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

Re: [Air-L] social science research for the hi-tech sector
by Christine Moellenberndt 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

There is also NAPA (National Association of Practicing Anthropologists), SfAA (Society for Applied Anthropology), and BAAPA (Bay Area Association of Practicing Anthropologists). These are all anthropologists true, but some members of those organizations work in the tech sector, especially BAAPA since that IS the culture 'round these parts. More and more companies are starting to see the use of anthropology/sociology in their research plans. IBM has several social scientists as well. I know Nokia has also hired them in the past; Apple has some, Cisco hires contractors. Generally, though, the title of "Sociologist" or "Anthropologist" is not conferred... you're a User Researcher or User Experience Researcher or something along that line. if i could get a job in high tech where i could have "Anthropologist" on my business card, i'd be a happy camper. (then again, if i could find a job *anywhere* where i could actually use my education that would be a plus as well...) -Christine Master's Candidate, San Jose State University (and job seeker...) --- lists(a)kotamraju.org wrote: From: Nalini Kotamraju <lists(a)kotamraju.org> To: Nicholas John <nikjohn(a)gmail.com>, "air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org" <air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> Subject: Re: [Air-L] social science research for the hi-tech sector Date: Fri, 18 Sep 2009 00:16:14 +0200 While working on my PhD in Sociology (and a little beyond), I spent a more than significant chunk of time as a user researcher in the software design group at Sun Microsystems (now Oracle). You also might want to take a look at anthrodesign on Yahoo! Groups ( http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/anthrodesign/) which is the online home of the majority of social scientists (anthropologists, sociologists, others) who do social science work in corporate settings. Similarly, many of the folks on that list attend EPIC (Ethnography Praxis in Industry Conference, http://www.epic2009.com/) If you'd like more information, feel free to contact me offline. --- Dr. Nalini P. Kotamraju n.p.kotamraju(a)utwente.nl | +31 53 489 4970 University of Twente http://www.gw.utwente.nl/tpc/mw/Kotamraju/ http://kotamraju.org Assistant Professor, Department of Communication Studies Technical & Professional Communication Workgroup PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands > From: Nicholas John <nikjohn(a)gmail.com> > Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 13:05:02 +0300 > To: "air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org" <air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> > Subject: [Air-L] social science research for the hi-tech sector > > I was wondering if anyone knows anything about social scientific > research for the hi-tech sector? (That's "for", not "on".) > Has anyone given thought to the question of how to make a convincing > case to hi-tech companies for investing in sociological studies of > their fields of operation? > Or does anyone know how common the post of "in-house sociologist" is > among hi-tech firms? > > Thanks > Nicholas > > _________________ > Dr. Nicholas John > www.sociothink.com > _______________________________________________ > 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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Re: [Air-L] Family in the 21st century on TV
by Judy Rice 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

We had 1 TV when I was a kid and which program to watch became a matter of negotiations-we took turns selecting programs for the week each Monday rotating the order of who selected (Dad was always 1st). As kids, we would deal with siblings: if you pick this then I will pick that for you or I know you like this program, I will pick it so we will be sure to get to see it--if they didn't help me then next time I would pick something that would conflict with their program--taught us good skills. People today do not need to consider others in selecting their environment and it shows for sure--"I am the center of the universe, just show me what I want, or what will interest me, or what I will buy..." IMHO some of that is good in a busy world, but it is easy to slide into "I demand and deserve to be the center" Judy Rice UX Engineer Message: 8 Date: Thu, 17 Sep 2009 11:25:08 +0200 From: "Dominik M. Rosenauer" <rosenauer(a)mac.com> To: Peter Timusk <ptimusk(a)sympatico.ca> Cc: List Aoir <air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Family in the 21st century on TV Message-ID: <52715DCA-0558-46D6-BF61-D0C3A416BB4D(a)mac.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed; delsp=yes in my childhood years tv started at 5pm (!) and ended at midnight with the austrian anthem (late 70s). I was allowed to watch from 5-6:30 now there is a special program for mornings which is aimed at a broad spectrum of viewers, than there is program for elderly, at midday starts the program for kids and at noon the shows for youngsters, teenagers and twens. we live in a country where national tv has two channels. one for viewers 50+ and one for the advertiser-relevant twens-40s. I think that it is a very true observation, that nowadays shows are for different groups of viewers - which was not so when shows were made for families (I dream of Jeannie, Falconcrest, Dallas to name a few). I do think that the advertising industry plays a big role in this change when cartoons are made for TV which are made for different age groups and before and between them the ads are tailor- made for the program. Also the decrease in the price of the tv-sets played a role, because in the old days (60s, 70s) only a few families over here could afford more than one tv-sets at home. dominik m rosenauer e dmrosenauer(a)psycheonline.at h www.psycheonline.at t +43.1.9135584 m +43.664.5315478 Am 17.09.2009 um 11:11 schrieb Peter Timusk: ************************************* NOTICE: This email message is for the sole use of the intended recipient(s) and may contain confidential and privileged information. Any unauthorized review, use, disclosure or distribution is prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender by reply email and destroy all copies of the original message.

