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query re. f2f greetings
by Charles Ess 17 Feb '04

17 Feb '04

Dear AoIRists: On behalf of a colleague who is interested in important contrasts between online and offline experiences, a query: Is there literature, description, anecdotes, speculation about the following possibilities: Two people meet and talk f2f 1. The next time they meet - they remember one another and/or find other cues for recalling / establishing the identity of the Other. 2. The next time they meet - they do not seem to remember, but it's as if they are meeting for the first time. and: are there analogues for these possibilities online? That is - are there protocols (informal or otherwise) for how people greet newcomers, for example, in chatrooms (that might be analogous to meeting a newcomer f2f for the first time) vis-a-vis greeting protocols / rituals / conventions for subsequent meetings in which 3. the dialogical partners remember one another, and /or find other cues for recalling /establishing the identity of the Other. 4. the dialogical partners, in a subsequent encounter, fail to remember and must re-meet, as if for the first time? Part of the point of this query is to see if there cues we might draw from offline encounters and establishment of personal identity / trust in the Other that would apply / not apply to the online world - all with a view towards developing (a sense of) more secure networks and online communication. In particular: what do we do offline to establish a sense of the personal identity of a stranger - and how far can these procedures / protocols / rituals, etc. be replicated online? I hope you find the questions interesting, at least! Thanks in advance for any suggestions and comments you may be able to offer. Cheers, Charles Ess Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Voice: 417-873-7230 Springfield, MO 65802 USA FAX: 417-873-7435 Home page: http://www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html Co-chair, CATaC: http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac/ Exemplary persons seek harmony, not sameness. -- Analects 13.23

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Re:Oops there goes the thread first post (An Internet Without Space)
by Eero Tarik 17 Feb '04

17 Feb '04

Stephanie wrote, in reply to Frank... "You wonder how your students have become so much younger than you all of a sudden? :-)My students are about TWO decades younger than me and I am finding the same thing that you are finding. This semester I have five sections of students- about 125 students. In an informal poll last month I discovered that only about 1% know anything about usenets, discussion lists, etc. As you can see from the sig file, I am from the States. Most of my students are not internationals. What do you think is the reason for their lack of Internet savvy? I am perplexed." Frank, Stephanie, I have two teenage children, neither is allowed to use the internet at home although each has their own computer. There are numerous reasons why I wont and cant let them go for their lives online from home. At school they are allowed to use the internet, however there is a download limit for the year of something like 2MB, after which you pay, and its expensive so they ignore the school option. Recently I encouraged them to go to the library where they can get a free hour of internet access if they book in advance and they have started to do this about once a fortnight. My eldest son is in his last year of school. If he goes to uni next year he will have had no experience in the areas you mention - because it hasnt been easily available to him and many of his friends are in a similar situation. Should we, therefore, be surprised that those entering universities striaght from school have little or no experience online. It may not be out of lack of interest, but rather a lack of opportunity. Its also worth noting that nearly all of us didnt know anything about the internet at 18 years of age because it didnt exist, yet have had no trouble acquiring the skills and knowledge needed over the years. see ya Eero Tarik Adelaide

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Summer Fellowships: Culture and Technology
by Ulla Bunz 17 Feb '04

