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

(no subject)
by Sandeep Krishnamurthy 30 Dec '02

30 Dec '02

Friends, Some of you may already be aware of this. But, many of you may find this to be interesting and relevant.

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Ebay papers
by Jesper Laursen 30 Dec '02

30 Dec '02

Hi, I am doing a ressearch paper on Ebay's internationalization proces, and came across a message of yours where you write you have done papers on eBay. If it's not too much trouble, could I ask u to e-mail all the papers you have to me, so that I may use them for research? thanks sincerely Jesper Laursen Copenhagen Business School Denmark

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Internet Modes of Experience
by Christopher Helland 28 Dec '02

28 Dec '02

Hi List, In 1998 Annette Markham published "Life Online: Researching Real Experience in Virtual Space." One aspect of her study analyzed how people perceived the Internet as different forms of/or modes of experience. It was viewed as a tool, a place, or a state of being. The study was completed several years ago--before the development of broadband technologies and also the wide spread adoption of "Unlimited Use" always active Internet connections (no more dial up--no more jamming up phone lines, etc.). I am guessing that because of these technological developments more people are perceiving the Internet as a place or a state of being. Have there been any more recent studies along the same lines as Markham? Has the perception of the medium begun to change due to technological developments that have increased accessibility ? Thanks for your help--Happy Holidays, Chris ===== Christopher Helland My Web Space http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~chelland/index.html Doctoral Candidate Centre for the Study of Religion University of Toronto __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? Yahoo! Mail Plus - Powerful. Affordable. Sign up now. http://mailplus.yahoo.com

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2003 the anniversary of the birth of the Internet
by Jay Hauben 27 Dec '02

27 Dec '02

Hi, The early development of tcp/ip began in 1973, and the cutover from the ARPANET protocol NCP to the Internet protocol TCP/IP was in January 1983. Thus the coming new year 2003 marks the 30th anniversary of the beginnings of tcp/ip and the 20th anniversary of the cutover to tcp/ip from NCP on the ARPANET and the split between ARPANET and MILNET in 1983. Indeed 2003 is a time to celebrate as an important anniversary of the birth of the internet. Ronda ronda(a)panix.com P.S. A while ago I wrote a paper about the tcp/ip digest which documents the period of the cutover from NCP to tcp/ip. That paper is online at http://www.ais.org/~ronda/new.papers/tcpdraft.txt I also have a paper about the early development of tcp/ip that is online at http://www.columbia.edu/~rh120/other/birth_internet.txt

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Uncanny Networks: collected interviews by Geert Lovink
by geert lovink 26 Dec '02

26 Dec '02

Uncanny Networks Dialogues with the Virtual Intelligentsia By Geert Lovink Leonardo Book Series/The MIT Press, 2003. For Geert Lovink, interviews are imaginative texts that can help to create global, networked discourses not only among different professions but also among different cultures and social groups. Conducting interviews online, over a period of weeks or months, allows the participants to compose documents of depth and breadth, rather than simply snapshots of timely references. The interviews collected in this book are with artists, critics, and theorists who are intimately involved in building the content, interfaces, and architectures of new media. The topics discussed include digital aesthetics, sound art, navigating deep audio space, European media philosophy, the Internet in Eastern Europe, the mixing of old and new in India, critical media studies in the Asia-Pacific region, Japanese techno tribes, hybrid identities, the storage of social movements, theory of the virtual class, virtual and urban spaces, corporate takeover of the Internet, and the role of cyberspace in the rise of nongovernmental organizations. Interviewees included Norbert Bolz, Paulina Borsook, Luchezar Boyadjiev, Kuan-Hsing Chen, Cãlin Dan, Mike Davis, Mark Dery, Kodwo Eshun, Susan George, Boris Groys, Frank Hartmann, Michael Heim, Dietmar Kamper, Zina Kaye, Tom Keenan, Arthur Kroker, Bruno Latour, Marita Liulia, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Peter Lunenfeld, Lev Manovich, Mongrel, Edi Muka, Jonathan Peizer, Saskia Sassen, Herbert Schiller, Gayatri Spivak, János Sugár, Ravi Sundaram, Toshiya Ueno, Tjebbe van Tijen, McKenzie Wark, Hartmut Winkler, and Slavoj Zizek. To order: http://mitpress2.mit.edu/e-journals/Leonardo/ The MIT Press A Leonardo Book Available: March 2003 ISBN 0-262-12251-0 7 x 9, 392 pp. $27.95/£18.50 (CLOTH)

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16. Stuttgarter Filmwinter - online
by Benjamin Fischer 23 Dec '02

