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

Liquid Architectures Symposium
by Ken Friedman 14 Mar '06

14 Mar '06

Dear Colleagues, Here is a forum that may interest you.. It's the Liquid Architecture Forum at the Tate Online web site of the Tate Britain and the Tate Modern in London. The speakers include Hani Rashid, Jasia Reichardt, Woody Vasulka, Eddie Berg, and Rodrigo Alonso as well as myself. Celine Condorelli is the moderator. If any of you wishes to join the conversation or interact with some of these exciting thinkers, there is an opportunity to participate using the interactive forum feature. Those who wish to observe -- or take part -- should go to this URL: http://www.tate.org.uk/contact/forums/onlineevents/ To read, click on "Liquid Architecture -- Panel Discussion." To participate, click on "Liquid Architecture -- Public Forum." Best regards, -- Ken Friedman Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design Institute for Communication, Culture, and Language Norwegian School of Management Center for Design Research Denmark's Design School +47 46.41.06.76 Tlf NSM +47 33.40.10.95 Tlf Privat email: ken.friedman(a)bi.no

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Re: [Air-l] not wishing to start a war
by William Bain 14 Mar '06

14 Mar '06

Hi. I'd just like to note something here in regard to the conversation Denise N. Rall began and Bob Rehak's recent comment that "The medium of the movies surely includes more than the optical apparatus that captures light, inscribes it chemically or optically onto film, and reconstructs it at the other end in a darkened theater. For me at least, it includes the lovely grain of the image, the shock of the jump cut, and the dreamy no-time of the closeup." First of all I'm speaking from a different and kind of nontechnical field, literary theory, for the most part. I'm about to present an MA thesis on Virginia Woolf's *Mrs. Dalloway* and since lit crit works with messages I've been very interested in the discussion as it's developed here. What struck me about Bob Rehak's comment was the way so much is involved in the process of "doing film". And it isn't only that, but also the fact that it's humans using tools. So within the usual analyses of message sending (and I'm not as up on this as I'd like to be), I wonder whether the concepts of hardware and software don't fit somewhere. There is also the philosophical concept of incorporeals, which I suppose in the end constitutes any message that gets sent in its "soft" form. The hard form or hardware would then be the celluloid or the page of the book involved. I offer these comments as, well, I've already noted my nonexpertise......... I'd be very interested in hearing what the group thinks. William Bain Grad Student Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona --------------------------------- Yahoo! Mail Use Photomail to share photos without annoying attachments.

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PDP decoded - unintentional humor
by Barry Wellman 14 Mar '06

14 Mar '06

I'm doing the final proofing of "Sociologists Engaging with Computers" which should appear this April in _Social Science Computing Review_. It's an intro piece to the issue's focus on the history of our Communication & Information Technology section of the American Sociological Association. As such, it has a bit of computing history in it. I was astonished that when the copyeditor read my reference to the DEC PDP (hallowed be its name), she changed it to "Programmed Data Processors". Ever since it arrived in William James Hall (Harvard) in the mid-1960s,it's been the PDP. In fact, I had to Google now to see that yes, this is the literal full name of the thing -- which nobody ever used. Dealing with copyeditors is always a tug of war. I've left the expansion of CPU and RAM go, but darn-it, a PDP is a PDP. Barry _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________

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FW: Call for papers: Digital gatekeepers and search engines (Berlin 26-27 June, 2006)
by Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof) 14 Mar '06

14 Mar '06

-----Original Message----- From: Prof. Dr. Marcel Machill [mailto:machill@uni-leipzig.de] Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 4:07 PM Subject: Call for papers: Digital gatekeepers and search engines (Berlin 26-27 June, 2006) preparations for our international conference on digital gatekeepers and search engines are almost complete. We will have a scientific workshop on June 26 (with English as working language) and a broader conference for decision makers in media policy on June 27 (with English and German as working languages). Detailed information can be found at: http://www.uni-leipzig.de/journalistik/suma/ Please feel free to forward this URL to further colleagues and students who might be interested. There is a limited number of places for the scientific workshop on June 26 for which travel costs would be sponsored by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation (see detailed information under "call for papers"). Experts who want to apply should hand in an extended abstract no later than April 30, 2006. The scientific workshop also has the objective to establish an international network of researchers focussing on various aspects of digital gatekeepers. With best regards, Marcel ----------------------------------------------------------------- Professor Dr. Marcel Machill, MPA (Harvard) Chair of Journalism and International Media Systems University of Leipzig Burgstr. 21 / 04109 Leipzig / Germany Phone: +49.341.97-35758 (Direct Line) Phone: +49.341.97-35750 (Assistant) Fax: +49.341.97-39330 E-mail: machill(a)uni-leipzig.de URL: www.uni-leipzig.de/~journ/machilleng.php -----------------------------------------------------------------

