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

Re: weak ties, great good place, & cyberspace
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 21 Nov '02

21 Nov '02

A late response to your request for references on weak ties and cyberspace ... there are a few 'classic' studies of weak ties and email by Feldman, and Constant, Kiesler & Sproull (see references below). Some of the communities of practice literature also addresses weak tie usefulness via CMC (e.g., see Teigland). May I also recommend my own most recent paper in The Information Society on how media can support and connect people with different tiers of tie strength. The paper in New Media and Society also addresses the usefulness of non-strong ties in connectivity among groups of online users. For more on the way "people adopt and adapt to the Internet to maintain their personal communities" see the collected papers in The Internet in Everyday Life, or earlier versions of half the book's contents in the American Behavioral Scientist (which could be available online through your university's subscriptions). /Caroline Caroline Haythornthwaite (haythorn(a)uiuc.edu) Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Refs: Haythornthwaite, C. (2002). Strong, weak and latent ties and the impact of new media. The Information Society, 18(5), 385-401. Haythornthwaite, C. (2000). Online personal networks: Size, composition and media use among distance learners. New Media and Society, 2(2), 195-226. Feldman, M. (1987). Electronic mail and weak ties in organizations. Office: Technology and People, 3, 83-101. Constant, D., Kiesler, S.B., & Sproull, L.S. (1996). The kindness of strangers: The usefulness of electronic weak ties for technical advice. Organization Science, 7(2), 119-135. Pickering, J.M. & King, J.L. (1995). Hardwiring weak ties: Interorganizational computer-mediated communication, occupational communities, and organizational change. Organization Science, 6(4), 479-486. Sarbaugh-Thompson, Marjorie & Feldman, Martha (1998). Electronic Mail and Organizational Communication: Does Saying "Hi" Really Matter? Organization Science, 9 (6), 685-698. Teigland, R. (2000). Communities of practice at an Internet firm: Netovation vs. on-time performance. In E.L. Lesser, M.A. Fontaine & J.A. Slusher (Eds.). Knowledge and Communities. Boston, MA: Butterworth Heinemann. Haythornthwaite, C. & Wellman, B. (Eds.) (2001). The Internet in Everyday Life. Special issue of the American Behavioral Scientist, 45(3), whole issue. Wellman, B. & Haythornthwaite, C. (Eds.) (2002). The Internet in Everyday Life. Oxford, UK: Blackwells Publishers. > > -- __--__-- >Message: 3 >From: "mito akiyoshi" <sgz01570(a)nifty.ne.jp> >To: <air-l(a)aoir.org> >Date: Mon, 11 Nov 2002 17:51:44 -0600 >Organization: The University of Chicago >Subject: [Air-l] weak ties, great good place, & cyberspace >Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > >Hi everyone, > >Does somebody know of publications that apply the notions of weak ties >(Granovetter) and/or third place (Oldenburg) to understand ephemeral yet >meaningful ties created in and around cyberspace? I began using these concepts >to make sense of forms of sociality observed in communities (both "virtual" >and offline) I am studying. I read a few papers that make reference to these >concepts, But I do not know anything really good. Other than suggestions for >readings, I appreciate your thoughts on this matter as well. > >Whoami> I am a doctoral student of sociology. I am working on a dissertation >about uses of the Internet in Japan, I am particularly interested in the ways >in which everyday people adopt and adapt to the Internet to maintain their >personal communities. > >Thank you in advance, > >Mito Akiyoshi >Department of Sociology >The University of Chicago

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Re: archived sites
by Alexandra Samuel 21 Nov '02

21 Nov '02

Sadly, the wayback machine (at archive.org) is quite selective in what it archives, and doesn't include any of the site I require. In general it seems to be more useful for preserving a taste of a site than for archiving the entire thing. I've been looking for other similar sites but I think it's unique. Thanks for the suggestion. -- Alexandra Samuel samuel(a)fas.harvard.edu http://www.alexandrasamuel.com > ----- Original Message -----=20 > From: Brenda Danet=20 > To: air-l(a)aoir.org=20 > Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 11:32 AM > Subject: [Air-l] Re: archived sites (for Alexandra Samuel) > > > Sites no longer on the Web may be archived at > > http://www.archive.org/. An excellent service, though I'm not sure how = > it would handle an archive of listserv postings, or how easy or = > difficult it would be to make a copy. Have you tried it? > > Brenda Danet=20 >

