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Re: [Air-L] Online Dating Studies
by Sue Malta 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Hi Erhardt The International Journal of Emerging Technologies & Society has a few publications in this area (mainly sociological and one psychological): Dating & Intimacy in the 21st Century: The Use of Online Dating Sites in Australia http://www.swinburne.edu.au/hosting/ijets/journal/V6N1/vol6num1-article2.ht… Internet-Mediated Dating/Romance of Mauritian Early Adolescents: A Grounded Theory Analysis (Komalsingh Rambaree) http://www.swinburne.edu.au/hosting/ijets/journal/V6N1/vol6num1-article3.ht… Imagining Gay Life in the Internet Age or Why I Don*t Internet Date (Robert Reynolds) http://www.swinburne.edu.au/hosting/ijets/journal/V6N1/vol6num1-article1.ht… Finding Love Online: The Nature and Frequency of Australian Adults* Internet Relationships (Elizabeth Hardie and Simone Buzwell) http://www.swinburne.edu.au/hosting/ijets/journal/V4N1/V4N1abstract_hardie.… Love Actually! Older Adults and their Romantic Internet Relationships (Sue Malta) http://www.swinburne.edu.au/hosting/ijets/journal/V5N2/V5N2abstract_malta.h… And I have a peer-reviewed conference paper: Intimacy and Older Adults: A Comparison Between Online and Offline Romantic Relationships http://www.tasa.org.au/conferences/conferencepapers08/Ageing/Malta, Sue, Session 1.pdf Cheers, Sue >>> Erhardt Graeff 24/02/10 3:45 PM >>> I'm preparing to co-lead a core conversation at SXSW on online dating websites and trends. We've been looking at academic work like Judith Donath's as well as the more cheeky but practical research on the OkTrends blog from OkCupid. Does anyone know of good case studies of particular online dating websites, or historical studies of trends in online dating? Sources focusing on website design as well as sociological and psychological aspects would all be helpful. Additionally, any questions about online dating sites and culture that you might be interested in exploring the answers to, or simply discussing, would be great. Thanks, Erhardt ---- Erhardt Graeff 717.919.3145 | @erhardt | http://erhardtgraeff.com http://bettergrads.org | http://goodworkproject.org/research/digital.htm http://webecologyproject.org | http://awesomefoundation.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/

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CFP: Iraq - Between the Present and the Future
by Lina Khatib 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Call for Papers Iraq: Between the Present and the Future Themed issue of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication Themed Issue Editor: Lina Khatib (Stanford University) Papers are solicited for a themed issue of the Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication on “Iraq: Between the Present and the Future”. The purpose of this themed issue is to tease out the cultural, intellectual, artistic, social, and political dynamics in Iraq today and the future vision for those dynamics. The issue aims to understand the challenges and prospects facing Iraq’s present and future on those fronts, while seeking to ground this understanding in an analytical reflection on Iraq’s recent history. Since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, the country has been invariably seen as a victim of Western imperialist aggression, as a prospective democratic state in the making, as the homeland of traumatized peoples on the verge of a civil war, and as a hub of transnational terrorist activities. Discourse on Iraq has been mostly consumed with security issues, hard politics, and economic issues. Literature on how those elements have impacted people’s everyday lives, Iraq’s artistic scene, its cultural milieus and its intellectual arenas deserves to be expanded. Within this framework, this themed issue seeks answers to questions such as: - How have Iraqis co-opted, dissented, and/or resisted Iraq’s political, economic, social and security challenges in their everyday lives? - How has this been mediated in Iraqi art, films, media, and other communication and cultural arenas? - How are ethnic and sectarian tensions being handled in the public sphere and in everyday life and what are the developments in this respect that are being overlooked but which deserve attention? - How can Iraq recover from the trauma of destruction of much of its material culture? - How is Iraq dealing with a traumatic memory that intersects with a traumatic present? - What role have Iraqi (and Arab) intellectuals played in the formation of Iraq’s present? - What is the position of artists, journalists, educators and activists towards the challenges facing Iraq today and what is their vision for its future? - What are the main spaces for dialogue emerging in Iraq that may play a role in shaping a brighter future for the country? - What are the cultural practices through which power is expressed? - How and where is politics performed on the level of the everyday? Scholars from a wide variety of disciplines including geography, international relations, media and communication studies, cultural studies, memory studies, gender studies, sociology, history, anthropology, archaeology, and politics are invited to present innovative responses to those questions in the form of full length articles, shorter reflective essays and critical reviews. Deadline for submission of proposals: 15 May 2010. Notification of acceptance of proposals: 30 May 2010. Deadline for submission of manuscripts for accepted proposals: 1 November 2010. Expected publication date of accepted articles: May 2011. Proposals for articles and reflective essays should be about 500-600 in length. They must clearly describe the proposed approach, and explain the contribution that would be made to the themed issue. Articles should be 6000-7000 words long and include an abstract of not more than 150 words that clearly defines the nature of the article. Reflective essays should be 1500-3000 words and reviews 1000-1500 words. Up to five keywords should be included to identify articles and reflective essays. Please email the proposal to Dr Lina Khatib, co-editor of Middle East Journal of Culture and Communication: lkhatib(a)stanford.edu Please note that all articles will be subject to our peer review process and that the Editors retain the discretion at all stages of the publication process to accept or reject an article. MEJCC is a peer-reviewed journal published by Brill: http://www.brill.nl/mjcc Dr. Lina Khatib Program Manager Program on Good Governance and Political Reform in the Arab World Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law Stanford University http://cddrl.stanford.edu/people/linakhatib/

