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International Journal of Design - Cultural Aspects of Interaction Design - 2nd Call
by Ken Friedman 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Friends, This is a follow-up to remind you of an exciting special issue of the International Journal of Design on "Cultural Aspects of Interaction Design" edited by Keiichi Sato and Kuohsiang Chen. IJD has been growing with excellent contributions and a robust, international perspective. Whether or not you wish to propose an article for this issue, the journal is worth a visit at URL: http://www.ijdesign.org/ojs/index.php/IJDesign/ While all contents are open access, I'd like to suggest that you register. This will bring you an automatic Table of Contents with new issues, calls, and it will give access to new web-site features that will become available to registered users. Registration is free -- the main purpose is that the register allows the editors to communicate more effectively with the journal community, both to provide information and to develop improved services on the web site. If this call interests you, I hope you'll consider proposing an article. Kuohsiang Cheng and Keiichi Sato are developing a terrific issue, and they hope for a rich survey of the field. Yours, Ken Friedman -- CALL FOR PAPERS A Special Issue on "Cultural Aspects of Interaction Design" The notion of interaction design has become an indispensable aspect of product design and development, especially for those products with embedded information technologies. While traditional industrial design focuses on a product's functionality and its physical features, interaction design focuses on the interactive experience of users. Since products are becoming more pervasively and more tightly interwoven with our daily activities, design calls for a deeper understanding of the diverse perspectives of product use. Culture has been considered to play a critical role for users in their understanding, acceptance, positioning, and use of an artifact. The quality of an interactive experience is produced in a particular cultural context and is determined or evaluated in that context. Yet, when it comes to incorporating cultural factors effectively in design practice, knowledge is insufficient at all levels -- conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and practical. Cultural factors need to be integrated in the design process in order to achieve the high quality of product interaction that enables our experience with a product to be effective and enjoyable. For this special issue of the International Journal of Design, we are seeking papers that present breakthroughs in conceptual, theoretical, methodological and practical research that enhance the formalization of design knowledge with regard to the "cultural aspects of interaction design." In particular, these contributions should focus on representing cultural factors in describable, operable, and usable forms of design knowledge with relevance to interaction design. The following topics are of particular interest, covering fundamental and contemporary issues in this domain: - Conceptual framework of cultural factors in interaction design - Acquisition and representation methods for cultural factors in design - Formal models of cultural factors in interaction design - Planning, design, and evaluation methods that involve cultural perspectives - Cultural aspects of interaction methods and languages - Assessment of the cultural effects of new interactive products - Cultural factors in Kansei/emotional/affective aspects of interaction - Cultural contexts of interaction design for ambient intelligence environments - Cultural factors related to usability Schedule: Full Paper Due: 28 February 2008 Notification of Acceptance: 30 April 2008 Final Version of Paper Due: 31 May 2008 Special Issue Publication Date: 1 August 2008 Submission of Papers: Manuscripts should be prepared in accordance with the guidelines found at www.ijdesign.org/authorGuidelines Submitted papers should not have been previously published nor be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere. A double-blind review process will be employed for this special issue. Manuscripts should be sent through the on-line system at www.ijdesign.org/submissions Authors should choose "Special Issue on Cultural Aspects of Interaction Design" as the Journal Section when submitting papers. Special Issue Editors: Keiichi Sato Institute of Design Illinois Institute of Technology, USA Tel: 312-595-4912 E-mail: sato(a)id.iit.edu Kuohsiang Chen Department and Institute of Industrial Design National Cheng Kung University, Taiwan Tel: +886 6-2757575, ext. 54335 E-mail: kchen(a)mail.ncku.edu.tw

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Media / communications policy research grants available - proposals due October 15
by Rik Panganiban 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

