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Re: [Air-l] Long-distance PhD
by Sarah Stewart 21 Feb '06

21 Feb '06

Hello Maria I am doing my PhD by distance as well. I live in New Zealand and am enrolled at the Centre for Online Health at the University of Queensland, Brisbane. Luckily I am able to pop across a couple of times a year to catch up and get a dose of inspiration and motivation. On the whole I find distance supervision very hard. I lose focus easily and find that email/telephone just isn't as good as face-to-face. My advice would be to build up as much support as you can with fellow students and colleagues, and especially with a second supervisor who you can see face-to-face. The other issue is the context of my research is different from what is experienced by my distance supervisor so I have a circle of people I check in with about local contextual issues. regards and good luck Sarah Sarah Stewart Senior Lecturer School of Midwifery Otago Polytechnic Dunedin New Zealand Tel: 0800 762786 sarahs(a)tekotago.ac.nz

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Last day to submit a paper for AoIR conference in September
by Matthew Allen 21 Feb '06

21 Feb '06

Dear all A final reminder that you have 1 day left to complete your submission of abstracts for papers, panels and roundtables for the 7th conference of AoIR in Brisbane in September 2006. The conference is shaping up very nicely with 2 leading academics, one Australian, one Chinese, confirmed as keynote speakers, and a very nice mix of international and local paper presenters on a wide array of topics. There are also several very good workshops being planned (more details to come when they are finalised) including the Doctoral Colloquium. Best wishes Matt Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor in Internet Studies President Association of Internet Researchers Faculty of Media Society and Culture Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J http://smi.curtin.edu.au/NetStudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 92663166 (f)

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CFP: Persistent Conversation minitrack (HICSS 40)
by Tom Erickson 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

