- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: friendster observations
by Eszter Hargittai 01 Aug '03

01 Aug '03

I've posted some observations about Friendster on my blog. Here's the first section of the entry. I don't want to clutter the list with the whole extended entry, you can check it out here: http://www.esztersblog.com/archives/00000386.html Six degrees of separation or unification? Every Internet user knows that the network helps us easily connect with numerous people across wide distances. Over the years, various services have sprung up to facilitate such connections. But is it always a good idea to join such networks? Is bigger always better? There has been an increasing amount of discussion recently about Friendster, a relatively new online service based on connecting people to others through their existing social networks. The service has been enthusiastically covered by the likes of The Village Voice, Wired and Slate describing how Friendster is the newest great social - and procrastinatory - tool given all the information one can glean about people in one's social circles through the service. [..] Many express much excitement about Friendster and even claim that it is the next Google in online popularity and importance. I do not share this enthusiasm and here is why. See here for the rest (and for links): http://www.esztersblog.com/archives/00000386.html Eszter Post-doctoral Fellow Center for Arts and Cultural Policy Studies Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs Princeton University --- http://www.eszter.com http://www.esztersblog.com _______________________________________________ No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding. Introducing My Way - http://www.myway.com

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POSITION: Director for the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH)
by jeremy hunsinger 01 Aug '03

01 Aug '03

The University of Virginia invites letters of application, curriculum vitae, and nominations for the position of Director for the Institute for Advanced Technology in the Humanities (IATH). The Institute: IATH's goal is to explore and expand the potential of information technology as a tool for humanities research. To that end, we provide our Fellows with consulting, technical support, applications programming, and networked publishing facilities. In its first ten years, the Institute has become an international leader in the innovative application of advanced technologies to the humanities research and publication. Annually, the Institute awards a two-year fellowship to a humanities scholar at the University of Virginia. As it enters its second decade, the Institute looks forward to expanding its mission to include national and perhaps international fellowships in arts and humanities research and scholarly communication. The Position: The position of Director is a five-year renewable term with a joint faculty appointment in an arts or humanities department. The Director will oversee and participate in the Institute's administration (including development of policies and procedures), budget, and fundraising. The Director will keep regular oversight of existing institute projects. The position calls for collaborative work with a diverse population of faculty, administration, students, and staff of many campus organizations (such as the Library, Information Technology and Communications, and the University Press). The Director will stay abreast of important national and international developments in digital humanities work, and will be expected to promote extramural collaborations of various kinds. Qualifications: Candidate must be a tenured professor or associate professor of an arts or humanities faculty with a strong record of scholarship, teaching, administrative experience, and service. Knowledge of advanced technologies sufficient to understand the potential for transforming scholarly research and communication required. Excellent communication and interpersonal skills, experience dealing with a diverse academic community, and a demonstrated ability to work collaboratively with people from varied disciplines preferred. Successful experience in grant writing, corporate donations, and other fundraising preferred. For a complete job description visit the website below. Candidates should send a copy of their CV along with a letter briefly indicating a vision statement and qualifications for the position, and names and addresses of five references should be addressed to the contact below. Applications will be considered until the position is filled, however processing of applications will begin by September 1, 2003. Salary commensurate with qualifications and experience. All inquiries, applications and nominations will be held in the strictest of confidence. The University of Virginia is an Equal Opportunity/ Affirmative Action Employer. Women and members of minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply. Dir of IATH Search Committee University of Virginia c/o University Recruitment & Staffing P.O. Box 400127, 914 Emmet Street Charlottesville, VA 22904-4127 Fax: (434) 924-6911 Email: executivesearch(a)virginia.edu (Attn: IATH) Website: http://www.iath.virginia.edu/directorsearch/search.html Jeremy Hunsinger Center for Digital Discourse and Culture () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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RE: [Air-l] hotel information for AOIR Toronto: Broadening the B and
by Matthew Allen 31 Jul '03

