- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

etnography on virtual community of researchers
by FEDERICO MONACO 27 Oct '09

27 Oct '09

Hello there, I'm designing a survey and an etnography research on how historians of Roman Law are getting into digital networks and how they might benefit of this infrastructural improvement based mainly on Genex Framework for their daily practices. Does anyone know about past researches, or is any of you working on similar subjects of communities turning from CD ROMs or paper to digital networks such as VLEs or Digital libraries. Thanks for reading. Federico Monaco PhD Department of Social, Historical & Political Studies University of Parma Borgo Carissimi, 10 43100 Parma Italy

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Students' use of online resources
by Sarah Merry 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Dear all, A colleague of mine is planning research into how our distance learners use online resources, and is having trouble finding previous research in this area: for example, what proportion of them print out online articles or sections of e-books rather than reading on screen; and are there certain criteria which dictate whether they print them or not (length of paper, relevance etc)? The research which he is planning may also eventually include full-time students, but the primary focus is on online/distance learners at the moment. Thank you in advance, Sarah Merry PhD student Department of Information Studies Aberystwyth University UK

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Reminder: Alcatel-Lucent Broadband Challenge for the Sustainable Environment
by Catherine Middleton 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

The deadline is November 3, 2009. The 2009 Alcatel-Lucent Broadband Challenge for the Sustainable Environment (the $20,000 Eckermann-TJA Prize) This year represents the third annual round of competition for the Eckermann-TJA Prize. The Prize will be sponsored again by Alcatel- Lucent Australia, who have generously doubled the previous prize money to AU$20,000 in 2009. The competition is known as the Alcatel-Lucent Broadband Challenge for the Sustainable Environment, and is open to authors around the world. The 2009 Eckermann-TJA Prize will be awarded to the best original paper offered to TJA (Telecommunications Journal of Australia) by the deadline of 3 November 2009, demonstrating the tangible benefits of applying broadband telecommunications to supporting the sustainable environment. The best entries, including the winning paper or papers, will be published in the February 2010 issue of TJA. The Prize was instigated by TJA in 2007 at the suggestion of Robin Eckermann, in the course of his 2006 Charles Todd Oration, published in TJA. The Judging Panel will be chaired by TJA’s Managing Editor, Professor Peter Gerrand (University of Melbourne), and includes Robin Eckermann (former Chief Architect, TransACT), Dr Mike Dennis (Australian National University), Associate Professor Craig McDonald (University of Canberra) and Mr Ric Clark (Chief Technology Officer, Alcatel Lucent Australia). Panel members do not vote or provide ratings on entries in which they have any conflict of interest. In addition, thanks to the generosity of AARNet (Australia's Academic and Research Network), $20,000 worth of AARNet's advanced network services, such as high definition video conferencing and international light paths, will be made available for one year to the organization employing the winning authors, to advance their research work. For more information on the 2009 Alcatel-Lucent Broadband Challenge and the AARNet offer, see http://www.acs.org.au/acstsa/index.cfm?action=load&temID=noticedetails&notI… The winning papers in the 2007 and 2008 Broadband Challenges can be found at the following online issues of TJA: TJA Vol. 57 Nos 2&3 and TJA Vol. 59 No 1. http://publications.epress.monash.edu/doi/full/10.2104/tja09034 ----------------- Catherine Middleton Ryerson University Toronto, Canada catherine.middleton(a)ryerson.ca

