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Invitation for those going to ICA in Boston this week
by Mia Consalvo 23 May '11

23 May '11

[with apologies for cross-posting] Game Studies/ICA folks: You're invited to this Friday's Games at GAMBIT (at MIT), from 4-6 PM on May 27, 2011 in our game lab. Each week we play games, talk about them, and just generally socialize. It's always open to the public, but this week we'd like to extend a special invitation to anyone attending ICA and who has an interest in games. RSVP is not required, but if you definitely know you'll be attending please let me know so we can order enough food (i.e. light snacks :). The Singapore-MIT GAMBIT Game Lab is located in Kendall Square, right on the MBTA Red Line at 5 Cambridge Center on the third floor. A map for reaching us can be found here: http://gambit.mit.edu/contact/index.php Some weeks we have a special theme, but this week is open. If you have a special game you'd like to play, let us know in advance and we'll do our best to have it there. Finally, please email me separately if I can answer any questions about the event or GAMBIT for you. Thanks all! Mia p.s. I'm also organizing an informal dinner following the event, so we can keep the conversation going. Let me know if you'd like to be a part of that as well. -- Mia Consalvo, Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professor Comparative Media Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 14N-226 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA consalvo(a)mit.edu 617.324.1868

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Moral Economies of Creative Labour: registration now open
by Helen Kennedy 23 May '11

23 May '11

Registration is now open for Moral Economies of Creative Labour, a two day conference taking place at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds, on 7th & 8th July 2011. To register, visit this webpage: http://www.moraleconomies.leeds.ac.uk/contact/ A preliminary conference programme is available as a PDF link from the bottom of this page: http://www.moraleconomies.leeds.ac.uk/programme/. More information about the conference is available on the conference website. Helen Dr Helen Kennedy Senior Lecturer in New Media, Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds (http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/) More about me: http://ics.leeds.ac.uk/staff/h.kennedy Email: h.kennedy(a)leeds.ac.uk Tel: 0113 3438748 *** new office / address ***: 1.02 Clothworkers' North Building, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT

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membership - election reminder
by Catherine Middleton 23 May '11

23 May '11

Hello everyone, This is a reminder that only current AoIR members may vote in the election for the next AoIR executive. Your membership must be valid as of May 23, 2011 in order to vote. You can join/renew online at http://aoir.org/membership/. Catherine Middleton AoIR Secretary

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interdisciplinary privacy course (june 27. - 28., 2011, leuven)
by Seda Guerses 22 May '11

22 May '11

it is once again time for our yearly interdisciplinary course on privacy. we look forward to seeing you there, greetings, s. ========================== Interdisciplinary Privacy Course ========================== We would kindly invite you to this course that takes place on Monday, June 27 and Tuesday, June 28, 2011. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ABOUT THE EVENT: Date and time: Monday June 27, 09:30 - 17:30 Tuesday June 28, 09:00 - 18:00 Location: Faculty of Law, Leuven (room to be announced) Organisation: This interdisciplinary course is part of the thematic training of the Leuven Arenberg Doctoral School Training Programme and supported by IAP BCRYPT and LICT. Target audience: The course is mainly aimed at Ph.D. students from all disciplines (either from the K.U.Leuven or from other universities,) but also open to undergraduate students, post-docs, people working in industry, or anyone else interested on the topic. Abstract: The course will provide an overview of various aspects of privacy from the technical, legal, economics, and social science perspectives. While the broad focus of the course is on privacy in electronic services, this year’s edition of the course will have a special focus on location privacy. Speakers: - Prof. Bettina Berendt, Computer Science (K.U.Leuven) - Prof. Claudia Diaz, Electrical Engineering (K.U.Leuven) - Dr. David Geerts, Faculty of Social Sciences (K.U.Leuven) - Dr. Seda Gürses, Electrical Engineering (K.U.Leuven) - Prof. Mireille Hildebrandt (Radboud University Nijmegen, NL) - Dr. Markulf Kohlweiss (Microsoft Research, Cambridge, UK) - Dr. Eleni Kosta, Faculty of Law (K.U.Leuven) More information and program: see course website Registration: Participation to the course is free of charge, but the attendees are required to register by sending an email to claudia.diaz(a)esat.kuleuven.be , by Wednesday June 15, 2011. Contact: Prof. Claudia Diaz, K.U.Leuven, ESAT-COSIC (claudia.diaz(a)esat.kuleuven.be)

