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

Virtual Usability Studies
by Lisa J. Elliott 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

I would like to explore the possibilities of usability testing in an online, 3D virtual world such as SecondLife. Does anyone have experience/interest in developing a paradigm using a site such as Secondlife or similar? Please reply offlist. ~Jo lelliott(a)nmsu.edu L. Jo Elliott, Doctoral Student, Engineering Psychology New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM

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MiGente
by Greg Wise 08 Feb '07

08 Feb '07

Hi folks, Anyone doing any work on the MiGente social networking site? A reporter's been asking. Offlist replies fine. Cheers, greg Dr. J. Macgregor Wise Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies Arizona State University 4701 West Thunderbird Road Glendale, AZ 85306-4908 (602) 543 6646 (602) 543 6612 (fax)

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WWW2007 Workshop: Tagging and Metadata for Social Information Organization
by Golder, Scott A. 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

The submission deadline is fast approaching! The submission deadline is this Monday, February 12th. Please contact the chairs with any questions. ===================================== WWW2007 Workshop: Tagging and Metadata for Social Information Organization Call For Papers and Participation http://www2007.redlog.net/ Background User-generated content has transformed the web. This new content - including video, blogs, photos, etc. - is often also organized collaboratively, using tags, or keywords, supplied by users. Tags are useful entry points into exploring the content by searching, filtering, navigating, and so on. Collaboratively tagging content sources allows them to be used for knowledge and information sharing and constitute a kind of social interaction, and the relations between keywords can be used to create associations in topic networks. As the services supporting tagging grow, questions of scale become pertinent. From a social standpoint, as communities grow, changes (similarity, trust, etc.) make successful interfaces for small groups ineffective for large ones, making new designs necessary. From a technical perspective, growth of data sources presents new opportunities for semantics and data mining. In this workshop, we hope to bring together researchers and practitioners from a variety of disciplines and engage them in discussion about tagging, especially how it fosters social information organization and collaboration, and how to leverage the explosive volume of metadata. Topics of Interest We hope to bring together researchers as well as practitioners to explore social, design and computational aspects of tagging and social information organization. The topic space is wide, but the following are some of the areas of special interest: # Semantics. Ontology and hierarchy creation; Semantics issues in cross-system tagging; Standardization efforts. # Cognition. The cognitive aspects of categorization; Organizing and retrieving tagged objects. # Social networks. Social sharing; Relationship building; Ratings systems and collaborative filtering; Identity management self-presentation; Tagging in blogs, wikis, etc. # Usability and Interfaces. Search navigation, browsing and filtering; Novice users and tags; Evaluating existing tagging environments and user behavior; Motivations for tagging. # Multimedia. Tagging multiple kinds of media; tagging across media types; Tagging at varying scales; Non-text-based annotations and tags. How to Submit Submissions will be managed using the EasyChair conference management system. Go to http://www.easychair.org/WWW2007Workshops/ and create an account, then choose the track for this workshop. Papers must be submitted in PDF format, and in the style as WWW2007 papers. See the WWW2007 submissions page (http://www2007.org/submission.php) for templates and info. Papers will be reviewed by the Program Committee and an appropriate set of submissions will be accepted. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to present their work at the workshop. The workshop proceedings will also be made part of the WWW2007 CDs, which will be distributed at the conference. Workshop Format The schedule of the workshop is designed to be as interactive as possible, and will include paper presentations and moderated discussion. Under consideration are breakout sessions and possible guest speakers. 1. Paper/Area Discussions. Authors of accepted papers will be invited to present their work, with an emphasis on discussion with the attendees. Accepted papers will be grouped into coherent topic groups so topics may also be discussed at a more general level. 2. Breakout sessions. Breakout sessions will allow attendees to engage in small-group, deeper discussion about particular areas. Design exercises or other prompts may stimulate discussion. 3. Moderated Discussion. As a way of bringing closure to the workshop day, the co-organizers will solicit questions from the attendees and moderate discussion among them. Key Dates & Contact Info # Mon 12 February 2007 - All papers must be submitted via Easychair by this date. # Fri 16 March 2007 - Authors will be notified whether submissions have been accepted or not. # Fri 30 March 2007 - Camera-ready copies of accepted papers are due. # Tue 8 May 2007 - Workshop will be held at WWW2007 in Banff, Alberta, Canada. Organizers # Scott Golder, HP Labs. http://www.hpl.hp.com/personal/Scott_Golder/ # Frank Smadja, RawSugar. # Program Committee: * Lee Iverson, University of British Columbia * Emanuele Quintarelli, Reed Business Information * Vova Soroka, IBM Haifa Research Lab * Andrew Tomkins, Yahoo! Research * Jennifer Trant, Archives & Museum Informatics

