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

RE: [Air-l] Publications on race and the Internet
by Rune Dalgaard 11 Nov '02

11 Nov '02

Hi Lyabo > I am finding it difficult to find information connecting race and the > Internet/cyberspace. Mark Poster in 'What's the Matter with the Internet' (2001) discusses the the theme of race and ethnicity on the Internet - you might also be useful references there... Best, Rune _______________________________________________________ Rune Dalgaard | MA, Ph.D. Candidate Information and Media Studies | Aarhus University | Denmark runed(a)imv.au.dk | http://www.imv.au.dk/medarbejdere/runed _______________________________________________________

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email to dictatorships
by Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof) 11 Nov '02

11 Nov '02

http://www.nytimes.com/2002/11/10/weekinreview/10WORD.html?pagewanted=1 WORD FOR WORD Mr. Qaddafi, You've Got Mail By DAVID F. GALLAGHER F you've sent an e-mail message to Saddam Hussein lately, you should know that his in-box is a little backed up and that it might take him a while to get back to you. This public service announcement comes by way of Brian McWilliams, a freelance reporter for the technology Web site Wired News. Last month, Mr. McWilliams took advantage of some poor security measures and gained access to a trove of unread e-mail messages sent to the Iraqi leader by visitors to his official Web site. A. Randolph Kluver School of Communication and Information Nanyang Technological University 31 Nanyang Link Singapore, 637718 (65) 6790-5770 Fax (65) 6792-4329

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fAf Nov02: fAf's fabulous 15 years on CD
by linda carroli 10 Nov '02

10 Nov '02

fAf November02 fAf's fabulous 15 years on CD fineArt forum = art + technology netnews http://www.fineartforum.org http://www.cdes.qut.edu.au/fineart_online fAf_15: 15th ANNIVERSARY CDROM This month marks the completion of one of faf biggest anniversary events - the release of faf_15, presenting a record of our 15 year history in the field of art, science and technology communications. You will find exclusively on faf_15: :: the travelling screening program, 'fineArt in Motion' showcasing 14 works from young and emerging artists from around the world; :: specially collated features on fAf's fabulous 15 years; and :: indepth discussions about all things fAf with past and present editors, Ray Lauzzana, Roger Malina, Annick Buread, Judy Malloy, Paul Brown, Nisar Keshvani and Linda Carroli. The CD will prove to be a valuable resource for researchers, artists, writers and activists in the new media, science and technology fields together with broadening the audience of faf into worldwide areas of where low speed connections are predominant. More specifically, we plan to distribute the cdrom to screen resource centres, arts and artist groups, new media events and libraries worldwide to enhance access in those hard to reach areas. To obtain a copy, email fAf at l2.carroli(a)qut.edu.au with your name and postal address. Don't forget, fAf_15 is free. More information can be found online. http://www.fineartforum.org/aboutus/highlights_index.html IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE As usual faf is packed with events, opportunities and news about what's going on in the world of art, science and technology but you will want also to check out the following reviews: :: Estelle Yaw reports on Collaboration, Networking and Resource-Sharing held in Myanmar; :: Fatima Lasay provides the lowdown on DMF2002 in Manila; :: Paul Brown reviews Sol LeWitt: Incomplete Open Cubes edited by Nicholas Baume; :: YJ Tan takes a look at Animated Film from Germany; :: Agricola de Cologne discusses the Violence Online Festival; :: Typeslowly, a text-art event recently held in Brisbane is reviewed; and :: Kosmopolis, a festival of world literature in Barcelona next month is previewed. 'FINEART IN MOTION' CONTINUES TO TRAVEL THE WORLD Since 25 Oct 2002, the fineArt forum (fAf) 15th Anniversary Travelling Screening Program, 'fineArt in motion' is showcased on Singapore One, Singapore's premier broadband network. Each week, three directors and their work will be showcased, putting Singapore on the global multimedia map. fAf's 15th Anniversary Screening Program, a special project curated by Nisar Keshvani features 14 works by young and emerging artists from around the world. It premiered at MAAP01 (Australia) and the Manila Digital Media Festival last year. This year, it has travelled to over 10 locations in Asia, Australia, Latin America and Europe. fineArt in Motion: http://www.fineartforum.org/screen Singapore One: http://s-one.net.sg/faf2002 . . . . . SUBSCRIBE Subscription to fineArt forum is free. To subscribe: Send an email message to: mailserv(a)qut.edu.au with the following text in the message: subscribe fineartforum To unsubscribe - the first line of your email should read: unsubscribe fineartforum MISSION fineArt forum is a free, not-for-profit news and information service exploring the relationship between the arts, sciences and technology. fAf aims to inform new media arts and technology communities worldwide of the latest events, developments and opportunities. GOT NEWS? Send it to editor(a)fineartforum.org MORE INFO Nisar Keshvani: editor(a)fineartforum.org Linda Carroli: l2.carroli(a)qut.edu.au . . . . . fineArt forum is assisted by the Commonwealth Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. Additional support is provided by QUT Communication Design Department, School of Film and Media Studies - Ngee Ann Polytechnic Singapore and Mississippi State University. fAf is produced on behalf of the Art, Science and Technology Network (ASTN). fAf and Leonardo Electronic Almanac (LEA) are strategic partners. LEA is an online peer-reviewed journal published at MIT Press for the Leonardo Network http://www.leonardo.info . . . . .

