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Online A Lot Of The Time...
by Ken Hillis 09 May '09

09 May '09

For those who might be interested, here are a few details about my new book, Online a Lot of the Time: Ritual, Fetish, Sign. thanks, Ken H. ---------- Online a Lot of The Time: Ritual, Fetish, Sign Ken Hillis Duke University Press, 2009 (May 15) 336 Pages, 10 illustrations paper, 978-0-8223-4448-3, $23.95/14.99 cloth, 978-0-8223-4434-6, $84.95/59.00 A wedding ceremony in a Web-based virtual world. Online memorials commemorating the dead. A coffee klatch attended by persons hundreds of miles apart via Web-cameras. These are just a few of the ritual practices that have developed and are emerging in online settings. Such Web-based rituals depend on the merging of two modes of communication often held distinct by scholars: the use of a device or mechanism to transmit messages between people across space, and a ritual gathering of people in the same place for the performance of activities intended to generate, maintain, repair, and renew social relations In Online a Lot of the Time, I explore the stakes when rituals that would formerly have required participants together in one physical space are reformulated for the Web. In so doing, I develop a theory of how ritual, fetish, and signification translate to online environments and offer new forms of visual and spatial interaction. The online environments I examine reflect the dynamic contradictions at the core of contemporary identity making and the ways these contradictions get signified. I analyse forms of ritual and fetishism made possible through second-generation virtual environments such as Second Life and the popular practice of using webcameras to "lifecast" one's life online twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Discussing how people create and identify with their electronic avatars, I show how the customs of virtual-world chat reinforce modern consumer-based subjectivities, allowing individuals to both identify with and distance themselves from their characters. My consideration of Webcam cultures links the ritual of exposing one's life online to a politics of visibility. I argue that these new "rituals of transmission" are compelling because they provide a seemingly material trace of the actual person on the other side of the interface. >From the Back Cover "Online a Lot of the Time tackles the complex subject of telepresence more convincingly than anything else around. It suggests that the sign/body of an avatar occupies a "middle ground," analogous to the "middle voice" of free indirect discourse, in which the avatar functions as more than an image but less than an autonomous agent. Moreover, because of the psychic investments that operators project into the avatar, it also functions analogously to a fetish--or rather, a telefetish. Building on previous theorizations of the fetish, the book makes a decisive intervention by showing that these concepts can fruitfully be extended into the virtual realm. With an impressive range of references, including commodity theory, media theory, the history of the telegraph, and a host of other areas, Online a Lot of the Time is essential reading for anyone interested in virtuality and its effects." - N. Katherine Hayles, author of How We Became PostHuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature, and Informatics and Electronic Literature: New Horizons for the Literary. "In Online a Lot of the Time, Ken Hillis presents a new mode of describing so-called virtual phenomena such as avatars and webcam personas. He situates the 'reality' of online activity in the broader sphere of social experience and, in so doing, he neatly pulls the carpet out from under the 'real' to which the 'virtual' is usually contrasted." - Jonathan Sterne, author of The Audible Past: Cultural Origins of Sound Reproduction. --------- Ken Hillis Associate Professor of Technology and Culture Assistant Chair Department of Communication Studies Bingham 113, CB# 3285 The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3285

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Tweet Your arXiv Preprints
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 09 May '09

09 May '09

Colleagues/ Two Weeks Ago, I Posted A Query On The Practice Of 'Twitter Science' : "I Am Greatly Interested In Learning Of Any / All Formal (or Informal) Initiatives That Have Incorporated Twitter (Or Similiar Mobile Features And / Or Functionality) Within Science (And / Or Technology) Projects, Publications And / Or Conferences." Well ... ... ... " ... Robert Simpson, a PhD student from Cardiff University in the UK, has created a website that ranks papers appearing on the arXiv preprint server according to their popularity on Twitter. His website searches Twitter for tweets that mention an arXiv url or posts that are tagged "#arxiv" and include the paper's unique identifier. The website retrieves and lists all the tweets and produces a table of the most popular papers, authors and arXiv categories ranked by how many tweets they have received. [arXiv on Twitter: [snip] This project aims to collect this information and use it to highlight the most interesting and talked-about papers]. The website has only been active since 16 April, but already there have been 75 tweets quoting arXiv papers. This week's top three papers include an introduction to machine learning, a 3D study of the photosphere of HD99563 and power-law distributions in empirical data. The paper ranked fourth in the table, however, as far as I could tell was an April fool's joke, which proclaimed that pi has changed since 1900 BC. So maybe think twice before taking such a ranking seriously." And Who Says I'm Crazy ... ? [:-)] A Link To The Original Twitter Science Posting And To The ArXiv On Twitter Site Are Available From [ http://tinyurl.com/qggsoz ] Enjoy ! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ] Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows [ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]