23 Dec '02

English version see below ______________ Liebe FreundInnen des Filmwinters, es ist kurz vor Weihnachten und schon bald steht die 16. Ausgabe des Stuttgarter Filmwinter - Festival for Expanded Media - ins Haus. Ab dem 9. Januar geht es schon mit einigen Warm Up-Veranstaltungen los. Vom 16.-19. Januar 2003 findet dann das Festival im Filmhaus Stuttgart und im Ex-IKEA statt. Aus 1300 Einreichungen in den Bereichen Kurzfilm und -video, Medieninstallationen, CD-ROM und Internet haben die Vorauswahlkommissionen die spannendsten Arbeiten ausgewählt. Im Rahmenprogramm gibt eine Werkschau mit Videos von Erwin Wurm zu sehen. Unter dem Schlagwort "Erdung" haben wir uns mit dem "neuen Heimatgefühl in der Medienkunst" auseinandergesetzt. Gibt es ein Korrektiv auf Mobilisierung, Flexibilisierung und Globalisierung, ohne in das traditionelle Werteschema zurückzufallen, das mit Begriffen wie "Wurzel" oder "Heimat" verknüpft ist? Das Programm "Gegenspieler" beschäftigt sich mit "Machinimas" und subversiven Erzählformen in Computerspielen. Weitere Informationen zu Programm und Gästen, Eintrittspreisen und Veranstaltungsorten findet Ihr auf unserer Website http://www.filmwinter.de Cheers, Wanda +*+*+*+*+* Dear friends of the Stuttgart Filmwinter, just before x-mas, I want to announce the upcoming 16th Stuttgart Filmwinter - Festival for Expanded Media. The event starts with a Warm Up from January 9 on with various exhibitions and programmes. The festival itself takes place from January 16-19 at the Stuttgart Filmhaus and the Ex-IKEA (former IKEA-building).

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Collaborating on a project about information technologies in heterogeneous social groups: a survey
by Gianluca Miscione 21 Dec '02

21 Dec '02

**APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR CROSS-POSTING AND MULTIPLE COPIES** Hi, I'm Gianluca Miscione, PhD student at Trento University, Italy. I'm looking for researchers, teachers, N.G.O, students... interested in information technologies and culturally and socially heterogeneous groups. I would like to create a network to share information and to collaborate on matters related to that argument. The main object of this work are groups characterised by different cultural identities, ethnic or religious belongings, unbalanced economies. I'm interested in studying what is the possible role of media. How they can be used by different social actors, what are the effects. This project is at the beginning, the purposes are to understand more about relations between communication and social groups. Then it is interesting to use consequent hypotesis and theories to realise practical projects. Within this quite large frame, any contribution is welcomed, in particular suggestions about articles, books, web-sites, theories, studies. I hope this co-operaration will grow and stronger relations between universities, N.G.O., people would take place. Feel free to forward this message to whoever you think that could be interested. Thanks for your attention, Yours sincerely, Gianluca Miscione ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ MORE DETAILED PROJECT: INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES AND HETEROGENEOUS SOCIAL GROUPS GENERAL PURPOSES Theoretical purpose of this project is to study social groups organised by formal and informal norms and uses of media in different contexts. Keeping in mind the vital role of cultures in relations, my particular interests are: - what media and strategies of communications fit different social and cultural environments; - what are the relations between communication and social cohesion; - how new media organise and/or fragment groups; - effects on cultures; - ethical and political aspects of these changes. A specific argument I'd like to treat is networks of trust: how trust increases and what reduces it between social actors and groups. Main attention is given to communication mediated relations. The essential research question is "Can reliance be created and supported by media? How?" Particular attention is due to groups whose relations are not forced by external forces and to open and decentralised networks, where trust is more important than in hierarchies. It's useful to consider how social groups that exist on the Internet have solved this problems and what seem to be future possibilities: digital signature and electronic money, in particular. The main object of this research are social groups divided by different cultural identities, ethnic or religious belongings, unbalanced economies. My focus is on how to use media (and new media in particular) where there aren't shared values, norms or an effective power, at least. The objective is to understand how social cohesion is affected by media and find if there is any norm in that. The general objective is to understand what role may have communication where there is no common sense and/or no common law. This knowledge is useful even to improve communication in social groups that only use media to create and maintain social relations. Then it would be interesting to situate mutual effects between communications and social networks in contemporary societies. THEORETICAL ASPECTS The theoretical part of the research is made up of different disciplines, notions and outlooks useful to understand the problem and to guide practical activity; a wide range of theories, studies, concepts are focused on a field of application. Thomas' theorem, anthropological and microsociological theories are useful tools to understand how people image situation they live in. From a sociological point of view, ethnometodolgy, communities of practice and accountability theories are stressed to understand how information technologies and social groups are related, not considering technical development a force external to society. So that, technology evaluation theories could be enriched by perspectives that consider social and cultural changes not only as effects. Wittgenstein and Austin perspective help to maintain a pragmatic view on the subject and to consider communication in general -not only languages- as a practical skill, not as a formal structure. A theoretical and practical analysis could exploit relational and informational aspects of communication, necessary to create common outlook and social cohesion. Sense-making could be stimulated even with not-alphabetical languages, it depends on chosen situations. It is important to focus on social environments, the contexts in which communication is possible. Because of variety of cases, I don't think it's possible to create a general model applicable everywhere. More suitable would be to prepare a methodology that could help in different situations. How do persons become a group, give similar meanings to situations, share objectives? How to give coherence and unity to environment in which they act? How do other people's actions become understandable/foreseeable? Can new media support strong social groups that don't lie on offline organisations? These are questions I hope to answer and that may lead to a kind of social ergonomics. Cases related to media and e-government present interesting issues about adapting global technology to local requirements, applications and adaptations to local circumstances, where proximity and remoteness are cultural rather than geographical. Open questions are: - if communities of practice are self-referential cultural systems which prevent their members from comparing their implicit beliefs, can intentional evolution take place? - as there is discontinuity among different practices, is it necessary to go beyond this way of organisation in order to obtain bigger groups? - what is the relation between practices and meanings actors give to things of the world they live in? PRACTICAL ASPECTS The first part is descriptive. I'm looking for at least two cases of study, compare them and analyse how social cohesion is been affected by other social-relevant changes in communication. The second part aims to use knowledge and hypothesis arose from those descriptions to prepare a project. Effects of this activities will help in evaluating theories. Fragmented societies are quite frequent in less developed countries (but cultural variety is remarkable in western societies as Europe or USA), so that it could be a good choice to find cases there. The second step is to consider all the actors involved in chosen social situations (local population, government, civil-society, N.G.O., investors...) and what are their activities and interests. Then is to be noted how they try to direct social situations and what results are achieved. It's important to analyse communities of practice in chosen groups. Special attention is to be addressed to how private, common and public places are used and what social functions are carried out there. As any communication need a common area to be performed, the first grade is letting different groups to find it, not to manage contents. Next steps need to be decided on the basis of feed-back. In planning the practical project, instead of focusing on media, it's better to define beginning and expected social situations. If chosen media are not already present in local mediascape, communication tools design has to be consequent. To fit a particular setting, participatory design is a good manner to let people to develop their own way to use communication. This could prove if personal and free use of media is a way to obtain that social actors believe in mediated relations. On the other hand, it's to be proved if pre-defined systems can be understood or accepted and how they can affect practices and purposes of social groups. Examples of communication to employ can be divided into two types: uses of media to promote cultural interchange and systems that make as impersonal as possible social relations. Local newspapers collaboratively made (and translated in different languages if necessary), production and release of videos or documentaries, shows... are to meet and understand different social groups. Systems that make relationships impersonal are useful when the task is to apply formal rules. Co-ordination of different strategies is fundamental. Can new media facilitate meetings, dialogue, realisation? Practical achievement is the strengthening of information and communication technologies employment in social, cultural and economic development.

