Interesting article over at Robots Teach Korean Students English – Robots – io9 on the deployment of 1000s of robot language teachers to assist in the learning of English in South Korean schools and pre-schools.

I’m wondering why they’ve embedded this approach in a humanoid form, rather than through an animated avatar on the cellphone for example. Perhaps the physical presence of the robot creates a kind of relationality (e.g. authority figure) that a computer application couldn’t do?

I don’t write fiction, but tips on writing in general are always useful to accumulate. Here are a collection of tips from a bunch of people who have learnt them the hard way.

• Ten rules for writing fiction | Books | guardian.co.uk
• Ten rules for writing fiction(part two) | Books | guardian.co.uk

Heidi over at When Religion Meets New Media: CFP on book on Church and New Media has an informative blurb on the call of papers for a new edited book looking at a variety of approaches to religion and the internet.

I’ve cribbed some of it below – but drop by her site for the full details.

Call for Papers for Edited Book on CHURCH AND NEW MEDIA: PERSPECTIVES, PRACTICES AND FUTURES
Editors: Pauline Hope Cheong, Peter Fischer-Nielsen, Stefan Gelfgren and Charles Ess

Background and Rationale
This book brings together, for the first time in five years, a collection of key articles in the area of religion and the Internet, particularly as new media relates to church, mission and interfaith dialogue. In light of the increasing mediation of everyday life in many parts of the world, this book approaches online religion with a fresh perspective, to account for contemporary developments in media and spirituality, with implications for faith and other civic organizations.

Arguably, as institutionalized religions and movements rush to leverage the Web to improve their reach, religious communication on the Internet takes an increasingly significant role alongside more traditional venues for such discourse. It may be, however, that religious use associated with new media problematizes established faith rituals, and religious community building in both its conception and operationalization. Changes in the Church can also
be conceived as intertwined with a range of other forms of social and political developments, such that new media acts as an agent and practice to challenge and transform the influence and authority of the Church. Furthermore, as ³new² media is a moving target, there may be past concepts that are more able to explain the nature of church life (such as evangelical
mission and systematic theology) or new concepts that are being developed that are better able to address the diversity and complexity of contemporary social and religious life (such as the ideas of social networking, viral marketing and church branding).

This edited collection aims to address and inform such issues and debates by offering new empirical, theoretical, and theological insights into how religious life continues to transform and be transformed by these new communication technologies. Current contributors, together with the editors, include Knut Lundby, Heidi Campbell, Mark Johns and Jørgen Straarup.
We hereby invite proposals for additional chapters (particularly in the historical and theological sections as explained below) that will complement and expand upon these contributions.

This looks interesting. A shame that I won’t be able to get to it. Hopefully something similar turns up when I get some sabbatical time.

Theology After Google | Transforming Theology

Lecturer in Biblical Studies
Location: Auckland City Campus
Full/Part Time: Full-Time
Regular/Temporary: Permanent

The School of Theology at the University of Auckland seeks to appoint a Lecturer in Biblical Studies with expertise in Hebrew Bible, but capacities to teach into the New Testament. The position may expand to include studies of Emerging Judaism in the future.

The successful applicant will be expected to undertake research, to teach at introductory undergraduate, advanced undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and to supervise research students for the MTheol and PhD degrees.

Applicants will be expected to have a PhD or equivalent in Biblical Studies, some research publications and teaching experience.
Closing date: Applications close on 21 March 2010.

More details available here.

Interesting short op-ed piece on some of the pressures on seminaries in the West. See The Christian Century – Seminaries under pressure

I often get annoyed by the various ‘powers that be’ spouting on about faster broadband and how it will improve life and business for all in NZ because I don’t think speed is the issue – it’s data caps. Until broadband in general in NZ stops being charged by the bit (or subsidising that through something like a pay TV subscription) then digitally downloadable movies, music, TV programmes and large software updates in bulk just isn’t a reality for most people.

Nice to see an outsider’s perspective on this, from someone who’s recently moved to NZ. See TidBITS Networking: Paying by the Bit: Internet Access in New Zealand. And interesting to read the comments from folks who live in the US but outside of larger cities.

Way, way back as a kid I can remember us owning a couple of the “Terran Trade Authority” books that were packed full of space opera concept art and historical vignettes that tied them all together. (see here also). The best work in the books was, IMHO, that of Peter Elson (some of whose images you can see here)

Anyway, this nostalgic ramblimg was all brought on by this When Space Opera Becomes Art – space opera – io9.

The New Zealand Film Archive has been putting a selection of it’s archives of old television advertisements up online. Makes for some interesting viewing – though they didn’t have the ad I really wanted to see (the late 1970′s TV ad for Cadbury Crunchie bars based around a Star Wars saga motif).

See The Film Archive – It’s a Sellebration | They don’t make them like they used to.

A quick list from Newsarama site of movies coming out this year using comic books as their original source material. Newsarama.com : Comic Book Movie Decade – the Next 365 Days.

As noted around the web with Disney’s acquisition of Marvel, Warner Bros. and DC have some significant challenges facing them – though it looks like we might finally get Wonder Woman and the Flash on the big screen because of it. (See Newsarama.com : MARVEL VS. DC – AT THE MOVIES)

Of course, we’re all waiting for 2011 and the Green Lantern movie.