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

Re: [Air-l] Research on Effects of Power Point?
by Irene Berkowitz 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

I teach a class in public speaking and persuasion and my students, which are mainly business students, are often required to use powerpoint. They claim that it has made them very serial thinkers. This means they think in "lists" rather than in evidentiary terms to support their arguments. I know this isn't exactly what you are looking for, but several of them commented on the differences re: how to construct an argument from a rhetorical perspective and how they are being taught to think about business problems. A piece of anecdotal info. for what's it's worth. BTW, this is why the business school requires them to take this course and they have had input in constructing the syllabus. IB Irene Berkowitz Program Director, Curricular Publications and Systems Office of the Vice Provost Temple University tel. 215-204-7596 fax. 215-204 3175 berkowitz(a)mail.temple.edu >>> bowseat(a)bethmazur.com 06/03/2003 9:12:00 PM >>> >Does anyone know of research (formal or otherwise) on the effects of Power >Point formatting on emerging writing styles, logical argumentation skills, >or comprehension? I'd be grateful for any data for (or against) the current >adage that "Power corrupts but Power Point corrupts absolutely." On the "for" side, you may want to check out Edward Tufte's (who's acknowledged for the 'corruption" quote) very recent publication titled "The Cognitive Style of PowerPoint" ($7 on Tufte's site at http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/books_pp. I'm not sure that it includes any real research data, but I'm sure the argument will be interesting! Beth Mazur IDblog: http://idblog.org _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Children Go Online
by Bober,M 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

Dear colleagues, may I draw your attention to the new web site for our project 'Children Go Online: Emerging Opportunities and Dangers': www.children-go-online.net 'Children Go Online' is based at the London School of Economics and run by Prof. Sonia Livingstone. As part of the project, we will be conducting a nation-wide survey of 9 to 19 year-olds in the UK related to our four key themes in connection to the internet: (1) Communication, identity and participation in social networks (2) Education, learning and literacy (3) Digital inequalities (4) Inappropriate or unwelcome content We aim to make the web site a resource for related research on children and the internet, and we will add new material as the project progresses. Currently, children-go-online.net contains a list of related surveys on young people and use of the internet, including short summaries and links you might be interested in. As experts in this field, I am sure that you are aware of other surveys we can add to our list. If so, please email me on m.bober(a)lse.ac.uk. Kind regards, Magdalena Bober Magdalena Bober Research Officer Social Psychology and Media@LSE London School of Economics and Political Science Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE Tel +44 (0)20 7955 6005 Fax +44 (0)20 7955 7565 m.bober(a)lse.ac.uk http://www.children-go-online.net

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Fwd: women in global science and technology
by jeremy hunsinger 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

Begin forwarded message: > From: Shobita Parthasarathy <sp73(a)cornell.edu> > Date: Wed Jun 4, 2003 7:50:23 AM US/Eastern > To: STSGRAD-L(a)cornell.edu (STSGRAD-L) > Subject: women in global science and technology > Reply-To: sp73(a)cornell.edu > > >> >> Women in Global Science and Technology would like to announce a new >> list: >> >> ICTsforRuralWomen is an information and announcement list which >> circulates >> information on resources, events and organisations working on issues >> related >> to how women can use ICTs to support their grassroots productive >> enterprises. >> >> Topics on the list include: >> - information on productive technologies to reduce the burden of >> domestic >> chores or increase the productivity and quality of their enterprises; >> - information on prices and markets and other forms of small >> enterprise >> support, such as training and product monitoring. -women's needs for >> appropriate technologies; >> - developing appropriate software packages and training women how to >> use >> them; >> - extension services and commerical producers to assist with >> translating >> information into action; >> - linking the use of ICTs with other communications strategies such >> as radio >> and church meetings to expand the outreach of information available; >> - monitoring impact of strategies for widespread replication of pilot >> projects; >> - documentation of best practices and packaging of results for policy >> makers, development practitioners and women themselves. >> - and many more. >> >> To subscribe to the list, send a message to >> majordomo(a)matrix1.matrixlinks.ca with the following command in the >> body of >> your message: >> >> subscribe ictforruralwomen your email address. >> >> To circulate announcements and information on the list, send them to >> shuyer(a)wigsat.org. >> >> >> >> David Lyon Director, The >> Surveillance >> Project >> Professor of Sociology >> http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/Surveillance/intro.htm >> <http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/Surveillance/intro.htm> >> Coordinator, Graduate Studies web journal: Surveillance and >> Society >> Queen's University, >> www.surveillance-and-society.org >> <http://www.surveillance-and-society.org/> >> Kingston, Internet Studies at >> Queen's (IS@Q) >> Ontario, Canada K7L 3N6 >> http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/ISQ >> <http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/ISQ> >> (613) 533-6000 x 74489 Research and Publications: >> >> fax (613) 533-2871 >> http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/dl.html >> <http://qsilver.queensu.ca/sociology/dl.html> >> >> ===================================================================== > > Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture

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query
by david silver 04 Jun '03

04 Jun '03

Folks, the following query comes from Paulina Borsook, a great thinker and mind, who wrote Cyberselfish. please direct any suggestions to her at <loris(a)well.com>. david *** i have a small research project for a division of an international entertainment/consumer electronics corporation having to do with investigating best practices for global work/information flow in a multinational/multicultural/multilingual corporation. i am looking for resources/exemplary or cautionary case histories/periodicals (my assignment is to create a bibliography/in-house compendium of such materials). some background on my project: the person i am doing it for is dir of techpubs at said multinational. he is smart/thinks like an organizational development person (though would never admit to such) + is aware of all the language/interpersonal/cultural issues of involved in creating/managing/obtaining information with regard to a task that involves folks both across depts (technical, legal, corporate, hq, etc; folks in us, europe, asia) and to folks outside (3rd-party developers). he has done such a good job that his dept is growing. in other words, his dept is increasingly taking on additional tasks beyond the developer docs he was first charged with managing: localization. consumer docs. etc etc. -so- what he needs from me are resources/references that a) show best practices/benchmarks in how other enterprises have dealt with these probs b) cases, either exemplary or cautionary, dealing with these probs c) info that outlines the problems or suggests possible solutions in a general, but still practical, way d) publications/news services that his dept ought to be subscribing to (i have a query into the folks at 'information people and technology', for example). his goal here is to create a resource that he can use with his vps --- and above --- which has authoritative info on the mostly invisible but very real probs of managing info/workflow in a multinational/multilingual/multicultural corp, where the resulting publications had different audiences/needs. i think his idea ultimately to use this bibliographic resource to a) do his own job better b) possibly get company resources to implement the stuff that needs to be implemented. there have been 40 hundred million zillion articles written on certain aspects of these topics --- have been intensively researching such for weeks. but, i always believe that talking to smart people in the field is a better way to find stuff, for all kinda of reasons. particularly with a complex ambiguous research assignment like this, which touches on lots of different aspects of a complicated problem, i am hoping to rely on the kindness (and intelligence) of strangers, as opposed to the idiot savant traits of google and abi inform.

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Evaluation Logs
by EGodard 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

I apologize if this has already been discussed here; I haven't seen it, and have looked through the archive. What thoughts have ye on sites such as http://www.ratemyprofessor.com? Are there legal boundaries to what the site can allow? Are things said there contestable against the author and/or the site? Given relatively small numbers of evaluators per professor evaluated, I would presume there to be negative bias. Interestingly, however, the FAQ for that site in particular claims 60% positive ratings. -eg

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Re: [Air-l] metaphors for internet security
by Allan A Friedman 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

From: jeremy hunsinger <jhuns(a)vt.edu> >the problem with the body metaphor is that it is quite hard to seize >total control of someone's body and mind... but it isn't that hard to >take control of a computer, even without any virus, etc. True, but I really liked the body metaphor, especially from the threat model perspective and looking at how people behave. I would venture that people approach computer security risks more from a hygiene perspective: * Many people have a vague idea of how [security flaws/illnesses] happen * There is a lot of misinformation, made manifest through behavior that an expert would consider irrational. * It's correlated to a degree of trust: we won't get infected by people we're close to * There are plenty of media scares that lead to * Over-estimation of rare risks (credit card theft, getting AIDS by using a public restroom), and an under-estimation of the damage from common behavior (not washing hands, opening an unexpected attachment) * The overall system has proven to be very resilient, but it's very easy to concieve of catastrophes. ...and we can even prescribe secure behavior in terms of hygiene: * Don't download or open files that you don't know to be clean * Use professional [security/medical] services every so often * Keep informed from _reliable_ news sites /\llan Allan Friedman Pre-Doctoral Candidate, Public Policy Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University

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Re: [Air-l] metaphors, toasters and daily lives
by K.S.O-Riordan＠sussex.ac.uk 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

