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Re: is this internet studies?
by Irina Shklovski 23 Dec '03

23 Dec '03

I am wondering what David means by the term "Internet studies". The military has been one of the largest supporters of technology research in general and Lee is right, ARPAnet was a military research project. Now one of the largest military projects is "semantic web". Something that might, in the future, be as integral to our lives as Internet now is (in my opinion, semantic web, is part of the Internet studies as well). The military also happens to be one of the largest backers of research in general. I do not think as a field, we have a choice of whether our field is funded, at least in part, with military money. We have that choice only as individual researchers, when we choose which grants to apply for and accept. My other concern is David's statement that this direction is new. The USC institute - the Institute of Creative Technologies - has been in existence for at least 5 years. This direction is not new. If anything, its come full circle. Irina Shklovski Graduate Researcher Human Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University =================================== http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~irinas http://miswritings.blogspot.com "To create means to live, forever creating newer and newer things." -Kazimir Malevich, 1915 =================================== Irina Shklovski Graduate Assistant Human Computer Interaction Institute Carnegie Mellon University ========================== http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~irinas "I can handle reality in small doses but as a lifestyle its much too confining..." --Lily Tomlin C L I M B O N ==========================

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Re: [Air-l] is this internet studies? (fwd)
by david silver 23 Dec '03

23 Dec '03

thank you for your post Lee. i am aware that the net has always been .mil, beginning with its origins with ARPANET. but what i am refering to is a) the very recent history of the net and digital technologies and b) developments that have taken place within this recent history within the US. i would, however, question this line: > despite some obvious surface difficulties, war is good for the economy. and, more to the point of my original post, is war good for academia? as the field of internet studies works towards academic legitimacy, especially within the US, what does it mean when this process of legitimacy takes place within a national economy run by war, threats of terrorism, and homeland security. put another way, where will the money for US-based academic internet studies come from and should this be something we consider as the field matures? david On Mon, 22 Dec 2003, Lee Salter wrote: > Well, yes... almost. You seem to be saying that the commercial Internet > has turned into the military Internet, whereas in fact it was > vice-versa. Compare, for example, RFC 3271 with RFC 1087. We see a clear > agenda to "roll out" the Internet, which was at least influenced by the > need to cheapen such technologies by reducing the unit-cost. This only > really makes sense when one is aware that the ultimate control of the > Internet shifted from the Department of Defense to the Department of > Commerce in the 1990s - which the movement from IANA to ICANN seems to > illustrate (see also the /Image Online Design v. IANA, et al./ case). I > wouldn't, therefore, agree that the Internet has moved from .com to > .mil, but vice versa, with the proviso that .com is far from > antithetical to .mil. This shouldn't, however, surprise us. Michael > Kirdon (Permanent Arms Economy) and C Wright Mills (The Power Elite) are > two of many examples of writers who inform us that capitalism is on a > permanent war footing - despite some obvious surface difficulties, war > is good for the economy. Brian Winston (Media, Technology, and Society) > has applied this sort of dynamic to media technologies very well (we > should of course remember the role of war in the car, aeroplane, radio, > food technologies... etc.). >

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OII
by T Kennedy 22 Dec '03

22 Dec '03

Hi Bill The link was a bit jumbled so I am sending this out - http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=positions The PDF is available at http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/application_pack/ResearchFellows_200312.pdf As an alumni of the OII Summer Doctoral Progam - I recommend having a look at these Research Fellowships - it is a wonderful place to do your research! Tracy ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Tracy L.M. Kennedy Graduate Department of Sociology University of Toronto www.netwomen.ca/Blog tkennedy(a)netwomen.ca ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > From: "William Dutton" <William.Dutton(a)oii.ox.ac.uk> > To: <air-l(a)aoir.org> > Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2003 10:57:28 -0000 > Subject: [Air-l] Research Fellowships at the OII > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > The Oxford Internet Institute has opened a search for up to four Research Fellows. The fellowships will be for up two to three years > initially, but with the possibility of renewal. Applications must reach > the Institute by 12.00 noon (GMT) on Friday 30th January 2004. Further > particulars about these positions are on the Web at: > HYPERLINK > "http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=positions"http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/pe > ople/?rq=positions > > Regards, > > Professor William Dutton, Director > Oxford Internet Institute > University of Oxford > 1, St Giles > Oxford OX1 3JS > UNITED KINGDOM > > Tel: +44 (0)1865 287 210 > Fax: +44 (0)1865 287 211 > Web: HYPERLINK "http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/"www.oii.ox.ac.uk > >

