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

Maastricht registration form
by Frank Schaap 30 Aug '02

30 Aug '02

We being internet researchers and all, we've probably all read one article or another about gender-bending on the net, about gender being socially constructed, about the many non-conventional genders that some MUDs offer, etc. I wonder though, 1) the registration form asks for the registrants gender, why? who cares? and 2) the registration form asks you to choose between either male or female, why? who cares? and more importantly, why force the answer? Forcing in 2 ways: making the 'choice' binary and forcing registrants to answer. If you don't fill out the gender, it says: "Error, please go back and fill in your gender." Hey, that's not _my_ error, that's _your_ error for not being able to think outside of the box. I guess Butler was right when she wrote, "[t]he tacit collective agreement to perform, produce, and sustain discrete and polar genders as cultural fictions is obscured by the credibility of its own production. The authors of gender become entranced by their own fictions whereby the construction compels one's belief in its necessity and naturalness." (1990: 273) As a nice exercise I urge you to try to fill out all forms you encounter in the next month or so without stating your gender. It's not easy. So... I registered, but what was the cost apart from the registration fees? Frank. -- Fragments Blog == http://fragment.nl Cyberculture Resources == http://fragment.nl/resources/

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Probing the Great Firewall of China, courtesy of the Berkman Ctr
by Sandra Braman 29 Aug '02

29 Aug '02

>X-Sender: declan(a)mail.well.com >X-Mailer: QUALCOMM Windows Eudora Version 5.1.1 >Date: Thu, 29 Aug 2002 01:15:34 -0400 >To: politech(a)politechbot.com >From: Declan McCullagh <declan(a)well.com> >Subject: FC: Probing the Great Firewall of China, courtesy of the Berkman > Ctr >Sender: owner-politech(a)politechbot.com >Reply-To: declan(a)well.com >X-URL: Politech is at http://www.politechbot.com/ >X-Author: Declan McCullagh is at http://www.mccullagh.org/ >X-News-Site: Cluebot is at http://www.cluebot.com/ > > >--- > >From: "Ben Edelman" <edelman(a)law.harvard.edu> >To: <declan(a)well.com> >Subject: Help Test Internet Filtering in China >Date: Wed, 28 Aug 2002 16:36:32 -0400 > >Declan, > >Professor Jonathan Zittrain and I are studying Internet filtering in >countries worldwide, including restrictions on Web access in China. As in >our prior testing of Saudi Arabia [1], there has been no publicly available >master list of blocked sites. To assemble something approaching such a >list, we have found ways to remotely test "twenty questions" style, asking >about thousands of individual URLs, whether based upon a domain name or an >IP address. > >To help us broaden the number and types of pages tested and to provide the >general public a means of finding out whether particular pages of interest >are filtered, we have created a web page at which users can see whether a >given site is likely accessible from China, and in doing so suggest that we >test that site going forwards. We'll track all requests and retest them >over time, reporting the results in our forthcoming report about Internet >filtering in China. We're eager to see whether such "open source research" >will end up finding a substantial number of blocked sites that, despite our >best efforts, we neglected to think of asking about ourselves. > > >Those who are interested can test sites via > <http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china/test>. > > >Ben Edelman >Berkman Center for Internet & Society >Harvard Law School ><http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/> > > > > >[1] >Documentation of Internet Filtering in Saudi Arabia ><http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/saudiarabia> > > > > >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list >You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. >To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html >This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ >Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ >------------------------------------------------------------------------- >Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ >Recent CNET News.com articles: http://news.search.com/search?q=declan >CNET Radio 9:40 am ET weekdays: http://cnet.com/broadband/0-7227152.html >-------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Thom is going fishing.
by thom 29 Aug '02

