January 2008 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

The history of asterisks?
by Jonna Ahti 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hello, I wonder if any of you would have ideas on the history of asterisks* in IRC and chat conversations? I know how they are used and I've found several references to them, for example: Another common feature is the use of asterisks to emphasize words denoting actions (*grins*) or sounds (*bang*). (http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol2/issue4/danet.html) I would still like to know more about the history of these symbols. I have read an article by Tine Thode Hougaard in whitch she suggests that they might origin from manuscripts for plays where actions are described within asterisks. My own hypothesis is that asterisks might have something to do with computer programming languages. On IRC, for example, one can search for keywords by using the command /list *keyword*. Are there any articles written on this topic? with best regards, Jonna Ahti PhD student Department of Scandinavian languages and literature University of Helsinki

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post-doctoral position - Ireland.
by Aphra Kerr 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

Hi all, The following post-doctoral position should be of interest to people submitting or finished their Phd research. The focus is on internet users, innovation and creativity. Enquiries to myself. best Aphra Kerr. ************** *NATIONAL UNIVERSITY OF IRELAND, MAYNOOTH* *Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Rep. of Ireland. * *DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY* *POST-DOCTORAL RESEARCH POSITION* Applications are invited for a post-doctoral position in the Department of Sociology at NUI Maynooth, tenable from April 2008 for two and a half years, working on an interdisciplinary and inter-institutional research project focussed upon the future of the internet. Funded by the HEA's Programme for Research at Third Level Institutions (PRTLI) in Ireland the ‘Serving Society: Future Communications Networks and Services’ project involves research partners at NUI Maynooth, Waterford IT and the University of Limerick. The applicant will work directly with Dr. Aphra Kerr at the Department of Sociology at NUI Maynooth (NUIM) (see _http://sociology.nuim.ie/AphraKerr.shtml_) and colleagues at the Interaction Design Centre at the University of Limerick (see http://www.idc.ul.ie/ ) to conduct a study of intensive users of the internet. *Postdoctoral Researcher (2.5 Year Contract)* This post involves advanced research on internet use, creativity and innovation. It aims to select a number of contrasting groups whose patterns of use challenge the limitations of existing internet infrastructure and services. Potential groups might include (but are not limited to) open source software development teams, massively multiplayer online game communities, transnational social movements and transnational migrant groups. Applicants should hold a PhD in a related area and have a good publishing record. The post-holder should be well versed in the literature related to some or all of the following: sociology of innovation, sociology of technology, sociology of work and consumption, internet and game studies, governance and legal aspects of the internet. Good interpersonal communication, computing and presentation skills are required. Proficiency in both written and spoken English is required. The position is based at NUI Maynooth, a campus based university 25Km west of Dublin, in Ireland which is served by good rail and bus services. The applicant will be based in the Department of Sociology, a department of 16 staff and a number of postdoctoral researchers. The Department is part of a number of national initiatives to promote and develop postgraduate education including the Irish Social Science Platform. *Salary: €38,623 per annum. * *I**nformal inquiries to: *Dr. Aphra Kerr, Department of Sociology. Tel: +353 (0)1 708 6140 or e-mail: _aphra.kerr(a)nuim.ie <mailto:Paschal.Preston@dcu.ie>_ *To apply: * candidates should submit a cover letter stating why they think they would be suited to this position, a detailed CV and a sample of their writing as well as the names, email, addresses, fax and telephone numbers of three referees to: *Dr. Aphra Kerr, Department of Sociology, Auxilia, National University of Ireland Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland* so as to arrive not later than *5pm on the 15^th of February, 2008. * *Electronic applications accepted. *

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Post-doc and PhD positions at the Open University
by Adam Joinson 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

*Two Research Associates and PhD Studentship, Department of Computing * ** ** circulation date : 23/01/2008 closing date : 21/02/2008 *Faculty of Mathematics, Computing and Technology Based in Milton Keynes Two Research Associates (Centre for Research in Computing) £27,466 – £32,796 (Ref: 4320) Three-year contracts PhD Studentship (Centre for Research in Computing)* Applications are invited for two Research Associates (RA) and a PhD student to work on an EPSRC funded three-year interdisciplinary project on *Privacy Rights Management in Mobile Applications (PRiMMA)*. The project will empirically investigate mobile computing users' requirements and policies for privacy in different settings. For one of the RA positions, experience and training in social-science and human-computer interaction research methods, and experience of collecting and analysing quantitative and qualitative data are essential. For the other RA position, experience of building complex software is essential and experience in developing mobile computing applications is desirable. The PhD student will investigate novel user interface design for privacy management in mobile computing devices, although we will consider high quality applicants in any area relevant to the project. For more information, please visit http://crc.open.ac.uk/primma. Closing date: 21 February 2008. Further particulars: http://www3.open.ac.uk/events/jobs/2008124_57731_o3.doc

