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

Digital Doomsday
by Lachlan Brown 04 Mar '02

04 Mar '02

---------- Forwarded Message ---------- Date: Sunday, March 03, 2002, 2:57 PM -0500 To: BOOK_ARTS-L(a)LISTSERV.SYR.EDU Subject: Digital Domesday Book lasts 15 years not 1000 Digital Domesday Book lasts 15 years not 1000 Robin McKie and Vanessa Thorpe Sunday March 3, 2002 The Observer It was meant to be a showcase for Britain's electronic prowess - a computer-based, multimedia version of the Domesday Book. But 16 years after it was created, the =A32.5 million BBC Domesday Project has achieved an unexpected and unwelcome status: it is now unreadable. The special computers developed to play the 12in video discs of text, photographs, maps and archive footage of British life are - quite simply - obsolete. As a result, no one can access the reams of project information - equivalent to several sets of encyclopaedias - that were assembled about the state of the nation in 1986. By contrast, the original Domesday Book - an inventory of eleventh-century England compiled in 1086 by Norman monks - is in fine condition in the Public Record Office, Kew, and can be accessed by anyone who can read and has the right credentials. -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup

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Re: synchronous/asynchronous
by Sherri Condon 04 Mar '02

04 Mar '02

I've enjoyed the discussion of synchronicity because our work suggests that it is a powerful factor in the communication strategies that people adopt. The complexities that you all have been describing have led us to define synchronous communication as interaction in which messages are produced with the expectation that they will be processed and responded to immediately vs. asynchronous communication in which it is anticipated that there will be unpredictably long delays between the exchange of messages. A factor that seems to account for many of the differences we observe in these environments is the contiguity of context in synchronous communication, where people can rely on a common ground and can alert each other reasonably quickly if there are any relevant changes in the context. In contrast, asynchronous communication opens up the possibility that massive changes can occur in the context between exchanges, and we have been struck by the fact that many epistolary conventions such as dating letters and indicating the writer's location are also providing contextual features. Even the choice of a salutation is not only reflecting the relation between writer and receiver, but also reassuring that this relation still holds. Of course, there is still much to be said about the differences among communication environments that are all synchronous according to our definition. I thought you folks might enjoy this quotation from an especially perceptive participant in a study (cited below): "the line-by-line nature of MOO communication smoothes out most minor lags in communication that can be a major part of the impression you form of somebody. A MOO friend whom I've known face-to-face for a number of years tends to be very soft-spoken and thoughtful in real life, but on MOO this is invisible; there's no volume control and, given typing speeds, multitasking and other factors, the pauses for thought are buried amidst the delays of the medium. On occasion I've been on conferencing systems (like UNIX "talk") that are character-by-character. There's definitely a different impression in this sort of communication; the lags in your typing are visible and apparent, and if you're a decently fast typist you have no opportunity to reflect on your words before sending them, no opportunity to see them on the screen and reconsider them." Jacobson, David. (1999. Impression Expectations and Offline Experiences in Text-based Virtual Communities. Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, 5 (1). Available: http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol5/issue1/jacobson.html Meanwhile, the poor fellow who started all this discussion still needs some sources, and the problem is that there are so many places to look, but this bibliography of chat studies definitely focuses on a synchronous environment: http://www.chat-bibliography.de/ Finally, people who are interested in a study that compares people solving the same problems in face-to-face, synchronous cmc, and e-mail can write to me or wait until the book comes out: Condon, Sherri and Claude Cech. "Discourse Management in Three Modalities." In Herring, Susan, ed. Computer-Mediated Conversation. Hampton Press. Cheers, Sherri -- Sherri L. Condon, Ph.D. The MITRE Corporation 11493 Sunset Hills Road Reston, Virginia 20190-5214 Phone: 703-883-5522 E-mail: scondon(a)mitre.org

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Re: [Air-l] How do journalists report internet research? (Request for experiences with journalists)
by Joao Vieira da Cunha 04 Mar '02

04 Mar '02

Hi, I have a large set of two paragraph texts saved in separate HTML files that I want to conver to MS Word. Does anyone know a way to do it without having to open the files one by one? Thanks Joao Joao Vieira da Cunha PhD Student / MIT Sloan

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new reviews in cyberculture (march 2002)
by david silver 04 Mar '02