29 Aug '02

I have some funding to take the MIME show on the road a bit this fall to potential grad students. I'm particularly interested in visiting some of the interesting liberal arts colleges in the midwest: Oberlin, Grinnell, Dennison, Carleton, Antioch, Earlham, Beloit, etc. MIME is pretty visual but our primary focus is interactive storytelling and computer game design which means art, music, storytelling and creative programming in all sorts of combinations. Our students have no single background and range from Philosophy and Religion to Biology, Math and Physics to art, music, storytelling and computer science. MIMEsters do all sorts of things such as create their own businesses, develop non-profit organizations which deal with newmedia and social justice issues and go on to interactive design at places such as Universal Studios, Sony Online, ATT and most recently Lucas Arts. A side benefit of the visit is a non-threatening show and tell of how interactive media is the heart and soul of a liberal arts education in the 21st century. Non-threatening in that I am only there for a day. For some faculty that is enough. 8-) I'll be showing 'fun' but with game-like projects based in biological science, native American language studies, Dante and mid American history. Friday afternoons will work best for me. Will probably wander, Powerbook in hand, mid September to late October. Any takers? --Thom \\\\//// tHoM gIllEsPiE /ww ww\ Indiana University, Telecommunications Dept 6 (*][*) ? 1229 E 7th St Radio & TV Bldg \ .7 / Bloomington, IN 47405-5501 USA ( --') thom(a)indiana.edu 812-855-3254 (v) WWWW THE MIME PROGRAM: www.mime.indiana.edu / WW \ www.indiana.edu/~slizzard/resume/page.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversation. -Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventure in Wonderland

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Conference Announcement
by Vicki Nash 29 Aug '02

29 Aug '02

The Oxford Internet Institute will hold its launch conference at the Said Business School, Oxford University on the 27th September. The event, 'Casting a Wider Net: Integrating Research and Policy on the Social Impacts of the Net' will feature speakers such as Stephen Timms MP (UK Minister for e-Commerce), Professor Eli Noam (Columbia University), Barbara Simons (Stanford and ex-President of the ACM), Professor Steve Woolgar (Oxford University), Derek Wyatt MP and Ben Verwaayen (CEO BT Group). For further details and registration go to www.oxfordevent.com . For further details of the Oxford Internet Institute, go to www.oii.ox.ac.uk -- Dr Victoria Nash Public Policy Co-ordinator Oxford Internet Institute 1 St Giles, Oxford OX1 3JS 01865 287231

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Carl Couch Internet Research Awards
by Mark D. Johns 28 Aug '02

28 Aug '02

CARL J. COUCH INTERNET RESEARCH AWARDS ANNOUNCED August 28, 2002 The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research is pleased to announce the winners of the first annual Carl J. Couch Internet Research competition for students. Top Paper honors go to Kurt Reymers, a Ph.D. candidate at the University at Buffalo (SUNY), for his submission, "Identity and the Internet: A Symbolic Interactionist Perspective on Computer-Mediated Social Networks." Runner Up is Nick Huber, a graduate student at Minnesota State University -- Mankato, for his paper, "Surfing for Sports." Third Place honors were earned by Andrea Nugent, a student at Goucher College (Maryland), for her paper, "Database as Cultural Form." The top three papers are to be presented at the 2002 International Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) at the University of Maastricht (the Netherlands), International Institute of Infonomics. In addition, the winners will receive Couch Award certificates and cash prizes at Maastricht conference, which takes place October 13-16, 2002. The Couch Award competition is open to students at any level who submit theoretical or empirical papers that (1) apply symbolic interactionist approaches to Internet studies, (2) demonstrate interactive relationships between social interaction and communication technologies as advocated by Couch, (3) develop symbolic interactionist concepts in new directions. The Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Studies (http://www.cccsir.org) is a non-profit organization established to promote scholarship in sociological and communication inquiries. It honors the late Carl J. Couch, founder of the New Iowa school of social theory, and seeks to extend Couch's methods of qualitative laboratory research and Couch's work on information technologies. The Center provides networking opportunities and corroboration information for students and scholars who conduct social and Internet research inspired by Couch's work. By promoting interdisciplinary exchanges, the center seeks to engage the scholars, citizens, and industry partners in social and Internet research. For more information about CCCSIR or the Couch Award, please contact Mark D. Johns, Assistant Professor of Communication/Linguistics, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa 52101. Phone (563) 387-1347, email: johnsmar(a)luther.edu -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Communication/Linguistics, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://faculty.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain

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special issue on Borgmann available online
by Charles Ess 28 Aug '02

