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

stand up for world peace video
by Jeremy Hunsinger 12 Jul '07

12 Jul '07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LK_VXRp8Sto any thoughts on networked production? 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] Google scares me again
by jerichob＠juno.com 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

This strikes me also as being analogous to all-in-one ID cards (e.g. campus IDs or various proposals for national ID cards) - where once a person's records were held in discrete offices and therefore much more difficult to collate for profiling or investigative purposes, now there is handy access to the whole package through linked records. Who is it convenient for? Jericho -- Michael Zimmer <michael.zimmer(a)nyu.edu> wrote: Hi Ellis - Well, it is convenient when my grocer tracks my purchases through my frequent shopper card so I can count on certain items remaining in stock (assuming I'm not the only one buying them). And perhaps it is helpful for Google to provide an advertisement for digital cameras if I search for "Olympus Stylus". That's using particular bits of my activities in order to taylor a particular service to me. But it's a difference in kind when my activities that were previously dispersed across various products, services, and locations can be tracked an aggregated into a single source. And it's also a difference in kind when that information is processed in order to create some kind of psychological profile of what kind of a person I am (not just what beer I buy or what I happen to be searching for that day). Who knows what kind of decisions might be made based on such an attempt to profile my psyche. (I'm thinking of issues raised in: Bowker & Star's "Sorting Things Out: Classification and its Consequences", Gandy's "The Panoptic Sort: A Political Economy of Personal Information," and Lyon's "Surveillance as Social Sorting: Privacy, Risk, and Digital Discrimination" ) And I have yet to see any documentation from companies such as Google outlining precisely what information about me they collect, how it might be aggregated across their products & services, and what kind of processing they perform with said data, and with whom it has been shared with. The typical "privacy policy" is purposefully vague on such details. -mz ----- Michael Zimmer, PhD Microsoft Fellow, Information Society Project, Yale Law School e: michael.zimmer(a)nyu.edu w: http://michaelzimmer.org On Jul 10, 2007, at 3:00 PM, Ellis Godard wrote: > Perhaps I'm new-fashioned, but I like targeted communications based > on mined > data. There's always been tracking, capturing, aggregating, and > profiling - > it's just getting better executed, and somewhat better documented, > each of > which is arguably a boon. > -e > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l- >> bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Michael Zimmer >> Sent: Monday, July 09, 2007 6:40 PM >> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org >> Subject: Re: [Air-l] Google scares me again >> >> Perhaps I'm old fashioned, but I think psychological profiling of >> users based online habits is a tad more problematic than just >> "somewhat" of an ethical minefield. >> >> Microsoft recently announced their hopes to do something similar: >> http://michaelzimmer.org/2007/05/23/msft-wants-to-identify-all-web- >> surfers-based-on-surfing-habits/ >> >> One wonders if any part of one's earthly existence will remain >> untouched by those wanting to track, capture, aggregate, and >> profile... >> >> -mz > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ _______________________________________________ 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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CFP-IEEE Int'l Symposium on Technology and Society, 2008
by Milliken, Mary C. 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

For AoIR information, MCMilliken PhD Candidate, Sociology, UNBF Dear research colleagues, In 2008, the IEEE International Symposium on Technology and Society will be held in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada. We are calling for papers, abstracts and ideas addressing the ISTAS 08 theme: Citizens, groups, communities, and information and communication technologies (ICT). The submission deadline is December 17, 2007. You will find information on the call for papers, submission requirements, tracks, and publication outcomes on the ISTAS 08 website: www.istas08.ca You can also watch our YouTube welcome to ISTAS 08: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oy8gf049gio ISTAS is an annual international forum exploring the social implications of technology. ISTAS 08 will bring together participants interested in sharing their research, projects and ideas about: *How citizens, groups and communities are or could be linked with information and communication technologies (ICT) *Designing and developing ICT with and for citizens, groups and communities ISTAS 08 will be a multi-disciplinary event for engineers, computer scientists, researchers in the social sciences, arts and humanities, community-based researchers, policy makers and members of technology user communities. Papers and discussions will address the social and technical aspects of the specific topics. ISTAS is the annual symposium of the IEEE Society on Social Implications of Technology: www.ieeessit.org The ISTAS 08 host is the National Research Council Institute for Information Technology in Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada: http://iit-iti.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca We look forward to hearing from you and seeing you in Fredericton in June 2008. Organizers, Dr. Susan ODonnell National Research Council Canada ISTAS 08 Program Committee Co-Chair Dr. William McIver Jr. National Research Council ISTAS 08 Organizing Committee Chair

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Online Survey Software Sites
by ksh＠anthro.umass.edu 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Hello, I am drafting a survey to collect partial data for my online ethnography. Im looking for recommendations of easy to use survey software sites. Sites with easy to build and publish survey software, good data results with affordable pricing. Your suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Kamela

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Re: [Air-l] social network migration
by Lisa Jo Elliott, M.A. 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