17 Feb '04

I'm forwarding a forward as I think this might appeal to some of you. Ulla Bunz > >Summer Fellowship Call for Projects > >Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular > > > >The Institute for Multimedia Literacy (IML) at the University of Southern California'Äôs Annenberg Center for Communication is pleased to announce a Fellowship program for summer 2004 to foster innovative research for its new electronic publishing venture, Vectors: Journal of Culture and Technology in a Dynamic Vernacular. > > > >Vectors is a new, international electronic journal dedicated to expanding the potentials of academic publication via emergent and transitional media. Vectors brings together visionary scholars with cutting-edge designers and technologists to propose a thorough > >rethinking of the dynamic relationship of form to content in academic research, focusing on the ways technology shapes, transforms and reconfigures social and cultural relations. > > > >Vectors will adhere to the highest standards of quality in a strenuously reviewed format. The journal is edited by Tara McPherson and Steve Anderson and guided by the collective knowledge of a prestigious international board. > > > >About the Fellowships > >¬... Vectors Fellowships will be awarded to up to six individuals or teams of collaborators in the early to mid- stages of development of a scholarly multimedia project related to the themes of Evidence or Mobility. Completed projects will be included in the first two issues of the journal beginning in fall 2004. Vectors will feature next-generation multimedia work, moving far beyond the 'Äòtext with image'Äô format of most online scholarly publications. > > > >Fall 2004: Evidence > >¬... The first issue of the journal will be devoted to a broad > >reconsideration of the notion of Evidence and its multiple > >transformations in contemporary scholarship and digital culture. > > > >Spring 2005: Mobility > >¬... The second issue will be devoted to exploring the shifting concepts and practices of Mobility in contemporary culture, creatively limning the possibilities and limits of such a concept for understanding 21st century life. > > > >About the Awards > >All fellowship recipients will participate in a one-week residency June 21-25, 2004 at the Institute for Multimedia Literacy in Los Angeles, where they will have access to the IML'Äôs state of the art, Mac-based production facilities. Fellows will have continuing access to work in collaboration with world-class designers and the IML'Äôs technical support and programming team throughout the project'Äôs development. > > > >The residency will include colloquia and working sessions where participants will have the chance to develop project foundations and collectively engage relevant issues in scholarly multimedia. Applicants need not be proficient with new media authoring; however, evidence of successful collaboration and scholarly innovation is desirable. Fellowship awards will include an honorarium of $2000 for each > >participant or team of collaborators, in addition to travel and accommodation expenses. > > > >About the Proposals > >We are seeking project proposals that creatively address issues related to the first two themes of Evidence and Mobility. While the format of the journal is meant to explore innovative forms of multimedia > >scholarship, we are not necessarily looking for projects that are about new media. Rather, we are interested in the various ways that new media suggest a transformation of scholarship, art and communication practices and their relevance to everyday life in an unevenly mediated world. > > > >Applicants are encouraged to think beyond the computer screen to consider possibilities created by the proliferation of wireless technology, handheld devices, alternative exhibition venues, etc. Fellows will also have the possibility to imagine scholarly applications for newly developing technologies through productive collaborations with scientists and engineers. Projects may translate existing scholarly work or be entirely conceived for new media. We are particularly interested in work that re-imagines the role of the user and seeks to reach broader publics while creatively exploring the value of collaboration and interactivity. > > > >Proposals should include the following: > >¬... Title of project and a one-sentence description > >¬... A 3-5 page description of the project concept, goals and outcome (this description should address questions of audience, innovative uses of interactivity, address and form, as well the project'Äôs contribution to the field of multimedia scholarship and to contemporary scholarship more generally) > >¬... Brief biography of each applicant, including relevant qualifications and experience for this fellowship > >¬... Full CV for each applicant > >¬... Anticipated required resources (design, technical, hardware, software, exhibition, etc.) > >¬... Projected timeline > >¬... Sample media if available (CD, DVD, VHS (any standard), or NTSC Mini-DV); for electronic submissions, URLs are preferred but still images may be sent as e-mail attachments if necessary) > > > >Please submit to: > > > >Vectors Summer Fellowships > >Institute for Multimedia Literacy > >746 W. Adams Blvd. > >Los Angeles, CA 90089 > >e-mail: vectors(a)annenberg.edu > > > >Priority will be given to applications received by March 12, 2004. Fellowship recipients will be notified in mid-April. > > > >Additional Information > > > >For additional information about the Vectors Summer Fellowship Program, please consult our informational website at > >http://www.iml.annenberg.edu/vectors . Questions may be > directed to > >Associate Editor Steve Anderson, sanderson(a)annenberg.edu . -- Ulla Bunz Assistant Professor Department of Communication Rutgers University 4 Huntington Street New Brunswick, NJ 08901

