April 2003 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

April, 2003 AoIR Executive Committee Report
by Steve Jones 20 Apr '03

20 Apr '03

April 19, 2003 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 2003 Conference Chair: Liss Jeffrey 2003 Conference Program Co-Chairs: Matthew Allen and David Mitchell Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess Elections Working Group Chair: Mia Consalvo Net Resources Working Group Chair: Charlie Breindahl 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. If you aren't reading this...well, you ought to be. I know it can get lengthy, and it can get detailed, but it's the single best way to know what AoIR is up to, and to find ways to get involved with it (in any number of ways from contacting the people who report to volunteering to work on something you see mentioned to making suggestions to...). 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 The proposed dues increase passed the AoIR membership with 108 votes "yes" (86%) and 17 votes "no" (14%). I greatly appreciate the votes and have engaged in email dialogue with several members concerning the difficulty of keeping up memberships in multiple organizations, rising costs, benefits vs. costs, graduate student concerns over rising fees, etc. But as one member put it, "this is the only way to grow into a scholarly organization." AoIR is still in its infancy, and without financial support it will not get much farther, so the early support that its members are providing is one of the cornerstones of the foundation on which its future will indeed be built. Another cornerstone is participation. Elections are upcoming for AoIR executive offices. A call for nominations will soon be distributed, and I urge you to consider running for office. Yet another cornerstone for us has been our annual conference. As I write this I am told that any moment in the next 24 - 48 hours notices of acceptance of conference submissions will be going out. I can quite confidently say after looking at the planning that is going into this conference, at the quality of the submissions, and having stayed at the conference hotel (Toronto Hilton) that this year's conference will continue the AoIR tradition of indelibly memorable meetings. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 I worked on our pieces for the aoir annual, planning upcoming elections, and future conferences. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 I have done my secretarial duties and counted votes in both exec voting procedures and membership voting on the dues increase. I have kept track of various versions of various documents, and participated actively in their evolution. I shipped snow once again last week as we were hit by what will hopefully remain the last storm of this never-ending winter. Ulla Bunz Secretary March 13 - April 15, 2003 This month on the executive list: - The executive committee discussed the revised dues fee structure as proposed by Steve Jones. The executive committee voted unanimously to accept the proposed changes. The fees have since been put to a vote by the membership, which voted (by a large majority) to accept the proposed changes. - We continued a discussion on affiliation or a joint conference with IEEE ISTAS. - The exec provided feedback to program chair Matt Allen on conference program related issues, such as reviewing. - The exec discussed and revised a statement of principles concerning discrimination and harassment. The final version of the statement was unanimously approved by the executive committee and is available on the AoIR website. - The exec began discussing the vote call for the next elections, and election related issues, based on the recommendations of the election workgroup. More information will be made available soon. 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Keeping up with memberships, making lists for people, reports for the tax men (thanks Steve for actually doing the filing). 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: I was involved in early discussions regarding the upcoming elections process. 2.5.2 Wellman: Nothing to report. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: I have been 'programming' the conference, so to speak, coordinating the activities of 60+ reviewers and 16 subchairs (who deserve a big thankyou for their efforts too), and have now completed the first step of the Program Chair's task: selecting the papers and panels to accept and reject. I have also been liaising with the Conference Chair concerning the final shape of the program. 2.6.2 Shade: Worked on introductory section piece for the AOIR Annual with Logie. 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Nothing to report. (handed in thesis) [Congratulations, Lisbeth!] 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: helped matt with reviewing made sure all the techie stuff with reviewing went well, congrats to the program committee on that process began working on election stuff set up the vote list reset the members list etc. etc. all seems well. 2.8.2 Breindahl: Updated aoir.org - book list and Statement of Principles. Discarded massive amounts of spam. 2.9 2003 Conference (Liss Jeffrey, Chair; Matthew Allen, David Mitchell, Program Co-Chairs) 2.9.1 Dr Liss Jeffrey: The Toronto conference crew is hard at work. We are delighted to confirm the keynote speakers for AoiR 4.0 "Broadening the Band." Lucy Suchman, Pierre Levy, Steve Jones and Jane Fountain have all been invited to deliver substantive and inspiring talks based on their own research, and they have graciously agreed to participate fully in our conference. The conference hotel is the Hilton on Richmond Street West. It is a great spot for networking, and we encourage everyone to stay there (that is how we will obtain the well appointed downstairs conference rooms for our use.) Our official airline is Air Canada. Details on the pre conference workshops, the Saturday night banquet and a possible Sunday brunch will be forthcoming soon. www.ecommons.net/aoir 2.9.2 Mitchell: No report. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 Nothing to report. 2.11 AoIR Research Annual Working Group (Mia Consalvo, Chair) 2.11.1 This month the Research Annual working group finalized submissions from contributors, wrote section introductions, and prepared the manuscript for delivery to the publisher for copy-editing. The volume, titled "Internet Research Annual Volume 1: Selected Papers from the Association of Internet Researchers Conferences 2000-2002" contains 26 chapters, representing the work of 29 Internet scholars. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Chair) 2.12.1 There has been no activity in the 'Net WG. ------------------------------------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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Media convergences
by T Kennedy 19 Apr '03