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Re: [Air-l] is this internet studies? (fwd)
by ANDREW RUSSELL 22 Dec '03

22 Dec '03

Greetings all - I think David is right to point out that the Internet studies community should at least be aware of its relationships with (and perhaps dependence upon?) military funding. Luckily we have plenty of recent history - the influence of the Cold War on many areas of academic research - to consider when reflecting on these issues. I have in mind the "who's using whom?" historiography of Cold War physics, especially Paul Forman's contention that military funding diverted the path of quantum physics, and Dan Kevles's reply that Forman overstated the case, and that physicists engaged military funding with eyes wide open (I don't have the cites handy, but a search on google for Paul Forman "Beyond Quantum Electronics" will get you there). Bill Leslie's book The Cold War and American Science (where he examines the 'military-industrial-academic complex at MIT and Stanford) also reflects on these issues, as does much of Michael Dennis's historical work. There's also the rise and fall of the field of "Area Studies" (again, I don't have the cite handy but I think there is an essay on this in a book called "The Cold War and the Intellectuals"). Finally, closer to Internet studies, I argued in a recent paper that the ARPANET existed as an artifact of the Cold War science policy consensus. JCR Licklider saw that the military's need for improved command and control could be achieved through his interest in "interactive computing"; he sold this idea to the DoD and, as head of ARPA's Info. Processing Techniques Office, got much of what we think of today as "computer science" started. In this light, the ARPANET (and perhaps subsequent computer research) represents a symbiosis of national security needs with the interests of computer researchers. (the paper is available from http://arussell.org/alr-SHAFRpaper.doc - sorry for the MS file format...) I don't know of any historical work that examines systematically the origins of the field of computer science with an eye toward explaining the influence of the national security state. All of this is a rather long-winded way of saying that it is indeed important to know how national security, war, terrorism, etc. will affect Internet studies; and a good way to start thinking about this is to consider some how some other emerging disciplines dealt with this dynamic. In other words, this community might benefit from previous attempts to deal with the important questions David raises. Cheers, Andy Russell History of Science and Technology Johns Hopkins University ----- Original Message ----- From: david silver <dsilver(a)u.washington.edu> Date: Monday, December 22, 2003 1:45 pm Subject: Re: [Air-l] is this internet studies? (fwd) > thank you for your post Lee. > > i am aware that the net has always been .mil, beginning with its > originswith ARPANET. but what i am refering to is a) the very > recent history of > the net and digital technologies and b) developments that have > taken place > within this recent history within the US. > > i would, however, question this line: > > > despite some obvious surface difficulties, war is good for the > economy. > and, more to the point of my original post, is war good for academia? > > as the field of internet studies works towards academic legitimacy, > especially within the US, what does it mean when this process of > legitimacy takes place within a national economy run by war, > threats of > terrorism, and homeland security. put another way, where will the > moneyfor US-based academic internet studies come from and should > this be > something we consider as the field matures? > > david > > On Mon, 22 Dec 2003, Lee Salter wrote: > > > Well, yes... almost. You seem to be saying that the commercial > Internet> has turned into the military Internet, whereas in fact > it was > > vice-versa. Compare, for example, RFC 3271 with RFC 1087. We see > a clear > > agenda to "roll out" the Internet, which was at least influenced > by the > > need to cheapen such technologies by reducing the unit-cost. > This only > > really makes sense when one is aware that the ultimate control > of the > > Internet shifted from the Department of Defense to the > Department of > > Commerce in the 1990s - which the movement from IANA to ICANN > seems to > > illustrate (see also the /Image Online Design v. IANA, et al./ > case). I > > wouldn't, therefore, agree that the Internet has moved from .com to > > .mil, but vice versa, with the proviso that .com is far from > > antithetical to .mil. This shouldn't, however, surprise us. Michael > > Kirdon (Permanent Arms Economy) and C Wright Mills (The Power > Elite) are > > two of many examples of writers who inform us that capitalism is > on a > > permanent war footing - despite some obvious surface > difficulties, war > > is good for the economy. Brian Winston (Media, Technology, and > Society)> has applied this sort of dynamic to media technologies > very well (we > > should of course remember the role of war in the car, aeroplane, > radio,> food technologies... etc.). > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l >