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MLK Day reflection
by Mark Marino 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

I wanted to offer a reaction to another Michael Wesch video, a slightly less popular one than the "The Machine is Us/ing Us" (4 millions views) <http://youtube.com/watch?v=6gmP4nk0EOE&feature=related>, but one that nonetheless has garnered a fair amount of critical attention and particularly classroom attention (1 million views). His video is called "A Vision of Students Today." <http://youtube.com/watch?v=dGCJ46vyR9o> My roughly tagged response: (Re)Visions of Students Today ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=Ln6WUy29fAA) In his "Students" video, Wesch presents the collaboration of 200 of his students on a Google Document, a subsequent survey (in that Doc), and a video. This video features some of the same sexy footage of software with dazzling tech-enabled collaboration. Wesch may be the Annie Liebovitz of Screen Capture. (or Martin Munkacsi?) Key to this video is a subversion of expectations about student habits as well as what we might mean by "classroom technology," since his supertitles evoke the development of (non-electronic) blackboards and his students hold up pieces of notebook paper as display technologies. The video is a marked contrast to his "Web 2.0" video, particularly in tone and an sense of ambivalence. On the other hand, this video includes another subject left out of his Wesch 2.0 video, people. The "students today" are represented by the non-plussed (or low affect) students in his class, holding placards of observations from the survey. Their statistics reveal information about their use of technology, which is a focus of the course's "digital ethnography" I'm assuming. The dour suggest to me a sense of resistance -- certainly not the "ain't this cool we're making a video" face I'd expect. More like a: "hey, don't think you know how I use the internet or my traditional educational technologies" look. [Actually, many of the comments I read in the YouTube threads seemed to focus their hostility on the students themselves, particularly as representative of an apathetic or spoiled American middle class] When watching this video about "Students Today," which features white student after white student, I can't help but wonder why the students don't comment on race. On the one hand, the video offers just "a vision" as in one vision of students. However, I read Wesch's title as having broader implications, bordering on universalism. As in "Come see what typical students look like today" or at least what a representative sample looks like today. Even if his video doesn't claim to be representative, the fact that the video about student use of technology does not mention what to many of us might be so apparent is indicative of certain trends in discussions of Web 2.0, trends I've recently been discussing with Elizabeth Losh of UC Irvine among others: the trend to create a vision of some imaginary Web 2.0student, one that does not take into consideration differences in background or access. What do we risk when we leave out race or even socio-economic class? I think some on this listserv are answering this question with their research. It's just something I'm thinking about this MLK Day. More on this discussion here: http://writerresponsetheory.org/wordpress/2008/01/20/a-revision-of-students… Wesch has also printed some responses and further discussions of his video here: http://mediatedcultures.net/ksudigg/?p=124#more-124 Best, Mark Marino -- Writing Program University of Southern California http://WriterResponseTheory.org http://CriticalCodeStudies.com

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Call-for-Papers: TERROR: The Human Condition Series
by Orion Anderson 25 Jan '08