28 Aug '02

Colleagues: For those of you interested in philosophy of technology as a framework (one of _many_, of course) for Internet research, you may find the recent special issue of _Techne: Journal of the Society for Philosophy and Technology_ of value: http://scholar.lib.vt.edu/ejournals/SPT/v6n1/ The special issue is devoted to Albert Borgmann's 1999 _Holding on to Reality: : The Nature of Information at the Turn of the Millennium_, which I think of a one of the two or three most important books around on IT from a philosophy of technology perspective. Yes, my essay is included - in which I shamelessly exploit the work of many aoir folk, including Nancy Baym, Jan Fernback, Lisa Nakamura (specifically, her keynote address at aoir 2.0), Malin Sveningsson, and Barry Wellman et al. Borgmann replies to the essays, which makes for a very interesting read indeed. enjoy! Charles Ess Director, Interdisciplinary Studies Center Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC 2002: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac02/ Education is what is left over after you've forgotten everything that you've learned. (source unknown)

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Presentacion de La Sociedad Digital.
by La Sociedad Digital 28 Aug '02

28 Aug '02

Boletín 1 / Agosto de 2002. LA SOCIEDAD DIGITAL - PORTAL IBEROAMERICANO DE LA SOCIEDAD DE LA INFORMACIÓN. http://www.sociedaddigital.org PRESENTACION: La Sociedad Digital se ha constituido en el principal Portal de la Sociedad de la Información en Ibero América, comprendiendo en la actualidad cerca de quince secciones con un total de documentos estimable en aproximadamente 800, que cubren las áreas más importantes de la Sociedad de la Información. Ello ha sido posible gracias al aporte y la preocupación de un conjunto de especialistas de uno y otro lado del Atlántico, concentrados en este proyecto abierto que comenzó a ser construido en su expresión virtual en octubre de 2001. En la actualidad, la mayor parte de las secciones del Portal se encuentran operativas. El proyecto se viene desarrollando de conformidad con las coordenadas propias de su primera fase: constitución ordenada de un reservorio de información actualizada de elevadas trascendencia para la comprensión de la sociedad en Red conjuntamente con aportes propios producto de investigación colectiva por parte de los equipos de La Sociedad Digital o de aportes individuales de los miembros de su Board de Directores, en el marco de sus respectivas especialidades. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- --------- ESTRUCTURA: Las actuales secciones disponibles del Proyecto Portal de la Sociedad de la Información http://www.sociedaddigital.org son las siguientes: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- NOVEDADES: Las incorporaciones documentales más recientes en el Portal: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- EVENTOS CIENTÍFICOS A DESTACAR: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------- INFORMACIONES DEL BOARD: ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------ PROYECTOS EN DESARROLLO: En este momento, La Sociedad Digital se encuentra desarrollando varios proyectos nuevos, los que se encuentran en diferentes etapas de progreso. En síntesis: (a) Los aspectos operativos: el Portal se encuentra en remodelación, para una presentación en el futuro que pueda considerarse más amigable en su relación con el usuario, y que permitirá un despliegue de mayor agilidad de su contenido documental, así como la correlación temática de sus contenidos. (b) El sistema estadístico: dentro de los proyectos de investigación oportunamente planteados se diseñó un completo sistema estadístico que pudiera ser considerado como uno de los más completos del mundo, reuniendo y conciliando información de al menos veinte fuentes confiables de información, para permitir conocer los principales indicadores de la Sociedad de la Información, al menos en tres grandes niveles de desagregación: contexto mundial, contexto continental y situación de los países. Los indicadores mencionados comprenden accesibilidad, desarrollo de telecomunicaciones, infraestructura de Internet, comercio electrónico, lenguajes en la Red e indicadores representativos de ciencia y tecnología. El trabajo continúa y se estima que estará disponible "en red" en aproximadamente dos meses. (c) Estudio del estado de la Sociedad de la Información en América Latina: este proyecto de investigación, de naturaleza colectiva y abierta, ha culminado su fase de diseño y de términos de referencia. En el decurso del mes de junio comenzará a ser operativo, y se espera llegar con un diagnóstico adecuado hacia fines del presente año y convertirlo en un aporte independiente y trascendente para ser presentado en la Cumbre de la Sociedad de la Información en Junio de 2003. Informaciones y contribuciones en info sociedaddigital.org (d) Colección de estudios e información sobre aspectos prácticos del comercio electrónico: se constituirá en una de las secciones del Portal, considerada de alta utilidad. Se continúa trabajando en la clasificación de la biblioteca virtual aportada por el Consejero Hugo Gallegos de Perú y la sección se encontrará "en Red" en aproximadamente veinte días. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------- Usted recibe este mensaje porque su dirección de correo electrónico está incluida dentro de las más de 100.000 que conforman LA SOCIEDAD DIGITAL, construida por referencias o bien por la relevancia de su trabajo, comunidad científica donde se discuten ideas, visiones, experiencias, prácticas e información sobre temas relacionados con La Sociedad de la Información, en especial en Ibero América, impulsada por la Asociación Civil sin fines de lucro La Sociedad Digital. Si quiere tramitar el ALTA o la BAJA, o remitir una dirección de correo electrónico a la comunidad, envíe un mensaje a info(a)sociedaddigital.org Si desea dar a conocer algún artículo, estudio u otro texto de su autoría o recomendarnos un trabajo de otro autor, envíe su material o recomendaciones a info sociedaddigital.org La Sociedad Digital es un esfuerzo nacido en el Uruguay, co participado por especialistas de toda Iberoamerica y dirigido a la comunidad digital ibero americana. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -------- Visite nuestro Portal y consulte todos los recursos gratuitos de información y conocimiento sobre Sociedad de la Información disponibles en http://www.sociedaddigital.org Hasta nuestro próximo encuentro! Equipo de comunicación de LaSocDig.

