November 2001 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: Air-l digest, Vol 1 #217 - 19 msgs
by Lee Giles 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

A note about searching. Data does not need to have metadata to be searchable; however, it certainly helps. The web consists of data that has little useful metadata content, and it is very searchable, as the search engines have shown. There are automatic methods for generating metadata which can be particularly applicable to a domain or appropriate for a particular view. See for example researchindex.com where the author, title, and citation metadata are automatically generated. Lee Giles air-l-request(a)aoir.org wrote: > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Re: AoIR communal data-database (Charlie Hendricksen) > 2. Re: AoIR communal data-database (jeremy hunsinger) > 3. Re: AoIR communal data-database (Charlie Hendricksen) > 4. Re: AoIR communal data-database (Charlie Hendricksen) > > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 13:05:23 -0700 > From: Charlie Hendricksen <veritas(a)u.washington.edu> > Organization: Department of Geography, University of Washington > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: Re: [Air-l] AoIR communal data-database > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > Yes, the "codebook" for the study should have all the metadata > necessary. But are the codebooks searchable? If the repository is of > any size at all, then it needs to be searchable. Would you like to > read all the codebooks in order to see if there was any data you could > use? If the codebooks are disassembled and placed in a database that > allows searching then the repository is very useful. My guess is that > codebooks are idiosyncratic and of wildly varying quality. This means > that the metadata would be incomplete in many cases. > > This raises the issue of what the metadata should include. > > jeremy hunsinger wrote: > > > > I'm not sure what level of metadata you are talking about here... > > collecting a description of the study, the authors, the coding, etc. > > should all be public in the codebook for the study... if it is not then > > the study probably wouldn't be useful to others in any case. perhaps I > > am on the wrong track here? > > > > > > > > The question of metadata raises a difficult barrier to building > > > the proposed repository. Data is pretty much useless without > > > metadata. The amount of work required to obtain useful metadata is > > > likely to exceed what a volunteer effort can suppor > > > > > jeremy hunsinger > > on the ibook > > www.cddc.vt.edu > > www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Air-l mailing list > > Air-l(a)aoir.org > > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > > -- > Charlie Hendricksen veritas(a)u.washington.edu > > "Information technology structures human relationships." > "Models relate concepts." > > --__--__-- > > Message: 2 > Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 15:18:41 -0500 > Subject: Re: [Air-l] AoIR communal data-database > From: jeremy hunsinger <jhuns(a)vt.edu> > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > yes, but I don't think one needs to have metadata at the level of > variables. People might want that data, then they should see if the > study might have that information, download the study and look for it > themselves. I think one needs to have it at the level of the study. > I'm assuming that this will all be in a database eventually, so > categories such as the openarchives.org metadata set would be best, it > is a standard, it describes unique objects like a study, etc. > > the lack of exact and complete metadata has not hindered the development > of such projects in the past, i guess in the end it is always a balance > between the practical and the ideal situations. > > On Sunday, November 18, 2001, at 03:05 PM, Charlie Hendricksen wrote: > > > Yes, the "codebook" for the study should have all the metadata > > necessary. But are the codebooks searchable? If the repository is of > > any size at all, then it needs to be searchable. Would you like to > > read all the codebooks in order to see if there was any data you could > > use? If the codebooks are disassembled and placed in a database that > > allows searching then the repository is very useful. My guess is that > > codebooks are idiosyncratic and of wildly varying quality. This means > > that the metadata would be incomplete in many cases. > > > > This raises the issue of what the metadata should include. > jeremy hunsinger > on the ibook > www.cddc.vt.edu > www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy > > --__--__-- > > Message: 3 > Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 13:24:14 -0700 > From: Charlie Hendricksen <veritas(a)u.washington.edu> > Organization: Department of Geography, University of Washington > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: Re: [Air-l] AoIR communal data-database > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > I have replied to Nancy's response below inline. > > Nancy Baym wrote: > > > > >Friends, > > > > > > In point 4 of Nancy's proposal for a data repository there is this > > >statement: "Our intention is that access to such private resources > > >contributed by aoir members > > >would be limited to aoir members." I see no reasonable justification > > >for restricting access and would not participate in the venture if > > >such restrictions are adopted. > > > > My assumption was that people would prefer to limit the access to > > their data, otherwise it would fall under that first category of data > > already available on the web. Personally, if I were going to make > > data I'd collected available, I'd like to know that there was a > > limited set of people who would have access to that, and that I could > > get that list on the member website. However, the level of access is > > certainly open for discussion and I'd be inclined to defer to the > > will of the people who were willing to share their data through a > > resource like this. If they want it available to all, then that's > > fine. > > > > Yes! The use of data for other uses such as meta analysis should > usually be contingent on the agreement of the original author. I > think that the data repository would be most useful as a catalog of > available datasets. If the metadata pointed to a dataset that might > be of use, then the new user could contact the holder of the data and > arrange for use. It