Events Calendar

Now You See It: Using the Science of Attention to Transform the Way We Live, Work and Learn
A Lecture by Cathy N. Davidson

When Cathy N. Davidson and Duke University gave free iPods to the freshman class in 2003, critics called it a waste of money. Yet when students found academic uses for the brand-new music devices in virtually every discipline, the iPod experiment proved to be a classic example of the power of disruption—a way of refocusing attention to illuminate unseen possibilities. This idea will be at the heart of Davidson’s talk, which will draw from her recently published and critically acclaimed book, Now You See It: How the Brain Science of Attention Will Transform the Way We Live, Work and Learn. Exploring cutting-edge research on the brain, she shows how the phenomenon of “attention blindness” shapes our lives, and how it has led to one of the greatest problems of our historical moment: although we email, blog, tweet and text as if by instinct, too many of us toil in schools and workplaces designed for the last century, not the one we live in. We can change that. This inspiring talk will help us think in historical, theoretical and practical ways about how we as individuals and as institutions can learn new ways to thrive in our interactive, digital and global world.

Cathy N. Davidson served from 1998 until 2006 as vice provost for interdisciplinary studies at Duke University, where she helped create the Program in Information Science + Information Studies and the Center for Cognitive Neuroscience. In 2002, she cofounded HASTAC (Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaboratory or “haystack”), a virtual network of innovators that directs the annual $2 million HASTAC/MacArthur Foundation Digital Media and Learning Competitions. She holds two distinguished chairs at Duke and has published more than twenty books, including Revolution and the Word: The Rise of the Novel in America, Closing: The Life and Death of an American and The Future of Thinking. In 2010, President Obama nominated her to a six-year term on the National Council on the Humanities.

Related Event:
Remixing Everyday Life: Connected with Tiffany Shlain
Thursday, November 10, 7 p.m.
The Ray Stark Family Theatre, School of Cinematic Arts 108
For more info, click here.

Presented as part of the series “Remixing Our Worlds,” organized by Phil Ethington (History) and Tara McPherson (Cinematic Arts). Co-sponsored by the Center for Transformative Scholarship.

Photo: Duke Photography

For further information on this event:
visionsandvoices@usc.edu

Location: School Of Cinematic Arts (SCA) - The Ray Stark Family Theatre (SCA 108)

Audiences: Everyone Is Invited

Contact: Daria Yudacufski