September 2010 - Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Conference roomie?
by Johnson, Thomas J 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

I have a room at the Quality Hotel Panorama for five days (Tuesday through Saturday) and am looking for a roommate. I prefer someone I know and strongly prefer a male. Please send responses to my e-mail tom.johnson(a)austin.utexas.edu so we don't bother the other posters. Tom Johnson

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minor correction
by Charles Ess 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

> There is also a convenient - and not terribly expensive, i.e., less than 100 > Euro - ferry/train itinerary for getting from Gothenburg to Aarhus on > Sunday, October 24. The current cost is ca. 77 USD / 60 Euro - even better! charles

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Reminder + registration fee information: Games Research and Ethics Workshop, Aarhus University, 25-26 October
by Charles Ess 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Dear AoIRsts, As noted last month, we are hosting a PhD workshop on Games Research and Ethics following IR11, with Elizabeth Buchanan, Mia Consalvo, Annette Markham, Miguel Sicart, and Malin Sveningsson (please see announcement, below). Again: the morning presentations on Monday and Tuesday (25-26. October - see preliminary schedule below), are open to interested scholars and researchers, including those attending the AoIR annual conference the previous week in Gothenburg, Sweden. The registration fee is 630 DKK - currently, ca. 110.00 USD / 85 Euro: the fee covers the costs of all coffee /tea breaks, lunch on Monday and Tuesday, and the workshop dinner on Monday evening. There is also a convenient - and not terribly expensive, i.e., less than 100 Euro - ferry/train itinerary for getting from Gothenburg to Aarhus on Sunday, October 24. If you need any additional information, including information about further travel options, accommodation possibilities, etc., please don't hesitate to contact me or Beatrice. Looking forward to seeing you at AoIR - and, we hope, to hosting a few of you hear in Aarhus the week following. all best wishes, charles ess Institut for Informations- og Medievidenskab Helsingforsgade 14 8200 Århus N. Denmark mail: <imvce(a)hum.au.dk> tel: (+45) 8942 9250 Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23 == Games Research and Ethics: Current Issues, Possible Resolutions Sponsored by The Danish National Research School in Media, Communication and Journalism (FMKJ), the Department of Information- and Media Studies (IMV), Aarhus University, and the (U.S.) National Science Foundation, Project number 0924604. Organizer: Charles Ess October 25-26. Conference Center, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark. Contact: Charles Ess <imvce(a)hum.au.dk>: Beatrice Gamborg (workshop administrative assistant) <imvbg(a)hum.au.dk> The rapid development of computer-based / networked games in all their forms has inspired growing research into a range of questions, from concerns about potential social impacts (e.g., violence in games such as Grand Theft Auto) to interest in how player groups in such MMOGs as World of Warcraft resemble and differ from other online communities. At the same time, computer games thus evoke new sorts of ethical challenges for researchers. For example, a central research ethics question especially in Europe with its strict laws protecting personal information is: What are the obligations, if any, of the researcher to protect the identity and confidentiality of her research subjects? This concern becomes especially tricky, say, for an ethnographer who records voice chats of guild players in a MMOG. While texts from a text chat may be paraphrased so as to protect the identity of their authors in a published research report manipulating voice recordings in analogous ways may not be so easy. Can the ethnographer safely publish these as part of her research, or is she ethically obliged to disguise or conceal this part of her research for the sake of protecting the confidentiality of her subjects? The goal of the workshop is to explore the novel ethical difficulties facing those undertaking games research and this in a two-fold way. One, the course includes two panels of presentations - open to interested internet researchers and scholars, including participants in the AoIR conference in Gothenburg the previous week - by leading scholars and researchers on games and games research ethics: Elizabeth Buchanan (Director, Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR), and chair, AoIR ethics working group) Mia Consalvo (Visiting Professor, MIT, and current President, AoIR) Malin