CALL FOR PAPERS [online: http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC.html ] Eighth Annual Minitrack on Persistent Conversation Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science (HICSS 40) Hyatt Regency, Kauai, Hawaii January 4-7, 2006 The Persistent Conversation minitrack and workshop is a yearly gathering of those who design and study systems that support computer-mediated communication. === AT A GLANCE === = Summary of Topic = Persistent conversations occur via instant messaging, text and voice chat, email, blogs, wikis, web boards, MOOs, graphical VR environments, document annotation systems, text messaging on mobile phones, etc. Such forms of conversation play a crucial role in domains such as online communities, the sharing and management of knowledge, and the support of e-commerce, e-learning and other network mediated interactions. The persistence of digitally mediated conversation affords new uses (e.g., searching, replaying, restructuring) and raises new problems. This multi-disciplinary minitrack seeks contributions from researchers and designers that improve our ability to understand, analyze, and/or design persistent conversation systems. = Who = Researchers and designers from fields such as anthropology, computer-mediated communication, HCI, interaction design, linguistics, management, psychology, rhetoric, sociology, and so forth. We also welcome submissions from graduate students. = Chairs = Thomas Erickson, IBM T. J. Watson Research Center (snowfall(a)acm.org) Susan Herring, School of Library and Information Science, Indiana University (herring(a)indiana.edu) = Important Dates* = Fri, Mar 31, 2006: Abstract submission Fri, Apr 14, 2006: Feedback on abstracts Th, June 1, 2006: Paper submission - [Instructions will be on the HICSS site] Tu, Aug 15, 2006: Accept/Conditional Accept/Reject notice To be determined: Resubmission of Conditional Accept papers - Fri Sep 15, 2006: Final publication-ready papers due - Fri Sep 15, 2006: One author must register for HICSS - ---------- * For other dates, such as end of early registration and hotel deadlines, see the official HICSS conference site === DETAILS === = About the Minitrack = This interdisciplinary minitrack and workshop brings designers and researchers together to explore persistent conversation, the transposition of ordinarily ephemeral conversation into the potentially persistent digital medium. The phenomena of interest include human-to-human interactions carried out using chat, instant messaging, text messaging, email, blogs, wikis, mailing lists, newsgroups, bulletin board systems, multi-authored Web documents, structured conversation systems, textual and graphical virtual worlds, etc. Computer-mediated conversations blend characteristics of oral conversation with those of written text: they may be synchronous or asynchronous; their audience may be small or vast; they may be highly structured or almost amorphous; etc. The persistence of such conversations gives them the potential to be searched, browsed, replayed, annotated, visualized, restructured, and recontextualized, thus opening the door to a variety of new uses and practices. The particular aim of the minitrack and workshop is to bring together researchers who analyze existing computer-mediated conversational practices and sites, with designers who propose, implement, or deploy new types of conversational systems. By bringing together participants from such diverse areas as anthropology, computer-mediated communication, HCI, interaction design, linguistics, management, psychology, rhetoric, sociology, and the like, we hope that the work of each may inform the others, suggesting new questions, methods, perspectives, and design approaches. = About Paper Topics = We are seeking papers that address one or both of the following two general areas: * Understanding Practice. The burgeoning popularity of the internet (and intranets) provides an opportunity to study and characterize new forms of conversational practice. Questions of interest range from how various features of conversations (e.g., turn-taking, topic organization, expression of paralinguistic information) have adapted in response to the digital medium, to new roles played by persistent conversation in domains such as education, business, and entertainment. *Design. Digital systems do not currently support conversation well: It is difficult to converse with grace, clarity, depth and coherence over networks. But this need not remain the case. Toward this end, we welcome analyses of existing systems as well as designs for new systems which better support conversation. Also of interest are inquiries into how participants design their own conversations within the digital medium -- that is, how they make use of system features to create, structure, and regulate their discourse. Examples of appropriate topics include, but are not limited to: * Turn-taking, threading, and other structural features of CMC * The dynamics of large scale conversation systems (e.g., USENET) * Methods for summarizing or visualizing conversation archives * Studies of virtual communities or other sites of digital conversation * The roles of mediated conversation in knowledge management * Studies of the use of instant messaging in large organizations * Novel designs for computer-mediated conversation systems * Analyses of or designs for distance learning systems For other examples see the list of previous years' papers: http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC_History.html = The Workshop = The minitrack is normally preceded by a half-day workshop open to all minitrack authors, as well as those who will form the core audience for the minitrack. We will know whether the workshop has been accepted for HICSS 2007 in early April. Watch the online version of this call for more details: http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC.html = Instructions for Abstract Submission = Submit a 250 word abstract of your proposed paper via email to the chairs: Tom Erickson <snowfall(a)acm.org>, Susan Herring <herring(a)indiana.edu> by the deadline noted above. = Instructions for Paper Submission = * HICSS papers must contain original material not previously published, or currently submitted elsewhere. All papers will be submitted in double column publication format and limited to 10 pages including diagrams and references. Papers undergo a double-blind review. * Do not submit the manuscript to more than one Minitrack. If unsure which Minitrack is appropriate, submit the abstract to the Track Chair for guidance. * Submit your full paper according to the instructions that will appear on the HICSS web site: http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/ = For More Information = * This call for participation, etc.: http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC.html * History (papers and participants in previous minitracks): http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/HICSS_PC_History.html * About the minitrack, contact: snowfall(a)acm.org, herring(a)indiana.edu * About the HICSS conference, see: http://www.hicss.hawaii.edu/ === END, HICSS PERSISTENT CONVERSATION CFP === -- ------------------------------------------ Tom Erickson IBM T.J. Watson Research Center Email: snowfall(a)acm.org (preferred); snowfall(a)us.ibm.com(IBM confidential) http://www.visi.com/~snowfall/

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Re: [Air-l] social networking websites research/grad student questions
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

