- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

informatization
by Barry Wellman 08 Jul '12

08 Jul '12

I think you all have it right. "informatization" is one of the family of "zations" - often blame for the world's ills or successes -- like urbanization, industrialization, bureaucratization. You can look it up in the periodic table of utopia/dystopia - with a xlink to Creative Class. 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 Just published: NETWORKED: The New Social Operating System. Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman. MIT Press. http://www.amazon.com/Networked-New-Social-Operating-System/dp/0262017199/r… Hardbound $19; Kindle $16 http://www.amazon.ca/Networked-New-Social-Operating-System/dp/0262017199/re… _______________________________________________________________________

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Re: [Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 96, Issue 9
by Venessa Paech 08 Jul '12

08 Jul '12

Hello everyone, I'm a long time listee, first time poster. Be gentle with me :-) I wanted to let those of you in the Southerm Hemisphere (or looking to take a trip), know about swarm 2012: http://swarmconference.com.au/ swarm is Australia's national online community management conference, launched last year in Sydney and returning this year in Melbourne. Though the event is for online community professionals, we have a strong trans-disciplinary focus to ensure the discussion isn't dominated by marketers. It's important to us to connect practitioners with the best research in this area, and likewise, introduce those practitioners to academics who want to deepen their knowledge of front line, online community realities. Collaborative, robust exchange is central to our mission. We've assembled some fantastic contributors, including Community Manager at the Huffington Post, Justin Isaf; Global Head of Community for Yammer, Maria Ogneva; and Head of Internet Studies at Curtin University, Matthew Allen. If last year is anything to go by, discussions will be diverse and rich. We'll also be announcing the results of the inaugural survey of Australian and NZ community managers, which we hope will yield some interesting results (there's been little or no bench-marking in this part of the world around online community management to date). Earlybird tickets for the event are now on sale and I'd love to see you there if you can make it. We'll have live blogging, tweeting around #swarmconf, and expect to be able to offer post-event content for you. Keep well - and do let me know if you're planning to attend (you can email me off list). Venessa Paech Founder and Co-Chair swarm - Australia's Online Community Management Conference m: + 61 435 217 315 t: @swarmconf t: @venessapaech w: www.swarmconference.com.au a: http://brighton.academia.edu/VenessaPaech

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CfP Young researchers - "Online political participation and its critics", International symposium of the DEL/CERTOP/CNRS research network, Paris, 19-20 June 2013
by Stephanie Wojcik 08 Jul '12

