January 2007 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Ecademy-----Social/business Network
by Jess Porter 28 Jan '07

28 Jan '07

Hello: My name is Jess Porter, and I have been reading emails here for about 3 months. This is a fascinating mail list for me. My traning and background is in computers, so the electronic part of the WWW I know, it's the Sociology where I am lacking. I am the leader of the Virtual communities Club on Ecademy. I was wondering, if anyone or two would be interested in speaking in my club forum. I can give membership for this purpose to anyone interested. A couple topics of Interest would be a comparison between ecademy and some of the other business clubs, like LinkedIN, or OpenBC, etc. Or a talk about how people's social lives are being changed by the Internet. If you are interested, just respond here, and I will contact you. You could even use this opportunity to do some research work. The Virtual communities club, is on the web, just Google "ecademy virtual Communities." Regards, Jess

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Fwd: Online research related research grant in Slovenia (fwd)
by elw＠stderr.org 27 Jan '07

27 Jan '07

fyi. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sat, 27 Jan 2007 10:18:29 -0500 From: Jim Witte <jwitte(a)CLEMSON.EDU> To: CITASA Listserv Subject: Fwd: Online research related research grant in Slovenia Sorry, if you are on the GIR-L (German Internet Research List) mailing list and have already seen this, but seems like a very interesting opportunity. Also if you are not on the list but read German, I'd highly recommend joining. jim > There are chances to apply for funding for a research visit of a PhD student > or a post-doctoral researcher to come to the Faculty if Social Sciences, > University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. > > This could be a 3 to 12 months visit with the purpose of working on one of > our research projects. The agency that offers funding will cover the living > costs of 1.000 per month (what enables very decent living in Slovenia), > while faculty will provide some extra payment, which will be negotiated based > on the work on the research project. > > The candidate will be involved into: > > * maintainance and development of WebSM site (www.websm.org) > * research work on comparison of Web surveys with other survey modes; this > could result either in a joint research paper(s) or can be a part of a PhD > dissertation. > > Supervision is done by dr. Katja Lozar Mandreda and/or dr. Vasja Vehovar. > > CV and description of research interests should be sent to info(a)websm.org by > February 20, 2007. > > > _______________________________________________ > GIR-L mailing list > GIR-L(a)dgof.de > http://www.dgof.de/mailman/listinfo/gir-l ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- James Witte Professor and Survey Lab Director Clemson University Phone: 864.656.3816. Department of Sociology Fax: 864.656.1252 123D Brackett Hall http://business.clemson.edu/Socio/vitawitte.html Clemson, SC 29634-13566 Communication and Information Technology section of ASA: www.citasa.org --- --- --- Send CITASA mailing list submissions to citasa(a)lists.ist.psu.edu To subscribe to the CITASA list send an e-mail to lyris(a)lists.ist.psu.edu with subscribe citasa in the message body. To unsubscribe, send a blank e-mail to: leave-citasa(a)lists.ist.psu.edu Visit the CITASA website at http://www.citasa.org/ --- --- ---

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Reminder: AoIR 8.0 DEADLINE is next Thursday, February 1, 2007
by consalvo＠ohio.edu 27 Jan '07

27 Jan '07

hi all, As the subject line says, the deadline for submitting proposals for papers, panels, roundtables, and creative/aesthetic presentations is fast approaching. Please go to: http://conferences.aoir.org/index.php?cf=6 to submit your abstracts. Please email me offlist at consalvo @ ohio.edu if you have questions about the submission process. Also, thank you to all who have volunteered to review-- stay tuned for more information. Best, Mia Mia Consalvo, Program Chair School of Telecommunications Ohio University

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Community Informatics - Prospects for Communities and Action, Nov 5 -7 2007
by M.B.Gaved 27 Jan '07