25 Jan '08

CALL FOR PAPERS THE HUMAN CONDITION SERIES: 2nd Annual International Multidisciplinary Conference on: TERROR May 2-3, 2008, Laurentian University @ Georgian College, Ontario, Canada Confirmed Keynote Speakers We are pleased to announce the participation of three internationally renowned keynote speakers: Henry Jiroux (McMaster University) Sunera Thobani (University of British Columbia) Sut Jhally (University of Massachusetts) Special Plenary Talk Richard A. Koenigsberg (Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis) Description of the Series and Conference Theme "Terror becomes total when it becomes independent of all opposition: It rules supreme when nobody any longer stands in its way." -Hannah Arendt This conference is part of a larger series of ongoing, international, multidisciplinary conferences--run under the banner of The Human Condition Series--that brings together people from a variety of disciplines to assess a singular topic from artistic, cinematic, literary, ethical, social, political, philosophical, psychological and religious perspectives. We encourage you to share innovative ideas and new ways of thinking and acting. Proposals will be considered on any related theme and we especially welcome papers, reports, works-in-progress, workshops and sessions. This year's theme is Terror. The concept of Terror is often found safely hidden and un-thought in diverse cultural, philosophical, and religious traditions and ways of life. One can see these safe havens extending from the divine mythologies of religious experience to the seemingly opposed rationalized life of contemporary high-tech societies. With respect to religious experience, it is clear that we have to seriously reconsider the dynamics of organized religion in the face of rising religious fundamentalisms and terrorist activity. But terror in the highly rationalized world of technological societies can also impose its existing logic as a way of maintaining the order of things. We give it various positive names that conceal its potency and negative effects. At precise moments in history, terror's potency has appeared in benign terms such as "child welfare," "residential schools," the "founding nation," the "developed world," the "hysterical woman," the "mentally ill," the "social and sexual deviant," the "immigrant problem," the "disposable income," and the "democratic liberation of other peoples." It is the absurd rationalizations of these terms in the face of concrete realities that covers over terror's effects and keeps it intact. This conference will investigate what role Terror has in maintaining the contemporary condition of humanity--and what hope there is of envisioning a condition in which Terror is natural and organic rather than strategic and imposed. ____________________________________________________________________________ ___ Please send a 250-300 word abstract or proposal as an email attachment (MS Word Format) to TerrorProposal(a)ideologiesofwar.com DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACT: FEBRUARY 15, 2008. For more details about the conference go to: http://humanconditionseries.wordpress.com/speakers-08/ or http://humanconditionseries.wordpress.com/past-conference-07/ Contact Person: Marianne Vardalos, Ph.D., Dept. of Sociology, Laurentian University Director of the Human Condition Series Organizing Committee ____________________________________________________________________________ ____ Possible topics include but are not limited to: The Laws of State-Terror Communications of Terror Overt and Covert Representations of Terror The Centrality of Spin and Lobbying in Communicating Terror The Manufacture and Management of Terror The Marketing of Terror The Relationship of Terror to the Modern Malaise: Anxiety, Disorders, Disease Terror as Pleasure The Construction of the Transnational Terrorist Terror and the Transformation of States and Nations Gender, Sexuality and Terror Otherness as Terror Terror Pornography The Commodification of Fear Artistic Expressions of Terror Literature and Terror Discourses and Counter-Discourses of Terror The Terror of Morality The Terror of Fundamentalisms Military Logic as Terror The Terror of Reason Faith and Terror ____________________________________________________________________________ ________________ Please send a 250-300 word abstract or proposal as an email attachment (MS Word Format) to TerrorProposal(a)ideologiesofwar.com DEADLINE FOR RECEIPT OF ABSTRACT: FEBRUARY 15, 2008. For more details about the conference go to: http://humanconditionseries.wordpress.com/speakers-08/ or http://humanconditionseries.wordpress.com/past-conference-07/ All papers accepted and presented at the conference will be considered for inclusion in the The Human Condition Series e-journal. In addition, some papers will also be considered for publication in a themed volume on Terror. Contact Person: Marianne Vardalos, Ph.D., Dept. of Sociology, Laurentian University Director of the Human Condition Series Organizing Committee

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Facebook/Social Networks In The News .... | OnlineSocialNetworks List
by Gerry Mckiernan 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

***APOLOGIES FOR RECEIPT OF DUPLICATE POSTINGS*** Colleagues/ In recent days, there has/have been Major Media Coverage of Facebook/Online Social Networks: CBS 60 Minutes | Mark Zuckerberg: The Face Behind Facebook [ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/cbs-60-minutes-mark-zucker… ] Interview With Michael Bugeja, Iowa State University, Critic of Online Social Networking [ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/interview-with-michael-bug… ] Proposition: Social Networking Technologies Will Bring Large [Positive] Changes to Educational Methods ... [The Economist Debate] [ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/proposition-social-network… ] In addition to these Major Stories, the OnlineSocialNetworks majordomo list has broken the ***Centennial Membership Mark***! [Actually 101 [How Binary] [:-)] If You Have Not Yet Joined The OnlineSocialNetworks list, You May Do So By Following The Directions in The Post Below [ http://onlinesocialnetworks.blogspot.com/2008/01/onlinesocialnetworks-new-m… ] Regards from a Frigid Central Iowa! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ] Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows ... [ http://www.alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]

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AoIR panel on SNSs?
by Nancy Baym 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