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How's My Feedback? - One-day Conference at Oxford, 28 June 2011
by Malte Ziewitz 22 May '11

22 May '11

*How's My Feedback? - The Technology and Politics of Evaluation* A one-day international conference at Saïd Business School, supported by an ESRC Knowledge Exchange Small Grant and the Institute for Science, Innovation and Society. Tuesday, 28 June 2011, 9.00 - 17.30 Saïd Business School, University of Oxford http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/centres/insis/events/Pages/howsmyfeedback.aspx *About the conference:* There is hardly anything these days that is not being evaluated on the web. Books, dishwashers, lawyers, teachers, health services, ex-boyfriends, haircuts, prostitutes and websites are just some examples targeted by novel review, rating and ranking schemes. Used in an increasing number of areas, these schemes facilitate public assessment by soliciting and aggregating feedback and distributing it as comments, ranks, scales and stories. While some have greeted this development as an innovative way of fostering transparency, accountability and public engagement, others have criticized the forced exposure and alleged lack of accuracy and legitimacy, pointing to the potentially devastating consequences of negative evaluations. Now research is under way to tackle these issues head-on and evaluate the various types of review, rating and ranking schemes in a collaborative design experiment. Under the title ‘How’s my feedback?’, a group of experts, including designers, managers, reviewers, policy-makers, consumer spokespeople, academics and users have explored the idea of a website that allows users to publicly assess their experience with review and rating schemes – a feedback website for feedback websites. The goal of the conference is to reflect on this process and the emerging prototype. How are we to judge the effectiveness of these schemes? What modes of governance are implicated in their operation? What counts as a 'good' scheme, what as a 'bad' one? What strategies and methodologies are employed in their development, maintenance and use? How successful is this project as a design intervention? What is it to evaluate the evaluators – and will this business ever end? *Speakers include:* Malcolm Ashmore, Loughborough University Andrew Balmer, University of Sheffield Stefan Schwarzkopf, Copenhagen Business School Ian Stronach, Liverpool John Moores University Alex Wilkie, Goldsmiths, University of London Steve Woolgar, University of Oxford *Organisers:* Malte Ziewitz and Steve Woolgar, University of Oxford, in cooperation with James Munro, Patient Opinion *Registration:* The event is free of charge, but registration is required. Places are limited, so please sign up early: http://legacy.sbs.ox.ac.uk/html/sbs_event_register.asp?eventID=182 Project website: www.howsmyfeedback.org Twitter: twitter.com/howsmyfeedback How to find us: goo.gl/maps/hLW8 For more information, please visit http://www.sbs.ox.ac.uk/centres/insis/events/Pages/howsmyfeedback.aspx or contact malte.ziewitz(a)sbs.ox.ac.uk.

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International Young Scholar's Conference
by Meng Yoe Tan 22 May '11

22 May '11

Hi guys, If you're doing your PhD, or recently completed your PhD. You might find this interesting, especially if your research has something to do with South East Asia. Visit the website at http://www.sass.monash.edu.my/conference/ysc.html. Deadline is early June! International Young Scholar's Conference, Monash University Sunway Campus *Call for Papers* The School of Arts and Social Sciences, Monash University, Malaysia invites submissions for its inaugural International Young Scholars’ Conference which will be held at the Monash University Sunway Campus. We welcome submissions from both PhD students at any stage of their research and scholars who have completed their doctoral studies in the last three years, who are engaged in original research related to Southeast Asia and on one of the following thematic areas: - Politics, government, law and international relations - Culture, religion, gender and sexuality - Media, literature and the arts See more at http://www.sass.monash.edu.my/conference/ysc.html Cheers, Tan Meng Yoe Monash University Sunway Campus

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An answer to Steve's question to AoIR VP Candidates:
by Alex Halavais 20 May '11

