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Twitter no longer allowing use for scholarship
by Rhiannon Bury 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

I just came across this article via RWW twitter feed: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_recent_changes_to_twitters_terms_o… Does anyone here know anything more or has anyone been directly affected? Rhiannon Rhiannon Bury, PhD Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies Athabasca University Canada's Open University rbury(a)athabascau.ca

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Twitter no longer allowing use for scholarship
by Rhiannon Bury 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

I just came across this article via RWW twitter feed: http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/how_recent_changes_to_twitters_terms_o… Does anyone here know anything more or has anyone been directly affected? Rhiannon Rhiannon Bury, PhD Associate Professor, Women's and Gender Studies Athabasca University Canada's Open University rbury(a)athabascau.ca

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CfP: Journal of Community Informatics - Special Issue on Open Data / Open Government Data
by Tim Davies 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

==Journal of Community Informatics: Call for Papers for Special issue on Open Data== **Call for Proposals** The Journal of Community Informatics (http://ci-journal.net) is a focal point for the communication of research that is of interest to a global network of academics, Community Informatics practitioners and national and multi-lateral policy makers. We invite submission of original, unpublished articles for a forthcoming special edition of the Journal that will focus on Open Data. We welcome research articles, case studies and notes from the field. All research articles will be double blind peer-reviewed. Insights and analytical perspectives from practitioners and policy makers in the form of notes from the field or case studies are also encouraged. These will not be peer-reviewed. **Why a special issue on Open Data** In many countries across the world, discussions, policies and developments are actively emerging around open access to government data. It is believed that opening up government data to citizens is critical for enforcing transparency and accountability within the government. Open data is also seen as holding the potential to bring about greater citizens’ participation, empowering citizens to ask questions of their governments via not only the data that is made openly available but also through the interpretations that different stakeholders make of the open data. Besides advocacy for open data on grounds of democracy, it is also argued that opening government data can have significant economic potential, generating new industries and innovations. Whilst some open government data initiatives are being led by governments, other open data projects are taking a grassroots approach, collecting and curating government data in reusable digital formats which can be used by specific communities at the grassroots and/or macro datasets that can be used/received/applied in different ways in different local/grassroots contexts. INGOs, NGOs and various civil society and community based organizations are also getting involved with open data activities, from sharing data they hold regarding aid flows, health, education, crime, land records, demographics, etc, to actively sourcing public data through freedom of information and right to information acts. The publishing of open data on the Internet can make it part of a global eco-system of data, and efforts are underway in technology, advocacy and policy-making communities to develop standards, approaches and tools for linking and analysing these new open data resources. At the same time, there are questions surrounding the very notion of ‘openness’, primarily whether openness and open data have negative repercussions for particular groups of citizens in certain social, geographic, political, demographic, cultural and other grassroots contexts. In sum then, what we find in society today is not only various practices relating to open data, but also an active shift in paradigms about access and use of information and data, and notions of “openness” and “information/data”. These emerging/renewed paradigms are also configuring/reconfiguring understandings and practices of “community” and “citizenship”. We therefore find it imperative to engage with crucial questions that are emerging from these paradigm shifts as well as the related policy initiatives, programmatic action and field experiences. **Some of the questions that we hope this special issue will explore are:** 1) How are citizens’ groups, grassroots organizations, NGOs, diverse civil society associations and other public and private entities negotiating with different arms of the state to provide access to government data both in the presence and absence of official open data policies, freedom/right of information legislations and similar commitments on the part of governments? 2) What are the various models of open data that are operational in practice in different parts of the world? What are the different ways in which open data are being used by and for the grassroots and what are the impacts (positive, negative, paradoxical) of such open data for communities and groups at the grassroots? 3) Who/which actors are involved in opening up what kinds of data? What are their stakes in opening up such data and making it available for the public? 4) What are the different technologies that are being used for publishing, storing and archiving open data? What are the challenges/issues that various grassroots users and the stakeholders, experience with respect to these technologies i.e., design, scale, costs, dissemination of the open data to different publics and realizing the potential of open data? 5) What notions of openness and publicness are at work in both policies as well as initiatives concerning open data and what impacts do these notions have on grassroots’ practitioners and users? 6) Following from the above, what are the implications of opening up different kinds of data for privacy, security and local level practices and information systems? **Thematic focus** The following suggested areas of thematic focus (policy, technology, uses, impacts) give a non-exhaustive list of potential topic areas for articles or case studies. The core interest of the special issue is addressing each of these themes from, or taking into account, grassroots, local citizen and community perspectives. A) Different policy and practice approaches to open data and open government data B) Diverse uses of open data and their impacts C) Technologies that are deployed for implementing open data and their implications D) Critical assessments of stakeholders and stakes in opening up different kinds of data. **Submission** Abstracts are invited in the first instance, to be submitted by e-mail to jociopendata(a)gmail.com. - Deadline for abstracts: 31st March 2011 - Deadline for complete paper submissions: 15th September 2011 - Publication date is forthcoming Please send abstracts, in the first instance, of up to 300 words to jociopendata(a)gmail.com. For information about JCI submission requirements, including author guidelines, please visit: http://www.ci-journal.net/index.php/ciej/about/submissions#onlineSubmissions **Guest Editors** Zainab Bawa -Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) RAW fellow bawazainab79(a)gmail.com Tim Davies - Director, Practical Participation ( http://www.practicalparticipation.co.uk/odi/ tim(a)practicalparticipation.co.uk | @timdavies | +447834856303

