- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Message for IR7.0 Presenters
by Fay Sudweeks 15 Jul '06

15 Jul '06

Apologies for cluttering the AoIR list but I need to get the following message to all IR7.0 presenters. When I send messages from the conference system I get about 80 email addresses bouncing. PROGRAM INSERT Please ensure that you have completed the "Program Insert" field on the conference system for your abstract, as this is the text that will appear in the conference program. All details in the conference program will be generated from the submission database and we urge you to check to make sure they are correct so as to avoid embarrassment. PAPERS WITHOUT A 'PROGRAM INSERT' WILL BE LISTED WITHOUT ANY ABSTRACT AT ALL. To add to the program insert field: 1. Log in to the "submission" page. 2. Click on your paper title, and you'll get a page beginning with "A. Document Metadata". Go down the page to "4A. Program Insert". Add your program insert then click "Preview and Continue", and if correct, then click "Submit". SUBMITTING FULL PAPERS Full papers for the conference archive are due on 31 July. Please submit in PDF format to: aoir_submit(a)it.murdoch.edu.au There is no word limit on full papers. Use simple formatting, with sans serif font and in-text referencing. If you are unable to submit in PDF, then use either DOC or RTF format. CHECK YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS Could you check that your email address on the conference system is correct. Thanks, and please don't hesitate to contact me if you need more information. Fay ----- Dr Fay Sudweeks School of Information Technology Murdoch University Murdoch WA 6150 Australia Tel: (08) 9360 2364 Fax: (08) 9360 2941 Web: www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks Co-Chair CATaC conferences: www.catacconference.org Program Chair, IR7.0 Conference: http://conferences.aoir.org

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Re: [Air-l] air-l Digest, Vol 23, Issue 6
by Eduardo Villanueva 15 Jul '06

15 Jul '06

Hello All I think there are too many different arguments mixed all together, in a rather inadequate way. I strongly dislike the OLPC project, mostly for the reasons explained at http://macareo.pucp.edu.pe/evillan/shdf.htm, but I do believe that my arguments, as well as many of the arguments proposed in this discussion, are valid for a specific subset of "developing" countries, and even inside those developing countries, some regions or groups are to be considered under a different perspective. Inequality is wrong, I concur; at the same, unless capitalism is completely replaced by something else, it is an inevitable consequence of an specific economic structure. Programmes like OLPC try to soften or lower inequality, but besides their shortcomings, they cannot even attempt to make inequality disappear. The fact that these computers are "down-market" is not a problem per se. If (a big if) a proper usage is found, they can be adequate, since they are not trying to replace a full-blown PC connected to high bandwidth networks and used for downloading videos from a Torrent. It is. again, a question of purpose, not of specific technology. I'm against the purpose and the specific implementation of such purpose. This is a necessary debate, since it is most possible that governments of developing countries are going to get scammed into buying thousands of these machines without a critical assessment of what exactly to do with them and what exactly should be the outcome of their usage in educational settings. More voices from the "affected" communities should be welcomed. Take care and have fun Eduardo Villanueva Communications Department Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú

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job opening
by Barry Wellman 14 Jul '06

14 Jul '06

JOB: Assistant Prof., Sociocultural Anthropology (Public Culture, Media, Space), UC-Davis (Angela Jancius) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- X-Post Date: Fri, 14 Jul 2006 08:57:58 +0200 From: "Angela Jancius" To: <urbanth-l(a)lists.ysu.edu> POSITION ANNOUNCEMENT ASSISTANT PROFESSOR IN SOCIOCULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY The Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Davis invites applications for a tenure-track Assistant Professor beginning July 1, 2007. The appointee must have a broad interdisciplinary background and research expertise in public culture as it takes form in media and/or space. Topical interests may include mass media, film, photography, art, built environment, landscape, urban or architectural space. Eligible candidates may have research expertise in any geographical area and must be capable of making broad connections between disciplines and fields of study. Special preference will be given to candidates who work in text as well as in video or other media. Teaching is based on a standard faculty load of four one-quarter courses per year. Candidates should have a Ph.D. in anthropology or related disciplines by time of appointment and be able to demonstrate excellence in teaching and research. Applications received by October 16, 2006 will receive full consideration. Applicants should prepare a curriculum vitae including the names of three references; a cover letter that indicates completed research, current research program, and teaching experience; copies of up to three publications representing the applicant's current research, two graduate course syllabi and one undergraduate syllabus. Applications should be sent to: Janet S. Shibamoto Smith, Chair Search Committee Department of Anthropology One Shields Avenue University of California Davis, CA 95616 e-mail: jssmith(a)ucdavis.edu, phone: 530-752-7388 Address administrative questions to Royce McClellan, phone: 530-754-4936; fax: 530/752-8885; e-mail: rlmcclellan(a)ucdavis.edu. The position will remain open until filled. URBANTH-L(a)lists.ysu.edu http://lists.ysu.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/urbanth-l ****************************************

