Burns Night

January 25 marks the annual celebration of Scotland’s national poet Robert Burns.

Haggis, celebrations, facts: HERE

Peace and Happiness to everyone.

The Media, Communications and Cultural Studies Association (MeCCSA) is the UK subject association for those researching and teaching in the area, whether in arts, humanities or social sciences departments. In 2012 the MeCCSA annual conference will be hosted by the Bedfordshire Institute for Media, Arts and Performance at the Luton Campus Centre, University of Bedfordshire.

The conference will be held on 11-13th January 2012, in the Luton New Campus Centre of the University of Bedfordshire

Plenary speakers include:

• Steven Barnett on policy
• Clio Barnard on practice
• John Downing on alternative media
• Christine Geraghty on film narrative
• Stuart Laing on media in higher education
• Janet Murray on new media

The conference will also feature scholarly papers, presentations of practice, posters and panels across the full range of interests represented by MeCCSA and its networks.

Further information: http://www.beds.ac.uk/meccsa/conference

The Political Studies Association of the UK awards Mr. Alex Salmond as Politician of the Year

Rt Hon Alex Salmond MSP – Politician of the Year

Salmond, who previously won this award in 2007, was again selected unanimously by the judging panel for this award. They said: ‘At the last Scottish Parliamentary Elections Alex Salmond demonstrated the full extent of his political skill. The campaign run under Salmond’s leadership not only resulted in the party’s best election result since the 1970s but also in a mathematically improbable majority. This performance demonstrates not only Salmond’s appeal and political prowess but also the traits which single him out as Politician of the Year.’ In pursuing the SNP agenda Alex Salmond has expanded the party’s appeal beyond the issue of national independence, a feat which helped secure its historic victory in the 2011 elections. However, Salmond is committed to pursuing the issue of independence and when asked in a recent interview for the Times; ‘What is the earliest at which Scotland could become independent?’ he stated: ‘I am working on a referendum for this Parliament, so in a few years at the earliest. I believe the destination of Scottish independence is as near inevitable as anything can be.’

An academic article (by Emiliana De Blasio, Matthew Hibberd, Michele Sorice) about the so-called “horizontal leadership” and Mr. Alex Salmond, HERE

Here First Minister of Scotland, Alex Salmond, issued a St Andrew’s Day message, ahead of celebration across the country to mark Scotland’s national day.

• St Andrew is the patron saint of Scotland
• St Andrew is celebrated on 30 November
• St Andrew’s Day is a day to celebrate Scottish culture, food and dance
• St Andrew’s flag is the flag of Scotland
• The flag is in the form of a white X on a blue background and is commonly known as The Saltire
• St Andrew’s Societies celebrate Scottish culture around the world
• Scotland is one of the few countries to have one of Christ’s disciples as their patron saint
• St Andrew was one of the Twelve Apostles (disciples of Jesus) and brother of St Peter
• St Andrew is believed to have died on a diagonally transversed cross which the Romans sometimes used for executions and which, therefore, came to be called St Andrew’s Cross
• St Andrew’s Day is connected with Advent, which begins on the first Sunday after November 26
• St Andrew’s Day marks the beginning of Scotland’s winter festivals

Date: Thursday 24 November 2011
Time: 6.30-8pm
Venue:  Sheikh Zayed Theatre, NAB
Speaker: Professor Manuel Castells
Chair:  Professor Terhi Rantanen

How are Social Movements shaped by the availability of horizontal communication networks based on the Internet and wireless communication?  How can indignation become collective action by the connection between neural networks, digital social networks and urban networks?  Which are the cultural and political consequences of these developments? Case studies in different contexts ground a theory of power and social change in the network society presented in the book Communication Power (Oxford University Press, paperback edition 2011) is to be presented in this lecture.

Manuel Castells is University Professor and the Wallis Annenberg Chair in Communication Technology and Society at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. He is a Harold Lasswell Fellow of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, as well as a fellow of the Spanish Royal Academy of Economics, a fellow of the Academia Europea, a fellow of the Mexican Academy of Sciences and a fellow of the British Academy.

http://www2.lse.ac.uk/publicEvents/events/2011/20111124t1830vSZT.aspx

The e-book, Popular politics, populism and the leaders. Access without participation? The cases of Italy and UK, has been written by Emiliana De Blasio (LUISS University), Matthew Hibberd (University of Stirling) and Michele Sorice (LUISS University).

It represents an important starting point to study the complexity of the relationships between political leadership and populism in the media age.

The e-book is downloadable  for free at http://communication.blogs.luiss.edu (section WP). You can also read it in ISSUU reader, clicking this link.

Seminar at LUISS University, Rome, Italy, about the crisis of politics in Europe and the new political leaderships across the continent.

Wednesday October 12th 2011, h 5.45-7.45 pm

Room 101, LUISS (Viale Romania, 32 – Rome, Italy)

With:

• Sergio Fabbrini, LUISS University, director LUISS School of Government
• Ludger Helms, University of Innsbruck
• Philip Schlesinger, University of Glasgow, Academic Director of the Centre for Cultural Policy Research, chair of Ofcom Scotland
• Michele Sorice, LUISS University, director CMCS
• Chairperson: Emiliana De Blasio, LUISS University, coordinator CMCS

Free access

Four words to begin an open debate. Seminars at LUISS University, Rome, Italy.

Programme:

Wed October 12th 2011, h 17.45-19.45, room 102

• Politics and Political Leadership in Europe.

With: Sergio Fabbrini, Ludger Helms, Philip Schlesinger, Michele Sorice. Chairperson: Emiliana De Blasio

Thu October 13th 2011, h 10.45-12.15, room 102

• Communication and the stateless nation: the Scottish case

With: Philip Schlesinger and Michele Sorice

Tue October 18th 2011, h 14.00-15.30, room 307b

• The construction of the “creative economy” as a project, conception and policy field: some reflections on cultural theory from Adorno onwards

With: Emiliana De Blasio and Philip Schlesinger

Wed October 19th, h 14.00-15.30, room 305a

• Copyright and creative work: a discussion of the relationship between the current copyright regime in the UK and the realities of precarious creative work

With: Emiliana De Blasio and Philip Schlesinger

Thu October 20th, h 10.45-12.15, room 102

• The creation of creative industries policy

With: Philip Schlesinger and Michele Sorice

Venue: LUISS University, Viale Romania, 32 – 00197 Rome, Italy

Info: communication@luiss.it

The Turin Group is supported by Infocivica and coordinated by Philip Schlesinger and Michele Sorice.