27 Jan '07

Some members may be interested in this conference. regards Mark Gaved COMMUNITY INFORMATICS--PROSPECTS FOR COMMUNITIES AND ACTION, NOV 5-7 2007 4rd Prato International Community Informatics Conference. CIRN 2007 and the Inaugural International Development Informatics Association Conference 5-7 November 2007, Monash Centre, Prato Italy. www.ccnr.net/prato2007- more information will become available via the conference website shortly. CALL FOR PAPERS We are seeking abstracts and proposals from academics, practitioners and PhD students for a conference and workshop event at the Monash University Centre, Prato Italy (near Florence). The Centre for Community Networking Research, Monash (www.ccnr.net) in conjunction with the Community Informatics Research Network (www.ciresearch.net) has held highly successful events in 2003, 2004, and 2006 in Prato. This conference is also being held in conjunction with the inaugural conference of the International Development Informatics Association (IDIA) (www.developmentinformatics.org) The Prato campus is an exceptional environment in which to exchange ideas. We emphasise participatory processes in the conference. The Centre is just off the main piazza of a small Tuscan town. It is close to Italian transport hubs. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Internet has become a powerful community resource in many parts of the world. It is widely viewed as a device with capacity for incorporation into different forms of community action, including social change, community learning, community connection, community knowledge, and community well-being and community development. The concept of 'community' itself is itself interpreted in a multitude of ways, and the problem of definition of this (and other terms such as 'empowerment') was highlighted at the 2006 Prato conference. The 90 or so questions which were emphasised during the final plenary represent the eternal cycle of questions of community action and engagement. Whatever technology may be used to work with a community, the issues remain. At the forthcoming event, we will accept that the concepts of action and community are variable, and that the forms of action which have emerged over the past decade should be judged in terms of what they achieve for community and social good. Through learning about multiple forms of action and how action is understood, we should improve our grasp of the complexities of social-technical relations. The Conference will feature a special stream led by the International Development Informatics Association of South Africa as part of its first conference, devoted to studying these, and related questions in relationship to development informatics. The implementation of ICT in developing economies involves constraints not applicable in developed regions. Constraints cover a wide range from technologies and infrastructures (energy grids, networks) to human aspects such as poverty and illiteracy. The Conference aims to create a platform for exchanging experience and possible solutions to address such problems. Please distribute this announcement to colleagues and I apologise for cross-postings. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- IMPORTANT DATES/PROCESSES: 1 April 2007: all 250 word abstracts due for consideration - the earlier the better. 1 May 2007 : acceptance/rejection of abstracts 1 July 2007 : papers due 1 September 2007 : final version of papers after refereeing for publication in the official conference proceedings. Abstracts must be in the following format and submitted to prato2007ATfastmail.fm (change AT to @): 1)Name/s of Authors 2) Affiliation/contact details [university/organisation, email of first author] 3) Title of Abstract 4) Conference stream (specify one) a) Community Informatics b) Development Informatics c) Both 5) 250 word abstract or summary in English. Contact: prato2007 AT fastmail.fm (substitute @ for AT) Website: www.ccnr.net/prato2007 which will be updated. There are a limited number of workshop or poster session slots available. If you believe that you can offer an engaging and relevant workshop, please submit a short proposal as soon as possible. If you have other innovative ideas for events at the conference, please don't hesitate to contact us! ** The early submission of abstracts for refereed papers are strongly encouraged as the number of presentation slots is limited. *** Do not submit a paper at this time. Papers (up to 5,000 words) in the peer-reviewed stream will be blind-reviewed by at least two referees and only accepted upon the recommendation of referees and the review committee. We will be approaching all those to submit accepted abstracts to act as anonymous peer reviewers. Practitioners are strongly encouraged to submit papers or reports, but please indicate if you wish this to be in the reviewed or non-reviewed stream. A style guide will be made available. Abstracts must be written in English, though papers can be written in English, French, Spanish or Italian. DO NOT submit a paper until your abstract is accepted. Papers will be published in the conference proceedings. Poster displays are also encouraged. POTENTIAL THEMES FOR PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS. You are encouraged to submit an abstract addressing one or more of the themes below, but if you have another innovative idea or project you wish to share at the conference, please also submit it for consideration. Stream 1: Community Informatics There has now been over a decade of action and research into how different information and communication technologies enable and empower social communities to the achievement of collective goals. What have learned and what might we do differently? * Case studies of community action via ICTs. * The question of 'community and 'action': how has it been dealt with in your project? * Theoretical dimensions of social-technical systems, action, and change. * How is policy change best achieved? * Why and when does community action leads to community conflict? * Types of community benefits from community projects involving technology. * How to promote the advantages of community action to all stakeholders. * Successful strategic planning of projects for social action and change. * Evidence that economic good and social good go hand-in-hand in community informatics projects. * The role of research to assist with community action. * What factors create good relationships between academics and communities when they collaborate on action? * How to ensure ongoing community participation in action. * How can the needs of civil society be best served with technology and social action? * Managing the role of volunteers in community action. * Methods for monitoring and evaluating community action. * Managing relationships with funding partners. * The effectiveness of social entrepreneurs and enterprises in community action * Inaction. * Technical systems, information management for community action. Stream 2: Development Informatics The implementation of ICT in developing economies has constraints not applicable in developed regions. Constraints cover a wide range: from technologies and infrastructures (energy grids, networks) to human aspects such as poverty and low or no literacy. The Conference aims to create a platform for exchanging experiences, case studies, and possible solutions to address the difficulties in deploying ICT in developing contexts. Suggested themes include, but are not limited to: * Web technologies - eg. synchronisation with off-line systems * Human Factors (Human Computer Interaction) - e.g. interfaces for limited or non-literate users * Online communities * e-Governance * e-Democracy * Education * Agriculture * Healthcare * Telecentres and Multi-Purpose Community Centres * Rural connectivity * Multi-language systems * other... Note that contributions must be relevant to Development Informatics. PHD STREAM PhD students are encouraged to submit a short paper (1000-2000 words) in the PhD colloquium for discussion with academics and other students. The paper should be about your PhD research and is NOT limited to the conference themes. This is an excellent opportunity for feedback about your research and an opportunity to meet other students, researchers, and practitioners. Student accommodation will be available. DRAFT CONFERENCE PROGRAM (subject to alteration) 1) Ph.D. colloquium with feedback from academics and students. Students make a short presentation and submit a 1000-2000 word position paper or report. 2) Parallel Refereed & practitioner streams 3) Research/Practitioner workshops and free meeting time. 4) Keynote address/es from leaders in community and development informatics 5) Social program. CONFERENCE PUBLICATION A conference CD Rom will be distributed prior to the event and it is intended to publish selected referred papers published in conjunction with Cambridge Scholars Press. REGISTRATION/ACCOMMODATION We anticipate that full registrations will be in the region of $AU500 (=310) and a moderately priced conference banquet in Prato. Registration concessions will be available for students. Registrations will be taken from mid-year, and is separate from your accommodation booking. You will be able to also register for social events and tours. We are unable to offer any bursaries or scholarships for attendance. Delegates must seek their own funds, and secure appropriate visas to attend. Hotel space in Prato is limited, and your early reservation is strongly encouraged. Information will be posted shortly. We are also seeking modestly-priced student dormitory accommodation and will post information. TRAVEL/SOCIAL Prato is close to Italian rail, air, and other transport hubs via Florence. Social and cultural information will be posted shortly. If you are thinking of bringing a spouse, partner, family or friend, Prato is an excellent base from which to explore Tuscany without the crowds. QUERIES prato2007ATfastmail.fm (replace AT by @) For the Conference ********************** -- Larry Stillman Centre for Community Networking Research Monash University