08 Jul '12

> *International symposium of the DEL/CERTOP/CNRS research network* > > *"Online political participation and its critics" * > > *Paris, 19-20**June 2013*** > > *Call for papers available on the DEL website: > **http://www.certop.fr/DEL/spip.php?article2573* > Since its inception inJune 2002, at CERTOP/CNRS, under the scientific > responsibility of Gerard Loiseau, the "Electronic Democracy" network > (DEL*)* has been dedicatedto enhancing research in the field of > relationships between democratic processes and digital technologies. > In 2012, with its 150 members in more than twenty countries, DEL has > contributed to the creation of a place forinterdisciplinary > discussions through the organization of regular meetings and seminars. > In addition to the individual publications of its members, the network > has enhanced scientific cooperation among them and has beenable to > establish solid partnerships. DEL now wishes to contribute more > directly to the scientific production by organizing, ten years after > its creation, an international symposium. This meeting is aiming at > producing several publications that will allow both to summarize the > mass of research conducted so far in the field of "electronic > democracy", and to tackle new scientific issues. > > Therefore, the aim of the conference "A critical approach to online > political participation" is to confront the scientific work, from > various fields, devoted to the transformations of contemporary > political regimes possibly induced by the increasing integration of > digital technologies, especially Internet, in the various fields of > social life. Oscillating between a techno-centric enthusiasm and > skeptical social constructivism, the first analysis of the Internet's > ability to revitalize the functioning of representative government > through citizen appropriation has quickly given way to more > substantive questions. Under what conditions are citizens able to > capture digital networks in order to inform themselves, to express > preferences or political demands, to challenge institutionalized > powers or to constitute new forms of social mobilizations? > > Beyond such a teleological perspective, the increased opportunities > for information and expression generated by the development of social > networks that can disturb traditional representations and > institutional practices questions the boundaries of politics and the > role of technology in their ability to increase their degree of > elasticity. > Specifically, this conference aims to explore the digital practices of > political participation by questioning both its empirical > manifestations, and the consistency of the concepts previously used to > qualify those practices. > > The conference will be held in Paris, for two days: > §The first day (June 19, 2013) will be based on the presentation and > discussion of _young researchers_' papers, both in French or English, > coming from answers to the *call for papers available on the DEL > website: **http://www.certop.fr/DEL/spip.php?article2573* > > This first day is organized around three thematic sessions: > > 1. Theoretical and ideological debates on online political participation; > > 2. The new formats of political talk and new spaces of politicization; > > 3. New actors and reconfigurations of political power. > > For each session, four papers will be presented and discussed by a > dedicated critical reader, followed by a discussion with the public. > > > §In addition to the general assembly of the DEL network to be held in > the morning, the second day (June 20, 2013) will be devoted to two panels: > > - The first roundtable will invite French and International key > researchers in the field to debate around the following question: /Can > we analyze online political participation with the traditional > concepts used in social sciences?/ > > - The second panel will invite politicians and practitioners to react > to the following question: /is digital politics "politics as usual", > or has is changed your way of doing politics?/ > > *Scientific responsibles* > > Gérard Loiseau (loiseau(a)univ-tlse2.fr) > > Stéphanie Wojcik (stephanie.wojcik(a)u-pec.fr) > > *Scientific committee* > > Eva Anduiza (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Spain); Nick Anstead > (London School of Economics, UK); Frédérick Bastien (Université de > Montréal, Canada); Gersende Blanchard (Université Lille 3, France) ; > Robert Boure (Université Toulouse 3, France) ; Dominique Cardon > (Orange Labs, France) ; Stephen Coleman (Leeds University, UK); Carlos > Cunha (Lisbon University Institute, Portugal); Patrice Flichy > (Université Paris Est Marne-la-Vallée, France); Eric George > (Université d'Ottawa, Canada); Rachel Gibson (Manchester University, > UK); Todd Graham (University of Groningen, The Netherlands); Fabien > Granjon (Université Paris 8, France); Dimitris Gouscos (University of > Athens, Greece); Fabienne Greffet (Université de Lorraine, France); > Josiane Jouët (Université Paris 2, France); Rabia Karakaya Polat (Isik > University, Turkey); Norbert Kersting (Muenster University, Germany); > Raphaël Kies (Université du Luxembourg); Robert Krimmer (OSCE, > Poland); Gérard Loiseau (Certop/CNRS, France); Laurence Monnoyer-Smith > (Université de Technologie de Compiègne, France); Karen > Mossberger(University of Illinois at Chicago, USA); Zizi Papacharissi > (University of Illinois at Chicago, USA); Serge Proulx (Université du > Québec à Montréal, Canada) ; Jarmo Rinne (University of Helsinki, > Finland); Cristian Vaccari(Università di Bologna, Italy); Thierry > Vedel (CEVIPOF, France); Yanina Welp (University of Zurich, > Switzerland); Stéphanie Wojcik (Université Paris Est Créteil, France); > Han Woo Park (YeungNam University, South Korea), Scott Wright > (Leicester University, UK). > > *Organization* > > Romain Badouard (Université de Technologie de Compiègne); Simon Gadras > (Université de Lorraine); Fabienne Greffet (Université de Lorraine); > Ewa Krzatala-Jaworska (Université Paris 1); Gérard Loiseau//// > (Certop/CNRS); Clément Mabi (Université de Technologie de Compiègne); > Laurence Monnoyer-Smith (Université de Technologie de Compiègne); > Clémence Pène (Université Paris 8); Anaïs Théviot (Sciences Po > Bordeaux); Stéphanie Wojcik (Université Paris Est Créteil). > > *In parternship with: > * > > ·CERTOP/CNRS > ·CEDITEC, Université Paris Est Créteil > ·COSTECH, Université de Technologie de Compiègne > ·Groupement d'intérêt scientifique sur la participation du public aux > processus décisionnels et la démocratie participative(GIS Démocratie > et participation) > ·International Political Science Association (IPSA) - Research > Committee 10 "Electronic Democracy" > ·European Consortium for Political Research (ECPR) - Standing Group on > Internet & Politics > >

