- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

IR.10 Preliminary Conference Program Released
by Michael Zimmer 24 Jul '09

24 Jul '09

Dear AoIR list members: Thanks to the hard work of Susanna Paasonen, program chair, and the many of you who volunteered as reviewers, we are pleased to announce the release of the preliminary conference program for IR.10 Internet:Critical. The draft program, listing scheduled times for each presentation, can be found at the conference website: <http://ir10.aoir.org/?page_id=4> Please e-mail both Susanna Paasonen (susanna.paasonen(a)helsinki.fi) and Michael Zimmer (zimmerm(a)uwm.edu) with any corrections. An updated schedule will be posted with room assignments and links to abstracts shortly. Stay tuned for news about registration.... Michael Zimmer On behalf of the conference organizing committee: - Susanna Paasonen, Helsinki Collegium for Advanced Studies - Elizabeth Buchanan, UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies - Michael Zimmer, UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies - Steve Jones, University of Illinois-Chicago -- Michael Zimmer, PhD Assistant Professor, School of Information Studies Associate, Center for Information Policy Research University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee e: zimmerm(a)uwm.edu w: www.michaelzimmer.org

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Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development
by David Rodríguez Gómez 23 Jul '09

23 Jul '09

Dear AoIR Colleagues, I am pleased to introduce you the latest release from IGI Global: Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved Education Delivery ISBN: 978-1-60566-780-5; 354 pp; August 2009 Published under Information Science Reference an imprint of IGI Global http://www.igi-global.com/reference/details.asp?id=34727 Edited by: J. Ola Lindberg, Mid Sweden University, Sweden and Anders D. Olofsson, Umea University, Sweden DESCRIPTION In todays society, the professional development of teachers is urgent due to the constant change in working conditions and the impact that information and communication technologies have in teaching practices. Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved Education Delivery features innovative applications and solutions useful for teachers in developing knowledge and skills for the integration of technology into everyday teaching practices. This defining collection of field research discusses how technology itself can serve as an important resource in terms of providing arenas for professional development. **************************************** "Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved Education Delivery provides theoretical foundations for developing research on this topic together with cases, models, methods and pedagogies for improved education delivery with great potential to improve practice." - J. Ola Lindberg, Mid Sweden University, Sweden **************************************** TOPICS COVERED Collaborative online professional development Computer-supported collaborative learning Education delivery Knowledge management in education Models of online communities Online learning communities Online pedagogy design and development Pedagogies afforded by technology Teacher professional development Virtual environments For more information about Online Learning Communities and Teacher Professional Development: Methods for Improved Education Delivery, you can view the title information sheet at http://www.igi-global.com/downloads/pdf/34727.pdf To view the Table of Contents and a complete list of contributors online go to http://www.igi-global.com/reference/details.asp?ID=34727&v=tableOfContents. You can also view the first chapter of the publication at http://www.igi-global.com/downloads/excerpts/34727.pdf Regards, David _______________________________________ David Rodríguez Gómez Dpt. de Pedagogia Aplicada Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona Edifici G6 - Despatx 243 Tfon: + 34 93 581 3191 Fax: + 34 93 581 3052 Campus de Bellaterra 08193 Cerdanyola del Vallès Barcelona (Spain) http://dewey.uab.cat/drodriguezg/ _______________________________________

