- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

apology
by Murray Turoff 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

I apologize that the message i sent below was not more transparent. I expected most people here to have some knowledge of the early history of arpanet and other associated developments. But email/message systems were started very early in the late 60's and by 1978 they were all over the place with companies and universities using them. To put out a newspaper article that someone in 1978 had sort of invented the field was a bit much for many old timers. Since that message lots of comments have appeared on the Washington post article and the paper has made corrections and realized that a copyright of a single program is not a trademark for the term. It was as pad as claims by some politicians that they are responsible for the INTERNET. In 1971 i approached Larry Roberts and asked him to release some data and specifications on the use of messaging on the arrpanet so i could compare it to what i was doing at OEP with EMISARI. This had a complete message subsystem. i was told by an anonymous party that they did not want to admit that messaging was teh most popular and used application on the ARPANET for fear congress would cut off some of their funding for using such an expensive research system for replacing 10 cent letters rather than the types of applications they had sold the arpanet on!! Message: 1 Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2012 19:45:03 -0500 From: Murray Turoff <murray.turoff(a)gmail.com> To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: [Air-L] A rewrite of our history Message-ID: <CAD-aGywFSj+gn0cP167j7j3cPOkzavy=aF23USHTWCcY4a2NWg(a)mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Some of you who are interested in the history of our field might find this as disturbing as i did. * The inventor of e-mail on innovation and his path to the Smithsonian< http://link.email.washingtonpost.com/r/MEPMRJ/NSC4SB/ZCNCKZ/FVLP7K/7278IF/5… > * V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai spoke about the discovery he made at the age of 14, and his path from a New Jersey high school to the Smithsonian. ( by Emi Kolawole , The Washington Post) he discovered e-mail in 1978!!!! It seems MIT and the Smithsonian have agreed on this.. *Distinguished Professor Emeritus Information Systems, NJIT homepage: http://is.njit.edu/turoff * -- *Distinguished Professor Emeritus Information Systems, NJIT homepage: http://is.njit.edu/turoff *

6 5

Call for Conference Papers: "IPP2012: Big Data, Big Challenges?"
by David Sutcliffe 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

