I realize I should say something in support of the internet blackout going on today. You can learn more at Wikipedia. Yes, we should be terrified of these initiatives, which place a few companies in the position of judge and jury, and further enshrines the profit motive as the first principle of public policy on communication in the United States.
(Happy) New Year, New Text
(coauthored with Tara Rodgers) “The Poetics of Signal Processing,” Differences 22:2-3 (Summer/Fall 2011): 31-53. Audio examples here.
The electronic copy’s not up on any database to which McGill gives me access, and the hard copy has a binding error where pp 61-76 appear between pages 44 and 45. That’s a first.
This is a very exciting and intense semester for me. Lots of writing, research and travel since I’m not teaching any regular courses (they owed me some course releases from my time as chair and from some grants). I’ll write more about that in the coming days and weeks.
And now a message to the staff of CBC Daybreak
Dear CBC Daybreak,
Please do not call my home at 7:15am looking for other McGill professors. They do not live here. Most professors have their own homes and do not reside in communes. Also, we are/were asleep.
Thank you.
–Jonathan (for J&C)
Like I said below, “it” is not over.
Phew.
I just returned the copyedits for MP3: The Meaning of a Format to Duke. That was a ton of work for my RAs and I. I have no idea how I would have done it without them, given the intensity of the last month. Thanks to their help I was able to do some last-minute rewriting and prettifying, and hopefully the text will be nice and shiny going into page proofs. I also added an epigraph from Lewis Mumford (he’s perfect for all occasions, like a good white wine), which I allowed myself since none of the chapters have epigraphs.
Next up, putting The Sound Studies Reader to bed. Oh yes, and grading. And an end-of-term potluck for students.
New Text
“’The Recording that Never Wanted to be Heard’ and Other Stories of Sonification,” coauthored with Mitchell Akiyama, The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies, eds. Trevor Pinch and Karin Bijsterveld, 544-60. New York: Oxford University Press (2011).
Strike’s Over, Term’s Almost Over, but “it” is not over
I warned you about the quiet time. Just got back from a very nice day at Harvard, mostly in the music department but my talk was at the Mahindra Humanities Center. Met lots of cool people, had great conversations which made me think about stuff. What more can you ask for? Unrelated to any of that, I stayed in the faculty club, where my guest room was covered entirely with wallpaper featuring Victorian era people golfing. The semiosis is almost unbearable. I also visited Occupy Harvard briefly, which was an interesting phenomenon. My favorite part of their FAQ:
Q4. Are you targeting me as one of the 1%?
We are not attacking you as a person, but trying to reform a system that stifles equality of opportunity. Obviously, Harvard students work and have worked hard to get to where they are, but we are asking everyone to reconceptualize a system that leaves 1 percent of the population with a highly disproportionate share of the wealth. For example, the top 1 percent controls twice as great a share of the national income today as it did thirty years ago; we think a system whereby 1 percent of the country controls 40% of the wealth, and all the power that comes with it, is profoundly unjust, and indicative of a system that requires critical rethinking.
I spoke with one of the organizers in the afternoon who said their tack is that the most privileged people are the most responsible. Sounds good to me.
Yesterday the MUNACA staff returned to work. Full details on the settlement are here. I’m very happy for them, and for us too.
The students completed a draft of an alternative inquiry into the events of November 10th. It is very well done. We are waiting for the Jutras investigation to become public and for the administration’s response.
Darin Barney’s Thirteen Theses has been making the rounds.
The governance problems that led to the strike and riot police attacking students remain completely unsolved.