19 Apr '03

Hi Folks: I am looking for some literature (or research in this area) concerning Media Convergences - 'Media Interplay' - between Internet, phone, TV etc. Perhaps an integration of Media, and 'Media Substitutions' - activities that were once done in the 'physical' domain are now done online (perhaps banking etc). Any ideas and suggestions would be helpful as I am doing a lit review for a current project (Everyday Internet) I am working on. Thanks (and Happy Easter if you are celebrating). Tracy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tracy L.M. Kennedy PhD Student Graduate Department of Sociology University of Toronto www.netwomen.ca tkennedy(a)netwomen.ca ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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(Final) WWW2003 Workshop - (Virtual) Community Informatics
by Michael Gurstein 19 Apr '03

19 Apr '03

If you are planning to attend WWW2003 or happen to be in the vicinity of Budapest on Tuesday May 20 you are invited to participate in a Workshop on (Virtual) Community Informatics and hear Jenny Preece (author of Online Communities and Professor at the University of Maryland) give the keynote along with presentations (and discussions) with researchers and academics on building communities, blogs and communities, and the relation between virtual and geo-local communities. The cfp for reviewed papers is closed but we are still accepting position papers for presentation. MG ------------------------------------------------ Call for Participation (Virtual) Community Informatics Workshop Technological Aspects of and Frameworks for Electronic Community Support held in conjunction with the 12th International World Wide Web Conference (WWW2003) Budapest, Hungary Tuesday May 20, 2003 http://is.njit.edu/vci-www2003/ We cordially invite you to participate in the (Virtual) Community Informatics Workshop, held the first day of the WWW2003 Conference. Researchers, students and practitioners interested in the areas of community informatics, virtual communities and communities of practice are welcome to submit either a position statement or a full paper for presentation. People are also welcome to attend without a position paper. (Virtual) Community Informatics involves many facets of supporting communities, including technical, educational, societal and policy aspects. VCI research and activities address all of these. At the WWW2003 workshop, we will focus on the technical aspects of and frameworks for electronic community support. How can we best direct and construct Web and other technologies to support the activities that take place within communities? While our focus is on engineering technological support, we welcome participants interested in all aspects of communities in an electronic environment. (Virtual) Community Informatics lies at two cross-roads: bringing together people concerned with Local , Virtual and Communities of Practice; and structuring collaborations between researchers and practitioners, including industry, in these three domains. (Virtual) Community Informatics promotes the cross-fertilization of ideas and experience found at this cross-roads, bringing together researchers and practitioners from many varied disciplines. Workshop Program Overview - keynote address - overview of and current issues in Community Informatics - paper presentations - panel - short overview of several nascent (Virtual) Community Informatics activities - general discussion The specific focus of this workshop will be on a discussion of the technology aspects of, and frameworks for electronic community support. For further information and submission details, please see the workshop Web site: http://is.njit.edu/vci-www2003/ --- Stay Informed on (Virtual) Community Informatics If you would be interested in further developments concerning (Virtual) Community Informatics, please email Michael Bieber (bieber(a)oak.njit.edu) or Michael Gurstein (gurstein(a)njit.edu)

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Fwd: [ISOC members] ISOC Public Policy Announcement - 4/18/03
by jeremy hunsinger 19 Apr '03

