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Visiting Position Announcement at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
by James Watt 18 May '05

18 May '05

The usual apologies for cross-posting and the also usual request that you pass this on to any colleagues or graduate students you think might be interested. It is an excellent post-doc or sabbatical opportunity, as the teaching load will permit about 60% of the person's time to be devoted to research, and there are some excellent facilities and colleagues doing Internet research in the Rensselaer Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory. VISITING POSITION IN HUMAN-COMPUTER INTERACTION The Department of Language, Literature, and Communication at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute has an open one-year visiting faculty position to teach courses related to human-computer interaction, as part of a newly approved on-campus and distance-education master's program. Rank open. Courses of relevance would complement existing courses in the design of interfaces, web design, and performance support. The candidate could offer new courses not currently in the curriculum or one or more of the existing courses. Though the candidate would teach predominately HCI courses, he or she could also teach non-HCI courses. More information about the department is available at http://www.llc.rpi.edu. The candidate should have a doctoral degree in human-computer interaction, information design or a related field, with course work and design experience in HCI. Experience in the application of HCI theory and research to industry a plus. The teaching load is two courses per semester. The department offers B.S. and Ph.D. degrees in communication in addition to the M.S. in HCI. Faculty are mutidisciplinary, with training in communication, computer science, technical communication, rhetoric, cultural studies, and other fields. Faculty and students have access to the Social and Behavioral Laboratory (http://www.sbrl.rpi.edu) and other Institute research facilities. Rensselaer is a U.S. News and World Report top-50 university with approximately 5000 undergraduate and 2500 graduate students. It is located in the emerging "Tech Valley" region of the Hudson River Valley with New York City, Boston, and Montreal only a few hours away by automobile or train. The region is known for its quality of life, with skiing, camping, hiking, kayaking and other outdoor recreation opportunities in the Adirondack and Berkshire Mountains only an hour or so away. Appointment begins August 22, 2005. Send a letter of application and C.V. as attachments to: wattj(a)rpi.edu (preferred) or paper versions to James Watt Chair, Department of Language, Literature, and Communication Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street Troy, NY 12180 ======================================================== James H. Watt Professor and Chair, Department of Language, Literature, and Communication (http://www.llc.rpi.edu) Director, Social and Behavioral Research Laboratory (http://www.sbrl.rpi.edu) Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute 110 8th Street, Sage Lab 4708 Troy, NY 12180-3590 email: wattj(a)rpi.edu voice: (518) 276-2784 fax: (518) 276-4092

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RE: [Air-l] Web death ?
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 18 May '05

18 May '05

Here's another reference about the end of a community. /C Bruckman, A. & Jensen, C. (2002). The mystery of the death of Mediamoo: Seven years of evolution of an online community In K.A. Renninger & W. Shumar, Building Virtual Communities: Learning and Change in Cyberspace (pp. 21-33). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ---- Original message ---- >Date: Wed, 18 May 2005 11:15:50 +0100 >From: "Rachel Harris" <rachel(a)inspire-research.co.uk> >Subject: RE: [Air-l] Web death ? >To: <air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org> > >Hi Denise > >There's a chapter in Design for Community >(http://designforcommunity.com/) that may be of interest: "Killing your >community". It's been out for a while, but could be useful. > >All the best >Rachel > >Dr Rachel A Harris >Inspire Research Ltd > >Tel 44 141 959 1542 >Email rachel(a)inspire-research.co.uk >Web http://www.inspire-research.co.uk >Blog http://i-research.blogspot.com > >-----Original Message----- >From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces(a)listserv.aoir.org >[mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Denise N. >Rall >Sent: 17 May 2005 04:15 >To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org >Subject: [Air-l] Web death ? > > >Dear Air-ers - > >I was trying to recall a paper given at Toronto that >viewed the life & death of an online community. I >believe it was called Everquest???? but now I'm not >sure. > >Anyone who presented at Toronto on the life & death of >an online community would you be so kind as to give >the name of your paper here or send it to me off list. > >I am using it to illustrate the impermanence of online communities - any >other references to 'off-line' or dead communities would be greatly >appreciated. > >Thanks, Denise > > > > > >Denise N. Rall, PhD candidate, School of Environ. Science, Southern >Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 >Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & Internet Researcher Room >T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Tuesdays or Mobile 0438 233 344 >http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html >_______________________________________________ >The Air-l-aoir.org(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-aoir.org(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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Marie-Laure Ryan - Lecture (Maastricht)
by Niels Hendriks 17 May '05