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social scientists in corp. world
by Barry Wellman 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Marc Smith no longer at Microsoft. RIght now, he's Chief Social Scientist at Telligent, in Silicon Valley dana boyd heads a research group at Microsoft Research's Cambridge MA shop. Intel's People and Practices research unit is populated with social scientists. a vague etc here Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________

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Re: [Air-L] Family in the 21st century on TV (Holly Kruse)
by Catherine Middleton 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Re the comment that shows are available for viewing online. Yes, if you live in the US. But sites like Hulu.com aren't available outside the US, and what's available on iTunes varies by country. This doesn't mean that there aren't ways around this (using a US IP address, or downloading/streaming the shows through a file sharing site), but I think it's worth noting that for a non-sophisticated internet user (yes, this might kick off a debate of its own, but I mean someone who isn't comfortable with P2P, for instance), the options for watching US shows outside the US are limited. This is also true of shows from some other countries, e.g. you can't watch (the other) ABC's shows outside Australia, or the BBC outside Britain (here's the explanation why: http://iplayerhelp.external.bbc.co.uk/help/download_programmes/outsideuk) . And then there are issues of download caps also, limiting the practicality/affordability of downloading video. None of these comments are meant to detract from Holly's post, but to shed a bit more light on what's possible re online TV viewing. catherine -------------- Catherine Middleton Ryerson University Toronto, Canada http://www.ryerson.ca/itm/fcty/Middleton/Middleton.html catherine.middleton(a)ryerson.ca > Message: 3 > Date: Wed, 16 Sep 2009 22:19:59 -0500 > From: Holly Kruse <holly-kruse(a)utulsa.edu> > To: "air-l(a)aoir.org" <air-l(a)aoir.org> > Subject: Re: [Air-L] Family in the 21st century on TV > Message-ID: <C6D7150F.637E%holly-kruse(a)ad.utulsa.edu> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII" > > > On 9/16/09 8:02 PM, "Jason Mittell" <jmittell(a)middlebury.edu> wrote: > >> At the level of programming, there's no doubt that the full-family >> hit is a >> rare exception today (*American Idol* is often pointed to as a hold- >> out, but >> even that's fading), and advertisers are less interested in mass >> appeal >> across broad audiences than dense homogeneous segments that can be >> more >> easily sold specific goods. > > > FWIW, I understand that ABC Family is trying to expand its audience, > with > some success, into adult demographics. A few months ago NPR's "All > Things > Considered" did a story about how ABC Family and Nickelodeon have been > positioning themselves as the homes for family sitcoms that would > have once > been on the networks; and that, in fact, many writers who used to > write for > network sitcoms are now writing for shows like "iCarly" and "The > Secret Life > of the American Teenager." Although I've only watched bits and > pieces of > the latter, I gather that it tackles some fairly serious material. > I know > that several of these shows, like "The Suite Life of Zack and Cody," > do not > feature traditional "intact" families, however; but as I recall they > feature > use of cell phones, etc. And, on a meta level, they are available for > viewing online. > > > Holly > > > ----- > Holly Kruse > Faculty of Communication > The University of Tulsa > 800 S. Tucker Drive > Tulsa, OK 74104 > 918-631-3845 > holly-kruse(a)utulsa.edu or holly.kruse(a)gmail.com > http://personal.utulsa.edu/~holly-kruse

