- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

mixed race communities online
by Tanja 07 May '06

07 May '06

Hi all, I'm conducting a virtual ethnography of a portal which caters for mixed race South Africans. I'd appreciate any sources which could help - particularly anything on the representation of mixed race communities online, their performance of identity in the online environment, race/ ethnicity and culture online etc. Thanks in advance! ___________________ T. E. Bosch Post-doctoral fellow Journalism Department Stellenbosch University tel: (021) 808-2625 fax: 086 688-9655 cell: 076-5749170 email: <mailto:drbosch@sun.ac.za> drbosch(a)sun.ac.za <http://academic.sun.ac.za/journalism/> http://academic.sun.ac.za/journalism/ <http://academic.sun.ac.za/journalism/bosch.htm> bosch.htm

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Leet Speak
by Gail Taylor 06 May '06

06 May '06

CNN had a guest this morning who was talking about the manner in which sexual predators are using Leet Speak in online conversations with children. This information might be of interest to those of you who are tracking the migration of leet speak from gaming environments to online conversation spaces. The person who was a spokesperson from pervertedjustice.com which maintains a web site designed to deter sexual predators. Prior to seeing the news story, I wasn't aware of the existence of this grassroot organization which is using the web site as a way to gather information to assist law enforcement agencies in identifying and arresting suspects. The information in the FAQ is quite interesting. There is information indicating this organization has been dragged into court on several occasions by citizens concerned with civil liberty violations. Interesting site from a lot of different angles. -- Gail ***************************** Gail D. Taylor, M.Ed. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant "The beautiful thing about learning is that no one can take that away from you." -- B.B. King, Blues Musician

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a reader on virtual diaspora
by pjo＠unr.edu 05 May '06

05 May '06

Hi, I am looking for bibliography (particularly collection of essays or reader) on virtual/digital diasporas, or migrant communities and the use of new technologies. Any help would be really appreciated. Thank you so much, Pedro J. Oiarzabal Center for Basque Studies/322 University of Nevada, Reno NV 89557 -USA 1-775-784-4854 Fax: 1-775-784-1355 pjo(a)unr.edu http://basque.unr.edu

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Re: [Air-l] Scholarly databases for internet studies?
by Julian Hopkins 04 May '06

04 May '06

Dear Monica, I don’t know of a relevant database, but this blog (www.sixthseal.com) recounting the personal use of drugs has a wide readership and discussions in the comments. It has been going for three years and is very interesting. Recently, the Malaysian author stopped posting about drugs as he was exposed in a Malaysian newspaper as 'promoting drug use' etc. But there are still many posts available - e.g. http://www.sixthseal.com/2003/02/pill_report_white_question_mar.html#comment s Regards, ++++++++++ Julian Hopkins Lecturer - ADP HELP University College +60 3 2095 8791 x2913 -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.392 / Virus Database: 268.5.3/331 - Release Date: 03/05/2006

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Scholarly databases for internet studies?
by Monica Barratt 04 May '06

04 May '06

Hello, I've just started my PhD and am investigating a topic a little outside my usual field - which is illicit drug studies from a multidisciplinary perspective (psych, sociology, epidemiology, public health, etc). I'm looking into online forums where drugs are discussed - the working title is currently "Exploring online drug discussion groups: the experiences and perspectives of 'networked' recreational drug users" I was wondering if there is a scholarly database specifically for internet studies, or alternatively, what databases would you recommend I access when trying to find literature pertaining to specifically to online forums (and internet studies more generally). For example, I'm looking to review methods and ethical approaches among a cross-section of studies where online forums have been used as a data source to inform my own work - I've found material by browsing relevant journals and picking up citations whilst reading more materials, but it's not particularly systematic! Thanks in advance for your assistance, monica Monica Barratt PhD Candidate National Drug Research Institute Curtin University GPO Box U1987 PERTH WA 6845 t: +61 8 9266 2735 f: +61 8 9266 1611 m: +61 407 778 938 e: <mailto:monica.barratt@postgrad.curtin.edu.au> monica.barratt(a)postgrad.curtin.edu.au

