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

Re: [Air-l] Petition Tony Blair, online that is
by Ildiko Kaposi 18 Nov '06

18 Nov '06

Stephen, I believe Wainer's 'delight' was ironic at best, even sarcastic - precisely because he senses political spin behind the initiative. The more I learn about it, the more it seems like the site is an exercise in electronic populism. I thought the idea of push-button/point-n-click panacea for democracy was passe, but your government appears to think otherwise. It is hard to make predictions, but if this is an empty exercise, devoid of deliberation or obligations for the PM to take the petitions into consideration, it will probably not be a lasting success with British citizens. Ildiko Kaposi >>> "Stephen Coleman" <S.Coleman(a)leeds.ac.uk> 11/18/06 10:33 AM >>> I don't share Wainer Lusoli's apparent delight at the arrival of the Ten Downing Street e-petitions tool. From a political perspective, one might ask why citizens are being urged to petition the Prime Minister, when the UK's system of government is not presidential, but parliamentary. More significantly, this technology has been built so that people are only allowed to sign petitions, but not discuss them. Unlike the Scottish Parliament's e-petitions, public deliberation is prohibited. This leads to a narrow notion of democracy without discussion in which petitions can claim neither representative nor deliberative legitimacy. >From the perspective of internet research, this is an interesting illustration of how political design can undermine technical potential. Contrast this with the great tradition of political petitioning that has existed in Britain since the late thirteenth century. The Chartists of the mid-nineteenth-century did not make a political impact by collecting signatures, but by holding mass meetings to discuss the cause of their petition. Imagine iif the Chartists - or the disarmament movement of the 1960s - had been allowed only to plead with the Prime Minister rather than assemble, deliberate and develop their own convictions. Citizens sending petitions via this new e-tool should be encouraged to subvert its intended restrictive use by setting up an alternative web space in which propositions can be openly discussed and revised. Stephen Coleman, Professor of Political Communication, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds

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Petition Tony Blair, online that is
by Wainer Lusoli 18 Nov '06

18 Nov '06

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ Still rubbing my eyes in disbelief Any thoughts, anyone? Wainer -------------------------------------------- Wainer Lusoli http://www.lusoli.info http://del.icio.us/lusoli http://www.i-pol.org --------------------------------------------

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Re: [Air-l] Analyzing user generated multimedia content
by William Bain 18 Nov '06

18 Nov '06

On this topic could I also just briefly mention _The New Art History_, A.L. Rees & F. Borzello (eds.) in this regard. For any kind of real contexting it seems to me that art history has to be a main insertion point element. Another question may be whether we're heading for analyses of word texts by one group of experts and graphic texts by another. Maybe were already there. Anyway, Rees & Borzello is 1985, too, a good deal less recent than the other texts mentioned. But I think it's a nice short intro. William William Bain PhD Student Comparative Literature Department of Spanish Philology Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona --------------------------------- Sponsored Link $420,000 Mortgage for $1,399/month - Think You Pay Too Much For Your Mortgage? Find Out!

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refs on myspace and facebook
by Bonnie Nardi 18 Nov '06

18 Nov '06

Hi All, Can anyone recommend some top of the line research on MySpace and Facebook? I'm looking for thoughtful academic work rather than journalists' accounts. Thanks very much. -- Bonnie Bonnie A. Nardi School of Information and Computer Sciences University of California, Irvine Irvine, CA 92697-3425 (949) 824-6534 www.artifex.org/~bonnie/

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FW: 5th Annual Chinese Internet Research Conference
by Kluver, Randy 17 Nov '06

