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

Re: [Air-l] counting google hits
by Greg Elmer 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

Thomas, Of course all samples have biases, but isn't it incumbent upon us to better understand them -- particularly in the case of Google, precisely because it is fast becoming "all that we have", that is a default choice for information retrieval, not only for everyday users, but also for students and Internet researchers? Greg Elmer ----- Original Message ----- From: Thomas Koenig <T.Koenig(a)lboro.ac.uk> Date: Wednesday, March 2, 2005 8:54 pm Subject: Re: [Air-l] counting google hits > Citeren elijah wright <elw(a)stderr.org>: > > [What's wrong with using Google stats?] > > because people assume that all texts that are available are > represented,> which according to the google people they are *not*. > > Fair enough, but what is your alternative corpus? Most traditional > corporahave a bias away from everyday language to journalistic > and/or literary > writings. Sometimes these bias' may not matter, some other times, they > might be even desirable, but at times google is the better choice, > even if > imperfect. > > > in other words, the sample that you are pulling numbers from is > neither> complete nor perfect - so your results won't be either. > > Who gets unbiased random samples? No-one, not even NORC, who are > pretty good > at it. Does that invalidate *all* statistical results? Of course > not. Don't > get me wrong, I am all for careful random sampling, but if I cannot > get it, > I might, under some circumstances, resort to biased samples, rather > than to > not get any sample at all. > > > do you understand what google does well enough (details of the > algorithm,> et cetera) to know what the weaknesses are? oh, you > say they haven't > > published enough information for you to know? that's what i > thought. :| > > I do not know, how google indexes (I have a faint idea, though), > but for > many practical purposes, it simply does not matter, as long as I do > notsuspect a bias of exclusions of websites, which are *systematically > related* to the topic I am researching. > > Would I rather have a random sample of all human-generated websits, > preferably with the vital stats of their authors attached? You bet. > I just > won't get it. So I am taking the next best thing, aka Google. > > > > I am afraid, this is how your argumentation sounds to me. Why > should it > > > be wrong to use the number of google hits under all circumstances? > > > > i think your tone is pretty crass. > > Funny, that's what I thought of yours, that's why I chose to use > *your*words. You probably know that it's sometimes difficult to > discern the tone > when you have no cues other then some ASCII strings. > > > > If I want to show that Canada is better known than Vanuatu > > > > > > (http://googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=canada&word2=vanuatu)> > why would the comparison of google hits be inadmissable? (There are a > > > number of reasons, why the "Vunuatu" hits are inflated, but > that is of > > > no concern here). > > > > popularity of a term is one of the few instances in which > comparative> occurrence vis a vis the google corpus *might* be > useful. it would > > depend > > on your question, and whether the data available from the particular > > google server you're connected to is appropriate to answering it. > > Of course, it always depends on what you want to do, but that's a far > stretch of your wholesale rejection of using Google hits for any > kind of > research: > > "folks realize that using the "number of hits returned on google" > is a > hilarious bad way to prove a point -- right?" > > Thomas > > -- > thomas koenig, ph.d. > department of social sciences, loughborough university, u.k. > http://www.lboro.ac.uk/research/mmethods/staff/thomas/index.html Greg Elmer, PhD Bell Globemedia Research Chair Rogers Communications Centre/School of Radio-TV Arts Ryerson University 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, Ontario Canada M5B 2K3 416-979-5282 _______________________________________________ Co-Editor, Space and Culture: An International Journal of Social Spaces http://www.carleton.ca/space/ >

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Business history of Google?
by Steve Jones 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

Does anyone know of any histories of Google that focus on its business and the economics of search/search engines? Thank you in advance, Sj

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Special Issue on Trust and Community on the Internet
by Uwe Matzat 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

Dear Internet researchers, the journal Analyse & Kritik has published a special issue on "Trust and Community on the Internet". The issue contains 16 articles within the following categories: Concepts and Background The Internet as an Environment for Trust Reputation and Online Auctions Groups and Networks Law and the Internet You can find detailed information at http://www.analyse-und-kritik.net/english/current_issue.htm. These articles are a selection of papers that were presented at the international conference "Trust and Community on the Internet" that was held at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research in Bielefed, Germany in Summer 2003. You can find the complete list of all conference presentations at http://www.uni-duesseldorf.de/~matzat/conference.htm. Enjoy! Uwe Matzat ======================================= Uwe Matzat Sociology Section Department of Technology Management Eindhoven University of Technology P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands --------------- phone: +31 40 247-8392 email: u.matzat(a)tm.tue.nl http://www.tue-tm-soc.nl/~matzat/ =======================================

