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AoIR Toronto: Qualrus workshop
by Rhiannon Bury 14 Oct '03

14 Oct '03

Jeremy Shtern has asked that I forward this announcement to the list. Note that Jeremy did not give me the exact starting times. Contact him directly at the address at the bottom of the message. Qualrus Qualitative Analysis Software I Wed. Oct 15 (morning) [pay what you can]. Organizer: Ed Brent, Professor of Sociology Missouri Univeristy, IdeaWorks. The morning portion of this workshop will give an overview of the qualitative analysis program, Qualrus, followed by hands-on demonstrations of key features, with a special emphasis on applications to Internet research. Example applications to be discussed include the analysis of open-ended responses in Internet surveys, the use of Qualrus to parse input for interactive natural language web interfaces, and strategies for automating or semi-automating the coding of text with scripts. Qualrus is easy to use because it was designed with the advice of internationally respected qualitative researcher, Howard Becker, relying on the concepts and methods from the qualitative literature and with careful attention to making the interface similar to familiar programs. It is more powerful because it uses intelligent computational strategies to do more for the researcher at each of the three major stages of qualitative research: coding, analysis, and application. Qualrus provides a wide range of tools to support diverse coding styles in addition to the customary coding of successive segments one at a time. Qualrus' categorizing tool (based on Howard Becker's preferred coding method) lets researchers sort segments into stacks and then apply codes to the entire stack simultaneously-supporting diverse research styles and emphasizing emerging concepts. A graphical interface displays standard and user-defined relations among codes in a semantic network. That network is then used to facilitate reasoning by the program. Qualrus also uses intelligent computational strategies to identify patterns in data, suggest codes to users, and learn from user responses, providing more intelligent help as the coding progresses. Researchers can code independently, with computer-assistance, or even apply codes automatically, at their own discretion-in some cases achieving dramatic gains in coding speed and accuracy. The automatic comparison of codes assigned by coders with those recommended by the program provides an ongoing measure of coding consistency throughout the project. Qualrus offers a range of tools specifically designed for the common tasks of qualitative research. Concept formation and the emergence of categories from the data are facilitated by the categorizing tool, while other tools help researchers identify codes that are good candidates for generalization or refinement. Still other tools compute commonly used summary statistics, perform Boolean searches, and test hypotheses. These diverse tools are designed to support many different styles of research. Multimedia support is included for text, rich text, and a wide variety of video, audio, and graphics formats. Results can be saved to HTML reports, and data can be both imported and exported to spreadsheets and statistical programs. Qualrus' powerful scripting language permits users to adapt the program to their own research style and to a wide range of practical applications. The versatility of this scripting language is illustrated by two specialized applications of Qualrus to non-traditional qualitative analysis tasks of grading essays for an introductory college-level course, and conducting a literature review. Qualrus Qualitative Analysis Software II Wed. Oct 15 (afternoon) [pay what you can] Organizer: Ed Brent, Professor of Sociology Missouri Univeristy, IdeaWorks With the byDesign eLab and eCommons/agora and McLuhan global research network: Dr Liss Jeffrey, with Jeremy Shtern, Univerity of Montreal, Christie Hurrell, York Ryerson Communication and Culture, Elic Chan, Sociology, University of Toronto. The afternoon portion of this workshop will extend and explore the functions and application of Qualrus with respect to a recent national e-governance consultation. Analysts from the Foreign Policy Dialogue/ Dialogue Politique Etrangere ( www.foreign-policy-dialogue.ca ) will present a case study on the uses of Qualrus for an online consultation.=20 This Dialogue is worth examination for at least four primary reasons: Linkage between government and civil society. The electronic side of the Dialogue was developed and hosted through a partnership between a civil society network (led by the byDesign eLab) and the Canadian Centre for Foreign Policy Development (CCFPD) at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Internatinal Trade (DFAIT). Innovation with new media in digital democracy. No national government had ever before invited its citizens to take part in the shaping of foreign policy online, normally considered the exclusive preserve of a small elite. The Foreign Affairs Minister, backed by the Prime Minister's Office, was instrumental in this process. Historical coincidence with major world events. The Iraq situation became a focal issue in the foreign policy concerns of most citizens, dominating media, public and government agendas, with significant impacts on the response to the invitation to shape longer range policies online. Ecology of information and communications media channels. The Foreign Policy Dialogue featured multiple tracks (including Minister's Town Halls, responses by regular mail, MP consultations, Expert round tables, a Youth forum, the Foreign Affairs Parliamentary subcommittee ) thus permitting some understanding of the contemporary practices of citizen and government policy dialogue, and the potential and actual uses of an ecology of channels of democratic discourse. This half of the workshop will report on the uses of these methods, notably the incorporation of Qualrus in the data analysis and reporting process. If eConsultation is to make a difference to democracy, then it is necessary to answer the question: How can policy relevant advice be extracted from the Internet-mediated communication of the public in a large scale consultation? In the course of this online consultation, thousands of Canadian citizens electronically provided their input into the process of foreign affairs policy formation through e-mails, answers to questions posed by the Minister, and discussion forums. To meet the challenge of analysis, the Foreign policy dialogue civil society partnership team used a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. This workshop will report on the uses of these methods, notably the incorporation of Qualrus in the data analysis and reporting process. This seminar is about research, NOT just about technology. Morning and Daylong Qualrus workshops are taking place at: 40 St George Street, Bahen Building, University of Toronto, Bell University Labs BA 7256=20 (Just north of College Street on St George). Directions: walk down from St George subway station or walk along College Street to St george and turn north. Researchers are welcome, especially graduate students. For further information please contact Jeremy Shtern: jeremy(a)ecommons.net

