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<TITLE>reminder: jonathan sterne seminar today (melbourne)</TITLE>
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<FONT FACE="Arial"><SPAN STYLE='font-size:12.0px'>[Apologies for cross-posting]<BR>
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<B>Seminar today:<BR>
</B>Thursday 7 August 2008, 4.15-6.15pm<BR>
Japanese Room, First Floor, Architecture Building, University of Melbourne<BR>
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<B>Title: Format Theory<BR>
Abstract: </B>Today, more recordings exist in mp3 form than in any other form in the world. What difference does it make? Arguments about sound quality abound in scholarship and the popular press, but much less has been said about the format as itself a cultural phenomenon. This is not entirely accidental, as scholars are more often in the habit of conceiving of technology in terms of hardware. In this paper, I consider the historical significance of format as a defining feature of recent audio media history, and argue that the history of the mp3 reveals otherwise hidden dimensions of 20th century audio history.<BR>
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<B>Dr Jonathan Sterne</B> is Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Art History and Communication Studies and the History and Philosophy of Science Program at McGill University. He is author of <I>The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction </I>(Duke, 2003), and numerous articles on media, technologies and the politics of culture. His next book is tentatively entitled <I>MP3: The Meaning of a Format</I>. He is also an editor of <I>Bad Subjects: Political Education for Everyday Life</I> (<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://badsubjects.org)">http://badsubjects.org)</a></U></FONT>, one of the longest continuously-running publications on the Internet. Visit his website at <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://sterneworks.org">http://sterneworks.org</a></U></FONT>.<BR>
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For further details and to RSVP, please contact Alison Huber: <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U>huberal@unimelb.edu.au</U></FONT> <BR>
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<I>This event is supported by the ARC Cultural Research Network <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.uq.edu.au/crn/">http://www.uq.edu.au/crn/</a></U></FONT> and the Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne <FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/">http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/</a></U></FONT> <<FONT COLOR="#0000FF"><U><a href="http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/">http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/</a></U></FONT>> .</I></SPAN></FONT>
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