September 2009 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

40-minute interview on Wisconsin Public Radio about Twitter, New New Media, and Iran
by Paul Levinson 02 Aug '10

02 Aug '10

The interview was conducted at 7am this morning. You can listen to it anytime at http://clipcast.wpr.org:8080/ramgen/wpr/jca/jca090624b.rm PL

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Ranking Web of Universities: July 2009 edition
by Isidro F. Aguillo 22 Jul '10

22 Jul '10

The July edition of the Ranking Web of World Universities (http://www.webometrics.info) shows important news. Most of them are due to changes done to improve the academic impact of the open web contents and to reduce the geographical bias of search engines. As a result, the US universities still lead the Ranking (MIT with its huge Open Courseware is again the first, followed by Harvard, Stanford and Berkeley), but the digital gap with their European counterparts (Cambridge and Oxford are in the region’s top) has been reduced. Even more important, some of the developing countries institutions reach high ranks, especially in Latin America where the University of Sao Paulo (38th) and UNAM (44th) benefits from the increasingly interconnected Brazilian and Mexican academic webspaces. Several countries improves their performance including Taiwan and Saudi Arabia with strong web oriented strategies, Czech Republic (Charles), the leader for Eastern Europe, Spain (Complutense) and Portugal (Minho, Porto) with huge repositories and strong Open Access initiatives. Norway (NTNU, Oslo), Egypt could be also mentioned. On the other side, the underrated are headed by France, with a very fragmented system, Korea, whose student-oriented websites are frequently duplicated, New Zealand, India or Argentina. Africa is still monopolized by South African universities (Cape Town is the first, 405th), as well as Australian Universities are the best ranked for Oceania (Australian National University, 77th) Other well performing institutions include Cornell or Caltech in the USA, Tokyo (24th) Toronto (28th), Hong Kong (91st), or Peking (104th). On the contrary, in positions below expected we find Yale, Princeton, Saint Petersburg, Seoul and the Indian Institutes of Science or Technology. Check out also: Ranking Web of Research Centers http://research.webometrics.info/ Ranking Web of Repositories http://repositories.webometrics.info/ Ranking Web of Hospitals http://hospitals.webometrics.info/ Ranking Web of Business Schools http://business-schools.webometrics.info/ -- ************************************* Isidro F. Aguillo, HonPhD Cybermetrics Lab CCHS - CSIC Albasanz, 26-28, 3C1. 28037 Madrid. Spain Ph. 91-602 2890. Fax: 91-602 2971 isidro.aguillo @ cchs.csic.es www. webometrics.info *************************************

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Information wants to be ASCII or Unicode? Tibetan-written information cannot be ASCII anyway.
by Han-Teng Liao (OII) 31 Oct '09

31 Oct '09

Dear all, Running the risk of trolling and misrepresenting the famous motto "Information wants to be ASCII", I want to raise the question of the difference between "Information wants to be ASCII" versus "Information wants to be Unicode" from a multilingual perspective. It should be pointed out when Lev Manovich declare "Information wants to be ASCII" when talking about remix and remixability of information, it was in 2005 when the adoption of Unicode was just in the early adoption period globally. So I do not intend to raise the question to make lazy criticism against the America-centric implication inside ASCII, but rather raise the question about remix and remixability across linguistic boundaries. Why the Unicode is not universally deployed yet? How can we measure the remixability across linguistic boundaries simply because the information are encoded not in Unicode? Why so many user-generated content websites in China are only using their simplified-Chinese-only kind of "national standard" (GB2312) even when Hong Kong (using traditional Chinese not included in GB2312) is part of China and Beijing claims Taiwan is part of China? What about Tibetan-written information: is it want to be Unicode or GB 18030-2000? Tibetan-written information cannot be ASCII anyway. I really like to hear from you. Best regards, -- Han-Teng Liao PhD Candidate Oxford Internet Institute http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/students.cfm?id=123

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Re: [Air-L] Question regarding Kindle formats
by Katy E. Pearce 06 Oct '09

06 Oct '09

Hi Jasmine. 1. Due to the ability to change font sizes, there are no page numbers on the Kindle. 2. I googled "ebook citation APA" and found this: http://www.lambuth.edu/academics/library/citingebooks.html YMMV Thanks, Katy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Wed, 2 Sep 2009 11:21:31 -0400 From: Jasmine Pues <marimiko(a)gmail.com> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] Question regarding Kindle formats Message-ID: <f3a997c0909020821s39e7da10g65fa70d27c2bc4c7(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 I have two questions for this list: 1) Does Kindle editions of books include page numbers? If so are these different from the page numbers in the original text? 2) How do you cite a Kindle edition of a book? Thanks, Jasmine Pues

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Looking for a room mate for AoIR (10)
by Bottando, Evelyn 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