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ICANN Paper Online
by Hans Klein 10 Nov '02

10 Nov '02

The following paper is available online: "ICANN and Internet Governance: Leveraging Technical Coordination to Make Global Public Policy," The Information Society, Vol. 18, No. 3, 2002, 193-207. Abstract The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) was created in 1998 to perform technical coordination of the Internet. ICANN also lays the foundations for governance, creating capabilities for promulgating and enforcing global regulations on Internet use. ICANN leverages the capabilities in the Internet domain name system (DNS) to implement four mechanisms of governance: authority, law, sanctions, and jurisdictions. These governance-related features are embodied in seemingly technical features of ICANN's institutional design. Recognition of ICANN's governance mechanisms allows us to better understand the Internet's emerging regulatory regime. http://www.slis.indiana.edu/TIS/readers/full-text/18-3%20Klein.pdf

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Re: What is a discipline - role of AoIR. (Nancy Baym)
by Wendy Robinson 09 Nov '02

09 Nov '02

Wonderfully considered and lucid post from Nancy. Concerns us all. Thank you. I just joined a new campus and the CIO was asked about this kind of thing (specifically does Blackboard pedagogical activity "count") at a faculty open house. He bypassed the question by saying it was the old issue of teaching and research and service and the risk of doing work in emerging areas (implicitly, therefore, the answer was no, a syllabus is a syllabus is a syllabus, online or off, and doesn't "count" any more than any syllabus does). Yes, you're welcomed as new blood, thanks for the contribution and help with pulling along the late adopters, but expect to pay your dues like everyone else before you. So: Is work in Net studies like other emerging areas? Can we learn from the battles fought by women's and environmental studies, for instance? Or cultural studies? Are the issues different, perhaps, among other reasons, because of the corporate-supported IT grants and other soft money not available to other disciplines (e.g., these being tough times for the humanities)? Net-supported research seems to have enjoyed much greater cross-campus and global support than other areas, even though there are unlikely to be departments of Internet Studies as Nancy pointed out. What we do has seeped through and become mainstream remarkably quickly. I wanted to keep Nancy's thread alive, but I don't have As to her Qs either. I strongly agree that these are concerns we need to address going forward if the AoIR is to provide practical support to our careers, as well as to subjectively nourish relationships that are, nonetheless, predicated on common research and avocational (we aren't all academics on the AoIR list) interests. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Wendy Robinson wgrobin(a)uc.edu Asst Prof, Dept of Comm wgrobin(a)fuse.net Univ of Cincinnati homepages.uc.edu/~robinswg 620C Teachers College tel: 513-556-4468 Cincinnati, OH 45221-0184 fax: 513-556-0899 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At 12:01 PM 11/8/02 -0500, you wrote: >Message: 1 >Date: Thu, 7 Nov 2002 11:18:24 -0600 >To: air-l(a)aoir.org >From: Nancy Baym <nbaym(a)ku.edu> >Subject: Re: [Air-l] What is a discipline - role of AoIR. >Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > >I of course can't help but think about all of this quite specifically >in terms of the role of AoIR in Internet Studies and what our lofty >goals should be, and I wanted to pose some of the questions this >discussion raises for me. I start from the premise that while AoIR >may be many members' favorite affiliation and conference, we are not >likely to be conducting academic careers in an institutionally >recognized department of Internet Studies. So one goal may be to >provide a form of institutional credibility so that members' work >will be recognized by tenure and promotion committees that want >evidence of outside review. This is of course one of the major >functions of well known academic associations, usually in the form of >peer review association journals and conferences. [snip] >How important is it that AoIR provide credibility? How do >we apply standards? What kinds of structures could we build through >which to apply them? How do we maintain and nurture a kind and >stimulating ethos? How do we discipline and nurture one another in a >way that does its best to speak to all the home disciplines and >traditions in which members make careers? > >I don't have a good answer to any of these questions. I see a lot of >challenges and balancing acts ahead. My hope is that the right >answers will emerge as we continue to discuss these and related >issues together.

