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

FW: <nettime> Steve Cisler
by McLaughlin, Lisa M. Dr. 20 May '08

20 May '08

I don't know if, or how many, members of this listserv knew Steve Cisler, who was a friend and steady presence in the lives of several of us who support community networking initiatives. Steve passed away a few days ago. I'm forwarding a statement of remembrance written by Ted Byfield. If any of you knew Steve and wish to write something about him, please send your remembrances to Ted, who is assembling these notes for the Cisler family. Best wishes, Lisa ------ Forwarded Message From: t byfield <tbyfield(a)panix.com> Date: Tue, 20 May 2008 00:15:46 -0400 To: Nettime-l <nettime-l(a)kein.org> Conversation: <nettime> Steve Cisler Subject: <nettime> Steve Cisler Steve Cisler passed away on Thursday 15 May, from a medical condition he'd known about for several years, which had worsened over the last several months. His wife, Nancy, said that he was with his entire family -- which had grown in the last few years -- and that he was relaxed and accepting as his health faded. Steve spent much of his life in what's become Silicon Valley, and he sometimes talked about how he had seen it turn from almond groves and dusty roads into an intricate suburban sprawl. He lived there when computing was a small scene, and, I guess because of his curious and easygoing style, became sort of famous among Silicon Valley's famous -- not that he ever showed any interest in fame. On the contrary, he cared very deeply about everyday settings and people, and he had a knack for finding the exceptions and difference on the fringes of computers and networking. These interests led Steve into the delicate, nebulous field of community networking. At its best, it was guided by the some of the fine ideals that shaped the rise of computing: mainly, the hope that new technologies could enable organic forms of social mobility. Though he'd probably chuckle at the idea that he was a pioneer, he was -- of the kinds of values and approaches that, happily, have become familiar as "appropriate" and "sustainable." It seems strange to say so, but I don't think Steve was an idealist. There were only a few times that I ever saw a hint of tragedy in his thinking. For example, I remember him talking pointedly about how new forms of media were driving misdirected urbanization as people (especially the young), led by grotesquely glamorized images of urban life, conclude that rural life is "intolerable" and abandon it. But dystopian trends lay far beyond any difference he could hope to make, so he mostly reserved his skepticism for community-oriented projects and initiatives that had gone awry. When he talked about them, it was with a hint of frustration -- and patience for the people who he felt had lost their way. He usually balanced that out by talking about what he loved most, idiosyncratic projects and settings where people had pieced together new and old techniques and technologies in engaging and creative ways. But these weren't ideals, they were examples. If anything, Steve was a pragmatist. A few years ago, I joked to a friend that Steve was a "walking Wikipedia": not a heroic project to redefine knowledge but an endless reservoir of impressions and observations. But it wasn't really a joke. Steve had an amazing range of experience from his work across several continents, much of it in developing areas (very much including the rural US). He thought very intently about what he'd seen and heard, and he appreciated most of all the idiosyncratic people and settings that triumphalism and transformationalism have no time for. Given the context that defined much of his life -- the rise of networks small and large -- his ways of working had a quietly contrary or even polemical side; but he won't be remembered for that. Everything he said took a very genial form -- a friendly chat about some friendly chat he once had. Stories -- hearing them, telling them, it didn't matter -- were a big part of what he did and how he did it: informing, guiding, encouraging. If "small is beautiful" is a cliche, then he was a walking cliche; but it isn't, and he wasn't. For all his stories, though, he never seemed to present his own life in a narrative form, so there are a few odd things I know about him, but I don't know where or how they fit in. At some point and in a surprisingly early context, he advocated to Native American tribal elders that they develop a ".ind" top-level domain -- a hilarious idea that could have had enormous impact. He worked as a librarian for Apple's speculative Advanced Technology Group, which did incredible work -- various QuickTime technologies, HyperCard, and advanced in speech recognition and synthesis as well as handwriting-recognition software). As a young man, he served in the US Coast Guard; I think it must have whetted his appetite for travel, and showed him a world that, in an age of airlines and the internet, fewer and fewer see -- of disparate small worlds joined by the sea they share. And he enjoyed traveling around the western US; I think those landscapes also shaped his view of the world -- expanses where you see how small you are, how small everything is, and how immense the sum of it all is. In the last years, somewhere between few and several, he'd taken to bringing an inflatable kayak when he traveled to conferences and paddling around cities all over the world. Steve's involvement in nettime dates back to a time when the list was still a family of sorts, and one that he enjoyed very much. His involvement in the list tapered off around the Next 5 Minutes 4 conference as his interest turned to what eventually became his last major endeavor, the Offline Project: an effort to understand why, or maybe how, many people and organizations "that are not directly using the Internet to learn about them and how they cope in a world that is increasingly interconnected." I won't pretend to know in any detail what he learned through his research, but two things he told me have stayed with me. First, that many people have positive reasons for living as they like, with no regard for the clatter of technical advance; and, second, when he stopped using email and the like, how quickly many of his connections and friendships dissipated. For someone who dedicated much of his life to community networking in remote areas, this fragility must have said a lot -- but I don't know what, because he never elaborated on it. Beyond years of emails, which now seem strangely immaterial coming from such a material guy, I have a surprising number of physical objects he's given me over the years: a few bottles of wine he made with family and friends, some seeds for some curious local kind of squash, a vanilla bean (from Uganda, I think), and a few recipes -- for a West African stew and a ciabatta that turned out really well. These came over a period of several years, simple gifts of whatever was at hand, but together they say a lot about who he was and how he lived. I was lucky to be able to get together with him a few times a year. In times past, that, and a bit of correspondence, would have made for a normal friendship; but in a time when communicating is so much quicker and easier, it seems like very little. I'll miss Steve very much. Steve's friends were very far-flung, so feel free to forward this. If anyone sends me messages about Steve, I'll assemble them and make sure they end up in the right place. Ted # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mail.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime(a)kein.org ------ End of Forwarded Message

