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

questioning authority
by Margie Borschke 31 Mar '07

31 Mar '07

On 30/03/2007, at 4:16 AM, air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 08:31:49 -0700 (PDT) From: Robert Cannon <rcannon100(a)yahoo.com> Subject: Re: [Air-l] Origin of the term "Internet" ? > Note, I do not really consider Wired an authority on > this subject. Wired is a pop magazine that writes > teaser articles to get people to read ads. Wired is a magazine that has long played an active role in exploring and debating digital culture and if they make a style decision as they did it's significant. It's a good gauge of the way the wind blows. Plus, that piece was an explanation from the magazine's copy chief about their copy department's decision to change their style-- if anything, you must concede that Wired is an authority on itself. Magazines take copy and style questions seriously and I think its admirable that they explained their decision and that they considered such copy questions worthy of a "lifestyle" piece. Further, since the Internet is ultimately a 'pop' medium, I will continue to consider what's happening in so-called pop magazines, blogs etc. as relevant opinions and not wholly subservient to their ad sales departments.

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Re: [Air-l] air-l Digest, Vol 32, Issue 36
by Margie Borschke 31 Mar '07

31 Mar '07

On 31/03/2007, at 3:13 AM, air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: > > ------------------------------ > > Message: 4 > Date: Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:40:35 -0500 > From: "Kevin Guidry" <krguidry(a)gmail.com> > Subject: Re: [Air-l] questioning authority > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Message-ID: > <3d273fe80703291540g15db32a2p553926681039271(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > On 3/29/07, Margie Borschke <margieborschke(a)iinet.net.au> wrote: >> >> Further, since the Internet is ultimately a 'pop' medium.... > "Considerably" a pop medium I could understand and almost agree > with. But "ultimately" a pop medium? Interesting. I feel as if I'm > missing a piece of the puzzle. The ultimately was unnecessary. But I don't think I can go for considerably. I think I should have written "It is a pop (as in popular) medium". To say it is a popular medium doesn't in anyway dictate the sorts of activities that happen there. I see no problem with both the serious and silly being communicated via the same medium. The Internet is neutral with regards to content. But if one is interested in studying the culture that occurs on and around the Internet, I think dismissing one of the commercial magazines that has made a home for itself there would be a mistake. It's part of the organism. Wired's choices about style are sure to be relevant to many people. And, if I put my copy hat on, I actually disagree with their copy choice and stick with an upper case 'I' because Internet is a proper name in my books. Chicago Manual of Style is backing me up but it still remains a question of style and while many try to assert their authority when it comes to style conventions, really there is none. (Bruce Lee's style of no style being the notable exception.) MB

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reasonable security with email interviewing research participants
by Monica Barratt 31 Mar '07

31 Mar '07

Sorry if this is a double, I wasn't sure if it went through! ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Monica Barratt <monbarratt(a)gmail.com> Date: 28-Mar-2007 10:51 Subject: Re: [Air-l] FW: reasonable security with email interviewing research participants To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Cc: bodhi(a)nznet.gen.nz, Sarah Stewart <sarahs(a)tekotago.ac.nz> Hi Catherine, Sarah and the AoIR List I am a PhD Candidate (at the National Drug Research Institute at Curtin University (Perth), living in Melbourne, Australia - see http://db.ndri.curtin.edu.au/staff.asp?persid=650) My project examines online 'party drug' discussion, using a combination of observation, online surveys and online interviews. The issue of how to secure online interviews is something I've been grappling with recently too. My issues are a bit different to yours but I thought it might be good to discuss them on this list, should other researchers be able to comment on their own experiences with online interview security. In the case of my project, discussion of the topic matter has the potential to incriminate the interviewee, if they were to talk openly about their own illegal drug-related behaviours without concealing their identity or without encrypting the content. Ethics approval was granted for me to set up a process whereby communication was encrypted or the participant's identity was adequately concealed. Obviously both anonymity and encryption would be the best option, legally and ethically. Originally I was going to offer email and/or instant messaging as a platform for the online interviews, and to investigate encryption for both. This became quite complex, and I have now settled for using only instant messaging. The population I will be interviewing will generally be familiar with IM so this was seen as a good way cutting down the information required by interested participants to set up the process. I have put together an Encryption Guide to assist participants in setting up secure IM to use both while completing my interview and within their normal IM use. I have consulted with some of the academics who created the open source IM encryption software Off-the-record, and have (hopefully) skilled myself up enough to assist interviewees in setting things up. I will begin interviewing in June/July. I have tried to forsee problems, such as people not being prepared to spend time sorting out encryption, which may just not be a priority for them or may be beyond their computer literacy. The Guide offers easier (less secure but still ethically sound) options to protect the participant's identity. I am aware that there are options for encrypted online chat embedded in webpages which mean the participant would not need to download anything - I believe SPSS has such a package but it is quite expensive. One of my guiding principles throughout this project is to interact with participants and to give back knowledge and skills that may be useful to them - so providing this information that they can use outside of the research project is in fact part of the methodology. If anyone on the AoIR list has experience in this area and has the time to review my Encryption Guide, I'd be most grateful for comments and suggests on this draft. Also, you can use the guide to set up encryption for your own IM use, and you are welcome to test your set-up with me anytime (this will help prepare me for the interviewees!). You can download it from here: http://www.savefile.com/files/585220 Thanks monica Monica Barratt PhD Student National Drug Research Institute

