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Facebook and Friending
by 'Gail Taylor 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

Barry Wellman wrote: >One problem with almost all social software is that it makes >two false assumptions: (a) It assumes that relationships are >dichotomous: Friend/Non-Friend.(b) It assumes that friends >all belong to the same group. For myself, the problem is not the software, per se, but rather the processes that go into building, maintaining, and sustained use of groupware software products. Groupware software products are developed by individuals who complete work tasks on their own or as members of groups (small, medium, large). These individuals perform tasks in environments where there are overlapping technical and social systems. Components of technical systems are are also produced in environments with overlapping interactions between technical and social systems. Personal values shape and define processes and products in both of these systems. Groupware software product users also complete tasks in environments where there are overlapping interactions between technical and social systems. The Facebook protests call attention to interpersonal conflicts that are direct outcomes of these overlapping systems. Facebook is a business venture, and users are consumers of the product. My understandings of this issue are grounded in the socio-technical perspective of personal interactions in organizational settings. The socio-technical perspective is grounded in theories and principles that have emerged in disciplines such as industrial engineering, industrial psychology, industrial relations, and computer science. Historical foundations are tightly linked to the work of Taylor (1911; scientific management), Roethlisberger and Dickson (1939; Hawthorne studies), and Blau (1955; social service agency field accounts). Understandings of the Facebook protests are also grounded in the socio-technical systems theory (STS) which emerged from work conducted by researchers at the Tavistock Institute in London (Trist and Banforth)in the 1950s and 1960s. Contemporary understandings of issues raised in postings related to the Facebook incident can also be found in the change management literature t! hat has been written about the impact of digital communication technologies on personal interactions (Cooper,1994; Kling and Lamb (1999), and Mumford (2000). Danah Boyd wrote in a previous posting that bits of data are not relative to this discussion with regard to being carriers of information related to privacy issues. Bits of data are pieces-and-parts of a person's identity, in the context of this discussion. Bits of data are compiled to create representations of a person's identity. Developers of the software make decisions relating to which compilations of data will be exposed or hidden from view. Developers also decide how much control the user will have over these same processes. Actions are driven by personal values. These values were detectable in the letter of apology and explanation that Zuckerberg wrote to users of the Facebook software, that was routed in another message over the weekend by someone else who is also participating in this conversation. My apologies for not remembering the name of the person who routed the posting. /Gail ***************************** Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant "We can't just have mainstream behavior on television in a free society. We have to make sure we see the whole panorama of human behavior." -- Jerry Springer

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Open access publishing (was a modest proposal)
by Michele White 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

Do you think that this proposed NSF requirement would change publication practices and academic expectations in humanities engagements with Internet studies and in places outside the United States? > I suspect that the move to open access journals could largely be > completed in a single stroke: the requirement by NSF that grantees > publish in open access journals. m.

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a modest proposal
by Charles Ess 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

Dear AoIR-ists, As a gentle reminder: the list should be used for topics of general interest - comments and queries directed primarily to / at individuals should be sent and responded to privately. Many thanks, - charles ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies <http://www.drury.edu/gp21> Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Information Ethics Fellow, 2006-07, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee Co-chair, CATaC conferences <www.catacconference.org> Vice-President, Association of Internet Researchers <www.aoir.org> Professor II, Globalization and Applied Ethics Programmes <http://www.anvendtetikk.ntnu.no/pres/bridgingcultures.php> Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23

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Re: [Air-l] Open access publishing (was a modest proposal)
by Dr. W. Reid Cornwell 11 Sep '06

11 Sep '06

Here is a link to Inside Higher Education Rallying Behind Open Access http://insidehighered.com/news/2006/07/28/provosts ________________________________ Dr. W. Reid Cornwell The Center For Internet Research P.O. Box 6369 Breckenridge, CO 720.212.0719 (phone) 970.485.5109 (mobile) wrc(a)tcfir.org http://tcfir.org