19 Apr '03

Begin forwarded message: > From: Internet Society <anne(a)isoc.org> > Date: Fri Apr 18, 2003 4:18:40 PM US/Eastern > To: globalmembers(a)isoc.org > Subject: [ISOC members] ISOC Public Policy Announcement - 4/18/03 > > Earlier this year, I asked Michael Nelson to replace David Maher as > the Internet Society's Vice President for Public Policy. David left > this role to take up a position as the Chair of the Board of Directors > of the Public Interest Registry (PIR), and I'd like to take this > opportunity to once again thank David for his many contributions. > > Michael is well known to many of you as he has been involved with the > Internet Society for many years. He served on the Program Committees > for INET2000 and INET2001 and was Co-Chair of INET 2002, held in > Washington, DC last June. > > Michael has been involved in Internet policy since 1988, when he came > to Washington to work for then-Senator Gore, when he was the Chairman > of the Science, Technology, and Space Subcommittee. He helped draft > the > High-Performance Computing Act of 1991, which enabled the > commercialization of the NSFNET backbone. When Senator Al Gore was > elected to the White House in 1992, Michael followed him. For four > years, > he worked closely with Vice President Gore on Internet, e-commerce, > and telecommunications issues. He left the White House to spend a > year and a half as Director for Technology Policy at the Federal > Communication Commission (FCC) and since July 1998, Michael has been > at IBM, where he is Director for Internet Technology and Strategy. > > Michael's background has given him a deep understanding of both > Internet > technology and policy. In his new role as Vice President for Public > Policy, he will help the Internet Society have a greater impact on key > public policy decisions by working more closely with governments and > organizations around the world. The Internet Society is uniquely > qualified > to help these entities understand how Internet technologies are > evolving, > to ensure that their actions spur the growth of the Internet around the > world, and that it is for the benefit of all. He will of course be > looking > to ISOC Chapters and members to help him in these efforts, both in the > formulation of policy as well as in our outreach efforts. > > > Michael has drafted a set of policy goals, included below, and we are > looking forward to your comments and active participation. Please > join me > in welcoming Michael as he assumes this important role and please note > that > a new ISOC discussion list - "MemberPubPol" has been set up to > facilitate > member participation. You may join this list at: > http://www.isoc.org/members/discuss/policy.shtml > > Regards, > Lynn St.Amour > President & CEO > Internet Society > > ---------------------------- > > Michael R. Nelson > ISOC VP Public Policy > mnelson(a)isoc.org > > I'm very grateful to Lynn and the Internet Society Board for > selecting me as the Vice President of Public Policy and I > look forward to working with all of you. > > When I spoke to Lynn about the job, we agreed there was a need > for the nternet Society to focus its public policy efforts on a > few broad topic areas, rather than trying to weigh in on every > hot issue that might arise. There are just too many issues for > any single organization to engage in every Internet-related policy > debate. > > Instead, we should play to our strengths: (1) the Internet Society's > reputation for being able to tap the brightest technical and social > minds in the Internet community, (2) our understanding of > leading-edge Internet technologies, (3) our involvement in the > standards process both at the IETF and elsewhere and (4) our truly > global perspective and outreach. To me that means that ISOC should > avoid weighing in on policy issues where decisions will be based > primarily on economic analysis or legal precedents. Other > Internet-related organizations are more appropriate and have more > standing here. > > We should also think carefully before getting involved in issues > which seem to affect only a handful of countries, and do so only if > we fear that what is happening in those countries could be replicated > or mimicked elsewhere later. In many countries, we have chapters that > have the talent and the credibility needed to influence local policy > debates, and ISOC's role should be to support them in their efforts. > > It is going to take time to fully enunciate our public policy agenda. > I want to involve as many people as possible in that process. > > I have drafted a first version of a series of policy goals, which I > believe can guide our public policy efforts and provide focus. Here > is my first attempt at defining five goals for the Internet Society's > public policy > program: > > Since its inception more than twelve years ago, members of the > Internet Society have played key roles in the evolution of Internet > technologies and in providing training on the uses of the Internet in > countries around the globe. ISOC serves as the organizational home > for the Internet Engineering Task Force, which develops the standards > that ensure the stability, reliability, security, and scalability of > the Internet. In addition, the Internet Society has provided valuable > advice on key Internet-related policy decisions in order to ensure > the continued rapid growth of the Internet. > > Today, Internet policy is more important than ever before. The > Internet is at a critical juncture in its development. In many > countries, it is becoming a mass medium and as a result there is > increasing pressure on policy makers to regulate it like radio, > television, or other mass media. The spread of broadband technologies > is enabling new powerful uses of the Internet, such as Grid computing, > voice over IP, peer-to-peer applications, and Web services. The > Internet > is more than just a means for communications (through e-mail and > instant > messaging) and content distribution (through the World Wide Web). It > is becoming a platform for collaboration and distributed computing. > With this new phase of development of the Internet