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exporting an even older technology
by Barry Wellman 31 Aug '07

31 Aug '07

I am now exporting to the third world an even older technology than PCS, one that is also subject to insects and moisture, but may have a longer shelf life: BOOKS! I'm consolidating offices, and after 40 years of being a prof., I have 50 cartons of books to give away. Turns out, University of Toronto library doesn't want them. Books are so twentieth century! But Vietnam's universities do! And are willing to pay for shipping. As I moved to Canada to be a prof. in 1967, that the books will end up in Vietnam is a happy circumstance. Hey, hey, LBJ -- how many books did you burn today? The discussion on this list by Denise, etc strikes a note, as my student just returned from three happy months in rural eastern Ghana. She got to use a computer by bicyling over to the nearby hotel. And her school built a website, even though they don't have a PC. (BTW, she reports that Paris Hilton is the best known American in her area.) Barry Wellman PS: In case you're wondering, consolidating offices, but certainly not retiring. _______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Room 418 Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-7162 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php Elvis wouldn't be singing "Return to Sender" these days _______________________________________________________________________

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Tenure-track media studies position at Lake Forest College
by Park, David 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

Lake Forest College Position: Assistant Professor of Communication The Department of Communication at Lake Forest College seeks applicants for a full-time, tenure-track position in Media Studies beginning August, 2008. Applicants should have a Ph.D at the time of the appointment. Lake Forest College is a liberal arts college, located 30 miles north of downtown Chicago. Send letters of application, vita, and three letters of recommendation by October 15, 2007, to: D.L. Le Mahieu, Acting Chair, Department of Communications, Lake Forest College, 555 North Sheridan Road, Lake Forest, IL, 60045-2399. Interviews will be held at the NCA Convention in Chicago. Lake Forest College embraces diversity throughout all of its constituencies and encourages applications from women and members of historically underrepresented groups.

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CALL FOR PAPERS: Journal of Electronic Commerce Research, Special Issue on Virtual Worlds
by Guido Lang 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

Please note the following Call for Papers for a special issue on virtual worlds of the Journal of Electronic Commerce Research. Our apologies if you receive multiple copies of this message. -- JOURNAL OF ELECTRONIC COMMERCE RESEARCH: SPECIAL ISSUE ON VIRTUAL WORLDS CALL FOR PAPERS Special Issue on Virtual Worlds Submissions due: November 1, 2007 Scheduled Publication date: August 2008 Overview: The emergence of virtual worlds and Web 3.D change the way of doing business. Web 3.D is the synonym for Internet-based virtual worlds, where people can create own 3-D ‘virtual’ personalities. Virtual Worlds such as Second Life and others are undergoing an evolution similar to that of the Internet in the mid nineties and might impact profoundly the way people cooperate, communicate, collaborate, and conduct business. The recent entering of companies such as Toyota, American Apparel, Nissan, or Adidas indicate the upcoming role of this platform for the next generation of conducting electronic business. This call for papers is intended to cover a wide range of business and research topics that fall within the broad description of activities, challenges, opportunities, applications, innovations and implications associated with Virtual Worlds as the emerging new online business landscape. Purpose of the Special Issue: The purpose of this special issue is to encourage discussion and communication of important research issues that underpin Virtual Worlds as an important aspect of e-commerce and to showcase interesting and significant research work in this critical area. Specifically this issues is focusing on business and legal issues of doing business in Virtual Worlds. Of particular relevance to the described focus are papers about business models, marketing, promotion, pricing, customer integration, consumer behavior, legal, cultural and cross-cultural research. The issue, however, will not be restricted to these topics; rather, it welcomes reports of theoretical or empirical research that examines pertinent business issues related to Virtual Worlds e-commerce. This special issue will be of interest to researchers, governments, small and large businesses, marketing and PR companies among others. List of possible topics are: • Product Development and Testing in Virtual Worlds • Image, Branding, Advertising in Virtual Worlds • Marketing in Virtual World • Avatar-based Marketing • Promotion of Virtual Goods in Virtual Worlds • Pricing of Virtual Goods in Virtual Worlds • Selling, Cross-Selling Real and Virtual Worlds • Business Planning for Non-profits in Virtual Worlds • Fundraising and Virtual Worlds • Convergence of Real and Virtual Worlds • Customer Integration and Virtual Worlds • Technology, Business, Strategy in Virtual Worlds • Financial Systems, Investments, Currency Exchange Real and Virtual Worlds • Emerging Media Presence in Virtual Worlds • Consumer Behavior, Consumer Acceptance and Virtual Worlds • Trust, Cross-Cultural Studies and Virtual Worlds • Intellectual Property, Copyright, Trademarks and Virtual Worlds Submission of Manustcript: JECR publishes original empirical research, theoretical and methodological articles, evaluative and integrative reviews, field research, business surveys, and application papers of interest to a general readership. A submission based on a paper appearing elsewhere (such as conference proceedings or newsletters) must have major value- added extensions to the earlier version. For conference papers, it should have at least 30% new material. The submitted manuscripts should follow the format as suggested in the Submission Guideline found in the journal website: http://www.csulb.edu/journals/jecr/ s_guide.htm. Of particular note is that the manuscript should be prepared in Microsoft Word format. The names, affiliations, and contact information (i.e., phone, fax, email addresses) of all authors should be provided only on the cover page. The submitted paper will undergo a double-blind review. Contributing authors may be asked to serve as reviewers for the special issue. Authors may submit completed manuscripts electronically at any time prior to November 1st 2007 deadline. Manuscripts and questions send to mfetscherin(a)rollins.edu. Guest Editor Marc Fetscherin, Ph.D. Rollins College International Business Department Winter Park, 32789, FL, USA e-mail: mfetscherin(a)rollins.edu Tel: +1 407 691 1759 Fax: +1 407 646 1566 Important Dates: Deadline for Submission: November 1, 2007 Paper acceptance/rejection: January 15, 2008 Revised paper submission: March 15, 2008 Final acceptance following revisions: May 15, 2008 Publication Date: August 2008