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Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act (American legislation)
by Kevin Guidry 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

For those interested in pending American legislation: Senator Ted Stevens has introduced the Protecting Children in the 21st Century Act. It appears to encompass the provisions of the Deleting Online Predators Act (DOPA) that was unsuccessfully introduced last year as well as some additional material. The text of the bill can be found at http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:S.49: Early commentary can be found at http://www.pbs.org/teachersource/learning.now/2007/01/lifting_the_hood_on_d…. I'm sure there there is going to be a whole lot commentary, discussion, and heated debate coming very soon. Kevin

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The CIA and Facebook
by John McNutt 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

There is an article in this morning's Chronicle of Higher Education about the Facebook site created by the Central Intelligence Agency. The link is http://chronicle.com/wiredcampus/index.php?id=1830. John John G. McNutt Associate Professor Univ. of South Carolina Columbia, SC 29208 803.777.6258 www.policymagic.org Be ashamed to die until you've won some victory for humanity-Horace Mann The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today. Franklin D. Roosevelt Nemo repente fuit turpissimus -Juvenal

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Re: [Air-l] Conferences in Asia this Spring
by Michel J. Menou 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

Jill You may want to check http://icisic.neasist.org The Quick calendar function provides a listing by region. Michel ===================================================================== Dr. Michel J. Menou Visiting Professor, SLAIS, University College London, U.K. Consultant in ICT policies and Knowledge & Information Management Adviser of Somos@Telecentros board http://www.tele-centros.org Member of the founding steering committee of Telecenters of the Americas Partnership http://www.tele-centers.net/ B.P. 15 F-49350 Les Rosiers sur Loire, France Email: micheljmenou [at] gmail[dot]com Michel[dot]Menou [at]wanadoo[dot]fr Phone: +33 (0)2 41511043 http://www.ucl.ac.uk/ciber/peoplemenou.php =====================================================================