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Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral?
by Robert Rattle 08 Jul '12

08 Jul '12

...as if to drive home my last point below, it doesn't look like the URL came through http://computingourwaytoparadise.wordpress.com/2012/06/15/icts-for-sustaina… And my apologies for spelling your name incorrectly Cristian. --- On Sat, 7/7/12, Robert Rattle <robert14robert(a)yahoo.ca> wrote: From: Robert Rattle <robert14robert(a)yahoo.ca> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral? To: "Cristian Berrio Zapata" <cristian.berrio(a)gmail.com> Cc: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Received: Saturday, July 7, 2012, 11:01 PM Christian, Fabulous! I had not read this work but will most certainly do so now. It seems to capture the essence of a recent (mess of a) video I put together to try and articulate this 'phenomenon.' ... I think...then again, I might have it all wrong. Everyone on this list seems so much more brilliant than I - if you have comments of any nature, please share. Robert --- On Sat, 7/7/12, Cristian Berrio Zapata <cristian.berrio(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Cristian Berrio Zapata <cristian.berrio(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral? To: "jeremy hunsinger" <jhuns(a)vt.edu> Cc: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Received: Saturday, July 7, 2012, 7:48 AM Pls do not let McLuhan out of the scope... in McLuhan, M. (1995). The Playboy Interview. Essential McLuhan, 233-269. “*In the past, the effects of media were experienced more gradually, allowing the individual and society to absorb and cushion their impact to some degree. Today, in the electronic age of instantaneous communication, I believe that our survival, and at the very least our comfort and happiness, is predicated on understanding the nature of our new environment, because unlike previous environmental changes, the electric media constitute a total and near-instantaneous transformation of culture, values and attitudes. This upheaval generates great pain and identity loss, which can be ameliorated only through a conscious awareness of its dynamics. If we understand the revolutionary transformations caused by new media, we can anticipate and control them; but if we continue in our self-induced subliminal trance, we will be their slaves*.” (McLuhan, 1995) On the other hand, I am a fan of applying the "complexity" view to all ICT views. Therefore it would be quite difficult to sepparate politics, from ideology, from economics, from culture, all of them part of the Internet-Web pack. It comes to be very visible when looking at digital divide programes applied to indigenous communities. Regarding the "amputation" problem also raised by McLuhan, ICT tools let "self perception" out of the scope. Self perception (proprioception and tactile perception) is the base of affective bound, "love". Then, what are we depriving new generations of? 2012/7/7 jeremy hunsinger <jhuns(a)vt.edu> > I find this to be an interesting debate, though mostly the question is > where the ideology actually exists. Does it exist in the object itself? > relations to the object from other objects? relations to the object to > semiotic systems around it? relations to socius or culture? or in the > systems alone, cultures alone, socius, alone, etc. > > basically there is a matrix here of ideologies, contexts, objects and > their axiologies operating both ontologically ala mereological > constructions and epistemologies. With many blurry middle grounds. > > I hold that artifacts have politics in themselves, but i'm not sure that > all artefacts have ideologies in themselves. The question i tend to raise > and ask people to write about is... what is the politics of the toaster, > because the toaster has a whole political economics and a politics, but > does it have an implied ideology. Now the design of a toaster can > certainly have ideological components, but the idea of a toaster may > perhaps not, though granted whether the idea exists outside of the set of > objects is another debate for the Platonists to take up. > > however... I wonder about the neutrality of the internet because as I've > argued here before, that while there is no real internet beyond reference > to a conceptual idea that encompasses many technologies and systems that > lack what i'd all think of as a unity beyond the concept. So does it as a > whole have a neutrality or an ideology? there is a certain technocratic > rationality to it, and that rationality certainly has a traditionally > critiqued ideology, but is that in it, or in the design of it, or in the > relations of it within historic contexts? and isn't neutrality and the > claim to it, an ideological claim? I've always tended to argue that the > claim toward neutrality and objectivity is almost always ideological. > > one of my favorite authors on this technology as ideology is Paul Virilio > and my second favorite is Walter Benjamin in Arcades Project. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > -- *Cristian Berrío Zapata* _______________________________________________ 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] Technology as ideologically neutral?
by Robert Rattle 08 Jul '12