COLLABORATIVE GRANTS IN MEDIA AND COMMUNICATIONS Proposals Due October 15, 2007 Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere Program http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media http://mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org WHAT The SSRC is pleased to announce a new round of small grants for academic-advocacy collaboration in the media and communications field. This project will provide grants of up to $7,500 for research that supports efforts to change the media / telecommunications infrastructure, practices, policies or content. The grants are intended for short-term work, completable and usable by advocacy partners within the next 4-12 months. Proposals for this round must be submitted online by October 15, 2007 by 5PM EST in order to be eligible for funding. Grant recipients will be announced by November 16, 2007. WHO Proposals must be: (1) Submitted by a US-based nonprofit advocacy, organizing or community group working on media and/or telecommunications issues. Groups with nonprofit fiscal sponsorship are also eligible. (A limited number of international non-profit organizations will be solicited by invitation only.) (2) Structured as a partnership with an academic researcher based at a university, college or other research institution. This can include advanced graduate students. There are no citizenship requirements for participants in these projects. CRITERIA Please review the list of criteria and the "Guide to Submitting a Proposal" posted online carefully before preparing your proposal. All projects must: * Be strategically useful in their proposed advocacy and/or organizing context. * Produce scholarship that meets academic standards. * Have a realistic workflow and timeframe. The selection committee will also favor proposals that: * Address issues of disparate impact on communities on the basis of race, class, gender, ethnicity, age or other identity/status category. * Have a clear plan for the application of the findings of the research in policy-making processes or advocacy campaigns to change the media / telecommunications infrastructure, practices, policies or content. Scholarship that facilitates field-building (i.e. curriculum development, tool-building, analysis of best practice) will also be considered. * Be useful for organizations, communities, and advocacy efforts beyond the applicant organization. * Build capacity-skills, tools, experience, access to data sets-within the "user" organization and/or community. * Use methods or models of research that have proved effective in similar contexts. * Reflect diversity in the staff or group involved with the project. * The committee will seek to fund a diverse mix of projects, including consideration of regional diversity, issue-area, scope (local, state-wide, national, etc), type of organization (national lobbying, grassroots community, transnational, etc.) and goals and methods (e.g., capacity-building, policy interventions, project or movement analysis, surveys and/or data collection, etc.) Bonus points for proposals that: * Involve collaboration between two or more advocacy/community groups in the project design and the plan of use for the research. * Use participatory methods to engage community and/or advocacy group members in framing the questions, data collection, and/or analysis. * Are related to issues of telephony, publishing, privacy, intellectual property, independent media, or spectrum. PROPOSAL STRUCTURE Please submit proposals via the online submission form at http://www.mediaresearchhub.ssrc.org/grants. The online proposal includes the following fields: * A short description (max. 100 words) of how the research will be used to advance public-interest change in the media/communications arena. * A general description of the research project (max. 1000 words). Please address the following: * What is the political/social change this project aims to achieve and how will it accomplish that aim? * What is the collaborative process and who are the people involved: at what stages, in what ways will they participate? * How is this project needed/innovative in relation to the existing/previous research and advocacy on the issue? * What is the timeline for project activities? * What is the final project you will share with SSRC upon completion of the study? * How will you assess and evaluate the process and success of this project? * How do you see other organizations potentially using the findings and products of the research project? * A description of the proposing organization (max. 200 words), including mission, constituency, geographical scope of work, and annual budget. * The name, institutional affiliation(s), research experience and CV of the academic partner. * A project timeline. * A budget of up to $7500, with itemized major expenditures. Budget items should include: * Other funding support - amount and source, including in-kind contributions * Personnel and consultants costs * Relevant travel * Relevant advocacy group costs * Dissemination, outreach costs PREVIOUSLY FUNDED PROJECTS You can find listings of other research projects that have been funded by the program online: * First Round of Small Grant Recipients http://programs.ssrc.org/media/collaborative_grants/smallgrants0806/ * Second Round of Small Grant Recipients http://programs.ssrc.org/media/collaborative_grants/smallgrants1206/ * Third Round of Small Grant Recipients http://programs.ssrc.org/media/collaborative_grants/smallgrants0507/ BACKGROUND The Collaborative Grants project is part of the Necessary Knowledge for a Democratic Public Sphere (NKDPS) Program of the Social Science Research Council, working in partnership with CIMA: Center for International Media Action and the McGannon Center for Communications Research at Fordham University. The program is funded by the Media, Arts and Culture program of the Ford Foundation. The NKDPS program is launching a series of funding opportunities to help increase the production, use and capacity for research to serve public-interest advocacy and organizing around media and communications. These mini-grants for collaborative advocacy- academic partnerships have been initiated to meet the short-term research needs of advocacy and policy actors. Past submissions that were approved in previous rounds can be viewed online at: http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media/collaborative_grants/ . Note that new applications do not have to work within the exact same range of topics as we encourage a diversity of issues that relate to the media and communications field. Several other funding projects will be launched in the next months, including a "Research Bounties" project that place prizes on advocacy-defined research and a larger program to support longer-term advocacy-academic research partnerships and training. For more information on the program, see http://www.ssrc.org/programs/media. For all program-related inquiries, please write to mediahub(a)ssrc.org . Subscribe to MediaResearchHub-News for program updates, research funding opportunities, and conference information at http://listserve.ssrc.org/mailman/listinfo/mediaresearchhub-news