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origin of gibson quote
by Barry Wellman 17 Feb '04

17 Feb '04

Folks, I can use a little bibliographic help. Wenhong Chen and I are at the end of writing a Digital Divide paper for the Blackwell Companion on Social Stratification. We want to use a quote attributed to William Gibson, "The future is already here; it's just unevenly distributed." Now the quote itself is widely posted on the web. But never with a specific reference to a page number. Sometimes, a web poster will say "As William Gibson said in _Neuroromancer_, `The future is ...' But I went thru Neuroromancer yesterday and couldn't find it (Ace original edition, 1984). Can anyone pin down the exact reference for this quote. Or is this an urban legend, oft repeated but never sourced? In which case we shall say "(attributed to William Gibson)" 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] cms recommendations
by Art McGee 17 Feb '04

17 Feb '04

Do some additional investigating here: http://www.opensourcecms.com http://www.la-grange.net/cms Art

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CFP- AfroGEEKS Conference Deadline
by Jillana Enteen 16 Feb '04

16 Feb '04

Hello all, I believe Art sent around this CFP already, but I was asked to circulate once more before deadline. Best, jillana Begin forwarded message: >>> >>> >>> ------------- conference call-------------- >>> >>> AfroGEEKS: FROM TECHNOPHOBIA TO TECHNOPHILIA >>> >>> MAY 7-8, 2004 @ THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SANTA BARBARA >>> >>> CALL FOR CONFERENCE PAPERS: DEADLINE MARCH 1, 2004 >>> >>> The Center for Black Studies at the University of California, Santa >>> Barbara, invites submissions of papers for an upcoming conference, >>> entitled “AfroGEEKS: From Technophobia to Technophilia.” This >>> conference >>> examines the rapidly-shifting relationship between issues of >>> Blackness >>> and technology. In recent years, African Americans, especially, have >>> been portrayed as poster children for the digital divide discourse. >>> Though rarely represented as full participants in the information >>> technology revolution, Black people are among the earliest adopters >>> and >>> comprise some of the most ardent and innovative users of IT >>> (information >>> technology). African diasporic people’s many successes within new >>> media >>> and information technologies are too often overshadowed by the >>> significant inequalities in technology access which ultimately >>> produces >>> the racial digital divide. >>> >>> But there is more to this important and timely topic. We are >>> interested >>> in proposals that consider the following topics: >>> >>> 1. Structural barriers to IT access that specifically impact Black >>> communities >>> 2. Effective models of innovative IT use and adoption in Black >>> communities >>> 3. The influence of traditional science education on Black youths >>> 4. Technophobes and Luddites in the Black community >>> 5. Computer gaming in the Black community >>> 6. Black popular music culture, such as sampling and turntablism, >>> within >>> the IT economy >>> 7. The place of Blacks in the IT industry >>> 8. How categories of hi-tech and low-tech mastery get determined and >>> circulated >>> 9. Black IT leaders >>> 10. Recent legislation regarding the telecommunications industry and >>> universal access to IT >>> 11. The responsibility of the government and IT businesses to >>> minority >>> communities >>> 12. IT issues on the African continent and for African diasporas >>> outside >>> of the U.S. >>> 13. Events of September 11 relative to Blacks’ position in the IT >>> economy >>> 14. The Geek identity problematic >>> 15. From IT Consumers to IT Producers >>> 16. Black virtual communities >>> 17. Black blogs >>> 18. Blacks and military-based IT training >>> 19. Becoming AfroGeeks >>> 20. Proposals addressing related topics welcome >>> >>> The conference will be held May 7-8, 2004, at the University of >>> California, Santa Barbara. >>> Proposals should be limited to two pages and should include an >>> abstract >>> of not more than 350 words, an abbreviated c.v. or resume, and >>> audio/visual equipment needs. >>> Proposals should be submitted to: >>> >>> Dr. Anna Everett, Director >>> Center for Black Studies >>> University of California >>> Santa Barbara, CA 93106 >>> >>> For more information, e-mail: ctr4blst(a)omni.ucsb.edu >>> http://www.research.ucsb.edu/cbs >>> >>> >>> >>> <everett.vcf> >> Jillana Enteen >> jillana(a)jillana.net >> http://jillana.net > Jillana Enteen jillana(a)jillana.net http://jillana.net

