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

RE: [Air-l] AoIR list and professional courtesy
by salterl 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

Yes professional courtesy would be a good idea. However, it seems that not all were courteous to Art when he made his comments about the nature of capitalism. Many responses refused to deal with hios proposition fairly and might even be said to have rubbished it. If people don't want to discuss something, then you don't have to. If, however, attempts are made to belittle a discussion because it is frowned upon to bite the teets that feed us, then this is clearly uncivic. >===== Original Message From air-l(a)aoir.org ===== >I have been holding my anger back, but I am getting tired of AoIR >becoming a listserve of inflated egos and the most egregious forms of >rudeness. I would humbly request that from now on, we make some sort of >"civic pledge" to not dismiss people who disagree with us as "clowns" >and try to keep the list on topic. > >Art McGee says: > >>I'm so glad those folks are all gone now. That was >> a truly sad time in cyberspace history. I hope they were able >> to get some help. A mind is terrible thing to waste, you know. >> >> >> Art >> > >Yes, it is a terrible thing to have a listserve where not everyone >agrees with your own construction of reality. Much better to dismiss >everyone who disagrees you as a "clown" (Art's description of Barry >Wellman), and get them off our mailing lists. > >Randolph Kluver >School of Communication and Information >Nanyang Technological University >31 Nanyang Link >Singapore, 637718 >(65) 6790-5770 >Fax (65) 6792-4329 >"Aude aliquid dignum." > > >_______________________________________________ >Air-l mailing list >Air-l(a)aoir.org >http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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first post
by Eero Tarik 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

hi, I am a middle aged student, currently tangling with the Curtin University BA(Internet Studies) course and studying online - so my classroom is an online discussion board and my class mates spread Australia wide. It appears that the majority of my fellow students are older than I am so I suspect we are not the average university class :-) After reading a years worth of the archives for this list I thought I would relate the experiences of my odd group to those interested in our ongoing academic battle. A curious thing has happened in our class.... 50% of the class firmly believe that the internet is a magnificent communications tool, but refuse to believe the romantic hallucination that there is a cyberspace, we have been labelled the "nocyberspacers". 20% of the class firmly believe there is a cyberspace and the other 30% drift in between the two groups. It has made for some very interesting discussions, especially given that our lecturer is also of the "there is a cyberspace" camp. Discussion levels in this class are three times the level of discussions in my other two classes - it has been a lively debate !! In reading articles from this list and from other academic areas I have noted that there are some who don't go along with the general cyberspace idea but that the thrust of academia appears to be heavily pro cyberspace. I am interested in the thoughts of those in either camp on this issue. And what do I believe??? I suspect that there are a group of people who entered this field in the preWeb era who, generally, saw the internet as some kind of saviour that would create a benevolent global community and cure humankind of all its ills, and in this text only dawn they got a little carried away. These people are the driving force behind all these notions of virtual realities, cyber communities and cyberspace and want to believe that the internet has changed, or will change, human society. These people also tend to be overly concerned about privacy issues and the intrusion of government into their "playground". Then there are the "no cyberspacers" who see the internet in a less romantic manner. These people will tend to be from the Web era, they see the internet as a tool that enhances an individuals life in the same way that the phone, or car or electricity enhance our lives. They see the internet as something to be used, not something that will change human society. They don't expect the internet to bring about political or social reform and tend to be aware that the internet is used by a small part of human society and that it is a rich mans tool. For my first web article, "There is no cyberspace, Mr Barlow", which summarises my views on this subject.... http://www.tarik.com.au/university/ETbarlow.html I look forward to your views on this topic. Since this is my first post, you will of course be gentle with me :-) see ya, Eero Tarik (aka ET) Adelaide, South Australia

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AoIR list and professional courtesy
by Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof) 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

I have been holding my anger back, but I am getting tired of AoIR becoming a listserve of inflated egos and the most egregious forms of rudeness. I would humbly request that from now on, we make some sort of "civic pledge" to not dismiss people who disagree with us as "clowns" and try to keep the list on topic. Art McGee says: >I'm so glad those folks are all gone now. That was > a truly sad time in cyberspace history. I hope they were able > to get some help. A mind is terrible thing to waste, you know. > > > Art > Yes, it is a terrible thing to have a listserve where not everyone agrees with your own construction of reality. Much better to dismiss everyone who disagrees you as a "clown" (Art's description of Barry Wellman), and get them off our mailing lists. Randolph Kluver School of Communication and Information Nanyang Technological University 31 Nanyang Link Singapore, 637718 (65) 6790-5770 Fax (65) 6792-4329 "Aude aliquid dignum."

