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ESRC studentship available for DPhil at Oxford Internet Institute - deadline approaching
by Vicki Nash 13 Jan '09

13 Jan '09

UK or EU students are eligible to receive ESRC funding for the OII's DPhil in Information, Communication and the Social Sciences. The '+3' studentship, which provides funding for a total of three years of graduate study is designed for those who have already completed a research training qualification and intend to proceed directly with research leading to a DPhil. The award currently covers fees and maintenance for UK students, and fees-only for EU students. Students wishing to be considered for this funding must apply by the next deadline which is 23rd January. Further details of the studentship and information about how to apply are available at http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/dphil/ If you have any questions please contact teaching(a)oii.ox.ac.uk Dr Victoria Nash Director of Graduate Studies Oxford Internet Institute 01865 287231 www.oii.ox.ac.uk

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Re: [Air-L] Social Engineering/Social Hacking anyone?
by Juan Paulhiac 13 Jan '09

13 Jan '09

I'm not quite working on that issue, but i'm interested in social networks in general. I just found this on the net. Not very deep info, but it seems relevant. http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/01/what-your-socia… Juan Paulhiac 2009/1/13, Stephan Humer <stephan.humer(a)web.de>: > Hello everybody. > > Social Engineering is one of my research topics, but > unfortunately a neglected one. It would be great to > change this situation, so I´d love to get in touch with > people who are also working on Social Engineering/Social > Hacking issues. Are there any researchers out there > who´d like to connect? Are there any research projects > I can´t afford to miss? > > Thanks a lot in advance! > > Best > > -- > Dr. Stephan G. Humer > Research Director, Digital Class > University of the Arts Berlin > humer(a)udk-berlin.de - stephan(a)humer.de > Phone: +49 (0)176 6719 3413 - www.humer.de > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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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Social Engineering/Social Hacking anyone?
by Stephan Humer 13 Jan '09

13 Jan '09

Hello everybody. Social Engineering is one of my research topics, but unfortunately a neglected one. It would be great to change this situation, so I´d love to get in touch with people who are also working on Social Engineering/Social Hacking issues. Are there any researchers out there who´d like to connect? Are there any research projects I can´t afford to miss? Thanks a lot in advance! Best -- Dr. Stephan G. Humer Research Director, Digital Class University of the Arts Berlin humer(a)udk-berlin.de - stephan(a)humer.de Phone: +49 (0)176 6719 3413 - www.humer.de

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Virtual Worlds Research Discussion Group starts again this week
by Greg Wadley 12 Jan '09

12 Jan '09

The Virtual Worlds Research Discussion Group kicks off its weekly seminars for 2009 on Monday 19th Jan (Tuesday 20th in Australia/Pacific) with a presentation by Don Wen titled 'A study of Avatar Personalization Systems in Three Virtual Worlds'. This week's presenter Ming-Hui 'Don' Wen is a researcher at the National Chiao-Tung University, Taiwan. During 2008 he visited PARC (Palo Alto Research Centre), California, where he worked with Nic Ducheneaut and Nick Yee to survey attitudes to avatar customization. Information about Don can be found at http://www.donwen.info . A paper about the research will be presented later this year at CHI, Boston (www.CHI2009.org) Abstract In virtual worlds, users project themselves into the environment via a virtual body (avatar) which they control and whose appearance is often customizable. However, considering the prevalence of this form of embodiment, there is a surprising lack of data about how and why users customize their avatar, as well as how easy and satisfying the existing avatar creation tools are. In this paper, we report on a study investigating these issues through a questionnaire administered to more than a hundred users of three virtual worlds offering widely different avatar creation and customization systems (Maple Story, World of Warcraft, and Second Life). We illustrate the often-surprising choices users make when creating their digital representation and discuss the impact of our findings for the design of future avatar creation systems. Date/time/place Seminars are held weekly at alternate locations - Monash Island 50/132/72 (slurl http://tinyurl.com/5ocz8a) and Meadowbrook 72/502/22. Dons meeting will take place at the Monash site. Meetings are usually on Monday at 2pm (Second Life time, west coast USA). This is Monday night in Europe and Tuesday morning in Australasia and the Pacific. A timezone converter can be found at http://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/meeting.html About the VWRDG seminar series The Virtual Worlds Research Discussion Group meets in Second Life to present and discuss research about virtual worlds. It is organized by Greg Wadley (Uni of Melbourne), Deb McCormick (Monash Uni) and, Sabine Lawless-Reljic (San Diego State). Usually we follow a seminar format: research presentation followed by audience discussion. However we sometimes vary this and are experimenting with how best to organize virtual seminars. The group welcomes all researchers and others interested in discussing virtual worlds. Information about the group, and past and future presentations, can be found on at http://vwresearchersgroup.pbwiki.com . We welcome enquiries from people interested in presenting to the group.