comes new technical > and policy challenges, and even more need for the kind > of advice and education that the Internet Society can provide. > > POLICY GOALS: > > The Internet Society is committed to working with governments, > industry, and Internet users around the world to ensure that the > Internet develops in a way that ensures that all Internet users can > harness the full power of the Internet. Accordingly, we work to ensure > that all users enjoy the following: > > 1) The Ability to Connect -- We want to preserve the essential, > end-to-end nature of the Internet and will oppose efforts to establish > standards or practices that would make it difficult or impossible for > some users of the Internet to use the full range of applications being > developed for Internet users. > > 2) The Ability to Speak -- The Internet offers a powerful tool for > self-expression and is becoming a new mass medium. We will work to > ensure > that the Internet will continue to allow private and where appropriate, > anonymous, means of communication and collaboration. Accordingly, we > will > oppose efforts to censor what Internet users can read or distribute > over > the Net. > > 3) The Ability to Innovate -- The explosive growth of the Internet and > the incredible variety of Internet applications are a direct result of > the fact that the key standards for the Internet and the Web are open. > Any company, regardless of size or location, has been able to develop > and > distribute its new "killer application" for the Internet. We will > oppose efforts by government and others to restrict how technology can > evolve in the future. > > 4) The Ability to Share -- The many-to-many nature of the Internet > makes it a powerful tool for sharing, education, and collaboration. > It has enabled the global, open source community that developed many > of the key technological components of the Internet, such as the > Domain Name System, the Web, and Apache (the most common Web server > software). The Internet has also made the vision of digital libraries > a reality. Accordingly, we will foster the development of open source > software and oppose new technologies and legislation that would limit > the well-established concept of fair use, which is essential to > scholarship, education, and collaboration. > > 5) The Ability to Choose -- The growth of the Internet has been > fastest where markets are the most free and open. Unfortunately, > in too many countries, particularly many less developed countries > that could most benefit from the power of the Internet, government > regulation and the economic power of incumbent telecom monopolies > severely limit the ability of new competitors to provide new, better, > cheaper, and innovative Internet-related services. We will continue > to advocate for government policies that foster competition in > telecommunication services, Internet service provision, > Internet-related > software, and e-commerce applications. > > In the past, most of ISOC's successful efforts to influence > Internet policy and standards fit comfortably into one or more of > these five categories. > > For instance: > > -Promotion of IPv6 -- Ability to Innovate > -Opposition to censorship -- Ability to Speak > -Digital Divide -- Ability to Choose (because competition drives > down prices) > -Promotion of new wireless technologies (e.g. 802.11) -- Ability > to Connect and Ability to Innovate > -Opposition to new database protection legislation -- Ability > to Share > -Opposition to Panama's restrictions on Voice over IP -- Ability > to Connect and Ability to Choose > -Opposition to provisions requiring ISP's to retain user data in > Council of Europe Cyber-crime treaty -- Ability to Speak > -Accessibility for the Disabled -- Ability to Connect > -Opposition to encryption controls -- Ability to Innovate and > Ability of Speech > -Opposition to legislation dictating Digital Right Management > standards -- Ability to Share > > Most of the Internet Society's public policy efforts should focus > on the "lower part of the stack." We are uniquely positioned to > address policy issues related to the transport of bits and to the > middleware that supports applications. Many other organizations > weigh in on public policy issues that impact applications software > and the business models that e-commerce companies might adopt. In > areas such as on-line consumer protection and taxation of Internet > commerce, I would recommend that the Internet Society actively > support the work of other organizations but not take a leadership > role. > > Defining the Internet Society's public policy role and developing > new mechanisms for impacting policy debates will depend critically > upon Internet Society chapters and individual members. Local chapters > can help identify the key policy issues that matter in their countries. > More importantly, they can help deliver Internet Society positions > and white papers within their country. > > In addition, the Internet Society's educational programs can help > distribute information on key policy issues, particularly in developing > countries. > > CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME: > > > I would welcome your comments on the public policy goals outlined > above. I would also welcome suggestions on how the Internet Society > can have an even greater impact on policy debates around the world. > And most of all, I would welcome volunteers willing to help articulate > and share our public policy messages with policy makers, the press, > NGOs, and the general public. Please feel free to contact me at > mnelson(a)isoc.org or join the ISOC Policy discussion list at: > http://www.isoc.org/members/discuss/policy.shtml. I > look forward to hearing from you. > > Michael R. Nelson > ISOC VP Public Policy > mnelson(a)isoc.org > > > _______________________________________________ > Globalmembers mailing list > Globalmembers(a)isoc.org > http://www.isoc.org/mailman/listinfo/globalmembers > > Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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VIRTUAL ART : new video documentation (working link)
by Pete J. Otis 19 Apr '03

