March 2005 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Call for Book Chapters: Designing for Networked Communications
by simonhei＠ruc.dk 02 May '05

02 May '05

[Apologies for cross-posting] CALL FOR CHAPTERS Submission Deadline: April 30, 2005 Designing for Networked Communications: Strategies and Development A book edited by Simon B. Heilesen and Sisse Siggaard Jensen, Roskilde University, Denmark. INTRODUCTION Designing for Networked Communications is to be a book about how we plan, use and understand the products and the dynamic social processes or tasks upon which depend some of the most vital innovations - social as well as technological - in the knowledge society. Networked communication is proliferating. To-day, not only are existing mediated forms of communication being remediated in electronic form, but also hitherto direct forms of communication in complicated social settings are being supplemented or even replaced by computer mediated communication (CMC). We are coming to depend on CMC-products. As a result, the way they function and the way we use them inevitably influences or even determines how we communicate and how we think about communication. Designing products for CMC may be seen as a cycle, where tasks require the creation of artefacts, and where artefacts condition modifications of tasks. The tasks that we wish to examine are processes of communication between individuals by means of computer networks (within and across organizations) as well as the dissemination of information from a sender to a target group. The artefacts include physical networks, hardware, software as well as the manipulation of symbols in the act of communicating. Designing is to be understood in a broad sense as (1) the underlying scheme for the planning, functioning and development of an artefact, (2) the actual arrangement and functionality of various elements of the artefact, (3) the development of strategies and adaptations required for performing tasks by means of the artefact in the given social context and subject to certain basic conditions, and (4) the development of creative strategies for social innovation and the identification of new tasks to be performed by means of a redesign of existing artefacts or with new artefacts. THE OVERALL OBJECTIVE OF THE BOOK The book is meant to further our understanding of ICT-design processes by identifying strategies employed both by developers and users in the dynamic processes of creating and using artefacts. The various chapters will present and reflect on relevant theoretical frameworks and the latest empirical research findings in the area. Bridging the fields of HCI-design in Computer Science and Computer-mediated Communication in Communication Studies, the book will represent an interdisciplinary approach that is valuable for stimulating unconventional thinking and a creative exchange in and across two important academic and professional fields. THE TARGET AUDIENCE Professionals, researchers and students working in the fields of Communication, Computer Science (in particular HCI and system development), E-learning and Computer Supported Collaborative Work. RECOMMENDED TOPICS include but are not limited to the following - Theories and models of designing, - Overall strategies and methodologies, - Creative and/or sense making strategies and methodologies, - Social innovation strategies and methodologies, - Negotiation of meaning and collaboration, - Learning strategies and environments, - Organizational learning and learning cultures, - Organizational games and role plays, - Problem solving and decision making, - Workplace communication, - Distributed organizations/ workplaces, - Team work and team building, - Project management and leadership, - Knowledge sharing and knowledge management, - General communication for stationary and mobile users, - Dissemination of information and information searching, - E-publishing and Web-publishing. SUBMISSION PROCEDURE Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit on or before April 30, 2005, a 2-5 page manuscript proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of the proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by May 31, 2005 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter organizational guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by October 31, 2005. All submitted chapters will be reviewed by at least two reviewers on a blind review basis. The book is scheduled to be published by Idea Group, Inc., http://www.idea-group.com/, publisher of the Idea Group Publishing, Information Science Publishing, IRM Press, CyberTech Publishing and Idea Group Reference imprints. Inquiries and Submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to both editors: Simon B. Heilesen, E-mail: simonhei(a)ruc.dk, Tel. (+45) 4674 3785 Sisse Siggaard Jensen, E-mail: sisse(a)ruc.dk, Tel. (+45) 4674 3771 Fax: (+45) 4674 3075 Institute of Communication Studies, Journalism and Computer science Roskilde University, P.O. Box 260, DK 4000 Roskilde, Denmark For additional information on the project, please visit the Designing for Networked Communications web site: http://www.ruc.dk/~simonhei/dnc/

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RE: [Air-l] universal ethics?
by Christopher J. Richter 18 Apr '05

