Re: GDPR in academies and universities
by J. Simon van der Walt
Our institution has always been very locked-down Microsoft-everything
use-our-systems-only. We only communicate with students and staff via
their 'official' institutional email addresses. For sharing materials
we are now only to use OneDrive/Sharepoint: which everybody hates
because it is so clunky by comparison with things like google drive
and dropbox. (The only major data loss I have ever suffered came
because I tried to move a whole bunch of work stuff off my local
machine and onto OneDrive for Business!)
There is no enthusiasm or understanding for open source culture at
all. I have a colleage who found herself in a serious struggle over
trying to just get SonicPi installed in a teaching lab.The strong hint
now is that we are only going to be allowed to do official work only
on an institutionally supplied laptop. This will of course be running
Windows with a non-admin account and 'authorised' software, so I'm
going to end up carrying around two machines, one to access our
systems, and another to do my real work in SuperCollider, Audacity,
and MuseScore or whatever.
Sorry, I'm just ranting now I think, I'll stop!
Off to cry into my (free) beer.
(Oh, and in compliance with the relevant policy: 'All views expressed
are my own and not my employers')
--
J. Simon van der Walt - Composer
www.jsimonvanderwalt.com
+44 (0) 7905 270 198
1 year, 8 months
GDPR in academies and universities
by Aymeric Mansoux
Hi all,
Do any of you who are working in formal education *and* using third
party platforms to work with your colleagues and students, have been
informed by your employer about possible restrictions on such practices
due to GDPR?
With platform I mean network software that can store/publish personally
identifiable information (PII), and by third party I mean anything from
self-hosted homebrew initiatives to dodgy SaaS. Basically anything that
is not provided by your employer. It could be a git repos hosted at your
home, the mailing list provided by a friendly collective, a chat system
from a commercial company, a free as in beer wiki service from a peer
organisation, a public pad, your own bricolage cloud hosted in a
commercial data centre, etc.
I'm asking because where I work, we were just warned that starting
Friday, any communication with the students outside of the university's
existing email services and portals, has to stop. I have the impression
that such a blanket rule is an attempt to streamline their GDPR
compliance as part of the existing student/staff agreements, instead of
seeing how each course/syllabus could be made GDPR compliant based on
the mixed bag bricolage of tools and services every teacher and staff
are relying on to do their work. Admittedly, making the later compliant
could be quite a burden.
We don't have much details yet, and am hoping this will only concern
the circulation of official administrative documents, and won't affect
the course organisation itself or the way we work and make public our
projects and practices.
If you are in a similar situation and heard something about your
employer or are knowledgeable about the impact of GDPR on formal
education when the latter makes extensive use of third party platforms
(free software or not), I would love to hear from you :)
a.
--
https://bleu255.com/~aymeric
1 year, 8 months
LURK has its own mastodon instance now
by Aymeric Mansoux
Hi everyone,
///
TL;DR
https://post.lurk.org
Check attached flyer for invite code, if you like the scope of LURK
lists and chats, then you'll love our Mastodon instance, and you
should definitively register an account :^)
///
--extra-verbose
As some of you already know, LURK has now its own mastodon instance.
In short, Mastodon is a Twitter-like/microblogging platform that is part
of the Fediverse, which is the network of federated social network
software that use a shared and open standard to send and receive status
updates.
At the moment the Fediverse has more than 1.2 millions users, spread
across more than 2100 active servers (instances). In theory it is
possible to follow and be followed by anyone on the Fediverse,
regardless of where their instance is located and regardless of the
software used to connect to the fediverse (mastodon is not the only
implementation).
The idea is not new, and most of the ground work on this particular form
of microblogging federation was started years ago with projects such as
identi.ca, status.net, and GNU Social. For reasons that are beyond the
scope of this email, this approach to federated social network software
recently went through some exciting re-activation, and has managed to
attract a growing number of new users.
One thing that is quite interesting with the way online communities are
structured around the Fediverse instances, is that even though there are
very large general interests instances, the majority of the smaller
instances are organised around more specific thematics.
So with the help of Roel (http://roelof.info), who recently joined Alex
and I in the LURK admin pit of endless config fun, we are now running an
instance there:
https://post.lurk.org
The focus of the instance is the same as the lists/chats on LURK:
discussions around cultural freedom, experimental, new media art, net
and computational culture, and things like that.
