I am writing this from Vancouver. I have a few extra days to play in this lovely city after the Technoculture event yesterday, which was a great day filled with interesting keynotes by Keith Hampton, Leigh Star and Nina and an eclectic interdisciplinary group of people - all in the beautiful setting of the UBC campus. The organisation and design of the event by Mary Bryson could not have been smoother and the way she orchestrated the working groups is something I am sure will inspire future workshops. She had no doubt spent hours behind the scenes specifically tailoring each group according to personal interests and research, and prepared all of us by sending out relevant weblinks and hard copies of papers. This meant that our group got off to a great start and could undertake the productive task of developing a special publication description and call for papers in our specific area of 'New Media Genres and Spaces'. Overall it was a really productive day, very informative, social and fun. There is a good overview on Richard Smith's Studies in Technology & Society website. He is a Professor in the School of Communications at Simon Fraser University and he mentions both Nina's presentation and my bus work.

Now I have a list of activities to get through before my Sunday flight such as walk around Stanley Park, do the Grouse Grind, visit the Chinatown markets, hire a windsurfer or kayak and discover many more veggie restaurants and cafes...oh the hard life of a researcher.
- kat