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

CfP 31 Oct 2006: Electronic J of Communication - Communicative Ecologies
by Marcus Foth 02 Oct '06

02 Oct '06

Reminder CALL FOR PAPERS -- closes 31 Oct 2006 Electronic Journal of Communication (EJC) Special Issue: Communicative Ecologies We invite the submission of conceptual or empirical (quantitative or qualitative) work on the theme of communicative ecologies in any place-based setting. The special issue is scheduled for publication in mid 2007. Deadline for completed manuscripts: 31 Oct 2006. Submissions should be electronic (.doc or .rtf format only, please avoid .pdf and .html). Inquiries about possible topics are welcome. Submissions and inquiries should be directed to the guest editors: see below. The concept of ecology has a lot to offer communication research. We can define a communicative ecology as a milieu of agents who are connected in various ways by various exchanges (Tacchi, Slater, & Hearn, 2003). Broadly, it refers to the context in which the communication process occurs. Such an ecology can thus be thought of as comprising a number of mediated and unmediated forms of communication. In this context, use of the term is closely aligned to research in the field of media ecology, and is thus informed by the early work of Christine Nystrom (1973) and, more recently, David Altheide’s “The Ecology of Communication” (1995). Our particular interest in the concept stems from our study of people in particular places with access to many different media. For example, we have studied communication patterns in inner-city apartment buildings and communities in rural areas. Thus we conceive of a communicative ecology as having three layers. A technological layer which consists of the devices and connecting media that enable communication and interaction. A social layer which consists of people and social modes of organising those people – which might include, for example, everything from friendship groups to more formal community organizations, as well as companies or legal entities. And finally, a discursive layer which is the content of communication – that is, the ideas or themes that constitute the known social universe that the ecology operates in. Using an ecological metaphor opens up a number of interesting possibilities for analyzing place-based communication (e.g., in neighbourhoods, apartment buildings, or – on a larger scale – suburbs and cities). It can help us to better understand the ways social activities are organized, the ways people define and experience their environments, and the implications for social order and organization (Altheide, 1995, p. 9). For example, in analyzing an apartment complex, an ecological metaphor might suggest first examining the features of the population in the apartment and mapping the patterns of engagement within that population. In addition we could ask how people relate to different places within the apartment, and how this interaction is mediated by the use of technology. Do different groups form around a coffee shop? Do email or cell phone connections define other ecologies? Then we might also be able to study transactions between different ecologies. The ecological metaphor focuses on whole of system interactions. It also enables us to define boundaries of any given ecology, and to examine how the coherence of that boundary and the stability of each ecology is maintained. What topics of conversation define insiders and outsiders in the ecology? Finally, it also opens up the question of the social sustainability of a communicative ecology. Similar sorts of questions could of course be asked of any human communication phenomena in any place-based context. http://www.cios.org/www/ejc/calls/hearnfoth.htm Guest Editors: Professor Greg Hearn g.hearn(a)qut.edu.au Dr Marcus Foth m.foth(a)qut.edu.au -- Dr Marcus Foth BMultimedia BCompSc(Hons) MA PhD m.foth(a)qut.edu.au - http://www.vrolik.de/ Australian Postdoctoral Fellow Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology (CRICOS No. 00213J) Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia Phone +61 7 3138 8772 - Fax 8195 - Room Z6-511 http://ici.qut.edu.au/

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call for book chapters - 3D virtual worlds
by Jan Fernback 02 Oct '06

02 Oct '06

Hello all, Here's a call for book chapters from: Don Heider Associate Dean Philip Merrill College of Journalism University of Maryland (301)405-2432 dheider(a)jmail.umd.edu Submissions wanted for a new scholarly edited volume on the social, cultural, economic, or political life in 3D virtual worlds. Send a 1-2 page proposal describing your piece in detail. Finished chapters will be expected at the end of January, 2007. All methodologies and disciplinary backgrounds welcome. Send your proposals as an attached word document to: Don Heider – dheider(a)jmail.umd.edu. ________________________________________________________ Jan Fernback, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Director of the Master of Arts Program Dept. of Broadcasting, Telecommunications and Mass Media Temple University 2020 N. 13th Street Philadelphia, PA 19122 215-204-3041 fernback(a)temple.edu ________________________________________________________