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Anonymous Survey: What are people's attitudes toward adult websites?
by Kathryn Seigfried 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

My name is Kathryn Seigfried, and I am a graduate student at the City University of New York, John Jay College of Criminal Justice. I am conducting a study for my Master's thesis regarding people's attitudes toward adult websites. The online survey is confidential, anonymous, and will only take 10-15 minutes of your time. Please help me finish my thesis so I can graduate, get a job, and pay back those student loans! The online survey can be found at the following website: https://www.nomadictrio.com Thank you in advance for your consideration and support! Sincerely, Kathryn Seigfried

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Fwd: [IAMCR] media policy position at Central European University
by Jeremy Hunsinger 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

Begin forwarded message: > From: "Marc Raboy, Dr." <marc.raboy(a)mcgill.ca> > Date: February 7, 2007 10:21:41 AM EST > To: IAMCR <announcements(a)iamcr.org> > Subject: [IAMCR] media policy position at Central European University > > Central European University > > Department of Public Policy > > Department of Legal Studies > > > Position: Full-time Assistant Professor in Media and > Telecommunications Policy and Law > > > Starting date: August 2007 (or earlier) > > > The Department of Public Policy and the Department of Legal Studies > at the Central European University (www.ceu.hu) open a full-time > position at level of Assistant Professor in the field of media and > telecommunications policy and law. > > > CEU is a graduate research-intensive university specializing > primarily in the social sciences, located in Budapest, Hungary and > accredited in the United States and Hungary. CEU's primary mission > is to promote academic excellence, state of the art research and > civic commitment, so as to contribute to the development of open > societies in Central and Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, > and other emerging democracies. CEU offers both master's and > doctoral programs, and it enrolls about 1000 students from more > than 60 countries. The teaching staff consists of around 100 > faculty members from more than 30 countries. The language of > instruction is English. > > > The candidate is expected to contribute courses in the context of > the media and telecommuncations stream of the MA in Public Policy > program at the Department of Public Policy, as well as courses in > this subject area in the context of the relevant degree programs at > the Department of Legal Studies. It is expected that the candidate > has a clear interest in policy oriented research in this field and > develops an international publication record. The candidate will > work closely with the Head of the Department of Public Policy on > further developing the academic profile of the media and > telecommunications stream and will join the CEU Center for Media > and Communications Studies. > > > The Department of Public Policy (www.ceu.hu/dpp) is a fast-growing > and dynamic academic unit which concentrates CEU’s efforts to > become one of the leading suppliers of post-graduate degree > programs in the field of policy studies in the region. The > Department of Legal Studies (www.ceu.hu/legal) has a track record > as the host of ones of the finest degree programs in Europe both in > the field of international business law and comparative > constitutional law. The Center for Media and Communication Studies > (www.cmcs.ceu.hu) is a joint project by CEU, the Annenberg School > for Communications at the University of Pennsylvania, the Budapest > Technological University, and Stanhope Center, London fostering > advanced research in the field. > > > CEU hosts a number of international events of interests to scholars > working in the field of media and communication studies each year > with visitors from across Europe and North America. > > > Qualifications of the candidate: > > > - a completed post-graduate degree in law (PhD, J.D., LLM) > > - the ability to deliver graduate courses in the field of media and > telecommunication policy and law; an emphasis on regulatory issues > with a European focus is essential > > - ability to link regulatory issues in media and telecommunications > policy with other policy sectors in teaching is an advantage > > - ability to work at the interface of academia and policy practice, > and to network > > - a promising publication record and strategy > > - ability to work in an international and inter-cultural > environment with students from different world regions including > North America, Europe and the FSU region > > - readiness to take responsibility for projects and administrative > tasks > > > The starting date for this position is not later than August 2007. > We offer a competitive salary, as well as a dynamic and > international academic environment. Informal enquiries may be > addressed to the Head of the Department of Public Policy, Uwe > Puetter (puetteru(a)ceu.hu) +3613273000, ext 2335. > > > Applicants need to submit a full résumé, a statement of purpose, > publication samples, as well as the names of two referees who would > write in their support. > > > Please send applications to Eva Tornyos, Human Resources Office, > Central European University, H-1051 Budapest, Nador utca 9., > Hungary (Fax: + 36 (1) 235-6135, e-mail: job(a)ceu.hu) > > > The deadline for applying is March 14, 2007. Interviews will take > place in mid-April 2007. > > > > http://www.ceu.hu/dpp/job.htm > > > > > _______________________________________________ > International Association for Media and Communication Research > Announcements mailing list > Announcements(a)iamcr.org > http://iamcr.org/mailman/listinfo/announcements_iamcr.org > http://www.iamcr.org jeremy hunsinger wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series