17 May '05

Marie-Laure Ryan - Lecture Maastricht - May 27 2005 Marie-Laure Ryan (Geneva, 1946) is an independent scholar based in Colorado. She holds MAs in German and Linguistics ( University of Utah, 1972), a PhD in French (University of Utah, 1974) and a post-graduate in Computer Science (University of California). New Literary History classified her as a "critic without school". Her research and writing projects are indeed quite diverse. Her books and articles cover the areas of narrative theory, linguistics, cyberculture and electronic textuality. Unique opportunity? Marie-Laure Ryan is an internationally renowned scholar. Her lecture in Maastricht is a unique opportunity for students, scholars and experts, and everyone interested in the field of narrativity and digital textuality. The lecture (both the morning and the afternoon session) is free of fees. The morning session is accessible to a broad public, while the afternoon meeting will probably require a more specialised public. Programme 10u00 Welcome and Coffee 10u30 Keynote Lecture and Discussion How do the properties of the media influence the narrative itself and the narrative experience? Will new media create new narratives? 12u30 Lunch (sandwiches and coffee) 14u00 Symbol Rock Demonstration and Debate 16u00 Drinks Keynote Lecture In her lecture Marie-Laure Ryan will focuss on the question whether the narrative and the narrative experience are influenced by the properties of the media. In the article "Multivariant Narratives" (2004) she sketches the history of writing originating in the oral tradition. The advent of writing (manuscripts) and the printing press had major consequences for textuality and narrativity. The question today is whether there is "anything left for digital media to develop in the territory of the narrative". Ryan turns to the efficient use of space and time in contemporary computer games to open up new possibilities for digital texts. Digital texts "must reconquer the narrative temporality that fuels the reader´s desire". The lecture will take place in the building of the Project & Servicecenter C-md, Brusselsestraat 89, 6211 PD Maastricht on May 27. There are no attendance fees to be paid. Please register to take part in the lecture by sending an email to bgeerts(a)mediawatchvlaanderen.be. Please include your name, school or institution, and whether you are a student, teacher, scholar, ... Organisation The Marie-Laure Ryan lecture is an organisation of MediaWatch (http://mediawatchvlaanderen.be/) . Mediawatch is the Flemish branch of the Project & Servicecenter C-md (www.c-md.be) an international collaboration project situated in Maastricht. Mediawatch is closely related to Communication and MultimediaDesign a higher education programme offered by the Katholieke Hogeschool Limburg (Belgium).

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Re: [Air-l] Web death ?
by Ren Reynolds 17 May '05

17 May '05

I’d be interested in what that paper was too. I’d be very surprised if it was EverQuest as back in 03 EverQuest was still seeing subscription growth. Even now it has about half a million subscribers though of course many have moved over to EverQuest II. MMOs might be a good counter to the thesis that on-line communities are impermanent at least in the very short term, especially as the bigger guilds are now going cross world. For example, the guild I am a recent member of has a presence in Lineage, Lineage II, EverQuest II and World of WarCraft. We are also seeing other interesting group moves. There are, for example, a number of game groups in Second Life that are trying to keep the spirit of dead communities alive with a highly mutable world. Then there is Meridian 59 which was bought by some of the player / developers. That is in some cases MMO communities are transcending the MMOs in which they began or any given MMO. ren terranova.blogs.com www.renreynolds.com ---- Original message ---- >Date: Mon, 16 May 2005 20:14:47 -0700 (PDT) >From: "Denise N. Rall" <denrall(a)yahoo.com> >Subject: [Air-l] Web death ? >To: air-l(a)listserv.aoir.org > >Dear Air-ers - > >I was trying to recall a paper given at Toronto that >viewed the life & death of an online community. I >believe it was called Everquest???? but now I'm not >sure. > >Anyone who presented at Toronto on the life & death of >an online community would you be so kind as to give >the name of your paper here or send it to me off list. > >I am using it to illustrate the impermanence of online >communities - any other references to 'off-line' or >dead communities would be greatly appreciated. > >Thanks, Denise > > > > > >Denise N. Rall, PhD candidate, School of Environ. Science, >Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 >Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & Internet Researcher >Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Tuesdays or Mobile 0438 233 344 >http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.htm l >_______________________________________________ >The Air-l-aoir.org(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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Re: [Air-l] re: transdisciplinarity
by Denise N. Rall 17 May '05

