The Politics of War Reporting: A Critical Symposium

In about a month’s time I will be chairing the below event, a sort of AAG-style ‘author-meets-critics’ type of twist on the book launch. The idea being, basically, a sort of ‘thou shall be subjected to criticisms and debate prior to any wine or celebration’. Tim, it so happens, was very receptive to this idea. … Continue Reading

ICA preconference announcement: Conditions of Mediation

It’s been in the works for a while, but I’m now happy to announce that, in collaboration with my Birkbeck colleague Tim Markham, we will be holding Conditions of Mediation: Phenomenological Approaches to Media, Technology and Communication on 17 June 2012 at Birkbeck, University of London. The event is a preconference sponsored by the Philosophy, … Continue Reading

Call for papers: communication and new materialism

In quite a short space of time, there seems to have been a remarkable renewal of interest in media technologies, and in particular in the ‘materiality’ of media. Points of reference vary, but media archaeology, medium theory, digital humanities, science and technology studies, and object-oriented philosophy have all recently been prominent points of reference. In … Continue Reading

Conference on communication and the city

In the pleasant myopia for relaxation which characterized of my recent holidays, and which led to the accumulation of many emails from many listservs, I almost missed news of what sounds like a fantastic conference. At least if you’re like me and are really, really interested in the intersections of cities and media. Communication and … Continue Reading

New: Journal of Urban Cultural Studies

Just caught wind of what looks to be a pretty interesting new peer-reviewed journal, the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies which is set to launching its first issue in late-2013 (or 2014). The main remit of the journal seems to be articles giving balanced weight to, on the one hand, matters broadly related to urban … Continue Reading

London 2012’s layers of mediation

Though in hindsight it seems almost obvious, ‘London 2012’ has been made present to Londoners not so much in things like transport chaos (which, despite expectations, doesn’t seem that bad so far) but in the layers of mediation related to the event which have descended on London in the past few weeks. Rather suddenly, around … Continue Reading

Forthcoming at the Tate Modern: Peter Sloterdijk in conversation with Nigel Thrift

On Saturday 16 June 2012, 14.00–16.30, the Tate Modern will host a conversation between German philosopher Peter Sloterdijk and British geographer Nigel Thrift. For a while I’ve harboured a curiosity – still largely uninformed – about Sloterdijk’s ‘sphereology’ which is encapsulated by his three-volume magnum opus Spheres (taking in bubbles, globes and foam). I think, … Continue Reading

Two positions on the UGRG

The RGS-IBG‘s Urban Geography Research Group (UGRG) is now in the process of filling two positions on its committee: the Secretary; and the Treasurer. It seems like a long time ago now, but I served five years on the UGRG (2003-08) – technically one year beyond the normal four year term – first as a … Continue Reading