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

re;INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PRESERVATION, CONSORTIUM
by et 25 Jun '04

25 Jun '04

thanks for posting this Jeremy. Finally, the most important issue in Internet Research cracks a mention ! In my opinion the two most critical innovations needed for the internet, from an internet researchers point of view, are 1. the need for complete recording and archiving of ALL webpages and 2. the need for the implementation of a royalty payment system for producers of small to medium sized websites. Looking at 1.... The Australian government has an internet archiving system - unfortunately this system is only interested in archiving selected websites owned by major organisations. Even the Internet Archive appears to only record medium to large websites and ignores small publishers and mum and dad sites.My sporting website was recorded by the Wayback Machine( poorly and infrequently) and is in the Alexandria Library archive, yet it is not in the Australian government archive. My wifes business website does not appear in any archive. There appears to be far too much inconsistency. The problem is that public servants and government bodies tend to be very elitist as we see in the Australian example where they are only interested in archiving the big boys. Yet it is a reality of the internet that often the best and most comprehensive information is not provided by official bodies but rather by enthusiastic individuals or groups. For example, in the sport of rugby union, the website of the official body in Australia is archived by the government. My website, which not only possessed a far greater range of information but was also the content provider for much of the official bodies site, was not recorded. By not recording every site the quality of the archive is far less than it might otherwise be. If one wants to find information about Style Sheets, they do not go to a university website, they go to a site run by a mad enthusiast who toils away for hours every week for free. If you want information about a sport or sports betting odds, often it is a private website that covers the subject in the most comprehensive manner. If you want to know about the latest Social Security rates or issues you would find more information at a private website than from a government body. In most areas of human endeavour, officialdom lags far behind the efforts of the individual or small groups. Even from the point of view of all the social researchers out there, I would imagine the resource that should be available from all the individual homepages is a huge treasure that should be retained, yet is being lost daily. I believe that every webpage, except for those who explicitly opt out, should be archived at least once a month by a global organisation with governments and large companies benefitting from the internet contributing to the cost of this exercise and with open public access. Anything less than this is not worth bothering with. Issue number 2 - as stated above I believe there should be a royalty system for those who operate small to medium websites based on the accesses to their website. Technically possible - I think so. Capable of being set up without excessive fraud - probably Of benefit to the internet's diversity - definitely. Without going into it too much, I see a fund being established which would make payments to individual operators of websites who achieve a minimum number of web page accesses per month, who do not carry advertising or offensive material, and with there being a ceiling of perhaps $1000 per month to any individual registered with the scheme. This would help keep many operators in the industry rather than fall away when life's responsibilities require them to spend more time earning real money. Just a few thoughts, regards Eero Tarik

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qualitative research pre-conference workshop announcement
by Annette Markham 25 Jun '04

25 Jun '04

>>> Announcement of Pre-Conference Workshop <<< >>> Qualitative Research Methods <<< AOIR 5.0 Internet Research Conference, Sussex, UK Saturday, September 18, 2004, 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS: This Pre-Conference workshop is designed to enable participants to work through common yet complex issues related to the qualitative study of Internet-related phenomena. At the workshop, five highly qualified but very different experts in the broad field of Internet Studies will lead discussion sessions. The topics of these sessions will be derived from the participants themselves, who will submit their questions a few weeks in advance of the workshop (see below for details). Broadly speaking, the focus of this workshop is the study of the Internet or ICT (rather than how to use internet-related technologies to facilitate traditional research). >>> Workshop Facilitators <<< Nancy Baym, Ph. D., University of Kansas, USA http://www.people.ku.edu/~nbaym/ Annette Markham, Ph. D., University of Illinois at Chicago, USA http://ascend.comm.uic.edu/~amarkham/ Christine Hine, Ph. D., University of Surrey, UK http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/christine_hine.htm Lori Kendall, Ph. D., SUNY, Purchase College http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9474.html Shani Orgad, Ph. D., London School of Economics, UK http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/s.s.orgad@lse.ac.uk/ >>> How to Participate <<< Participation is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Interested participants should register for this workshop as they register for the AOIR conference in general. http://aoir.org/2004/ >>> Rationale <<< Although many of us use the label "qualitative" to describe our methods, our choices and practices vary considerably due to differences in disciplinary training, experiences, theoretical frameworks and worldviews, the research questions we are asking, and the type of phenomena we're studying. Many disciplines and universities offer only limited, if any, training in qualitative research, particularly related to internet research. As a result, many Internet researchers remain unsure how to conduct or evaluate quality research in this area. The diverse scholars brought together for this pre-conference workshop will encourage a broader understanding of qualitative inquiry that may offer a fuller range of methodological choices for participants. >>> Submitting Questions <<< Each registered participant should submit one question he or she would like to have addressed during the workshop, accompanied by a brief explanation of the context within which his or her question is situated. Questions should be submitted by email no later than September 1, 2004 to either Nancy Baym (nbaym(a)ku.edu) or Annette Markham (amarkham(a)gmail.com) Workshop leaders will use these questions to build workshop sessions. During the workshop, participants and workshop facilitators will address the practical, theoretical, political, and/or ethical issues involved in answering the question. Dialogue about these issues within the workshop is intended to illustrate the complexity of methodological decision making during the course of rigorous qualitative study. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Annette or Nancy.