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Re: [Air-L] Ask Your Lawmaker
by Deborah Elizabeth Finn 12 Jan '09

12 Jan '09

Dear Murrary, Steve, Tom, and other AIR Colleagues, Thanks for your thought-provoking reflections! I do want to clarify a point: the "Ask Your Lawmaker" widget is not a tool that I developed and launched. Capitol News Connection is the nonprofit, nonpartisan news agency that is responsible for it, and Melinda Wittstock is the driving force behind it. Melinda Wittstock Bureau Chief / Founder / Executive Director Capitol New Connection Email: <mwittstock(a)cncnews.org> Phone: 202.546.8650 Fax: 202.546.0283 I'd like to encourage you to be in touch with her with your ideas. Best regards from Deborah Deborah Elizabeth Finn Cyber-Yenta Boston, Massachusetts, USA deborah_elizabeth_finn(a)post.harvard.edu www.cyber-yenta.org Skype: Deborah909 Twitter: Deborah909 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909 "Nothing softeneth the Arrogance of our Nature like a Mixture of some Frailties. It is by them that we are best told, that we must not strike too hard upon others....They pull our Rage by the sleeve and whisper Gentleness to us in our censures." -George Savile (1633 - 1695)

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ask your lawmaker
by Murray Turoff 12 Jan '09

12 Jan '09

Deborah, I applaud what you did and you might be interested there is a facebook users group based upon efforts to allow citizens to directly vote on budget allocations in local government that is receiving some experimental usage in Italy, it is titled something like participatory democracy. It does generate specific dialogues between citizens and elected official. One potential improvement is to have some sort of list of very specific topics of concern to the users and to encourage group discussions. The reverse application of allowing lawmakers to ask questions they need answers for is described below. Two reports on a system designed to allow state legislative lawmakers to ask questions of professionals in many different fields and among the state legislature science advisers, usually volunteers retired, or representatives of major scientific and engineering societies. It worked very well for about three years before they ran out of NSF funds. http://library.njit.edu/archives/cccc-materials/ RR#13 Guide to the topics system Jan. 1981 Peter Johnson-Lenz, Trudy Johnson Lenz RR#14 The evolution of a tailored communications structure : the topics system Jan. 1981 Peter Johnson-Lenz, Trudy Johnson Lenz There was a system set up in text for what you are doing for the Santa Monica city government in California. The citizens participated but many of the elective officials chose to ignore the system. It is referenced in the "network nation" book I believe along with related things like "community memory" in Berkely. > Message: 1 > Date: Sun, 11 Jan 2009 15:23:19 -0500 > From: "Deborah Elizabeth Finn" > <deborah_elizabeth_finn(a)post.harvard.edu> > Subject: [Air-L] Just launched: The "Ask Your Lawmaker" widget > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Message-ID: > <3228c2a50901111223s4f0951c5wf7a03cc721d6c59d(a)mail.gmail.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 > > Dear AIR Colleagues, > > Before I start bubbling over with enthusiasm, I need to make a full > disclosure: I serve as a paid consultant to Capitol News Connection > (CNC). Urging people to use the Ask Your Lawmaker widget > <http://askyourlawmaker.org/widget> is part of what I'm paid to do. > > That said, I thought that some of you would be interested in tracking > or studying this geeky yet populist approach to strengthening > participatory democracy. > > Capitol News Connection is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism > organization that is based in Washington, DC. Ask Your Lawmaker (AYL) > is one of their online initiatives; constituents from any district in > the U.S. can pose questions to their senators and representatives by > posting them to the web site, and then anyone who is interested in > legislation and policy can go to the site and vote for the questions > that he or she deems most crucial. The CNC reporters are conveniently > headquartered on Capitol Hill, and when a question garners enough > votes, they go out and ask the legislator(s) to which it is addressed. > The responses are recorded in broadcast-quality audio, and posted to > the web. They are also made available to local public radio stations, > which are often in need of quotes they can use back in the home > district when they report on national issues. > > Ask Your Lawmaker is now making a laudable move into Web 2.0 territory > by offering nonprofit advocacy groups and individual activists a free > widget that they can use on their own web sites or Facebook pages. > It's a way for advocates to voice their concerns, and to engage their > stakeholders in pressing legislators to address an issue, > > This widget is only the beginning. Capitol News Connection is working > on many more ideas for making national news coverage more > participatory and holding legislators more accountable to their > constituents. In a time when every community activist can also be a > citizen journalist, and RSS feeds are making it easy to syndicate news > selectively, Ask Your Lawmaker is poised to become a provider of > tailor-made news streams for any advocacy group. > > Best regards from Deborah > > P.S. This post to AIR-L is based on a blog article that I wrote. You > can see the article (and the AYL widget that I created for myself) at > <http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/_archives/2009/1/8/4050172.html> > > Deborah Elizabeth Finn > Cyber-Yenta > Boston, Massachusetts, USA > deborah_elizabeth_finn(a)post.harvard.edu > www.cyber-yenta.org > Skype: Deborah909 > Twitter: Deborah909 > LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909 > > "Nothing softeneth the Arrogance of our Nature > like a Mixture of some Frailties. It is by them > that we are best told, that we must not strike > too hard upon others....They pull our Rage by > the sleeve and whisper Gentleness to us in our > censures." > -George Savile (1633 - 1695) > > > ------------------------------ > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > > End of Air-L Digest, Vol 54, Issue 12 > ************************************* > -- Distinguished Professor Emeritus Information Systems, NJIT homepage: http://is.njit.edu/turoff