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Position: Theories of Globalization and Governance
by Jeremy Hunsinger 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

sorry for crossposting, distribute as you wish --jh SCHOOL OF PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS/ GOVERNMENT AND INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS PROGRAM and ASPECT (Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural Thought) VIRGINIA TECH Theories of Globalization and Governance The Program on Government and International Affairs in the School of Public and International Affairs (http://www.spia.vt.edu) invites applications for a tenure-track position at the rank of Assistant Professor, focused on the theories and processes of globalization. Candidates should have strong, broad training in social, political, or cultural theory, and be able to work within an interdisciplinary setting with other colleagues in the School of Public and International Affairs as well as a new cross-college ASPECT doctoral program, focusing the application of social, political, ethical, and cultural theory to contemporary political challenges, cultural conflicts, social problems, and civil societies in both the U.S.A. and abroad (http://www.aspect.vt.edu) In particular, we would be interested in individuals who enjoy interdisciplinary collaborative team teaching and research. We are seeking colleagues who take a comparative approach to broad systemic challenges posed to governance by globalization, including cultural conflict, economic development, institutional democratization, social change, or rapid urbanization. A Ph.D. in sociology, political science, human geography, cultural studies, international affairs or related field is required for appointment as an Assistant Professor. Application materials (excluding reference letters) must be submitted online at www.jobs.vt.edu, reference posting # 071001 (paper documents cannot be accepted). Applicants should submit a full c.v., official transcripts, three letters of recommendation, samples of written work, teaching evaluations, and their research agenda to demonstrate their potential for excellence in research, teaching, and service. Application review will begin October 24, 2007. Applicants should arrange for references to send letters to Krystal Wright, SPIA, 110 Architecture Annex (0113), Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA: Phone 540.231.2291, 24061, e-mail, krystal(a)vt.edu. Questions concerning the electronic application process should also be directed to Ms. Wright. Questions concerning the position should be directed to the Co-Chairs of the Search Committee, Dr. Timothy W. Luke, University Distinguished Professor and Program Chair, Government and International Affairs: Phone 540.231.6633 or 540.231.6572, e-mail, twluke(a)vt.edu, and/or Dr. Wolfgang Natter, Program Chair, Alliance for Social, Political, Ethical and Cultural Thought: Phone 540.231.5342 or 540.231.2839, e-mail, wnatter(a)vt.edu. Virginia Tech has a strong commitment to diversity and seeks a broad spectrum of candidates, including women, veterans, minorities and people with disabilities. Individuals with disabilities desiring accommodations in the application process should notify the Co-Chairs of the Search Committee or the Virginia Tech Relay Service, 1-800-828-1129. -- Timothy W. Luke University Distinguished Professor Department of Political Science 539 Major Williams Hall VPI&SU Blacksburg, VA 2406l voice: 540.23l.6633/6571 fax: 540.231.6078 e-mail: TWLUKE(a)vt.edu homepage: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/tim/ OLMA/PSCI: http:// www.cyber.vt.edu/psci/olma/olma.html Center for Digital Discourse and Culture: http://www.cddc.vt.edu FAST CAPITALISM: http://www.fastcapitalism.com