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open call netporn conference
by Marije Janssen 02 Oct '06

02 Oct '06

Open Call for Contributions deadline November 30 In June 2007 the second international academic conference on internet pornography will take place in Amsterdam. We are currently looking for academics, journalist and artists that are working on this subject and would like to present their work for an international audience. In October of 2005 the Institute of Network Cultures, in collaboration with Katrien Jacobs and Matteo Pasquinelli, hosted the first edition: 'The Art & Politics of Netporn.' Some of the speakers were: Mark Dery, Mikita Brottman and Susanna Paasonen. Subjects ranged from the sexual grotesque to feminist matters to realcore and to the issue of online censorship. For more information about this conference you can visit our website: www.networkcultures.org/netporn. For our second conference writers, critics and people from the industry will talk about their work, research and findings in the field. Next to that, there will be an exhibition and a night with artistic performances. The topics for the next conference will be: - the revolution of alt pornography - porn niches and trans gender - globalization of porn and the influence of ethnic minorities - politics of netporn: censorship, new rights and nightmares. If you think your work is suitable, please send us an abstract of approx. 200 words before November 30 to: marije(a)networkcultures.org The first conference was very successfull and made it possible for people to meet each other and exchange views on this topic that is still a taboo. We are looking forward to a second edition with fresh faces and new insights. For more information or questions: marije(a)networkcultures.org marije janssen institute of network cultures marije(a)networkcultures.org t: +31 (0)20 5951866 f: +31 (0)20 5951840 www.networkcultures.org

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Re: [Air-l] Gender and Video Games
by Julian Hopkins 02 Oct '06

02 Oct '06

Hello Adam, This article may be useful: Gender and Computer Games: Exploring Females' Dislikes Tilo Hartmann and Christoph Klimmt http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol11/issue4/hartmann.html Regards, Julian ++++++++++ Julian Hopkins Lecturer HELP University College - ADP Kuala Lumpur tel: +60 3 2095 8791 x2913 email: julianh(a)help.edu.my Message: 2 Date: Sun, 1 Oct 2006 00:22:39 -0700 From: "Adam Matthew Ormond" <aormond(a)uci.edu> Subject: [Air-l] Gender and Video Games To: <air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> Message-ID: <000801c6e52a$613072b0$0300a8c0@MATT> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Hello Everyone, I am co-authoring a book chapter on First Person Shooter (FPS) games and violence, and am looking for demographic and statistical information on the types of video/computer games girls play, ages of players, reasons for playing, and impact on the development of perception and identity. Would anyone be able to direct me to any resources covering this subject matter? Adam Matthew Ormond, Ed.D. Lecturer Department of Education University of California, Irvine 2001 Berkeley Place Irvine, CA Phone: (949) 824-2882 Email: aormond(a)uci.edu Office: BP2082

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Wikipedia entry cited by UK educational establishment
by David Brake 02 Oct '06

02 Oct '06

Long-overdue recognition of its usefulness or beginning of the end of civilization? I don't want to speculate - but I certainly raised an eyebrow when I saw http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/childhood/ - the website for a 30 part radio history of childhood. It's a flagship series on Radio 4, broadcast (and produced?) by the BBC with some kind of relationship to the Open University and one of the two external links given on the site was to a Wikipedia entry. I don't know if this is a new policy from the BBC or just some web producer taking their own initiative but it's a sign of the times that this would have been considered... --- David Brake, Doctoral Student in Media and Communications, London School of Economics & Political Science <http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/study/ mPhilPhDMediaAndCommunications.htm> Also see http://davidbrake.org/ (home page), http://blog.org/ (personal weblog) and http://get.to/lseblog (academic groupblog) Author of Dealing With E-Mail - <http://davidbrake.org/ dealingwithemail/> callto://DavidBrake (Skype.com's Instant Messenger and net phone)

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new reviews in cyberculture studies (october 2006)
by David M Silver 01 Oct '06