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Corrected: Comparative International Study of Scientific Journal Databases in the Social Sciences and the Humanities
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Colleagues/ A Most Impressive Project !!! /Gerry JournalBase *- *A Comparative International Study of Scientific Journal Databases in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH) Michèle Dassa et Christine Kosmopoulos / Cybergeo, The Electronic European Journal of Geography / 2009 Presented here for the first time in a comparative table are the contents of the databases that inventory the journals in the Social Sciences and the Humanities (SSH), of the Web of Science (published by Thomson Reuters) and of Scopus (published by Elsevier), as well as of the lists European Reference Index for Humanities (ERIH) (published by the European Science Foundation and of the French Agence pour l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur (AERES). With some 20,000 entries, this is an almost exhaustive overview of the wealth of publications in the Social Sciences and the Humanities, at last made available in this table, adopting the same nomenclature for classing the journals according to their disciplines as the one used in 27 workstations of the European Science Foundation. The multiple assignments reveal the multidisciplinarity of the journals, which is quite frequent in SSH, but also sometimes the incoherence of databases that have not been corrected.The research was carried out in 2008 with the financial support of the TGE Adonis of the CNRS. An updated version will soon be presented online.The final objective of this project, which concerns the entire international community of the Social Sciences and the Humanities, is to put online, in a bilingual English/French version, the database of JournalBase in interactive mode on a collaborative platform, as well as the final report of the study, so that the decision-makers, the scientists, the experts in scientific information have access to up-to-date information, and so that they may contribute to forward movement in the reflection on these questions, through the exchange of experiences and of good working practices. JournalBase has been updated on the 17 July 2009. It includes the information on open access journals indexed in the DOAJ Links To The Source and FullText Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/m4vvxy ] Enjoy! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There Are No Answers, 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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CFP: Journal of Media Practice
by Lina Khatib 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Journal of Media Practice ISSN: 14682753Published by Intellect Editor: Lina Khatib, Royal Holloway, University of London Call for submissions The Journal of Media Practice is an international forum for debate on media practice, both within and outside of academia. The Journal is looking for contributions from colleagues involved in media practice around the world, whether as teachers or practitioners. The Journal invites international contributions reflecting on the media practice landscape, addressing television, radio, video art, documentary, film, screenwriting, the internet, the press, or any other form of print, audio, visual or audiovisual media. Submissions on policy, “industry” (or sites of practice), creative practice, aesthetics, pedagogy and critiques of the range of what can be called media” are welcome. In addition to academic articles, the Journal encourages the submission of: - Visual essays (images accompanied by text) - Interviews with key media personnel and artists - Reflections by media practitioners on their own practice (whether within institutions or as independent practitioners) - Reviews of exhibitions and other media events and of books - Critical pieces about changes in technology, content and delivery of media products and tools, or the work of media institutions around the world Articles should be 5000 words, reviews 500-1000 words, and critical pieces and reflections between 1000-3000 words. The Editor is happy to discuss other possibilities with potential contributors. All submissions are subject to peer review. Please send all submissions to jmp(a)rhul.ac.uk. Informal queries can be sent to the Editor Lina Khatib: lina.khatib(a)rhul.ac.uk

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Re: [Air-L] The Internet and Politics: Key Readings
by Andrew Chadwick 22 Jul '09

22 Jul '09

Hi Bill, The chapters and bibliography in Andrew Chadwick and Philip N. Howard (eds) The Handbook of Internet Politics (Routledge, 2008) should be useful for this. See: http://www.handbook-of-internet-politics.com To make life easier, I can send you a PDF of the bibliography for the HIP (off-list). Also, my Internet Politics: States, Citizens, and New Communication Technologies (Oxford University Press, 2006) might be useful, as well as some of my journal articles and chapters, listed here: http://www.rhul.ac.uk/Politics-and-IR/About-Us/Chadwick/Publications.html Sounds like a great project. Best of luck with it. Cheers, Andy -------------------------- Professor Andrew Chadwick, Professor of Political Science, Head of Department (2006-2009), Department of Politics & International Relations, Co-Director, New Political Communication Unit http://newpolcom.rhul.ac.uk, Royal Holloway, University of London. ------------------------------------------------------ http://www.andrewchadwick.com On 21 Jul 2009, at 14:47, William Dutton wrote: > Dear AoIR Colleagues, > > > > I have agreed to edit a 4 volume set that will reprint journal > articles and > book chapters that are core to the study of the Internet and > politics. In a > very open-ended fashion, I would be very grateful for your > nominations of > work that should be included in such a set. I plan to include work > that > predates the Internet as we know it today, which has helped to shape > and > inform academic perspectives on the political role of computing and > telecommunications, but also be as contemporary as book publishing > allows. > Here is an opportunity to assembly the key works in an increasingly > significant area, so please do take the time to provide me with your > recommendations. I will acknowledge those who provide me with their > considered views on this, as it will be important for the field to > get this > list as strong as possible. > > > > Many thanks in advance. It might be best to reply only to me, but > whatever > you think best for fostering thoughtful nominations. > > > > Regards, > > > > Bill > > > > Professor William H. Dutton, Director > > Oxford Internet Institute > > University of Oxford > > One St Giles > > Oxford OX1 3JS > > United Kingdom > > > > Tel +44 (0)1865 287 210 > > Fax +44 (0)1865 287 211 > > Mobile +44 (0)7768 823 906 > > > > Personal Webpage <http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/> > > _______________________________________________ > 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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3rd Call for Competition Entries - Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award
by Artur R. Lugmayr 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