Dear All, I am looking for a someone to share a room for the conference starting the 6th of October. If you already have a room and are looking for a roommate, please send me an email. Have a great day! Evelyn Bottando University of Iowa _______________________________________________ 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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[IR10] Pre-conference information, Twitter, Socializing
by Michael Zimmer 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

For those attending IR.10 in Milwaukee, below is some information sent via the registration system, but repeated here in case you missed it. Best, Michael Zimmer Begin forwarded message: From: "Michael Zimmer" <zimmerm(a)uwm.edu> Date: September 28, 2009 5:30:38 PM CDT To: "Michael Zimmer" <zimmerm(a)uwm.edu> Subject: [IR10] Pre-conference information, Twitter, Socializing Reply-To: "Michael Zimmer" <zimmerm(a)uwm.edu> [The following message is sent on behalf of IR.10 coordinator, Erin Hvizdak ehvizdak(a)uwm.edu] Hello all conference-goers! This message concerns: - Pre-conference attendees - Twitter information - Going out and socializing with your fellow attendees If any of these apply to you, read on (or rock on, whichever you prefer). Pre-conference information: Workshops will be held in the following locations (buildings and rooms): Hilton: -Doctoral Colloquium: Empire Ballroom -Critical Issues and Perspectives in Internet Research Methods and Ethics: Monarch Ballroom -Mobile Communication In Developing Nations: Will announce shortly. Hefter Center: 3271 N Lake Dr, Milwaukee, WI 53211 Cabs will be arranged to take participants to the University Conference Center (Please discuss with your pre-conference organizer) -Engaging Multidisciplinarity in Sociotechnical Internet Research: A hands-on workshop: Billiard Room -Innovative education online: Ideas for the future of learning and the Internet: Library Room -Critical Internet Theory: Dining Room -Education and Research in Second Life: Living Room Twitter Information: For updated information about the conference, subscribe to our Tweet stream at: www.twitter.com/ir10. The hash tag for the conference will be #ir10 if you’d like to follow everyone else’s updates! Getting together before the conference “officially” begins: For those of you arriving Tuesday night, places nearby that we would suggest getting together are the Old German Beer Hall (oldgermanbeerhall.com ) or Turner Hall (historicturner.com) On Wednesday night from 7-10pm, we have reserved the downstairs bar area of the Milwaukee Ale House (http://ale-house.com/alehouse/) This is right on the Milwaukee River, about six blocks from the conference hotel. If the weather is nice, they will also allow us to spill out on the deck. There will be three menu options for dinner, all options for appetizers, and they brew their own beer! This will be on your own monetarily, unfortunately – and will be a cash only event. We REALLY hope to see a lot of you there! It will be a really great informal way of breaking the ice before we all have to pretend to be professional. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact me (Erin) at 612-701-3714 or Elizabeth at 414-614-3266 (but preferably before 5pm US central time) – or email ehvizdak(a)uwm.edu. Thanks everyone, looking forward to next week!! Erin Hvizdak Erin Hvizdak, MLIS Candidate Research Assistant, Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) School of Information Studies University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee ehvizdak(a)uwm.edu

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Best Research Thesis Award in field of Internet Research
by Uwe Matzat 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

Dear colleagues, anybody finishing an excellent thesis (BA/MA/Ph.D.) in our field? Have a look at this opportunity: --- DGOF prize "Best Research Thesis Award" The German Society for Online Research (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Onlineforschung, DGOF) announces its Best Research Thesis Award. The prize has a value of 3000,- Euros. It will be given to students who have finished a thesis (Bachelor/Master/Ph.D.) in 2008 or 2009. The submission deadline is: December 31, 2009. Requirements Submissions in English or German language must include an electronic version (word or pdf) of the thesis plus an additional English language extended abstract (600-1000 words) that summarizes the analyzed question, the used methods, the most important findings, and its relationship to relevant existing theories and earlier findings. The thesis must be written in 2008 or 2009. At the time the thesis was submitted all authors must have been graduate or postgraduate students only. Works by post- docs are not eligible for submission. The thesis may have multiple student authors. Evaluation Criteria The prize will be given to the author(s) of a thesis that provides an exceptional analysis of a specific issue in the area of internet research. The analysis should focus on aspects of * method research (web surveys, online experiments, mobile surveys, multi-mode data collection, statistical biases, innovative forms of data collection, etc) and/or * social, organizational, or psychological consequences or aspects of mobile or online communication (Web 2.0, social networking, online communities, E-Health, digital inequality, etc). All applications will be evaluated by a jury of experts in the area of internet research on basis of the following criteria, if applicable. * innovativeness of the findings * theoretical foundation and relevance for future research or theory development * adequacy of the chosen research design and, if applicable, the empirical foundation * clarity of the presentation. The Award The author(s) will be given the opportunity to present the findings at the General Online Research Conference 2010 (see www.gor.de) and to publish the work. 1300,- Euros of the prize will go directly to the applicant(s) who are selected as winners by the expert evaluators. Additional 1700,- Euros will be provided for publication in the book series "Neue Schriften zur Online-Forschung" and, if necessary, English language translation of a short manuscript that presents selected findings of the thesis for submission as an article to the International Journal of Internet Science (ijis.net) More info: www.gor.de -- Best regards, Uwe Matzat ======================================= Uwe Matzat Sociology School of Innovation Science Eindhoven University of Technology P.O. Box 513, 5600 MB Eindhoven The Netherlands --------------- phone: + 31 40 247-8392 email: u.matzat /"at"/ tm.tue.nl http://www.tue-tm-soc.nl/~matzat/ =======================================