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NEJM-Beta: The Eclectic/Semantic Journal Is All GrownUp !
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 08 May '09

08 May '09

Colleagues/ The Eclectic/Semantic Journal Is Not Only Alive And Well ; It's All GrownUp [:-)] /Gerry On the [New England Journal Of Medicine] beta site, we pursue new ideas in publishing and showcase innovative ways to present information for use in medical education, research, and clinical practice. New Projects List / Current Beta Projects For You To Test Facebook Applications / Stay in touch with NEJM on Facebook PowerPoint / Drag and Drop Images to Create a PowerPoint Slideshow Search NEJM Online for medical images, then drag and drop to create a PowerPoint slide set you can save to your desktop. Amazon.com-enabled Book Reviews / Try NEJM Book Reviews that let you click right over to Amazon.com New Article Interface / A way of viewing journal articles in tabs. Gadgets Stay informed about recent and popular articles at NEJM Online by adding NEJM Gadgets to your iGoogle homepage. <><><> Beta Graduates List Tested And Approved Projects Now Live On NEJM.org NEJM Audio Summary with Slides Test this option for listening to NEJM's Weekly Audio Summary accompanied by slides A Closer Look At Online Images Test an option for viewing figures in context Listen to Clinical Practice articles Listen to the complete text of selected Clinical Practice articles, FREE for a limited time on the beta Web site NEJM Full-Screen Video Player Try viewing our popular NEJM Videos in Clinical Medicine in a new full-screen player Audio Interview Feed with Article PDF The NEJM Audio Interview podcast feed now features downloadable PDFs of each article New Search Interface And Engine Experience a search that reflects community opinion Most Popular at NEJM.org Lists of what users are downloading and e-mailing, what the press is covering, what blogs are talking about, and what researchers are citing New PowerPoint-compatible Slide Sets Review Articles, Clinical Practice, and Case Records of the MGH Image Of The Week RSS Feed Get the latest e-only Images in Clinical Medicine via RSS handheld.nejm.org View NEJM on your handheld FAQs Appropriate Links TO All Components And Graphics Available At [ http://tinyurl.com/r5oxeq ] Happy Friday ! /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ] Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows [ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]

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Re: [Air-L] Advice on online surveys
by Liezel Longboan 08 May '09

08 May '09

Hi everyone, Thank you very much for all the helpful suggestions! I have started checking/using some of the sites/tools you have mentioned and they're all very interesting. I'm now all fired up on my research:-) Many thanks, Liezel Liezel Longboan PhD Research Student School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies Bute Building, Cardiff University King Edward VII Avenue Cardiff CF10 3NB

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Religion in Virtual Worlds Study Group
by k. zenovka 08 May '09

08 May '09

Time: May 22, 2009 from 8am to 9:30am Location: Second Life Organized By: Beth Davies-Stofka Event Description: Religion in Virtual Worlds Study Group The Religion in Virtual Worlds Study Group meets on the 3rd Friday of the month at 8:00 AM Second Life time. The May meeting will take place on May 22nd (in order to avoid overlap with end-of-semester duties). The agenda is as follows: Buddhist Death in Second Life Dr. Beth Davies-Stofka presents the educational goals and strategies behind the Second Life Bardo Game. Designed by members of the Center for EduPunx, the Second Life Bardo Game creates the "in between" state of the dead person as described in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, challenging the player to find her way to enlightenment. There are a few design issues that we need help resolving, and we'll present those to the group. Discussion: would you like to use this game in your classroom? What questions or considerations concern you? How can we help? Religion in Virtual Worlds Study Group meetings normally last an hour and a half, but feel free to come late and leave early! All are welcome. All meetings are held on the Front Range Island. Front Range Island is private, so please RSVP in advance with your avatar name to beth.davies(a)frontrange.edu. Thanks, and we look forward to seeing you on May 22nd! Beth Davies-Stofka, Ph.D. SL: Michigan Paule Arts and Letters Online Front Range Community College Next meeting: June 19. Agenda will be set at the May meeting. Posting for a friend. Long time lurker - first time poster Kae Novak Front Range Community College

