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my second post
by Eero Tarik 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

thanks to those who replied to my first post both on list and off it, I enjoyed reading your responses. I suppose deep down I must be a Lord Kelvin man - for those who don't remember the 1890's, he wrote... "When you can measure what you are speaking about, and express it in numbers, you know something about it; but when you cannot measure it, when you cannot express it in numbers, your knowledge is of a meager and unsatisfactory kind: it may be the beginning of knowledge, but you have scarcely, in your thoughts, advanced to the stage of science. " So with this in mind, I put to you the following numbers and observations... a Google search reveals that the term "cyberspace" appears 2.4million times in the online world. Identity appears 14 million times, gender 15 million times, politics 26 million and race 32 million. God appears 64 million times and love gets 119 million mentions - far more important to "cyberspacers" than food, which is only mentioned 86 million times. Interestingly, the internet produces 244 million results, but lags behind good old "sex" with 269 million and business with 266 million.. And at the top of my little list is the search term, "help" which comes in with 301 million results. When I look at the kind of subject matter that appears to be the focus of internet researchers I am dismayed that so much of the intellectual effort seems to be directed at the small end of town. There appears to be an over emphasis upon cyberspace and cyberism, along with identity, gender, race and politics. A search of the titles of the papers presented to last years conference shows that 11 contained the term cyberspace, 32 contained the term identity, 12 contained gender, and 2 contained race - none contained the term "help". The online world, it seems, is screaming out for help - 301million times, yet academia appears to want to talk about minority issues. The online world wants help, sex and business - academia gives it cyberspace and discussion of race, gender and politics. Am I missing something??? Dont you just love numbers :-) see ya Eero Tarik Adelaide, South Australia

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Re: [Air-l] AoIR list and professional courtesy
by Art McGee 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

OK, I'll tone down the dripping sarcasm. My apologies. Please try to understand where I'm coming from. As a Black American who has been online longer than most of the people doing scholarly cyberspace research today (when I was growing up, my research heroes were folks like Murray Turoff, Star Roxanne-Hiltz, Tracey Laquey-Parker, John S. Quarterman, and Laurence Landweber), I have a somewhat weird relationship to the study of cyberculture. The so-called Digital Divide has never applied to me and my numerous Black colleagues, and therefore I can tend to be somewhat hostile when confronted with the paternalistic framing which undergirds so much academic research and commercial propaganda regarding technoculture. You're studying it, but I've been living it for 25 years. OK, back to your regularly scheduled programming. :-) Art

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Re: [Air-l] first post
by Art McGee 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

> People making political arguments about the Internet, or > commercial organisations trying to exploit the Internet, > often try to define it as a particular type of place to > mobilize the persuasive topos associated with that locale. > ie whether it should be free or controlled, or how people > should behave. Hey, this Jonathan person is really smart. He gets to the crux of the matter, which is that the attempt to define cyberspace in particular ways is not benign philosophizing, but rather, there are specific materialist (Capitalist) and other interests which drive those persepctives. Hot damn! ;-) Art

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Re: [Air-l] first post
by Art McGee 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

> I suspect that there are a group of people who entered > this field in the preWeb era who, generally, saw the > internet as some kind of saviour that would create a > benevolent global community and cure humankind of all its > ills, and in this text only dawn they got a little carried > away. I've been online since approximately 1978, and although I have always been optimistic about the potential of cyberspace, I've never gotten carried away and thought it would solve all of society's ills. I suspect the pragmatism of being a Black American had something to do with that. Art

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RE: [Air-l] first post
by mdocx1 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

reading suggestion for the space/no space debate: the most recent issue of the Media Ecology Association's journal - Explorations in Media Ecology (EME) has some interesting questions about the space created by media - particularly Lance Strate's "The Cell Phone as Environment" No we, dont talk of 'phone space' or 'TV space' but we certainly use these devices as if those spaces existed. meghan dougherty University of Washington Department of Communication

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book announcement
by ebucy 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

