<apologies for cross-posting / please pass on>

_Leonardo Electronic Almanac Discussion (LEAD): Vol 14 No 8_
Wild Nature and the Digital Life Special Issue, guest edited by Dene  
Grigar and Sue Thomas
:: Live chat with Open University research fellow Dr. Kathryn Yusoff  
and San Diego-based artist Brett Stalbaum, discussing their  
respective works on visualizations of the earth, landscape and  
environments.
:: Chat date: Wednesday, January 3.
:: 2 pm West Coast US / 5 pm East Coast USA / 10pm UK
:: LEAD is an open forum around the Wild Nature and the Digital Life  
special issue of Leonardo Electronic Almanac http://leoalmanac.org/ 
journal/Vol_14/lea_v14_n07-08/intro.asp

Chat instructions are below. The LEA website includes instructions  
and a complete list of upcoming chats: http://leoalmanac.org/journal/ 
Vol_14/lea_v14_n07-08/forum.asp

Author Biographies

Dr. Kathryn Yusoff is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Open  
University. Her research interests center on re-thinking visual  
culture in relation to extreme environments and technologies of  
vision (particularly in Antarctica, Iceland and other cold regions).  
She has recently completed her Ph.D, Arresting Visions: A  
Geographical Theory of Antarctic Light at Royal Holloway, University  
of London (2004). Currently, she is curating the Interdependence Day  
project, a research and communications project mapping the ethical  
terrain of globalization and environmental change.

Brett Stalbaum is an artist specializing in information theory,  
database, and software development. A serial collaborator, he was a  
co-founder of the Electronic Disturbance Theater in 1998, for which  
he co-developed software called FloodNet, which has been used on  
behalf of the Zapatista movement against the websites of the  
Presidents of Mexico and the United States, as well as the Pentagon.  
Recent work includes Painters Flat, projects with the painter Paula  
Poole in the Great Basin, and ongoing projects with C5 Corporation,  
of which he is a founding member. Stalbaum holds a Masters of Fine  
Arts (computers in fine art) from the CADRE digital media laboratory  
at San Jose State University, and a B.A. in Film Studies from San  
Francisco State University. He is a lecturer and the coordinator for  
the Interdisciplinary Computing and the Arts Major (ICAM) at the  
University of California, San Diego.

::

How to participate in the live chat?

Live chats will use Jabber (http://www.jabber.org/), an open, secure,  
ad-free alternative to consumer IM services like AIM, ICQ, MSN, and  
Yahoo. It is the most widely-used open source instant messaging and  
chat protocol. The LEA Digital Wild chatroom is on the jabber.org  
public server under the name/address <  
[log in to unmask] > and the password "leoalmanac."  
Follow three easy steps and you are ready to join the chat:

1) Download and install a Jabber client. A list of recommended Jabber  
clients is available at the following url: http://www.jabber.org/ 
software/clients.shtml . For Windows users, we recommend the Exodus  
client. For Macintosh users, please use Psi (although iChat seems to  
work as well), as the other recommended clients do not consistently  
register on the Jabber server. For Linux, Psi is also available, but  
the other recommended clients should work as well.

2) Register as a user on the jabber.org public server. When you first  
open your Jabber client you will see a start screen. If you do not  
see this screen, or if you are not starting the client for the first  
time, the screen is also available in a pull down menu as Account  
Details or Preferences (depending on your Jabber client). Enter a  
username, password, and server. Use any username and password you  
choose. Enter "jabber.org" as the server. When you register, if your  
proposed username is taken, you need to choose another. Check the  
button for "new account" or to automatically register the account  
(depending on your client). Note: you may not be able to register if  
you are not using one of the recommended clients listed above. Hit OK  
or Login. Your Jabber client will then automatically register you and  
connect you to the jabber.org server.

3) At this point, you are ready to chat, but there is one more step:  
you must join the chatroom. Select "Join a Chat Room" from your  
client's pull down menu. Enter the name/address of the chat room: <  
[log in to unmask] >. Enter the password: leoalmanac.  
You can also specify a nickname or "handle" to use while in the  
chatroom. Hit "Finish" or "OK" to join the chat. The chat room window  
will open and you are ready to go! Note: the chat room may not be  
available outside of scheduled chat times.

Additional information is available at the Jabber userguide: http:// 
www.jabber.org/user/userguide/.