Networks Conference 2016

“Networks and Transfer Processes”

 

networks2016program.doc

 

English Section of the

 

7th International Conference on German Studies

at Partium Christian University

Anniversary Conference Celebrating

 25 Years of the Department of German Language and Literature

in cooperation with the Institute for German Culture and History of South-Eastern Europe (IKGS) at the Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich and

the Department of English Language and Literature, PCU

 

Oradea/Nagyvárad/Großwardein (Romania), 8–9th of September 2016

 

EXTENDED DEADLINE:

15th of July, 2016 - Registration

1st of August, 2016 - Payment

 

Our keynote speaker is:

 

Robert K. Logan

 

Logan

Prof. Emeritus - Physics - U. of Toronto 

Fellow University of St. Michael's College

Chief Scientist - sLab at OCAD

 

http://utoronto.academia.edu/RobertKLogan

www.physics.utoronto.ca/Members/logan

www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Logan5/publications

 

 

Title of keynote speech:

Marshall McLuhan’s Influence on My Work: Adventures in Media Ecology

 

Professor Logan’s presentation will focus on his work with Marshall McLuhan, summarizing some of McLuhan’s key ideas and describing their work together, as well as the work in media ecology/studies that Robert Logan executed after McLuhan’s passing. Professor Logan will talk about the effect of alphabetic writing on the development of Western civilization, the evolution of language from speech to writing, math, science computing and the Internet, the origin of language and what is information.

 

On the conference:

Change of location, knowledge transfer, exchange of cultural codes presume a concept of culture understood as “entgrenzter Kommunikationsraum” (unbounded communication space)[1]. Culture, as a space of communication, means a constant exchange, a flotation of verbal and nonverbal signs, which generates a special texture of a lived space.  This process of communication is not free of crises and conflicts, because the rivalry of cultural signs does not exclude delegitimizations and repositions, or it can also be expected to operate with the ambiguity of the same cultural elements.[2] In this way, cultural systems are simultaneously deterritorialized and decentralized, thus pluricentric cultures arise, such as the polyphonic culture of the Habsburg Monarchy.

The last few decades have been marked by a (new) discovery of networks; even our everyday life is permanently being determined by the World Wide Web. Albert-László Barabási points out that the rapidly developing science of network-discoveries brings about evidences that are more stimulating and surprising than what the everyday use of the term "networks" promises. Modern network-theories and research highlight completely new aspects of our surrounding, thorough-woven Environment.

 

1. Reisen – Räume – Netzwerke/ Travel - Spaces - Networks

Scientific as well as economic lives are marked since the early Middle Ages by the "transmitting" of accumulated experiences, practices as well as by the networking of academic centres and academic knowledge. Due to the "Peregrinatio" of students, academics as well as of skilled workers and masters, countless research centres and important manufacturing areas were networked to each other throughout Europe. Witnesses of this knowledge-transfer describe their encounters with other cultures and reflect on their own perception of foreignness. Evidence to this bears, amongst others, the extensively rich travel literature. By talking about these processes, knowledge is not only passed through the transfer but also recoded whereas existing narratives and cultural symbols are processed.[3]

The literary section of the meeting focuses on the above-mentioned interdisciplinary networks from various perspectives. We especially welcome papers that explore global contexts of European cultural centers and examine some documented case studies from the everyday and popular culture that show concrete ways of cultural exchange.

 

 

2. Systeme – Netzwerke – Transferprozesse / Systems - Networks - transfer processes

 

The focus of the Linguistics section is on the concept of transfer in diverse contexts: between language systems or subsystems, language areas, text worlds and in the context of social and intercultural networks.

The section invites papers from all linguistic subdisciplines which aim at language-mediated cultural differences, or examine the spoken language as well as the language of new media.

 

 

3. Hochschuldidaktik Online/Offline / University Teaching Online/Offline

 

The section on University Teaching, entitled Online / Offline, is centered on urgent issues and problem areas which make themselves felt in everyday life of university teachers and students engaged in English Studies, in English as a second language, as well as in English as mother tongue. The section welcomes contributions on research topics that deal with the challenges that confront teaching and learning in the era of technological networking (online) but also general problem areas which characterize our academic everyday (offline). Therefore, we invite speakers who address the following issues and pursue the following questions: How effective are digital media in the classroom? (Teaching scenarios with smartphones, tablets, laptops, etc.). Topics also include: learning effectiveness, learning and group dynamics through cooperative learning and teaching (apps, networks and learning platforms, cooperation offline / online, Seamless learning), internal differentiation: a common problem (methodological approaches and concrete examples, work with freshmen, evaluation possibilities of heterogeneous groups in modularised study).

 

Presentations and publication:

 

Presentation time is 20 minutes (15 minutes talk, 5 minutes question period). A selection of papers will be published in the Partium Journal of English Studies, The Round Table (http://www.theroundtable.ro/).

The registration form (name, affiliation, email) and your abstract (maximum length: 30 lines) are to be sent until the 15th of July 2016, to the following e-mail address: partium.english@gmail.com. A confirmation of participation will be sent out until the 10th of August 2016.

The conference fee is €50 or 200 RON and includes coffee breaks, lunch and a festive reception.

 

Method of payment (Until 1 August, 2016):
By bank transfer:
SWIFT Code: OTPVROBU
Account number: RO88 OTPV 22 0000 290 701 RO03 (lei)
RO48 OTPV 22 1000 290 701 EU 01 (euros)


Please, indicate the following payment purpose on the bank transfer order: Networks Conference. Bank transfer charges have to be paid by the registrant. Requests for invoice must be indicated by email to the Organizers, at partium.english@gmail.com.

 

networks-cfp.pdf


[1] Vgl. Csáky, Moritz: Das Gedächtnis der Städte. Kulturelle Verflechtungen – Wien und die urbanen Milieus in Zentraleuropa. Wien u.

[2]Vgl. Ebenda, S. 116.

[3]Vgl. Leuenberger, Stefanie: Narrative der Migaration. Ludwig Stein, Jonas Fänkel und die intellektuellen Netzwerke in der Schweiz, 1890-1965. In: Gantner, Eszter B./Varga, Péter (Hrsg.): „Transfer – Interdisziplinär“! Akteure, Topographien und Praxen des Wissenstransfers. Frankfurt u. a.: Peter Lang, 2013. S. 14.

Networks