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

Re: [Air-l] Protection against unethical practices in search engine optimization?
by noci 08 Oct '04

08 Oct '04

hey carmen & all others, first of all, good last post of yours! couldn't have summed it up better myself, as i work in the same field and yes, i sometimes have a hard time distancing myself from scammers and spammers as our field of work is brimming with such folks, unfortunately-- now to get stuff back on track again---: you said.. "For example, a business hires a SEO (search engine optimization) company for a 3 months contract. The company performs optimization so that it has complete control over it. ----- any business owner handing over "complete control" is simply naive and acts completely irrational. customers sometimes want to hand over responsibility to you as a contractor so they can avoid making any effort themselves in the process. not actively involving the customer is a grave mistake in my opinion. "This means it can turn the results off with a click if the business has any intention of getting out of the contract at the end of 3 months." ------ again, who would risk losing control?? i've never ever heard of such behaviour, client-side that is. "This is in my book highly unethical. There is a severe lack of information in this area to educate business owners and help them make a wise decision." ------ common sense? "don't allow strangers to mess with your site uncontrolled"- sounds wise? another remark-- if you do a good job in the optimization process, you've helped the customer out in any case- even if his SE rankings don't improve dramatically. then again, knowing your chances and actually saying "well, i can't help you with your keyword range because [i.e.] on Google, that market is clogged" should be common business practice. too bad it isn't. regards, maxd

1 0

AoIR conference venues
by Philipp Budka 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Dear AoIR list members, I am participating on the list for about three years. In this period the AoIR conference took place in the Netherlands (2002), in Canada (2003), in England (2004) and will take place in the US (2005). These venues have at least two things in common: they are all countries of the north, and, apart from Holland, they are all English speaking countries. I can imagine that it is very hard to find a conference venue with the proper infrastructure, academic and financial background, etc. But wouldn't it be real international to look at Asia, Southeast Europe or Latin America for conference venues. I would love to attend an AoIR conference in Sao Paulo, Cairo or Budapest. I am sure this would send real international signals to the global internet interested community. Greetings from Vienna, Philipp -- Philipp Budka philbu(a)gmx.net Rustengasse 5/10 A-1150 Wien, Austria http://www.philbu.net http://www.lateinamerika-studien.at -- GMX ProMail mit bestem Virenschutz http://www.gmx.net/de/go/mail +++ Empfehlung der Redaktion +++ Internet Professionell 10/04 +++

12 16

Survey software
by David Brake 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

I did a little research recently about survey software that is free (or free for academics) and posted the results on my weblog here: http://blog.org/archives/001183.html -- David Brake, PhD researcher in Media and Communications, London School of Economics & Political Science <http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/study/mPhilPhDMediaAndCommunicat…> Also see http://davidbrake.org/ (home page) and http://blog.org/ (weblog) Author of Dealing With E-Mail - <http://davidbrake.org/dealingwithemail/> gives ordering info

2 1

deadline approaching: Melon Fellowship at Penn
by Ed Lamoureux 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

I believe Oct. 15 is the deadline for this application. Just in case anyone on the two lists (NMC and Aior) missed the announcement, a reminder: http://humanities.sas.upenn.edu/topics05.htm Penn Humanities Forum Andrew W. Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities Call for Applications, 2005–2006 Five (5) one-year residential Mellon Postdoctoral Fellowships are available for untenured scholars who received or will receive their Ph.D. between December 1996 and December 2004. (You must have your degree in hand no later than December 2004 to be eligible.) The fellowship is open to all scholars, national and international, who meet application criteria. The fellowship stipend is $42,000, plus health insurance. The programs of the Penn Humanities Forum are conceived through yearly topics that invite broad interdisciplinary collaboration. We have set Word and Image as the theme for the 2005–2006 academic year. Research proposals are invited on this topic in all areas of humanistic study, except educational curriculum-building and the performing arts. Fellows teach one freshman seminar each of two terms in addition to conducting their research. Word and Image 2005–2006 Topic Director: Catriona MacLeod Associate Professor and Undergraduate Chair of German "Mixed media" culture has changed from a novelty to the norm in our day. University disciplines struggle to justify their borders. Small children outperform their media-challenged parents. The Internet, films, television, advertising, video games, and high-art hybrids (installations, performance art) demand an ever-increasing ability to decode interactions between words and images. Under the circumstances, this would seem an opportune moment to investigate the word-and-image relation. First, we must recognize that it has a past. Indeed, the connection between the verbal and visual has been fundamental to the history of several humanistic disciplines. We might revisit the ancient yet pressing debate about the respective abilities of words and images to represent. From the Renaissance “paragone” or competition among the rival arts, to the eighteenth-century “sister arts,” to Romantic ideals of synthesis and recombination, the word-image relationship has been a continuous theme of literary and art historical thought. How words and images represent and whether they enjoy a harmonious kinship, engage in border skirmishes, or seek to annihilate one another, are not merely formal matters. The history of iconoclasm alone tells us about the ideological stakes in the debate. The emotion and loyalties involved in the process of memorialization— notably, after the World Trade Center disaster—seem to demand multi-media expression. And the word-image opposition is linked to other strongly ideological binaries: masculinity versus femininity, time versus space, abstraction versus materiality, art versus nature. Our inquiry must also encompass new technologies for meshing words and images. For example, the verbal “crawler” at the bottom of the television screen occupies the same visual field as the visual footage of an entirely different news story. Here broadcast news demands that we make simultaneous sense of discontinuous media. The new information resources available via the Internet and in software applications present us with constantly mutating layerings of words and pictures. Do such media images act as supplements or “illustrations” to words, or vice versa? What relation lies between word and image, what are its claims, and how does it insert itself into our consciousness? Much contemporary art explicitly refuses traditional classification and explores intersections between media: for example, land art, installation art, video art, or (a recently coined term) “word-and-image art.” In current literature, to cite only one example, the fiction of W. G. Sebald has attracted critical attention for its interweaving of narrative and photography. Our current preoccupation with hybrid forms could helpfully be historicized: what do they have in common with the illuminated manuscript, the emblem book, the cartoon, the comic strip, or film? How has the visual entered literary genres, how have words and texts changed the way we view and “read” art—historically, or in the present? With this broad view in mind, the Penn Humanities Forum invites applications from interested scholars in all humanistic disciplines as well as Political Science, Anthropology, History of Science, Architecture, Design, and Communications. Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D. Director, Multimedia Program and New Media Center Associate Professor, Speech Communication 1501 W. Bradley Bradley University Peoria IL 61625 309-677-2378 http://hilltop.bradley.edu/~ell http://gcc.bradley.edu/mm/