Sveningsson (University of Skövde, Sweden) Annette Markham (Senior Research Fellow, Internet Research Ethics, CIPR, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee) Miguel Sicart (IT-University, Copenhagen, and author of The Ethics of Computer Games, MIT Press, 2009). These presentations will provide an overview of contemporary understanding and reflection on central ethical and methodological issues in games research. Two, the workshop encourages PhD students (who attend the workshop under the sponsorship of FMKJ) to contribute their current research and specific ethical challenges in an ³extended master class,² constituted by an informal paper/poster-session designed to catalyze dialogue and debate with the invited presenters. PhD students will be asked to submit either a paper or poster. Students will be assigned to a working group of no more than 3 students plus one or two of the senior workshop presenters. Each student will have 10 minutes to present his/her paper/poster, followed by comments from a designated respondent. The attending senior scholar(s) will then offer additional comments and continue open discussion, for a total time of 1.5 hours. If enough students participate, you will also be able to attend / audit a second such class. In these ways, we anticipate that PhD students will receive useful advice and guidance and that you in turn will contribute your work from the praxis of your research to the reflections and frameworks continuously being developed by the invited presenters. Course registration In order to register for the course, you should send an email to Beatrice Gamborg (workshop administrative assistant) <imvbg(a)hum.au.dk> by October 1 2010. You should also attach a 1-page description of your PhD project. Phd students wishing to present a paper or poster must also submit their paper/poster by this date. You are welcome to contact either Charles Ess (<imvce(a)hum.au.dk>) or Kirsten Frandsen, Head of PhD study programme, (<imvkf(a)hum.au.dk>) for additional information. Maximum number of PhD participants: 20. * The morning presentations on Monday and Tuesday (25-26. October - see preliminary schedule below), are open to interested scholars and researchers, including those attending the AoIR annual conference the previous week in Gothenburg, Sweden. Registration for general audience Those interested in attending the open presentations are required to register via email with Beatrice Gamborg (workshop administrative assistant) <imvbg(a)hum.au.dk> by October 1 2010. Registrants will be assessed a fee of 630 DKK to cover catering costs - i.e., all coffee/tea breaks, lunch on Monday and Tuesday, and the workshop dinner on Monday evening. Course Requirements and ECTS points Participation in the course requires two kinds of preparation: readings that address each of the presentations in the course, and a 10-page paper or poster-session equivalent that you must submit by October 1 2010. The paper / poster presentation should outline your doctoral project, with particular reference to the research design and its methodological challenges. The course readings will be available by late September 2010. ECTS points 1.5 ECTS for participation without presenting a paper / poster. 1.5 ECTS for presenting a paper / poster i.e., 3 ECTS possible. Costs The Danish National Research School in Media, Communication and Journalism (FMKJ) will cover all expenses for Ph.D. students who are enrolled in the School. PhD students who are not enrolled in FMKJ will have to pay for their own travel, accommodation, and meals while in Aarhus. Preliminary Program Monday 25. October 8:30-9:00 Coffee / tea / refreshments 9:00-9:15 Introduction to workshop - charles 9:15-10:00 Elizabeth Buchanan Research Ethics 2.0 10:00-10:45 Miguel Sicart Games and Research Ethics 11:45-11:15 Coffee / tea / refreshments 11:15-12:00 Malin Sveningsson ³Going Native² in World of Warcraft: what¹s the problem(s)? 12:00-13:00 Lunch 13:00-16:00 Extended Master Class (Paper/ Poster sessions with individual PhD students in dialogue with senior scholars) (coffee, tea, refreshments available by 14:00) 16:00-16:15 Coffee / tea / refreshments 16:15-17:00 Closing plenary discussion (charles moderates) 17:00-18:30 Rest / relaxation 18:30-21:00 Dinner Tuesday, 26. October 8:30-9:00 Coffee / tea / refreshments 9:00-9:15 Reminders / springboards - Charles 9:15-10:00 Annette Markham methods and ethics in games research 10:00-10:45 Mia Consalvo Researchers and Developers: Ethical Reflections from the Field 11:45-11:15 Coffee / tea / refreshments 11:15-12:00 Closing plenary discussion: lessons learned, remaining questions, unsolved issues, next steps? 12:00-13:00 Lunch / evaluation / goodbye