A decision between a Business and an Information Science degree comes down to who you want to teach when done, and which disciplinary practices and knowledge you want to be embedded in. If you want to teach future business people, then it's best to go for a business degree. If you want to teach future librarians and/or information scientists, its an LIS or Information Studies degree. There are also communications schools to consider; many now have people working on virtual community -- mixed with an organizational communication focus you might bridge the business and information worlds. Another angle to consider is if you intend to build the virtual community software (a computing orientation), help people use them (information studies), market them (business), or study them as social phenomenon (information studies, communications, sociology). I think the best thing is to see whose research you like best -- i.e., that is closest to what you want to do -- and then see where they work. Consider the papers you are reading and see where these people work. That will give you an idea of where the work you want to do is best accepted. /Caroline ---- Original message ---- >Date: Sun, 19 Feb 2006 16:47:54 +0100 >From: Maciej Kos <kos(a)gnu.univ.gda.pl> >Subject: [Air-l] social networking websites research/grad student questions >To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > >Dear All, > >Last year I graduated from Master's program in economics with minor in >e-business. I wrote my thesis on "virtual communities as a new channel >of Internet marketing communications". I wanted to pursue (I still do) a >career in research so it was clear to me, I should apply to PhD program >in economics, especially that I was offered a faculty position at my >home economics/e-business department. My research interests are: virtual >communities, WEB 2.0, Internet marketing. My Ph D's preliminary working >title is "Social networking websites (Web 2.0) as a new way of >organizing and evaluating information on the web. What is a lesson to >learnt for on line marketeers?". I would like to describe what Web 2.0 >is, how it is affecting the way we look for information, evaluate it and >how it's affecting our buying behaviors. > >I spent last few months on digging through research papers related to >this topic. I was also trying to find a thesis supervisor. These two >things led me to a belief that perhaps my interests are more of >information studies, rather than business ones. I have a really hard >time finding anyone at my university with expertise in virtual >communities, etc. > >1) If you were in my shoes, would you choose: >a) Information studies program or >b) Marketing program? > >2) Which program is easier to get it: >a) Information studies program or >b) Marketing program? > >3) Do you know of anybody, whose expertise would benefit my research? I >am considering going to a different university for some time as a >visiting scholar (Europe/USA). >4) Which places (universities/programs) would you recommend as best ones >to do an interdisciplinary research into the Internet? > >5) Do Information and Business PhDs' salaries differ significantly: >a) inside academia >b) outside of academia > >There is nobody at my university to mentor me or to supervise my >dissertation, so I feel a little lost. Your help would be very much >appreciated. > >Best Regards, >M.K. > > > > > >_______________________________________________ >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

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FOAF and privacy
by Rowin Young 20 Feb '06

20 Feb '06

Hello all, I wondered if anyone had any opinions or could recommend good material on the FOAF (friend of a friend) project, particularly in relation to the privacy of the people who are listed on (so called!) friends' foaf files without their knowledge or permission. I did find one very interesting article at http://www.w3.org/2001/sw/Europe/events/foaf-galway/papers/fp/technical_and_ privacy_challenges/, but one thing that struck me was the quite aggressive tone (I felt) it took in the discussion of privacy, stressing that the data owner has the right to do what they want with their data, and the data subject has no rights over information about them. I'd be interested to know if this is the case in UK law as well as US. Many thanks for any thoughts or insights on this! Dr Rowin Young University of Strathclyde

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social networking websites research/grad student questions
by Maciej Kos 19 Feb '06