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Call For Papers- Interaction: Systems, Practice and Theory
by Alastair Weakley 24 Jun '04

24 Jun '04

Interaction: Systems, Practice and Theory A Creativity and Cognition Symposium Hosted by: The Dynamic Design Research Group, UTS. In cooperation with ACM SIGCHI To be held at: University of Technology, Sydney, and; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 16 November - 19 November 2004 The symposium will focus on the emergence of art, communication, information and entertainment systems using interactive environments and media in museum, gallery and other public spaces. It will address recent research and future directions in art and design, spanning the areas of * Innovative interactive devices and systems * Creative practice employing interactive environments * Social and cultural theory about interaction The discussions will draw on digital art practice, computer game developments, human-computer interaction as well as social and cultural theory. Attendance will primarily depend on the acceptance of refereed contributions, which will be published in a Workshop Proceedings. An exhibition will form an integral part of the meeting. This will show artworks, games and other systems germane to the meeting. It is planned to make the exhibition open to the public. Three Keynote speakers will make public presentations to set the tone and direction of the meeting. The symposium will be organised so that the contributions and discussions lead to a significant book on the subject that will both summarize the state of the art and point forward to future research and practice. Keynote speakers * Roy Ascott, Director of the Planetary Collegium, Professor of Technoetics, University of Plymouth UK * Sidney Fels, Associate Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Canada * Christa Sommerer, Associate Professor, IAMAS Japan http://research.it.uts.edu.au/creative/interaction/ Paper deadline 23rd July 2004 ___________________________________________ Alastair Weakley Creativity & Cognition Studios Faculty of IT University of Technology, Sydney Australia Tel: +61(0)2 9514 4637 alastair(a)weakley.org.uk http://www.creativityandcognition.com

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Fwd: Media Studies Research Scholarships, New Zealand
by Steve Jones 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Media Studies School of English, Film and Theatre Vice Chancellor's Strategic Research Scholarships 2004/2005 for a scholar working on Digital Media in New Zealand in relation to New Zealand Media Policy and Audience Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington is a new and rapidly expanding programme with a range of research interests. The programme wishes to expand on its current research strengths by offering a strategic PhD scholarship for research on digital media, the formation of government digital media policy and its relationship with New Zealand audiences and media users. The digital media form will depend on the research interests of the scholarship awardee and the availability of staff for supervision, but may include: digital television, electronic gaming, or the Internet. Policy concerns may include regulation of ownership, accessibility, censorship or other areas. Digital media and its impact on both state policy and audiences involves examinations at the cutting edge of media development, and is central to understanding the evolution of contemporary media in New Zealand. The research project will - assist in understanding the rhetoric around public debates on digital media and policy in cultural and historical terms - contribute to understanding the role of audience in discussions of digital media policy - provide an analysis of the predicted impact of the growth of digital media on New Zealand audiences For further information on the Media Studies Programme at Victoria University of Wellington, see http://www2.vuw.ac.nz/seft/top/mediastudies.htm For further information on the Strategic Research Scholarship in Media Studies, please contact: Associate Professor Roy Shuker, Director of the Media Studies Programme School of English, Film and Theatre +64 4 463 6821 roy.shuker [at] vuw.ac.nz

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chat research
by Thomas N.Burg 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Hi everybody, a student of mine in interested in research on Chat environments for teenagers. He is particularily interested in social and psychological issues. One of his general questions is "Can chat communities replace lack of communication within families?" or "Is there a difference between users of rural aereas and cities?" Since this is not my field of expertise I was hoping you could help me to assist him with some advice regarding online and offline literature on this topic Thank you very much. Thomas ----------------------------------------- Thomas N. Burg Head of the Center for New Media Danube University Krems http://randgaenge.net http://wiki.randgaenge.net http://blogtalk.net http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/znm