** Call for papers ** ** Internet, Politics, Policy 2012: Big Data, Big Challenges? ** ** 20-21 September 2012, University of Oxford ** ** http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012 ** ** Rationale ** Recent years have seen an increasing buzz around how 'Big Data' can uncover patterns of human behaviour and help predict social trends. Most social activities today leave digital imprints that can be collected and stored in the form of large datasets of transactional data. These data are already being used to prevent epidemics or combat fraud and crime, but the research potential of these data is still underexploited. The impact of Big Data goes beyond academic research: the behavioural insights gained from transactional information can also be used to drive evidence-based policy making and 'nudge' political behaviour. However, the technical skills necessary to analyse large datasets often prevent social scientists from exploiting its potential. Much detail is also lost in the analysis of Big Data, which emphasises aggregated patterns over mechanisms operating at the individual level and lacks the demographic information of survey data, for example. This conference calls for papers that explore the new research frontiers opened up by Big Data as well as its limitations. We are looking for research that uses large datasets to inform old debates in political science, and papers that develop innovative methodological tools (from experiments, to crowd-sourcing, to online ethnography) to overcome the omissions of big datasets. The Internet, Politics, Policy 2012 conference aims to serve as a forum to encourage discussion across disciplinary boundaries on how to exploit Big Data to inform policy debates and advance social science research. ** Programme ** The conference aims to attract papers from a range of disciplines analysing Big Data or developing approaches that dig into the mechanisms that large datasets do not consider. Panels will be organised in twin tracks: - Papers in the Politics track will explore the insights that large datasets and complementary methodological tools offer in the analysis of political behaviour, including - but not limited to - mobilisations, collective action, or public opinion formation; - Papers in the Policy track will look at how behavioural insights gained from Big Data analysis, and from experiments in online settings, can inform policy debates and shape policy making, including e-health, on-line education, cybercrime, security and privacy. These two areas are intertwined, and will be merged in plenary sessions, investigating the intersection of policy and politics in the Big Data era. ** Keynotes ** - Duncan Watts, Principal Research Scientist, Yahoo! Research - Second keynote pending confirmation ** Submissions ** We welcome papers reporting on innovative research exploiting large datasets or applying novel methodological tools aimed to overcome the limitations of Big Data. We particularly welcome papers that report empirical results and employ analytical approaches that would not have been possible without access to digital information. Perspectives from any academic discipline are welcomed, particularly: political science, economics, law, sociology, information science, communications, philosophy, computer science, psychology, management, geography and medicine. Paper proposals: Proposals should include a title and a 1000 word abstract specifying the research question, describing the methods and data used, and summarising the main findings. Abstracts will be peer reviewed, and the authors of accepted proposals are expected to submit full papers prior to the conference. Paper submissions will be considered for a Best Paper Award of 300 GBP (sponsored by the journal Policy and Internet). The prize will be awarded at the closing session of the conference. As the paper is intended to be published in a future issue of the journal, authors should indicate whether they would like their paper to be considered for the prize. Poster proposals: Posters should summarise in a visually engaging manner the purpose, methods and results of an original piece of research. All accepted submissions will be considered for a Best Poster Award of 300 GBP (sponsored by Google). The prize will be awarded at the closing session of the conference. Paper and poster proposals should be submitted using the online form at http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012/submissions Travel Bursaries: We will support a limited number of competitive bursaries to contribute to the cost of attendance for doctoral students and recent postdocs (doctorate finished 2011). Preference will be given to paper or poster presenters. Please indicate in your submission if you would like to be considered for such a bursary. ** Deadlines ** Abstract deadline: 15 March 2012 Decision on abstracts: 15 April 2012 Poster deadline: 15 April 2012 Decision on posters: 15 May 2012 Full paper submission: 15 August 2012 Conference correspondence can be sent to: ipp2012(a)oii.ox.ac.uk Best wishes, Internet, Politics, Policy 2010 http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/ipp2012 Contact: ipp2012(a)oii.ox.ac.uk Twitter: #ipp2012 Professor Helen Margetts (Oxford Internet Institute) Dr Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon (Oxford Internet Institute) David Sutcliffe (Oxford Internet Institute)

1 0

Seeking references to philosophical perspective on digital culture and social media
by Carmel Vaisman 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

Dear all, I would appreciate your help in finding papers and books that employ philosophical concepts to explain the impact of current technology or even predict human change based on social media and digital culture. For example, Slavoy Zizek's latest writing, Roger Silverstone's writing on "proper distance", Bauman's writing on presence and mobile telephony and even Turkle's latest book. Anything similar goes. Thank you, Carmel L. Vaisman, PhD. Visiting Scholar at Indiana University Mobile: (812) 360-4212 http://www.absolutecarmel.com @carmelva

6 5

seeking advice regarding research on photo-sharing websites
by Nune Nikoghosyan 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

Dear Air list members, I'm a Master's degree student in Sociology at the University of Geneva and I'm preparing an article based on my graduation project about online photography, and I'm writing to ask some advice regarding the "ethical" side of such a publication. My research consisted mainly in content analysis of comments written on a photo-sharing website called TrekLens.com. The website's content, so all photos and comments, are freely and publicly accessible to any visitor of the site, with no need for a login or account to view the photos or read the comments. In my analysis, all comments have been anonymized and no usernames are visible. Furthermore, the few examples I give in the final text are hardly identifiable, since they're only small bits from comments and not the entire comments in themselves. In terms of privacy or harm, I don't think I'm running any risks. I have also included a brief description of the site and its tools, features and functionalities. However, the website's terms of use forbid any use of its content without written consent from the webmasters, even if all content is completely public: http://www.treklens.com/tou.php My question is: will I breach any ethical or legal rules if my article is published and do I, by all means, need the moderators' written consent? My doubt in all of this is the possibility of refusal by the webmasters... All advice will be of great value and most warmly appreciated! Thank you all in advance, Nuné Nikoghosyan

6 6

Re: [Air-L] Seeking references to philosophical perspective on digital culture and social media (Peter Timusk)
by Murray Turoff 27 Feb '12