18 Apr '05

Hello: Though mostly a lurker here, I couldn't resist airing some thoughts on this one: >PT >> If there are universal ethics we can prove these on the Internet. > > > > > RG> whose ethics will be universalised do you suppose? and what kinds of > > intolerances might that validate/legitimize? > > >Exactly the right questions - thank you, Radhika! >And I would gently reply: I think we can propose an ethics that begins in >part with the universal value implicit in the suggestion here that >"universal" claims have all too often in the past served as excuses for >colonialism, imperialism. . . . I would like to suggest that it is not only the concept of "universal" that we need to problematize in thinking about these issues, but the concept of "ethics" as well. Although the term can be traced back to the ancient Greeks, ethics in the modern sense of "the science of morals; the department of study concerned with the principles of human duty" (OED) may have grow out of the erosion of tradition as the primary guiding force of behavior beginning in the 14th or 15th century. Thus, a concern with ethics is a concern with codes of behavior, and not just with studying them (most of us in the social sciences study them, in some sense), but with prescribing them. And while the study of what we call ethical issues certainly exists and has long existed in other cultures, ethics per se, especially as separate from any sense of religion or at least the spiritual, may be a particularly Western abstraction. In modern usage, ethics often seem to be conceived of as context specific. Thus, "business ethics," "environmental ethics," even "net- or computer ethics." And certainly, as much of the on-going discussion here acknowledges, normative codes of behavior tend to be culturally and historically situated. Thus we should consider whether "universal ethics" constitutes an oxymoron. >Moreover, my more recent work (with the help, I must hasten to add, of >many, many colleagues in these domains) on Information Ethics and Internet >Research Ethics in countries such as China, Japan, Thailand, and Korea also >offer grounds for optimism. For example, two recent examples of Internet >research in Japan demonstrate more or less perfect consonance with the AoIR >guidelines recommendations regarding informed consent, protection of >confidentiality, anonymity, and personal data, etc. >Indeed, emerging conceptions of privacy and data privacy protection law in >these countries - while clearly retaining distinctive cultural "shape" in >their conception and application - are nonetheless recognizable cousins of >"Western" conceptions and laws. This suggests that even across the >considerable cultural differences, say, between the U.S. and Germany, on >the one hand, and China, Japan, Thailand, Korea, and Hong Kong, on the >other - there may be agreement on basic (universal?) values such as >privacy, Following my reasoning above, I have to ask: could it be that there are similarities because of shared context that crosses cultural boundaries? When I think about privacy, data encryption and the like, my thoughts are also never far from government surveillance and trans-national corporate capitalism--contexts indeed shared across many nations and cultures. >I would add: this tolerance is not unlimited. Rather, I think it's quite >possible to endorse tolerance as a universal value - but not thereby be >committed to tolerating, say, fascist regimes and violent repression of >women and minorities. On the contrary, by proposing that rights to >integrity, autonomy, cultural identity, and so forth are, at the very >least, strong candidates for universal rights Although I am sympathetic to being intolerant of intolerance, the ramifications of this scare me if you are talking about the net generally, as opposed to specific locales within it such as thus one. Even if it were possible to police the entire net, who should the ethical (moral) police be? i.e. who gets to decide what constitutes intolerance? Likewise, who gets to define "violence"? Contrast, e.g. Paulo Freire's definition of cultural invasion as violence with the rhetoric of the anti-abortion movement in the U.S. on violence against the unborn, if you think defining violence is unproblematic. Finally, is cultural identity ever linked to systematic intolerance (history of the U.S. suggests this is the case!)? If so, where do we draw the line, and again, more fundamentally, who gets to decide this? >Indeed, I think we make more progress towards some sort of shared, humane >value system_s_ and ethics through such dialogues, rather than giving up >the effort, however much previous failures and disasters might tempt us to >do so. The sentiment of this I can agree with (I think), but isn't dialogue, as an act of synthesis, with its potential for compromise, and even recognition of disagreement as opposed to consensus, fundamentally a different process from that of seeking to uncover some essential ethical nature that is already embedded in all of human culture, which seems to be the process implicit in much of the rest of what you say? Also, when talking about dialogue, it is important to remember, as Nancy Fraser and others point out, the difficulty/impossibility of bracketing status differentials so that those with less power come to the table "as if they were equals" with the holders of power. (Fraser, N. (1992). Rethinking the public sphere: A contribution to the critique of actually existing democracy. In C. Calhoun (Ed.), Habermas and the public sphere (pp.109-142). Cambridge MA: MIT Press.) Perhaps there is no better approach than dialogue, but that doesn't mean we should let optimism become a cover for idealistic naivety (but perhaps my one-time Midwestern optimism has dissolved into Southern U.S. style cynicism). Christopher J Richter, PhD Assoc. Prof. & Chair, Communication Studies Hollins University P.O. Box 9652 Roanoke, VA 24020 Tel. 5403626358 Fax 5403626286 e-mail crichter(a)hollins.edu www.hollins.edu

