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

ethics question in researching the internet
by bakera＠ohiou.edu 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

In regard to the case of an online hate group discussed, I have a general question: When is an online group "public"? Would a group with no special registration requirement qualify? Would a group where any identifyer can serve as a userid fit, or one that doesn't check email addresses? In any or all of the cases which might be "public", is it okay to research them without (a) announcing the intent, and (b) without seeking permission of all of the members? Are archives of public communities exempt from consent, a question already raised? I have read the latest draft of the AOIR guidelines and still seek input from members on these questions. Thanks. --Andrea Baker Ohio University

1 0

RE: [Air-l] Science News Online: The Social Net
by Joe Walther 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

Interesting discussion about research ethics, and I appreciate Jim Hudson's perspective from the IRB point of view. My interpretation of the Code of Federal Regulations (see http://ohrp.osophs.dhhs.gov/humansubjects/guidance/45cfr46.htm) differs from Jim's somewhat, but it does still not allow for deceptive interviewing. The difference of opinion pertains to the use of existing records, which some subscribers have suggested as an alternative interviewing. Jim suggests that existing records are fair game "IF" contributors to those records remain anonymous. Not quite, as I see it--it's an OR not an IF: Exempt from IRB oversight because it is not human subjects research is... "(4) Research involving the collection or study of existing data, documents, records, pathological specimens, or diagnostic specimens, if these sources are publicly available or if the information is recorded by the investigator in such a manner that subjects cannot be identified, directly or through identifiers linked to the subjects." Public availability makes such records fair game. Moreover, the analysis of these documents, with authors' identities intact, does not necessarily constitute information that is recorded BY THE INVESTIGATOR in such a manner. So it is not human subjects research, as long as the investigator keeps his or her virtual mouth shut. No consent is needed. As soon as one interacts with a poster, that is human subjects research. And that is a different story. A lot of people do not like this. This is not an ethics claim, but an interpretation of Code. Copyright issues: Academics have some fair use provisions. See David Jacobson (1999). Doing research in cyberspace. Field Methods, 11, 127-145. Better still: don't quote at length and this is not an issue. How do ethnographers deal with this when the Internet has nothing to do with it? (Seriously asking.) --Joe Walther

2 1

Fwd: Research Scientist or PostDoc Position at UNCC
by Steve Jones 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

>Research Scientist or PostDoc Position at UNCC > >Duties include design, development, and maintenance of software to >support both basic research and application building in the areas of >virtual environments, multimedia, and 3D human computer interaction >techniques; supervision of research groups made up of undergraduate >students, graduate students, and visiting researchers from multiple >disciplines; and ability to write both formal research reports, and >government and industrial grant proposals. Position requires Ph.D. in >Computer Science or related field, or MS in Computer Science or related >field with experience in virtual reality, computer graphics, HCI or >multimedia. > >To apply, email your resume and names and contact information of three >references to >lfhodges(a)uncc.edu .

1 0

Interactive New Media: 2-D Animation with Flash for the Web
by thom 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

indiana university Department of Telecommunications, the Mime Program Web July 8-12 This workshop provides an introduction to Flash animation for interactive design on the web including basic animation techniques: keyframing, tweens, lisync, digital onionSkinning and actionScripting. No special technical skills are needed other than the ability to use a computer. We will start out with Photoshop, Illustrator and sound editing and quickly move to Flash. The techniques you will learn can be applied to any project from pure education to pure entertainment and everything in between. The real "prerequisite" is the ability to be creative in art, music and/or storytelling. Technology is easy, art is not. You will be drawing so be prepared to regress back to a very playful time when you were naturally silly and naturally inquisitive. There will also be side excursions into 3D design with Cinema 4D. Shockwave 3D and director 8.5 Along with technical learning we will be developing a design document and prototype for a significant educational/entertainment project of your choice. Some very silly projects by my MIME students who will be assisting in the class: www.parkingshark.com Game developed for CarTalk, the radio show www.killerkontent.com/ Alex Schaeffert at Universal Studios www.marzil.com/kidgov/ Children's online civics game www.girlsong.com/ Online interactive poetry www.zonecomics.com/ Reality based animation project Mime students with these sorts of skills work at high levels at companies such as Universal Studios, Sony Online, Lucas Arts, ATT and more. Witgenstein said: If no one did anything silly nothing intelligent would ever get done. Prepare to be silly! This class is available for credit also. If you have questions about this workshop, contact Professor Thom Gillespie at thom(a)indiana.edu or 812-855-3254 If you have questions about registration or logistics email Sandy Reynolds at sreynold(a)indiana.edu or call 812/855-7801.

