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New Report: "Understanding WSIS"
by Hans Klein 10 Dec '03

10 Dec '03

The UN World Summit on the Information Society is currently underway in Geneva. This report on WSIS is now available at the IP3 website: "Understanding WSIS: An Institutional Perspective on the UN World Summit on the Information Society" http://www.ip3.gatech.edu WSIS is hard to understand. The 2003 Geneva meeting of the UN World Summit on the Information Society has brought thousands of people to Geneva to articulate a collective vision about the benefits and potentials of information in society and the policies needed to realize them. Even immediate participants have difficulty understanding what has been achieved. With so many recommendations, which ones will lead to concrete political action and social change? What is important and why? To help answer such questions, this report provides an institutional analysis of WSIS. It focuses on two main features: its characteristics as a policy forum and the mechanisms available to it for policy implementation. This institutional analysis is then applied to a set of WSIS policies to identify those with the greatest potential to lead to social change. Two policies stand out: Internet governance and security. The WSIS forum is well suited to bestow legitimacy on a proposal to alter the existing Internet governance regime, and the available implementation mechanisms are well suited to put such a proposal into practice. Likewise, WSIS is an appropriate forum for promulgating a global agreement on security, and the available implementation mechanisms are also suitable. Other policy topics considered are: free and open software, communication rights, intellectual property, human rights, and funding. To say these policies are good candidates for action is not to say that they necessarily will be endorsed and implemented. Nonetheless, by identifying issues that "fit" the world summit institution, this analysis can help set priorities for action and to gain understanding of outcomes. Report available at: http://www.ip3.gatech.edu WSIS web site: http://www.itu.int/wsis/ The Internet and Public Policy Project (IP3) promotes Internet policy-related research in the School of Public Policy at Georgia Tech. It promotes dialogue between researchers within and outside the Institute, offering forums for debate and discussion. This report is a joint project between IP3 and Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility (www.CPSR.org) with funding from the Open Society Institute distributed through the Internet Democracy Project. Additional funding came from the Georgia Tech President Undergraduate Research Award Program. ###

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miserable failure
by Greg Elmer 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

try link: http://www.whitehouse.gov/president/gwbbio.html in the google search to see who else has jumped on the miserable failure bandwagon Greg -- Greg Elmer Associate Professor Department of Communication Florida State University 356 Diffenbaugh Tallahassee, FL 32303 850.645.4692 (tel.) Co-Editor Space and Culture: An International Journal of Social Spaces http://www.carleton.ca/space/ ________________________________________________________________________________

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RE: [Air-l] newsgroups
by Marc Smith 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

Some of the questions you raise can be addresed through the use of the Netscan system (htttp://netscan.research.microsoft.com) which reports social accounting metadata about Usenet newsgroups, authors and threads on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearaly basis since September of 1999. The tool is offered explicitly for academic research into the sociological organization of conversational social cyberspaces. Regards, Marc Smith ________________________________ From: air-l-admin(a)aoir.org on behalf of jespert Sent: Tue 12/9/2003 3:24 AM To: air-l(a)aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] newsgroups Dear All, I have been studding newsgroups for some years, but only in Danish, now I am going into the English Usenet and wow it is big. I am doing some kind of discourse analysis that I have developed and it is fine but when analysing I use so much time looking and thinking on a single string in a single group - so yes what I want to ask about is a form of a description on the structure of news saying e.g. how many groups are moderated, where and how do I find there instrument of foundation and FAQ if they have any, how dose them there is not moderated doing, how many are subscript to the different groups, is there any differences between e.g. the alt. and res. domains when talking topics, culture, history etc. I would like this information so I can navigate when finding my groups for empirical study and make a qualified selection. I hope that you will answer both by pointing to literature (hopefully online papers) and by commenting on my questions. Thanks -- Jesper Tække - MA. Ph.D.-Student - IT University of Copenhagen - Dept. of Digital Aesthetics & Communication - Glentevej 67 - DK-2400 NV Copenhagen NW - Phone +45 3816 8888 - Direct +45 3816 8881 - Fax +45 3816 8899 - http://home16.inet.tele.dk/jesper_t/ - e-mail: jespert(a)it-c.dk _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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(off-topic) Request for participants: www.lordoftheringsresearch.net
by K.S.O-Riordan＠sussex.ac.uk 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