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Cheers to Steve Jones!
by bakera＠ohiou.edu 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

Hello, everyone-- I would like to thank Steve for leading our organization from before it's first conference in 2000 to now. For that, I and all of us in AoIR, I am sure, are grateful. As we are days away from IR 4.0, I wanted to seize the day in appreciaton of Steve Jones on behalf of people who cannot be with us f2f in Toronto, and also for those who will attend the meeting. Kudos also to Nancy in her transition to President. Wotta team. best, andrea baker

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Re: [Air-l] IRB permissions for online gaming studies?
by Dmitri Williams 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

Michele, I am just finishing up a dissertation that involved both participant observation and survey waves for those kind of online gamers, and I can add a little on the IRB process. In a nutshell, it was a right pain, but doable. As you know, the crux of the matter was whether or not I would be exposing subjects to potentially harmful or socially objectionable materials without parental consent. There is no honest way to avoid either, especially since the research involves finding out if the stuff is harmful in the first place. Compounding the problem was the inability to easily verify the age of the subjects if the study is all online. I did in fact mail my subjects stimulus materials, but since there was no in-person contact even via snail mail, there was no true way to be sure the subjects were of age or had indeed secured consent. Still, probably the biggest obstacle was the IRB's own unfamiliarity with the medium and the genre. They really did not understand what an MMRPG was, and I had to brief them on it. What I think sold them was telling them that the game is not in fact dominated by 13-year olds, and is instead largely adult-populated. After telling them that and agreeing to their language for a consent statement, they let me go ahead. True to form, my final sample turned out to be only about 4% under 18 years old. The only other thing I had to promise was to self-identify when doing the participant observation part. That element might be skirted honestly by having a readily available profile with researcher disclosure and a link to a supporting web page. After all, it messes up the flow of the work to constantly remind other players that one is a grad student examining them: Hey, let's go attack that creature, and by the way, I'm a grad student collecting data on you . . . Cheers, Dmitri > Date: Mon, 13 Oct 2003 10:55:48 -0600 > From: Michele Jackson <Michele.Jackson(a)colorado.edu> > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Cc: Li Nan <Nan.Li-1(a)colorado.edu> > Subject: [Air-l] IRB permissions for online gaming studies? > > Hello - I have a student conducting a thesis on the communicative > behavior > in online games (one will be a U.S. game such as Everquest and another > will > be a Chinese game). She would like to conduct participant > observation. We > are having difficulties with our IRB (Committee that approves research > on > Human Subjects), primarily because players may be children. Research > that > involves children requires parental consent. Another problem is that > the IRB > at my university does not have experience with this type of research, > and so > they don't have models to draw on (or to guide us). > > I am interested in hearing from anyone who has been able to gain > approval > for this type of research - your help is much appreciated - > > mj > > Michele H. Jackson, PhD > Dept of Communication University of Colorado > Boulder, CO 80309-0270 > 303-492-8139 jackson(a)colorado.edu > http://comm.colorado.edu/mjackson > > > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > **************** Dmitri Williams Ph.D. Candidate University of Michigan Department of Communication Studies dcwillia(a)umich.edu http://www.umich.edu/~dcwillia

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20 most critical internet security vulnerabilities, SANS, etc.
by jeremy hunsinger 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

