Nova: Semiotics e-book published; new invite received

The Nova book Semiotics: Theory and applications, where I contribute with chapter 6, The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness, has now apparently been published both as an e-book and in print. The e-book version was said to be in final production as of March 12th (see below).

Cf.
Nova's semiotics anthology published? (March 12)
Nova's semiotics publication: To be released when? (February 1)

Meanwhile, today I received a third invitation to contribute with a chapter to a Nova Science Publishers anthology (along with countless others, I am sure). The topic this time: Wolves: Biology, Behavior and Conservation.

A not very flattering invitation

Five days ago I apparently received two email invitations to contribute to two different anthologies. One of these were from Nova Science Publishers, to whom I've already submitted a book chapter upon invitation (on semioethics, cf. previous posts). "We have learned about your published work on environmental change", the invite read (earlier: "... on semiotics"). The worktitle this time is Environmental Change: Climate, Energy and Ecosystems. A fitting theme for me, by all means - but at the moment I have no suitable texts thought out (and a full schedule). See also Nova's page for the forthcoming Semiotics: Theory and Applications.

The other invite was from InTech, and signed by a Niksa Mandic. The book in question has the worktitle Globalization. "You are invited to participate in this book project based on your paper "Steps to a Semiotics of Being"...", I am told in the otherwise standardized email. Again, the theme is relevant for me. But while Nova doesn't charge its authors (unless they choose to make use of extra services/functions - open access included), InTech has the courage to ask for 590 Euro from each author. With up to 50 contributors per volume, it is pretty clear that their business model is not so much based on selling books as on profiting on complimenting scholars by inviting them to publish. They present themselves as an open access publisher, but their claim that each of their chapters are downloaded 1.000 times a month does not appear to be legitimate, if you check with their latest online publications.

Nova's semiotics publication: To be released when?

On Amazon, it says that Nova Science Publisher's Semiotics: Theory and applications, where I contribute with "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness " (chapter 6), "will be released on 1 February 2011" - today.

On Nova's own pages, however, it still says that the ebook is in "final production", and that the hardcover version is "at press". In both cases, the publication date is still set to "2010 4th quarter".

I have received no notification from the publisher.

Invitation to contribute to book by Nova Publishers

I have received an email from Nova Science Publishers (signed by editor-in-chief Frank Columbus) in which I am invited to contribute to a book entitled "Semiotics: Theory and applications". They previously published 2 issues of "Journal of Biosemiotics".

Semioethics interview in Nova's semiotics anthology

I have submitted an abstract entitled “The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness” to Nova Science Publishers' planned anthology Semiotics: Theory and Applications, upon invitation.

The first interview in this series was published in Hortus Semioticus. The second and fourth are still to find their places of publication (interested, anyone?).

Third semioethics interview approaching publication

I am right now in the process of proof-reading "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness", which will be published in the book Semiotics: Theory and applications.

Nova Publishers have now launched a site for the collection, which is edited by Steven C. Hamel, and included in the "Languages and Linguistics" series. The book, which will cost no less than 129$, is scheduled for publication in the 4th quarter of 2010. Below is Nova's book description and the table of contents (any emphasis is mine).

Book Description:
Semiotics is the study of sign processes (semiosis), or signification and communication, signs and symbols, and is usually divided into three branches: Semantics, Syntactics, and Pragmatics. Semiotics is frequently seen as having important anthropological dimensions. In general, semiotic theories take signs or sign systems as their object of study: the communication of information in living organisms is covered in biosemiotics or zoosemiosis. This book discusses the theory and application of semiotics across a broad spectrum and has gathered current research from around the globe.

Table of Contents:
Preface

Signifying the Transition from Modern to Post-Modern Schooling through Analyzing Changes in the Material Culture of Schools (Kostas Dimopoulos, Associate Professor of Learning Materials, Dept of Social and Educational Policy, University of Peloponnese, Greece)

Beyond Signification: The Co-Evolution of Subject and Semiosis (Tahir Wood, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa)

Language, Emotion, and Health: A Semiotic Perspective on the Writing Cure (Louise Sundararajan, Chulmin Kim, Martina Reynolds, Chris R. Brewin, Rochester Regional Forensic Unit, Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York, and others)

Re-Thinking the Place of Semiotics in Psychology and its Implications for Psychological Research (Agnes Petocz, University of Western Sydney)

How Israelis Represent the Problem of Violence in their Schools: A Case Study of a Discursive Construction (Douglas J. Glick, Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, Binghamton, New York)

The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness (Morten Tønnessen, Department of Semiotics, Institute of Philosophy and Semiotics, University of Tartu, Estonia, and others)

