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Urban Informatics: The Practice and Promise of the Real-Time City
by Marcus Foth 01 May '08

01 May '08

Pre-publication announcement Foth, Marcus (Ed.) (2008, in press). Handbook of Research on Urban Informatics: The Practice and Promise of the Real-Time City. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference, IGI Global. ISBN 978-1-60566-152-0. Scheduled to be released December 2008. Table of contents and further information at: http://www.urbaninformatics.net/book/ Please help spread the word. Abstracts, foreword, preface, acknowledgements and contributors' biographies can be downloaded from: http://eprints.qut.edu.au/archive/00013308/ If you are interested in this book, please ask your library to place a prepublication order with their preferred distributor using this form: http://www.igi-global.com/downloads/pdf/LibRecForm_booksEnc.pdf If you are on facebook, please join the Urban Informatics group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2493830797 thank you all and best wishes, marcus -- Dr Marcus Foth Australian Postdoctoral Fellow Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology (CRICOS No. 00213J) Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia Phone +61 7 313 x88772 - Fax x88195 - Office Z6-511 m.foth(a)qut.edu.au - http://www.vrolik.de/publications/

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CFP Reminder: In the Game: AoIR pre-conference workshop
by T.L. Taylor 01 May '08

01 May '08

In The Game: AoIR pre-conference workshop Proposal deadline: 9 May http://www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl/projects/in-the-game.php This event will be a pre-conference workshop at Internet Research 9.0: Rethinking Communities, Rethinking Place, to be held on 15 October 2008 in Copenhagen, Denmark. For information about the conference, please see the AoIR website (http://conferences.aoir.org/) It is co-organized by Anne Beaulieu (Virtual Knowledge Studio), Marinka Copier (Utrecht University), and T.L. Taylor (IT University of Copenhagen). Thematic background A core issue for ethnography is the ethnographer's relationship to her object of knowledge. Although the web as a context of research, and net-mediated sites in general, have been heralded as an opportunity for the ethnographer to become the invisible 'fly on the wall', our experience leads us to emphasise the contrary. The participant pole of the participant -observer continuum remains crucial, even in mediated settings. Indeed in some online contexts there is no research stance outside of that of engaged participant. The existence of relationships between the ethnographer and other participants is essential to ethnographies that want to maintain a focus on meaning and culture. The opportunities and challenges posed by pursuing ethnographies in mediated settings may be other than claims to having achieved objectivity, and may consist in a re-examination and re-valuation of particular attachments to the ethnographic tradition. This event seeks to explore the particular textures and implications of ethnographic relationships in mediated settings. The ethnographic relationship is understood inclusive here, as a complex and evolving relationship that changes over the course of fieldwork and through the various aspects of knowledge production and dissemination. To structure the discussion of such a complex issue, four themes have been identified and will frame the various sessions. These themes are detailed below. :: Contiguity :: What happens when the field and our scholarly activities are very close in time, space and media? What are the ways of leaving the field, if any? Is this still a useful, important, necessary move? What does such a loop of mutual observation and feedback between researcher and object imply? How does it differ from other forms of interaction or multiple roles of more traditional ethnographies? :: Accountability :: Does mediation increase the accountability of the researcher? How do the settings, with their porous/networked boundaries, differ or resemble other settings? How does accountability change over time, or in relation to different relationships? And when the researcher is a contributing member to the group, how is the notion of accountability enlarged beyond a research ethics definition to a participatory one. Because of the traces left by the researcher, is the accountability not actually greater than in face to face settings? What are the (necessary) boundaries of the researcher's responsibilities? When do we go too far? And how does time (often such a fast moving artifact online) intervene in the issues we have? How do ethnographic relationships change over time, time of the object studied vs. research and publication time. :: Affectivity and embodiment :: Despite the rhetoric that sometimes surrounds mediated environments, how as researchers are we still always engaged with affective embodied practice, both that of ourselves but those in the communities we study? How can these be important resources for our work, and what special challenges might they pose. In the context of games and virtual environments for example, the avatar issue is always at work, but there remains the way as researchers we still find our corporeal bodies enrolled in our work - our anxiety at a raid, the neck problems from all the computer use, the way our understanding of our sites is itself mediated through our embodied experience. Closely tied to this are the ways affectivity works within the domain of ethnography - the unguardedness of play, the frustration, the pleasure or frustration within the fieldsite. :: Scholarly practices :: How do relationships to the object shape what counts as research? For example, what is the role of the cultural status of the 'object' in making something legitimate scholarly enquiry? What is at stake when doing ethnographies of activities that are sometimes considered to be antithetical to 'research' - for example, gaming or playing, researching intimate activities, youth culture (where the accusation that one is just "hanging out" rather doing serious work may always loom). How do we articulate the relation between expertise and practice? Is ethnography being brought too close to home? Which new skills are needed? How is our practice of research interwoven, often in complex and unanticipated ways, with the socio-technical objects and agents in the field. Participants and structure The workshop is aimed at researchers who have already pursued fieldwork in mediated environments. They are invited to submit a paper proposal (1500 words) before 9 May 2008 to Marinka Copier (marinka.copier(a)let.uu.nl) The proposal should present elements of prior ethnographic material and a reflection on that work from the perspective of one of the proposed workshop themes: continuity, accountability, affectivity & embodiment, and scholarly practices. The goal of this process is to bring together practicing ethnographers for an in-depth discussion of some key issues within the domain, simultaneously grounded in concrete projects. The workshop will have a maximum of 15 participants to enable in-depth discussion, and respondents will be assigned for each paper. Submissions will be selected on the basis of peer-review, which will be coordinated by the organisers of the workshop. Final papers (5000-6000 words) will be due at the beginning of September and will be distributed in advance to all workshop participants. Important dates Deadline for submissions: 9 May (mail to marinka.copier(a)let.uu.nl) Announcement of paper acceptance: 30 May Deadline for full papers (5000-6000 words): 1 September Pre-conference workshop: 15 October