If anyone planning to submit an empirical paper about social network sites to our 2008 Copenhagen conference is interested in collaborating on a panel proposal, please contact me offlist. Thx, Nancy

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CFP: 2008 ASIST Social Computing Summit
by Fred Stutzman 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

ASIST is sponsoring a Social Computing Summit this April in Miami. CFP Date is February 25, 2008. Please feel free to redistribute. -Fred ---------------------------------------- ASIS&T Social Computing Summit April 10-11, 2008 Hyatt Regency, Miami, Fl Website: http://www.asis.org/Conferences/SCS08/SCS08.html About the Summit The First Annual ASIS&T Social Computing Summit will bring together researchers and practitioners of social computing for two days of discussion and exploration in Miami, Florida. The event will directly precede the 2008 Information Architecture Summit, providing attendees a complimentary opportunity to learn about and discuss emergent areas of social computing and software. The Social Computing Summit will feature a keynote address from Thomas Vander Wal, principal consultant at InfoCloud Solutions. Social software and computing drives Web 2.0 technology, enabling global connections and providing rich social experiences. Social networking services challenge established notions of privacy, identity and relationship management. Beyond the browser, mobile devices promise new forms of ubiquitous connectivity and presence, offering unprecedented research and business opportunities. To understand the successful applications of tomorrow, we come together today to share research and insight. This summit aims to bring together thought leaders, developers, and scholars working in this rapidly changing area, facilitating the conversations required for tomorrow?s innovations. Complementing the keynote addresses will be panels exploring the following topical areas: Social networking services, data portability/open social networks, mobile services, social computing and politics, global voices, social computing and the enterprise, and youth social computing. The summit will feature interactive sessions, as well as a poster session for sharing information about services and recent research. In bringing together a blend of experts from different disciplines, as well as enabling conversation, the ASIS&T Social Computing Summit offers something for everyone interested in this fascinating, fast-changing space. Preliminary Speaker Lineup Thomas Vander Wal, InfoCloud Solutions Mary Madden, Pew Internet and American Life Project Brian Oberkirch Jevon MacDonald, SocialWrite.com Micah Sifry, Personal Democracy Forum Ramesh Srinivansan, UCLA Fred Stutzman, UNC-Chapel Hill Many more speakers to be announced as they confirm! Call For Posters The program committee invites submission of posters to be showcased at the 2008 ASIS&T Social Computing Summit. To be considered, authors should submit a 500-800 word poster abstract by Monday, February 25, 2008. Notification will be made on a rolling basis, with final notifications by Monday, March 11, 2008. Send submissions in PDF, DOC or TXT format to socialcomputing2008(a)gmail.com. Registration information Member Full Conf. $300 Nonmember Full Conf. $450 Hotel Hyatt Regency Miami 400 South East Second Avenue Miami, Florida, USA 33131-2197 Tel: +1 305 358 1234 Rates: $179 single or double (conference rate: mention ASIS&T Summit) -- Fred Stutzman 919-260-8508 ibiblio.org/fred fred(a)metalab.unc.edu Co-Founder and Developer, ClaimID.com Ph.D. Student, Teaching and Research Fellow, SILS UNC-Chapel Hill

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have I discovered a new disease?
by Barry Wellman 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

I've been writing more than my share of "papers", etc in the past month. On my IBM Thinkpad T42. Recently I have noticed that both heels of my outer palms have become uncomfortably irritated -- the result I am sure of having them on the keyboard's palm rests for 10 hours at a time. The solution: I am trying to lift my wrists up so that only my fingers touch the keyboard. And I will be taking a break at the Social Network conference, this Tuesday thru Sunday. But I am wondering if this is a new phenomenon, or others on this list have experienced it. I do like Thinkpads for reliability and keyboard feel, but I notice that their palm rests are a bit rough. Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Room 418 Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-7162 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php Elvis wouldn't be singing "Return to Sender" these days _______________________________________________________________________

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CfP on Instant Messaging, real-time communication, awareness etc.
by Kai Riemer 24 Jan '08

