Conferences

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Subject: [cybersociology] Call for Papers: Open Session "Cultural Studies and the Research of Digital Games" at: Crossroads Conference at Istanbul Bilgi University (Turkey) http://www.crossroads2006.org 20-23 July2006

Call for Papers: Open Session "Cultural Studies and the Research of
Digital Games" at: Crossroads Conference at Istanbul Bilgi University
(Turkey) http://www.crossroads2006.org 20-23 July 2006

The investigation of computer games still is a field seldomly considered
in academic research. In contrast to this, a large public interest in
the possible "effects" of computer and video games exists, which seems
understandable since this "leisure time activity" plays an increasingly
central role in the life of many young people and adults. Thus game
research has to examine potentials of meaning, patterns of interaction
and readings contained in the representations of the game and their
influence on the player's "lifeworld". The actual forms of appropriation
of this "new" medium vary widely e.g. different forms of identity
construction and community building, therefore the following session
search for papers that address a wide range of topics and focus
especially on the relationship between Cultural Studies and game
research.

To submit a paper to this session, please send an abstract of maximum
150 words to the Session Organizer Markus Wiemker (markus@wiemker.org).
The deadline for the submission of papers is January 18, 2006.

Best wishes, Markus Wiemker
---
Markus Wiemker
Lecturer for New Media
University of Applied Sciences
Media Management, St. Pölten, Austria
Heinrich-Schneidmadl-Str. 15
lbwiemker@fh-stpoelten.ac.at
Tel.: +43 2742 313 228 416
Fax: +43 2742 313 228 409
www.fh-stpoelten.ac.at
markus@wiemker.org
www.wiemker.org

[Augustyn Surdyk]

The 7th Logical Workshops
'Logic & Games'
September 24-30, 2006
Kazimierz Dolny, Poland
http://www.logika.uw.edu.pl/workshop/

The Logical Workshops have been organized since 2000 mostly as a
summertime science activity for students of philosophy and mathematics
from Warsaw. This year the meeting is addressed to a broader audience.
Logical Workshop 2006 will take place in Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, and is
organized in cooperation with Institute of Philosophy, Warsaw University
and Institute for Logic, Language and Computation, University of Amsterdam.

The main goal of the Workshop is to bring people interested in logic and
game theory together. The Workshop is open to all who are interested in
participation. There is no conference fee, all you have to pay is your
own travel and accommodation expenses.
-------
Programme

Invited speakers\tutorials:

* Zofia Adamowicz (Polish Academy of Sciences) TBA
* Henryk Kotlarski (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw)TBA
* Michał Krynicki (Cardinal Stefan Wyszynski University, Warsaw) TBA
* Kerkko Luosto (University of Helsinki) TBA
* Marcin Mostowski (Warsaw University) "Finite arithmetics"
* Gabriel Sandu (Sorbonne University) "IF-Games"
* Jerzy Tyszkiewicz (Warsaw University) TBA
* Jouko Vaananen (University of Helsinki) "Dependence logic"
* Konrad Zdanowski (Polish Academy of Sciences) "Henkin Quantifiers"

Note that this list of invited speakers is not closed yet and there will
probably be a few more tutorials during the workshop.

Evening session\CALL FOR PAPERS:

We would like to invite all the participants to take part in the
workshop Evening Session which will consist of 20 minutes talks devoted
to logic and\or games. Participants interested in giving such talk are
encouraged to send the abstracts of their presentations to the
organizers ( group.logic@gmail.com <mailto:group.logic@gmail.com>). The
deadline for Evening Session applications is September, 15. The detailed
timetable of the Evening Session will be provided after the deadline.

-------
Programme Committee

* Marcin Mostowski
* Benedikt Löwe

Organizing Committee

* Nina Gierasimczuk
* Witold Kieraś
* Marcin Mostowski
* Filip Murlak
* Jakub Szymanik
* Konrad Zdanowski

-------
Contact

If you are interested in participation please contact the organizers:
group.logic@gmail.com <mailto:group.logic@gmail.com>

[Augustyn Surdyk]

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
OF THE NORDIC – BALTIC REGION (NBR) OF THE WORLD FEDERATION OF LANGUAGE TEACHER ASSOCIATIONS (FIPLV)
“Innovations in Language Teaching and Learning in the Multicultural Context”

Riga, Latvia
15 – 16th June, 2007

The Latvian Association of Language Teachers (LALT) is hosting the international conference of the Nordic-Baltic region (NBR) of the World Federation of Language Teacher Associations (FIPLV) which will take place in the capital of Latvia, Riga, 15 -16th June, 2007.

The conference will be devoted to the recent trends in language teaching and learning, focusing on:
• Experience of using the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR);
• European Language Portfolio at School and University;
• Intercultural Education and Multilingualism: Practical Aspects;
• Creativity in Language Teaching and Learning.

The papers will be internationally reviewed and published in the conference proceedings. Conference languages: English, Latvian, Russian, French, German.

Deadline for speaker proposals: 15 December, 2006
Confirmation of the speaker proposals: 20 January, 2007
Deadline for the submission of articles: 1 March, 2007
Deadline for the registration of other participants: 20 April, 2007
Registration form (attached, or please see www.lvasa.lv )
Layout requirements for the publication (attached, or please see www.lvasa.lv )

Registration fee
for participants from the Baltic States before 15 February: 20 EUR
for other participants before 15 February: 65 EUR
for participants from the Baltic States after 15 February: 30 EUR
for other participants after 15 February: 70 EUR
Registration fee for students: 10 EUR It includes access to all the conference sessions and workshops, conference programme, coffee breaks, welcome party, selected reviewed publication in CD ROM format.