1 0

Re: [Air-l] Protection against unethical practices in searchengineoptimization?
by Lee Salter 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

"I'd hate to think what you think of advertising, direct mail and mail order agencies, then" Erm is this a bait? Obviously advertising of any sort is just one step more unethical than the exploitative processes under which things are produced in the first place. That is, the problem of advertising is not just in the methods of manipulation (well, lying) that it employs (in less dishonest times, "advertising" was actually called "propaganda", until people realised saw its implications very clearly - even Berneys called his work propaganda), but that it mentions nothing about the production of the products it refers to. As for search engine optimisation, well, that too. Lee Salter Lecturer in Media, Communications & Journalism Edge Hill College, St Helen's Road Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP Email: salterl(a)edgehill.ac.uk Tel: 01695 584374 ----------------------------------------------------- This email and any attachments are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom it is addressed. Any views or opinions presented are solely those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of Edge Hill or associated companies. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender as soon as possible and delete it and all copies of it. You must not, directly or indirectly, use, disclose, distribute, print, or copy any part of this message if you are not the intended recipient. The message content of in-coming emails is automatically scanned to identify Spam and viruses otherwise Edge Hill do not actively monitor content. However, sometimes it will be necessary for Edge Hill to access business communications during staff absence. Edge Hill has taken steps to ensure that this email and any attachments are virus free. However, it is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that it is virus free and no responsibility is accepted by Edge Hill for any loss or damage arising in any way from its use. <<<<EdgeHill>>>>

2 1

CSCW 2004 Early Registration Deadline Approaching
by Reddy, Madhu 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

[Apologies for Cross-posting] Dear Colleague, The deadline for early registration for the ACM 2004 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work is Wednesday, October 13. Please register before this date to take advantage of the discounted conference rates. You can register at http://www.regmaster.com/cscw2004.html. The conference will be held at the Hilton Chicago in Chicago, IL between November 6-10. You can make reservations on-line at our conference hotel by visiting http://www.acm.org/cscw2004/accommodations.html. There are only a limited number of rooms at the conference rate so please make your reservations as soon as possible. The detailed conference program is now on line at http://www.acm.org/cscw2004. If you have any questions or comments, please do not hesitate to contact us at cscw2004-info(a)acm.org. We look forward to seeing you in Chicago! CSCW 2004 Co-Chairs Gary Olson and Jim Herbsleb CSCW 2004 Publicity Chair Madhu Reddy

3 2

world internet users in 2017
by Philipp Budka 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Hi, I came across an interesting animated map about the world internet users (with a prediction to the year 2017): http://www.globalab.org/eng/ It's worth looking at it. Cheers, Philipp -- Philipp Budka philbu(a)gmx.net Rustengasse 5/10 A-1150 Wien, Austria http://www.philbu.net http://www.lateinamerika-studien.at -- GMX ProMail mit bestem Virenschutz http://www.gmx.net/de/go/mail +++ Empfehlung der Redaktion +++ Internet Professionell 10/04 +++

2 1

Hungarian and others
by J. J. 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

About 10% of the world's population has access to the Internet but 97% of web sites are designed in English. If you need reference for these statistics let me know but unless we recognize the importance and validity of other languages in cyberspace, we can find ourselves on the receiving end of the global spectrum. If anything, we should encourage research and scholarly contribution in other, lesser known (to the English-speaking world) languages. Jarek Santiago Canyon College Orange, California _________________________________________________________________ On the road to retirement? Check out MSN Life Events for advice on how to get there! http://lifeevents.msn.com/category.aspx?cid=Retirement