19 Feb '06

Dear All, Last year I graduated from Master's program in economics with minor in e-business. I wrote my thesis on "virtual communities as a new channel of Internet marketing communications". I wanted to pursue (I still do) a career in research so it was clear to me, I should apply to PhD program in economics, especially that I was offered a faculty position at my home economics/e-business department. My research interests are: virtual communities, WEB 2.0, Internet marketing. My Ph D's preliminary working title is "Social networking websites (Web 2.0) as a new way of organizing and evaluating information on the web. What is a lesson to learnt for on line marketeers?". I would like to describe what Web 2.0 is, how it is affecting the way we look for information, evaluate it and how it's affecting our buying behaviors. I spent last few months on digging through research papers related to this topic. I was also trying to find a thesis supervisor. These two things led me to a belief that perhaps my interests are more of information studies, rather than business ones. I have a really hard time finding anyone at my university with expertise in virtual communities, etc. 1) If you were in my shoes, would you choose: a) Information studies program or b) Marketing program? 2) Which program is easier to get it: a) Information studies program or b) Marketing program? 3) Do you know of anybody, whose expertise would benefit my research? I am considering going to a different university for some time as a visiting scholar (Europe/USA). 4) Which places (universities/programs) would you recommend as best ones to do an interdisciplinary research into the Internet? 5) Do Information and Business PhDs' salaries differ significantly: a) inside academia b) outside of academia There is nobody at my university to mentor me or to supervise my dissertation, so I feel a little lost. Your help would be very much appreciated. Best Regards, M.K.

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Studying Wikipedia, studying humans?
by Jeremy Hunsinger 17 Feb '06

17 Feb '06

I was reading over some wikipedia policies and related things this morning and once again the perennial question arose... at what point is studying wikipedia... studying humans? granted that wikipedia is much larger than the human content, with both its technical infrastructures and bots. However, this wouldn't be a question for studying the Britannica as a 'book', though it might be a an issue in studying the production of the encyclopedia in situ via ethnography or other workplace studies methods. So where would you mark the difference in wikipedia? When are you studying an object, vs a human subject in wikipedia, or... is the distinction not clear enough to differentiate because of the interaction collapses the distinction? Thoughts? Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments http://www.aoir.org The Association of Internet Researchers http://www.stswiki.org/ stswiki

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social networking sites on ... the daily show
by david silver 17 Feb '06

17 Feb '06

folks, for those interested in social networking sites like facebook and myspace, check out a brilliant clip, featuring Siva Vaidhyanathan, on The Daily Show here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4698898666405139932 david

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Event: plusminusITV
by Niels Hendriks 17 Feb '06

17 Feb '06

Dear all, I would like to inform you about an event which will be held on the 9th of March in Genk (Belgium). www.plusminusitv.be "The (Belgian) iTV debate has become a boring story in which interactivity is nothing more than an empty buzzword. A bold statement, we agree, but listen: In December 2005, C-md (Communication and MultimediaDesign) kicked off its Experimental Media course. The aim for the students was to develop a prototype for a cross media programme for children. They came up with experimental concepts that go beyond iTV as we know it. PLUS MINUS iTV is the outcome of this experimental media course. In his talk keynote speaker René Lansink (Utrecht School of Arts) will probe beyond the limitations of contemporary interactive concepts and show that already today cross media applications can offer a valuable alternative to the iTV story as we know it. How shall this event look like: * Students shall present two prototype concepts * Keynote talk by René Lansink * An expert panel will give feedback on the feasibility of these concepts * The debate on plus minus iTV is open * Endless smalltalk on iTV and beyond + refreshments Tags: interactive, viewers participation, television set, cross media, mobile, experimental, engaging narratives. So you should book this event in your agenda: March 9th 2006. >> Find out more on www.plusminusitv.be." The initial aim is to prove that no major technical backbone, nor a complex revenue model is needed to work out engaging cross-media programs. Hope to see you over there or hear about your comments via mail. Kind regards, Niels Hendriks _________________________________________ e-mail: niels.hendriks(a)mda.khlim.be Skype: nielshendriks Communication & MultimediaDesign (C-md) Media & Design Academy KHLIM (University of Leuven) http://c-md.khlim.be Weg naar As 50, 3600 Genk, Belgium __________________________________________

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E-Democracy.Org needs your advice in DC on Mar. 6
by Steven Clift 17 Feb '06