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Re: archived sites
by Alexandra Samuel 21 Nov '02

21 Nov '02

Sadly, the wayback machine (at archive.org) is quite selective in what it archives, and doesn't include any of the site I require. In general it seems to be more useful for preserving a taste of a site than for archiving the entire thing. I've been looking for other similar sites but I think it's unique. Thanks for the suggestion. -- Alexandra Samuel samuel(a)fas.harvard.edu http://www.alexandrasamuel.com > ----- Original Message -----=20 > From: Brenda Danet=20 > To: air-l(a)aoir.org=20 > Sent: Wednesday, November 20, 2002 11:32 AM > Subject: [Air-l] Re: archived sites (for Alexandra Samuel) > > > Sites no longer on the Web may be archived at > > http://www.archive.org/. An excellent service, though I'm not sure how = > it would handle an archive of listserv postings, or how easy or = > difficult it would be to make a copy. Have you tried it? > > Brenda Danet=20 >

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DiGRA Conference: 2nd Call for Hosts
by Jason Rutter 21 Nov '02

21 Nov '02

DiGRA Call for Conference Hosts: Inaugural Digital Games Research Conference 2003 The newly formed Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) has as a central goal the support of an annual conference on digital gaming to take place at a different venue each year. This document is a call for proposals for a committee and location to host the association's inaugural conference in 2003. The selection process will be undertaken in two stages. First a preliminary proposal (no more that 4 pages) must be submitted to conference(a)digra.org by December 1, 2002. This need not include the full list of details as asked below, but provide an overview of the planned event and conditions for its realization. Based on review of these confidential outlines, DiGRA will invite full proposals from chosen institutions. The DiGRA Executive Board will make the selection and announce the host for the first international DiGRA Conference early in 2003. Guidelines for Conference Proposals Institutions wishing to nominate themselves are recommended to consider the following aims of DiGRA when putting their proposal together and highlight how the event they would organise would achieve those: * To support digital games research as an interdisciplinary field * To encourage dialogue between researchers, practitioners, commercial organisations and policy makers * To support digital gaming students and curriculum development * To disseminate work produced by the association's community DiGRA is keen to receive proposals which tackle these issues in an innovative manner and build upon standard conference practice. As DiGRA is currently in the process of establishing its formal organisation and finalising its agenda (the organisation will be officially launched in 2003), you are invited to occasionally check the organisation website at www.digra.org for updates. You are welcome to address any questions you may have to conference(a)digra.org. There is no compulsory format for conference hosting proposals but is it recommended that they deal with the following: Venue: * Location: Institution, town/city, country. * Background: What is the host city like? Attractions for visitors? Entertainment options? Location for visiting other areas before/after conference? Proximity to local game industries or other relevant sites? * Venue: Description, facilities, access, registration area, lecture theatres, meeting rooms, exhibition space, etc. * Accommodation: Description, university/hotel, location in relation to conference venue, facilities, etc. Conference: * Programme structure * Overview of themes * Draft Call for Papers * Type of abstracts requested and review process * Potential keynote/plenary speakers * Special & Social events: What? When? Where? Are they particularly digital gaming relevant or locally typical? * Delegate packs: Contents. Are Conference Proceedings planned? How will that be financed and published? What format will they take? Travel: * Distance from international airport/s? * Access by bus, cab, coach, train, etc * Travel between conference venue and accommodation * Indicative travel costs from a range of major cities Costs & Finance (in Euro and/or US$): * Conference registration: Full & Day rates, student rates, DiGRA member rates * Accommodation: Per person, room share scheme? * Meals/Conference Dinner * How will booking be handled? Organisation: * Conference committee: Details of organisers, responsibilities, administrative support, etc. Status of their DiGRA membership or office. Short research biographies. * Institutional support: Level and nature of department/institution involvement and funding * Additional support: Details of finance, facilities, sponsorship or other involvement from additional organisations * Dates: Proposed conference dates, deadline for abstracts, etc. (It is strongly recommended that proposers avoid dates conflicting with events such as E3, GDC, GDCe, ECTS, SIGGRAPH, CHI, etc) Previous scholarly conferences (Manchester, Tampere) from which DiGRA has developed have attracted up to 200 international participants. Since the DiGRA conference will have world-wide attention and wider interdisciplinary and collaborative character, the potential attendance may be higher and as such a conference duration of 2-3 days would seem appropriate. It is recommended that proposers produce a simple business plan to gain a better insight in to incoming and outgoing monies for the conference depending on different levels of attendance and financial support. Issues such as how any loss will be accounted for should be dealt with, as DiGRA cannot currently offer any financial guarantee. Procedures should be in place so that in the event that the conference makes a profit DiGRA will receive 10% of this. The association will use this towards developing funds to support conference costs for students or researchers coming from economically unstable countries. Completed proposals or general enquires about the conference hosting call should be directed to DiGRA working group at address conference(a)digra.org. Deadline for preliminary proposals is December 1, 2002. Finally, if you haven't organised an international conference before do not underestimate the time and resources it consumes. Think carefully about your organisation network and distribution of labour as well as contingency plans for if your people or funding arrangements change. About DiGRA Digital Games Research Association (DiGRA) is a non-profit, international association of academics and practitioners whose work focuses on digital games and associated activities. Focus technologies of the association include (but are not restricted to) existing types of computer and video games, online games, arcade games, games on handheld and mobile devices and games delivered through digital television or other forms of interactive technologies. The association aims to encourage high-level digital games relevant research and to promote the dissemination of work by its members through research, development, commercial, practitioner and policy communities, networks and organisations. More details can be found at www.digra.org -- 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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research on digital image & sound
by parrishka 21 Nov '02

