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Fwd: [Interpretationandmethods] Summer course in Political and Policy Ethnography
by Jeremy Hunsinger 23 Apr '07

23 Apr '07

Begin forwarded message: > From: Dvora Yanow <D.Yanow(a)fsw.vu.nl> > Date: April 23, 2007 6:40:16 AM EDT > To: "Interpretationandmethods (E-mail)" > <interpretationandmethods(a)listserv.cddc.vt.edu> > Subject: [Interpretationandmethods] Summer course in Political and > Policy Ethnography > Reply-To: interpretation and methods group > <interpretationandmethods(a)listserv.cddc.vt.edu> > > Colleagues: > > May I bring to your attention I course I am teaching this summer > and ask that you pass the notice along to anyone you think might be > interested? There are still a few spaces left. > > Course: Political and Policy Ethnography > > ECPR Summer School in Methods and Techniques > University of Ljubljana, Slovenia > Monday, 23 July to Saturday, 4 August 2007 > > Short Description: This advanced seminar in interpretive research > methods is intended for students who are embarking on a field > research project or finishing one up and who are thinking about, > starting to or working on writing up their field notes and/or > research "reports." Political and policy ethnographies include > traditional ethnographic or participant-observer studies, such as a > community or organizational study, but also "shadowing" a political > leader or policy-maker, formal interviewing (conversational > interviewing, not administering a survey questionnaire), and/or the > use of ethnographic methods to generate data which are then > analyzed using some other method (e.g., discourse analysis; > metaphor, category or other language-focused analysis; space > analysis; and so on). Course topics will include: writing as > method; questions of reflexivity and positionality; power and > politics in researcher roles; and the interpretive ontological and > epistemological presuppositions and philosophies underlying these > methods. The final course requirement is a draft of a conference- > type paper or thesis/dissertation chapter. > > Prerequisites: A basic course in interpretive (or "qualitative") > methods; some field research experience (i.e., observational, with > whatever degree of participation, including conversational > interviewing and/or document analysis as appropriate to the > research question). > Longer description follows below; additional information on the > course (a daily schedule plus readings) is available at the website > below, on the course page. > Registration and other details: http://www.essex.ac.uk/ecpr/events/ > summerschools/ljubljana/index.aspx > > Yours, > Dvora Yanow > > > > 3. Long outline > > Participant-observer ethnographic methods - central among the many > methods that fall under the umbrella of interpretive research > methods - have been "borrowed" from sociology and anthropology into > many fields in political science, including comparative > governmental studies, area studies, international relations, public > policy (domestic/state, regional, and local, international, EU, > etc.), public administration/local government studies, > organizational studies, and public law/legal studies. They are not > new to political science, however, having been employed since the > 1950s, if not earlier. They are useful in a wide range of settings > for research questions that seek to explore the meanings of > particular political practices, concepts or processes to > situational actors, often in order to illuminate a wider-ranging or > more theoretical issue of political concern. These might include > studying how policy-makers or legislators actually think about the > decisions they make and how they go about them; how workers shape > their work practices and their relationships to managers; how > organizational administrators implement national policies; and so on. > > The course is designed for students who are about to embark on a > field research project, are in the midst of conducting one, or have > just come out of the field and who are thinking about, starting to > or working on writing up their field notes and drafts of > dissertation chapters. Students might have conducted a traditional > ethnographic study or a participant-observer study - a community or > an organizational study, for example; the study may have involved > "shadowing" a political leader or policy-maker; it might have > included formal (expert, elite or other) interviews as well. (Note: > This means conversational interviewing - engaging people in talk - > not administering a survey questionnaire.) Students may also have > used ethnographic methods (observing, with whatever degree of > participation; talking to situational members) along with reading > topic-relevant documents to generate data which they are intending > to analyze using other methods (e.g., discourse analysis; metaphor, > category or other language-focused analysis; space analysis; and so > on). > > We will focus on several of the concepts and issues central to > current debates about political and policy ethnography. These > include: > * questions of reflexivity and positionality, especially as these > bear on the generation of data, and the trustworthiness of one's > truth claims; > * power and politics in the conduct of field research, especially > with respect to its relational character; > * writing as method, but also reading as method - looking at one's > truth claims and their evidentiary base, and the ways in which > these are presented from the perspective of a prospective reader, > whether situational member or colleague. > One lecture will be devoted to situating these methods in > interpretive ontological and epistemological presuppositions and > the philosophies they emerge from, including how these philosophies > engaged questions of knowledge and truth claims being debated at > the time of their development. Throughout the course, we will be > addressing what is perhaps the central question today for those > doing such work: in what ways is political and policy ethnography > similar to and different from participant-observer ethnographic > research as done in anthropology or sociology? > > Classes will be conducted as a seminar, with the exception of the > opening meeting and the lecture on 26 July. Students will be > expected to come to class prepared to discuss the readings and to > draw links between them and their own research designs and field > experiences. The final course requirement will be a draft of a > conference-type paper discussing issues emerging from the research, > a draft of a methods paper that might appear in a thesis/ > dissertation or conference panel, or some equivalent to be determined. > > Course readings: > 1. Dvora Yanow and Peregrine Schwartz-Shea, eds., Interpretation > and Method: Empirical Research Methods and the Interpretive Turn > (Armonk, NY: M E Sharpe, 2006; YSS in the reading list). > 2. Other journal articles, conference papers, and book chapters. > > > _______________________________________________ > Interpretationandmethods mailing list > Interpretationandmethods(a)listserv.cddc.vt.edu > http://listserv.cddc.vt.edu/mailman/listinfo/interpretationandmethods Jeremy Hunsinger Information Ethics Fellow, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (www.cipr.uwm.edu) Words are things; and a small drop of ink, falling like dew upon a thought, produces that which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think. --Byron

