- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

RE: [Air-l] re:-my first post(reply to Ulla)
by Charlie Breindahl 09 Feb '04

09 Feb '04

Eero wrote: > Doesnt this give us enough to research and study without > hallucinating about cyberspace? > Must we have so much "cyber jargon" to describe what are very > simple processes and for most users merely a convenient > communications tool? > > Communication is all about speaking/writing clearly and > simply. The greater the number of people who can understand > you, the greater your ability to communicate. > I dont understand how "cyber jargon" and hallucinating about > cyberspace makes the world a better place or enriches > humankind - or how it makes one a greater communicator. > :-) Nah. Communication is about at least three things, all involving time and space: 1) Historically, communication is a synonym to transportation. Prior to the telegraph, virtually any message had to be physically carried from sender to receiver. Needless to say, we still conceive of communication as a process involving transport/dissemination of messages and thus, time and space. 2) Communication is about the (electronic) exchange of information that you allude to. This is not a trivial matter, though. 2a) A bus schedule (trivial informatiation) works in most parts of the world, but it works according to complex local customs and tools structuring the time-space continuum (spatial knowledge such as geography and the use of time keeping devices). 2b) Richer forms of communication mostly use verbal language. According to Mark Johnson et al., language is full of metaphors alluding to space and time - surely you would _go along_ with this _proposition_, right? 3) Communication is about shared interiorities, as I think John Durham Peters calls it, i.e. the bond to our fellow humans. I think that he fails to recognize how much objects and our bodies matter in communication. If you love somebody, do you send them an e-mail? No, you present them with a rose. Sharing sentiments is often a matter of bodily gesture: :o)= Now if I should deliver a bold jab at your world-view, just as you did to mine (and I thank you for it), I would suggest that you are so focused on communication as trivial information (2a above) that you forget about all the rest. In essence, you are like a blinkered horse, faithfully trotting along sensing only the familiar road ahead, but missing all the exciting things happening in the landscape around you. You should be galloping in the fields instead! Best, Charlie -- Charlie Breindahl Ph.D. Student, Copenhagen + Malmö Web: http://staff.hum.ku.dk/hitch/ http://www.creativeenvironments.mah.se/ Phone: +45 35 32 81 14 Mobile: +45 51 92 15 98 E-mail: hitch(a)hum.ku.dk "For the modern Don Quixote, the windmills have been preprogrammed to turn into knights" - Janet H. Murray

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re:-my second post(help etc...)
by Eero Tarik 09 Feb '04

09 Feb '04

Jonathan, whilst I published that list of stats for fun it wouldnt surprise me if "help" was a significant legitimate result. Obviously it appears high up the list in a Google search since its mentioned somewhere on most opening web pages but it would, I would imagine, get a fair share of action from users trying to work their way around a site or trying to get more info. Anyhow, it would make an eye catching title for a paper - "Help - who needs it?" "Business" was the surprising entry on the list for me and I was amazed "god" has so few entries - obviously internet users are too interested in making money, using it to pursue sex and then seeking help, but not from a "god" :-) see ya Eero Tarik

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JOB: Personal Social Network Coordinator
by Art McGee 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

http://newyork.craigslist.org/ofc/23123114.html Wanted: Personal Social Network Coordinator Reply to: job-23123114(a)craigslist.org Date: 2004-01-25, 10:33PM EST Permanent full-time position for a personal social coordinator for a New York-based web designer. Your primary responsibility will be managing my accounts with various online social networking sites including, but not limited to, Friendster, LinkedIn, Tribe, Orkut, Ryze, Spoke, ZeroDegrees, Ecademy, RealContacts, Ringo, MySpace, Yafro, EveryonesConnected, Friendzy, FriendSurfer, Tickle, Evite, Plaxo, Squiby, and WhizSpark. Specific duties include: - approving or rejecting invitations of friendship - managing a database of usernames and passwords for each of the social networking sites - sending out friendship invitations - keeping my social network synchronized; that is, invite friends from one social networking site to be friends in all of the other social networking sites - handling requests by friends to be introduced to another friend that they might not know - keeping track of my current likes & dislikes and updating my personal information within each service accordingly - writing testimonials for friends - various "damage control" functions when rebuffed "non-friends" become upset due to non-acceptance of their offers of friendship - continually browsing my friends' 1st and 2nd degrees for potential new friends and business contacts - participating on any of the sites' message boards on my behalf Future duties may include discouraging companies and individuals from starting new social networking sites so that additional staff won't be necessary in the future. Past employment as a bouncer, "heavy", or hired goon may be helpful in this regard. Benefits include addition as my friend in all of the social networking sites I belong to. Compensation: Telecommuting is ok. Principals only. Recruiters, please don't contact this job poster. Please, no phone calls about this job! Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests. This is in or around Manhattan 23123114 -end-

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RE: [Air-l] structuration
by Steve Fox (NISD) 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