21 Nov '02

I'm compiling a database of Canadian researchers in Computing Humanities. While I've been able to find many people researching text and textuality in digital media, I have had difficulty tracking down Humanities researchers in image and/or sound and digital technology. If anyone has any names of people or projects that might fit this designation, would you kindly backchannel me some information? names, websites, affiliation, contact info, publications? I'll take what you give me and sleuth out the rest. any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks Katherine Parrish OISE/University of Toronto

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10.3 million for e-health research
by Monica.Murero＠MERIT.unimaas.nl 20 Nov '02

20 Nov '02

Dear colleagues, dear friends, how are you doing? Some good money for research... cheers! Monica Murero The new Health e-Technologies Initiative of The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation offers $10.3 million in grants for research that evaluates whether eHealth services actually help. Specifically, the foundation wants to know whether *interactive electronic communication* of health information improves US residents' health-related behavior or their ability to cope if they have chronic diseases. The $10.3 million will be awarded in two cycles, with a total of $7.25 million as a result of this 2002 Call for Proposals and the remainder after a follow-up invitation to apply in 2003. First-round funds will be awarded in two categories: 1. Short-term, 6- to 12-month grants of up to $100,000 to help address methodology and design challenges related to the scientific evaluation of eHealth applications 2. Longer-term grants for up to 3 years and as much as $600,000 to evaluate applications designed to produce or maintain health-related behavior change or to enhance patient self-management of chronic disease The deadline for letters of intent is January 8, 2003. See details on TheRobert Wood Johnson Foundation site. http://www.rwjf.org/applyForGrant/index.jhtml _______________________________________________ Interested in e-health research? Subscribe to the mailing list of the International E-Health Network of Excellence in Research Air-e-health mailing list Air-e-health(a)aoir.org http://aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-e-health

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Re: archived sites (for Alexandra Samuel)
by Brenda Danet 20 Nov '02

20 Nov '02

Sites no longer on the Web may be archived at http://www.archive.org/. An excellent service, though I'm not sure how it would handle an archive of listserv postings, or how easy or difficult it would be to make a copy. Have you tried it? Brenda Danet

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Digitales - feminism and ICT's
by Laurence Claeys 20 Nov '02