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using wikipedia articles in academic paper (Kate Milberry)
by Kate Milberry 08 May '09

08 May '09

I frequently use Wikipedia as a starting point and foundation for scantily researched (at least in the social sciences) technical subjects. When nobody was writing on wikis, social software, copyleft, crowd sourcing or free software, Wikipedia had the most comprehensive definitions. Unlike an online dictionary reference, Wikipedia also contains history, controversies, (often academic) citations and links out to key people and websites. Researching the development and use of internet technology for social justice activism, I typically find that Wikipedia has the most useful, if not the only, information I'm looking for. While my research area has gained more attention from academe recently, this was not always the case. Further, with “official” academic work, there is often a lag between time of writing and publication. When writing about “now” technology, this material is typically out of date, and perhaps useless to the discussion or question at hand. There is a conflation in this discussion between researchers well versed in a subject using Wikipedia out of necessity (rather than laziness or poor research skills) and undergraduate students doing a Google search and clicking the top link – usually Wikipedia. In my classes, I discourage the use of Wikipedia, in order to foster “proper” research techniques. Students need to learn academic protocol in research, established and long used for excellent reasons, before they consciously veer from this. I wonder how the “grown up” readers of our work can find more information on a topic when we, the folks who presumably dedicate our working lives to it, cannot do so easily. There is also a question of accessibility to knowledge that I think is important and has been glossed. Perhaps highly technical information could be found by scouring the computer science journals, although I have not found this process highly fruitful. In any case, the default to jargony, near-impenetrable information written by “authorized knowers” over collaboratively produced knowledge by Wikipedian experts written for a lay audience is not surprising, but it is a bit worn. While there are certainly well-documented problems with Wikipedia, and I do think it should be used sparingly and critically, I think the quickness to offense by reviewers is unwarranted. Collaboratively produced, “un-peer reviewed” knowledge is as old as humanity and should not be so easily dismissed. The subject area should be considered, and if the reviewer is so sure this information is readily to be found, perhaps s/he should do a quick Google Scholar search herself. Kate ________ M. Kathleen Milberry PhD candidate ACT Lab/School of Communication Simon Fraser University Vancouver, BC, Canada (604) 787-5903 blog: http://geeksandglobaljustice.com lab: http://www.actlab.org

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Advice on online surveys
by Liezel Longboan 07 May '09

07 May '09

Hi all, I'm a PhD student about to start my participant-observation of an email group of which I am a member. Could anyone please recommend the best way for me to conduct an online survey which would be simple and accessible for my respondents? Which survey tools/sites would be appropriate for respondents with the basic knowledge of the Internet? I have looked at a few online survey sites but I thought it would be best to ask for 'expert' advice from list members who have previously have done an online survey. Many thanks, Liezel Longboan Cardiff University

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Web Studies instruction
by Gordon E Murray 07 May '09

07 May '09

Hello air-l! This is my first post, so please bear with me if it's not perfect. I checked the archives and couldn't find my question answered previously, so here it goes: I am a part-time grad student in the communications field at Wichita State University in Wichita, Kansas. I've started to have a strong interest in incorporating the study of the culture and uses of the web and web media in my degree, however, there doesn't seem to be much coursework here nor available for online study programs, by which I mean distance learning programs for credit. My degree adviser has given me free rein to locate accredited classes, but so far I've found very little. I am aware of Dr Baym's courses at the University of Kansas, as well as a few others a bit farther away, but want to be sure there is nothing closer or online before my wife and I begin considering a relocation for me to continue my studies. I realize that this field is just getting off the ground in many ways, and so schools are scrambling to catch up, but I'm really hoping to hear of some more options to consider. Thanks! Gordon Murray gemurray(a)wichita.edu

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Current and Future SciTechMed Mobile Apps?
by McKiernan, Gerard [LIB] 07 May '09

07 May '09

Colleagues/ I am greatly interested in learning about Any / All compilations/reviews of currently-available SciTechMed Mobile Apps for Any / All Platforms. I am also interested in learning about SciTechMed Mobile Apps that you'd like to be created and made available and/or which exist but need improvement(s). I am also interested in >Your< Favorite SciTechMed Mobile App(s). I am interested the use of Mobile Apps in either a small science/technology/medicine Or Big Science/Technology/Medical environment(s). Please post your Recommendation(s) As Comment(s) on The Blog Entry At [ http://tinyurl.com/ch3ow7 ] Thanks A Million!!! BTW: I've Chosen A Most Appropriate Image For The Blog Entry / It's Worth A Visit For The Memories Alone ... [:-)] Regards, /Gerry Gerry McKiernan Associate Professor Science and Technology Librarian Iowa State University Library Ames IA 50011 gerrymck(a)iastate.edu There is Nothing More Powerful Than An Idea Whose Time Has Come / Victor Hugo [ http://www.blogger.com/profile/09093368136660604490 ] Iowa: Where the Tall Corn Flows and the (North)West Wind Blows [ http://alternativeenergyblogs.blogspot.com/ ]