27 Feb '12

Turoff, Murray, Virtuality, CACM, Volume 40, Number 9, September 1997, pp. 38-43. the above addresses the philosophical issue of to what the degree the online world becomes the real world. Social networks are a good example of that issue even though they were not as well recognized in 1997. However, a lot of social networks existed even earlier like EIES and like "the well" -- *Distinguished Professor Emeritus Information Systems, NJIT homepage: http://is.njit.edu/turoff *

1 0

Update on using social media short course
by Holly Kruse 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

This is just a blanket "thank you" to everyone who sent suggestions to me for actitivities to do in the short course on using social media that I'll be teaching in May. I haven't had much of a chance to read through all of them, but I will get to them soon, and I will try to thank everyone indvidually then, and also post a list of the suggestions to air-l. Thanks again, Holly ---- Holly Kruse, PhD Department of Communications Rogers State University 1701 W. Will Rogers Blvd. Claremore, OK 74017 918-343-7879 hkruse(a)rsu.edu or holly.kruse(a)gmail.com http://hollykruse.com or http://www.rsu.edu/academics/comm/kruse.asp

1 0

Re: [Air-L] seeking advice regarding research on photo-sharing websites
by Danielle Couch 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

Hi Nune, When you say you have ensured the data is anonymous, does this mean you won't be using any direct quotes? The use of any direct quotes may compromise the anonymity as the would likely be locatable through the use of a search engine. Similar to Phillipa's comment about a breast cancer site, I believe this work on breastfeeding also allowed forum users to opt out of the data collection process. http://www.healthpromotion.org.au/journal/journal-downloads/article/1-hpja/… http://lrc.asn.au/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40389 Cheers, Danielle > Philippa Smith <philippa.smith(a)aut.ac.nz> wrote: > > Dear Nune, > > Unfortunately I can't remember the reference for you (someone else > might), but I remember reading in a book about a researcher who analysed > a publicly accessed site where women with breast cancer shared their > experiences. Although no password was required, the researcher felt > ethically bound, if I recall correctly, to contact those on the site > about what was being analysed because it was dealing with a sensitive > issue. I therefore believe that care must be taken depending on the > content of what is being researched. Nothing is ever black and white > with Internet research. This area of ethics and the Internet is ongoing > and given the technology is still relatively new, a lot more discussion > will ensue. I would also query if there are any copyright issues > regarding people's posted photographs if you are going to reproduce them > as well as their comments. Presumably your academic institution will > guide you on this. > > Having said that I have been analysing comments on a publicly > accessible archived blog discussion for my PhD research and have > interviewed both the blogger and moderator as they brought insightful > information to my research - particularly regarding my interpretation > which was often quite different to how they saw things. I felt this > added objectivity to my research. > Good luck with your research. > > Kind regards > > Philippa Smith > PhD Candidate > Institute of Culture, Discourse & Communication > AUT University > Auckland > NEW ZEALAND > > -----Original Message----- > From: air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org > [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Nune Nikoghosyan > Sent: Monday, 27 February 2012 11:05 a.m. > To: Jeremy hunsinger; Charles Ess > Cc: Air list > Subject: Re: [Air-L] seeking advice regarding research on photo-sharing > websites > > Dear Charles, Dear Jeremy and all those who have replied to me off-list, > > Thank you all for your kind advice and consideration! > I'd just like to clarify one point: the site's content is completely > public, freely accessible to all visitors, with no need to create an > account. All you'd need in order to read (and, eventually, analyze) any > comments is to open the page and click on a photo. It's similar to > viewing a "public" photo on Flickr and reading the comments that follow, > with no need to sign in. So I didn't need to create an account for > accessing the material, nor did I need a permission for such an access. > The (ethical) question poses only now when it's about publication. > > Thanks again, > Best regards, > NunÃ© Nikoghosyan > > > On 26 February 2012 20:19, Jeremy hunsinger <jeremy(a)tmttlt.com> wrote: > > > Well, I think he should ask permission, but mostly because it is the > > ethical option. I expect that if he explains his use is non-profit > > and research oriented, he'll be fine. > > > > I think that I would suspect that he would need to seek a lawyer's > > opinion as to whether the terms of use actually apply to his case at > > all, it is not always clear that they are enforceable across borders, > > or that all of there terms are legal across borders. I am not a > > lawyer, so i am just skeptical about it. > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ Danielle Couch m. +61 450 422 161 dlcouch(a)optusnet.com.au