17 Feb '06

*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://dowire.org *** *** Headlines from top blogs: http://dowire.org/feeds *** --- Forward to others ---> A gazillion embedded links at: http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=117 E-Democracy.Org Seeking Advice - Monday, March 6 at 5 p.m. in Washington, DC E-Democracy.Org is at a crossroads. We need to grow now or implode based a rapid string of successes over the last 18 months. In our first decade, we've focused on low cost sustainability. Now that we've achieved that, we need to work on scalability. I'll have some open time in Washington, DC on March 6 and 7th before flying to Bristol in the UK for an online advocacy conference. So on Monday, March 6, at 5 p.m. for about an hour supplemented with pizza, I invite you to the first informal E-Democracy.Org Advisory Council meeting. We will adjourn to a local establishment after the meeting. For the secret location coordinates just blocks from the White House, please RSVP by Thursday, March 2nd to: clift(a)publicus.net After a 30 minute presentation, we will open for discussion. We need practical advice on how to essentially move from an all volunteer- based organization with local forums mostly in one state to a staff- led, volunteer-rich chapter-based organization with local forums in many countries. The presentation will highlight: 1. The very successful Local Issues Forum expansion in the UK funded by the UK Local E-Democracy National Project of the Office of Deputy Prime Minister. Outputs included a 60 page guidebook, multimedia presentation, a new online groups software platform, and various articles. Our current forums in Brighton & Hove and Newham are humming along and were evaluated by Prof. Stephen Coleman then with the Oxford Internet Institute. Last year Issues Forums were given an honorable mention by the prestigious Prix Ars Electronica and named as a top 20 finalist for the Top 10 Who are Changing the World of Internet and Politics 2005. 2. Use and future development of the new GPL open source "killer ap" for integrated e-mail lists/web forums called GroupServer. This included moving the Minneapolis and St. Paul Issues Forums to the new platform in the second part of 2005. We also want to explore using MySociety's Gaze service with GroupServer for a meetup-like "I want a local issues forum in my town" recruitment and forum development application. 3. Ideas for use of the new E-Democracy.Org wiki for our U.S. election 2008 directory efforts and a campaign to "tag p2008" across the blogosphere. 4. Creation of the first official E-Democracy.Org "chapter" in St. Paul and extension of the local concept with a planning grant received to explore Neighborhood Forums in Minneapolis. We humbly believe we can be the Rotary or Lions clubs of the 21st Century where thousands of citizen groups build Issues Forums for their communities. Some will be part of our official chapter network and hopefully many more will take our model and adapt for their own independent activities. 5. Our pending Board reconfiguration, possible staff requirements, grant writing needs, member donation possibilities, and requests for help starting more local issues forums in the U.S., Canada, the UK and from places as far flung as New Zealand. In short, we'd like to tell you what we've been up to and invite you to offer you advice, contacts, and energy. We've become too popular for our own good and need your help to keep us moving forward without tripping up. So join us on Monday, March 6. If you can't make it, consider joining our new E-Democracy.Org Advisory Council online group. We only ask that you agree to donate something tangible to our efforts as a condition of membership: http://forums.e-democracy.org/factory/groups/advisors See you in Washington, DC. Steven Clift Board Chair http://E-Democracy.Org P.S. This post has lots of embedded links at: http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=117 ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. Clift - - - W: http://publicus.net Minneapolis - - - - E: clift(a)publicus.net Minnesota - - - - - - T: +1.612.822.8667 USA - - - - Skype/MSN/Y!/AIM: netclift Join Democracies Online: http://dowire.org Start an Issues Forum: http://e-democracy.org/if *** Past Messages, to Subscribe: http://dowire.org *** *** To subscribe, e-mail: listserv(a)lists.umn.edu *** *** Message body: SUB DO-WIRE *** *** To UNSUBSCRIBE instead, write: UNSUB DO-WIRE *** *** Please send submissions to: clift(a)publicus.net *** *** New RSS XML Feed Available: *** http://www.mail-archive.com/do-wire@lists.umn.edu/maillist.xml . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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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