Please send your Registration form to:
Diana Rumpite lvasa@latnet.lv; contact phone: +371 29459164
Anita Auzina anita.auzina@lu.lv; contact phone: +371 26453979

You are sincerely welcome to Riga and the FIPLV NBR international conference!

[Augustyn Surdyk]

3rd Language & Technology Conference:
Human Language Technologies as a Challenge for Computer Science and
Linguistics
October 5-7, 2007, Poznan, Poland, www.ltc.amu.edu.pl

CALL FOR PAPERS

Dear Colleagues,

You are kindly invited to participate in the
3rd Language and Technology Conference (L&TC'07),
a conference organized by the Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland in cooperation with the Adam Mickiewicz University Foundation.

At the beginning of the 7th Framework Program, recently launched by the European Commission, Human Language Technologies continue to be a challenge for computer science, linguistics and related fields as these technologies become an ever more essential element of our everyday technological environment.
Since Ajdukiewicz, Tarski, Turing and Chomsky (i.e. since the very beginning of the Computer Age) these fields have influenced and stimulated each other. Technological, social and cultural globalization has created a favorable climate for the intensive exchange of novel ideas, concepts and solutions across initially distant disciplines. We aim at further contributing to this exchange and we invite you to join us at L&TC'07 in October, 2007.

CONFERENCE TOPICS
-----------------

The conference program will include (without being limited to) the following topics:

* electronic language resources and tools
* formalisation of natural languages
* parsing and other forms of NL processing
* computer modelling of language competence
* NL user modelling
* NL understanding by computers
* knowledge representation
* man-machine NL interfaces
* Logic Programming in Natural Language Processing
* speech processing
* NL applications in robotics
* text-based information retrieval and extraction
* question answering
* tools and methodologies for developing multilingual systems
* translation enhancement tools
* methodological issues in HLT
* prototype presentations
* language-specific computational challenges for HLTs (especially for
languages other than English)
* HLT standards
* HLT support for foreign language teaching
* communicative intelligence
* legal problems connected with HLTs (problems and challenges)
* contribution of HLTs to the homeland security problems (applications and legal aspects)
* vision papers in the field of HLT
* HLT related policies

You will have noted that we intend to continue traditional HLT interest areas (cf. L&TC'05 topics). You may also have observed that we have included a new dimension at the frontier between HLTs and the Homeland Security field. We invite authors working in this domain to contribute either on theoretical issues (e.g. legal aspects of development and exploitation of HLTs) or technical developments (applications, software, language infrastructure and tools). Political and mature vision papers in this field are also welcome.

This list is by no means closed and we are open to further proposals. The Program Committee is also open to suggestions concerning accompanying events (workshops, exhibits, panels, etc). Suggestions, ideas and observations may be addressed directly to the L&TC Chair by email (vetulani@amu.edu.pl).


PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
-------------------

Zygmunt Vetulani (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland) - Chair
Victoria Arranz (ELRA, France)
Anja Belz (University of Brighton, UK)
Janusz Bień (Warsaw University, Poland)
Christian Boitet (IMAG, France)
Leonard Bolc (IPI PAN, Poland)
Nicoletta Calzolari (ILC/CNR, Italy)
Nick Campbell (ATR, Japan)
Julie Carson-Berndsen (University College Dublin, Irland)
Khalid Choukri (ELRA, France)
Adam Dabrowski (Poznan University of Technology, Poland)
Elzbieta Dura (University of Goeteborg/Lexware Labs, Sweden)
Katarzyna Dziubalska-Kolaczyk (Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland)
Tomaz Erjavec (Josef Stefan Institute, Slovenia)
Cedrick Fairon (Coll?ge Erasme, Belgium)
Maria Gavrilidou (ILSP, Greece)
Aleksander Gerd (St. Petersburg State University, Russia)
Dafydd Gibbon (University of Bielefeld, Germany)
Stefan Grocholewski (PTI/Poznan University of Technology, Poland)
Franz Guenthner (Ludwig-Maximilians-University, München, Germany)
Roland Hausser (University Erlangen, Germany)
Waclaw Iszkowski (PIIT, Poland)
Margaret King (University of Geneva, Switzerland)
Orest Kossak (Technical University Lviv/Ericpol Telecom, Ukraine)
Eric Laporte (University Marne-la-Vallee, France)
Gerard Ligozat (LIMSI-CNRS, France)
Natalia Loukachevitch (Moscow State University, Russia)
Wiesław Lubaszewski (AGH/UJ, Poland)
Bente Maegaard (Centre for Language Technology, Denmark)
Joseph Mariani (Ministry of Research, France)
Václav Matousek (University of West Bohemia, Czech Rep.)
Jacek Martinek (Poznan University of Technology, Poland)
Keith J. Miller (MITRE, USA)
Nicholas Ostler (Linguacubun Ltd, UK)
Karel Pala (Masaryk University, Czech Rep.)
Pavel S. Pankov (National Academy of Sciences, Kyrgyzstan)
Marcin Paprzycki (Oklahoma State University, USA)
Patrick Paroubek (LIMSI-CNRS, France)
Emil Pływaczewski (Białystok University, Poland)
Adam Przepiórkowski (IPI PAN, Poland)
Reinhard Rapp (University Mainz, Germany)
Mike Rosner (University of Malta)
Justus Roux (University of Stellenbosch, South Africa)
Vasile Rus (University of Memphis, Fedex Inst. of Technology, USA)
Frédérique Ségond Xerox, France)
Marek Swidzinski (University of Warsaw, Poland)
Ryszard Tadeusiewicz (AGH, Poland)
Dan Tufis (RCAI, Romania)
Hans Uszkoreit (DFKI, Germany)
Tom Wachtel (Independent Consultant, UK/Italy)
Jan Węglarz (Poznan University of Technology, Poland)
Karol Wituszyński (MICROSOFT Poland, Poland)
Richard Zuber (CNRS, France)


ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
--------------------

Zygmunt Vetulani - Chair
Filip Graliński
Paweł Konieczka
Maciej Lison - Secretary
Jacek Marciniak
Tomasz Obrebski
Przemysław Rzepecki
Justyna Walkowska

All of Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznań, Poland.

