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birth week groups -- the other side
by Barry Wellman 22 Feb '09

22 Feb '09

Reading the very interesting post about birth week groups makes me wonder about the other side. Anyone else born about Sept 30, 1942? Should compare common experiences? This may become a whole new cohort effects research area. I'm humorous about this, but it would be fascinating. And to repeat, I think what Kathy told us is important. Barry Wellman, bottle-fed, crib-confined, totally non-organic _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology University of Toronto 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 I regret that most of my thoughts are more than 140 characters long Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _______________________________________________________________________

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Country demographics on SNS
by Dr. Rasha Abdulla 22 Feb '09

22 Feb '09

> > Hi everyone, Does anyone know how to get some statistics on participants in a social network by country? I'm particularly interested in updated figures about how many Egyptians are on Facebook and MySpace, as long as how many worldwide members in terms of aggregate membership. Thank you. -- Rasha A. Abdulla, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Journalism and Mass Communication The American University in Cairo www.rashaabdulla.com

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Re: [Air-L] research on birth week groups?
by Katy Pearce 22 Feb '09

22 Feb '09

(I originally sent my response directly to Ethan and danah, so here it is for everyone.) danah and Ethan, I'm not familiar with any studies except for this one: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-01/w-cif012209.php , but I can tell you that in my personal experience, LiveJournal is where a lot of this is happening. I myself was in a birth week (and month - months appear to be more common, FWIW) group and continue to be involved in it. We're now all swapping teething remedies. There is particular kinship with "birthday buddies." It was my experience that when one joins one of the open/common LJ groups (like pregnancy, pregnant, or parenting101), it is expected that one shares her name, age, due date and other details. Then a mod or a member of the month group will private message or send a comment inviting the user to join "November2008" or whatever. Also, it is expected that community members will post their "birth story" within a few days of giving birth. After those are posted, invites to "birthday week buddy" groups are send privately or via comments. I see every few weeks a post in the general groups that says "Hey, we just started a August2009 group!" It is absolutely the case that these groups vary in demographics and attitudes toward childrearing (although I'd venture a guess that these groups skew more crunchy. Parenting101 is a very popular, albeit snarky, group though that has its subcommunities of (self-proclaimed) boobnazis (breast is best and if you don't agree, we hate you), co-sleepers, anti-vaccination people, etc.)). The month groups are generally friendly and more supportive and as Ethan speculates, more about developmental and medical questions (i.e., how did your baby's 2-month vaccinations go? Or did your OB give you this test?). Demographically, all these communities skew YOUNG. I, at 30, feel like the oldest by far. Most seem to be in their late teens and early 20s. As such, financial issues and custody/relationship/how parents react to the news issues are a bit different than the ones that I discuss with my "real life" parent friends. For example, I posted a question the other day about opinions regarding a stroller accessory and was quickly flamed for owning a stroller deemed too expensive. Then there was a flame war about how that stroller, while expensive has a lifetime guarantee, was easily found on Craig's List, etc. But there is definitely a lot of good feedback given to the younger mothers when asking questions about budgeting, what is really essential and the like. And yes, friendships emerge and appear to be very different from "real life" friendships. Some of them are maintained through the community itself and others occur through comments that move into be-friending on private journals (i.e., "Looks like we both do cloth diapers and have boys. Friend eachother?") I hope that this was helpful. If anyone is interested in discussing further or offlist, I'd be happy to. And yes, I probably spend way too much time there. I like to crowdsource my baby questions though. J Thanks, Katy Message: 4 Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2009 09:59:38 -0500 From: danah boyd <aoir.z3z(a)danah.org> Subject: [Air-L] research on birth week groups? To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Message-ID: <1694AFEA-E805-487C-8016-AC5B162487EB(a)danah.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes A friend of mine is trying to find research on women who are part of "birth week" groups. I've heard a lot about these forming through Craigslist, but I don't know who is doing research in this space. Does anyone here know? I've included his full query below. --danah Begin forwarded message: > From: Ethan Zuckerman <ethanz(a)gmail.com> > > In the past few (several?) years, online support groups have emerged > for women who share a pregnancy due date. Some of these clubs are > regional; others are nationwide or worldwide, usually constrained by > language. Women participate because it's helpful to compare their > experiences to women at the same stage of gestational development. > > What's interesting to me about these groups is that they encourage > connect - sometimes deep emotional connection - between women who > don't share much in common in demograhic/psychograhic terms. These > groups are limited by gender, age and basic computer literacy, but > they appear to be - if only from anecdotes - more diverse than many > voluntary online associations. > > I'm interested in whether anyone has done either a detailed > ethnographic or a quantitative, survey-based study of one or more of > these communities. I'm especially interested in observations on > support relationships developing between women who differ in terms of > income, race and religion. > > -E