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ECAR 2009 Study > Chapter Six > Undergraduates And The Mobile Revolution
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Colleagues/ The 2009 Edition Of The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology ... /Gerry Since 2004, the annual ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology has sought to shed light on how information technology affects the college experience. We ask students about the technology they own and how they use it in and out of their academic world. We gather information about how skilled students believe they are with technologies; how they perceive technology is affecting their learning experience; and their preferences for IT in courses. The ECAR Study of Undergraduate Students and Information Technology, 2009 is a longitudinal extension of the 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, and 2008 studies. It is based on quantitative data from a spring 2009 survey of 30,616 freshmen and seniors at 103 four-year institutions and students at 12 two-year institutions; student focus groups that included input from 62 students at 4 institutions; and review of qualitative data from written responses to open-ended questions. In addition to studying student ownership, experience, behaviors, preferences, and skills with respect to information technologies, the 2009 study also includes a special focus on student ownership and use of Internet-capable handheld devices. Table of Contents / Foreword / Chapter 1 Executive Summary / Chapter 2 Introduction: Higher Education-A Moveable Feast? / Chapter 3 Methodology and Respondent Characteristics / Chapter 4 Ownership of, Use of, and Skill with IT / Chapter 5 IT and the Academic Experience Chapter Six > Undergraduates and the Mobile Revolution<<< >>>>>> A Must Read <<<<<< [snip] Links To The Full Report, Individual Study/Report Sections, As Well As A Related Article ("EQ > The Revolution No One Noticed: Mobile Phones and Multimobile Services in Higher Education") Are Available At [ http://bit.ly/10kB8b ] !!! Thanks To Gary Price / ResourceShelf / For The HeadsUp!!! Enjoy ! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There Is No Answer, Only Solutions / Olde Irish Saying The Future Is Already Here, It's Just Not Evenly Distributed Attributed To William Gibson, SciFi Author / Coined 'Cyberspace

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Fwd: IFIP-HCC9 Human Choice and Computers (WCC)
by jeremy hunsinger 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

