Thinking Out Loud 2016: 4 public conversations look at the ways we connect
Each Thinking Out Loud talk will explore an aspect of connecting — for the sake of health and wellness, through the games we play and in the science and technology we use every day.
Concordia’s signature public engagement series is back for 2016 with a new roster of events aimed at sparking conversation.
Thinking Out Loud (TOL) brings together Concordia researchers and faculty members with external thought leaders for discussions about ideas, big and small.
TOL 2016 has two parts — a series of public conversations in Montreal, co-sponsored by The Globe and Mail, and The Walrus Talks, which feature Concordia researchers and are organized in different Canadian cities in collaboration with The Walrus magazine.
This year’s Montreal TOL events take place onJanuary 28, February 11, March 1 and March 14 at the D.B. Clarke Theatre and are free of charge, although registration is required.
Each talk will explore an aspect of connecting — for health and wellness, through the games we play and in the science and technology we use every day. These conversations will challenge the way we think about how we share our world.
The Walrus Talks series brings Concordia faculty together with Canadian intellectuals in a series of seven-minute discussions on designated topics.
If you’re in Calgary, Ottawa or Toronto, watch for The Walrus Talks Health (Calgary, March 21), The Walrus Talks The Future (Ottawa, April 21) and (back by popular demand) The Walrus Talks Vice (Toronto, April 27). More details to follow soon.
“Both the Walrus Talks series and The Globe and Mail conversations offer great opportunities for us to engage our leading academics with thought leaders on subjects that are of interest to the public,” says Graham Carr, vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies.
Concordia and The Globe and Mail present the 2016 Conversations
January 28: Games, Ethics and How We Connect
Clive Thompson, author of Smarter Than You Think: How Technology is Changing Our Minds for the Better, joins Concordia’s Mia Consalvo, a professor in the Department of Communication Studies and Canada Research Chair in Game Studies and Design, for a conversation on how games help us connect socially, the ethics of communications technologies and the impact of online activities on our off-line lives.
February 11: Connecting and Wellness — Your Brain Matters
Susan Pinker, author of The Village Effect: Why Face-to-face Contact Matters, and Concordia’s William Bukowski, a professor in the Department of Psychology, will discuss the importance of physical contact in a time of disbanded families and virtual connections. They’ll look at how our biology is affected by feeling and why connecting with others matters.
March 1: Connecting Your Tech Future — A Conversation About What’s Next
Nora Young, broadcaster and author of The Virtual Self: How Our Digital Lives Are Altering the World Around Us, will join Jeremy Clark, assistant professor in the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, to explore what privacy means in a context where self-tracking and sharing are routine.
How does all this self-tracking relate to how connected we feel? How safe are we when so much of our personal information is online?
March 14: Connect the Dots — The Science of Crime
Kathy Reichs, a forensic anthropologist and best-selling novelist, and Concordia’s Cameron Skinner, an associate professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, will address the complex stories emerging from science and how they help us connect the dots.
The Concordia and The Globe and Mail Conversations are free of charge and open to the public. Register today on the Thinking Out Loud website.
Learn more about this year’s Thinking Out Loud events.