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internet and homelessness
by Laszlo Ropolyi 22 Feb '09

22 Feb '09

Dear AoIR-ers, I would like to thank everybody for the valuable and sensible comments and suggestions on the internet and homelessness links. They were encouraging and useful - I will inform all of you if I will have a contribution to the problem. Thanks again, Laszlo Laszlo Ropolyi Dept. History and Philosophy of Science Eotvos University Budapest, Hungary

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internet literacy.
by Peter Timusk 21 Feb '09

21 Feb '09

I am more of a computer science student/scholar but got started with books on Internet studies in the 76.9 range and the social impact of computers books. So I am recommending a textbook from computer ethics. I would also recommend giving students technical internet publishing skills by having a secondary book on HTML or CSS or other technical writing. This is so that students can be productive with the Internet as I imagine much future communications your students do will involve web publishing. Ian Graham has written for Wiley on HTML writing. His tutorials on HTML at the University of Toronto's web space could be used by those students who can not buy the second book. Here is a book from the 76.9 range Author Rosenberg, Richard S. Title The social impact of computers / Richard S. Rosenberg. Publisher Amsterdam ; Boston : Elsevier Academic Press, c2004. Edition 3rd ed.

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Re: [Air-L] Air-L Digest, Vol 55, Issue 24
by Jenny Ryan 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Hello aoir-world! I've been subscribed to this list for some time now, but have yet to introduce myself. I've been enjoying the conversations about virtual ethnography, and more recently the use of wikis in qualitative research. I personally have used wikis effectively for research purposes - primarily to organize and share information and resources with fellow researchers. Last year, when I published my master's thesis online, I considered putting it in wiki format and allowing my participants to edit and add to the narrative. Actually, this may inspire me to actually put that plan into action... I'm dabbling in programming and recently launched a wiki, Webnographers.Org, for resources pertaining to virtual ethnography. Over the past couple of years, I have conducted several virtual ethnographies based on observation, interviews, and survey responses on online diary communities and social networks. I would love to connect to more people interested in this field- not limited to anthropologists, of course! On a more philosophical level, I suppose, I'm fascinated by the mirror-nature of the internet and its relationship with our cultural programming. On a political level, I follow free speech and internet policy news (primarily through twitter). J'adore twitter. I'm currently awaiting word from six ph.d programs, for the most part in California. In the interim, does anyone have advice for me wrt publishing my thesis as a book? It is an ethnography of MySpace, Facebook, and Tribe.net ( www.thevirtualcampfire.org) I would like to work on a version more suitable for general audiences- more stories, less history... though the history of media is paramount to its future... Also while I'm on the topic, check out Future Folk Records ( http://www.futurefolkrecords.com) Lots of free futurey folk music friends!. Be well, Jenny ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~ "To define is to kill. To suggest is to create." -Stephane Mallarme http://jennyryan.net http://thevirtualcampfire.org http://webnographers.org ~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~

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CFP: PRESENCE 2009
by Matthew Lombard 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

