Dear colleagues and students,
I want to invite you to the next event by the Digital Curation Institute<http://dci.ischool.utoronto.ca/>, hosted by our DCI Fellow Victoria Palacin, next Thursday during lunch (12-1pm). This event will feature a voice from the Global South on a very timely topic, closely related to Victoria's project on pseudo-participation<http://dci.ischool.utoronto.ca/2020/09/22/dci-fellowship-awarded-to-victori…>. I very much look forward to it!
Our speaker Cinthia Mendonça is the director of Silo (https://silo.org.br/en/). She lives in the Mantiqueira Mountains in Brasil. She is also an artist and researcher at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Cinthia has been doing non-profit transdisciplinary work in rural communities since 2011. She has been recognized for her work by the SEGIB (Ibero-American General Secretariat) and serves in this institution as a mentor of LabIC - Citizens' Innovation Laboratories.
In this talk, Cinthia will introduce the work of SILO - Art and Rural Latitude during the COVID-19 pandemic. SILO is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promote and spread art, science, and technology in rural areas and in environmental conservation units through immersive experiences and transdisciplinary practices. At its core Silo aims to promote the exchange between intuitive techniques and scientific knowledge. The organization uses different approaches to achieve its goals, such as residency programs, citizen labs, workshops, educational actions, and activities focused on the development of women, underrepresented minorities, and vulnerable populations. Silo is run by women who are committed to race and gender equality and the guarantee of sharing knowledge without harming vulnerable populations.
One of the ways SILO operationalizes the transdisciplinary exchange of knowledge is through Laboratories. A Laboratory produces different types of technologies, either linked to the technical or the social realm, taking in areas as diverse as engineering, economics, social sciences, art, and education, among many others. The laboratories are experimentation spaces in the intersection of popular, scientific, technical and artistic knowledge that are focused in creating solutions to real problems that are faced in the peripheries and the countryside. All that is lined up with the sustainable development goals established by the UN, contributing to the prosperity of producers, communities, and creators within these spheres.
During 2020, SILO has been running "Pandemic Labs" or "Emergency Labs". These are virtual spaces for strategic development. During five days of remote work, people work on solutions to the complex problems their communities face due to the COVID - 19 pandemic. The unique feature of these laboratories is that they are born to act in peripheral spaces as opposed to big urban centers. They are made in and for the margins, with a special focus on the 3.6 billion people who do not have internet in this world. Hence they create online and offline, through ingenious computer support, collaborative infrastructures, and arrangements.
The full event announcement with more background is here: http://dci.ischool.utoronto.ca/2020/10/30/rural-pandemic-labs-community-sci…
The event is bi-lingual (Spanish and English), with subtitles for the talk and live translation for the Q&A.
November 5th, 12 - 1 pm (EST)
Speaker: Cinthia Mendonça, Silo - Art and Rural Latitude
Moderator: DCI Fellow<http://dci.ischool.utoronto.ca/2020/09/22/dci-fellowship-awarded-to-victori…> Victoria Palacin
Event on Zoom: please register for link!<https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/dci-talk-rural-pandemic-labs-community-science-…>
Please share the word! This is a public event.
Thank you,
Christoph
Prof Christoph Becker
Associate Professor, Faculty of Information
Director, Digital Curation Institute
University of Toronto
www.christoph-becker.info<http://www.christoph-becker.info>
https://twitter.com/ChriBecker