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Affective fabrics of digital cultures: feelings, technologies, politics [registration details coming soon]
by Adi Kuntsman 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

Dear colleagues, The CFP for this event is now closed. Programme and registration details will be available in March. Early registration is highly recommended. Watch this space!http://www.socialsciences.manchester.ac.uk/ricc/events/digital_affect/index.html 3-4 June 2010, The University of Manchester Plenary speakers: Una Chung (Sarah Lawrence College), Patricia Clough (Queens College, CUNY), Anne-Marie Fortier (Lancaster University), Melissa Gregg (The University of Sydney), Athina Karatzogianni (The University of Hull), Luciana Parisi (Goldsmith, University of London) Organiser: Adi Kuntsman (RICC, The University of Manchester) This two-day international conference brings into creative tension two fields that are receiving growing scholarly attention: cultural studies of affect, public feelings and the politics of emotion, on the one hand, and scholarship on digital culture, new media and information-communication technologies, on the other. The conference aims to create a space for intellectual dialogue between the two fields by examining the relations between technologies, and in particular, new digital technologies – the Internet, digital cinema and photography, mobile communication, CCTVs, computer games – and affective politics. Bringing together contributions from the fields of sociology, media and cultural studies, arts, politics and science and technology studies, the conference will engage with the following questions: How does affect work in on-line networks and digital assemblages? What are the affective regimes of on-line sociality? What kind of perceptions, sensations, affective movements and public feelings emerge in our highly mediated and digitalised environments? What is the cybertouch of war, violence, terror? What are the structures of feeling that operate in the digitalised everyday and computerised ordinary? How can we theorise psycho-political formations of nation, race, empire, population and generation in the age of digital reproduction, mediated visions and globalised communication technologies? How do digital cultures shape our political horizons of fear, anxiety, mourning, hate, hope?

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Online Dating Studies
by Erhardt Graeff 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

I'm preparing to co-lead a core conversation at SXSW on online dating websites and trends. We've been looking at academic work like Judith Donath's as well as the more cheeky but practical research on the OkTrends blog from OkCupid. Does anyone know of good case studies of particular online dating websites, or historical studies of trends in online dating? Sources focusing on website design as well as sociological and psychological aspects would all be helpful. Additionally, any questions about online dating sites and culture that you might be interested in exploring the answers to, or simply discussing, would be great. Thanks, Erhardt ---- Erhardt Graeff 717.919.3145 | @erhardt | http://erhardtgraeff.com http://bettergrads.org | http://goodworkproject.org/research/digital.htm http://webecologyproject.org | http://awesomefoundation.org

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4 PHD MOBILITY SCHOLARSHIPS4 PHD MOBILITY SCHOLARSHIPS
by Brügger Niels 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