I agree with you, Gail. After spending a year as a usability engineer for a company that produces enterprise database software primarily to banks, two things became very clear. First, software that stores personal data is constantly changing and built in a Rube Goldberg-like fashion by the enterprise/organization using the software. The technical and development abilities within these organizations varies widely with some organizations being at a greater risk of a security breach because of the quality and experience of their technical staff. This seemed to be a function of the quality of recent computer science graduates available to the organization and less a function of managerial practices. Second, personal information is treated as any other information inherent to the business' operation. Compliance with government regulation is taken very seriously by the technical folk who manage the information, but the wider implications of personal data accessibility and unanticipated paths of data loss are not a consideration in day to day operations. In their opinion, data is a business commodity meant to be sold and shared. Subsequent to my year's experience, I have become very selective with where I do business and what spelling of my name I wish to provide. I feel that regulations should have been in place decades ago, before the "cat was out the door". Future regulation and research may wish to consider the effect of the new personal information regulations in the UK and the technological restraints it has placed on banking growth. Regards, Jo Elliott

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Re: [Air-l] social network migration
by 'Gail Taylor 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Michael Zimmer wrote: "Returning to this discussion, Google is (surprise) working on a social networking platform called Socialstream, which would "draw content from a variety of sources. Socialstream would be based on a unified social network (USN), a single network that provides social data to other sites as a service. A service model allows many social networks to be linked together, letting them share both content and the nature of the relationships of the people who use them." I'm wondering whether Michael might share some insights about legal issues that will need to be addressed by businesses who enter into agreements with others businesses to share personal information about their users and online practices. In reading through information presented about the Google product, it was suggested that user actions would be regulated by business agreements. many decisions are going to be made for individual users would be made for the user by the business owners and operators. It was suggested that users would only need to specify, "as an afterthought", who would be able to see personal informaton and what services would host it. This is a major change in practice from the manner in which users are currently using Google services, particularly those related to the capture and exchange of personal information with other entities (government agencies including law enforcement, public and private sector businesses, private citizens). /Gail --------------------------------------- Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant Library & Information Science Research Assistant "Technology enables man to gain control over everything except technology." -- Unknown

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Re: [Air-l] social network migration
by 'Gail Taylor 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Michael Zimmer wrote: (1) I was imprecise when I said "Google is...working on a social networking platform...". The work is being done by grad students at CMU (thus the URL I linked to), and Google is sponsoring the work. Based on the CMU site, they seem to be taking some kind of "direction" from our friends in Mountain View ("Directed to help improve the online community orkut..."), but the research & demo is the fruit of CMU's labor, not Google's. If anyone know what the nature of these kinds of relationships are (contractual?), I'd love to learn more." Thanks for the detailed response to questions that were raised in an earlier message. I'm also not an attorney but have worked on programs where legal departments provided direct oversight and gave the go ahead for actions that were being initiated. I spent a number of years formulating and implementing partnering agreements between government agencies, universities, and businesses in the private and public sector. These agreements are business deals with terms and conditions that are legally binding in courts of law. My guess is that CMU and Google have entered into an agreement that includes the exchange of money, goods, and other in-kind services. I didn't get a feel for who might have initiated the business relationship. It's also possible that other organizations are also involved in the partnering effort as vendors are often times part of the mix. These partnering agreements create opportunities to test products that are in various stages of development. Michael also wrote: "The notion of businesses entering into agreements with other businesses to share personal information about their users (and online practices) is nothing new. I recently bought some items from Babies R Us, and they required my phone number in order to process the transaction. I decided to give it to them, and suddenly I'm on the mailing list for a dozen various baby retailers (power of reverse look-up directories). Businesses have been selling customer lists and purchasing habits long before Amazon or Google got into the game." This calls attention to locus of control issues. In the case of Babies R Us, you made the decision to enter into the agreement to share personal information with the business. I'm assuming that your knowledge that businesses sell customer lists and purchase habits to others was taken into consideration at the time the agreement was invoked. As mentioned in a previous message, developers of the Google product are using language indicating users will have limited control over their actions. I see locus of control issues as being critical to this conversation. Michael further wrote: "Unfortunately the norm is for the flow of personal information to be much more in the control of business interests than the individuals themselves. We have little choice in the matter that Choicepoint has aggregated all of our financial information, and once we sign up for our Facebook account we allow that business agreement to dictate how Facebook will handle our information as well." Understandings of the exchange of electronic personal information are evolving among members of the legal community. I've participated in forums where members of the legal profession were present. Concerns are being raised about the manner in which businesses are capturing and stockpiling personal information. Actions of some business, such as those in the banking industry, are regulated by government agencies.These regulatory actions are designed to protect the interests of the business and members of the general public. Michael wrote: "Gail seems to suggest that Socialstream's aggregation of social network information from other services via "business agreements" among the parties constitutes a "major change in practice from the manner in which users are currently using Google services." Well, I suppose so, but maybe not in the way Gail is suggesting. As more and more users migrate to "Planet Google" to fulfill their needs for information seeking, shopping, news, blogging, browsing, spreadsheets, e-mail, chat, and so on, we provide Google singular access to all that information in about our lives." At the current time, Google pretty much abides by its policy to keep this information private and not share it with others. This is the practice that has the potential to change as others partner with Google. Personal information (data) could be housed on servers at these other online social networking service providers. These providers would have ownership rights of the information that is housed on their servers. Google would have user rights that would be spelled out in terms and conditions of agreements. At some point in the future, there is always the possibility that Google would acquire these businesses. Ownership of the data would transfer to Google. I've heard the word 'anti-trust' jokingly thrown around in conversations where the focus is on the way data is being captured and stockpiled by businesses through acquisitions and mergers. I see the jokes as being an indication of shifts in thinking that are taking place among members of the legal community in relation t! o ! protecting the interests and rights of consumers. It's been suggested that members of the academic and research communities should start paying closer attention to infrastructures that are enabling online interactions among members of the general public. I'm in support of this suggestion. As opposed to fearing what is currently happening, I see this as an opportunity to become more aware of business structures and processes that have the potential to exploit people in online environments in public environments where assumptions are made that locus of control resides with the user. /Gail --------------------------------------- Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant Library & Information Science Research Assistant "Technology enables man to gain control over everything except technology." -- Unknown