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Newcomer to this list
by Amybeth Hale 14 Jul '06

14 Jul '06

Hi everyone - I am a new subscriber to this list, and I just wanted to find out how the activity level is here, and what kinds of topics are typically covered? Thanks! Amybeth Hale Manager of Internet Research SearchPath International ahale(a)searchpath.com

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Re: [Air-l] commodification of online spaces
by Sara M. Grimes 13 Jul '06

13 Jul '06

Hi Rebekah - At the risk of tooting my own horn, I've been involved in a couple of projects on children's online games that you might be interested in: Grimes, Sara M. & Shade, Leslie R. (2005). "Neopian Economics of Play: Children's Cyberpets and Online Communities as Immersive Advertising in Neopets.com." International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics 1(2): 181-198. Chung, Grace and Sara M. Grimes (2005). "Data Mining the Kids: Surveillance and Market Research Strategies in Children's Online Games." Canadian Journal of Communication 30(4): 527-548. I also have a chapter in Patrick Williams and Jonas Heide-Smith's upcoming book "The Player's Realm" on TOS contracts in children's online games, which deals with commodification: Grimes, Sara M. (Forthcoming). "Terms of Service, Terms of Play in Children's Online Gaming." In Williams, Patrick and Jonas Heide Smith (Eds.) In, The Players Realm: Studies on the Culture of Video Games and Gaming. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co. Betsy Book also has a paper on advertising in online games that includes HabboHotel. http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=536422 Leslie Regan Shade has a chapter on gURL.com called "Gender and the Commodification of Community: Women.com and gURL.com" in Community in the Digital Age. Eds. Darin Barney and Andrew Feenberg, Rowman and Littlefield, 2004. Seth Grossman has a great article in the Yale Law Journal on the regulating advergames called "Grand Theft Oreo: The Constitutionality of Advergame Regulation" Good luck with your search! Sara M. Grimes PhD Candidate/School of Communication Research Assistant/Applied Communication + Technology (ACT) Lab Simon Fraser University On Thu, 13 Jul 2006 18:35:40 +0100 air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org wrote: > Hi all, > > Is anyone doing work or can anyone suggest work that's been done > around the commodification of spaces for children and young people > such as MySpace, Neopets, Habbohotel or Flickr? I'm particularly > interested in spaces that are for designed youth > participation/production. I've found one reference to Neopets > (Harris) and one to Habbohotel (Seiter). Thanks! > > Rebekah Willett > > Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media > Institute of Education, University of London > _______________________________________________ > The air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org mailing list > is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org > Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: > http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org > > Join the Association of Internet Researchers: > http://www.aoir.org/ >

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commodification of online spaces
by Rebekah Willett 13 Jul '06

13 Jul '06

Hi all, Is anyone doing work or can anyone suggest work that's been done around the commodification of spaces for children and young people such as MySpace, Neopets, Habbohotel or Flickr? I'm particularly interested in spaces that are for designed youth participation/production. I've found one reference to Neopets (Harris) and one to Habbohotel (Seiter). Thanks! Rebekah Willett Centre for the Study of Children, Youth and Media Institute of Education, University of London

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Help with blogpost search
by Ana Keshelashvili 13 Jul '06

13 Jul '06

Dear Aoir Colleagues, I'm trying to research what were the US bloggers saying about publication of Muhammad cartoon for the first 6 months of this year. I was trying to collect data through Technorati, but it doesn't return results from the beginning of January, also as I'm aware, it doesn't necessarily give results from some of A-list bloggers (not sure if that's true). I turned to BlogPulse search. I was wondering, if anyone could give an opinion about BlogPulse searcher, how representative it is or how it collects and returns blog posts. Thanks, Best, Ana Keshelashvili, Faculty Member, Caucasus School of Journalism and Media Management, Tbilisi, Georgia

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New - E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network - Join the Online Information Exchange
by Steven Clift 11 Jul '06

11 Jul '06

E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network Over the years I've invited researchers I'd meet to join a niche information exchange on serious e-democracy related research. The Do-Research YahooGroup (with over 100 members) is moving to http://groups.dowire.org. It is the largest and most active international online group for researchers on the topic. I invite you to join us. The purpose of E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network is to connect e-democracy and e-government researchers around the world. Register and join here: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research If you are already a member of DoWire Groups, please login first then join the forum (and other groups including the 2500 member announcement-only "Newswire" with my blog posts: http://groups.dowire.org/groups/newswire ). When you register with the site, be sure to fill out as much of your member profile as possible. It is the foundation of a dynamic "who's who" that includes fields for you to mention your relevant recent publications. You can view the "who's who" of e-democracy/e-government research who have moved to the new server already (must login to read profiles): http://groups.dowire.org/groups/research/members A few rules: Participants in E-Democracy and E-Government Researchers Network agree to: * as a condition of membership, all members agree to fill out form * most of their member profile and to update it at least once a year * messages may not be forwarded to other public forums without the express e-mail permission of the author Sincerely, Steven Clift http://publicus.net Democracies Online http://dowire.org . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Steven Clift - clift(a)publicus.net Web: http://publicus.net Blog: http://dowire.org/notes NGO: http://e-democracy.org Replies to slc@ may be missed. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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Two presentation spots available on AoIR 7.0 panel, Brisbane 27-30 Sep 2006
by Marcus Foth 11 Jul '06

