January 2004 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: howard dean, social movements and clay shirky
by Art McGee 28 Jan '04

28 Jan '04

Hum, I'm sorry, I'm just having trouble understanding why you can't see through the most important problem with electoral analysis: the assumption that distribution of support for a candidate will be equal across all states, and therefore, if you lose these initial states, that means you're out of the race. More importantly, the manipulations of electoral politics by Capitalist media seem to me to be something that make the entire process fraudulent. Have you ever seen a literal horse race in which people were able to bet after the race started? No? Then why do we allow that in our elections? The very nature of the reporting about the race and the speculation about possibilities of winning for particular candidates is a blatant manipulation of the process itself. In effect, U.S. Presidential elections are invalid by default, but maybe I'm not grasping the sociological underpinnings of why we run them this way. Art

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Reviewers for the annual AoIR conference
by K.S.O-Riordan＠sussex.ac.uk 28 Jan '04

28 Jan '04

Dear AoIR members We will shortly be reviewing papers submitted for the conference and we would like to encourage volunteers to take part in this process. The reviewing will take part over the next month. If you would be interested in reviewing the papers submitted, please contact the programme chair Professor Sheizaf Rafaeli <sheizaf(a)rafaeli.net> directly. An indication of your subject expertise and your contact details are all that is required at this stage. We will issue guidelines once the process has been set up. Many thanks in advance for your participation and support Dr. Kate O'Riordan Lecturer in Continuing Education (Media Studies) Centre for Continuing Education Sussex Institute Essex House University of Sussex Falmer Brighton BN1 9QQ Tel: 01273 877774 Email: k.s.o-riordan(a)sussex.ac.uk Web: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/qlff7 -

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Workshop program German Online Research 04
by Uwe Matzat 28 Jan '04

28 Jan '04

Dear Internet Researchers, at the sixth international conference German Online Research 04 (GOR 04) there is a tutorial workshop program that covers the following topics of internet research: Prof. Don A. Dillman (Washington State University): How the Visual Layout of Questions Influences Answers to Web and Other Self-Administered Surveys Dr. Nicola Döring (University of Hamburg): The Analysis of Online Groups: Topics, findings, techniques, and applications Dr. Christian Stegbauer (University of Frankfurt): The Analysis of Social Networks in the field of Internet Research Dr. Dietmar Janetzko (University of Freiburg): Non-Reactive Methods of Data Collection on the Internet Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips (University of Zuerich): Online Experimenting Holger Geissler (Psychonomics GmbH): Online Employee Surveys The workshop program takes place before and after the conference (March 29 + April 1, 2004). The conference itself takes place March 30 + 31, 2004 at the University Duisburg-Essen, Campus Duisburg (Germany). The GOR 04 conference presentations cover topics such as - online groups, - e-democracy and civil society, - the digital divide, - the Internet and social networks, and others. Traditionally there is a set of sessions focussing on methodological questions concerning issues of online data collection and web surveys. Prof. Don Dillman (Washington State University) will give a Keynote Speech on: How On-Line Surveys are Democratizing Social Research and Challenging Survey Methodology The conference is jointly organized by the German Society for Online Research (http://www.dgof.de/indexe.htm) and the Social Survey Research Center, Institute of Sociology, University Duisburg- Essen. The preliminary conference program is a available at http://www.dgof.de/gor04/programm_en.html. Some minor changes may me implemented later. Registration is available at http://www.dgof.de/gor04/index_e.htm. Please take into account that until January 31, 2004 the German Society for Online Research offers a 20% reduction of the conference fees for early registration. Thereafter, registration is charged with the full fees. Attendance of the tutoral workshops is available only for those who register for the conference. I hope to meet you at the GOR 04! Regards, Uwe Matzat ======================================= Uwe Matzat Sociology Section Sub-Department of Technology and Policy Department of Technology Management Eindhoven University of Technology P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands phone: +31 40 247-8392 email: u.matzat(a)tm.tue.nl http://www.tue-tm-soc.nl/~matzat/ =======================================

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Academy and the Internet
by Verhulst, Stefaan 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Academy and the Internet by Helen <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-autho…> Fay Nissenbaum (Editor), and Monroe <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-autho…> Edwin Price (Editor) Peter Lang Publishing; (December 2003) Book Description This book explores the impact of the Internet on scholarly research across and beyond the social sciences. The contributors-leading figures in a broad spectrum of disciplines-explain how their fields of inquiry are being redefined, and what issues of social change are salient as new information technologies increasingly become the subject of scholarly analysis. They have rendered a conceptual photograph of how their disciplines are coping with the impact of information technology by covering policy approaches, empirical research, and theoretical questions. Academy & the Internet highlights significant zones of inquiry and provides a critical perspective on the direction each discipline is traveling. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0820462039/qid=1075221372/sr=… <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0820462039/qid=1075221372/sr=…> &s=books

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howard dean, social movements and clay shirky
by Barry Wellman 27 Jan '04