4 PHD MOBILITY SCHOLARSHIPS4 PHD MOBILITY SCHOLARSHIPS Applications are invited for 4 mobility scholarships (3-year PhD scholarship) at the Graduate School of Humanities, Faculty of Humanities, Aarhus University, Denmark. These scholarships are available as of 1 September 2010 for at period of up to three years (5+3). Candidates who are awarded the scholarship must commence their PhD programme on 1 September 2010. The PhD scholarship will be financed by the Danish Council for Independent Research under the Danish Agency for Science, Technology and Innovation. Mobility scholarships may be awarded to candidates with qualifying degrees from educational institutions outside Denmark or from Danish educational institutions other than the institution awarding the scholarships. Graduates of Aarhus University are therefore not eligible to apply. Two scholarships are available for studies in the subject areas covered by the ICT, Communication, Media Studies and JournalismPhD programme, and two scholarships are available for studies in the subject areas covered by the Anthropological and Archaeological Studies PhD programme. Deadline for applications: 15 March 2010 at 12 noon. Read more at: http://www.phd.humaniora.au.dk/en/scholarships/vacant/f10_mobil_uk Best wishes, Niels Brügger ------------------------------------------------------------ LATEST PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS January 2010 Website Analysis, Papers from The Centre for Internet Research, 12, The Centre for Internet Research, Aarhus 2010, [ get an electronic copy at: http://www.cfi.au.dk/publikationer/skrifter/012_brugger ] November 2009 Dræber dr.dk dagbladene?, www.kommunikationsforum.dk, 25. november, København 2009, 4 pages [ in Danish ] [ http://www.kommunikationsforum.dk/artikler/draeber-dr-dot-dk-dagbladene ] March 2009 Website history and the website as an object of study, New Media & Society, 11/1-2, Sage, London 2009, 115-132 [ get an electronic copy at: http://nms.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/11/1-2/115?etoc ] INTERESTED IN WEB HISTORY? You may want to join the mailing list webhistory(a)imv.au.dk at http://mail.imv.au.dk/mailman/listinfo/webhistory INTERESTED IN THE HISTORY OF DR.DK? You may want to join the Facebook group "dr.dk's historie" [in Danish] at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=61000607153 NIELS BRÜGGER, Associate Professor, PhD Institute of Information and Media Studies University of Aarhus Helsingforsgade 14 8200 Aarhus N Denmark Phone (switchboard) +45 8942 1111 Phone (direct) +45 8942 9226 Telefax + 45 8942 5950 E-mail nb(a)imv.au.dk Webpage http://imv.au.dk/~nb Profile at LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/50a/555 Profile at Kommunikationsforum [in Danish]: www.kommunikationsforum.dk/Niels-Brugger The Centre for Internet Research http://cfi.imv.au.dk The history of dr.dk, 1996-2006 http://drdk.dk

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Conference Announcement: 50th Anniv of PLATO System (June 2-3, 2010)
by Brian Dear 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