1 0

Re: Air-l digest, Vol 1 #405 - List and other languages
by Michel J. Menou 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

Hi Wednesday, June 05, 2002, 6:01:03 PM, Jeremy wrote: snip alrao> you do have a choice though in the list software as to whether you want alrao> to receive the list content encoded or not and if not you will have alrao> problems with international languages:( it is though a user choice. Glad to hear that. How does one go to request the list content encoded? I don't remind this as a standard listserv command. Thanks for your guidance. Michel

1 0

FWD: [Sigiii-l] REMINDER -- International paper contest, ASIST
by braman 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

>===== Original Message From Hong Xu <hxu(a)mail.sis.pitt.edu> ===== Dear Colleagues: Please circulate this announcement to any professional contacts in your country such as library associations, libraries and universities with courses in Information Science and Technology. The topic is: International Digital Libraries and Information Science & Technology Advances in Developing Countries The submission deadline is 31JULY 2002. Only papers by a principal author who is a citizen of, and resides in a developing country are eligible. The papers should be original, unpublished, preferably in English, but submissions in French or Spanish will be accepted. We encourage submissions from librarians, information and network specialists, and educators involved in the creation, representation, maintenance, exchange, discovery, delivery, and use of digital information. The prize for each winner is a two-year individual membership in ASIST. In the case of multiple authors, the principal author will be awarded the ASIST membership. Other details attached, or see full announcement posted at the SIG/III web site: http://www.slis.kent.edu/~yinzhang/sigiii/ Regards, Hong Xu Chair, SIG/III, ASIST (Special Interest Group/International Information Issues, American Society for Information Science and Technology ************************************************************************** * Hong Xu, PhD $ Office: 610 IS Building * * Assistant Professor $ Email: hxu(a)mail.sis.pitt.edu * * School of Information Sciences $ URL: http://www.sis.pitt.edu/~hxu * * University of Pittsburgh $ Tel: 412-624-9454 * * 135 N. Bellefield Ave. $ Fax: 412-648-7001 * * Pittsburgh, PA 15260 $ * **************************************************************************

1 0

RE: Evaluating websites
by Jenny 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

There is *A LOT* of material available about evaluating computer systems (including the Web) from the field of Human-Computer Interaction. For example, you might like to take a look at out new book - "Interaction Design: Beyond Human-Computer Interaction, Preece, Rogers, Sharp published by John Wiley $ Sons" www.id-book.com One third of this book is about evaluation, of which a fair amount deals specifically with the Web. However, if this is more detailed than you want then follow-up on some of the references which will lead you to all the main texts, papers and websites that deal with this topic. Jenny Preece

1 0

Re: This list and other languages...
by Guillaume Latzko-Toth 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

Thank you all for your kind answers. Apparently, for most people there was no problem. Some of you did receive the bad characters though, and I am sorry for this. Muchas gracias to Michel J. Menou for having "transcribed" the text for a hispanic list. I have to point out that I am reading the list in "digest" version; maybe that doesn't help. It is full of "=20" instead of mere line breaks. Jeremy, my client (Eudora) is set to MIME encoding by default; could this pb be related to Unicode incompatibility? Well, I will *avoid* diacritics next time ;-) Guillaume Latzko-Toth PhD Student in Communication Studies Universite du Quebec a Montreal / Universite Paris II Pantheon-Assas webmestre(a)commposite.org / http://commposite.org

2 1

RE: [Air-l] Science News Online: The Social Net
by Frank Schaap 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

-----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: Dr. Laura J. Little [mailto:littlea@marietta.edu] Verzonden: wo 5-6-2002 22:25 Aan: air-l(a)aoir.org CC: Onderwerp: Re: [Air-l] Science News Online: The Social Net I'll concur with Jenny. From what I understand, existing archives fall under the category of "existing data" and thus are subject to a less stringent overview. From a purely research perspective, these would seem to me to be more genuine, since they were produced spontaneously, and with no leading from the researcher. We try to remain neutral, but often time we do indeed have an interest (whether financial, professional, or personal) in the outcomes of research. It's just the nature of the beast. <snip> What is "existing data" when the moment I send this message, it is automatically archived by the list software and made accessible through a web interface? Is there a sensible time-frame before 'keeping a record' turns into an 'archive' containing 'existing data'? If you take "existing data" and "archive" literally, I can research any 'auto-archiving' online environment (aka online community) as real-time as I can participate in it, just because it keeps archives. Hmm, yeah. Frank.

1 0

evaluating web sites
by Ronald E. Rice 06 Jun '02

06 Jun '02

Also, there are chapters (with references to prior academic web site evaluations) on evaluating health web sites in Rice, R.E. & Katz, J.E. (Eds.) (2001). The Internet and Health Communication. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Rice, R.E. & Atkin, C. (Eds.) (2001). Public Communication Campaigns, 3rd ed. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ============================================================ Ronald E. Rice Professor, Chair of Department of Communication School of Communication, Information & Library Studies Rutgers University 4 Huntington St., New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1071 w: 732-932-7500, ext. 8122; f: 732-932-6916 e: rrice(a)scils.rutgers.edu; http://scils.rutgers.edu/~rrice ============================================================ > From: Joyce.Lamerichs(a)Alg.VLK.WAU.NL > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: [Air-l] Evaluating websites > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > > Dear all, > > An increasing number of students at our department are interested in doing a project in which they want to evaluate the website of a particular organisation. The criteria I want them to look in doing so at are not only strictly technical, but have to take into account communicational aspects as well (e.g. with regard to the information that is presented and how is presented: readable-clear-transparant-trustworthy etc). > So far I have come up with a small number of Dutch references that address these issues; I often refer to Jakob Nielsen's work and a number of Internet references (sometimes rather 'obscure' websites of small companies or individuals) and that is about it.... Does anybody have further reading suggestions on this? > I'll be glad to send the results of my query back to the list! > > Joyce Lamerichs > Communication and Innovation Studies > Wageningen University

1 0