Contact: ltc@amu.edu.pl


PAPER SUBMISSION
----------------

The conference and publication language is English. Papers (5 formatted pages) are due by April 1, 2007 (midnight, any time zone) and should not identify the author(s) in any manner. In order to facilitate submission we have decided to reduce the formatting requirements as much as possible at this stage. However, please do observe the following:

1. Accepted fonts are Time Roman, Times New Roman and Courier (recommended for programs); character size for the main text should be 10 points, with 11 points leading (line spacing).
2. Text should be presented in 2 columns, 8,42 cm each with 0,95 cm between columns (gutter).
3. The document size is 5 pages formatted according to items (1) and (2) above.
4. The use of PDF format is strongly recommended, although MS Word will also be accepted. You may also use the templates (ELRA/LREC based format) which are to be found (shortly) at http://www.ltc.amu.edu.pl.

Detailed GUIDELINES for the final submission of accepted papers will be published at the conference site before May 31, 2007 (acceptance notification date).

All submissions are to be made electronically via the L&TC'07 web submission/registration system.
Acceptance/rejection notification will be by May 31, 2007.


PUBLICATION POLICY
------------------

Acceptance will be based on the reviewers' assessments (anonymous submission model).
Papers accepted will be published in the conference proceedings (hard copy, with ISBN number) and on CD-ROM. The abstracts of the contributions accepted will also be made available via the conference website (during its lifetime). Publication requires electronic registration and payment of the conference fee (full registration) by at least one co-author.

A post-conference volume with extended versions of selected papers is planned for publication in the Springer Verlag Series "Lecture Notes in AI" (LNAI).


CONTACT
-------

Address:
Zygmunt Vetulani, L&TC'07 Chair
The 3rd Language & Technology Conference (L&TC'07)
Adam Mickiewicz University
Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science
Department of Computer Linguistics and Artificial Intelligence
ul. Umultowska 87
PL 61-614 Poznan

E-mail: ltc@amu.edu.pl

WWW: www.ltc.amu.edu.pl


IMPORTANT DATES/DEADLINES
-------------------------

April 30, 2007
Deadline for submission of papers for review.

May 31, 2007
Acceptance/Rejection notification.

June 30, 2005
Deadline for submission of final versions of accepted papers.


REGISTRATION
------------

Registration will be exclusively via the conference website (www.ltc.amu.edu.pl). In case of problems, please do contact the Chair or the Secretary. All participants, irrespective of category or mode of payment, are requested to register in order to qualify for the receipt of conference documents.
Electronic registration must be completed by September 3, 2007 for those who wish having their names included in conference documents.

The following two steps are mandatory for full registration of regular attendees:
1. Electronic registration using ConfTool (via www.ltc.amu.edu.pl).
2. Payment of the conference fee.

Only full registration entitles people to participation in the conference.


CONFERENCE FEES
---------------

Regular non-student participants:
Early registration (payment before April 30, 2007) 100 EURO
Regular registration (payment before July 1, 2007) 130 EURO
Late registration (payment after June 30, 2007) 160 EURO

Regular student participants:
Early registration (payment before April 30, 2007) 60 EURO
Regular registration (payment before July 1, 2007) 70 EURO
Late registration (payment after June 30, 2007) 100 EURO

To be entitled to student rates the participant must present a student
identity card valid on October 5, 2007.

The detailed instructions for payment will be announced shortly on the
conference website.

The conference fee covers:
* Participation in the scientific programme
* Conference materials
* Proceedings on CD and paper
* Social events (banquet,...)
* Coffee during session breaks


EXHIBITIONS
-----------

A book exhibition is planned to run throughout the conference (the call for exhibitors is currently in preparation).
Also, the conference participants are invited to bring hard copies of their papers and books. We plan to make special presentations of the achievements of the conference participants, irrespective of whether they are directly related to the conference topic.


SPECIAL EVENTS
--------------

Besides the standard conference presentation of papers, the Organizers are open to various kinds of initiatives (expos, demos, satellite workshops, panels, awards). A program of special events is now under construction.
You are welcome to contact us with your suggestions.


SPECIAL AWARD FOR STUDENTS
--------------------------

Special awards will be granted to the three best students papers
As at the 2nd Language and Technology Conference (2005) special awards will be granted to the 3 best student papers.
Those who are regular students or PhD students on the date of submission are eligible.

In 2005 the Jury, composed of the Program Committee members present at the conference, awarded this distinction to:

Ronny Melz (University of Leipzig),
Hartwig Holzapfel (University of Karlsruhe),
Marcin Woliński (IPI PAN, Warsaw).

[Augustyn Surdyk]

10th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Mundos de Mujeres / Women´s Worlds 2008 (July 3-9).

I am very happy to announce that a major worldwide event is coming to Spain, to the University Complutense of Madrid: the 10th International Interdisciplinary Congress on Women, Mundos de Mujeres / Women´s Worlds 2008 (July 3-9).