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February 2004 executive committee report
by Nancy Baym 16 Feb '04

16 Feb '04

February 16, 2004 Report of the a.o.i.r. executive committee Prepared by Nancy Baym AoIR Executive Committee President: Nancy Baym Vice-President: Matthew Allen Secretary: Ulla Bunz Treasurer: Benjamin Bates Open Seats: Radhika Gajjala and Annette Markham Appointed Seats: Monica Murero and Randolph Kluver Student Seat: Leslie Tkach-Kawasaki Publications Officers: Jeremy Hunsinger and Charlie Breindahl Past President (ex-officio): Steve Jones 2004 Conference Chair: Kate O'Riordan Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess AoIR Annual Chair: Mia Consalvo 1. Introduction & General (Baym) This is the place to find out what's going on in the association. It's long, it's not always thrilling, but it's always the best way for you to keep up so please read it! Our executive committee discussions are summarized in Ulla Bunz's section of the report, 2004 Conference Host Kate O'Riordan provides a Sussex overview in the conference chair report below, Charles Ess keeps us posted on ethics, and Mia Consalvo keeps us up to date on the Annual. All this and more! Read on... 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Baym) 2.1.1 First, I apologize for not posting a report in the last few months (not that I received a lot of inquiries as to its whereabouts!). We were in a minor lull through the holidays and are now back to multiple ongoing threads all day, every day. The main items on our agenda have been the 2004 conference in Sussex which is shaping up nicely (thanks in no small part to the work of Kate O'Riordan and Sheizaf Rafaeli), and getting ready to launch some initiatives (stay tuned for opportunities to get involved!). I've also been appreciating the quality (if occassional wackiness) of recent air-l discussions, which have reminded me of how important aoir is in providing an interdisciplinary and international space for people from diverse perspectives to discuss issues of common concern. Sometimes we talk past one another, but I think that more often we learn from one another. As always, if you have suggestions about how AoIR can improve your life as an internet researcher or have skills to offer the association, please let me know! 2.2 Vice President (Allen) 2.2.1 [Matt sent in no report, but has been actively participating in discussion on exec]. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 The exec committee continued to discuss an official proposal for hosting the AoIR 2005 conference. The proposal from another potential host was withdrawn. By unanimous vote (11/11) we voted *in favor* of the proposed host site. The 2005 location will be announced in Sussex. We are in dialogue with the proposed hosting site about further details. We are considering moving to a hired conference management team which would change hosting procedures. More information will be made available once guidelines have been formulated. If you are interested in the 2006 or 2007 conference organization, please get in touch with Nancy Baym any time. Also, the exec continued to discuss the issue of co-sponsorship and joint conferences for future conferences. Final conclusion was that overall we would prefer to continue as the sole association responsible for AoIR conferences though we are open to scheduling conferences back to back with related associations so as to facilitate travel and give people the opportunity to broaden their interests. - The exec discussed conference fees and membership fees, comparing standards in different disciplines and trying to combine conflicting goals (i.e., raising conference fees to keep the financial situation of the association in shape, while hoping to attract researchers from less affluent countries). At this point, no official change in either membership fees or conference fees was decided upon. It is possible that the conference fees for AoIR 2004 will be higher than in previous years, but we expect accommodations to be significantly cheaper, so that total cost should be the same or maybe even lower than for the Toronto conference. Along the same lines, we are considering setting up a support fund for graduate students and people from non-OECD countries. Conference funding issues in general and for Sussex in specific were discussed as well. - The exec discussed whether to continue with the Couch Award to be awarded during AoIR conference and decided in favor. - The exec discussed various hotel-sharing and cross-booking options for future conferences to offer accommodation at cheaper hotels without raising association default charges when not meeting a minimum requirement of rooms booked at the main conference hotel. It appears that two different models can be followed in Europe and in the US, and the exec is open to testing a new model at a future AoIR conference in Europe. - The air-qualitativemethods(a)aoir.org has been created. Contact Annette Markham for more information. - Jeremy Hunsinger prepared the online submission system, and members of the exec tested it. - The exec discussed AoIR's possible contributions to ASCUS (http://www.ascus.info/) in addition to just putting our logo on their site. We support their cause, but have no content to offer them at this time. - The exec is in the process of discussing the charges for what may become two new working groups. One will concern journals options and one will concern website options. Please watch for further information, as we will request input from both members and non-members in the near future. - Along with conference planner Kate ORiordan and program planner Sheizaf Rafaeli, decided to push the submission deadline back to February 15. - Jeremy Hunsinger reported various spam problems and access problems, but also reported that everything seems to be under control again. 