"Just Google it": Algorithms of Oppression

November 12, 2015

Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble discusses her research into Google, a technology commonly thought of as a public resource free from commercial interest, and the ways in which it mediates public access to information in biased ways and permits problematic racial and gender misrepresentations.

Speaker bio

Safiya Noble is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. Her research focuses on socio-cultural informatics, and feminist, historical and political-economic perspectives on computing platforms and software in the public interest. Her research is at the intersection of transnational culture and technology in the design and use of applications on the internet. She is currently writing a book about Google and Information bias (forthcoming from NYU Press).

This event took place on December 8, Tuesday 2015 | 2:00-4:00pm at Douglas College.

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

UBC Library Research Guides

Sponsored by the Douglas College Faculty Professional Development Committee

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Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies Community Project Showcase

November 10, 2015

Are you interested in learning about some of the amazing research that Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) students are doing? Do you want to see what collaboration looks like between students and Asian Canadian communities? Thinking of taking an ACAM course next term but not sure what kind of projects you can do? Join the Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies faculty, staff, and students at the Community Project Showcase event where you can chat with ACAM students, community members, and professors and learn about current projects. This is your chance to see what kinds of research is happening!

Format: This is similar to a science fair where students are the main presenters of their work.

Presenters

Dominique Bautista – ACAM Centennial Alumni Project: Retelling UBC’s History from an Asian Canadian Lens
Born and raised in Vancouver, Dominique proudly calls this city her home: a place with intersecting spaces that continuously challenge her to consider who she is and where she’s “really from”. As a cultural hybrid, she has always been intrigued by identity politics complicated by experiences of migration, largely based on her family’s narrative and ties to the transpacific. Growing up engulfed by diversity and difference have inspired her guiding passions and principles of learning from various communities and uncovering untold stories.
Dominique completed her undergrad from UBC in 2015 with a background in English Literature and Sociology to compliment her ACAM degree. As she begins her journey as a humanities educator, she looks forward to continuing to engage with local and global communities. If not desperately seeking sunshine, she loves to share stories over a cup of tea! (Twitter: @_DBAUTISTA)

Christy Fong – ‘Save Chinatown, Support Chinese BBQ Meat Products’: Racialised Legislation, Community Activism, and Oral Histories in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Christy Fong is an English Literature Honours student in the last year of her undergraduate degree, which has been supplemented by the ACAM program. She works at the academic journal Canadian Literature as the web and communications assistant and at Arts ISIT as content editor and help desk staff. These experiences have increased her interest in digital humanities and new information technologies, which informs her research on social justice movements in Vancouver’s Chinatown. As a literature student, Christy is inspired by narrative medicine and embodied discourses, especially those centered around marginalised bodies and diasopric/migrant experiences.

Eleanor Munk – The Pacific Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration (PCHC – MoM) Society
Eleanor Munk is a recent graduate from Mount Allison University with a degree in Honours English Literature. In the years following her graduation, she has worked and volunteered with Pan-Pacific and Asian-Canadian communities and organizations such as Ricepaper Magazine and the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop. She is currently Marketing and Event Coordinator with the PCHC-MoM Society and Coordinator with the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society.

Nicole So – #ThisisChinatown campaign
Nicole So is a UBC alumni (2015) with a BA in English Literature and a minor in Asian Canadian and Asian Migration studies. Her recent work and involvement in Chinatown began with making the video “4 Reasons Why You Should Care about Vancouver’s Chinatown” for class. Since the launch and positive receptions of the video, Nicole has committed her summer to working on the Hong Kong-Canada Crosscurrents Project with Dr. Henry Yu, helping Heritage BC organize workshops to assess the intangible heritage of Vancouver’s Chinatown, and interning at Hua Foundation, a non-profit start up organization for Chinese-Canadian youth. She is also a Chapman & Innovations Grant 2015 recipient, for co-founding and directing “Project Young and Classy” in partnership with Strathcona Community Centre. Nicole enjoys indulging in good films and travelling in her spare time, and is a self-proclaimed bubble tea connoisseur.

Joanna Yang – Canadians that Never Arrived: The Komagata Maru and Our Absent History (documentary film)
Joanna is a first-generation Canadian born Chinese settler on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Coast Salish First Nations peoples. She graduated from the UBC Human Geography and Migration/Globalization Studies program in 2014 – just one year before the UBC ACAM program was approved. An aspiring visual storyteller, Joanna considers herself to be a life-long learner, constantly curating her storyboard.

