October 2006 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: [Air-l] Organisational differences?
by Lyn Jeffery 17 Oct '06

17 Oct '06

Check out Ellen Ullman's 1997 novel "Close to the Machine" for a great peek into the software engineer's mind, at least at that time. A good read, too! Lyn ________________________ Lyn Jeffery, Ph.D. Research Director Institute for the Future www.iftf.org phone: 650-233-9577 blog: www.virtual-china.org 124 University Ave. 2/F, Palo Alto, CA 94301 main phone: 650-854-6322 ________________________ On 16 Oct 2006, at 09:34, Elizabeth Van Couvering wrote: > Hi everyone, > > I wonder if anyone can lend some literature to the impression I have > from interviewing a series of software engineers that their work in > technology organisations is more valuable that the work of other > parts of the organisation - e.g., "management", marketing, > facilities, etc. > > Thanks a bunch, > > Elizabeth > > Elizabeth Van Couvering > PhD Student > Department of Media & Communications > London School of Economics and Political Science > http://personal.lse.ac.uk/vancouve/ > e.j.van-couvering(a)lse.ac.uk >

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Re: [Air-l] Organisational differences?
by Julian Hopkins 17 Oct '06

17 Oct '06

Hello Elizabeth, Not directly relevant as it's more to do with open source, but I found an article by Christopher Kelty very thought-provoking - particularly the concept of the 'recursive public': a concept which he derives from Charles Taylor and Michael Warner. He defines it as: "a particular form of social imaginary through which this group [i.e. 'geeks': "hackers, lawyers, activists, and IT entrepreneurs"] imagines in common the means of their own association, the material forms this imagination takes, and what place it has in the contemporary development of the Internet." Kelty, Christopher. "Geeks, Social Imaginaries, and Recursive Publics." Cultural Anthropology May 2005. 20.2:185-215. 29 Jun. 2005 <http://www.proquest.com> What it says to me is that IT people are aware of the constitutive (limited in various ways though) effect of software/hardware on how organisations are develop and change; and they are also aware that they have more control, in a practical/prosaic sense, over this process than others. On a different level though, I have yet to meet many people who don't think that their own job is more difficult and important than other's jobs... Also, I've often thought of IT personnel as acting like some doctors - believing that the 'patient' cannot understand the details and just telling them what to do without explaining and considering that they may have some useful input too. Regards, Julian ++++++++++ Julian Hopkins Senior Lecturer HELP University College - ADP Kuala Lumpur tel: +60 3 2095 8791 x2913 email: julianh(a)help.edu.my web: http://www.help.edu.my ******************************************* Date: Mon, 16 Oct 2006 09:34:14 +0100 From: Elizabeth Van Couvering <e.j.van-couvering(a)lse.ac.uk> Subject: [Air-l] Organisational differences? To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Message-ID: <2E83E986-AAD1-4915-93EB-8B43CC57ADD0(a)lse.ac.uk> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; delsp=yes; format=flowed Hi everyone, I wonder if anyone can lend some literature to the impression I have from interviewing a series of software engineers that their work in technology organisations is more valuable that the work of other parts of the organisation - e.g., "management", marketing, facilities, etc. Thanks a bunch, Elizabeth Elizabeth Van Couvering PhD Student Department of Media & Communications London School of Economics and Political Science http://personal.lse.ac.uk/vancouve/ e.j.van-couvering(a)lse.ac.uk

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Re: [Air-l] Latour, ANT, and Internet Research
by Kevin Leander 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

Hi Christian, Not a description of the entire internet, by a longshot, but you might be interested in this piece: Leander, K. M. & Lovvorn, J. (2006). Literacy networks: Following the circulation of texts, bodies, and objects in the schooling and online gaming of one youth. Cognition & Instruction 24(3), 291-340. Kevin >Dear colleagues, > >I am curious to find out if there are scholars who have used Latour's >Actor Network Theory for describing the internet as a network of human >and non-human (technical) actors. > >I think that such an approach were fundamentally flawed, but would like >to know if anyone has already attempted and published such a description? > >Christian > >_____________________________ -- Kevin Leander, Ph.D. Associate Professor, Teaching and Learning NCTEAR Midwinter Conference, Feb. 23-25, 2007 Proposal Deadline: November 1, 2006 http://education.umn.edu/NCTEAR/default.html

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multitasking
by Barry Wellman 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