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Wikipedia wars again
by Isa Ducke 14 Mar '06

14 Mar '06

For those of you who want to follow these editing wars... Isa ----- Original Message ----- From: "Frank Conlon" <conlon(a)U.WASHINGTON.EDU> To: <H-ASIA(a)H-NET.MSU.EDU> Sent: Tuesday, March 14, 2006 11:03 AM Subject: H-ASIA: Wikipedia usurped in entries on Hindu studies in the US > H-ASIA > March 13, 2006 > > Wikipedia usurped in entries on Hindu studies in the United States > *********************************************************************** > Ed. note: Cross-post from RISA-L with permissionof Peter Gottschalk. In > light of our earlier discussions on the Wikipedia phenomenon, this struck > me as of interest and relevance. > FFC ------------------------------------------------------------------------ > From: Peter Gottschalk <pgottschalk(a)wesleyan.edu> > > Colleagues, > > Wikipedia.org has been usurped to impugn specific scholars and Hindu > studies in the US in general, omitting the far larger context of the work > by both individuals and the scholarly community. In particular, > Wikipedia's entry on Wendy Doniger defines and rejects her work almost > entirely within a frame of hurt Hindu sensibilities, an entry on Jeff > Kripal defines him only in regard to allegations and controversy > surrounding Kali's Child, and the entry for "Hinduism in the United > States" simply dismisses all scholarship for its supposed shoddiness. > > Considering the unfortunately high reliance on this source of so many of > our students and, perhaps, many members of the public, it would behoove > those of us who would care to offer counter-perspectives. Certainly hurt > sensibilities and controversial scholarship merit attention, however, they > do not merit all the attention in entries supposedly about individuals. > For those who don't know, Wikipedia is a very popular information database > developed collaboratively by its users. > > The article on Wendy (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wendy_Doniger) begins > with some basic background on her, listing academic affiliations and > works, but without any broad perspective on her work or its general > significance. The text then moves to longer criticisms that reference > "critiques" and "objections" deriving only from Rajiv Malhotra and > Sankrant Sanu. The external links portion shows a bit more balance, but > most of the sources are negative, three being written by Malhotra and > Sanu. The entry itself offers only the shortest of responses of Wendy to > her critics. Many mistakes lace the list of her works. > > The article on Jeff (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Kripal) except > for a reference to his position at Rice, defines him entirely by his work > Kali's Child, omitting everything else of his scholarship. At least > Jeff's response to one of his critics, Swami Tyagananda, is included, > although this is countered by a criticism from Malhotra. > > Meanwhile, within its entry "Hinduism in the United States" > (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_the_United_States) Wikipedia > offers this under the subtitle "Scholarship": "Hinduism studies in > American Universities has been under the spotlight recently for it's > shoddy scholarship. With the increasing Hindu population in the country, > gross errors & misrepresentations that may have passed through easily > before are being caught and highlighted. An influential figure in the > academy, Wendy Doniger, Professor of History of Religions, University of > Chicago, has come under severe criticism for her work and that of her > students." "Shoddy scholarship" has a link to a Sanu piece and "students" > to Malhotra's "Wendy's Child Syndrome." > > Answers.com, another online database, posts the Wikipedia all these > entries in their entirety. > > If you'd like to participate in the editing of the entry and are > unfamiliar with how this works (as was I until today), you can find > answers at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Introduction > > Personally, I plan on complaining to the organizers of Wikipedia that they > can allow such one-sided entries about scholars (or any individuals) > without any apparent effort at balance. > > Wikipedia recognizes the problems with its project, which has led to > erroneous and damaging claims about individuals being posted in its > entries. It addresses these at > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Wikipedia > > Peter > > Peter Gottschalk > Associate Professor > Wesleyan University > <pgottschalk(a)wesleyan.edu> > ****************************************************************** > To post to H-ASIA simply send your message to: > <H-ASIA(a)h-net.msu.edu> > For holidays or short absences send post to: > <listserv(a)h-net.msu.edu> with message: > SET H-ASIA NOMAIL > Upon return, send post with message SET H-ASIA MAIL > H-ASIA WEB HOMEPAGE URL: http://h-net.msu.edu/~asia/