Apologies for the tangential relevance to AoIR topics: ---------------------------------------------------------- What did you think of The Lord of the Rings? The Lord of the Rings has been an international phenomenon, already earning $2 billion. It has been a box office hit in many very different countries and we want to understand why. To coincide with the release of the final part of the film, an international research project is exploring how audiences respond to the film and what it means to them. Where is Middle-earth in your imagination? This will be the largest ever investigation of audience responses to a film. This isn't only for fans. Some people prefer the books. Some people find it all overrated. And so on. Whatever your views on the film, we want to hear them. We have a web questionnaire at this address: www.lordoftheringsresearch.net. Please pay a visit when you've seen the film. We have promised to publish all our findings on the same website, once the project is completed. This message has been forwarded to you at our request. If you can think of others who might be interested, please do pass it along! Many thanks. Martin Barker Project Director, University of Wales, Aberystwyth

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newsgroups
by jespert 09 Dec '03

09 Dec '03

Dear All, I have been studding newsgroups for some years, but only in Danish, now I am going into the English Usenet and wow it is big. I am doing some kind of discourse analysis that I have developed and it is fine but when analysing I use so much time looking and thinking on a single string in a single group - so yes what I want to ask about is a form of a description on the structure of news saying e.g. how many groups are moderated, where and how do I find there instrument of foundation and FAQ if they have any, how dose them there is not moderated doing, how many are subscript to the different groups, is there any differences between e.g. the alt. and res. domains when talking topics, culture, history etc. I would like this information so I can navigate when finding my groups for empirical study and make a qualified selection. I hope that you will answer both by pointing to literature (hopefully online papers) and by commenting on my questions. Thanks -- Jesper Tække - MA. Ph.D.-Student - IT University of Copenhagen - Dept. of Digital Aesthetics & Communication - Glentevej 67 - DK-2400 NV Copenhagen NW - Phone +45 3816 8888 - Direct +45 3816 8881 - Fax +45 3816 8899 - http://home16.inet.tele.dk/jesper_t/ - e-mail: jespert(a)it-c.dk

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postdoc: metropolitan institute @ vt
by jeremy hunsinger 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

(yes, they are very interested in information technology and the internet) POST DOCTORAL FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY METROPOLITAN INSTITUTE AT VIRGINIA TECH NOVEMBER 2003 The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech in Alexandria, Virginia announces the position of a Post Doctoral Fellow. The position requires a Ph.D. in any of the following fields: urban planning, public policy, sociology, geography, or any social science field related to urban studies. The job is a research appointment and carries no teaching responsibilities. The appointment is for one academic year and can begin with the January 2004 semester. The salary ranges between $25,000 to $30,000 with benefits. The position reports to the Director of the Metropolitan Institute. Background: The Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech (MI) conducts basic and applied research on national and international development patterns, focusing on key forces shaping metropolitan growth such as demographics, environment, technology, design, transportation, and governance. It seeks to expand knowledge in urban and metropolitan affairs in order to improve policy and practice, and educate the general public on important issues facing communities. MI shares knowledge through events, presentations, publications, a website and media outreach. The Metropolitan Institutes current research program includes 5 major initiative areas and objectives: --The New Metropolis - explore changing regional growth, demographics, land use and transportation patterns --Fair Growth - examine regional equity issues such as fair share housing, environmental justice, and transportation accessibility and study their impact on metropolitan growth patterns and policies --Green Regions - investigate ways to create environmentally sustainable regions through better building and community design regions --Smart Governance - understand how technology can improve governance and enhance citizen participation in the planning process --World Cities - assess how major metropolitan areas fit into the world economy and the world system of cities Located in Old Town Alexandria, Virginia, the Metropolitan Institute was founded in 2001 as part of Virginia Techs College of Architecture and Urban Studies. For more information on the Metropolitan Institute, please visit our website http://www.mi.vt.edu/. For more information on Virginia Techs offerings in Northern Virginia, please visit http://www.nvc.vt.edu/. How to Apply: Send resumes to Metropolitan Institute at Virginia Tech, 1021 Prince Street, Ste 100, Alexandria, VA 22314 or email mivt(a)vt.edu. Please no calls. Equal Opportunity Employer - Virginia Tech does not discriminate against employees, students, or applicants on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, disability, age, veteran status, national origin, religion, or political affiliation.