As this is the Association of Internet RESEARCHERS, I wonder if anyone has done any Research on multitasking -- to address the interesting conjectures that a bunch of people have. Alas, the only study I know of is our own (actually mostly Anabel's) observations, interviews and surveys of a high-tech orgnization: Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman. "Hyperconnected Net Work: Computer-Mediated Community in a High-Tech Organization." Pp. 281-333 in The Firm as a Collaborative Community: Reconstructing Trust in the Knowledge Economy, edited by Charles Heckscher and Paul Adler. New York: Oxford University Press, 2006. Anabel Quan-Haase and Barry Wellman, "From the Computerization Movement to Computerization: A Case Study of a Community of Practice." Forthcoming in Computerization Movements and Technology Diffusion: From Mainframes to Ubiquitous Computing, edited by Ken Kraemer and Margaret Elliott. Medford, NJ: Information Today, 2007. Barry Wellman _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _____________________________________________________________________

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Associate/Assistant Prof Position in Digital Media
by Jeffrey P Jones 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

Associate or Assistant Professor of Communication Old Dominion University The Department of Communication and Theatre Arts at Old Dominion University invites applications for a position at the rank of Associate or Assistant Professor (tenure-track). Successful candidates will hold a Ph.D. in Communication, Media Arts, or related disciplines, and have an established research and publication record in digital media with a broad focus in web studies and/or new media. Possible specific interests include one or more of the following areas: convergence, human-digital communication, creative industries, globalization, law and policy, and/or virtual/interactive environments. Candidates comfortable working with digital media and who possess multimedia and digital authoring skills are desirable. Candidates should be committed to undergraduate and graduate teaching, and are expected to participate in university/college/departmental service activities. Send a letter of application that addresses the position, a curriculum vitae, a sample publication, and the names and contact information of three references to: Dr. Jeffrey Jones, Search Committee Chair, Department of Communication and Theatre Arts, Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0087. Review of applications will begin on November 15, 2006 and will continue until the position is filled. Old Dominion University is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer and requires compliance with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. Dr. Jeffrey P. Jones Dept. of Communication & Theatre Arts Old Dominion University Norfolk, VA 23529 757.683.6267 (o) http://www.odu.edu/al/jpjones

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Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award 2007
by Mark D. Johns 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

CALL FOR AWARD APPLICATIONS Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award 2007 Sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research http://www.cccsir.org/ The Carl Couch Center issues an annual call for student-authored papers to be considered for Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. The Couch Center welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers that (1) apply symbolic interactionist approaches to Internet studies, (2) demonstrate interactive relationships between social interaction and communication technologies as advocated by Couch, and/or (3) develop symbolic interactionist concepts in new directions. Papers will be evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Symbolic Interactionist approaches and concepts and Couch’s theses, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge. Evaluation will be administered by a Review Committee of four: Dr. Mark D. Johns, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa Dr. Katherine M. Clegg Smith, Johns Hopkins University Dr. Lori Kendall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Dr. Dennis Waskul, Minnesota State University, Mankato Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines. Works that are published or accepted for publication are not eligible for award consideration. Entries should not exceed 30 pages (approximately 7500 words) in length, including references and appendices. Limit of one entry per student per year. The top three papers will receive Couch Awards to be presented at the 2007 meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (aoir.org) in Vancouver, BC. The top paper will be awarded a certificate and a cash prize of $300 US, runner up will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $200 US, and a third paper will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $100 US. All three authors will be invited to present their work at a session of the AoIR conference, October 18-20, 2007. Those interested should send a copy of their paper, with a 100-word abstract, electronically to Mark D. Johns at mjohns(a)luther.edu Application deadline is April 30, 2007. Notification of award will be sent by June 15. Those with questions or comments about Couch Award application, please contact: Mark D. Johns Dept. of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, IA 52101 Tel: (563) 387-1347 E-mail: mjohns(a)luther.edu

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Reminder: Communities and Technologies 2007 Conference Submission Deadline
by Charles Steinfield 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

Greetings all, This is just a brief reminder that the deadline for submitting papers to the Communities and Technologies 2007 conference is just under a month away. The paper deadline is November 13th, and the workshop submission deadline is December 4th. C&T 2007 will be held at Michigan State University next June 28-30. It includes one full day of workshops which have been competitively selected by our program committee, and two days of competitively selected paper presentations. In addition, invited speakers at C&T 2007 include Judith Donath, director of the Sociable Media Group at the MIT Media Lab, Rob Malda and Jeff Bates, creators of Slashdot, and Marc Smith, director of Microsoft Research's Community Technologies Group. Given the vibrant discussions related to Internet communities that take place on this list, we hope you will find this conference to be a highly relevant outlet for your work. We look forward to welcoming you to East Lansing, Michigan. Please visit the conference web site for more information at: http://ebusiness.tc.msu.edu/cct2007/ with best regards, Chip Steinfield, Brian Pentland, Mark Ackerman, and Noshir Contractor Conference Co-Organizers 3rd International Conference on Communities and Technologies Michigan State University East Lansing, Michigan June 28-30, 2007

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Re: [Air-l] multitasking
by David Smahel 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

