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Leonardo Electronic Almanac - CFP: Dispersive Anatomies Special (final call!)
by Charles Baldwin 17 May '07

17 May '07

**REPOST: SUBMISSION DEADLINE 5/31 (see below)** **Apologies for cross-posting. Please distribute widely.** *Dispersive Anatomies* http://leoalmanac.org/cfp/calls.asp#dispersive ** *Guest Editors:* Sandy Baldwin, Alan Sondheim and Mez Breeze leadispersive(a)astn.net ** *Editorial Guidelines:* http://leoalmanac.org/cfp/submit/index.asp *Discussion Group: *leadispersive-subscribe(a)googlegroups.com <leadispersive-unsubscribe(a)googlegroups.com> *Deadline: *31 May 2007 *Call for papers - LEA Dispersive Anatomies* *------------------------------------------------------------------- *The Leonardo Electronic Almanac (ISSN No: 1071-4391) is inviting papers and artworks that address dispersion - dispersion of bodies, objects, landscapes, networks, virtual and real worlds. A fundamental shift in the way we view the world is underway: the abandonment of discrete objects, and objecthood itself. The world is now plural, and the distinction between real and virtual is becoming increasingly blurred, with troubling consequences within the geopolitical register. This shift is related to a cultural change that emphasizes digital deconstruction over analog construction: a photograph for example can be accessed and transformed, pixel by pixel, cities can be taken apart by gerrymandering or eminent domain, and our social networks are replete with names and images that problematize friendship, sexuality, and culture itself. One issue that emerges here: Are we networking or are we networked? Are we networks ourselves? LEA is interested in texts and works that deal with this fundamental shift in new and illuminating ways. Specifically, anything from essays through multimedia through networks themselves may be considered. We're particularly interested in submissions that deal with the incoherency of the world, and how to address it. *Key topics of interest --------------------------------- *Topics of interest might include (but are not limited to): - Networked warfare in real and virtual worlds. - The wounded/altered body in real and virtual worlds. - Transgressive sexualities across borders, sexualities among body-parts, dismemberments and groups, both real and virtual. - Critical texts on the transformation of classical narrative - from its emphasis on an omniscient narrator and coherent plots/characters, to literatures of incoherency, dispersed narrations, and the jump-cut exigencies of everyday life. - Deleuze/Guattari, TAZ, and other phenomena at the border of networking. - Internet visions and their abandonment or fulfillment. - The haunting of the world by ghosts, virtual beings, dreams and nightmares that never resolve. - The geopolitical collapse of geopolitics. - Military empires as scattershot entrepreneurial corporations. Dispersion has two vectors: the breakup or breakdown of coherent objects; and the subsequent attempt to corral, curtail, or recuperate from this breakdown. How do we deal with networks that are constantly coalescing and disappearing? Where are we in the midst of this? In an era of pre-emptive culture, is guerilla warfare to be accompanied by guerilla culture as the order of the day? *Want to be kept informed?* *------------------------------------------* For the latest news, updates and discussions, join the LEA Dispersive Anatomies Mailing List. Email: leadispersive-subscribe(a)googlegroups.com <leadispersive-subscribe(a)googlegroups.com+> ** *Publishing Opportunities ---------------------------------------* ** As part of this special, LEA is looking to publish: - Critical Essays - Artist Statement/works in the LEA Gallery - Bibliographies (a peer reviewed bibliography with key texts/references in Dispersive Anatomies) - Academic Curriculum (LEA encourages academics conducting course programmes in this area to contact us) LEA encourages international artists / academics / researchers / students / practitioners / theorists to submit their proposals for consideration. We particularly encourage authors outside North America and Europe to submit essays / artists statements. Proposals should include: - A brief description of proposed text (200-300 words) - A brief author biography - Any related URLs - Contact details In the subject heading of the email message, please use *Name of Artist/Project Title: LEA Dispersive Anatomies Special - Date Submitted.* Please cut and paste all text into body of email (without attachments). Editorial Guidelines: http://leoalmanac.org/cfp/submit/index.asp Deadline for proposals: May 31, 2007 Please send proposals or queries to: Sandy Baldwin, Alan Sondheim, Mez Breeze leadispersive(a)astn.net and Nisar Keshvani LEA Editor-in-Chief lea(a)mitpress.mit.edu ____________________

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Re: [Air-l] ICA
by qCentral/Mary L. Gray 16 May '07

16 May '07

that would be great! i'm there friday-monday morning (i can't recall what dates correspond to those days). mg ________________________ Mary L. Gray, Ph.D. Assistant Professor Department of Communication and Culture Affiliate Faculty Gender Studies Department and American Studies Program Indiana University Mottier Hall-Ashton Center 1790 East 10th St. Bloomington, IN 47405-9700 ph. 812/855.4379 fx. 812/855.6014 email: mLg(a)indiana.edu http://www.indiana.edu/~qcentral On May 16, 2007, at 4:14 PM, air-l-request(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: > Message: 9 > Date: Wed, 16 May 2007 10:02:40 -0400 > From: Rhiannon Bury <buryrc(a)rogers.com> > Subject: [Air-l] ICA > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Message-ID: <464B0F00.4070001(a)rogers.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed > > Hi everyone > > Any folks presenting at/attending ICAand interested in trying to > organize an AOIR meet up? > > Rhiannon > > Rhiannon Bury > Women's Studies > University of Waterloo > rbury(a)uwaterloo.ca

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Profile of a Spanish Second Life resident
by Fernando Garrido 16 May '07