20 Nov '02

DIGITALES. http://www.digitales-online.org (in evolution) 4-7 December 2002 Full days (9am - 9pm) of meetings/participation on work, knowledge, skills, experiences, dreams and questioning; this time of technological and feminist activity and continual exchange could give birth to a virtual network. * The place: Interface3, Rue du Méridien 30, 1210 Brussels, and Amazone, Rue du Méridien 10, 1210 Brussels *Contact and info: info@ digitales-online.org Digitales 2002 will continue to reveal, initiate and analyse by exploring women's image, role, place, tools, work and art in new technologies. This event combines professional, reflexive and artistic practices to feed political action. Women and machines have a long common history. Women created machines, named them or were named after them : computers, the Spinning, perforatrices (punch card operators), etc The machines were adapted to women and vice versa, women appropriated the machines and sometimes identified themselves to them. However; this common history has been largely overlooked. Digitales tries to discover this history with those who lived through it and with sociologists and historians, in order to understand the present better and to imagine the future. Where is the body biological, gendered, foreign in technology and raising the issue of racial discrimination in new technologies sector. What is it that the machine and machine-woman images have ignored and still deny: our female body, our skin, its colour? Digitales is inviting local and international artists, theoreticians and technicians who are reintroducing the idea and images of the body, skin and origins into machines and technologies which have often been thought as virtual or abstract. Sociologists and historians will also be invited to take us back to the reality and the images of work and labour in the past for a better understanding of these things today. What kind of machine behaviour do employers, trainers and vocational training organisations want us to adopt, integrate and carry forward ? Do they actually foresee the same jobs, motions and gestures in the future workplace ? Employers, women workers, labour researchers and vocational guidance organisations have been invited to speak of their present circumstances and debate about their expectations. What are machines, the tools and the trades for tomorrow's women ? The debate is open with the social partners. We must also introduce the context, the end product, the computer tools used and the data to be processed, by discovering what a database, a research engine, the public domain, the peer-to-peer, a portal, free and free access software and language are. Will our strength come from property rights over the object, the language and the information rather than from sharing, dialogue, information processing and analysis and the network ? Digitales will invite lawyers , artists, economists, programmers, policy makers and civil servants who think about their/our tools, their/our language, their/our production in the context of the public field and cultural heritage. How can we influence the rules of the game? Would changing the "operating system", tools, software, having access to source codes of technology, be a means of interaction between work, product and workers and users ? Digitales keeps "traces" of the days of meeting, discussion, workshops and lectures, organising the records and their distribution, creating its own audio and visual archiving spaces and tools. A radio web will be installed by the Interface 3 trainees in collaboration with members of Brussels free radio stations and with links to web radios run by women in vocational training and integration centres in Europe. It will also be an opportunity to have access to Digitales 2001 traces. Digitales also provides an opportunity for inter-generation and inter-training meetings: it makes room for neighbouring schools and the children and mothers of women in work placement and training schemes. *Partners Four organising associations, three in Brussels and one in Antwerp - Interface3 asbl: a centre and a team for vocational training and integration of women in new technologies http://www.interface3.be - Sophia: a coordination network for feminist/gender studies http://www.sophia.be - Constant vzw: an organisation linking artistic and theoretical thinking on the Internet and digital communication http://www.constantvzw.com - The Policy Research Centre on Equal Opportunities: a consortium of the University of Antwerp (UA) and the University Centre of Limburg (LUC). The Centre occupies an intermediary position between a research institute, public administration and civil society. http://www.steunpuntgelijkekansen.be *Objectives Finding a common language to provoke thoughts and to work out a practice which will stimulate women's action in contemporary society and bring awareness of the concept of gender to the debates on new technologies through: - technological and creative initiation - understanding of the work tool - the critical analysis of new technologies - the discovery and the construction of new images and interactions - constructing history, means of transmitting