FIRST CALL FOR PAPERS - PLEASE DISTRIBUTE WIDELY Call for Papers PRESENCE 2009 12th Annual International Workshop on Presence Los Angeles, California, USA November 11-13, 2009 Submission deadline: July 1, 2009 Conference web site: http://ispr.info/conference OVERVIEW Academics and practitioners with an interest in the concept of (tele)presence are invited to submit their work for presentation at the 12th Annual International Workshop on Presence, to be held in Los Angeles, California on November 11-13, 2009. Often described as a sense of "being there" in a mediated environment, telepresence is broadly defined as a psychological state or subjective perception in which a person fails to accurately and completely acknowledge the role of technology in an experience. It is a rich, fascinating subject of scientific investigation, artistic exploration and diverse application, with increasingly important implications for the ways in which people work, play and live, and technologies are developed. Designing technologies and imagining practices to modify, prolong and reconfigure the possibilities of being present and co-present has been a continuous endeavor of the human species, from early attempts at constructing communication and transportation devices, to the many current technologies we continue to develop to reach other places and people. Today presence phenomena are the subject of research and theory in communication, computer science, psychology, business, philosophy and many other fields. Technology designers are working to create and refine presence experiences for entertainment, business, medicine and health, teaching and learning, exploration, art and performance, and a great many other commercial and noncommercial arenas. The PRESENCE conferences provide a relaxed and enjoyable forum for presentation of presence scholarship and applications and (especially in the planned format this year), discussion sessions that allow attendees to join together in synthesizing and expanding our collective knowledge and visions for the future regarding this compelling topic. PRESENCE 2009 is co-organized by the International Society for Presence Research (ISPR; http://ispr.info) and The University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT; http://ict.usc.edu) TOPICS Issues of prominent interest include (but are not limited to): * Presence in shared virtual environments and online communities * Presence in social interactions with virtual agents and digital counterparts * Real bodies, avatars and cyborgs * Presence and ubiquity with mobile and geo-location technologies * Realistic action in virtual environments * Parasocial interaction and relationships * Presence as a socio-cultural achievement; practices, preferences and material resources to manifest presence * Linguistic and non-verbal strategies to create, negotiate and challenge presence in mediated environments * Cognitive processes and the sense of presence * Neuropsychology of presence * Presence affordances in digital technologies * 3D sound, acoustic environments and presence * Advanced broadcast and cinematic displays (stereoscopic TV, HDTV, IMAX) * Haptic and tactile displays * Holography * Affective and socio-affective interfaces * Presence augmentation through social, physical, and contextual cues * Presence, involvement and digital addiction * Presence theory; historical investigation of presence concepts; fictions, constructions and realism; transportation, flow, absorption, awareness; philosophical perspectives on presence * Causes and consequences (effects) of presence * Presence analysis, evaluation, and measurement techniques * Presence applications (communication and collaboration; education and training; medicine, health and cybertherapy; entertainment and gaming; art and performance; exploration; teleoperation; technology usability and design; etc.) * Ethical and societal implications of presence technologies * The future of presence experiences We seek original, high quality papers that make substantial contributions to the field. All accepted papers will be collected in the official conference Proceedings (with ISBN) and will also be permanently available for download on the ISPR conference archive (http://ispr.info) Authors may also be invited to revise their paper for publication in a special issue of PsychNology (http://www.psychnology.org) or another journal. CONFERENCE FORMAT PRESENCE 2009 will have an interactive format in which all participants (attendees, presenters, invited speakers) attend each of the sessions as well as several social events, allowing participants to exchange ideas and build knowledge together as the conference progresses. Discussion sessions will be built into the schedule to enhance collective knowledge-building. The language of the conference is English. Please visit the conference web site (http://ispr.info/conference) in the weeks ahead for more information on the conference program, local accommodations, registration, etc. VENUE The conference will be hosted by The The University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies (ICT) in Los Angeles, California. The conference events will take place at The Marina del Rey Hotel (http://www.marinadelreyhotel.com) in the beautiful Marina del Rey area. Only 4 miles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), and easily accessible from all major Southern California freeways, the Marina del Rey/Venice Beach area offers waterfront beauty with shopping, dining, great recreation and miles of beautiful beaches. SUBMISSIONS We invite researchers and practitioners to submit work in the following categories: PAPERS: Comprehensive descriptions of research or design work and/or theoretical investigation within the scope of the workshop. Papers must relate to existing literature on presence and make an original contribution to it. Papers are 4 to 10 pages including references in the PRESENCE 2009 template format (see the submission page at http://ispr.info/conference) Accepted papers will be included in the Proceedings, and will be allocated time for oral presentation. PANELS: Sets of presentations on a single theme or topic within the scope of the workshop. Submitters are encouraged to be creative regarding both the topic or theme and the format for panel proposals (formats that encourage guided discussion are particularly welcome). Panel proposals must identify and provide contact information for all proposed participants and be 4 to 10 pages long including references in the PRESENCE 2009 template format). Accepted panels will be included in the proceedings. POSTERS: Visual display presentations. Poster proposals are limited to 4 pages including references in the PRESENCE 2009 template format. Accepted poster proposals will be published in the conference proceedings. Posters will be displayed on an approximately 28 in (70 cm) by 40 in (100 cm) board during a dedicated session of the conference and will be allocated a 30 second oral preview. DEMONSTRATIONS/EXHIBITIONS: Step-by-step audiovisual demonstrations and/or hands-on experiences of non-commercial work within the scope of the workshop. Proposals for demonstrations/exhibitions are limited to 4 pages in the PRESENCE 2009 template format. Accepted demonstration/exhibition proposals will be included in the conference proceedings and will be presented during a dedicated session of the conference. For the exhibitions of commercial products, please contact ISPR (ispr(a)ispr.info) for sponsorship terms and opportunities. All submissions will be made through the conference online submission system at <http://ispr.info> and will undergo a double-blind peer-review process by at least two selected reviewers. The submission deadline is July 1, 2009. IMPORTANT DATES July 1, 2009 - Submissions due; early registration opens August 15, 2009 - Acceptance/Rejection notifications September 15, 2009 - Finished, camera-ready papers due (electronic submission) October 1, 2009 - Early registration closes November 11-13, 2009 - Conference (onsite registration) CONFERENCE COMMITTEE Conference Co-Chairs Jacki Morie and Belinda Lange (Institute for Creative Technologies) Program Co-Chairs Kwan Min Lee (USC) and Matthew Lombard (Temple University) CONTACT For more information or assistance, please send e-mail to ispr(a)ispr.info or Matthew Lombard (<lombard(a)temple.edu>. -- Matthew Lombard, Ph.D. Temple University President International Society for Presence Research (ISPR) (215) 204-7182 lombard(a)temple.edu http://matthewlombard.com http://ispr.info