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Neighbors Online - May 7 in DC, US Democracy Online Exchange Community of Practice
by Steven Clift 01 May '08

01 May '08

If you are in the DC area next Wednesday and are interested in how people at the neighborhood level are engaging (or can engage) online, join us. See below. Also the new Local-State-National US Democracy Online Exchange for practitioners involved with non-partisan online media, government, and civic participation/election information/open government projects is now open: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/us Cheers, Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org Links from: http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=405 What: Event - Connecting Neighbors, Strengthening Neighborhoods Online - Washington DC When: Wednesday, May 7, 2008 - 9-11 a.m. Where: RSVP by May 2nd for location: clift(a)publicus.net ** Put "Neighbors Online RSVP" in subject. Who: A discussion with 10-15 really interesting people. Space is limited. We have room for a few more people. I am particularly interested in gathering more people who are well networked with local communities and neighborhoods around the country. In addition to sharing the story about the exciting launch of the Neighborhood Issues Forum where I live - http://e-democracy.org/se - I’d like to discuss Vermont’s Front Porch Forum, i-Neighbors (academic project), the Facebook Neighborhoods application, Outside.In and Topix’s approach to zipcode based forums (lots of virtual ghost towns), Everyblock.Com, and DC’s exceptionally vibrant neighborhood e-mail list network (check out Cleveland Park with over 6,000 members). I am also interested in gathering ideas on block-level tools to support more secure networking among neighbors and how to extend the summer idea of National Night Out to a winter Local Night Online. We will even take a look at the sad Rotten Neighbor site. Please come in discussion mode - think "surf and talk" not present and digest. Two discussion questions to think about: 1. What would you like to see neighbors across the country be able to do online to connect with those who live near them. 2. What questions do we have that need answering before one aggressively pursues activities in this area? (I have one - What percentage of Americans say they belong or are aware of an online neighborhood forum, blog, or discussion e-mail list today?) Thanks! Steven Clift E-Democracy.Org

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digital literacy takes a field trip to a farm
by David M Silver 01 May '08

01 May '08

good morning aoir people! i'm always a bit reluctant to post messages about teaching to this list. list members like barry wellman usually respond with a hissy fit, noting how we are the association of internet *researchers*, rather than *teachers* - as if the two aren't totally related. anyways, i'd like to share a post i wrote about a recent four-day field trip my students and i in digital literacy took to an organic farm in humboldt county. for the last few months, we've been focusing on logging on and being creative and collaborative. for this trip, however, we focused on logging off and being creative and collaborative. i tried to gather my reflections, as well as those of my seven students, and posted them here: http://silverinsf.blogspot.com/2008/04/davies-forum-at-stonelake-farm.html i am curious to learn whether other people on this list use exercises that encourage students to log off rather than log on. if so, what do you do and how do you students respond? please share your classroom exercises with the list! david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com

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Couch Award DEADLINE EXTEND corrected date
by Mark D. Johns 30 Apr '08

