Mobile World Capital

Mobile World Capital – Barcelona

mCenter Director Mimi Sheller will be featured in a video installed in the new Mobile World Center, in the heart of Barcelona.

What is the Mobile World Centre?

The Centre is Mobile World Capital’s permanent exhibition & venue, to spread and demonstrate the latest mobile technologies and solutions to citizens.

Content

Permanent Exhibition

The Centre permanent exhibition is an open platform to all citizens to understand, learn & experience the mWorld.  At the first floor you will find:

1. Data Cloud: Dynamic screens with key metrics showing the evolution of mobile telephony, including penetration and social usage all around the world
2. Interactive Forest: An attractive walk through the different visions and components of mWorld and its capacity to transform the way we live.
3. mWorld Experience – Central element of the exhibition, showing the transformation capability and the constant evolution of the mobile industry and its impact in people’s life
4. mWorld Experience – Video Library
5. mHistory - Timeline with multimedia information covering mobile development, since the beginning of commercial mobile telephony to nowadays.

The Centre exhibition will always be in constant evolution showing latest trends, events and facts from the mWorld.

We welcome all companies, citizens and mLovers to participate, so if you would like to present or suggest some potential content for the centre, please do contact us at: centre@mobileworldcapital.com

Events

At the 2nd floor of the Centre you will find a highly versatile space dedicated to Mobile events (mEvents).

A unique, contemporary and innovative space of 440m2 that hosts approximately 150pax for event.  The centre also offers catering and AV Services.

For the latest agenda of mEvents at the centre please visit mobileworldcentre.com

If you would like to find out more about how to use this space or can you collaborate with the Mobile World Centre please email:  centre@mobileworldcapital.com

Location

Barcelona, Spain, placed in Fontanella 2, in the corner of Plaça Catalunya with streets Portal de l’Angel and Fontanella, in a flagship building of Telefónica Movistar.

History

In the summer of 2011, GSMA selected Barcelona as the world’s first Mobile World Capital from 2012 to 2018. The GSMA represents the interests of mobile operators worldwide. Spanning more than 220 countries, the GSMA unites nearly 800 of the world’s mobile operators with more than 230 companies in the broader mobile ecosystem.

The Mobile World Capital will radically accelerate the global growth of mobile and Barcelona will be the global showcase for innovation.

The Mobile World Capital Foundation & Telefonica have worked hand in hand to create a unique, open platform called Mobile World Centre; a state of the art exhibition showroom where citizens are able to understand and experience how mobile is enhancing our lives.

The Mobile World Centre, located in the heart of Barcelona, brings mobile technology closer to all citizens, share a global vision of the mobile future and be a source of information for the other Mobile World Capital channels; Mobile World Hub, Mobile Word Festival and Mobile World Congress.

For further information please visit:

http://mobileworldcapital.com/mobile-world-centre/

Mobility Futures Conference

Call for Participation

Global Conference On Mobility Futures

Centre for Mobilities Research

Lancaster UNIVERSITY, UK

http://www.lancs.ac.uk/fass/events/mobility-futures/

As part of the tenth anniversary celebrations of the Centre for Mobilities Research (CeMoRe) at Lancaster University, we are pleased to announce and invite contributions for the ‘Global Conference on Mobility Futures’, September 4-6th, 2013, at Lancaster University, UK.

Over the past ten years, the work of CeMoRe and others have helped to ‘mobilise’ the social and human sciences and developed innovative analyses of economic, social, technological, political, policy and design transformations. The ‘Global Conference on Mobility Futures’ will reflect this work and provide a forum for the presentation of cutting edge research from across the social sciences/humanities that reflects back on, explores the present and looks towards future mobilities.

The conference theme

The conference will address all aspects of Mobilities research.
Mobilities research addresses not only the movement of people, objects, information, messages, risks and images through intersecting mobility-systems. It also explores the motivations, pleasures, pains and practices of stillness, of coordinating movement, blocking it, holding things in place, creating and maintaining social and material infrastructures. Some likely past, present and future mobilities to be debated at the Conference include: disasters; electric bikes; social networking; emergencies; military mobilities; experiences of being on the move; 4G; space tourism; climate change refugees; oil wars; gendered, aged and ethnic mobilities; ‘future mobile imaginaries’; citizen innovation; mobile art; mobile methods; food vs fuel; 3D printing; Arctic mobilities; slow travel; Chinese and Indian mobilities; high speed rail; and alternatives to corporeal travel.
A key priority theme, reflecting current and urgent societal concerns, will be questions about limits to the expansion and sophistication of future mobilities. Such questions mean considering if there are limits to mobility, what the limits are, and what consequences limits may have for people’s lives. It also means considering whether different mobilities might substitute for each other, whether this is likely or desirable, and how to design and bring about ‘good mobilities’ in a period of continued austerity.