might be useful (but perhaps embarrassing) to > allow annotation of the metadata. > > > The issue of how much of what aoir does under its auspices should be > > available to all and how much should be available only to members is > > a tricky one and there are arguments on both sides. It's a matter of > > ongoing discussion with every idea we come up with. Speaking only for > > myself, my train of logic goes like this --> do we distinguish > > between members and nonmembers? if we don't what does membership > > mean? if membership doesn't mean anything then why join? if no one > > joins there's no budget, eventually no conferences, eventually no > > association. While I believe that aoir should not be an exclusive > > little clique, I do think it's important to provide benefits for > > members that are better than the benefits of not being a member. It's > > not like membership is hard to come by. > > > > If the repository is principally a repository of metadata for > available data, I see no reason why AoIR would lose anything by making > it public. You might even attract new members. > > > Regarding metadata, I concur with Jeremy. If we're talking about data > > that are incomprehensible without being in on the research program or > > that needs a lot of sophisticated metastuff that's more than a > > codebook and explanation could provide, then it's probably not > > appropriate for this. On the other hand, there is a lot of data > > available already on the web that's being used just like this (e.g. > > Pew's data). > > > > A metadata repository need only be as sophisticated as is needed to > eliminate hopefully optimistic requests, and to attract requests for > data that is likely to be useful. In other words it needs to > eliminate obviously false positives and obviously false negatives. > Having been involved in a metadata cataloging process, I appreciate > the existence of overly sophisticated "metastuff" (beautiful term!). > > > Regarding whether this is too big to be sustained by volunteers, > > maybe a volunteer effort can't sustain this. If this is not something > > people would find adequately valuable to participate in, then it > > won't work. On the other hand, all of AoIR thus far would seem to be > > a lot more than a volunteer effort could sustain, and it seems to be > > working pretty well because people have cared enough to volunteer > > their energies. > > Well, I hope that the authors of data can find the time to submit > metadata. The existence of a well designed metadata core, along with > tools to submit that metadata, and review it before publication, is > important. Similarly, tools that allow exploration of the metadata > database are essential to the dissemination of that product. I have > some tools and an unpublished paper that may be useful. > > > > > Nancy > > > > _________________________________________________________ > > Nancy Baym > > nbaym(a)ku.edu > > http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym > > Communication Studies, University of Kansas > > 102 Bailey, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA > > VP, Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Air-l mailing list > > Air-l(a)aoir.org > > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > > -- > Charlie Hendricksen veritas(a)u.washington.edu > > "Information technology structures human relationships." > "Models relate concepts." > > --__--__-- > > Message: 4 > Date: Sun, 18 Nov 2001 13:35:03 -0700 > From: Charlie Hendricksen <veritas(a)u.washington.edu> > Organization: Department of Geography, University of Washington > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: Re: [Air-l] AoIR communal data-database > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > OK, there is a proposal: the metadata should be based on the > openarchives.org database. Now, in total ignorance of that metadata > set, let me say that that metadata set might be so extensive that the > data providers would be discouraged from submitting their metadata. > There is an exquisite balance between the work required to input > metadata and the rewards for participating in such a project. In my > experience that balance goes to simplicity of an order that makes the > metadata marginally useful. I would argue for a custom metadata set > -- that argument based on experience with the hopelessly complex > metadata standards of the Federal Geographic Data Committee. > > jeremy hunsinger wrote: > > > > yes, but I don't think one needs to have metadata at the level of > > variables. People might want that data, then they should see if the > > study might have that information, download the study and look for it > > themselves. I think one needs to have it at the level of the study. > > I'm assuming that this will all be in a database eventually, so > > categories such as the openarchives.org metadata set would be best, it > > is a standard, it describes unique objects like a study, etc. > > > > the lack of exact and complete metadata has not hindered the development > > of such projects in the past, i guess in the end it is always a balance > > between the practical and the ideal situations. > > > > On Sunday, November 18, 2001, at 03:05 PM, Charlie Hendricksen wrote: > > > > > Yes, the "codebook" for the study should have all the metadata > > > necessary. But are the codebooks searchable? If the repository is of > > > any size at all, then it needs to be searchable. Would you like to > > > read all the codebooks in order to see if there was any data you could > > > use? If the codebooks are disassembled and placed in a database that > > > allows searching then the repository is very useful. My guess is that > > > codebooks are idiosyncratic and of wildly varying quality. This means > > > that the metadata would be incomplete in many cases. > > > > > > This raises the issue of what the metadata should include. > > jeremy hunsinger > > on the ibook > > www.cddc.vt.edu > > www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Air-l mailing list > > Air-l(a)aoir.org > > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > > -- > Charlie Hendricksen veritas(a)u.washington.edu > > "Information technology structures human relationships." > "Models relate concepts." > > - -- C. Lee Giles, David Reese Professor School of Information Sciences and Technology and Computer Science and Engineering The Pennsylvania State University 001 Thomas Bldg, University Park, PA, 16801, USA 814 865 7884; FAX: 6426 http://ist.psu.edu/giles