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polymedia
by Daniel 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Some sentences to illustrate the meaning of polymedia as requested. Previously when a Filipino child told his mother how he has spent the money she sent him by text it was assumed that this was because text was the cheapest option. In a situation of polymedia where several cheap options are available his mother might think it is because he is avoiding the quarrel he thinks they will end up having if he directly speaks to her by phone. Previously he could never find a way to say how much he loved her, but with polymedia he found he could use other communications for everyday stuff, and that released texting to be used for that little `I love you' to be sent just before he went to bed. Or as in Gerson's work:- It wasn't so much that he had dumped her, she had seen that coming, but to do this by email, which is what he uses for work. Given that we live with polymedia, couldn't he at least have come onto the webcam and done it face to face like a man. There will be whole chapters on this sort of stuff, in the book on polymedia that Mirca and I are finishing off at the moment Danny Miller

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APSA IT and Politics book award
by Wright Scott Dr (PSI) 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Hi all, I thought I would let everyone know that the 2009 APSA award for the best book on IT and Politics went to Stephen Coleman and Jay Blumler for their (CUP) book: "The Internet and Democratic Citizenship". I think the committee's endorsement provides a very useful summary of its qualities: "With their book The Internet and Democratic Citizenship: Theory, Practice and Policy, Stephen Coleman and Jay Blumler present a welcome and very cogent antidote to the less than sober enthusiasm of early techno-optimists. They do so while retaining a well-informed and reasonable basis for “a more deliberative democracy” unencumbered by the “excessive” or “fetishised” demands of deliberative democracy as an “end in itself.” The case they make uncovers, for example, the “autonomous, casual, and unstructured” discourse that is constitutive of much informal and yet authentic democratic practice. The book, which would make a wonderful addition to any class on e-governance, draws on an enormous literature of democratic theory, research and practice. It makes a fluent and elegant case for taking a range of online “public talk” more seriously. The distinguished authors retain a normative bent. And they call for concrete government policy and resources in support of sustaining and improving the function of the electronic public sphere as an extension of actual, results-producing democratic policy making. Coleman and Blumler are exhaustive, careful and probing when they examine the trade-offs presented by different dimensions of online deliberative behavior. The authors pay tribute to, and take seriously, a deliberative spirit in their own scholarly reflections. The book, which would make a wonderful addition to any class on e-governance, draws on an enormous literature of democratic theory, research and practice. It makes a fluent and elegant case for taking a range of online “public talk” more seriously. The distinguished authors retain a normative bent. And they call for concrete government policy and resources in support of sustaining and improving the function of the electronic public sphere as an extension of actual, results-producing democratic policy making. Coleman and Blumler are exhaustive, careful and probing when they examine the trade-offs presented by different dimensions of online deliberative behavior. The authors pay tribute to, and take seriously, a deliberative spirit in their own scholarly reflections. [...] The committee selected this book in recognition of the skillful and integrative manner in which Coleman and Blumler make the case for actively “shaping e-democracy” from above and below. Their cautious optimism is infectious because it is well informed and sustained by less well- known but important cases. Even a jaded scholar of the anti-deliberative mindset might want to rethink his or her position on the future of the Internet and democratic citizenship after reading this book." Many congratulations to them both for this well deserved award. Cheers, Scott

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Two job postings in Media and Cultural Studies at University of Wisconsin, Madison
by Jonathan Gray 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

