MAN board meeting at Bristol Hotel

On Thursday February 23rd I chaired Minding Animals Norway´s board meeting, held at the café of Bristol hotel in Oslo.

Philosophical lunch

Today I met for lunch with three of the other University of Stavanger philosophers. We are in the process of starting to draft an application for a new program area at UiS.

Five UiB exam papers complaint graded

Today, along with the internal examiner, I finished complaint grading five exam papers in Examen Philosophicum at University of Bergen, as the external examiner.

Interview in "Ut i kulturen" aired

Today I featured as interviewed in NRK P2´s "Ut i kulturen", hosted by Jostein Gjertsen, in the episode "Maktmennesker" [something like "people in power"].

Interviewed for P2´s "Ut i kulturen"

Earlier this week I was interviewed bu Jostein Gjertsen for NRK P2´s program "Ut i kulturen" [Out in the culture]. The interview will air on Sunday.

Three hours of supervision

Today I supervised three bachelor thesis students at Department of social studies. This was the first of four hours of supervision.

Essay exam question

The last few days I have taken part in composing exam question (essay) for the course "Welfare state and welfare policies" at Department of social studies.

Academic reporting related to EMP151

The last week I reported academic research activities to the Estonian science agency ETAG and to the Estonian Research Information System (ETIS), in relation to our project "Animals in changing environments: Cultural mediation and semiotic analysis" (EMP151).

Employee survey

I have just participated in University of Stavanger´s biannual employee survey. I rate my overall job satisfaction as 4/5, though with some critical remarks.

Graded parental leave approved, six weeks in

This last Friday I finally got a formal response from NAV concerning my application for having graded parental leave from January 2017 to mid-July 2017. My application has been approved (six-seven weeks into the 50% leave).

Another anthology seminar

Last Friday I took part in another seminar on our department´s forthcoming anthology. I received feedback and gave feedback on two-three chapters.

New book meeting

Today I have been at another meeting in Oslo in regard to our book in process on wolves.

Hundreds of Facebook shares of research chronicle

My research chronicle "Artsutryddelse i menneskets tidsalder", published by Forskning.no last Sunday, has been shared on Facebook some 275 times

Conflicting obligations; not attending GiB17 nor 4th code biology conference

This year I will not be able to attend neither the 17th gathering in biosemiotics, to be held in Lausanne, Switzerland in June, nor the 4th code biology conference, to be held in May in Köszeg, Hungary, due to conflicting obligations at University of Stavanger (May) and Macedonia (June).

University library meeting attended

Today I have taken part in a meeting of the publication committee of the University library of Stavanger concerning a complaint on a decision to not give publication points to contributions to an anthology. Five people were present, including three from the library.

3 hours of teaching in English

Today I have taught for 3 hours in "Welfare state and welfare policy" (course code MEM110). The topic was the Scandinavian welfare state, welfare state regimes, and the history and future prospects of the European welfare state.

Research chronicle on anthropogenic mass extinction

Today my chronicle "Artsutryddelse i menneskets tidsalder" has been published by Forskning.no. The text is a reply to ornitologist Jan T. Lifjeld, who wrote a similarly themed chronicle a week ago.

Teaching - academic writing

Today I taught for 2 hours - third part of course in academic writing, held my Kjersti Ørvig and myself, for bachelor thesis students at Department of social studies. This concludes this year´s writing course.

Family policies chapter revised

I have just, in collaboration with Svein Tuastad, finished the 2nd revision, 3rd version, of our book chapter "Familie og fridom. Norsk familiepolitikk i lys av liberal politisk teori" [Family and freedom. Norwegian family policies in light of liberal political theory].

Research chronicle on extinction written, accepted

Yesterday I composed a research chronicle for forskning.no entitled "Artsutryddelse: Den menneskelige faktoren" [Species extinction: The human factor], in response to another research chronicle. Today I submitted it, and revised it somewhat. It will soon appear online.

