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Community and our Conceptual Lexicon
by Ian Goodwin 31 Jul '06

31 Jul '06

Hi All, In regard to the recent series of interesting posts about the usefulness (or otherwise) of community in thinking through/analysing virtual social relations, I'd like emphasise that I think it would be a large mistake to discount community altogether as a theoretically unproductive term. Community is undoubtedly one of the most 'slipperly' of terms - it certainly retains an inherent definitional ambiguity. This makes it an infuriatingly difficult term difficult term to employ productively in social research. This is partly because community has always been tied to normative prescription as well as empirical description. Yet the most important point about community is that it pervades everyday life. I'd go so far as to say it seems to be indispensable to social discourse. Thus, as Peter Hamilton put it in his perceptive introduction to Cohen's (1985) classic study (The Symbolic Construction of Community), community would have long ago been "discounted as grist to the scholarly mill were it not for the remarkable hold that the idea of community exerts over both the intellectual and popular mind" (p.7). It is for this reason we should be careful about discounting community. People manifestly believe in community and use the term in their everyday discourse. In this sense community motivates, sustains, and structures social action. If we are to fully understand the development of online sociability, therefore, in many instances (where the term is employed 'in the field' by users themselves), we need to understand, following an interpretive epistemology, how users of the technology understand the term. This will undoubtedly be context specific, but it is also central to how the technology becomes actively used. In this respect the positive normative overtones of community often come into play. For example fears of 'community decline', whilst difficult if not impossible to verify from an objective perspective, often motivate residents of localities to become involved in online initiatives (and structure how they then interact online - the topics they deem 'relevant', the goals of the online group etc) - this was certainly the case in the community informatics initiatives I studied in Birmingham (UK). Best, Ian Goodwin Senior Lecturer MA Communication Studies/ Graduate Diploma in Digital Media School of Communication Studies Faculty of Design and Creative Technologies Auckland University of Technology Private Bag 92006 Auckland 1020 Aotearoa/ New Zealand Telephone 64-9-917 9999 x 7734 Email ian.goodwin(a)aut.ac.nz

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defining community
by Barry Wellman 31 Jul '06

31 Jul '06

To my mind, the UR article on defining community is Hillery, George Jr. 1955. "Definitions of Community: Areas of Agreement." Rural Sociology 20:111-122. There have been follow-ups, including Barry Leighton and me, Wellman, Barry, and Barry Leighton. 1979. "Networks, Neighborhoods and Communities." Urban Affairs Quarterly 14:363-90. And a NetLab rant at computer scientists, who were really sloppy in usage: Wellman, Barry, and Milena Gulia. 1999. "Net Surfers Don't Ride Alone: Virtual Communities as Communities." Pp. 331-366 in Networks in the Global Village, edited by Barry Wellman. Boulder, CO: Westview. Everything old is new again! 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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Re: [Air-l] AU Visa Needed
by Marj Kibby 31 Jul '06

31 Jul '06

Australia and the US are signatories to a Visa Waiver agreement, so the ETA is the visa you have when you are not having a visa. A Clayton's visa. Clayton's is a non-alcoholic beverage - advertised as "The drink you have when you are not having a drink" Marj Dr Marjorie Kibby, Senior Lecturer in Communication & Culture Faculty of Education and Arts The University of Newcastle, Callaghan NSW 2308 Australia Marj.Kibby(a)newcastle.edu.au +61 2 49216604 >>> badenh(a)csse.unimelb.edu.au 31/07/2006 9:33 am >>> Make sure you bring the printout of the confirmation number. There's no printed/stamped visa for US citizens. Recent experience with inbound US citizens says that this works reliably, FWIW :-) Baden On Fri, 28 Jul 2006, Ted M Coopman wrote: > Hello All, > > Just discovered that you need a visa to get into Australia. This may be a no-brainer for most folks outside the US, but I think that it might be a surprise to US travelers who are used to not having to have one. > > Just go to: http://www.eta.immi.gov.au/ETAAus1En.html > > You can apply online ($20 AU) and it registers you in their database and gives you a confirmation number. > > -TED > > Ted M. Coopman > Department of Communication > University of Washington > > > > > _______________________________________________ > 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/ > _______________________________________________ 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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Maine OLPC - was - India Rejects One Laptop Per Child
by M.B.Gaved 30 Jul '06

