- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: [Air-L] Social Presence Theory - latest studies?
by James Watt 08 Dec '08

08 Dec '08

You might look at: Kang, S., Watt, J.H., Ala, S.K. (2008) Social copresence in anonymous social interactions using a mobile video telephone. Proceedings of CHI 2008. New York: ACM Press. This article is a summary of Sinhwa Kang's dissertation. It contains a good literature review on presence, social presence, and social copresence that might be useful, as well as the results of a very nice experiment that investigates the impact of behavioral realism and iconicity of avatars on social copresence, when they are presented on a simulated video mobile phone display. At 06:00 PM 12/7/2008, you wrote: >Dear Colleagues, > >I am starting a literature review on social presence (esp. in >relation to new communication technologies, such as cell phones, text >messaging, chat programs, etc.). Hence, I am trying to find good >academic texts that present the history of research on this topic, >current trends, and suggestions for future research. Does anyone know >some good texts with which I can start? > >Please feel free to contact me if you have any interesting suggestions. > >Thank you, >jennie > > >| >jennie hwang, phd >assistant professor, communication studies >cal poly, san luis obispo >805/756-2289 >| ======================================================== James H. Watt Professor of Communication Director, Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory (http://www.sbrl.rpi.edu) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street, Sage Lab 4518 Troy, NY 12180-3590 email: wattj(a)rpi.edu voice: (518) 276-4130 or 276-2784 fax: (518) 276-3740 SBRL Office: 3142 Winslow Building

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Fwd: [Sigdl-l] Internet Governance must ensure freedom of expression and universal access, UNESCO says
by jeremy hunsinger 08 Dec '08

08 Dec '08

Begin forwarded message: > From: Puna Das <puna_05(a)yahoo.co.in> > Date: December 5, 2008 10:36:35 PM EST > To: sigdl-l(a)asis.org, sigkm-l(a)asis.org > Subject: [Sigdl-l] Internet Governance must ensure freedom of > expression and universal access, UNESCO says > > Internet Governance must ensure freedom of expression and universal > access, UNESCO says > 04-12-2008 (Hyderabad) > > “The principles of freedom of expression and universal access must > be safeguarded on the Internet and, consequently, in Internet > Governance structures”, said Abdul Waheed Khan, UNESCO’s Assistant > Director-General for Communication and Information yesterday at the > Internet Governance Forum (IGF) in Hyderabad, India. > > Speaking at the opening ceremony of the Forum, Abdul Waheed Khan > said that the Internet, as it is inherently democratic and > empowering, provides unparalleled opportunities to realize the dream > of a global free flow of ideas and universal access to information > and knowledge. > > “We need clear and globally applicable principles based on human > rights, and legal, ethical and technical standards to organize the > Internet,” stressed Khan. At the same time, “it is important to > ensure that the technical structure of the Internet allows provision > of access to content in all languages,” he added. > > During the three days of the IGF (3-6 December 2008), UNESCO > provides a variety of platforms for discussions on freedom of > expression and universal access. > > As part of UNESCO's advocacy for free flow of information and > freedom of expression in cyberspace, a workshop on Freedom of > Expression in Cyberspace: Internet Filtering and Censorship explores > the latest challenges to openness and freedom of expression on the > Internet and identifies the implications of governmental and other > Internet content regulation, particularly by direct implementation > of filtering and content censorship. > > A workshop on Access to Public Held Information with a Development > Perspective addresses the issue of access to public held > information, a core element of the right to freedom of information > as a fundamental human right, particularly in the context of > development. > > The Internet Governance Forum that meets for the third time is a > forum for multi-stakeholder policy dialogue to discuss public policy > issues related to key elements of Internet governance in order to > foster the sustainability, robustness, security, stability and > development of the Internet. One of its main features is to > facilitate discourse between bodies dealing with different cross- > cutting international public policies regarding the Internet. > > In the debates on Internet Governance over the last years, UNESCO > has consistently advocated the key values of freedom of expression, > cultural diversity and openness that must be safeguarded on the > Internet. > > Source: http://portal.unesco.org/ci/en/ev.php-URL_ID=27868&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECT… > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > Anup Kumar Das > New Delhi, India > http://www.openaccess-unesco.blogspot.com > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > > Connect with friends all over the world. Get Yahoo! India > Messenger._______________________________________________ > Sigdl-l mailing list > Sigdl-l(a)asis.org > http://mail.asis.org/mailman/listinfo/sigdl-l