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Request for key studies on disadvantaged young people and ICT use
by Brake,DR 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

I am a researcher on a UK government (Becta) report on the potential of ICTs to raise the attainment and aspirations of disadvantaged young people. We are particularly interested in the research you consider to be the most important that has been conducted in the last five years, including any research you or colleagues may be undertaking at the moment but which is not yet published that you would be willing to share with us in draft form. We would also welcome your nominations of key earlier research that in your view remains relevant - particularly literature reviews. While this research has been commissioned by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency, the remit and potential audience for this literature review is broad, covering any benefits for underprivileged youth (principally but not exclusively 14 to 19 year-olds) that can be derived either from their use of ICTs directly or from greater availability and use of ICTs by those serving their needs - whether or not this takes place in an educational context. In particular we would be interested in evidence for the role of education in alleviating disadvantage and the role of ICTs in alleviating disadvantage - both current and potential. The primary aim of the research is to help young people based in the UK but to that end we are interested in any international studies whose results are likely to be transferable. Relevant ICTs include (but are not limited to) computers and software of all kinds including games, mobile phones, in-class teaching aids and of course Internet access and particular sites. The report has been commissioned with a short deadline so we would appreciate it if you could respond with your suggestions by Feb 14th. We would welcome any comments you wished to provide on the value and relevance of the studies you suggest but a list would be sufficient. While the resulting combined references will probably be too long to share on this email list, I will be happy to provide it to anyone who requests it. P.S. While of course you can respond to this request on this list, if you could also email your own choices directly to me in a form already formatted for bibliographic software (eg Endnote, RIS or BibTeX) that would be most helpful. -- David Brake, Doctoral Student in Media and Communications, London School of Economics & Political Science Also see http://davidbrake.org/ (home page) callto://DavidBrake (Skype.com's Instant Messenger and net phone)

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CFP Fibreculture - after convergence
by O'Riordan, Kate 07 Feb '07