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Research Fellowships at the OII
by William Dutton 22 Dec '03

22 Dec '03

The Oxford Internet Institute has opened a search for up to four Research Fellows. The fellowships will be for up two to three years initially, but with the possibility of renewal. Applications must reach the Institute by 12.00 noon (GMT) on Friday 30th January 2004. Further particulars about these positions are on the Web at: HYPERLINK "http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/?rq=positions"http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/pe ople/?rq=positions Regards, Professor William Dutton, Director Oxford Internet Institute University of Oxford 1, St Giles Oxford OX1 3JS UNITED KINGDOM Tel: +44 (0)1865 287 210 Fax: +44 (0)1865 287 211 Web: HYPERLINK "http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/"www.oii.ox.ac.uk --- Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free. Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com) Version: 6.0.553 / Virus Database: 345 - Release Date: 18/12/2003

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is this internet studies?
by david silver 22 Dec '03

22 Dec '03

virtual environments, massively multiplayer computer games, first person shooter games ... all brought to us via collaborations among US military, US academia, and US entertainment and video game industries. considering that institutions of higher education like USC can land a *$45 million* grant from the US army, it seems to me that the field may have found a new direction to follow. through my eyes, it appears that here in the states, we've made the shift from .com to .mil. add to the mix the transformation of silicon valley from ecommerce startups to homeland security startups. which begs the questions: is this internet studies? is this US internet studies? is this what we want internet studies to be? david *** http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-turse14dec14,1,… December 14, 2003 MILITARY The Pentagon Invades Your Xbox A new and powerful form of propaganda aims to indoctrinate young video gamers. By Nick Turse, Nick Turse is a doctoral student in the program for the history and ethics of public health and medicine in the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. NEW YORK � In 1998, the band Rage Against the Machine decried "the thin line between entertainment and war." Today, even that thin line is in danger of vanishing. In a new twist on President Eisenhower's concept of a "military-industrial complex," a "military-entertainment complex" has sprung up to feed both the military's desire for high-tech training techniques and the entertainment industry's desire to bring out ever-more-realistic computer and video combat games. Through video games, the military and its partners in academia and the entertainment industry are creating an arm of media culture geared toward preparing young Americans for armed conflict. Such cooperation wasn't always the order of the day. In the late 1980s, the creators of the combat-simulator video game M1 Tank Platoon weren't allowed by the Army to even set foot inside an actual tank. But by 1997, everything had changed. That was the year the Marine Corps signed a deal with M�K Technologies to create the first combat-simulation video game "to be co-funded and co-developed" by the Department of Defense and the entertainment industry. A year later, the Army signed a contract with M�K to develop a sequel to its commercial tank simulation game "Spearhead" for use by the U.S. Army Armor Center and School and the Army's Mounted Maneuver Battle Lab. The military has been gaming ever since. Some examples: � In 2001, the Department of Defense drafted the video game "Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear" into service to train military personnel in how to conduct small unit operations in urban terrain. � In 2002, the Army launched "America's Army," a training and combat video game developed at the Naval Postgraduate School with the assistance of entertainment and gaming industry stalwarts including Epic Games and the THX Division of Lucasfilm Ltd. The game, which is free to potential recruits either online or at recruiting stations, cost taxpayers between $6 million and $8 million. It has been, in the Army's eyes, a huge success, becoming one of the five most popular video games played online. � This year, a sequel to "Rogue Spear," "Rainbow Six: Raven Shield," was adopted by the Army to test soldiers' skills. The Army also signed a $3.5-million deal with There Inc. to create a virtual environment for warfare-simulation training. One project already underway is the creation of a virtual Kuwait that can be used to train personnel to anticipate and defend against an attack on the U.S. Embassy in Kuwait City. � The Navy, not wanting to be out of the action, assisted Sony in producing the video game "SOCOM II: U.S. Navy SEALs," which was released this year. Though initially the Pentagon saw in the video game industry only a means of training young, computer-savvy recruits more effectively, the mission has evolved into a two-way street in which the military has embraced entertainment titles at the same time the entertainment industry has embraced the military. "Kuma: War," developed by newcomer Kuma Reality Games in cooperation with the Department of Defense and slated for general release next year, is being billed as the first shooter game that will allow players to re-create actual military missions, such as the raid that killed Saddam Hussein's two sons. Each combat assignment will be introduced by television footage and a cable news-style anchor. Kuma boasts a team of military veteran advisors, who " � make sure the missions � are as realistic as possible." A retired Marine Corps major general leads the company's military advisory board. Next year will also mark the release of the next generation in militarized war games: "Full Spectrum Warrior" � a video game for Microsoft's Xbox system. The game is a realistic combat simulator that allows the gamer to act as an Army light infantry squad leader conducting operations in the invented nation of "Tazikhstan � a haven for terrorists and extremists." And "Full Spectrum Warrior" is not just any old military-themed video game. It was developed under the watchful eye of personnel at the Army's Infantry School at Ft. Benning, Ga., and is actually a revamped version of "Full Spectrum Command," a PC game/combat simulator used by the military to teach the fundamentals of commanding a light infantry company in urban environments. Thus, unlike other shoot-'em-ups that use violent imagery and military themes strictly for entertainment purposes, "Full Spectrum Warrior's" pedigree is that of a combat learning tool. The "Full Spectrum" games emerged from a new kind of partnership being forged at the Institute for Creative Technologies, a $45-million joint Army/USC venture designed to link up the military with academia and the entertainment and video game industries. In addition to creating "Full Spectrum Command" and "Full Spectrum Warrior," the institute is involved in a number of other military projects. These include "Advanced Leadership Training Simulation," a partnership between the institute and entertainment giant Paramount Pictures designed for training soldiers in crisis management and leadership skills; and "Think Like a Commander," a collaboration among the Army, the Hollywood filmmaking community and USC researchers designed to "support leadership development for U.S. Army soldiers" through software applications. With military spending budgeted at nearly $400 billion in 2004, a video game industry generating more than $10 billion a year, a transnational entertainment and media industry with annual revenues of some $479 billion, and no public outcry over the militarization of popular culture, the future of such collaborations seems assured. Can the day be far off when the Department of Defense gets a producer credit for a Paramount film and Kuma Reality Games is granted office space in the Pentagon? Before that happens, we need to start analyzing the effects of blurring the lines between war and entertainment. With more and more "toys" that double as combat teaching tools, we are subjecting youth to a new and powerful form of propaganda. This is less a matter of simple military indoctrination than near immersion in a virtual world of war where armed conflict is not the last, but the first � and indeed the only � resort. The new military-entertainment complex's games may help to produce great battlefield decision makers, but they strike from debate the most crucial decisions young people can make in regard to the morality of a war � choosing whether or not to fight and for what cause.