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CFP: 3rd Workshop on Social Aspects of the Web (SAW 2009), LNBIP proceedings, deadline: Feb 1 2009
by Dominik Flejter 07 Dec '08

07 Dec '08

=========================================================================== CALL FOR PAPERS =========================================================================== 3rd Workshop on Social Aspects of the Web (SAW 2009) in conjunction with 12th International Conference on Business Information Systems (BIS 2009) Poznan, Poland April 27, 28 or 29, 2009 http://bis.kie.ae.poznan.pl/12th_bis/wscfp.php?i=34&ws=saw2009 =========================================================================== Deadline for submissions: February 1, 2009 =========================================================================== In recent years, the Web has moved from a simple one-way communication channel, extending traditional media, to a complex "peer-to-peer" communication space with a blurred author/audience distinction and new ways to create, share, and use knowledge in a social way. This change of paradigm is currently profoundly transforming most areas of our life: our interactions with other people, our relationships, ways of gathering information, ways of developing social norms, opinions, attitudes and even legal aspects, as well as ways of working and doing business. The change also raises a strong need for theoretical, empirical and applied studies related to how people may interact on the Web, how they actually do so, and what new possibilities and challenges are emerging in the social, business and technology dimensions. Following the two previous events, the goal of the 3rd Workshop is to bring researchers and practitioners together to explore the issues and challenges related to social aspects of the Web. TOPICS OF INTEREST * People on the social Web * Individuals on the Web (identity, privacy, incentives, activity models, trust and reputation, ...) * Communities on the Web (roles, leadership, social norms and conflicts, types of communities, ...) * Collaboration on the Web (content and data development and maintenance, decision taking ...) * On-line and off-line life (mixed interaction models, on-line vs. off-line communities, ... ) * Business activities in the social Web (sales, exchanges, word-of-mouth, recruiting, marketing, ...) * Data and content on the social Web * Social content organization (tagging, classification, recommendations, collaborative filtering, ...) * Content dynamics (content flow and evolution, mashups, comments, collaborative creation, ...) * Semantic social Web (standards, annotation of social content/data, ontology learning, ...) * Data and social network portability (standards, policies, technologies, licenses, ...) * Social software and services * Specific types of social software (social networks, blogs, wikis, resources sharing, ...) * Development (architectures, technologies, platforms, infrastructures, ...) * Adoption (critical mass problem, socio-technical gap, data and social network migration, ...) * Alternative user interaction models (games, mobile, mixed reality, ...) * Social software in the enterprise (knowledge management, CRM, collaborative software, ...) * Business models of social services (pricing, cost models, customer relation, content acquisition, ...) * Mining the social Web * Mining user-generated content (opinion, comments, rankings, forums, ...) * Mining the social graph (collaborative filtering, social network analysis, ...) * Mining activity patterns (access, used features, participation, interactions, ...) * Entity-centric content integration (on people, experts, objects, companies, locations, ...) * Social Web mining in business (for marketing, products design, customer support, ...) SUBMISSION * Long papers: max. 12 pages * Work-in-progress reports: max. 6 pages * Demo papers: max. 4 pages Papers must be submitted in PDF format according to Springer LNBIP template available from http://www.springer.com/east/home/computer/lncs?SGWID=5-164-7-487211-0. Submission system is available at http://www.easychair.org/conferences/?conf=saw2009. Papers approved for presentation at SAW 2009 will be published in BIS 2009 workshop proceedings, as a volume in Springer's Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing (LNBIP) series. WORKSHOP FORMAT All authors of accepted papers as well as other participants will be asked to read accepted papers abstracts before the workshop (papers will be available on-line in advance) to facilitate discussion. Workshop participants will be also invited to take part in the BIS conference and other BIS workshops. IMPORTANT DATES * February 1, 2009 - submission deadline for papers * February 22, 2009 - notification of acceptance/rejection * March 15, 2009 - submission of final papers * April 27, 28 or 29, 2009 - the workshop ORGANIZERS * Poznan University of Economics, Department of Information Systems (http://kie.ae.poznan.pl/) CHAIRS * Dominik Flejter * Tomasz Kaczmarek * Marek Kowalkiewicz PROGRAM COMMITTEE * Krisztian Balog, University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands * Simone Braun, FZI Karlsruhe, Germany * John Breslin, DERI, NUI Galway, Ireland * Tanguy Coenen, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium * Sebastian Dietzold, University of Leipzig, Germany * Davide Eynard, Politecnico di Milano, Italy * Dominik Flejter, Poznan University of Economics, Poland * Adam Jatowt, Kyoto University, Japan * Tomasz Kaczmarek, Poznan University of Economics, Poland * Marek Kowalkiewicz, SAP Research Brisbane, Australia * Marcin Paprzycki, Polish Academy of Science, Poland * Katharina Siorpaes, STI, University of Innsbruck, Austria * Jie Tang, Tshingua University, China * Celine van Damme, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium * Valentin Zacharias, FZI Karlsruhe, Germany =========================================================================== -- Dominik Flejter < http://dominik.flejter.net/ > Poznan University of Economics Department of Information Systems < http://www.kie.ae.poznan.pl/ > SAW 2009 PC Chair