20 May '11

STEVE JONES asked the following question to the candidates for AoIR VP: """ What do you consider the optimal size for AoIR? Do you believe AoIR should develop divisions or interest groups? Do you believe AoIR should raise membership dues? What do you consider the benefits of AoIR membership to be, both tangible and intangible, and are there other benefits that you would try to bring to members? Please elaborate as much as you wish in your answers. Thank you. """ Since not everyone will make it over to the site, I'm sharing the candidates' responses here: ***** TED COOPMAN ***** """ What do you consider the optimal size for AoIR? Ideally, I would like to see us around 1000 +/- but would rather have quality over quantity. Ultimately, I would like us to grow as our reputation spreads and people want to be apart of what we are doing. I think 1000 is a critical mass for a healthy participant pool and to be seen as a strong and viable organization. Do you believe AoIR should develop divisions or interest groups? No. What makes AoIR special is the mix we get in our panels between disciplines, epistemologies, and methods. In my experience, divisions and interest groups lead to turf and resource wars and keeps people in their boxes. As time progresses these categories become less relevant. What the internet and internet research has (IMO) shown us is that looking at phenomenon through a narrow lens is no longer compelling. Do you believe AoIR should raise membership dues? No. Rather than raise membership dues we need to expand paying membership. We do not have the types of stranded costs such as physical offices, staff, printing and mailing that cost a lot of money. Generally, we do well with the conferences and could do better if we could spend more time and effort getting sponsorships. So while we could do more with more income (grants, special projects, publications, an Executive Director etc.), better to expand membership and sponsorships. $45 is a great deal. What do you consider the benefits of AoIR membership to be, both tangible and intangible, and are there other benefits that you would try to bring to members? I have always seen AoIR as a community of intellectuals and scholars that collaborate to create an infrastructure that facilitates our collective and individual work. This type of interdisciplinary organization is an opportunity to create a new framework for academic and private sector research and scholarship and to assist in a much needed evolution of the institution of higher education. To me, AoIR is more a collective and community than a traditional academic organization. It is place where it is safe to step out and try new things and learn from others we might not normally interact with as well as know that we will be supported and encouraged for our efforts. As far as tangible benefits, with databases and institutional access to journals the value of these traditional perks has faded. Aside from the listserv and a discount for registration there is really nothing physical we could add to induce membership. I do not think “things” are the future. People participate because they get something out of it in terms of identity, a sense of belonging, and utility for his/her own professional development. The organization has been incredibly helpful for both my teaching and research. Who we are collectively is what is most attractive about AoIR. I have been involved with half a dozen or so small and large academic organizations but nothing approaches AoIR in the sense of community, mutual respect, and collegiality. In the future, I would like to see AoIRs online presence and profile increase and become more of a hub for new media research. This would require a more serious investment, such as hiring someone to work remotely on the site. Perhaps we should consider a magazine style publication, such as Communication Currents at NCA (only cooler because it’s us!)? This would allow us to showcase our work in a more timely fashion and to a broader audience with interfering in more traditional scholarly publications. Video of roundtables and keynotes would be nice as well. """ ***** LORI KENDALL ***** What do you consider the optimal size for AoIR? By size, I assume you mean the number with paid memberships. But one could also look at the size of the group that subscribes to Air-L and/or at the size of conference attendees. In any case, I think we can stand to grow a bit more before we risk losing some of the benefits of being a smallish organization. But I’m not sure size is the key question. I think participation is the aspect of membership to focus on. I’d like to find a way to make it worth people’s while to be a bit more active in AoIR, whether that means participating more on Air-L, contributing to the