9th IFIP Human Choice and Computers International Conference (IFIP-TC9-HCC9) Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre 20-23 September 2010, Brisbane, Australia www.wcc2010.org HCC is the flagship Conference of TC9. A short summary of the eight previous conferences and the list of their Proceedings can be found on the TC9 website at: http://www.ifiptc9.org/ HCC9 is divided into 4 main tracks: 1. Ethics and ICT Governance 2. Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping 3. Surveillance and Privacy 4. ICT and Sustainable Development Each of them is presented with their possible topics to be developed: Track 1: Ethics and ICT Governance Governance is an old word that goes back to Plato. The concept disappeared for a while, and was replaced by ideas like government, and government policy. Governance has now returned to the scene. Today, it focuses on issues like participative democracy and transparency. [White Paper, 2001] The state is no longer a unique partner in regulating systems. Other actors take part at the local, regional, national, and international levels. New means of regulating scientific, technical, and other subsystems, and new ways of communicating, are possible among a variety of actors and subsystems. Internet governance has been a highly debated issue throughout the early part of the first decade of the twenty-first century, particularly at the World Summit on Information Systems (WSIS), held in Geneva in 2003 and in Tunis 2005. The proposal of the Working Group on Internet Governance (WGIG) was adopted in Tunis. It put forward a multistakeholder approach to Internet governance. [WGIG, 2005] Stakeholder engagement has since become increasingly strong. These debates raised other questions, particularly with regard to the role of business as a stakeholder. If the word “government” seems familiar, “civil society” and the “private sector” are perhaps less well defined. “Civil society” can be defined rather simply in the spirit of Habermas, the philosopher. Or, it may be subject to more extensive definitions that can open up discussions on precisely which kinds of organisations should be among the participants in civil society, and the extent to which business, business associations, and business systems are or should be involved. [Weerts, 2004; Civil Society Centre - LSE, 2007] Everyone knows that the private sector indicates primarily the business sector. Indeed, the business sector is often represented in official circles that make decisions about the Internet. Examples include the National and International Chamber of Commerce, the Davos Economic Forum, and the GBDe (Global Business dialogue on Electronic commerce, http://www.gbd-e.org/) Ethics, and particularly the “Ethics of Computing”, are certainly fields worth deepening. IFIP’s SIG9.2.2 has been working in this domain for almost 20 years. The group has produced various books and monographs on the ethics of computing. Yet it recognises that current literature and guidelines could be enhanced and expanded. The main goal of the HCC9 track on Ethics and ICT Governance is to offer a forum to make this new field of the ethics of computing, and its research and practice. The track will include papers on these and other subjects: ICT governance: overviewing the research - Concepts of governance: from theory to practice - Ethics of computing: concepts and schools - Ethics and ICT governance - ICT ethics: governance models - Research on ICT ethics governance: results of current research Ethics and ICT governance: evaluating its practice - Ethical governance: specific challenges - Ethical governance: new and developing fields of applications (eAccessibility, eGovernment, eHealth, eSustainability) - Gender and Diversity - an ethical issue - Regulation as an ethical democratic issue of governance - Evaluation of the effectiveness of current governance policies - Application of suitable governance arrangements - Evaluation of viability of suggested governance policies - Ethical tools for ICT governance ICT governance: assessing its institutions and technical components - Internet governance and ICANN - The Internet Governance Forum (its role, strengths, and limits). - Challenges posed by the Internet of Things - Cybersecurity for people and nations - Technical norms: ipv6, and various protocols Track 2: Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping Following on the recent (April 2009) International Working Conference of IFIP 9.5 Working Group on Virtuality and Society: "Images of Virtuality" at Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece, this conference is part of the TC9-HCC9) of the IFIP World Computer Congress, in Brisbane, Australia, September 2010 http:// www.wcc2010.org/ . This track will focus on the feedback loops between virtual technologies and the social groups who use them, how each shape the other and are in turn shaped by them. Social shaping, the sociology of technology, science studies and other approaches of cultural studies to the phenomenon of the information society, driven by such classics as those of Bijker and Law and Mackenzie and Wajcman from the 1990s, are arguably now ready for a fresh look, in the context of virtual environments and global social networking and gaming communities. The intervening years have additionally seen an explosion of digital and media arts interpretations, and explorations of the impact of virtual technologies upon society, and the social use of such technologies upon their design, and the entrepreneurial trajectories of their appearance in the global market. Virtual technologies, crucially, have moved very decisively from the workplace – whether corporate or home office - and into the domestic sphere, into our living rooms, playrooms, our kitchens, and our bedrooms. Here the relationship between virtual technologies and society, and the mutual shaping processes each undergo, are ripe for fresh study, insight, and exploration. The Virtuality and Society Working Group sub-track of the Human Choice and Computers track of the World Computer Congress therefore invites research and work-in-progress papers that address the choices faced by an information society permeated by ubiquitous virtual technologies. Relevant topics and themes include, but are not limited to: - Discussing issues of responsive and iterative user-centred design, usability, accessibility, and the ‘permanent beta’ of virtual systems - Discussing the impact of virtual technologies within the domestic sphere and the changes to such technologies developed out of use-cases - Exploring new (e-, or v-) research methodologies and techniques on inquiring into social action in the context of virtuality - Identifying challenging social, ethical, and political issues of socialization in virtuality - Discussing the role of electronic and digital arts and media in the shaping of virtual technologies and their uses - Discussing the role of digital gaming and massive multiplayer role- playing games in the shaping of virtual technologies and their uses - Discussing virtual spaces and the role of place in virtual technologies, and how the domestic as well as the work and civic spaces of the information society are shaped by, and in turn shape such technologies - Identifying opportunities and challenges for education, governance, and entrepreneurship in virtual worlds - Discussing emerging issues of e-policy and e-quality of life specifically implicated by virtual technologies - Exploring social histories and philosophies that deepen our understanding of term virtuality, and of the relationship between virtual technologies and society and the mutual shaping processes between them. Track 3: Surveillance and Privacy New technical and legal developments pose greater and greater privacy dilemmas. Governments have in the recent years increasingly established and legalised surveillance schemes in form of data retention, communication interception or CCTVs for the reason of fighting terrorism or serious crimes. Surveillance Monitoring of individuals is also a threat in the private sector: Private organisations are for instance increasingly using profiling and data mining techniques for targeted marketing, analysing customer buying predictions or social sorting. Work place monitoring practices allow surveillance of employees. Emerging pervasive computing technologies, where individuals are usually unaware of a constant data collection and processing in their surroundings, will even heighten the problem that individuals are effectively losing control over their personal spheres. At a global scale, Google Earth and other corporate virtual globes may have