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Perceived Interactivity
by Jmarks930＠aol.com 08 Nov '02

08 Nov '02

Greetings everyone, My name is Julie Marks, and I am a Ph.D. candidate at the University of North Carolina's School of Public Health. Broadly, my dissertation research is a comparison of Web and print media for health promotion among teens. I am particularly interested in how information processing and persuasion may differ based on perceptions of interactivity of the communication medium. To that end, I am working on developing a reliable and valid scale of Perceived Interactivity that can be used across different media. To date, I have only found measures of interactivity developed for "new media" (i.e. Web or interactive CD ROM). Are any of you familiar with the Interactivity literature, or have you seen a scale which assesses Interactivity of more traditional media, such as print?(Yes, print can be interactive too). Best Regards, Julie T. Marks Ph.D. Candidate Department of Nutrition The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill School of Public Health

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New positions open at the Oxford Internet Institute
by Vicki Nash 08 Nov '02

08 Nov '02

As we are currently seeking to recruit Visiting Research Fellows at the Oxford Internet Institute, please can you post the following, many thanks Vicki Nash OXFORD INTERNET INSTITUTE Visiting Fellows RESEARCH STAFF GRADE IA: £18,265 to £27,339 (with a discretionary range up to £33,679) Applications for up to six Visiting Research Fellowships for the academic years 2003/04 and 2004/05, or part thereof, are invited by the Oxford Internet Institute (OII), a new department in the University's Social Science Division which aims to become the world's leading multi-disciplinary academic centre focused on the societal implications of the Internet and related information and communication technologies (ICTs). Established by the University in 2001 with initial funding of £15m, the OII's social research on the Internet and related ICTs seeks to help inform and influence the related debate that is shaping research, policy, and practice around the world. This is accomplished through high-quality research, collaboration, teaching, and use of the Internet as a strategic resource. These Fellowships offer persons of outstanding distinction or promise an opportunity to pursue research related to the OII. Applications may be in any area related to the work of the OII, but should preferably address one of the Institute's five current research focal points. These concern the role of the Internet and ICT in: governance; learning and education; scientific and social research; everyday life and work; and policy issues that cut across all these social settings. Fellows will normally be expected to reside in or near Oxford for the majority of their visit. They will be entitled to office space at the OII, in the heart of Oxford, and to participate fully in the intellectual life of the OII and the wider University. They will be expected to cooperate with the work plans of the OII under the guidance of the Director. Salary will be in the Research Staff Grade IA range identified above (or pro rata for shorter appointments). Further information, including details of how to apply, may be obtained from the Personnel Assistant, Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JS (tel: +44 (0) 1865 287210; e-mail: recruit(a)oii.ox.ac.uk) or from our website: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk. Applications must reach the Institute by 12:00 noon (GMT) on Monday 16th December 2002. -- Dr Victoria Nash Public Policy Co-ordinator Oxford Internet Institute 1 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JS 01865 287231

