- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

in dis-praise of the Chronicle
by Barry Wellman 01 Jul '09

01 Jul '09

I was appalled by the Chronicle's article -- especially the headline -- on the putative death of e-lists such as this one. First, they gave no systematic evidence, just some anecdotes. Although the article was more nuanced than the headline: "on the one hand, on the other hand." Yet, still anecdotes. Second, they ignored the organizational ecology research that has shown that some organizations die and some get born all the time. Third, the posts by my fellow Canucks Catherine Middleton and Peter Timusk clearly showed the difference between 140 character Tweets (which I do a fair amount) and posts to this list (ibid). Both of their posts were too nuanced to be short tweets. Fourth, as Marc Smith can show you, even the older Bulletin Boards are still thriving. Indeed, my hunch is that each communication form adds on to the other, rather than displacing it, which is why I never get much writing done (today's excusive, anyway). Happy Canada Day to All (except Janet Napolitano), 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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THWONK: Re-inventing email lists
by Mike Bennett 01 Jul '09

01 Jul '09

Since the Chronicle article has kicked off a bunch of conversation about the death of e-lists, I thought I'd take this opportunity (a little earlier than planned) to make an announcement about our new very relevant research project. Our new project is called THWONK, with the tag line "Where You Design The Rules Of Online Communcation!" @ www.thwonk.com THWONK is a research tool for enabling people to invent new kinds of online communication systems, and create new variations of existing ones. Initially we're focused on mailing lists and mail. Its still in the very early days and rough around the edges but the core functionality is in place. With THWONK you can create an e-list where message length is limited to 140 characters, or only allow people to contribute so many words to a mailing list per week, or force people to contribute otherwise they are automatically unsubscribed, or enable distributed moderation, or perform realtime analysis of message content with stats generation, etc. Our aims with THWONK are: 1. Enable user generated social structures 2. Enable discovery of new generalisable social structures for online communication 3. Create a flexible and innovative new tool for Human-Computer Interaction / Computer Mediated Communication research 4. Build an innovation community inventing new CMC systems THWONK is at: http://www.thwonk.com In the longer term we are going to simplify the creation of new styles of lists, ideally to the point where no programming knowledge is required at all. If you have suggestions for features, or you have an ideal for collaboration please let me know :) To use THWONK you can use a simple web wizard (there's lots more features we're adding to it), or you can write simple and short Javascript programs, which run on our servers. When a mail comes into a destination address on the server, the Javascript associated with the destination runs on the server. The Javascript implements whatever mailing rules and constraints you like, e.g. create a Twitter like email list where message length is limited to 140 characters, etc. There's a tutorial for Javascript coders at: http://forums.thwonk.com/read.php?4,20 and some API documentation in place: http://forums.thwonk.com/list.php?4 ...but there needs to be a lot more documentation written, which is ongoing. All the best, Mike Bennett (& Jonah Brucker-Cohen) -- Postdoctoral Researcher CLARITY Centre, University College Dublin, Ireland - email: mike.bennett(a)ucd.ie - blog: http://www.user-designer.com - web: http://www.stressbunny.com/mike

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SMS and law use of comm (was : Re: in dis-praise of the Chronicle)
by Peter Timusk 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

On 30-Jun-09, at 9:10 PM, Barry Wellman wrote: > Altho I wonder if IM has mostly given way to texting. Haven't > checked the > data, though. > > Barry Wellman I think certain Canadian tech business persons like Michael Copeland ( Corel) tried to make money from sms. Apparently he is loosing money on this venture. So while we can debate this, others risk their money on which is more popular. Then there are the workers in the computer firms who must learn these applications so they can provide them to us. I have used IM in law enforcement work as a late night security guard. There is a need for communication in law enforcement and in my security work we had phones, radios, pagers, and IM and bulletin boards and email. There were of course tasks for each one. We did not officially use cell phones but often we had these privately as a back up for dead radio batteries. This was in a high tech industry setting. Peter Peter Timusk, B.Math statistics (2002), B.A. legal studies (2006) Carleton University Systems Science Graduate student, University of Ottawa. just trying to stay linear. Read by hundreds of lurkers every week. Kiitos Paljon, Merci, and thank you.