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2nd call for chairs and student-paper evaluators at Maastricht
by Klaus Bruhn Jensen 28 Aug '02

28 Aug '02

Colleagues: I am grateful to the good people who have agreed to chair sessions in Maastricht (http://aoir.org/2002) At this point, I ask for additional volunteers who are willing to serve as chairs of one or more sessions. Please contact me *off list*. Similarly, I seek volunteers who are willing to serve as reviewers of student papers submitted for the award (due on September 15, distributed to reviewers immediately after that). Again, please contact me *off list*. If you have questions concerning the organization and logistics éof the conference, please contact the conference coordinator, Monica Murero, Monica.Murero(a)MERIT.unimaas.nl Thanks, Klaus Bruhn Jensen Program Chair

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9/11 web memorialization
by pricep 27 Aug '02

27 Aug '02

Hi Amy- Paul Price here, editor of the Social Science Research Council and the website "After September 11," organized by the Council. Becky Lentz contacted us about the article you're doing on 9/11, memorialization and websites. While I can't claim any expertise on the subject, one of our essayists from the web project might well offer some valuable background perspective for you. Her name is Marita Sturken, and she is an associate professor at the Annenberg School for Communications, University of Southern California. She has written a well praised book called Tangled Memories: The Vietnam War, the AIDS Epidemic, and the Politics of Remembering, and her essay for our Sept 11 website was on "Memorializing Absence." She can be reached at sturken(a)usc.edu . Her essay can be found at http://www.ssrc.org/sept11/essays/sturken.htm A revision of the essay has become the last chapter for our collection of writings called Understanding September 11, published by The New Press. I think you'll find it useful in thinking about the broad issues of memory and 9/11, and I'm sure she would be an interesting interview. Regards, Paul Paul M. Price Editor, Social Science Research Council 810 Seventh Ave. NYC, NY 10019 tel. 212 377 2700 ext.637 fax. 212 377 2727 -----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin(a)aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org Harmon Sent: Friday, August 23, 2002 11:49 AM To: air-l(a)aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] question from a reporter Greetings, I'm a reporter for the New York Times. For a Sept. 11 anniversary issue that we are publishing, I'm writing about the use of the Internet in the aftermath of the attacks, and particularly about the memorialization that seems to be continuing on the Web a full year later. If anyone on the list has studied the implications of the Web's role in the grieving/memorialization process for 9/11 and is willing to be interviewed, please email me at amy(a)nytimes.com and let me know how to reach you. thanks, Amy ------------------------------- Amy Harmon Technology Reporter New York Times (212) 556-1505 amy(a)nytimes.com

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Sustainability at the Speed of Light
by Nevin Cohen 27 Aug '02

27 Aug '02

A new publication of the World Wildlife Fund that examines the environmental impacts of the internet and information technology. The report, called Sustainability at the Speed of Light, is available for downloading at: http://www.panda.org/resources/publications/ict.cfm Nevin Cohen ===== Nevin Cohen, Ph.D. 534 West 47th Street #5R New York, NY 10036 917-721-8037 www.green-ecommerce.com __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes http://finance.yahoo.com

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