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<p class="MsoNormal">Dear FIS member,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">You will have seen Gordana’s message about IS4SI in Gothenburg in June (<a href="http://is4si-2017.org">http://is4si-2017.org</a>) and know that it includes the seventh International Conference on the Foundations of Information Science
<a href="http://is4si-2017.org/program/conferences/fis-2017/">http://is4si-2017.org/program/conferences/fis-2017/</a>
<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">I would like to draw your attention to the sixth Difference that Makes a Difference conference, DTMD 2017, which also takes place at IS4SI 2017. The theme for DTMD 2017 is “Information, Narrative and Rhetoric: Exploring Meaning in a Digitalised
Society” and you can see the details of the call for participation at <a href="http://is4si-2017.org/program/conferences/dtmd-2017/">
http://is4si-2017.org/program/conferences/dtmd-2017/</a><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We are particularly pleased that DTMD 2017 will be opened by our keynote speaker, the science fiction writer Ken Macleod. Ken is based in Edinburgh, Scotland, and has written many novels which look in various ways at the relationship, both
utopian and dystopian, between technology and society. He has been described as “one of the most consistently interesting authors we have in contemporary science fiction”. He has been a writer in residence at the Genomics Forum and the Creative Writing MA
course at Edinburgh Napier University.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">We have always prized interdisciplinarity within the DTMD group, and have from time to time sought to engage with artists to help understand the nature of information. A science fiction writer, and especially one like Ken Macleod, who uses
his stories to grapple with issues arising from technological developments, seems to us the perfect way to challenge our thinking around the topic of “Information, Narrative and Rhetoric”. I hope that you agree and – while I don’t want to take you away from
FIS 2017 – I hope you will also be able to participate in DTMD 2017.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Thank you for your attention, and I look forward to meeting you in Gothenburg.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">David<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">--
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Dr. David A. Chapman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Senior Lecturer<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">School of Computing and Communications<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">The Open University
<a href="http://www9.open.ac.uk/mct-cc/people/david.chapman"><span style="color:blue">http://www9.open.ac.uk/mct-cc/people/david.chapman</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">Intropy blog:
<a href="http://www.intropy.co.uk/" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">http://www.intropy.co.uk/</span></a><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">T. +44 1908 652919 Twitter @dachapman<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Courier New";color:black;mso-fareast-language:EN-GB">The Open University is incorporated by Royal Charter (RC 000391), an exempt charity in England & Wales and a charity registered in Scotland
(SC 038302).<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
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