Effectiveclass.org

MIT-America at War?

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:30:35 +0000

Helen Thomas is introduced by Philip S. Khoury, Kenan Sahin Dean of the School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences.

After her talk, Thomas participated in a panel discussion with David Thorburn, MIT Professor of Literature, and Charles Stewart III, MIT Professor of Political Science.

MIT-Spectacular Reconstructions: The Politics of Recovery in American Urban Disasters

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:13:30 +0000

Kevin Rozario uses the two most devastating urban catastrophes in American history, the Chicago fire of 1871 and the San Francisco earthquake of 1906, to explore how extraordinary recovery from sudden ruination can be both compelling and inspiring. He discusses industrialization and cultural responses to disaster, with analysis of narrative accounts of disaster as well as performative accounts that have served to reassure Americans that new and improved urban environments can come of disaster. He further explores how the “mass consumer culture” of America has shaped American responses to events of September 11th.

MIT-Double Restoration: Berlin after 1945

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:12:07 +0000

The reconstruction of Berlin, after the massive destruction it suffered in World War II, was complicated in two fundamental ways. First was the question of historical continuity. On the one hand, there was a desire to reconstruct: to repair a damaged but extant city or, more broadly, to continue its best traditions in architectural style, social policy, and economic development. On the other hand, everyone in charge was determined to break demonstratively with the immediate past, that is, with the Third Reich; but they did not agree about which cultural, architectural, or urbanistic traditions were the Nazi ones. The second complication arose from the fact that the city was soon divided between two ideologically opposed regimes in east and west, each determined to claim the legacy of pre-Nazi Berlin, to display the clearer break with Hitler, and to prove its cultural and political superiority. Under these complicated circumstances, the rebuilding of Berlin became one of the most visible venues of the early Cold War, even as it remained a matter of basic comfort and prosperity for ordinary Berliners.

MIT-Beirut, Beirut

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:10:51 +0000

Through a series of cases in the history of the reconstruction of Beirut (from 1990 to the present), Hashim Sarkis illustrates a number of points and characteristics about Beirut’s resilience.

The type of resilience that Beirut exhibits is shaped to a great extent by its disproportionate scale in the economy and politics of the country. It is more “Beirut, Beirut” than “Beirut, Lebanon.” Reconstruction is more time consuming than destruction, and by the time we get to the reconstruction of buildings, their place in both memory and in space usually shifts. There is also considerable tension between architecture and infrastructure when it comes to reconstruction, and infrastructure usually wins. The historical burden of preservation overwhelms the first phases of reconstruction and tends to dim innovative design thinking in the later stages. Different approaches (restoration, renovation, rehabilitation) and mechanisms (private, public, collaborative) coexist in a competitive manner. There is a lag effect between the planned and the unplanned aspects of reconstruction, a dynamic that is often stronger than either one. Places hold a strong character that survives destruction, but character is not always expressed in physical form. While the marks on destruction appear strongest in architecture, the expressions of continuity, reconciliation, and resilience are stronger (and more effective) in other media such as novels (e.g. Beirut, Beirut; The Water Ploughman) and films (e.g.: Beirut ya Beirut; West Beirut).

MIT-Washington, DC after Conquest and Arson during the War of 1812

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:09:40 +0000

The 24-hour occupation of the nation’s capital by British forces during the War of 1812 was arguably the lowest point in American history. The President fled to Virginia hours before the invaders torched the White House, Capitol, State and War Departments, and the Treasury. The colossal buildings that represented the hopes and aspirations of the young Republic were now wizened and hollow in what was nothing more than a 14-year-old glorified village, with 8,000 residents. It should have doomed the infant capital to instant oblivion, with many claiming the moment was opportune to relocate to Philadelphia or elsewhere to save the cost of rebuilding. But a surge of patriotism followed the heroic defense of Fort McHenry, the birth of the anthem, and a monumental victory over the British at New Orleans. It reinvigorated those in Congress invoking the memory of George Washington, who had personally selected the site for a capital and marked the locations of its major public buildings. Local businessmen overcame Congressional critics citing post-war depleted Treasury coffers, by proffering bank loans to fund the costly estimates. Yet even though Washington won the vital reprieve as America’s capital, rebuilding would be halting and arduous, slowed and marred by squabbling over designs, construction material, a paucity of creative artists, and financial restraints. But the monumental buildings would rise again, with legislators reconvening in even more splendid comfort, due in no small measure to a President who micromanaged, keenly aware that a rebuilt White House and Capitol would be symbolic of national resilience and unity.