16 May '07

Hi folks, We've just finished a study about the Profile of spanish second life resident. You know... i think this can be an interesting study for some folks, Best, Fernando Garrido ----------------------- Profile of a Spanish Second Life resident <http://www.kzero.co.uk/blog/?p=578> Profile of a Spanish Second Life resident: Victor Gil from the Cocktail Analysis <http://www.tcanalysis.com>(a Spanish MR house) has kindly given me the findings from a recent market research exercise they carried out. The findings support the ‘Early Adopter’ profile of a typical user across any country. Here are the main findings: *48% of Second Life users in Spain access the virtual world on a daily basis* The cocktail analysis has presented today the results of the first study ever conducted on the visibility and profile of Spanish Second Life users. Second Life (SL) is a virtual world platform that’s already surpassed 6 million residents, 3% of whom are Spanish, according to Linden Labs. The profile of the Second Life user from Spain is a male (65%), avg. 33 years old, with a college degree (54%), and employed (69%) . It’s a user profile markedly different -mostly because of its older age- to the average users of both videogames and other virtual worlds. The study: “Knowledge, valuation and experience of Spanish users in Second Life. Opportunities for Spanish brands” focuses on assessing the current position of this virtual world in Spain through 2 surveys, one directed towards web users and the other towards Spanish users in the largest Spanish community in the virtual world: secondlifespain.com (http://www.secondlifespain.com) The results of the survey manifest a consolidation in the access habits of a considerable number of Spanish SL residents. Almost half of the respondents access Second Life on a daily basis. One out of four (20%) remain connected for more than three hours. Once connected the majority of residents (68%) pays dedicated attention to the experience, which can be now defined as truly “immersive.” Other results from the study: 62% Of the Spanish residents heard of Second Life through mass media. The majority (65%) acknowledges they initially entered SL out of curiosity. Only 22% of respondents created accounts with the explicit intention of meeting other people. Even though 76% of user-residents are satisfied with the experience so far, the volume of the most enthusiastic users –those for whom SL has exceeded their expectations- is very similar to the volume of disappointed users: 22% and 24% respectively. The great majority of users (73%) spend most of their time wondering and exploring different locations of the virtual world. Interaction with other residents is the other main activity for approximately half (55%) of users. The personalization of the avatar -3D representation of the user- is the third activity to which users devote the most time. The study confirms the importance of the social dimension in SL. Interaction with other users is not only one of the most extended practices, but also one of the most demanded when users are questioned about the kind of future evolution they would like to see the virtual world take. Furthermore the study shows that the utilization of Second Life as a space for social interaction becomes more and more important as the user’s “second life” consolidates. Additionally the study spans consumer behavior analysis and the relationship of the residents with brands and advertising in the virtual world. More than half of the respondents (58%) have Linden Dollars, the official currency of Second Life, used for commercial transaction in the platform. However, only 30% have purchased the currency using real money. The great majority have obtained the Linden Dollars through methods internal to the system. Most of the users´ expenses are devoted to improving the appearance of their avatars (62%) through the purchase of clothes, physical attributes, or animations and movements. According to Felipe Romero partner of The Cocktail Analysis and responsible for the study “Beyond the media noise and the expectations created around the Second Life phenomenon our objective was to try to understand what Second Life means and what it represents in the lives of its users. Many Spanish companies are considering entering the platform in order to take advantage of some of the commercial and marketing opportunities that this new environment theoretically offers. We’ve tried to assess whether this opportunities are real at the present time in terms of Spanish consumers and always from the perspective of second Life as an environment with a limited audience and whose future direction has yet to take concrete from.” In order to deepen in the possibilities offered by Second Life to Spanish brands the study has carried out an extensive survey of user’s attitudes about the increasing presence of commercial brands in the platform, as well as the results in terms of exposure that the companies already present are harvesting. The data shows, on one hand, a latent rejection by users of any brand initiatives that don’t contribute with some sort of added value for the residents. On the other hand the study found a high receptivity among residents for brand initiatives based on exchange. For example 68% of respondents were willing to watch advertising from the brands in second Life in exchange for some sort of incentive payment “in kind” as a reciprocal consideration. When asked to explicitly state what types of incentives they would value the most the principal demand was for “entertainment and cultural contents” (theaters, concerts, shows…) Since many of the large Spanish companies that already have a presence in second Life –or are considering one- are searching for data on its impact beyond SL residents, the study has also explored Second Life’s visibility among Spanish Internet Users. At the time of the study 40% of Spanish Internet users had heard of Second Life, however less than half (40%) acknowledged understanding “very well, or well enough” what the virtual world was about. METHODOLOGY The study was comprised of two online surveys: Online survey on Internet Users. Individuals of both sexes, between 18 and 55 years old, representative of Internet Users. Sample size: 1170 individuals. Fieldwork: February 26th and 28th, 2007. Online survey of Second Life residents from Spain. Online survey among SecondLifeSpain.com, the largest Spanish community in Second Life users. Sample size: 651 individuals. Fieldwork: March 28th and April 2nd, 2007. ABOUT THE COCKTAIL ANALYSIS The Cocktail analysis is market research and strategy consulting agency specialized in consumer, communications and new technology trends. For more information contact Felipe Romero / Víctor Gil +34 91 567 06 05 info(a)tcanalysis.com http://www.tcanalysis.com Second Life Offices: http://slurl.com/secondlife/novatierra/81/26/61/ or the coordinates: Novatierra 81/26/61.

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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 15 May '07

15 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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