- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Psychological profiling via metadata
by Tom Shelley 31 May '07

31 May '07

Hi guys, I'm really interested in finding out more about what we can learn about someone's psychology from their metadata. A recent discussion on this list pointed to this research on 'What your choice of mp3s says about you'. Which garners personal information from Last.fm - http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/02/personality-secrets-in-your-mp3-player.php .<http://www.spring.org.uk/2007/02/personality-secrets-in-your-mp3-player.php> I'm sure that tag clouds in flickr, OPML data from your RSS feed reader and groups joined on Facebook could say a lot about you. Now Eric Schmidt, Google CEO, is saying that he thinks in the future Google will be able to make career choices for you from your data. Are there any other studies on psychological profiling via metadata? Can anyone think of papers saying how a 'personality algorithm' would work? The ethical issues arising are enormous, but how far do you think this can go? Is a Stumbleupon for your entire life, which constantly learns from your data, possible? Thanks, Tom -- Tom Shelley Project Red Stripe Tel : + 44 (0) 782 441 5491 team blog : www.projectredstripe.com/blog personal blog : www.fedoralreserve.wordpress.com

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Facebook newbie thoughts( will check archive)
by Peter Timusk 30 May '07

30 May '07

The question for me at the moment with facebook becomes why am I now allowed to view my old high school friend's recent friends? This is something totally new. I can create miles of gossip if I want. but whose political or social agenda would want me to see this? Was this privacy invasion why facebook was created or a side effect of the main reason. Interesting topics could be studied such as mass movements for instance of hockey fans clubs, or peace groups, and after studying some classic network theory this past term in graduate school I am very interested in the potential of this networking.. I guess I must now admit web 2.0 exists. sorry for using your bandwidth I will check the archives now for facebook research previously discussed. Peter Timusk, B.Math statistics (2002), B.A. legal studies (2006) Carleton University Systems Science Graduate student, University of Ottawa (2006-2007). just trying to stay linear. Read by hundreds of lurkers every week.

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Facebook research symposium - London Nov 15th
by Neil Selwyn 30 May '07

30 May '07

** Apologies for Cross-posting ** Poke 1.0 - a Facebook social research symposium A half-day social research symposium organised by the London Knowledge Lab, University of London, UK Thursday 15th November 2007 This social research symposium will allow academics who are researching the 'Facebook' social networking site to meet and exchange ideas. Researchers are welcome from the fields of sociology, media, communication & cultural studies, information science, education, politics, psychology, geography and any other sphere of 'internet research'. PhD and post-doctoral researchers are especially welcome, as are researchers considering Facebook as a potential area of research. It is intended that there will be five or six research papers presented as well as plenty of time for discussion and face-to-face networking. Topics for discussion will include: * Empirical studies of Facebook users and Facebook uses; * Issues of ethics and access when researching Facebook; * Other methodological issues when researching Facebook; * The use of Facebook as a social research tool; * The future of Facebook research - emerging trends and practices. The symposium will be free of charge but spaces will be limited and allocated on an RSVP first-come-first-served basis. If you wish to attend then email Neil Selwyn (n.selwyn(a)ioe.ac.uk) to reserve a place by Friday 31st August 2007. If you wish to present a research paper then email an outline abstract of 500 words to Neil Selwyn (n.selwyn(a)ioe.ac.uk) by Tuesday 31st July 2007. Accepted presenters will be informed by Friday August 31st 2007. The symposium will take place between 13.00pm to 17.30 pm on Thursday 15th November 2007 in the London Knowledge Lab (located in the Bloomsbury/ Holburn area of central London).

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"listserve"
by Ellis Godard 30 May '07

30 May '07

I may have asked this before (I know I've at least raised the issue elsewhere, perhaps not here), but anyone how or when mailing lists became "listserves"? The etymological origin is probably ListServ (with MajorDomo, one of the leading mailing list software programs) and "list server", that beast which manages mailing lists. Was the adoption vague and gradual, or is there someone to whom blame (credit?) can be pinned? -eg

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Access in Cuba and North Korea
by Sarah Michele Ford 29 May '07

29 May '07

Hi all, Today in my Internet & Society class a student wondered about the amount and quality of Internet access in Cuba and North Korea. Anyone have any info or know of a good place to start looking? Thanks, Sarah *********************** Sarah Michele Ford Department of Sociology University of Massachusetts - Amherst ford(a)soc.umass.edu http://snowplow.org/sarah/

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Re: [Air-l] last.fm group
by Bruce Mason 29 May '07

29 May '07

On 28/05/07, Nancy Baym <nbaym(a)ku.edu> wrote: > > > > >For now though, I'm on a quest to scrobble lots of Queens of the Stone > Age. > > Which leads to the point that many people seem to game the system, > either playing lots of things they want to be seen as listening to > whether they're listening or not, or making sure scrobbling is off > when they listen to things that don't fit the image they want to > project. > > Nancy > Thanks for the reference. I did once check into the "top players" of particular groups and they seem to be playing those tracks an infeasible number of times. As you say, there's definitely an element of gaming the system going on. Relatedly, I wonder if we'll get a story of "so and so" sacked/disciplined for playing unsuitable music during working hours with their scrobbler record being used as evidence. I think your comment about groups being used as identity badges in social network sites might well be interesting from a folkloristic perspective. I'm used to thinking of groups being crucibles of culture but the relationship between identity, individual and the group seems quite complex in social network sites. For example the playful groups on Facebook ("When this group gets a 1000 members, Tony Blair will dance the Macarena") seem to thrive if they look good on an individual profile. Such groups might, actually, be thought of as artistic expression, as a sort of collaborative joke. The key to this appears to be embedding and badges. Using badges to show membership in groups as an aspect of identity is nothing new but it seems as though embedding has created a new method of doing this via social software and web services. Bruce

