Well, this is a weblog, so we have to write about, but this is also a weblog about cyberethnologica and a scientific look at internet culture, and so we have to report it anyway: Two days ago there was a conference in California called Supernova. Quite important people were speaking about distributed computing and dezentralized intelligence. Google-Founder Sergey Brin was talking, and also "visionary" Howard Rheingold and one of the first bloggers, Dave Winer. Cory Doctorov from Wired and founder of the collaborative weblog BoingBoing.net was also there. And, as you can read here, in nearly every panel they were talking about weblogs. This is an interesting development.

Another conference, only dedicated to weblogs, will be held in Vienna next year. A Call for Papers just has been published. But at the moment it looks like they are focussed a little bit on the question how weblogs could be used in business.

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This website was down for the last 6 hours. We apologize. The server of antville.org was in trouble. So, it was neither you internet-connection (in case you use only one website and didn't recognize that) nor bad witchcraft - as far as I know, at least.

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Rob Borofsky started a Public Anthropology Journal Archive. A very good idea indeed.

I forward you one of his letters calling for support to his project. Click here to read the letter

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Indyweek reports about a new Inuit movie: "In a brilliant telling of an Inuit legend, a warrior battles an evil spirit that threatens to upend his community...

The thrilling success of The Fast Runner strikes a blow for the promises of digital technology. A decade ago, a minimally funded group of Inuit filmmakers could not have made such a gorgeous film, but now, the cheapness and reasonable quality of digital video make it possible for remote, voiceless people to generate their own movies. In fact, those who lack resources may well make the most urgent films with this new technology. The Fast Runner is 20 times better than Steven Soderbergh's current excursion into guerrilla filmmaking, the profligately pointless Full Frontal.

It's much too early to tell if Kunuk and his crew have fired the first shot of a coming invasion of aboriginal films made by small collectives with a few bucks, a video camera and a vision. It may well turn out that The Fast Runner is a one-shot masterpiece, but the operative word is masterpiece."

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The scientific news service Eureka reports about two new books about the peruvian nasca culture from US-anthropologist Helaine Silverman: In her book, the first extended study of the ancient Nasca sites in what today is southern Peru, Helaine Silverman combines field research with postmodernist theory to illuminate the Nasca people's "social construction of space and cultural meaning" through their manipulation of natural settings and creation of built environments. Throughout, she challenges current anthropological theories and practices. Via Anthropology in the News

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A new german book on intercultural communications. By support of FORAREA (see older story) it was possible to publish the 13th volume of the "Münchner Beiträge zur Interkulturellen Kommunikation":

MOOSMÜLLER, ALOIS (Ed.). 2002. Interkulturelle Kommunikation in der Diaspora: Die kulturelle Gestaltung von Lebens- und Arbeitswelten in der Diaspora. Münster, New York, München, Berlin:Waxmann. [ISBN: 3-8309-1226-9]

You can find a list and abstracts of all volumes of this series on intercultural communications here. In german.

The 14th volume will be published in 2003:

ROTH, KLAUS (Ed.). 2003. Vom Handwerksgesellen zum "Green Card"-Spezialisten: Interkulturelle Aspekte der Arbeitsmigration im östlichen Mitteleuropa. Münster, New York, München, Berlin:Waxmann. [ISBN: 3-8309-1232-3]

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The Basler Afrika Bibliographien (BAB) of Basel (Switzerland) maintain an english-language website with classified links to resources interesting for Africanists. Among the categories there are African Studies Center and Research, which represent a well-sorted link-collection for every Africanist.

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The current newsletter of the German Middle East Studies Association for Contemporary Research and Documentation (DAVO) has just arrived. It comprises information on:

1. Six Fellowships for Postdoctoral Researchers, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin
2. MA Program, Central Asia/Caucasus, Humboldt-University, Berlin
3. Postes à pourvoir à Beyrouth (IFPO-CERMOC)
4. Workshop: "Re-evaluating Urban Heritage: Documentation, Rehabilitation and Preservation of Architecture and History", Tripoli, 11 - 14 December 2002
5. Workshop: "Negotiating Power, Contesting Violence, and Assessing Perspectives for Transcultural Approaches: Gender and Nation State in Muslim Societies", Oldenburg, 12 - 14 December 2002 [See older story at Ethno::log ;o) ]
6. Short Course: "Forced Migration and Refugee Studies: Ethical Issues in Humanitarian Assistance", American University Cairo, 28 December 2002 - 2 January 2003
7. Seminar on Central Asia and Caucasus: "Prospects of Security and Cooperation in Central Asia and the Caucasus: Iran, Regional Countries and the Trans-Regional Powers", Tehran, 20 - 21 January 2003
8. International Conference on Policy Modeling, Istanbul, 3 - 5 July 2003 Read more ...

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Ethnomed (see older story) recently has published the Handbook of Ethnotherapies: "In the Handbook of Ethnotherapies we find various healing methods. Healers and shamans from distant countries lead us back into our own European past and carry us off geographically into other, non-European countries. We discover that natural, alternative healing methods, that developed through the past decades, are alive. And we also discover that other cultures have entirely different diagnoses and healing methods and different definitions of disease and health, than we do." [p. 17]

GOTTSCHALK-BATSCHKUS, CHRISTINE E. AND JOY C. GREEN (Eds.). 2002. Handbuch der Ethnotherapien. Handbook of Ethnotherapies. Hamburg: BoD, Ethnomed. [ISBN: 3-8311-4184-3]

The Handbook is both in english and german, comprises 554 pages and indices. Its prize is 49.90 Euros. Send your orders directly to Ethnomed.

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At Heise.de is an article about an interview with Richard Stallman, a important free software guru, and the BBC. He says, that every time you buy software from companies such as Microsoft, IBM, Sun and Adobe you hand over much more than just money, you also give up basic freedoms and human rights. At the heise article are also information and links to the effects of Bill Gates' visit to india on the Open Source Movement of Bangalore/India.

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