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Control + Shift. Public and Private Usages of the Russian Internet
by Eugene Gorny 04 May '06

04 May '06

Dear all An edited volume about the Russian Internet will be out in print in June. Henrike Schmidt, Katy Teubener, Natalja Konradova (Eds.) (2006). Control + Shift. Public and Private Usages of the Russian Internet. Norderstedt: Books on Demand. Meanwhile, it is available for download online: http://www.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/russ-cyb/library/texts/en/control_shift/contr… Regards, E_G (via Henrike Schmidt)

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finding a mentor..
by Maciej Kos 03 May '06

03 May '06

Dear All, I feel a little awkward posting here as this is research oriented community but I don't know who else I could turn to, so please excuse my off-topic questions. Some time ago I posted an e-mail here entitled: 'Social networking websites research/grad student questions' and got some very valuable responses, which really got me thinking. I decided that want to move on with my research/PhD plans I have to change my school and move abroad (probably to the US). Thank to Karine Barzilai-Nahon, Caroline Haythornthwaite and Andrea Kavanaugh's posts I also decided that my future school should be an Information one. My problem is that I don't know anybody who has done it before or who has any experience in applying to a PhD program in the US. I read 'all' that google has to offer and am still lacking a lot of information. We don't have any student advisers or a tradition of acting as a mentor where I live. So I am looking for a person that could help me: -evaluate my current situation and point me in a right direction, -show things to work on to improve my chances of being accepted, -draw a road map, It would also be great, if this person could get me involved in some sort of a research project. It does not have to a be long-term relationships (it could be!), just a couple e-mails would help me a lot. Can you please tell me, how I can find such a person. How to approach him/her? I have no idea how such relationships work because I have never been in one nor do I know anybody has. Is there anybody who you would recommend? My main research interest is the influence of web 2.0 websites such as digg.com or del.icio.us on information retrieval - how do such websites change the way we look for and evaluate information online, will this affect modern search engines such as google and what consequences this may cause for online marketeers. Thank you very much for your help and understanding. Sincerely, MK

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CfP: Electronic Journal of Communication - Communicative Ecologies
by Marcus Foth 03 May '06

03 May '06

CALL FOR PAPERS Electronic Journal of Communication (EJC) Special Issue: Communicative Ecologies We invite the submission of conceptual or empirical (quantitative or qualitative) work on the theme of communicative ecologies in any place-based setting. The special issue is scheduled for publication in mid 2007. Deadline for completed manuscripts: 31 Oct 2006. Submissions should be electronic (.doc or .rtf format only, please avoid .pdf and .html). Inquiries about possible topics are welcome. Submissions and inquiries should be directed to the guest editors: see below. The concept of ecology has a lot to offer communication research. We can define a communicative ecology as a milieu of agents who are connected in various ways by various exchanges (Tacchi, Slater, & Hearn, 2003). Broadly, it refers to the context in which the communication process occurs. Such an ecology can thus be thought of as comprising a number of mediated and unmediated forms of communication. In this context, use of the term is closely aligned to research in the field of media ecology, and is thus informed by the early work of Christine Nystrom (1973) and, more recently, David Altheide’s “The Ecology of Communication” (1995). Our particular interest in the concept stems from our study of people in particular places with access to many different media. For example, we have studied communication patterns in inner-city apartment buildings and communities in rural areas. Thus we conceive of a communicative ecology as having three layers. A technological layer which consists of the devices and connecting media that enable communication and interaction. A social layer which consists of people and social modes of organising those people – which might include, for example, everything from friendship groups to more formal community organizations, as well as companies or legal entities. And finally, a discursive layer which is the content of communication – that is, the ideas or themes that constitute the known social universe that the ecology operates in. Using an ecological metaphor opens up a number of interesting possibilities for analyzing place-based communication (e.g., in neighbourhoods, apartment buildings, or – on a larger scale – suburbs and cities). It can help us to better understand the ways social activities are organized, the ways people define and experience their environments, and the implications for social order and organization (Altheide, 1995, p. 9). For example, in analyzing an apartment complex, an ecological metaphor might suggest first examining the features of the population in the apartment and mapping the patterns of engagement within that population. In addition we could ask how people relate to different places within the apartment, and how this interaction is mediated by the use of technology. Do different groups form around a coffee shop? Do email or cell phone connections define other ecologies? Then we might also be able to study transactions between different ecologies. The ecological metaphor focuses on whole of system interactions. It also enables us to define boundaries of any given ecology, and to examine how the coherence of that boundary and the stability of each ecology is maintained. What topics of conversation define insiders and outsiders in the ecology? Finally, it also opens up the question of the social sustainability of a communicative ecology. Similar sorts of questions could of course be asked of any human communication phenomena in any place-based context. Guest Editors: Professor Greg Hearn g.hearn(a)qut.edu.au Dr Marcus Foth m.foth(a)qut.edu.au -- 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 3864 8772 - Fax 8195 - Room Z6-511 http://ici.qut.edu.au/