+ more TBA

Event Details

When: November 20, Friday 2015 | 12:00-1:00pm
Where: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Lillooet Room (301), unceded Musqueam territory

Registration: RSVP now to save your seat as there is a limited capacity

Accessibility info: From East Mall, enter the Learning Centre through the main doors. The Lillooet Room is on level three in the Chapman Learning Commons.

There are two good-sized elevators on the lobby level (East Mall entrance) that access all levels of the Learning Centre.

Washrooms are located on all levels near the elevators. Each washroom has a modified stall, although they are not labelled. The designated washrooms on levels 3 and 4 can be accessed by contacting campus security (604-822-2222). The designated disabled washroom on level 2, which is equipped with a specialized lift and harness, can be accessed by contacting Access & Diversity (604-822-5844).

Lunch: (meat and vegetarian options) will be provided for those who RSVP. Please let us know if you have any special dietary needs.

If you have any questions, please email acam.events@ubc.ca

We hope to see you there!

This event will be taking place on the traditional, unceded, ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nation

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Master Mind Master Class featuring Dr. Samantha Nutt, LLD’10

November 9, 2015

On Monday, November 16^th, join fellow UBC students and award-winning humanitarian, bestselling author and acclaimed public speaker, Dr. Samantha Nutt, LLD’10, in a moderated conversation about the impact of war – the truth, the lies, and the reality on the ground – and the major events currently shaping our world.

Master Mind Master Class is a new alumni UBC event series, offering both alumni and students an unprecedented look into the minds of modern masters making a unique impact on the world, and the lessons they’ve learned.

Event Details

Monday, November 16, 2015
3:00 – 4:00 pm

Robert H. Lee Alumni Centre
Jack Poole Hall
6163 University Blvd.
UBC’s Vancouver campus

This event is free of charge.

SPEAKER – DR. SAMANTHA NUT, LLD’10

Dr. Nutt is a medical doctor and a founder of the renowned international humanitarian organization War Child, Dr. Nutt has worked with children and their families at the frontline of many of the world’s major crises – from Iraq to Afghanistan, Somalia to the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Sierra Leone to Darfur, Sudan. A leading authority on current affairs, war, international aid and foreign policy, Dr. Nutt is one of the most intrepid and recognized voices in the humanitarian arena and is amongst the most sought-after public speakers in North America. With a career that has spanned more than two decades and dozens of conflict zones, her international work has benefited hundreds of thousands of war-affected children globally.

Moderator – Professor Kathryn Gretsinger, UBC School of Journalism
Kathryn is the lead instructor in the School’s Integrated Journalism program. She also contributes to the International Reporting program and the Reporting in Indigenous Communities course. She also runs the School’s Internship program. Kathryn’s career in journalism began in the late 80s when she joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) Canada’s public broadcaster. Kathryn is committed to public service journalism and she has worked to develop her journalistic skills to reflect the technological change in the industry. Kathryn’s commitment to the industry is reflected in her approach to the internship program. She has helped to place students in professional practicums across the country and around the world.

Event Coordinator:

Karolin Konig
karolin.konig@ubc.ca
604-822-8939

Registration

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Japan’s International Contribution through Innovation in the Field of International Health

November 9, 2015

kurokawa_lecture image

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WordPress and Wiki Clinic (Drop In)

November 8, 2015

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Pertaining to a structure: a conversation in six parts

November 5, 2015

Pertaining to a structure: a conversation in six parts – Works from the UBC Rare Books and Special Collections and the Artists’ Books Collection at Emily Carr University Library will be on display on level 2 of the Irving k. Barber Learning Centre from November 2-30, 2015.

The exhibit is curated by Beth Howe and Larissa Beringer.

The Artists’ Book collection encompasses books crafted, published, produced or altered by an artist or artist collective. In addition to self-published artists’ books, the collection also includes limited editions resulting from collaborations with art organizations, artists’ books from both independent and mainstream press, and a growing collection of artists’ audio works. Emily Carr University (ECU) also currently collects contemporary, limited edition print publications that exemplify the international collaboration occurring between designers, typographers, visual artists, poets, writers + curators and publishers. The collection is international in scope with an emphasis on the 1960s to present.