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Photosynth and Flickr utilization
by Conor Schaefer 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

I haven't seen this posted to the list yet, but forgive me if it's redundant. Microsoft has acquired a company working on photo compositing and seems to be leveraging the software to step into graphic production in a big way. In a video demonstration, the model they used pulled thousands of pictures of Notre Dame off of Flickr and computationally arranged them into a cohesive whole with three dimensions. I have a lot of thoughts on the implications of this technology, as well as on its apparent limitations, but I wanted to table it for the list and see what you all had to say. Here's the link to a video of the presentation on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s-DqZ8jAmv0 And it kills me to provide this, but in the interest of full disclosure, here's the official Microsoft page on Photosynth: http://labs.live.com/photosynth/ I don't run Windows, so I have not seen the official Microsoft demo. Conor

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Fwd: Miivi = Media Defender, Emails Linked Confirm Connection
by Shira Chess 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

Has anyone heard about this yet? Any thoughts on how this is going to affect pirate culture...? http://torrentfreak.com/mediadefender-emails-leaked-070915/ "When TorrentFreak reported that Media Defender (MD) was behind the video site MiiVi, they cast doubt on us. Now, in what is surely the biggest BitTorrent leak ever, nearly 700mb of MD's emails have gone public." "Just about every aspect of the company's operations on every file sharing network is revealed in the emails, including their fake eDonkey server and Soulseek activities, not to mention payroll issues and discussions about what to eat for lunch."

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Call for Nominations for 2007 AIIP Technology Award
by Mark Goldstein 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

The Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP - http://www.aiip.org/) is pleased to announce that nominations are now open for our 2007 AIIP Technology Award. Members and non-members alike are welcome to nominate any company or individual that produces information products (databases, web organizers, Internet sites) as an entry in the competition via a short and simple nominations form found online. There will be two categories; one for web based services and another for desktop software. Successful entries in each category will be new or revamped products or technologies that help information professionals with their day-to-day operations in locating, analyzing and organizing information. The product must be related to the information field; AIIP does not consider accounting, word-processing, database or spreadsheet, or other programs not directly related to locating, analyzing, or organizing data appropriate for this award. The deadline for nominations is Sept. 28, 2007. The brief form for AIIP Technology Award nominations can be found at: http://www.aiip.org/AIIP_Tech_Award_Nomination_2007.doc Please send requests for the nomination form or your questions to: Ed Vawter, AIIP Technology Awards Committee Co-Chair, E-mail: qdinfo(a)comcast.net &/or Mark Goldstein, Co-Chair, E-mail: markg(a)researchedge.com. Electronic submittal of the entry form via e- mail is preferred. Previous winners of the AIIP Technology Award include: 2005: Copernic Desktop with honorable mentions for Devon Technologies DEVONagent and Wolff Worldwide 2004: Net Snippets Professional Edition, with honorable mentions for Dialog Corporation's DialogLink 4.0 and Microsoft Office OneNote 2003 2003: Google Toolbar 2002: askSam 5 2001: eGems Collector Pro 2000: IPO Express 1999: Webforia Organizer The AIIP Technology Award will be presented to the winners at Information Today, Inc.'s Internet Librarian Conference (http://www.infotoday.com/il2007/) program on Monday, October 29, 2007 in Monterey CA. We invite your nominations and will announce the winners to the list next month. Please consider what information products are most useful you most in your endeavors and help them and us as we select the best of breed for our annual AIIP Technology Award. Thanks! Best Regards, Mark Goldstein, AIIP Secretary President, International Research Center Voice & Fax: 602-470-0389, Skype: mark.goldstein LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/markgoldstein E-Mail: markg(a)researchedge.com, IRC: http://www.researchedge.com/ Harnessing Global Information Resources for Informed Decision Making

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research positions at University of Washington Center for Internet Studies
by Beth Kolko 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