wiki, helping expand our connections to other interested parties and organizations, or making other kinds contributions. Do you believe AoIR should develop divisions or interest groups? To a certain extent, I think we already have, although not formally, and some subgroups of AoIR are more distinct than others. There are positive and negative aspects to this. On the one hand, it’s exciting to connect with people who are doing work similar to yours. On the other hand, I think we’re a stronger, more interesting, and more vibrant organization because of the connections we make with people doing work that is different from ours in terms of discipline, topic, approach, theoretical orientation, etc. I’d like to find creative ways to encourage people to mix it up a bit more, so I would not be in favor of creating official subgroups. Do you believe AoIR should raise membership dues? The short answer is “I don’t know”; I think I’d need more information about our finances to answer this. My sense over the years is that we’re always a little underfunded and it would be beneficial to have more money to do things with. In particular, it would take more funding to do things that seek to overcome some of the global economic imbalances among scholars and encourage participation in AoIR from a wider geographic and economic range. Some organizations have different levels of membership, in some cases based explicitly on income. That might be one way to raise membership fees for some without precluding participation from people for whom increased fees would constitute a hardship. What do you consider the benefits of AoIR membership to be, both tangible and intangible, and are there other benefits that you would try to bring to members? For me personally, the biggest benefit of AoIR membership has been the people I’ve met and the professional opportunities that have arisen out of relationships formed through this organization. I think some of that has come about because of our interdisciplinarity and our relative lack of hierarchy. Right from that first conference, AoIR has been an organization that encourages interaction amongst scholars at all career stages and with various types of institutional affiliations. I haven’t as often taken advantage of some of the more tangible benefits such as discounts on journal submissions. I’d be interested to find out more about what other members value most about AoIR. [...] I need to add, and feel remiss in not mentioning this above, that another important benefit of AoIR is the work of the Ethics Committee. This is one of contributions that AoIR makes that goes well beyond the boundaries of our membership. """ ***** MONICA MURERO ***** """ Aoir is ready to become the n.1 Association in the field of Internet Research. Without Aoir the scientific community would be a poorer place. Excellence is the key of Aoir’s future, not size or divisions. International award winner for scientific excellence, Prof. Murero consults worldwide organizations like the World Health Organizations ( http://www.who.org ). Monica is the only candidate who received the Honorific Aoir Lifetime membership for outstanding contribution to the Aoir community. Her international contacts and well-known reputation will help Aoir grow in many interesting new directions. These include New Aoir Research Grants, New Aoir Awards for Research Excellence, and New Aoir Pubblications. Aoir values must be protected and developed under safe and experienced hands. As indicated, Prof. Murero’s 10 years experience includes Aoir administrative, financial, executive, publishing, budget and conference related matters. – For example, Financial “bee” of the association, Monica has quadruplicated Aoir financial assets in only four years ( Aoir Treasurer 2005-2009) reaching unprecedented results. Financial stability helped finance new projects for the first time in Aoir history. For example, Initiator of the Aoir conference Fee Waiver policy, Prof. Murero will develop further innovative grants and new travel funds opportunities based on merit and excellence for both students and researchers. Prof. Murero has largely helped build the warm and welcomig feeling everyone receives in air-l and the Aoir annual conference. Mantain the sense of community people find at Aoir conference and air-list is a must. An informal, welcoming and high-quality attitude in discussing crucial topics will keep Aoir the fantastic open place for interdisciplinary discussion and collaborations we have created over the years. """ If you would like to follow up with any or all of these candidates, I encourage you to do so here, or over at http://aoir.org. Best, Alex -- // // This email is // [x] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais, ciberflâneur // http://alex.halavais.net //