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Call for papers - Digital News conference
by Joyce Nip 21 Dec '02

21 Dec '02

Conference in Hong Kong, China Digital News, Social Change and Globalization Organized by Department of Journalism, Hong Kong Baptist University, China, on the university campus, July 10-11, 2003 Call for Papers Academic papers, project papers, and broadcast news items (in English or Chinese) related to online, satellite, television or radio news are solicited on themes including but not restricted to the following: * The past, present, and future of online journalism * Satellite news and globalization * Evolving policies and laws relating to online and broadcast journalism * News values and ethics in global journalism * Alternative digital news and social change * Online and broadcast news coverage Paper abstracts and panel proposals must be submitted by March 14, 2003. Authors will be notified of acceptance by April 4. Full papers will have to be submitted by June 27. The conference also invites submission of full papers for blind review. Full papers for review must be received by April 4. Authors will be notified of acceptance by May 2. Authors of news items -- including broadcast news reports, features, or documentaries -- are invited to submit item descriptions by April 4. Publication of Papers The Information Society journal has agreed in principle to publish selected papers of this conference in a special issue. We are also exploring the possibility of publishing other selected papers in a refereed book volume. Sponsorship Financial support is available from Oxfam Hong Kong to sponsor participants from developing countries. For details visit the web site: http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/~jour -- Joyce Nip, Ph.D. Conference Chair Department of Journalism Hong Kong Baptist University Kowloon Tong Hong Kong T: (852) 3411 7834 F: (852) 2336 1691 Email: joycenip(a)hkbu.edu.hk

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Air-l digest, Vol 1 #580 - 9 msgs
by caidi＠fis.utoronto.ca 19 Dec '02

19 Dec '02

I will not be reading my mail until Dec 30. Your mail will be read when I return. Thank you. Nadia Caidi

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RE: [Air-l] What is Instant Messaging
by Anderson, Ben 19 Dec '02

19 Dec '02

Jeremy's points are strong on two counts: 1. My understanding is that you can't patent interfaces - they are 'designs' (ref the Apple/Microsoft/Xerox 'desktop' debacle). You can patent the 'function' and the 'architecture' but the way you present that function to the user is a 'design'. (I may be wrong on this - corrections welcomed) 2. If the patent has been awarded exactly as: IM=(online awareness + buddy list + over TCP/IP protocal + messaging) then there does indeed seem to be prior art although I agree that those apps 'presented' the functionality to the user rather differently. I suspect the patent won't stand up but i am no patent lawyer. Thankfully. Ben -- Dr Ben Anderson www.essex.ac.uk/chimera +44 (0) 7710 187 806

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