Reading Spaces

Cory Doctorow on a FAQ: Teen Sex in Teen Lit

From Doctorow's most recent Locus column:

"What I didn't expect was that I would receive a torrent of correspondence and entreaties from teachers, students, parents, and librarians who were angry, worried, or upset that Marcus loses his virginity about two-thirds of the way through the book (secondarily, some of them were also offended by the fact that Marcus drinks a beer at one point, and a smaller minority wanted to know why and how Marcus could get away with talking back to his elders)."

Kathy Reich's penning a YA novel

From the "Who's Reading What" column from the  Globe and Mail online, October 16:

"On a lighter note, I've been delving into the world of young adult fiction. I recently signed a contract to write a series for my younger fans. Entitled Viral, these books will follow the forensic adventures of Tempe Brennan's great-niece Tory Brennan. To get a feel for the market, I've been sampling the Fear Street series by R.L. Stine. Stine is a master of the youth market, his books blending the right recipe of comedy and the macabre to ensnare his readers."

CFP: Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture: Annual Conference

CALL FOR PAPERS 
Connecting Books and Society
 
Sixth annual Conference on the Study of Book Culture, sponsored by the Canadian Association for the Study of Book Culture / Association canadienne pour l’étude de l’histoire du livre during the annual Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (at Concordia University – 31 May and 1 June 2010). 
 
This year’s CASBC/ACÉHL conference theme –“Connecting Books and Society”– is in keeping with the general theme for the 2010 Congress –“Connected Understanding”.  At first glance the idea of studying the way texts resonate in our society makes us think of current technological changes and new media but to do this is to ignore the past transformations in a field where change is nothing new. Over time, the material aspects of the written word have evolved in response to technological, social, political, ideological and economic change.  Books in their many forms have unquestionably been shaping history.
 
CASBC/ACEHL defines “book culture” broadly to refer to studies in the history of the book, literary and cultural history, historical bibliography, digital humanities etc. The conference organizers will consider papers on all periods and places, but priority will be given to papers falling within the theme of “Connecting Books and Society”.
 
Proposals (in French or English) should not exceed 250 words and should include a title and abstract, indicating the research basis of the study as well as the argument of the paper. A brief c.v. (one page) should be supplied. Papers may be in French or English and should not exceed 20 minutes. Panels of three papers will be considered.
 
Please forward proposals by 15 December 2009 to Marie-Pier Luneau, University of Sherbrooke, who is the Program Chair and a member of the CASBC/ACEHL Executive :
Marie-Pier [dot] Luneau [at] USherbrooke [dot] ca
 
Please note that presenters must be members of CASBC/ACEHL by the time of the conference, and that presenters and participants must be registered through the Congress : for further information go to http://www.fedcan.ca.
 
SPECIAL FEATURES OF THE 2010 CONFERENCE
 
CASBC/ACEHL will collaborate with the Bibliographical Society of Canada on joint sessions on May 31, 2010.
   
For further information on CASBC/ACEHL – and the conference program when it is established -- please consult our website : http://casbc-acehl.dal.ca. 
 

Annual Clissold Lecture in Journalism

Tony Burman,  the award-winning former Editor-in-Chief of CBC News and now Managing Director of Al Jazeera English, will give a lecture entitled, Hiding From The World:  The Media’s Retreat from Global News Coverage.

When: Monday, November 16th 4:30 – 5:30 pm

Where:  Room 224 Conron Hall, Reception to follow, 5:30 – 7:00pm, Rooms adjoining Conron Hall, University College (UC 224A  & 225 ), The University of Western Ontario

Admission Free.  Everyone Welcome

"The Clissold Lecture commemorates the life and work of Edward Clissold (1833-1915), who retired in 1910 as editor of the London (Ontario) Advertiser after 33 years on its staff." See the FIMS website for more information including a list of previous lectures.