dramatic consequences for the tracking and sorting of individuals. With CCTV, the controlling power of surveillance is in few hands. With live, high resolution imagery feeds from space in the near future, massive surveillance may soon be available to everybody, a development whose consequences we do not yet grasp. New means of surveillance are also enabled by social networks, in which individuals are publishing many intimate personal details about themselves and others. Such social networks are today already frequently analysed by employers, marketing industry, law enforcement or social engineering. The aim of this conference track is to discuss and analyse such privacy risks of surveillance for humans and society as well as countermeasures for protecting the individuals’ rights to informational self-determination from multi-disciplinary perspectives. We are therefore especially inviting the submissions of papers addressing privacy aspects in relation to topics such as (but not limited to): - Surveillance technologies - Corporate virtual globes (Google Earth and Microsoft Virtual Earth) - Profiling & data mining - Ambient Intelligence, RFID - GPS, Location-Based Services - Social Network Analysis - ID cards - Biometrics - Data sharing - Visual surveillance - Workplace monitoring - Communication interception - Data retention - Anonymity & Pseudonymity - Privacy-enhancing technologies - Privacy-enhancing Identity Management Track 4: ICT and Sustainable Development Information and Communication Technologies are perceived both as enablers of technological and societal change towards sustainable development and as drivers of increasing energy and materials consumption, thus leading us away from the goal of sustainable development. This conference will therefore include a track of 20 contributions on the relationship between ICT and Sustainable Development, entitled "Sustain IT", with the aim of reconciling future Information and Communication Technologies with sustainable development (SD). In order to cover the full range of the complex relationship between ICT and SD and to stimulate an interdisciplinary discourse on “ICT for SD”, we invite herewith researchers working on various aspects of this issue to contribute to this WCC10 track. We will break down the issue into the following three topics. ICT hardware and SD - What are the qualities and quantities of the material and energy flows caused by the life cycle of ICT hardware and how can we assess their relevance for SD? - What are the environmental and social implications of electronic waste (e-waste) tracks rising in industrialized countries and emerging economies? - What are the environmental and social implications of a growing demand for scarce chemical elements as they are increasingly used in ICT production? - What are sound methodologies to assess the energy demand of ICT infrastructures and services? - What innovations are necessary to reduce the life-cycle wide material and energy demand of ICT services, e.g. in the field of "Green IT"? ICT applications and SD - What are the potentials to apply ICT for energy efficiency in production and consumption, and what are the conditions for realizing these potentials? - What are the potentials to apply ICT for materials efficiency or resource productivity, and what are the conditions for realizing these potentials? - What ICT applications have the potential to contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions or to the adaption to climate change? - Which methodology can be used to assess optimization, substitution and induction effects of ICT with regard to resource-intensive processes? - How can we link organizational, regional, national and global perspectives in using ICT to support SD? - What is the relationship between “ICT for development” and “ICT for sustainable development”? ICT-enabled structural change towards SD - What is the role of ICT in sustainable production and consumption, resource productivity or economic dematerialization (decoupling total material consumption from GDP)? - How can we better understand rebound effects of ICT-induced efficiency gains and under what conditions can they be avoided? - What is the relationship between conceptions of the “the information society” and SD? - Is ICT going to bring about a “third industrial revolution”, and how is this perspective related to SD? - What economic frameworks and conditions, including trade and tax regimes, are needed to enable ICT-supported structural change towards SD? - What is the relationship between ICT, GDP growth and measures of progress beyond GDP (human development indicator, indicators for wellbeing, quality of life or happiness)? - What are the most relevant research questions in sustainability science regarding the role of ICT? Programme Committee Chairs HCC9 Chairs: Jacques Berleur, Namur University, Belgium Magda Hercheui, Westminster Business School and London School of Economics, United Kingdom Track 1: Ethics and ICT Governance Jacques Berleur, Namur University, Belgium Philippe Goujon, Namur University, Belgium Diane Whitehouse, The Castlegate Consultancy, UK Track 2: Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping David Kreps, Salford Business School, Salford University, UK Martin Warnke, Computer Science & Culture, Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Deutschland. Claus Pias, University of Vienna, Austria Track 3: Surveillance and Privacy Simone Fischer-Hübner, Karlstad University, Yola Georgiadou, International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) Track 4: ICT and Sustainable Development Lorenz M. Hilty, Empa, Switzerland Magda Hercheui, Westminster Business School and London School of Economics, United Kingdom <snipped big list o'names> Instructions for paper submission Papers must not substantially overlap with papers that have been published or are simultaneously submitted to a journal or another conference with proceedings. Papers must be written in English; they should be at most 10-12 pages in total, including bibliography and well-marked appendices. Papers should be intelligible without appendices, if any. Accepted papers will be presented at the conference and published in the IFIP Series by Springer. Submitted and accepted papers must follow the publisher’s guidelines for the IFIP Series (www.springer.com/series/6102 ), author templates, and manuscript preparation in Word). At least one author of each accepted paper must register to the conference and present the paper. All papers must be submitted in electronic form (Word documents) to Jacques Berleur and Magda Hercheui (for both emails below necessarily, not only one email) and the track chairs by the deadline indicated below. Papers submitted after this deadline will be discarded without review. Make clear the track you are submitting your paper to avoid delays of your paper (inform the track on the email subject). Important dates Intention to submit: By return of mail (optional) Submission of papers: January 31, 2010 Notification to authors: April 20, 2010 Camera-ready copies: May 15, 2010 Intention to submit and submission must be sent to the two HCC9 IPC Chairs, and according to your track choice to the track chairs: HCC9 chairs Jacques Berleur, Namur University, Belgium: jberleur(a)info.fundp.ac.be Magda Hercheui, Westminster Business School and London School of Economics, United Kingdom m.hercheui(a)googlemail.com Track 1: Ethics and ICT Governance Jacques Berleur, Namur University, Belgium: jberleur(a)info.fundp.ac.be Philippe Goujon, Namur University, Belgium, philippe.goujon(a)fundp.ac.be, Diane Whitehouse, The Castlegate Consultancy, UK dewhitehouse(a)googlemail.com Track 2: Virtual Technologies and Social Shaping David Kreps, Salford Business School, Salford University, UK, d.g.kreps(a)salford.ac.uk Martin Warnke, Computer Science & Culture, Leuphana University, Lueneburg, Deutschland, warnke(a)leuphana.de Claus Pias, University of Vienna, Austria claus.pias(a)media-theory.com Track 3: Surveillance and Privacy Simone Fischer-Hübner, Karlstad University, simone.fischer-huebner(a)kau.se Yola Georgiadou, ICT, International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), georgiadou(a)itc.nl Track 4: ICT and Sustainable Development Lorenz M. Hilty, Empa, Switzerland Lorenz.Hilty(a)empa.ch Magda Hercheui, Westminster Business School and London School of Economics, United Kingdom m.hercheui(a)googlemail.com Important updated information Please, see updated information about the HCC 9 in both links below (including submission process): http://www.wcc2010.com/HCC92010/index.html http://www.ifiptc9.org/ForthcomingEvent.html

