LUCI Blog

This conference investigates science, states, and capital through the lens of Hans-Jörg Rheinberger's formulation of experimental systems. It juxtaposes accounts of experimental practice within the laboratory to those of experimental forms of knowledge production relevant to the operation of the states, laws, regulatory agencies, and political mechanisms. The formulation of "experimental systems, states, and speculations" signals the multiple scales which experiment work traverses, from the molecular to the organismic to the social, environmental, financial, and biopolitical.

April 13TH & 14TH, 2007 9am-7pm
Social Sciences Plaza B (SSPB) 1208
UC Irvine

SPONSORS:
National Science Foundation
Center for Ethnography, UC Irvine
Department of Anthropology, UC Irvine

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
Kaushik Sunder Rajan, Joseph Dumit, Janet Alexanian, Asya Anderson
For additional information, please contact Janet (janeta@uci.edu) or Asya (asyaa@uci.edu)

Conference Website: http://www.socsci.uci.edu/experimentalsystems Directions & UCI Maps: http://uci.edu/campusmaps.shtml

Tomorrow (Friday) is prospective (already admitted) grad student day. If you are an ICS grad student and aren't participating go find your advisor! S/he needs your help!

The format of next quarter's UBICOMP 290 is in flux. If you would like to weigh in on what we should do next quarter (because you would like to participate), and have a UCINet ID, then please take this 4 question survey: http://eee.uci.edu/survey/ubicomp290

This is a reminder that the mailing list for LUCI lab residents is accessible through this URL: https://mailman.ics.uci.edu/mailman/listinfo/luci-lab

I just sent out a message to the folks who are on it with the subject "You are on the LUCI Lab Mailing List"

Nick Noack and Wiwat Ruengmee are the tzars who serve the tzatziki.

Congratulations to Amanda Williams on passing the defense of her Master's Thesis:

"Space for Interpretation: Designing and Evaluating Spatially and Socially Embedded Tangible Interaction"

Congratulations to recent graduate Raja Jurdak on the publication of the following book:

Jurdak, R. 2007 Wireless Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks: a Cross-Layer Design Perspective (Signals and Communication Technology). Springer-Verlag New York, Inc.

Click on the image to buy one and support a LUCI alumni!

LUCI grad student, Amanda Williams has accomplished her first *real* grad student milestone to graduation, an interview with Wired:

Wired News: Tech Expos Take a Stab at Sex

"At SXSW Interactive, the Sex and Computational Technology panel reflects the mix of disciplines involved in developing the next generation of sex tech: social analysts, sex educators and engineers. The moderator, Amanda Williams, is a Ph.D. student at the University of California at Irvine studying interactive and collaborative technology.

"(The field of) human-computer interaction has a long tradition of depicting users as a brain, an eye and a finger that can click a mouse," she says. "(But) what about bodies? How about the ways we observe other people's bodies? And how does this play into how we work with technology and collaborate?"

For Williams, research into what she calls "tangible interfaces" revolves around incorporating social, emotional and bodily aspects of life into our experiences with technology. And it's not surprising that while designing various systems that do so, "every now and then we'd inadvertently run into a sex thing."

"Sixspace is proud to present the debut Los Angeles solo exhibition by Sean Higgins, Island of Relative Stability. ...

With this interest in creating remote landscapes filtered by perception, memory, or even filtered by some form of technology, certain scientific concepts can become the catalyst for Higgins to think about an imagery place. The terms "island of relative stability" is derived from a theoretical concept in nuclear physics that refers to the science of smashing together two elements to see if they stick enough to create a new, heavier element. This concept is a mere jumping off point for this exhibition as the artist correlates this idea of a theoretical, temporary space so similar to the mythical landscapes he creates in his work. The islands and landscapes in Higgins' work are imaginary places represent a theoretical result - how does one get to and from this fictional place? How long does this place last? What rules govern it? Am I in the right place and can I make up my own rules?"