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new books, grants, cfps, and MOVEMENTS
by david silver 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

Folks, lots of stuff going down these days. excuse the formatting, my email program has trouble with non-english characters; in the process of posting, some characters may be missing. david *** Call for papers Information Society-Convocatoria articulos socied ad de la informacion English: CALL FOR ARTICLE SUBMISSIONS SIGNO Y PENSAMIENTO JOURNAL- N 44 First Semester 2004 Signo y Pensamiento, the journal published by the Communications Department of Universidad Javeriana's School of Language and Communications (Bogot, D. C., Colombia), invites all researchers, teachers, and scholars interested in the area of communication -and in Social Sciences- to submit their articles or papers for the journal's issue No 44 (January-July 2004), which will be devoted to the subject "Information Society: Which Society are We Talking about?". In so doing, the journal wants to join and take part in the national and international debates that have emerged around the Information Society World Summit. People interested can submit research findings, essays and reports within the general framework of mass media, culture and media, and/or the use and appropriation of cultural assets. Papers on any of the following general themes can be submitted: 1. Knowledge, Information and Culture vs. Economy and the Markets, How to Balance the Scales? Articles concerning the relationship between the quality and quantity of cultural consumption and revenue criteria; copyrights and intellectual property; broadening ownership, the right to free information, and the democratization of culture, 2. The digital gap (cultural and social) Articles on national, regional and global milieus; conflict, cooperation and integration (reality and possibilities); production and commercialization of communication and information technology; development possibilities and indicators (infrastructure, users, access and weight within the economy); the presence and conciliatory strategies of the State and other political actors in the policies and regulation of information and communications as a public service. 3. The global and the local milieus: tensions and possibilities Articles dealing with the right to be different, plurality and cultural homogenization; research and use of communications and information technology and socio-cultural integration (memory, the social fabric, the public and cultural spheres); citizenship participation and interaction (CIT); appropriation, participation, interaction and transformation of daily life and culture; literacy and virtual education. 4. Historical perspectives: From the new world order of information and communications to the information society? Articles on the continuities, transformations and ruptures that have taken place due to the shifts and displacements experienced by research and reflection on the national policies on communications, on communications for development, on social change, etc. Deadline for article submission: All articles must be submitted by March 8, 2004. Requirements: * Preferably, all texts should be unpublished. Otherwise, the name, date, and place of publication, the publisher's address, and a letter from the author or editor authorizing the publication of the text must be included. * The journal will give precedence to the following type of articles received: research results including introduction, methodology, results and conclusions; reflections based on the results of research worked from an analytic, interpretative or critical point of view; re-examined papers showing results, systematizations and progress in the particular field of studies accompanied by careful and comprehensive bibliography. * Preferably, papers should be written in Spanish but texts in either English or Portuguese are accepted. * All articles should be 20 to 25 pages long, double-spaced and in 'A' format (28.000 characters approx.) in Times 12-point font. * All articles must include a brief abstract (100 - 120 words) in either English or Spanish. * Charts and graphics should be sent separately. * Information on the author should be sent on a separate sheet of papaper stating: full name, nationality, address, e-mail, telephone, institutional membership or affiliation, recent publications and major areas of interest. Submissions must be sent to: Signo y Pensamiento signoyp(a)javeriana.edu.co Jorge Ivn Bonilla V.Catalina Montoya L. jibonill(a)javeriana.edu.co catalina.montoya(a)javeriana.edu.co Editor Editorial Coordinator SIGNO Y PENSAMIENTO is an academic publication devoted to reviewing progress and advancements on communications theory, practice and policies. It aims at being a forum for debate and spreading the contributions of teachers and researchers mostly in the following areas: * The foundations of communication as a scientific, humanistic and artistic discipline, and the reflections about research methodologies and knowledge construction in the are of communication. * Analysis of contemporary communications issues and the reproduction and transformation of cultural contexts. * Ethics of communication. * The relationship between communications and religious expression. * Analysis of different forms of expression and the multiplicity of the media's own language and discourse. * Analysis of the processes and languages that emerge in the interaction with new communication technologies. * The analysis and teaching of publicity, educational communication, journalism and organizational communication as professional fields and objects of study. * Communications policies, planning and regulation. * Communication and political culture. Espaol: CONVOCATORIA REVISTA SIGNO Y PENSAMIENTO No. 44 Primer semestre de 2004 La revista Signo y Pensamiento, publicacin del Departamento de Comunicacin de la Facultad de Comunicacin y Lenguaje de la Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, convoca