May 24, 2004
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Robert Webber
English Department
(805) 756-1436; rwebber@calpoly.edu
Head of MIT Media Lab to Speak on ‘Ethics of Interconnectivity’
at Cal Poly May 27
SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Bill Mitchell, the new head of the Media Lab at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), will speak and lead a
public forum on “The Ethics of Interconnectivity" from 7 to
9 p.m. in
Philips Hall in the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly.
The MIT Media Lab is a renowned incubator for student-faculty
entrepreneurs who have founded successful digital and Web-based
enterprises worldwide, according to Robert Webber, a member of Cal
Poly’s English faculty and director of the university’s Consortium
for
Arts and Media.
Mitchell’s new book, “ME++,” provides the foundation
for his talk at Cal
Poly. According to the author, “The book explores the emerging
relationship of the electronically extended self to the networked city
-- providing a pioneering critical examination of ubiquitous wireless
connectivity, wearable and implanted devices, the neo-nomadic use of
space, and conditions of conflict, surveillance, and control in
post-9/11 urban settings. It discusses in detail the architectural and
urban implications of emerging wireless technologies, dematerialized
information, miniaturized electronics, inexpensive sensors,
location-aware and context-aware computing, and embedded, networked
intelligence. The book also challenges traditional approaches to zoning,
programming and constructing our built environment, and argues that
cities of the 21st century must be grounded in new principles of ethical
connectivity.”
KSBY-TV anchor Shari Small will moderate a faculty-student panel debate
on Mitchell’s presentation. The event is free and open to the public.
Refreshments will be served and a free raffle will be held of Mitchell's
books published by the MIT Press: “Me++,” “e-topia,”
and “City of
Bits.”
Mitchell is former dean of the School of Architecture and Planning at
MIT. He is a professor of architecture and media arts and sciences and
heads the Media Arts and Sciences Program, which houses the Media
Laboratory. He also holds a joint faculty appointment in comparative
media studies, serves as architectural advisor to the president of MIT,
and is a trustee of Wellesley College.
He previously held faculty positions at Harvard, Cambridge and UCLA,
where he was head of the Architecture/Urban Design Program. He has
served as the Thomas Jefferson Professor of Architecture at the
University of Virginia. He writes a monthly column for the Royal
Institute of British Architects Journal.
Mitchell’s presentation is sponsored by MIT, Cal Poly's Consortium
for
Arts & Media, and the College of Liberal Arts. For more information,
contact Webber at 756-1436.
###
(NOTE TO EDITORS: For a photograph of Bill Mitchell please contact
Jo
Ann Lloyd at (805) 756-1511 or jlloyd@calpoly.edu.)