I'm pleased to share the following job announcements with the group, the first of which may be of particular interest given that it calls for a digital/new media specialist. Please feel free to circulate. warm regards,Jonathan Gray The Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks applicants at either the rank of Assistant Professor, tenure-track, or Associate Professor with tenure in Media and Cultural Studies, to begin August 2011. Ph.D. in a related field required prior to start of appointment. Tenure track candidates must show potential for excellence in scholarly research and teaching. Tenured appointees must have established record of excellence in research and teaching. Candidates will be expected to conduct research, develop and teach courses, and supervise graduate students in the critical analysis of digital and new media. Those with a demonstrated ability to combine methodological approaches are especially encouraged to apply. The successful candidate will actively participate and teach half of her/his courses in a new interdisciplinary program that seeks to enhance students’ media, visual, technology, and information literacies. See also http://commarts.wisc.edu. Please submit a CV and a letter detailing interests and capabilities, and arrange to have sent three letters of reference, to Professor and Digital Studies Initiative Chair Robert Glenn Howard, Digital Media Search, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. Electronic applications will not be accepted. The deadline to assure full consideration is November 14, 2010. EOE/AA. Employment may require a criminal background check. Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding the applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. The Department of Communication Arts is committed to building a culturally-diverse intellectual community and strongly encourages applications from women, ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups. Questions about the search may be directed to Professor Jonathan Gray at jagray3(a)wisc.edu The Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison seeks applicants for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor in Media and Cultural Studies, to begin August 2011. Ph.D. in a related field required prior to start of appointment. Candidates will be expected to conduct research, develop and teach courses, and supervise graduate students in the critical/cultural analysis of television and electronic media with a specialization in at least one of the following: global media, gender and/or identity studies, or industry/production studies. Candidates must show potential for excellence in scholarly research and teaching. See also http://commarts.wisc.edu. Please submit a CV and a letter detailing interests and capabilities and arrange to have sent three letters of reference to Professor and Chair Susan Zaeske, Media and Cultural Studies Search, Department of Communication Arts, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 821 University Avenue, Madison, WI 53706. Electronic applications will not be accepted. The deadline to assure full consideration is November 14, 2010. EOE/AA. Employment may require a criminal background check. Unless confidentiality is requested in writing, information regarding the applicants must be released upon request. Finalists cannot be guaranteed confidentiality. The Department of Communication Arts is committed to building a culturally diverse intellectual community and strongly encourages applications from women, ethnic minorities, and other underrepresented groups. Questions about the search may be directed to Professor Mary Beltrán at mcbeltran(a)wisc.edu.

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Re: [Air-L] Voice-recorders or mobile phones for face-to-face interviews with young people?
by Colin Helb 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

Koen, I've used the basic "Voice Memos" app that comes preinstalled on the iPhone for a variety of field recording projects (interviews, sound collecting, etc.) and have been very happy with the results. What it may lack in clarity (and it is not much) it makes up for in convenience (I always have it with me). I guess your ultimate use of the recordings should dictate your decision. If you are planning to transcribe the recordings for your own notes for writing, the iPhone will work fine for you. If you are looking to edit and use the audio in an audio or video project, I'd suggest investing in a nice, small digital audio recorder. They're pretty inexpensive these days and are far from intrusive to the interviewee. Even in that situation, the iPhone app would probably work fine. The best recording device is the one you have with you when you need it. Hope that helps. Usually lurking, Colin -- Colin Helb, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Communications Elizabethtown College 1 Alpha Dr., 206C Steinman Elizabethtown, PA 17022 717-361-1387 colin(a)colinhelb.com • colinhelb(a)gmail.com helbc(a)etown.edu • colinhelb.com

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Re: [Air-L] Voice-recorders or mobile phones for face-to-face interviews with young people?
by Matthew Bernius 14 Sep '10

14 Sep '10

On using the iPhone for recording of f2f interview, it can be done, but you *must* (and I stress *must*) use an external microphone -- which plugs into the earphone jack. As to the specific one to use, there are numerous options. On the higher end there is a product from "Blue" which runs about $80 (US) - http://www.engadget.com/2010/01/05/blues-new-and-improved-mikey-ipod-iphone… - though its probably too large for your needs. Another option would be a smaller tilting unit like this one - http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/cellphone/cee3/ (I've never tested it, so I can't speak on audio quality). You might also want to look at Livescribe pen recorders, which work quite well and are pretty unobtrusive (http://www.livescribe.com) - Matt ----------------------------- Matthew Bernius PhD Student | Cultural Anthropology | Cornell University | http://www.arts.cornell.edu/anthro/ Researcher At Large | Open Publishing Lab @ the Rochester Institute of Technology | http://opl.cias.rit.edu | @ritopl mBernius(a)gMail.com | http://www.waking-dream.com | @mattBernius

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(no subject)
by Daniel 13 Sep '10