2010 Forest of Reading Nominees

See the nominees for all of the Tree Awards, sponsored by the Ontario Library Association and S & B Books at the OLA website. The White Pine awards cover high school fiction. The short list includes:

Lesley Choyce - The Book of Michael
Courtney Summers - Cracked Up to Be
Susan Juby - Getting the Girl
Hiromo Goto - Half World
John Ibbitson - The Landing
Pam Bustin - Mostly Happy
Julie Burtinshaw - The Perfect Cut
Shelley Hrdlitschka - Sister Wife
Tim Wynne-Jones - The Uninvited
Lesley Livingstone - Wondrous Strange

Book History PhD Scholarship at Victoria University of Wellington

3 years, $25,000 per annum plus tuition fees, working under the supervision of Dr. Sydney Shep. For more details see: http://www.fis.org.nz/BreakOut/vuw/schols.phtml?detail+500377

A new-old controversy: is Small's "Stitches" appropriate for younger audiences?

Read more about the debate over at Publisher's Weekly

rip! a remix manifesto: film by brett gaylor

Free film at Museum London:

from the website:

RiP! A Remix Manifesto

Thursday, October 22, 7:30 pm
Theatre

In RiP! A Remix Manifesto (Brett Gaylor, 2008, 86 min, 14+), Web activist and filmmaker Brett Gaylor explores issues of copyright in the information age, mashing up the media landscape of the 20th century and breaking down the wall between users and producers. The film's central protagonist is Girl Talk, a mash-up musician topping the charts with his sample-based songs. A participatory media experiment, from day one, Brett shares his raw footage at opensourcecinema.org, for anyone to remix. This movie-as-mash-up method allows these remixes to become an integral part of the film.

Admission: FREE

OCULA Student Award

for details see OCULA's website (a $200 prize plus a year's membership).

Speaking Queerly: Sexuality and Gender Research Forum: Ernie Blackmore

See below a poster for the first Speaking Queerly talk of the 2009-10 year. The speaker is Dr. Ernie Blackmore, a lecturer at the Woolyungah Indigenous Centre at the University of Wollongong, Australia. His talk is entitled  "A Voice That 'Dared Not Speak' Its Truth: Growing up Black and Queer in 1950s Sydney" and will take place on Oct 13, 2009 from 3:30 -4:30 pm in the Pride Library. All are welcome to attend.

Download Ernies talk

Helen Caldicott talk, Oct 16 at The University of Western Ontario

A public lecture by Dr. Helen Caldicott
The Nuclear Question: The Acute and Chronic Dangers of Nuclear Power and Nuclear War

Friday, October 16, 3:30 pm
Natural Sciences Centre, Room 1
The University of Western Ontario

"As the subject of the 1982 National Film Board of Canada’s Oscar-winning documentary “If You Love This Planet,” Dr. Helen Caldicott inspired a generation to work toward nuclear disarmament. Dr. Caldicott continues her mission with her most recent books Nuclear Power is Not the Answer and War in Heaven. Everyone welcome. Reception to follow.

Sponsored by the Faculty of Information and Media Studies, the Centre for Environment and Sustainability, the Global and Ecosystem Health Interest Group at the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry, Physicians for Global Survival, and the McConnell Family Foundation.

Youth Privacy Website from the Privacy Commissioner of Canada

Reading an article on CBC News about how Canadian teens are "too open" online brought this website to my attention. See the Privacy Commissioner's 2008 Annual Report to Parliament, published October 6, 2009.

