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

August 2002 executive committee report
by Steve Jones 16 Aug '02

16 Aug '02

August 16, 2002 Report of the a(o).i.r. executive committee Prepared by Steve Jones AoIR Executive Committee President: Steve Jones Vice-President: Nancy Baym Secretary: Ulla Bunz Treasurer: Benjamin Bates Open Seats: David Silver and Barry Wellman Appointed Seats: Matthew Allen and Leslie Shade Student Seat: Lisbeth Klastrup Publications Officers: Jeremy Hunsinger and Charlie Breindahl 2002 Conference Coordinator: Monica Murero 2002 Conference Program Chair: Klaus Bruhn Jensen Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. We are a scant two months from our annual conference, this year in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing many of you there. 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 Participation in AoIR work and initiatives as always welcomed. Feel free to contact me or any of the executive committee members or working group leaders with questions, input and interest. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 No report. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 No report. 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 I'm back on duty, caught up with payments, etc., but still have to move accounts info to new computer. Thanks (a lot!) to Steve and Jeremy for filling in. Also pretty current in terms of sending out reminders on expiring/expired memberships. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: Nothing to report. 2.5.2 Wellman: Informally discussed with putative conference organizer a forthcoming Conference on Universal Usability bringing together social scientists and computer scientists and adaptive tech folks. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: Busy with my leave, doing research etc; have been encouraging locals to join AoIR. 2.6.2 Shade: Nothing to report. 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 No report. 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: doing some list stuff doing some server stuff doing more server security stuff doing some related stuff promoted aoir in brisbane a bit helped charlie a little helped KBJ and Monica a little 2.8.2 Breindahl: I have been developing a small database-driven web site for last year's pre-conference workshop. Like the members area, it is based on PHP and MySQL. It is not quite finished yet, but will be announced soon. I have started asking new AIR-L subscribers to confirm their identity via e-mail. This is to prevent spammers and trolls from (re)subscribing. 2.9 2002 Conference (Monica Murero, Coordinator; Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Program Chair) 2.9.1 Murero: Nothing to report. 2.9.2 Jensen: I have been working with Monica Murero and Jeremy Hunsinger in finetuning the preliminary program for AoIR 3.0. An update will be online shortly, including abstracts of papers and panels. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 A fourth draft of the report from the aoir ethics working committee is currently circulating among committee members for comments and suggestions for improvements. The final version will be posted for all interested aoir members to review in early September. We are hoping to gather comment and perhaps additional suggestions for improvement prior to the report's presentation to the aoir membership in Maastricht in October. My thanks to all of the committee members who have contributed so significantly to the quality and scope of the report 2.11 AoIR Elections Working Group (Nancy Baym, Liaison) 2.11.1 No report. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Liaison) 2.12.1 Nothing to report. ------------------------------------end of executive committee report------------------------------ The Association of Internet Researchers is a scholarly association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of Internet studies. It is a resource and support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet research independent from traditional disciplines and existing across academic borders. The association is international in scope. The association's web site is at http://www.aoir.org. Membership information is available at http://aoir.org/airjoin.html

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Call for chairs at Maastricht conference
by Klaus Bruhn Jensen 16 Aug '02

16 Aug '02

Colleagues: As you know, the AoIR 3.0 conference in Maastricht takes place in two months. At this point, I ask for volunteers who are willing to serve as chairs of one or more sessions to contact me *off list*. Please indicate preferences, if any, regarding particular sessions. The preliminary program is available, http://aoir.org/2002/program. An update, including abstracts, will be posted shortly. Thanks, Klaus.

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Second issue of NMEDIAC is now online
by david silver 15 Aug '02

15 Aug '02

this might be of interest ... david *** The second issue (Summer 2002) of NMEDIAC, the Journal of New Media & Culture is now available at: http://www.ibiblio.org/nmediac/summer2002/ The eight articles in this issue are: Seduction by Any Means Necessary (?) - Arthur Aghajanian The Virtual Rupture - Jeremy Benjamin Choreographed Intelligent Agents: Empirical Research, Socio-Cultural Effects, and Related Ethical Issues - Thomas Cooper Cultural Logic in Cyberspace: Web Art & Postmodernism - Amy Divila Networked Interventions: Debugging the Electronic Frontier - Christa Erickson Hypertext Rhetoric: Studies for an Online Literary Text Theory - Fee-Alexandra Haase Media as a Platform - Steven Maras The Digital Outlaws: Hackers as Imagined Communities - Henning Ziegler ----- Jonathan James McCreadie Lillie Managing Editor NMEDIAC, The Journal of New Media & Culture http://www.nmediac.net ----- Park Doctoral Fellow The School of Journalism & Mass Communication The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ----- jlillie(a)email.unc.edu ----- http://www.ibiblio.org/jlillie

