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Technology as ideologically neutral?
by Charles Ess 06 Jul '12

06 Jul '12

Dear AoIRists, 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". Such a view was around in the U.S. in the early days of the Internet - but countered in at least two ways; those who took up Social Construction of Technology and related theory from ST studies, including discussion of "affordances", etc. - and then the very ideological claims (roughly: California libertarian technological utopianism) that went from claims such as "the internet interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it" to claims that the Internet embedded and fostered specially U.S. (neoliberal) values of individualism, freedom of expression, and free market capitalism. For better and for worse, however, my impression is that in our communities, at least, the recognition that the technologies embed and foster specific cultural values and communicative preferences (as I like to put it on the basis of the CATaC conferences) has been more or less a given for quite some time. Hence, having to re-visit and re-establish these understandings for those for whom this recognition is apparently quite new is a bit of a challenge. Any suggestions for literature, etc., would be most appreciated. Many thanks in advance, - charles ess -- 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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Call for proposals - 2013 World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights
by Jeremy Blackman 06 Jul '12

06 Jul '12

Dear air-list members, The Alannah and Madeline Foundation is organising the cybersafety stream for the 2013 World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights, in Sydney. We would welcome your input to the Congress. Please see the letter below, which outlines the call for proposals. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you would like to discuss. Kind regards, Jeremy Blackman Senior Cybersafety Specialist The Alannah and Madeline Foundation Level 1, 256 Clarendon Street | PO Box 5192 South Melbourne VIC 3205 t. 03 9697 0627 | f. 03 9690 5644 | m. 0438 066 625 w. www.amf.org.au | Follow us on Facebook This email and its attachments are for the sole use of the addressee and may contain information which is confidential and/or legally privileged. This email and its attachments are subject to copyright and should not be partly or wholly reproduced without the consent of the copyright owner. Any unauthorised use of disclosure of this email or its attachments is prohibited. If you receive this email in error, please immediately delete it from your system and notify the sender by return email. Re: Call for session proposals for the 6th World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights, Sydney, 17-20 March 2013 I am writing to invite you to participate in the 6th World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights to be held in Sydney from 17-20 March 2013. The World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights is a significant event held every four years to bring international attention to the serious issue of the safety of children. Supported by the United Nations, the World Congress is an Australian initiative with worldwide support and recognition. Attracting judges, lawyers, legislators, policy makers, doctors, healthcare professionals, non-government organisations, educators and human rights organisations, the World Congress seeks outcomes that promote and protect the rights of children. For further information about the event, you can visit the official website at: www.lawrights.asn.au/ While the conference predominantly focuses on law and children's rights, the 2013 Congress provides The Alannah and Madeline Foundation with an opportunity to emphasise the integral role that schools, the community and children can play in cybersafety education and innovation. The Alannah and Madeline Foundation has been asked to partner with the 6th World Congress to organise a stream dedicated to cybersafety issues and best practice. We invite you and/or those in your networks to submit a proposal for a session as part of the cybersafety stream, which we envisage to encompass the following broad issues: * Cybersafety: youth, children and the legal frameworks * Psychology and sociology of online behaviour * Cybersafety education and the role of schools, children, families and the community * Disadvantaged and vulnerable youth in the online world * The nature and design of online environments and their suitability for youth * Positive opportunities for youth in the online world. In striving for an informative and engaging event, we are assembling a range of presentation types, from lecture-style to highly interactive workshops. Further information regarding submissions can be found below. The deadlines for proposal submissions are as follows: * Call for proposals closes: Friday 3rd August * Inform speakers: Friday 17th August We hope you will give consideration to becoming involved in the 6th World Congress on Family Law and Children's Rights; it will have a major impact in helping to protect children in Australia and across the world. The Foundation is coordinating the cybersafety stream, so please send your proposals and/or queries to: Jeremy Blackman, Senior Cybersafety Specialist - jeremy.blackman(a)amf.org.au or +61 (3) 9697 0666. Yours sincerely, The Hon. Alastair Nicholson AO RFD QC National Centre Against Bullying (NCAB) Chair Overview of proposal submissions: Presentations will not necessarily be restricted to any of the six cybersafety themes listed above. There is room to consider sessions on any area of cybersafety that might be of interest to an international congress. Session length: 45 or 90 minutes Proposal length: 150 - 200 words Proposal to contain: * Overview of session content * Description of format (e.g. lecture style, workshop, interactive discussion) * Intended outcome(s) of session (i.e. the key concepts your audience members will take away) * Ideal session length (45 or 90 minutes) * Name and contact details of presenter(s). Please send proposals to: Jeremy Blackman, Senior Cybersafety Specialist - jeremy.blackman(a)amf.org.au or +61 (3) 9697 0666. All proposals will be reviewed by The Alannah and Madeline Foundation's World Congress Committee before being accepted.

