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[AOIR 8.0] Vancouver Conference Update #2 (May 8, 2007)
by Richard Smith 16 May '07

16 May '07

Dear Air-born, Just when you thought the information had finally eased up, here is another update from those Crazy Canucks, the AoIR 8.0 ("aerate" - get it?) Let's Play organizing committee. If you are not planning on coming to Vancouver in October then you might as well delete this message right now. Everyone else should at least glance at it. Then delete it. Make sure you return those electrons for your deposit, however. This is going to be a green conference. (As always, an archive of this email will be kept at the "About IR 8.0" page on the AoIR wiki: http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=About_IR8.0) Green Actually, that's no joke. I am putting extra effort into ensuring that this conference makes some attempt to be low impact on the environment. Since we're starting from such a deep hole - presumably you're all going to be burning up the ozone flying here to Vancouver - we have an obligation to try for best practice. What does this mean, to you? - we'll have organic, local food wherever possible and we will be sourcing ingredients for their proximity to the conference city. Coffee will be as shady and bird friendly as we can get it, and so will our fruits and juices. - paper and plastic will be at a minimum and we'll use the recycled version wherever possible. - there will be vegetarian options at all of the meals and breaks I am open to suggestions on how to make ourselves - within reason, of course - even "greener." I wonder if you would be interested in bringing your own badge, for example. I, for one, have a pile of them from previous conferences and could not only bring my own but a dozen extras for others. Anyone else interested in doing this? What else could we do? Back channel/E-presence One of the fun elements of an AoIR event is the lively and irreverant "backchannel" that seems to spring up each time. While it is probably too early to tell what social networking technology is going to be dominating the action this year - I've started creating links in a few of the usual places. The AoIR Wiki has a set of pages on the event, which you can find here: http://wiki.aoir.org/index.php?title=About_IR8.0 There is a facebook event listing here: http://sfu.facebook.com/event.php?eid=2265672192 There is a facebook group here: http://sfu.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2331171313 IRC has been used successfully in the past, and I suspect that twitter might be popular, too. Some people have managed a twitter/facebook melding, even. I was at a conference recently that started up and maintained for several weeks afterward (it may still be going on for all I know) a skype group text chat as a back channel. What about SecondLife? I am not the most adept SL person on the planet, but I can see how it might be fun to "meet" there while the event is on. There will be a SecondLife pre-conference workshop, and perhaps some of those people would be interested in constructing a virtual conference in SL. I can get architectural drawings, if you want them... Suggestions - and requests for infrastructure if necessary - most welcome in this regard. Or, I can just let it emerge, organically (get it) from the members. We will have good wireless access throughout the conference site and both nearby hotels and almost all nearby coffee houses, so you can 'back channel' to your heart's content if you bring a wireless device. Hotels Speaking of hotels, you should be thinking of where you want to stay. I have two recommendations to start with: Reasonably priced, and reasonably nice: Ramada Limited Hotel<http://www.google.ca/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:offi…>- this one is just around the corner from the conference venue and I stay there myself when I need to be overnight in the city; free internet for guests, not fancy but includes a free breakfast. No views to speak of. Very nice, and a bit more expensive: Vancouver Delta Suites<http://www.google.ca/maps?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:offi…>- this is directly across the street and would be considered the "conference hotel" if we had attached ourselves to them. I recommend this if you have a department paying for your stay and like a little nicer room and a view. Internet is available, but you have to pay by the day, and the breakfast - while excellent - is not free. I could dig up more places, and I certainly shall if anyone is interested, but those are good starting points. Remember, you are on your own to book a place, so get out there and do it, or you'll be scrambling at the last minute. And don't forget your boots and raincoat! Keynotes I mentioned two of the keynotes in my last update (Henry Jenkins and Cory Ondrejka) and I am pleased to announce our third keynote will be John Willinsky <http://www.lled.educ.ubc.ca/faculty/willinsky.htm>, of the University of British Columbia. John is leader of the public knowledge project (PKP) and a passionate and articulate spokesperson for open access to research and scholarship. His recent MIT Press book The Access Principle<http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/default.asp?ttype=2&tid=10611>has received rave reviews and Dr Willinsky "walks the talk" - his book is available in full text for download<http://mitpress.mit.edu/catalog/item/ebook.asp?ttype=2&tid=10611>. He is the person behind the highly successful open journal systems (OJS) software. You can read more about PKP and OJS here: http://pkp.sfu.ca/ Not only that, but he is a funny and entertaining speaker. Venue If you haven't finished your paper yet, let alone got your presentation slides in order, you might not be that interested in seeing where you're going to present. On the other hand, a virtual tour of the conference facility is just the kind of procrastination activity that can make dodging paper writing so rewarding. With that in mind, take a wander through the virtual tour of our conference venue here: http://www.harbour.sfu.ca/mecs/vr.htm Wasn't that fun? As ever, we continue to work tirelessly (little beavers, we are) for you in the background. If there is any aspect of the conference that you are concerned about, or wish to know more, do let me know. I look forward to seeing you all in October, in Vancouver. Warmest regards, ...r -- Richard Smith, Associate Professor School of Communication Simon Fraser University, 515 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, CANADA V6B 5K3 Phone: 604 291 5116 Web: http://www.sfu.ca/~smith/<http://www.sfu.ca/%7Esmith/> New book!: http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/smith/mawc

