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

list rejections
by jeremy hunsinger 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Some of you may have recently experienced that your mail to air-l has been rejected or held by the moderators. Due to the recent upswing in viruses and spam, we've added filters to the system to capture and hold all mime or otherwise encoded mail. We are currently only automatically allowing plain text messages through the system, everything else is being held or rejected, either manually or automatically. We are also automatically rejecting almost all emails with the subject line similar to the last round of virus's, such as Subject: Hi, Subject: Hello, etc. We have for the last two years rejected on certain forms of subject and headers for spam and virus reasons, so some of you will have experienced this before. if you have questions, feel free to send them to suggestions(a)aoir.org Thanks, Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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Query - How many mailing lists
by Jonathan Marshall 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 most recent figures I've got are from April 1997 estimating the number of lists, from the Liszt directory, at 71,618. Liszt seems to have commercial since then - possibly being a spam site, and I can't find anything more recent. Obviously the total number of active lists is more interesting than the total number of lists, but i'll take anything at the moment :) 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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4 new papers on opensource.mit.edu
by Karim R. Lakhani 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

Hi ALl, I have posted the following papers on the opensource.mit.edu website. Thanks Karim Paper 1 Authors: Baldwin, Carliss & Kim Clark Title: The Architecture of Cooperation: How Code Architecture Mitigates Free Riding in the Open Source Development Model http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/baldwinclark.pdf Abstract: We argue that the architecture of a codebase is a critical factor that lies at the heart of the open source development process. To support this argument, we define two observable properties of an architecture: (1) its modularity and (2) its option values. Developers can make informed judgments about modularity and option value from early code releases. Their judgments in turn will influence their decisions to work and to contribute their code back to the community. We go on to suggest that the core of the open source development process can be thought of as two linked games played within a codebase architecture. The first game involves the implicit exchange of effort directed at the modules and option values of a codebase; the second is a Prisoners' Dilemma game triggered by the irreducible costs of communicating. The implicit exchange of effort among developers is made possible by the the non-rivalrous nature of the codebase and by the modularity and option values of the codebase's architecture. This exchange creates value for all participants, both workers and free-riders. In contrast, the Prisoners' Dilemma is a problem that must be surmounted if the exchanges are to take place. It can be addressed through a combination of reducing the costs of communication, providing rewards, and encouraging repeated interactions. Finally, the initial design and "opening up" of a codebase can be seen as a rational move by an architect who is seeking to test the environment in hopes of initiating exchanges of effort with other developers. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paper 2: Authors: Crowston, Kevin, Annabi, Hala, & Howison, James Title: Defining Open Source Software Project Success http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/crowstonannabihowison.pdf Abstract: Information systems success is one of the most widely used dependent variables in information systems research. In this paper, we identify a range of measures that can be used to assess the success of open source software (OSS) projects. We identify measures based on a review of the literature, a consideration of the OSS development process and an analysis of the opinions of OSS developers. For each measure, we provide examples of how they might be used in a study of OSS development. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Paper 3 Author: Reagle, Joseph Title: Socialization in Open Technical Communities http://reagle.org/joseph/2003/socialization/voluntary.html Abstract: While many definitions of openness focus on the character and licenses of the software products, relatively few directly address the character of the social organization that develops those products. This essay offers a definition of openness and considers how that characteristic affects the recruitment and socialization of newcomers to such organizations. The relevance of socialization is clear when one consider the growth of on-line communities, and precariousness of membership in voluntary organizations. I then suggest that "forking," a split of the communities, is integral to the definition of openness and a possible vector of communicating social norms between communities, and that a significant difference between open technical communities and some other open/voluntary communities is the internal orientation of status seeking within the community. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Authors: Bauer, Andreas & Markus Pizka Title: The Contribution of Free Software to Software Evolution http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/bauerpizka.pdf Abstract: It is remarkable to think that even without any interest in finding suitable methods and concepts that would allow complex software systems to evolve and remain manageable, the ever growing open source movement has silently managed to establish highly successful evolution techniques over the last two decades. These concepts represent best practices that could be applied equally to a number of today’s most crucial problems concerning the evolution of complex commercial software systems. In this paper, the authors state and explain some of these principles from the perspective of experienced open source developers, and give the rationale as to why the highly dynamic free software development process, as a whole, is entangled with constantly growing code bases and changing project sizes, and how it deals with these successfully. -- =============================================== Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan School of Management & The Boston Consulting Group, Strategy Practice Initiative e-mail: karim.lakhani(a)sloan.mit.edu | lakhani.karim(a)bcg.com mobile: 617-851-1224 http://spoudaiospaizen.net/ | http://web.mit.edu/lakhani/www http://opensource.mit.edu | http://userinnovation.mit.edu

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

02 Feb '04

Art McGee <amcgee(a)virtualidentity.org> writes > > It also indicates that poltics is a major way that people > > interpret the responses of others when engaged in online > > discussions, and that we cannot be free of offline > > categories that easily. > > "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." > --Peter Steiner > New Yorker Magazine > July 1993 > > > "What's wrong with being a dog?" > --Art McGee > Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference > March 1995 Nothing :) I'm agreeing with you. I'm just saying we can't be free of those categories, this is not meant. to imply we *should* be free of categories. I think that would perhaps leave us without language or identity. I'd much rather people acknowledged the effect that these categories have on the way they interpret others online, than to pretend they don't exist. 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. At the moment my research focuses on gender, but the other two categories keep sneaking in and i'm going to have to generalise, or at least learn something about them - no suprise huh? 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] Re: Best practices in e-learning?
by Marj Kibby 02 Feb '04

