News Catchup, Old and New Projects, Actvities.

 It's been 4 months since I'd last posted as I'd been busy completing some papers, attending workshops, presenting at one of a major local conference, and also completing the first draft of a revised book project proposal (these were all between January and the first week of April 2023). This month, it has been about building (and exploring) new skills while also organizing materials (both past and new stuff) for the first two chapters of my book.

That said, there are a few announcements to be made with regard to recently published articles, starting from December 2022 since I have forgotten to post about the small booklet that came out in that month.

In Devember 2022, my article-length book, "Stanning" Najib: Fanning a Personality Cult in Malaysian Politics" was published by ISEAS-Yusof Ishak Institute. This book is co-authored with ISEAS's research associate Amirul Adli Rosli. This work brings together political communication, fan studies, and platform studies.

In January 2023, my book chapter "Diagramming Artscience: Designing at Knowledge Intersections" was published in the Science and Design edited volume (Bloomsbury Academic Press). You can find it on my ResearchGate. This is part of my ongoing Artscience project, and I have another article still under preparation (but since that is linked to a chapter in my book, their preparations are inter-linked).

In February 2023, my articles, Malaysian Physics and the Maker Ethos was published in Physics Today (this was for an ongoing science project attempting to document the history of science and technology in the Malaysian context, with some cases from this project to be deployed in forthcoming articles and my book),  and "Managing ‘Wicked’ Technoscientific Problems: The Postnormal Science of Risk Narratives" was published in East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An International Journal. This came from my research into nuclear science, technology and society in the Malaysian context, which is also linked to the history of science and technology in Malaysia project. Two more articles related to this project are under review at this time of writing.

If you are interested in a public lecture I am doing on June 7, between 1700 and 1900, check out the advertisement here. The abstract for the talk can be found here. In addition, between May and June, there is one team-taught class lecture, a conference panel discussion, and a WIP meeting with a neighboring university of a nearby country.

There are more things under the works, but since I am in the process of mapping out how these disparate projects I have in the offing are actually connected to each other, I would need to set up a system for them to ensure efficiency and to allow for resource planning.

I have a new project I call "Digital Obsessions" (it's an infrastructure, platform, cybersecurity, and social media project, building on the earlier work I had done on trolling, social hacking, and digital politics) that will go into the umbrella of a new project I am starting up on "Security: Technoscientific Turning Points." The aim obviously was to allow for a more coherent connection between my older projects and new-but-not-that-new projects (some of these new projects are actually revival of projects that had to be set aside for several years).

Where will I be developing some of these projects from, going forward? Well, degrees of uncertainty is part of the adventure.  I am in a strange yet exciting transition point as there is a lot of planning and decision-making to be had. But most importantly, my goals this year also include having more free time to work on new skills (including all manner of language skills) as well as personal projects, and to enjoy some hobbies.