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Call for Chapters: Virtual Professional Development and Informal Learning via Social Networks
by Jennifer Myers 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

CALL FOR CHAPTER PROPOSALS Virtual Professional Development and Informal Learning via Social Networks Edited by Dr. Vanessa P. Dennen and Jennifer B. Myers, Florida State University Introduction People are increasingly engaged in profession-related learning via social networks supported by Web 2.0 tools. Some of these informal online learners are already actively engaged in a profession, whereas others are preparing to enter a profession. Regardless, their online interactions enhance their formal education and face-to-face professional experiences. These individuals represent a sub-set of their larger professional community, not all of which has sought or may wish to seek online interaction. Still, the robust nature of these online communities, often developed in a bottom-up fashion, indicates the value of Web 2.0-based interaction for at least some people. Informal, voluntary professional development activities allow professionals to focus on individual learning needs as they arise. These opportunities do not replace formal education and training, which should focus on core knowledge and skills within the profession. Instead, they enhance formal experiences by providing a platform through which individualization, social networking, mentoring, and knowledge brokering all may take place. Thus, the power of informal online learning and professional development is in supporting individuals as they determine their own learning needs and, typically through interaction with others, find pertinent and timely ways of meeting those needs. Ironically, these activities may not be validated by the organizations in which people work as true learning or professional development because they are free to participants, are not typically led by “experts” (or are led by self-proclaimed experts), are socially constructed, may include personal/off-topic chatter, are not formally assessed, and do not result in a certification or degree. Still, the activities fill an important gap in professional learning because they enable on-the-job knowledge exchange and teach what is not or what cannot be taught in formal environments. Objective of the Book This edited volume will examine how individuals and organizations are using Web 2.0 tools to create informal learning and professional development opportunities. Informal learning is learning which occurs outside of a formal educational context, typically driven by a personal question or an immediate need. In other instances, informal learning may occur as a by-product of other social interactions. In this context, we focus on informal learning that occurs through online social networks on a voluntary basis. Professional development, then, is defined as learning that will enhance one's job-related knowledge or career growth regardless of field. Some of the technologies that will be examined in this volume include but are not limited to Twitter, blogging, discussion forums, social bookmarking tools, You Tube, and Wikis. Particular phenomena that will be addressed include: knowledge brokering (e.g., cross-pollination of institutional knowledge); ongoing online support communities; event-based communities (e.g. conference tweeting, current event blogging); cognitive apprenticeship via shared online narratives; and informal development of knowledge and learning object repositories. Recommended topics The book will cover: · Theories of Social Networks for Professional Development and Informal Learning. · Development of Social Networks for Professional Development and Informal Learning. · Impact of Social Networks on Professional Development and Informal Learning. Suggested topics include, but are not limited to, the following: · pedagogical frameworks for informal online professional development · social networking frameworks for informal online professional development · technology support for informal online professional development · how professional development networks are designed and developed · how norms and practices develop in professional development networks · technologies used for professional development networks · case studies of social network development · evaluations of online professional development networks · empirical research on network interactions in professional development networks · case studies of cognitive apprenticeship, mentoring, and knowledge brokering through online social networks. Submission Procedure Authors are invited to submit chapter proposals on or before March 15 2011. The proposal should consist of a 2-3 page chapter proposal clearly explaining the mission and concerns of his or her proposed chapter. Authors of accepted proposals will be notified by April 15, 2011 about the status of their proposals and sent chapter guidelines. Full chapters are expected to be submitted by August 15, 2011. All submitted chapters will undergo a double-blind review. Contributors may also be requested to serve as reviewers for this project. This publication is anticipated to be released in 2012. Important Dates March 15, 2011: Proposal Submission Deadline April 15, 2011: Notification of Acceptance August 15, 2011: Full Chapter Submission October 15, 2011: Review Results Returned November 15, 2011: Final Chapter Submission Inquiries and submissions can be forwarded electronically (Word document) or by mail to: Dr. Vanessa P. Dennen and Jennifer Myers Department of Educational Psychology and Learning Systems Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL USA 32306-4453 Tel.: +1 850-644-8783 • Fax: +1 850-644-8776 E-mail: vdennen(a)fsu.edu and jab07s(a)fsu.edu Joint account: dennen.myers.book(a)gmail.com

