Movement / Media Research Action Project

Between July 29 and August 4, several major social science associations are holding their annual meetings in Boston. We list them in chronological order:

Association  of Black Sociologists Conference
Colonnade Hotel,  Boston, Massachusetts, July 29 – August 1, 2008
Conference Theme: “Challenging Hierarchies: Nation, Race, Class, Sexuality and Gender”

Human Rights: Ideas & Action Conference
July 31, 2008, Boston Public Library & Old South Church, 9:00 - 5:30 p.m.
Sponsors:  Mass Global Action, Mass-Care, Open Media Boston, Bikes not Bombs, Boston College Department of Sociology, Boston College Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Sociologists without Borders, Society for the Study of Social Problems, and Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.
Contact: info [at] bostonhumanrights [dot] org

Crossing Borders: Activist Scholarship, Globalization & Social Justice
SSSP Society for Study of Social Problems, Annual Convention
July 31-Aug 2nd Park Plaza Hotel and Towers, 64 Arlington St. Boston

Joint conference: Black Sociologists, Asian, Labor, Latino sections of American Sociological Association
Northeastern University in Boston,  Friday Aug 1 and Sat Aug 2nd.
Theme:   Race, Labor and Empire
A central goal of this mini-conference is to bring together academics and activists interested in
the intersection of race, labor and empire.  We hope to stimulate discussion, research and policy
development with the aim of producing a more sustainable and just labor movement.”

Worlds of Work: American Sociological Association convention
Friday August 1 through Monday August 4th
Sheraton Boston,  Hilton Back Bay, Marriott Copley Place , Hynes Convention Ctr.
Theme:  The interconnections of work—broadly conceived—and society.
The program especially seeks to demonstrate social science research’s relevance for public policy and for efforts to address social inequities and inequalities through activism around work-related issues—such as transnational labor movements, union-based movements, and community organizing with  emphasis on public sociology.

Critical Sociology Conference
Sunday, August 3rd.
Power and Resistance:  Critical Reflections, Possible Futures
Boston Park Plaza Hotel and Towers.  Full program and papers.

Most users wouldn’t think of allowing Apple to dictate which applications they could or could not run on their iMac or MacBook, so why would they give Apple so much power over their iPhone or iPod? The “electronic hand” of the free marketplace allows users to sort out which applications are worth installing and using, and which should be trashed. There is no need for either Steve Jobs or Steve Ballmer to play the roll of benevolent dictator and certify applications before users can install them. The developer community and users must be careful here. If they allow Apple’s model for software distribution to become the new standard, it will be at the cost of innovation and users’ freedom to chose.

Read my full article on openmediaboston.org.

Having a blog on the MRAP site will provide a space for frequent updates by many MRAP members. It’s easy to use and quite extensible. For now, though, it’s time to get skinning.