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RE: [Air-l] What is a discipline - and publishing tips.
by Anderson, Ben 08 Nov '02

08 Nov '02

> I think feminist studies it is useful to the society in much more > substanative ways, than what women want. when i worked for BT I found 'feminist' studies of technology to be a very useful resource when trying to shock middle-aged, middle-income (and predominantly male) research engineers out of their ego centric view of what real people do with technology, how they value it and what difference it makes to them. Whilst in a sense this was trying to get them to see 'what women want' (as a market) it was really an exercise in seeing the world differently and thus trying to 'engineer innovation'. Cynthia Cockburn and Judy Wajcman's work was useful here... I am not sure that this conceptual shock approach worked but that's another story :-) > marginalized both within and outside of the academy? I, personally, > sometimes find the content so inaccessible that even I, as a somewhat this is a problem that is not unique to feminist studies... /B -- Dr Ben Anderson www.essex.ac.uk/chimera +44 17710 187 806

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RE: [Air-l] What is a discipline.
by Matthew Allen 08 Nov '02

08 Nov '02

Hi all INteresting posts on disciplines...revealing, I suspect, that one of the defining features of a discipline is the way in which proponents of that discipline understand and apply the term 'discipline' (sorry if this sounds like a problem from a set-theory textbook). My contribution is, however, to ask if there is value in shifting the debate away from the noun, discipline, to the verb 'to discipline' (obviously following Foucault here)? I think that disciplines are defined, mostly, by the processes and actions which maintain and perpetuate them, rather than by the boundaries or terrain which they enclose. I would assert that the difficulty for transdisciplinary scholars, such as found in areas of study such as Internet Studies, is not in traversing the ground, nor crossing the borders, of the many disciplines which they might encounter; rather, the difficulty is one of connection with and deep understanding of processes. Matt

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Oxford Research Symposium CFP
by Loader, Brian 08 Nov '02

