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For information: Call for Bids on Redesign of ICANN.ORG
by Fouad Bajwa 22 Dec '10

22 Dec '10

Hi, I am sharing this for information only should you have any links with contractors/vendors interested in working on a $100k value ICANN.org redesign project. The ICANN RFP Details and Q&A for vendors and contractors can be read below and also found on: https://community.icann.org/display/WebRedesign/Home -- Regards. -------------------------- Fouad Bajwa ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: Scott Pinzon <scott.pinzon(a)icann.org> Date: Fri, Dec 17, 2010 at 5:06 AM Subject: Call for Bids on Redesign of ICANN.ORG To: Scott Pinzon <scott.pinzon(a)icann.org> Cc: Marc Salvatierra <marc.salvatierra(a)icann.org> Dear Web Development Professional, I’m sending this email to you to solicit proposals for the redesign and redevelopment of the flagship website of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN): http://www.icann.org. ICANN is a not-for-profit partnership of people from all over the world dedicated to keeping the Internet secure, stable and interoperable. It promotes competition and develops policy on the Internet’s unique identifiers (primarily, domain names, IP addresses, and port/parameter numbers). ICANN existed for 11 years with no formal communications department. This year ICANN at last formed a dynamic new communications and marketing department. But when you look at ICANN.ORG today, you can see that the site grew organically and without a master aesthetic. As a result, visitors to our site cannot always complete their tasks. We are hoping that your organization’s skill and talent might provide the solution to this problem. The attached Request for Proposals conveys the results of our research into who comes to ICANN.ORG and what they try to do. We seek a new role-based navigation scheme that plays to six main visitor personas we’ve identified. In addition, volunteers do most of the policy work that ICANN is known for. Our redesigned site should provide a hybrid platform that allows ICANN staff to use a CMS for authoritative content, while our volunteer community can also collaborate and contribute content by using wiki software. Our RFP is attached in two parts: the RFP itself, a Word doc that also contains our “Tone and Vision” requirements as an appendix; and an Excel file that lists our detailed requirements. We’ve tried our best to communicate our vision and detailed requirements in these attachments. Please feel free to ask me any clarifying questions and I will convey them to the appropriate parties for response. (In most cases you will be interacting with Marc Salvatierra, ICANN’s Manager of Web Development.) We ask for your detailed responses to our RFP by 17 January, 2011. (Note that due to ICANN’s international holiday hours, we will not be available to interact with you from 24 December to 3 January.) We’re excited at the prospect of having an appealing new website in 2011 and hope you bring your best skills to bear on your proposal to us. Thanks for your time and consideration. Best Regards, -- sp . . . . . . . . . . . . Scott Pinzon, CISSP Director of Marketing and Outreach ICANN +1 (310) 279 2655 -- Regards. -------------------------- Fouad Bajwa

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Additional Amer Soc Assoc session
by Barry Wellman 21 Dec '10

21 Dec '10

In addition to the nice CITASA sessions being organized for the American Sociological Association annual meeting, I have also been asked to organize one for the Regular program. This is called "Internet and Communication Technologies." It will be refereed and you will need, as per ASA rules, to submit a full paper online via the ASA website by January 13 2011. The conference will be August 13-16, 2011. HOWEVER, ASA has just pulled out of Chicago because of union disputes, so the WHERE is unknown now. Don't ask me: go to asanet.org for info on WHERE and also to submit your paper -- do NOT send directly to me. Typically, an ASA session holds 4 papers, 20 minutes each. To forestall Qs, I like qual & quant. evidence. I don't like B.S. or proposals. Good luck, Barry Wellman _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 University of Toronto Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 twitter:barrywellman http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________

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CFP: Games and Innovation Research Seminar
by Olli Sotamaa 21 Dec '10