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Content/political analysis online forum terms
by Steven Clift 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Has anyone compared in detail the various rights/privileges/responsibilities articulated in the terms of agreement related to online forums? Or compared the evolution of forum rules with off-line debate practices in legislative assemblies or forms of in-person deliberative democracy? E-Democracy.Org is reworking our rules for our second decade and would appreciate any suggestions/links/comments: http://www.e-democracy.org/center/draftrules.html Our forums work in practice, but we could use some help to have them work in theory. Without more in-depth research it is difficult to determine in a world of scare time and resources, what online civic engagement models are the most cost-effective, sustainable, powerful, civil, agenda-setting, etc. Thanks, Steven Clift P.S. Recent headlines from our forums on a draft page: http://www.e-democracy.org/today.html Steven Clift - http://publicus.net - Reply to: clift(a)publicus.net Join DoWire: http://e-democracy.org/do Speaking requests: http://publicus.net/speaker.html Watch my BBC World interview: http://publicus.net/media.html

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For immediate release: INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PRESERVATION CONSORTIUM
by jeremy hunsinger 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

For immediate release: INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PRESERVATION CONSORTIUM In acknowledgement of the importance of international collaboration for preserving internet content for future generations, the International Internet Preservation Consortium was formed in 2003. Led by the Bibliotheque nationale de France, the Consortium also comprises National libraries of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Italy, Norway, Sweden, The British Library (UK), The Library of Congress (USA) and the Internet Archive. The Consortium has identified a number of key objectives which inform and shape its work. These include: - collaborative working, within each country's legislative framework, to identify, develop and facilitate implementation of solutions for selecting, collecting, preserving and providing access to internet content; - facilitating international coverage of internet content archive collections within national legal frameworks and in accordance with individual national collection development policies; - international advocacy for initiatives that encourage the collection, preservation and access to internet content. To achieve these objectives, the Consortium will: - provide a forum for sharing knowledge about internet content archiving both within the Consortium and beyond; develop and recommend standards; - develop interoperable tools and techniques to acquire, archive and provide access to web sites; - raise awareness of internet preservation issues and initiatives through conferences, workshops, training events, publications, etc. The detailed work of the Consortium will be carried out through working groups to define Policy, Requirements, Methods, Standards and Tools for Internet archiving. By this means projects will be developed and defined and will ultimately lead to the creation and provision of the necessary tools to fulfil the vision of universal coverage of internet archive collections. More information can be found on the IIPC website: http://netpreserve.org ---------------------------------------- Contact: Julien Masanes IIPC Programme Officer Bibliotheque nationale de France quai Francois Mauriac 75706 Paris cedex 13 Office: 33(0) 1 5379 8117 julien.masanes(a)netpreserve.org ---------------------------------------

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Fwd: [CIRASI-LISTE:4386] STS et Internet
by jeremy hunsinger 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