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Re: [Air-l] How do journalists report internet research? (Request for experi...
by Zunt＠aol.com 15 Aug '02

15 Aug '02

In a message dated 3/4/2002 3:46:13 PM Eastern Standard Time, jvc(a)MIT.EDU writes: > 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? maybe try Web2Text: w2t16v12.zip http://www.simtel.net/pub/pd/24799.html Cheers, Bob Briggs Westport, MA

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contacting presenters for papers listed
by bakera＠ohiou.edu 14 Aug '02

14 Aug '02

In response to inquiries on the list and by email, for people interested in reading any of the papers, please contact me for email addresses for the authors you want. Then you can write to them to request the papers. Also, these panels are presented as part of the annual American Sociological Association meetings. --cheers, andrea

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Re: [Air-l] Sessions about the Internet: August 16, Friday, Chicago, IL
by Lisa-Jane McGerty 14 Aug '02

14 Aug '02

Sessions about the Internet: August 16, Friday, ChicaWill there be a way of accessing the content of these panels online by any chance? I'm particularly interested in the second one. Just a thought from someone on the other side of the pond who can't therefore just "drop in"! Lisa ----- Original Message ----- From: bakera(a)ohiou.edu To: air-l(a)aoir.org Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 8:19 PM Subject: [Air-l] Sessions about the Internet: August 16, Friday, Chicago, IL Hello, as I solicited papers from this list as well as through The American Sociological Association, I wanted to extend an invitation to you to attend these two panels containing the work of some A(O)IR members. If anyone is in Chicago on August 16th, this Friday and can get to the Chicago Hilton and Palmer House hotels, there are two session you could drop in and see. Please write me for the room numbers which I will have on Thursday. Thanks! 10:30 a.m. The Internet and Society I: Regulations, Protest, and Popular Applications Organizer and Presider: Andrea Baker, Ohio University --"Different Faces in the Cyber Dragon World: A Comparative Analysis of the Internet Regulations in Four Chinese Societies - China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan" Cheng-Nan Hou, SUNY Buffalo --"Cyberpower and Hactivism: Direct Action, Power, and Politics Online" Tim Jordan, Open University, UK --"Adult Social Bonds and Use of Internet Pornography" Steven Stack, Wayne State, Ira Wasserman, Roger Kern, Eastern Michigan --"'Thanks for Leaving Positive feedback!' Digital Conversation, Discursive Practices and Framing in a Community/Market" Ryan Sperry, Columbia University Discussant: Lori Kendall, SUNY Purchase 4:30 p.m. The Internet and Society II: Studying Internet Use: How, Who and Why? Organizer and Presider: Andrea Baker, Ohio University --"The Internet in Everyday Life" Carolyn Haythornthwaite, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Barry Wellman, University of Toronto --"Participants" and "Observers" in Online Ethnography: Five Stories About Identity" Lori Kendall, SUNY Purchase --"Internet Communication and Changes in Contact with Others" Sheila Cotten, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Elizabeth Davison, Appalachian State, Heather Hax, University of Maryland, Baltimore County --"The Social Shaping of the New Information and Communication Technologies in Center and Periphery" Markus Schultz, New School Discussant: Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago

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Sessions about the Internet: August 16, Friday, Chicago, IL
by bakera＠ohiou.edu 13 Aug '02

13 Aug '02

Hello, as I solicited papers from this list as well as through The American Sociological Association, I wanted to extend an invitation to you to attend these two panels containing the work of some A(O)IR members. If anyone is in Chicago on August 16th, this Friday and can get to the Chicago Hilton and Palmer House hotels, there are two session you could drop in and see. Please write me for the room numbers which I will have on Thursday. Thanks! > 10:30 a.m. >>The Internet and Society I: Regulations, Protest, and Popular Applications >>Organizer and Presider: Andrea Baker, Ohio University >>--"Different Faces in the Cyber Dragon World: A Comparative >>Analysis of the Internet Regulations in Four Chinese Societies - >>China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan" >> Cheng-Nan Hou, SUNY Buffalo >>--"Cyberpower and Hactivism: Direct Action, Power, and Politics Online" >> Tim Jordan, Open University, UK >>--"Adult Social Bonds and Use of Internet Pornography" >> Steven Stack, Wayne State, Ira Wasserman, Roger Kern, Eastern Michigan >>--"'Thanks for Leaving Positive feedback!' Digital Conversation, >>Discursive Practices and Framing in a Community/Market" >> Ryan Sperry, Columbia University >>Discussant: Lori Kendall, SUNY Purchase 4:30 p.m. >>The Internet and Society II: Studying Internet Use: How, Who and Why? >>Organizer and Presider: Andrea Baker, Ohio University >>--"The Internet in Everyday Life" >> Carolyn Haythornthwaite, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, >> Barry Wellman, University of Toronto >>--"Participants" and "Observers" in Online Ethnography: Five >>Stories About Identity" >> Lori Kendall, SUNY Purchase >>--"Internet Communication and Changes in Contact with Others" >> Sheila Cotten, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, >> Elizabeth Davison, Appalachian State, >> Heather Hax, University of Maryland, Baltimore County >>--"The Social Shaping of the New Information and Communication >>Technologies in Center and Periphery" >> Markus Schultz, New School >>Discussant: Steve Jones, University of Illinois at Chicago