Conference format

This event will bring together leading theorists and practitioners, transport professionals, computer experts, artists, policy-makers, established academics and junior researchers who are contributing in some way to this paradigm. Confirmed keynote and invited speakers include: Peter Adey, Bianca Freire Medeiros, Ole B. Jensen, Caren Kaplan,  Sven Kesselring, James Marriott, Leysia Palen, Kim Sawchuk, Mimi Sheller, Elizabeth Shove, Adriana da Souza e Silva, John Urry, Susan Zielinski.

Based at Lancaster University, the conference will be multi-sited with events, lectures, seminars, exhibitions, video streams, and short talks linked together around the world. It will be curated by Lancaster staff but with participation from other mobility centres and networks.

Call for Contributions

We invite a range of different kinds of contributions on the themes outlined above. Please note that there is a no-fly attendance option, where you have the opportunity to present and discuss your work without physically travelling to Lancaster.

Abstracts

Academic papers exploring the theory, practice, and implications of mobile living. Participants will be expected to deliver a (ca 20min) talk. Please submit a 500 word abstract by 12th April 2013. Notification of acceptance: 10th May. For further information please contact Monika Buscher m.buscher@lancaster.ac.uk.

Posters

Accepted posters will be presented in short ‘Pecha-Kucha’ sessions (a series of slides delivered in 6 minutes) in addition to being exhibited in the social spaces of the conference. Authors will also be expected to be available for discussion during specified poster sessions during breaks. Please submit a poster by 19th April 2013. Notification of acceptance: 18th May. For further information please contact Lisa Wood l.a.wood@lancaster.ac.uk.

Artworks

There will be a physical and virtual exhibition of art relating to the conference themes (in the widest sense). Artists may be asked to deliver a short talk. Please submit a 500 word abstract by 19th April 2013. Notification of acceptance: 18th May. The Lancaster-based Catalyst project is offering a bursary of £2000 for new mobilities art work related to ‘citizen-led digital innovation for social change’. (www.catalystproject.org.uk) For further details please contact Jen Southern j.a.southern@lancaster.ac.uk.

Open

If you have ideas for unusual conference contributions that do not fit any of the above formats, please contact Jen Southern mailto:j.a.southern@lancaster.ac.uk.

Important Dates

Full Paper Abstract Submission by 12th April 2013
Notification of acceptance: 10th May
Poster and Artwork Submissions by 19th April 2013
Notification of acceptance: 18th May
Registration opens 15th February 2013
Early Bird Registration ends 12th July 2013

The organizing committee

Monika Buscher, Javier Caletrio, Pennie Drinkall, James Faulconbridge, Jen Southern, David Tyfield, John Urry,and Lisa Wood.
The event is being sponsored by the Mobile Lives Forum and Routledge/Taylor & Francis.

Differential Mobilities

Registration Open for Differential Mobilities Conference

 

 

May 8-11, 2013 at Concordia University, Montreal

More info at http://mobilities.ca/pamnet-4/about/

From May 8-11, 2013 the Mobile Media Lab in the Communication Studies department of Concordia University in Montreal will be hosting Differential Mobilities: Movement and Mediation in Networked Societies. This international conference is sponsored by the Pan-American Mobilities Network, in association with the European Cosmobilities Network. The conference will be held in collaboration with the 4th annual meeting of the Pan-American Mobilities Network.  Previous conferences have been held at:  Royal Roads University, Victoria B.C (2010);  Drexel University, Philadelphia PA (2011) ; and North Carolina State University, Raleigh-Durham NC (2012).

The conference is an opportunity for scholars, artists, activists, and policy makers to engage in a lively exchange of  ideas in an interdisciplinary context, taking the term “mobilities” as a fulcrum. Mobilities has become an important framework for understanding and analyzing contemporary social, spatial, economic and political practices. Mobilities research is interdisciplinary, focusing on the systematic movement of people, goods and information that “travel” around the world at speeds that are greater than before, creating distinct patterns, flows– and blockages. Mobilities research contributes to the study of these technological, social and cultural developments from a critical perspective.

Each year the conference has a different thematic focus, reflecting the interests and expertise of the local organizing committee. Previous themes have included: Cultures of Movement: Mobile Subjects, Communities, and Technologies in the Americas (2010); Mobilities in Motion: New Approaches to Emergent and Future Mobilities (2011); Local and Mobile: linking mobilities, mobile communication and locative media (2012)

This year’s theme is Differential Mobilities: Movement and Mediation in Networked Societies. The term ‘differential mobilities’ has been deployed to describe dynamics of power within networked societies. When we conceptualize movement, mobility, or flows within spaces and places, we need to account for the systemic differences within infrastructures and terrains that create uneven forms of access. ‘Differential mobilities’, conceptually, highlights how exclusions occur, creating striations of power. It draws attention to differences in how these inequalities are experienced, the strategies for resistance, and the processes of mediation that have been implemented to instigate change.