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new reviews in cyberculture studies (april 2005)
by david silver 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

New reviews (found at http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/) include: Data Made Flesh: Embodying Information, edited by Robert Mitchell & Phillip Thurtle (Routledge, 2003) Reviewed by Dan Wright, a doctoral student at the University of Illinois Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences. Wright is interested in questions related to bioinformatics tool development -- specifically, the problems in keeping computer science tools grounded in realities of the life sciences so that they remain relevant and useful. Author Response: Robert Mitchell and Phillip Thurtle Future Cinema: The Cinematic Imaginary after Film, edited by Jeffrey Shaw & Peter Weibel (MIT Press, 2003) Reviewed by Bob Rehak, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Communication and Culture at Indiana University, Bloomington. Rehak's work has appeared in The Video Game Theory Reader (Routledge, 2003) and the journal Information, Communication and Society (2003). He is currently writing a dissertation about special effects. The Network Society, by Darin Barney (Polity Press, 2004) Reviewed by Alison Powell, a Ph.D. student in the Joint Programme in Communications at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. Powell conducts research on the use of public internet access points and the social construction of WiFi technology by community wireless groups. She has presented her work in Canada, the United States, and the UK. Women and Media in the Middle East: Power Through Self-Expression, edited by Naomi Sakr (I.B.Tauris, 2004) Reviewed by Rasha A. Abdulla, an Assistant Professor at the Journalism and Mass Communication Department at the American University in Cairo. Abdulla's Ph.D. is from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, and her research interests include the uses and effects of new media, particularly the Internet. She is the author of the Arabic text The Internet in Egypt and the Arab World (Afaq Publications, 2005). Enjoy. david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver To SUBSCRIBE to cyberculture-announce, a low volume announcement list for RCCS events and updates, email: listproc(a)u.washington.edu; No subject is needed. In the body, type: subscribe cyberculture-announce

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Re: Ethnomethodology and Internet Research
by Sean Rintel 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