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Internet as medium with different sub-media or channels?
by Opgenhaffen Michaël 13 Mar '06

13 Mar '06

Hello, I've been researching the internet as information source and now I want to make a distinction between different applications online, like www, email, msn, ... My question is how I need to describe these online applications: are they different (sub-)media (together forming the meta-medium Internet) or are they different channels within the Internet as medium? I've read different voices in literature and now I'm so confused I can't get out anymore ;-) If anybody has a opinion or suggested litterature, I will be grateful. Thanks in advance! Michaël Opgenhaffen Lessius Hogeschool Antwerp Belgium -----Oorspronkelijk bericht----- Van: Brian Cugelman [mailto:BCugelman@unfccc.int] Verzonden: vr 10/03/2006 21:22 Aan: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org CC: Onderwerp: [Air-l] Brian Cugelman is out of the office. I will be out of the office starting 10/03/2006 and will not return until 21/03/2006. For web or CMS related matters, please contact Cécile Gunera cgunera(a)unfccc.int. _______________________________________________ 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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not wishing to start a war . . .
by Denise N. Rall 13 Mar '06

13 Mar '06

Ah, Bob - In my book the packet doesn't care what it is carrying. Carrying a bit of binary code or a text message is all the same. Doesn't make the packet a container of expressive content. That content appears to the reader on the other end. It's like saying a printing press includes expressive elements. It's just the messenger. The byproduct appears to the reader as content. The printing press is not a medium, it is not even the producer (that's the author, right?). It's just a piece of the infrastructure. But you're right in that meanings for the internet have been confounded by semantics over the time. I hear people say all kinds of stuff about 'the internet' today that would suprise those of us working in computing centers in the 1980s. At the packet level, none of this matters much. It's just getting the bits out. FWIW, Denise Denise N. Rall, Ph.D. submitted, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tuesdays: Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html

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Re: [Air-l] AoIR and Latin America
by Suely Fragoso 13 Mar '06

13 Mar '06

Dear all I have been away for 3 days but I am back now - I will get my hands into this LA Business as soon as I manage to finish other duties (loads of reviews for AoIR to start with!) Cheers Sue >>> josep.vives(a)gmail.com 13/03/06 14:58 >>> Hello Suelly Bragoso, & others latinamericans members list, (sorry, I write english horrible) I would like to know about this interesting iniciative, too. I'm from Observatory For The Cibersociety (www.cibersociedad.net, www.cibersociedad.net/congres2004) A similar initiative like Aoir focused in Latinamerica (spahish & portuguese language countries) Perhaps it is possible to use our community newsletter (to 7000 academic subscribers) to promote the iniciative. Regards, Josep Vives Jounou jvives(a)cibersociedad.net josep.vives(a)gmail.com 2006/3/9, Suely Fragoso <suely(a)unisinos.br>: > Dear all, but mostly Charles, Michel, Erick and Raul > > I think Michel, Erick, Raul and I should join forces asap - I propose that we start an off-list exchange of messages about helping AoIR take off in LAmerica so we do not fill the list with this specific subject. I have a colleague here who has already shown willingness to help us, Mr Adilson Cabral. He is an active Brazilian researcher, who leads some very interesting initiatives. I think he will help us greatly. Other Brazilian colleagues are starting to join the AoIR list in response to Adilson's comments in other fora, what is great! > > Charles mentioned the possibility of sharing > > > with you a rough version of the sort of > >guidelines we're using with potential local organizers for >considering basic > >issues regarding venue and negotiations with hotels > > I definitely want to see them! > > If Raul and Erick could be so kind as to send me their email addresses, I will be happy to start a list for us. I have michel's - we have participated in a panel together (what was a great pleasure). I will also include Adilson and other I know of, and obviously the more the better > > Cheers > > Sue > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > -- --------------------------------- Josep Vives josep.vives(a)gmail.com jvives(a)cibersociedad.net --------------------------------- Tag de la setmana: S'ha de protegir la innovació, no els monopolis construits sobre la privatització del coneixement que es, inevitablement, produit socialment... http://economic-majority.com/ _______________________________________________ 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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Nearing Call For Papers deadline: THE MOBILE COMMUNICATION RESEARCH ANNUAL (Intern)
by richard-seyler.ling＠telenor.com 13 Mar '06