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lit. on e-commerce / new economy firms?
by Eszter Hargittai 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Hi Phil, Are you familiar with David Stark's work at Columbia? He and Monique Girard have done an ethnographic study of a Silicon Alley new media firm. There are some related documents off of David's Web site at http://www.sociology.columbia.edu/people/index.html?professors/dcs36/index.… Eszter Eszter Hargittai Sociology Department Princeton University --- http://www.eszter.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Find the one for you at Yahoo! Personals http://personals.yahoo.com

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lit. on e-commerce / new economy firms?
by Philip Howard 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Dear AIR: I'm on the hunt for favorite published pieces on the organizational behavior of e-commerce & other new economy firms. Ethnographies in which an e-commerce firm was a field site, or larger comparative / quantitative studies of new economy firms ideal. I'm not interested in broad sketch books on the new economy, bubbles, collapses or economic destinies. I'm interested in scholarly pieces where a particular firms are studied, especially if they are comparative and try to make distinctions with old economy non-e-commerce firms. Studies of non-profits or state organizations welcome but my instinct is that there are few of these. As always grateful for your advice. Will repost the final bibliography. p. Philip Howard ph. (773) 274-6817 / c. (202) 271-7170 / p-howard(a)northwestern.edu Sociology, Northwestern University - http://pubweb.nwu.edu/~pho442/ Survey2001 Project - http://survey2001.nationalgeographic.com Pew Internet & American Life Project - http://www.pewinternet.org