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Just finished sending off renewal reminders. Trying to keep up. 2.5 Open Seats (Gajjala, Markham) 2.5.1 Gajjala: nothing much to report - scrambling to meet AOIR deadlines:) 2.5.2 Markham: Contributed to discussions related to current and future conferences, circulated the conference call for papers as widely as possible, focusing on non-academic fields of inquiry, continued to generate interest in the qualitative methods mailing list, and brainstormed with other members of the executive committee about matters related to the net presence of AOIR. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Murero, Kluver) 2.6.1 Murero: I was involved in giving final approvals for the keynote speakers' shortlist, within the conference committee, and on the basis of my previous experience in organizing Maastricht's conference have given suggestions to organizers about opportunities of sponsorships for the annual AoIR conference in Sussex. 2.6.2 Kluver: I have been participating in exec discussions thoughtfully, if not loudly! Nothing more to report. 2.7 Student Seat (Tkach-Kawaski) 2.7.1 * Drafting brief e-mail report to grad students through the grad student list (to go out in about two days). * Participating in discussions regarding the web-site. 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: I've been working peripherally on conference matters as necessary. charlie and I have been working very hard to manage spam and virus's and let me assure you that any spam or virus that seems to come from aoir.org most likely does not originate from our servers, likewise with spam. other than that, I've been participating in exec deliberations and other business. 2.8.2 Breindahl: Jeremy and I have spent lots of time fighting worm-generated mail. MIME e-mail is no longer posted directly to the list, but held in a queue for closer scrutiny. We strongly recommend posting in plain text. Took part in various executive committee discussions as usual. 2.9 Past-President (Jones): I've been working on getting bids from conference management agencies for the purpose of planning and executing future AoIR conferences. 2.10 2004 Conference Chair (Kate O'Riordan) 2.10.1 Internet Research: 5, 2004 Keynote Speakers We are very pleased to report that Sara Kiesler and Nina Wakefield have confirmed that they will attend as keynote speakers for IR:5. We look forward to their contributions to what promises to be an exciting conference. Submissions We have received over 360 abstracts in response to the call for papers. The programme chair Professor Sheizaf Rafaeli and a team of reviewers are currently working on these and we should be able to confirm papers and develop the programme in the coming months on the basis of this enthusiastic response. Registration Some budget details are still being ironed out, but we hope to have registration details online before Easter. Challenges and Help We are keen to encourage more volunteers to help with any aspect of the conference planning. Please contact us if you feel you could contribute. Volunteers for reviewing and other programme roles can contact the programme chair. Practical issues, contributions to the web site and onsite volunteers can contact the conference chair. Fund raising also continues to be a significant challenge. Thanks Many thanks to all the people who have contributed to the conference so far; especially those who continue to contribute to the conference planning list (aoir-meet) and those of you who have volunteered to help with the reviewing. Thanks also to the people at the University of Sussex who've put in so much hard work. I look forward to continuing to work with you all as the planning progresses. 2.11 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.11.1 The AoIR ethics working committee has discussed a recent case/study kindly provided by two AoIR members. Several lessons emerged from the case/study and our discussion - two of which bear mention here. One, significant problems can be avoided ahead of time if participants in a multi-disciplinary research project spell out and discuss in detail their methodological assumptions and ethical practices regarding publication of research data. (In the case we examined, two different disciplines involved in the research project, it turned out, had more or less opposite views on this point - leading to difficulties _after_ much of the project had been completed, IRB approval received, etc.) Two - our discussion further illustrated the differences among us with regard to what we mean by "case study" (!). For some of us (included Ess as a philosopher), a case study can remain relatively general: for others, a case study is necessarily much more finely detailed. The problem is that in this instance - as in previous cases brought to the committee for discussion - the understandable request for more detailed information put the authors of our case in the unpleasant position of having to say 'no' to such requests. For a host of reasons, including issues of professional courtesy and confidentiality, our colleagues were not able to provide us with additional information, leaving the committee's discussion somewhat stalled in mid-course. The lesson learned: our project of collecting case studies that would help provide a kind of positive analogue to case law (that might help researchers develop their proposals and negotiate with their IRBs or equivalent oversight authorities) will have to be modified. The good news: we can still solicit from AoIR members more general accounts of their experiences that focus on "Ethical tips / lessons learned" in developing research proposals and negotiating with ethical oversight authorities. On behalf of the committee - we look forward to receiving these from you! -- Charles Ess 2.12 AoIR Annual Editor (Mia Consalvo) 2.12.1: The first volume of the AoIR Annual is in the final stages of camera copy proofing, with the index now completed (thanks Leslie!) and final errors corrected. It goes to the printer February 20 for production. The second volume of the Annual is still in planning-- Matt and Mia are still reading through submissions- there were over 120 papers to consider, and due to a large volume of excellent manuscripts, decisions are difficult. We estimate that we will be notifying everyone by the end of this month (February 28)-- and sorry about that delay.

