Prague College

 

 

 

Semiotics is an interdisciplinary field of study that is becoming more and more important in the world of professionals for communication, visual art and lately for IT practitioners (web designers and in general among interface designers).
Umberto Eco states that 'semiotics is concerned with everything that can be taken as a sign;' in this sense this is the study not only of what we refer to as 'signs' in everyday speech but of anything that can 'stand for' something else. Thus, following this very broad definition we will present, analyse and discuss theories of signs in which signs take the form of words, images, sounds, gestures and objects. In more detail, in the following workshops about semiotics and its applications, which will be held at the college on the 13th, 20th and 27th of January, three different areas of research will be explored and discussed with the supplement of activities. Workshops will be open to all students from the three schools of the college.

The first area will be focusing on literary semiotics and various schools which have developed their own approach to literature. Some of the classics, such as Louis Hjelmslev, Roland Barthes, Algirdas J. Greimas, Julia Kristeva and Yuri Lotman will be presented and analysed. Particular attention will be devoted to Lotman's theory of literary iconicity and to Kristeva’s semanalysis as a science of the text.

The second workshop will be focusing on aesthetics and visual communication with a particular emphasis on four important areas of study: semiotics aesthetics, semantics of the aesthetics sign, pragmatics of the aesthetics semiosis and aesthetics codes.
In this context Morris's semiotic aesthetics and Morris’s aesthetics sign, Peircean's semiotic framework, Eco's theory of aesthetics codes and Lotman's plurality of aesthetics codes will be analysed and discussed in some detail.

The third area of research that will be explored in the third workshop is the semiotics of interfaces and in particular a formalised and systematic approach to the study of signs in computer systems. From this new field some basic concepts from algebraic semiotics will be presented and discussed with several applications. In particular, sign systems and semiotic morphisms will be applied and used as possible criteria of valuation for user interfaces.

Workshop 1: Friday, January 13 at 3.30 PM, classroom 001
Workshop 2: Friday, January 20 at 3.30 PM, classroom 001
Workshop 3: Friday, January 27 at 3.30 PM, classroom 001

Registration required - please register here for individual workshops.  

 

Fig. 1: VASILY VASILYEVICH KANDINSKY, Composition IV. 1911. Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfallen, Dusseldorf

Fig. 2: PAUL KLEE, Maibild (May Picture), 1925. The Berggruen Klee Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York / 2009 Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Read an interesting interview with Stefano Cavagnetto on expats.cz, as he speaks about mathematics and philosophy and their application in interdisciplinary projects:

Stefano, many people know you as a lecturer, scholar and dedicated researcher in the areas of mathematics and philosophy. What has led you to study these subjects, and why did you choose to live in Prague?

Philosophy and mathematics have always been my interest and I have been attracted to these fields since I was very young. I decided to develop myself in these areas and combine my deep interest with a professional career. Why Prague? My first visit to Prague was the kind of story you have probably read or heard many times, and it is really nothing out of the ordinary. I first came to Prague as a tourist, a high school student, who was eager to explore Europe. I naturally came with a group of friends and then returned many times as a more mature visitor who fell in love with the art, architecture and magical feeling of Prague... read the whole interview here.

 

 

 

 

 

A team of faculty and students from Prague College will participate in an exhibition in the new building of the National Museum open on
Wednesday | July 13th | 10am - 6pm. The event will run through July 27th. 

 

 

 

The exhibition is called Muzeum 3000 and the installation will feature a multimedia collaborative interface developed by students and faculty from both the Fine Art and Graphic Design departments - Jakub Grosz, Dima Strapchev, Peter Le Couteur, Peter Marencik, Pascal Silondi and Jorge Boehringer.
Read more about the installation here...

 

This installation represents a first collaboration between Libat, and members of the Prague College Research Center's new Experimental Arts Research Lab (EARL).

 

Hope to see you there!

Last monday, Prague College Research Centre hosted 'Business and Human Rights' workshop held by Amnesty International Czech Republic and NaZemi fair trade company.

 

  

 

The programme included a lecture from NaZemi about their project and research related to outdoor clothing companies, and was accompanied by the film China Blue to show the reality on the screen.
Amnesty International gave a lecture about campaign for Business and Human Rights. They also introduced the results of their research.

 

The workshop was run by:
Lenka Pitronova - Head of Campaigns Department at Amnesty International Czech Republic. Coordinator of Business and Human rights campaign
Anna Cisarikova  -  Head of Campaigns Department at NaZemi – association for Fair Trade. Coordinator of Discover Fairness! campaign

 

Conference on Cryptography and Intelligence hosted a number of speakers from all over Europe. One of the speakers was Wilhelm Dietl, who worked as a journalist and a German secret service agent for 10 years.