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Sad News: Death of Brenda Danet
by Naomi Susan Baron 07 Dec '08

07 Dec '08

Yesterday, the world of internet research lost a dear friend and colleague. Brenda Danet died in New Haven, CT, following a heroic (and most graceful) battle with leukemia. Despite her years of ups and downs with the disease, she continued to produce work that guides many of us and our students. Brenda was a pioneer -- intellectually and personally. She did her BA at Radcliffe and PhD (in Sociology) at the University of Chicago, but spent most of her professional life in Israel. She taught at Hebrew University, where she was appointed Danny Arnold Chair of Communications in 1998. Following her retirement in 2000, she migrated back to the US, where she became a Research Affiliate in Anthropology at Yale. Most of us know Brenda from her delightful book CyberPlay, and her more recent co-edited volume (with Susan Herring) on The Multilingual Internet. Those of us fortunate enough to have known Brenda in person cherish our memories of a strong, self-confident woman who inspired us to think, was full of wit, wore the most lovely scarves, and helped us laugh at ourselves. Brenda will be very sorely missed. Naomi Baron American University Washington, DC USA

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deliberative democracy - good cases?
by Egle Butkeviciene 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

Dear colleagues, I am doing a research on deliberative democracy in virtual space and searching for "best practice" examples. Maybe anybody knows and could share the information about websites that are created to deliberate political issues, policies, laws, ect. And especially the ones created by government. Thank you in advance, Best regards, Egle Butkeviciene --------------------- Assoc. prof. dr. Egle Butkeviciene Kaunas University of Technology Department of Sociology Tel. +370 686 15858 e-mail: egle.butkeviciene(a)ktu.lt

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Undergrad panel for IR 10.0
by Mark D. Johns 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