[ Conference Announcement ] "PLATO @ 50" A 2-day Conference Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the PLATO Computer System and its Online Community Co-produced by the PLATO History Foundation and the Computer History Museum, with major support from Microsoft Corporation. WHERE AND WHEN: Computer History Museum Mountain View, California June 2-3, 2010 --> This is a FREE conference and is open to the public. <-- HOW TO REGISTER (FREE): http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1260822096 FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary ABOUT THIS CONFERENCE: This once-in-a-lifetime conference focuses on the history and significance of the PLATO computer system and online community. PLATO began in 1960 as an experimental computer-based education system running on the ILLIAC-1 computer at the University of Illinois. During the 1960s the system expanded greatly and as early as 1963 PLATO offered college courses for credit. One of the pioneering efforts of the 1960s became a true phenomenon by the 1970s, where the PLATO IV system, funded by NSF and ARPA, supported 1000 simultaneous users connected via gas-plasma flat-panel display terminals with built-in touch screens (the gas-plasma flat-panel display was invented for the PLATO system, decades before it would emerge as a television technology for consumers). For nearly ten years, there were more users connected to the various PLATO systems installed around the world in the 1970s and early 80s than there were on all of ARPANET, the major precursor to the Internet. This conference is the first opportunity to discover an entire, amazingly rich and vibrant history of computing, social media, and online community that flourished long before many people would have thought it was possible for such things to exist. A HANDS-ON EVENT: A number of fully-restored, functioning PLATO terminals will be available during the conference for actual hands-on interacting with a live PLATO system that includes thousands of courseware lessons on subjects ranging from elementary math and reading to advanced chemistry and calculus; games (Empire, Avatar, Moria, etc.); and social media (TERM-talk, Talkomatic, Notes, Personal Notes, etc.) WHO SHOULD ATTEND: * Anyone interested in Social Media, Social Software, Blogs, Online Newspapers, Digital Journalism, Online Communities: it all emerged on PLATO years before anywhere else. * Anyone interested in Internet Studies (come find out everything that happened before the Internet took off) and the History of Technology and Computing * Anyone interested in the history of online games, online virtual goods and economies, multiplayer games, MUDs, sports games, card games, simulations, and how PLATO influenced and continues to influence and inspire game development today * Anyone interested in the impact of computers on society, cyberculture, online relationships, online addiction, privacy issues, censorship, and the controversies of anonymous online postings. * Anyone interested in computer-assisted instruction, e-Learning, CBT, computer-based education, authoring systems, online testing and administration. PLATO was the largest government-funded system in the history of educational computing. * Anyone who loves technology, computers, and the Internet, and wants to learn what the Future looked like decades ago, at a time when Google's founders were still in diapers, and Apple and Microsoft had not yet been founded. PRELIMINARY SCHEDULE: (NOTE: SUBJECT TO REVISION - follow the platohistory.org site for updates) [----------- Wednesday June 2 -----------] 6pm-7pm: Reception 7pm: General Introductions, and an Overview of PLATO History Featuring John Hollar, CEO of Computer History Museum, and Brian Dear, PLATO History Foundation 7:20pm: Panel #1: SEEING THE FUTURE THROUGH THE PAST: A CONVERSATION WITH DONALD BITZER AND RAY OZZIE Featuring Dr. Donald Bitzer, Distinguished Research Professor and creator of PLATO, and Ray Ozzie, Chief Software Architect, Microsoft Corporation. Dr. Bitzer was only 26 when he began work on creating the PLATO system in the summer of 1960. Ray Ozzie got his start as a student programmer on PLATO at the University of Illinois in the 1970s, and the experience has guided and inspired his career (which includes creating Lotus Notes, named after PLATO Notes) ever since. [----------- Thursday June 3 -----------] 8am: Coffee 8:30am Morning sessions Panel #2: AN EARLY ONLINE COMMUNITY: PEOPLE PLUS COMPUTING GROWS COMMUNITES Featuring Dave Woolley, Doug Brown, Kim Mast, and others. How PLATO's online community emerged in 1972-73, including one of the first conferencing/message-board systems (PLATO Notes), the first multi-user chat room (Talk-o-matic), one of the first instant messaging applications (TERM-talk), sophisticated remote-monitoring functionality, live online consulting and help, PLATO's electronic mail (Personal Notes), and more. Learn how the PLATO system provided its thousands of users with one of the earliest glimpses of what would be coming decades later with the Internet and Web. Panel #3. PLATO GAMES: AN EARLY, ROBUST COMMUNITY OF MULTI-PLAYER, ONLINE GAMES Featuring Brand Fortner, John Daleske, Andrew Shapira, and others. PLATO's games are legendary and some of the earliest examples of sophisticated multi-player games, including Empire (precursor of NetTrek and dozens of others), Airfight (precursor of Microsoft Flight Simulator), Avatar/Moria/Oubliette/DND (precursors of DOOM, EverQuest, and World of Warcraft), and countless other games. 12:00pm LUNCH INCLUDED 1pm: Afternoon sessions PANEL #4: PLATO SOFTWARE: DRIVEN BY A CLEAR, COMPELLING CHALLENGE Featuring Bruce Sherwood, Michael Walker, Bob Rader, others. Learn about how the PLATO system software evolved over the years, including the powerful TUTOR authoring language, the powerful graphics editors, sophisticated answer judging, and other tools and utilities. PANEL #5: EARLY ON-LINE EDUCATION AND COURSEWARE: LESSONS LEARNED, INSIGHTS GLEANED Featuring Dr. Ruth Chabay and others. Find out the lessons learned from one of the earliest and most major courseware development projects across all areas from elementary education to college-level to industry and government. What can we learn from the evolution of courseware from its designers and their subsequent careers? PANEL #6: PLATO HARDWARE: MISSION-BASED DEVELOPMENTS LED OTHER PLACES Featuring Donald Bitzer, Roger Johnson, Larry Weber, others. Learn about the amazing innovations including the history of the gas-plasma flat-panel display (which, in 1968, was a major inspiration for Alan Kay and his "Dynabook" personal laptop computer), PLATO's touch panel, the CYBER mainframes and custom peripheral systems, and other innovations. PANEL #7: A CLOSE LOOK AT A CULTURE OF INNOVATION: WHAT DON BITZER WROUGHT; WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM IT Featuring Bob Sutton, CK Gunsalus, Bob Price (former CEO of Control Data Corporation), David Frankel, and others. Learn about the culture of the PLATO laboratory at the University of Illinois that enabled and empowered bright people to excel. Also covered will be lessons learned from Control Data Corporation's marketing and commercialization of PLATO, its many years of interactions and collaboration with the University of Illinois, and CDC's own PLATO innovations in hardware, software, courseware, and addressing society's major unmet needs. 5:30 (approx) Wrap-up and conference closing. (Once again: times, speakers, etc. still subject to some revision and minor changes). This is not your average conference. It is going to be a major historical event and one that offers a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to hear and meet many of the original PLATO system creators, users, and researchers. This free event is sure to fill up early, so register early to make sure you can attend. HOW TO REGISTER (FREE): http://www.computerhistory.org/events/index.php?id=1260822096 FOR MORE INFORMATION: http://platohistory.org/conference/50th-anniversary LATEST UPDATES: see the PLATO History Blog at http://platohistory.org See you there! Brian Dear PLATO History Foundation La Jolla, California http://platohistory.org brian(a)platohistory.org

