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Netville paper wins 2nd prize
by Barry Wellman 30 Jun '04

30 Jun '04

Folks, I'm delighted to tell you that Keith Hampton and Barry Wellman's paper has won second prize (aka Honorable Mention) for the Park Award for an Outstanding Publication, given annually by the American Sociological Association's Community and Urban Sociology section: "Neighboring in Netville: How the Internet Supports Community and Social Capital in a Wired Suburb." _City and Community_ 2, 3 (Fall 2003): 277-311. It's nice to see Internet based stuff recognized by a non-Internet section. 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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Fwd: CFP Other Players reminder
by T.L. Taylor 30 Jun '04

30 Jun '04

Passing along for Miguel & Jonas... TL ------- From: Jonas Heide Smith <jonas(a)AUTOFIRE.DK> Subject: Call for papers - Other Players conference in December (REMINDER) Hi all (apologies for cross-posting), This is to remind you of the AUGUST 1st deadline for paper submissions for OTHER PLAYERS - A CONFERENCE ON MULTIPLAYER PHENOMENA (www.itu.dk/op) Full call for papers: www.itu.dk/op/callforpapers.php Conference: December 6-8, 2004 Place: Center for Computer Games Research (The IT University of Copenhagen, Denmark) We accept full papers (up to 6000 words) only, and all submitted papers will undergo blind review by expert game scholars. Papers must deal with one or more multiplayer issues in digital games. If you are interested in the conference, please subscribe to the special notification list - available from the front page of the conference website: www.itu.dk/op. Please note that we are in the process of revising the conference website considerably. We'd be grateful for suggestions or error reports (smith(a)itu.dk) We look very much forward to welcoming you in Copenhagen in December! If you have any questions regarding the conference please write to - Academic questions: Jonas Heide Smith (smith(a)itu.dk) - Administrative questions: Lise Louv (louv(a)itu.dk) Kind regards, Miguel Sicart and Jonas Heide Smith The Center for Computer Games Research - http://game.itu.dk -------------------------------------------- JONAS HEIDE SMITH PhD candidate, MA in Media Studies IT University of Copenhagen Department of Digital Aesthetics and Communication Glentevej 67 / Office 1.12 DK-2400 Copenhagen Tel: (+45) 38 16 89 35 Mobile: (+45) 24 91 33 13 Web: http://www.itu.dk/people/smith

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ELO Publishes "Acid-Free Bits" on the Web
by Carol Wald 29 Jun '04

29 Jun '04

I followed the instructions on formatting my post as plain text; is this OK? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------------- "Acid-Free Bits: Recommendations for Long-Lasting Electronic Literature" by Nick Montfort and Noah Wardrip-Fruin v. 1.0 June 14, 2004 ELO's Preservation, Archiving and Dissemination Committee (PAD) has just published an important set of guidelines for creating enduring eliterature and digital media works. "Acid-Free Bits" is now available at the ELO's website, http://www.eliterature.org . We hope that artists, writers, instructors, scholars, and librarians will find "Acid-Free Bits" both useful and provocative for writing, art-making, teaching, and debate about the nature and future of born-digital writing. We look forward to hearing your thoughts about "Acid-Free Bits." Please feel free to contact the authors with your feedback: Nick Montfort: nickm [at] nickm [dot] com ; web: http://nickm.com Noah Wardrip-Fruin: nwf [at] brown [dot] edu Please also feel free to post comments on the PAD discussion forum. You will find a link to this forum on the "Acid-Free Bits" web page. Best regards, Carol Ann Wald Program Assistant Electronic Literature Organization ---------------------------------------------------- 11000 Kinross Ave., Suite 245 Los Angeles, CA 90095-1615 t 310.206.1863 f 310.206.6676 http://www.eliterature.org

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Photoblogs and MoBlogs
by Zach Johnson 29 Jun '04

29 Jun '04

All, I've done some preliminary searching for academic research related to Photoblogs (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=photoblog&r=f) and MoBlogs (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=moblog&f=1) and so far have come up pretty short. Any references published or otherwise would be most appreciated. Thanks in advance. Zach Johnson PhD Candidate Bournemouth University Media School Poole, Dorset BH12 5BB UK

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re;INTERNATIONAL INTERNET PRESERVATION, CONSORTIUM
by et 25 Jun '04