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Books for Sale
by Jatinder Singh 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

Hi, I have the following books for sale. They are all in near-perfect condition. I was a research student and have no need for these anymore. Virtual Ethnography - Hine Transnational.Dynamics(a)development.net - Uimonen Mixing methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Research - Brannen Religion on the Internet: Research prospects and Promises - Hadden and Cowan The Pearly Gates of Cyberspace - Wertheim Give me that online religion - Brasher Insider Anthropology - Cerroni-Long Computer-mediated communication in Australian Anthropology and Sociology - Social Analysis The Internet: An Ethnographic Approach - Miller and Slater New Media in the Muslim World - Eickelman and Anderson Contesting Culture - Baumann Communities in Cyberspace - Smith and Kollock Thelordismyshephard.com - Hammerman The Discovery of Grounded Theory - Glaser and Strauss Research and the Teacher - Hitchcock and Hughes I would like to sell all of these for $200 CDN (excluding postage). If anyone would like individual items, then please email me directly (jindi(a)hotmail.com) Please do not email this mailing list directly. First come, first served. Jindi Singh. _________________________________________________________________ Use MSN Messenger to send music and pics to your friends http://www.msn.co.uk/messenger

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Call for Submissions
by Daniel Ponech 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

TUXS 2004 CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS The Toronto User eXperience Summit (TUXS) 2004 is a multi-disciplinary and trans-industry gathering of user interface designers, software developers, graphic designers, human factors practitioners, engineers, industrial designers, teachers, information architects, researchers, and professionals in other areas seeking to gain an understanding of how to better craft and mange the interaction between people and any kind of designed environment. TUXS 2004, scheduled for May 13-15 in Toronto, ON, is a forum for professionals to learn, discover, and refine the techniques and methodologies for creating compelling, effective user experiences. Through hands-on tutorials, workshops, presentations and real-time design sessions, participants will learn techniques and methodologies to successfully integrate technology and the user experience with the world around us. TUXS 2004 is interested in receiving proposoals for tutorials, workshops, streamed papers, expert panels, or case studies that address the conference theme: Work Play Live: Integrating the User Experience. Further details, including the Call for Participation, are available: - online: www.tuxs.ca/call_for_participation/2004_call_for_participation.html - as a Portable Document Format (PDF) file: www.tuxs.ca/TUXS2004-Guidelines.pdf All proposals must be submitted in PDF format by January 15, 2004 -- ----- Daniel Ponech ------------------------------------------------------------ This e-mail may be privileged and/or confidential, and the sender does not waive any related rights and obligations. Any distribution, use or copying of this e-mail or the information it contains by other than an intended recipient is unauthorized. If you received this e-mail in error, please advise me (by return e-mail or otherwise) immediately. Ce courrier électronique est confidentiel et protégé. L'expéditeur ne renonce pas aux droits et obligations qui s'y rapportent. Toute diffusion, utilisation ou copie de ce message ou des renseignements qu'il contient par une personne autre que le (les) destinataire(s) désigné(s) est interdite. Si vous recevez ce courrier électronique par erreur, veuillez m'en aviser immédiatement, par retour de courrier électronique ou par un autre moyen.