While visiting Prague for the conference, Dietl gave an interview to MF Dnes.
Read the article "Spion studene valky" (Cold War Spy) here... (in Czech).

 

Take a look at more articles covering the conference:

DatenSicherheit.de - May 31, 2011
Konferenz Secret of Ciphers in Prag: Kryptologie-Geschichte aus Erster Hand

Ceetrust.org - May 31, 2011
Secret of Ciphers: Conference on Cryptography and Intelligence

Prague Post - May 25, 2011
Experts reveal the secrets of ciphers

Expats.cz - May 18, 2011
Decrypting Cryptographic Ciphers
International conference Secret of Ciphers taking place at Prague College

CHIP magazine - May 18, 2011
Tajemstvi sifer – mezinarodni konference o kryptografii a zpravodajskych sluzbach

 

 

 

 

The Secret of Ciphers - The international Conference on Cryptography and Intelligence
has successfully started with two days full of lectures and discussions behind us.

 

The first speakers of the conference were Jan Krajicek and Michal Hojsik. Jan Krajicek from the Faculty of Mathematics and Physics at Charles University in Prague, gave a lecture on "The P versus NP problem", while
Michal Hojsik, from the same faculty, talked about "Cryptography in Mobile Phones".

  

  

 

Find out more about the conference and the programme for following two days here...

 

Prague College Hosts The Secret of Ciphers – an International Conference on Cryptography and Intelligence

The Secret of Ciphers is special public conference that is unique in its topic, scope and complexity. The conference is organized by the School of IT & Computing and the Prague College Research Centre in cooperation with Charles University, Vojensky Historicky Ustav, National Security Authority (NBU) and Europeum. This conference will look at the historical and contemporary context of cryptology and intelligence from before the Cold War to the present day and bring together experts from all over Europe.

For more information go to the CCI Conference section at our Research Centre or straight to the Secret of Ciphers website.

 

 

 

Last week Prague College celebrated the project Underground City 3D/XXI. The exhibition explored all of the phases of the creation of this interdisciplinary on-line platform. Exhibited were graphic design works, research papers, videos and interactive installations. The event culminated with a reception where Stefano Cavagnetto, Head of School of IT & Computing and the Research Centre, summed up the project and introduced the ART CATALOGUE, a publication compiling all of the work done by Prague College and Libat during the last 2 years of the project.

Visit the specialised website that focuses on the project itself in detail: www.undergroundcity3d.com

 

 

 

 

Take a look at the photos from the opening here...

 

 

 

Prague College and Libat present the interdisciplinary on-line platform Underground City 3D/XXI.

 

 

With the use of various art techniques and technologies, the architectural and industrial heritage of an ex-coal mine from Labin (HR) has been transformed into an avant-garde cultural and art project.  Come and explore with us the development of the futuristic utopian 3D city.

 

 Vernissage - Reception and presentation
April 9| Saturday | 6pm

 Exhibtion open:
April 7 – 10 | 11 - 6.30pm

 

Join us for presentation and exhibition at Prague College | Polska 10 !

 Read more about the event and programme here...

 

Professor Sergio Cremaschi will be delivering a series of lectures at Prague College on “The Ethical Landscape”. The lectures will provide an overview of the ethical landscape beginning from the consequentialists through to 20th Century deontological ethics. Various areas relating to the works of John Stuart Mill, George Edward Moore, Richard Hare, Kant, Kurt Baier, John Rawls and Tomas Nagel will be explored. The final lecture will focus on “A Step Towards Understanding the Invisible Hand Metaphor” in Adam Smith’s work.

 

CONSEQUENTIALISTS, TELEOLOGICAL OR UTILITARIAN ETHICS (February 14th) 

    •    Classical Utilitarianism
    •    Eudemonist indirect utilitarianism - John Stuart Mill
    •    Ideal Utilitarianism - George Edward Moore Principia Ethica (1903)
    •    Rule utilitarianism  / preference utilitarianism
    •    A combination of utilitarianism and non-cognitivism / of act- and rule-utiltiarianism - Richard Hare Moral Thinking (1981)

KANTIAN ETHICS (February 15th) 

    •    Kantian metaethics
    •    Kantian normative ethics
    •    Moral anthropology
    •    Ethics and Philosophy of History

20th CENTURY DEONTOLOGICAL ETHICS (February 16th) 