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New Ph.D.
by Chris Anson 16 Feb '04

16 Feb '04

Colleagues: We would greatly appreciate your response to just two questions about the program described below. Please go to the linked form to access the two questions; it will take you less than 60 seconds to respond. Many thanks! ----------------------

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Effects of email on Spanish
by Naomi Susan Baron 16 Feb '04

16 Feb '04

I have received a request from someone from Argentina who is interested in the effects of email on the Spanish language (written and/or spoken). If you have any ideas/research findings/references, please contact her off-list at "silvina scheiner" <silvina(a)scheiner.com.ar>. Thanks, Naomi Naomi S. Baron Professor of Linguistics American University Washington, DC 20016-8045

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Re: An Internet without Space
by gdtaylor 16 Feb '04

16 Feb '04

I have been following this discussion. I started using the Internet in 1988 before there was a World Wide Web. At that time, I was working for a government agency that had networked offices and dial-up modem capabilities that allowed me to connect to one of the few servers available at that time. This was at a point in time when servers were few-and-far-between and tended to reside on the campuses of major universities or federal government offices in the U.S. I have always appreciated the fact that President Clinton and Vice-President Gore promoted the idea of the Internet and World Wide Web being an information superhighway. I continue to maintain the viewpoint that the Internet and WWW are an information superhighway to this day. I have also been using relational databases since 1988, primarily for research purposes. I also tend to think of the Internet and WWW as being just a very large relational database. The various Internet search engines (e.g. Yahoo, Google) are the query menus that allow users to sort the database and locate information using search words or phrases. Gail -------------------------------------------- Gail D. Taylor, Graduate Teaching Assistant University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Department of Human Resource Education "It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most responsive to change." Charles Darwin

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