International Conference
& DEW Line Festival

November 7–10, 2011
University of Toronto Chestnut Conference Centre
Toronto, Ontario, Canada

100+ Speakers     25+ Points–Counterpoints     300+ Artefacts, Outerings & Utterings

More than fifty years ago, writing from a modest outbuilding at the University of Toronto, Marshall McLuhan gave voice to a vision that transformed the globe: of a society enmeshed in media, everywhere connected, culturally configured by mediating technologies of information and communication.

In celebration of the centenary of Marshall McLuhan’s birth, The University of Toronto Faculty of Information, in conjunction with Ryerson University, York University, OCAD University, the City of Toronto, and numerous other city cultural institutions, will host a major conference and festival.

The McLuhan 100 · Then | Now | Next conference & festival assembles a unique group of Canadian and international interdisciplinary experts on media and culture—including researchers from humanities, social sciences, science and technology departments, artists, and leading public thinkers.

FORMAT
in keeping with its experimental subject matter, McLuhan 100 · Then | Now | Next will feature a wide range of presentation, discussion, workshop, performance, exhibition and probing formats. People who cannot attend in person are encouraged to participate and respond to talks and events via blog commentary using the featured ScribbleLive platform and webpresence. As made clear in his famous quote from Understanding Media, McLuhan was fond of framing artists as harbingers of cultural change: “I think of art, at its most significant, as a DEW line, a Distant Early Warning system that can always be relied on to tell the old culture what is beginning to happen to it.” To honour McLuhan’s vision, McLuhan100 is framed as a joined conference and festival. Each day of thought-provoking conference events will culminate in a reception and cultural event comprising the DEW Line Festival—where delegates together with the art-and-media savvy public will be invited to stimulate their minds and connect under the theme of McLuhan. Opportunities will be provided to reflect on conference ideas, debate them with fellow attendees and presenters, and engage in artistically stimulating presentations.

IMPACT
The impact of McLuhan 100 · Then | Now | Next will arise from interchanges among participants from almost every province in Canada and around the world. Using text, audio-visual, and other multimedia technologies, theorists, experimentalists, and technologists from diverse disciplines will share ideas, explore methods, and nurture change that challenge the way we conduct research. Face to face interactions—during debates and point-counterpoint sessions, informally over meals, and at DEW Line Festival events—will enable participants to create and nourish national and international networks and partnerships among researchers, industries, governments, sectors and individuals. Interchange, debate, collaboration, and network development is critical for social sciences and humanities researchers, for leaders in the communications, culture, visual art and experimental media world, and for artists and public thought leaders nationally and internationally.

McLuhan100 · Then | Now | Next conference and DEW Line Festival are a cooperative effort of numerous academic institutions and cultural organizations from the city of Toronto. Special partners include the Gladstone Hotel and Gallery and Gallery 345. McLuhan100 · Then | Now | Next falls under the auspices of the McLuhan100 planning committee. It is cosponsored by the Faculty of Information at the University of Toronto, Ryerson University, the Social Science and Humanities Research Council, Celebrate Ontario, OCAF, and the City of Toronto Economic Development and Culture Division.

Programme