31 Jul '03

Speaking as Program Chair, I can only emphasise and support what Nancy writes about the hotel rate. For what it is worth, a recent conference held locally in Perth for 2 and 1/2 days was charging registration at $1100 AUD (about $600 USD): this paid for venue hire, I am told. Cheers Matt -----Original Message----- From: Nancy Baym To: air-l(a)aoir.org Sent: 1/08/03 3:20 Subject: Re: [Air-l] hotel information for AOIR Toronto: Broadening the Band Alex and others, There have been extensive negotiations trying to reduce the hotel room rates. The hotel room rate subsidizes the meeting room space, so you are paying both for a place to sleep and a place to sit while you listen to the papers or to stand when you present your own. If we book enough hotel rooms, the Hilton gives us the meeting rooms. If we do not, we will have to pay the meeting room space. The post-Toronto alternative, if the conference is to continue to be large enough that meeting at universities is unrealistic, is to fold the cost of meeting rooms into registration rather than sleeping rooms, which would be considerably more expensive for all than the current arrangement. We are aware that we appeal particularly to younger (and less affluent) participants, that is why we offer the roomate board and discounted registration and membership. However, we do believe the conference offers a considerable benefit to those who attend, and, unfortunately, providing the space for 500 people to gather is expensive. Nancy >Given the importance of filling the hotel, I hate to be the one to >bring up the unspoken, but I'm guessing it's too spendy for many, >especially given the other options available. We have a lot of graduate >student members, and many coming without support from their >institutions, and the difference in cost over several days is >significant. > >Moreover, the Hilton has rooms listed on their website (linked from the >conference page) for as low as CDN$189 a night for double occupancy, >advance purchase. Even their "no restrictions" rate is $5 less than the >negotiated conference rate. I wonder if it might not be possible to >request the conference rate be reduced? > >Alex > >(Who will most likely be making the commute rather than staying.) > > >Quoting Rhiannon Bury <welshwitch75(a)rogers.com>: > > > Checking with the Hilton, it seems people aren't in hotel booking >> mode >> yet. As Nancy and Steve have mentioned, it is crucial to the >> financial >> success of the conference that people stay at the Hilton. ><...snip...> > >_______________________________________________ >Air-l mailing list >Air-l(a)aoir.org ><http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l>http://www.aoir.org/mailman /listinfo/air-l -- Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas 102 Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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AoIR Election Results
by Nancy Baym 31 Jul '03

31 Jul '03

The results of elections for the Association of Internet Researchers' 2003-2005 term are in. Thank you to Jennifer Stromer-Galley for counting (and recounting!) them. Those elected were: Vice-President: Matthew Allen Secretary: Ulla Bunz Treasurer: Benjamin Bates Graduate Representative: Leslie Tkach Kawasaki Open Seats: Annette Markham and Radhika Gajjala I am enthusiastic about working with this group. I am also grateful to all those who ran and those who voted. This association is what it is (and what it will become) because of the active participation of its members. Thank you, Nancy -- Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas 102 Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org

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Divorce by sms
by Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof) 30 Jul '03

30 Jul '03

I am guessing this hasn't hit Western shores yet, but certainly a novel use of technology!

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windows security alert
by jeremy hunsinger 30 Jul '03