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Re: [Air-l] lit. on e-commerce / new economy firms?
by D. Silver 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Phil! I too have been looking for similar resources and they are tough to come by. I find it hard to think of resources that fit your specific qualifications (published; no broad sketch books on the new economy) but offer the following that might be somewhat relevant: Vincent Mosco, "Webs of Myth and Power: Connectivity and the New Computer Technopolis," in Andrew Herman & Thomas Swiss, eds, The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory (Routledge, 2000) Daniel Marschall, "'Nurture the Hurt, Dude!': An Ethnographic Portrait of an Internet Software Development Firm." (Dan presented portions of this paper at AIR 1.0; he can be contacted, I think, at: djmarsch(a)usa.net) Andrew Ross has a piece on Silicon Alley in NY in his book Real Love: In Pursuit of Cultural Justice (NYU Press, 1998); it's called "Jobs in Cyberspace." Ok, you said you wanted scholarly pieces but if you're willing to twist your definition of scholarly a bit I'd suggest the following: Bill Lessard & Steve Baldwin, Net Slaves: True Tales of Working the Web (McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing, 2000) Casey Kait & Stephen Weiss, Digital Hustlers: Living Large and Falling Hard in Silicon Alley (ReganBooks, 2001) and my personal fav Po Bronson, The Nudist on the Late Shift (Broadway Books, 2000) Good luck Phil, david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver > I'm on the hunt for favorite published pieces on the organizational > behavior of e-commerce & other new economy firms. Ethnographies in which > an e-commerce firm was a field site, or larger comparative / quantitative > studies of new economy firms ideal. > > I'm not interested in broad sketch books on the new economy, bubbles, > collapses or economic destinies. I'm interested in scholarly pieces where > a particular firms are studied, especially if they are comparative and try > to make distinctions with old economy non-e-commerce firms. Studies of > non-profits or state organizations welcome but my instinct is that there > are few of these.

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social capital and information seeking
by Anabel Quan-Haase 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Thanks to all the helpful comments and pointers to resources-- just to clarify Jeremy's remark: I am not including information seeking as part of social capital. What I expect to find is that people who seek actively information (read the news, go to libraries, subscribe to magazines) will also be the ones who are more politically engaged. Putnam writes that information seeking (or more precisely: people's interest in politics) has declined and that this is an intracohort change (thus, younger people are the ones less inclined to be interested in these matters). So, I am thinking that the web is a new medium for acquiring information that could potentially serve to counteract this trend, as young people tend to be more net savvy. Thanks again and greetings from Toronto, Many Regards, Anabel Quan Haase ---------------------------------- Ph.D. Student Faculty of Information Studies McLuhan Program in Culture and Technology University of Toronto 140 St. George Street Toronto, Ontario M5S 3G6 Tel: 416-978-7097 Fax: 416-971-1399

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Re: Air-l digest, Vol 1 #216 Nacy Baum
by Niels Ole Finnemann 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Input to Nancy Baums »available research data section« in Air-l:126. There are a number of nationally based internetarchives and -projects. A few of them are listed at http://www.imv.au.dk/cfi/eng/archive/ where you can also find various references to the different principles used for the selection and collection of the materials. To the national archival projects listed one can add national projects in Canada, Finland, France (Biblioteque Francaise) and UK, though I don't have their webadresses, and the project netarchive.dk in Denmark: http://www.netarchive.dk Niels Ole Finnemann *************************************************** Niels Ole Finnemann Lektor, dr. phil. Institut for Informations- og Medievidenskab Aarhus Universitet Niels Juelsgade 84 Tlf: 89 42 19 34 8200 Aarhus N Mail: finnemann(a)imv.au.dk www.imv.au.dk/medarbejdere/finnemann Leder af Center for Internetforskning http://imv.au.dk/cfi/

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Correction to Virtual Methods link
by Christine M Hine 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Apologies - the correct link for details of the Virtual Methods seminar is http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/crict/vmesrc.htm Christine Christine Hine Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture and Technology (CRICT) Brunel University Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK Tel: +44 (0)1895 203117 http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/crict/

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Virtual Methods seminars
by Christine M Hine 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

The UK's Economic and Social Research Council have given a grant to fund a series of seminars on Virtual Methods (social science methods for the study of information and communication technologies). The seminars aim to provide a forum for discussing methodological innovations and dilemmas associated with the new technologies. The first of these seminars is to be held on December 17/18 2001 at Royal Holloway, close to London. Details of the seminar are available at http://www.brunel.ac.uk.depts/crict/vmesrc.htm There are still some seminar places available. For those unable to attend, short summaries of the presentations will be posted on the web site closer to the seminar. There is also a mailing list associated with the seminar series - details at http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/virtual-methods.html Christine Christine Hine Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture and Technology (CRICT) Brunel University Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH, UK Tel: +44 (0)1895 203117 http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/crict/