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Fwd: [F/OSS-Discuss] "Wikimania 2007" Open for Registration & CFP
by Jeremy Hunsinger 30 Mar '07

30 Mar '07

Begin forwarded message: > From: Tzu-Chiang Liou <tcliou(a)iis.sinica.edu.tw> > Date: March 30, 2007 2:29:17 AM EDT > To: discuss(a)opensource.mit.edu > Subject: [F/OSS-Discuss] "Wikimania 2007" Open for Registration & CFP > Reply-To: Dicusssion list for Free/Open Source Software researchers > <discuss(a)opensource.mit.edu> > > *Sorry for cross posting* > > Dear all, > > Wikimania 2007, the third annual international Wikimedia conference > will be > held August 3-5 in Taipei, Taiwan at Chien Tan Overseas Youth > Activity Center. > > Both a scientific conference and a community event, Wikimania > brings together > members of various Wikimedia projects in order to exchange ideas, > build > relationships, and report on research and project efforts. > > It also provides an opportunity for Wikimedians and the general > public alike to > meet and share ideas about free and open source software, free > knowledge > initiatives, and wiki projects worldwide. > > Wikimania will be an interdisciplinary forum, where the > enthusiastic community > behind the Wikimedia projects and interested researchers and > practitioners can > meet to share ideas. Conference themes this year include Content > and usage > of the Wikimedia projects, Communities (social studies into / > policies and practices), > Technical infrastructure and MediaWiki, Policy including law and > Access to Knowledge. > > We expect an international audience of hundreds of people, and > extensive > media coverage. Last year's conference was held in Boston, Unite > State, > with more than 350 participants from 50 countries. > > You may fine more information on homepage of the conference: > > http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page > > We also have early bird discount, please register asap to gain more > benefit! > > http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Registration > > If you're interested in submit/present a short paper in the > conference, please > also check the website: > > http://wikimania2007.wikimedia.org/wiki/Call_for_Participation > > Please also help circulate this information if you think it's > appropriate, thanks. > > Sincerely, > > TzuChiang Liou, Wikimania 2007 preparation team > > -- TzuChiang Liou, Program Committee Member of Wikimania 2007 > Institute of Information Science, Academia Sinica, Taiwan E-mail: > tcliou(a)iis.sinica.edu.tw MSN: tcliou(a)msn.com GTalk: > tcliou(a)gmail.com TEL:+886-2-2788-3799 ext.1404 FAX:+886-2-2651-8660 > Mobile: +886-937835052 > _______________________________________________ > Discuss mailing list > Discuss(a)opensource.mit.edu > http://opensource.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/discuss jeremy hunsinger Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) 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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Re: [Air-l] origin of the term Internet Vol 32, Issue 34
by frseganti＠libero.it 30 Mar '07

30 Mar '07

Hi all, I have found (in Carlini (1996) Internet, Pinocchio e il gendarme. Roma, Manifesto Libri)that the term Internet derives from the name of the organisation INTERnational NETwork Working Group, the INGW. In 1972 Winton Cerf was the head of this network that connected groups of researchers from England, France, Sweden and Italy. It was called Inter-Net and probably, as time passed, it became one single word and carried the capitalization because, as James Whyte said, it originally refferred to a noun. Francesca Seganti PhD student Department of Applied Social Studies London Metropolitan University ------------------------------------------------------ Passa a Infostrada. ADSL e Telefono senza limiti e senza canone Telecom http://click.libero.it/infostrada

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reminder: 'Internet Histories' cfp -- 16 April 07 close
by Gerard Goggin 30 Mar '07