30 Jul '03

usually I would not post these things to here, but this one is pretty significant. If you are using windows, please find a way to ensure that this does not affect your system as soon as you can. I also realize that I am posting the USDHS version of the notice, if you want the Computer Emergency Response Team notice, which came out a few days before, that is available also. If you do not know how to solve this problem on your Windows NT, 2000, XP, or Server machine yourself, it is advised that you email this to your local support group or system administrator to get their advice. Thanks, jeremy ---security notice follows--- Title: Potential For Significant Impact On Internet Operations Due To Vulnerability In Microsoft Operating Systems (UPDATED) Original Date July 24, 2003 Updated July 30, 2003 SYSTEMS AFFECTED: Computers using the following operating systems: Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Services Edition Microsoft Windows 2000 Microsoft Windows XP Microsoft Windows Server 2003 OVERVIEW THIS IS AN UPDATE TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY (DHS) JULY 24, 2003 ADVISORY ON MICROSOFT OPERATING SYSTEMS. The DHS/ Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection (IAIP) National Cyber Security Division (NCSD) is issuing this advisory in consultation with the Microsoft Corporation to heighten awareness of potential Internet disruptions resulting from the possible spread of malicious software exploiting a vulnerability in popular Microsoft Windows operating systems. DHS expects that exploits are being developed for malicious use. (UPDATE: SEVERAL WORKING EXPLOITS ARE NOW IN WIDESPREAD DISTRIBUTION ON THE INTERNET. THESE EXPLOITS PROVIDE FULL REMOTE SYSTEM LEVEL ACCESS TO VULNERABLE COMPUTERS.) Two additional factors are causing heightened interest in this situation: the affected operating systems are in wide spread use, and exploitation of the vulnerability could permit the execution of arbitrary code. DHS and Microsoft are concerned that a properly written exploit could rapidly spread on the Internet as a worm or virus in a fashion similar to Code Red or Slammer. (UPDATE: NO WORM CODE HAS BEEN REPORTED; HOWEVER, AN INTERNET-WIDE INCREASE IN SCANNING FOR VULNERABLE COMPUTERS OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS REINFORCES THE URGENCY FOR UPDATING AFFECTED SYSTEMS.) IMPACT The recently announced Remote Procedure Call (RPC) vulnerability in computers running Microsoft Windows operating systems listed above could be exploited to allow the execution of arbitrary code or could cause a denial of service state in an unprotected computer. Because of the significant percentage of Internet-connected computers running Windows operating systems and using high speed connections (DSL or cable for example), the potential exists for a worm or virus to propagate rapidly across the Internet carrying payloads that might exploit other known vulnerabilities in switching devices, routers, or servers. DETAILS There is a vulnerability in the part of RPC that deals with message exchange over TCP/IP. The vulnerability results from the handling of malformed messages. This particular vulnerability affects a Distributed Component Object Model (DCOM) interface with RPC, which listens on RPC enabled ports. This interface handles DCOM object activation requests that are sent by client machines (such as Universal Naming Convention (UNC) paths) to the server. An attacker who successfully exploited this vulnerability would be able to run code with local system privileges on an affected system. The attacker would be able to take any action on the system, including installing programs, viewing changing or deleting data, or creating new accounts with full privileges. RECOMMENDATION Due to the seriousness of the RPC vulnerability, DHS and Microsoft encourage system administrators and computer owners to take this opportunity to update vulnerable versions of Microsoft Windows operating systems as soon as possible. Microsoft updates, workarounds, and additional information are available at http://microsoft.com/technet/treeview/default.asp?url=/technet/security/ bulletin/MS03-026.asp DHS and Microsoft further suggest that Internet Service Providers and network administrators consider blocking TCP and UDP ports 135, 139, and 445 for inbound connections unless absolutely needed for business or operational purposes. Advisories recommend the immediate implementation of protective actions, including best practices when available. DHS encourages recipients of this advisory to report information concerning suspicious or criminal activity to law enforcement or a DHS watch office. The DHS Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection watch offices may be contacted at: For private citizens and companies - Phone: (202) 323-3205, 1-888-585-9078 Email: nipc.watch(a)fbi.gov Online: http://www.nipc.gov/incident/cirr.htm For telecommunications industry - Phone: (703) 607-4950 Email: ncs(a)dhs.gov For Federal agencies/departments - Phone: (888) 282-0870 Email: fedcirc(a)fedcirc.gov Online: https://incidentreport.fedcirc.gov DHS intends to update this alert should it receive additional relevant information, including information provided to it by the user community. Based on this notification, no change to the Homeland Security Advisory System level (HSAS) is anticipated; the current HSAS level is YELLOW. jeremy hunsinger jhuns(a)vt.edu on the ibook www.cddc.vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy/blog () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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Job vacancies - Brunel University
by Christine.Hine 30 Jul '03