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Website/weblog word counts
by David Brake 16 May '07

16 May '07

It just occurred to me one rough way of indicating the degree of engagement required to produce a given weblog is to point out the number of words you might find on one. I have a couple archived as HTML - is there an easy way to count how many words there are in a folder full of HTML pages? Has anyone done a study of the number of words on a typical weblog? Or in a typical weblog posting? Or of differing patterns of increasing or decreasing postings over time in a given body of weblogs? FYI Apparently the average weblog comment is 63 words long according to G. Mishne and N. Glance (2006) Leave a Reply: An Analysis of Weblog Comments in WWW2006 http://staff.science.uva.nl/~gilad/pubs/www2006- blogcomments.pdf I just did a couple of manual word counts and one of my interviewees' weblogs varied between c 600 words one month to peak at over 11,000 words in each of two different months. --- David Brake, Doctoral Student in Media and Communications, London School of Economics & Political Science <http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/media@lse/study/ mPhilPhDMediaAndCommunications.htm> Also see http://davidbrake.org/ (home page), http://blog.org/ (personal weblog) and http://get.to/lseblog (academic groupblog) Author of Dealing With E-Mail - <http://davidbrake.org/ dealingwithemail/> callto://DavidBrake (Skype.com's Instant Messenger and net phone) Please access the attached hyperlink for an important electronic communications disclaimer: http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/secretariat/legal/disclaimer.htm

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Re: [Air-l] Website/weblog word counts - methodology
by Dan Prives 16 May '07

16 May '07

What is the best way to characterize this data? I suspect that average word count is not a particularly useful metric, since a few extremely long posting will create a misleading picture. Quartiles or quintiles might be a better approach, or log distribution. What do others think? Does anyone know of any guidelines for good practice for this kind of statistical research? Regards, Dan Prives Where Most Needed The Charity Industry Blog http://www.wheremostneeded.org

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FW: Updated estimates about the wireless-only population
by Ellis Godard 16 May '07

16 May '07

Possibly of interest... -----Original Message----- Today, the National Center for Health Statistics updated our most recent estimates on the size of the population without landline telephones. These estimates are based on National Health Interview Survey data collected from July - December 2006. http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/wireless200705.pdf or http://tinyurl.com/2nq2bs

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3D virtual body language
by Hopkins, Lee - hoply002 15 May '07

15 May '07

G'day, A friend of mine is writing a book about body language in the workplace, and would be interested to know what's been done with the topic in a multiuser 3D virtual environment. Any ideas? Lee "Virtual insanity: why replicating existing business practices in a virtual world is dooming yourself to failure" Professional Doctorate research at the University of South Australia