17 Nov '06

The 5th Annual Chinese Internet Research conference will be held at the Annenberg Presidential Conference Center at Texas A&M University from May 21-22, 2007. The conference website is at http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/projects/conference.asp Conference Description: Many have seen within the Internet and related digital media the potential for the widespread transformation of political control and participation, or the foundations for new grassroots movements, or even more simply, a tremendously large market for telecommunication and digital media services. As the Internet and related technologies have grown exponentially in the last several years, this interest has not been limited just to Chinese, but has been equally important in many other nations, either those that hope to facilitate rapid political evolution, or simply to provide markets for national telecommunications infrastructure providers. There are several important facets to China's relationship with information technologies, including governmental priorities and policies, a fear of political and social instability, the creation of a high tech industry, an education infrastructure to support that industry, and the social and political issues that accompany high tech innovation. In addition, the social consequences of information technologies, through phenomenon such as online dating, gambling, and interactive games have been the subject of innumerable press reports, raising the suspicions of political leaders, educators, and community leaders, as well as countless numbers of parents. Previous academic analysis of the Internet in China has focused primarily on governmental control of the internet and the use of the Net by dissident movements and actors. However, as the Internet and related technologies are becoming more fully integrated into a wide spectrum of social life, there is need for a fresh look at digital media in China. Thus, the theme of the Fifth Annual Chinese Internet Conference is "New perspectives on the Internet in China." Participants will seek to move beyond the simplistic portrayals, as well as the "cyberutopianism" of much of the early research. We will reassess first-generation analyses and develop more subtle, grounded theory and empirical research examining the wide range of issues associated with digital media in China. We invite participation from diverse voices, including both younger and senior scholars from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, so as to understand the role of digital media in China in a more realistic perspective. Potential paper topics include a wide variety of issues that examine the role and use of the internet in the Greater Chinese cultural area, including Mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the overseas Chinese diaspora. Some potential areas might include: * Rethinking China and the Internet * Bridging the political divide: the Internet and Cross-Straits Relations * "Internet pollution" and social impacts * "Let a billion voices bloom" - e-government, e-democracy * The impact of wireless technologies and the "mobile Internet" * The Internet in Chinese International Relations * Digital media and social identity * The Chinese diaspora and the Internet * China and global Internet governance (ICANN, WSIS etc) * China's role in Asia's Digital Future * Information and Communications Technology for development (ICT4D) in China Submissions: We invite individuals to submit papers that are relevant to the conference themes, and relate to Internet use, policy, and impacts in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, or elsewhere in the Chinese cultural world. Abstracts should be at least 1500 words in length and references must be in APA style. Abstracts may be in English or Chinese. All abstracts received will be peer reviewed and selected on the basis of quality of submission and relevance to the conference themes. Submissions must be sent via email to Carmen Suen at csuen(a)ipomail.tamu.edu by February 15, 2007. Authors will be notified of acceptance by March 15, 2007. After acceptance, full and complete papers, written in English, must be submitted by May 1, 2007. Selected papers from the conference may be published in an edited volume or a special symposium issue of an academic journal. Participation in the conference will neither guarantee nor compel publication of a paper. In order to be considered for publication, the full paper must be received by the conference organizers before May 1, 2007. For more information, contact Carmen Suen at csuen(a)ipomail.tamu.edu, or see the conference webpage at http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/projects/conference.asp Randy Kluver, Ph.D. Director, Institute for Pacific Asia Texas A&M University 204 Coke 3371 TAMU College Station, TX 77843-3371 Phone: (979) 845-3099 Fax: (979) 845-3085 http://international.tamu.edu/ipa/

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Re: [Air-l] Petition Tony Blair, online that is
by Ildiko Kaposi 17 Nov '06

17 Nov '06

Wainer, What's the reason for your disbelief? I took only a cursory glance at the sight, so I'm not well-informed. First of all, I don't know what the online petitioning implies exactly, i.e. whether there are any obligatory consequences for the Right Hon. Blair or government policy. But online petitioning as such is practised elsewhere, and e-democracy has been something of a priority for the UK government, so this seems to fit the pattern. Am I misreading the initiative? Ildiko >>> "Wainer Lusoli" <w.lusoli(a)lse.ac.uk> 11/17/06 1:56 PM >>> http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/ Still rubbing my eyes in disbelief Any thoughts, anyone? Wainer -------------------------------------------- Wainer Lusoli http://www.lusoli.info http://del.icio.us/lusoli http://www.i-pol.org -------------------------------------------- _______________________________________________ The air-l(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] Analyzing user generated multimedia content
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 17 Nov '06