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Playful Experiences Seminar: CFP deadline closing soon!
by Olli Sotamaa 11 Jan '09

11 Jan '09

Dear all, I just wanted to remind you that you still have a few days to submit an abstract to the fifth annual game studies working paper seminar organised by the Games Research Lab in the University of Tampere, this time co-organised with Nokia Research Center. The exact abstract deadline for Playful Experiences Seminar is Thursday, January 15, 2009. Please consider submitting an abstract to the seminar! Best, Olli Olli Sotamaa // Senior Assistant Department of Information Studies and Interactive Media University of Tampere, Finland olli.sotamaa(a)uta.fi // www.uta.fi/~olli.sotamaa/ >> Call for Papers: Playful Experiences Seminar, Tampere 2.-3. April, 2009 >> >> * Update: the seminar commentators will be Aki Järvinen (ITU >> Copenhagen) and Oskar Juhlin (Interactive Institute). >> >> What does it involve to enter the state of play? How games and other >> playful phenomena stand out among other everyday experiences, and can >> playful experiences be designed? Is there a way we can learn to >> understand games better by looking at phenomena that are not games, >> but where playful behaviours are common? How are play and function >> intertwined in Facebook, iPhone, Habbo Hotel and the other topical >> interactive products and services? >> >> As, on the one hand, so-called gamer generations are spreading >> understanding of play and games literacy into society, and, on the >> other, digital information and communication technologies are having >> an impact on various use contexts and in different social processes, >> there will be increasing needs for understanding playfulness that is >> not restricted to games in the classic sense. Play as an attitude and >> mode of engagement is appearing in social Internet services, and also >> working life is becoming increasingly open towards playful and >> creative modes of thought and activity. >> >> ‘Playful Experiences’ seminar invites presentations from multiple >> points of view, promoting wider interdisciplinary dialogue around >> player studies and games research, and in related fields. The >> co-organisers, University of Tampere Games Research Lab and Nokia >> Research Center invite both theoretical as well as empirically based >> studies into ‘playfulness’. Particular fields of study include, but >> are not limited to: >> >> - theories and methods for understanding play experiences; >> - the social and cultural construction of play experiences; >> - the nature of playful phenomena and playful attitude; >> - the social character of games and playful experiences; >> - the role of technology for playful experiences, e.g. play in mobile >> user contexts; >> - user interface and usability issues related to playful interaction; >> - play experiences beyond games. >> >> The seminar is fifth in the annual series of game studies working >> paper seminars organised by the Games Research Lab in the University >> of Tampere, this time co-organised with Nokia Research Center. Due to >> the work-in-progress emphasis, we strongly encourage submitting late >> breaking results, working papers and/or submissions from graduate >> students. Early considerations from projects currently in progress >> are most welcome, as the purpose of the seminar is to have >> peer-to-peer discussions and thereby provide support in refining and >> improving research work in this area. After the seminar, separate >> consideration will be given to various options of publishing the >> seminar papers. >> >> The papers to be presented will be chosen based on extended abstract >> review. Full papers are distributed prior the event to all >> participants, in order to facilitate discussion. >> >> The two-day event consists of themed sessions that aim to introduce >> current research projects and discuss ongoing work in studies of >> games, play and their relation to surrounding phenomena. The seminar >> will be chaired by professor Frans Mäyrä (Hypermedia Laboratory, >> University of Tampere). There will be two invited paper commentators: >> assistant professor Aki Järvinen (ITU Copenhagen) and studio director >> Oskar Juhlin (Mobility Studio, Interactive Institute). >> >> The seminar will be held in Tampere, Finland and will be free of >> charge; the number of participants will be restricted. >> >> Important Dates >> >> - Abstract Deadline: January 15, 2009 >> - Notification of Acceptance: January 30, 2009 >> - Full Paper deadline: March 6, 2009 >> - Seminar dates: April 2-3, 2009 >> >> Submission Guidelines >> >> The extended abstract submissions should be between 500-1000 words >> (excluding references). Abstracts should be sent to >> <playfulexp{at}gmail.com> as plain text only (no attachments). >> Guidelines for submitting a full seminar paper will be provided with >> the notification of acceptance. >> >> Our aim is that everyone participating has been able to read >> materials submitted to the seminar, therefore the maximum length for >> a full paper is set to 6000 words (excluding references). Note also >> that the presentations held at the seminar should also encourage >> discussion, instead of only repeating the information presented in >> the papers. Tentatively, every paper will be presented for 10 minutes >> and discussed for 20 minutes. >> >> Seminar web site: http://playfulexperiences.wordpress.com/ >> >> Co-organised by: http://gamelab.uta.fi & http://research.nokia.com/ >> >> University of Tampere / Hypermedia Laboratory / Games Research Lab >> Nokia Research Center / Media Laboratory / Human Practices and Design >> >> > >