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Does anybody have an "Internet Marketing" degree?
by Grainne Kirwan 29 May '07

29 May '07

Not specifically 'Internet Research', but there is an MSc in Cyberpsychology (incorporating an Internet Research Methods module) at Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art, Design and Technology in Ireland. But its only being offered for the first time this September, so there are no graduates as yet. Further details, if anyone is interested, at http://www.iadt.ie/en/ProspectiveStudents/SchoolsCourses/SchoolofCreativeTe… or feel free to e-mail me with any informal queries Dr Grainne Kirwan "or "Internet Research" degree? Anywhere in the world? I was asked this question at an interview... I guess the HR person was not competent... there is no such thing... Anybody can prove me wrong?" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- IADT Disclaimer.This e-mail and any other items transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual to whom they are addressed. If you are not the intended recipient you must not use, disclose, distribute, copy, print or relay on this e-mail. If an addressing or transmission error has misdirected this e-mail, please notify the author by return email or inform Dun Laoghaire Institute of Art | Design | Technology's (IADT) Information Communication Technology Office on 01 2144770 or mailto:support@iadt.ie Any views expressed are those of the author and not necessarily those of IADT. IADT does not guarantee that this e-mail is free from viruses, worms or the like. Please undertake your own checks. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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Real Last Call for the Doctoral Colloquium
by Nancy Baym 29 May '07

29 May '07

I had a few requests for a few extra days and said yes, so if anyone else wants one more chance, I've extended the deadline for the doctoral colloquium until this Friday, June 1. Thanks! Nancy _______________________________________________________________________ The AoIR 8.0 Doctoral Colloquium offers Ph.D. students working in internet research or a related field a special forum on Wednesday, October 17, 2007 where they will have a chance to briefly present their dissertations-in-progress and discuss them at length with peers and established senior researchers. Interested students should prepare a 2 page summary of their research. This should provide a context for the research, describe the methods being used, the progress to date and expectations and hopes from the colloquium. Faculty mentors include: - Ronald Rice, Arthur N. Rupe Chair in the Social Effects of Mass Communication, University of California-Santa Barbara, United States. - Maria Bakardjieva, Associate Professor. Faculty of Communication and Culture, University of Calgary, Canada. - Mary Bryson, Associate Professor, Education & Counselling Psychology and Special Education, The University of British Columbia, Canada. - Robert Burnett, Professor and Chair, Media and Communication Studies, Karlstad University, Sweden. - Lori Kendall, Associate Professor, Graduate School of Library and Information Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, United States. We hope to announce additional mentors shortly. Please submit your 2 page application by Friday, JUNE 1 2007 to: Nancy Baym : nbaym [at] ku.edu Applicants will be notified of acceptance by 15 June 2007. Successful applicants will be asked to prepare an 8 page paper on their research and the issues they wish to discuss by 1 August 2007. For further details please visit the conference website at http://conferences.aoir.org/index.php?cf=6 or contact the organizer of the AoIR Doctoral Colloquium, Nancy Baym : nbaym [at] ku.edu The AoIR 8.0 Doctoral Colloquium is sponsored by Microsoft Research.

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Does anybody have an "Internet Marketing" degree? (Olga Kellen)
by Pamela Rosengren 29 May '07

29 May '07

Curtin University of Technology has a Bachelor's degree in Internet Studies, and people also take Internet Studies as a major or a minor field when studying media, librarianship, education design, marketing and so on. There is a Graduate Diploma in Internet Studies and a Masters, plus the option of a PhD. Curtin runs Open Universities Australia's bachelor's degree in Internet Studies too. With any of these, depending on your major stream, you could become a qualified internet marketer or a qulaified internet researcher (the latter is what I am aiming at). I have no information about whether people have graduated as internet marketers or as internet researchers, but the possibility of doing so certainly exists. Pamela Rosengren Graduate Student, Internet Studies, Curtin University of Technology

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US Postdoc advice
by [UTM] - Johann Chaulet 28 May '07

28 May '07

Hi there! I'm Johann Chaulet, a French PhD student in sociology, working on the relationship between trust and CMC. I live and study in Toulouse, in the south of France, where I've also been teaching for 3 years. I'm currently writing my report (which I'm supposed to give a first version of to my professor by the end of June) and, eventually, beginning to think of what I'm going to do next. That is partly why I'm writing this quick note to ask you folks advice about the best way to find a postdoctoral position in the US. I spent a little while in Ontario last year but some health issues made me fly my way back far too early so I'd love to give it another try and live a full "oversee experience". Maybe you'll be able to tell me a bit more about the various ways to build such a project or will even have heard of something I'd might be interested in. Thanks for helping. See you "around"! Johann

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