07 Feb '07

Fibreculture Journal http://journal.fibreculture.org Call for papers After convergence, what connects? :: fibreculture :: has established itself as Australasia's leading forum for discussion of internet theory, culture, and research. The Fibreculture Journal is a peer-reviewed journal that explores the issues and ideas of concern and interest to both the Fibreculture network and wider social formations. Papers are invited for the 'After convergence' issue of the Fibreculture Journal, to be published early in 2008. Guest editors are Caroline Bassett (Sussex, UK), Maren Hartmann (Bremen, Germany) and Kate O'Riordan (Lancaster/Sussex, UK). There are guidelines for the format and submission of contributions at http://journal.fibreculture.org These guidelines need to be followed in all cases. Contributions should be sent electronically, as word attachments, to: Guest editors: Caroline Bassett (c.bassett(a)sussex.ac.uk) Maren Hartmann (maren.hartmann(a)uni-bremen.de) Kate O'Riordan (k.oriordan(a)lancaster.ac.uk) Everything that arises does not converge. A more variegated landscape emerges as processes of digitalization, crystallizations of an intrinsically technological-social, continue re-shaping cultures and re-working societies, not in their image, but into something new. It is increasingly obvious that there is no digital behemoth, no single form, no single function, no New World Order. Rather a series of reconfigurations, reformulations, new functions, new contents, new spaces, new grounds, new uses, have emerged and are emerging within global media networks. In response to the (not unexpected) non-arrival of the unifying beast, which is to say in response to the perceived exhaustion of convergence (or the re-definition of its limits), new disciplinary islands are being declared with 'keep out' and 'invented here' signs all over their beaches. In other words there has been a balkanization of techno-cultural investigation. Thus gaming scholars define themselves against internet scholars, or film scholars, locatives stand distinct from screeners. Particular groups of sub-specialists claim particular modes of inquiry: ethnographers for everyday life, speculative theory for digital art, for instance. Indeed, entire vocabularies, originally invoked in a spirit of general experimentation, are now corralled, restricted and defended by particular groups. If these vocabularies often seize up in the process, refusing to say more than they were meant to say, and in particular refusing the unorthodox connections between the empirical and the speculative, the possible and the desirable, that gave them their energy in the first place, nobody seems to notice. So, there is no behemoth. At the same time we insist that connections are produced and so a question we consider worth addressing is not what unites digital forms as one, but what connects them together as many. Further we want to explore how these connections are made. We are less interested in doing that through mainstreaming a particular critical approach (which is to say drawing different areas back under one critical umbrella, making that the connection), than we are in trying to think about exploring/defining/critiquing some of the shared characteristics of different digital media formations. We believe that despite the exhaustion of convergence metaphors, and the rise of disciplinary sub-divisions, these connections remain crucial. Papers addressing but not limited to the following topics are welcome: * Media/Medium Theory * Difference between and specificity of New Media forms * Issues, Limits, Problems of Convergence. * Re-thinking the vocabulary of Affect/Emotion/Perception * Histories of New Media Theory * 'Technology and Cultural Form' revisited? * Methodologies Deadlines: * 250 word abstracts: due February 28th 2007 * Completed Paper: due September 30th 2007 * Expected Publication: February 28th 2008.

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Postgraduate Conference at Leeds: Deadline for abstracts extended
by Francisco Seoane 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