a todos(as) los(as) investigadores(as), profesores(as) y pensadores(as) del campo de la comunicacin -y las ciencias sociales- a presentar sus artculos para el nmero 44 (enero-julio, 2004) de nuestra publicacin, dedicada al tema: Sociedad de la informacin: de qu sociedad estamos hablando?. En esta ocasin la revista ha querido unirse a los debates nacionales e internacionales en torno a los asuntos de la Cumbre Mundial de la Sociedad de la Informacin, CMSI. Todas las personas interesadas en esta convocatoria pueden enviar artculos que presenten resultados de investigacin, artculos de reflexin, de revisin temtica y reportes de caso, cuyo horizonte de anlisis tenga alguna relacin los medios de comunicacin, las culturas mediticas, los usos y apropiaciones de los bienes culturales. Se pueden enviar trabajos en cualquiera de los siguientes ejes temticos: 1. Conocimiento, informacin y cultura vs. economa y mercados Cmo equilibrar la balanza?: Se aceptan artculos asociados a la calidad y cantidad del consumo cultural en relacin con los criterios de rentabilidad; derechos de autor y propiedad intelectual; expansin de la propiedad, libre derecho a la informacin y democratizacin de la cultura. 2. La brecha digital (cultural y social): Se aceptan artculos relacionados con entornos nacionales, regionales y globales; conflicto, cooperacin e integracin (realidades y posibilidades); investigacin, produccin comercializacin de las tecnologas de informacin y comunicacin; indicadores y posibilidades de desarrollo (infraestructuras materiales, usuarios, accesos, peso en la economa); presencia, concertacin del Estado y otros actores en las polticas y la regulacin de la comunicacin, informacin como servicio pblico, entre otros 3. Entre lo mundial y lo local: tensiones y posibilidades: Se aceptan artculos relacionados con los derechos a la diferencia, la pluralidad y la homogenizacin cultural; investigacin/uso de las tecnologas de la informacin y la comunicacin e integracin sociocultural (la memoria, el tejido social, lo pblico y lo cultural); TIC, accin e interaccin ciudadana; apropiacin, accin, interaccin, transformacin de la vida cotidiana y la cultura; alfabetizacin y educacin virtual. 4. Miradas histricas: Del nuevo orden mundial de la informacin y la comunicacin (NOMIC) a la sociedad de la informacin?: Se aceptan artculos que den cuenta de las continuidades, las transformaciones y las rupturas que ha implicado el desplazamiento de la reflexin y la investigacin sobre asuntos relacionados con las polticas nacionales de la comunicacin, la comunicacin para el desarrollo, el cambio social, entre otros. Fecha lmite para la recepcin de los artculos: Los artculos se recibirn hasta el 8 de marzo de 2004. Requisitos: - El material deber ser preferiblemente indito. En caso contrario, se deber incluir el nombre y la fecha de la publicacin en la que ha aparecido, la direccin del editor y una carta del autor o del editor en la que se autoriza su reproduccin. - La revista dar prioridad a los siguientes tipos de artculos enviados: artculos de resultados de investigacin que incluyan una introduccin, metodologa, resultados y conclusiones; artculos de reflexin basados en resultados de investigacin trabajados desde una perspectiva analtica, interpretativa o crtica por parte del autor; artculos de revisin que muestren resultados, sistematizaciones y avances del campo de estudios y que presenten una revisin bibliogrfica cuidadosa y exhaustiva. - Deben ser preferiblemente escritos en castellano, aunque se aceptan artculos en ingls y portugus. - Los artculos deben tener una extensin entre 20 y 25 pginas escritas a doble espacio en hoja tamao carta, o 28.000 caracteres aproximadamente. La fuente debe ser Times 12 puntos. - El artculo debe incluir: resumen en espaol e ingls (entre cien y ciento veinte palabras). - Los cuadros y grficas deben enviarse por separado. - Debe enviarse una hoja separada con los datos del autor: nombre completo, nacionalidad, direccin, correo electrnico, telfono, afiliacin institucional, publicaciones recientes y reas de inters. Las colaboraciones pueden ser enviadas a: Signo y Pensamiento signoyp(a)javeriana.edu.co Jorge Ivn Bonilla V. Catalina Montoya L. jibonill(a)javeriana.edu.co catalina.montoya(a)javeriana.edu.co Editor Coordinadora Editorial *** Rhetoricians for Peace, a nationwide progressive organization for teachers and students of rhetoric, was founded in the Spring of 2002, and currently has over 140 members. With the next Presidential election less than one year away, writers and teachers are in positions to exert real influence in the election's outcomes and to work for peace and justice more broadly. We invite you to join us in our efforts to raise the level of political discussion through exposing manipulations of language and supporting serious rhetorical engagement with questions of the future of our nation and world. The organization's mission statement is: Rhetoricians for Peace is a grassroots network of global citizens who advocate the open exchange of accurate information and responsible analysis in order to promote social justice and the peaceful resolutions of conflict. To achieve this end, Rhetoricians for Peace will examine public communications and their contexts in the following ways: - analyzing public discourses and the rhetorical situations in which those discourses occur; - countering manipulative rhetoric, lies, dishonest representations of facts, and appeals to the power of force over reason and empathy for others; and - networking with organizations dedicated to open inquiry, particularly organizations that promote peace, environmental responsibility, and social justice. RFP's current projects include: - rhetorical analysis of public statements, including policy and media sources, and the circulation of analyses to the public and to political activists, through the organization's website and other media; - the promotion of dialogue dedicated to open inquiry of public discourses in communities and educational venues, including schools and academic publications; - liaison with other groups, in academia and elsewhere, who advocate goals similar those of the organization, with the ultimate goal of creating a virtual think tank addressing issues of politics and language; - publicly recognizing through an annual award rhetors who have contributed to sane and courageous discussion of American foreign policy - the creation of a network of individuals willing to speak on these matters in public forums. To join the group, go to https://mail.lsit.ucsb.