New Online Conference: The Changing Face of War

Vietnamese refugee in a Malaysian camp (Image: Benjamin Gimmel)

Wiley-Blackwell is delighted to announce our next Exchanges Online Conference, entitled The Changing Face of War. Following on from the extraordinary success of our previous conference (Wellbeing: A Cure-All for the Social Sciences?), this exciting new conference again promises to set the benchmark for events within the social sciences and humanities communities.

As before, the conference is free to all, and will take place online over the course of one week. The conference will bring together academics from the disciplines of history, policy, philosophy, peace studies, religious studies, sociology, politics, cultural studies and more.

The conference will cover the following thought-provoking themes:

7777777

Theory and Philosophy of War
Is war an inevitable feature of human society/progress?

War in Cultural Context
Is there a ‘Western Way of War’?

From Home Front to Front Line
What can military history specialists learn from social and cultural historians, and vice versa?

Evolution of Warfare
Are we witnessing ‘new’ kinds of war in the 21st century?

Peace Studies
Is all peace good peace?

The conference will include the following content:

• Videocast keynote addresses from leading figures in the field
• Scholarly articles with expert commentary
• Publishing workshops
• Live Q&A with presenters
• A book and journal ‘reading room’, plus a generous delegates’ discount
• Participate when it suits your schedule

Can Twitter be used as an educational tool?

A paper recently published online in the Journal of Computer Assisted Learning (JCAL) has generated lively discussion on how the educational use of Twitter can affect college student engagement and grades. The effect of Twitter on college student engagement and grades by R Junco, G Heiberger and E Loken was published in November last year. The paper ‘provides experimental evidence that Twitter can be used as an educational tool to help engage students and to mobilise faculty into a more active and participatory role’ (quoted from the abstract).

However, a JCAL reader, Dr Ellen Murphy, has raised some interesting issues about the paper, particularly about the language that is used to describe cause and effect, in a letter she wrote to the JCAL Editor, Charles Crook. Rather than being published in JCAL itself, we think the debate and correspondence between the authors, Dr Murphy and the JCAL Editor is better aired via this blog.

Read:

• Original article

• Dr Ellen Murphy’s letter

• Author’s response (Reynol Junco)

Charles Crook (Editor, JCAL)

JCAL Editor’s response
Letter to the Editor in response to The effect of Twitter on  college student engagement and grades (E. Murphy)

This letter was submitted with a view to publication in the journal.  Our advice on submissions does include the possibility of such correspondence.  However, in my 8-year tenure as Editor, this is the first time I have had to consider that possibility.  Moreover, ‘letters’ seem scarce items across the whole history of the journal.  On the other hand, it is certainly

Journal Club: Read Top Philosophy Articles for Free

What is Journal Club?

‘The Philosopher’s Eye’ Journal Club will be bringing you top articles for discussion on a regular basis, selected from the prestigious Wiley-Blackwell Philosophy journals. The article will be made free to access for all, and engagement and commentary is encouraged.

This inaugural session of Journal Club opens with a paper from the journal Dialectica, which was nominated one of the ten best papers of 2009 by the Philosophers’ Annual:

.

A Tale of Two Vectors

Dialectica

Volume 63, Issue 4, December 2009, Pages: 397–431, Marc Lange

• Full Article (HTML)
• PDF(382K)
• References

Compass Virtual Conference: Full Program Details

We are delighted to announce that the program for the first ever Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference is now available!

PDF DOWNLOADS:

Full Conference Program

‘At A Glance’ Conference Program – 1 Page

Conference paper abstracts and commentators

Author and Commentator Profiles

Keynote Speaker Profiles

In addition to the conference papers and keynote addresses, we will be offering a series of publishing workshops, ‘Meet the Keynote Speaker’ Q&A sessions, a book exhibit, musical entertainment and a SecondLife cocktail bar.

HOW CAN I PARTICIPATE?

Join the conversation – we already have over 800 registered delegates from over 70 countries attending!

• Register for free

• Delegates will be able to buy ANY Wiley book with a 20% conference discount.

• Delegates will be eligible for 60 days free online access to over 200 Wiley-Blackwell journals.

• Delegates providing feedback after the conference will also be in the running to win a year’s subscription to a Compass Journal of their choice!

We look forward to welcoming you to this inaugural virtual conference!

Questions? Feedback? Email: compassconference@wiley.com

Free Virtual Conference in October

Many thanks to all those of you who have already registered for the upcoming Compass Interdisciplinary Virtual Conference. We’re very excited to see so many delegates from around the world and look forward to a truly global conversation during the conference.

Why register?

The conference website will be completely free and open to all, but registrants will receive something extra; a Virtual Delegates Pack, which will include the full conference schedule, details of the discounts available on Wiley-Blackwell publications (as part of our book exhibit), our new Online Author’s Survival Guide and much more.

• To register, simply click here
  
• See the global spread of registrants on our Virtual Conference Google Map

Judging by the feedback we’re receiving, many of you are looking forward to participating in this online conference, as travel to a face-to-face event would be much more difficult (and less ecologically friendly).

We’d encourage you to spread the word about the conference amongst your friends and colleagues. You can direct people to http://compassconference.wordpress.com or our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/CompassConf.