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where did "open source" come from?
by Barry Wellman 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Probably all of us on these lists are familiar with "open source" as a term applied to software. I was surprised recently at a conference (in Washington DC, of course) to learn that the CIA manages an "open source" section -- using the term in a much different way to refer to keeping an eye on publicly-available information (newspapers, TV, etc.). Wikipedia suggests that the intelligence world even has prior use -- dating back at least to a 1992 conference in Washington. By contrast, "The "open source" label came out of a strategy session[3] held at Palo Alto in reaction to Netscape's January 1998 announcement of a source code release for Navigator." Followed by Tim O'Reilly's "Open Source Summit" in April 1998. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_source#History A friend thinks that the term "open source" may predate 1992, and was originally used in the business world. Similar to the CIA, it referred to making use of publicly available business intelligence. Fascinating how the same term could mean such different things in the computer developer and the intelligence world. Barry _____________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman at chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 You're invited to visit & contribute to the new version of "Updating Cybertimes: It's Time to Bring Our Culture into Cyberspace" http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php _____________________________________________________________________

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Open access publishing (was a modest proposal)
by Alex Halavais 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

I believe Charles was referring to individually-directed comments rather than comments of substance. That said, I know that while I have a continuing interest in the evolution of scholarly publishing, I didn't understand Rasputin's initial post. I assumed it didn't refer to AIR: Like many social science conferences, AIR doesn't publish proceedings, but we do provide the opportunity for authors to distribute their conference papers through our website. As for the field more generally: there does seem to be some irony that many of our top journals remain "closed." It would be wrong to say that they don't publish electronically: I can't think of one that does not provide internet access to their articles. However, I think the social sciences have been slower to embrace open access than some of the sciences (particularly math and physics), and a bit faster to embrace open publishing than many of the humanities. That's a broad--probably overbroad--generalization, and I can think of a number of interesting humanities and arts-based open access publishing experiments dating to the early popularity of the net. But it is vexing that some of our top journals remain behind a pay wall. Of course, there are a number of open access journals in our field, including JCMC, which I think continues to have a very solid reputation, especially for so young a journal. And, while some see it as a bit "too" open, First Monday continues to be an interesting source of open access material. There are several others as well. And I should note that I think one of the most promising ways of encouraging the continuation of open access is to--a la Nike--"Just do it!" I think it is imperative that as scholars we self-archive our papers. I think Barry Wellman serves as a great model for this, and I think a fairly large number of AIR members also provide versions of their work online. Unfortunately, I think that a lot of scholars continue to feel that on-paper publication carries more weight (so to speak) than internet publications. Part of this, no doubt, has to do with potential for confusion. On the web, nobody knows if your dog is peer reviewed. The web is replete with bad scholarship, and since most websurfers, I suspect, are not well equipped to differentiate between, say, a peer reviewed journal like JCMC and a site set up by a quack or an interested corporation to look like it is an academic site. This makes some scholars shy away in favor of more established, traditional publication outlets. I suspect that the move to open access journals could largely be completed in a single stroke: the requirement by NSF that grantees publish in open access journals. - Alex -- // // This email is // [X] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais // Social Architect // http://alex.halavais.net //

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OA
by Dr. W. Reid Cornwell 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

This is the gateway to Peter's work in Open Access http://www.earlham.edu/~peters/hometoc.htm ________________________________ Dr. W. Reid Cornwell The Center For Internet Research P.O. Box 6369 Breckenridge, CO 720.212.0719 (phone) 970.485.5109 (mobile) wrc(a)tcfir.org http://tcfir.org

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interactive browsing
by Maciej Kos 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Hello Everybody, I am looking for some data on interactive browsing regarding sites like YouTube. How much traffic (or page views) is generated by interactive browsing vs. searching vs. referring links? What is the ratio? Could you recommend any freely available publications/data (I am a poor student :))? If not on this topic, then perhaps some recent materials on interactive browsing in general. As I am very new to Internet studies, I don't really know where to start. Thanks a lot. M. Kos _____________________________________________________________________ I am looking for an academic mentor. Would you be willing to help me?