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Call for Chapter Proposals: Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Community Partnerships
by Carpenter, Russell 30 Sep '09

30 Sep '09

CALL FOR CHAPTERS HIGHER EDUCATION, EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES, AND COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS: CONCEPTS, MODELS, AND APPLICATIONS Submissions sought for Higher Education, Emerging Technologies, and Community Partnerships, a book edited by Melody Bowdon, PhD (Associate Professor, Department of English, University of Central Florida, USA) and Russell Carpenter, PhD (Director, Noel Studio for Academic Creativity, Eastern Kentucky University, USA) To be published in 2011 by IGI Global. We seek manuscripts that document and assess partnerships between institutions of higher education and K-12 schools, nonprofit organizations, government agencies, and corporations that have been made successful (or even unsuccessful in interesting ways) in part through the use of emerging and evolving digital technologies. Topics or sites might include service-learning; internships; volunteer programs; cooperative education; distance-learning; continuing education; professional schools such as law, medicine, education, and nursing; community development programs including alumni relations and fundraising; and/or sponsored research. Technologies might include social networking, webconferencing, mobile devices, virtual environments such as SecondLife, course management systems, and/or Web 2.0 applications. For the full call, please go to: [1]http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=714 Proposal Submission Deadline: December 30, 2009 Full Chapter Submission Deadline: February 28, 2010 INQUIRIES, PROPOSALS AND SUBMISSIONS CAN BE SENT ELECTRONICALLY IN MS WORD TO: Melody Bowdon, PhD Department of English University of Central Florida E$B!>(Bmail: mbowdon(a)mail.ucf.edu 407$B!>(B823$B!>(B6234 and/or Russell Carpenter, PhD Noel Studio for Academic Creativity Eastern Kentucky University E$B!>(Bmail: russell.carpenter(a)eku.edu 859$B!>(B622$B!>(B6229 -------- Russell G. Carpenter, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of English Director, Noel Studio for Academic Creativity Eastern Kentucky University 859-622-6229 [2]http://www.studio.eku.edu/ References 1. http://www.igi-global.com/requests/details.asp?ID=714 2. http://www.studio.eku.edu/

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Question Box > CellPhone Reference / Extension Service For The Developing World
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 29 Sep '09

29 Sep '09

Colleagues/ With the ongoing reorganization / revamping /reconfiguration of state extension services, I am interested in past / present / planned mobile extension/information services in the US. I am also interested in mobile extension / information services in other regions of the world as well BTW: I've done a preliminary search of Agricola / CAB Abstracts / Agris on the topic(s) ... / Gerry New York Times . September 28, 2009 Dialing for Answers Where Web Can't Reach / RON NIXON KAMPALA, Uganda - The caller was frustrated. A new pest was eating away at his just-planted coffee crop, and he wanted to know what to do. Tyssa Muhima jotted down notes as the caller spoke, and promised to call back in 10 minutes with an answer. Each day, Ms. Muhima and two other young women at this small call center on the outskirts of Uganda's capital city answer about 40 such calls. They are operators for Question Box, a free, nonprofit telephone hot line that is meant to get information to people in remote areas who lack access to computers. The premise behind Question Box is that many barriers keep most of the developing world from taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge available through Web search engines, said Rose Shuman, the service's creator. That could be a drag on economic development. [snip] Instead of searching for information themselves, people in two rural agricultural communities in Uganda can turn to 40 Question Box workers who have cellphones. The workers dial into the call center and ask questions on behalf of the locals, or they put the call on speakerphone so the locals can ask for themselves. The operators then look up the requested information in a database and convey it to the workers, who pass it along to the villagers. The workers are compensated with cellphone airtime. The service is a joint effort of Open Mind, a nonprofit group founded by Ms. Shuman, and the Grameen Foundation, which is best known for promoting small loans for the poor. It has received financial backing from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. [snip] Where rural villages were once cut off and isolated from urban centers, cellphones now offer a lifeline, providing access to banking, news and business opportunities. That is a big technological advance, but for most Africans, Internet access is still too costly and slow. Question Box was conceived as a way of overcoming both the expense and the scarcity of Internet connections. Eventually, Question Box will allow farmers and others to use the hot line with their own cellphones or through text messages. In June, Google introduced a similar effort in Uganda, also involving the Grameen Foundation, that allows people to find information on topics like health and agriculture via text messaging. [snip] In Uganda, though, that model proved unworkable because Internet connections are so slow. So the operators at Question Box search a locally stored database created by Appfrica Labs, a Ugandan company that hosts the call center. The database contains answers to past questions as well as a repository of documents, government statistics and research papers. "A lot of this information isn't even available on the Internet," said Jon Gosier, chief technology officer of Question Box and founder of Appfrica Labs. "The real value in this database is that it contains a wealth of data that only pertains to the local areas." Links To Full Story And Related NYTimes Magazine Article ["Can the Cellphone Help End Global Poverty?"] Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/yd77x7t ] !!! Thanks To Bernie Sloan For The HeadsUp !!! EnJOY ! >> Follow Me On Twitter >> http://twitter.com/GMcKBlogs /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There Are No Answers, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace

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Call for Papers - Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society
by Bernie Hogan 29 Sep '09

29 Sep '09

**** OBVIOUS APOLOGIES FOR CROSS POSTING ***** We have extended our call for papers for the special issue of Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society. Please note the new date for first submission is November 1, 2009. Feel free to contact either myself or Anabel with questions or requests for further information. Also, feel free to distribute to other lists, or forward to the following link: http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/hogan/2009/09/call-for-papers-extended-bsts/ Best, Anabel & Bernie Anabel Quan-Haase - aquan(a)uwo.ca Bernie Hogan - bernie.hogan(a)oii.ox.ac.uk REVISED CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on “Persistence and Change in Social Media” “You can never step into the same river; for new waters are always flowing on to you.” Heraclitus. Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society ISSN: 0270-4676 eISSN: 1552-4183 http://bst.sagepub.com/ Submission deadline: November 1, 2009 Scheduled Publication date: May 2010 Guest editors: Bernie Hogan, Oxford Internet Institute Anabel Quan-Haase, University of Western Ontario BSTS editor: Willem H. Vanderburg, University of Toronto TOPIC OUTLINE We seek papers for a special issue of the Bulletin of Science, Technology and Society on the twin topics of persistence and change in social media. From ICQ to IM, Six-degrees to Friendster to MySpace to Facebook to Twitter, change seems to be a recurrent theme in social media. Not only are users willing to try out new tools, but they also continue using existing media. In light of the seemingly endless novelty in social media, how can researchers build a theory of social media practice, rather than local theories on a per-site basis? Which insights from one site can we apply to another? Which ones are due to period and cohort effects and which ones relate to the structure of social media generally? For this issue we hope to publish papers that not only address a specific social media phenomenon, but also do so with an eye to the potential for constant change and the persistence in social media of trends and communication patterns. We will gladly accept papers studying a specific web site or online context, but we want to encourage submitters to frame their analysis in terms of wider shifts occurring theoretically, empirically or substantively. Topics include but are not limited to: - Comparative analyses of multiple social media - Pan-site theories of interaction, self-presentation, privacy, disclosure, boundaries, and media usage - Change in user behaviors over time - Global differences in social media use patterns - Meta-analyses of articles on specific media sites or social media-specific topics - Shifting public concerns in the usage of social media - Evolution of specific online memes, events or practices - Evolving practices in privacy, communication, social networks, and friendship formation - Development and maintenance of community in social media Methodologies include but are not limited to: - Multivariate statistical analysis - Virtual Ethnography - Social network analysis - Scholarly meta-analysis - Content analysis Typical social media tools include but are not limited to: - Interpersonal Tools (Instant Messaging and Voice-Call tools): ICQ, Windows Live, Skype, AIM, etc. - Business Tools (Knowledge Exchange and Collaborative): IBM Sametime, Oracle Collaboration Suite, etc. - Large-Scale Social Network Sites (Friendship and Community): Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Friendster, Coach Potatoes, etc. Paper length: Papers should be between 5,000 and 7,500 words (excluding references, tables, and figures). Important dates: Papers due: November 1, 2009 Comments to authors: December 15, 2009 Final papers due: February 1, 2009 Expected publication date: Summer 2010 Submission Guidelines: Information about manuscript submission guidelines can be found online http://www.sagepub.com/journalsProdManSub.nav?prodId=Journal200908. Formatting follows APA style. Please send questions and papers to Bernie Hogan (bernie.hogan(a)oii.ox.ac.uk) or Anabel Quan-Haase (aquan(a)uwo.ca) *********************************

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