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studies on Local community strength by internet access
by Peter Timusk 03 May '06

03 May '06

Are there any studies showing that internet access increases local community strength? I think I came across this thesis on this list. Can someone point this out to me? thanks. Peter Timusk B.Math(2002) BA (2006) Carleton University running MacOSX, Debian 3.0 & 3.1, WinXP &Win2K & Fedora Core 3 Community activist, statistics worker. member IWW IU 620, CUPE 4600, USWA 9597 Nothing I write is intended to be representative of my employer, or our clients. Nor do I alone speak for my unions. Feel free to learn more about me at www.crystalcomputing.net Computer ethics studies at www.webpagex.org blogs http://logbook.crystalcomputing.net <- computers http://notebook.webpagex.org <- school work

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Link analysis software training at Wolverhampton, UK
by m.thelwall＠blueyonder.co.uk 03 May '06

03 May '06

There will be a free training afternoon for link analysis software at the University of Wolverhampton. This is aimed at early or future PhD students in the social sciences or information science. You will learn how to use software to collect and analyse information about web links. Link Analysis 1pm-5pm Thursday 15 June, 2006 ===================================== This will be a demonstration and practical sessions with the following programs SocSciBot and SocSciBot Tools - link analysis for collections of web sites. (http://socscibot.wlv.ac.uk) LexiURL - link analysis for individual web sites or collections of web pages. (http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/LexiURL/) Google/MSN/Yahoo! automatic query submission programs - these allow the automatic submission of thousands of searches (http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/LexiURL/help/UsingGoogleAPI.htm) Training and software are both free but please email m.thelwall @ wlv.ac.uk to book a place as numbers are limited. Include in your email the following information (a) Name: (b) Email: (c) University or other organisation: (d) PhD title (if applicable) and reason for wanting to attend (1 sentence maximum): (e) I give my permission for my email address to be circulated to other attendees: Yes/No If you would like to stay in Wolverhampton overnight, the most convenient hotel is the Britannia: To get to the Britannia from Wolverhampton railway station, walk out of the station exit and continue straight ahead, over the bridge. Lichfield Street is almost directly ahead: the large Britannia hotel is on the left of the corner of the street, just 5 minutes walk from the station. http://www.britanniahotels.com/hotel_home.asp?Page=123 When you book, ask for the university discount - it should be about £60 for a night. The University is in the centre of the city. These maps have the key locations for the university - please print out the second one and bring it along. Please report to MI block reception (the Technology Tower) or in the refectory at 12 for lunch (MC block). http://asp.wlv.ac.uk/Level4.asp?UserType=11&Level4=3420 http://asp2.wlv.ac.uk/webteam/contact/uow_city_campus.pdf

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