    •    Kurt Baier - The Moral Point of View  (1958)
    •    John Rawls - A Theory of Justice (1971)
    •    Thomas Nagel - The Possibility of Altruism (1974)

 “A Step Towards Understanding the Invisible Hand Metaphor” – Adam Smith (February 17th)

    •  Adam Smith and “The Invisible Hand”

Adam Smith (1723-1790) was a Scottish philosopher and economist who is best known as the author of An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth Of Nations (1776), one of the most influential books ever written. “Adam Smith's "Invisible Hand"—which is one of history's great ideas” is actually a recent invention among modern economists. It certainly is one of our discipline’s “great” re-defined and heavily promoted metaphors.

 

This month Pasal Silondi, the principal lecturer at the School of Art and Design, with his art association Libat, presented the UC3D project, a project that evolved out of UCXXI Platform.

The installation exhibitied at the Gamerz 2010 festival presented 3D environments that were developed collaboratively during the last few  months by Libat and Prague College. Visitors could enter and navigate through the virtual space and discover different types of cells connected to the “Rhizome architecture” of the 3D Labin ex-coal mine tunnels reconstructed by Libat.

Read more about UC3D installation here..

 

 

 Take a look at the photos from the exhibition in France

 

Gamerz is an international multimedia festival exploring the borders between art and new technologies. From the 3rd to 19th of December, the sixth edition of the festival transformed the city of Aix-en-Provence into a huge playground. More than 85 international artists exhibited their work through 1500 square meters in 8 different cultural places in town.

 

The annual Cyberspace Conference organized by Masaryk University Journal of Law and Technology was held in Brno from 26 – 28 November 2010. Many topics, from cyber law, psychology, sociology, philosophy of cyberspace, cyber-crime and cyber-security were presented in different sessions.

Prague College gave a contribution in the philosophy session with the paper "Multiple Personalities and the Proteus Effect in Collaborative Virtual Environments" by Stefano Cavagnetto and Bruce Gahir. The paper develops ideas presented in an earlier paper presented last year and focuses on applying Wittgenstein's language games framework to collaborative virtual environments.

 

Read the abstract here...

 

   

 

This work is supported by European Cultural Foundation (ECF) and European Commission.

 

“Immerse Me” exhibition is an accompanying program of the Anemic Festival initiated and organized by Prague College School of Art and Design principal lecturer Christophe Saidi.
The exhibition features “Lamparna for Underground Landscape,” an interactive installation developed by Libat and Prague College in the frame of the Underground City XXI project.  Read more about the installation here.

 

 

 See the photos from the opening in AVU Gallery here.

 

You still have a chance to see the exhibition!
It runs until tomorrow, November 16th | 10am-6pm | Gallery of Academy of Fine Art | U Akademie 4 | Prague 7

 

After two summer UCXXI project workshops and a couple of exhibitions held at Trafacka Gallery and Prague College Studios, an exciting interactive workshop for children ages 9 to 12  took place in September in the frame of the project.

Children, accompanied by their parents, were taken through a virtual world of art and fun. The workshop offered them an immersive experience where they could interact with 3D worlds and learn in a playful way. 

 

 

 

The workshop was initiated by Aurélie Besson as part of her PhD research at UQAM University (Montreal) in the field of art, technology and education. It was organised in collaboration between Libat ,  M77  and Prague College .

 

Take a look at the photogallery here.

 

The Head of the Prague College School of Business and School of IT & Computing, Stefano Cavagnetto has written and published a textbook titled Teoria della logica del primo ordine in collaboration with Prof. Andrea Iacona, from University of L’Aquila (Italy).

The book focuses on First Order Logic (FOL), its essential properties and on how it semantically works. The textbook is designed for advanced classes in Logic in Philosophy and Computing Faculties.

The book offers a detailed analysis of FOL and it explores some interesting connections with Arithmetic, Geometry or Set Theory.

 

Prague College is happy to announce that the Underground City 3D XXI project willbe exhibited at the Trafacka Gallery in Prague from August20-22 as part of the Invasion festival.

We will present visions ofutopian future cities through the new Underground City 3D environments. Experience the latest user functionality developed during thelast few months and discover the Underground City virtual online p.

For more information about  UndergroundCity 3D XXI just take a look here...

More information about the festival: www.invaze.tk  www.trafacka.net  www.facebook.com

 

          

 

 

Find out more here...

Due to popularity and interest, the workshop has been extended. Visit us on Monday July 21st from 12-6.30 pm.

