Gaia as a Cybergoddess
After finishing my dissertation, I wanted to archive some of my previous presentations. During the course of looking through old submissions, I came across the first presentation I did as a grad student and academic professional.
Ohio University hosted Global Fusion 2005. My masters’ cohort at the time figured that conference would be a reasonable good one to submit our work to as it was in our backyard. We went with the title “A Gaiaic Mediated World: The Media Effects on Worldwide Ecological Issues” has our various research didn’t easily fit into a more specific title. The abstract for the panel was:
“During this time of greater ecological awareness, resources are easy to ascertain. Mediated efforts have drawn attention to problems with the environment. Celebrities lend their energies towards their favorite charities. Production experts place presentations of the world. The purpose of this panel is to apply analysis to media presentations with regards to global environmental problems. By putting a perspective on the eco-programming, one can observe the connections between the artificial lens of the mediated world and the natural view of a ‘green’ society.
This panel will also examine the historical relationship between previous global issues and current crises. Groups such as Earthpeace, One World, Friends of the Earth and World Wildlife Fund use media outlets to deliver their messages. The theoretical groundwork laid out by Marshall McLuhan, Noam Chomsky & Sherry Turkle will be used by the panel to help place the current use of the media in its correct socio-economic position.
Finally, the panel will address the question of ‘are the media campaigns effectively helping out the ecological causes they are championing.’ Several media promotions will be examined, analyzed and evaluated by the panel. This panel will determine if messages delivered by these presentations are giving the correct information and if audiences can understand it.”
My part of the presentation is located on the Academia website.