25 Jun '04

thanks for posting this Jeremy. Finally, the most important issue in Internet Research cracks a mention ! In my opinion the two most critical innovations needed for the internet, from an internet researchers point of view, are 1. the need for complete recording and archiving of ALL webpages and 2. the need for the implementation of a royalty payment system for producers of small to medium sized websites. Looking at 1.... The Australian government has an internet archiving system - unfortunately this system is only interested in archiving selected websites owned by major organisations. Even the Internet Archive appears to only record medium to large websites and ignores small publishers and mum and dad sites.My sporting website was recorded by the Wayback Machine( poorly and infrequently) and is in the Alexandria Library archive, yet it is not in the Australian government archive. My wifes business website does not appear in any archive. There appears to be far too much inconsistency. The problem is that public servants and government bodies tend to be very elitist as we see in the Australian example where they are only interested in archiving the big boys. Yet it is a reality of the internet that often the best and most comprehensive information is not provided by official bodies but rather by enthusiastic individuals or groups. For example, in the sport of rugby union, the website of the official body in Australia is archived by the government. My website, which not only possessed a far greater range of information but was also the content provider for much of the official bodies site, was not recorded. By not recording every site the quality of the archive is far less than it might otherwise be. If one wants to find information about Style Sheets, they do not go to a university website, they go to a site run by a mad enthusiast who toils away for hours every week for free. If you want information about a sport or sports betting odds, often it is a private website that covers the subject in the most comprehensive manner. If you want to know about the latest Social Security rates or issues you would find more information at a private website than from a government body. In most areas of human endeavour, officialdom lags far behind the efforts of the individual or small groups. Even from the point of view of all the social researchers out there, I would imagine the resource that should be available from all the individual homepages is a huge treasure that should be retained, yet is being lost daily. I believe that every webpage, except for those who explicitly opt out, should be archived at least once a month by a global organisation with governments and large companies benefitting from the internet contributing to the cost of this exercise and with open public access. Anything less than this is not worth bothering with. Issue number 2 - as stated above I believe there should be a royalty system for those who operate small to medium websites based on the accesses to their website. Technically possible - I think so. Capable of being set up without excessive fraud - probably Of benefit to the internet's diversity - definitely. Without going into it too much, I see a fund being established which would make payments to individual operators of websites who achieve a minimum number of web page accesses per month, who do not carry advertising or offensive material, and with there being a ceiling of perhaps $1000 per month to any individual registered with the scheme. This would help keep many operators in the industry rather than fall away when life's responsibilities require them to spend more time earning real money. Just a few thoughts, regards Eero Tarik

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qualitative research pre-conference workshop announcement
by Annette Markham 24 Jun '04

24 Jun '04

>>> Announcement of Pre-Conference Workshop <<< >>> Qualitative Research Methods <<< AOIR 5.0 Internet Research Conference, Sussex, UK Saturday, September 18, 2004, 2:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS: This Pre-Conference workshop is designed to enable participants to work through common yet complex issues related to the qualitative study of Internet-related phenomena. At the workshop, five highly qualified but very different experts in the broad field of Internet Studies will lead discussion sessions. The topics of these sessions will be derived from the participants themselves, who will submit their questions a few weeks in advance of the workshop (see below for details). Broadly speaking, the focus of this workshop is the study of the Internet or ICT (rather than how to use internet-related technologies to facilitate traditional research). >>> Workshop Facilitators <<< Nancy Baym, Ph. D., University of Kansas, USA http://www.people.ku.edu/~nbaym/ Annette Markham, Ph. D., University of Illinois at Chicago, USA http://ascend.comm.uic.edu/~amarkham/ Christine Hine, Ph. D., University of Surrey, UK http://www.soc.surrey.ac.uk/christine_hine.htm Lori Kendall, Ph. D., SUNY, Purchase College http://www.ucpress.edu/books/pages/9474.html Shani Orgad, Ph. D., London School of Economics, UK http://www.lse.ac.uk/people/s.s.orgad@lse.ac.uk/ >>> How to Participate <<< Participation is on a first-come, first-serve basis. Interested participants should register for this workshop as they register for the AOIR conference in general. http://aoir.org/2004/ >>> Rationale <<< Although many of us use the label "qualitative" to describe our methods, our choices and practices vary considerably due to differences in disciplinary training, experiences, theoretical frameworks and worldviews, the research questions we are asking, and the type of phenomena we're studying. Many disciplines and universities offer only limited, if any, training in qualitative research, particularly related to internet research. As a result, many Internet researchers remain unsure how to conduct or evaluate quality research in this area. The diverse scholars brought together for this pre-conference workshop will encourage a broader understanding of qualitative inquiry that may offer a fuller range of methodological choices for participants. >>> Submitting Questions <<< Each registered participant should submit one question he or she would like to have addressed during the workshop, accompanied by a brief explanation of the context within which his or her question is situated. Questions should be submitted by email no later than September 1, 2004 to either Nancy Baym (nbaym(a)ku.edu) or Annette Markham (amarkham(a)gmail.com) Workshop leaders will use these questions to build workshop sessions. During the workshop, participants and workshop facilitators will address the practical, theoretical, political, and/or ethical issues involved in answering the question. Dialogue about these issues within the workshop is intended to illustrate the complexity of methodological decision making during the course of rigorous qualitative study. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact Annette or Nancy.