We are determined that our MMWW08 edition be the consolidation and expansion of initiatives for social justice, equality in policy laws and human rights for women. We are committed to reuniting a very large and diverse representation of the international community in our 2008 edition of the congress. We need your participation to continue consciousness rising on issues that affect women particularly in ALL fields of knowledge and to continue strengthening our fight so that equality stops being a utopia.

Greetings,


Dr. Teresa Langle de Paz

General Congress Coordinator MMWW08


VISIT OUR WEB PAGE: www.mmww08.org

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Second Circular
40th Annual Meeting of the
Societas Linguistica Europaea (SLE2007)
Functionalism in Linguistics

29 August-1 September, 2007
University of Joensuu, Finland

We would like to remind you that the 40th Annual Meeting of the Societas Linguistica Europaea will be held at the University of Joensuu, Finland, from 29 August to 1 September 2007. To commemorate the work of SLEs first President, André Martinet, the general theme of the conference is Functionalism in Linguistics, but presentations on all fields of linguistics are welcome.

Plenary speakers

The plenary speakers for the conference have been confirmed and they are:
Christopher S. Butler (University of Wales Swansea)
Kristin Davidse (University of Leuven)
Stefan Th. Gries (University of California, Santa Barbara)
Andrej Malchukov (Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig)
Eija Ventola (University of Helsinki)

Guidelines and deadline for abstract submission

Abstracts for papers and posters related to the general theme of the conference will be particularly welcome, but the theme should not be regarded as exclusive; any linguistically relevant topic may be offered for presentation. Non-members of SLE are also strongly encouraged to submit abstracts. The submitted abstracts should clearly state the topic of the paper/poster, specify the approach and data used, and announce the (expected) results. The oral presentations will last for 20 minutes, followed by a 10-minute discussion period, and there will be a separate poster session in the conference programme.

Abstracts should be anonymous and contain no more than 500 words, excluding bibliographies. When printed out, the title and the body should fit into a single page of 12-point type, with 2 cm margins. The abstracts should be accompanied by a separate sheet of paper with the following information: author's name and affiliation, title of the paper/poster, and author's e-mail address.

The abstracts should be submitted by e-mail as attachments in rtf format to the address: sle2007@joensuu.fi

If e-mail facilities are unavailable, please use the postal address below. The main conference language is English, but papers are accepted in French and German as well. The deadline for abstract submission is 30 March 2007.

Abstracts will be reviewed anonymously by the scientific committee and the authors will be notified of acceptance by 30 April 2007 (by e-mail).

Workshops

Workshops and special sessions are also welcome on topics dealing with some particular aspect of the conference theme, functionalism in linguistics. Those interested in organising a workshop or a special session are kindly asked to contact the local organisers in Joensuu. The deadline for the workshop proposals is the same as the deadline for abstracts of individual papers, 30 March 2007.

Registration

Registration for the conference can be done with a Registration form that is attached to this message. The Registration form can also be downloaded from the conference website. The registration fee varies according to the status of the participants, and it is cheaper if paid before June. The fee includes coffee, tea and lunch during the conference days as well as the conference reception and the conference excursion to Koli. The registration fees are as follows:

Pre-registration fee (until 1 May) Fee after 1 June 2007
SLE members �150 �180
Non-members �180 �210
Students �120 �150
Scholars from Eastern Europe �120 �150

The registration fee can be paid by the following methods:
ˇ by bank transfer, which is the recommended method; for this you need the following information:
Recipient: University of Joensuu
Address: P. O. Box 111, FIN-80101 Joensuu, Finland
Bank: Nordea Bank Finland Plc, Aleksanterinkatu 36, FIN-00020 NORDEA, Finland
BIC/Swift code: NDEAFIHH
IBAN code: FI8116603000102478 (Bank Indentifier Code)
If you use bank transfer within Finland, the account number is 166030-102478.
With your payment, please include the following message: SLE2007 project number 03202.
ˇ by credit card, for which you need to fill in the required information in the Registration form,
ˇ by cash upon arrival, although this alternative is not recommended.

Conference venue

The conference will be held on the main campus of the University of Joensuu, which is one of the most modern universities in Finland containing eight faculties with a student population of 8,300. The campus is located within walking distance from the city centre. The city itself received its charter in 1848 and is situated in the middle of beautiful Finnish nature at a place where the River Pielisjoki meets Lake Pyhäselkä. The surrounding area can be described as a meeting point between two different cultural traditions, one looking to the Protestant west, the other drawing on the East Orthodox religious tradition. This adds special flavour to the cultural atmosphere and everyday life of North Karelia. Today Joensuu and its neighbouring areas have a population of about 100,000 people. The city and its environs boast a lively cultural life, featuring, e.g. annual folk music and classical music festivals.

For further information, visit the following websites:

University of Joensuu http://www.joensuu.fi/englishindex.html
City of Joensuu http://www.jns.fi/

Travel

Joensuu can be easily reached by air via Helsinki (flight-time about 1 hour) and there are several trains per day from Helsinki, Tampere and Turku. For those travelling by car or coach, the roads from Helsinki or the other major ports offer a beautiful journey through some of the best parts of the Finnish Lakelands.