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Feedback on my forthcoming class at NYU
by Heath Row 14 May '07

14 May '07

Some of the respondents asked whether I planned to share others' feedback with folks, so I thought I would, with my comments in response. I hope I don't offend anyone by "outing" them. If you emailed me and I also emailed you solely personally, I didn't include you in this roundup. That means one person. Otherwise, this is the lot. *** LIST MEMBER Patricia Lange INPUT There's a reading by Bonnie Nardi called "Why we Blog" which I don't have the citation for to hand but you should find rather easily. [The link in question is http://www.darrouzet-nardi.net/bonnie/pdf/Nardi_why_we_blog.pdf . I also considered http://www.darrouzet-nardi.net/bonnie/pdf/Nardi_blog_social_activity.pdf ] For social action there is a recent special issue of Scholar & Feminist Online which you might be interested in: http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/blogs/index.htm Also, I didn't see citations for video blogging. I am studying the vlogosphere as part of an anthropology project. I have an article on social aspects of video blogging in the special issue called "The Vulnerable Video Blogger: Promoting Social Change Through Intimacy" http://www.barnard.edu/sfonline/blogs/lange_01.htm And finally, if your course is orientated toward teaching people how to blog, there is a hand book called Secrets of Videoblogging by Michael Verdi and Ryanne Hodson that may be of interest. MY RESPONSE Pat's feedback was among the most useful because it identified a perceived gap or lack and offered readings and resources that could meet that need. I actually include a day on multimedia usage in blogs, defining that as audio, photography, and video. Pat's resources add valuable readings to the syllabus. That day, I plan to have, in addition to my lecture, a panel discussion featuring area podcasters, photobloggers, and videobloggers, so the input is especially welcome. *** LIST MEMBER Erika Pearson INPUT I am a little vague though on how you will be incorporating the blogs into class - both in terms of linking them to course aims and objectives, and how the student blogs fit into the assessment schedule. I am currently playing with different uses of blogs as part of the assessable work for my course, so I'd love to hear a bit more detail on your approach. MY RESPONSE I emailed Erika indicating that the class will largely be run using a blog, http://blogospherism.blogspot.com, and that it will share commentary, exercises, and other items. In between sessions, the class will be the blog -- and student blogs. In addition, the students will be assessed in part based on a blog they launch and run during the class, on a topic of their choosing. This is the first time I've used this method, and if welcome, I'll share feedback after the fact. *** LIST MEMBER Eric Goldman INPUT There are a number of legal aspects to blogging, including the problems with group blogs. See http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=898048 MY RESPONSE I will consider this resource and include it if appropriate. That session is relatively late in the course, so I haven't spent a lot of time on the link. That doesn't mean it's not useful. *** LIST MEMBER Peter Timusk INPUT Sorry if this seems anti American but you don't seem to have much international content this after all the Internet for instance I am in Canada and can suggest studies done by my employer statistics Canada for internet studies. I don't think they have blogs studied yet though yet. visit www.statcan.ca there are many other country blogs with native language and English. MY RESPONSE My bias toward the Web and blogging is that it's international in scope, so I tend to lean toward the implicit vs. explicit. That said, it's a valid point that my approach might not be _explicit enough_. Rest assured that the class will not focus solely on the American experience. Instead, international examples and issues will be woven throughout -- just like in the Web. My personal response to Peter might not have communicated this, because I was seeking concrete gaps in terms of topics and resources. Barring additional suggestions, I'm left to my own devices. *** Class starts Wednesday. I'm jazzed. Will let people know how it goes! Heath -- Heath Row | mediadiet.net | advercise.blogspot.com this email is: [ ] bloggable [ x ] ask first [ ] private listen to this: http://tinyurl.com/3bemo2

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Army bans YouTube and Myspace
by nativebuddha 14 May '07