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WikiSym 2009 CfP
by Felipe Ortega 11 Jan '09

11 Jan '09

-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 I apologize beforehand for possible cross-posting. Felipe. ======================================================== CALL FOR PAPERS ======================================================== W I K I S Y M 2 0 0 9 The International Symposium on Wikis and Open Collaboration http://www.wikisym.org/ws2009/ October 25-27 in Orlando, Florida, USA In-cooperation with ACM SIGPLAN and ACM SIGWEB, co-located with ACM OOPSLA 2009, peer-reviewed and archived in the ACM Digital Library ======================================================== The International Symposium on Wikis (WikiSym) is the premier conference dedicated to wikis and related open collaboration systems and processes. WikiSym 2009 aims to explore and extend the thriving wiki community, bringing together researchers, practitioners, writers and scholars to gather, discuss and share knowledge and experience on all areas related to wikis and wiki philosophy, ranging from social to technical, and from theoretical to experience studies. The symposium combines a rigorously reviewed research paper track with plenty of space for experience reports, discussions of work in progress, demonstrations, tutorials, and lively informal last minute sessions in open space and WikiFest sessions. This year, WikiSym will be held in Orlando, Florida, USA---a city with a tropical climate, poolside fruity drinks, and world-class entertainment opportunities for adults and families. == IMPORTANT DATES == * March 27th: Submission deadline for research papers, experience reports, workshops, and panels * April 24th: Submission deadline for posters, demonstrations, WikiFest and Doctoral Symposium proposals * May 22nd: Notifications for all submission categories (workshops earlier) * October 25-27: WikiSym 2009! == TOPICS OF INTEREST == WikiSym welcomes submissions of research papers (long and short), experience reports, workshops, panels, posters, demonstrations, WikiFest and Doctoral Symposium proposals. Given the interdisciplinary nature of wiki and related systems, WikiSym invites contributions in a wide range of fields: * computer science and technology * human-computer interaction * communications and media studies * education * information and library science * history, political science, geography * linguistics, discourse analysis, language studies * business, marketing, law * natural sciences, medicine Topics of special interest to the symposium include, but are not limited to: * social software for collaboration and work group processes * wiki user experiences, usability, and discourse analysis * reputation systems, quality assurance processes * scalability---social and technical * wiki technologies and implementations * translation and multilingual wiki content * educational applications * wiki for non-textual media (images, video, audio) * content dynamics and wiki evolution * wiki journalism * wiki archiving and versioning * wiki administration: dealing with abuse and resolving conflict * wiki and the semantic web, knowledge management, tacit knowledge * wiki for small audiences (departmental and family wikis) * legal issues (copyright, licensing) * visualization of wiki structure * wiki fiction == RESEARCH PAPERS == Research papers present integrative reviews or original reports of substantive new work: theoretical, empirical, or in the development or deployment of novel systems. We encourage emphasizing lessons learned and providing a clear concise message to the audience about the relevance of the work. The paper must place your work in context within the field, citing related work and indicating clearly what aspects of the work are new. Research papers will be reviewed by the Program Committee to meet rigorous academic standards of publication. They should be written in English and must not exceed 10 pages (for full papers) or 4 pages (for short papers). Papers will be reviewed both with respect to conceptual quality and clarity of presentation. Authors of accepted papers are expected to attend the conference in order to present the paper. Accepted submissions will be published in the WikiSym proceedings and archived in the ACM Digital Library. Submitted papers should use the ACM SIG Proceedings Format, see: http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html == EXPERIENCE REPORTS == Experience reports are an integral part of the conference program. These reports provides a large group of peers the opportunity to learn from a project's experience; they explore how concepts that sound good