Further information can be obtained from the following websites:

Finnair http://www.finnair.com/
VR (State Railways) http://www.vr.fi/heo/eng/index.html
Bus Services http://www.matkahuolto.com/
Finnish Tourist Board http://www.finland-tourism.com/

Accommodation

The participants are expected to arrange their accommodation themselves, but the organisers have negotiated agreements with a few hotels, where reservations can be made. When you make reservations, please mention SLE2007. The information about the hotels is as follows:

1) Hotel Atrium, Siltakatu 4, 80100 Joensuu (http://www.hotelliatrium.fi/)
Tel. +358 13 255 888, fax. +358 13 255 8300, email: myyntipalvelu@hotelliatrium.fi
Prices: �75-65/single room, �94-75/double room

2) Hotel Aada, Kauppakatu 32, 80100 Joensuu (http://www.hotelaada.fi)
Tel. +358 13 256 2200, fax. +358 13 256 2231, email: huonevaraukset@hotelaada.fi
Prices: �76/single room, �88/double room, �88/triple room

3) Kuntohovi Spa Hotel, Nepenmäenkatu 2, 80200 Joensuuu (http://www.kuntohovi.fi/)
Tel. +358 13 172 2502, fax. +358 13 172 2523, email: myyntipalvelu@kuntohovi.fi
Prices: �88/double room

4) Hostel Aaro, Kauppakatu 32, 80100 Joensuu (http://www.hotelaada.fi/aaro.htm)
Tel. +358 13 256 2200, fax. +358 13 256 2231, email: huonevaraukset@hotelaada.fi
Prices: �39/single room, �52/triple room

5) Finnhostel Joensuu, Kalevankatu 8, 80110 Joensuu (http://www.islo.jns.fi/eng_accommodation.htm)
Tel. +358 13 267 5076, fax. +358 13 267 5075, email: finnhostel@islo.joensuu.fi
Price: �65/double room

6) Hotel Apartamentos, Torikatu 46, 80100 Joensuu
Tel.. +358 13 224 886
Price: �33/single room

Some of the other hotels in Joensuu appear fully booked at the moment because there are other big occasions in town at the same time with the SLE2007. It may, however, be possible to get a room from these hotels later as well, but they will not accept further reservations until August. Updated information about travel and accommodation can be found on the conference website.

Social programme

A. Programme included in the conference fee
As part of the ordinary conference programme the registration fee includes both the conference reception on Wednesday evening, 29 August, and the excursion to the Koli National Park. The Koli national park is situated some 75 kilometres north of Joensuu. Renowned for its nature and 'national landscape', with magnificent views over Lake Pielinen, it has provided a source of inspiration for some of the best-known Finnish artists and composers, including Pekka Halonen, Eero Järnefelt, and Jean Sibelius. This excursion will take place on Thursday afternoon, 30 August.

B. Conference dinner
The conference dinner will take place on Friday evening, 31 August. The dinner is not included in the registration fee, but will be paid separately. It will cost �45 and requires registration in the Registration form.

C. Post-conference excursions
After the conference, on Sunday, 2 September, the participants will have a chance to take part in two alternative post-conference trips:

(i) Shooting the rapids at Ruunaa
This excursion is a one-day trip to the Ruunaa Rapids, which are situated some 150 kilometres north-east of Joensuu in a largely uninhabited border area. The unspoilt nature of this area has made it a popular venue for shooting the rapids. The participants will travel in specially-designed wooden motor-boats, each carrying some 15 persons. Professional drivers and guides will guarantee an exciting, but entirely safe, passage through six wild streams and interconnecting waterways, the total length of which is 23 kilometres (c. 14 miles). The boat trip will include a substantial traditional-style meal, enjoyed in the wilds by the fireside (http://www.kareliaexpert.fi/main.site?a ... iew&id=592). For the price and signing up for this tour, see the Registration form.

(i) Trip to Savonlinna and Punkaharju
This excursion will take the participants to the beautiful Savonlinna area, c. 130 kilometres south-west from Joensuu, which is well-known for its lakeside scenery. In Punkaharju the participants will visit the Finnish Forest Museum Lusto (http://www.lusto.fi/?locale=en) which illustrates the long and important tradition in the interaction between man and the forest in Finland. The stop at Lusto will also include lunch. In Savonlinna, the visitors will have a guided tour around Olavinlinna Castle, which was founded in 1475 to secure the eastern border of the Kingdom of Sweden-Finland. Nowadays the castle is the best preserved medieval castle in Nordic countries and serves as a venue for the world famous Savonlinna Opera Festival (http://snor.joensuu.fi/olavinlinna/index_english.htm). For the price of this tour and for signing up, see the Registration form.

Organisation

The conference is organised by Foreign Languages and Translation Studies and Finnish Language and Cultural Research at the University of Joensuu.

Scientific Committee
Markku Filppula (Joensuu)
Marjatta Palander (Joensuu)
Jussi Niemi (Joensuu)
Eva Hajicová (Praha)
Christian Lehmann (Erfurt)
Thomas Stolz (Bremen)
Anders Ahlqvist (Galway)

Local Organising Committee
Markku Filppula (Joensuu, President)
Marjatta Palander (Joensuu, Vice-President)
Esa Penttilä
Ossi Kokko
Helka Riionheimo

Important dates
30 March 2007 Deadline for submission
30 April 2007 Notification of acceptance
31 May 2007 Payment of pre-registration fees (after which the fee will be increased)
29 August-1 September 2007 Conference

We look forward to seeing you in Joensuu.

Conference website: http://www.joensuu.fi/suomi/SLE2007/
Fax: +358 13 251 4211
E-mail: sle2007@joensuu.fi

Postal address:
SLE2007 Organising Committee
Department of English
University of Joensuu
P.O. Box 111
FIN-80101 Joensuu
Finland



Esa Penttilä
Department of English
University of Joensuu
P.O. Box 111
FIN-80101 Joensuu
phone: +358 13 251 4322
fax: +358 13 251 4211
email: esa.penttila@joensuu.fi
http://www.joensuu.fi/fld


There is wisdom in turning as often as possible
from the familiar to the unfamiliar:
it keeps the mind nimble, it kills prejudice,
and it fosters humor.
-George Santayana, philosopher (1863-1952)

[Augustyn Surdyk]

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE


English and German Studies in Lithuania and beyond:
tradition and emerging perspectives

18-20 September 2008
Vilnius University

This is the first call for papers for the EGS Conference to be held 18-20 September 2008 in Vilnius University. The Conference will be hosted by two VU departments: English Philology and German Philology.
TOPICS. The Conference aims at bringing together various aspects of research that goes on under the umbrella of English and German Studies: a variety of ways, a range of disciplines and sub-disciplines, including Linguistics, Literature, Language Studies, Area Studies and the Study of Culture.