This exhibition aims to generate a conversation between books from two institutional collections. The show has been curated by a visual arts faculty member and an art librarian who regularly teach with these collections, using them to illustrate interdisciplinary practices, the history of the artists’ books, graphic design, form, print history, materiality, and diverse publishing practices.

The six conversations organize categorically around intuitive themes and create a visual and conceptual narrative between artists’ books selected from the collection at Emily Carr University Library with works selected from UBC’s Rare Books and Special Collection. Each arrangement acknowledges mutual affinities such as literary source, design, and color.

Ulises Carrion, Clive Phillpot & Cornelia Lauf, and Lawrence Weiner are key figures invested in the discourse around artists’ books and each has addressed structure as a central element in the consideration of book work. Conceptual artist and publisher Ulises Carrion writes “To understand something is to understand the structure of which it is a part and/or the elements forming the structure that that something is.” The properties of structure became a guiding factor across the practices of many conceptual, avant-garde artists already exploring the role of text, language and form in their practices. The exploration of structure in relation to form, typography, graphic layout, materiality and image-making spans across all genres of artists’ books and other print publications dedicated to emmeshing the materiality (form) with the information (idea). Librarian Phillpot and art historian Lauf build a system for categorizing artist books based on on what they term ‘genre’, like albums and inventories or reproductions and sketchbooks. Artist Lawrence Weiner – whose publication of the same name is the title of this exhibit – is particularly invested in the structure of language as material for making sculpture. As the Guggenheim catalog descriptions for his works states, the works’ medium is ‘language + the material referred to’.

Pertaining to a Structure starts six conversations between original works and their references within contemporary artists’ publications around the following associative themes: Typographical Territory; Notes and Correspondence; Livre d’Artiste; The Naturalist; Minimalism, Conceptualism, and Modernist Utopias; and Literary Hybrids.

The Emily Carr University’s Artists’ Book collection is a part of the library’s non-circulating, Special Collections and items must be requested for viewing in library only. The books are fully catalogued and searchable in the catalogue with the by doing a subject search for “artists’ books”. Here are some other ways to browse this collection.

On display on level 2 of the Irving k. Barber Learning Centre from November 2-30, 2015

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Future Speaker Series 2015/2016

October 30, 2015

Language is at the intersection of culture, identity, politics, and cognition, and lies at the centre of our distinct and shared humanity. What will future language use—particularly in Indigenous contexts—mean for us and for our communities? Among the many important stories about Indigenous language loss, there are also powerful and affirming stories of revitalization, resurgence, and recovery. Future Speakers highlights both the struggles and the successes of Indigenous language revitalization and looks to a future where these languages are not only spoken, but thrive.

The Museum of Anthropology, the First Nations and Indigenous Studies Program, the First Nations and Endangered Languages Program, the Department of Linguistics, and the Department of Anthropology present a new lecture series supported by the Dean of Arts, and in partnership with the First Nations House of Learning and the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, to spark a conversation about the futures of Indigenous languages in the 21st century.

Leanne Hinton: What counts as “success” in language revitalization?

Journalists, grant givers and an interested public often ask which language revitalization programs and strategies have been successful. But “language revitalization” is a broad term that can include many different possible goals, and “success” is a point of view rather than a concrete fact. This paper is a result of conversations with Indigenous language activists as to what they view as success (or failure) in the language revitalization for themselves and their communities. These conversations lead to the observation that what counts as success is diverse, individualistic, and transitory, since one event perceived as a success immediately leads to changing goals, strategies, and viewpoints. Nor can “success” be seen as an endpoint of effort, since language revitalization is an unending process —the effort must never stop, in a land where another language is the dominant and dominating tongue. Webcast sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre and hosted by the Future Speakers: Indigenous Languages in the 21st Century series.
Speaker Bio

Leanne Hinton, professor emerita Department of Linguistics, University of California at Berkeley & Advocates for Indigenous California Language Survival Leanne Hinton specializes in endangered languages and is an advocate and practicing trainer in the field of language revitalization. Hinton has helped found several organizations for language revitalization, and has helped design several widely-used revitalization programs and strategies. She has written and edited numerous books and articles on language revitalization, and has won several awards for her work.

