"Image Naivete"

Tired of being so naive? Perhaps reveling in your naivete?
Either way, this upcoming conference looks extremely interesting:

GAZING INTO THE 21st CENTURY : CONFRONTING IMAGE NAIVETÉ
Second international conference on Image Science in Goettweig

Topics include -

NEW IMAGE FORMS AND TECHNIQUES (New visualization techniques in Nano-, Bio-, Neurosciences, Architecture, Photography, Digital Collections Management, etc.) NEW STRATEGIES IN VISUAL ARGUMENTATION (in the Arts, Sciences and Humanities, Politics, Advertising, Comics, Diagrams & Models, Visual Music, etc.) NEW PRACTICES OF IMAGE TRANSFER (Global economy, Tagging, Micromovies, Flickr, Second Life, You Tube, Google Earth etc.)

Deadline for proposals: October 21st ---- Thanks to Anne for this 411. Incidentally - what do you get when you type "Naive" into Google Image? Here is one thing: This may confirm either - 1) context is indeed everything, or 2) there is no such things as a visual non sequitur. Daschunds are so funny that they are *always* relevant. The original source of the images can be found here

Science Literacy, The Internet and HIV deniers

A fascinating article just came out in the Public Library of Science about the various movements that deny HIV is the cause of AIDS that are finding new audiences the internet ( HIV Denial in the Internet Era)

Seemingly working from the position of underdogs fighting mainstream scientific authority, denial groups undermine the importance of basic health measure that can help keep all of us from catching or transmitting HIV and other infectious diseases.

No doubt the treatment of those with AIDS is in need of constant improvement, but denial of its known cause as a means to promote alternative treatments is unethical. It is denial of what the scientific community has spent so much time and resources trying to understand.