08 Jul '12

Christian, Fabulous! I had not read this work but will most certainly do so now. It seems to capture the essence of a recent (mess of a) video I put together to try and articulate this 'phenomenon.' ... I think...then again, I might have it all wrong. Everyone on this list seems so much more brilliant than I - if you have comments of any nature, please share. Robert --- On Sat, 7/7/12, Cristian Berrio Zapata <cristian.berrio(a)gmail.com> wrote: From: Cristian Berrio Zapata <cristian.berrio(a)gmail.com> Subject: Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral? To: "jeremy hunsinger" <jhuns(a)vt.edu> Cc: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Received: Saturday, July 7, 2012, 7:48 AM Pls do not let McLuhan out of the scope... in McLuhan, M. (1995). The Playboy Interview. Essential McLuhan, 233-269. “*In the past, the effects of media were experienced more gradually, allowing the individual and society to absorb and cushion their impact to some degree. Today, in the electronic age of instantaneous communication, I believe that our survival, and at the very least our comfort and happiness, is predicated on understanding the nature of our new environment, because unlike previous environmental changes, the electric media constitute a total and near-instantaneous transformation of culture, values and attitudes. This upheaval generates great pain and identity loss, which can be ameliorated only through a conscious awareness of its dynamics. If we understand the revolutionary transformations caused by new media, we can anticipate and control them; but if we continue in our self-induced subliminal trance, we will be their slaves*.” (McLuhan, 1995) On the other hand, I am a fan of applying the "complexity" view to all ICT views. Therefore it would be quite difficult to sepparate politics, from ideology, from economics, from culture, all of them part of the Internet-Web pack. It comes to be very visible when looking at digital divide programes applied to indigenous communities. Regarding the "amputation" problem also raised by McLuhan, ICT tools let "self perception" out of the scope. Self perception (proprioception and tactile perception) is the base of affective bound, "love". Then, what are we depriving new generations of? 2012/7/7 jeremy hunsinger <jhuns(a)vt.edu> > I find this to be an interesting debate, though mostly the question is > where the ideology actually exists. Does it exist in the object itself? > relations to the object from other objects? relations to the object to > semiotic systems around it? relations to socius or culture? or in the > systems alone, cultures alone, socius, alone, etc. > > basically there is a matrix here of ideologies, contexts, objects and > their axiologies operating both ontologically ala mereological > constructions and epistemologies. With many blurry middle grounds. > > I hold that artifacts have politics in themselves, but i'm not sure that > all artefacts have ideologies in themselves. The question i tend to raise > and ask people to write about is... what is the politics of the toaster, > because the toaster has a whole political economics and a politics, but > does it have an implied ideology. Now the design of a toaster can > certainly have ideological components, but the idea of a toaster may > perhaps not, though granted whether the idea exists outside of the set of > objects is another debate for the Platonists to take up. > > however... I wonder about the neutrality of the internet because as I've > argued here before, that while there is no real internet beyond reference > to a conceptual idea that encompasses many technologies and systems that > lack what i'd all think of as a unity beyond the concept. So does it as a > whole have a neutrality or an ideology? there is a certain technocratic > rationality to it, and that rationality certainly has a traditionally > critiqued ideology, but is that in it, or in the design of it, or in the > relations of it within historic contexts? and isn't neutrality and the > claim to it, an ideological claim? I've always tended to argue that the > claim toward neutrality and objectivity is almost always ideological. > > one of my favorite authors on this technology as ideology is Paul Virilio > and my second favorite is Walter Benjamin in Arcades Project. > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > -- *Cristian Berrío Zapata* _______________________________________________ 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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Tech as neutral
by Barry Wellman 07 Jul '12

07 Jul '12

I send them up Where they come down Is someone else's problem Said Werner von Braun as channeled by Tom Lehrer and paraphrased by me 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 Just published: NETWORKED: The New Social Operating System. Lee Rainie and Barry Wellman. MIT Press. http://www.amazon.com/Networked-New-Social-Operating-System/dp/0262017199/r… Hardbound $19; Kindle $16 http://www.amazon.ca/Networked-New-Social-Operating-System/dp/0262017199/re… _______________________________________________________________________