Oxford-Creativity Support Tools: A Grand Challenge

Oxford — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:08:39 +0000

Further Information:

Date

08 June 2006

Speakers:

Professor Ben Shneiderman, CS, ISR, UMIACS; Founding Director HCIL

Description:

Creativity Support Tools is a research topic with high risk but potentially very high payoff. The goal is to develop improved software and user interfaces that empower users to be more productive, and more innovative. Potential users include software and other engineers, diverse scientists, product and graphic designers, architects, educators, students, new media artists, and many others. Enhanced interfaces could enable more effective searching of intellectual resources, improved collaboration among teams, and more rapid discovery processes. These advanced interfaces should also provide potent support in hypothesis formation, speedier generation of alternatives, deeper insights through visualization, and better dissemination of results. For creative endeavors that require composition of novel artifacts (computer programs, scientific papers, engineering diagrams, symphonies, artwork, poems, etc.), enhanced interfaces could facilitate evaluation of proposed designs, prevent unproductive choices, and enable easy backtracking.

A US National Science Foundation-sponsored workshop (http://www.cs.umd.edu/hcil/CST/) brought together 25 research leaders and graduate students to share experiences, identify opportunities, and formulate research challenges.

Two key outcomes emerged:

Formulation of guidelines for design of creativity support tools
Novel research methods emphasizing Multi-Dimensional Indepth Longitudinal Case Studies (MILCs)

MIT-Ten Years of Rebuilding Los Angeles Following the Trauma of 1992

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:06:52 +0000

In addition to dealing with natural disasters, Los Angeles has repeatedly had to deal with social and civic unrest over the past 40 years-most recently in 1992, when widespread unrest rattled a region already afflicted with floods, fires, earthquakes, and a recession. The past decade has seen renewed efforts to unify the city and revitalize long-distressed section of central and south-central L.A. But have improvements really been made? And however resilient it may be socially and economically, can Los Angeles remain unified enough politically to continue to function as a single city?

MIT-The Predicament of Aftermath: Reflections on 9-11 and Oklahoma City

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:05:00 +0000

In this talk, Edward Linenthal discusses the similarities and differences in cultural reactions to the events of September 11, 2001, and the aftermath of the Oklahoma City terrorist bombing of April 19, 1995. He explores the co-construction of narrative and memorial process in light of considerations for the World Trade Center and a memorial at the site.

MIT-Fires, Earthquakes, Modernization and Air Strikes: Japan’s Cities

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:03:51 +0000

Natural disasters, fires, and earthquakes, destroyed Japan’s cities in whole or in part on numerous occasions over the last centuries. Human intervention, political change, modernization, and the air raids of the Second World War brought about further destruction and promoted the transformation of the Japanese city in the 19th and 20th centuries. Carola Hein argues that the traditional patchwork character of Japanese cities allowed for flexibility in their transformation, and that many traditional features of Japanese urbanism survived in spite of the obvious changes. The reconstruction of Japanese cities was generally left to private initiative and comprehensive centralized planning intervention, and only occurred when and where the cities had to be adapted to political, economic, social and cultural changes.

MIT-Trauma and Rebuilding in the Digital Electronic Era

M.I.T — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 02:01:52 +0000

When cities have suffered major destruction in the past, through fire, earthquake, bombing, and so on, the physical rebuilding task has involved (1) recreating network infrastructure — transportation networks, water supply, etc., and (2) replacing residential, commercial, industrial, and other floor space supported by that infrastructure. The task of reconstructing Lower Manhattan after the September 11 attacks obviously has these aspects, but there are some additional ones as well. First, the reconstruction of digital telecommunications networks is now a critically important infrastructure issue — particularly given the nature of the enterprises that were displaced. This reconstruction began to unfold almost instantly, since such networks — particularly the Internet — are increasingly designed to be self-repairing, and to route automatically around damage. Secondly, at least some of the dispersal of enterprises that followed September 11 may turn out to be irreversible; to reduce future vulnerability, displaced enterprises may choose greater dispersal and facility redundancy, supported by sophisticated electronic telecommunications, rather than return to place all their eggs in one basket.

Mitchell and Townsend explore the new conditions and strategies of urban rebuilding in the digital electronic era, examine what has actually happened in Manhattan so far, and make some suggestions about achieving high levels of urban resilience in the future.