19 Apr '03

Dear Friends, Thanks to a colleague's notice of access difficulties, we are sending you a working link. We apologize for the inconvenience. --- The research project DATABASE OF VIRTUAL ART at Humboldt University has recently created a video documentary series of contemporary media artists like Maurice Benayoun, Jeffrey Shaw, Jean-Michel Bruyère, Luc Courchesne, Masaki Fujihata, Lev Manovich and Zoe Beloff... These videos, representing a small portion of the complex database - going public this summer - are now already available through the ARTE website. Samples from our work can be found: http://www.arte-tv.com/emission/emission.jsp?node=220793&lang=de More extensive information: OLIVER GRAU: VIRTUAL ART: From Illusion to Immersion, MIT Press January 2003, ISBN 0-262-07241-6) **************************************************************************** production: DATABASE OF VIRTUAL ART at Humboldt University of Berlin scientific direction Dr. Oliver Grau in cooperation with: channel unit digitale mediengesellschaft mbh video direction: Robert loessl text: Dr. Oliver Grau assistance: Anna Paterok with grateful support from Zentrum fuer Kunst- und Medientechnologie / Dr. Andrea Buddensieg / Future Cinema. recording / editing: channel unit digitale mediengesellschaft mbh titles: Sevrina Giard, Joachim Gaertner

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Visual analysis of Websites
by Ann Kermans 18 Apr '03

18 Apr '03

Hello group, I've been a lurker until now, enjoying the discussions and ideas.. Today I need your help. A month or so ago, there was a call for papers on Visual Analysis of Webpages. I lost this email and want to get in touch with the person who posted this message. Anyone here that's got an idea who it was and how i can contact her or him? Thank you very much.. Ann Kermans Research assistent Faculty of Political and Social Sciences Research Group Communication Sciences UFSIA D-323 Prinsstraat 13 2000 Antwerpen Tel: 03/220.41.98

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Requesting again
by federico 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Greetings to all. First, thanks to everyone who responded to my query regarding celebrity construction on the Web. Second, unfortunately I have to ask for some more help. Does anyone know of any studies regarding branding on the Web? I'm thinking not in terms of branding of Web-only entities, but offline ones. You would think such studies would be rather plentiful, but they have been rather challenging to find (at least for me) - perhaps due to the rather vague nature of the term "branding" itself. Thanks in advance for any wisdom, Federico de Gregorio Doctoral Candidate Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication University of Georgia Athens, GA 30605-3018

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Job: Director Center for Creative Computing @Notre Dame
by jeremy hunsinger 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Director of the Center for Creative Computing This senior-level leadership position will direct teaching and research at the newly-established Center for Creative Computing (CCC) at the University of Notre Dame. This position is responsible for assisting students and faculty with appropriate creative technologies. These include multimedia applications in art, film/video and music. This requires timely communication with faculty and students in key departments, administration of the College of Arts and Letters and external entities such as technology companies and grant agencies. Position responsibilities also include grant writing, budget development and allocation, scheduling CCC resources, and coordination with the College Computing Office. Long-term initiatives would be handled by this position in partnership with the CCC Advisory and Assessment Committee. Expertise in one of the following areas is preferred; digital art, design, digital video postproduction and music application. Knowledge and understanding of faculty computing needs is very important. This position would be responsible for communicating the goals and missions of the CCC to appropriate people and centers, and would supervise a support staff. For consideration, please send CV, portfolio of work (including current projects), and at least three letters of recommendation by April 30 to: Austin Collins, C.S.C., Chairperson, Department of Art, Art History and Design, 306 Riley Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN 46556-5639. The University of Notre Dame is an international Catholic research university, and is an Equal Opportunity Employer, Affirmative Action Educator, and employer that has a strong institutional commitment to racial, cultural and gender diversity. Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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question re implications of always being connected
by catherine middleton 17 Apr '03

17 Apr '03

Hello, A student of mine is looking for some references on the social implications of ubiquitious computing and connectivity. The sort of issue she is concerned with is the way in which behaviours change (or don't change) when there is an expectation that people can be contacted at anytime (e.g. via cell phone or e-mail). This is one of those issues that has been written about, but it's a bit hard to find without knowing the terminology that was used when discussing it. If you can give us any pointers as to where to find discussion of this topic it would be much appreciated. Please respond to me directly and I will pass the information along to my student. Thank you, catherine middleton

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Empirical Studies of Effects of IM on School Writing
by Naomi Susan Baron 16 Apr '03

16 Apr '03

Does anyone know of actual, empirical studies being done on the effects (purported or real) of instant messaging on the written school work of teens and college-aged students? In parts of the world where texting on mobile phones is pervasion, the same question goes for the effects of texting. There's a lot of talk in the media on these issues, but it would be useful to know if anyone has gotten beyond the anecdote stage. Thanks, Naomi Naomi S. Baron Professor of Linguistics American University Washington, DC 20016-8045

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