04 Mar '02

air'ers, *** feel free to distribute *** New Book Reviews in Cyberculture Studies (March 2002) This month's reviews highlight the work of two of the most influential thinkers of cyberculture studies: Brenda Danet and Mark Poster. To cover the breadth and depth of Danet's Cyberpl@y: Communicating Online and Poster's What's the Matter with the Internet? we commissioned not one, nor two, but three reviews of each book. The reviews, (found at http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/books/) include: Brenda Danet, Cyberpl@y: Communicating Online. Berg Publishers, 2001, distributed in the USA by NYU Press. Reviewed by: Julie Mactaggart Beth Jeffery Karla Saari Kitalong Response from: Brenda Danet Mark Poster, What's the Matter with the Internet? University of Minnesota Press, 2001. Reviewed by: Kathleen Fitzpatrick Rune Dalgaard Slavka Antonova Response from: Mark Poster Each month, RCCS <http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs> publishes two or three full-length book reviews. The reviews reflect a modest attempt to locate critically various contours of the emerging and interdisciplinary field of cyberculture studies. RCCS's book reviews section now includes full-length reviews of over 120 books on cyberculture, the Internet, and technoculture. If you or your colleagues are interested in reviewing books for RCCS, contact us directly at <dsilver(a)u.washington.edu>. As always, please feel free to forward this message. david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver To SUBSCRIBE to cyberculture-announce, a low volume announcement list for RCCS events and updates, email: listproc(a)u.washington.edu; No subject is needed. In the body, type: subscribe cyberculture-announce

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Fwd: Useful references ...
by Steve Jones 04 Mar '02

04 Mar '02

>* Version 40 of the Scholarly Electronic Publishing > Bibliography is now available. This selective bibliography > presents over 1,500 articles, books, and other printed and > electronic sources that are useful in understanding > scholarly electronic publishing efforts on the Internet. > > HTML: http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.html > > Acrobat: http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.pdf > > Word 97: http://info.lib.uh.edu/sepb/sepb.doc

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Position announcement
by Steve Jones 04 Mar '02