> > Press Alert and Invitation > > The Twenty Most Critical Internet Security Vulnerabilities to be > Announced by a multi-national consortium of governments and industry > and the SANS Institute. > > plus > > Surprising Lessons Learned in Implementing The Federal Information > Security Reform Act (FISMA) > > Date: October 8, 2003 > Time: Press Conference 2:00 PM - 2:45 PM > Technical Briefing: 2:50 PM - 4:15 PM > Place: DC near the White House (all registered people for whom we have > space will receive the location on Monday or Tuesday) > > Deadline for Registering: Monday, October 6, 6:00 PM EDT > > Summary: > Hundreds of thousands of computers are being attacked, compromised, and > used in attacks on other systems, simply because their owners do not > fix the most commonly exploited security vulnerabilities. Some federal > systems have even been taken over and used to attack other systems in > the same agency. People who decide to protect their computers face an > enormous challenge with more than 2,500 vulnerabilities having been > announced. Which ones matter? Which ones must be fixed first? > > A consortium of US and British government agencies and private > companies > in a half-dozen countries have reached consensus on the most important > vulnerabilities - the ons that need to be fixed first and kept fixed. > > The list, called the SANS Top 20 Internet Security Vulnerabilities, > will > be released on October 8 in a ceremony that will be anchored by Steve > Cummings, Minister of the National Infrastructure Security > Co-ordination > Centre (NISCC) in the UK and Sallie McDonald of the US Department of > Homeland Security. > > At this announcement (and technical briefing) you will learn what > vulnerabilities are in the Top 20 and what vulnerabilities were left > out and why. You'll also get access to a document that details how to > alleviate each of the vulnerabilities. In addition, at least one tool > will be announced that tests for all of the Top 20 automatically. > > As a bonus session, attendees will also get a preview of a new study by > SANS that answers some of the tough questions about implementation of > the Federal Information Security reform Act. Questions like: > > (1) How can one agency spend $6,000 per system for Certification and > Accreditation while others spend $50,000 - $100,000 per system. Is the > job being done badly or does the low cost reflect actual innovation? > > (2) How do you make the IG and GAO folks into resources to help make > the process work? How can you lower the cost of monitoring performance > on eliminating problems identified during the C&A process? And more. > > About forty of the 150 seats have already been reserved by Federal > CIOs, > CISOs, CTOs, and IG staff members and people who helped work on the > project. > > If you would like one of the remaining seats, complete the data below. > You may also register others who can help you put the new resources to > work. > > We're giving priority to people who have management responsibility for > securing (and/or ensuring the security of) large numbers of systems -- > especially federal systems. > > > ================================================================== > > Please reserve seats for the following people (if the title and > organization for any person does not make their responsibility for > securing large numbers of systems obvious, please add a note.) > > ===================== > Name: > > Job Title: > > Agency: > > Department: > > Email: > > ===================== > Name: > > Job Title: > > Agency: > > Department: > > Email: > > ================ > Name: > > Job Title: > > Agency: > > Department: > > Email: > > ================= > Name: > > Job Title: > > Agency: > > Department: > > Email: >

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IRB permissions for online gaming studies?
by Michele Jackson 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

Hello - I have a student conducting a thesis on the communicative behavior in online games (one will be a U.S. game such as Everquest and another will be a Chinese game). She would like to conduct participant observation. We are having difficulties with our IRB (Committee that approves research on Human Subjects), primarily because players may be children. Research that involves children requires parental consent. Another problem is that the IRB at my university does not have experience with this type of research, and so they don't have models to draw on (or to guide us). I am interested in hearing from anyone who has been able to gain approval for this type of research - your help is much appreciated - mj Michele H. Jackson, PhD Dept of Communication University of Colorado Boulder, CO 80309-0270 303-492-8139 jackson(a)colorado.edu http://comm.colorado.edu/mjackson

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Looking for book on Internet Research Methods.
by Sandeep Krishnamurthy 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

I am an Associate Book Review Editor for the prestigious Journal of Marketing Research. I am currently looking to review books that illustrate and analyze the issues involved in research methods that are based on the Internet/Web (e.g. analysis of textual data available in blogs/web sites/chat rooms/USENET groups, social network analysis, e-mail surveys, online focus groups, clickstream analysis, data mining). I am interested in both qualitative and quantitative research methods. I am interested in books that are designed for beginners and for advanced readers. I am interested in books written for small technical audiences as well as larger audiences (e.g. social science researchers). You could either e-mail me the name of the book directly(sandeep(a)u.washington.edu) or post to the list. Thanks. Best, Sandeep http://faculty.washington.edu/sandeep

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AoIR Toronto: Pre-Conference Lab Open House
by Rhiannon Bury 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

A number of labs will be opening their doors to AoIR delegates on Wednesday Oct. 15. Please note that this event was originally arranged as a lab tour. Now, individual labs have posted their hours on the website, and delegates are free to stop by as few or as many as interest them. Please use the following link for the most updated information. http://aoir.org/2003/conference.html#lab If you still have questions, please direct them to our Pre-Conference Coordinator: Olivia Robertson olivia.robertson(a)utoronto.ca. Rhiannon

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AoIR Toronto: Pre -Conference Workshops
by Rhiannon Bury 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

I would like to draw your attention to updated information on the pre-conference workshops Wed. Oct 15. If you are in the Toronto area or will have arrived in town by then, you can attend the following for NO fee through the generosity of the organizers. 1. Technology / Research / Ethics 8:30 am - 12:30 pm (Charles Ess) 2. Postcolonial Feminists meet Internet Studies 1:00pm - 4:00pm (Radhika Gajjala) Both workshops will be held at Ryerson University, within walking distance or a short cab ride from the Hilton. For more details, please use the following link: http://aoir.org/2003/conference.html#pre Rhiannon Bury !http://aoir.org/2003/conference.html#lab

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The Observer | Business | Breaking through with the Baghdad blogger
by Frank Thomas 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

For the blogging community: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1040861,00.html

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Request re AoIR conference
by Dianne Looker 13 Oct '03

13 Oct '03

I am in one of the Digital Divide sessions on Saturday (session 343). There is a family matter I need to deal with and, if possible, would like to switch with someone in one of the other Digital Divides sessions on Thursday or Friday (sessions 141 or 241). If anyone is willing to switch with me, please let me know. Thank you. Dianne Looker

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