A Semiotics Discourse Analysis Framework: Understanding Meaning Making in Science Education Contexts (Kamini Jaipal-Jamani, Brock University, St. Catharines, Ont., Canada)

Semiotic Constraints of the Biological Organization (Abir U. Igamberdiev, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Department of Biology, St. John’s, NL, Canada)

Corpus-Based Approaches to Metaphor and Metonymy: Review of Stefanowitsch, Anatol, Gries, Stefan Th. (eds.) (Zhiying Xin, School of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen University, P. R. China)

The Role of Sign Vehicles in Mediating Teachers’ Mathematical Problem Solving (Sinikka Kaartinen, Timo Latomaa, University of Oulu, Finland)

Interaction and Interactivity: A Semiotic Commentary (Jan M. Broekman, Distinguished Visiting Professor of Law, Penn State University Dickinson School of Law, Pennsylvania)

Multimodal Stylistics: The Happy Marriage of Stylistics and Semiotics (Nina Nørgaard, Institute of Language and Communication, University of Southern Denmark)

Nova's semiotics book (and third semioethics interview) published

Nova Science Publishers' edited collection Semiotics: Theory and applications has finally been published, a half to one year after schedule. The official publication date is said to be June 1st (though I only received instructions for how to access my complimentary ebook June 14th, and achieved access June 20th).

My contribution in this book volume is "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness".

There are two more semioethics interviews with Deely (no. 2 and no. 4). These will appear at some point, perhaps next year.

Reference for third semioethics interview

The delayed semiotics anthology of Nova Science Publishers is still, according to the publisher, in production. On request I was given a reference, however - page numbers, to be precise, resulting in the following reference for my contribution:

Morten Tønnessen 2011. The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness. Pp171-189 in Steven C. Hamel (ed.): Semiotics: Theory and Applications, New York: Nova Science Publishers.

Attestation review: Reported publications

This year's attestation review for doctoral students at the Department of semiotics will take place July 12. Today was the deadline for submitting all publications from this academic year, so that the attestation committee will have the chance to read them (it is the first time this procedure is followed). A lot of my publications have appeared the last year (totalling 170 pages or so, not including texts edited):

Published July/August 2010 and not mentioned in the attestation review for 2009/2010 under "C. Scheduled for publication the summer of 2010":

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010. A Stroll Around the Worlds of Zoosemioticians and Other Animals. Book review. Semiotica issue 181 (August 2010): 317-325 (online version, published August 24, 2010: DOI: 10.1515/semi.2010.047). [note that page numbers in the attached text were not final]

— Tønnessen, Morten and Riin Magnus 2010. The Bio-Translator – Interview with Professor in Biosemiotics Kalevi Kull. Hortus Semioticus 6: 77-103. Includes full bibliography of Kalevi Kull’s biosemiotic publications.

— Tønnessen, Morten; Riin Magnus and Nelly Mäekivi 2010. Editors’ Foreword to the Special Issue Semiotics of Nature. Hortus Semioticus 6: 1-6 (includes Estonian version, "Toimetajate Eessõna").

Published within the academic year 2010/2011 (September 2010 to June 2011):

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010a*. Guest aditor, along with Kati Lindström, of a special issue of Biosemiotics (Springer), vol. 3, no. 3 (December 2010); entitled Semiotics of Perception. 136 pp.

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010b*. Steps to a Semiotics of Being. Biosemiotics 3.3: 375-392 (online version, published April 30, 2010: DOI: 10.1007/s12304-010-9074-0)

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010c*. Wolf Land. Biosemiotics 3.3: 289-297 (online version, published April 23, 2010: DOI: 10.1007/s12304-010-9077-x).

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010d. The Global Species. New formations: a journal of culture/theory/politics 69 (Special Issue guest-edited by Ashley Dawson, Imperial Ecologies): 98-110. Featured as additional content in Encyclopaedia Britannica (www.britannica.com).

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010e. Is a Wolf wild as Long as it Does Not Know that It Is Being Thoroughly Handled? Humanimalia – a journal of human/animal interface studies 2(1) (Fall 2010): 1-8 (http://www.depauw.edu/humanimalia/Tonnesen).

— Tønnessen, Morten 2010f. The Legality and Ethical Legitimacy of Wolf Hunting in Scandinavia. Pp. 65-72 in the Research seminar report 52 of the Scandinavian Council for Criminology.