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AoIR Membership Drive
by Mia Consalvo 19 May '11

19 May '11

Hello to all fellow AoIR community members! In an effort to build our community and stabilize our membership rolls the Executive Committee is initiating our first official Membership Drive. Our goal is to bring the number of dues paying members more in line with our Air-L list participants. Most Air-L list members consider themselves members of the AoIR community as well as the Association of Internet Researchers organization, proudly listing their affiliation on vitas and resumes. Unfortunately, in any given year, actual dues paying membership wildly fluctuates because people generally renew their memberships when they attend the conference. So, while “conceptual” membership persists, many people only take out “actual” membership when they attend the conference. Sustaining dues paying membership in AoIR is critical in maintaining a vibrant association by demonstrating to the broader academic and private sector communities that AoIR is, as we as members realize, an important forum for cutting edge Internet and new media research. Membership in AoIR provides support for the Association including the Air-L list and programming our yearly conferences as well as giving you a voice in the Association's affairs and its future. We strongly encourage all AIR-L list subscribers to support our AoIR community by becoming a member if you are not already. In addition to a warm-fuzzy feeling, instant hipness, and a well-deserved sense of satisfaction, AoIR members get a special registration rate for our annual AoIR conference, may run for positions on the Executive, and vote in elections. Membership in AoIR is extremely* *inexpensive compared to most professional and scholarly associations and helps support Internet scholarship and research. We would welcome you joining the association and helping us to grow and promote studies of the Internet. The annual membership dues are as follows: (all figures in US$) Standard individual membership $45 Students (including Ph.D. students) $30 Individuals in non-OECD countries $10 Lifetime individual membership $1000 Educational institution (academic department, library, etc.) $250 Non-profit organization $100 Non-profit institutions in non-OECD countries $25 Corporate sponsor (for-profit institution) $2000 Affiliate membership is available for persons and non-profit institutions in non-OECD countries – free to a maximum of two years, includes only basic AoIR.org web access We know you appreciate AoIR and being part of our community. Now is the time to step up and make that membership official. It is inexpensive and easy. Please visit http://aoir.org/membership/ to sign-up and support AoIR. Not sure of your member status? Email AoIR’s Secretary, Katherine Middleton: secretary(a)aoir.org. For any questions about membership costs, please contact AoIR’s Treasurer, Michael Zimmer: treasurer(a)aoir.org Finally, thank you for your support and participation on the list and in other AoIR-related activities. AoIR has always been a volunteer-run organization, and has continued to be the association that I feel is my strongest academic 'home' as well as one where I see the best research and theory about the Internet occurring. All the best, Mia, AoIR President -- Mia Consalvo, Ph.D. Visiting Associate Professor Comparative Media Studies Massachusetts Institute of Technology 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Building 14N-226 Cambridge, MA 02139-4307 USA consalvo(a)mit.edu 617.324.1868

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Media@UEA Symposium
by Wright Scott Dr (PSI) 19 May '11

19 May '11

Hi everyone, I am copying in details of an upcoming Symposium at the University of East Anglia (Norwich, UK). As you can see in the further information section, there is a significant amount of content that is of interest to new media scholars. If you have any questions feel free to contact me . Cheers, Scott Making a Difference? The Social, Economic and Political Impact of Media Research University of East Anglia, Norwich 24 June 2011 media@uea is an initiative which brings together the schools of Economics, Film & Television Studies (FTV), International Development, Political, Social & International Studies (PSI), the UEA Law School and others from across the University of East Anglia. We are pleased to invite you to the first media@uea symposium, taking place in Norwich on 24 June 2011. We hope to bring together experts from across UEA schools who are engaged in media-related research with scholars from other institutions and a range of external “stakeholders”, including speakers from the media industries, activist and pressure groups and political parties. Places on this symposium are limited; please contact Julie Ellwood (Faculty Manager) by Tuesday 31 May in order to express your interest, at j.ellwood(a)uea.ac.uk, including your name, position, affiliation. Where applicable, please also include any dietary or accessibility requirements. Confirmation of your place will be sent in due course. There is no charge to attend the symposium; lunch and tea/coffee will be provided, and the symposium will close with a reception. Plenary speakers include Prof. Liesbet van Zoonen (Loughborough) on identity and security, Shaun Day (chief economist, BBC) on the BBC's impact on the UK economy, Des Freedman (Goldsmith's) on media research, Hugh Tomlinson (barrister) on the future of media law, and Sally-Ann Wilson (secretary general, Commonwealth Broadcasting Association). Panels (made up of scholars from UEA and elsewhere along with journalists, producers and campaigners) will consider topics including media coverage of environmental issues, democracy and new media, and the relationship between academic interests and media priorities. See http://www.uea.ac.uk/ssf/media/symposium2011 for a draft programme and further information.

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Suggestions for SPSS training
by katie vizenor 19 May '11

19 May '11

Hi. I am entering the research/analyst job market and realize that I need to improve my SPSS skills. I took a graduate level stats class with an SPSS component, but it was not very thorough or practical. Since most of my work is qualitative, I have not had a great need for this software. Could anyone provide suggestions for SPSS training, either online or in-person classroom training in the DC metropolitan area (I live in Northern Virginia). Really, I just need practical software training. Or, if anyone knows how best to go about gaining this skill. I have found that many jobs want proficiency in SPSS, but the only real way to become super proficient in the software is through a job. A catch-22. Also, there seems to be a range of meanings in terms of what "proficiency" means. Any guidance will be greatly appreciated. All my best, Katie Vizenor, MLS, MA Doctoral Candidate, Anthropology, University at Buffalo

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