1 0

Second Call for proposals EARLI SIG 6 & 7 meeting
by Beatrice Ligorio 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

Second call for the combined EARLI SIG 6 & SIG 7 meeting, taking place at the University of Bari (Italy), 11 - 13 September 2012. More information is available here http://earli-sig67.slo.nl/ Please forward this invitation to anyone you think might be interested! Loking forward to receiving your submissions and to meeting all of you in Bari! Beatrice

1 0

Final CfA: Conference "Critique, Democracy and Philosophy in 21st Century Information Society"
by Christian Fuchs 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

Critique, Democracy, and Philosophy in 21st Century Information Society. Towards Critical Theories of Social Media. The Fourth ICTs and Society-Conference. Uppsala University. May 2nd-4th, 2012. Abstract Submission Deadline: Wednesday, Feb 29th, 17:00 CET Submission guidelines: http://www.icts-and-society.net/events/uppsala2012/ With plenary talks by Vincent Mosco, Graham Murdock, Andrew Feenberg, Catherine McKercher, Charles Ess, Christian Christensen, Christian Fuchs, Gunilla Bradley, Mark Andrejevic, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Peter Dahlgren, Tobias Olsson, Trebor Scholz, Ursula Huws, Wolfgang Hofkirchner. This conference provides a forum for the discussion of how to critically study social media and their relevance for critique, democracy, politics and philosophy in 21st century information society. We are living in times of global capitalist crisis. In this situation, we are witnessing a return of critique in the form of a surging interest in critical theories (such as the critical political economy of Karl Marx, critical theory, etc) and revolutions, rebellions, and political movements against neoliberalism that are reactions to the commodification and instrumentalization of everything. On the one hand there are overdrawn claims that social media (Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, mobile Internet, etc) have caused rebellions and uproars in countries like Tunisia and Egypt, which brings up the question to which extent these are claims are ideological or not. On the other hand, the question arises what actual role social media play in contemporary capitalism, power structures, crisis, rebellions, uproar, revolutions, the strengthening of the commons, and the potential creation of participatory democracy. The commodification of everything has resulted also in a commodification of the communication commons, including Internet communication that is today largely commercial in character. The question is how to make sense of a world in crisis, how a different future can look like, and how we can create Internet commons and a commons-based participatory democracy. This conference deals with the question of what kind of society and what kind of Internet are desirable, what steps need to be taken for advancing a good Internet in a sustainable information society, how capitalism, power structures and social media are connected, what the main problems, risks, opportunities and challenges are for the current and future development of Internet and society, how struggles are connected to social media, what the role, problems and opportunities of social media, web 2.0, the mobile Internet and the ubiquitous Internet are today and in the future, what current developments of the Internet and society tell us about potential futures, how an alternative Internet can look like, and how a participatory, commons-based Internet and a co-operative, participatory, sustainable information society can be achieved. Questions to be addressed include, but are not limited to: * What does it mean to study the Internet, social media and society in a critical way? What are Critical Internet Studies and Critical Theories of Social Media? What does it mean to study the media and communication critically? * What is the role of the Internet and social media in contemporary capitalism? * How do power structures, exploitation, domination, class, digital labour, commodification of the communication commons, ideology, and audience/user commodification, and surveillance shape the Internet and social media? * How do these phenomena shape concrete platforms such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc? * How does contemporary capitalism look like? What is the role of the Internet and social media in contemporary capitalism? * In what society do we live? What is the actual role of information, ICTs, and knowledge in contemporary society? Are concepts like network society, information society, informational capitalism, etc adequate characterizations of contemporary society or overdrawn claims? What are the fundamental characteristics of contemporary society and which concept(s) should be used for describing this society? * What is digital labour and how do exploitation and surplus value generation work on the Internet? Which forms of exploitation and class structuration do we find on the Internet, how do they work, what are their commonalities and differences? How does the relation between toil and play change in a digital world? How do classes and class struggles look like in 21st century informational capitalism? * What are ideologies of the Internet, web 2.0, and social media? How can they be deconstructed and criticized? How does ideology critique work as an empirical method and theory that is applied to the Internet and social media? * Which philosophies, ethics and which philosophers are needed today in order to understand the Internet, democracy and society and to achieve a global sustainable information society and a participatory Internet? What are perspectives for political philosophy and social theory in 21st century information society? * What contradictions, conflicts, ambiguities, and dialectics shape 21st century information society and social media? * What theories are needed for studying the Internet, social media, web 2.0, or certain platforms or applications in a critical way? * What is the role of counter-power, resistance, struggles, social movements, civil society, rebellions, uproars, riots, revolutions, and political transformations in 21st century information society and how (if at all) are they connected to social media? * What is the actual role of social media and social networking sites in political revolutions, uproars, and rebellions (like the recent Maghrebian revolutions, contemporary protests in Europe and the world, the Occupy movement, etc)? * How can an alternative Internet look like and what are the conditions for creating such an Internet? What are the opportunities and challenges posed by projects like Wikipedia, WikiLeaks, Diaspora, IndyMedia, Democracy Now! and other alternative media? What is a commons-based Internet and how can it be created? * What is the role of ethics, politics, and activism for Critical Internet Studies? * What is the role of critical theories in studying the information society, social media, and the Internet? * What is a critical methodology in Critical Internet Studies? Which research methods are needed on how need existing research methods be adapted for studying the Internet and society in a critical way? * What are ethical problems, opportunities, and challenges of social media? How are they framed by the complex contradictions of contemporary capitalism? * Who and what and where are we in 21st century capitalist information society? How have different identities changed in the global world, what conflicts relate to it, and what is the role of class and class identity in informational capitalism? * What is democracy? What is the future of democracy in the global information society? And what is or should democracy be today? What is the relation of democracy and social media? How do the public sphere and the colonization of the public sphere look like today? What is the role of social media in the public sphere and its colonization? SUBMISSION a) For submission, please first register your profile on the ICTs and Society platform: http://www.icts-and-society.net/register/ b) Please download the abstract submission form: http://fuchs.uti.at/wp-content/uploads/ASF.doc , insert your presentation title, contact data, and an abstract of 200-500 words. The abstract should clearly set out goals, questions, the way taken for answering the questions, main results, the importance of the topic for critically studying the information society and/or social media and for the conference. Please submit your abstract until February 29th, 2012, per e-mail to Marisol Sandoval: marisol.sandoval(a)uti.at Notifications about acceptance or rejection of abstracts will be sent out within one week after the end of the deadline.