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Call for papers_2nd Internationl Workshop on Internet Survey Methods
by Youkang Chin 25 Feb '10

25 Feb '10

The Second International Workshop on Internet Survey Methods “Use of Internet Survey Methods in Official Statistics” Date : 8^th~9^th September, 2010 Venue : Statistical Center of Statistics Korea, Daejeon, South Korea Organizer : Statistics Korea, International Statistical Cooperation Office : [1]www.kostat.go.kr Workshop Description The theme of the 2nd International Workshop on Internet Survey Methods is "Use of Internet Survey Methods in Official Statistics.” The Workshop will explore major concerns that national statistical offices are facing in the era of Internet and how each office is coping with the changes in environment of conducting surveys. National case studies and researches on using Internet surveys in official statistics will be presented. At the same time, the Workshop will touch the general issues of Internet surveys such as mixed-mode surveys and its measurement error, estimation for non-probability samples and technical issues of Internet surveys(questionnaire design and visualization etc). The tentative discussion topics are; ? (Special Topic) National Case Studies on Applying Internet Surveys in Official Statistics ? Mixed-mode Surveys ? Estimation for Non-Probability Samples - Propensity Score Adjustment: Concept, Application and Case Studies - Weighting Scheme for Voluntary Samples ? Technical Issues on Conducting Internet Surveys - Questionnaire Design and Visualisation The Workshop language is English. Please contribute to the above workshop topics. The presentation of applications, best practice examples and case studies are encouraged. In particular, new and innovative approaches are strongly recommended to be discussed. Call for Papers Statistics Korea’s 2nd International Workshop on Internet Survey Methods will take place at Statistical Center in Daejeon, Korea from 8-9 September 2010. The Workshop will be titled “Use of Internet Survey Methods in Official Statistics.” Mostly, statisticians from national statistical offices around the world and methodologists from private organizations and universities will be invited as speakers. Anyone who has a special interest in statistical or methodological issues can join our workshop. We invite papers addressing the following themes: · Use of Internet Surveys in Official Statistics · Mixed-mode surveys : Coverage, Errors, Response Rates etc · Estimation for non-probability samples : Propensity Score Adjustment, Weighting Scheme for voluntary samples · Survey Design : Questionnaire design, Visualization etc. Those who wish to contribute a paper must submit your proposal via email to : cyk0221(a)korea.kr by 9th May 2010. It should include a 300-word abstract (English only, MS-word format) of the content of the presentation, as well as its title and your contact details. Acceptance notification will be delivered at the end of May. In the case where your proposal has been accepted, the final full paper should be submitted by 15th August 2010. This deadline should be met in order to publish a conference proceedings prior to the workshop. We will provide a decent level of financial support for the invitees whose paper is selected for presentation. ·Organizer : Youkang Chin (cyk0221(a)korea.kr) Youkang CHIN(Ms.) Assistant Director International Statistical Cooperation Division Statistics Korea 82(0)42 481 2124 cyk0221(a)korea.kr [PutAck.jsp?ack_args=c2VudF9maWxlPWN5azAyMjFAa29yZWEua3IvLlNlbnQvMTI2Nz A1NzA3Mzg0MS4xMTg0MC5rb3JlYSZzZW5kX2RhdGU9MjAxMDAyMjUwOTE3NTMmc3ViamVjd D1DYWxsIGZvciBwYXBlcnNfMm5kIEludGVybmF0aW9ubCBXb3Jrc2hvcCBvbiBJbnRlcm5l dCBTdXJ2ZXkgTWV0aG9kcw==&to_email=air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org______________ _______________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________] References 1. http://www.kostat.go.kr/