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CFP: Surveillance and Communications
by Shoshana Magnet 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

Special Issue of The Communication Review: Surveillance and Communications Guest Editors: Kelly Gates and Shoshana Magnet We invite submissions for a special issue of The Communication Review on the contribution of communications research to the study of surveillance. The age of informatics has resulted in the proliferation of new technologies of surveillance. Surveillance remains one of the key means by which modern institutions interact with and govern their constituencies. This special issue of The Communication Review will examine the multiple connections between communications and surveillance. We hope to foster dialogue on the interconnections between communications theory and surveillance studies. Has communications theory helped to expand the study of surveillance through attention to the socio-cultural ramifications of surveillance practices? Can communications theory broaden the study of surveillance through its attention to the importance of surveillance technologies as information and communication technologies, as well as visual media and sound reproduction systems? The special issue will address such questions as: How do communicative practices, media technologies, and surveillance practices intersect? What insights does communications theory and research bring to the study of surveillance as a modern institutional practice? We are particularly interested in connections between surveillance studies and critical race and feminist theories, as well as theoretical investigations of the ways in which surveillance techniques are used to mark and classify bodies based on social inequalities. How are forms of discrimination coded into and perpetuated by surveillance strategies? We are also interested in the intensification of surveillance in the neo-liberal economy. How is the expansion of new surveillance technologies informed by the logic of privatization? How has "informationalized capitalism" encouraged the development of new practices and technologies of surveillance? How do particular surveillance strategies contribute to the conflation of consumption and citizenship? Topics might include, but are not limited to: The relationships between surveillance and communication theory The differential application of surveillance strategies based on social inequalities Surveillance technologies as markers of identity Surveillance and media interactivity Surveillance and the digitization of visual media Surveillance and copyright enforcement Market research surveillance and consumer citizenship Surveillance and reality television Surveillance forms and cinematic "practices of looking" Papers should be between 7500 and 8000 words long and must be received by May 1st, 2007. Please email them to: Andrea Press and Bruce Williams, Editors, The Communication Review, c/o Tanya Omeltchenko, Managing Editor, at to3y(a)virginia.edu

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Re: [Air-l] Question re Size of Data Set...
by Dr.Cameron Adams 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

Matthew, Caveat: these are suggestions from an anthropologist, follow at your own risk ;0) I think the answer to your question is really dependant on your focus. If the bulk of your work is on what has happened in the past, you will have to really dig into the 4000 pages as would a historian. It only amounts to about 20 books if each page averages to paper page length which I speculate don't. I would then use the questionnaire to test whether your findings seem to hold. In this case I'd use a closed answer survey type device (binary fixed-response, likert scale, etc.)If you are more interested in what they say about your question, you can be a bit easier on your archives and just look for themes and issues to put into a more open ended type of questionnaire and spend a lot of time analysing and interpreting that material. Of course, if you want to compare what they did to what they think about it (or think they do) you have to really hit both sources of data. Also, in terms of careerist motivation, collecting and at least categorising more data than you use in the dissertation is good because it gives you lots to publish from. Cameron Adams Research Associate Department of Anthropology University of Kent

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Call for Papers 4S session on Latin American Science
by Rick Duque 26 Jan '07