this is a good list of the panels related to internet research at 4s/easst in paris in august Begin forwarded message: > > > Bonjour, > Internet intéresse les STS. > Une trentaine de sessions (sur 170) du Colloque joint de la 4S > (Society for studies of social sciences) et d'EASST (European > Association for social sciences studies) du mois d'août prochain > (26-28 août à Paris) portent sur des thèmes pouvant intéresser les > chercheurs qui travaillent sur la communication et l'information. Tout > n'est pas sur internet, mais beaucoup ! > Vous trouverez l'intitulé des sessions ci-dessous. Et d'autres encore > dans le programme complet (en particulier sous l'intitulé Débat > public), avec les résumés des papiers et des sessions. > La liste des papiers serait trop longue, mais vous pouvez la consulter > sur le site: http://www.congres-scientifiques.com/4S-EASST/ > Bien cordialement, > Cécile Méadel > > > … Powers of code: software cultures; session organisée par Adrian; > MACKENZIE; Jeremy; HUNSINGER > … The Interface: Questions of agency in computing and new media art; > session organisée par Lucy; SUCHMAN; Adrian; MACKENZIE > … Internet Political Governance and Technical Government; session > organisée par Meryem; MARZOUKI; Cécile; MEADEL > … Gender in the Information Society: Inclusion Strategies > Co-constructing Gender and ICT; session organisée par Wendy; FAULKNER; > Knut H; SØRENSEN > … Feminist Technoscience Research in 'the Engine Rooms of > Technological Production´?; session organisée par Christina; BJÖRKMAN; > Christina; MÖRTBERG > … ICTs and the markets: on following new technological mediations in > economic activities; session organisée par Alexandre; MALLARD; Sophie; > DUBUISSON-QUELLIER > … Mobile Technologies as Hybrid Collectives; session organisée par > Naoki; UENO; ; > … Latin America : what kind of knowledge? why? for whom?; session > organisée par Pablo; KREIMER; Hebe; VESSURI > … What does the Web represent? From virtual ethnography to web > indicators; session organisée par Andrea; SCHARNHORST; Peter; VAN DEN > BESSELAAR > … Information Visualization; session organisée par Warren; SACK; > Natalie; JEREMIJENKO > … Free/Libre Open Source Software: Community, Democracy, Expertise and > Freedom; session organisée par Yu-Wei; LIN; Ruben; VAN WENDEL DE JOODE > … ICT Standards Setting and the Social Sciences ; session organisée > par Martina; GERST; Kai; JAKOBS > … Community Networks; session organisée par Michael; ARNOLD; Claire; > SHEARMAN > … Epistemic technology; session organisée par Finn; OLESEN; ; > … Cyberscience - How Information Technologies Impact On Knowledge > Creation; session organisée par Michael; NENTWICH; ; > … Public proofs, private settings? ; session organisée par Sally; > WYATT; ; > … Hackers and Tinkerers: Amateur Ways of Doing Technology; session > organisée par Josh; GREENBERG; Joseph; 'JOFISH' KAYE > … Modeling Users, Designing Bodies: Incorporating Digital Models in > Architecture, Bioscience and Medicine; session organisée par Natasha; > MYERS; ; > … The Online, Virtual and 'Mobile' University; session organisée par > Neil; POLLOCK; Christine; SCHWARZ > … Cyberinfrastructure and E-Science; session organisée par Geoffrey > C.; BOWKER; David; RIBES > … Activism and Information Technologies, Networks and Democracy; > session organisée par Christophe; AGUITON; Dominique; CARDON > … ICTs in local settings > … Information infrastructures: libraries > … ICTs and intimacy > … ICTs and social inclusion > … Technics of surveillance and public trust > > -- > > Cécile Méadel > ************************************************ > Centre de sociologie de l'innovation, associé au CNRS (UMR 7120) > Ecole des mines de Paris > 60 boulevard Saint Michel > 75006 Paris. France > > jeremy hunsinger jhuns(a)vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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FW: Press Release: Launch of UK Web Archiving Consortium
by Rowin Cross 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

I thought this might be of interest to some - apologies if it's not. rowin ________________________________ From: A JISC announce list. on behalf of Katie GARDENER [7256] Sent: Tue 22/06/2004 11:00 To: JISC-ANNOUNCE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK Subject: Press Release: Launch of UK Web Archiving Consortium Press Release Wonders of the web captured forever... Launch of UK Web Archiving Consortium will dramatically boost lifespan of key web materials Launched today, the UK Web Archiving Consortium (UKWAC) aims to expand the lifespan of website materials from around 44 days (the same life expectancy as a housefly) to a century or more. Comprising six leading UK institutions, the UKWAC will work, with the permission of rights holders, on an experimental system for archiving selected key UK websites - ensuring that invaluable scholarly, cultural and scientific resources remain available for future generations. The UKWAC - comprising The British Library, Joint Information Systems Committee of the Higher and Further Education Councils (JISC), The National Archives, The National Library of Wales, the National Library of Scotland and the Wellcome Trust - will run for an initial period of two years, during which approximately 6,000 websites will be collected and archived. Consortium members will obtain the permission of website owners to archive selected sites whilst working collaboratively to explore how to develop compatible selection policies and to investigate the complex technical challenges involved in collecting and archiving web material. Each consortium member will select and 'capture' content relevant to its subject and/or domain. For example, the British Library will archive sites reflecting national culture and events of historical importance. These could include web pages focusing on key events in national life, museum web pages, e-theses, selected blogs to support research material and web-based literary and creative projects by British subjects. Wellcome will preserve a record of medicine on the web whilst The National Archives will focus on archiving selected materials from six main clusters of government departments. The Scottish and Welsh national libraries will collect material reflecting the culture and history of Scotland and Wales and JISC will preserve websites from leading-edge, innovative ICT projects in UK Higher and Further Education. Infrastructure costs, such as software, hardware, and ongoing technical development and support will be shared equally amongst the Consortium members. UKWAC will use HTTrack - the open source web crawler to acquire files for storage. The software to carry out the archiving processes - PANDORA Digital Archiving System (PANDAS) - has already been developed and tested by the National Library of Australia and its partners for archiving Australian websites and making them accessible through PANDORA the Australian national Web Archive (see: http://pandora.nla.gov.au/index.html) PANDAS can be set to automatically tag, gather and prepare pages for public display. If pages are not suitable for immediate public access, due to commercial, cultural or privacy reasons, PANDAS can manage appropriate access restrictions. UKWAC members have selected Magus Research Limited to help extend the PANDAS software for UK needs and provide the shared hardware and technical support they require. David Thomas, Head of Government and Technology at The National Archives, said: 'From government organisations posting travel advice to newlyweds putting their wedding photos online, websites provide a unique insight into the political and social world we live in today. Through collaboration in the UKWAC, The National Archives is taking steps to ensure that government websites are preserved for future generations.' Lynne Brindley, Chair of the Digital Preservation Coalition and Chief Executive of The British Library said: 'The launch of UKWAC is an essential step in helping us to understand the scope of the UK web space and how we can set about developing a selective yet useful national web archive. Initially this will be on a voluntary basis, although it is anticipated that secondary legislation will, in due course, allow the BL - and the other legal deposit libraries - to collect web materials. Working with other UKWAC members, we can make real progress in developing complementary selection policies, exploring the best ways to collect and archive web materials and refining how we work together.'