21 Dec '10

FYI. Abstract Deadline: February 7, 2011 Olli Postdoctroral Fellow University of Tampere ------- Games and Innovation Research Seminar May 5th-6th, 2011, University of Tampere http://gamesandinnovationseminar.wordpress.com/ The present seminar aims at bringing together scholars of games and innovation from diverse fields and stimulating dialogue between them. Moreover, the goal of the seminar is to encourage the further development of rigorous academic research on the topic while keeping the work accessible to game professionals. The games industry carries the image of innovation and creativity, but still we know relatively little about the innovation processes that take place within the industry. To date, games and innovation have been studied in several disparate fields, including cultural studies, design research and industrial economics and management. Perhaps due to such a fragmented nature of academic work on the subject, the bulk of the influential work on games and innovation is found in practically oriented guidebooks authored by experienced games industry experts. The seminar is welcoming submissions on the praxis of game development, the characteristics of innovation in game context, supply and demand for innovation in games, creativity and games, and the relationship of game innovation and legal practices. It has been argued that the growing level of concentration of the games industry has rendered innovation virtually non-existent in game development. The submissions are encouraged to comment on this claim. What is innovation in games? How does it manifest? Can you measure it? How has it changed since digital games were first introduced? Is creativity in games domain-specific? What is the status of innovation praxis within games industry? Possible topics include, but are not limited to: * Game production processes, design processes and design tools * Game industry dynamics and game development * Roles of different individuals and different types of firms in game innovation * Classifications of innovation in games * Historical and local perspectives on games and innovation * Emerging trends in game innovation * Game ideation and creativity * Vision communication * Prototyping and testing practices * Player driven and data driven game innovation * Open innovation, co-innovation, participatory design * Indie development * Game competitions, game jams * The role of legislation in innovation, intellectual property and patents * Interaction of hardware and software innovation We also encourage researchers of non-digital games to submit on related topics. The seminar is the seventh in the annual series of game studies working paper seminars organised by Game Research Lab at University of Tampere. Due to the work-in-progress emphasis, we strongly encourage submitting late breaking results, working papers and/or submissions from graduate students. Early considerations from projects currently in progress are most welcome, as the purpose of the seminar is to have peer-to-peer discussions and thereby provide support in refining and improving research work in this area. Tentative plans have been made on a book publication of selected papers. The papers to be presented will be chosen based on extended abstract review. Full papers are distributed prior the event to all participants, in order to facilitate discussion. The two-day event consists of themed sessions that aim to introduce current research projects and discuss ongoing work in studies of games industry, innovation and design processes. The seminar will be chaired by Professor Frans Mäyrä (Department of Information Studies and Interactive Media, University of Tampere). Invited paper commentators include Dr. Mirva Peltoniemi from Aalto University School of Science and Technology. The second commentator will be announced later. The seminar will be held in Tampere, Finland and will be free of charge; the number of participants will be restricted. Important Dates * Abstract Deadline: February 7, 2011 * Notification of Acceptance: February 21, 2011 * Full Paper deadline: April 7, 2011 * Seminar dates: May 5-6, 2010 Submission Guidelines The extended abstract submissions should be between 500-1000 words (excluding references). Abstracts should be sent to as plain text only (no attachments). Guidelines for submitting a full seminar paper will be provided with the notification of acceptance. Our aim is that everyone participating has been able to read materials submitted to the seminar. Therefore, the maximum length for a full paper is set to 6000 words (excluding references). Note also that the presentations held at the seminar should encourage discussion, instead of only repeating the information presented in the papers. Tentatively, every paper will be presented for 10 minutes and discussed for 20 minutes. Seminar web site: http://gamesandinnovationseminar.wordpress.com/ Organised by: http://gamelab.uta.fi