In a weak (and possibly not entirely sober) moment in Copenhagen, I told some folks that I would attempt to organize an undergraduate panel for IR 10.0 in Milwaukee. At least one of those folks is holding me to it. This is *NOT* a paper competition (see the Couch Award call at www.cccsir.org if you’re interested in that), and I don’t have time to read and "judge" hundreds of undergraduate papers. But I’m willing to put something together IF I can get a little help from all of you in this way: As you are grading papers at this end of the semester, if you come across an undergraduate’s paper that... 1. Is truly an EXCEPTIONAL paper dealing with QUALITY internet research (you be the judge), and 2. It is likely that your institution would fund the student next fall to get to Milwaukee to present it, and 3. The student is a traditional, 18 to 20-something undergrad -- OR, if a non-traditional student, an undergrad who might be in a position to go on to grad school with this sort of encouragement... ...then talk to the student about it, and if s/he is willing, send me their paper electronically. CLEARLY mark the message as an UNDERGRAD PANEL SUBMISSION. NO GUARANTEES! The panel will be submitted to be considered and accepted (or not) through the regular IR 10.0 vetting process. There’s probably room for about 6 or 8 papers max (I assume undergrad papers are short), and if I receive more than about a dozen I’ll probably throw up my hands and forget the whole thing. But if there are really, really OUTSTANDING undergrad papers in that stack that you are grading, see if the student is interested and if your school will pick up the tab to send them if accepted. If so, send the paper to me and we'll see what happens. -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, Iowa USA http://academic.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain

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Webometrics workshop 22-23 January, 2009 in Wolverhampton, UK
by m.thelwall＠blueyonder.co.uk 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

Webometrics workshop 22-23 January, 2009 in Wolverhampton, UK Hosted by the Statistical Cybermetrics Research Group http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/workshopJan2009.html This Webometrics workshop is aimed at existing researchers working in the area of Webometrics (gathering and analysing data from the web on a large scale) and social scientists wishing to find out about webometrics. Participants will receive training in the use of Webometric methods in social science research as well as hearing presentations on Webometrics topics and having the opportunity to share their own research (not necessarily webometrics) and to meet other researchers. The cost is free but participants will be expected to make their own accommodation arrangements, for example asking for the university discount in the local Britannia Hotel http://www.britanniahotels.com/hotel_home.asp?Page=123, which is in the city centre and 5 minutes from the train station and University. Participants will receive a free draft copy of a new introductory book on Webometrics. All are welcome but please email m.thelwall <at> wlv.ac.uk to pre-book as numbers are limited. Schedule: Thursday 22 January. 11.30 Welcome and coffee 12.00 Lunch at local café 2pm-5pm Open forum each attendee has up to 15 minutes to give a formal or informal presentation of their research, with 15 minutes for questions. 7-9pm Dinner at a world-class Wolverhampton curry house Friday 23 January 9.30-10.30 Presentation by Mike Thelwall, University of Wolverhampton - Introduction to webometrics methods 10.30-12.00 Computer workshop practical training sessions with the LexiURL Searcher and SocSciBot 4 software 12-2pm Lunch at local café 2-3pm Webometric vs. bibliometric profiles of oceanographic research institutes by Tina Ruschenburg, Universität Bielefeld 3-3.30 Coffee Immediately following the workshop there will also be an opportunity to attend a lecture relevant to information science: "Bradfordizing, Relevance and Information Retrieval" by Phlipp Mayr, GESIS-IZ Social Science Information Centre, Bonn, 3.30-4.30pm

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Benkler, Bandwidth, and the State of the Internet in Japan
by Andrew Famiglietti 05 Dec '08

05 Dec '08

Hey all! I've been doing some writing about the Political Economy of Web 2.0 and happened across this recent piece by one of the giants of Network political economy, Yochai Benkler: http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/2008/12/04/recovery_prescription_build… In it, he calls for a massive public program to build communications infrastructure in the United States. He makes a reference near the beginning of the piece to Japan, where 100 Mbit connections to the home have apparently been common place for awhile now. Here's my question. The basic premise of Benkler's thought is that widespread cheap computational power and bandwidth should lead to a decentralized network full of horizontally collaborating smallholders. Is this what has happened in Japan? Does anyone know of any work on the current state of the Internet there that might address this question? Is Japan a FOSS paradise? Or have the forces Nicholas Carr describes in his "Big Switch" lead to greater centralization? The Japanese case seems like it ought to provide some great evidence on this one way or another, but I never see any referenced. Can anyone get me started? Thanks. - Andy -- - Andrew Famiglietti PhD Candidate Bowling Green State University Bowling Green Ohio