30 Jul '06

Hi Mark Do you have any references to publications I (and other AoIR'ers) could download / otherwise access on the Maine "one laptop per child" project? It would be interesting to read the Maine project expectations and subsequent experiences as a comparison to the MIT project. Kind regards Mark Mark Gaved Knowledge Media Institute The Open University Milton Keynes MK7 6AA kmi.open.ac.uk/people/mark/ office +44 1908 654513 mobile +44 7796 266 592 m.b.gaved(a)open.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: air-l-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Mark Warschauer Sent: 27 July 2006 13:49 To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] India Rejects One Laptop Per Child ... [snip] ... Finally, in answer to Jeremy's question about what happened to the laptop project in Maine, the answer is it's still going strong. The program was renewed after the first four-year contract (2002-2006) for a second four-year contract (2006-2010) for all 7th and 8th grade students in the state. There is also a laptop program in Maine at the high school level, but it is adopted (and funded) district by district and is thus not universal. Mark -- Mark Warschauer Associate Professor of Education and Informatics University of California, Irvine 2001 Berkeley Place Irvine, CA 92697-5500 tel: (949) 824-2526, fax: (949) 824-2965 markw(a)uci.edu; http://www.gse.uci.edu/faculty/markw

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Re: [Air-l] Open Source Software and Civil Society
by Charlie Lowe 30 Jul '06

30 Jul '06

Eli wrote, "Is anyone aware of any research that addresses the experience of civil society organizations (aka nonprofits, NGOs, voluntary orgs, etc.) using open source software? Or perhaps deals with the putative alignment between the "values" of open source and the values of civil society?" You might try talking with the CivicSpace community over in their forums. http://civicspacelabs.org/home/civicspace CivicSpace is an open source content management system for use by non-profits and grassroots civic action organizations which grew out of Deanspace (see Jon Lebkowsky's "Deanspace, Social Networks, and Politics": http://extremedemocracy.com/chapters/Chapter%2017-Lebkowsky.pdf) Even if they don't know of any research, I know that the project leaders would be keen on learning about anything you come up with. Charlie Lowe Department of Writing Grand Valley State University

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Webology: Volume 3, Number 2, June, 2006
by Alireza Noruzi 30 Jul '06

30 Jul '06

Dear All, apologies for cross-posting. We are pleased to inform you that Vol. 3, No. 2 of Webology, an OPEN ACCESS journal, is published and is available ONLINE now. This issue contains: ------------------ Editorial -- Alireza Noruzi -- http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/editorial8.html ----------------------------------------- Library 2.0 Theory: Web 2.0 and Its Implications for Libraries -- Jack M. Maness -- http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a25.html ----------------------------------------- Web-Based Services Expected from Libraries: A Case Study -- Satish Kanamadi & B.D. Kumbar -- http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a26.html ----------------------------------------- Chemoinformatics and the World Wide Web: An Interview with Professor Peter Willett -- Yazdan Mansourian -- http://www.webology.ir/2006/v3n2/a27.html ----------------------------------------- Call for Papers: Sociology of the Web, Vol. 3, No. 4 -- Guest Editor: Dr. William Bostock, University of Tasmania, Australia -- http://www.webology.ir/cfp.html ----------------------------------------- Regards, Alireza Noruzi Webology www.webology.ir/callforpapers.html

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Open Source Software and Civil Society
by Eli Malinsky 30 Jul '06

30 Jul '06

Hi everyone, After years of lurking I finally have my first question: Is anyone aware of any research that addresses the experience of civil society organizations (aka nonprofits, NGOs, voluntary orgs, etc.) using open source software? Or perhaps deals with the putative alignment between the "values" of open source and the values of civil society? Much appreciated! Eli Malinsky

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conceptual lexicon
by John Postill 30 Jul '06