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/rfp *** Request for Proposals The Engagement Innovation Test Fund SUMMARY: The Engagement Innovation Test Fund is seeking proposals for creative efforts to engage or recruit new members and activists in the work of your organization while educating the public about your organization's mission. Grants of between $3,000 and $6,000 for a short-term project (6 months or less) are competitively available to public charities that qualify under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code that wish to undertake a project with replicable results. NEED: For too long the progressive movement has relied upon the same tired mechanisms for engaging new members and activists and getting its message out to the public. The result of this has been an aging activist population and a lack of diversity in the activists who have been recruited. BACKGROUND: Many public interest organizations are seeking to bolster their membership and activist rolls in order to more effectively educate the public and to develop support for their missions and goals. Some organizations are gearing up to spend large sums on tried-and-true mechanisms for recruitment like direct-mail solicitations, marches, door-to-door canvasses, and conventions. However, new techniques, both online and offline, have shown that members can be "acquired" for a lower cost per member than traditional efforts cost. The Engagement Innovation Test Fund will competitively test a number of recruiting techniques from a variety of different organizations and movements and share the lessons learned widely. The goal is to use a limited investment in a six month test effort to guide foundations and non-profits in their investments in engagement activities. PROCESS: Organizations which qualify as public charities under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code wishing to undertake a project should complete the proposal form and e-mail it to the Common Assets Defense Fund at engage(a)commonassets.org. A review committee will review your proposal based on the following criteria. * Number of members/activists potentially generated * Diversity of members/activists generated * Leadership potential of members/activists potentially generated * Originality/Creativity * Plan for ongoing engagement of members/activists * Replicability of test results * Plan for evaluation and sharing of results The application asks that applicants evaluate their own proposal; the review committee does not expect any project to score 10 points in all of the categories. We are willing to take risks with non-traditional projects. Proposals must be received by January 7th, 2004. NETWORKING:If suitable, approved applicants will be placed in touch with each other during the six month testing period. This will be an excellent opportunity to network with other organizations who are clearly interested in exploring new methodologies of membership/activist engagement. EVALUATION/CONCLUSION: All recruitment efforts will be evaluated upon completion and the results will be shared with all grantees. Similarly, results will be shared with other organizations that may be able to utilize recruitment methods developed as a result of these grants. ABOUT THE ORGANIZATIONS:General Service Foundation supports grantmaking programs in International Peace/Human Rights, Reproductive Health and Rights and Western Water. Find them on the web at: www.generalservice.org. Common Assets Defense Fund is a multi-disciplinary organization that seeks to educate the American public about the rapidly diminishing assets we hold in common and defend those assets from misuse, privatization and destruction. Our three major campaign areas are: airwaves, energy, and water. In each area we seek to provide tools to help organize emerging networks of new leaders and activists. *** CONNECTED, or What It Means to Live in the Network Society Steven Shaviro University of Minnesota Press | 240 pages | 2003 ISBN 0-8166-4362-8 | hardcover | $49.95 ISBN 0-8166-4363-6 | paperback | $17.95 Electronic Mediations Series, volume 9 Connected is made up of a series of mini-essays on cyberpunk, hip-hop, film noir, Web surfing, greed, electronic surveillance, pervasive multimedia, psychedelic drugs, artificial intelligence, and evolutionary psychology, among other topics. In this breathtaking work, Steven Shaviro investigates popular culture, new technologies, political change, and community disruption and concludes that science fiction and social reality have become virtually indistinguishable. Shaviro argues that our strange new world is increasingly being transformed in ways, and by devices, that seem to come out of the pages of science fiction, even while the world itself is becoming a futuristic landscape. The result is that science fiction provides the most useful social theory, the only form that manages to be as radical as reality itself. For more information, including the table of contents, visit the book's webpage: http://www.upress.umn.edu/Books/S/shaviro_connected.html *** 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 *** david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver/ To SUBSCRIBE to cyberculture-announce, a low volume announcement list for RCCS events and updates, email: listproc(a)u.washington.edu; No subject is needed. In the body, type: subscribe cyberculture-announce