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Reminder - Cybercitizens Conference July 08
by John Fenaughty 20 May '08

20 May '08

Hi everyone, This is to update you about our NetSafe Conference 08 - Cybercitizens: Risks, Rights and Responsibilities of Participation in the Information Age: http://www.cybersafety.org.nz/conference08 We're really thrilled to be getting such broad international interest. The list of organisations and countries registered so far is here: http://www.cybersafety.org.nz/conference08/holder.php?pageID=31&sectionID=S… We wanted to use this opportunity to invite other international delegates to attend. A preliminary schedule is available on the website, but there are still some opportunities for additional proposals. There is also some space in the International Project on Cyberbullying substream. The Call for Papers closes on the 31st of May. If you've any questions or feedback feel free to contact me on johnf(a)netsafe.org.nz. Cheers! John John Fenaughty / Research Manager / NetSafe / p: 09 353 0624 / skype: johnnetsafe / www.netsafe.org.nz ===================================== NetSafe Conference 08 - Cybercitizens: Risks, Rights, Responsibilities of Participation in the Information Age. ===================================== NetSafe is pleased to invite you to the stunning winter resort of Queenstown to the first international conference on Cybercitizens: Risks, Rights, and Responsibilities of Participation in the Information Age. Citizenship is a cornerstone of participation in modern democracies. It is awarded on the basis of meeting specific civic responsibilities. It affords the citizen the rights to safe passage and protection from unlawful harm. Although Cyberspace is a virtual space, it is real. Just as citizens in physical territories experience risk, have rights to protection, and need to honour responsibilities, citizens in Cyberspace experience risk, have rights to protection, and need to honour responsibilities. ===================================== The Conference ===================================== The NetSafe Conference 08 aims to consider a range of topics relating to the concepts of cybercitizenry and cybersafety. We seek papers, presentations, and workshops on a broad range of topics related to the risks, rights to safety, and responsibilities of citizens in the information age. We welcome a broad audience, including educators, researchers, industry, web developers, government, and non-government organisations, to collaborate on considering the challenges and opportunities Cyberspace can offer for citizens in the information age. ===================================== Keynotes ===================================== Jeff Cole | World Internet Project Director of the USC Annenberg School Center for the Digital Future - the Home of the World Internet Project. Ilene Berson | University of South Florida Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education in the Department of Childhood Education at the University of South Florida (USF). Michael Berson | University of South Florida Professor in the Secondary Education Department at the University of South Florida (USF). Frank Rittman | Motion Picture Association Regional Vice President and Legal Counsel, Asia-Pacific for the Motion Picture Association. Youth Panel | International Youth Advisory Congress New Zealand's teenage participants from IYAC in London will talk about a global charter for young people's online safety and security. Peter Dengate Thrush | Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) The current Chair of the ICANN board of directors. Will Gardner | Childnet International Deputy CEO of Childnet International. Shaheen Shariff | McGill University Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at McGill University. Principal Investigator on the International Project on Cyberbullying. =====================================