08 Nov '02

Dear colleagues I hope you will be interested in the following: CALL FOR PAPERS Information, Communication, Society A Research Symposium to be held at Balliol College and the Oxford Internet Institute, 1, St Giles, Oxford, 17th-20th September 2003 for the International Journal Information, Communication & Society (iCS) Conference Chairs: Brian Loader, Director The Community Informatics Research & Applications Unit (CIRA), University of Teesside and Professor William Dutton, Director The Oxford Internet Institute Sponsors include: The Community Informatics Research & Applications Unit (CIRA) and The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) Networks using information and communication technologies (ICTs), such as the Internet, digital media, and mobile communication, have become part of the essential infrastructure of many societies. But do these new networks, and their associated institutional and social processes enable a fundamental transformation of our lives and interaction, or do they reinforce existing societal patterns in a new technological guise? What social and institutional factors constrain or enable the transformational potential of technical change? Are patterns of stability and change similar across different social and institutional settings, ranging from household to government? This symposium seeks to take forward this debate by critically analysing key issues emerging from new inter-relationships between information, communication, and society. It aims to: * examine the robustness of claims about the transformative effects and potential of the Internet and related wired and mobile ICTs; * identify and discuss the methodologies that could be used to explore such claims; * assess the current state of empirical research and highlight important gaps for future research; and * provide an international forum for the exchange of ideas, data, and analysis, including a space for exploring emerging frameworks and perspectives applicable to social research about the Internet. Symposium Tracks This will be a multi-disciplinary research symposium. Original papers are sought from researchers in all subject areas of the iCS journal. However, papers are encouraged that address one or more of the five broad tracks around which the symposium will be organised: governance; the household, community, and workplace; learning and education; science and networks; and issues of policy and regulation that cut across all these social settings. Examples are given on the attached page of the sorts of questions which papers might address, but this is a guide only, and should not limit the range of issues considered for submission. A final session will debate the value of competing and complementary overall perspectives and theoretical frameworks that could be helpful in Internet social research studies. Submission of papers Proposals for papers should be submitted as abstracts of no more than 500 words, and should include details of the proposer's name, position, affiliation, and contact details. Proposals should be submitted electronically to b.d.loader(a)tees.ac.uk in RTF, Word or PDF format. Papers accepted for presentation at the research symposium will be eligible for review for publication by iCS, should the author(s) wish to have an expedited review. Deadline for abstracts: 31st January 2003 Authors of accepted papers notified by: 1st March 2003 The Venue A limited number of rooms have been reserved by Balliol College for symposium participants at a very reasonable rate, which includes breakfast at the College Hall. Sessions will be held at Balliol College on Broad Street, adjacent to the Oxford Internet Institute at 1, St Giles. The venue is ideal for supporting communication among the participants, but will limit the number to about 50, including those giving papers. Thematic Tracks for the Information, Communication, Society Symposium Governance * What evidence is there that the Internet and other ICTs have created new forms of democratic participation or increased centralisation? * Have the technologies been tied to any discernible changes in the relationship between government and citizen at local, national, and global levels? How can we assess this? * What have the results been of e-Government initiatives in terms of 'joined-up government', public accountability and the electronic delivery of public services? * Is the Internet encouraging new forms of civic or political activism? Learning and Education * How has increased ICT use in all levels of education affected teaching methods and resources, and relationships between educational institutions and their communities? * What are the implications of online distributed and distance learning ICT capabilities for the geography, culture, and practices of schools and universities? * To what extent do ICTs such as the Internet provide a resource for self-education? * Are ICTs reducing or exacerbating the under-achievement of certain groups? Household, Community, and the Workplace * How do habits of usage for specific new ICTs differ across different social groups and in different social settings? What knowledge and skills are needed to participate actively in an 'e-society'? * Are new social and geographical patterns of communication and association emerging from the growing use of ICTs, for instance in dispersed virtual communities? Do such changes strengthen or undermine geographical community and family relationships? * How are the Internet and other ICT networks reshaping the location and nature of workplaces, who does the work, and when they do it? * In what ways, if any, are ICTs transforming leisure patterns? Science and Networks * How are ICTs reshaping the ways scientists and other researchers work, or the projects that they can undertake? * What social, institutional, and technical features are likely to increase or constrain the effectiveness of networks such as the e-Science Grid? * What main administrative and policy issues are raised by Internet-based research, for instance ethical aspects of the rights of participants in social science research? * How are developments in ICTs changing the funding context for scientific and other research, and for the way results are disseminated? Cross-Cutting Policy Issues * What resources are needed to address effectively equity, community cohesion, and other areas of social policy? Who in the 'digital divide' are excluded, why, what should be done about it, and what policies and resources are needed to do it? * How do existing methods of content regulation affect usage of the Internet? * What aspects of legislation need to be revised in the light of new ICT capabilities, such as privacy, surveillance, data sharing, and intellectual property rights (IPR)/digital rights management (DRM)? * How can trust and confidence in ICT networks be developed and sustained? * How does standards-setting influence outcomes of ICT use? Brian D. Loader Editor, iCS CIRA, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, Tees Valley, TS1 3BA UK Tel: +44 (0) 1642 342710 Fax: +44 (0) 1642 342711 www.infosoc.co.uk b.d.loader(a)tees.ac.uk

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