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cross-cultural materials online
by Charles Ess ＠ ITU 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

Colleagues: If you're interested in issues of cross- and inter-cultural communication online, you're invited to review the materials I prepared for a just-completed Master's course at IT-University, Copenhagen, "Cultural Homogeneity / Hybridity / Diversity Online": http://www.itu.dk/~chess/IRCulture/CourseStructure.html This is the course description - which is further linked to the course outline and annotated bibliography. I'm hoping to soon add a couple of the student projects completed for the course - they proved to be extremely interesting and highly practical analyses of these topics as focused on (a) how MacDonald's sites vary around the world, apparently in efforts to meet the communicative preferences of diverse cultures (especially as viewed through Hall's distinction between high content-low context and high context-low content cultures) and (b) a Danish website oriented towards helping minority communities here, with a critical analysis of how far the website appears to succeed in addressing diverse communities with diverse communication preferences. Comments and suggestions welcome! And happy holidays - Charles EssVisiting Professor (fall, '03) Department of Digital Aesthetics and Communication (DIAC) The IT University of Copenhagen Glentevej 67 DK-2400 Copenhagen NV Telephone: +45 38 16 89 63 Mobile: +45 22 46 06 35 Fascimile: +45 38 16 88 99 Distinguished Research Professor, Interdisciplinary Studies Drury University 900 N. Benton Ave. Springfield, MO 65802 USA voice: 417-873-7230 fax: 417-873-7435 homepage: <www.drury.edu/ess/ess.html> Co-chair, CATaC '04: <it.murdoch.edu.au/catac>

