News

On December 12, 2007, The MIT Press announced the The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. This new book series examines the effect of digital media tools on how people learn, network, communicate, and play, and how growing up with these tools may affect peoples sense of self, how they express themselves, and their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systematically.

A draft of the new interactive bibliography/appendix for 'The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age' project is now posted on the HASTAC website - The Future of Learning Institutions in a Digital Age: Models and Resources.

The purpose of this bibliography is to highlight learning institutions (of any type) that have exhibited an exemplary commitment to digital technology and learning. We welcome and invite your comments and contributions. If you are involved in a project that you are particularly proud of or know of an exemplary institution/project that combines digital technology and learning in innovative and exciting new ways please let us know!

This is a re-post of Cathy Davidson and David Theo Goldberg's entry on the MacArthur Foundation's Spotlight blog (http://spotlight.macfound.org).

CHICAGO, IL, August, 14, 2007 – The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced today a public competition that will award $2 million in funding to emerging leaders, communicators, and innovators shaping the field of digital media and learning. The competition is part of MacArthur’s $50 million Digital Media and Learning initiative that aims to help determine how digital technologies are changing the way young people learn, play, socialize, and participate in civic life.

The HASTAC website is now at version 1.0. On the surface it may appear that there aren't that many changes, but in fact the underlying code has been updated quite extensively.

Call for Papers

International HASTAC Conference

“Electronic Techtonics:  Thinking at the Interface”

April 19-21, 2007

www.hastac.org

We are now soliciting papers and panel proposals for “Electronic Techtonics: Thinking at the Interface,” the first international conference of HASTAC (“haystack”: Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory).  The interdisciplinary conference will be held April 19-21, 2007, in Durham, North Carolina, co-sponsored by Duke University and RENCI (Renaissance Computing Institute). Details concerning registration fees, hotel accommodations, and the full conference agenda will be posted to www.hastac.org as they become available.

20, 2006 La Jolla, Calif. – National University will be hosting HASTAC's IN/Community Live/Virtual Weekend on November 10 and 11, the University announced today. The theme of National University's IN/Community showcase is "Toward a New Civic Culture: Smart and Creative Community Building." The program will be conducted in concert with the International Digital Media Arts Conference hosted by National University. The focus will be on how communities use technology to improve themselves. HASTAC, which stands for the Humanities, Arts, Science, Technology Advanced Collaboratory, is a nation-wide initiative designed to influence the creation and understanding of next generation technology and to help shape public policies on new technologies in education. In addition to onsite attendance, virtual participation in the conference will also be encouraged through the use of social software developed by the consortium, including via blogs, wikis, webcasts, podcasts, access grid, and real-time video annotation systems supported on the HASTAC website.

The MacArthur Foundation today announced plans to build the emerging field of digital media and learning, committing $50 million over five years to the effort. The Foundation will fund research and innovative projects focused on understanding the impact of the widespread use of digital media on our youth and how they learn. | Read Full Press Release |

A working paper on massive multiplayer online games (MMOGs) presented recently by John Seely Brown and Douglas Thomas at the 3rd Annual Seminar on Experimental Critical Thinking (SECT) at the UC Humanities Research Institute is now available on the HASTAC website. You can view the paper, entitled "The Play of Imagination: Beyond the Literary Mind," at http://www.hastac.org/resources/papers.