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Reminder- IR10 Workshop on Engaging Multidisciplinarity in Sociotechnical Internet Research
by David Gurzick 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Organizers: Ingbert Floyd, David Gurzick, Caroline Haythornthwaite, Andre Brock This workshop explores multidisciplinary aspects of sociotechnical research on the Internet, providing a forum for the pooling and sharing of disciplinary perspectives and for finding complementarity and synergy across disciplinary knowledge, methods, and approaches. Activities planned for the workshop will engage participants with theoretical and methodological approaches drawn from multiple disciplinary perspectives. This workshop will appeal to students and faculty grappling with the task of bringing together different methodologies and traditions to study the Internet. For more information and updates on the workshop, please visit our wiki page at: http://sociotech.net/wiki/index.php?title=IR_10.0_Workshop Or contact David Gurzick at gurzick1(a)umbc.edu

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New Book > _Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data_
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Colleagues/ A Must Buy / Read / Use Unique New Book / Now Available ! /Gerry _Library Mashups: Exploring New Ways to Deliver Library Data_ / Edited by Nicole C. Engard / Foreword by Jenny Levine 2009 / 352 pp. / Softbound / ISBN 978-1-57387-372-7 / Regular Price $39.50 As web users become more savvy and demanding, libraries are looking for new ways to allow patron participation and keep their websites dynamically and collaboratively up-to-date. Mashups-web applications that combine freely available data from various sources to create something new-can be one very powerful way to meet patrons' expectations and provide exemplary web-based service. In Library Mashups, Nicole C. Engard and 25 contributors from all over the world walk readers through definitions, summaries, and practical uses of mashups in libraries. Examples range from ways to allow those without programming skills to make simple website updates, to modifying the library OPAC, to using popular sites like Flickr, Yahoo!, LibraryThing, Google Maps, and Delicious to share and combine digital content. This essential guide is required reading for all libraries and librarians seeking a dynamic, interactive web presence. Access to the Full Table Of Contents, Associated Chapter Links (Examples), Glossary, and Associated Past And Future Presentations Related To Book Contents Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/ldf7la ] Regards, /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011

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Article-Level Metrics At PLoS > Addition Of Usage Data
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Colleagues/ Major Development by Public Library Of Science (PLoS) and Article-Level Metrics ! /Gerry Submitted by Mark Patterson on Wed, 2009-09-16 11:10. As part of our ongoing article-level metrics program, we're delighted to announce that all seven PLoS journals will now provide online usage data for published articles. With this addition, the suite of metrics on PLoS articles now includes measures of: online usage; citations from the scholarly literature; social bookmarks; blog coverage; and the Comments, Notes and 'Star' ratings that have been made on the article. [snip] PLoS has therefore embarked on a program to aggregate a range of available data about an article and place that data on the article itself. The data are found on the new tab called 'Metrics', available on all articles. A reader can now scan the various metrics to determine the extent to which the article has been viewed, cited, covered in the media and so forth. With the addition of usage data to the article-level metrics we have taken another step towards providing the community with valuable data that can be used and analyzed. [snip] In order to make article-level metrics as open and useful as possible, we are providing our entire dataset as a downloadable spreadsheet and we encourage interested researchers to download the data and perform their own analyses. [snip] It's also important to emphasize that online usage should not be seen as an absolute indicator of quality for any given article, and such data must be interpreted with caution. To provide additional context and to aid interpretation, we have provided a series of summary tables indicating the average usage of categories of article (grouped by age, journal and topic area). Links to A Zipped Downloadable Spreadsheet Of The Entire Dataset, Summary of Tables Indicating The Average Usage Of Categories Of Article (Grouped By Age, Journal And Topic Area),FAQ, And A Background Posting, Etc. Are Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/ph85db ] /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu "Is There Knowledge We Are Not Meant To Know?"

