November 19, 2001

The Virtual Harlem project as a Prototype for Collaborative Learning Networks
Phone: (312)355-0956 or http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci

Brown Bag Seminar on Monday, November 19th from 9:30 am to 11:00 am in the Great Cities Institute conference room.

Title of Research: The Virtual Harlem project as a Prototype for Collaborative Learning Networks

As we envision it, a collaborative learning network because of its complex structure requires that persons in the network to be both teachers and learners. In the case of the Virtual Harlem project, the technical staff has to learn about the Harlem Renaissance from the non-technical staff. Similarly, the non-technical staff has to learn about the technologies of networking from the technical staff.
The unusual combination of disciplines in the project African American culture, literary, historical, urban, gender, social, anthropological, artistic, graphic, dramatic studies, communication, psychology, engineering, computer science, and visualization mandates that no one person in the network will be the master of any one perspective. At the same time, the diversity of perspectives allows each person in the network to view the subject matter and the technology from a previously unfamiliar perspective. Moreover, since the project is based on virtual reality scenarios, at the higher end of the technological spectrum, a certain excitement is continuously generated, especially when persons enter the network and view the work that has been completed.

Presenter: James J. Sosnoski

James J. Sosnoski is a professor of Communication at the University of Illinois at Chicago.  He is the author of Token Professionals and Master Critics: A Critique of Orthodoxy in Literary Studies, and Modern Skeletons in Postmodern Closets: A Cultural Studies Alternative, as well as various essays on literary and pedagogical theory, computer-assisted pedagogy, and online collaboration.    He was the Executive Director of the Society for Critical Exchange (1982-86), the Director of the Group for Research into the Institutionalization and Professionalization of Literary Studies (82-4) and the TicToc project (96-97), a collaborative effort to bring together experts in technology with the members of the English department at UIC to develop an online work environment.  He has been a member of the MLA's Delegate Assembly, Ethics Committee, and Emerging Technologies Committee. He is currently coordinating the Virtual Harlem project, an instructional technology project using virtual reality scenarios. His research focus is Configuring, a study of the role of virtual experiences in interpersonal understanding.

We look forward to seeing you. ...to enjoy each other's company...and to share your work and support the work of others. (Note: We will provide coffee, tea and pastries.)
 

Great Cities Institute ( MC 107)
412 S. Peoria, Suite 400
Chicago, IL 60607
Phone: (312)355-0956
http://www.uic.edu/cuppa/gci