International Comic Arts Forum

October 15-17 2009

Art Institute of Chicago
for programme details see the website

An interesting keynote address by Marco Pelliterri, Comics Reading and Attitudes of Openness toward the Other: The Italian-Speaking Teenagers’ Case in South Tyrol

Abstract: Narratives based on fictitious characters in literature, cinema, comics, and animation invite adolescents to rehearse and elaborate on their contents. Circles of readers or watchers can thus redraw their value schemes and patterns of behavior within their peer groups. These dynamics are especially interesting if the social setting in which the adolescents live is filled with tensions due to matters of linguistic and cultural cohabitation, and if social interactions are shaped by such issues as prejudice, the formation or maintenance of cultural stereotypes, and ethnocentrism. I will synthetically present the main results of my research on this issue, specifically my study of the relations between the aforementioned factors and cultural consumption, with detailed looks at adolescents' readings of comics. My research is set in South-Tyrol (Italy), on adolescents of the Italian linguistic group. The methods used are survey, focus group, and, as side materials, informal conversations with some school teachers.

President Obama declares October to be National Information Literacy Month

Read the release from the Whitehouse Press Office

CFP: CoLIS Conference: 2010

International Conference on Conceptions of Library and Information Science: Unity through Diversity

http://colis.soi.city.ac.uk/

"This conference will explore the integration and underlying unity of the information sciences, as both academic disciplines and as work practices.

Dramatic changes in the information disciplines and professions form the basis for examining their fundamental unity. Phenomena which have been the traditional foci of information science, such as information use, information management, information organisation, information literacy, and the design of information services and access, are now the concerns of a wide variety of disciplines. Many disciplines now have their own ‘informatics’ specialisation, dealing with the management of data and information, and with the sharing of information and knowledge.

How are the traditional frameworks of information science related to the frameworks used in information-related research in other disciplines ? Are the joint information concerns affecting the boundaries between disciplines, or does each discipline have its own set of topics, problems and frameworks ? To what extent are the ‘outside’ influences affecting information science itself ?

We invite presentations on any topics relevant to this general theme, showing how varied approaches to the study of information issues, problems and practices in any context, and of their inter-relations, can lead to a strong and professionally-relevant discipline. We invite both lecture format presentations and posters."

1000 Acts of Kindness, London, Ontario

More info coming soon to 1000acts website

Additional information can be found here:

LUSO Community Services

GenNext Website

There's a facebook site too

Question Box featured in the NYTimes

See Rob Nixon's article in the New York Times, "Dialing where the web can't reach" about answer services in Uganda and India. Question Box was conceived of by Rose Shuman and is supported by the Grameen Foundation. The project emphasizes the importance of local information as well as sustainable information systems (some Question Boxes use mobile phones, others an actual metal box).

Endless Forms Most Beautiful: A new Darwin exhibit at the Fisher Rare Book Library

Endless Forms Most Beautiful: The Natural History of Charles Darwin

Exhibition dates: Sept. 28-Dec. 18, 2009

"This exhibition of books and manuscripts celebrates the accomplishments of Darwin’s rare and inquisitive mind. Besides the Fisher’s own collections, several items come from the private libraries of the curator, Richard Landon, and of Toronto financier, Garrett Herman. On display are the many editions and issues of Darwin’s books that illustrate the significant textual changes made by him as his ideas developed. Important works on evolution by Darwin's predecessors, works by his scientific colleagues and many of the books resulting from the controversies surrounding the publication of Origin of Species (1859) broaden the appeal of the exhibition."

Project Teen Canada

From the website:

Project Teen Canada 2008 is the latest in a series of historic national surveys being carried out under the direction of Dr. Reginald W. Bibby. The surveys, known as the Project Canada Survey Series, consist of seven adult surveys conducted every five years from 1975 through 2005, and four youth surveys carried out in 1984, 1992, 2000, and 2008.

Robert Darnton declares "the book is not dead" but...

In this Publishers Weekly article, Robert Darnton, book historian and Harvard Librarian, makes a case for books. He writes of his forthcoming book,

"...most of my book concerns current issues and the way their resolutions are likely to shape the information landscape for the foreseeable future. The issues facing the book are urgent, I believe, not merely because book professionals must find a way through the immediate financial crises that plague them, but because the publishing landscape is shifting under our feet. We are living in one of those rare moments in history when things may come apart and be put back together again in ways that will determine the future for decades or more, despite the endless innovations of technology."