13 Mar '06

Dear all: We are approaching the March 17 abstract deadline for the Mobile Communication Research Annual. The theme of the annual will be "The Reconstruction of Space & Time through Mobile Communication Practices." If you feel that you have a paper or an abstract that might be appropriate, please feel free to submit. Rich Ling and Scott Campbell Please excuse the cross listings. The text of the call for papers is as follows: Call for papers Transaction books and their series on Mobile communication (under the general editorship of James E. Katz), is proud to announce: The Mobile Communication Research Annual: Volume I, The Reconstruction of Space & Time through Mobile Communication Practices Rich Ling and Scott Campbell (eds.) We seek the best and most interesting examples of relevant scholarship for our first volume of a projected series on the topic of mobile communication research. The volume's theme will be "The Reconstruction of Space and Time through Mobile Communication Practices." The proliferation of wireless and mobile communication technologies gives rise to important changes in how people experience space and time. These changes may be seen in many realms of social life, such as the transformation of public into private space and vice versa, the blurring of lines demarcating work and personal life, and new patterns of coordination and social networks. Recent scholarship has tried to make sense of these changes in space and time. For example, Manuel Castells argues that advances in telecommunications have contributed to new spatio-temporal forms, which he describes as "the space of flows" and "timeless time." According to Castells, these new forms mark a shift in the importance of the meaning of a place to the patterns of the de-sequenced, networked interactions that occur in that place. The purpose of this special issue is to continue and deepen the dialog on how space and time change as a result of the lower threshold for interaction due to mobile communication technologies. Abstracts of 200 words describing the proposed papers are due by 17 March 2006 with those accepted due in final form by 1 September 2006. Submissions may be in the form of empirical research studies or theory-building papers and should be 5 - 7000 words (in English). Papers are preferably new work but if material from other venues is available it will also be considered for publication. Send your abstract to either Rich Ling or Scott Campbell. About the editors: Rich Ling (richard-seyler.ling(a)telenor.com) is a sociologist at Telenor's research institute located near Oslo, Norway and he has also been the Pohs visiting professor of communication studies at the University of Michigan. He is the author of the recently published book on the social consequences of mobile telephony entitled The Mobile Connection: The cell phone's impact on society and along with Per E. Pederson the editor of the book Mobile Communications: Renegotiation of the Social Sphere. He received his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Colorado, Boulder in his native US. Upon completion of his doctorate, he taught at the University of Wyoming before coming to Norway on a Marshall Foundation grant. For the past ten years, he has worked at Telenor R&D and has been active in researching issues associated with new information communication technology and society with a particular focus on mobile telephony. He has led projects in Norway and participated in projects at the European level. Scott Campbell (swcamp(a)umich.edu) is Assistant Professor and Pohs Fellow of Telecommunications in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Michigan. His research explores the social implications of new media, with an emphasis on mobile communication practices. His recent studies have investigated cross-cultural trends, mobile phone use in social networks, and use of the technology in public settings. Scott's research has appeared / is forthcoming in Communication Monographs, Journal of Applied Communication Research, Communication Education, New Media & Society, Communication Research Reports, Qualitative Research Reports in Communication, and other scholarly venues. Prior to joining the University of Michigan in 2005, he worked in the US wireless industry, earned a Ph.D. from the University of Kansas, and spent three years teaching and conducting research at Hawaii Pacific University on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. About the series editor: James E. Katz is the director of the Center for Mobile Communication Studies at Rutgers University and author of Magic in the Air (Transaction, 2006). His edited or co-edited books include Perpetual Contact (with Mark Aakhus), Machines that Become Us, and Mediating the Human Body (with Leopoldina Fortunati and Raimonda Riccini). His next edited book, tentatively titled Mainstreaming mobiles: Wireless Communication and Social Change in a Global Context, will be published by MIT Press. About the publisher: Transaction Publishers, a leading independent publisher of social scientific books, periodicals and serials, is undertaking a new series of books on mobile communication. Transaction's mission is scholarly and professional inquiry into the nature of society. Located on the campus of Rutgers University in Piscataway, New Jersey, Transaction Publishers is dedicated to the expansion of the social sciences and is committed to the enhancement of public, professional and scholarly awareness by reaching the widest possible audience for work done by researchers. http://www.transactionpub.com/ Editorial board Ken Anderson Intel corporation, US Naomi Baron American University, US Manual Castells Annenberg Center, University of Southern California, US/Spain Akiba Cohen Tel Aviv University, Israel Nicola Doering Ilmenau University of technology, Germany Jonathan Donner Microsoft Research - Bangalore, India/US Gerard Goggin University of Sydney, Australia Nicola Green University of Surrey, UK Leslie Haddon University of Essex, UK Keith Hampton Annenberg School, University of Pennsylvania, US Joachim Höflich Erfurt University, Germany Mizuko Ito Annenberg Center, University of Southern California, US/Japan Shin Dong Kim Hallym University, Republic of Korea Ilpo Koskinen University of Art and Design, Helsinki, Finland Patrick Law The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong Christian Licoppe Ecole Nationale Superieure des Telecommunications, France Sonia Livingstone London School of Economics, UK Steve Love Brunel University, UK Kristóf Nyíri Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Hungary Leysia Palen University of Colorado, US Raul Pertierra University of the Philippines, Philippines Madanmohan Rao Indian Institute of Information Technology, Bangalore, India Anxo Roibas University of Brighton, UK/Italy Harmeet Sawhney Indiana University, US Gitte Stald University of Copenhagen, Denmark Hidenori Tomita Bukkyo University, Japan Jane Vincent University of Surrey, UK Barry Wellman University of Toronto, Canada Peter B. White La Trobe University, Australia