LANGUAGES: English, German, Lithuanian

VENUE:
Faculty of Philology
Universiteto g. 5
LT-01513 Vilnius
Lithuania

IMPORTANT DATES
• Deadline for registration: 15 April 2008 (please fill in the attached form)
• Deadline for submission of abstracts (200 words): 5 May 2008
• Notification of abstract acceptance: end of June 2008

FEE:
• Regular—50 EUR
• For students—20 EUR
The fee is paid upon registration on the first day of the Conference.
For more information contact:
EGSConference@gmail.com (English)
Germanistentagung2008@gmail.com (German)


REGISTRATION FORM

1. First name

2. Last name

3. Affiliation

4. Position

5. E-mail address

6. Title of the paper

[Augustyn Surdyk]

BOARD GAME STUDIES COLLOQUIUM XIII
PARIS
Wednesday 14th to Saturday 17th April, 2010
The 13th Board Game Studies Colloquium will be held in Paris, from Wednesday 14th to Saturday 17th April, 2010.
The Colloquium will be hosted at the FIAP Jean-Monnet Centre, a large convention and hostel centre situated in the 14th arrondissement of Paris.

The Colloquium will offer a large scope of papers (typically eight to ten per day), dealing with the archaeology, mathematics, history of art, computer science, anthropology, cognitive psychology, history, linguistics, design, economy of board games and their accessories (dice, gameboards, counters, etc.). We will also visit a few public collections.

CALL FOR PAPERS

We invite submissions from scholars, researchers, students and collectors on these topics. We seek papers that offer real research. Talks should not be longer than 25 minutes. They can be in French or in English. Papers read in French will be translated orally (though not simultaneously).

Subjects must be sent before November 30th, 2009 to:
Organising Committee
c/o Thierry Depaulis
24 rue Francœur - 75018 Paris (France)
email: thierry (dot) depaulis (at) free (dot) fr

Abstracts (500-600 words) must be sent before January 31st, 2010, because they all must be translated into the other language.

More information: http://boardgamestudies.jeuxsoc.fr

[Piotr Konieczny]

*************************************************************************************************************
EASST Conference 2010, European Association for the Study of Science
and Technology
'Practicing Science and Technology, Performing the Social,'
University of Trento, Italy, 2-4 September 2010. Abstract submission
deadline: 15 March 2010.
http://events.unitn.it/en/easst010
**************************************************************************************************************

TRACK:

DIGITAL GAME PLAY AS SOCIOTECHNICAL PRACTICE

The Digital Game industry has become one of the fastest growing,
innovative and globalised industries in advanced Western economies and
Digital Games have become a key cultural artefact and leisure practice
in contemporary societies. Developing out of the American military
industrial and academic complex in the 1970s the study of Digital
Games design and play is the study of a range of sociotechnical
practices and the negotiations between a range of human and non-human
actors operating within systems of rules. The complexity of these
relationships brings forth a series of questions that can be
investigated using Science and Technology Studies approaches. However,
to date games studies, with few exceptions, have failed to adopt STS
approaches and the STS community has largely ignored this area of
study.

This track seeks to develop the relationship between the game studies
community and the STS community. Several research questions can be
used to guide this: What STS theories can be used to understand
Digital Games as sociotechnical phenomenon? Is the concept of practice
and the practice-based approach useful to investigate Digital Games?
Is there a relationship between power as inscribed and imposed by
artefacts and the technical dimensions of Digital Games? What rules
are inscribed into Digital Games technologies and what social worlds
do these rules describe? What contribution can the study of Digital
Games make to the STS discipline at large? And what contribution can
an STS approach make to game studies? Can we foresee an after-method
approach for Digital Games?

We invite papers that tackle the sociotechnical dimensions of Digital
Games and address some of the questions outlined above. Contributions
might include (but are not restricted to):

• Digital Games as material semiotic artefacts
• Digital Games as sociotechnical assemblages
• The mess of digital games
• Innovation in game design as actor-networking and social shaping
• Digital Game design and/or play as performance and practice
• Disruptive sociotechnical users’ practices (e.g. hacking, modding)
• The scripting of gendered gaming practices
• Governance and regulation of gaming practices


Abstracts of no more than 500 words should be sent by email (following
website instructions:
http://events.unitn.it/en/easst010/abstract-submission) by 2010 March
15th. Please include also a preliminary references list (up to 4).





Contact for inquiries: stefano.depaoli@nuim.ie


Convenors

Aphra Kerr is a lecturer in the Department of Sociology at the
National University of Ireland Maynooth. Her research focuses on the
regulation, production and consumption of digital media and in
particular of digital games; she established and runs the industry and
community website. (www.gamedevelopers.ie)

Helen W. Kennedy is Deputy Head in the Department of Culture, Media
and Drama at the University of the West of England (UWE) in the UK.
She has been researching and writing about games since 1993 and
co-founded and chaired (from 2004 – 2009) the Play Research Group at
UWE.

Jennifer Jenson is Associate Professor of Pedagogy and Technology in
the Faculty of Education at York University. Her research interests
include gender and gameplay and the design and development of digital
games for education.