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help with a YouTube research survey
by Grace Lin 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

Hi, form members, you might be interested in a current survey research about YouTube. Grace *YouTube Research Project*: Interested in YouTube as a participatory technology? Why do people watch, share, subscribe to, or create them? What instructional design factors make them more or less appealing? Why do people comment on them? If so, just click on the following survey link (see http://www.surveyshare.com/) and watch one of 60 popular YouTube video randomly embedded in a survey (some are educational videos, some entertainment, some political, some are sports related, some comedy, some are on emerging technologies, etc.) and answer some questions about the Web 2.0 and participatory learning. This research study just started and you can help by taking 10-15 minutes to complete one of them. In return, you will be entered into a drawing for free iPhones and iPods. In addition, you will get free unlimited use of SurveyShare Pro for 90 days!!!

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HCI for development workshop (was Africa)
by Charles Ess 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

While it's a little late in the day, apropos of the recent discussion about laptops and computers in the developing world - AoIRists in the vicinity will be interested in a workshop on HCI for development, as part of the HCI 2007 conference this coming week in Lancaster, as organized by CATaC veteran and enthusiast, Dr. José Abdelnour Nocera. Have a look at <http://hct4d.blogspot.com/> Cheers, - charles ess

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new reviews in cyberculture studies (september 2007)
by David M Silver 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

hello! following a summer sabbatical, RCCS ( http://rccs.usfca.edu/booklist.asp ) book reviews are back! the books of the month for september 2007 are: An Alternative Internet Author: Chris Atton Publisher: Edinburgh University Press, 2005 Reviewed by: Paul Booth, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, NY, USA Author Response: Chris Atton, Napier University, Edinburgh, UK Ars Electronica: Facing the Future: A Survey of Two Decades Editor: Timothy Druckery Publisher: MIT Press, 1999 Reviewed by: Carolyn Kane, New York University, NY, USA Information Please: Culture and Politics in the Age of Digital Machines Author: Mark Poster Publisher: Duke University Press, 2006 Reviewed by: Diana Bossio, Swinburne University, Melbourne, Australia Author Response: Mark Poster, University of California, Irvine, USA enjoy. coming soon: full-length book reviews of Cybersounds: Essays on Virtual Music Culture; Everything Is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder; From Counterculture to Cyberculture: Stewart Brand, the Whole Earth Network, and the Rise of Digital Utopianism; Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture; Hanging Out in the Virtual Pub: Masculinities and Relationships Online; Residual Media; Social Consequences of Internet Use: Access, Involvement, and Interaction; The Anxiety of Obsolescence: The American Novel in the Age of Television; The Body and the Screen: Theories of Internet Spectatorship; Uses of Blogs; and many, many more. david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com/

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Re: [Air-L] help on africa and computer donations
by nsenga＠mediom.qc.ca 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