30 Jul '06

One key area that we haven’t yet discussed, in this interesting exchange on terminology, is social theory. In addition to having to keep up with technologies that have a tendency to become obsolete very quickly, we Internet researchers also need to keep abreast of developments in social theory – where things move, for better or worse, more slowly, but they still move. Over the past couple of years, in writing up my ethnography on Internet activism and local governance in a Kuala Lumpur suburb, I have found that the conceptual landscape on what we might call ‘Internet localisation’ (how local authorities and residents appropriate Internet technologies to pursue their own goals) is dominated by two good old sociological notions: community and network (a third influential notion is public sphere, esp. in connection to 'e-democracy' projects). That community as a theoretical concept has long been obsolete is well established (see MacFarlane 1977, Amit and Rapport 2002), and yet we still find it literally all over the place, in phrases such as ‘local community’, ‘community networks’, ‘community informatics’, ‘online community’, etc. Network has far more potential as a sociological term, as demonstrated by Barry Wellman and his colleagues, but in my view it still takes up far too much room in our conceptual universes. With Amit, who writes in a different context, I think we in Internet studies need to broaden our sociation lexicons beyond our current over-reliance on community and network, e.g. with concepts such as field, action-set, age-set, arena, sodality, committee, fellowship, etc (Postill forthcoming). I was wondering if others on the list had any thoughts on this? (BTW there’s a media studies conference on social theory coming up at Oxford University this 6-8 September), see http://www.cresc.man.ac.uk/events/sept06/Venue&Travel.htm Best wishes John Postill Sheffield Hallam University, UK References Amit, V. and N. Rapport (2002) The Trouble with Community: Anthropological Reflections on Movement, Identity and Collectivity. London: Pluto. MacFarlane, A. (1977) Reconstructing Historical Communities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Freely available online at: http://www.alanmacfarlane.com/reconstructing/contents.htm Postill, J. (forthcoming) Localising the internet: beyond communities and networks, submitted to New Media and Society (awaiting readers’ comments)

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Re: [Air-l] Reference on impact of resources going online
by Singer, Brooke 29 Jul '06

29 Jul '06

Caroline: I recommend the work of Dan Solove (http://www.law.gwu.edu/Faculty/profile.aspx?id=6017) And his blog: http://concurringopinions.com/ Also, a project of mine: http://www.we-swipe.us. Cheers, Brooke Singer Assistant Professor of New Media Purchase College, State University of New York School of Natural and Social Sciences 735 Anderson Hill Road Purchase, NY 10577 914.251.6644 http://newmedia.purchase.edu/~Brooke

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Re: [Air-l] Reference on impact of resources going online
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 28 Jul '06

28 Jul '06

And, given that I sent that to all air instead of just to Richard, let me recommend to all the trip to Vancouver Island as part of your trip to Vancouver (mainland)! / C ---- Original message ---- >Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 17:08:37 -0500 >From: Caroline Haythornthwaite <haythorn(a)uiuc.edu> >Subject: Re: [Air-l] Reference on impact of resources going online >To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org, smith(a)sfu.ca > >Thanks. Keep me updated on what you're doing. This is for a course, although >I've had a general interest and concern about this for a while. Don't know if I'll >have anything unique for a 2007 session, but I'd love to attend it. And, I am >really looking forward to the Vancouver AoIR. I have family there and in Duncan >and a trip to Vancouver means a dash over to the island as well. > >/C > > >---- Original message ---- >>Date: Fri, 28 Jul 2006 13:01:12 -0700 >>From: "Richard Smith" <smith(a)sfu.ca> >>Subject: Re: [Air-l] Reference on impact of resources going online >>To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org >> >>Caroline, >> >>I am doing a research study on this question at present, and although >>we don't have a lot of data back (yet), I'd be happy to share what we >>have and what we have collected in terms of references. I have a web >>site set up with preliminary information and if it looks like what you >>are interested in, I'll send you more details. >> >>http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/citizen >> >>Warm regards from Vancouver (site of AIR 2007). Perhaps we should have >>a panel/session on this for the 2007 conference. >> >>...r >> >>On 7/28/06, Caroline Haythornthwaite <haythorn(a)uiuc.edu> wrote: >>> I'm looking for papers and/or discussion of the impact of governments >putting >>> information online, and who can then access that information. Can anyone >help >>> with reference(s) or author(s) on this topic? It may be with other discussions >of the >>> digital divide, or with e-government. I'd like something with data on who is >and is >>> not able to get this kind of informaton if possible, but also any discussion of >the >>> issue. >>> >>> Thanks. >>> >>> /Caroline >>> >>> ---------------------------------------- >>> Caroline Haythornthwaite >>> Associate Professor >>> Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at >Urbana-Champaign >>> 501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820 >>> >>> >>> _______________________________________________ >>> 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/ >>> >>> >> >> >>-- >>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/ >> >>New book!: http://arago.cprost.sfu.ca/smith/mawc >>_______________________________________________ >>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/ > >---------------------------------------- >Caroline Haythornthwaite >Associate Professor >Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign >501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820 > > ---------------------------------------- Caroline Haythornthwaite Associate Professor Graduate School of Library and Information Science, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 501 East Daniel St., Champaign IL 61820

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