on paper (and at conferences!) work on real projects. They are a valuable means of communicating experiences, especially at the "bleeding edge". Many attendees want to find out what it is like to start a company wiki, use a wiki in classroom education, or build a political campaign around a wiki. Experience reports present experience and reflections, together with supporting evidence for any claims made. And they particularly include reports that discuss both benefits and drawbacks of the approaches used. Reports may focus on a particular aspect of technology usage and practice, or describe broad project experiences. Some reports focus on people, process or related challenges. == WORKSHOPS == Workshops provide an opportunity for researchers and practitioners to discuss and learn about topics that require extended engagement such as new systems, research methods, standards and formats. A workshop should require participants to engage with each other for at least half a day. For shorter sessions, please consider WikiSym's open space format. A workshop proposal should consist of approximately two pages describing what you intend to do and how your session will meet the criteria described above. It should include a concise abstract, proposed time frame (half-day, full-day) and one-paragraph biographies of all people relevant to the submission. Workshop proposals will be reviewed and selected for their interest to the community. Each workshop will be allocated a half-day or a full-day and a room. == PANELS == Panels provide an interactive forum for bringing together people with interesting points of view to discuss compelling wiki issues. Panels involve participation from both the panelists and audience members in a lively discussion. Proposals for panels should consist of approximately two pages describing what you intend to do and how your session will meet the criteria described above. It should include a concise abstract and one-paragraph biographies of all people relevant to the submission. A panel submission will be reviewed and selected for their interest to the community. Each panel will be given a 90-minute time slot. == POSTERS == Poster presentations enable researchers to present late-breaking results, significant work in progress, or work that is best communicated in conversation. WikiSym's lively poster sessions let conference attendees exchange ideas one-on-one with authors, and let authors discuss their work in detail with those attendees most deeply interested in the topic. Poster proposals may describe original research, engineering, or experience reports. Submissions should consist of two page extended abstract outlining the content of the poster. Successful applicants will be invited display a poster, 1x2m in size, at a special plenary session of the Symposium. == DEMONSTRATIONS == Wikis are intended to be used, and no format is better suited for demonstrating the utility of new wiki research and technology than showing and using it. If you would like to demonstrate new features or products, this is the place! Demonstrations give presenters an opportunity to show running systems and gather feedback. Demo submissions will be reviewed based on their relevance to the community. A submission should be one page in length, with a title, and a short description of the demo. The description should include what you plan to demo, what you hope to get out of demoing, and how the audience will benefit. A short note of any special technical requirements may be included. == WIKI FEST == WikiFest is a conference session devoted to helping you start and grow a successful wiki in your organization. Proposals should showcase a wiki adoption strategy or example, with emphasis on how others can apply your strategy to their own wiki. Topics to be covered: * Tools---Choose the right wiki software for your needs * Adoption---How to run a pilot, establish a core group of users, and grow usage. * Uses---How does your team use a wiki? How has it helped your productivity? * Obstacles---What are they, and how can you avoid or fix them? == DOCTORAL SYMPOSIUM == The Doctoral Symposium is an interactive forum for doctoral students to receive present and discuss their doctoral work. Students who are at least one year away from dissertation completion are invited to submit to the Doctoral Symposium. Students beginning their research are especially invited to attend. To submit a proposal send a 2-3 pages description of your dissertation research, including: * A description of your work * The goals---what contributions will your research generate? * The approach---what is being performed to achieve the goals? How