Steffen Bueffel asked: > I'm a looking for key articles/ publications on ethnomethological approaches > to Internet research. Are there any "classics" and/ or more recent > publications you can recommend? Any help would be highly appreciated! With a slightly broader brief than just "Internet" research, look up work by: Paul Dourish Christian Heath Paul Luff Graham Button Brigitte Jordan Andy Crabtree Lucy Suchman Also, Denise N. Rall recently asked for "a body of analysis on chat using CA techniques....", which is a similar question. I provided the following list (and I have added a couple). As I said then, some are not strictly CA, but are close qualitiative analysis. The ones that identify themselves as using some version of CA I have marked with an asterisk: Bechar-Israeli, H. (1995). From (Bonehead) to (cLoNehEAd): Nicknames, play and identity on Internet relay chat. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 1(2). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol1/issue2/bechar.html Danet, B., Ruedenberg-Wright, L., & Rosenbaum-Tamari, Y. (1997). "HMMM...WHERE'S THAT SMOKE COMING FROM?" Writing, play and performance on Internet Relay Chat. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 2(4). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/danet.html Herring, S. C. (1999). Interactional coherence in CMC. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 4(4). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol4/issue4/herring.html Marvin, L. E. (1995). Spoof, spam, lurk and lag: The aesthetics of text-based virtual realities. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 1(2). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol1/issue2/marvin.html * Rintel, E.S., Pittam, J., & Mulholland, J. 2003. Time will tell: Ambiguous non-responses on Internet Relay Chat. The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronique de Communication, 13, (1) <http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/v13n1.htm> * Rintel, E.S., Mulholland, J., & Pittam, J. 2001. First things first: Internet Relay Chat openings. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 6, (3). <http://www.ascusc.org/jcmc/vol6/issue3/> McKay, S., & Rintel, E.S. 2001. Online Television Forums: Interactivity, Access, and Transactional Space. The Electronic Journal of Communication / La Revue Electronique de Communication,11, (2). <http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/v11n201.htm> Rintel, E. S. & Pittam, J. 1997. Strangers in a strange land: Interaction management on Internet Relay Chat. Human Communication Research, 23, 507 - 534. Rodino, M. (1997). Breaking out of binaries: Reconceptualizing gender and its relationship to language in computer-mediated communication. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 3(3). http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol3/issue3/rodino.html * Vallis, Rhyll (1999) ‘Members' methods for entering and leaving #IRCbar: a conversation analytic study of internet relay chat’. In: K. Chalmers, S. Bogitini and P. Renshaw (eds), Educational Research in New Times. Flaxton: PostPressed, 117-27 * Vallis, Rhyll (2001) ‘Applying membership categorization analysis to chat-room talk’. In: A. McHoul and M. Rapley (eds), How to Analyse Talk in Institutional Settings: A Casebook of Methods. London: Continuum, 86-99 -- Sean Rintel Department of Communication University at Albany, State University of New York Albany, NY, 12222 http://www.albany.edu/~er8430 ~~ Albany Aikido http://albanyaikido.com

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Re: [Air-l] Ethnography vs. Ethnomethodology
by cordelia＠iinet.net.au 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

Hi! Ethnography primarily concerns itself with the prolonged study of a group of people. This generally involves immersion and participation in their day to day lives in an attempt to discover who they think they are, what they think they are doing and to what end they think they are doing it. Ethnography may involve many methodologies to accomplish this. Ethnomethodology, on the other hand, studies activities of group members to discover how they make sense of their surroundings. It specifically studies how individuals give sense to and accomplish their daily activities. It is not so much concerned with what they are doing but rather how they make sense of it. Cheers Sally On 31/03/2005, at 4:20 PM, Steffen Büffel wrote: > Hi all! > > Thanks for the very helpful replies I got to my original posting(s). > BTW: > Sorry again for the multiple postings. Turned out that our server got > bambarded with spam the last couple of days. Instead of 200 000 - 300 > 000 > mails per day it had to process over 800 000 emails (!!!) which slowed > it > down quite a bit and gave users the impression that email were lost in > the > virtual nowhere. > > Anyway, the replies I got raised another question for me, namely: What > is > the difference between ethnography and ethnomethodology? Of course I > will go > and check in the recommended readings myself but I thought that maybe > this > is an interessting issue for the list as well. > > Cheers. > Steffen > -------------------------------------- > wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter > University of Trier - Media Studies > phone +49 651 201 2273 > fax +49 651 201 3741 > mobile +49 176 2120 4435 > icq 115761393 > http://medien.uni-trier.de/132.0.html > > > _______________________________________________ > The Air-l-aoir.org(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > > Join the Association of Internet Researchers: > http://www.aoir.org/ >

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Re: [Air-l] Ethnomethodology and Internet Research
by Denise N. Rall 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