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Re: [Air-l] how to pin down web 2.0 | regulations issue
by Paul DiPerna 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

The longer it takes for DOPA (and state-level bills) to be passed.. which someday will probably happen in some form or another... the better it bodes for politicians/legislators (and staffers) to be educated on how social networking technologies, and more generally, how social websites work. Here is a recent update on where things stand on Capitol Hill: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9595_22-6176950.html At the state level, most bills introduced in state legislatures this year seek to directly punish the online predators rather than the website provider... CT Attorney General Richard Blumenthal has hyped publicly that "10 to 20 states are considering legislation", and then more recently "44 states", but I haven't seen evidence of these bill introductions on State Net, a comprehensive database for state legislatures and their activities. My understanding is that Blumenthal is the co-chair for a national task force on the subject, so the story is not being conveyed accurately.. There are more than 40+ states represented in Blumenthal's task force, but the body doesn't have any direct legislative influence. It is a blue ribbon commission with no formal law-making power. Connecticut did introduce a bill in committee in March. And there are several other states (GA, NC, IL, NY) that have introduced similar Connecticut-styled bills. As others have said, bill sponsors look to regulate websites with social networking technologies, requiring parental consent for minors to register and post a profile.. a couple bills would ban access to social network sites in elementary and secondary schools, as well as public libraries. Right now we hear a lot of public rhetoric by politicians and the attorneys general, and there is coercion by way of legislative *threat* ... but it will probably be a while before a majority of states seriously consider adopting major regulations for sites with social networking capabilities. And preemptive actions taken by MySpace, Facebook, and others, may fend off harsh regulations in the future. - Paul ------------- Paul DiPerna Blau Exchange http://www.blauexchange.org online ID: http://claimid.com/pdiperna

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Methodological research around blogs
by sop01kj＠gold.ac.uk 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Hi everyone We are researchers at Goldsmiths and associated with INCITE (www.studioincite.com) We're interested in how blogs are being used for social research and have found blogs such as http://becomingananthropologist.blogspot.com/ but very little explicit discussion about blogs as a methodological tool. One exception is Kris Cohens work and his article in Media, Culture and Society - http://www.photosleavehome.blogspot.com/ - and Adam Reeds work - http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/anthropology/staffprofiles/reed.htm Does anyone have any recommendations or references which might be helpful in trying to find out if there is any methodological research around blogs or photoblogs as ways of collecting data from participants or acting as fieldwork/visual diaries? And are there any other research groups interested in this? Many thanks Kat Jungickel - PhD Student, Sociology Dept Vicky Skiftou - Academic researcher, Sociology Dept v.skiftou(a)gold.ac.uk, 0207 9197484

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web 2.0 etymology
by Margie Borschke 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Bounced... It seems worth mentioning that "Web 2.0" can be see as spinoff of Esther Dyson's cleverly named technology missives from the 90s, Release 1.0, 2.0 etc. (significantly these titles were later bought by O'Reilly-see below). I haven't read these since the time but if my memory serves me right (and sometimes it doesn't) I believe there is little in the current definition of web 2.0 that Dyson didn't envisage even in her writings about communities circa the mid nineties. Difference is we couldn't really make them happen then. Today, the tools to make it happen are better and easier to use, access is faster and more people are there to take part. So while I agree that it's not an entirely new practice, I do think that some of those early web dreams are now being realised. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Esther_Dyson "Dyson and her company EDventure specialize in analyzing the impact of emerging technologies and markets on economies and societies. She created the following publications on technology: * Release 1.0, her monthly technology-industry newsletter, published by EDventure Holdings. Until 2006, Dyson wrote several issues herself and edits the others. When she left CNET, the newsletter was picked up by O'Reilly Media, which appointed Jimmy Guterman to edit it and and renamed the newsletter Release 2.0, which is also... * Release 2.0, her 1997 book on how the Internet affected individuals' lives. Its full title is Release 2.0: A design for living in the digital age. The revision Release 2.1 was published in 1998. * Release 3.0, her bimonthly column for the New York Times, distributed via its syndicate and reprinted in Release 1.0. * Release 4.0, her weblog. On March 4, 2005, this weblog moved to Dyson's Flickr account ( http://www.flickr.com/photos/edyson/ )."