experience Bringing together those who: - have or want to use technologies to earn their living and to provide for the needs of a family - have professional and technical skills on the cutting edge of information and communication technology and alternative systems - undertake university research in various disciplines and in various countries, - create their artistic work by using 'traditional' or 'new' media (film, video, Internet, digital support) - are interested by feminist thought on contemporary society. The Digitales project is part of the ADA Belgian network which aims to create an exchange, thought and action network on the subject of women and NTICs. Led by Interface3asbl in partnership with women's training organisations in computer information technology, @ron, ATEL, Sofft, NFTE, this project is supporte by the Belgian ministry of Labour and Employment and the ESF, and involves a wider collaboration with companies, guidance centres, schools, etc. ***Contents *Workshops -Cybermilk - Linux Install Party en Opensource koffieklets, Garrels Machtelt, - Mongrel Linker Workshop Jarman mervin, Lewis Marlene - Présentation mode d'emploi : Dress for Success Massu Isabelle, Pierrot Peggy, - Filmer les Digitales (Vidéo), Rabadan Inès avec l'aide de/met de steun van Marie Vermeiren, Ella Elesse - WebRadio (pré-Digitales avec/met De Jaeger Pierre, Malevé Nicolas, Van Wynsberghe Wendy) - Server Debian (pré-Digitales avec Brodesser Jens-Ingo) *Forums/Tools - Les corps rêvés des femmes-machines - Memento cinématographique Andrin Muriel - Women's strategies - ICTs and communicating as a political project Björk Malin, Bracke Sarah - Beyond the Headlines: How do Web-based Alternatives Challenge Corporate News? Boler Megan - Gender en ICT: De digitale kloof in Vlaanderen, Broos Agnetha - Verscheidenheid in websites: toegankelijkheid, personalisering en gender, Claeys Laurence - Histoire de l¹informatique: Genres de machines, 1. La machine à écrire, 2. La naissance de l¹ordinateur, 3. La Place des Femmes, Collet Isabelle, Ingarao Maud - There's always more than one route to Rome or there's more than one way to skin a cat....., De Geuzen - AS/400 Operations Teamleader, Demeulenaere Fabienne - Stéréotypes,discrimination, norme masculine : théorie et pratique, Dumont Elisabeth - Les nouvelles technologies, Internet et le droit, Dusollier Séverine - Engager les techniques dans la pensée de la domination, Gardey Delphine - Presentatie van het STIVA-project, Geets Sara, - a href=½vifu:/" EUDORA="AUTOURL"http://www.vifu.de½>vifu: some strategies in undermining the gendered digital divide </a>, Guerses Seda - Comment Amnesty international utilise la technologie et l¹adapte aux droits des femmes? Guillitte Françoise, Rifflart Vincent - Stereotypen, discriminatie en mannelijkheid als norm: theorie en praktijk, Haesendonck Ilse, Klooster Marlies - Je m'appelle Mouchette - Verschillende (migranten)vrouwenorganisaties aan en in ICT Kotkamp Erna, Pierik Charlot - What do cyberfeminists Eat? And more importantly, what operating system do they use?, Mac Carty Diana - Organisation du travail dans le secteur des nouvelles technologies, Martin Jacqueline avec la visie/met de film van D'Hallivillée Christophe, 300 appels par jour - Discrimination raciale à l'embauche (sous réserve-o.v), Patel Jyostma, - Etat des lieux de l'utilisation de linux et des logiciels libres dans le secteur, Schneider Oliver non marchand, l'administration publique et les sociétés commerciales - Votre pc vu de l¹intérieur, Section Help desk - IF3 - Time to Hack, Sollfrank Cornelia - L¹informatique va-t-elle continuer à faire mauvais genre?, Valenduc Gérard - Werk in uitvoering: genderaspecten van de carrièreopbouw in de ICT-sector, Valgaeren Elke - ZORRA Media Meldpunt, Van Hellemont Corine - How can Free Software promote personal freedom and development ?, Vandenabeele Peter - L'usage du CD Rom dans la formation en milieu bancaire, Woussen Cathy *Lectures - Hostages to Hospitality: The Case of Undercurrents, Aristarkhova Irina, - Globalization and women's networks, Fernandez Maria - Foreign bodies-www.mongrelx.org, Jarman mervin - Crossing Boundaries, Building Bridges, Oldenziel Ruth - Las Narrativas del trabajo Romani Montse, Ruido Maria, Villaplana Virginia - Using¹ applications in office work: Stories about gender-technology relations, Stepulevage Linda -Le genre ignoré de la santé au travail, Vogel Laurent ------------- 4/12 " De informatiedag rond de Electronica en ADA projecten " 14u00 Voorstelling van het Electronica-project 15u15 Voorstelling van het ADA- en Digitales-project 16u15 Debat 17h00 Toespraak van de Europese Commissie, Eenheid ³Kennismaatschappij² 17u30 Toespraak van de Vice-Eerste Minister, Minister van Werkgelegenheid, belast met het Gelijke Kansenbeleid Laurette Onkelinx 4/12 " Journée d¹information des projets Electronica et ADA " 14h00 Présentation du projet Electronica 15h15 Présentation des projets ADA et Digitales 16h15 Débat 17h00 Intervention de la Commission européenne, Unité ³Société de la Connaissance² 17h30 Allocution de la Vice-Première Ministre, Ministre de l¹Emploi chargée de la Politique d¹égalité des chances, Laurette Onkelinx