The Center for Internet Studies of the University of Washington, Information School, has an outstanding opportunity for an experienced research manager and research coordinator to oversee the implementation of an 18-month study examining ICT public access environments across 25 countries. This research program focuses on libraries and other public access venues across a wide range of countries of differing socio-economic conditions, and aims to collect data that will allow comparative analyses of the political, economic, human resource, and technological and physical infrastructure factors among others that affect public access to ICT. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply early. For full job descriptions, please visit: http://www.cis.washington.edu/about/jobs.html Chris Coward Center for Internet Studies

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research positions at University of Washington Center for Internet Studies
by Christopher Coward 17 Sep '07

17 Sep '07

The Center for Internet Studies of the University of Washington, Information School, has an outstanding opportunity for an experienced research manager and research coordinator to oversee the implementation of an 18-month study examining ICT public access environments across 25 countries. This research program focuses on libraries and other public access venues across a wide range of countries of differing socio-economic conditions, and aims to collect data that will allow comparative analyses of the political, economic, human resource, and technological and physical infrastructure factors among others that affect public access to ICT. Interested applicants are encouraged to apply early. For full job descriptions, please visit: http://www.cis.washington.edu/about/jobs.html Chris Coward Center for Internet Studies

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CFP: Exploring New Media Worlds, Texas A&M, Feb 29-March 2
by Holly Kruse 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

Exploring New Media Worlds: Changing Technologies, Industries, Cultures, and Audiences in Global and Historical Context An international conference hosted by Texas A&M University, February 29 to March 2, 2008 Integrating fields of study in a time of change; setting a new agenda for media studies. Papers and proposals are invited on any aspect of the conference themes, offering reports of new research, position-taking conceptual essays, discussions of media and telecommunication policy, and both international and historical comparisons on changing technologies, industries, cultures, and audiences. The program will include keynote speakers, roundtable discussions, thematic panels, prominent scholars as respondents, and time for interaction. A wide selection of papers from the conference will be published. Travel grants are available for student members of the National Communication Association (see our webpage for more information). Send papers or proposals (abstracts or annotated outlines) with a 50 word professional biography by email attachment to mediaworlds(a)libarts.tamu.edu. Panel proposals are also acceptable. Deadline: November 20, 2007. For more information see http://comm.tamu.edu/mediaworlds email mediaworlds(a)libarts.tamu.edu or Rothenbuhler(a)tamu.edu. Keynote speakers: Larry Grossberg; Steve Jones; Vinny Mosco; and Ellen Seiter. Confirmed participants: Carole Blair, Sandra Braman, Celeste Condit, Bruce Gronbeck, Andrea Press, Ronald Rice, Paddy Scannell, Joseph Turow, Angharad Valdivia. And the Texas A&M faculty: Patrick Burkart, Heidi Campbell, Antonio La Pastina, Srivi Ramasubramanian, Eric Rothenbuhler, Michael Stephenson, Randy Sumpter, and Ian Weber plus strong faculty groups in Rhetoric and Public Affairs, Health Communication, and Organizational Communication. The Exploring New Media Worlds conference is hosted and co-sponsored by the Department of Communication, the College of Liberal Arts, the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research, and the Program in Presidential Rhetoric, Texas A&M University, with support from the National Communication Association.

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Ethics considerations in usage of skype for telephone interviews
by Jeremy Depauw 16 Sep '07

16 Sep '07

Hi all! After having been sensibilzed by Nick Jankowski about ethics in Online research at the ECREA Summer School, I would like to ask a question to experienced scholars. I am considering to use skype to achieve telephone interviews in the course of my fieldwork, for my phd thesis. May I consider Skype as yet-another telephonic device or do I have to achieve a deeper reflection regarding ethics? I am not pretty sure of all challenges involved in IP telephony, especially as I am about to interview competitive intelligence managers. Thank you for your help! Jeremy -- Jeremy Depauw The Power of Knoweldge Sharing and Skills Synegism Journal de recherche: http://dev.ulb.ac.be/~jdepauw/dotclear/index.php

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