01 Oct '06

new reviews [ http://rccs.usfca.edu/booklist.asp ] for october 2006: 1. Communication Researchers and Policy-Making Editor: Sandra Braman Publisher: MIT Press, 2003 Review: Amin Alhassan Author Response: Sandra Braman 2. Material Virtualities: Approaching Online Textual Embodiment Author: Jenny Sunden Publisher: Peter Lang Publishing, 2003 Review: Clarissa Lee Author Response: Jenny Sunden 3. Star Trek: Technologies of Disappearance Author: Alan N. Shapiro Publisher: Avinus Verlag, 2004 Review: Radim Hladik Author Response: Alan N. Shapiro 4. Technology and the Dream: Reflections on the Black Experience at MIT, 1941-1999 Author: Clarence G. Williams Publisher: MIT Press, 2003 Review: Elizabeth F. Desnoyers-Colas COMING SOON! reviews of: Computer Mediated Communication: Social Interaction and the Internet; Culture + Technology: A Primer; Eloquent Images: Word and Image in the Age of New Media; Figurski at Findhorn on Acid; Half-Real: Video Games between Real Rules and Fictional Worlds; Internet Politics: States, Citizens and New Communication Technologies; Mobile Cultures: New Media in Queer Asia; My First Recession: Critical Internet Culture in Transition; Publicity's Secret: How Technoculture Capitalizes on Democracy; Techno Fashion; The Cinema Effect; The Digital Sublime: Myth, Power, and Cyberspace; The Mirror and the Veil: An Overview of American Online Diaries and Blogs; and The Souls of Cyberfolk: Posthumanism as Vernacular Theory. enjoy. david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com

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Announcement: CFP - Journal issue on Regulation of the Internet
by Matthew Allen 01 Oct '06

01 Oct '06

The International Journal of Communications Law and Policy (http://www.ijclp.org) and the Association of Internet Researchers (http://aoir.org) is pleased to announce a call for further papers for a special issue on Internet regulation linked to the IRv7 Conference ('Internet Convergences'). The selection committee - composed of the editorial board of the IJCLP and Matthew Allen (Curtin University of Technology), Fay Sudweeks (Murdoch University) and Axel Bruns (Queensland University of Technology) - will review and consider all submissions for publication. We have already received several papers from the conference which are in the process of being reviewed and would now encourage experts from all disciplines and nationalities to submit further papers for publication by 1st December 2006. Acceptance will be notified by the end of the year for publication in 2007 following strict double-blind peer review. The special issue is defined as follows: The Internet has been characterised as a communications technology that, in its global reach and empowerment of individual users, undermines the jurisdictional authority of both sovereign nations and the international bodies to which those nations subscribe. In such a world, it was imagined, 'regulation' would decline or become irrelevant. This characterisation, part of the rhetorical promotion of the Internet in the 1990s, is wrong in two fundamental ways. Firstly, laws and policies that seek to regulate the Internet have proliferated in recent years and demonstrate significant attention by national governments to the business of governing the Internet; equally global discussions to create international understandings of the Internet have also become more significant even if, for the moment, have been less fruitful than purely national legislation. Second, and at least as importantly, it is now apparent that the Internet involves additional regulatory authorities users, systems administrators, software writers and large corporations. If anything, therefore, the Internet can be said to involve increased, or at least more complex webs of, regulatory activity. In this special issue of IJCLP, we bring together papers that explore aspects of regulation, governance and policy-making at all three levels - systemic, national and international - so as to provide insights into network of network regulation. All inquiries should be mailed to Matthew Allen (m.allen(a)curtin.edu.au) and Boris Rotenberg (boris_rotenberg(a)yahoo.it) final submissions to Simone F. Bonetti (simo.bonetti(a)tiscalinet.it) Formatting and other requirements are stated on the IJCLP website. Submissions must be in English and should be between 4-8,000 words in length. Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor Internet Studies Curtin University of Technology, CRICOS 00301J Australia m.allen(a)curtin.edu.au http://smi.curtin.edu.au/netstudies/allen.htm <https://email.curtin.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://smi.curtin.edu…> +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 9266 3166 (f) President, Association of Internet Researchers http://www.aoir.org <https://email.curtin.edu.au/exchweb/bin/redir.asp?URL=http://www.aoir.org/>

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