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Call For Papers- Interaction: Systems, Practice and Theory
by Alastair Weakley 24 Jun '04

24 Jun '04

Interaction: Systems, Practice and Theory A Creativity and Cognition Symposium Hosted by: The Dynamic Design Research Group, UTS. In cooperation with ACM SIGCHI To be held at: University of Technology, Sydney, and; Powerhouse Museum, Sydney 16 November - 19 November 2004 The symposium will focus on the emergence of art, communication, information and entertainment systems using interactive environments and media in museum, gallery and other public spaces. It will address recent research and future directions in art and design, spanning the areas of * Innovative interactive devices and systems * Creative practice employing interactive environments * Social and cultural theory about interaction The discussions will draw on digital art practice, computer game developments, human-computer interaction as well as social and cultural theory. Attendance will primarily depend on the acceptance of refereed contributions, which will be published in a Workshop Proceedings. An exhibition will form an integral part of the meeting. This will show artworks, games and other systems germane to the meeting. It is planned to make the exhibition open to the public. Three Keynote speakers will make public presentations to set the tone and direction of the meeting. The symposium will be organised so that the contributions and discussions lead to a significant book on the subject that will both summarize the state of the art and point forward to future research and practice. Keynote speakers * Roy Ascott, Director of the Planetary Collegium, Professor of Technoetics, University of Plymouth UK * Sidney Fels, Associate Professor, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of British Columbia, Canada * Christa Sommerer, Associate Professor, IAMAS Japan http://research.it.uts.edu.au/creative/interaction/ Paper deadline 23rd July 2004 ___________________________________________ Alastair Weakley Creativity & Cognition Studios Faculty of IT University of Technology, Sydney Australia Tel: +61(0)2 9514 4637 alastair(a)weakley.org.uk http://www.creativityandcognition.com

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Fwd: Media Studies Research Scholarships, New Zealand
by Steve Jones 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Media Studies School of English, Film and Theatre Vice Chancellor's Strategic Research Scholarships 2004/2005 for a scholar working on Digital Media in New Zealand in relation to New Zealand Media Policy and Audience Media Studies at Victoria University of Wellington is a new and rapidly expanding programme with a range of research interests. The programme wishes to expand on its current research strengths by offering a strategic PhD scholarship for research on digital media, the formation of government digital media policy and its relationship with New Zealand audiences and media users. The digital media form will depend on the research interests of the scholarship awardee and the availability of staff for supervision, but may include: digital television, electronic gaming, or the Internet. Policy concerns may include regulation of ownership, accessibility, censorship or other areas. Digital media and its impact on both state policy and audiences involves examinations at the cutting edge of media development, and is central to understanding the evolution of contemporary media in New Zealand. The research project will - assist in understanding the rhetoric around public debates on digital media and policy in cultural and historical terms - contribute to understanding the role of audience in discussions of digital media policy - provide an analysis of the predicted impact of the growth of digital media on New Zealand audiences For further information on the Media Studies Programme at Victoria University of Wellington, see http://www2.vuw.ac.nz/seft/top/mediastudies.htm For further information on the Strategic Research Scholarship in Media Studies, please contact: Associate Professor Roy Shuker, Director of the Media Studies Programme School of English, Film and Theatre +64 4 463 6821 roy.shuker [at] vuw.ac.nz

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chat research
by Thomas N.Burg 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Hi everybody, a student of mine in interested in research on Chat environments for teenagers. He is particularily interested in social and psychological issues. One of his general questions is "Can chat communities replace lack of communication within families?" or "Is there a difference between users of rural aereas and cities?" Since this is not my field of expertise I was hoping you could help me to assist him with some advice regarding online and offline literature on this topic Thank you very much. Thomas ----------------------------------------- Thomas N. Burg Head of the Center for New Media Danube University Krems http://randgaenge.net http://wiki.randgaenge.net http://blogtalk.net http://www.donau-uni.ac.at/znm

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Content/political analysis online forum terms
by Steven Clift 22 Jun '04

22 Jun '04

Has anyone compared in detail the various rights/privileges/responsibilities articulated in the terms of agreement related to online forums? Or compared the evolution of forum rules with off-line debate practices in legislative assemblies or forms of in-person deliberative democracy? E-Democracy.Org is reworking our rules for our second decade and would appreciate any suggestions/links/comments: http://www.e-democracy.org/center/draftrules.html Our forums work in practice, but we could use some help to have them work in theory. Without more in-depth research it is difficult to determine in a world of scare time and resources, what online civic engagement models are the most cost-effective, sustainable, powerful, civil, agenda-setting, etc. Thanks, Steven Clift P.S. Recent headlines from our forums on a draft page: http://www.e-democracy.org/today.html Steven Clift - http://publicus.net - Reply to: clift(a)publicus.net Join DoWire: http://e-democracy.org/do Speaking requests: http://publicus.net/speaker.html Watch my BBC World interview: http://publicus.net/media.html

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