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CFP: Emergency Management in a Mobile World
by Prof. I Kushchu 19 May '08

19 May '08

Call for Papers : Emergency Management in a Mobile World A Special Session at the MOBILE LIFE CONFERENCES and EXHIBITIONS -- mSOCIETY 2008 -- The 1st International Conference on Mobile Society -- EURO mGOV 2008 -- The 3rd European Conference on Mobile Government 15 -19 September 2008, Sheraton Voyager, Antalya, Turkey http://www.mgovernment.org/events/index.html mlife(a)mgovernment.org Chairs: ---------- Thomas Rose, and Gertraud Peinel Head of research department, and project manager at the Fraunhofer FIT The domain of emergency management is a specific part of the e- and mGovernment world. The preparation for emergency events – caused by natural as well as man-made reasons – has gained increasing attention from the research community due to the potential impact of such events. In case of major disaster, radio and television might give first hints of what to do and what to avoid but this is rarely done in coordination with the local emergency managers. Therefore, further details for the specific region of interest as well as for the specific situation characteristics (including event information like occurrence place and time, estimated duration, subjects affected, possible conditions – technical or other – for its finalisation) are not available. Goals of this special session are therefore to -establish the realms of emergency management as a specific topic of interest at this conference. - discuss socio-technical methodologies for the development and deployment of IT solutions for emergency management tasks with a particular account on mobile technologies, e.g. mobility of citizens as well as rescue teams. - elaborate the impact of mobile technologies on the emergency management life-cycle. - discuss the role and their potential contributions of business partners to emergencies: capacities for communication channels, information relay centres, ad hoc call centres, and business models. - relate country-specific organisational and legal frameworks, e.g. cross border procedures. - tie relationships among research on mGovernment and crisis management: detect common problems and solutions, identify needs of actions, and show how IT solutions and new business models can restructure also the way of emergency management. Topics for Submission include but are not limited to - Emergency Management in a Mobile World: challenges, barriers, and opportunities - Business models, public private partnerships -Characteristics of mobile emergency services (e.g., reach, costs, acceptance, complexity, side-effects) - Best practices and lessons learnt - Planning methodologies for emergency preparation Expected audience: Authorities, risk experts, and e/mGovernment scientists Submissions in the form of research papers (max 10 pages) and practice talks (max 1 page) are solicited via the conferences online submission system at the http://www.mgovernment.org/confadmin/confadmin.php Further information on submissions and all about the conference can be found at http://www.mgovernment.org/events/mgov2008/home.html For all enquiries, please write to the session chairs: thomas.rose(a)fit.fraunhofer.de, gertraud.peinel(a)fit.fraunhofer.de or the conference secreteriat mlife(a)mgovernment.org ------ IBRAHIM KUSHCHU, MBA, MSC., PHD Associate Professor and Director, Mobile Government Consortium International, UK http://www.mgovernment.org ik(a)mgovernment.org +44 1273 777853

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Conference matters
by Brian Loader 19 May '08

19 May '08

Dear friends this is just a brief mailing from your conference programme chair to say that I will be unavailable for two weeks so please direct any queries to Lisbeth (klastrup(a)itu.dk)during that period. I understand the registration site will be up shortly so please make those registrations as soon as you can to enable me to put the programme together and share it asap. Cheers, Brian Brian D. Loader Co-Director, Social Informatics Research Unit (SIRU), Department of Sociology, Wentworth College, University of York, Heslington, York YO10 5DD Email bl506(a)york.ac.uk Tel: +44(0) 1904 432639 Fax: +44(0) 1904 433043