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Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies?
by Jonathan Marshall 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Sorry Art, despite having been doing Internet research since 1994, I've only been on this list a week, so I don't have any 'standing' with anyone at all, ironic or not :) jon ----- Original Message ----- From: Art McGee <amcgee(a)virtualidentity.org> Date: Tuesday, February 3, 2004 1:03 pm Subject: Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies? > > Politics, gender, race, (no evaluative order intended > > here), seem to be amongst the major factors influencing > > the ways that people interpret others and react to others > > online. > > Thank you. I'm so glad we're on the same page. I know that > more learned scholars such as the folks in AOIR always knew > that, but there was a time, a very frightening and scary > time, when a certain cliquish set of privileged "white" > people were running around, writing articles in magazines > like Wired and Mondo 2000, and claiming a utopian vision for > cyberspace that completely ignored and dismissed issues of > socially constructed race and ethnic identity and their > effect in and on cyberculture and virtual identities. > Thanks to the cyberfeminists, issues of gender began to be > interrogated and discussed with much more frequency, but > "race" (along with class) was *always* left out of the > equation. I'm so glad those folks are all gone now. That > was a truly sad time in cyberspace history. I hope they > were able to get some help. A mind is terrible thing to > waste, you know. > > > Art > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. ========================================================================

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Re: [Air-l] Query - How many mailing lists
by Jonathan Marshall 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Thank you to everyone who offered help with this question. I now see it was far more complex than I had thought :) Not surprising really. If I get any figures from some of the methods suggested I will post them back to the list. Thanks! jon UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. ========================================================================

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Re: [Air-l] Query - How many mailing lists
by Art McGee 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

> I wonder if anyone could help me uncover the number of > mailing lists there might be in the world? The trick to this question is that in addition to public lists that are hosted on systems such as YahooGroups, or legacy university Listserv lists held over from BITnet, there are an ever increasing number of lists that are hosted on organizational and personal servers, which fly underneath the casual research radar, and there are an incredible number of newsletters and notification systems, like GetActive, that don't fit the classic list definition. The other trick is being able to recognize and know rebranded products. DGroups, which serves international NGOs, is a customized version of Lyris. Lyris has a huge customer base in the NGO sector, apart from their corporate contracts. Also, there is still a HUGE installed base of majordomo 1.x systems, even though the software is out of date and inadequate for most modern mailing list needs. Inertia keeps them going. Mailman, a Free/Open Source mailing list manager, is probably the most popular software program for those setting up lists on their own servers. Also, most ISPs who give you a selection of services for a flat monthly fee include the ability to setup Mailman lists as one of the built-in features of an account. Finally, there are also a bunch of lists running on less popular or more specialized software that are hard to find, which used to be included in directories like Tile and Liszt but aren't anymore (listproc, ezmlm, etc.). Places where the majority of ad-supported lists are hosted: http://www.yahoogroups.com http://www.topica.com Most popular commercial list software packages/providers: http://www.listserv.com http://www.lyris.com Most popular non-commercial list software: http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman.html http://www.sympa.org http://www.greatcircle.com/majordomo/ Most popular newsletter management system: http://www.getactive.com Art

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Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies?
by Art McGee 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

> Politics, gender, race, (no evaluative order intended > here), seem to be amongst the major factors influencing > the ways that people interpret others and react to others > online. Thank you. I'm so glad we're on the same page. I know that more learned scholars such as the folks in AOIR always knew that, but there was a time, a very frightening and scary time, when a certain cliquish set of privileged "white" people were running around, writing articles in magazines like Wired and Mondo 2000, and claiming a utopian vision for cyberspace that completely ignored and dismissed issues of socially constructed race and ethnic identity and their effect in and on cyberculture and virtual identities. Thanks to the cyberfeminists, issues of gender began to be interrogated and discussed with much more frequency, but "race" (along with class) was *always* left out of the equation. I'm so glad those folks are all gone now. That was a truly sad time in cyberspace history. I hope they were able to get some help. A mind is terrible thing to waste, you know. Art

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Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies?
by Art McGee 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

> Art, any chance of adding to your list -- capitalism, > patriarchy, and white supremacy -- capitalism's twin > cousins: militarism and consumerism? Consumerism is a byproduct and subset of Capitalism. The creation of demand, where none previously existed, is a key feature of our modern economies. Why do you think kids are so confused: "The economy is looking good today as *consumer spending* is up....The stock market went up 100 points on news that *consumer spending* has increased..." Ever hear of the stock market going up on news of increased consumer savings? Ever hear that the economy is strong because people are saving money instead of buying depreciating crap? These days, you're made to feel guilty, like you're not properly contributing to the economy, if you aren't spending money. Militarism, on the other hand, is a bit more complex and more of an amalgamation of everything. Part of it is Patriarchal aggression, part of it is Capitalistic greed, and part of it is White Supremacist racism and imperialism. However, one thing I would say is that militarism is definitely not unique to the U.S., it's just that when we engage in it, we tend to inflict more collateral damage due to our size. However, Patriarchal aggression is something I would say undergirds militarism globally, no matter what country. If we could just kill off all the men in a figurative (not literal) sense, there would be far fewer wars and much less violence. The social construction of male identity is basically responsible for most of the world's death and suffering. Art