30 Jul '03

BRUNEL UNIVERSITY - FACULTY OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SCIENCES Vacancy Ref: C3007/1 - Lecturer (two vacancies) Vacancy Ref: C5837/1 - Lecturer / Senior Lecturer (one vacancy) Salary: Lecturer A £21,125 - £25,451 pa plus £1,638 London Allowance pa Lecturer B £26,270 - £33,679 pa plus £1,638 London Allowance pa Senior Lecturer £35,251 - £39,958 pa plus £1,638 London Allowance pa Applications are invited for two posts of Lecturer, and one post of Lecturer/Senior Lecturer in Sociology and Communications. Successful candidates will possess or show clear potential of developing an excellent research profile in Sociology or Media and Communications. Although we welcome applications from those with an excellent research profile in any area of Sociology, Media and Communications which fit broadly with the interests of the Disciplinary Group (as outlined in the further particulars), preference may be given to those with research and teaching interests in one or more of the following specialisms: social theory, work and organisations, media studies, cultural studies, new media. The appointments will be made to the Sociology and Communications Disciplinary Group of the Department of Human Sciences, an interdisciplinary department that also contains Disciplinary Groups of Psychology and of Social Anthropology. The Sociology and Communications Disciplinary Group was rated 5 in RAE 2001 and has an 'Excellent' TQA score of 22/24. Applicants should send a covering letter outlining career highlights they wish to bring to the attention of the Department as well as full details of ongoing and future research plans. The application should also include a full Curriculum Vitae. Informal inquiries about this post may be directed to Professor Michael Wright (Head of Department) or Professor Ian Robinson (Sociology and Communications Disciplinary Group Leader). Telephone: 01895 274000. E-mail: Michael.Wright(a)brunel.ac.uk, or Ian.Robinson(a)brunel.ac.uk. For a downloadable application form and further details please visit Brunel Web Pages ( http://www.Brunel.ac.uk) Alternatively please send a large self-addressed envelope to postal address below quoting the relevant vacancy number. You can also e-mail the address or telephone the number below. COMMITTED TO EQUAL OPPORTUNIES AND REPRESENTING THE DIVERSITY OF THE COMMUNITY WE SERVE Team C, Human Resources, Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB8 3PH or telephone +44 (0)1895 812304 (24-hour answer phone) or e-mail: teamc(a)brunel.ac.uk Closing Date for Applications: September 15th 2003

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(no subject)
by Robert B. Taylor 30 Jul '03

30 Jul '03

Why doesn't someone just tells us what a blog is and how the term got started rather than fussing about how many people don't know what it is and why it isn't in dictionaries?

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friendster observations
by Paul Jones 30 Jul '03

30 Jul '03

i have about 170K people in my net and i've been there a while. i suspect i am also the oldest person in my net. all you need is one party girl in NYC with about 150 friends to hook you up with thousands :-> (an former student who signed people obcessively). but friendster is used among my net members to organize flash mobs, to play jokes with imaginary characters (harry tuttle is being chased by the info-retrieval ministry for example). there is a lot of gamestering going on within my section of friendster and i suspect elsewhere as well. what this means is that friendster is a very blunt tool for looking at social networks quantitatively but could be delightful fun for qualitative work. some great unexpected and unplanned for activities. one other note. friendster was hip for a while, but now hipsters seem to be getting cold on friendster and colder with each lame newspaper report such as http://newsobserver.com/business/story/2734004p-2534502c.html one hipster tells me that his main relationship will be ended if he signs up because his partner says friendster is for lamers and loonies. ========================================================================== Paul Jones "Work as if you live in the early days of a better nation." Alasdair Gray http://www.ibiblio.org/pjones/ pjones(a)ibiblio.org voice: (919) 962-7600 fax: (919) 962-8071 ===========================================================================