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Technology as ideologically neutral?
by Andrew Schrock 07 Jul '12

07 Jul '12

It's a little new to rise to classic status but Thomas Streeter's The Net Effect does a great job of unpacking the question. A On Jul 7, 2012, at 3:00 PM, air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: > How about Technology ( nowadays aka "the Internet") AS ideology? > > Radhika Gajjala > Http://personal.bgsu.edu/~radhik Andrew Schrock USC Annenberg Doctoral Student Twitter: @aschrock Email: aschrock(a)usc.edu Phone: 714.330.6545

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Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral?
by André Brock 07 Jul '12

07 Jul '12

Charles, some other suggestions: The critical race and cyberculture literature is where i regularly draw my arguments of 'tech as ideologically neutral' from, since those researchers argue against precisely that perspective. Most of the work is in edited collections and journal special issues: - Tu, Nelson, and Hines "Technicolor" - Alondra Nelson's "AfroFuturism" special issue in Social Work - Kolko, Nakamura, Rodman "Race in Cyberspace" - Silver and Massanari's "Critical Cyberculture Studies" - de la Pena and Vaidhyanathan's "Rewiring the "Nation": The Place of Technology in American Studies" special issue - in American Quarterly - Nakamura and Chow-White "Race after the Internet" for a specifically STS perspective - Pacey (as mentioned earlier) - Marvin (as mentioned earlier) - Michael Adas "Dominance by Design" - Joel Dinerstein "Swinging the Vine" - David Nye "American Technological Sublime" and James Carey's "Communication as Culture" Hope this helps... Andre Brock Assistant Professor - Library and Information Science/POROI University of Iowa Iowa City, IA 52242 On Thu, Jul 5, 2012 at 5:00 PM, <air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org> wrote: > Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral?

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Technology-ideology: Interim note + query: comments on "Declaration of Internet Freedom"?
by Charles Ess 07 Jul '12

07 Jul '12

Dear Colleagues First of all, many thanks to the breathtaking number of responses to my earlier query on technology / ideology. In particular, in response to Robert Rattle's comment: > Might it be possible to compile the input and feed it back to the list at some > future date? I'm sure you've received many off list contributions and the > bibliography would be invaluable. Of course - but this will take a bit of time; preferring an "opt-in" to an "opt-out" approach, I'll be in touch with individual respondents to get their yea/nay on sharing resources so generously shared. In the meantime - has anyone taken a careful, critical look at the "Declaration of Internet Freedom" campaign that has popped up this week - <http://act.freepress.net/sign/internetdeclaration/> from <http://www.freepress.net/>. It enjoys the support of the usual (good) suspects. But I'd be curious to see what responses AoIRists are making to this? All best, C. -- Until August 31, 2012: Professor MSO Media Studies, Institute for Aesthetics and Communication Aarhus University Helsingforsgade 14 8200 Aarhus Denmark >From 1. Sept. 2012: Associate Professor in Media Studies Department of Media and Communication Forskningsparken II Gaustadalléen 21 0349 Oslo Norway Lifetime member, AoIR ³At vove er at miste fodfæstet for en stund, ikke at vove er at miste sig selv² [To dare is to lose your footing for an hour; not to dare is to lose yourself] - Kierkegaard

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Re: [Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 96, Issue 7
by Marie Boran 06 Jul '12

06 Jul '12

Hi Charles, I myself am interested in the notion of search engine neutrality and there is a lot of literature around this. It has become especially significant in an era of personalised search. You've probably read Halavais' Search Engine Society and Pariser's The Filter Bubble. I also came across plenty of good papers on the subject when I was writing my dissertation on personalised search, climate change science and confirmation bias. There is, to some extent, still the assumption that newspapers and traditional media are inherently biased while search engines merely index and deliver links as a neutral middleman. I have my references (and dissertation) squirrelled away in a folder somewhere and can send them on to you if you like. Best, Marie Boran PhD candidate - DERI, NUI, Galway. On 5 Jul 2012, at 23:00, air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: >> I'm trying to gather both accessible and, to some degree, "landmark" or >> foundational literature that can be used to (gently) challenge a view I keep >> encountering in certain circles lately - namely, that technology in general >> and the Internet in particular is "ideologically neutral".

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