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Sharing the knowledge about politicians' use of SNS during local elections
by Daria Santucci 26 Oct '09

26 Oct '09

Dear all, as asked by several AoIRs, I share the very helpful and inspiring replies I received to my info request about politicians' use of SNS during local elections: *Canada* *George Lessard* suggested to have a look at SNS' use during Yellowknife local elections, such as: - www.cbc.ca/canada/north/story/2009/10/19/yknife-elex-races.html - lifeintheknife.com/the-signs-of-the-2009-yellowknife-municipal-election/ - www.falvo.ca/ * Germany* *Andreas Jungherr*, Bamberg University, recently wrote a research (chapter in a forthcoming book) on the way German politicians use Twitter. *Israel* *Sharon Haleva-Amir*, University of Haifa, tracked MKs activities over Facebook, which is widely common in Israel. Her findings are in a chapter of a forthcoming book, written in Hebrew (Sharon Haleva-Amir, "Present - Absentees: MK's Usage of Personal Internet Tools", in Erez Cohen & Azi Lev-On (eds.) *Technology, Society and Politics*, Jerusalem: Magnes Press). Among other things, she has discovered that FB was one of many parallel channels electoral candidates used (i.e. youtube, twitter, picasa, national SNS, Flickr, LinkedIn, MySpace etc.). Another finding is that the Israeli Elctoral Candidates Facebook usage was twice as much as their usage of personal websites (50% of MKs - 60 MKs had a personal profile and/or political page in facebook; while personal websites usage was approx 25%). *Italy* *Paolo Massa *suggested to have a look at Mr. Lorenzo Dellai campaign during local elections in Trento, Italy: - www.gnuband.org/2008/11/13/dellai20_italian_politics_in_time_of_web/ *South **Korea* *Han Woo Park*, YeungNam University, is working on the research project “Investigating Internet-based Politics using e-Research Tools”. He published several articles on politicians' use of SNS. *The Netherlands* *Maurice Vergeer*, Radboud University, is investigating politicians' use of Twitter in Holland. *Turkey* *Mutlu Binark* conducted the research “Facebook: As a Social Networking Site: ‘Videor ergo sum’”. The aim is the analysis of social networking sites (SNSs) in order to study social organizations, privacy issue, practices of voyeurism, surveillance, and showing up, virtual relationships, identity practices, individual performances, and representation of this new communication medium in mainstream media. Hope it helps. Please do not hesitate to contact me for any further information. Regards, Daria -- Daria Santucci, Ph.D. University of Torino, Italy skype dariaonline twitter dariatweet 2009/10/19 Daria Santucci <webcampaigning.lab(a)gmail.com> > Dear all, > > I am looking for some interesting case-studies on politicians' use of > social networks during local elections. Do you have anything to suggest? > Case-studies/researches from all over the world are welcome... thanks! > > Regards, > > Daria