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Webology: Volume 6, Number 2, 2009
by Alireza Noruzi 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Dear All, apologies for cross-posting. We are pleased to inform you that Vol. 6, No. 2 of Webology, an OPEN ACCESS journal, is published and available ONLINE now. ----------------------------------------- Webology: Volume 6, Number 2, 2009 TOC: http://www.webology.ir/2009/v6n2/toc.html This issue contains: ----------------------------------------- Editorial - Wikipedia popularity from a citation analysis point of view -- Alireza Noruzi -- Keywords: Wikipedia; Popularity; Citation Analysis; Encyclopedia -- http://www.webology.ir/2009/v6n2/editorial20.html ----------------------------------------- Articles - Ensuring the discoverability of digital images for social work education: an online "tagging" survey to test controlled vocabularies -- Ellen Daly & Neil Ballantyne -- Keywords: Indexing; Digital images; Controlled vocabularies; Folksonomies; Tagging; Taxonomies -- http://www.webology.ir/2009/v6n2/a69.html - Web search behavior of university students: a case study at University of the Punjab -- Amara Malik & Khalid Mahmood -- Keywords: Web searching; Web information retrieval; Web search behavior; Search engines; Universities; Pakistan -- http://www.webology.ir/2009/v6n2/a70.html - Correlation between references and citations -- Dariush Alimohammadi & Mahshid Sajjadi -- Keywords: References; Citations; Correlation -- http://www.webology.ir/2009/v6n2/a71.html - Evidence-based medical librarianship in Iran: an introduction -- Vahideh Zarea Gavgani -- Keywords: Subject specialist librarians; Subject librarians; Evidence-Based Medical Practice (EBMP); Informationist; Iran -- http://www.webology.ir/2009/v6n2/a72.html ----------------------------------------- Call for Papers -- http://www.webology.ir/callforpapers.html ========================================= Best regards, Alireza -------------------- Alireza Noruzi, Ph.D. Editor-in-Chief of Webology Website: www.webology.ir ~ The great aim of Open Access journals is knowledge sharing. ~ ~ Scientific knowledge is the result of the knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences. ~

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Fwd: Re: Family in the 21st century on TV
by Carlota Larrea 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Hi all A very interesting thread. See the link sent by a colleague from a Spanish university. It is about a new series commissioned by Antena 3, one of the private tv channels in Spain. It seems that in Spain, things have not changed SO much, and we have the 2 + 2 happy, hugging family! If you don't understand Spanish, you'll still get the flavour of the series through the picture. http://www.europapress.es/chance/tv/noticia-comienza-rodaje-padres-nueva-se… Carlota

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Re: [Air-L] Family in the 21st century on TV
by Jason Mittell 17 Sep '09

17 Sep '09

Barry wrote: > I wonder -- and would love evidence -- if TV watching has become more > personal TV watching instead of family TV watching -- so shows are > narrowcasting their demographics much more. This would be true if each > sentient HHold member had their own TV, and if many folks were getting > their TV fix thru downloads, podcasts, iPhones, etc. (I know I'm being > quasi-redundant here). > This is a fairly well-documented and not-so-recent phenomenon - a good overview (now 12 years old!) is Joseph Turow's *Breaking Up America*, on the rise of narrowcasting and market segmentation across media. I'm pretty sure that more up-to-date statistical evidence is included in a number of the Pew technology use surveys. At the level of programming, there's no doubt that the full-family hit is a rare exception today (*American Idol* is often pointed to as a hold-out, but even that's fading), and advertisers are less interested in mass appeal across broad audiences than dense homogeneous segments that can be more easily sold specific goods. Virtually no scripted program aims for the full "four quadrants" anymore (young & old across both genders), so the image of the core family as the anchor for television's domestic representations has waned. Interestingly, whenever I teach this topic, my students agree with Turow's diagnosis of market segmentation, but disagree with his judgment that this is a bad thing - they see very little cultural utility to be watching the same programs in the same rooms at the same time as their parents, as they have rarely known that experience. -Jason --- Jason Mittell, Associate Professor of American Studies and Film & Media Culture Chair of Film & Media Culture Department Middlebury College 208 Axinn Center at Starr Library Middlebury, Vermont 05753 (802) 443-3435 / fax: (802) 443-2805 Homepage: http://go.middlebury.edu/mittell Blog: http://justtv.wordpress.com

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