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ITSME, the alliance between research and design
by Nico Sica 19 May '08

19 May '08

Dear All, just few words to introduce a new Italian start up of the University of Milano - Bicocca, working in the intersection between ICT and Design: ITSME (http://www.itsme.it) lead by Prof. Giorgio De Michelis. Our goal is to develop an innovative workstation with a radically new operating system. After almost 30 years, it is time to go beyond the desktop metaphor. In these years our community has characterised the situatedness of human practices and developed ways to support it. Itsme is the new workstation for context-aware users that we are going to design and develop. It is based on a new metaphor, i.e. that of "stories and venues". Human life can be seen as the intertwining of several different stories: for each story itsme creates a venue where users can find all the things that are relevant for it. You can find more details about our initiative on the website. In particular, you can read a presentation (http://www.itsme.it/wp- content/uploads/2008/05/itsme-presentationxall_01.pdf) and a first introductory paper (http://www.itsme.it/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/ storiesandvenues.pdf). If you are interested in our project, please feel free to contact me directly. We are open to discuss collaborations with other universities, departments, research centers and laboratories. Many thanks! Best regards, Nico Giandomenico Sica Director of Communication ITSME S.r.l. Università degli Studi di Milano - Bicocca Campus Bicocca, Edificio U9 Via dell'Innovazione 10 20125, Milano, Italia Tel: ++39.02.66173453 Skype: nicosica E-mail: giandomenico.sica(a)itsme.it Website: http://www.itsme.it Home: http://www.linkedin.com/in/nicosica

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Call for Papers (a Special Issue of Webology), Folksonomies, the Web and Search Engines
by Alireza Noruzi 19 May '08

19 May '08

Dear All, apologies for cross-posting. Webology: Call for Papers (a Special Issue), Folksonomies, the Web and Search Engines Background and Significance: Folksonomy is a user-generated system that allows users to tag their favorite web resources with their chosen natural-language words or phrases. These tags can be used to classify web resources and to express users' preferences. Folksonomy may be generated and shared collaboratively by the creators and consumers of web content. Contributions to this Special Issue (Volume 5, Number 3) should address Folksonomies, Taxonomies, Knowledge Organizartion, the Web and Search Engines. Papers are solicited on, but not limited to, the following topics: - Folksonomies - Taxonomies - Search engines - Information retrieval - Social bookmarking - Social tagging - Social classification - Social softwares - Social networks - Social indexing - Collaborative tagging - Controlled vocabulary - Knowledge organization - Knowledge management - The role of the folksonomy in information retrieval The topics above are not a comprehensive list of all possible topics for this Special Issue. Submissions to this Special Issue should address the topics above (as well as other related topics). Submissions: Submissions should follow the Author Guidelines of Webology avilable at: http://www.webology.ir/guidelines.html . All Submissions will be acknowledged and then refereed by at least 2 reviewers. Authors should indicate that the submission is intended for the Special Issue on Folksonomies, the Web and Search Engines, in the accompanying cover letter. All submissions must be in English, and should represent the original work of the authors. Improved versions of papers previously published in conference proceedings are welcome, provided that no copyright limitations exist. Submissions must be made electronically via e-mail to the Guest Editor (sending a CC: copy to the Editor-in-Chief). The manuscript should be included as an attachment in MS-Word. E-mail address for submission: Louise.Spiteri at dal.ca Alternative e-mail address for submission: CC: Nouruzi at gmail.com Important Dates: August 15, 2008: Deadline for submission of papers. All submissions are due to the Guest Editor. September 15, 2008: Notification to authors. September 30, 2008: Special Issue is published. Guest Editor of the Special Issue: Dr. Louise Spiteri School of Information Management Dalhousie University Canada http://sim.management.dal.ca ----------------------------------------- Call for Papers: -- http://www.webology.ir/cfp.html ========================================= Best regards, Alireza Noruzi, PhD Editor-in-Chief of Webology ~ The great aim of Open Access journals is knowledge sharing. ~

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reminder: HICSS--ethical challenges in cyberspace; papers due June 15
by Robert Mason 19 May '08