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Media Anthropology
by Philipp Budka 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Dear Colleagues, Since 2004 the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) Media Anthropology Network is discussing working papers about socio-cultural aspects of media technology uses within the scope of e-seminars via the Network's mailing list. Some of these papers and discussions address internet technologies from a range of different perspectives: http://www.media-anthropology.net/workingpapers.htm The website of the Network also provides annotated bibliographies, information about media anthropology events, and selected discussions from the mailing list as PDF documents. More information at: http://www.media-anthropology.net All the best, Philipp -- Philipp Budka philbu(a)gmx.net Dreyhausenstraße 18/7 A-1140 Wien, Austria http://www.philbu.net -- Der GMX SmartSurfer hilft bis zu 70% Ihrer Onlinekosten zu sparen! Ideal für Modem und ISDN: http://www.gmx.net/de/go/smartsurfer

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vlog history project for aoir conference
by Hall, Richard H. 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

For the AOIR conference this year I submitted a proposal in the "creative or aesthetic presentation" category. The presentation is called "A Brief History of the Video Blog" and the project covers the video blog community, as represented by the Yahoo video blog group, within the context of my own experience as a video blogger. I am not a creative professional, and have never submitted research in this form before. It is mainly just my effort to combine my passion for video blogging with my work as a professor of information science in technology, whose research covers human-computer interaction, especially as it relates to web-based learning technologies. (Largely traditional quantitative research). Part of the project called for the creation of a video blog (not surprising :), and, for anyone interested, I have posted my first video and I plan to continue posting weekly until the conference. The videos will be posted here: http://richardshow.org/show/category/vloghistory Also, stuff about the project, including a link to the proposal, is located here http://richardshow.org/show/vloghistory (can also get there with vloghistory.org) ... best regards ... Richard ************************* Richard H. Hall, PhD http://richardhhall.org

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SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS, Focus on Africa
by Chris Ward 11 Jul '07

11 Jul '07

Dear Sir, Madam, On the occasion of the 33rd anniversary of Delft University of Technology the two-day symposium, "Sustainable Solutions, Focus on Africa" will take place Thursday 1 and Friday 2 November 2007 at the university's Aula Conference Centre. The key question of the symposium is, 'What contribution can (technical) Universities make to sustainable development, particularly but not exclusively in Africa?' To answer this question properly, the relationship between the technical quality of projects and the social (People) environment (Planet) and economic (Prosperity) quality will be established. The metaphor for this '4P' model is the tetraeder. Although the main quality is at the top, it still rests on the three other qualities. The first part of the symposium focuses on mono-disciplinary themes such as water, energy, food, health, urban areas, resources, mobility and ICT. These are followed by more interdisciplinary themes such as entrepreneurship and climate change and risks. In the last part, there is a quest for a trans-disciplinary approach in which government authorities, business, science, education and NGOs work together. This trans-disciplinary approach is necessary to achieve the Millennium Development Goals of the United Nations before 2015. This concerns a marked improvement in the area of poverty, hunger, education, womens rights, child mortality, aids and malaria, a sustainable living environment and fair trade. In Africa, particularly, this is an enormous challenge. The symposium will bring together representatives from various world perspectives and continents: government authorities, business, (technical) universities, other educational institutions and NGOs. Together, they are working on sustainable solutions for Africa and the rest of the world. For information and registration please visit the website http://www.lustrum.tudelft.nl/symposium I look forward to welcoming you to the symposium in Delft on 1 and 2 November. Sincerely, Professor Kees Duijvestein Symposium Committee Chair

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