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RE: [Air-l] counting google hits
by Rowin Young 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

I'd second Ulla's recommendation, it's an excellent, thought-provoking film. Rowin. > -----Original Message----- > From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org- > bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Ulla Bunz > Sent: 04 March 2005 15:12 > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Cc: araney(a)fsu.edu > Subject: RE: [Air-l] counting google hits > > I've been reading about google hits and checking spelling and students > using > google for research (which I find somewhat troublesome), and I'd like to > recommend EPIC to you. Check it out here: http://www.robinsloan.com/epic/ > EPIC is essentially an 8 minute movie (it takes a long time to load on > dial-up) about the future of our information media. For example, it > projects > the merging of google and amazon and the consequences this will have for > "personalization" of information. If you are concerned at all about > critical > thinking and evaluation of online information sources, I recommend this > highly. Make sure you watch the whole thing and then share it with your > more > advanced students. > Ulla > > ---------------------------------------------------- > Ulla Bunz > Assistant Professor > Department of Communication > Rutgers University > 4 Huntington Street > New Brunswick, NJ 08901 > Email: bunz(a)scils.rutgers.edu > ---------------------------------------------------- > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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://aoir.org/airjoin.html

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Fwd: [CSL]: Call for Submissions: 2005 International Symposium on Wik is
by jeremy hunsinger 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

Begin forwarded message: > From: J Armitage <j.armitage(a)UNN.AC.UK> > Date: March 4, 2005 3:18:38 AM EST > To: CYBER-SOCIETY-LIVE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK > Subject: [CSL]: Call for Submissions: 2005 International Symposium on > Wik is > Reply-To: Interdisciplinary academic study of Cyber Society > <CYBER-SOCIETY-LIVE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK> > > From: Sunir Shah > To: j.armitage > Sent: 03/03/2005 18:02 > Subject: Call for Submissions: 2005 International Symposium on Wikis > > Would you mind forwarding these onto your fantastic > mailing list, Cyber Society Live, please? > > Thanks! > > Best, > Sunir > > -------- > > CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS > > 2005 International Symposium on Wikis > Oct 17-18, 2005, San Diego, California, U.S.A. > Co-located with ACM OOPSLA 2005 > http://www.wikisym.org > > > > OVERVIEW > > The 2005 International Symposium on Wikis brings together wiki > researchers, > implementers, and users for the first time. The goal of the symposium > is > to > find a voice for the community. The symposium has a rigorously reviewed > research paper track as well as plenty of space for practitioner > reports, > demonstrations, and discussions. We are honored to announce that Ward > Cunningham, the inventor and host of the original WikiWikiWeb, will > present > the opening keynote talk at WikiSym 2005. Anyone who is involved in > using, > researching, or developing wikis is invited to WikiSym 2005! > > We are seeking submissions for > > * research papers > * practitioner reports > * demonstrations > * workshops > * panels > > Research paper and practitioner report submissions are due > > April 29, 2005 > > Workshop, and panel submissions are due > > April 8, 2005 > > Demonstration submissions are due > > July 1, 2005 > > Topics of interest to the symposium include, but are not limited to: > > * wikis as social software > * wiki user behavior, user dynamics > * wiki user experiences, usability > * wiki implementation experiences and technology > * wiki administration, processes, dealing with abuse > * wiki scalability, social and technical > * domain-specific/special-purpose wikis > > > > SUBMISSION DETAILS > > Research papers will be reviewed by the committee to meet rigorous > academic > standards of publication. Research papers are expected to advance the > state > of the art by describing substantiated new research or novel technical > results or by reporting on significant experience or experimentation. > They > are reviewed both with respect to conceptual quality and clarity of > presentation. > > Accepted research papers will be provided as part of the conference > proceedings. They will be put into the ACM Digital Library and can be > referenced as papers that appeared in the Proceedings of the 2005 > International Symposium on Wikis. At the symposium, the presenter will > be > given a 25min + 5min Q&A presentation slot. Research papers should not > be > longer than 10000 words and should meet the ACM SIG Proceedings Format, > see > http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html. > > Practitioner reports will be reviewed for suitability of presentation > to > the > community. The primary evaluation criterion is the interest to the > community. Practitioner reports will be provided as part of the > companion to > the conference proceedings handed out at the symposium and can be > referenced > as papers that appeared in the Companion to the Proceedings of the 2005 > International Symposium on Wikis. Practitioner reports should not be > longer > than 6000 words and should meet the ACM SIG Proceedings Format. > > Demonstration, workshop, and panel submissions will be reviewed for > their > interest to the community. Submit two pages of description of what you > intend to do and how you meet this criterion. Please include a 100-word > abstract and one-paragraph bios of all people relevant to the > submission. > Demonstrations will get 45min slots in a booth of their own, workshops > will > get a half-day and a room of their own, and panels will get a 90min > slot > at > the symposium. > > Please submit your papers or proposals in PDF format (or postscript, if > you > must) by the respective deadline to submissions(a)wikisym.org. > > > > SYMPOSIUM LOGISTICS > > The 2005 International Symposium on Wikis will be held at the Town and > Country Resort & Convention Center, San Diego, California, on Oct 17 > and > 18, > 2005. WikiSym 2005 will be co-located with the ACM OOPSLA 2005 > conference, > and participants may register for the symposium alone, or may jointly > register for OOPSLA 2005. > > If you have any questions, please contact Dirk Riehle through > chair(a)wikisym.org. > > > > SYMPOSIUM COMMITTEE > > Dirk Riehle, Independent (chair) > > Ward Cunningham, Microsoft > Mark Guzdial, Georgia Institute of Technology > Matthias Jugel, Fraunhofer FIRST > Helmut Leitner, HLS Software > James Noble, Victoria University of Wellington > David Ornstein, Microsoft > Sebastien Paquet, National Research Council of Canada > Stephan Schmidt, Fraunhofer FIRST > Sunir Shah, University of Toronto > > > > -- > This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous > content by the NorMAN MailScanner Service and is believed > to be clean. > > The NorMAN MailScanner Service is operated by Information > Systems and Services, University of Newcastle upon Tyne. > > > ==== > This e-mail is intended solely for the addressee. It may contain > private and > confidential information. If you are not the intended addressee, > please take > no action based on it nor show a copy to anyone. Please reply to this > e-mail > to highlight the error. You should also be aware that all electronic > mail > from, to, or within Northumbria University may be the subject of a > request > under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 and related legislation, and > therefore may be required to be disclosed to third parties. > This e-mail and attachments have been scanned for viruses prior to > leaving > Northumbria University. Northumbria University will not be liable for > any > losses as a result of any viruses being passed on. > > *********************************************************************** > ************* > Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated > discussion > list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary > academic > study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list > please visit: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html > *********************************************************************** > ************** > > jeremy hunsinger jhuns(a)vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu jeremy.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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CFP: The Role of Incentives in Sustaining Community
by Tom Erickson 04 Mar '05