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Re: [Air-l] lit. on e-commerce / new economy firms?
by radhika gajjala 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

> Will repost the final bibliography. >p. > I would appreciate this. r >Philip Howard >ph. (773) 274-6817 / c. (202) 271-7170 / p-howard(a)northwestern.edu >Sociology, Northwestern University - http://pubweb.nwu.edu/~pho442/ >Survey2001 Project - http://survey2001.nationalgeographic.com >Pew Internet & American Life Project - http://www.pewinternet.org > > > >_______________________________________________ >Air-l mailing list >Air-l(a)aoir.org >http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > > ___________ Radhika Gajjala Bowling Green State University http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik http://www.cyberdiva.org http://lingua.utdallas.edu:7000/4425/ __________

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CFP: Informing and communications theory
by Sue Myburgh 19 Nov '01

19 Nov '01

Widely cross-posted - Apologies for duplication. Please forward as appropiate - Thank you. The 2002 InSITE (Informing Science and IT Education) conference (http://IS2002.com) will be held at the University College Cork, Cork, Ireland, on June 19-22, 2002. What is "Informing Science"? I hear you ask. Eli Cohen, Editor of the Informing Science Journal, has written an intereting article on this (http://inform.nu/WhatsIS.htm) which describes Informing Science as emerging from the area of Information Systems. The abstract reads as follows: The field of Information Systems (IS) has been attacked for its lack of tradition and focus. This paper suggests that the criticisms are based on the misunderstandings of the nature of Information Systems, both inside and outside the field. The paper begins by extending the fragmentation problem seen by Information Systems to the hierarchical model for knowledge expounded by the universities. It then examines the limitations of existing frameworks for defining IS, and introduces an evolutionary approach. This paper reconceptualizes Information Systems and demonstrates that it has evolved to be part of an emerging discipline of fields, Informing Science. The convergence and divergence of the fields of Information Science, Information Technology, Document Management, Communication Studies and Information Systems is one that contains to intrigue me. The socially and organisationally constructed academic silos within which we often work serve separate contiguous areas; a lack of common understanding leads to frequent duplication of work; and the fragmentation can prevent a vibrant collaborative approach to complex problems. A brief look at the Website for this Conference (http://www.is2002.com/tracks.htm) suggests that an attempt is made here to develop an interdiscplinary conversation, but this will only be possible if there is interdisciplinary interaction! I am Track Chair for the stream "Informing and Communications Theory". I am looking for presenters on any and all of the following themes: * Information systems as communications systems; * Understanding and using information mediated by technology; * The relationship between information and the act of informing; * The role of documents in communicating information; * The role of communication studies in the world of information management; * The intersections of technology, communication and technology; * The modification and enhancement of meaning through technology; * The state of being informed, and knowledge management; * The construction of 'technology' in communication; and others. The target date for your work is 14th December. Please direct enquiries to me or to the Program Chair, Betty Boyd (ProgramChair(a)is2002.com) Information about the conference and Submission guidelines can be found at the URL given above. You can submit your proposal at any of these URLs: http://www.is2002.com/submissionpage.htm (US); http://csweb.ucc.ie/is2002/submissionpage.htm (Ireland); http://www.sistm.unsw.edu.au/conference/is2002/submissionpage.htm (Australia). Thank you. Sue Myburgh Senior Lecturer and Program Director Knowledge Management Internet Communication Strategies Foundation Director Centre for Internet Studies School of Communication, Information and New Media UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA St Bernard's Road Magill SA 5072 Adelaide, AUSTRALIA P: +(08) 8302 4421 F: +(08) 8302 4745 E: sue.myburgh(a)unisa.edu.au W: www.unisa.edu.au

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