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Re: [Air-L] Technology as ideologically neutral?
by Andrew Schrock 05 Jul '12

05 Jul '12

Any discussion pushing back on the neutrality of technology would be remiss if it didn't include a feminist perspective. A few classics come to mind that are older but present a powerful critique in an accessible way... Balsamo, A. (1996). Myths of information: the cultural impact of new information technologies. Technology Analysis & Strategic Management, 8(3), 341–348. doi:10.1080/09537329608524256 Cockburn, C., & Ormrod, S. (1993). Gender and technology in the making. London; Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage. Wajcman, J. (1996). Feminism confronts technology. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press. Raymond Williams' Television seems essential as a response to McLuhan. John Durham Peters presents a broad historical overview of what we mean by the phrase determinism in "two cheers for technological determinism." Among his points are that scholars tend to use "technological determinism" as a pejorative when we are generally more balanced. It's a bit of an input-output problem (back to his work on history of communication) where we tend to pull out ideas that serve as counterpoints. Thus we end up repeating ourselves, avoiding what we perceive as pitfalls but not making any new/strong/interesting claims. I believe he is working it up for a paper but a video is available here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5u1LhqrMUc A 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 Nick Breems 05 Jul '12

05 Jul '12

Hi Charles: Though probably not foundational or landmark, I have often found Stephen Talbott's writings on technology to be fairly accessible. He has a fairly short "FAQ" on Computerized Technology and Human Responsibility" at http://www.netfuture.org/faq.html. The complete text of his book "The Future Does Not Compute: Transcending the Machines in Our Midst" is available online at http://netfuture.org/fdnc/. Chapter 11, in particular, can be read more-or-less on its own, and addresses the question of technology neutrality in a novel way. A couple of quotes: >From Question 9 from the above-reference FAQ: Q. Isn't technology neutral? 'Guns don't kill people; people do' A. Yes, only people can do bad things. But every technology already embodies certain of our choices. A gun, after all, was pretty much designed to kill living organisms at a distance, which gives it a different nature from, say, a pair of binoculars. The computer takes this much further, since its whole purpose is to bear our meanings and intentions with a degree of explicitness, subtlety, intricacy, and completeness unimaginable in earlier machines. Every executing program is a condensation of certain human thinking processes. At a more general level, the computer embodies our resolve to approach much of life with a programmatic or recipe-like (algorithmic) mindset. That resolve, expressed in the machinery, is far from innocent or neutral when, for example, we begin to adapt group behavior to programmed constraints. So we meet ourselves--our deepest tendencies, whether savory or unsavory, conscious or unconscious--in the things we have made. And, as always, the weight of accumulated choices begins to bind us. Our freedom is never absolute, but is conditioned by what we have made of ourselves and our world so far. The toxic materials I spread over my yard yesterday restrict my options today. >From Chapter 11 of the book: "...The Net can be neither liberating nor oppressive in its own right. It's all a question of what we do with it. It's not the Net we're talking about here; it's you and me. And surely that's the only place to begin. Neither liberation nor oppression can become living powers in any soil except that of the human heart. As soon as we put the matter this way, however, we can begin to talk about the "nature" of the Net. Not some absolute, intrinsic nature, to be sure, but an established character -- a kind of active willfulness -- that ultimately derives from our character. Our technological expressions, after all, do exhibit certain tendencies, patterns, biases, and these can, to one degree or another, be read. But it remains true that what we are reading -- what we have expressed through the technology -- can only be something of ourselves. We should not ask, "Is technology neutral?" but rather, "Are we neutral in our use of technology?" And, of course, one hopes we are not. No striving for what is good, true, and beautiful -- or for their opposites -- can reasonably be called neutral." Nick Breems - PhD Student @ University of Salford - Assistant Professor of Computer Science @ Dordt College (on leave) Email: nbreems(a)dordt.edu Mobile phone: (from UK): 0771 822 9005 (from US): 011 44 771 822 9005 >>> On Thursday, July 05, 2012 at 2:48 PM, Charles Ess <charles.ess(a)gmail.com> wrote: > Dear AoIRists, > 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". > > Such a view was around in the U.S. in the early days of the Internet - but > countered in at least two ways; those who took up Social Construction of > Technology and related theory from ST studies, including discussion of > "affordances", etc. - and then the very ideological claims (roughly: > California libertarian technological utopianism) that went from claims such > as "the internet interprets censorship as damage, and routes around it" to > claims that the Internet embedded and fostered specially U.S. (neoliberal) > values of individualism, freedom of expression, and free market capitalism. > > For better and for worse, however, my impression is that in our communities, > at least, the recognition that the technologies embed and foster specific > cultural values and communicative preferences (as I like to put it on the > basis of the CATaC conferences) has been more or less a given for quite some > time. Hence, having to re-visit and re-establish these understandings for > those for whom this recognition is apparently quite new is a bit of a > challenge. > > Any suggestions for literature, etc., would be most appreciated. > > Many thanks in advance, > - charles ess

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CeDEM-Asia-2012
by Nathaniel Poor 05 Jul '12

05 Jul '12

Hello everyone, a conference announcement. Apologies if you've received it before. (Hmm ok the submission deadline is in 10 days. Well I know the organizers, it should be a good conference.) International Conference for E-Democracy and Open Government: Social & Mobile Media for Governance 14-15 November 2012, Singapore Website: http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/cedem OPEN FOR SUBMISSIONS Submission Deadline: 15 July 2012 Call for Papers: http://tinyurl.com/CFP-CeDEM-Asia-2012 (PDF) Conference Chairs * Nojin Kwak (University of Michigan, USA) * Peter Parycek (Danube University Krems, Austria) * Marko M. Skoric (Nanyang Technological University, Singapore) ------------------------------- Nathaniel Poor, Ph.D. http://natpoor.blogspot.com/ https://sites.google.com/site/natpoor/

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E-learning & e-research in Africa: e/merge 2012
by Janet Salmons, Ph.D. 05 Jul '12

05 Jul '12

Hello AIR fans! Are any of you located in Africa-- or interested in e-learning and e-research in Africa? If so, you may want to log into the e/merge 2012 online conference (9-20 July) about the use of educational technology in African universities. e/merge 2012 includes five keynotes, 35 papers and presentations, six online workshops and opportunities for rich participant initiated conversations in the Open Space forums. See: http://emerge2012.net. Registration is free for all participants based in Africa and costs R750 (approximately $90) for participants in other continents. (Please contact me off-list if you are interested but lack funds to attend.) I will be presenting a workshop (17-20 July): Use What You Have! Designing and Conducting Research Interviews Online. This interactive, multi-session workshop will introduce key steps for designing and conducting ethical research interviews online. The workshop is relevant whether you teach research or are yourself a researcher. Graduate students whether at thesis or dissertation stages– can benefit from the practical tips for using online technologies to collect data with interviews. You can attend one or all of the sessions! Each new topic will be launched with a live webinar, with ongoing asynchronous discussion. See the outline: http://bit.ly/NaJ831. Hope to see you there! ___________________________________________________________ Conference contact details: General inquiries: info(a)emerge2012.net Website: http://emerge2012.net Registration: http://emerge2012.net/registration/ Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/groups/303640366396764/ Twitter hashtag: #emergeafrica Janet Salmons Ph.D. Capella University School of Business and Technology and Vision2Lead, Inc. Site- http://www.vision2lead.com Follow Twitter at #einterview Now available: Cases in Online Interview Research PO Box 943 Boulder, CO 80306-0943 jsalmons[at]vision2lead.com

