Upcoming CHAST Public Lectures ============================== "New Illusions of Colour and Motion"
Professor Stuart Anstis Psychology Department, University of California, San Diego CARSLAW LECTURE THEATRE 157, UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY THURSDAY 25TH JUNE 2009 AT 6 PM ------------------------------ Dr. Stuart Anstis was born in England and was a scholar at Winchester and at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. He took his Ph.D. at Cambridge with Prof. Richard Gregory. He has taught at the University of Bristol, UK, and at York University, Toronto, Canada. Since 1991 he has taught at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). He has been a visiting scientist at the Smith-Kettlewell Institute, San Francisco, the San Francisco Exploratorium, and at IPRI in Japan. He has published about 120 papers on visual perception, including the perception of real and apparent motion, Pulfrich's Pendulum, movement aftereffects, contingent aftereffects, coloured afterimages, normal and defective colour vision in babies, adaptation to gradual change in luminance, and the apparent size of holes felt with the tongue. Has also worked on hearing, including adaptation to frequency-shifted auditory feedback, hearing with the hands, adaptation to gradual change in loudness, and perfect pitch; and on motor aftereffects after jogging on a treadmill. With George Mather and Frans Verstraten he edited a book on the motion aftereffect . He has given over 250 invited presentations on his research throughout the USA, Europe and Japan, including an invited address in the President's Symposium at the annual meeting of the Society for Neurosciences a few years back, the 1998 Max Wertheimer Lecture in Frankfurt, and an invited address to mark the opening of a new exhibit of Visual Illusions at the University of Nevada, Reno in 2008. His work has been featured in Discover magazine and in occasional television programs. He has won awards as an outstanding teacher at York University and at Earl Warren College, UCSD, where he was invited to give the commencement speech to 8000 people at the graduation ceremony in June 1999. Admission free Website www.chast.org ============================================================================ =========================================== "The Social History of the Personal Computer" Lee Felsenstein New Law School, Lecture Theatre 101, University of Sydney Wednesday, 1st July 2009, at 6 pm --------------------------------- Free Admission, All Welcome. Abstract: --------- We all know that personal computers and the Internet did not arise on their own. But how could technology with its roots in military budgets, the stunted culture of technologists, and hierarchical corporate culture have spawned such a subversive set of products and practices? With hindsight, drawing upon my own personal experiences as the designer of several early personal computers and peripherals, as well as moderator of the seminal 'Homebrew Computer Club' in Silicon Valley, I will explore competing mythologies about the genesis of personal computing as well as discuss come conclusions that may illuminate not only the historical questions but also the dialectic of work versus play and how it operates different for differing personality types. Stewart Brand, through his 'Whole Earth Catalog' did the most to enable those who created the PC. Probing the web of interconnections in the hotbed of the San Francisco Bay area political, social and technological countercultures, we'll examine the interactions that produced such unlikely results. Those who expect a story of predictable progress from point A through point B terminating at C will be disappointed. Rather, expect to hear of chaotic activity, past and present, within environments in which play is encouraged, a high degree of feedback is maintained, and mechanisms exist for reaping the benefit of unexpected technological progress. To conclude, there will be a look at the new wave of institutions being designed to support environments today that are conducive to chaotic development for the current generation in collaboration with older ones. Biography: ----------- Lee Felsenstein received a B.S. in EECS from the University of California, Berkeley in 1972. He entered UC Berkeley first in 1963, joined the Co-operative Work-Study Program in Engineering in 1964 and dropped out at the end of 1967, working as a Junior Engineer at the Ampex Corporation from 1968 through 1971, when he re-enrolled at Berkeley. Lee has been employed at Osborne Computer Corporation from 1981-1983, at Interval Research Corporation from 1992-2000, and at Pemstar Pacific Consultants from 2001-2005. All other times he has worked either as a free-lance consulting designer or for his own design firm. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Felsenstein _______________________________________________ SydPhil mailing list [email protected] 849 subscribers now served. To UNSUBSCRIBE, change your MEMBERSHIP OPTIONS, find ANSWERS TO COMMON PROBLEMS, or visit our ONLINE ARCHIVES, please go to the LIST INFORMATION PAGE: http://lists.arts.usyd.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/sydphil