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cfp: media & cultural politics
by katharine sarikakis 08 Dec '03

08 Dec '03

Dear colleagues, I am pleased to announce a new journal that would be of interest to those doing research in the cultural and socio-political dimensions of the Internet. Below you will find some more information on the journal, some indicative opening themes and a general call for papers. If you have an idea for a paper or you would like more information on the journal, we look forward to hearing from you. A founding editorial board is at the end of this message. (apologising for crosspostings) Katharine Sarikakis ************************ international journal of media & cultural politics New for the start of 2005, MCP fills a large gap in the current social sciences, media, communications and humanities range. The International Journal of Media and Cultural Politics is committed to analyzing the politics of communications and cultural processes. It addresses cultural politics in their local, international and global dimensions, recognizing equally the importance of issues defined by their specific cultural geography and those which run across cultures and nations. The content focus will be critical, in-depth analysis and engaged research of the intersections of sociology, politics, cultural studies and media studies with the aim of keeping academic analysis in dialogue with the practical world of communications, culture and politics. MCP aims to: · foster writing which seriously engages the politics of culture · focus on the nexus of communications, culture and politics · combine a sharp sense of topicality with quality peer-refereed academic research · respond rapidly to developing events · make space for new and marginalized voices and issues, worldwide · balance metropolitan and regionalist interests · eschew partisanship and offer conflicting opinion · combine writing by academics with work by practitioners, activists and artists · publish papers bridging the gap between theoretical & abstract knowledge and cultural & social practice · foster debate and dialogue through opinion sections, web forums and special events · address a wide readership in the social sciences, arts and humanities Opening editions include: Infantilizing culture: the collapse of media content? Could it really be that 'elitist' cultural pessimists of the twentieth century (like Adorno and Eliot) were embarrassingly accurate about the degradation inflicted on culture by media producers? Should we evolve social policies to treat some media output like cigarettes and junk food? Can local media systems resist? What are the implications for future political engagement when media content is at once youth-focused, consumerist, and escapist? Is it elitist and prejudiced to ask questions like these about quality? The death of the intellectual: can Beckham replace Sartre? Is the intellectual a historical phenomenon like the troubadour or the condottiere - or a vital cultural resource in the consumer world? What associations exist between intellectual labour and the West's domination of material resources and intellectual property? Will the West hear intellectuals from the rest of the world? Is there an intellectual response function to the newest 'Pax' Americana? Is there an intellectual common ground for Islam, Christianity and secularism? Why are the British as embarrassed by intellectuals as the French are by their talent for football? 'In here and out there' - the media, the centre and the regions How do the media define 'provinces' and 'regions', the 'centre' and the 'periphery'? How do the media drive the interests and values of some locations and suppress those from elsewhere? Is metrocentrism a major form of parochialism of developed media societies? What is the collective geographical subject of news producers, and who is defined through otherness? What are the demographics of inclusion and exclusion, and how do geographical identities relate to ethnicity, gender and class? How do national metrocentrisms map on to international media coverage, not least of the new category, 'asylum seeker'? Getting past 'post-feminism': the spectacle of the female body is as never before a standard component of the economies of tv, cinema, and the web, with even pre-teens now the target of legal as well as criminal image-producers across several media. What is the political meaning of these developments? In what ways may we comprehend alternative responses to female spectacle - for example, within some domains of Islam? Does the growth of spectacle of the male body 'equalize' the politics of the image or does it only make it easier to oppress women? Has the reach of techno-economic power made progressive sexual politics irrelevant? The media and the end of history - a view from several continents: if political action is based on historical consciousness, how do the media affect historical knowledge? Do they help to obliterate history? How much resistance can there be to powerful media-borne versions of history? Does the web liberate individuals from institutional oppression, or increase Western/Anglophone ownership of history? Does computer technology exile history by intensifying the present? Can communities reconstitute their own histories through museums, social action and specialized media? If so, will the result be history or heritage? MCP is now inviting the submission of papers that address the general aims of the journal or the proposed themes. Send your papers to k.sarikakis(a)coventry.ac.uk or commentaries to cbyerly(a)dsdial.net managing editor Katharine Sarikakis Coventry University, UK editors Neil Blain University of Paisley, UK Karen Ross Coventry University, UK commentaries and reviews editors Carolyn Byerly University of Maryland, USA John Sullivan Muhlenberg College, USA Karin Wahl-Jorgensen University of Cardiff, UK Founding Editorial Advisory Board Alina Bernstein, Tel Aviv University, Israel Craig Calhoun, New York University, USA Stella Chinyere Okunna, Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Nigeria Melanie Cishecki, MediaWatch Canada Sean Cubitt, University of Waikato, New Zealand Yvonne Galligan, Queens University Belfast, N Ireland Christine Geraghty, University of Glasgow, UK Oliver Grau, Humboldt Universitaet Berlin, Germany Cees Hamelink, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands Lena Jayyusi, Zayed University, United Arab Emirates Ros Jennings, University of Gloucester, UK Richard Keeble, University of Lincoln, UK Eileen Meehan, Louisiana State University, USA Noé Mendelle, Edinburgh College of Art, UK Vincent Mosco, Queens University, Canada Marian Myers, Georgia State University, USA Virginia Nightingale, University of Western Sydney, Australia Chris Paterson, University of San Fransisco, USA Caroline Pauwels, Free University Brussels, Belgium Lizette Rabe, University of Stellenbosch, South Africa Marc Raboy, University of Montreal, Canada Leslie Regan Shade, Concordia University, Canada David Rowe, University of Newcastle, Australia Nira Yuval-Davis, University of East London, UK Manjunath Pendakur, Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, USA Anne S Walker, International Womens Tribune Centre Gideon de Wet, RAU University, South Africa Jan Worth, Northern Media School, UK published by Intellect (www.intellectbooks.co.uk)