04 Mar '02

POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT New Media and Computer Art Instructor or Assistant Professor Photography and New Media Department Tenure Track Kansas City Art Institute, a national leader in visual arts education, is accepting nominations and applications for a New Media Instructor or Assistant Professor in the college's Photography and New Media Department. This is a tenure track position. The start date will be August 15, 2002. The successful candidate will teach in a strongly innovative program emphasizing interdisciplinary and experimental approaches to art making and teaching. The appointee must have thorough knowledge of basic computer animation and modeling software such as 3DS Max and Cinema 4D, multimedia authoring such as Director and Shockwave, HTML, and a strong general interest in interactive multimedia using multiple platforms such as PC, Mac, and Unix-based workstations. Knowledge of Maya's character animation and visual effects system, and authoring for The Web, CD- and DVD-ROMs is also desirable. With a grounding in history, contemporary art theory and media culture, the successful candidate will also teach New Media Toolbox 1 and 2, the media component of the sophomore year program, Advanced Workshops and other Studio Seminars. The successful candidate must have demonstrated professional achievement, hold the MFA degree (or equivalent) and have college-level teaching experience. Women artists and artists of diverse ethnicity are especially encouraged to consider this opportunity. Kansas City Art Institute is a four-year, independent and accredited college of art and design founded in 1885, and located in the cultural heart of metropolitan Kansas City. The college enrolls nearly 550 undergraduate students drawn from throughout the United States and several other countries. This position is open until filled. However, applications received by December 1 will be assured of being considered for an invitation to meet with KCAI representatives at the College Art Association Annual Conference in Philadelphia in February 2002. Applicants should send: letter of application, curriculum vitae, statement of teaching philosophy, and a list of 3 references we may contact. Also include no more than 20 minutes of own video or other relevant media and self-addressed stamped envelope for return of materials. Finalists will be asked to submit transcripts to complete their application. Mail applications to: Kansas City Art Institute New Media and Computer Art Inst./Asst. Prof. Search c/o Human Resources 4415 Warwick Boulevard Kansas City, MO 64111-1874 Kansas City Art Institute is an Equal Opportunity Employer The Arts in Kansas City Kansas City Art Institute (KCAI), as the oldest cultural institution in Kansas City, anchors the cultural district of Kansas City. In the fall of 1999, KCAI opened the award winning and critically acclaimed H&R Block Artspace, a gallery dedicated to contemporary art and visual arts education. KCAI is located between the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, renowned for its Asian art collection and its 17-acre sculpture garden of twentieth-century masterworks, and The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, which showcases work by emerging and established national and international artists. The Kansas City Art Institute hosts an annual visiting artist series, with recent presentations and workshops by Alfredo Jaar, Jose Bedia, Stanley Whitney, Vito Acconci, and Roger Shimomura, among others. KCAI hosts numerous national art conferences, including the Surface Design Conference 2000 and the National Council for the Education of Ceramic Arts (NCECA) in 1989 and again in 2002. KCAI and its faculty are involved in initiating and developing innovative arts programming in a variety of venues within the region. Select programs in which our faculty are involved include the Electromediascope series at the Nelson-Atkins Museum which showcases the work of experimental, new media productions and Professor Hugh Merrill's community arts project with inner city youth, "Portrait of Self", in conjunction with the Christian Boltanski exhibition at the Kemper Museum. There is both private and public community support for Kansas City artists and arts organizations, including the $200 million expansion of the Nelson-Atkins Museum, the Kansas City Symphony, the State Ballet of Missouri, the Lyric Opera, the Friends of Chamber Music, and the Jazz Hall of Fame, to name a few. In 1998, the Kansas City philanthropic community gave more to their community foundation than any other city in the United States, including New York City. The Greater Kansas City Community Foundation recently secured matching grants, totaling $2 million, from the Lila Wallace Readers Digest Fund and the Muriel McBrien Kauffman Foundation for the creation of the new Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City. With the creation of the One-Percent-for-Art Program in 1991, nearly $2.5 million worth of public art projects have been commissioned to local, national, and international artists such as Deborah Butterfield, R.M. Fischer, Robert Morris, Warren Rosser, Ken Ferguson, Stephen B. Whitacre, and Joel Shapiro. The Crossroads District, located just north of the new $100 million Union Station/Science City redevelopment project, has now emerged as a vital community of commercial galleries showing national and international artists. The Crossroads District is also home to Grand Arts and the Margaret Hall Silva Foundation, which awards grants and exhibitions to contemporary artists, for new projects both regionally and nationally. In addition, the West Bottoms in the old Kansas City stockyards is a thriving area of inexpensive studio/living and alternative gallery spaces. In the case of both art districts, KCAI alumni figure very prominently in their development and ongoing success. In recent years, Kansas City has emerged as a vibrant, nurturing environment for artists who can bring enthusiasm and a history of commitment to the arts and arts education in our community. The Kansas City Art Institute welcomes dedicated artists and scholars to our work. HRO 08/28/2001

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Oxford University Internet Institute
by Lachlan Brown 03 Mar '02

03 Mar '02

OXFORD INTERNET INSTITUTE Visiting Fellows RESEARCH STAFF GRADE IA: £17,451 to £26,229 (with a discretionary range up to £32,215) The University has recently established the Oxford Internet Institute (OII). With initial funding of £15m, this new department in the Social Science Division aims to grow rapidly to become the world's leading independent centre of excellence in academic research on the impact of the Internet on society. The OII also expects to make a significant contribution to the development of public policy towards the Internet. The Oxford Internet Institute invites applications for up to three Visiting Research Fellowships for the academic year 2002/2003, or part thereof. Applications will also be considered for periods starting in the present academic year. These Fellowships are intended to offer persons of outstanding distinction or promise an opportunity to pursue research related to the concerns of the OII. Applications may be in any area related to the work of the OII, but, for the time being, preference will be given to research in one or more of the following areas: public broadband, education and the Net, e-democracy, e-governance (both the governance of the Internet and the governance of other organisations using the new technology), and the evolution of standards. 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, which is located at 1 St Giles, at the very 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 range above (or pro rata for shorter appointments). Applications should include: (a) a letter explaining why you are interested and qualified for one of these positions; (b) a statement, on not more than 2-3 sides of A4, setting out the research you will undertake during the Fellowship; (c) a full curriculum vitae; and (d) the names and of two referees (at least one of whom should be academic). Applicants are requested to arrange for their references to be sent direct to the OII by the closing date. Further information may be obtained from Linda Frankland, Project Co-Ordinator, Oxford Internet Institute, 1 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JS (tel: 01865 287214; e-mail: linda.frankland(a)oii.ox.ac.uk) or from our website: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk. Applications must reach Linda Frankland by midday on Friday 15th March 2002. -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup

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FW: Peer-to-Peer Pump Priming for Progress
by Michael Gurstein 02 Mar '02

02 Mar '02

Killing two e-turkeys with one e-gram... M -----Original Message----- From: cisler [mailto:cisler@pobox.com] Sent: February 27, 2002 12:43 PM Cc: Cisler Subject: Peer-to-Peer Pump Priming for Progress Peer-to-peer Pump Priming for Progress: a business proposition Good day sir/madam/network administrator: Can you be surprised to receive this letter? No, I thought not. Your establishment is well known, and I received your email and contact information from your embassy and the domain registrar. My name is Frances Kellyng, and I was oversight officer for Global Crossing and Enron companies in the area of network services. As you know, both companies have declared bankruptcy, but in November, 2001, before all of the bad news was public, CEO's John Legere and Kenneth Lay, began re-allocating various resources into safe areas, off-shore banks, and storage media away from company properties. I know most of the subsequent publicity concerned the flow of money, yet Lay instructed his lieutenants to charge up more than 2 million NiMH batteries and shipped these to a storage depot in an abandoned salt mine in Kansas. This electricity is still unaccounted for. Were it recovered, it could supply more than one million PDA users with electricity for two days, or personal vibrator owners with hundreds of thousands of hours of pleasure. Secretly, Legere, on the other hand, commandeered two container loads of fiber-optic cable and siphoned off more than 83 terabits which are flowing in a loop but off the Internet backbone of Global Crossing. These semi-trailers are running off of diesel generators in the Nevada desert near Black Rock Desert. Luckily, I have network topology charts for both Enron and Global Crossing, and I have located more than 224 terabits of bandwidth hidden in supposedly dark fiber. For instance, Michael Eisner (CEO of Disney, Inc) has a house in Aspen, Colorado with 24 miles (about 40 km) of fiber, but he just spends two weeks in December at the residence, and so I have been able to store a great deal of bandwidth there for the time being. Lamentably, I know of the problems of Internet access and constrained data flow in places where the market and regulations have not kept up with the demand by citizens and businesses for better connectivity. Even though this bandwidth will benefit your business and other organizations located in countries where connectivity is scarce, your help is essential. Because the bandwidth caches are in such large quantities, I need the assistance of places where there is a shortage. As you know, nature abhors a vacuum, but in this case, nature needs a little push. Sort of a peer-to-peer pump priming to start the flow. The disequillibrium between the bandwidth excess here and the relative void in your network can be negated if you send me 50 Gigabytes of data (no spam please) for every terabit that you can use. While I realize this is a sizable chunk for a country such as yours, the benefits will be substantial. The data can include digitized cultural patrimony, personal data of citizens and companies, GIS and cartographic information, geologic and soil surveys, newspaper data banks, and consumer spending habits for your country. Realistically, the best procedure is to send me your network servers and routers access information, as well as your personal cellular and fixed phone numbers. I will then provide a trace route between your site and one of the banks of bits. Once you have primed the terabit pump with your contribution, your personal terabit transfer will take place. It is best to keep this extremely confidential, and you must act quickly because the topology maps I have may be out-of-date as the company resources are re-deployed or sold. Let us work together to put this bandwidth to good use, Frances Kellyng

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Visiting Inet Research Fellowships at Oxford
by Christian Sandvig 02 Mar '02

02 Mar '02

Dear AIR colleagues, Visiting research fellowships are available for the 2002/03 academic year at the Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford. Sorry for the late post of this -- the deadline is coming up fast (March 15). Full details are here: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/visfell.shtml Quoting from this page, note that preference will be given to research on: public broadband, education and the Net, e-democracy, e-governance (both the governance of the Internet and the governance of other organisations using the new technology), and the evolution of standards. Sincerely, Christian Sandvig ------------------------ Christian Sandvig christian.sandvig(a)csls.oxford.ac.uk http://www.niftyc.org/

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Cross-cultural issues relating to e-learning
by Hans Klein 02 Mar '02

02 Mar '02

Help! I have to speak on a topic I don't know. Does anyone have any introductory references for: "global cross-cultural issues relating to e-learning using the net" Thanks! Hans Klein (Please reply directly to me.)

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