================================================================================================ Call to participate in the 3rd Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards Competition September 30th – October 2nd, 2009, Tampere, Finland http://www.mindtrek.org/ubimedia [1] For previous years' entries, newslist subscription, and our facebook group - check out: http://webhotel2.tut.fi/emmi/forum [2] Competition deadline: August 7th Award Sum: 7.000 Euros ================================================================================================ The purpose of the competition is to encourage makers of digital media to generate ideas and develop new and innovative ubimedia products & services. The entries are expected to take a stand on the following questions, for example: * How does ubiquitous computing affect media environments? * What are intelligent media environments like? * What will the location- and context-aware media services of the future be like? A few other examples are: * Pervasive and ubiquitous games * Ambient installations * Artistic works related to ubiquitous media and computation * Business models * Ambient and ubiquitous media technology * Ubiquitous and ambient media services, devices, and environments * Context aware, sensing, and interfaces for ubiquitous computation * Ergonomics, human-computer interaction designs, and product prototypes * Software, hardware and middleware framework demonstrations * Ambient television * etc. The total award sum for the Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award is 7 000Euro . The sum can be awarded to one entry, divided between several entries or not awarded at all if the award criteria set by the jury are not fulfilled. All ubimedia, ubiquitous, pervasive, or ambient products or product and service concepts which have been finalized during the previous year after 1st January 2008 are eligible to take part in the competition. Competition deadline is August 7th How to participate? Please check out the website http://mindtrek.org/ubimedia [3] for entry forms and actual information, and http://webhotel2.tut.fi/emmi/forum [4] for previous years' entries, newsletter, and our facebook group. In case of questions, please contact: ubiaward (AT) mindtrek.org Rules of the Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. Organizers The Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award is a category of the 2009 MindTrek competition. The category is organized collaboratively by MindTrek, Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing, New Ambient Multimedia Group (NAMU)/Tampere University of Technology, the TAMK University of Applied Sciences, and Nokia. The award is funded by Nokia and the Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing. 2. Products qualifying for participation All Ubimedia products or product and service concepts which have been finalized during the previous year after 1st January 2008 are eligible to take part in the competition. An example of a suitable competition entry is a finished product, product pilot or demo. No drafts or mere ideas without relevant documentation will be accepted. The competition rules do not place limitations on the technology used in the products. The jury has the right to reject the participation of an entry if it does not fulfil the participation criteria. All jury decisions are final. 3. Entry Submissions For completing a successful submission, the following information is required from your side: * filled application form; * video documenting the submission (approx. 3-5 minutes, also longer will be accepted); * documentation of the concept; A demonstration, production, pilot, or demo is eligible to be submitted to the competition. Each entry should be in form of a video documenting the submission (approx. 3-5 minutes, however also longer videos will be accepted). The video should clearly indicate how the demonstration, production pilot, or demonstration works and relates to ubiquitous media. In addition to the video, a short English-language based description of the concept should be attached to the competition entry in form of e.g. sketches, images, power points, word documents, or implementations. The description should present the key characteristics and benefits of the product or service in a concise and marketing-oriented manner. In addition, also other materials supporting the jury in their decision (e.g. sketches, images, power points, word documents, implementations) can be attached to the competition entry. However, the jury decision will primarily be based on the video submissions, and additional materials will be used in case of further questions. We welcome also links to project homepages, but the jury decision can only base the decision on submitted materials. 4. Participation Registration for the competition ends on 7th August 2009 at 15:00 (+2 GMT). If the competition entry is delivered to MindTrek via mail, it must arrive at the MindTrek Association’s office in three (3) copies no later than 7.8.2009 at 15:00 (+2 GMT). If the competition entry is implemented on the internet, its web address must be submitted to MindTrek when registering within the deadline. Late entries will not be accepted. In addition to submitting the competition entry, participation requires registration using the registration form at the MindTrek website. All submissions must be in English. Originals sent to the competition will not be returned, so you should keep a copy for your own use. Post and packaging costs are the responsibility of the entrant. 5. Award The total award sum for the Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek competition category is EUR 7,000. The sum can be awarded to one entry, divided between several entries or not awarded at all if the award criteria set by the jury are not fulfilled. 