Dear colleagues, After receiving a series of requests over the past week to extend the deadline for this conference we decided to follow this demand. We have agreed to extend the deadline for abstracts to Friday 9th February 2007, 18.00pm CET. Please note that this is the final deadline and will not be extended any further. Best, Francisco Seoane Perez ------- Call for Papers ICS Postgraduate Conference Communication Technologies of Empowerment Leeds, United Kingdom - Friday, May 18, 2007 The Institute of Communications Studies (ICS) at the University of Leeds will be hosting a postgraduate conference for the presentation and discussion of research in communications performed by PhD students. Under the title Communication Technologies of Empowerment, this meeting seeks to bring together new scholars who are studying how the latest developments in communication are affecting our democracies by enabling new forms of political participation and citizen engagement. Whether you live in an established democratic system, a country in transition to democracy, or under an authoritarian government, new communication technologies are likely to have changed your political environment. The recent popular upheavals in Ukraine and Lebanon were in great part conducted through mobile phone messages. In Western Europe, the riots in the Parisian suburbs and the protests in Spain against the Aznar government regarding the authorship of the Madrid terrorist attacks would have been very different if the Internet and mobile phones had not become an integral part of our everyday lives. Meanwhile, traditional politics is trying to catch up with the digital age. Political parties are seeking to domesticate these new forms of horizontal communication, and so are governments, with potentially threatening consequences. Paradoxically, new technologies of communication can serve both to empower citizens and to survey and control them. A recent report by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace has shown that networked technologies can be effectively used by authoritarian governments to strengthen their repressive regimes. New forms of communication have become a key tool for global social movements. Whether their struggles are focused on questions of global justice, class, gender, race or the environment, activists have found in the decentralized and inexpensive nature of the Internet and mobile telephony the media they needed to organise themselves and make their actions public. Interestingly, these technologies are also being mastered by those actors who want to challenge the national and international orders through violent means. This reminds us that terrorism is in great part a communicative phenomenon, today more than ever before. If your research deals with questions such as the ones outlined above, or with issues related with the interplay of media, new technologies, citizenship, democracy and politics, we hope to hear from you. Please submit an abstract with a general description of your future research paper, indicating your topic, theoretical framework, research questions or hypotheses, method and expected results. The abstract should not exceed 500 words. If your proposal is accepted, we will ask you to provide a full paper. After your presentation, the paper will be published on the ICS website. Please, remember to include your full contact information: Name, e-mail and postal address, telephone number and academic affiliation for each author. Your paper presentation will be discussed and commented on by members of the academic staff from the Institute of Communications Studies who have expertise in your topic, method, or theoretical framework. This can be a golden opportunity for you to refine your thoughts, openly share your concerns, and receive constructive criticism from professors and fellow postgraduate students working in your area. It is also a great chance to start building or expanding your professional and academic network. Deadlines: - Deadline for proposals EXTENDED: February 9, 2007 - Deadline for full papers: April 30, 2007. Contact and electronic submission: - Qian (Sarah) Gong q.gong(a)leeds.ac.uk - Anna Zoellner csaz(a)leeds.ac.uk Conference website: http://www.personal.leeds.ac.uk/~icsfsp/index.htm ------- Francisco Seoane Perez Provisional PhD student Institute of Communications Studies University of Leeds E-mai: icsfsp(a)leeds.ac.uk Webpage: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/staff/f.perez ______________________________________________ LLama Gratis a cualquier PC del Mundo. Llamadas a fijos y móviles desde 1 céntimo por minuto. http://es.voice.yahoo.com

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RKCSI Colloquium Series Webcasts
by Paul DiPerna 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

Dear AOIRers, I received the note below from the Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics (RKCSI). They archive webcasts of their colloquium series. I thought the links inside the message would be of interest to some folks here. Are there other schools/departments that have online video archives? This might be a good place to start a list for future reference. -- Paul ____________________________________ [Please pardon for duplicate postings.] The Rob Kling Center for Social Informatics (RKCSI) sponsors a seasonal colloquium series on the Indiana University-Bloomington campus. http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/index.php/colloquium-series The link below takes you to the Fall 2006 lecture series and video of most lectures, including Howard Rheingold's lecture "Smart Mobs and Beyond." -- http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/index.php/2006-fall Video recordings of the Spring 2007 lecture series will be posted at the following URL as soon as they are available -- http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/index.php/2007-spring _______________________________________________ The Center for Social Informatics is jointly sponsored by the IU Schools of Library and Information Science and Informatics. Visit the home page @ http://rkcsi.indiana.edu/ -------------- Paul DiPerna Blau Exchange http://www.blauexchange.org email: pdiperna(a)blauexchange.org Online ID: http://claimid.com/pdiperna

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International Graduate Degree Info
by Ted M Coopman 06 Feb '07

06 Feb '07

All, After beating my head against the digital wall for a while, I decided to access our collective intelligence. I am looking for statistics on the percentage of national adult populations who have earned a graduate degree. I have this information for the US (for the curious out there, as of 2005, 6.8% hold Masters and 1.5% Ph.D.), but have been unable to track down similar stats for any place else. Undergrad information is easy, the grad stuff is proving more challenging. I suppose it is a matter of knowing where to look. Broader information on regions, say Asia, Latin America, or Europe as a whole would also be helpful. Any help in pointing me in the right direction would be greatly appreciated. -TED Ted M. Coopman Department of Communication University of Washington

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