— Tønnessen, Morten and Dinda L. Gorlée 2010. Da Lotman og semiotikken kom til Norge [When Lotman and semiotics came to Norway]. Pp 258-259 in Turid Farbregd and Øyvind Rangøy (eds.): Estland og Norge i fortid og nåtid – Norsk-estisk forening 25 år [Estonia and Norway past and present – Norwegian-Estonian Society 25 years]. Oslo: Norsk-estisk forening. [not attached - in Norwegian]

— Tønnessen, Morten and Kati Lindström 2010*. Being in the World of the Living – Semiotic Perspectives: Introduction to the special issue Semiotics of Perception. Co-written with Kati Lindström. Biosemiotics 3.3: 257-261 (online version, published April 20, 2010: DOI: 10.1007/s12304-010-9073-1).

— Tønnessen, Morten 2011a. I, Wolf: The Ecology of Existence. Pp. 315-333 in Johannes Servan and Ane Faugstad Aarø (eds.): Environment, Embodiment and Gender, Bergen: Hermes Text.

— Tønnessen, Morten 2011b. Mapping Human Impact – Expanding Horizons: Interdisciplinary Integration. Pp. 93-106 in Tiina Peil (ed.): The Space of Culture - the Place of Nature in Estonia and Beyond (= Approaches to Cultural Theory vol. 1). Tartu: Tartu University Press. [note that page numbers in the attached text were not final]

— Tønnessen, Morten and John Deely 2011. The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness. Pp. 171-189 in the edited collection Semiotics: Theory and Applications (New York: Nova Science Publishers) [only word file is attached, since the ebook is secured. Final publication date: June 1, 2011].

* appeared as online publication in the academic year 2009/2010; in print 2010/2011 (December 2010)

To be published the summer of 2011:

— Tønnessen, Morten 2011d. Semiotics of Being and Uexküllian Phenomenology. Chapter 27 in Anna-Teresa Tymieniecka (ed.): Phenomenology/Ontopoiesis Retrieving Geo-Cosmic Horizons of Antiquity (= Analecta Husserliana CX).

Nova's semiotics anthology published?

The book collection Semiotics: Theory and Applications, which was to be published in the 4th quarter of 2010, and where I contribute with "The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness ", has apparently been published by now, in hardcover (status is set to "Available"). The e-book, however, is still in "Final Production".

Annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway held

On November 20th, the annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway was held at Domus Nova in Oslo. The meeting approved report of activities for the last year and plans for the next, plus budget. Financial report for the last year was presented, but not treated conclusively due to a mismatch between sums for assets last year on one hand and surplus plus assets by the time of the meeting on the other. Also, despite having 5 candidates for board posisions, election to the board was postponed. This means there will have to be an extraordinary general meeting, once again.

Nils Christie to comment talk on illegal wolf hunting

The details for my forthcoming talk Ulovlig jakt på ulv [Illegal wolf hunting], in the lecture series Kriminalpolitisk seminar (at Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, the University of Oslo), have now been settled. Notably, it has been decided that professor emeritus Nils Christie (select bibliography in wapedia) will be the "commentator" making comments following my talk.

The talk will take place November 11th at 14.15-16.00 in room 770, Domus Nova. For thematic details, cf. the link under the title.

Third semioethics interview finished, submitted and approved

The third semioethics interview, "The semioethics interviews III: John Deely: Human understanding in the age of global awareness" was in the main finished the last weekend and finally submitted (with minor changes) this Monday to Nova Science publishers for their forthcoming edited collection "Semiotics: Theory and applications". Wednesday it was accepted for publication.

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I have further cleared it for possible cross-publication in their topical journals.

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CONTENTS

Introduction

To consider products as processes

To be aware that something exists independently of us

To realize that this planet is what we have

To realize that tomorrow is not a forever thing

To pinpoint who are responsible

To understand the domino effect

To conceptualize reality appropriately

To foresee negative consequences of miraculous technologies

Conclusion

On student radio discussing petroleum research with student leader

Wednesday this week, following my chronicle in the Norwegian daily Aftenposten, "Hva slags forskning er etisk forsvarlig?" [What kind(s) of research is ethically justifiable?], I was interviewed by Radio Nova, Oslo's student radio. More specifically, I discussed the student organisation's (Studentparlamentets) views on petroleum research conducted by the University of Oslo with Gabrielle Legrand Gjerdset, the head of UiO's student organisation. The interview and/or debate featured in the program "Emneknaggen", a debate program hosted by Adrian Nyhammer Olsen.

Podcasts are available here - including the segment I was involved in: "Studentparlamentet i Oslo får kritikk fra høyere hold grunnet uambisøs holdning til petroleumsforskning" [The student parliament in Oslo is criticised /from someone highly positioned/ for unambitious attitude to petroleum research].