 

After the 1st Prague Workshop in December 2009, Prague College and Libat would like to announce the start of the 2nd Prague Workshop.

The workshop is related to Phase 3 of the “Underground city XXI” project, supported by the European Commission.

The main topics of the second workshop/laboratory are :

• Construction of 3D models and their integration into 3D multiuser environments
• Collaborative experimentation into 3D interactive multiuser environment
• 2D/3D multimedia creation for mixed 3D multiuser environments shared on the Internet.
  

This second Prague workshop will be directed by Pascal and Marie Silondi and will offer an experimental and collaborative week, multiplying audiovisual, interactive and conceptual experiences within 3D multiuser environments.

It will take place at the Prague College Studios from Saturday 03.04.2010 until Saturday 10.04.2010
The workshop will also include an accompanying program open to the public:

April 7 - 18.30h - Ethics and Cyberspace by Stefano Cavagnetto and Bruce Gahir
April 9 - 14h - The code of Coal by Stefano Cavagnetto and Natalia Ogneva
April 10 - 10 - 18h - Public exhibition - Come to see what was created during the week of experimentation

Read more about the Underground City XXI project and the workshop here...
View the photos from last workshop at Prague College here...

Join us for an open lecture by Stefano Cavagnetto which illustrates some of the ideas
underpinning work by Prague College staff and students this semester across the disciplines of art and computing.

Prague College Studios | Polska 26
Thursday, January 28
Starts at 6:30 pm

The main aim of this talk is to illustrate how algorithms effectively generate an amazing world of fractals.

Classical Euclidean geometry deals with objects which exist in integer dimensions; fractal geometry works with objects in non-integer dimensions. While Euclidean geometry is a description of lines, curves, ellipses, etc. fractal geometry is described in algorithms, i.e. set of instructions. These set of instructions might produce rough or fragmented geometric shapes that can be split into parts, each of which is (at least approximately) a reduced-size copy of the whole (Mandelbrot, 1982).

The overall process gives rise to an unexpected beauty which can be depicted by beautiful shapes.

 

 

 

The UC XXI workshop was one of last semester's highlights. The workshop involved international participants - professionals and students invited by three coordinators: Labin Art Express (HR), Prague College (CZ) and Libat (FR).

The project leaders from all parties gave lectures and presentations. Prague College representatives included Principal Lecturers Pascal Silondi, Stefano Cavagnetto and Simon Gray, along with students from Interactive Media, Graphic Design and IT & Computing who had their own presentations.

 

For more information on Underground City XXI please visit DOT. 

 

 

Enjoy the slideshow of photos here

 

 

Find out more here...

 

The annual Cyberspace conference organized by Masaryk University Journnal of Law and Technology was held in Brno (20 – 21 November 2009). Many topics, from cyber law, psychology, sociology, philosophy of cyberspace and up to cyber crime and cyber security were presented in different sessions. 

Prague College gave a contribution in the Philosophy session with the paper The Conception of Self in Multiple Cyber Worlds (Stefano Cavagnetto and Bruce Gahir) in which many issues about personal identity are discussed and a model based on information theory is proposed. The paper combines some concepts from information theory, Dennett theory of multiple drafts with the concept of liminoid as proposed by Victor Tucker in 1964. 

 

Along with Stefano Cavagnetto and Bruce Gahir of Prague College, speakers taking part in the Philosophy stream included: Alex Carruth - Durham University, David Hill - York University, Raphael Lepuschitz - University of Innsbruck, Hannes Alkin, Tobias Haider, Andreas Kirchner - University of Vienna, Mark Graham - University of Oxford, Herbert Hrachovec - Vienna University of Technology, Charles Ess - University of Aarhus. 

Read more here... and see photos here...

 

 

Prague College lecturers, Stefano Cavagnetto and Bruce Gahir, will present a paper at the Cyberspace conference that will take place in Brno, November 20-21.

 

 

 

The title of the lecture is Philosophy of Cyberspace.

The intention is to offer a formalized model of multiple selves in worlds such as MUDS (Multi-User Dungeons or Multi-User Domains). The key element of “MUDding” from the perspective of “identity-effects” is the creation and projection of a “persona” into a virtual space. In traditional role-playing games in which one’s physical body is present, one steps in and out of the character. MUDS, in contrast, offer a parallel life. The boundaries of the game are fuzzy and the routine of playing them becomes part of their players’ everyday lives.

This paper also contributes to work relating to identity in virtual worlds, which is a theme running through our Underground City XXI project.

Read the abstract here...