04 Mar '05

*** CALL FOR PARTICIPATION (Please forward as appropriate) *** CC&T Workshop on: "Sustaining Community: The role and design of incentive mechanisms in online systems" At the 2nd International Conference on Communities and Technologies 13-16 June 2005, Milano, Italy * THE TOPIC * What makes communities grow and prosper, or wither and die? In this workshop we'll explore this question by taking a close look at how incentive structures interact with short and long term viability. We'll address questions such as "What motivates participants to contribute?" "What social and technical mechanisms support (or deter) contribution?" and "How and to what extent can designers design sustainable communities?" * THE CONTENT * We are interested in open source communities, community-managed discussion spaces like Slashdot, social network-based communities such as Orkut, open content communities like Wikipedia, group blogs, "real world" communities, and other similar environments. * THE PARTICIPANTS * Our hope is to attract participants from a wide range of disciplines including anthropology, computer science, economics, interaction design, psychology, sociology, and so on. * THE FORMAT * Our goal is to raise questions and begin answering them from the divers directions supplied by the approaches of the attendees. The workshop will be highly interactive with minimal presentation of the position papers. * TO SUBMIT * See http://www.cct2005.disco.unimib.it/Workshop-H.htm for a complete description and submission information * IMPORTANT DATES * 08 April - Position papers due 22 April - Accept/Reject decisions made 13 May - Early registration deadline 13 June - Workshop * THE ORGANIZERS Jason Ellis, Christine Halverson, Tom Erickson IBM T. J. Watson Research Center * FOR MORE INFORMATION * - For the full description and information on submission requirements see http://www.cct2005.disco.unimib.it/Workshop-H.htm - For general information about the CC&T conference see http://www.cct2005.disco.unimib.it/ - To contact the organizers write to ct-incentives(a)jellis.net ======================================== -- ------------------------------------------ Tom Erickson IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Email: snowfall(a)acm.org (preferred); snowfall(a)us.ibm.com(IBM confidential) http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/

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Innovative use of google hits:
by Derek McMillan 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

I often use Google or Alta Vista with crosswords. UK cryptic crosswords often include quotes or words not in the dictionary but they are usually on the net somewhere. BTW the only thing most people know about Scarborough is that Simon and Garfunkle hit which is not actually about Scarborough (UK) at all!