Dear Denise, In 1995, you "donated" 66 computers, and 2 years later, only 4 were operating...What happened to the 62 others? where are they now? The same to Alex: what has been the fate of the "huge pile" of junk of Macs given to his terrain worker to lure the local police? Francois Montreal Original Message: ----------------- From: Denise N. Rall denrall(a)yahoo.com Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2007 07:34:10 +1000 (EST) To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org, cristian.berrio(a)gmail.com Subject: Re: [Air-L] help on africa and computer donations Dear AIR-ers - I actually organized a computer donation to Ghana in 1997. It was very difficult on many levels. It was almost impossible to secure grid power to the research centre at any given moment in time. When the generators kicked in, all the computers would re-boot. As one of my participants said, "well we come to work and if there is power we do work otherwise it is back to pencil and paper" I will note that despite wind-up batteries there are other issues - heat, humidity, dust and at my site ANTS. I toured an IBM computer lab at the Kumasi Inst of Technology. In 1995, IBM had donated 66 computers, and in 1997 only four of them were still working. Before people scoff at IBM, their machines held up better on this research station than any other brand. Particularly the keyboards. Laptops in particular were fairly quickly overwhelmed by heat, humidity, dust and insects. I kept some of the residual moisture at bay by zipping up my laptop case tightly with a hot machine inside. Floppy diskettes of course could be opened and washed to remove the mold. I NOTE that Computer donations to Africa have been going on for decades. Many of the issues presented in this classic text: Lewis, S. G. and J. Samoff (1992). Microcomputers in African development. Boulder, CO, Westview Press. are still active today. For instance, the Lewis & Samoff discussions of cross cultural misunderstandings and miscommunications about what computers should accomplish are still spot on. The role of women and computing is still hugely problematic. The theory has been explored by Jules-Rossette: Jules-Rossette, B. (1990). Terminal signs: Computers and social change in Africa. Berlin, Mouton-de Gruyter. "The more things change the more they stay the same" Those donating laptops to Africa should spend the time to understand the micro-climates and entomology of the sites where they expect to donate. It's easy to discuss the theory, the hard facts are the insects. My supervisor (former) just returned from Thailand without his internal keyboard as he was on aan archelogical dig and the dust destroyed it. Since cockroaches have recently eaten the circuit boards in both our dishwasher and television recently, I guess that also goes for northern New South Wales. (yes we spray but not often - it's the environment, stupid!) Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 AUSTRALIA Tues: Room T2.17, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/ Virtual member, Cybermetrics Group, University of Wolverhampton, UK http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/index.html ______________________________________________________________________ ______________ Get the World's number 1 free email service. http://mail.yahoo.com.au _______________________________________________ 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/ -------------------------------------------------------------------- mail2web.com Enhanced email for the mobile individual based on Microsoft® Exchange - http://link.mail2web.com/Personal/EnhancedEmail

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help on africa and computer donations
by nativebuddha 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

This student is looking for help. Any suggestions? -robert ----------------------------------------------- Hello, I am Alok Kotecha, a Computer Science major at the College of Charleston. I am working on a paper for my English 102 class that is based mainly on donating computers to the developing nations of Africa, mostly Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Mozambique & Zambia. My main argument is that developed nations donate technology such as computers to these counties with the aim of technologically advancing the nations, however they do not consider the fact that donating computers is not the main thing to be done at this stage. Below are some other arguments that I address in my paper: 1. Lack of infrastructure e.g. very few people have telephone lines and this will stop them from connecting to the internet. (Wireless connections are out of question in most places due to the high set up costs and regular maintenance required.) 2. Security would be a concern - High crime rates might mean that high security would be needed in order to protect computers from theft. 3. Language would be a concern as well - Operating a computer that interacts in English my be a problem for many people. 4. Health Care - Many people die everyday form malaria and other diseases. In these cases it is always a good idea to save lives first by providing better health care and medical services rather then donating computers. Currently I have based my paper on statistics from UNDP and NYT articles, but because this is a very recent issue I am currently having problems finding more scholarly articles and I would appreciate any suggestions you can provide. Thank you, Alok Kotecha

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Youth Internet Use and Digital Divide
by greenhow＠umn.edu 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

Greetings! I'm a researcher at the University of Minnesota and am looking for reports of young people's Internet use that address issues of equity (esp., differences by socioeconomic status). I'm especially looking for reports that profile young people's access to the Internet, location of use, range of Internet technologies used, purpose of uses, self-reported proficiency. Reports that look at young people's Internet use in educational settings are also welcome. I am familiar with Pew and NCES...do you know of others, either completed or in-progress? Thank you for any referrals! -- Christine Greenhow, Ed.D. Postdoctoral Associate Learning Technologies College of Education and Human Development University of Minnesota, Twin Cities Phone: 651-226-4015 Email: greenhow(a)umn.edu Program Affiliations: www.admissionpossible.org Profile: www.linkedin.com

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FW: [DDN] 2008 Call for Papers
by Katy E. Pearce 30 Aug '07

30 Aug '07

-----Original Message----- From: digitaldivide-bounces(a)digitaldivide.net [mailto:digitaldivide-bounces@digitaldivide.net] On Behalf Of Chris Boisvert Sent: Wednesday, August 29, 2007 3:53 AM To: digitaldivide(a)digitaldivide.net Subject: [DDN] 2008 Call for Papers The International Telecommunications Society is pleased to announce the release of the 2008 Call for Papers for the 17th Biennial Conference of the International Telecommunications Society The ITS 2008 is being held in Montreal Quebec (CANADA) June 24th - 27th, 2008 To view the Call for Papers and for direct online submissions visit: www.its2008montreal.org <http://www.its2008montreal.org/> For any other inquiries please feel free to contact us at: ITS2008(a)canavents.com All submissions are due no later than October 31st, 2007! _______________________________________________ DIGITALDIVIDE mailing list DIGITALDIVIDE(a)digitaldivide.net http://digitaldivide.net/mailman/listinfo/digitaldivide To unsubscribe, send a message to digitaldivide-request(a)mailman.edc.org with the word UNSUBSCRIBE in the body of the message. No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.10/977 - Release Date: 8/28/2007 4:29 PM No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.5.484 / Virus Database: 269.12.10/977 - Release Date: 8/28/2007 4:29 PM

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