27 Jan '04

Clary Shirky has a nice essay on the Howard Dean and Iowa situation, that fits nicely with what Chuck Tilly and I have posted here in complementary ways: http://www.corante.com/many/archives/2004/01/26/is_social_software_bad_for_… Barry _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________

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Re: qual and quant
by Douglas Galbi 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Charles Tilly: >we have reason to believe that a) unmediated person to >person connections still play crucial parts in the bulk of >transnational social movement organizing "Mark D. Johns" <johnsmar(a)luther.edu>: >Would that I had said it so succinctly. My point concerning my caucus >experience exactly. This seems to be a more general aspect of communication activity. Consider, for example, that in the century following the Norman Conquest of England in 1066, almost all persons in England changed personal given names from Anglo-Saxons names to Norman names. Unmediated person-to-person connections were the driving force for this rapid change in personal names. Moreover, based on a measure of change in name distribution, the communication of names in the century subsequent to the Norman Conquest of England in 1066 is comparable to the communication of names across twentieth century England and Wales. For data and discussion, see pp. 34-9 of Galbi, "A New Account of Personalization and Effective Communication," at www.galbithink.org Douglas Galbi

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Fwd: [MMC] New Journal: International Journal of Web Services Research
by Irene Berkowitz 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

FYI - Thought you might find this interesting. Irene Berkowitz Director Curricular Publications Office of the Vice Provost Temple University tel. 215-204-7596 fax. 215-204 3175 berkowitz(a)mail.temple.edu

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Re: qual and quant (fwd)
by Irene Berkowitz 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Barry, Could you have him either send the papers or the URL's? thanks, IB Irene Berkowitz Director Curricular Publications Office of the Vice Provost Temple University tel. 215-204-7596 fax. 215-204 3175 berkowitz(a)mail.temple.edu >>> wellman(a)chass.utoronto.ca 01/25/2004 5:01:24 PM >>> As Charles Tilly didn't have access to the list, he asked me to forward for him. My pleasure. FWIW, I think his point complements mine, rather than replacing it. Barry Wellman ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 25 Jan 2004 16:39:07 -0500 From: Charles Tilly <ct135(a)columbia.edu> To: Barry Wellman <wellman(a)chass.utoronto.ca> Cc: aoir list <air-l(a)aoir.org>, communication and information technology section asa <citasa(a)mit.edu> Subject: Re: qual and quant You're opening up a question of broad significance, but quantitative vs. qualitative understates the problem. People at the leading edge of a technology and/or at the center of a communications network have different experiences and form different impressions from those located elsewhere. In the study of transnational social movement organizing by such experts as Lance Bennett, for example, new developments in electronic coordination receive great attention. But we have reason to believe that a) unmediated person to person connections still play crucial parts in the bulk of transnational social movement organizing and b) if those connections do shrivel, social movements will lose some of their longer-term impact on local, regional, and national politics in favor of wavelike short-term mobilizations. I have in circulation papers on the two subjects -- quantitative vs. qualitative and 21st century social movements that I'll be glad to send electronically. Chuck Charles Tilly Joseph L. Buttenwieser Professor of Social Science, Columbia University Office 514 Fayerweather Hall, letters and packages 413 Fayerweather Hall, Mail Code 2552, Columbia University, New York 10027-7001, USA telephone 212 854 2345, fax 212 854 2963, electronic ct135(a)columbia.edu Barry Wellman wrote: > Dear Friends and Colleagues, > >[snip] > I think the reason that immersive virtual communities have been so > prominent in the media and in analysts' eyes is that they are so imageable > and so amenable to study by qualitative means. I am thinking here of > really fine stuff such as Nancy Baym's soap opera study and Lori Kendall's > Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub. OTOH, quant. survey stuff is better at > placing prevalence in perspective, even though it is much harder to tell a > good story about it. > > I am not taking sides on qual-quant debate (which, being bi-, I find > tiresome), but on the different outcomes in public and scholarly discourse > of the different forms of research. Obviously, we need both. > > Barry > _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Internet Research Conference deadline for papers
by K.S.O-Riordan＠sussex.ac.uk 26 Jan '04

26 Jan '04

Could I please ask everyone to distribute this call for papers to people within your own institutions, organisations and communities as well as circulating this on other lists? The deadline for submission is coming up and the full call for papers is here: www.sussex.ac.uk/cce/aoir/ Many thanks Dr. Kate O'Riordan Lecturer in Continuing Education (Media Studies) Centre for Continuing Education Sussex Institute Essex House University of Sussex Falmer Brighton BN1 9QQ Tel: 01273 877774 Email: k.s.o-riordan(a)sussex.ac.uk Web: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Users/qlff7

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Re: [Air-l] Re: qual and quant (fwd)
by Mark D. Johns 25 Jan '04

25 Jan '04

At 05:01 PM 1/25/2004 -0500, you wrote: >we have reason to believe that a) unmediated person to >person connections still play crucial parts in the bulk of transnational >social movement organizing Would that I had said it so succinctly. My point concerning my caucus experience exactly. ------ 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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