Thursday October 22, 2015, 11.30-1.00PM at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Lillooet Room (Rm 301)

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Leanne Hinton: What counts as a "success" in language revitalization?

October 29, 2015

Speaker Bio

Thursday October 22, 2015, 11.30-1.00PM at the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Lillooet Room (Rm 301).

Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library

Hinton, L. (2013). Bringing our languages home: Language revitalization for families. Berkeley, California: Heyday. [Available at Koerner Library – P40.5.L356 B75 2013]

Simpson, J., & Wigglesworth, G. (2008). Children’s language and multilingualism: Indigenous language use at home and school. New York;London;: Continuum. [Available at Koerner Library – P115.2 .C45 2008]

Tsunoda, T., & Ebrary Academic Complete (Canada) Subscription Collection. (2006;2013;). Language endangerment and language revitalization: An introduction Mouton de Gruyter. [Link]

UBC Library Research Guides

Aboriginal Languages

First Nations and Indigenous Studies

First Nations Languages of British Columbia

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TomoeArts Salon Series 2015/16: Demons & Beauties

October 20, 2015

Tomoe (pronounced toh-moh-ay) Arts is a company based in Vancouver, Canada that promotes, teaches, and performs nihon buyoh or Japanese classical dance. They also create and present performances incorporating the forms and aesthetics of Japanese traditional performing arts.

This year’s Salon Series contrasts two major themes in kabuki dance plays: demons and beautiful maidens. November will examine a play about a demon in search of an arm lost in battle; and March will focus on two dance plays that feature beautiful magical “musume” or maidens. As last year, TomoeArts will be screening full videos of live performances from the Shôchiku’s Kabuki Meisakusen Series, which feature some of the greatest kabuki performers of the 20th and 21st centuries. The recordings have English language commentary, and there will also be discussion of important story and performance elements. Green tea will be included!

Onoe KikugorôV in the role of the demon in Ibaraki. Print by Toyohara Kunichika.

Ibaraki – The Demon Ibaraki

Where: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre | Chilcotin Room (rm 256)
When: November 9, 2015 | 7:00-8:30pm

Entrance is free.

A dance play written by Kawatake Mokuami in 1883 about Tsuna and the demon Ibaraki. The story’s background is from the noh play Rashômon, where Tsuna cut off the demon’s arm in an attack at the gate. In this kabuki dance play, Ibaraki visits Tsuna disguised as his aunt Mashiba in order to retrieve his severed arm. Starring Onoe Baikô VII as the demon and Onoe Shôroku II as Tsuna.

The nearest parking are the Rose Garden and North Parkades. Parking at UBC is $7 after 5pm. Find other parking here: https://parking.ubc.ca/find-parking

Visit TomoeArts to learn more.

IKBLC_Blue_w_text_2014

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Nitobe Memorial Garden: Concepts & Prospects symposium

October 15, 2015

The Collective for Advanced and Unified Studies in the Visual Arts (CAUSA) presents a one-day symposium on January 9, 2016 from 10:30am-5:30pm. Speakers will touch on topics such as observations and reflections concerning “problems of authenticity” and “factors of futurity” within both the socially engaged practice of landscape architecture and its continually rigorous conservation and revivification.

Affiliated with the University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, CAUSA aims to develop autonomous scholarly analysis and interpretation of visual culture (including problems of intelligibility) within specific historical contexts. CAUSA functions in association with a ‘global village’ network of independent and institutional scholars – in tandem with a pluralistic community of socially engaged contemporary artists.

CAUSA sustains a continuative process of philosophical reflection by connecting its program of research to an expansive glimmering that was first formulated by Marshall McLuhan, a Canadian philosopher of communication theory.

Event details

When: January 9, Saturday 2016 | 10:30am-5:30pm
Where: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, (Rm. 301, Lillooet Room)

Speakers

Adrian Archambault, Archivist/Architectural Heritage Advocate
Donald Luxton, Architect/Heritage Advocate/Consultant
Terrence Russell, Department of Asian Studies, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg
Ryo Sugiyama, Curator, Nitobe Memorial Garden, UBC
Cornelia Oberlander, founder of Cornelia Han Oberlander Landscape Architects
Brian Mulvihill

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