Interesting to incorporate Giddens' structuration...it seems sometimes that we are under-emphasizing the contributions of the 'infrastructure'...depending on the environment (e.g. asynchronous/synchronous, use of avatars, etc.) the end-user experience can shift, thus the way in which people interact, communicate and envision that interaction can shift as well...an interesting question is to what degree does structure, or in this case infrastructure, impact human action/consciousness/communication/etc. -->community...I would extend this infrastructure to include all that affects the end-user experience (e.g. bandwidth, processor speed, type of content, etc.) would need to be considered... Steve ________________________________ From: air-l-admin(a)aoir.org on behalf of Kevin Tharp Sent: Sun 2/8/2004 1:18 PM To: air-l(a)aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] structuration I suggested: > Similar to the concept of community (dare I use such word in > educated company), it is not the infrastructure that makes the > community, it is the people that make the community. The > community is then supported by the infrastructure. To Which Jonathon Marshall replied: >I'd suggest that the infrastructure is not quite that passive. The infra structure allows certain types of community to form, >and is in turn shaped by the politics of that community and >may reinforce those politics. The more permanent the structure the more it enstructures. But even a permanent shifting structure >enables certain behaviours more than others. I Absolutely agree! This is much in the vein of Giddens structuration, which is a balance between determinism and social shaping. I still stand by my conviction that it is not the infrastructure that makes the community it is the people. Without the people, there is no community. Perhaps it would have been better stated, "the community is then supported and shaped by the interaction of the people and the infrastructure." Regards, Kevin W. Tharp _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Re: [Air-l]Re: [Air-l]RE: [Air-l] Re: first post (An Internet without Space)
by Jonathan Marshall 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

If i can be excused replying to myself .... > And it would be the ability to make the comparisons between > forums, and sites and what they enable, which make them seem > like different kinds of 'locale' (to use the term I prefer :), > to an extent which is not the case with 'phone space' or 'TV space' > where only a limited set of relatively uniform actitons are > possible. Picked up Rheingold's smart mobs in a sale over the weekend, and after reading the intro, thought - this kind of contact is probably never going to be thought of as a 'space', in people's lives, so why is that? Provisional answer... Because it *is* integrated into their lives immediately. People use this stuff Rheingold is writing about as an extension of immediate life. Perhaps we only think of cyber'space' because it is not yet integrated into our lives. It seems 'somewhere different'. It enables contacts, behaviour etc. which is not integrated into daily life completely. Its 'elswhere'. When it becomes integrated, it will no longer seem to be another 'space'. Just a thought. jon UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. ========================================================================

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Re: [Air-l] structuration
by Jonathan Marshall 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

Kevin Tharp <k.tharp(a)cqu.edu.au> writes > I still > stand by my conviction that it is not the infrastructure that > makes the > community it is the people. Without the people, there is no > community.Perhaps it would have been better stated, "the > community is then > supported and shaped by the interaction of the people and the > infrastructure." Thanks Kevin. It *is* always a complicated matter :) and one with a lot of type face used on it. However, if i was to propose a methodology, it would be to take both approaches. Thus in the first scan, perhaps you look at the people, in the second scan you look at the 'infrastructure'. If you only do one then it often falls into one side alone. Ie the people seem self determining, and the infrastucture seems to have only minor effects. However, despite ambiguities about what the hell anyone means by 'infrastructure', it should be remembered that the infrastructure is something we, as people, grow into. It is there before we arrive and, unless we succeed in killing everyone and obliterating all archaeology, it will be there, or traces of it will be there, after we depart. If we wanted to sociobiological about it, people and infrastructure of some type or another seem to exist together - they cannot be separated. I'd like to emphasise again that there could be more than one type of infrastructure. Thus for the Internet: a) there is the corporate organisational strucure of the wider society and the way that affects what can be legally done online. b) there is the general physical layout of the Internet wiring. c) there are the technical programming features of the net which give it is possible porperties. d) there are the ways of, and distributions of access to the net e) there are the ways communication on the net is structured, email ICQ, Mailing List, MOO, chatroom etc.... f) there are the 'microsocieties' which people come from to use the net. which give things like time available, provision of contacts, 'unsatisfied needs', work organisation, township organisation, local politics, local disasters etc, which people use the net as adjunct for. undoubtedly many more. People live within these kinds of restrictions and enablements, and these r&e's at least partially make them what they are. or so it seems to me :) But at this point, I'd go back to arguing 'community' is not a thing in itself, but the term is something we should look at as a rhetorical deployment. What is its role in politics, who uses it, what is it used for etc? jon UTS CRICOS Provider Code: 00099F DISCLAIMER ======================================================================== This email message and any accompanying attachments may contain confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient, do not read, use, disseminate, distribute or copy this message or attachments. If you have received this message in error, please notify the sender immediately and delete this message. Any views expressed in this message are those of the individual sender, except where the sender expressly, and with authority, states them to be the views the University of Technology Sydney. Before opening any attachments, please check them for viruses and defects. ========================================================================