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RE: [Air-l] counting google hits
by Rowin Young 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

> > Innovative use of google hits: > > Some one I know uses google when checking spelling and foreign > language phrasing -- if a spelling turns up 150 google hits one way, > and 350,000 the other way, he figures the second spelling was > correct. Same when he's not sure exactly how a phrase goes in another > language. More hits = probably grammatical. > :-) I did this (for the spelling of Scarborough, as if it matters) about two minutes before this message came through! I also like the 'did you really mean *insert correct spelling here*?' feature you get with google.

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RE: [Air-l] VB: ICCA-06 - New topic - CA and chat
by Marc Smith 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

Smith, Marc, JJ Cadiz, Byron Burkhalter, Conversation Trees and Threaded Chats <http://www.research.microsoft.com/~masmith/Conversation%20Trees%20and%20Thr…> , CSCW 2000. May also be of interest, at least for its reference to some of the CA literature and its applications to the analysis of chat. - Marc. -----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of T. Kennedy Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 8:48 AM To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: RE: [Air-l] VB: ICCA-06 - New topic - CA and chat Sorry to reply to list.. Malin, I am interested in the pdf file - can you send? Many thanks Tracy L. M. Kennedy PhD Candidate KMDI Graduate Fellow Graduate Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Ave. Toronto, ON M5S 2J4 tkennedy(a)netwomen.ca www.netwomen.ca www.kmdi.utoronto.ca/collaborative -----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Malin Sveningsson Sent: Friday, February 25, 2005 2:04 AM To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] VB: ICCA-06 - New topic - CA and chat Hi Denise, You might find something of interest in these volumes. Sveningsson, Malin (2001) Creating a Sense of Community. Experiences from a Swedish Web Chat. Dissertation. Linköping Studies in Art and Science, 233. Sveningsson, Malin (2002). Analyzing Web Chat Discourse. A reflection on methods. In: Beyond Texts. Nord Nytt - Nordisk tidsskrift for etnologi och folkloristik, nr 85, July 2002. (I think the dissertation sold out, but I could always send it to you as a pdf-file if you want it) best/Malin Malin Sveningsson, PhD Media and Communication Karlstad university 65188 Karlstad SWEDEN phone:+46(54)7001833 -----Original Message----- From: "Denise N. Rall" <denrall(a)yahoo.com> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Cc: Date: Thu, 24 Feb 2005 13:42:35 -0800 (PST) Subject: Re: [Air-l] VB: ICCA-06 - New topic - CA and chat > We had a round of emails earlier on how to analyze chat. Apparently > the author didn't find papers on analysis of chat using CA techniques. > > I am wondering (not my area) if there is a body of analysis on chat > using CA techniques. . . . > > Cheers, Denise > > > > > > ===== > 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 > _______________________________________________ > 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://aoir.org/airjoin.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://aoir.org/airjoin.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://aoir.org/airjoin.html

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new reviews in cyberculture studies (march 2005)
by david silver 03 Mar '05

03 Mar '05

New reviews (found at http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/) include: Alexander R. Galloway, Protocol: How Control Exists after Decentralization (MIT Press, 2004) Reviewed by: Jason Lesko, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Communication and pursuing Science and Technology Policy certification at the University of Colorado at Boulder. Lesko's current projects focus on technology and meaning-formation and technology use as performance. Lawrence Lessig, Free Culture: How Big Media Uses Technology and the Law to Lock Down Culture and Control Creativity (Penguin Press, 2004) Reviewed by: Arthur L. Morin, an associate professor in the Department of Political Science and Justice Studies and Director of the Master of Liberal Studies Program at Fort Hays State University. Frank Webster, Culture and Politics in the Information Age: A New Politics (Routledge, 2001) Reviewed by: Mashoed Bailie, an assistant professor of communication and media studies at Eastern Mediterranean University in Northern Cyprus where he lectures in the area of political economy, cultural studies, gender and democracy, and media pedagogy. Enjoy. david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver http://www.theseptemberproject.org 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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