The Pan-American Mobilities Network is a scholarly and professional network dedicated to the study of mobilities in South, Central, and North America. The Pan-American Mobilities Network gathers individuals and groups interested in developing more knowledge about mobilities on–or intersecting with–these continents and keen on building collegial relationships. Membership is free and a web-site for the organization is in process.

The Cosmobilities Network connects European scientists working in the field of mobility research. As an interdisciplinary network it represents state of the art research on different aspects of social, physical, cultural and virtual mobilities. It fosters mobility research as a key discipline investigating the modernization of European societies under the conditions of globalization and global complexity.

Conference Chair: Kim Sawchuk (Concordia University, Québec)

Organizing Committee: Jim Conley (Trent University, Canada), Owen Chapman (Concordia University, Québec), Adriana de Souza e Silva (NC State University, USA), Paola Jirón Martinez (University of Chile, Chile), Mary Gray (Microsoft/Indiana Univerisity, USA), Ole B. Jensen (Aalborg University, Denmark), André Lemos (Federal University of Bahia, Brazil), Mimi Sheller (Drexel University, USA), Jen Southern (Lancaster University, UK), and Phillip Vannini (Royal Roads University, Canada).

Register at: http://mobilities.ca/pamnet-4/conference-registration/

NSF Research Award

NSF Award #1264466

RAPID: Understanding Sudden Hydro-Climatic Changes and Exploring Sustainable Solutions in the Enriquillo Closed Water Basin (Southwest Hispaniola)

The mCenter is pleased to announce the award of a Rapid research grant from the National Science Foundation, with the following investigators in collaboration with CCNY:

Jorge E. Gonzalez (Principal Investigator) gonzalez@me.ccny.cuny.edu
Reza Khanbilvardi (Co-Principal Investigator)
Fred Moshary (Co-Principal Investigator)
Michael Piasecki (Co-Principal Investigator)
Mimi Sheller (Co-Principal Investigator)

Abstract

The two largest lakes in Haiti and the Dominican Republic are, respectively, the Saumatre and Enriquillo lakes, both of which are salt water lakes. Lake Enriquillo is at the lowest point in the Caribbean, and is within several miles of Lake Saumatre. Both lakes have been growing drastically in size over the past several years. The socio-economic impact of this growth of the lakes has been very dramatic. Since the lakes began their recent rapid growth, more than 15,000 hectares of agricultural and grass land around the lakes have been flooded, having a strong negative impact on 2,500 farms in 16 communities with total estimates of 10,000 individuals affected. Urgency to address this growth problem has risen sharply over the past few months due to the unprecedented water levels reached. Further, the Caribbean is in the midst of its tropical depression/hurricane season, a unique time for embarking on a research effort as the Lakes are responding to these extreme events in a unique fashion. The window is relatively short and if missed would require waiting an entire year to possibly get a similar weather pattern passing through the lakes region again. Meanwhile, the emergency resulting from floods will have worsened. The research plan integrates observations, integrated earth-system modeling and community engagement and is designed to lead to accelerated documentation of the causes of the growth and to support policy formulation for handling the consequences. The urgent questions in need of answers are: Through rapid monitoring and modeling, can the hypothesis be supported that a warming climate is impacting the overall hydro-balance of the lakes? How is this hydro-balance reflected in terms of lake volume and surface area? What may be the response of informed communities to the emergency presented by continuously expanding flood lands?

In relation to mobilities research the question of how communities adapt to climate change and disruptions caused by changing environmental conditions is very important. This project builds on previous research on post-earthquake Haiti, and also involves collaboration between engineers and social scientists.

For more information please contact Mimi Sheller, Director of the Center for Mobilities Research and Policy, mimi.sheller@drexel.edu

 

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

4,329 films were submitted to the 2012 Cannes Film Festival. This blog had 17,000 views in 2012. If each view were a film, this blog would power 4 Film Festivals

Click here to see the complete report.

Royal Geographical Society – IBG Call for Papers

New paradigms in conceptualizing shared mobility – Call for papers

We invite submissions to the following Call for Papers for the 2013 RGS-IBG (Royal Geographical Society – Institute of British Geographers) annual conference. This will take place in London from Wednesday 28 to Friday 30 August 2013. Please note the opportunity for a postgraduate paper prize.