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Digital Culture 2009
by Ben Light 07 May '09

07 May '09

2nd Digital Cultures Workshop: Social Media Publics 4-5 June, 2009 University of Salford, U.K. Call for Papers Organizers Ben Light and Marie Griffiths, University of Salford. Sian Lincoln, Liverpool John Moores University Steve Sawyer, Syracuse University. Confirmed Speakers Dr. Carsten Sørensen Information Systems and Innovation Group, Department of Management, London School of Economics Dr. Theresa Senft School of Social Sciences, Media and Cultural Studies, University of East London It is clear that the boundaries between the public¹ and the private¹ are becoming increasingly blurred within and amongst sites of home and work. Indeed, in the wake of reality television shows, national identity card schemes, increased social media usage and the like, publicity appears to be the order of the day. For this workshop we seek papers that discuss the issues raised for those living in environments where there is seemingly little room for privacy. As was the case last year, we intend for the workshop to be multi-disciplinary in nature, broad in the approaches participants take and issues they cover. If your work is about any aspect of digital culture, this is the workshop for you! The following are thus only indicative of potential topics that could be raised: ·How do people domesticate social media in their attempts to maintain a balance in publicity and privacy? Do they? Why do they, or don¹t they? ·What matters are raised by increased access to data about individuals and organizations? ·What does the blurring of boundaries between public and private mean for our knowledge and experiences of gender, sexuality, race, ethnicity and disability? ·How are ICT mediated spaces created and maintained at home, work and those spaces in between? For example, how are geek gamers¹ finding spaces to play now the only console in the house can be in the living room? ·How are ICT policies shaping public and private spaces throughout societies around the world? ·What privacy issues are presented by media convergence? ·What role are mobile and ubiquitous computing technologies playing in public and private spaces? ·How is the increased commodification of social media affecting our privacy? Following from the first workshop we continue to see this workshop having three purposes. First, we seek to give voice and structure to existing new media, ICT and technology related research which may not readily sit within conventionally accepted areas. Second, we wish to draw in research on new forms of digital technology, ICT, computing, organizing and social interactions. Third, we want to continue discussions regarding potential futures for ICT related research which combine research as related to the evolving forms and functions of work organizations and the changing boundaries and relations between these organizations and their social milieus. We seek abstracts (of up to 600 words) that focus upon some aspect of digital culture. We hope to have a special issue of a journal associated with the workshop as was the case last year (a special issue of the Journal of Information, Communication, Ethics and Society is to be published early in 2009). Abstracts should be submitted to Ben Light at: b.light(a)salford.ac.uk <mailto:b.light@salford.ac.uk> Important Dates Abstract Submission Date: 28 February 2009 Notification of Acceptance: 31 March 2009 Workshop Dates: 4 and 5 June 2009 Workshop Arrangements The fee for presentation/attendance at the workshop is £75. This will cover refreshments and meals throughout the workshop and a workshop dinner to be held on the evening of the 4th of June. There is no fee for PhD students, however they still need to register for the workshop. PhD student registration includes refreshments during the workshop but excludes attendance at the workshop dinner (This is subject to a £25 fee, payable upon registration). >From February 2009, you will be able to register for the workshop at: https://shop.salford.ac.uk Further details regarding the location of the workshop will be posted nearer the time at: http://www.iris.salford.ac.uk If you experience any difficulties regarding the workshop arrangements, please do get in touch with Nathalie Audren-Howarth at: n.audren(a)salford.ac.uk. Accommodation Delegates should arrange their own accommodation with their preferred hotel. Below are a few hotels in the area. Best wishes, Ben. Ben Light Professor of Technology and Society Director: IS, Organisation and Society Research Centre School of Media, Music and Performance University of Salford Adelphi House SALFORD M3 6EN Tel. +44 (0)161 295 5443 www.benlight.org www.smmp.salford.ac.uk www.isos.salford.ac.uk

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