14 May '07

Army says soldiers can't use US govt euipement to watch YouTube and MySpace. What I found even more interesting is the info battle that is taking place on YouTube (Read down to about middle of article). http://edition.cnn.com/2007/TECH/internet/05/14/military.sites.blocked.ap/i… -robert

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Communities and Technologies 2007 early registration
by Charles Steinfield 14 May '07

14 May '07

Dear Colleagues, Only a couple of weeks remain for the early registration period for the Communities and Technologies 2007 conference, to be held June 28-30, 2007 at Michigan State University. Early registration ends on May 31st. A fantastic program has been assembled, with 30 outstanding papers, 13 workshops encompassing a range of methodologies and research topics, four keynote speakers who have made significant contributions both to research and practice, and three panel discussions about aspects of communities and technologies by leaders in the field. The conference also will feature the opportunity to explore an innovative online event/conference networking service designed to enhance discussions among participants (more information will be available soon on this). We have put together a social program that includes a dinner/reception at the historic Cowles House on the Michigan State campus as well as an evening dinner/reception at the Michigan Historical Museum. Early registration fees for the meeting are $400 for regular attendees (that is, non-students), and $100 for students. Registration at these rates includes participation in a workshop. Late registration begins on June 1st, with fees increasing to $450 for regular attendees, and $150 for students. The International Conference on Communities and Technologies has developed into one of the premier meetings for interdisciplinary exchanges related to the development, usage, and impacts of technology-supported communities. Please visit the conference web site (http://ebusiness.tc.msu.edu/cct2007/) for more detailed information. We hope to see you at C&T 2007. Charles Steinfield, Brian Pentland, Mark Ackerman and Nosh Contractor Conference Organizers

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Learning Inquiry Issue 1, Volume 1
by Jeremy Hunsinger 14 May '07

14 May '07

The first issue of the journal Learning Inquiry is now online. I expect the print to arrive shortly:) The first issue is centered on the theme "The Futures of Learning" and has contributions from many leading scholars from an extensive range of fields. The futures of learning http://www.springerlink.com/content/t73064v85621/ Editorial: introducing Learning Inquiry Jason Nolan and Jeremy Hunsinger Imagining, seeking, inventing: the future of learning and the emerging discovery networks Gary Natriello Learning from instruction: the case of mathematics Erik De Corte Metaphysics and learning Helen Verran The paradoxical future of digital learning Mark Warschauer Learning, change, and the utopia of play Stuart Moulthrop Critical media literacy is not an option Douglas Kellner and Jeff Share Implementation of knowledge management in organizations Katrin Winkler and Heinz Mandl jeremy hunsinger Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) wiki.tmttlt.com www.tmttlt.com () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.stswiki.org/ sts wiki http://cfp.learning-inquiry.info/ Learning Inquiry-the journal http://transdisciplinarystudies.tmttlt.com/ Transdisciplinary Studies:the book series

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C'LICK ME - Public Display of Internet Pornography - June 2 - Amsterdam
by Matteo Pasquinelli 13 May '07

