodiments of connectivity and network images; repetition and difference in video and audiovisual technology; new media/technological cultures and practices. See: http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/mackenza


His last books are:
• Cutting Code: Software and Sociality, Digital Formations Series, Peter Lang, NY, 2006

• Transductions: Bodies and Machines at Speed, Continuum Press, 2002; reprinted

Description and objective

This PhD-course aims to examine and discuss different versions and definitions of social software and how experiences of relation to others can be understood in social software. It also aims to situate software in terms of processes of production, consumption and exchange, and to discuss different approaches, techniques and difficulties involved in researching software.

Structure of the courseEach session would be 2.5 to 3 hours. Each session would have one or two readings to be done in advance. There are also websites and internet examples that should be consulted in advance. Student presentations would be part of each session.

Background reading for the workshop:
Maurizio Lazzarato (1996) 'Immaterial Labour', in Paolo Virno & Michael Hardt (eds.) Radical Thought in Italy: A Potential Politics, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Programme
Session 1: What is social software?
Exploration of different versions and definitions of social software. This would best be done by working with same major examples including ebay, facebook, myspace, flickr, and youtube. The session would centre on close analysis of the visual and material cultures of examples. The reading for this session comes from a well known internet commentator, and publisher, Tim O’Reilly.

Session 2: Living with social software: self-other relations and sociality
Key example: Facebook or Second Life
Main focus of this session will be on how experiences of sociality, of belonging, of relation to others can be understood in social software. The readings analyse this from very different angles. The first is informed by Marxist thought, the second by social studies of technology.

Session 3: Social software in technological economies
Key example: Google
This session will situate software in terms of processes of production, consumption and exchange. The readings offer very different perspectives on this. Barry and Slater’s article comes from sociologies of science and technology. Benkler’s work comes from liberal political thought.

Session 4: Researching social software
Session on different approaches, techniques and difficulties in researching software.

Registration and contact:

The application deadline is 20th November 2007.
Please send by email a short description (no more than one page) of your PhD project, specifying your name, email address, affiliation, supervisor, your particular interest in the seminar and why you would benefit from attending it, to the organization committee (social.software.portugal@gmail.com). Number of participants: max. 15.
A fee will be charged for participation to cover administrative costs, tea/coffee and lunches and one dinner during the seminar. .The fee is 60 euros, payable on the first day of the seminar in cash (an official receipt will be given). Travel and accommodation are the responsibility of the participant.

For more information, contact:

José Pinheiro Neves (social.software.portugal@gmail.com)

Zara Pinto-Coelho (social.software.portugal@gmail.com)


See also:
http://socialsoftware-portugal.blogspot.com/
http://neves.do.sapo.pt/mackenzie/PhDSeminarMackenzie25Set07.pdf

Organization:


Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Sociedade
Centro de Investigação em Ciências Sociais
Universidade do Minho, Portugal


..................................................................................................................................................

Chamadas para candidatura
Workshop para Estudantes de Doutoramento: Investigando o Software Social.
28-30 Novembro 2007
Local: Instituto de Ciências Sociais, Campus de Gualtar, Braga
•Professor convidado: Adrian Mackenzie, Universidade de Lancaster(http://www.lancs.ac.uk/staff/mackenza)
Descrição e objectivo: Este workshop visa examinar e discutir diferentes versões e definições do software social, e o modo como as experiências de relacionamento com os outros podem ser compreendidas neste quadro. Também visa situar o software social em termos de produção, consumo e troca, e discutir diferentes abordagens e técnicas envolvidas na investigação sobre software social.
Estrutura: Cada sessão terá a duração de 2.5 a 3 horas. Pressupõe a leitura prévia de um ou mais artigos e a consulta de sítios na internet.
Fazem parte de cada sessão apresentações dos projectos de doutoramento dos participantes.
Sessão 1: “What is social software?” Exemplos: ebay, facebook, myspace, flickr, and youtube
Sessão 2: “Living with social software: self-other relations and sociality”. Exemplos: Facebook or Second Life
Sessão 3: “Social software in technological economies”
Session 4: “Researching social software

Candidaturas e contactos:
As candidaturas devem ser feitas até dia 20 de Novembro de 2007. Para o efeito, os interessados deverão enviar electronicamente uma descrição sucinta (não mais de uma página e meia) do projecto de doutoramento, especificando o seu nome, endereço electrónico, filiação institucional, nome do orientador, o interesse neste seminário e os benefícios que o mesmo lhe trará, para a comissão organizadora (social.software.portugal@gmail.com).
Aceitaremos 15 participantes.
O custo da inscrição, que cobre custos administrativos, chá/café, almoços e um jantar, é de 60 euros, a entregar no primeiro dia do Workshop (será dado um recibo oficial).
As viagens e a estadia são da responsabilidade dos participantes.
Para mais informação, contacte:
José Pinheiro Neves (social.software.portugal@gmail.com)

Para mais detalhes sobre o programa e exigências do curso, consulte: