November 2002 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

FACCT Online Forum - Empowering Patients Online
by Aryne Blumklotz 20 Feb '04

20 Feb '04

Join us for a FACCT online forum Empowering Patients Online* featuring Gary Schwitzer Health care journalist and communications authority Tuesday, June 18 - Thursday, June 20 We invite you to participate in an online discussion about Web-based decision-support tools. Learn how these tools work, how they are developed, who is using them and how they benefit consumers. Log on for a few minutes each day to: * Learn about the top Web-based consumer support tools for online decision-making. * Discuss the pros and cons of the most popular tools. * Find out what consumers want and what these online products offer. * Generate ideas for building a consumer-centered model for online decision-making. *Empowering Patients Online is a free event - but you must register to participate. To register simply reply to this e-mail listing your name and e-mail address in the message space. We'll send you instructions on how to log onto the site and participate in the discussion. Aryne Blumklotz, MPH - Communications Coordinator FACCT - The Foundation for Accountability 1200 NW Naito Parkway, Suite 470 Portland, OR 97209 Phone: (503) 546-9717 Fax: (503) 223-4336 www.facct.org

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Recall: [Air-l] Abstract: Measure of Discussion Activity in Threa ded Discussion Spaces
by Avner Caspi 21 Jun '03

21 Jun '03

Avner Caspi would like to recall the message, "[Air-l] Abstract: Measure of Discussion Activity in Threaded Discussion Spaces".

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Re: [Air-l] Internet History/Stages, was Internet in Everyday Life
by Lisa-Jane McGerty 09 Dec '02

09 Dec '02

Thanks to Steve for some thought-provoking comments. I've also recently grappled with the issue of Internet/internet though for slightly different reasons. In my PhD thesis (now almost completed) I abandoned early on the use of Internet with the capital 'I', preferring instead to use 'internet'. This was partly due to the fact that other media are not capitalised, as Steve points out, and also that using the capitalised version somehow implied that it is set apart from the everyday, that it should somehow stand out or is mysterious. As my thesis is looking at everyday domestic uses of the internet this seemed wrong. Also, using 'Internet' seemed somehow to reify all the biases inherent in the early history of the technology (the gender, class, and ethnic biases particularly) which I did not want to do. So I now always use 'internet', although I always try to pin this down by stating what I really mean by the term (i.e. am I just referring to the WWW, or to other aspects of the wider global internet, or to some historical interpretation of it, or whatever). I just wanted to throw this in as this is the first time I've seen this topic discussed anywhere! Lisa Lisa McGerty Applied Social Sciences University of Bradford, UK ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve Jones <sjones(a)uic.edu> To: <air-l(a)aoir.org> Sent: Thursday, November 28, 2002 12:32 AM Subject: Re: [Air-l] Internet History/Stages, was Internet in Everyday Life > Email overload, I'm finally picking up threads of conversations from > days ago.... > > In short, although my talk focused largely on issues related to > immersive virtual reality, it began by discussing networks, and I did > say that I thought it is time to abandon the notion of an "Internet" > and think about an "internet." (With due respect for citation, this > occurred to me after a lengthy phone conversation with Joe Turow in > which he noted that other media are not capitalized.) The former I > use to refer to the process, begun in the 1960s with U.S. government > funding, of connecting computers and standardizing communication > among them. The latter I use to refer to the networking of computers > that may or, more importantly, may not rely on that process. In this > latter category are included any type of networking project, from > home networking to wireless network to cellular networks to Internet2 > and so on. In other words, _the Internet_ is an internet (i.e., > internetwork) but _the internet_ is a medium akin to other media > (e.g., television, radio, etc.). > > The larger point was that use of the term "network" embedded in these > is itself important, whether we are discussing the actual, as in > hardware, software, etc., or more importantly when discussing the > symbolic, as in the relatively recent popular use of networks as > metaphors for everything from stock markets to relationships to > biology. That's what made me strongly consider _internet_, for I've > been reminded of the ways in which a signal point in the development > of media is when we begin to use it symbolically and metaphorically > to compare other aspects of life to it. > > I expect to develop this further when I get to taking the talk and > turning it into something publishable at some point, but in relation > to the discussion at hand that's what Ulla was referring to, and > while it doesn't really sort out the matter of "Internet eras," > perhaps it does provide still another way to think about the > development of the technology and its uses (symbolic and otherwise). > > Thanks, > Sj > > At 7:29 PM -0500 11/25/02, Ulla Bunz wrote: > >last week at the national communication association Steve Jones was > >featured in a keynote conversation. He talked about "internet" > >versus "Internet." > > > >Steve, are you willing to repeat the main thoughts here briefly? > > > >Ulla > > > > > >> > >> From: david silver <dsilver(a)u.washington.edu> > >> Date: 2002/11/25 Mon PM 07:12:30 EST > >> To: air-l(a)aoir.org > >> Subject: [Air-l] Internet History/Stages, was Internet in Everyday Life > >> > >> Hi Folks, > >> > >> i just returned after giving a class lecture which featured an abbreviated > >> history of the internet and found barry's post quite interesting. besides > >> information about his and caroline haythornthwaite's book, he included the > >> following excerpt from the introduction: > >> > >> *** > >> > >> Excerpts from the Editors' Introduction, > >> Barry Wellman and Caroline Haythornthwaite: > >> > >> _The Internet in Everyday Life_ is about the second age of the Internet as > >> it descends from the firmament and becomes embedded in everyday life. The > >> first age of the Internet was a bright light shining above everyday > >> concerns. In the euphoria, many analysts lost their perspective. The rapid > >> contraction of the dot.com economy has brought down to earth the > >> once-euphoric belief in the infinite possibility of Internet life. > >> > >> *** > >> > >> i'm curious about this notion of two stages of the internet. if i'm > >> reading the paragraph correctly, the authors suggest the net has had two > >> stages: before and after the dot.com crash. i'm interested in hearing > >> what others think about this concept of a two-staged internet history. > >> > >> in my own lecture this morning, i tracked a number of stages, all of which > >> contain, i believe, significant differences between them. for example > >> (and this is the abridged version): > >> > >> 1960s/early 1970s - ARPANET > >> > >> 1975 - a more social internet with lists like SF-Lovers > >> > >> 1979 - a more public internet (here i'm defining the internet more > > > expansively) with the introduction of usenet groups > >> > >> late 1980s/early 1990s - mass influx of users via prodigy/compuserve/aol > >> > >> 1991 - a more distributive (and later graphical) turn with berners-lee's > >> world wide web, followed by mosaic (1993), and netscape (1994) > >> > >> 1995 - netscape goes public, wall street goes crazy, dot.com daze begins > >> > >> etc etc etc. > >> > >> (like all historical stages, these are complex and reflect an interesting > >> intersection among social and cultural contexts, technological > >> developments, economic conditions, etc.) > >> > >> thoughts? > >> > >> david silver > >> http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver/ > >> > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Air-l mailing list > >> Air-l(a)aoir.org > >> http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > >> > > > > > > > >_______________________________________________ > >Air-l mailing list > >Air-l(a)aoir.org > >http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l >

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CFP: Digital Games & Society
by Jason Rutter 06 Dec '02

06 Dec '02

Apologies for any cross posting. Digital Games and Society A special edition of Information, Communication and Society CALL FOR PAPERS Academic research and debate around digital games, gaming industries and the associated practices has begun to rapidly expand and develop in recent years. New empirical and theoretical investigations have broadened previous concerns with text-based analysis and debate over violent content by exploring more broad social, economic and cultural questions. Recent technological developments in gaming platforms and network access have reshaped domestic leisure, social interaction and contemporary forms of consumption. Further, the growth of mobile gaming, the promise of always-on gaming connections, and experiments in mediated reality and pervasive/convergence games (such as EA's Majestic) have raised important questions about access, identity, privacy and the nature of public/private spaces which have yet to be fully explored. In response to these developments Information, Communication & Society (iCS) are planning to publish a special edition on digital gaming in December 2003 with Jason Rutter (CRIC, Manchester University) and Jo Bryce (University of Central Lancashire) as guest editors and hence invites the submissions of papers for consideration for inclusion. Given the international and interdisciplinary remit of iCS papers are being called for on, but not restricted to, the following computer, video and mobile game themes: * New and newly mediated forms of interaction and identity * User demand, consumption and production * Game cultures, communities and social organisation * Globalisation and localisation * Everyday experiences of digital gaming * Gender, exclusion and negotiated involvement * Digital gaming and education * Labour markets, ethical practices and international distribution Papers should not exceed 7000 words and include an abstract of up to 300 words along with a list of up to six key words. They must represent original, unpublished, work which is not under consideration for publication elsewhere Please send email submissions (preferably in as a Microsoft Word file) to Jason.Rutter(a)man.ac.uk The deadline for receipt of complete papers is 6th December 2002. More information on iCS, paper layout and references can be found at http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/1369118x.html. Authors are recommended to consult this and/or the journal itself before submitting a paper for consideration. Questions about the special edition should be directed to Jason.Rutter(a)man.ac.uk. -- Dr Jason Rutter (Research Fellow) ESRC Centre for Research on Innovation and Competition (CRIC), The University of Manchester, Harold Hankins Building, Booth Street West, Manchester, M13 9QH PH: +44 (0) 161 275 6859 Fax: +44 (0) 161 275 7361 http://www.cric.ac.uk/cric/Jason_Rutter

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History of Instant Messaging
by Naomi Susan Baron 02 Dec '02

02 Dec '02

I'm trying to track the history of modern instant messaging (including ICQ, America Online, Yahoo, and MSN). In particular, I'm looking for the dates when each first appeared (ICQ is the only one I've managed to track: 1996). Does anyone have any historical info? Thanks for the help. Naomi Naomi Baron Professor of Linguistics American University Washington, DC 20016-8045

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Instant Messaging
by Alan Sondheim 30 Nov '02

30 Nov '02

For IM, you might also want to look at the various applications in Unix - talk, ytalk, ntalk, wall, etc., that allowed instant communication. Not to mention IRC, but I believe that was later. I think of Unix as relatively porous for cross-communication; for example in the panix.com shell you can type 'hey <username>' for messaging across terminals - Alan http://www.asondheim.org/ http://www.asondheim.org/portal/ http://www.anu.edu.au/english/internet_txt older http://lists.village.virginia.edu/~spoons/internet_txt.html Trace projects http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/sondheim/index.htm

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more on EIES
by Barry Wellman 30 Nov '02

30 Nov '02

Just a proud sidebar to the mini-thread on Murray Turoff's EIES system. Murray and Roxanne Hiltz wrote one of the first books on the possibilities of what grew up to be the internet: Hiltz, S. Roxanne and Murray Turoff. 1978. The Network Nation. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. I'd been playing on this with them since 1976, and I was proud then -- and now -- that they explicitly named The Network Nation after Paul Craven and my 1973 article, "The Network City" (in Sociological Inquiry). Paul and I did call the turn towards networking, but nary a word about the (proto) Internet. Barry ___________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman(a)chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 ___________________________________________________________________

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Re: [Air-l] Re: Internet History/Stages, was Internet in Everyday Life (Frank Thomas)
by Frank Thomas 30 Nov '02

30 Nov '02

Maria, I am somewhat uneasy to call something like a technoinfrastructure an "actor". For me, an actor is someONE you has the capacity and the will to act. Artefacts can not act by themselves but have inbuilt rules. The question for me then is: who built which rules in the artefact, who was ecluded in using it, which are the "costs"=efforts to use it, who covers for the cost, etc. So, in any case, the artefact is a socially constructing being, not an actor by itself. Of course, artefacts shape the opportunity and constraints structure of humans (and organisations) that use them. But this is not the result of an independent will. This is the result of social decisions about the use (or non-use) of specific material characteristics. Also, I would add to your list economic factors, for instance business models, user tariffs etc. and operational guidelines. The latter is often not considered in sociological discussions of the construction and use of an artefact but it may become the most important part of it as the rules decide how to use the artefact. And, of course, there sometimes is a nice struglle about the rules. Think of the French telecom engineers who conceived the minitel as a centra server model and who were surprised that users linked terminals not to the server for database retrieval but to link through to communicate with other end terminal users. This was the birthday of the messager services on minitel which had their strongest use when someone invented minitel rose (I guess you have to translate "someone" into: male, below 30 years, single, trained in science or engineering, ...) . So, the fellow enginners were strongly against this morally incorrect use of a marvel of communication technology. I don't know who made the decision to allow messenger services even when they transported porn, I guess, no prejudice, this must have been people from the finance department. Look into the works of Volker Schneider and his comparison with the British videotext and the German Btx services (together with Graham Thomas and Thierry Vedel). Did you integrate the videotext services as a precursor in your description ? Cordialement Frank

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Submission Deadline Extended for Finland Communication and Technology Conference
by Susan B. Kretchmer 30 Nov '02