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minutes of Maastricht general meeting
by Ulla Bunz 20 Nov '02

20 Nov '02

Association of Internet Researchers 3rd Annual Conference, Maastricht, The Netherlands, October 13-16, 2002 Minutes of the General Meeting (October 15, 2002): Attendance: All members of the executive committee, ca. 60 members The meeting convened at 5:30 pm. 1. Welcome by Steve Jones (President) 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2. a) President, Steve Jones - Steve clarified that the papers of the conference will be available online almost immediately after the conference. This has been delayed due to permission issues. AoIR will institute a "permission to put online" (or not) clause for future submissions. - President Jones pronounced that "the state of the association is strong!" Within 2 years, we have held 3 conferences, with ever increasing quality, appeal, and support from many sources. Steve expressed his joy and delight. - Steve called for continued interest and involvement from the membership. We have grown because of our incredibly engaged members, but we need more people to volunteer for working committees, listserve participation, etc. etc. to continue our work at an ever increasing level of commitment and quality. 2. b) Vice-President, Nancy Baym - Nancy expressed how impressed she is with our growing interdisciplinarity. She sees many challenges ahead, for example, how to manage the association's growth. Comparing AoIR to her son (born a few short days before the first AoIR conference) she made it clear that we have accomplished amazing deeds. Nancy urged all of us to "tell'em!!!" Spread the word about AoIR, and take an active role in the organization. 2. c) Secretary, Ulla Bunz - Ulla expressed her delight at actively having been part of the organization since the first conference. She said she was stunned by the intellectual stimulation AoIR, once again, provided. She urged members to continue their current conversations and exchanges of ideas on the air-l listserve. 2. d) Treasurer, Benjamin Bates - Ben reported that financially, the association is in good shape. In 2001, we had a balance of slightly above $8000. As the conference in Minneapolis ran a slight profit, we are currently (before final calculations of Maastricht) at a plus of approximately $17000. - With currently about 400 members and 1200 subscribers to the mailing list, our goal is to recruit more list subscribers to become members, and overall keeping our budget low, so that we can strengthen our financial base. 2. e) 1. Open Seat, David Silver - David reminded the members that among his work in the past year was the completion of the "list of listserve" project (with Ulla Bunz, Matt Allen, and Jeremy Hunsinger), a website listing and annotating close to 80 listserves related to the field of Internet Research. David plans to continue his outreach to strengthen the representation of fields of study related to gender, race, sexuality, and social class in AoIR. 2.e) 2. Open Seats, Barry Wellman - Barry agrees with David that we need to broaden the base of AoIR. He sees the need to have inclusive membership, and focus on pertinent issues of research. - In the last weeks, Barry has been an active liaison between the executive committee and the conference planning chairs in Toronto. Please see his report below under 4. AoIR Conference Items. 2.f) 1. Appointed Seats, Matt Allen - Matt has been trying to actively broadcast the message of AoIR to Australian researchers. He believes that AoIR creates a space which welcomes and encourages contributions. AoIR provides the infrastructure for all our activities (i.e., collaborative research), but we need active members to make use of this infrastructure. - As the program chair for the Toronto conference (AoIR 4.0), Matt asked for help and participation in the planning, especially with reviewing. He asked that those interested in helping join air-meet (a "how to" message will be posted to air-l shortly). 2.f) 2. Appointed Seats, Leslie Shade - Leslie, who was program chair in Minneapolis at AoIR 2.0, has been playing an advisory role with the Toronto planning team. She reported on a project by Sandra Braman which tries to initiate comparative Internet research. The project is moving slowly but continuously. People interested should write to Leslie, Sandra, or at least air-l. 2.g) Student Seat, Lisbeth Klastrup - Lisbeth reported that to her personally, the conference was a true turning point, because for the first time she got to meet the other Executive Committee members face-to-face, despite having worked with the committee for an entire year now. - Lisbeth also reported that she initiated a graduate student meeting at AoIR 3.0 in Maastricht that was attended by a number of highly motivated graduate students. The graduate students are planning a number of initiatives. They will share their ideas with air-l at various points. 