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EXTENSION OF CALL FOR PAPERS
by K.S.O-Riordan＠sussex.ac.uk 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Please distribute widely ------------------------------------ EXTENSION OF CALL FOR PAPERS: Internet Research **Submissions are now being accepted until the 15th of February 2004** Conference Site: http://aoir.org/2004 or http:// www.susex.ac.uk/cce/aoir The Association of Internet Researchers Conference will be held at the University of Sussex, Brighton, UK. September 19-22, 2004. The submission deadline has now been extended to the middle of this month. Take this extended opportunity to present your work and be involved in this exciting event, explore a wide range of international internet and digital media research, and visit the beautiful city of Brighton and Hove with its vibrant new media, arts and alternative cultures. Information about Brighton http://www.sussex.ac.uk/Units/publications/pgrad2004/1-1-7.html

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Digital Cultural Institutions Project - Summer 2004 Awards Competition
by dcip 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

::::: PLEASE CIRCULATE ::::: Digital Cultural Institutions Project - Summer 2004 Awards Competition Social Science Research Council The Social Science Research Council is pleased to announce a 2004 summer awards competition to support research on digital cultural institutions - institutions involved in aggregating digital cultural resources and developing models of access to them. About the Project The project will seek to integrate lines of research on a range of providers and mediators of cultural goods and services-from digital libraries and online museums to commercial online vendors of music and books, search engines and portals, open and collaborative knowledge archives, and peer-to-peer networks, among others. This includes consideration of the technical, architectural, and cross-institutional issues that shape aggregation and access, such as metadata standards and digital rights management. In so doing, the project will encourage a more comprehensive understanding of the emerging institutional landscape of digital culture and toward a clearer account of the choices we face as participants and stakeholders in that culture. The project will contribute to what is arguably the most important and most impoverished cultural conversation of our time: that of understanding the practical requirements of an equitable, creative, and sustainable digital cultural future, in the U.S. and across an increasingly global cultural network. Project activities in 2004 For 2004, the project will offer up to 10 awards of $5,000 to fund research over the summer. Eligibility The fellowship competition is open to advanced graduate and professional-degree students in any field, and to post-doctoral, faculty, and practitioner candidates within 7 years of their terminal degree. Applicants must be resident in the United States. There are no nationality restrictions. Applicants must be able to attend the project workshop, Sept. 23-25, 2004, at the University of California - San Diego. The SSRC will cover travel and accommodations. Selection Criteria (1) Consistency with the topics and goals described above. This implies a relatively broad definition of what constitutes an institution (e.g., search engines, portals, or standards bodies could qualify as institutional mediators of access), but a potentially narrower definition of what constitutes a cultural resource, focusing on aggregation and access to (and potentially collaborative production of) forms of expressive culture (writing, music, film/video, etc.). (2) Social scientific grounding. Although the fellowship is open to all fields, applicants must show how their projects yield generalizable social-scientific knowledge broadly construed, including engagement with existing lines of social and/or socio-technical research. Although applicant projects can include software development or other applied activities, the fellowships will be awarded on the basis of the social research outcomes likely to be derived from them. (3) Broader implications. Although we expect that many applications will focus on specific institutions, applicants should show how their projects contribute to understanding the broader conditions of access to digital cultural resources (whether technical, legal, or social). (4) Projects already underway. Due to the short time-horizon of this year's activities, projects will be preferred that are likely to result in publishable research findings by early 2005. Requirements of Award Recipients (1) Submission of a 2,000-3,000 word brief on the project by mid-August, including preliminary findings and larger questions posed about the institutional ecology of digital culture. These will support the project workshop and be published on the SSRC website. (2) Attendance at the project workshop (Sept. 23-25, 2004), UC-San Diego, travel and accommodations paid by the SSRC) (3) Interest in participation in an edited volume and other follow-up activities, to be discussed at the workshop. Application Procedures All application materials must be sent via email, with attached files, to dcip(a)ssrc.org Please make all materials available in one of the following electronic formats - MS Word (or Word compatible), Word Perfect, or RTF. Required materials for application: (1) Cover letter (please include email address) (2) Project Description (2000 words maximum, plus a 150 word abstract) (3) Curriculum Vitae (4) Pointers to or electronic copies of other published work (no more than two) Competition Schedule Applications due: March 5 Notification of awards: May 10 More Information Information about the Digital Cultural Institutions Project can be found online at www.ssrc.org/ccit/dcip/ . The project is part of the SSRC's Culture, Creativity, and Information Technology Program, www.ssrc.org/ccit/ . For fellowship questions or other project information, please contact us at dcip(a)ssrc.org or 212 377-2700 ext.606 Project Funders Funding is provided by the Culture and Creativity division of the Rockefeller Foundation.

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