1 0

IR13 Roundtable
by Andrea Guzman 26 Feb '12

26 Feb '12

We are organizing a graduate student roundtable for #IR13 regarding our role as academics in helping the public understand the personal and cultural implications of new media technologies. We will discuss and debate what our role should and could be as internet researchers in making our research accessible to the public. We will aim to generate questions about how, when and where our work can intersect with the wider discussions happening every day about what it means to use new technologies. We also will discuss what strategies might be most effective to make our knowledge accessible to a broader audience and to engage in discussions with the public regarding their concerns and opinions about new media technologies. The roundtable will include a review of some of the efforts currently underway in academic, commercial and cultural sectors and then expand out to what our next steps could be. Overall our goal is to establish a grassroots movement of scholars interested in public outreach. We have included only graduate students in this roundtable as a way to encourage emerging scholars to think about their role in society beyond the confines of the academic institution. If you are interested in joining our roundtable, please contact Andrea Guzman offlist at aguzma31(a)uic.edu. Please include a short explanation of what you think you can bring to the roundtable as well as a brief description of who you are (institution, degree you're seeking, etc...) Andrea -- Andrea L. Guzman, M.A. Communication Studies PhD student and COMM 140 instructor Department of Communication University of Illinois at Chicago aguzma31(a)uic.edu

1 0