2.h) 1. Publication Officers, Charlie Breindahl - Charlie has been working on the public part of the AoIR website (http://aoir.org <http://aoir.org/> ). Specifically, he has added a number of resources and book listings. He plans to continue this work, though the breadth and depth of the available material might require a database oriented approach soon. Charlie is also heading the Internet Resources work group, which has not been very active due to sparse participation. He reminded us that our website ought to represent what we, as an organization, are all about, but that it requires the input of many of us to make that happen. He asked for volunteers to join the work group. If you do not wish to join the work group, please email him ideas and suggestions for the website at the very least. - Charlie has also been moderating air-l, not by monitoring messages, but mostly in order to prevent spam. - Charlie reminded us that the website is capable of providing online forums for those of us who wish to work collaboratively and need an online space to do so. 2.h) 2. Publication Officers, Jeremy Hunsinger - Jeremy is mostly responsible for the systems that run AoIR (and the entire exec is immensely grateful for the tremendous job he is doing!). He has been and will have to revise the members website, mostly due to security reasons. - Jeremy is also planning on revising the elections system, based on recommendations made by the Election Working Group. 3. Association Items 3.a) Elections Work Group - Mia Consalvo represented the elections work group and reported that this is an ongoing project. The group has been active and at this point has decided to create a list of questions that candidates will be provided with a list of questions in addition to or instead of the personal blurb they were able to write so far. She asked for help and input with regard to this list of questions (questions may vary depending on office). She also said the group was considering establishing an online forum (asynchronous) where members could ask candidates questions. - Mia reported on several suggestions that the work group is still evaluating. These suggestions include possibly creating a nominating committee, which would help identify individuals who wouldn't self-nominate; possibly limiting people to running for one office; possibly using a preferential voting system (essentially rank ordering and weighing multiple votes per voter). - The election work group has decided not to recommend expanding the executive committee, as functionality might be impeded. Instead, the group is considering recommending an advisory board, but this is still tentative. The elections work group will post a report to air-l closer to the times of elections (elections are in the late spring). 3.b) Ethics Committee - Charles Ess represented the ethics committee and presented the current version of the ethics report to the membership (available at http://www.aoir.org/reports/ethicsfinal.pdf) The report provides questions that researchers can ask themselves to bring forward and resolve ethical concerns of their research. The report does not replace other, existing disciplinary codes or laws. Charles pointed out that in an interdisciplinary and international organization, we have ethical pluralism (there are many different issues, traditions, and theories). Ethics in part depend on context, culture, etc. The ethics committee's report provides no more than a framework, in addition to existing codes. - The ethics report will soon be emailed to air-l for final approval by the membership. 4. Conference Items - Barry Wellman, who has been a liaison with Liss Jeffrey (Toronto conference planning chair) and her group, reported on planning for the conference in 2003. - The conference will take place in Toronto, Canada, October 16-19, 2003. Pre-conference workshops will take place on October 14 and 15. For any information or suggestions for pre-events (of social nature) get in touch with Barry, Liss, or David Mitchell. The conference website for 2003 is http://aoir.org/2003. - Toronto is a multicultural city, and a center for digital arts. We are hoping to involve some digital artists in the conference. The conference itself will take place in a conference hotel, located at the edge of a funky area with lots of cafes, restaurants, and bars. 5. New Business 5.a) Growth, finances and dues of the association - Steve Jones reported that we are currently taking in approximately $12000 per year through dues. However, as our association and conference attendance are growing, we can no longer count on very many university campuses to be able to host our conference. Instead, we must rely on hotels with meeting spaces, and hold conferences in urban areas/large cities with direct access to large (if not international) airports. - Due to these concerns, Steve projects that we will have to increase both the conference registration fees, and the membership dues at some point in the next few years. - Steve asked for feedback on how the membership feels about these increases. He also called for help with suggestions to keep up with costs, yet keep running the organization smoothly and accommodate its growth. - Steve also pointed out that the executive committee needs members' help in order to keep running and expanding the organization. He called for participation in working groups that will be formed increasingly. - Finally, Steve clarified that the next 1-2 years are crucial for the development of the association. We have to figure out our finances to ensure a long term future. We also have to establish means of participation, as AoIR depends heavily on volunteerism. 