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new resource on privacy rights and SNS - EU
by Charles Ess 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

Thanks to Line Lundh for pointing me towards this recent EU opinion: Opinion 5/2009 on online social networking ARTICLE 29 DATA PROTECTION WORKING PARTY Adopted on 12 June 2009 <http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/fsj/privacy/docs/wpdocs/2009/wp163_en.pdf> To quote from the Summary: Key recommendations focus on the obligations of SNS providers to conform with the Data Protection Directive and to uphold and strengthen the rights of users. Of paramount importance, SNS providers should inform users of their identity from the outset and outline all the different purposes for which they process personal data. Particular care should be taken by SNS providers with regard to the processing of the personal data of minors. The Opinion recommends that users should only upload pictures or information about other individuals, with the individual¹s consent and considers that SNS also have a duty to advise users regarding the privacy rights of others. Should make for interesting discussion! cheers, - charles ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University, Springfield, Missouri 65802 USA Professor MSO (med særlige opgaver), Department of Information and Media Studies Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark President, Association of Internet Researchers Co-editor, International Journal of Internet Research Ethics <http://ijire.net/> Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23

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Fwd: private/public space & new media
by Peter Timusk 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

Begin forwarded message: > > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Peter Timusk <ptimusk(a)sympatico.ca> >> Date: June 29, 2009 5:14:18 AM GMT-04:00 >> To: Holly Kruse <holly-kruse(a)utulsa.edu> >> Subject: Re: [Air-L] private/public space & new media >> >> I have read Thomas' Hacker Culture for a fourth year paper on the >> harm of computer crime. (http://www.webpagex.org/LAWS4908.html) It >> is not a bad book and involves some Foucault. >> >> and would also suggest this below although I have not read it and >> it appears to not be about the net per say. Certainly there is the >> move to the right and fear taking away our public spaces and the >> net is rather public with many of us thinking it is private. I >> think Brian Loader has some writings or edited writings on public >> space.http://www.york.ac.uk/depts/soci/about/s_load.htm >> >> Dimitrakaki Angela. Private Views: Spaces & Gender In Contemporary >> Art From Britain: Liverpool, April 1997 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2001) >> >> I just ordered a copy. >> >> >> On 28-Jun-09, at 4:07 PM, Holly Kruse wrote: >> >>> As promised, here are the sources people suggested to me in >>> response to my >>> query about research on new technology and public & private >>> space. I've >>> excluded the ones that were in the bibliography of sources that >>> I'm using in >>> my current book (and/or used in my last one) that I posted to air- >>> l a few >>> days ago. Several of these I had already looked at and/or have, >>> some I was >>> aware of but hadn't looked at, and some were new to me. Because I >>> mostly >>> just copied and pasted these from email messages, this list is in no >>> particular order and uses no format or style. Apologies for that. >>> >>> There are several suggestions that I will be looking at as I write >>> what is >>> supposed to be my brief (ha) summary chapter, and in further >>> revisions to >>> the rest of the manuscript. Thanks so much to everyone! >>> >>> Holly Peter Timusk statistical computer programmer ptimusk(a)sympatico.ca address 701-151 Parkdale Avenue Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1Y 4V8 Phone 613-729-8328 May all your numbers be quality numbers... even if they are only average numbers.

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Social networks study
by Peter Timusk 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

Here is an interesting study of social networks in Canada http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/090626/dq090626a-eng.htm available in pdf or html French or English http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/11-008-x/11-008-x2009002-eng.htm Peter Timusk statistical computer programmer ptimusk(a)sympatico.ca address 701-151 Parkdale Avenue Ottawa, Ontario Canada K1Y 4V8 Phone 613-729-8328 May all your numbers be quality numbers... even if they are only average numbers.

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Re: [Air-L] Internet User Research
by Catherine Middleton 30 Jun '09