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conference
by susan.aaron＠utoronto.ca 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

This is multidisciplinary conference that is very open to internet issues and covers chaos, complexity, and nonlinear dynamics. They have a journal listed with Medline, Psychlit and otherscalled Nonlinear Dynamics, Psychology and the Life Sciences Students are welcome, and there is some funding available to apply for. The Society for Chaos Theory in Psychology & Life Sciences Milwaukee, WI, USA, July 15-18, 2004 For conference details and call for papers go to http://www.societyforchaostheory.org/conf2004/cfp.html <http://www.societyforchaostheory.org/conf2004/cfp.html> <http://www.societyforchaostheory.org/conf2004/cfp.html> -- Susan Aaron, MA 416-544-9415 80 Montclair Ave, #303 Toronto, ON M5P 1P8

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structuration
by Kevin Tharp 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

I suggested: > Similar to the concept of community (dare I use such word in > educated company), it is not the infrastructure that makes the > community, it is the people that make the community. The > community is then supported by the infrastructure. To Which Jonathon Marshall replied: >I'd suggest that the infrastructure is not quite that passive. The infra structure allows certain types of community to form, >and is in turn shaped by the politics of that community and >may reinforce those politics. The more permanent the structure the more it enstructures. But even a permanent shifting structure >enables certain behaviours more than others. I Absolutely agree! This is much in the vein of Giddens structuration, which is a balance between determinism and social shaping. I still stand by my conviction that it is not the infrastructure that makes the community it is the people. Without the people, there is no community. Perhaps it would have been better stated, "the community is then supported and shaped by the interaction of the people and the infrastructure." Regards, Kevin W. Tharp

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Critical Engagements with Mark Poster
by Lee Salter 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

The Information Society, Post-Modern Virtualities and Cyberdemocracy: Critical Engagements with Mark Poster A seminar to be held at Edge Hill College of Higher Education, Saturday July 3rd ? Sunday July 4th, under the aegis of the Social and Cultural Movements Research Group. The purpose of this seminar is to capitalise on the presence of Mark Poster in the UK, on a visit to give the closing plenary address at the 2nd International Conference of the Social and Cultural Movements Group, on the theme of ?Imaging Social Movements?. The idea behind the seminar is to explore Poster?s recent thinking and publications, focused on his analysis of The Mode of Information, (What?s the Matter with) the Internet, Post-Modern Virtualities and Cyberdemocracy. The seminar will involve a maximum of six or seven papers, with a reply by Poster concluding the seminar. The seminar will have limited numbers in order to keep it manageable for discussion and debate. The papers and Poster?s reply will be published as a special edition of a journal. Delegates at the 2nd International Conference of the Social and Cultural Movements Group will be charged a nominal fee to cover subsistence costs. Those seeking to attend the seminar only should contact Paul Reynolds - reynoldp(a)edgehill.ac.uk Lee Salter Lecturer in Media and Communications Edge Hill College, St Helen's Road Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP Email: salterl(a)edgehill.ac.uk Tel: 01695 584374

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Conference - Social and Cultural Movements
by Lee Salter 08 Feb '04

08 Feb '04

2nd International Conference: Imaging Social Movements Plenary Speakers: Mark Poster (University of California at Irvine) Jimmy McGovern (Film Maker, Bloody Sunday) Others to be confirmed The Social and Cultural Movements Group, Edge Hill College, UK Thursday 1st July to Saturday 3rd July 2004 2nd Call for Papers Following the success of its 2002 conference: Making Social Movements: The British Marxist Historians, the Social Movements Group is organising a 2nd International Conference for Summer 2004, exploring the theme of the construction of images, representations and articulations of social movements. The effectiveness of social movements has always relied not only upon the political activity and its theoretical conception, but also upon its cultural representation and aesthetics. The changing media, cultural and technological landscape has transformed the means and media by which social movements can create and contest their 'image', and how others create and contest images of them. This conference aims to bring together social movement researchers across the social sciences and humanities in considering questions of conception, process and outcomes in the imaging social movements - past, present and future. Proposed indicative strands include: * Social Movements and the Internet * Social Movements and Popular Film * The Mechanics of Representation * Narratives/Literatures and Social Movements * Media construction of Opposition * The Documentary Tradition * Performance of Subversion * Social Movements and Popular TV * Imaging Resistance and Cultural Politics We welcome traditional papers, posters and less traditional audio-visual presentations.Send proposals with abstract of 150-200 words by 31st March 2004 to Roger Spalding/Lee Salter Edge Hill College, Ormskirk, Lancs, L39 4QP. UK Email: salterl(a)edgehill.ac.uk Web site: http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/research/smg/ Lee Salter Lecturer in Media and Communications Edge Hill College, St Helen's Road Ormskirk, Lancashire L39 4QP Email: salterl(a)edgehill.ac.uk Tel: 01695 584374

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