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Bad Subjects CFP: Protest Cultures
by david silver 07 Dec '03

07 Dec '03

BAD SUBJECTS SPECIAL ISSUE: PROTEST CULTURES CALL FOR PAPERS In the wake of the demonstrations against the Iraq War that met George Bush, Jr. in London, and the anti-FTAA demonstrations in Miami, Bad Subjects [http://eserver.org/bs] is publishing a year-end special issue on Protest Cultures. This issue will be dedicated to examining the role of public protest in confronting the dominant orders of the American Empire and capitalism; economic, cultural, and media globalism; and the modalities of state violence, visible and less visible. What current strategies of confrontation and protest are most effective in creating a shared resistance to the normalization of imperial culture? How do mobilizations occur and to what effect? How does staging protests contribute to the creation of peaceful civil societies and social justice? What forms of political organization and collective action emerge from protests to energize democratic practice and confront anti-democratic authority? This special issue emphasizes the co-location of many political movements and cultures within a broad, transnational oppositional camp. Essays might address protest planning, staging geographies, personal experience, spontaneous protests, anti-capitalist and labor protests, independent and corporate reportage, internal organization, ideological conflicts among protestors, artwork and creative protest, or policing and control, and should articulate some argument concerning protest praxis and politics. Relevant essays on historical protests are also invited. Send essays of 2000-3500 words to Cynthia Hoffman [choff(a)lmi.net] and Joe Lockard [Joe.Lockard(a)asu.edu] Essay submissions can be reviewed and published in English, Spanish, German, and French, with or without translation. Protest graphics and photography may be submitted without essays. For all submissions, include a brief author bio and e-mail address; see Bad Subjects issues for style. The submission deadline is December 24, 2003; the special issue will be published on January 1, 2004. Bad Subjects is also calling for papers on upcoming issues. For more information, see http://eserver.org/bs

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