30 Nov '02

******* DEADLINE EXTENDED TO DECEMBER 15, 2002 ******* ** Please pass this message on to colleagues and lists to whom it would be of interest. Thank you! ** 2003 International Summer Conference on Communication and Technology in Finland The Informing Science Institute, the Partnership for Progress on the Digital Divide, the National Communication Association, and the Pori Unit of the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration will be sponsoring an International Summer Conference on communication and technology in Pori, Finland, June 24-27, 2003. The purpose of the conference is to spur debate and increase understanding to meet the challenges and explore the opportunities posed by the new Information Age, and to reach out in innovative ways to seek partnerships and solutions that bridge gaps in knowledge, expertise, and interdisciplinary cooperation. The topic areas to be considered range from the digital divide to misinforming and misinformation. Further details are available at the conference web site: http://www.is2003.org. In addition to lunches, coffee, tea, and snack breaks, and guided walking tours of the city during the day, the conference features an informal welcoming reception, a banquet with music at a traditional Finnish restaurant by the river, and a reception at City Hall hosted by the City of Pori. The conference will be held at the Pori Unit of the Turku School of Economics and Business Administration. Pori is on the West coast of Finland, about 120 km (or 75 miles) north of Turku and 240 km (or 150 miles) north-west of Helsinki. The main part of Pori, a peaceful city of 75,000, is about eight blocks square, so it is easy to walk almost everywhere. Traffic is light, and many people ride bicycles. It is easy to reach Pori from either Helsinki or Turku by air, bus, train, or rental car, or even ferry from Sweden via Turku. A trip is planned on Saturday, the day after the conference, to nearby Yyteri Beach, a sandy beach known as the "Finnish Riviera," with a water slide and a hiking trail along the shore, and/or Reposaari, a small fishing village unspoiled by tourism. Convention attendees will also be able to participate in a post-conference study trip to the University of Lapland above the Arctic Circle, land of the Midnight Sun and Northern Lights. You can learn more about Finland at http://www.genealogia.fi/finnlinks/ and http://virtual.finland.fi/. Submission Instructions The language of the conference is English. All submissions should be original and not currently under review by any other publication or conference since the author(s) will need to transfer copyright to the organizers before the paper can be published. All submissions will undergo blind review by three or more referees. It may be useful to review papers presented at IS2002, which can be found at http://2002.insite.nu. All accepted papers will be published in the Conference Proceedings and selected papers will appear in the journal _Informing Science: International Journal of an Emerging Transdiscipline_ or the _Journal of Information Technology Education_. Quality papers on the special conference topics of Misinforming/Misinformation and Bias will be fast tracked for inclusion in a special issue of _Informing Science_ and/or a book. Below are the specific requirements for each type of submission, followed by the general requirements for all submissions. Research Papers--Research papers should be submitted as complete papers. Papers should include a description of the context of use, the relevant publics involved, the problem, and the proposed solution, if appropriate. Original thinking is valued. Papers typically are less than 20 pages long (about 5000 words). Research papers must be original and unpublished. Interactive Papers, Discussion Papers, and Practical Papers--Shorter papers (at least 8 pages) of Research-in-Progress, Interactive, Discussion, and Practical matters are also welcome. These let you share the progress you have had to date and receive constructive feedback midstream in your research. Panel Discussions--Proposals for panels that synthesize and orient work in the area are encouraged, especially those that cross disciplinary boundaries. Panel proposals should define an issue, list proposed panel members, their backgrounds, and their basic positions. Panel proposals should be written as extended abstracts that are approximately two pages long. Panels should provide for interaction among members and with the audience and should not consist of a series of independent mini-papers. Submissions will be accepted via the web at http://submit.insite.nu (or email, if your web access is limited). Please review http://www.is2003.org for complete details on submission, including formatting instructions. NEW SUBMISSION DEADLINE: DECEMBER 15, 2002 (just request extension from Eli Cohen at eli_cohen(a)acm.org or elicohen(a)sprintmail.com.) If you would like to be part of a panel submission, but cannot put one together, we will try to match up presenters with similar interests and submit the resulting panels. To participate, please email a Word attachment containing a 75-word abstract of your topic, a 50-word bio, and your complete contact information by 5 p.m. ET on DECEMBER 8, 2002 to both docrod99(a)hotmail.com and susankretchmer(a)yahoo.com. Authors may appear at most on two papers, or one paper and one panel. For an accepted paper to appear on the program and in the proceedings, at least one author must register by the presenters' registration deadline. All members of panels must register by the presenters' registration deadline. Volunteer to Review Submissions Please volunteer your expertise as a paper reviewer for the 2003 International Summer Conference and, thereby, become a member of the Conference Program Committee. Sign up at: http://volunteer.InSITE.nu. Sponsorships Various levels of Academic Departmental Sponsorship are available beginning at $500. All sponsors will be acknowledged in the conference literature and websites. Higher levels of support will also be acknowledged on the Conference Carry Case. Interested institutions should contact both Susan Kretchmer (susankretchmer(a)yahoo.com) and Rod Carveth (docrod99(a)hotmail.com) Important Dates Abstract or paper submission December 15, 2002 Author notification February 15, 2003 Final paper due (MS Word or RTF) & presenter's registration deadline March 15, 2003 Conference Period June 24-27, 2003 Study Trip to the Arctic Circle June 29-July 3, 2003 Further details about the conference are available at the IS2003 web site: http://www.is2003.org. Please contact both Susan Kretchmer (susankretchmer(a)yahoo.com) and Rod Carveth (docrod99(a)hotmail.com) with any questions. __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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3600 Research Essays about the Net
by Reinhold Grether 30 Nov '02

30 Nov '02

3,600 Research Essays about the Net Welcome to the very heart of the netzwissenschaft project. Most research essays listed here are from 2003 down to 1999. It's a personal linklog of, in my view, persuasive contributions to the emerging field of Internet Studies and Network Research. Please find the latest entries on top. Updates at least once a week. http://www.netzwissenschaft.de/sem/pool.htm

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