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Play Things - an interedisciplinary postgraduate conference on computer games
by Adi Kuntsman 25 Oct '09

25 Oct '09

November 4th 2009, the University of Manchester to register, email gareth.j.crabtree(a)student.manchester.ac.uk Conference Programme 9:00 - 9:30: Registration (University Place 2.19) 9:30 - 10:15: Keynote - Graeme Kirkpatrick, University of Manchester (University Place 1.219) 10:15 - 10:30: Coffee break (University Place Café) 10:30 - 11:30: Play and Games - Chair Gareth Crabtree (University Place 1.219) Sven Schmalfuß: Wrestling with the God of War. Performative Masculinity. Paul Brown: A Love of Hyrule Sunsets: The Legend of Zelda and its Players. 11:30 - 11:45: Coffee break (University Place Café) 11:45 - 12:45: Theoretical Perspectives - Chair Gareth Crabtree (University Place 1.219) Ashley Brown: Huizinga’s concept of a ‘magic circle’ of gaming applied to a massive multiplayer context. Dan Dixon: Apollo and Dionysus at Play. 1:00 - 2:00: Lunch (The Ducie Arms) 2:00 - 3:00: Literary Representations - Chair Elizabeth Burgess (University Place 1.219) Andrew Henlich: The Shadows of History: The Narrative of Play(ing) in William Kentridge’s Black Box/Chambre Noir. Irene Huhulea: Developing Identity through Play in Internet Fan Communities. 3:00 - 3:15: Coffee break (University Place Café) 3:15 - 4:45: Mapping and Online Worlds - Chair Elizabeth Burgess (University Place 1.219) Sybille Lammes: Playing the Map: Digital Cartographies and the Making of Stories. Larne Juel Laessen : A tentative study of World of Warcraft’s Addictiveness. Esther MacCallum-Stewart: The Retired Pirates - How Groups Reconfigure Games Worlds, and How Designers Let Them. 5:00 - 6:00 Wine Reception (University Place 2.19) The reception will be followed by dinner in Manchester city centre.

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FW: [TriumphOfContent] FW: Web can help elderly surfers slow dementia
by Michael Gurstein 23 Oct '09