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Re: [Air-l] Internet as medium with different sub-media or channels?
by Opgenhaffen Michaël 13 Mar '06

13 Mar '06

Thank you very much for you interesting response! Kind regards, Michaël -----Original Message----- From: Anders Fagerjord [mailto:anders.fagerjord@media.uio.no] Sent: maandag 13 maart 2006 9:21 To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] Internet as medium with different sub-media or channels? Hi, Michaël! 'Medium' is a confusing word, as it is used in (at least) four different ways: (1) as material used in a work of art, like "oil on canvas". This is the sense of the word Lev Manovich is using in _The Language of New Media_. (2) As file types, such as (ASCII) text, video, image, etc. You find this use in Computer Science. (3) as any kind of technology linking people together (or as McLuhan put it: an extension of the human senses). "Internet" will be a medium in this sense. (4) As a complex institution consisting of (at least) a technology (like broadcast TV), an economic pattern (like commercials or licence fee), a set of law regulations (for TV, you typically need a charter, and there are special regulations in terms of ownership, content, etc.), a typical use in a society (for TV, prime time is in the evening, when people want to be entertained), and some dominant genres (for TV: sit-coms, news, sports, reality...). This last sense is the one normally implied, if not explicitly accounted for, in media studies. As I do media studies, that is my favorite too. I would say that the Internet is a technology (as ink and paper is), enabling several other technologies such as Web, e-mail, chat, ftp, RSS, online gaming, etc. These technologies will in turn be made into media. Even the Web is not one medium in my view. Before the net, no one would say that a book and a bookshop was the same. It make no more sense to me to claim that New York Times on the web, an online novel like Sunshine '69, a Java game, Ebay, and Amazon.com are the same medium. For practical research, i think 'genre' is a much more useful concept than 'medium'. It is more flexible, and more theorised in a useful way. Check out Genette's _Architext_ for a great discussion on genre. I've written about this in a chapter of my thesis: Fagerjord, Anders. _Rhetorical Convergence: Earlier Media Influence on Web Media Form._ Oslo: Unipub, 2003. --anders ........................ Anders Fagerjord, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Media and Communication University of Oslo P.O. Box 1093 Blindern, N-0317 OSLO, Norway Tel. +47 22 85 04 11 Fax +47 22 85 04 01 http://fagerjord.no _______________________________________________ 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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