Stefano De Paoli is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of
Sociology at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. Stefano has
worked in STS since 2004 and recently his research interest has
embraced Massive Multiplayer Online Games
(http://www.nuim.ie/nirsa/people/postdoc ... aoli.shtml)

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Board Game Studies XIVth Colloquium
KHBO-Spellenarchief, Campus KHBO, May 4th – 7th, 2011
The International Society for Board Game Studies holds yearly colloquia in which scholars, university professors, museum curators, historians, archaeologists, psychologists, mathematicians, game inventors, collectors and others share their research results on board games. Previous BGS colloquia have been held in the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Germany , USA, UK, Brazil, Austria, Portugal, Israel and France.


The KHBO-Spellenarchief, a study center for board games, affiliated with a Teachers Education Department, will organize the Board Game Studies Colloquium XIV. The archive holds more than 18.000 different board games and organises workshops and seminars for students and professionals.


The Colloquium will be hosted at the campus of the KHBO (Katholieke Hogeschool Brugge Oostende) in Brugge, Belgium.


KHBO-Spellenarchief
KHBO Campus Brugge
Xaverianenstraat 10
B-8200 Brugge
Belgium


brugge2011@khbo.be
+32 50 30 52 55


Call for Papers
The International Colloquium on Board Games Studies invites all scholars to submit articles in the area of board game research. The purpose of the Colloquium is to illustrate individual research, to discuss the role of board games in the academic arena, and to enhance multidisciplinary cooperation in games research.


Summaries, Abstracts and Presentations
Participants interested in presenting a paper should submit a topic title and informal summary, written in English, not exceeding 200 words. Summaries should be submitted by January 15th 2011.
You can use name.doc or name.docx or name.pdf as file format.

If your paper is accepted, you will be asked to make a presentation at the Colloquium. You will then need to submit a formal abstract (you may use your summary as your abstract). These abstracts, of 200-500 words, due 28th Februray 2011, will be printed in the colloquium programme, which all participants will receive at registration, all abstracts must be in English.

All presentations will be given in English and should not exceed 30 minutes; there will be a 10 minutes period for questions following each presentation.
Please make a Powerpoint (name.ppt or name.pptx for Windows or Mac) ) or Keynote (name.key for Mac) to support your presentation.

Summaries, abstracts and enquiries should be emailed to Piet Notebaert (brugge2011@khbo.be).
Detailed information on program, registration, colloquium dinner, etc. will be available at the beginning of 2011.


Yours sincerely


Piet Notebaert • KHBO-Spellenarchief
Tel. +32 50 30 52 55 • fax +32 50 30 51 01
brugge2011@khbo.be


Colloquium XIV Board Game Studies • May 4th - 7th 2011

[Augustyn Surdyk]

The Colloquium Program for Board Game Studies XIV is available online:
http://www.khbo.be/14980


You can still register for the colloquium until the end of March.
More info: http://www.khbo.be/13579

Online registration form: http://www.khbo.be/14608

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Worlds, Stories, and Games
Appel à contribution
Information publiée le vendredi 4 mars 2011 par Bérenger Boulay (source : European Narratology Network - ENN)
Date limite : 22 mars 2011


***2nd CFP for PhD seminar - "Worlds, Stories, and Games" *** May 18-20, 2011 at IT University of Copenhagen

Speakers from the Center for Computer Games Research at the IT University of Copenhagen: Espen Aarseth (Ludo-Narratology) Yun-Gyung Cheong (Story generation) Mark Nelson (Drama management) Julian Togelius (Procedural content generation) Georgios N. Yannakakis (User/Player modeling)

Deadline for abstract submission: *March 22, 2011* Seminar participants will obtain 5 ECTS

***ABSTRACT***

This seminar invites PhD students to investigate theoretical and practical problems of interactive storytelling and interactive storytelling techniques in computer games or related media from the perspectives of computer sciences (part I) as well as humanities based research (part II) and tries to find interconnections between the two perspectives.

Part I: Computational Models of Storytelling and Interactive Storytelling

Narrative generation by computers has been actively researched for the last two decades. In particular, various artificial intelligence techniques have been used to model story creation and comprehension processes. However, generating interactive stories is still challenging due to the dynamics of user interaction. The user in story-centered games is like an actor who plays a role in a story without the script. Therefore, creating a seamless story that continuously interacts with the player requires numerous storylines and tremendous authoring efforts. In narrative analysis theory, story consists of two layers: story world and discourse. The story world includes all the events in the story including the events hidden from the reader while the discourse contains only the selected events to be presented to the story consumer. The author constructs the discourse carefully for particular impacts and emotional experiences for the reader.

In games, the story consumer takes a part in creating the story world, and thus story events that are not worth to tell can be conveyed to her. The user's dual roles as story producer and consumer in the game environment have complicated the direct application of narrative theories into interactive story generation.

This seminar is looking for approaches to problems like: How can we efficiently use the interaction of a user into storytelling? Is the interactive storytelling more like a story or a game? Should the story components be present in the story world that the user navigates through or be present in a retrospective way when she recalls the game play? How much does narratology come into play in interactive storytelling?

Part II: Ludo-Narratology and Beyond

If games and game technology can be used for storytelling, what is storytelling, really? How much can the standard theories and models of narratology help us understand game-story hybrids and new kinds of ludo-mimetic entertainment, and how great is the need for new theories and models? A critical understanding of "story-games" is useful both for the development of experimental systems such as FAÇADE (2005), as well as for the study of commercial productions such as FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS (2010), DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (2010), or HEAVY RAIN (2010).