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Design Perspectives Lecture: The Story of Design Factory
by Ken Friedman 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

Dear Colleagues, If you are in Melbourne, Australia, on March 16th, we invite you to join us at Swinburne University for a presentation by Kalevi Ekman of the Helsinki Design Factory. Design Factory is a unique center of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurial action where students of technology, engineering, and design work in multi-disciplinary teams to solve real problems for business, industry, and the public sector. If you can join us, please do. Details below. Yours, Ken Friedman -- FREE PUBLIC LECTURE: 16 March 2011 Swinburne University Design Perspectives Lecture Series: Design Factory’s Kalevi Ekman The story of the Aalto University Design Factory, a passion-based co-creation platform for learning and entrepreneurial action When: Wednesday 16th March, 2pm to 3.30pm Where: Swinburne University of Technology Faculty of Design PA Building Lecture Theatre (PA309) Prahran Campus (144 High Street) Design Factory provides innovative programs in product development and entrepreneurship at Finland’s Aalto University. It embraces approaches to teaching, learning, and entrepreneurial action pioneered at Stanford University. Design Factory brings student teams together from design, economics, engineering and technology to develop new prototype products for Finnish industry. Commissioning corporations provide 15,000 Euros ($20,650 AUD) to support projects running for two semesters. Students collaborate with industry, and many students establish successful businesses while studying. Located in Otaniemi, Finland, the Design Factory building hosts courses, research projects, and start-up companies, as well as short-term co-operation projects. Kalevi Ekman (Eetu): Eetu is the Director of Design Factory and Professor of Machine Design at Aalto University School of Science and Technology. He also leads the Product Development Project and was named Otaniemi of the Year in 2009. For more about Design Factory go to: http://aaltodesignfactory.fi/ RSVP by Monday 14th March. Send RSVP to: hngo(a)swin.edu.au with the subject line: Design Factory or phone Henry Ngo on 03 9214 6871

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Conference reminder: "Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries..." in Bremen
by Klaus Rummler 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