30 Mar '07

[reminder: abstracts due 16 April] 'Internet Histories' a pre-AoIR 8.0 workshop October 16, 2007 Vancouver, Canada Despite the fact that the Internet is entering its fifth decade, the understanding and writing of its histories is very much in its infancy. In this one-day workshop, to be held 16 October 2007 directly before the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) 8.0 conference (http://conferences.aoir.org) we aim to explore the questions, assumptions, investments, frameworks, concepts, methods, biases, opportunities, archives, narratives, tropes, and logics that underlie the Internet’s diverse histories. In particular, in the spirit of our 2006 ‘Internationalising Internet Studies’ workshop (http://www.capstrans.edu.au/resources/conferences/2006/conferences-2006-ine…) we start from the notion that the history of Internet uptake has been widely divergent across cultures and regions. In Asia, in particular, the initial PC-based phase of connectivity typical of the US and Europe, has not been replicated. Instead, Internet penetration was achieved via a variety of mobile devices, including Internet-enabled cell phones resulting in very different cultures of use and practice. Accordingly, we call for papers on Internet histories, including, but certainly not limited to the following issues: • what sorts of Internet histories are currently available, or in progress — whether national, country-specific, local, subcultural, community, or transnational and translocal? • what are the histories and trajectories currently missing and why do these particular lacunae exist? What histories of the Internet are being foreclosed, overlooked, or not yet imagined, and what are the implications of this? • who is currently writing, reading, collecting, valorising, or even enshrining Internet histories? • what are the dominant accounts of Internet history, or dominant assumptions regarding these? • what histories do we have of Latin American, African, Oceanic, or Asian Internet, for instance, compared to European or North American Internet? • what challenges does doing Internet history pose? what is specific about Internet history compared to histories of media, communications, or other technologies, or broad social or cultural histories? • how do our understandings of Internet and mobile technologies and cultures vary depending on the kinds of quite specific histories that condition these? • how do a researcher’s own culture and patterns of use determine the kinds of questions s/he may raise concerning the history of ‘the Internet’? This project brings together researchers working on country-specific and regional histories of the Internet as well as those researching Internet use by local and transnational subcultures and communities. This will be the first of what is anticipated to be a series of workshops, leading to an edited collection aimed at understanding the different historical patterns of Internet deployment and cultural and technological development. We welcome abstracts of no more than 500 words by Monday 16 April 2007. Please send your abstract to both organisers: Gerard Goggin (gerard.goggin(a)arts.usyd.edu.au) and Mark McLelland (markmc(a)uow.edu.au) Acceptance will be advised by the end of April 2007. Subsequent to acceptance, presenters will need to register for the workshop and the AoIR conference via the AoIR online conference registration system. Please note that acceptance of your paper at the pre-conference workshop does not preclude you from also submitting a different paper to the main conference. For those selected, papers of 5,000 words will be due by mid-September 2007. Following the workshop, papers will be considered for inclusion in an edited collection on Internet Histories. The project website is: http://www.capstrans.edu.au/resources/events/2007/inet-histories/ About the organisers: Gerard Goggin is an ARC Australian Research Fellow in the Dept of Media and Communications, University of Sydney, Australia. His books include Cell Phone Culture (Routledge, 2006), Virtual Nation: The Internet in Australia (2004), and Digital Disability (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), and he is currently working on a study of global mobile media. Mark McLelland lectures in Sociology in the School of Social Sciences, Media and Communications at the University of Wollongong. His publications include Japanese Cybercultures (2000) and Queer Japan from the Pacific War to the Internet Age (2005). Gerard and Mark are editors of Internationalizing Internet Studies (Routledge, 2007). -- \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\ Dr Gerard Goggin ARC Australian Research Fellow Editor, 'Media International Australia' Department of Media and Communications The University of Sydney e-mail: gerard.goggin(a)arts.usyd.edu.au p: +61 2 9036 6424 f: 61 2 9351 5444 http://www.arts.usyd.edu.au/departs/media/?page=staff&id=gerard.goggin _______________________________________________ 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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Studies on You Tube comments
by Darren Purcell 29 Mar '07

29 Mar '07

Dear AOIR listers, I have a student interested in the use of comments on political and territorial focused You Tube videos. What readings or studies could I send her to? She is particularly interested in the how the comments seem to be in two modes of communication 1) the profanity filled comments, 2) the reasoned, logical, fact-based discourse and debate. She notes that the majority of comments can be categorized in one of the two modes. Any studies on this issue that come to mind? Thank you, Darren Purcell

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CFP: Persistent Conversation minitrack at HICSS
by Tom Erickson 29 Mar '07