Guest lecture on global human empire held in Oslo

On Wednesday February 11th, in Domus Nova in downtown Oslo, I guest-lectured at University of Oslo´s Department of criminology and sociology of law, in the course on green criminology (now called "Grønn (øko-global) kriminologi" [Green [eco-global] criminology]). The title of my talk was (as last year) «Menneskeveldet – menneskets globale økologiske hierarki» [The human empire - humankind´s global ecological hierarchy]. 15 students or so were present.

Nova publication approaching - semioethics download available

Above you see the frontpage of the upcoming book ´Semiotics: Theory and applications´, where I contribute with ´The Semioethics Interview III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness´.

According to the information given the hardcover version is now ´at press´, whereas the ebook is in ´final production´ (full price for each one: 129$). My article is also available for download for the interesting price of 100$.

The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness

$100.00

Authors: Morten Tønnessen

Abstract: The general topic of this contribution is semioethics, widely regarded as one of the most significant developments in semiotics after the turn of the 21st century, and along with the existential semiotics of Eero Tarasti (2000) a sign of an ethical turn within semiotics. The term semioethics, which signifies not least the emergence of a sense of global responsibility, was introduced by Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio in 2003, and Petrilli in particular is associated with this emerging scholarly field. The semioethics interviews, conducted by Norwegian-born Tartu semiotician Morten Tønnessen, starts out (in four separate interview articles) with Professor John Deely, a prominent American scholar known among other works for The Four Ages of Understanding: The first Postmodern Survey of Philosophy from Ancient Times to the Turn of the 20th Century (Deely 2001a). Deely, a semiotician as well as a philosopher, has joined Susan Petrilli and Augusto Ponzio in their endeavour by grounding the notion of semioethics in philosophical terms. Topics include the responsibility of humankind, individuals and governments, the place of culture as part of and yet distinct from nature, the semiotic side of modern economic and technological development, the future prospects of human understanding and morality in the light of current economic and political developments, and philosophy – the distinction between ontology and epistemology, and the terminology of rights, ncluded – reviewed in terms of (Peircean) semiotics. In the course of the interview, Deely relates not only to Peirce but further to Petrilli, to Thomas Sebeok, to the biologist Jakob von Uexküll (1864-1944) and to phenomenologist Edmund Husserl. The human condition is examined time over again, drawing on a rich reference material from philosophy as well as from various sciences and scholarly disciplines.

Book launch in Oslo May 15th - brief talk scheduled

On Wednesday May 15th, the Norwegian Human-Animal Studies anthology Hvem er villest i landet her? Råskap mot dyr og natur i antropocen - menneskets tidsalder [Who is the wildest one in the country here? Brutality against animals and nature in the Anthropocene - the age of Man], published by Spartacus' imprint Scandinavian Academic Press, will be launched in Oslo. The release event will take place the following time and place:

Time: Wednesday 15th of May at 16.00

Place: Domus Nova, Oslo (St. Olavs plass 5), seminar room 770 (7th floor)

As part of the event, I, as one of the editors of the book, will talk for some 7 minutes "Om mennesker og dyr i antropocen" [On humans and animals in the Anthropocene].

See the full announcement text and program in my Norwegian language blog Utopisk Realisme (or on the website of Minding Animals Norway).

See also my last post on this book.

MIA bulletin no. 3

The third Minding Animals International pre-conference bulletin was distributed 5 days ago, and included details about the Oslo event.

14[-15] October, 2011: Oslo, Norway
Host: Department of Criminology and Sociology of Law, University of Oslo
Event title: Shared Worlds
Venue: Domus Nova, Oslo (St. Olavs plass 5 - room to be advised)
Time and Date: 14-15 October, 2011
Organised by: Minding Animals International in association with Nordic Human Animal Studies
Affiliated institutions: Equine Research Network (EqRN) and Department of Semiotics at the University of Tartu by ESF grant 7790 Dynamical Zoosemiotics and Animal Representations
Organising team: Rune Ellefsen, Rhys Evans, Morten Tønnessen
The program will include plenary speeches, a roundtable on the shared worlds of humans and horses, a roundtable of the shared worlds of humans and wolves, and a position note workshop on the relation between activism and academia
Contact: shared.worlds.oslo@gmail.com
Conference language: English and Norwegian
Website: http://mindinganimals.wordpress.com/

General meeting in Minding animals Norway announced

I have just announced the annual meeting of Minding Animals Norway, which will take place at Domus Nova in Oslo on November 20th at 20.00.

Third semioethics interview confirmed

My contribution (abstracted) “The Semioethics Interviews III: John Deely: Human Understanding in the Age of Global Awareness”, submitted upon invitation to Nova Science Publishers' planned anthology Semiotics: Theory and Applications, has been accepted for inclusion in this volume.

The publication is likely to appear either late this year or early in 2011.