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Call for Papers: IAMCR Communication Policy & Technology section Mexico-city 2009
by Jo Pierson 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

CALL FOR PAPERS: Communications Policy and Technology (CP&T) section International Association for Media and Communication Research (IAMCR) 27th Annual Research Conference, July 21-24, 2009 National Autonomous University Of Mexico (Unam), Mexico-City, Mexico Theme: Human Rights And Communication The Communication Policy and Technology (CP&T) Section of the IAMCR invites the submission of abstracts bearing on the Conference theme as well as on the Section sub-theme ‘Human Rights, ICT Use & Technology Policy: Challenges, Options and the Way Forward’. At the heart of the development, usages and policies of information and communication technologies are human beings, whose rights and interests should be paramount in the development process. Is there an inalienable right to information and communication as a basic survival tool within the emerging knowledge economy? How can we conceive internal and external media pluralism in the information age? Should access to the Internet and broadband technologies be a privilege or a right of citizens the world over? Are emerging social and citizen media entitled to the rights of traditional media in terms of press freedom? To what extent are the human rights and interests of children, elderly, disabled, poor and other socially disadvantaged people accounted for in strategic approaches and policy-making in the pre and post WSIS eras? And, with the focus on ‘Rights’, what importance do we accord to ‘Responsibility’ as part of the strategic thinking and policy objectives in the design, implementation and use of ICTs in the national and global communication spheres? What are the best methods to identify human concerns and to involve people’s practices in the design and social shaping of media technologies? How do people within different social-cultural settings experience and give meaning to new media in relation to the challenges of everyday life? How do people deal with hybridization and convergence in the new media ecosystem? Is there a new regulatory paradigm emerging? Empirical and analytical work on these and other related issues will form the central thrust of presentations in the CP&T Section at the 2009 Mexico conference. Your carefully researched, analytical papers and well-crafted presentations could be part of the engaging series of sessions at the Conference. The CP& T Section welcomes abstracts of between 300 and 500 words from scholars of any academic discipline bearing on these and related issues. Topics of particular interest in abstract submissions to the Section include: · Communication Rights in national and local contexts · Human Rights, Internet Access and Sovereignty · Internet Governance, Stakeholderism and Human Rights · Open Access, Human Rights and ICT Policy-making · Policy Challenges of the two IPs –Intellectual Property rights and Internet Protocol networks · Open Source movement and creative commons · Human Rights, Technology Designs and the Market · Human Rights and Global Connectivity in the pre- and post-WSIS era · Next Generation Networks & Net Neutrality · Citizen Rights, Web 2.0 and beyond · Convergence and Cross Media Use · The Rights and Wrongs of the Digital Divide · ICTs Role in Urban and Rural Everyday Life · Cultural and indigenous innovations – the challenge of rights · Technology and Human Rights in communicating wars, conflicts and crises · Telecommunications Networks, Interconnection and Human Rights · Social Innovation and User Involvement in ICT Design · Disability, ICTs and Human Rights · Human Rights and Virtual Communities · ICTs to Support Social Bounding and Social Bridging · Social Inclusion and Social Network Sites and Communities · Youth and Elderly, ICT technologies and the right to communicate · Digital Gaming and Citizen Rights · The Impacts of National or Regional Communications Policies on Minorities · Mobile Broadband, Telephony Usage Patterns and e-Exclusion · Digital television, Switch-over Policies and Digital Divide · Interdisciplinary Methods for Research on User Participation in ICT · Community radio regulation Abstracts (of no more than 500 words) addressing one or more of the above topics should be submitted via the official conference abstracts and registration site: http://www.iamcr2009mexico.unam.mx/english/form.html Also send a copy in Word-format to Bart Cammaerts (B.Cammaerts[AT]lse.ac.uk) and Maria Michalis (M.Michalis[AT]Westminster.ac.uk). All abstracts must be submitted before January 31, 2009. Abstracts should state the title as well as the methods or approaches used and introduce the empirical and theoretical material on which the paper is based. Also include the relevance of the paper for the CP&T section. Each abstract may be submitted to only one Section or Working Group of the IAMCR Conference. Offering duplicates of the same paper to different Sections of the Association is likely to result in elimination of the abstract. Each abstract must include paper title, presenter’s name(s), institutional affiliation(s) and email address(es) of author(s). Applicants will be advised by March 15, 2009 of the outcome of their submissions. The full text of accepted papers (with a maximum of 8000 words) will be required no later than April 30, 2009, in order to ensure that the authors' names and papers' titles are included in the final conference program. For further information on the 2009 Mexico City Conference see Conference Website: http://www.iamcr2009mexico.unam.mx/english/index.html For more information on CP&T visit the IAMCR section site: http://www.iamcr.org/content/blogcategory/53/144 KEY SUBMISSION INFORMATION: - Abstract length: Maximum 500 words - Abstracts to be sent via: <http://www.iamcr2009mexico.unam.mx/english/form.html > with copy sent to Bart Cammaerts (B.Cammaerts[AT]lse.ac.uk) and Maria Michalis (M.Michalis[AT]Westminster.ac.uk) - Deadline for abstracts: January 31, 2009 - Notification of acceptance: March 15, 2009 - Full papers due (max. 8000 words): April 30, 2009 Section Chairs: Jo Pierson and Hopeton S. Dunn (on leave, serving as acting Secretary General, IAMCR) Deputy Chairs: Bart Cammaerts and Maria Michalis