30 Apr '08

CALL FOR AWARD APPLICATIONS *Deadline Extended--Due date corrected to May 15* Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award 2008 Sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research http://www.cccsir.org/ The Carl Couch Center issues an annual call for student-authored papers to be considered for Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. The Couch Center welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers that (1) apply symbolic interactionist approaches to Internet studies, (2) demonstrate interactive relationships between social interaction and communication technologies as advocated by Couch, and/or (3) develop symbolic interactionist concepts in new directions. Papers will be evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Symbolic Interactionist approaches and concepts and Couch’s theses, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge. Evaluation will be administered by a Review Committee of four: Dr. Mark D. Johns, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa Dr. Lori Kendall, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Dr. Annette Markham, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee Dr. Dennis Waskul, Minnesota State University, Mankato Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines. Works that are published or accepted for publication are not eligible for award consideration. Entries should not exceed 30 pages (approximately 7500 words) in length, including references and appendices. Limit of one entry per student per year. The top three papers will receive Couch Awards to be presented at the 2008 meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (aoir.org) at the IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark. The top paper will be awarded a certificate and a cash prize of $500 US, runner up will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $300 US, and a third paper will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $100 US. All three authors will be invited to present their work at a session of the AoIR conference, October 15-19, 2008 in Copenhagen. Those interested should send a copy of their paper, with a 100-word abstract, electronically to Mark D. Johns at mjohns(a)luther.edu Application deadline is *extended* to *May 15, 2008*. Notification of award will be sent by June 16. Those with questions or comments about Couch Award application, please contact: Mark D. Johns Dept. of Communication Studies Luther College, Decorah, IA 52101 USA Tel: (563) 387-1347 E-mail: mjohns(a)luther.edu

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new reviews in cyberculture studies (may 2008)
by David M Silver 30 Apr '08

30 Apr '08

aoir folks, each month, the resource center for cyberculture studies (RCCS) publishes a set of book reviews and author responses ( http://rccs.usfca.edu/booklist.asp ). books of the month for may 2008 include: Electronic Literature Collection (Volume 1) Editors: N. Katherine Hayles, Nick Montfort, Scott Rettberg, Stephanie Strickland Publisher: Electronic Literature Organization, 2006 Review 1: Kimberly De Vries Author Response: N. Katherine Hayles Author Response: Scott Rettberg Gatewatching: Collaborative Online News Production Author: Axel Bruns Publisher: Peter Lang Publishers, 2005 Review 1: J. Richards Stevens Author Response: Axel Bruns Wired Shut: Copyright and the Shape of Digital Culture Author: Tarleton Gillespie Publisher: MIT Press, 2007 Review 1: Benjamin J. Bates Review 2: Troy K. Schneider Author Response: Tarleton Gillespie enjoy. there's more where that came from. coming soon: a very large list of new and exciting books waiting to be reviewed, perhaps by you. david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com

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Canadian PSA
by Tuszynski, Stephanie 30 Apr '08

30 Apr '08

Greetings all - I was wondering if anyone else has seen that PSA airing on the CBC warning kids about Internet safety? The video follows a young barely-adolescent girl (Sarah? I think) who in the course of her day keeps getting accosted by various older and skeevy-looking men who ask intimate questions based on her blog posts. It's a rather chilling ad, and therefore rather effective. I was wondering if anyone else has seen it and had any thoughts about the efficacy of this kind of use of fear of exposure? Also is the PSA online anywhere? Stephanie Tuszynski Visiting Assistant Professor Department of Theatre and Film University of Toledo

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Disruptive Scholarship: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: (Re)Use / (Re)Mix / (Re)New
by Gerry Mckiernan 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

