Mediated Congregation - Architecting The Crystal Cathedral; DPLA West; The Information

Mediated Congregation - Architecting The Crystal Cathedral

Tuesday, April 24, 12:30pm ET, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, 23 Everett St, Cambridge, MA. This event will be webcast live.

Within the past thirty years the rise of a new style of worship, coined “megachurch”, has transformed the American religious landscape. Blending audio, visual, and communications technologies within postmodern architectures, megachurches radically re-imagine Christianity. These re-contextualizations of secular technologies carry particularly symbolic meaning; for believers, megachurches make visible God's hand at work in the conditions of 20th and 21st century mediated social life. They produce conditions for apprehending a Protestant ethic within the networked worldview. This talk reads megachurches as part of late 20th century shift towards conducting collective life in increasingly mobile, mediated, and distributed arrangements. Based on a case study of a pioneering and particularly influential institution, the Crystal Cathedral (1955 - present), I trace a series of translations via automobiles and drive-in cinema (1955 - 1961), then glass, steel, and television (1962 - 1970), and finally architectural postmodernism , satellite television, and the Internet (1980 - present) by which a traditional narrative of mythic worldview entered a new technological regime. Erica Robles-Anderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Media, Culture, and Communication at New York University. RSVP Required. more information on our website>

Rethink Music Conference

April 22-24, Hynes Convention Center, Boston, MA

Music is universal, but the business of music is changing. Produced by Berklee College of Music and midem, Rethink Music is a hands-on conference designed to bring music stakeholders together to discuss business models for the future, examine copyright challenges in the digital era, and analyze technological innovation in music and its distribution. Centered around transforming the music industry, Rethink Music’s programming does not just focus on discussing change, but rather making it happen. Registration required. more information on the Rethink Music website>

DPLA West

April 27, San Francisco, CA

DPLA West—taking place on April 27, 2012 in San Francisco—is the second major public event bringing together librarians, technologists, creators, students, government leaders, and others interested in building a Digital Public Library of America. Convened by the DPLA Secretariat at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society and co-hosted by the San Francisco Public Library, the event will assemble a wide range of stakeholders in a broad, open forum to facilitate innovation, collaboration, and connections across the DPLA effort. DPLA West will also showcase the work of the interim technical development team and continue to provide opportunities for public participation in the work of the DPLA. Registration required. more information on the DPLA website>

ROFLcon III

May 4-5, MIT

The first Internet culture conference series devoted to discussing what makes memes work, why they work, and where its all going. Registration required more information on the ROFLcon website>

The Information: James Gleick talks about his new book

Tuesday, May 8, 12:30pm ET, Harvard Law School, Venue TBA, Cambridge, MA. This event will be webcast live.

James Gleick, author of The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, will discuss his new book. James Gleick is a native New Yorker and a graduate of Harvard and the author of a half-dozen books on science, technology, and culture. His latest bestseller, translated into 20 languages, is The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood, which the NY Times called "ambitious, illuminating, and sexily theoretical." Whatever they meant by that. They also said "Don't make the mistake of reading it quickly." RSVP Required. more information on our website>

RB: 197: University 2.0

This week's guest, Juan Carlos de Martin, readily admits that he is only the latest in a long line of thinkers to portend the end of the university as we know it. He almost gleefully cites Thomas Edison as one of his most notable predecessors. But Juan Carlos may be the first to be right. When Juan Carlos began his research tracing the history of the university – an institution that has barely changed since the founding of the University of Bologna nearly a millennium ago – he was optimistic about the democratizing effects of digital technology. However, Juan Carlos now says he has identified several persuasive arguments against the University that together could topple the ivory tower. David Weinberger interviewed Juan Carlos – a Berkman Fellow and co-founder of the NEXA Center for Internet and Society in Torino, Italy – about what Juan Carlos has called the "perfect storm" on the University's horizon. video/audio on our website>

Kristin Thomson and Erin McKeown on Making it as a Musician in an Increasingly Networked World

Newly empowered musicians now find themselves juggling dozens of career-related responsibilities, from booking their own shows to composing witty tweets. How are today’s musicians balancing it all and, even more critical, how have these changes impacted their earning capacity? Kristin Thomson — independent record label owner and Consultant for the Future of Music Coalition — and Erin McKeown — internationally known musician and Berkman Fellow — discuss the changing landscape for musicians and music fans, focussing on how musicians are managing their assets, building teams and allocating their time in an increasingly networked world, and drawing on data collected through FMC’s groundbreaking Artist Revenue Streams project, a multi-method, cross-genre examination of musicians' and composers' revenue streams in the US. video/audio on our website>