Hi all Maren wrote: -- Begin original message -- > So what metaphors are already out there? There must be some, at least > in the advertisement world. Can't think of any at the moment. > Probably not easy that combines public and private aspects.Can't think > of any at the moment. > Probably not easy that combines public and private aspects. -- End original message -- This seems to bring us back to the body as always representative of combining public and private and this would raise (would it?) the question of 'appropriate' metaphors - the ones which are out there seem to draw on illness and war (as pointed out before) which are marketing rhetoric for security sytems but are not 'appropriate' to the body. The everyday life thread then seems to tie in (at a tangent) with the other question - what ways of expressing internet security are not seen as metaphor yet? If the question is then how do we already express everyday security I would think about save, copy, transfer and shutdown as ways into this? All the best Kate O'Riordan

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metaphors, toasters and daily lives
by Maren Hartmann 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

Hello Jeremy et al. I also think this recent thread on the metaphors of Internet security is very interesting (my comments might come a bit late, since I only receive the digest version of messages - sorry for any potential dublication). What I am missing in the debate thus far is a consideration of what Jeremy originally set out to look for: the metaphoric aspects of this 'habituation'. Usually the metaphors change exactly at that point when use becomes more habitual and less strange or exotic. Thus what you automatically switch on every morning is not an information superhighway anymore. But Jeremy was asking not about existing metaphors for Internet security, but about the invention or introduction of some new ones. Thus the process is reversed: think about something you are already used to doing and then add the 'appropriate' metaphor. Thus we tend to be careful and relate it to things we know rather well (someone's car - Jeremy's toaster (which however does not appear (!) as a daily threat to most of us, I would think, while Internet security is an issue we do think about)). So what metaphors are already out there? There must be some, at least in the advertisement world. Can't think of any at the moment. Probably not easy that combines public and private aspects. Another point was to agree with Pille on the domestication concept as a rather useful one (where the term ritual can also be added to habitual -- adds yet another quality of use, esp. in terms of media technologies). One problem here is though - as was discussed at the recent EMTEL conference in London - that the research into domestication thus far deals more with the changes use practices in the sense of everyday life than with the different versions of content. The concept itself combines both aspects of use, but research has often concentrated on the daily life aspects (where, who, how often, when,...). Thus combining the two is the challenge, it seems. Maren [Can I also use this to say that it is a pity that a panel, which had metaphors as its main focus, has unfortunately been rejected by the AoIR-conference organisers. This is not to say that I do not respect the procedures and all the work that has gone into them (a lot!). It's just to say that maybe we could get this together for the conference after this coming one, since it seems that it could have been a good session :-)] -- Maren Hartmann - Researcher @ SMIT - Vrije Universiteit Brussel Pleinlaan 2 - 1050 Brussel - Belgium phone (work): + 32 2 629 2572 - fax: + 32 2 629 2861

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RE: Re: [Air-l] Evaluation Logs
by ericgoldman＠onebox.com 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