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New mailing list about web history
by Niels Brügger 04 Dec '08

04 Dec '08

*Please distribute widely. Apologies for cross-posting* For those of you who are interested in web history you may consider joining the new mailing list webhistory(a)imv.au.dk. Statement of Intent: This email list was created on the initiative of the participants in the conference "Web_site Histories: Theories, Methods, Analysis", organized by the Centre for Internet Research, Aarhus University, Denmark, in October 2008. The main purpose of the list is to constitute a forum where any scholar working within the emerging field of historical web studies can share ideas, debate issues, and inform their peers about new publications, upcoming conferences or other relevant information. Vidar Falkenberg & Niels Brügger, the Centre for Internet Research ------------------------------------------------------------ LATEST PUBLICATIONS AND PAPERS Website History: An Analytical Grid. The Centre for Internet Research, University of Aarhus, conference entitled 'Web_site Histories — Theories, Methods, Analysis'. Aarhus: 39 pages, 2008 [ read about the publication: http://www.cfi.au.dk/en/events/conferences/wsh08/abstracts/#brugger ] Strukturalismus (with O. Vigsø), Hans Fink Verlag, München: 104 pages, 2008 [ read about the publication: http://www.utb.de/katalog_suchen_detailseite.jsp?buchid=1942 ] Theoretical Reflections on the Website and Website History: The Website as an object of study. The ICA pre-conference 'The Long History of New Media: Contemporary and Future Developments Contextualized'. Montreal: 40 pages, 2008 NIELS BRÜGGER, Associate Professor, PhD Institute of Information and Media Studies University of Aarhus Helsingforsgade 14 8200 Aarhus N Denmark Phone (switchboard) +45 8942 1111 Phone (direct) +45 8942 9226 Telefax + 45 8942 5950 E-mail nb(a)imv.au.dk Webpage http://imv.au.dk/~nb Profile at LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/1/50a/555 Profile at Kommunikationsforum [in Danish]: www.kommunikationsforum.dk/Niels-Brugger The Centre for Internet Research http://cfi.imv.au.dk Theories of Media and Communication http://www.medieteori.dk Internet Archive in Denmark http://www.netarkivet.dk

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