6. Immaterial property rights The immaterial property rights related to the competition works remain the property of the competitors. The entrants are responsible for ensuring that they have full copyrights to their competition entries and the right to use the works and their elements when participating in the competition. The material submitted to the award programme remains the property of the author and may not be modified, changed in any way or used in whole or in part for the production of any other work. 7. Evaluation of the entries and the jury The participating works will be evaluated in the following areas: * Innovativeness * Commercial potential * Entertainment value and/or usefulness and/or artistic merit and creative implementation * The usability of interactive and context-aware functions and functions utilizing ubiquitous computing in some other manner * Feasibility (in terms of technology and production) * Visual implementation and technical functionality Nokia, Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing and MindTrek will jointly assemble the jury for this competition category. The jury will comprise at least one member from Nokia, one member from MindTrek and one member from Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing, and have a minimum of four members in all. In addition to the actual jury, MindTrek’s preliminary jury will take part in the evaluation if required, by carrying out a preliminary elimination. 8. Reference rights MindTrek has the right to use the competition entries and a mention of the entrants as references in its marketing communications. MindTrek, Nokia and Tampere Region Centre of Expertise in Ubiquitous Computing have the right to disseminate information about the competition arrangements, competition entries, the awarding of the winners and other details related to the competition in their marketing and advertising, e.g. on the web and in brochures and newsletters. The submitted works may be used by MindTrek without any restrictions or written permission in all presentations, TV broadcasting, CD/DVD productions, CD/DVD compilations and advertisements (internet, CD-ROM, TV, print). MindTrek has the unlimited right to use the submitted material for distribution on DVDs and other media, especially the right to distribute the video material to labels and broadcasting companies. 9. Announcement of the results and presentation of the awards The results of the competition category will be announced and the awards presented at the MindTrek Awards Ceremony. The winners will be announced at Hotel Rosendahl on 1.10.2009 at the MindTrek Awards Ceremony. Later there will be the Awards Party to honor the winners of the competitions. Award nominees will be notified in advance. The presence of the nominees at the MindTrek event in October is strongly recommended. All nominees are invited to give a half day workshop around the ideas of their nominated project with the students and tutors at Demola, www.demola.fi [5] 10. Compensation of the finalists’ travel and other expenses MindTrek will pay travel and accommodation costs up to the sum of EUR 800 per team for a maximum of three invited finalists/teams flying from abroad in economy class. Any Finnish entrants among the finalists will not receive compensation for their travel costs. However, MindTrek will pay for one conference ticket (includes entrance to the MindTrek Awards Party) and one entrance ticket to the MindTrek Awards Party for all finalist teams. MindTrek will not pay compensation for any other possible costs incurred by the entrants due to their participation in the competition. Further Information Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards Competition ubiaward (AT) mindtrek.org Or in urgent matters the competition chairs: Artur Lugmayr, artur.lugmayr (AT) tut.fi, Tel.: +358 40 821 0558 Cai Melakoski, cai.melakoski (AT) tamk.fi, Tel.: +358 50 555 6581 Kirsi Lindfors, kirsi.lindfors (AT) hermia.fi, Tel.: +358 40 820 4608 Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Awards Jury 2009 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Head Of Jury: * Bjoern Stockleben, RBB , DE Competition Chairs: * Artur Lugmayr, NAMU group, Tampere Univ. of Technology (TUT), FI * Cai Melakoski, TAMK University of Applied Sciences, FI * Kirsi Lindfors, Hermia, FI Jury Members (to be completed): * Petros Belimpasakis, Nokia, FI * Jonas Forth, Abo Academy, FI * Glen Gebhard, LMU, US * Michael Hausenblas, Johanneum Research, AT * Andreas Holzinger, MBCS Head Research Unit HCI4MED, Medical University Graz (MUG), AT * Juha Kaario, Nokia, FI * Mirette Kangas, YLE New Media, FI * Katri Lietsala Gemilo OY, FI * Timo Ojala, Universit of Oulu, FI * Daniel Salber, mackey.nl, NL * Susanne Sperring, Abo Academy, FI * Joelle Stemp, Yu Centrik, CA * Riku Suomela, Nokia, FI * Teija Vainio, TUT, FI * Robert Wierzbicki, wierzbicki.org, DE * Roger Zimmermann, National University of Singapore, SG * Demola students About the MindTrek Conference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Conference Venue MindTrek takes place at Hotel Scandic Rosendahl, in Tampere, Finland. The organizer of the conference has booked quota for the conference delegates from this hotel. Please, look for more information on accommodation and registration later from our website. Please note that the accommodation is not included in the participation fee. There is also other accommodation available in Tampere, ranging from modern first-class hotels to smaller traditional hotels and dormitories. If you select one of these options, you should make the reservations by yourself with that specific hotel. MindTrek Conference in General Jukka Matikainen, +358 (0)40 5336 379, jukka.matikainen (AT) mindtrek.org www.mindtrek.org [6] Nokia Ubimedia MindTrek Award 2009 MindTrek.org/ubimedia [1] http://www.mindtrek.org/ubimedia [2] http://webhotel2.tut.fi/emmi/forum [3] http://mindtrek.org/ubimedia [4] http://webhotel2.tut.fi/emmi/forum [5] http://www.demola.fi [6] http://www.mindtrek.org