13 Sep '10

First I wanted to introduce myself, having just joined this list. I have been working on internet studies since a book I published with Don Slater, The Internet: an Ethnographic Approach (Berg 2000). Most recently I completed a book Tales from Facebook, which is coming out with Polity in April 2011. More concretely I have included below a cross-posting which comes from a blog I have been running for some years with Haidy Geismar of NYU at www.materialworldblog.com <http://www.materialworldblog.com/> a few of whose postings may interest people on this list. In this particular case the posting may be unusual in that the primary purpose for posting is to let people know that we have proposed this term polymedia for general usage in the hope of creating some semantic consistency. But in addition I must admit I would also be interested to know if there are people on this list who a) see themselves as working specifically on this topic of polymedia or b) currently carrying out sustained ethnographic work (i.e. a year or more fieldwork) on social networking sites? Danny Miller POLYMEDIA Mirca Madianou (sociology, Cambridge) and Daniel Miller (anthropology, University College London) Academics should be very wary of neologisms that most often lead to esoteric obfuscation and confusion. But occasionally there is an overwhelming argument that something in the world has changed beyond recognition and beyond the capacity and semantics of language, such that the only effective way to clearly convey it is through this strategy. For this reason we make no apology for inventing the word 'polymedia'. The basic argument is quite simple. Until very recently most people wishing to communicate at a distance had a limited choice of media, and as a result they had to pay considerable attention to the cost and to the constraints imposed by the particular media they that were available to them for that communication. When transnational communication was mainly limited to letters and the sending of voice-recorded cassette tapes, then our evidence is that users were very conscious of the propensities of the media themselves in shaping their communications, as is evident, for example, in the extensive time lag between sending and receiving letters. In recent times, and for many people around the world this means the last year or two, (although we recognise for many other people this is still not yet the case) have finally reached a state where there exists a genuine proliferation of possibilities when it comes to communication between separated persons. Furthermore once the costs of the equipment and payment plan is spoken for, such as a computer, the ISP subscription or an annual phone plan, then the costs of any individual act communication itself becomes largely inconsequential. For almost any reader of this blog, but also for a typical school aged individual of a middle class income in pretty much any town anywhere, there may now exist a choice of mobile phone and internet based platforms such as voice calls, texting, email, instant messaging (IM), blogs, VOIP with or without webcam, photo and video sharing and social networking sites all readily available. New forms such as video messaging are on the horizon. We suggest that in such a situation the primary concern shifts from an emphasis on the constraints and affordances vis a vis a particular medium to an emphasis upon the social and emotional consequences of choosing between a plurality of media. The mere situation of polymedia changes the relationship between communication technology and society. The word polymedia seems to us more appropriate than alternative terms. Multimedia is now established as the term for situations, such as the use of webcam in videocalling, where several different forms of media are being used simultaneously and in direct relationship to each other. It would therefore be confusing to use that word for this proliferation of media. Polymedia might seem closer to terms such as multi-channel or multi-platform. But all such terms are based on an idea of hierarchy within media, that assume we can know what is properly a platform or a channel. One of the other effects of these recent developments is that users do not distinguish between such layering, or hierarchies. Various different devices are used in various combinations, so that Skype may be through a smartphone, or IM embedded within Facebook. So such terms have become themselves a source of confusion rather than clarity. We therefore need a term that simply describes this new state of the world, and the prefix `poly' from the Greek for many or much, seems entirely appropriate. So we do not apologise for inventing the word polymedia which we hope will become standardised. The basis for this development is fieldwork we have carried out in the Philippines and Trinidad. The work in the Philippines has concentrated on the relationships between mothers working in the UK and their left behind children in the Philippines. This will culminate in a forthcoming book, Madianou, M. and Miller, D. Technologies of love: migration and the polymedia revolution, and associated journal papers. Much of this is concerned with the way those at both ends of the communication utilise the entire range of possibilities and the parameters of difference in order to try and control the nature of that communication, for example to avoid argument, allow time to consider a response, express love and feel a sense of authenticity to content. Our work in Trinidad provides a comparative dimension regarding communication between transnational families in the UK and Trinidad and there is also a separate book just focusing on Facebook (Miller, D. Tales from Facebook, forthcoming Polity). The revelation of polymedia is obviously not simply a response to our own work. We can see parallel discussion in a wide range of recent publications. One such trajectory comes from sustained work on mediation in media studies associated with writings by Nick Couldry, Sonia Livingstone, Roger Silverstone, Lilie Chouliaraki, Mirca Madianou, Bolter and Grusin and others. Then within the more technical studies of media convergence in functionality and studies by Broadbent and others on the implications of this within family communication. The first proper and extremely helpful textbook in this area was recently published as Personal Connections in the Digital Age by Nancy Baym (2010) based on research in a number of disciplines. She highlights seven key parameters of difference, properties that may be shared or make for significant contrasts between each of these media. These are: interactivity, temporal structure, social cues, storage, replicabilty, reach and mobility. She then employs these parameters of difference to consider a wide range of facets of human communication including the degree to which we see media as more or less authentic in comparison to face-to-face interaction, the sense of community, identity, gender, veracity and the self. In contrast to this wide-angle view is the tight focus of a recently published book The Breakup 2.0 by the anthropologist Illana Gershon (2010). By examining which media people employ when breaking up a relationship, Gershon provides considerable and persuasive documentation of how people mistakenly presume what their partners intend by such choices and the various misunderstandings that follow. Chapter three of her book is a particularly good example of this perspective on the multiplicity of contemporary media. Gershon brings her own analytical terms to the table such as `idioms of practice' based on `media ideologies'. Her informants can be outraged almost as much by someone dumping them through an inappropriate, what they see as inhuman media, as the fact that they are being dumped. In our own research we are as impressed by the speed at which normativity and standardisation of expectation can form around new media, as Gershon is impressed by continued heterogeneity. Within a few months many people seem to have clear ideas about the implications of some new iteration of Facebook, or a combination of skype and webcam. In fact both these processes are important aspects of polymedia. What we would argue all these research has in common is this sense that the proliferation of new media and the movement of costs from foreground to background, as they become less prohibitive constitutes an unprecedented media ecology which also makes the social and moral aspects of media choice increasingly significant at the expense of the technological constraints and affordances. For these reasons we propose the adoption of a new term - polymedia.