6. Conference and general member feedback 6.a) Audio taping sessions - A suggestion was made to audio tape all sessions for those who cannot attend them (or the conference). A follow up suggestion recommended web streaming. - A resource committee may be formed soon to investigate our members' resources on this and similar issues. 6.b) Multi-lingual conference - To increase francophone representation at AoIR conferences (and with a special eye on Toronto), the suggestion was made to allow people to present in French. - Nancy Baym pointed out that the conference has no official language, though de facto it is English. Nancy also pointed out that this year, we did review (and accept) submissions of French abstracts. - Clearly, multi-lingual presentations have to be considered in an international conference. At this point, the association cannot afford simultaneous translation, as for example, was done at the International Communication Association in Acapulco (Spanish and English). For Toronto, interpretation/translation might be funded by the Canadian government. The association has applied for a grant and will have to wait for results. - Nancy urged to bring up such questions on air-meet, the forum for conference ideas. 6.c) Association demographics - A question was posed to the executive committee to reveal the statistics and demographics of the association. Specifically, the questioner was interested in an inventory of disciplines. - Though the association keeps records of country association (by current address, not by birth or citizenship), we are not currently keeping an official inventory of disciplines. When signing up for membership, one can state one's affiliation with certain fields or disciplines, and provide keywords, but few people make use of this option. - A call was also made to provide statistics on submission and acceptance rates. 6.d) Conference time management - Critique was voiced about the short time for paper presentations (generally about 12-15 minutes). - The executive committee acknowledged a conflict between allowing as many people as possible to share their ideas in depth, and limiting the conference to three days and an acceptable number of parallel sessions. This problem has been discussed at length and repeatedly by the executive committee. Last year, members asked for more interaction time, so time between panels was increased from 10 to 15 minutes, and an official lunch break was instituted. It is up to the Toronto planning team to decide on the schedule for the next conference. Please join air-meet to participate in the planning. - Also, please consider alternative modes of presentation forms (i.e., pre-conference workshops) or creative presentations. An additional audience comment called for more workshops and pre-conference social events. It is up to the conference attendees to initiate such work shops. To plan social events, contact Liss Jeffrey (ljeffrey(a)mcluhan.org) or David Mitchell. 6.e) Intellectual value of the association to its members - A call was voiced to increase the value of the association to its members. The executive committee supports the call that ongoing projects or projects in planning should be announced on air-l, so there is room for collaboration, or, at the very least, awareness of current work. - Jeremy Hunsinger pointed out that the website offers the technical options of online forums etc. for online collaboration, but that these are basically never used. - Matt Allen volunteered to initiate more communication about the technical possibilities and opportunities AoIR provides. With no further business to attend to, the meeting was adjourned around 7 pm. Compiled and submitted on October 17, 2002, Ulla Bunz (Secretary) ---------------------------------------------------- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication Rutgers University 4 Huntington Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Email: bunz(a)scils.rutgers.edu ----------------------------------------------------

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university of twente's noc destroyed by fire
by jeremy hunsinger 20 Nov '02

20 Nov '02

this is another example of the internet colliding with the real world, this was a fairly significant infrastructure facility for a wide variety of groups beyond ut. http://www.tctubantia.nl/regioportal/TC/0,2622,1650- Voorpagina__1329223_,00.html jeremy hunsinger jhuns(a)vt.edu on the ibook www.cddc.vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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