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predominantly urban focus in internet research
by Barry Wellman 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

No one was able to point to an article that did a meta-analysis showing (or not) a predominantly urban focus in internet research. So Jess Collins & I changed our sentence a bit. We did get many pointers to folks doing urban-rural comparisons or rural focused internet research. Which was not what we were asking about, but as they were copied to these lists, may well have been useful to some -- as well as to us. I do wish people would relabel their subject lines if they are responding to a somewhat different query. Anyway, our paper is done, and goes up on my website/publications - Connected Lives -- by Monday. Look for "Small Town in Internet Society: Chapleau Is No Longer an Island" Cheers, 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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The Internet and Politics: Key Readings
by William Dutton 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Dear AoIR Colleagues, I have agreed to edit a 4 volume set that will reprint journal articles and book chapters that are core to the study of the Internet and politics. In a very open-ended fashion, I would be very grateful for your nominations of work that should be included in such a set. I plan to include work that predates the Internet as we know it today, which has helped to shape and inform academic perspectives on the political role of computing and telecommunications, but also be as contemporary as book publishing allows. Here is an opportunity to assembly the key works in an increasingly significant area, so please do take the time to provide me with your recommendations. I will acknowledge those who provide me with their considered views on this, as it will be important for the field to get this list as strong as possible. Many thanks in advance. It might be best to reply only to me, but whatever you think best for fostering thoughtful nominations. Regards, Bill Professor William H. Dutton, Director Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford One St Giles Oxford OX1 3JS United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)1865 287 210 Fax +44 (0)1865 287 211 Mobile +44 (0)7768 823 906 Personal Webpage <http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/>