Richard, > operationalize "multi-tasking" as moving between multiple tasks in an effort > to complete both, rather than completing them sequentially - doing one until > finished, then the other etc. I don't think that this definition is good for our Internet multitasking studies. I still think that we need some time framing. It's not multitasking in my opinion when I'm doing "task 1" 2 hours and "task 2" another 2 hours and than I continue in "task 1". I think we need to define "computer multitasking" better. We also need some multitasking categorisation, btw do you know some? I think there are several ways how to multitask and how it is used. > while using video screen-capture tutorials and he defined multi-tasking as degree of switching among windows > (not necessarily monitors) and found that multi-tasking actually helped performance. "degree of switching among windows" is better definition for our purposes in my opinion. But it's also only one but probably most common way how to multitask. It's still possible that several windows are parts of one task. (I work on an article and I opened SPSS, Word and some literature, I percieve this as one task or not?) > First there is definitely a literature in experimental psychology on > multi-tasking, which pretty strong suggests it's bad - the sum of > performance on tasks performed in sequence is better than performance on the > tasks performed simultaneously However, like much of basic research in psychology, > it's strong in controls, but not real strong in ecological validity. You are absolutely right. These experimental psychology results don't say us much about the "real multitasking" on computers in my opinion. First of all, we are not able to concetrate absolutely all the time while working (8 and more hours daily). My main idea and hypothesis is that multitasking is the way how to RELAX. I'm not able to work and think 100% of the time, so I do "jumps" to other things: e.g. I'm working on an article but I interrupt the work several times: e.g. I write e-mails to students/friends but what is important, while writing the e-mail I relax some from more complicated work and perhaps my brain is also working "on background" on the article (??? many question marks). I know a lot of friends who work as programmers who multitask (relax) with real computer games - not many people are able to write programmes so many hours per day without rest, so they just use some type of "short" games for this purpose (Interent chess, icq games, but also reading discussion lists etc). What do you think about this function of the multitasking? Regards, David

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Interest in panel for ANZCA conference?
by Matthew Allen 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

Dear all I am proposing to organise a panel on Internet communications for the ANZCA conference with a broad theme: 'Communications, Civics, Industry: what difference does the Internet make?' Without limiting the breadth of what we might discuss under that heading, I would be interested in papers that specifically explore the relationship between the Internet and other media forms. I will probably do something on the growing link between large corporate media in Australia and web presence (eg NineMSN, 7Yahoo) and what this might mean. Anyone who is interested in proposing an abstract / refereed paper for the ANZCA conference around this theme might like to email me offlist and I will see what I can do to help coordinate a panel proposal Matt Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor in Internet Studies President Association of Internet Researchers Faculty of Media Society and Culture Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J http://smi.curtin.edu.au/NetStudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 92663166 (f)

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Conference CFP: ANZCA 2007
by Matthew Allen 16 Oct '06

16 Oct '06

Dear all (especially Aust and NZ subscribers) The 2007 Australian and New Zealand Communication Association (ANZCA) conference has been announced: ----------- CALL FOR PAPERS: Communications, Civics, Industry Australian New Zealand Communication Association National Conference Melbourne, July Thursday 5th- Friday 6th 2007 associated Public Service Broadcasting in Asia-Pacific Seminar Saturday, July 7th Submission of refereed papers - Deadline January 14th Electronic Submission at www.latrobe.edu.au/ANZCA2007 For more information see the conference website (above) or email: ANZCA2007(a)latrobe.edu.au ANZCA's homepage has relevant information and resources for communication and media academics as well as information about membership benefits: http://www.anzca.net/ ANZCA 2007 conference is in Melbourne thanks to a collaboration between La Trobe University's Media Studies Program and The University of Melbourne's Centre for Media and Communications Law. The conference theme is Communications, Civics, Industry. Featured topics include the role of public service media, new media distribution technologies in communications, and public relations, advertising and civil society. There will be a plenary panel on professional impact of the Research Quality Framework. GRANT NOBLE PRIZE FOR BEST POSTGRADUATE PAPER In conjunction with the University of New England's Faculty of Arts Humanities and Social Sciences ANZCA presents an annual award for a refereed paper by a postgraduate student. For details see the conference website: www.latrobe.edu.au/ANZCA2007 PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC. In partnership with the ARC's Asia Pacific Research Futures Network (APRFN) ANZCA will run post conference seminar Public Service Broadcasting in Asia and the Pacific and postgraduate/ECR workshop on 'Research Methodologies and Strategies for Public Policy' For more information on the ANZCA/APRFN event contact Dr. John Tebbutt: john.tebbutt(a)latrobe.edu.au -------- Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor in Internet Studies President Association of Internet Researchers Faculty of Media Society and Culture Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J http://smi.curtin.edu.au/NetStudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 92663166 (f)

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