Hi everyone, I'd like to make a new book announcement that some people may find of interest. For more detailed information, check the Erlbaum website at: http://www.erlbaum.com/ - Erik Bucy Media Access: Social and Psychological Dimensions of New Technology Use Erik P. Bucy and John E. Newhagen (Eds.) Publisher: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2004 Hardcover: $69.95 Paperback: $34.50 Media Access, a new book edited by Erik Bucy of Indiana University and John Newhagen of the University of Maryland, presents a series of original studies examining the social and psychological dimensions of new technology use. Although much research attention and policy discussion relating to the digital divide remains focused on physical access to information and communication technology (ICT)or has declared the digital divide all but resolvedthe studies gathered here demonstrate that differential use of ICTs is a more telling, and problematic, indicator than simple measures of computer and Internet access. While demographic markers have been employed to track whether the digital divide is widening or receding, profitable use of new media hinges more on the motivations, individual-level characteristics, and abilities of individual usersdimensions of access whose critical evaluation requires novel approaches, typically at the individual level, and often involving intensive data-gathering techniques. Though important for telecommunications policymaking, next generation studies of the digital divide have been slow in coming. This volume covers three aspects of media access research: cognitive effects, social and cultural consequences, and studies geared toward media access to the public sphere. Interdisciplinary and multi-methodological in nature, the studies collected here rely on large-scale survey data, psychological explanations inferred from experimental data, and cultural explanations derived from depth interviews and ethnographic methods. Media Access should be of interest to a wide variety of teachers and scholars interested in issues relating to technology adoption, public access to new communication technology, and research relating to the digital divide. __________________ Erik P. Bucy, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Dept. of Telecommunications Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of Informatics Radio-TV Center, Rm. 327 1229 E. 7th Street Indiana University Bloomington, IN 47405-5501 ebucy(a)indiana.edu http://php.indiana.edu/~ebucy tel 812.856.5207/fax 812.855.7955

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Call for papers: Telecom Policy Research Conference, Oct '04
by John Horrigan 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

Dear AoIR List: Below is a link to the Call for Papers for the 2004 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference (TPRC), which will be held from Oct 1 to Oct 3, 2004 at George Mason University Law School in Arlington, Virginia. The TPRC hosts this annual forum for dialogue among scholars and decision-makers from the public and private sectors who are engaged in communication and information policy. The purpose of the conference is to acquaint policymakers with the best of recent research and to familiarize researchers with the knowledge needs of policymakers and industry. Deadline for submissions is March 31, 2004. http://www.tprc.org/TPRC04/call04.htm Many thanks, John ================== John B. Horrigan, Ph.D. Pew Internet & American Life Project and Chair, Program Committee, 2004 Telecommunications Policy Research Conference

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Re: [Air-l] AoIR list and professional courtesy
by Steffasong＠aol.com 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

Ildiko, Do you have the results of your online political study forum published or available? I'd like to read what you found. Presently I am in the midst of a similar study. Thanks, Stephanie Bennett Department of Liberal Arts Division of Humanities--Parker 380 Nova Southeastern University 3301 College Avenue Ft. Lauderdale, FL 33314 "Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." Helen Keller

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Re: [Air-l] AoIR list and professional courtesy
by Ildiko Kaposi 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

Dear all, True, the AoIR list has traditionally been a place for polite and considered reflection. I have no doubt it'll continue to be the same once this thread of radicalism dries up. But admit it, conflict, when expressed in no uncertain but colourful verbal forms, can also be hugely entertaining. I came to this conclusion from my studying an online political discussion forum. And so far this list is doing much better handling its conflict. Enjoy, Ildiko Kaposi >>> TRKluver(a)ntu.edu.sg 02/03/04 6:15 AM >>> I have been holding my anger back, but I am getting tired of AoIR becoming a listserve of inflated egos and the most egregious forms of rudeness. I would humbly request that from now on, we make some sort of "civic pledge" to not dismiss people who disagree with us as "clowns" and try to keep the list on topic. > > > Art > Yes, it is a terrible thing to have a listserve where not everyone agrees with your own construction of reality. Much better to dismiss everyone who disagrees you as a "clown" (Art's description of Barry Wellman), and get them off our mailing lists. Randolph Kluver School of Communication and Information Nanyang Technological University 31 Nanyang Link Singapore, 637718 (65) 6790-5770 Fax (65) 6792-4329 "Aude aliquid dignum." _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Call for papers: Other Players,6-8 December 2004 (Copenhagen, Denmark)
by Jonas Heide Smith 03 Feb '04

03 Feb '04

[APOLOGIES FOR X-POSTING] Dear all, The Center for Computer Game Research at the IT University of Copenhagen invites you to submit a paper for the "Other Players" conference. The conference takes place between the 6th and 8th of December 2004. Please find full CALL FOR PAPERS here: http://www.itu.dk/op/callforpapers.php We hope to see you in Denmark in December. Best regards, THE CENTER FOR COMPUTER GAMES RESEARCH: http://game.itu.dk/ CONFERENCE WEBSITE: http://www.itu.dk/op/

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