- Sorry for crossposting -* * *Reminder: * *"Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries in convergent environments" Conference* Monday to Tuesday, March 21st to 22nd, 2011 in Bremen, Germany Register for the conference and / or for the MirandaModBremen at: http://www.londonmobilelearning.net/registration_bremen.php Preliminary programme: http://www.londonmobilelearning.net/downloads/Bremen_prelim_programme_2011-… Twitter #MLCB: http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23mlcb The conference is hosted by the University of Bremen, run by the Department for Media Education and Design of Multimodal Learning Environments and by the Institute Technology and Education (ITB) in association with the London Mobile Learning Group (LMLG), Pontydysgu and MirandaNet. The 'Mobile learning: Crossing boundaries in convergent environments' Conference builds on a series of mobile learning research symposia hosted by the WLE Centre for Excellence at the Institute of Education, University of London between 2007 and 2009. It will focus on the challenges of developing new pedagogic approaches and on the potential of mobile devices for learning in formal and informal contexts. As mobile learning is not only about learning with mobile technologies, but also considered to be "new" learning, the conference will look at challenges for research and practice in understanding the changing social and technological structures allowing the use of technology for learning that are present in our personal lives, in school and in work places. Thus mobile learning crosses the boundary of institutional learning and looks at practical fields like work-based learning and medicine, too. Also, the conference will look at the latest developments in hardware and software which can support personalised learning. By focusing on theory and practice, development and use, teaching and learning, formal and informal contexts, the conference intends to offer spaces for researchers, practitioners, developers, the industry and policy makers to exchange ideas, experiences and research around issues and approaches to mobile learning, including sociological and educational issues and their effectiveness and desirability as learning spaces as well as the design of environments. The conference is preceded by the EduCamp, a BarCamp for people interested in media and learning, which will take place in Bremen from March 19-20, 2011. In collaboration with MirandaNet, the conference is running a MirandaMod (Twitter: #MirandaModBremen) on March 21, 2011 which addresses teachers and practitioners who are interested in teaching and learning with new technologies. Pontydysgu will broadcast their live internet radio show "Sounds of the Bazaar LIVE Radio Programme" from the conference. Further information is available at the conference website: _http://bremen.londonmobilelearning.net <http://bremen.londonmobilelearning.net/>_. The conference fee is 50 EUR We look forward to seeing you in Bremen. The Organising Committee * Klaus Rummler (LMLG; University of Bremen, FB12, Department for Media Education and Design of Multimodal Learning Environments) * Judith Seipold (LMLG; Bremen) * Prof. Karsten Wolf (University of Bremen, FB12, Department for Media Education and Design of Multimodal Learning Environments) * Prof. Norbert Pachler (LMLG; Institute of Education, University of London) * Dr. Eileen Lübcke (University of Bremen, Institute Technology and Education (ITB)) * Graham Attwell (LMLG; Pontydysgu)

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Deadline Extension of WS-11(ITeS 2011), SAINT2011, Munich (July18-22)
by Tetsuro Kobayashi 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

Workshop Paper Submission deadline is EXTENDED to March 10, 2011. SAINT2011 : The 11th IEEE/IPSJ International Symposium on Applications and the Internet http://www.saintconference.org/ WS-11: The Fourth Workshop on IT-enabled Services (ITeS 2011) http://snowman.nagaokaut.ac.jp/saint/workshop-CFPaper/index.html Call For Workshop Papers: Since 2008, the Workshops of ITeS have attracted varieties of contributors, including government, business and researchers. We invite all who are interested in open up the frontier of collaborative development of application of Internet --- the application in ITeS. Topic of Interests: Business model and Applications of IT-enabled Services Contents Provision and IT-enabled Services IT-enabled Service Platform Management Effective use of Ubiquitous network architecture IT-enabled Services in Medical Practices Conflicts and IT-enabled Services Protection of Privacy and Security in IT-enabled Services Paper Submission: Workshop paper submission will be done electronically. Information for prospective authors, including paper format and instructions can be found on the SAINT Web page (http://www.saintconference.org/) Workshop Organizers Hitoshi OKADA, NII, Japan Shiro UESUGI, Matsuyama University, Japan ---- Tetsuro Kobayashi NII, Japan

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CFP: Ethnographic Fiction & Speculative Design Workshop
by Anne Galloway 04 Mar '11