The liability of individual posters would be treated like any other allegedly defamatory statement. The fact that the comments are web-published does little to change the application of traditional defamation law. (In addition to the issues raised by Charles, there is also a minor set of issues relating to how the single publication rule applies online). However, the website operator's liability is subject to a cyberspace-specific law: 47 USC 230. In short, this law provides an effectively blanket immunity for the operator from any defamation in the postings of third parties. Contrary to what some would believe/want, this law applies irrespective of the operator's knowledge (i.e., the operator may be fully aware of the posting, but still will not have any liability). While 47 USC 230 has not been specifically interpreted in the context of teacher reviews, there has been at least one lawsuit in this area (see, e.g., http://www.gfn.com/archives/story.phtml?sid=5184) and there are cases applying the immunity to other forms of "consumer reviews" (see, e.g., Schneider v. Amazon.com, http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/scripts/getcase.pl?court=wa&vol=2001_app/4679…) Eric. -- Eric Goldman Marquette University Law School ericgoldman(a)onebox.com Personal home page: http://eric_goldman.tripod.com -----Original Message----- From: Charles Ess <cmess(a)lib.drury.edu> Sent: Tue, 03 Jun 2003 07:23:32 -0500 To: <air-l(a)aoir.org> Subject: Re: [Air-l] Evaluation Logs Interesting thread! (Aren't they all?) My _hunch_ would be that the issues involved would be analogous to publishing comments about a person in a newspaper or other public venue - and thus would depend in some measure on the laws and practices regarding libel (in the case of libelous comments that could be proven to be untrue). The complicating factors: 1) whether or not professors can be seen as "public" figures (in which case, at least in the U.S., as I understand it, pretty much anything goes); 2) whether the forum is seen as a public venue (hence, the laws apply) like a newspaper, or more like a private one (at least in the U.S., especially in light of 1st amendment rights of free speech, again, anything goes); and 3) how these laws and practices vary from country to country. On all of these matters, there are _real_ experts on the Air list (you know who you are - smile!): I hope they'll pitch in and contribute their insights. While I agree that such a site/process is not necessarily bad - at the same time, I would hope that no one would take such a site as anything more than a "customer satisfaction" measure - and that, among purely self-selected customers (probably those really enthusiastic about and those really pissed off at a certain professor). Given the real anonymity of the comments and ratings, this information _could_ be useful, if read carefully - but I don't see anything at the site suggesting such caveats. At the same time,: this seems to take the "student as consumer" model to a new height -or low, insofar as, in my view, such a model is pretty much opposite to what I think higher education, at least as rooted in liberal arts traditions, should be about. Perhaps this is why I received the lowest ratings in my university for "easiness"? (smile) In any case, looking forward to hearing from our real experts on this - Charles Ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies 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: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/ Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23 > From: Homero Gil de Zuniga <hgildezuniga(a)wisc.edu> > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Date: Tue, 03 Jun 2003 03:27:15 -0500 > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: RE: [Air-l] Evaluation Logs > > That was funny. Regarding your question, I don't exactly know where the > limit is but I guess that as long as they don't infringe any basic human > being rights, they should be fine. I also would imagine that it depends > on peoples' perception. In any case, it was interesting finding me > rated... :) Probably the fact that they said I was good and evidently > HOT (just kidding) made me see it not necessarily and intrinsically > bad... More thoughts? Anybody with a cyberspace- law-policy background? > Hernando? > > Cheers, > > HGZ > > Homero Gil de Zuniga > > http://www.homero.educations.net > Project Assistant for the Journalism & Mass Communication Department > www.journalism.wisc.edu > UNIVERSITY of WISCONSIN-MADISON > http://www.wisc.edu > PO BOX 260022 > 53726 Madison > WI, USA > e-mail: hgildezuniga(a)wisc.edu > > Office: (608) 263-7852 > > "It is nice to be important... but it is much more important to be > nice". > > -----Original Message----- > From: air-l-admin(a)aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org] On Behalf Of > EGodard > Sent: Tuesday, June 03, 2003 12:05 AM > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: [Air-l] Evaluation Logs > > I apologize if this has already been discussed here; I haven't seen it, > and > have looked through the archive. > > What thoughts have ye on sites such as http://www.ratemyprofessor.com? > Are > there legal boundaries to what the site can allow? Are things said there > contestable against the author and/or the site? > > Given relatively small numbers of evaluators per professor evaluated, I > would presume there to be negative bias. Interestingly, however, the FAQ > for > that site in particular claims 60% positive ratings. > > -eg

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How widely spread is filesharing - statistical data needed
by Jeppe Bo Pedersen 03 Jun '03

03 Jun '03

Hi, I'm in the middle of a project examining the phenomenon of filesharing, - especially why it is so popular compared to official download services, even though it takes place under heavy fire from the entire entertainment business (both in courtrooms and through more or less radical actions by the rightful owners of the shared content). But before I dig into both the obvious user-oriented as well as the deeper grounded cultural and network-specific reasons, that can reveal some level of clarity, I would like to know if there exists any statistical data on the usage of filesharing, e.g. - How many share files on a regularly basis (eg. daily, weekly, monthly)? - What is the usage growth rate? - What filetypes are the most popular (music, software, films - listed in percentages/GB )? ...and answers that lies within the area of those questions KaZaa has achieved the 230 millions of downloads-mark on Download.com, and the different organisations that represents the entertainment business (RIAA, BSA and others) has released their statistical data on piracy to follow their views on the matter. But I need some more exact figures on filesharing specifically, and would appreciate any help available through this mailing list for Internet researchers. And is this field quantitatively examined in a properly manner at all? In addition, I would like to know if any other researchers share this interest? In that case don't hesitate to contact me. I'm new to this list, so I'm sorry if this request crosses earlier threads on the list, but please bare with me if that is the case. Thanks in advance and kindest regards Jeppe Bo Pedersen Student, MA in Mediastudies University of Copenhagen, DK www.media.ku.dk

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