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RE: [Air-l] Abstract: Measure of Discussion Activity in Threaded Discussion Spaces
by Avner Caspi 13 Aug '02

13 Aug '02

-----Original Message----- From: David Wiley [mailto:david@wiley.ed.usu.edu] Sent: Sunday, August 11, 2002 4:07 PM To: 'air-l(a)aoir.org' Cc: david.wiley(a)usu.edu Subject: RE: [Air-l] Abstract: Measure of Discussion Activity in Threaded Discussion Spaces Thanks for your feedback! I'll try to address these issues all at once. First, as for the semantics of the d value, d is the average reply depth; in other words, d simply tells you what level of reply the average message is at. So, for the tiny thread: A (Reply depth of 0) -B (Reply depth of 1) --C (Reply depth of 2) The unadjusted reply depth would be (0+1+2)/3 = 1. The paper presents some adjustments to fine tune this value, which almost always lower it. So, the difference between d=13 and d=2 is that the d=13 thread would have to look like this: A -B --C ---D <snip> -----------L ------------M -------------N --------------O --------------O --------------O with many more 14th level replies for the value to ever get over 13, while a d=2 thread looks much more normal, something like: A -B --C ---D ---D ---D ---D d=13 tells you that one group is discussing something to a much more significant depth than the group whose d=2. As for the value seeming to grow in size as the number of messages grew, this should not happen as d is intended to be an average, and should therefore be unaffected by the size of the archive. The discussion in the paper is obviously not be clear enough (which is why I asked AoIR for feedback!). I will try to fix this. Also, would you be willing to send me the archive whose d=13 so that I could run it through our software here? I would love to see it! Perhaps it is domain specific, but in newsgroups dedicate to humanities you'll find very deep threads. Two examples I digged: alt.culture.fyrom and alt.news.macedonia . I checked your thumbnail in Hebrew public newsgroups (philosophy, to that matter), therefore I can't send you that archive. Have only just skimmed this but it looks excellent! Our goal was to create a value that provides a thumbnail of the level of discussion activity whose calculation is easily automated, so that it could be integrated into Course Management Systems and the like. It looks like this paper you've referenced could help improve our calculation. Many thanks for this pointer and your other feedback! Avner

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RE: [Air-l] wanted contact in San Francisco area for research on Internet Studies
by Kris Gowen 13 Aug '02

13 Aug '02

Try Clifford Nass and Byron Reeves at Stanford University. They are in the Communication Department. Kris Gowen, PhD AB, Communication, 1990 -----Original Message----- From: Denise N. Rall [mailto:denrall@yahoo.com] Sent: Monday, August 12, 2002 4:52 PM To: air-l(a)aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] wanted contact in San Francisco area for research on Internet Studies Dear AIR'ers - I'm searching for an academic in the Bay area to interview on my research topic - the nascent field of Internet Studies. I have contacted SFState, Berkeley and UCSF (which seems to be a medical school?). UC-Berkeley has been helpful but not working in that area. This is for the upcoming dates, August 20-30. Any and all 'leads' appreciated. Thanks in advance for your kind responses, Denise Rall ===== "it's easier to use your mouse than your brain" Denise Rall, Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & PhD student, School of Education, Southern Cross University, PO Box 157, Lismore, NSW, 2480 Australia Phone +61-2-6624-8627 Fax +61-2-6624-8637 Office (Tuesdays) (02) 6620 3577 Mob 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/edu/research/deniserall/index.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search Thousands of New Jobs http://www.hotjobs.com _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Contact with researchers on e-Voting
by Robert KRIMMER 12 Aug '02

12 Aug '02

Dear Air-L Readers! I'm looking for contact with other researchers worldwide, who also work on the field of e-voting for exchange of interesting material and to stay up2date on current developments. Currently I write my thesis about e-Voting in the german-speaking countries Austria/Germany/Switzerland.

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