Personal Rapid Transit – John Hersey for the Boston Globe

New paradigms in conceptualizing shared mobility

Session Convenors: Dr Juliet Jain & Professor Graham Parkhurst, University of the West of England, Bristol

Technology is offering a potential new dynamic in how transport is delivered and used. There is a move from what were once ‘private’ ways of being mobile towards ‘shared’ modes. Traditionally, shared modes have been buses, coaches, trams, trains and air. Now there are shared cars through car clubs, personal rapid transport (PRT), and taxi services, and shared bicycles such as the London Barclays bike scheme. Mobile technologies and the rise of the ‘app’ have become particularly useful in facilitating shared transport opportunities (e.g. Barclays bike hire scheme in London).

Speculating on urban futures, Sheller and Urry (2003) considered the notion of public/private and the potential reconfiguration of the city with shared automated ‘pods’. Feasibility studies and trials of personal rapid transport systems are now underway. Yet as Latour (1996) explores in his tale of Aramis, future visions of re-scripting mobility practices demand complex enrollments between politics, technical developers, communities, etc. Do such sociological interpretations and theoretical ideas assist in the implementation of shared schemes and the social diffusion of new collective mobility mechanisms?

Sharing transport presents challenges to the notion of individual ownership, and opens new debates around:-

• how shared transport is theoretically conceptualized;
• how it is conceived, designed, delivered and managed;
• the spatial impacts that might emerge from new networks;
• how it is modeled and evaluated; and
• how it is experienced and perceived by the public.

This session seeks abstracts that present evidence from new ‘shared’ schemes, theoretical concepts of sharing and social practices, and new methodological approaches for modelling use and networks, and understanding of the user experience of shared transport.

Please email your abstract of 250 words (max) to Juliet Jain Juliet.Jain@uwe.ac.uk and Graham Parkhurst Graham.Parkhurst@uwe.ac.uk by the 30th January 2013.

References see:

Sheller, M. and Urry, J., ‘Mobile Transformations of “Public” and “Private” Life’, Theory, Culture and Society, 20: 3 (2003), pp. 107-125

Sheller, M. and Urry, J., ‘The City and the Car’, International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Vol. 24, No. 4, (2000) pp. 737-57

Postgraduate Prize

Eligible author presenters are encouraged to submit a paper for the Postgraduate Paper Prize, which is will be sponsored by Emerald Publishing in 2013. There is a first prize of £100, and a runner-up prize of a book chosen from the Emerald transport titles.

To enter for the prize, a full paper of not more than 6000 words should be submitted to the Secretary of the TGRG (Kate Pangbourne, k.pangbourne@abdn.ac.uk) no later than 5pm on the Friday of the week prior to the conference.

Eligibility:

Eligibility is restricted to post-graduate students (or those who have had their viva within six months of the date of the conference) presenting their own work. There is a presumption that the papers ought to be sole authored.

Against Recovery

Against Recovery?: Slavery, Freedom, and the Archive

Friday, Nov. 30th – Saturday, Dec. 1st

http://www.againstrecoveryconference.org

King Juan Carlos Center, New York University,  53 Washington Square South

Against Recovery?: Slavery, Freedom, and the Archive is an interdisciplinary conference that aims to foster discussion and debate about how emerging methods and archival practices in the study of slavery and freedom can generate new ideas about black political narratives in the Americas. For decades, a lack of evidence about enslaved and free black lives has presented an overwhelming challenge to historians, while simultaneously rendering slavery studies an exceptionally dynamic field. A new generation of scholars has probed the limits of history writing, adopting creative reading practices to make suppositions about the everyday lives, politics, and interior worlds of enslaved and free people. We bring together scholars whose work asks what happens if we do not look to the archive as merely a space of recovery and vindication, but as one in which we can glimpse the multiple ways our subjects might have fashioned blackness and imagined futures that do not sit easily with more common historical narratives of progress and continuity.

Dr. Mimi Sheller of Drexel University’s Center for Mobilities Research and Policy will be speaking on Saturday about the use of photographic archives in her new book Citizenship from Below: Erotic Agency and Caribbean Freedom. A full schedule of the event can be found here.

Organized by Laura Helton, Justin Leroy, Max Mishler, Samantha Seeley, and Shauna Sweeney. Sponsored by New York University’s American History Workshop, the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, the Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, the Department of Social and Cultural Analysis, the History Department, the English Department, the Humanities Initiative, the Institute of African American Affairs, the Workshop in Archival Practice, and CUNY Graduate Center.

Space is limited. To register, email againstrecovery@gmail.com. In your email, please indicate if you will/will not be attending the works-in-progress seminar. Registration for the Friday lunch is now closed.

Image credits: The Liberator, 7 January 1832 (vol. 11, p. 2), via Slavery Images, compiled by Jerome Handler and Michael Tuite, and sponsored by the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and the University of Virginia Library.