Science in the City: Professor Geoffrey Rockwell

Geoffrey Rockwell

Bruce Newbold
Feb. 14 2006

Geoffrey Rockwell
March 14 2006

Miroslav Lovric
April 11 2006

Warren Foster
May 9 2006

Past Lectures
January 2003-June 2003

Past Lectures
September 2003- May 2004

Past Lectures
September 2004- May 2005

Past Lectures September 2005-December 2005

Science in the City Overview and Current Schedule

Geoffrey Rockwell

Professor Geoffrey Rockwell

Too much to read: using computers to cope with information overload

There is too much information being published on the net for anyone to read. Most if it is text -- like web pages, e-mail, instant messaging and blogs.So much of it is spam of some sort or another and the situation doesn't seem to be getting any better. How do we cope?

In this lecture Geoffrey Rockwell will talk about:

The explosion of information and how traditional ways of finding and reading don't work
The problem of spam and the breakdown of the network of trust
Digital immigrants (those of us not born into the digital world) and digital natives ('native speakers' of the digital language of computers, video games and the Internet): what can we learn from how our children to handle the overload?
Emerging techniques for large scale document management and analysis

Too much information doesn't make us wiser. We have to develop new habits of communication and document management to cope with the excess of information.

Professor Rockwell's lecture will offer a sense of the scope and complexity of the information overload dilemma -- you're not alone! The audience will also learn how researchers are attempting to tackle the problem and hear suggestions about how you can think through and find solutions to use your computer to manage the burden of having too much to read.

Geoffrey Martin Rockwell is an associate professor of Humanities Computing and Multimedia in the department of Communication Studies and Multimedia.

He received a B.A. in philosophy from Haverford College, an M.A. and Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Toronto and worked at the University of Toronto as a Senior Instructional Technology Specialist. He has published and presented papers in the area of philosophical dialogue, textual visualization and analysis, humanities computing, instructional technology, computer games and multimedia.

With colleagues at McMaster University he set up an undergraduate Multimedia program.. Geoffrey is currently the project leader for the CFI (Canada Foundation for Innovation) funded project TAPoR, a $ 6.7 million project developing a Text Analysis Portal for Research, a text tool portal for researchers who work with electronic texts. He has published a book Defining Dialogue: From Socrates to the Internet with Humanity Books

Geoffrey Rockwell's Home Page

Prof. Rockwell's Interview with The Hamilton Spectator

This is a free public lecture.
All are welcome!

Tuesday March 14, 2006
Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Lecture begins at 7 p.m.
Hamilton Specator Auditorium
To reserve your seat:

e-mail sciencecity@mcmaster.ca
Or by phone 905-525-9140, extension 24934