02 Feb '04

My WBT & OLL web site http://www.newcastle.edu.au/discipline/sociol-anthrop/staff/kibbymarj/onlin… I've been teaching 'Cyberculture' online since 1996, if there is anything you'd like to chat about. Cheers, Marj Dr Marjorie Kibby, Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia Marj.Kibby(a)newcastle.edu.au +61 2 49216604

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

02 Feb '04

> It also indicates that poltics is a major way that people > interpret the responses of others when engaged in online > discussions, and that we cannot be free of offline > categories that easily. "On the Internet, nobody knows you're a dog." --Peter Steiner New Yorker Magazine July 1993 "What's wrong with being a dog?" --Art McGee Computers, Freedom, and Privacy Conference March 1995

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Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies?
by Art McGee 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

> I learn something new from this list all the time. > > Reading the digest today, I learned that Capitalism is > basically responsible for media lies. > > Which I guess excludes socialism, fascism, theocracies, > authorianism, etc. And this clown is a professor? That's the most idiotic and duplicitous branching of logic I've ever seen from someone supposedly past undergrad. Now I understand why the field of CyberSociolology is so damn elitist and off-track, if people like this are considered respected members. As others have already pointed out, in the context of the United States of America, which is what we were talking about, Capitalism, the all-consuming imperative for profit, perverts, distorts, and basically undermines at every point the attempt to have a truly democratic media system. This is simply a fact. It doesn't mean that in other contexts there aren't other reasons for media lies and distortions, but here, Capitalism (and for that matter Patriarchy and White Supremacy) is the primary barrier. Art

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RE Best practices in e-learning
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

Michelle Kazmer and I have just completed an edited book on research and practice in online education "Learning, Culture and Community: Multiple Perspectives and Practices in Online Education" It is largely framed around the "LEEP" distance program in the Grad. School of Library and Information Science at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The book covers both research approaches to online education as well as chapters on best practices. I am glad to report that it also contains a chapter by Nick Burbules whose book Daniel Menchik recommends. The table of contents is available here http://www.lis.uiuc.edu/~haythorn/LCC_ToC.html and the book should be available by Fall 2004. You can contact me offlist if you'd like further info about the book. /Caroline ---- Caroline Haythornthwaite GSLIS, UIUC > >>From: "Monica Murero" <murero(a)eircom.net> > >To: <air-l(a)aoir.org> > Date: Thu, 29 Jan 2004 12:03:41 -0000 > Subject: [Air-l] Best practices in e-learning? > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > Dear AoIR's, dear friends, > I am working on a new project to develop an e-learning > graduate course in the area of digital culture and communication. > > I am gathering information and I will greatly appreciate > your suggestions about best practices available > around the globe and/or distinguished teachers using this > approach (job opportunities will be available). > Thanks in advance for your toughts, > > Monica > > >

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Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies?
by HERNANDO ROJAS 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

> And this clown is a professor? That's the most idiotic... > ... Capitalism, the all-consuming imperative for profit, > perverts, distorts, and basically undermines at every point > the attempt to have a truly democratic media system. This > is simply a fact. > Art Bringing political discussion to the list seems appropriate, particularly if it is based on research or theory. However, I don't see how name calling, or the assumption that there are facts that simply cannot be discussed, contribute to the "attempt to have a truly democratic media system." Hernando Rojas University of Wisconsin - Madison

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Re: [Air-l] capitalism always lies ?
by Jonathan Marshall 01 Feb '04

01 Feb '04

Barry Wellman <wellman(a)chass.utoronto.ca> wrote: > I learn something new from this list all the time. > > Reading the digest today, I learned that Capitalism is basically > responsible for media lies. > > Which I guess excludes socialism, fascism, theocracies, > authorianism, etc. At the risk of repeating others. No one, as far as i can see, argued that: "Only capitalism produces Media Lies" In which case the objection might have validity. but in general if A=> B Then C=> B is not a refutation. I am not sure at all that the internet can be studied, as *might* be being implied here, without reference to the society it is largely embedded within, and that society's main organisation of power - which surely includes corporate capitalism and a corporate controlled and organised mass media. (We might add a largely corporately run and dominated Internet while we are at it, but i'll stay conservative and leave that out :) Within the context of the immeadiate discussion, the question remains whether dean's campaign has been 'derailed' by the exercise of power, or whatever, which is not primarily based in the Internet but elsewhere. Thus, while he could do things which may not have been possible without the net, this is not sufficient to counter other factors, one of which might be the power of the media to disseminate another line. There might be other factors as well - the sequential organisation of the primaries being one of them. These are areas for research surely? It also indicates that poltics is a major way that people interpret the responses of others when engaged in online discussions, and that we cannot be free of offline categories that easily. They might even take on a greater importance than they do offline, because online we only have cliches to resolve the essential ambiguity of language, and partly because we tend to have fairly simple, non-complex, ties with each other which might lead to us looking for more complex interpretations. 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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