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Announcing the AoIR Book Award
by Mia Consalvo 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Hello all, I'm happy to announce that AoIR has instituted a new award to recognize excellence in internet-related scholarship. In creating this award, we want to extend AoIR's reach, recognizing and promoting excellent research that goes beyond conference presentations. We are truly excited about this new award, and invite all those eligible to apply. We will accept nominations (self and other) for Best Internet Research-Related Book, for the past year (i.e. 2010). Any single authored book published in that time frame related to Internet research is eligible for the award. The committee to select this award is notable for its own contributions to the field and includes Steve Jones, Sonia Livingstone, and Peng Hwa Ang. Submissions for consideration must be sent to Steve Jones by February 1, 2011. Three copies of the book should be submitted to him at the following address: Prof. Steve Jones; Department of Communication (m/c 132); University of Illinois at Chicago; 1007 W. Harrison St.; Chicago, IL 60607; USA. The winner of the award will be announced in the spring of 2011. In addition to winning a cash prize, the individual will also be invited to participate as a featured speaker at the next AoIR conference, on a topic of their choosing. Please contact Steve at sjones(a)uic.edu or Mia at consalvo(a)mit.eduif you have any questions about this process. all the best, Mia -- 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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Help Gephi to export your data to Pajek, UCINET and Netdraw
by Sébastien Heymann 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Dear all, The Gephi project, an open source graph exploration tool, wants to let the users export their data in various formats like Pajek (NET), UCINET (DL) and Netdraw (VNA). We believe that interoperability between graph viz softwares is necessary as each one is better depending on the situation. Researchers shouldn't be locked by their data format, however as no unique graph file format is adopted, we choose to support as much formats as possible. That's why Gephi currently imports data in GML, GDF, GraphML, Pajet NET, Graphviz DOT and more...but currently lacks of exporters. The Gephi team is too small to quickly work on these features, so here is when you enter in action: We are experimenting a new way to attract developers and invite them to develop the features you want. As briefly explained in our blog ( http://gephi.org/2010/fund-a-new-gephi-feature/ ), we use Fundry, a crowdfunding platform ready for open innovation, to pledge for specific improvements like file exporters: https://fundry.com/project/20-gephi If you have some time but no money, code an exporter and you'll get paid depending on how much other people are ready to give. If you have some money but no time, pledge for an exporter you need to increase the chance to see it implemented. Kind regards, Sebastien Heymann http://gephi.org

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Re: [Air-L] Virtual Worlds and MMOGS
by Di Shaw 20 Dec '10

20 Dec '10

Hi, For an anthropological perspective: Boellstorff, T. (2008). Coming of age in second life: an anthropologist explores the virtually human. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Di

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JITP 2011: The Future of Computational Social Science - Deadline for full paper submissions is January 15
by Stuart Shulman 19 Dec '10