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Re: [Air-L] GIGANET MAY 2009 BRUSSELS WORKSHOP: CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS!
by Nanette Levinson 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Apologies for any cross-postings... Second International Workshop on Global Internet Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction Organized by GigaNet, in cooperation with ECREA IIC, CD and CLP Sections Brussels, Belgium — 11 May 2009 Preliminary Announcement and Call for Contributions The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) invites you to participate in a scholarly workshop to be held in Brussels, Belgium, on 11 May 2009. This full day workshop is organized in cooperation with three thematic sections of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA): International and Intercultural Communication (IIC), Communication and Democracy (CD), Communication, Law and Policy (CLP) sections. Building on the success of its first edition in Paris, France, in June 2008, the purpose of this workshop is the presentation and discussion of work-in-progress in Internet Governance-related research with the aim to identify emerging research themes and design a research agenda. We are interested in exchanging information and ideas about national and regional projects and networks currently pursuing research on global Internet governance, but also in identifying academic syllabi or other education programs dedicated to these issues, in order to share ideas and forge possible collaborations. Scholars from various academic disciplines and all regions of the world are welcome to contribute to this reflexive exercise, with the longterm objective of collectively building this interdisciplinary research field. Rather than featuring academic paper presentations, the workshop aims at providing a survey of current academic activities in the field of global Internet governance. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following topics: involved actors and their interactions; Internet governance institutions and regimes; legal, socio-economical, behavioral and technical regulation means; Internet governance policy issues. Submissions should be sent by 20 March 2009 to Meryem Marzouki (Meryem.Marzouki(a)lip6.fr) They should include the name, affiliation, e-mail address and short bio of author(s), along with no more than 500 words of research work description. The program committee will notify applicants by 15 April 2009. To encourage knowledge dissemination, all relevant submissions will be published on the workshop website. Authors of selected submissions will participate at the workshop panel discussions. Program Committee Bart Cammaerts (ECREA-CD), London School of Economics, UK; Raquel Gatto (GigaNet), Pontifícia U. Católica de São Paulo, Brazil; Nanette S. Levinson (GigaNet), American U., USA; Meryem Marzouki (GigaNet), CNRS & U. Pierre et Marie Curie, France; Luciano Morganti (GigaNet & ECREA-IIC), Vrije U. Brussel, Belgium; Katharine Sarikakis (ECREA-CLP), U. of Leeds, UK; JP Singh (GigaNet), Georgetown U., USA; Leo Van Audenhove (GigaNet & ECREA-IIC) , Vrije U. Brussel, Belgium. There is no registration fee for this event. A registration form will be circulated with the program. Practical information on accommodation and low cost travel to Brussels are available on the workshop website: http://giganet.igloogroups.org/publiclibr/giganetcos/2009brusse. About GigaNet: giganet.igloogroups.org — About ECREA: www.ecrea.eu __________________ Nanette S. Levinson Director International Communication Division School of International Service American University Washington, DC 20016-8071 www.american.edu/levinson www.american.edu/sis/ic

