Brian Kerr

Event announcement. There’s an empty page for the conference, with details having just arrived via e-mail:

Annual UMInDS Spring Conference
April 4, 2008 Pendleton Room Michigan Union

Disability and War

1:00 pm Poster Session by UM Students and Faculty

2:00 pm Panel: Disability at War

• Rick Briggs, Brain Injury Association of Michigan “Traumtic Brain Injury — The Signature Wound of the War on Terror”
• Sally Chivers, University of Trent “Disabled Veterans Soldier On: Canadians Coming Home from Afghanistan”
• Nina Berman, Documentary Photographer “Purple Hearts“

3:30 pm Coffee Break and Poster Session Continued

4:00 pm Keynote Address Sharon Snyder and David Mitchell
U Illinois Chicago/ Temple University
“The Social Romance of Reintegration: Returning Veterans Films and the Forging of U.S. Disability Collectives”

Co-sponsored by the Department of Comparative Literature
For information contact Carrie Baker at 734 647-6251 or mcarrie@umich.edu

(tags: accessible april 4 2008 conference disability events umich uminds war)

Snippet from a course announcement for a winter 2007 class to be taught by Don Blumenthal at the U-M School of Information:

This course will examine: 1) privacy issues related to the safeguarding of sensitive information against inadvertent disclosure; 2) policy and societal questions concerning the value of security and privacy regulations, the real world effects of data breaches on individuals and businesses, and the balancing of interests among individuals, government, and enterprises; 3) current and proposed laws and regulations that govern data security and privacy; 4) self-help and private sector regulatory efforts; 5) emerging technologies that may affect security and privacy concerns; and 6) issues related to the development of enterprise data security processes and programs that take into account the requirements of all relevant constituencies: e.g., technical, business, and legal.

Here’s the course catalog page for Data Security and Privacy: Legal, Policy and Enterprise Issues. I met Don at a2b3 lunch some time ago. This looks like a great topic and a relevant offering, since — when I was on an outbound trajectory from the department, at least — so much of the dork curriculum actually resulted in half-baked SQL-injectable junk and so forth.

(tags: course networks privacy process security umich umsi)

Course announcement for a winter 2007 class, open to undergraduates and graduates at U-M, highly recommended (see also a recent syllabus):

This course provides an interdisciplinary approach to disability studies, including focus on the arts and humanities, natural and social sciences, and professional schools. Some topics include the history and cultural representation of disability, advocacy, health, rehabilitation, built environment, independent living, public policy. The point of departure of the course is the idea that disability provides a critical framework that reorients the basic assumptions of various fields of knowledge, from political science to architecture, from engineering to art history, from genetics to law, from public policy to education, from biology to poetry, and so on. Disability Studies views people with disabilities not as objects but as producers of knowledge whose common history has generated a wide variety of art, music, literature, and science infused with the experience of disability. Students will have the opportunity to interact with visiting speakers from a broad range of fields. The course is offered for 1 or 3 credits. Accessible classroom with realtime captioning. For more information, please contact Kristine Mulhorn and Tobin Siebers.

I took this course in fall 2006. It was a powerful antidote to a bunch of horseshit baked into the School of Information MSI curriculum, and therefore recommended for any HCI types.

(tags: accessible course design edu umich uminds umsi universal)

(Photo details at Flickr.)

I’ve had some sort of U-M affiliation for very close to a decade at this point. Oscillation between town and gown looks like it’s about to achieve equilibrium on the other side. Ironically enough — given the department I’m expectorating from — it’s the library privileges I’ll miss the most.

(tags: annarbor photos umich)

Via A&D Gallery Announcements blog, the All Student Exhibition:

The School of Art & Design’s Fifth Annual All Student Exhibition is scheduled from March 9 through March 30. Student work will be presented in exhibitions throughout all of the School’s facilities: Slusser Gallery, Robbins Gallery, Work on South State Street, and all corridor venues in the Art & Architecture Building.

Opening Reception: 6:00-9:00 pm, March 9
Exhibition runs March 9th through March 30th.

Jean Paul Slusser Gallery
Warren Robbins Gallery
Work at 306 S. State

Liana and I stopped by the Slusser opening last night. I liked a few pieces doing some clever stuff with projection, and discovered Zack Denfeld’s MFA thesis project Plug Finder, which will be cheerfully familiar if you’ve seen Blue Puddle.

(tags: annarbor design media umich)

Check your e-mail O student comrades — inside track on summer internships, media relations at Coca-Cola!

These roles will provide broad exposure to the diverse strategic issues and opportunities facing global consumer goods companies. These issues might include corporate social responsibility, stakeholder engagement, corporate/NGO strategy, environment, diversity, health & wellness and global aging.

I have a jar. I’m putting one (1) greenback USD into this jar each time I get e-mail about a truly reprehensible job / internship opportunity from the department’s “career” “services” staff. Once I expectorate from the department, I will use the cash to buy oatmeal java breakfast stout next time it’s on tap, you’re welcome to join me.

(tags: umich umsi)

Freeze Outside of Frieze — amazing photo from Andrea’s Frieze Demolition 2007 flickr set.

See more details on the Frieze Building at Arborwiki.

(tags: annarbor umich)