Friends/ I am pleased to announce the publication of my abstract for my planned presentation at the forthcoming 3rd International Plagiarism Conference / " Transforming Practice for an Authentic Future" / 23 - 25 June 2008 / City Campus East / Northumbria University / Newcastle-upon-tyne, UK. /Gerry Day 2 / Wednesday / 25th June 2008 2.00 pm - 3.00 pm Keynote 4 Gerry McKiernan Iowa State University, US. _Disruptive Scholarship: An Idea Whose Time Has Come: (Re)Use / (Re)Mix / (Re)New_ Hadrian's Wall is a stone and turf fortification built by the Roman Empire across the width of modern-day England. ... [It was] 117 kilometres long, ... [I]ts width and height [were] dependent on the construction materials [that] ... were available nearby. ... [T]he wall in the east follow[ed] the outcrop of a hard, resistant igneous diabase rock escarpment. ... Local limestone was used in the construction, except for ... section[s] in the west ... where turf was used instead ... . The Broad Wall was initially built with a clay-bonded rubble core and mortared dressed rubble facing stones, but this seems to have made it vulnerable to collapse, and repair with a mortared core was sometimes necessary.... [I]n time ... [Hadrian's] Wall was abandoned and fell into ruin. Over the centuries and even into the twentieth century a large proportion of the stone was reused in other local buildings. Throughout history, humans have (re)used local resources to create not only buildings and fortifications, but monuments, roads, and a wide variety of other structures. For countless generations, artists, composers, and writers have freely incorporated elements from local and distant cultures to create new visual, musical, and textual forms. In The Web 2.0 World, the open (re)combination of multiple media has become commonplace in many venues, practices that Lawrence Lessig, founder of Creative Commons, and others, would characterize as emblematic of a 'Remix ' or 'Read/Write' culture. Indeed, from his point of view, *the health, progress, and wealth creation of a culture is fundamentally tied to this participatory remix process.* In the recently-released Horizon Report 2008 - a joint publication of the New Media Consortium (NMC) and the EDUCAUSE Learning Initiative (ELI), six emerging information technologies and practices that are expected to significantly impact educational organizations are profiled: Grassroots Video, Collaborative Webs, Mobile Broadband, Data Mashups, Collaborative Intelligence, and Social Operating Systems In this presentation, we will review the Read/Write Traditions of the Arts, Humanities, and Sciences; analyze key Past / Present / Future Participatory Technologies; and explore the potential of Web 2.0 for creating/fostering Disruptive Learning / Scholarship / Teaching in the 21st century. Access To The Full Programme Of Excellent Presentation Topic Abstracts (With Links To Keynote And Guest Speaker Bios ) AND Links Within My Abstract Is Available At: [ http://scholarship20.blogspot.com/2008/04/disruptive-scholarship-idea-whose… ] OR [ http://tinyurl.com/47gwc9 ] I would appreciate Any/All Feedback on the theme of my presentation (as you will read, it's is open to wide interpretation) and/or relevant cites/sites. ***Please Make Recommendations As Comments on The Blog Entry*** Thanks A Million! /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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E-Government @ HICSS42 Second Call for Papers
by Jochen Scholl 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

Second Call for Papers (Apologies for double postings) Electronic Government Track at the 42nd Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences January 5 to 8, 2009 Hilton Waikoloa Village Resort Waikoloa, Big Island, Hawaii HICSS conferences are devoted to the most relevant advances in the information, computer, and system sciences, and encompass developments in both theory and practice. Accepted papers may be theoretical, conceptual, tutorial or descriptive in nature. Those selected for presentation will be published in the Conference Proceedings published by the IEEE Computer Society. Submissions must not have been previously published or be under submission elsewhere; all submissions undergo a double-blind peer referee process. Important Deadlines >From now to June 1 [Optional] : Prepare Abstracts. Then, contact MINITRACK CHAIRS for guidance and indication of appropriate content. June 15: Authors submit full papers by this date, following the AUTHOR INSTRUCTIONS. All papers will be submitted in double column publication format and limited to 10 pages including diagrams and references. HICSS papers undergo a double-blind review (June15 - August15). August 15: Acceptance notices are sent to Authors. At this time, at least one author of an accepted paper should begin visa, fiscal and travel arrangements to attend the conference to present the paper. The Electronic Government Track comprises ten minitracks: * Development Methods for Electronic Government * Emerging Topics in e-Government * E-Government Foundations and Methods * E-Government Information Security * E-Government Infrastructure and Interoperability * E-Government Organization & Management * E-Government Service and Information * E-Policy, Law, and Governance * E-Participation and E-Citizenship * Privacy, Transparency, and Trustworthy E-Government Systems For details please see http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_42/42tracks.htm#EGOV http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_42/42callforpapers.htm For the third time, the conference hosts a symposium of the "Global Electronic Government Research and Practice Community." For details, please see http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/hicss_42/42swt.htm Jochen Scholl HICSS42 Electronic Government Track

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Re: [Air-L] digital literacy takes a field trip to a farm
by David M Silver 29 Apr '08

29 Apr '08

when i began teaching undergrads about the internet in 1994, i had to coax and convince them that they should use it. "you'll find email useful," i'd say, or, "be the first person in your dorm to have your very own home page on the world wide web!" later, of course, we - students and profs - flocked to the web but not to all sites. in the late 1990s, i had to coax and convince my students to try out lambdaMOO and other more esoteric sites that our class readings described in detail. with web 2.0, the things we used to theorize - virtual communities and online identities - are now, through yelp or lastfm or facebook or flickr or blogs or wikipedia - are everyday destinations with our students. coming full circle, i no longer have to coax and convince my students to log on. these days, i have to coax and convince my students to log off. thanks to list members for sharing their own attempts/struggles with logging off and thanks to nicole ellison for sharing her media-use diary assignment. for another assignment on logging off, see my USF colleague andrew goodwin's blog post: http://professorofpop.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-kill-time-when-you-can-kill.… finally, i want to echo something kim de vries said in a post to the list: my students and i did not go low tech nor no tech. in some ways we went high tech in that we used more technologies than we normally use in a day. we used saws, axes, shovels, FIRE, wood stoves, gas stoves, and pens, paper, and books. david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com

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