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Re: [Air-l] ableism
by Kathy Mancuso 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Hi all, I have not been responding to the debate on ableism largely because I am currently unwell and have limited computer access. I will endeavor to compose a more thought through reaction when I have time. However, I would like to apologize for referring to Dr Cornwell as Mr Cornwell. I had not been made aware that he had a PhD, and on this point I am genuinely sorry for my own misinformation. On the other hand, we were discussing Dr Goddard's dissertation in that very post, thus I was assured that he did indeed have a PhD. By using polite language and honorifics, I was attempting to couch this in a friendly manner so it would not be taken as a flame, but rather as a genuine request to keep AoIR-L a safe space for everyone, and to allow us to better continue in our work of "unpacking the knapsack" of privilege in online spaces. I'm sorry that my politeness has been incorrectly interpreted, and I will attempt to be more polite next time. I would also like to make it clear that I did not say that any individual on this list was an ableist. When I said willful spin, I was referring to the fact that the "blindness" referred to seemed to be a kind of "willful ignorance," as I had mentioned in the previous sentence, and I thought that people would notice that the repetition of the word was referring back to my previous usage of the term. kathy -- . . . connection in an isolating age . . . Katherine Mancuso, graduate student, Emory University Web 2.0 research, life, and meta: http://museumfreak.livejournal.com http://del.icio.us/museumfreak "Whenever anyone says 'You are,' they mean 'I want you to be.'" --Anais Nin

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Fwd: [school-discuss] Self Organising Systems for mass education
by Jeremy Hunsinger 10 Sep '06

10 Sep '06

Here's an interesting set of ideas that might go against some of my assumptions in regard to the OLPC project from MIT. However, I am not so sure about the results just yet. Begin forwarded message: > From: Knut Yrvin <knuty(a)skolelinux.no> > Date: September 10, 2006 3:45:56 AM EDT > To: schoolforge-discuss(a)schoolforge.net > Subject: [school-discuss] Self Organising Systems for mass education > Reply-To: schoolforge-discuss(a)schoolforge.net > > By Sugata Mitra, Dean of Research at The NIIT Institute and Chief > Scientist at NIIT Limited > > * An extract: > > The “Hole in the wall” experiments > > Groups of children can learn to use computers on their own, > irrespective > of who or where they are. > > Groups of children, given access to shared, publicly accessible > computers in playgrounds and other public areas, will teach themselves > to use the technology on their own. > > The original “hole in the wall”, January 1999, Kalkaji, New Delhi, > India > > We found this through a set of experiments conducted from 1999 onwards > and often referred to as the “Hole-in-the-wall” experiments. > > We found that children given unsupervised access to computers in > public > or play areas would become: > > 1. Computer literate – in their own way, with their own > vocabulary, but highly effective nevertheless. > 2. Better at math and English – I don’t know why, maybe > because they learn to analyze and solve problems in groups. > 3. More social and cooperative – because they learn > that knowledge, unlike material objects, grows with sharing. > 4. More interested in school – if the computer is near > or in the school premises. > 5. Less likely to drop out of school – because they > want their computer. > 6. Less interested in petty crime – mostly because all > their free time is spent at the computer. > 7. Generate local goodwill – parents like the idea that > the child is learning something and not creating trouble at > home. > > It took us five years of rigorous measurements across the Indian > subcontinent to verify these results amongst 40,000 of the world’s > poorest children. Almost half of them, girls. > > The data based outcomes showed: > > * Acquisition of functional computer literacy > * Improvement in academic performance > * Increase in confidence and self-esteem > * Increased collaborative behavior > > Apart from data-based findings, there is consistent anecdotal evidence > of large-scale impact on school enrollment, retention, concentration, > attention span and problem-solving ability. > > To keep computers working in, mostly, outdoor environments, we had to > design several pieces of hardware and software. In five years a design > emerged that is reliable and low on maintenance. The design is > resistant to vandalism and undesirable adult access. Interestingly, > both vandalism and adult access is automatically low in public places > where children are present. We were also able to design software to > remotely monitor all activity at these “playground” computers. > > We found much more effective use of the computers already owned by > schools—200 children can become computer literate using one playground > computer—making it an effective and affordable method. > > Without adult intervention or supervision, 40,000 village children > experimented with computers and software to acquire an enduring > understanding of the information age. > > The news article: > > http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/5865 > > The scientific articles: > > http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/docs/Paper06.pdf > http://www.hole-in-the-wall.com/Publications.html > > Best regards > > Knut Yrvin jeremy hunsinger Assistant Professor Pratt Institute www.cddc.vt.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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