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Cultures of Programming, AoIR pre-conference workshop
by Matt Ratto 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Apologies for cross-postings. Please forward this announcement to anyone who might be interested. We will be holding a preconference workshop, entitled "Cultures of Programming: Hackers, Crackers, and Openness" at the upcoming Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) conference, "Internet Research 5.0: Ubiquity", 19-22nd September 2004. For more information on the conference, see (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cce/aoir/index.html) This workshop will provide space for its participants to examine different aspects of hacker and cracker cultures, with an eye towards understanding how the history of computing, the identity and narratives of the hacker/cracker, and the material practices associated with them help to constitute current developments. It will be held on Saturday, September 18, from 1-6pm. The day will include both presentations and round-table discussions. Please contact either of the workshop organizers if you are interested in participating (for email addresses see below). Participants will be asked to provide a 2-5 page position paper which will be circulated before the workshop. For more information, see below or go to http://www.sussex.ac.uk/cce/aoir/conference.html. Internet Research 5.0 Pre-conference workshop Cultures of Programming: Hackers, crackers and openness Organizers: Daniel Pargman, Ph.D., Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden <pargman(a)kth.se> Matt Ratto, Ph.D., Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science, Amsterdam, The Netherlands <matt.ratto(a)niwi.knaw.nl> The concept of "ubiquity" - the theme of this year's AoIR conference - is connected in many ways to the ideal of "open computing". Both open and ubiquitous computing are predicated on the development and commodification of standards and the construction of large-scale computing infrastructures. Equally, both dreams of computing carry similar connotations of users as technologically savvy individuals able to repurpose their built environments in novel ways. A key aspect of both dreams, then, is the culture and identity of the hacker, seen as the ultimate user. In addition, ubiquitous and open computing is also confronted with the nightmare of the cracker, the unscrupulous individual able to manipulate and use computing infrastructures for their own benefit. With the emergence of free and open source software (FOSS) - most notably the Linux operating system - hackers and hacker culture has during the last decade gained a renewed prominence in the eyes of the business world and of the larger public. But the notion of the hacker stretches back to the early days of general-purpose computing and it has in the subsequent decades morphed and changed in different directions. There have been both positive and negative evaluations of hackers and of hacking; some have understood hacking as a productive blend of the roles of technology producer and user, while others have focused on how hacking skills are used to break the copy protection of software, to invade computer systems and to commit crimes. This activity, known as cracking, is often differentiated from the more mainstream notion of hacking although it shares many of the same practices. A better understanding of the various identities and practices associated with the idea of "the hacker" can help us address how cultures of computing are formulated and maintained. Understanding hacker cultures - their history, motivation, and material practices - can help us gain insights not only to the history of computing, but also a better understanding of what is happening right now and what will happen on the Internet and in computing in the near future. Dr Matt Ratto Networked research and digital information KNAW-Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Science Joan Muyskenweg 25 Postbus 95110 1090 HC Amsterdam The Netherlands tel: (31)(20)462-8719 fax: (31(20)665-8013 http://www.niwi.knaw.nl/en/nerdi2/toon

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