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Eat, Cook, Grow: Ubiquitous Technology for Sustainable Food Culture in the City
by Marcus Foth 13 Sep '10

13 Sep '10

Colleagues due to the withdrawal of one of our partner organisation (GFC...), an exciting opportunity has arisen to join a three year collaborative research project funded by the Australian Research Council: Eat, Cook, Grow: Ubiquitous Technology for Sustainable Food Culture in the City http://www.urbaninformatics.net/projects/food/ The project has been awarded AU$ 338,000 which will fund one postdoctoral fellow and two PhD students full-time for three years plus travel and project expenses. However, the ARC requires a co-investment of AU$ 16,000 per year over three years from a partner organisation. Public and private sector organisations are eligible, both in Australia or internationally. Universities outside Australia are eligible, too. The other partners are Queensland Health, and local in-kind only partners in Brisbane: Food Connect (eat), James St Cooking School (cook), CityFood Growers (grow). Benefits of joining: .. no proposal has to be written, the grant is pre-approved .. option for an eligible researcher to join the team as a Partner Investigator .. co-contributions will be spent at the discretion of the partner organisation .. R&D tax concessions may be available to some organisations If you are interested in joining this collaborative research grant, please reply to me off-list. Thank you. Best Regards marcus Links to our partners: http://www.health.qld.gov.au/ http://www.foodconnect.com.au/ http://www.jamesstcookingschool.com.au/ http://cityfoodgrowers.com.au/ http://www.arc.gov.au/ncgp/lp/lp_default.htm -- Assoc. Prof. Marcus Foth Principal Research Fellow Urban Informatics Research Lab Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology (CRICOS No. 00213J) 130 Victoria Park Road, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia Phone +61 7 313 x88772 - Fax x88238 - Office K506, KG m.foth(a)qut.edu.au - http://www.urbaninformatics.net/

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