17 May '05

Dear Air'ers - Naturally I want to weigh in on this topic as it is the subject of my thesis. However I have now read hundred's of pages of material on these and related topics making it difficult to summarize or even, see a way forward - huh, this is what they call the 'writing up' part of the thesis - when things are clear as mud. However I must say that the answers won't come from reading a 'few online sources' depending on how far one is taking the discussion. There are perspectives from education, knowledgement management, and even the interdisciplinarians as organized researchers in IDS, or interdisciplinary studies, such as Jule Thompson Klein. Then there's other perspectives in knowledge productions such as offered by Gibbons et al. Another substantial perspective derives from Stephen Toulmin's sociology of knowledge. And, to my mind, the social epistemologists have an interesting take on disciplinary formulations. I have found those who look at disciplines as communities of practice to be fairly ordinary, while I really like the role of disciplines as epistemic culture as suggested by Knorr Cetina. My personal view of a discipline (currently, subject to change) represents a given disciplinary perspective more like a "Weltanschauung" than a particular set of rules or axioms, or frameworks or cultures, practices, or anything like that. Forthcoming interesting places to look will be Nancy Bayms (Ed.) Special issue on Internet Studies and Disciplines. While my paper (sadly) didn't make the cut, I have re-worked another paper under a new title: "Internet protocols and interdisciplinarity" This paper takes an operational view of the discourses around disciplines as similar to protocols that govern certain types of operations, such as internet protocols. It is not a sociology of knowledge approach but reviews the IDS frameworks of JT Klein et al. I will stick it up on my website (below) by the end of the week. Those who are interested can email me off-list for a .pdf. Cheers, Denise Denise N. Rall, PhD candidate, School of Environ. Science, Southern Cross University, Lismore NSW 2480 Sustainable Forestry Mentoring Coordinator & Internet Researcher Room T2.12, +61 (0)2 6620 3577 Tuesdays or Mobile 0438 233 344 http://www.scu.edu.au/schools/rsm/staff/pages/drall/index.html

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Nominations for AoIR Elections - 2 weeks to go
by Matthew Allen 17 May '05

17 May '05

Dear all I just want to remind everyone that, if you wish to nominate yourself, or someone else, for the positions of: vice-president, secretary, treasurer, grad student representative, open seat representative (3 positions) on the 2005-2007 AoIR executive, now is the time to do it. Email nominate(a)aoir.org and more info to be provided. In June we will be running a candidates' forum through which you can a) see what each candidate is saying in support of themselves and b) ask questions. Matt Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor Internet Studies Associate Dean Teaching and Learning, Humanities Curtin University of Technology, CRICOS 00301J Australia m.allen(a)curtin.edu.au http://smi.curtin.edu.au/netstudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 9266 3166 (f) Vice-President, Association of Internet Researchers http://www.aoir.org

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re: transdisciplinarity
by GTa3411203＠aol.com 16 May '05

16 May '05

The transdisciplinarity approach to researching human behaviors lends itself well when technology is being used an enabler. I am finding it is necessary to use this approach to doing research to gain a better understanding of the different forces outside a specific discipline area that directly impacts human behaviors that can be assessed internal to a specific discipline. For instance, I am currently exploring how business organizations might use blogging as a tacit knowledge management support tool. My discipline area is human resource development. It is, though, necessary to take a look at the literature in any number of disciplines (e.g., philosophy, sociology, psychology, computer science) to gain insight as to how technology acts as an enabler in promoting human behaviors that are influenced by cultural practices. Hope this makes sense. :-) I am finding this approach to doing research is quite different as there is no established body of literature and the need to be knowledgeable and comfortable with spanning disciplines to seek out essential information to support hypotheses. Gail ----------------------------------- Gail D. Taylor, Ed.M. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Human Resource Education Ph.D. Student Educational Psychology Teaching Assistant

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transdisciplinarity
by Michele White 16 May '05

16 May '05

I strongly disagree with Barry's indication that research that is without a disciplinary structure or "guidance" is inherently worse that other research. There may be questions that need to be posed in opposition to or without the safe and containing support of a discipline. It seems to me that feminisms, postcolonial studies, queer theory, and disability studies all suggested and continue to indicate that certain identities and questions have been prevented by disciplinary methods, boundaries, accepted areas of study, and beliefs. For instance, Linda Nochlin's "Why Are There No Great Women Artists?" suggested that prior to the 1970s that the education of artists and the field of art history rendered conditions where women could not be elevated to the status of great artist. Feminist critiques encourage us to look at what disciplines prevent, how they guide, and wonder about the ongoing disciplining of Women's Studies and Internet Studies. All my best, Michele

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trans/inter/non
by Barry Wellman 14 May '05

14 May '05

Thanks to Michael and Jeremy on their descriptions of transdisciplinarity. They make sense to me. It's basically about the establishment of new disciplines. What scares me is when trans... means nondisciplinary -- I have seen too many papers in conferences and in journal submissions that seem to have no disciplinary guidance -- old and new. Let trans be tran (and inter be inter), but non be gone! 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 To network is to live; to live is to network _____________________________________________________________________

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Re: [Air-l] transdisciplinarity
by Nentwich, Michael 14 May '05

14 May '05

> I am searching for literature on transdisciplinarity compared to > interdisciplinarity (within the context of new media content > production). I am grateful for any kind of info, particularly for > online available articles and papers. You might be successfull to find something when trying the Swiss transdisciplinarity website that includes a huge and well- ordered bibliographic database on transdisciplinarity: http://www.transdisciplinarity.ch/ (the site is in English) Good luck, Michael ------------- M. Nentwich http://eiop.or.at/mn/ author of "Cyberscience" http://hw.oeaw.ac.at/3188-7

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