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CfP "Global Internet Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction", 11 May, Brussels
by Ralf Bendrath 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

This is a nice format, more roundtables than paper presentations, highly interactive. The Paris workshop last year was quite interesting. RB -------- Original-Nachricht -------- ========= Second International Workshop on Global Internet Governance: An Interdisciplinary Research Field in Construction Organized by GigaNet, in cooperation with ECREA IIC, CD and CLP Sections Brussels, Belgium — 11 May 2009 Preliminary Announcement and Call for Contributions The Global Internet Governance Academic Network (GigaNet) invites you to participate in a scholarly workshop to be held in Brussels, Belgium, on 11 May 2009. This full day workshop is organized in cooperation with three thematic sections of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA): International and Intercultural Communication (IIC), Communication and Democracy (CD), Communication, Law and Policy (CLP) sections. Building on the success of its first edition in Paris, France, in June 2008, the purpose of this workshop is the presentation and discussion of work-in-progress in Internet Governance-related research with the aim to identify emerging research themes and design a research agenda. We are interested in exchanging information and ideas about national and regional projects and networks currently pursuing research on global Internet governance, but also in identifying academic syllabi or other education programs dedicated to these issues, in order to share ideas and forge possible collaborations. Scholars from various academic disciplines and all regions of the world are welcome to contribute to this reflexive exercise, with the long-term objective of collectively building this interdisciplinary research field. Rather than featuring academic paper presentations, the workshop aims at providing a survey of current academic activities in the field of global Internet governance. Submissions may address, but are not limited to, the following topics: involved actors and their interactions; Internet governance institutions and regimes; legal, socio-economical, behavioral and technical regulation means; Internet governance policy issues. Submissions should be sent by 20 March 2009 to Meryem Marzouki (Meryem.Marzouki(a)lip6.fr) They should include the name, affiliation, e-mail address and short bio of author(s), along with no more than 500 words of research work description. The program committee will notify applicants by 15 April 2009. To encourage knowledge dissemination, all relevant submissions will be published on the workshop website. Authors of selected submissions will participate at the workshop panel discussions. Program Committee Bart Cammaerts (ECREA-CD), London School of Economics, UK; Raquel Gatto (GigaNet), Pontifícia U. Católica de São Paulo, Brazil; Nanette S. Levinson (GigaNet), American U., USA; Meryem Marzouki (GigaNet), CNRS & U. Pierre et Marie Curie, France; Luciano Morganti (GigaNet & ECREA-IIC), Vrije U. Brussel, Belgium; Katharine Sarikakis (ECREA- CLP), U. of Leeds, UK; JP Singh (GigaNet), Georgetown U., USA; Leo Van Audenhove (GigaNet & ECREA-IIC) , Vrije U. Brussel, Belgium. There is no registration fee for this event. A registration form will be circulated with the program. Practical information on accommodation and low cost travel to Brussels are available on the workshop website: http:// giganet.igloogroups.org/publiclibr/giganetcos/2009brusse. About GigaNet: giganet.igloogroups.org — About ECREA: www.ecrea.eu ========= -- ------------------------------------------------------------------- Dipl. Pol. Ralf Bendrath Technical University Delft, Netherlands Faculty of Technology, Policy and Management, Section ICT Work: http://www.ict.tbm.tudelft.nl Blog: http://bendrath.blogspot.com Info: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath PGP / GnuPG Public Key: http://userpage.fu-berlin.de/~bendrath/ralf-bendrath-public-key.asc

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Introductory textbooks?
by Tuszynski, Stephanie 20 Feb '09

20 Feb '09

Greetings all - I'm trying to put together a proposal for a basic "intro to digital media/communication" course for the fall and I was wondering if people have particular textbooks they would recommend for this type of class. Feel free to pimp yourselves as well. ;) You can email me off-list at stuszynski(a)bethanywv.edu Thanks Dr. Stephanie Tuszynski Assistant Professor of Communication Bethany College This message may contain confidential information for the use of the addressee(s) above and may contain legally privileged information. If you are not the addressee, or the person responsible for delivering it to the addressee, you are hereby notified that reading, disseminating, distributing or copying this message is strictly prohibited. If you have received this message by mistake, immediately notify us by replying to the message and delete the original message immediately. Thank you.

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