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CATaC'04 deadline extended
by Charles Ess ＠ ITU 20 Dec '03

20 Dec '03

Dear AoIR-ists: With apologies for cross-posting - please distribute to interested colleagues and appropriate listservs: Deadlines for CATaC'04 have been extended! In order to create a greater equality between general submissions and those intended for the two specific panels (one co-chaired by Susan Herring and Brenda Danet, and the second chaired by Michel Minou), we have decided to push back the deadline for _all_ submissions to CATaC'04 as follows: All papers (full - 10-20 formatted pages, short - 3-5 formatted pages) due: 1 February 2004. Please also note that _short papers_ (_not_ extended abstracts) are now required for the Herring and Danet panel on the Multi-lingual Internet. These changes are noted on the updated website, <it.murdoch.edu.au/catac> With all best wishes for happy holidays, Charles Ess Fay Sudweeks Co-chairs, CATaC'04

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Mediation and Transnational Identity
by andrew.herman＠comcast.net 19 Dec '03

19 Dec '03

Friends- Sometime last summer I sent a message to the group asking for assistance on a course I am putting together on (Trans)national Identity and Mediation. The community came across with some wonderful sources and suggestions. Alas, although those messages have been gobbled up by the Comcast Pacman. So, I am submitting the request again. Any suggestions would be most helpful. Below is a description of the course. Although course focuses somewhat on Canada, any and all suggestions about the general topic would be appreciated [Trans] National Identities, New Media/tions and the Place of the Public. This course explores the ways in which communications technologies shape national identities and understandings of public goods. We consider transformations and contestations of the public sphere, the public domain, intellectual property, freedom of speech, and multiculturalism in the face of an intensification of global population and cultural flows. The course will explore relationships between communications technologies and national identities with a particular emphasis on Canada. We consider key concepts such as the nation, the public (the public sphere and the public domain), citizenship, the national imaginary, and the national symbolic. The objectives of Canadian cultural policy will be addressed and Canadas cultural self-understanding as a society made up of relationships between founding nations, First Nations, and committed to multiculturalism will be critically examined. The course will first explore communication theories developed in and for Canadian society under conditions of mass media communications. We will then consider the extent to which processes of globalisation and new information communications technologies are posing new challenges to national identity and new opportunities for alternative forms of nation-building. We consider key concepts such as deterritorialization, transnationalism, diaspora, counterpublics, and global civil society. We will ask whether emerging social movements and networks (of aboriginal peoples, cultural diasporas, farmers, and governments committed to maintaining cultural diversity in the face of global trade) enabled by digital technologies strengthen or undermine the nation or demand that we conceptualise it differently. Thanks, Andrew P.S. TO PHILLIPE VANNINI--How does this sound for a panel/session for the Stone? -- Visiting Professor and Research Fellow in Digital Communications and Cultural Policy Joint Graduate Program in Communication and Culture York University 4700 Keele St.TEL 3007 Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 (416)736-2100 x 30157

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