30 Jun '09

Hello John (and Air-L), Thanks for sharing your research. Like some others on the list, I'm not surprised by your results at all. I've done a lot of work with colleagues looking at Statistics Canada Internet Use Survey data, trying to understand how people who say yes, they use the internet, actually spend their time online. The most recent data are from 2007, and one of the key findings is that combining the frequency of online access (e.g. daily, weekly etc.) with hours online reveals that about 45% of the (online) population are online daily AND for more than 5 hours a week (high intensity users). Given that about 70% of the total adult (>17) population were online at the time of this survey, just over 30% of adult Canadians were using the internet daily and for more than 5 hours a week as of late 2007. So arguably, intensity of use is low. Along the same lines, the only things that 50% or more of the total Canadian adult population (not just internet users) were doing online in 2007 were general web browsing and email. As has been noted here, some people in the tech sector and some internet researchers tend to discount these data, maybe not being able to imagine that many people really do spend less than 5 hours online per week. It's important to distinguish between internet adoption and use, and much more work is needed to understand what use really means. Hours online isn't a particularly good measure of use (especially as people adopt mobile phones with ubiquitous access), but it's been a starting point for many studies. The qualitative work John is doing provides good insights into real usage behaviours, and work to find good measures of engagement based on quantitative data continues. If you're interested in this topic, my work in this area is available at http://www.broadbandresearch.ca/ourresearch/papers.html (scroll down for conference papers based on Statistics Canada data). Also look for the papers from the "Beyond Broadband Access: Data-Based Information Policy For a New Administration Workshop" to be held in Washington, DC, this September. For some recent industry data, see 2008/2009 Accenture US Consumer Technology Research Findings http://www.accenture.com/NR/rdonlyres/040BE0BE-1FE5-45DD-9791-AC1D40A45A2C/… Then of course there is another entire discussion about the disconnect between discourses about the need for, and use of next generation broadband networks, and the data about what the average user actually does online. Cheers, Catherine Middleton Ted Rogers School of Management Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada catherine.middleton(a)ryerson.ca

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Re: [Air-L] Internet User Research
by Denise N. Rall 29 Jun '09

29 Jun '09

There's been a bit of research on naive computer users in advanced technological environments, if I have understood the question correctly. Robinson, L. H. and K. J. Thoms (2001). "A longitudinal study of college student computer knowledge." Journal of Computer Information Systems Fall 2001: 9-12. There was something recently in the Chronicle of Higher Education on this but I can't locate it at the moment. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD. Special Projects, Faculty of Arts & Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Mobile +(61) (0)438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/drall/ Join the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Internet Research 10.0, October 7-11, Milwaukee, WI, USA > Access Yahoo!7 Mail on your mobile. Anytime. Anywhere. Show me how: http://au.mobile.yahoo.com/mail

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Re: [Air-L] Death to lists?
by Denise N. Rall 29 Jun '09

29 Jun '09

Alex - I couldn't agree more. Most hard scientists engaged in cutting edge research are not blogging or using social networks. First they don't have time, second they are not engaged in seeking opinions from non-specialists, and third, this is not a venue for collaboration on research projects that are under development and therefore, cannot be casually disclosed before publication. Lastly, as has been mentioned here before, blogging is not going to count (except possibly in new media??) for promotion and tenure. It is well known that mathematicians and physicists use their own networks, mostly managed by email. As I'm married to a scientist, I know that all of his collaboration happens over email, not Facebook. All of my collaboration from colleagues for AoIR conferences happens via email. I am an iconoclast in that I read this list, before this list I read Phil Agre, then I read some online Africa list, an online publishing list, and before that, I read news. I am definitely looking for content and colleagues' thoughts rather than 'friends' or images. But I can see that for some the aspect of friends is more important than facts (roughly speaking). I would be quite depressed to lose this list but I would hope to find another text-based interchange and not have to enter SL to talk to others. P.S. Alex how do I get rid of the 1140 character post and return to 80 column. I tried ASCII encoding which I thought would work but no luck so far. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD. Special Projects, Faculty of Arts & Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Mobile +(61) (0)438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/esm/staff/pages/drall/ Join the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Internet Research 10.0, October 7-11, Milwaukee, WI, USA --- On Mon, 29/6/09, Alex Halavais <alex(a)halavais.net> wrote: > From: Alex Halavais <alex(a)halavais.net> > Subject: [Air-L] Death to lists? Access Yahoo!7 Mail on your mobile. Anytime. Anywhere. Show me how: http://au.mobile.yahoo.com/mail

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Remove My Mail On google Search Machine
by atah pine 29 Jun '09

29 Jun '09

Please I want a mail of mine in respect of Three Monthjs Internet Reserch on the Google search engine removed. This mail has caused me and my employees alot of inconviniences. My regards. Atah Pine, PhD Director, Planning, Research and Statistics, Office of the Executive Governor, Benue State, Nigeria

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