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attitudes about the internet
by Barry Wellman 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Dear Colleagues, Melissa Godbout and I are writing a paper, using large-scale Canadian survey data about the link between attitudes towards the internet, mobile phones, and tech in general. Linking this to: -- demographics of users -- actual use of these devices. We just don't know the attitudes literature in this area. We'd appreciate it if you'd point us to some key recent articles. We'll work back from there. And of course, RT (retweet to non-tweeps) to the list what we come up with. Many thanks in advance, 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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no attachments
by Barry Wellman 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

Nadja, et al. Few lists take attachments, including this one. So your's was probably automatically deleted. At least 2 Good reasons: 1. Keeps list down to manageable size. 2. Vastly reduces malware issues. Best bets are to paste into the body of the text (as you eventually did) and/or put link to website. 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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Call for papers
by nadja.miczek＠zegk.uni-heidelberg.de 24 Feb '10

24 Feb '10

last try :-) don't know what happened to the attachment, sorry. Call for Papers "Religions on the Internet - Aesthetics and the Dimensions of the Senses" Special issue of "Online ? Heidelberg Internet Journal", due for publication in October 2010 We herewith invite scholars from Religious, Cultural, Social, Media Studies and other related disciplines to hand in proposals for possible articles which deal with questions of the aesthtics and sensual dimensions of religions and rituals on the Internet. When we look on the various representations of religious groups and individuals on personal homepages, in weblogs, in virtual worlds or the like and when we follow their communications on religious topics online, the visual and auditive aspects of the medium seem to play a major role. Using pictures, videos, icons, as well as music and other sounds, the internet users can design a multisensual virtual environment which might implicate its own notion of 'aesthetics'. This might be the case in e.g. a virtual Church environment which is embedded in an area with plashy waterfalls and bird sound instead of organ music or for religious groups in social networks who link to home-made Youtube videos, online games and other homepages. But we also must not forget the connection to these sensual dimensions that refer to and rely on the (offline) bodies of religious practitioners. Religions and rituals on the Internet might most probably provoke emotional or other physical reactions. Furthermore, in transfer processes between the offline and online realm there might be a redefinition of what seems to be an 'appropriate' design for religious settings. As the aesthetic and sensual dimensions of religions and rituals on the internet are so far a mostly neglected area of research, we call upon theoretical and methodical reflection as well as on empiric studies referring to these topics. We are looking forward to receive the title and a short abstract (max. 250 words) of the planned article until 31st of March 2010. Further important dates and deadlines are: April 15th: Notification on the acceptance of your proposal by the editors August 31st: Submission deadline for full article September 15th: Deadline for comments, requests of revisions by the editors (if necessary) September 31st: Submission deadline for revised articles November, 1st: Publication of the Online Journal Please send your abstract to the following Email-addresses: Simone.Heidbrink(a)zegk.uni-heidelberg.de Nadja.Miczek(a)zegk.uni-heidelberg.de -- Nadja Miczek M.A. SFB 619 Ritualdynamik - Teilprojekt C2 Institut für Religionswissenschaft Universität Heidelberg Akademiestr. 4-8 D - 69117 Heidelberg Tel.: ++49-(0)6221-547682 Fax.: ++49-(0)6221-547624 E-Mail: nadja.miczek(a)zegk.uni-heidelberg.de http://www.rituals-online.uni-hd.de/ http://www.sl-research.de

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