Meeting with Region Stavanger

Today, with the Office manager at Department of social studies, I attended a meeting with two representatives from Region Stavanger, discussing opportunities for future international conferences held at the University of Stavanger. In 2015, Region Stavanger provided advice and overview when I was main responsible for organising the conference "Animals in the Anthropocene".

Physiotherapy guidance

Today a physioterapeut visited to check my workplace environment in relation to an emerging tendonitis.

Abstracts evaluated for NASS X

The last few days I have taken part in the abstract evaluation work of the Scientific committee of NASS X, to be held in conjunction with the 13th world congress of semiotics (Kaunas, Lithuania, June 26-30th 2017).

"Umwelt theory revisited" paper accepted for presentation at NASS X

I have been notified that my abstract "Umwelt theory revisited – contemporary Uexküllian thought in 10 points" has been accepted for presentation at NASS X, to be held in conjunction with the 13th world congress of semiotics (Kaunas, Lithuania, June 26-30th 2017).

See also:

Abstract for NASS X: "Umwelt theory revisited – contemporary Uexküllian thought in 10 points"

One bachelor thesis complaint graded

Today, along with an external examiner, I have finished complaint grading of a bachelor thesis in child welfare.

Staff meeting attended

Today I attended the staff meeting of Department of social studies. The main topic of discussion was the feedback from NOKUT, the Norwegian agency responsible for quality-checking education, on the department´s bachelor studies in social work and in child welfare. 

I will be part of a 2-person work group, along with the program coordinator for the bachelor in social work, that will suggest moving some of the teaching in research methods from the third to the first year.

More exam questions

Today I have composed exam questions for the continuation home exam in Ex.Phil. at Department for social studies.

Podcast "Sosialkringkastingen" now online

The first episode of the new podcast "Sosialkringkastingen", by Joakim Jiri Haaland, has appeared, featuring me as the first guest. The podcast is available here, in NettOp´s blog UiS Podkast (and on YouTube - sound only). 76 minutes. The topic was exam preperation and evaluation (grading).

MC exam questions composed

Today I have composed exam questions for the continuation Multiple Choice exam in Examen Philosophicum at Department of social studies, which takes place a week from now.

10 home exam papers complaint graded

Today, with a colleague elsewhere, I have finished complaint grading of ten home exam papers in Examen Philosophicum at University of Stavanger`s Department of social studies. We also had to explain grading.

Abstract for NoSP 2017: " The search image as link between sensation, perception and action"

I have just submitted the abstract below to NoSP 2017, the 15th annual conference of the Nordic Society for phenomenology, entitled "Phenomenology and the body - Contemporary perspectives". 

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The search image as link between sensation, perception and action

As part of his Umwelt theory, a theory on the subjective, experiential worlds of animals, Jakob von Uexküll (1864–1944) introduced the notion of the search image (Suchbild). A search image is an imagined object that an animal or human being has in mind as it searches for something. The search image plays a central role in what I have termed the mediated Umwelt, the aspect of Umwelt in which Umwelt objects are encountered indirectly by way of some mediation (e.g. memory, fantasy, anticipation). It is generally related to an animal´s agenda- or interest-driven matching of something it is searching for with something in its environment. Search images are key to understanding how perception works as distinguished from sensation, and how an animal´s perception and action are connected. The search image acts as an intermediary between perception and action, and between the mediated Umwelt and the core Umwelt, the aspect of Umwelt in which Umwelt objects are encountered directly. The imagined object has the form of a schema, and encountered objects may or may not be perceived as fitting with the anticipated schema. The perception of a match may furthermore be either correct or incorrect. Object recognition occurs when an encountered object is correctly perceived as fitting with an anticipated schema. But search images, with their implied schemata, may also be confused with actual perception images of encountered objects. The functioning of search images can help explain why it is that action-related brain activity appears to precede the experience of having made a choice of action. When an animal or a human being operates with a search image, we anticipate encountering the imagined object. We act not only in response to encountered objects, but also in response to imagined ones.

Supervisor seminar attended

Today I have attended the annual supervisor seminar at Department of social studies, for supervisors in bachelor theses (child welfare and social work). I also presented some of the material, including on research ethics and gathering of research data.