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Accuracy and Wikipedia
by James Whyte 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Sometime back at link was posted for a study on the accuracy/authority of Wikipedia. I have searched the archives and cannot find it. If anyone can help me I would appreciate it. James --------------------------------- Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell? Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.

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Re: [Air-l] how to pin down web 2.0
by Lane DeNicola 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Alexis: not MY seven points--Tim O'Reilly's! I've rarely used the term myself without specifically meaning his conceptualization (recent hyperbole notwithstanding). I agree, too, that those seven points are "very, very specifically business oriented," though I may perceive the workings behind that a bit differently (I'm a "he," by the way). As a programmer in the late '90s, I came to love "the animal books" of O'Reilly & Associates, technical publications that focused largely on open source technologies (Jeff Friedl's "Mastering Regular Expressions," now in its third edition, is to this day one of the best technical volumes I've ever read). Their stripped down layout, engaging prose, and sharp handling of typically dry topics was a perfect complement to the DIY/toolset mentality of the FOSS community. I perceive the "corporate turn" (at O'Reilly Media and elsewhere) as a long-term strategy within the FOSS community to dispel the belief that open source was/is not appropriate to a serious commercial environment. I still see them struggling with that perception today (thus the business orientation). I'd agree with Hugemusic's explanation, that "the *term* Web 2.0 was created as a branding strategy for corporations to exploit the *phenomenon* of Web 2.0." Despite all the talk (including Tim O'Reilly's) about business models etc., I also see the most analytically relevant aspect of the Web 2.0 phenomenon on an axis orthogonal to the commercial/non-profit dichotomy. In an interview in last week's Wired: http://www.wired.com/techbiz/people/news/2007/04/timoreilly_0413?currentPag… Tim O'Reilly states that "One of the big changes at the heart of web 2.0 is the shift from the creation of software artifacts, which is what the PC revolution was about, to the creation of software services." This seems to me to support Christian's suggestion that "internet research needs to take a look at the political economy of web 2.0," specifically in terms of the implied shift from an industry that's seen as "manufacturing goods" (software) to one that "provides services" (communities, hosted apps, etc.). "Resources" (in particular bandwidth) is perhaps yet another matter, but whether we're talking a Google-sized commercial enterprise or a state-subsidized community portal, it's that shift from goods to services that I think is implicit in the Web 2.0 moniker (and is an especially telling part of O'Reilly's definition). -- Lane DeNicola Doctoral Candidate | Dept. of Science & Technology Studies Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute http://www.nacresky.com/lad Tried the Science Studies Search Engine? <http://www.nacresky.com/ssse>

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Re: [Air-l] Methodological research around blogs
by Adolfo Estalella 22 Apr '07