11 Jul '06

Challenges and Opportunities of Internet Technologies to Support Social Networks of Urban Residents Two panel members had to cancel their submission and I'm looking for two presenters to fill these spots. Organised panel proposals present a coherent group of papers on a single theme. Please find the panel outline below. If this panel captures your interest, you are attending AoIR 7.0 in Brisbane and are interested to be a member of this panel, please send me an abstract (500-750 words) by 31 July 2006 to m.foth(a)qut.edu.au thanks marcus Panel Proposal Developers and governments around the world are struggling to achieve socially sustainable neighbourhood communities in master-planned residential developments. This panel will bring together leading researchers from a variety of disciplines to debate the challenges and opportunities of internet technologies to facilitate and support meaningful social interaction between residents in urban neighbourhoods. Focusing on the network qualities of social interaction in communities of place, the panel will discuss the panelists’ research findings that have the potential to inform the design of innovative new media and ICT systems for use in master- planned residential developments: peer-to-peer publishing, tools for vernacular creative expression, social networking applications, ambient technologies and locative media. Some of these studies are informed by urban sociology, ethnographic work, rapid prototyping, evaluation cycles, participatory design and sociocultural animation. Some of the key questions to be discussed include: What are the implications of networked individualism on internet technologies? How do urban residents connect with each other to create and maintain social networks and how can new media and ICT systems better support the interaction in those networks? How does private peer-to-peer interaction between urban residents differ from collective community interaction and what impacts does that have on new media and ICT design, social capital, local innovation and community efficacy? How can new media and ICT systems, devices and applications be designed to negotiate a balance between the opportunities of interactive services and locative media on the one side and issues of access, trust and privacy on the other? What is the role of locally relevant content (personal and community images and narratives) in the establishment and sustainability of meaningful social networks? How can new media and ICT systems be designed to inform social spaces for residents – private and public, and online and offline – towards facilitating social networking as well as civic engagement and local socio-economic innovation? Sustainability is pursued by working across community, business and government stakeholders to encourage social and economic innovation. The hypothesis to be tested by the panel is the claim that by careful attention to cultural and social assets in the community, innovations will be engendered which enhance economic and social development locally. This in turn will lead to greater social inclusion, fair access to and smart use of information and services, urban sustainability and healthier local economies. Understanding the opportunities afforded by digital augmentation of social networks will help urban residents negotiate the complex web of daily choices, access a greater social safety net and participate in the socio- cultural and socio-economic life of their neighbourhood and city. Panel members (TBC): Marcus Foth (Chair), Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia Michael Arnold, Christopher Shepherd, & Martin Gibbs, University of Melbourne, Australia Peter Day, School of Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences, University of Brighton, UK Steven McEachern, Helen Thompson, Centre for Regional Innovation and Competitiveness, University of Ballarat, Australia -- Dr Marcus Foth BMultimedia BCompSc(Hons) MA PhD m.foth(a)qut.edu.au - http://www.vrolik.de/ Australian Postdoctoral Fellow Institute for Creative Industries and Innovation Queensland University of Technology (CRICOS No. 00213J) Creative Industries Precinct, Brisbane QLD 4059, Australia Phone +61 7 3138 8772 - Fax 8195 - Room Z6-511 http://ici.qut.edu.au/

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'Fine grained' weblog tracking software
by David Brake 10 Jul '06

10 Jul '06

There are a number of sites that attempt to catalogue the most popular weblogs overall, based on inward links (I have catalogued the ones I know of here: http://www.netvouz.com/davidbrake?tags=weblog +search) but none that I know of that let you know the most popular on a given topic or keyword over time (you can use some to search for a keyword then show you the top-ranked blogs within that but that again favours the most popular overall not the most popular within a given subject domain). I would also be interested in a search engine that could tell you which blogs are the most popular in a given country or region - or better still an engine that does both, telling you which blogs are, for example, the most popular blogs about the Iraq war based in the UK. I don't suppose there are any search engines that let you search by the (expressed or inferred) demographics of the poster either. If anyone knows of a specialist search engine which does any of the above could you let me know? (And if any of you have the ear of one of the search engine providers could you encourage them to provide these tools?) --- 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)

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