26 Jan '07

Call for Papers: 4S 2007, Montreal, October 11-13 Latin American Science and Ways of Knowing Organizers: Christina Holmes Ricardo Duque Abstracts should be sent by January 30th. Scientists in Latin America face a variety of challenges contributing to global scientific knowledge. Given that scientific ways of knowing are always enacted within particular contexts this group of papers asks how challenges to producing scientific knowledge are negotiated in Latin America? This includes such factors as the mediation of language politics, as some languages are scientifically more powerful than others, the maintenance of networks, and the communication channels through which both language and networks are managed in order to create scientific knowledge within Latin America. If you are interested in participating in this panel, please contact Christina Holmes at cpholmes(a)dal.ca Abstracts should be sent by January 30th. --- air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: > Send air-l mailing list submissions to > air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, > visit > > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > or, via email, send a message with subject or body > 'help' to > air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org > > You can reach the person managing the list at > air-l-owner(a)listserv.aoir.org > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it > is more specific > than "Re: Contents of air-l digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. Question re Size of Data Set... (Matthew > Pearson) > 2. Re: Question re Size of Data Set... (Paul > Teusner) > 3. Conferences in Asia this spring? (Jill Walker) > 4. Re: Conferences in Asia this spring? (Dominic > Pinto) > 5. The CIA and Facebook (John McNutt) > 6. Re: The CIA and Facebook (Fred Stutzman) > 7. Re: Conferences in Asia this spring? (Beth > Kolko) > 8. Re: internet community breakups (Marcus Foth) > 9. Re: Conferences in Asia this spring? > (smork(a)itu.dk) > > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Message: 1 > Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2007 15:31:44 -0800 > From: Matthew Pearson <mdpearson(a)wisc.edu> > Subject: [Air-l] Question re Size of Data Set... > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Message-ID: > <3001D11C-8CB7-42FD-BECE-9F4EA3BE2A35(a)wisc.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; > delsp=yes; format=flowed > > Hello All: > > This is my debut post to this excellent list after a > long time spent > reading lots of good stuff from others. > > I have a question re the size of my data set for my > dissertation > project: Is my data set too large, too small, or > just right? > > I'd very much appreciate any insight/ideas/feedback > anyone has about > this. My advisor and I aren't that sure about this > issue, and I > haven't been able to discern much about this issue > from a lot of the > studies I've read. > > I do realize my question is thus far meaningless > without knowing > anything about my project, so here's some more > information/background: > > I'm doing a close look at one message board > community--one devoted to > discussion of a particular college basketball team. > I've got all > sorts of things I'm interested in, but my central > research question > has to do with the ways that people teach each other > and learn from > one another the conventions for discourse in/on the > message board. > (I'm also interested in potential emerging genres of > writing, the > influence of sports fandom on online literacy > practices, and perhaps > even examining issues related to gender (which I > realize is a pretty > general thing to say, but I'll keep it at that for > now).) > > I've got two main sources of data: both (1) archived > threads/posts > from the message board, and (2) online > questionnaires that > participants/members filled out. My question > concerns source (1)-- > the archival data. > > I have tons of data archived. I used one of those > "site-sucker" > programs to grab all the discussions on the message > board over about > a 8 month period of time. Given that this message > board is a pretty > busy one and that I'm using a ground-theory approach > to the data > analysis, I chose to sample a smaller set of the > overall data. I > used an "event sampling" method and, with input from > posters on the > message board, chose 5 "big" events around which to > sample > discussion. I then also chose 5 other events that > occurred during > the months I archived discussion that were not > listed as "big" events > by anyone who offered their sense of the "big" > events. I didn't, > though, choose just those threads of discussion > related to those > "big" and non-big events, but rather used those as > anchoring moments > in time, and then sampled ALL discussion that > occurred on those > dates, and one day prior and one day later. This > resulted in such a > large data set that I ended up using only 3 "big" > events and 3 non- > big ones, and then sampling for those dates, and the > days immediately > around them. > > What I'm left with now is about 4000 individual > .html pages, some of > which have fairly detailed threads of discussion, > with sizable > individual posts, and also, of course, many of which > that have > cursory, short sentences that perhaps look more like > "chat." This is > a lot of stuff to wade through, yet it does > represent only 18 days of > life on this message board. Thus far I've been > going through the > data in separate "passes," looking for answers to > particular aspects > of my research question, and it's a daunting thing. > I know research > takes a lot of work and time, but I thought it wise > to get feedback > to see if I'm going overboard here. > > So does my sample sound reasonable? I'm well aware > that the way I > sample will directly impact the kinds of conclusions > can draw and > level of rigor folks see in my work. > > Any thoughts? Good sources re this kind of > methodology? I've got > Virtual Methods Ed. by Hine, among other sources, > and haven't seen > anything yet re sample size. Maybe I missed it > somehow? > > many thanks, > > Matthew Pearson > mdpearson(a)wisc.edu > PhD Candidate, University of Wisconsin Department of > English-- > Composition and Rhetoric; > Research Assistant, UC-Irvine Writing Project; > & Man on the Street > > > > > > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 2 > Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2007 10:47:53 +1100 > From: "Paul Teusner" <paul.teusner(a)rmit.edu.au> > Subject: Re: [Air-l] Question re Size of Data Set... > To: <air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> > Message-ID: <001a01c74012$114cbfe0$6400a8c0@Paul> > Keywords: Study > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Hey Matthew, > > I'm a PhD student too and I'm going through exactly > the same problem. > > For me the question isn't so much about the amount > of data but how are you > going to use it. How in depth is your analysis going > to === message truncated === ____________________________________________________________________________________ Get your own web address. Have a HUGE year through Yahoo! Small Business. http://smallbusiness.yahoo.com/domains/?p=BESTDEAL

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