29 Mar '07

SECOND CALL FOR PARTICIPATION Persistent Conversation Minitrack Digital Media and Content Track at HICSS 41 January 7-10, 2008 Hilton Waikoloa Village, the Big Island, Hawai'i See http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC.html for an online version and further information. IMPORTANT DATES - Mon, April 16, 2007: Abstract submission - Tue, May 1, 2007: Feedback on abstracts - Fri, June 15, 2007: Paper submission [instructions on the HICSS site] - Wed, August 15, 2007: Accept/Conditional Accept/Reject notice ABOUT THE MINITRACK This interdisciplinary minitrack and workshop brings designers and researchers together to explore persistent conversation, the transposition of ordinarily ephemeral conversation into the potentially persistent digital medium. Persistent conversations occur via instant messaging, text and voice chat, email, blogs, web boards, MOOs, graphical and 3D virtual environments, gaming systems, video sharing sites, document annotation systems, mobile phone texting, etc. Such communication is persistent in that it leaves a digital trace, and the trace in turn affords new uses. It permits conversations to be saved, visualized, browsed, searched, replayed, and restructured. Persistence also means that conversations need not be synchronous: they can be asynchronous (stretching out over hours or days) or supersynchronous (with multiple parties 'talking' at the same time). Finally, the creation of persistent and potentially permanent records from what was once an ephemeral process raises a variety of social and ethical issues. ABOUT PAPER TOPICS We are seeking papers that address one or both of the following two general areas: * Understanding Practice. The burgeoning popularity of the internet (and intranets) provides an opportunity to study and characterize new forms of conversational practice. Questions of interest range from how various features of conversations (e.g., turn-taking, topic organization, expression of paralinguistic information) have adapted in response to the digital medium, to new roles played by persistent conversation in domains such as education, business, and entertainment. * Design. Digital systems do not currently support conversation well: it is difficult to converse with grace, clarity, depth and coherence over networks. But this need not remain the case. Toward this end, we welcome analyses of existing systems as well as designs for new systems which better support conversation. Also of interest are inquiries into how participants design their own conversations within the digital medium -- that is, how they make use of system features to create, structure, and regulate their discourse. Examples of appropriate topics include, but are not limited to: - Turn-taking, threading and other structural features of CMC - The dynamics of large scale conversation systems (e.g. blog networks) - Methods for summarizing or visualizing conversation archives - Studies of virtual communities or other sites of digital conversation - The roles of mediated conversation in knowledge management - Studies of the use of instant messaging in large organizations - Novel designs for computer-mediated conversation systems - Analyses of or designs for distance learning systems NEXT STEPS Submit a 250 to 500 word abstract of your proposed paper via email to the chairs: Tom Erickson (snowfall at acm dot org), Susan Herring (herring at indiana dot edu) by the deadline noted above. We will send you feedback on the suitability of your abstract by the deadline noted above. FOR MORE INFORMATION - About the minitrack, see http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC.html or contact: Thomas Erickson (snowfall at acm.org) and Susan Herring (herring at indiana.edu) - About previous years' papers (including pdf's) and participants, see: http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC_History.html - About the HICSS conference, see: http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/ ------------------------------ Tom Erickson and Susan Herring Chairs, Persistent Conversation minitrack and workshop, HICSS 41

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Re: [Air-l] Origin of the term "Internet" ?
by Bram Dov Abramson 29 Mar '07

29 Mar '07

> --- Sue Cranmer <sue(a)jcranmer.freeserve.co.uk> wrote: >> Interesting discussion. How do aiorlisters then see >> the comparison between >> the the 'Internet' or 'internet' and the >> 'telephone'? The Internet, it seems to me, is a particular thing: it's the network that runs IP and uses the ICANN-administered addressing system and all the rest of it. The telephone is a class of things: it's a kind of device that we plug into the wall, because we want connectivity to a particular network. To the extent a mobile phone or cell phone gets to be a "telephone", I guess that telephone is a broader class of devices than that. Either way. many of us have several telephones. Few of us have several internets. Noone has more than one of the Internet. > The point is that there is a significant difference in > the evolution of telephone and the Internet. There > were always multiple telephone (and telegraph) > networks; there was no time where there was one > telephone network named The Telephone network. I don't know. Isn't the PSTN, The Telephone Network? Its one-ness federates a heterogeneity much in the way the Internet does: a single network because end-to-end (voice) connectivity bound by a common addressing system (ITU E.164, rather than ICANN DNS). In that sense agreement to coordinate to CCIT/CCITT/ITU-T has played a similar role in maintaining The Telephone Network (i.e. PSTN) as coordinating to IAB&IETF&Postel/ICANN has helped maintain an Internet. Sometimes the PSTN and the Internet overlap, as when E.164-numbered phone calls are terminated to Voice-over-Internet connection. They're not mirror images of one another: the Internet disaggregates some of the layers that the PSTN binds tightly together. But they're each a network, for remarkably similar meanings of "network". cheers Bram

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Any good Free E-Learning Platforms out there?
by Michael Baron 29 Mar '07

29 Mar '07

Hi, All I am trying to find a good Platform (e.g. something similar to Blackboard or E-Courses) that will enable me to deliver online courses free of cost. Is there such a platform? My training institution is small and can not really afford to subscribe to turnitin etc. thank you very much for your help, Michael Baron -- "My Body is my Temple" "Be The Change You Want to See In The World." Gandhi

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