24 Jan '08

Dear colleagues, Enclosed please find a call for papers on real-time communication (instant messaging, synchronous communication etc.) and distributed work. The International Journal of e-Collaboration is an academic, scholarly peer-reviewed journal published by the International Resource Management Association (IRMA). Please consider submitting your work to our special issue by March 15, 2008. Should you have any questions don't hesitate to contact me. With best regards Kai Riemer ********************************** CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on "Real-time Collaboration (RTC) and Distributed Work" International Journal of e-Collaboration (IJEC) ISSN: 1548-3681 (online) 1548-3673 (print) http://www.idea-group.com/journals/details.asp?id=4297 Submission deadline: March 15, 2008 Scheduled Publication date: Beginning of 2009 Guest editors: Kai Riemer, The University of Muenster (Germany) Volker Wulf, The University of Siegen (Germany) IJeC editor: Ned Kock, Texas A&M International University The full call for papers can be downloaded here: http://www.e-collaboration.net/cfp-rtc TOPIC OUTLINE Today's work practices are undergoing significant changes due to trends of virtualization and the emergence of new communication technologies. Distributed settings are increasingly common in organizations. While virtualization offers benefits (e.g. remote and flexible interaction), the resulting work environments present a number of challenges such as a lack of awareness of co-workers' activities and locations. At the same time, with the number of available communication channels and devices growing, the communicative complexity increases likewise. People are faced with an increase in communication volume, more work interruptions, and at the same time with a poor availability of co-workers. The latter typically impedes information access and the free flow of knowledge. Real-Time Collaboration (RTC) technologies are supposed to present an answer to these challenges. The idea of RTC technologies is to lessen the aforementioned problems through enabling instant (real-time) collaboration between people using various media and devices and by enabling the creation of awareness. RTC technologies comprise Voice-over-IP telephony, video conferencing and Instant Messaging with its text chat feature and presence information. Integrated RTC systems are the result of media convergence, device integration, and unified communications. By providing active presence management and rule-based message filtering, RTC systems try to re-empower users to be in control of their communication. Moreover, RTC systems show significant potential for integration with other software systems in order to enable contextual real-time collaboration in work processes (e.g. integration with other groupware systems, office software, and enterprise systems). We are pleased to invite scholars from any methodological background to contribute papers that advance our knowledge of the design, diffusion, appropriation, usage and impact of RTC systems, particularly in the context of distributed work. We welcome theoretical, conceptual, design-oriented and especially empirical contributions using both qualitative and quantitative research methods. Research efforts might focus on different organization levels such as individuals, teams, corporations, networks, and informal communities and on different RTC technologies such as Instant Messaging tools, Voice-over-IP telephony, Video conferencing, Unified communications, Mobile RTC systems, or integrated RTC systems suites. Typical RTC systems are: - Small RTC tools: Skype, AIM, ICQ etc.; i.e. Instant Messaging and Voice-Call tools - Integrated RTC systems: IBM Sametime, Siemens Hipath Openscape, Oracle Collaboration Suite etc. - Related technologies: Video and web conferencing systems TOPICS Papers in this special issue might be concerned with any or all of the above mentioned RTC technologies (Instant Messaging, VoIP, Unified Communication systems, etc.) and might address, but are not limited to one or more of the following areas: Usage, impact and effects of RTC technologies - Presence and awareness in distributed work - RTC and typical coordination problems in distributed work - The time dimension in real-time collaboration - Diffusion and adoption of RTC technologies in the market place - Emerging new work practices based on the appropriation of RTC - Inter-organizational support with RTC technologies - Effects of RTC on social networks in and across organizations - Effects of RTC on organizational culture - Effects of RTC in bridging barriers created by virtualization - Group level effects of RTC (e.g. reachability, visibility, identity building etc.) - Individual level effects of RTC (e.g. control, interruptions and disturbance) - Changing communication behaviors through RTC usage - Shifts in media usage through introduction of RTC technologies - Privacy and control issues of increased awareness of peoples' actions RTC design and systems development - User interfaces design challenges in RTC systems - Development, application, and evaluation of RTC prototypes - Design of presence signaling mechanisms - Challenges of integrating different media in RTC infrastructures - Case studies reporting on the integration of RTC with business processes - Case studies reporting on the integration of RTC with other software systems - Experimental research to explore user perceptions of RTC features PLEASE NOTE: For specific topics and the submission guidelines please download the full CfP at http://www.e-collaboration.net/cfp-rtc ************************************ Dr. Kai Riemer Research group on Collaborative systems and cooperation management (CSCM) University of Münster European Research Center for Information Systems (ERCIS) Institut für Wirtschaftsinformatik (Information Systems) Leonardo-Campus 3 D-48149 Münster ph: +49-251-8338123 fx: +49-251-8328032 eMail: kai.riemer(a)ercis.de

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