Tech Cultures, Tech Selves - the 2011 Vanier College Social Science Festival explores technology in our lives

Technology is a lot more than the mere gadgets we use to get things done. The 2011 Vanier College Social Science Festival, entitled, Tech Cultures, Tech Selves, aims to look at how it also shapes and directs our lives. October 17-21, 2011, guest speakers, panel discussions, special presentations and films will explore how the social sciences can help us understand the possibilities and risks arising out of the relationships we have with the gadgets we use every day.

“From the perspective of the social sciences,” explains Sociology teacher and festival organizer, Avi Goldberg, “technology encompasses the gadgets themselves, the specialized knowledge to develop new ones, and how new gadgets change social relationships and societal conditions.”

Evolution and anthropology in a tech world First up on Monday, rap poet, Baba Brinkman will launch the festival with his amusing take on evolution. Next, Vanier anthropology teacher, Matthieu Sossoyan, is sure to intrigue his audience with his talk: Of Penis Gourds and Phallocrypts: the Anthropology of a Bizarre Item of Clothing. Then Jacky Vallée will describe how Facebook is changing his own anthropological fieldwork among native people.

Students speak out On Wednesday, Vanier students will speak their minds during Cliques and Cafeterias: a Workshop about Commensality and the Discovery of Difference - a discussion on discrimination and self-segregation. Later in the week, other students who went to Malawi last June will present their findings on the issue of access to water in Africa and its impact on people.

The assassination of JFK Thursday, October 20, history teacher, Miles DeNora will deliver the Ron Charbonneau Memorial Lecture with his talk entitled Lee Harvey Oswald: President John F. Kennedy’s Assassin, which will focus on some of the “controversies” surrounding the assassination while highlighting the overwhelming evidence that implicates Oswald in Kennedy’s death. Then Award-winning former Globe and Mail columnist and author Stephen Brunt will take a look at technology and sport in his talk The Virtual Fan: How Technology is Changing the Way we Cover and Consume Spectator Sports.

Reality TV - an insider's P.O.V. On Friday, reality TV personality and Master chef competitor, Ben Starr, will share his perspective on reality TV and its influence on both the contestant and the viewer and offer his opinions on the "sustainability" of the reality TV format in future media.

Other presentations during the week will focus on the gendered nature of technology, a look at whether technology is the solution or the problem of environmental sustainability, a panel of social scientists discussing the construction of our technological lives and a talk on technology and Hollywood.