04 Mar '11

*apologies for cross-posting* CFP: Ethnographic Fiction & Speculative Design Workshop http://www.designculturelab.org/ethnographic-fiction-speculative-design-wor… Ethnographic Fiction and Speculative Design is a full-day workshop at the 5th International Conference on Communities & Technologies–C&T 2011, in Brisbane, Australia, 29 June-2 July, 2011. Position papers are due 1 April, 2011. Please email submissions to speculativedesign(a)gmail.com. Introduction While pervasive technology development and implementation proceed apace, the potential social and cultural implications – including the ways in which end user communities can be active participants in these processes – remain underexplored. The inherent invisibility of the technological infrastructure required to support these emerging networks makes it difficult to identify which objects around us might have computational capacities, or what those capacities might be. Without that sort of tangible knowledge, it is also difficult to imagine how such networks stand to reconfigure individual identities and social interactions, or how access, data privacy and ownership might be managed. Manifesting this knowledge in concrete, but not necessarily real or true, ways can be seen as a crucial first step in providing communities the means to productively engage such issues and concerns. UK designers Dunne and Raby have long argued that critical and speculative design have the “ability to make abstract issues tangible” and could be a valuable addition to “public debates about the social, cultural and ethical impact on everyday life of emerging and future technologies.” Bruce Sterling conjures design fiction as a way to engage cultural imaginaries, and Julian Bleecker more pointedly defines design fiction as a means of “questioning how technology is used and its implications, speculating about the course of events…and incit[ing] imagination-filling conversations about alternative futures.” But are all alternatives equal? And how can we use these future visions to act in the present? Goals of the Workshop This full-day workshop aims to explore how grounded ethnographic and action research methods can be transformed into fictional and speculative designs that provide people the kinds of experiences and tools that can lead to direct community action in the development and implementation of new pervasive technologies. “Ethnographic fiction is a form that blends the fact-gathering research of an anthropologist with the storytelling imagination of a fiction writer. It is not a true story, but it aims to depict a world that could be as it is told and that was discovered through anthropological research.” – Tobias Hecht In the first half of the workshop, individual participants will be invited to present brief position papers on issues related to the use of ethnographic research as a means for engaging multiple publics and speculative design as a means of enabling community action related to new pervasive technologies. “The speculative design process doesn’t necessarily define a specific problem to solve, but establishes a provocative starting point from which a design process emerges. The result is an evolution of fluctuating iteration and reflection using designed objects to provoke questions and stimulate discussion in academic and research settings.” – Nikhil Mitter Issues raised in the papers and discussions will be used to create design briefs for the second half of the workshop. Small groups will work collaboratively to complete the briefs and present the results to the group at the end of the day. Participation Authors are invited to submit 2-4 page position papers (in CHI Publications Format), on topics including, but not limited to: * Creative non-fiction and/or ethnographic fiction as methodology * Social and cultural issues related to pervasive computing * Speculative design, design fiction and/or critical design * Action research, community-based and/or public technology initiatives Accepted papers will be compiled and made available online, along with the design briefs and other workshop documentation. High-quality submissions will be considered for a journal special issue or edited book. Position papers are due 1 April, 2011. Please email submissions to speculativedesign(a)gmail.com Important dates Submission of position papers 1 April, 2011 Notifications of acceptance 30 April, 2011 Final papers due 27 May, 2011 Workshop 30 June, 2011 Organisers Dr Anne Galloway is Deputy Head, School of Architecture and Senior Lecturer, School of Design at Victoria University of Wellington. Dr Ben Kraal is Research Fellow with the People and Systems Lab, Queensland University of Technology. Professor Jo Tacchi is Deputy Dean, Research and Innovation in the School of Media and Communication, RMIT. -- Dr Anne Galloway Deputy Head, School of Architecture Senior Lecturer, School of Design Victoria University of Wellington PO Box 600, Wellington 6140 Aotearoa - New Zealand +64 04 463 6230 www.plsj.org / www.designculturelab.org / www.spaceandculture.org

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International Conference on Latin American Cybercultural Studies - website and registration
by Tori Holmes 03 Mar '11

03 Mar '11

Dear all, the website for the International Conference on Latin American Cybercultural Studies, to be held at the University of Liverpool on 19-20 May 2011, is now live athttp://latamcyber.wordpress.com. It provides a range of information about the conference including a provisional programme and abstracts, and details of the conference venue and accommodation options. You can also download the electronic conference poster and registration form direct from the site - the deadline for registration is 31 March 2011. Best wishes, Tori -- Tori Holmes PhD student in Latin American cyberculture School of Cultures, Languages and Area Studies University of Liverpool Personal university page: http://bit.ly/6ZDAN International Conference on Latin American Cybercultural Studies http://latamcyber.wordpress.com Latin American cyberculture and cyberliterature research project: http://www.liv.ac.uk/soclas/research/lacyberculture/index.htm

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semantic technology and education
by Klobucar, Philip A. 03 Mar '11

03 Mar '11

Dear listserv, A recent panel I was on at the Writing Across Borders conference in Fairfax, VA discussed varying levels of confidence among writing professors in automated scoring technologies. I have been working consistently in my field (Digital Humanities) over the past year, looking at advances in natural-language processing and their effect on writing curricula. Different software developers alert me from time to time to their projects in semantic technology and AI, wondering how such work may be used in education and writing. So... My request: As this field begins to mature, I'm wondering what kind of collections or archives already exist regarding semantic or language processing technology and education. My index so far seems quite minor. Is anyone on this list analyzing these developments? Thanks in advance, Andrew Klobucar Assistant Professor Communication and Media Department of Humanities New Jersey Institute of Technology v

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