7 6

ethics and Marx
by J. J. 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

The bickering about who is a crook and who isnt is deeply rooted in Western tradition: The bourgeoisie, wherever it has got the upper hand, has put an end to all feudal, patriarchal, idyllic relations. It has pitilessly torn asunder the motley feudal ties that bound man to his "natural superiors", and has left no other nexus between man and man than naked self-interest, than callous "cash payment". It has drowned out the most heavenly ecstasies of religious fervour, of chivalrous enthusiasm, of philistine sentimentalism, in the icy water of egotistical calculation. It has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of the numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom Free Trade. In one word, for exploitation, veiled by religious and political illusions, it has substituted naked, shameless, direct, brutal exploitation. The bourgeoisie has stripped of its halo every occupation hitherto honored and looked up to with reverent awe. It has converted the physician, the lawyer, the priest, the poet, the man of science, into its paid wage laborers. The bourgeoisie has torn away from the family its sentimental veil, and has reduced the family relation into a mere money relation. Marx, Communist Manifesto (1848) http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch01.htm Jarek >From: elijah wright <elw(a)stderr.org> >Reply-To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org >To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org >Subject: Re: [Air-l] Protection against unethical practices insearchengineoptimization? >Date: Thu, 7 Oct 2004 11:41:12 -0500 (CDT) > > >>>they're crooks, nuisances, and annoyances. :) >>>i assume that next you are going to suggest that spammers are just >>>hardworking legitimate businessmen. >> >>You're labeling me without right to appeal. Just because I work in >>search >>engine optimisation doesn't mean I spam and/or support spamming. >>Your mind >>is obviously set and I'm not going to get involved in a ALL SEO = >>spam >>debate which would interest nobody on this list. Please email >>privately if >>you wish to do so. > >you're free to explain how (and why) SE optimization isn't a bit of >crookery or algorithmic deception - and, in fact, i'd strongly >prefer that you do so on the list rather than taking it to private >email. [which actually makes you look, rhetorically, as if you >don't have a set of valid defenses, rather than making you look more >'polite'.] > >a number of folks on the list might find your explanation useful and >instructive. > >--elijah >_______________________________________________ >Air-l-aoir.org mailing list >Air-l-aoir.org(a)listserv.aoir.org >http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org _________________________________________________________________ Dont just search. Find. Check out the new MSN Search! http://search.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200636ave/direct/01/

1 0

Contact
by Dianne Looker 07 Oct '04

07 Oct '04

Hi Monica, As you may or may not have noticed, I was unable to attend the AoIR conference - I strained my back a week or so before the conference and was advised by my doctor not to fly anywhere! That was disappointing as I was hoping to connect with you and others. Ah ewll, maybe next year. Hope all is well with you, Dianne Professor Of Sociology Acadia University Wolfville, N.S. Canada B4P 2R6 Phone: (902) 585-1257 Fax: (902) 585-1769 -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces(a)aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@aoir.org] On Behalf Of mwhitty Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 11:06 AM To: 'Association of Internet Researchers' Subject: RE: [Air-l] Contact Hi Dianne, Actually did intend to send to whole list in case anyone else wanted to know about the program. Would love to connect and talk more about your project -- is there anyone else on the team going to AOIR as well? Monica Hi there, Since you sent your query to the whole AoIR list, I got to see it. I will be there - hopefully we can connect and talk about my research in more detail than you are getting from the e-mails we send to collaborators. Cheers, Dianne Looker Professor Of Sociology Acadia University Wolfville, N.S. Canada B4P 2R6 Phone: (902) 585-1257 Fax: (902) 585-1769 -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces(a)aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@aoir.org] On Behalf Of mwhitty Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2004 10:57 AM To: 'Association of Internet Researchers' Subject: RE: [Air-l] AoIR conference registration now open! Hi Kate, Is the full programme up now (or did I miss it?). Not sure if others would find it useful too; however, I would find it helpful to know what date I'm presenting so that I can work out what days to register for and book my trip. Regards, Monica Dr. Monica Whitty Queen's University Belfast School of Psychology David Keir Building Northern Ireland BT7 1NN Phone: +44 (0)28 9097 5654 Email: m.whitty(a)qub.ac.uk http://www.psych.qub.ac.uk/staff/whitty.html -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces(a)aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@aoir.org] On Behalf Of Kathleen O'Riordan Sent: 24 June 2004 12:40 To: Association of Internet Researchers Cc: air-meet(a)aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] AoIR conference registration now open! Dear Colleagues The registration for Internet Research 5.0, the 2004 AoIR conference, is now open. Please register via the 'Conference' page of the web site: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cce/aoir/ or www.aoir.org/2004 We extend a very warm welcome to participants in the AoIR conference and hope to see as many of you as possible there! Apologies for the delay in offering this service, as you will notice we still have a technical issue with the web form, in the interests of expedience, registration is via PDF in the interim. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. Regards Kate O'Riordan Please distribute this notice. _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

1 0