Aaaaaaaaaaaand, after running the instance for a little while now, we're
ready to welcome more users!
If you're interested, please join us by using the invite code in the
attached flyer (such post-digital URL, very hybrid-publishing).
Once there, here are some PRO tips:
https://post.lurk.org/@rra/99971751451497492
Hope to see you lurk there soon!
a.
--
https://bleu255.com/~aymeric
1 year, 8 months
Fwd: job offer | Academy of Media Arts Cologne
by Christian Heck
hi 80c,
i'm christian heck
some of you i get in touch some years ago in the piet zwart >> Aymeric, Andre ...
I'm based in Cologne now in the Academy of Media Arts.
we are looking for a new collogue, - for an Artistic/Academic Staff Member in “Networks”.
maybe interesting for some of you:
--------------------------------------------
German version: https://www.khm.de/stellen/news.4474.kuenstl-wisschenschaftl-mitarbeiteri...
--------------------------------------------
Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln
Academy of Media Arts Cologne
www.khm.de
The Academy of Media Arts Cologne is committed to advancing
interdisciplinary approaches to media and fine art. Students are free to choose from a wide range of
sophisticated theoretical and project-based courses leading to a diploma in ‘Media and Fine Art’
(Diploma I, II). The acquisition of practical artistic experience combined with theoretical and technical
competences is considered paramount.
The Academy of Media Arts Cologne / Department of Art invites applications for a:
Artistic/Academic Staff Member (Künstlerisch-Wissenschaftliche/r MitarbeiterIn)
in “Networks”
This is a full-time position, to be started by October 2018.
We are looking for a person with a set of artistic qualifications
(projects, publications & exhibitions) who shows interest and knowledge in network theory and
technology as well as applied knowledge in areas like web dev, onion routing, social media,
blockchain, and mobile.
Further interesting domains of activity are sysadmin, scripting, IPV6,
encryption, and server-systems (clouds, docker).
Knowledge or experience with technologies such as AI, networked
learning, Git and tutorials (collaborative development), quantified self, self-learning systems,
datafication, bio-art, algo-trading, games, making/DIY, IoT, modding are an asset but not a requirement.
Candidates are expected to have a university or art school degree as
well as knowledge of network theory and history, and its impacts on technical, social and
economic developments. Pedagogical aptitude and German language skills are a prerequisite.
The scope of tasks and duties of this position includes the organization
and active participation in courses, the tutoring of students and their projects, the active
involvement in artistic development and research projects, and the willingness to contribute to both the
academy’s self-organization.
According to the Wissenschaftszeitvertragsgesetz (Act of Academic
Fixed-Term Contracts), the submission of an individual qualification proposal is a prerequisite for
this position. Applicants are therefore asked to state – in writing – the individual research and/or
artistic goals they aim to achieve during this temporary employment at the Academy of Media Arts.
Remuneration is defined by the Tarifvertrag (Collective Agreement for
the Public Service) up to Entgeltgruppe (salary grade) TV-L 13. The fixed-term employment contract
is subject to the individual qualification goals and limited to a period of up to 6 years.
The KHM strives to raise its female quota in research and teaching positions. Applications by women
will be given priority if qualifications and professional expertise are equivalent to those of
male applicants. Applications by disabled persons and those with equal status according §2 SGB IX
(German Code of Social Law) are specifically encouraged to apply.
Please submit your complete application documents including your
individual qualification proposal in either hard copy or online within four weeks, but not later
than May 30, 2018 to the:
Rector of the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (KHM)
Peter-Welter-Platz 2
50676 Cologne
Germany
E-Mail: <kuewinetze(a)khm.de>
Submitted material should include a cover letter, CV, a qualification
proposal, and a portfolio, i.e.
relevant documentation of artistic work.
If posting hard copy material, please include a USB flash drive; if you
are sending your
application via e-mail, please note that we cannot accept large
attachments; please supply a
link to a downloadable file (including cover letter, CV, qualification
proposal) instead (where
applicable).
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
greets
--
Christian Heck
Künstlerisch-wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter
Ästhetik und neue Technologien
FG_exMedia || exMedia-Lab
Kunsthochschule für Medien Köln
1 year, 8 months