19 May '08

Just a reminder: Track: Organizational Systems and Technology Minitrack: Personal and Organizational Relationships in a Global Networked World: Emergent Ethical Challenges This is a great venue for the work of AoIR members who are dealing with these issues; I'd be delighted to see submissions from you. See the following for details: http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_42/minitracks/os-por.htm Contact me immediately if you have questions or want feedback on ideas; full papers are due June 15. Conference is Jan 5-8, 2009, at the Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort Hawaii's Big Island. Bob Robert M. Mason Professor & Associate Dean for Research Room 370 M, Mary Gates Hall The Information School of the University of Washington +1 (206) 221-5623 http://faculty.washington.edu/~rmmason/<http://faculty.washington.edu/%7Ermmason/>

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Gogimon Beta Test
by David Miller 19 May '08

19 May '08

Dear Friends, The Gogimon Search Machine beta test is now underway. For those who requested to participate, if you haven't already received the link, you will shortly. We do have additional need of volunteer testers, so if you missed the first opportunity, we have opened it back up for additional testers. Just send us an email with a short bio, and we'll put you on the list. You'll love it! Happy Searching... David Miller Director of Marketing Gogimon

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Viral email dissemination as a sociological research methodology - some questions
by Taryn Ferris 19 May '08

19 May '08

Hi there. I'm quite new to this listserv and have never posted, but I've been quietly imbibing posts for a couple of weeks, and I'd now like to stick my head out and ask a few questions... I'm currently analysing the results from a small (pilot) online research project I have conducted, and to date, I have not been able to locate anyone within the field of sociology in particular who is using similar online methodologies. I'm wondering if there's any of you out there who can point me in the right (or any!) direction... Broadly, I have utilised viral or community email dissemination to recruit research participants, and in doing so have tried to go some way to addressing issues of researcher/researched power relations (in theory!) by relying on participant-led take-up. I have created a survey via Survey Monkey and have placed the link in an email that I have sent to all those within my social network. I have then asked individuals to pass on the email (viral or community marketing-style) within their social networks (and beyond if possible). Within the survey participants are asked if they would like to participate in a further stage of the study which requires them to supply an image pertaining to a question posed in the survey. Take-up of this second stage, is of course, once again, entirely optional and participant-led. Forgive me all you scholarly techies out there - I am very new to internet research, and really no expert at all on internet technologies, so you may find my explication below lacking in net-savvy understanding or terminology. I am first and foremost a sociologist who is interested in employing internet technologies as a methodology for qualitative sociological research. Within this pilot early analysis shows the methodology has been reasonably successful with around 70% of survey take-up *not* originating from emails that I originally disseminated. Nonetheless it definitely has its drawbacks - one major one being that there is no way (that I'm aware of, and by reading your posts over the last few weeks I believe it is a drawback of online research in general - although perhaps something that many of you are working to change) of measuring the overall success, or failure, of the research in terms of who *does not* respond (ie who the project reaches but does not appeal to). One is only aware of the methodological success rate because of the impossibility of tracing unsuccessful dissemination *beyond* one's original mail-out. Anyway, I really just wanted to know if any of you were aware of studies (published or unpublished) outside the realm of marketing where this type of online methodology is being employed...? I'd love to find some sociologists experimenting with this methodology, but failing that, any research utilising viral dissemination methodologies would be of interest! Many thanks for you time, Taryn. -- Taryn Ferris Hands Project c/o Dr. Irene Gedalof Course Leader, Women's Studies Department of Humanities Arts and Languages Room TM214 London Metropolitan University 166-220 Holloway Road London N8 OAL E: taryn.ferris.hands.project(a)googlemail.com Get the name you always wanted with the new y7mail email address. www.yahoo7.com.au/y7mail

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summer school - social work/internet/research
by Mestdagh Chris 19 May '08

19 May '08

Hello, Please some advice... For my doctoral school I have to join summer school. Does anyone have knowledge of summer school in the field of: - Social work and the Internet - Online qualitative research It would help me a lot. Kind regards, Chris Mestdagh Ghent University - www.ugent.be College University West-Flanders - www.howest.be

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