For years, game studies have tried to come up with an answer to the question: Are these "things" games or stories, or both? Unfortunately, the discussion got side-tracked on a meta-level, misleadingly termed "ludology vs. narratology," and became an unproductive no-man's land. It is high time to reboot the empirical study of story-game hybrids and move the field forward.

The seminar will explore the ludological limits of narratology and present some new models from recent game research, and examine the utility of classical narratology. Through lectures, close-playing analysis and discussions, the goal is to attain a better grasp of the aesthetic challenges and solutions involved in game-story production and analysis, through new models and concepts developed specifically for these new forms.

The seminar will furthermore give introductory talks on the state of the art in interactive storytelling techniques such as story generation, procedural content generation, and automated camera control. The seminar also includes an interactive session to demonstrate the use of interactive story authoring tools.

***REQUIREMENTS***

PhD students from the fields of game studies, narratology, interactive storytelling techniques, computational story generation and related fields are invited to submit papers which offer new insights or solutions for the presented problems. For participation please send an abstract of your paper (300-500 words) to smam(at)itu[dot]dk. In order to get 5 ECTS you only have to submit a paper and present a position, a problem, a solution etc. from the given fields.

As an orientation: - a humanities based paper should have about 10 pages in Times New Roman 12pt, double line spacing or 4000-6000 words,

- a computer science based paper: about 4000 words or max 6 pages following IEEE double-column formatting style (e.g. http://bit.ly/i2KdHK).

Knowledge in either computational interactive storytelling techniques or narrative and computer game theory or both is preferable but not obligatory. A refreshment of knowledge will be made possible with a compendium of theoretical texts provided prior to the course. Furthermore, it is advised to play at least three of the example games (HEAVY RAIN (2010), FAÇADE (2005), FALLOUT: NEW VEGAS (2010), DRAGON AGE: ORIGINS (2010), THE MARRIAGE (2006)) prior to the course in order to have a comparable frame of reference in terms of examples. The seminar is free of charge; travel expenses and accommodation have to be comprised by the participants.

***TIMETABLE***

Deadline for abstract submission: March 22, 2011 Notification of acceptance: March 29, 2011 Submission of paper: April 29, 2011

Further information will be available at the “Events” page of http://game.itu.dk. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact Sebastian Möring, smam(at)itu(dot)dk, or Yun-Gyung Cheong, yugc(at)itu(dot)dk.

-- Yun-Gyung Cheong Post-doc IT University of Copenhagen

Tel. +45 7218 5038 Fax. +45 7218 5001 Email: yugc@itu.dk Addr. Room 4B06, Rued Langgaards Vej 7, DK-2300 Copenhagen S

More information: http://www.fabula.org/actualites/worlds ... _43317.php

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Colloquium XIV Board Game Studies • May 4th - 7th 2011

On http://www.khbo.be/14980 you will find a new program for the lectures for the Colloquium Board Game Studies XIV.
We managed to avoid the parallel sessions.

Now everyone can attend every lecture.
We reduced the lecture time from 45 min tot 30 min (25' talk and 5' discussion).
You will notice that on Wednesday and Thursday we end one hour later, but we respected the Friday afternoon program and the closing session at noon on Saturday.
Only one person was moved to another day. All other speakers will give their lecture on the day of the first schedule.

Because the lunch time is somewhat reduced we offer you a free lunch in the restaurant of our campus.
On Wednesday and Thursday you will receive a "ticket" to have a free lunch (sandwich or salad) and drink.
You are, of course, free to take the free lunch or not.

Looking forward to meet you in Brugge.

Yours sincerely


Piet Notebaert • KHBO-Spellenarchief
Tel. +32 50 30 52 55 • fax +32 50 30 51 01
brugge2011@khbo.be

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Spielforscher aus aller Welt treffen sich zu ihrem jährlichen Kongress „Board Game Studies“ vom 17. bis 21. April in Haar bei München. Das Vortragsprogramm und alle weiteren Einzelheiten stehen jetzt auf der Webseite des Bayerischen Spiele-Archivs www.spiele-archiv.de (In der rechten Spalte unter Facebook Taste „Board Game Studies 2012“, dann Sprachfahne „Englisch“ anklicken.)


Spiele Grüße

Tom Werneck


Bayerisches Spiele-Archiv Haar e.V. Tom Werneck, 1. Vors. Postfach 1120 85529 Haar info@spiele-archiv.de



Dear friends,

program, information and registration form for the colloquium “Board Game Studies” (Apr. 17th - 21st) are now available on our webpage www.spiele-archiv.de

(You will find the key “Board Game Studies 2012” in the column on right side directly below “Facebook”, then please click on the English language flag.)


Best

Tom Werneck


Bavarian Games-Archive Haar Tom Werneck, Chairman POBox 1120 D 85529 Haar / Germany info@spiele-archiv.de




info@projekt-spiel.de

[Augustyn Surdyk]

Dear Colleagues and Friends,


The organizers of the 2nd Symposium of Social Sciences and Humanities PhD Students "Education Culture and Society - Nowadays Challenges" (http://www.nowadays.pl) would like to invite all students, post-graduate students, doctoral candidates and young doctors representing different branches of social sciences and humanities to take part in this academic event.

The conference will take place in Wroclaw (Poland) on 14th-17th of October 2013 at the University of Wroclaw.


Further information can be found on the website of the conference:
http://www.nowadays.pl
or Facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/EducationCultureSociety

If you have any questions, feel free to ask at: conferenceinpoland@gmail.com

We are looking forward to meet YOU in Wroclaw,

Michał Kanonowicz
(chairman of the Initiating Committee)