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Re: [Air-L] Photovoice and using photos as a research method
by Ana Francisca Monteiro 05 Jul '12

05 Jul '12

I´ve come across to researchers that use these kind of methods: Kristen Ali Eglington, ( http://www.dwrc.surrey.ac.uk/profile-kristeneglinton.shtml) Daniel Meirinhos, project Olhares em Foco | In Focus ( http://olharesemfoco.wix.com/<http://olharesemfoco.wix.com/projecto#%21__in-focus/contatos> ) Regards Ana >

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Re: [Air-L] teaching social computing / critical social media?
by Anthony Nadler 04 Jul '12

04 Jul '12

Hi Dan, My former colleague Julie Wilson and I have been building a website for sharing educational materials like this: www.teachingmedia.org. The site includes recommendations for and reviews of undergrad media studies readings, clips, assignments, and syllabi, and some people have shared more detailed materials like discussion questions and lecture notes. There have been many posts loosely connected to social media and society questions that intersect with some of the themes you mention. Please browse the site and, if you're willing, share your own materials. Right now I've set the site so that it requires registration (free, of course) just because we had some spamming problems. We're going to be making a new push to better publicize the site soon. Best, Anthony Nadler Assistant Professor of Media and Communication Studies Ursinus College

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Fwd: [ciresearchers] Photovoice and using photos as a research method
by gene loeb 04 Jul '12

04 Jul '12

Thought this would be interesting and useful. Gene ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: isabella.rega(a)usi.ch <isabella.rega(a)usi.ch> Date: Wed, Jul 4, 2012 at 10:14 AM Subject: RE: [ciresearchers] Photovoice and using photos as a research method To: "ciresearchers(a)vancouvercommunity.net" < ciresearchers(a)vancouvercommunity.net>, Susan O'Donnell <susanodo(a)unb.ca> Cc: Brian Beaton <brianbeaton(a)knet.ca>, Brian Walmark <brian.walmark(a)knet.ca>, Sara Vannini <sara.vannini(a)usi.ch> Dear Susan, we are using a photo-elicitation approach in our project re-act ( http://www.react-project.ch/) Article in the pipeline, but not ready yet, some inputs in slideshare: . http://www.slideshare.net/SaRaksha/cmc-in-mozambique-cirs-2012 Do not hesitate to contact me if you want to further investigate this. And, I will be glad to know if some other colleagues answer to your call, in order to share experiences. Cheers, Isabella Rega NewMinE Lab www.newmine.org -----Original Message----- From: ciresearchers-owner(a)vancouvercommunity.net [mailto: ciresearchers-owner(a)vancouvercommunity.net] On Behalf Of Susan O'Donnell Sent: mercoledì, 4. luglio 2012 15:01 To: ciresearchers(a)vancouvercommunity.net Cc: Brian Beaton; 'Brian Walmark' Subject: [ciresearchers] Photovoice and using photos as a research method Hello CI colleagues, If you have experience using photos as a research method could you please get in touch, or if you've read any excellent articles about it please send me the links / details. In collaboration with my research partner Keewaytinook Okimakanak, I'll be spending the month of August in a remote First Nation community in Northwestern Ontario. The plan is to support the community in the development of their e-Community strategy. I've been thinking through different methods and am feeling strongest about photovoice / photography ... but have no personal experience with this so all suggestions are very welcome. Thanks and regards, Susan -- Dr. Susan O'Donnell Researcher and Adjunct Professor Department of Sociology, University of New Brunswick PO Box 1122, Fredericton, NB, Canada, E3B 5C2 susanodo(a)unb.ca http://videocom.firstnation.ca http://firstmile.ca Phone: 1-506-444-0374 Fax: 1-506-444-6114 Cell: 1-506-238-7572 To unsubscribe (subscribe) send an email to: sympa(a)vcn.bc.ca with the message unsub (sub) ciresearchers