19 Dec '10

JITP 2011: The Future of Computational Social Science CALL FOR PAPERS May 16 & 17, 2011 at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA The 3rd annual, two-day Journal of Information Technology & Politics (JITP) thematic conference will be in Seattle, Washington, coordinated by the Department of Political Science and the Center for American Politics and Public Policy (CAPPP) at the University of Washington. APPROACH Computational social science is an emergent field and source of new theoretical and methodological innovation for social science more broadly. Multidisciplinary teams of social and computer scientists are increasingly common in the lab and at workshops where cross-fertilization occurs in the areas of theory, data, methods, and tools. Peer-reviewed interdisciplinary work is becoming more common as the computational tools and techniques of computer science are being used by social scientists. Previously, large-scale computational processing was the purview of expensive, university-centric computing labs. Now, with the democratization of technology, universities and for-profit firms increasingly provide large amounts of inexpensive computing power to researchers and citizens alike. It is the potential of these new computational technologies and related Web-based platforms for research, politics, and governance that led to the creation of the Journal of Information Technology & Politics. Previous special issues on "Text Annotation for Political Science" 5(1), "Politics: Web 2.0" 6(3/4), "YouTube and the 2008 Election Cycle in the United States" 7(2/3), and "The Politics of Open Source" (in production) have focused the attention of researchers on the expansive new landscape of digital democracy as well as the architecture and tools that underpin it. In their 2009 Science article, David Lazer and colleagues highlighted some of the future challenges for scholars working in this area. "Computational social science could become the exclusive domain of private companies and government agencies. Alternatively, there might emerge a privileged set of academic researchers presiding over private data from which they produce papers that cannot be critiqued or replicated. Neither scenario will serve the long-term public interest of accumulating, verifying, and disseminating knowledge." Luckily, the phenomenon of computational social science is distributed so widely and found in such variety that these scenarios are unlikely. The trends towards openness and data and tool sharing are notable breakthroughs in a sphere where proprietary approaches dominate. Data, method, and tool transparency are increasingly watchwords for governments and researchers. With this background in mind, we invite a wide range of paper submissions on the future of computational social science. Submissions may include, but are not limited to: * Applications of information theory to social science research * Methodologies and tools for studying users and information on social media services * Projects featuring novel uses of computer assisted qualitative data analysis software * Large-scale empirical analysis and modeling * Web technologies and data mining * Interdisciplinary methodologies in collaborative research * Pedagogical issues in computational social science * Computer simulations in political science education and training * Concepts from social sciences enhanced by computation, such as social network analysis * Innovation in socio-technical network and infrastructure analysis PAPER SUBMISSIONS Authors are invited to prepare and submit to JITP a research paper, policy viewpoint, workbench note, or teaching innovation manuscript by January 15, 2011. Proposals for full panel presentations will also be accepted. Please contact the conference manager to discuss panels. Papers accepted for publication will be invited to revise and resubmit their articles for publication in a special issue, or double issue, of JITP. Authors should "establish membership" at the JITP website, http://www.jitp.net, to submit a paper. Follow the instructions for regular article submissions, being sure to indicate that the paper is for JITP2011 in the comments section. Papers will be put through an expedited, blind peer review process by the Program Committee, and authors will be notified about a decision by March 1, 2011. A small number of papers will be accepted for presentation at the conference. Other paper authors will be invited to present a poster during an evening reception. KEYNOTE SPEAKER JITP 2011 is pleased to welcome Jaime Teevan as the 2011 Keynote Speaker. Jaime is a researcher in the Context, Learning, and User Experience for Search (CLUES) Group at Microsoft Research. Her work explores how our digital past can help shape our future information interactions. Jaime was named a Technology Review (TR35) 2009 Young Innovator for her research on personalized search. She co-authored the first book on collaborative Web search, and is co-chair of the Web Search and Data Mining (WSDM) 2012 conference. BEST PAPER AND POSTER CASH PRIZES The author (or authors) of the best research paper will receive a cash prize. The creator (or creators) of the best poster/research presentation will also receive a cash prize. PROGRAM COMMITTEE Gil ad Ariely, Lauder School of Government Diplomacy and Strategy, Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya Paul M. Baker, Georgia Institute of Technology David M. Berry, Swansea University, UK. Chris Bronk, Rice University Jana Diesner, Carnegie Mellon University Muzammil M. Hussain, University of Washington Daniel Katz, Fellow, University of Michigan, Center for the Study of Complex Systems Jacob Groshek, Iowa State University Baden Hughes, University of Melbourne Andrea Kavanaugh, Virginia Tech Georgios Lappas, Technological Educational Institution of Western Macedonia, Greece Azi Lev-On, Ariel University Center Ignacio J. Martinez-Moyano, Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago Bruce Neubauer, Albany State University Andre Oboler, Monash University, Australia Justin Reedy, University of Washington Joseph W. Roberts, Roger Williams University Scott Robertson, University of Hawaii Derek Ruths, McGill University Chirag Shah, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey Mack Shelley, Iowa State University Stuart Shulman, University of Massachusetts Amherst, co-chair Anas Tawileh, Cardiff University, UK John Wilkerson, University of Washington, co-chair -- Stuart Shulman President & CEO Texifter, LLC <http://www.texifter.com/> Have you tried DiscoverText? http://discovertext.com *Featuring the Facebook Graph & Twitter APIs*

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Postdoc opportunity: Media, Activism, Participatory Politics, USC Annenberg
by Zhan Li 18 Dec '10