22 Apr '07

Hi Kat, I some articles that treat the issue of using a blog as part of the research are: Takhteyev, Y., & Hall, J. (2005, 14-15 mayo). Blogging Together: Digital Expression in a Real-Life Community. Paper presented at the Social Software in the Academy Workshop, University of Southern California Annenberg Center. Blogging Thoughts (pdf) Torill Mortensen and Jill Walker: "Blogging thoughts: personal publication as an online research tool," in: Researching ICTs in Context, ed. Andrew Morrison, InterMedia Report, 3/2002, Oslo 2002 http://www.intermedia.uio.no/konferanser/skikt-02/docs/Researching_ICTs_in_… Efimova, L. (2004, 2-3 de abril). Discovering the iceberg of knowledge work: A weblog case. Paper presented at the Fifth European Conference on Organizational Knowledge, Learning and Capabilities (OKLC04), Innsbruck (Austria). https://doc.telin.nl/dscgi/ds.py/Get/File-34786 I myself am using a blog as part of a ethnography of blogs and bloggers. While some researchers have approach the blog as a field diary (a few researchers and pH D. students have tried that in Spain) I think that it is not possible for different issues, the main one the privacy and respect to your informants. In my research design I pointed to three different issues arguing in favour of using a blog as part of my fieldwork: (i) for orienting the research, learning the same practices of bloggers, (ii) for gaining credibility and building rapport among bloggers, and (iii) as a way for observing the ethics obligations of the research, declaring my presence in the field. After 12 months I can say that not only the three objectives have been accomplished but my blog have been an invaluable artefact for establishing and maintaining relationships in the field. However, it is not easy: it is highly time consuming (as many other activities in ethnography) and you, as a researcher, are highly exposed. People are able to question you and to ask for explanation in any moment, indeed, I have been involve in a few hot debates that have been initiated by other bloggers and readers. The position of the ethnographer can be hotly contested, I have been questioned and I have been force to give explanations (a kind of explanations that I would have never been force to give if I had not written a blog). In that way, the blog is a risky artefact in the fieldwork, but I am complete convinced that in my research I would have not been to get access to some kind of people and I had hardly get aware of certain kind of practices of blogger if I had not written a blog. If you want to discuss it in large you can write to my email. Regards adolfo Message: 7 > Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2007 12:51:21 +0100 (BST) > From: sop01kj(a)gold.ac.uk > Subject: [Air-l] Methodological research around blogs > To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > Message-ID: > <58627.83.146.14.199.1177156281.squirrel(a)secure2.gold.ac.uk> > Content-Type: text/plain;charset=iso-8859-1 > > Hi everyone > > We are researchers at Goldsmiths and associated with INCITE > (www.studioincite.com) We're interested in how blogs are being used for > social research and have found blogs such as > http://becomingananthropologist.blogspot.com/ but very little explicit > discussion about blogs as a methodological tool. One exception is Kris > Cohen?s work and his article in Media, Culture and Society - > http://www.photosleavehome.blogspot.com/ - and Adam Reed?s work - > http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/anthropology/staffprofiles/reed.htm > > Does anyone have any recommendations or references which might be helpful > in trying to find out if there is any methodological research around blogs > or photoblogs as ways of collecting data from participants or acting as > fieldwork/visual diaries? And are there any other research groups > interested in this? > > Many thanks > Kat Jungickel - PhD Student, Sociology Dept > Vicky Skiftou - Academic researcher, Sociology Dept > v.skiftou(a)gold.ac.uk, 0207 9197484 > > -- Adolfo Estalella (http://www.estalella.es) http://estalella.wordress.com http://somia.wordpress.com Ph D. Knowledge Society Program Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (http://www.uoc.edu) Phone: 00 34 936 735 077 Fax: 0034 936 641 970 Mail: jestalellaf(a)uoc.edu / adolfoestalella(a)gmail.com Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3) Parc Mediterrani de la Tecnologia Av. Canal Olímpic s/n, Edifici B3 08860 Castelldefels (Barcelona) Spain

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CFP> Memory practices in computer-mediated communities: a research methods workshop
by Howard Rosenbaum 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

***Apologies for cross-posting*** Call for papers: 3rd International Conference on Communities and Technologies\ June 28-30, 2007, Michigan State University Workshop: Memory practices in computer-mediated communities: a research methods workshop Full description at: https://ebusiness.tc.msu.edu/cct2007/page4j.html Community depends on memory; computer mediated community (CMC) depends on digital memory. Human memory is limited, corporeally bound, and subject to forgetting. As a consequence, communities develop other means of maintaining memory. Bowker (2005) argues that memory practices are infrastructure tools used to preserve memory in scientific communities. Information technologies are examples of memory practices that support community. In this workshop, we seek to explore the concept of memory practices in the study of community and broaden it beyond the scientific community to include CMC: communities of practice, interest communities, professional communities. We invite researchers of CMC to submit 5 page position papers: ~ Describing the communities they are studying ~ The memory practices on which they are focusing, and ~ The methods they are employing to study these practices. We welcome submissions in three broad areas. Theme One: Historical work on memory practices, technology and communities: Theme Two: Memory practices in communities of practice: Theme three: Memory practices in interest communities – gamers, shoppers, serious leisure and other interest groups – driven by social infrastructures. To participate send an abstract of 500 words or less to hrosenba(a)indiana.edu by May 4. Notification of acceptance will be sent by May 18. Questions or comments: Elisabeth Davenport, School of Computing, Napier University, Edinburgh EH10 5DT (e.davenport(a)napier.ac.uk) Howard Rosenbaum, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN47405 (hrosenba(a)indiana.edu) Conference web site: https://ebusiness.tc.msu.edu/cct2007/index.html

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how to pin down web 2.0
by Barry Wellman 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

One brute force approach which wouldn't take long is to a successive Google search on "1990" and "web 2.0"; "1991" and "web 2.0" etc. You'll get some noise and some nuggests, I reckon. Barry Wellman _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _____________________________________________________________________

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arranged marriages 21st century
by Barry Wellman 20 Apr '07

20 Apr '07

1. It's time for a rewrite of _A Suitable Boy_ taking matrimonial sites into account. 2. A former Muslim Indian-Canadian student of mine had an arranged marriage to a co-ethnic IT guy, but she turned down 2 possibles beforehand. She's now writing a story with me called "How I Arranged My Arranged Marriage" (title copyright by Uzma and me). Barry Wellman _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology NetLab Director Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman for fun: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _____________________________________________________________________

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