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GiKii Conference - call for papers, UEA London 17-18th September
by Karen Mc Cullagh (LAW) 04 Jul '12

04 Jul '12

Dear list members, Call for Papers: 7th Gikii Workshop, 17-18 September 2012 UEA London 102 Middlesex Street London E1 7EZ United Kingdom It's harder than it used to be to write a Call for Papers for GikII,<http://www.gikii.org/> the so-cool-it-hurts blue skies workshop for papers exploring the interstices between law, technology and popular culture. Back in the day, you could dazzle the noobs just by mentioning past glories like the first paper on Facebook and privacy<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs2/edwards.pdf>, Harry Potter and the Surveillance of Doom<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs/rauhofer.pdf>, regulation of autonomous agents according to the Roman law of slavery<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs3/katz.pdf>, edible technologies<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs4/mowbray.pdf> and copyright in Dalek knitting patterns<http://www.law.ed.ac.uk/ahrc/gikii/docs3/guadamuz.pdf>. But nowadays we live in a world where we routinely encounter unmanned surveillance drones used to deliver tacos<http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/23/tacocopter-startup-delivers-tacos-…>, in commercial asteroid mining with Richard Branson<http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/69293cc4-8e37-11e1-bf8f-00144feab49a.html>, 3d printers used to create human organs and the fact that Jeremy Hunt still has a job. Still, if any of these or the other many phenomena of the digital age in desperate need of legal attention are digging a tunnel out of your brain, then send us an abstract for the 7th Gikii workshop! Maybe this year it will be your paper which contributes the seminal GikII meme following in the honoured footsteps of LOLcats, flying penises, and knitted Daleks. Gikii<http://www.gikii.org/> has run since 2006 in venues such as Edinburgh, Oxford, London, Amsterdam and Gothenberg with attendees coming from Europe, the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, India and Latin America. There is no conference fee, but attendees may be asked to contribute to the conference dinner on 17th September. If desired, we can suggest London accommodation ranging from cheap to more expensive. This year's Gikii is run with the kind assistance of the Law School, University of East Anglia at their London centre, and will commence at lunchtime Sep 17th running through to end September 18th. These dates also offer an opportunity to combine GikII with the 7th SCL Policy Forum (details at http://www.scl.org/site.aspx?i=ev25696 ) in what has been termed the "week of geek". Abstracts of no longer than 500 words should be sent to lilian.edwards(a)strath.ac.uk<mailto:lilian.edwards@strath.ac.uk> and K.Mccullagh(a)uea.ac.uk<mailto:K.Mccullagh@uea.ac.uk> by August 13th 2012. A limited number of places will be available for participants not giving papers, and preference will be given for these to scholars (including postgraduate students) who have not previously attended GikII. Registration for these places will open at gikii.org<http://gikii.org/> when acceptance of abstracts is notified. Regards, Karen p.s. Apologies if you've received this call for papers more than once - but we know you'd rather that than miss this conference! --------------------- Dr Karen Mc Cullagh Lecturer UEA Law School University of East Anglia Norwich Research Park Norwich Norfolk NR4 7TJ T: 01603 59 7617 tw. @karenmccullagh<mailto:@karenmccullagh> web: http://karenmccullagh.co.uk<http://karenmccullagh.co.uk/>

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