18 Dec '10

Hi! If it is of interest, please would you forward this notice to your listserv. Thank you! > > Please read and forward as you think relevant! Thanks! > > ------------------------------------------------------------- > USC's Annenberg School for Communication is seeking a Postdoctoral > Research Associate to join its Media, Activism, Participatory > Politics (MAPP) Case Studies Project. > > The Postdoctoral Research Associate will assume significant > responsibility in conducting case study based research for the > Project. This research will investigate the continuities between > participatory culture and civic engagement. As such, qualified > candidates should be aware of current research trends in fan > studies, civics, globalization and/or media studies and should be > ready to apply that knowledge to the case study research. > > The Postdoctoral Research Associate will have earned an advanced > degree and/or conducted previous qualitative research in one or > more of the above listed areas. Successful candidates must be able > to work independently and apply knowledge of domestic and > international participatory cultures and civic action to the > development of innovative models of civic learning and identity. > Fluency in one foreign language, especially Spanish, is strongly > preferred. The Postdoctoral Research Associate will report to the > Project's Research Director. > > The University of Southern California (USC), founded in 1880, is > located in the heart of downtown L.A. and is the largest private > employer in the City of Los Angeles. As an employee of USC, you > will be a part of a world-class research university and a member of > the "Trojan Family," which is comprised of the faculty, students > and staff that make the university what it is. > > Job Accountabilities: > > Serves as a research trainee for the purpose of enhancing and > developing research competencies. Participates in planning, > designing and conducting highly technical and complex research > projects under the direction of a supervisor. May or may not work > independently.Identifies, researches, compiles and evaluates data > sources, background information and/or technology related to area > of specialization. > Analyzes and evaluates research data utilizing computers and > provides interpretations requiring significant knowledge of a > specialized area of research. Searches literature, utilizing all > available resources including electronic, regarding new methodology > and designs experiments accordingly. > Contributes to the development of research documentation for > publication and/or prepares technical reports, papers and/or records. > Performs other related duties as assigned or requested. The > University reserves the right to add or change duties at any time. > The University of Southern California values diversity and is > committed to equal opportunity in employment. > > more information about posted position and application details: > https://jobs.usc.edu/applicants/jsp/shared/frameset/Frameset.jsp?time=12869… > > -- > Zhan Li > USC PhD Student (Organizational Communication) > Research Manager, USC Annenberg Scenario Lab > http://www.uscscenariolab.com > Research Assistant for Prof. Henry Jenkins > Teaching Assistant for Prof. Laura Portwood-Stacer > zhanli(a)usc.edu +1 (213) 590-4958 twitter:thezhanly >

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Virtual Worlds and MMOGS
by Andrew Herman 18 Dec '10

18 Dec '10

Friends- If you were to suggest two or three canonical/essential readings on persistent virtual worlds, especially of the MMOG variety, what would you suggest. Also, aside from Castranova and Malaby, who would you suggest for economics of virtual worlds. AH Andrew Herman, Ph. D. Associate Professor and Chairperson Department of Communication Studies Graduate Program in Cultural Analysis and Social Theory Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5 CANADA 519 884-1970 x3693

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Governments shouldn’t have a monopoly on Internet governance
by jeremy hunsinger 18 Dec '10

18 Dec '10

sign the petition below, if you agree with it:) various orgs have signed it, iamcr, etc. http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/igf/ > > >> From: GLIGOR1(a)aol.com >> Date: December 17, 2010 7:16:25 PM EST >> >> Subject: Governments shouldn’t have a monopoly on Internet governance >> >> >> Governments shouldn’t have a monopoly on Internet governance >> >> 12/17/2010 07:00:00 AM >> The beauty of the Internet is that it’s not controlled by any one group. Its governance is bottoms-up—with academics, non-profits, companies and governments all working to improve this technological wonder of the modern world. This model has not only made the Internet very open—a testbed for innovation by anyone, anywhere—it's also prevented vested interests from taking control. >> >> But last week the UN Committee on Science and Technology announced that only governments would be able to sit on a working group set up to examine improvements to the IGF—one of the Internet’s most important discussion forums. This move has been condemned by the Internet Governance Caucus, the Internet Society (ISOC), the International Chamber of Commerce and numerous other organizations—who have published a joint letter (PDF) and launched an online petition to mobilize opposition. Today, I have signed that petition on Google’s behalf because we don’t believe governments should be allowed to grant themselves a monopoly on Internet governance. The current bottoms-up, open approach works—protecting users from vested interests and enabling rapid innovation. Let’s fight to keep it that way. >> >> Posted by Vint Cerf, Chief Internet Evangelist >> Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture Virginia Tech Live without dead time. -graffitti Paris 1968

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