will results be validated? Additionally, your adviser must send a brief statement of your dissertation progress to date and a statement of recommendation to the Doctoral Symposium chair. == HOW TO SUBMIT == Please submit your papers or proposals in PDF format through our submission system at the WikiSym website (available in early 2009). * http://www.wikisym.org/ws2009 All accepted submissions will be published in the proceedings and archived in the ACM Digital Library. Submitted work of all categories should use the ACM SIG Proceedings Format, see: http://www.acm.org/sigs/pubs/proceed/template.html Questions regarding submissions may be directed at the respective chair using the following email addresses: * Research papers: papers(a)wikisym.org * Experience reports: reports(a)wikisym.org * Panels: panels(a)wikisym.org * Workshops: workshops(a)wikisym.org * Demonstrations: demos(a)wikisym.org * Posters: posters(a)wikisym.org * WikiFest: wikifest(a)wikisym.org * Doctoral Symposium: docsym(a)wikisym.org General questions should be directed at chair(a)wikisym.org. == SYMPOSIUM COMMITTEE == * Dirk Riehle, SAP Labs LLC, USA, Symposium Chair * Amy Bruckman, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA, Program Chair * Ademar Aguiar, FEUP, Universidade do Porto, Portugal, Sponsorships Chair * Luca de Alfaro, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA, Doctoral Symposium Chair * Claus Atzenbeck, Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark, Posters Chair * Phoebe Ayers, University of California at Davis, Wikimedia Liason * Robert Biddle, Carleton University, Experience Reports Chair * Martin Cleaver, Blended Perspectives, Canada, Publicity Co-Chair * Ward Cunningham, AboutUs.org and Cunningham & Cunningham, USA, Honorary Member * Alain Desilets, National Research Council of Canada, Canada, Tutorials Chair * Ted Ernst, AboutUs.org, USA, Open Space Facilitator * Camille Goksever, Chevron Corp., and Me So Wise, WikiWalk Organizer * Marc Laporte, TikiWiki CMS/Groupware, Webmaster * Stewart Mader, Future Changes, WikiFest Chair * James Noble, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, Honorary Member * Felipe Ortega, Rey Juan Carlos University, Spain, Publicity Co-Chair * Sebastien Paquet, Universite du Quebec a Montreal, Canada, Panels Chair * Pattarawan Prasarnphanich, Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Thailand, Demonstrations Chair * Christian Wagner, City University of Hong Kong, China, Workshops Chair == PROGRAM COMMITTEE == * Ademar Aguiar, FEUP, Universidade do Porto, Portugal * Luca de Alfaro, University of California at Santa Cruz, USA * Panagiota Alevizou, London School of Economics and Political Science, UK * Mark Bernstein, Eastgate Systems, USA * Robert Biddle, Carleton University, Canada * Amy Bruckman, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA * Thomas N. Burg, BlogTalk, Socialware, MindMeister, Austria * Ed H. Chi, PARC, USA * Ulrike Cress, Knowledge Media Research Center, Tuebingen, Germany * Kevin Crowston, Syracuse University, USA * Chris Dent, Peermore Limited, UK * Alain Desilets, National Research Council of Canada, Canada * Andrea Forte, Georgia Institute of Technology, USA * Frank Fuchs-Kittowski, Fraunhofer ISST, Germany * Andreea D. Gorbatai, Harvard Business School, Harvard University, USA * Susan C. Herring, Indiana University, USA * Brian Ingerson, Socialtext, USA * Benjamin Mako-Hill, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA * Aniket Kittur, Carnegie Mellon University, USA * Marc Laporte, TikiWiki CMS/Groupware, Canada * Sky Marsen, Macquarie University, Australia * David W. McDonald, University of Washington, USA * Paulo Merson, Software Engineering Institute, USA * David Millard, University of Southampton, UK * Stuart Moulthrop, University of Baltimore, USA * Pattarawan Prasarnphanich, Sasin Graduate Institute of Business Administration, Thailand * Joseph Reagle, New York University, USA * Camille Roth, CNRS, France * Frank Shipman, Texas A&M University, USA * Dario Taraborelli, University of Surrey, UK * Fernanda B. Viegas, IBM Research, USA - -- José Felipe Ortega Soto | Ph.D. Candidate / Researcher Tel: (+34)-914 888 105 | Fax: (+34)-916 647 494 | GSyC/Libresoft - U. Rey Juan Carlos jfelipe _at_ gsyc.escet.urjc.es | Edif. Departamental II - Office 106 http://libresoft.urjc.es/ | c/Tulipán s/n 28933 Móstoles (Madrid) -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) Comment: Using GnuPG with Mozilla - http://enigmail.mozdev.org iEYEARECAAYFAklqtEUACgkQe8GFfoqY1ueUdACfZeVpEWmyR29QMuN1xWYviA05 +eAAoIftIV+4um8XnaR1JAtIMJS0dOBl =p4z1 -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----