13 May '07

C'LICK ME Public Display of Internet Pornography 2nd International Netporn Festival Paradiso, Amsterdam – Saturday, 2 June 2007, 1pm to 5am Website: www.c-lickme.nl List: www.listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/netporn-l_listcultures.org C'LICK ME is an event to investigate internet pornography in a non- conventional way. We are looking forward to a queer event without any rigid queer correctness (as queer doesn't always mean good porn!). We want to re-think the society of the netporn spectacle: the digital zeitgeist that has given us a hypersexual body. What to do with our bodies and digital machines? Pornography has found its way into every nook and cranny of the Internet, but how can we still be queer radicals or body artists, private hedonists or fervent bloggers in this climate? Do we still need to have a sanctified space like an underground or a dungeon, when we produce desire with our floating networked bodies? Porn went porn-chic years ago. Today netporn goes into Myspace bedrooms and everyday "realcore". C'LICK ME is not only netporn displays, but strategies of public engagement and sharing thoughts about netporn. While creating a visibility of desire, we try to experiment with a new "invisibility" of identities. From the era of queer communities, we move into the culture of crossbreed pornography. Even amongst those horny mobs targeted by the netporn industry giants, people cherish their own queer varieties. Netporn means the messy process of personal affections and anomalies melting into the databases of porn masses. In the era of pornification of mainstream imagery, there is no more society without netporn, but a lot has to be done to sexualize the critical "multitudes". Queer and net activists, theorists and artists once again gather in Amsterdam to discuss the growing pains of autonomous culture zones, but also netporn as sexwork, production of affective commodities and one of the biggest global markets. C'LICK ME wants to create a networked debate, continuing the discourse started with the first Netporn Conference in 2005, that was organized by the Institute of Network Cultures in collaboration with Katrien Jacobs and Matteo Pasquinelli. This conference afterwards connected to other experiences across Europe and elsewhere, like the Porn Film festival and the Post Porn Politics symposium both held in Berlin in 2006. What does a “post-porn politics” mean after entering the digital realms of the network society? And what will be the destiny of the porn genre in the age of the affective technologies? Before brainstorming the dissolution of porn into commodities or its future explosion in global conflicts, our specific DIY contribution is an anti-essentialist and intoxicated event, with input from new publics, with a nostalgic embrace of (post) punk wet dreams and sex revolutions. Most of all, C'LICK ME invites you to experience the sexual evolution of the digital generation. Your stimulators, Katrien Jacobs, Matteo Pasquinelli and Marije Janssen Program - Day program C'LICK ME day program will feature an international selection of speakers from various disciplines presenting their views and thoughts in a performative setting. Guests, among others, are American film producer, sex blogger and writer Audacia Ray, multi-media artist and musician Terre Thaemlitz, post-porn theorist and performer Tim Stuttgen, 21 century activist Francesco Palmieri ‘Warbear', and genetic pornography demagogue, Adam Zaretsky. Visitors and participants will meet during the dinner, especially designed by food artist Patrick Faas for C'LICK ME. The day program will be hosted by Nat Muller. - Evening program The evening program features video and film screenings, which includes the European premiere of Audacia Ray's film The Bi Apple, the (least) favorite porn scenes brought to you by participants and celebrities, the bareback monologues and a soiree of irreverent porn acts. The evening program will be hosted by Bahram Sadeghi. - Night program As the evening turns into night, C'LICK ME invites you to an unforgettable party with in the main hall: Dj Sprinkles a.k.a. Terre Thaemlitz, live performances by: Khan of Finland en LeClic and Dj's Sandrien and Abraxas. Get sweaty on the dance floor or lose yourself in the underground atmosphere created in the small hall by the Phag Off collective from Rome who for the first time will collaborate with Cruise Control queer crew. Team Plastique will perform live. If this is too much you can relax in the basement and listen to the whispered dirty stories in the ‘For Your Ears Only' project by SXNDRX. List of participants: Audacia Ray, Terre Thaemlitz, Tim Stuttgen, Warbear, Florian Cramer, Lotte Hoek, Feona Attwood, Sharif Mowlabocus, Adam Zaretsky, Dominik Bartkowski. Ticket prices: Passepartout (including festival dinner) 27,50 euro Day ticket: 7,50 euro Evening ticket: 12,50 euro Night ticket: 12,50 euro Tickets can be bought at: Ticketservice: www.ticketmaster.nl national: 0900 300 1250 AUB Ticketline: national: 0900 0991 international: +31 20 621 12 88 If you would like more information on the program, participants and practical info, please visit our website: www.c-lickme.nl or myspace: www.myspace.com/clickmeamsterdam You can also join our mailinglist to discuss topics with participants: http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/netporn-l_listcultures.org For more information, Marije Janssen: marije (at) paradiso.nl C'lick Me – 2nd International Netporn Festival is made possible by: - Institute of Network Cultures - Stichting Democratie and Media - Fonds voor Amateurkunst en Podiumkunsten

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