After a kick-off meeting at Prague College, partners met again during summer for extended workshop. This time in Labin in Croatia, on the site of actual coal mine whose history initially inspired the project.

LIBAT (Fr), Nomad Theatre (Au), L.A.E. (Cro) and Prague College discussed further development of the project and individual roles of partners in it.

Underground City XXI (UCXXI) is a European interdisciplinary platform, aiming to establish a specific cultural and art community, created as an online collaborative interdisciplinary network. UCXXI will develop a virtual 3D multi-user environment, shared and distributed on the Internet, based on the real dimensions and situation of the ex-coal mine in Labin, Croatia.

 

 

In this project, funded and supported by European Commission, Prague College will have several roles.

• As an organization its activities will include creation and organization of Prague-based project meetings, workshops and symposiums, as well as distribution of Czech-based promotion of the project and related events.
• As an educational institution Prague College will organize live projects that will, integrated to the academic curriculum, provide inputs and outputs for the project.
• Being a networked institution, College’s activities will also include initiation and management of collaboration with other institutions, students and academics.
  
  

Look at the videos from Labin symposium: video 1 - video2

 

 

 
Labin Art Express, LIBAT, Prague College, nomad.theatre and other partners

 

 

 

 

 

On May 18th 2009, there will be a seminar relating to the applications of Game Theory to finance and economics. This seminar is part of a series of seminars for BA students of International Business Management and it is a compulsory part of the International Finance course. The seminar will start at 18.00 at the College in classroom 209 and will be held by Stefano Cavagnetto, Head of School of Business and Computing at Prague College.

Abstract: in this talk we will focus on non-cooperative games and their use in finance and economics.  The main aim of the talk will be to show how many concepts, techniques and the language itself of non-cooperative games have become central to these disciplines.

 

 

The PragueCollege Research Centre (PCRC) is developing a new project concerning the history of programming languages and computing.

The main aim of the project is to create a digital interactive platform collecting all the relevant information about the development of programming languages and history of computing hardware.

Anyone interested in academic collaboration (students of Prague College or other universities) is welcome to join.

Please contact Stefano at [email protected], Veronika at [email protected] or David at
[email protected]

The first lecture will be held on Thursday April 16. Stefano will talk about the beginning of programming languages and Ada Lovelace.

Ada Lovelace (1815-1852), daughter of Romantic poet Lord Byron, is today known as the "first programmer". She has written a description of Charles Babbage's early mechanical general-purpose computer, the analytical engine.  She also foresaw the capability of computers to go beyond mere calculating while others focused only on these capabilities.

Picture: Ada Lovelace portrait by Margaret Carpenter (1836)

Logic Seminar

Monday March 2nd

Stefano Cavagnetto, "Euclid’s Elements"

Euclid’s Elements is one of the most beautiful and influential works of mathematics in the history of science. Its beauty relies on its logical development of geometry and other branches of mathematics. The Elements have influenced all branches of science but none as much as mathematics. Entire generations of mathematicians have been shaped by this masterpiece and its influence is still vivid in modern mathematics. Although many of the results contained in this work originated earlier, one of Euclid’s achievements was to present them in a single and logically coherent framework. This made it easy to use the contents and easy to reference them for other mathematicians. The system of rigorous mathematical proofs still remains the basis of modern mathematics.

In this talk I will give a quick overview of the contents of the Elements in the order they appear in the thirteen books. I’ll focus in some detail on the first two books and on their logical structure with the aim of giving a good grasp of Euclid’s modernity. Finally I’ll discuss a small fragment of papyrus containing the Proposition 5 of Book II. This fragment was found among the remarkable rubbish pile of Oxyrhynchus in 1896-97 and it can be interpreted in modern terms, as other results in Book II, as a geometric formulation of algebraic problems.

 

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The logic seminar is intended for people doing research in mathematical logic, including doctoral students. Talks are given by regular participants and guests on their own work as well as on interesting recent developments in the field. The prevailing themes in recent years are proof complexity, bounded arithmetic and logical aspects of computational complexity theory in general. Regular participants include members of the logic group, including a number of postdoctoral visitors and Ph.D. students. The seminars are conducted in English unless all participants speak Czech (which seems to never happen).

There is also a student logic seminar at Charles University, intended for undergraduate students.

The seminar has been organized continuously since the early 1970s, first by Petr Hájek for more than twenty years, from the early 90s until the summer of 2008 mostly by Jan Krajíèek, and since fall 2008 by Neil Thapen.

 
For any additional information and insight on topic please contact [email protected]