17 Nov '06

Great sources Denise ... which reminds me that one should always look at the Edward Tufte books for the relation between visual imagery and information. (see http://www.edwardtufte.com/tufte/) /Caroline ---- Original message ---- >Date: Thu, 16 Nov 2006 14:53:20 -0800 (PST) >From: "Denise N. Rall" <denrall(a)yahoo.com> >Subject: Re: [Air-l] Analyzing user generated multimedia content >To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > >Dera Anders - > >Very interesting topic here. > >Kress at least mentions a grammar of visual design >which I think would be helpful (if it were possible). >After one builds the grammar, then the analysis would >be possible. > >Here is an interesting little book on how to read the >visual from an art historical perspective. Don't think >that's wanted here but at least shows an insertion >point into the study of images from a cultural >perspective. > >Dikovitskaya, M. (2005). Visual culture: the study of >the visual after the cultural turn. Cambridge, MA, MIT >Press. > >Kress, with a link: >Kress, G. and T. van Leeuwen (1996). Reading images: >The grammar of visual design. London, Routledge. >Here's a link to one of his newer papers. >http://www.knowledgepresentation.org/BuildingTheFuture/Kress2/Kress2.html > >This went around on the list a while ago: > >VIRTUAL ART > From Illusion to Immersion >by Oliver Grau >A Leonardo Book published by MIT Press >(January 2003, ISBN 0-262-07241-6, 7 x 9, 360 pp., 89 >illus) > ---------------------------------------- Caroline Haythornthwaite Associate Professor Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820

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Analyzing user generated multimedia content
by Nicole Reinhold 16 Nov '06

16 Nov '06

Dear AoIRers Since blog users and online community members are increasingly posting multimedia content and not only text, discourse analysis seems no longer sufficient to analyze this content. Therefore, I am looking for ways to classify and analyze images as such. One important aspect is certainly given by the context where the images are posted, but how can images be handled? I looked at ethnographic and semiotic approaches to get some background, but so far I could not find a suitable way to classify or analyze this type of content. Does anybody have experience in this area, or can anybody suggest a suitable approach for this problem? best wishes Nicole MA. Nicole Reinhold, Senior Research Consultant Philips Design nicole.reinhold(a)philips.com, http://www.design.philips.com

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myspace/orkut/facebook survey questionnaire
by Jeremiah Spence 16 Nov '06

16 Nov '06

All, I am in the process of preparing a survey to be applied online both in the US and in Brazil examining user habits in the use of Myspace, Orkut and Facebook. My primary interests are why are they using the service and what are they doing while they are there.... I would like to see if anyone on the listserv has any suggestions as to ideal questions that should be included. Also, once the survey is online, would it be possible to promote to your students or mailing list you'all are on? Thanks, Jeremiah Spence Dept. of RTF University of Texas at Austin, USA jspence5(a)mail.utexas.edu / jeremiah(a)petraz.be

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Survey about OpenOffice
by Frank Thomas 16 Nov '06

16 Nov '06

I hope this announcement is not off topic. Hi, IDC, the world’s leading IT market intelligence and analysis firm (www.idc.com) and OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org) are conducting research to better understand the usage of OpenOffice.org software, and we'd like you to participate! This survey will take 15 to 20 minutes to complete. All respondents who complete this survey will be entered into a draw for one of five US $100 cash awards. IDC and OpenOffice.org will respect the confidentiality of the information you provide. You may view the terms of data usage and confidentiality in the introduction to the survey. Aggregate results of this survey will be published on the OpenOffice.org web site within 3 months of the close of the survey. The survey will remain open for respondents until 23:59 UTC, Tuesday 22 November. The survey is conducted online. Please click on the following URL to take the survey now: ** http://websurveyor.net/wsb.dll/74052/IDC-OOo-Nov-06.htm ** Your participation will help the community better understand the adoption and usage of OpenOffice.org--and you may win US $100! -- IDC & The OpenOffice.org Team -- .......................................... Dr. Frank Thomas FTR Internet Research 93110 Rosny-sous-Bois France

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