Assoc Prof Christian Nelson has been recently on this list. He's a great scholar of ethnomethodology. He offered a great reading list on ethomethodology. He has emailed this website in the last few months so check the archives for his email address. Cheers, Denise --- Steffen B�ffel <bueffel(a)uni-trier.de> wrote: > Dear all! > > I'm a looking for key articles/ publications on > ethnomethological approaches > to Internet research. Are there any "classics" and/ > or more recent > publications you can recommend? Any help would be > highly appreciated! > > Thanks! > Steffen > > -------------------------------------- > wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter > University of Trier - Media Studies > phone +49 651 201 2273 > fax +49 651 201 3741 > mobile +49 176 2120 4435 > icq 115761393 > http://medien.uni-trier.de/132.0.html > > > _______________________________________________ > The Air-l-aoir.org(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list > is provided by the Association of Internet > Researchers http://aoir.org > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > > Join the Association of Internet Researchers: > http://www.aoir.org/ > Denise N. Rall, PhD candidate, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & Internet Researcher Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Tuesdays or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html

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WG: Ethnomethodology and Internet Research
by Steffen Büffel 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

** Dear all! ** ** I'm a looking for key articles/ publications on ** ethnomethological approaches to Internet research. Are there ** any "classics" and/ or more recent publications you can ** recommend? Any help would be highly appreciated! ** ** Thanks! ** Steffen ** ** -------------------------------------- ** wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter ** University of Trier - Media Studies ** phone +49 651 201 2273 ** fax +49 651 201 3741 ** mobile +49 176 2120 4435 ** icq 115761393 ** http://medien.uni-trier.de/132.0.html

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Literature of bloggers
by LEE JENG HOON 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

Hi. I am looking for some academic literature that analyzes blogging or bloggers. As many claim, bloggers show significant social impacts. Especially, recent journalistic functions generate much concerns and interests. If anyone knows good academic or even non-academic reports, I hope I like to read them. Please, let me know. Jenghoon Lee _________________________________________________________________ FREE pop-up blocking with the new MSN Toolbar - get it now! http://toolbar.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200415ave/direct/01/

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GIS & social science workshops
by Ulla Bunz 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

The workshops below may be of interest to members of the list. I participated in last year's Columbus, Ohio workshop (this year's description sounds very similar) and found it very useful. A lot of the ideas can be applied to cybergeography. Ulla Bunz -- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication Rutgers University 4 Huntington Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901 --------------------------------- Original Message --------------------------------- Subject: CRTNET Digest - 29 Mar 2005 to 30 Mar 2005 (#2005-47) From: "Automatic digest processor" <LISTSERV(a)lists.psu.edu> Date: Thu, March 31, 2005 12:07 am To: "Recipients of CRTNET digests" <CRTNET(a)LISTS.PSU.EDU> ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Wed 3/30/05 From: Roger Smitter rsmitter(a)natcom.org The Center for Spatially Integrated Social Science (CSISS) is currently accepting applications for participation in workshops under its Spatial Perspectives on Analysis for Curriculum Enhancement (SPACE) program, to be held this summer. Sponsored by the National Science Foundation, SPACE seeks to disseminate tools and concepts for spatial thinking to individuals responsible for developing undergraduate curricula in the social sciences. The workshops are free to selected participants and scholarship support is available to help defray the cost of travel and lodging. The application deadline is April 15, 2005. A PDF version of the flyer with all the information can be found at http://www.csiss.org/SPACE/workshops/2005/SPACE_Workshops_2005.pdf

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Ethnography vs. Ethnomethodology
by Steffen Büffel 31 Mar '05

31 Mar '05

Hi all! Thanks for the very helpful replies I got to my original posting(s). BTW: Sorry again for the multiple postings. Turned out that our server got bambarded with spam the last couple of days. Instead of 200 000 - 300 000 mails per day it had to process over 800 000 emails (!!!) which slowed it down quite a bit and gave users the impression that email were lost in the virtual nowhere. Anyway, the replies I got raised another question for me, namely: What is the difference between ethnography and ethnomethodology? Of course I will go and check in the recommended readings myself but I thought that maybe this is an interessting issue for the list as well. Cheers. Steffen -------------------------------------- wissenschaftlicher Mitarbeiter University of Trier - Media Studies phone +49 651 201 2273 fax +49 651 201 3741 mobile +49 176 2120 4435 icq 115761393 http://medien.uni-trier.de/132.0.html

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