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Just launched: The "Ask Your Lawmaker" widget
by Deborah Elizabeth Finn 11 Jan '09

11 Jan '09

Dear AIR Colleagues, Before I start bubbling over with enthusiasm, I need to make a full disclosure: I serve as a paid consultant to Capitol News Connection (CNC). Urging people to use the Ask Your Lawmaker widget <http://askyourlawmaker.org/widget> is part of what I'm paid to do. That said, I thought that some of you would be interested in tracking or studying this geeky yet populist approach to strengthening participatory democracy. Capitol News Connection is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism organization that is based in Washington, DC. Ask Your Lawmaker (AYL) is one of their online initiatives; constituents from any district in the U.S. can pose questions to their senators and representatives by posting them to the web site, and then anyone who is interested in legislation and policy can go to the site and vote for the questions that he or she deems most crucial. The CNC reporters are conveniently headquartered on Capitol Hill, and when a question garners enough votes, they go out and ask the legislator(s) to which it is addressed. The responses are recorded in broadcast-quality audio, and posted to the web. They are also made available to local public radio stations, which are often in need of quotes they can use back in the home district when they report on national issues. Ask Your Lawmaker is now making a laudable move into Web 2.0 territory by offering nonprofit advocacy groups and individual activists a free widget that they can use on their own web sites or Facebook pages. It's a way for advocates to voice their concerns, and to engage their stakeholders in pressing legislators to address an issue, This widget is only the beginning. Capitol News Connection is working on many more ideas for making national news coverage more participatory and holding legislators more accountable to their constituents. In a time when every community activist can also be a citizen journalist, and RSS feeds are making it easy to syndicate news selectively, Ask Your Lawmaker is poised to become a provider of tailor-made news streams for any advocacy group. Best regards from Deborah P.S. This post to AIR-L is based on a blog article that I wrote. You can see the article (and the AYL widget that I created for myself) at <http://blog.deborah.elizabeth.finn.com/blog/_archives/2009/1/8/4050172.html> Deborah Elizabeth Finn Cyber-Yenta Boston, Massachusetts, USA deborah_elizabeth_finn(a)post.harvard.edu www.cyber-yenta.org Skype: Deborah909 Twitter: Deborah909 LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/deborah909 "Nothing softeneth the Arrogance of our Nature like a Mixture of some Frailties. It is by them that we are best told, that we must not strike too hard upon others....They pull our Rage by the sleeve and whisper Gentleness to us in our censures." -George Savile (1633 - 1695)

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Paper: (Under)mining Privacy in Social Networks
by Richard Forno 09 Jan '09

09 Jan '09

Interesting paper and food for thought. -rick (c/o Slashdot entry) (Under)mining Privacy in Social Networks Monica Chew Dirk Balfanz Ben Laurie Google Inc. Paper PDF: http://w2spconf.com/2008/papers/s3p2.pdf Article: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/01/what-your-socia…

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