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what sources do you use for a "history of the Internet"?
by Sam Ladner 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Hello all, I have run into this problem, yet again, and am still looking for a solution. I'm writing a (very brief) history of the Internet for an article. I have the following sources, which a) seem outdated and b) not sufficiently scholarly. Leiner, B. et al. 1997. ""The Past and Future History of the Internet." Communications of the ACM, February 1997. Berners-Lee, Tim. 1998, "The World Wide Web: A Very Short Personal History", Retrieved July 9, 2009, 2009 ( http://www.w3.org/People/Berners-Lee/ShortHistory.html) World Wide Web Consortium. 2007, "A Little History of the World Wide Web", Retrieved February 19, 2007 (http://www.w3.org/History.html) Can anyone point me in the direction of either more recent or more scholarly sources? I wrestle with using Wikipedia (as many have discussed on this list in the past). I would prefer, at the very least, a pre-press paper from a scholar. Any help much appreciated. s. -- ~~~~~ Sam Ladner, PhD Sociologist Toronto

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Re: [Air-L] Free Culture <FAIL > Research Workshop 2009
by suely＠unisinos.br 21 Jul '09

21 Jul '09

Mary has made some relevant points but I strongly disagree that 'not counting' (the number of women involved in a certain academic endeavour) can be equated to 'not knowing', 'not thinking about' and/or 'not caring about' gender inequalities. Also, the discussion has changed from the representation of women in one specific workshop to sexism and discrimination in general. I will try to make my point clearer in more general terms: earlier messages asked for quantitative positive discrimination on the basis that 'women are under-represented in techno-culture' (a discussion about whether there is such a thing as a non-technical culture could be interesting, but I will leave that aside for now to avoid changing the subject even further). My opinion is that under-representation of women (or other minority) is not a quantitative problem and cannot be solved on a quantitative basis. In other words, the matter is not that there aren't enough women involved in x or y and therefore it is necessary to make sure an extra 'n' women will be included, but *why* the proportion of women (or other minority) in such and such is small, whether there is reason to believe that this should not be the case and what can and should be done to overcome this situation. Quantitative positive discrimination does not address the central points that create/reproduce discrimination and therefore can at best be adopted as a palliative while the really important issues are taken care of. If positive discrimination is seen as a solution, nothing will be done to make sure it will not be needed in the long term - and this is, indeed, a sad scenario. Summarising: the fact that I disagree about the "need to keep counting" does not mean that I disagree that "we need to keep thinking about practices that produce equality and practices that reproduce inequality" (I am quoting Mary's last message). On the contrary, my previous manifestation intended to stress the need to be careful that attention is not diverged from the latter (discriminatory practices) in favour of the former (counting how many of a certain minority are included in every specific endeavour). Suely >>> "Mary K. Bryson" <mary.bryson(a)ubc.ca> 19/07/09 21:29 >>> Thanks to the folks who responded to my recent post concerning the gap between the theme and goals of the Free Culture Research Workshop (e.g., democratization), and the significant under-representation of female scholars (one in ten) in the Organizational and Academic committees of the Free Culture Research Workshop, 2009. Various people asked some good hard questions to which I have responded, briefly, here. >>>>> http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/node/5486 What's the Story? Suely argues that: " counting the number of females involved in academic endeavours is insulting" and further suggests that "this way of thinking" (focusing on gender) is "sad". As it turns out, we have, here, a case study in ³not thinking² -- Free Culture organizer, Giorgos Cheliotis responds that in fact, vis a vis gender, very much in line with Suely's recommendation, "we just didn't think about that". Since in the case of the Free Culture Research Workshop organization, what we got when thinking about gender was foreclosed, is an inclusion rate for women of 10%, perhaps the most clear implication for those of us who are committed to a version of a ³free culture² that is inclusive and that directly contends with persistent inequalities, is that we need to keep counting, and we need to keep thinking about practices that produce equality and practices that reproduce inequality. A recent blog entry by Henry Jenkins, in conversation with Dayna Cunningham, about race and networked publics, does a good job of highlighting some of the complexities attendant to these issues -- http://henryjenkins.org/2009/03/can_african-americans_find_the_3.html Eve Sedgwick -- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eve_Kosofsky_Sedgwick * maybe better than anyone else, wrote so eloquently about what she called, ³the epistemological privilege of unknowing². And for me, that¹s what I take from this kind of scenario. To not count - To not know - To just not think about it -- these are active practices of unknowing that constitute power and privilege and that perpetuate inequality. So What Can be Done? In the nineties, when more academics <than at present> were working on equity and technology projects with an explicitly interventionist praxis, my research team interviewed Sandy Stone, and her words are ringing in my ears thinking about these issues more than a decade later and under very different conditions -- http://sandystone.com/ Sandy Stone ended up a very sophisticated analysis of the difficulties of gender/technology issues by saying that "I, we, are making it up as we go along" and then said that nonetheless, "And when the guns start being fired, I promise to keep sending postcards from the front". I took two things from that moment - First - We have to act even when we aren't sure what to do, or as Courtney Cazden put it much more eloquently, we need to invoke a developmental model that puts "performance before competence" -- http://www.cambridge.org/us/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=0521558239 And secondly, working on equity issues in technoculture will continue to be unpopular, not a career-maker, and all too frequently re-framed as evidence of a personal shortcoming, weakness or basically, ³Just Being Difficult² - there will be backlash... And if you want a recent example of backlash in the face of a public discussion of the problems of sexism and misogyny in the Free Culture community vis a vis Richard Stallman's keynote at the Gran Canaria Desktop Summit * read the responses to a staid attempt by a conference participant simply to raise the issues at all --- http://mdzlog.alcor.net/2009/07/13/backlash-feminism-considered-harmful/#com ments So yes, to be engaged in social change vis a vis media is extraordinarily complex. Counting is not a solution, nor is it a practice that is neutral or unproblematic. As academics, we have a very solid foundation of at least fifty years of rigorous scholarship to draw on that pertains to the various divides within techno-culture * how to think about difference/s and what are the kinds of institutional and organizational tactics and strategies to intervene in relation to inequalities. And so it is likewise heartening to learn that several of the scholars involved in the Free Culture Workshop, most notably, Gabriella Coleman and Elizabeth Stark, have tackled the problem of the under-representation of women directly, and systemically. ³I am not sure whether Mary truly believes that we actively discriminated against female scholars² Giorgos Cheliotis It¹s likely also important to state the obvious, which is that I do not, of course, imagine that something as complex and persistent as gender inequalities and technoculture reproduced within a single setting, as in the Free Culture Research Workshop, is the by-product of something like ³active discrimination² or bad faith, or any individual failing. Equity problems are, of course, longstanding and persistent and will simply reproduce themselves across any setting without, and in many cases, in spite of, diligent and well meaning attempts to produce a ³free culture² that contests bias and inequalities. All of our universities provide endless evidence of the persistence of inequality despite manifest good intentions. Could you have just contacted the organizers about this privately? Why go public? Well as a matter of fact, I did contact the organizers about this, and got no reply. And so I then contacted the only other person on the Workshop website, to get the numbers data which then framed my email to the list. And I sent this email to the AoIR list because it is my firm belief (and it is a belief), that in the ongoing struggle to ³Free Culture² that networked publics and public deliberation matter * literally, ethically, and in every other sense of the notion of ³mattering². Inequality is not, for me, a private issue. And the AoIR community bills itself as ³a member-based support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet research.² That¹s, ³critical and scholarly² and not, ³critical or scholarly² -- http://aoir.org/?page_id=2 * So it seems quite appropriate to occasionally do something on the list in addition to ³Read my recent paper on X² or ³Please send me a bibliography on Y². Kind regards, Mary -- Dr. Mary K. Bryson, Professor and Director, Network of Centers and Institutes in Education (NCIE) & Center for Cross-Faculty Inquiry (CCFI), Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia CCFI: Innovation Works Here http://ccfi.educ.ubc.ca/ Twitter @CritInternet -- Esta mensagem foi verificada pelo sistema de antivírus e acredita-se estar livre de perigo.

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