23 Oct '09

This is very good news for many of us I think ;-) MBG Michael Gurstein, Ph.D. Director: Centre for Community Informatics Research, Development and Training Vancouver, CANADA http://www.communityinformatics.net Cape Town, SA (in conjunction with Izandla Zethu SA) http://www.izandlazethu.co.za/ -----Original Message----- From: TriumphOfContent(a)yahoogroups.com [mailto:TriumphOfContent@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Anjana Basu Sent: Thursday, October 22, 2009 6:10 PM Subject: [TriumphOfContent] FW: Web can help elderly surfers slow dementia >From The Sunday Times October 18, 2009 Web can help elderly surfers slow dementia Ivy Bean, who is 104 years old, is the UK's oldest Tweeter on the social networking site, Twitter. Jonathan Leake, Science Editor GOOGLING is good for grandparents. Internet use can boost the brain activity of the elderly, potentially slowing or even reversing the age-related declines that can end in dementia, researchers have found. Using brain scans, they found the internet stimulated the mind more strongly than reading, and the effects continued long after an internet session had ended. "We found that for older people with minimal experience, performing internet searches for even a relatively short period of time can change brain activity patterns and enhance function," said Gary Small, professor of neuroscience and human behaviour at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). In the research, Small and his colleagues worked with 24 men and women aged between 55 and 78. Half of them had used the internet a lot; the others had little experience. At the start of the research, they were asked to conduct a series of internet searches while their brains were scanned using a technique known as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). This measures changes in blood flow around the brain to work out which parts are the most and least active. After the initial scan, participants went home and used the internet to carry out specified tasks for an hour a day at least seven times over the following fortnight. Then they had a second brain scan, again while searching the internet. Small and his colleagues found the impacts began immediately, with the first scan demonstrating brain activity in regions controlling language, reading, memory and vision. By the time of the second scan, however, the activated areas had spread to include the frontal gyrus and inferior frontal gyrus, areas known to be important in working memory and decision-making. The researchers suggest internet searching stimulates brain cells and pathways, making them more active. "Searching online may be a simple form of brain exercise that might be employed to enhance cognition in older adults," said Teena Moody, a UCLA researcher who co- wrote the report with Small. Moody believes internet searching challenges the brain more than reading because people need to perform several tasks at once. These include holding important information in their own memory while simultaneously assessing the information on screen and extracting the parts they want from graphics and words. The research will be presented tomorrow at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in Chicago, where the impacts of ageing on the brain are a big theme. It has long been known that as people age, their brain functions and abilities also change. In many respects these changes are beneficial - verbal and social skills tend to improve until at least late middle age, for example. In other areas there can be declines. One of the best known is mathematics, as shown by the number of mathematicians and physicists who do their best work early and then struggle to match their youthful performances. It is only in recent years, however, that researchers have been able to use technologies such as fMRI to observe the brain in action and measure the changes that come with age. What they have found is that as people age, their brains undergo structural and functional changes, often including atrophy, reductions in cell activity and increases in deposits of insoluble protein. All of these can reduce cognitive function. In Britain, for example, around 700,000 people suffer from dementia, a condition in which so much of the brain has died that function is severely impaired. Small and Moody's argument is that brains are similar to muscles, in that the more they are exercised, the healthier they become. So, activities such as internet use, reading and socialising can slow or reverse normal age-related declines. Small said: "Our most striking finding was that internet searching appears to engage a greater extent of neural circuitry that is not activated during reading." Other neuroscientists support the idea of exercising the brain but question the benefit of spending too much time on the internet.

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thoughts on CHI
by Barry Wellman 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

I haven't been to CHI for 11 years (so grain of salt).... It's an excellent conference for seeing how computer scientists interested in social software work. I learned a lot. However, when I went, it was a closed group very interested in small-group apps, even as the internet was flourishing. This, I hope, has changed. You get a lot of schwag for what you pay. The fees are aimed at corporately funded and computer scientists with bigger grants. Nevertheless I felt welcome. Indeed, I gave a plenary talk once. But... I could never get an article accepted in a refereed session. I grew frustrated, and I quit going. I was told is that because my articles didn't provide practical design principles. OTOH, like many rejectees, I felt the refereeing was obtuse and unfair. YMMV If you do send in a paper, please note that the deadline for papers is for receipt by the powers that be -- not (as in the social sciences) for the date of submission. I once got burned by this, howled, but to no avail. You play by Their Rules. 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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web demographics
by spinal＠rpi.edu 22 Oct '09

22 Oct '09

I am researching children's use of the Internet and looking for recommendations for websites that offer reliable demographics for web research. Do demographics available at Alexa or Quantcast, for example, offer accurate representations of site visitors? As variables such as age, gender, etc., can be different than that of an actual website user, are all web demographics to be considered unofficial estimates? Thank-you in advance for any suggestions. Lillian C. Spina-Caza PhD Candidate, ABD Language, Literature & Communication Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street Troy, New York 12180 USA spinal(a)rpi.edu

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