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"Beijing losing censorship war on the Net" Straits Times, Singapore & "China Has World's Tightest Internet Censorship, Study Finds"
by George Lessard 30 Jul '03

30 Jul '03

>> Begin forwarded message: >> [See also China Has World's Tightest Internet Censorship, Study Finds Joseph Kahn The New York Times, 4 December 2002 http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=517 >> and Harvard Law School website "Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China" http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china > From: "Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof)" <trkluver(a)ntu.edu.sg> > Date: Wed Jul 30, 2003 4:24:26 AM America/Winnipeg > To: <chineseinternetresearch(a)yahoogroups.com> > Subject: [chineseinternetresearch] Beijing losing censorship war on > the Net > Reply-To: chineseinternetresearch(a)yahoogroups.com Full text @ Straits Times, Singapore © 2003 http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/commentary/story/0,4386,201957-10594295 40,00.html? >> or your shorter link to the full text is: http://makeashorterlink.com/?O15125075 JULY 28, 2003 Beijing losing censorship war on the Net By JOHN GITTINGS >> [Excerpts] "... LONDON - The Sars crisis in China has provided intriguing new evidence on how the use of modern communications - particularly Internet and mobile technology - can be used to break down the walls of official secrecy. When Beijing sought to conceal the spread of the virus, millions of Chinese turned to their keyboards and cell phones to access banned foreign reports and censored domestic information. Internet traffic rose by 40 per cent, and cell phone traffic by 30 per cent. The government was forced to issue regulations banning 'rumours about Sars' being circulated by SMS, but to no effect. As the Caijing financial magazine commented later, the choice was between 'listening to back-street gossip or going on the Web'. It was the latest round in an ongoing struggle between a long-entrenched regime and a newly-emerging civil society for freedom of electronic information which has intensified in the past two years. The state apparatus has won some heavy-handed victories. More than 20 journalists and civil rights campaigners have been detained on charges such as 'using the Internet to subvert state power'. Several have been given jail sentences of up to 10 years. Dozens of foreign websites are routinely blocked to anyone attempting to access them through a Chinese server. Discussion groups and news forums are filtered and cleansed of 'inappropriate' material. Some experts calculate that Beijing spent US$200 million (S$350 million) last year on new surveillance equipment. Yet a relatively unfettered traffic in electronic news and comment continues to grow at a pace which no amount of technology can control. Most users observe some common-sense principles of self-censorship: No one is going to criticise a party leader by name or defend the banned Falungong sect. >> ..." >> " ... CHANNELS OF FREEDOM MATERIAL from Nongyou and other social-action websites is often passed on via individual e-mail or posted on bulletin boards. There is also a crossover of material between these sites and a handful of adventurous print newspapers such as the Nanfang Zhoumo (Southern Weekend). In a recent example, protests at the death in custody of Sun Zhigang, a young man held by the police in Guangzhou, were picked up by newspapers after circulating widely on the Web. Material also flows freely between the social-action groups and a number of academic sites such as Xue er Si (Study and Thought), run by Beijing law professor Yang Zhizhu, who organised the online petition calling for justice in the Sun Zhigang case. These in turn have informal links with sites outside the mainland, such as the 21st Century online magazine run from the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and some more radical sites in the US. The result is a continuum of argument and dissent, from the most cautious to the most outspoken, which transcends China's national borders. Current issues now being widely debated include China's extensive use of the death penalty, the alienation of the Chinese intellectual, and the government's mishandling of the Sars crisis. >> ..." >> " ... The controls on foreign media vary in intensity: Some, including The Washington Post and Reuters, were 'liberated' last year, but audio links to the BBC and Voice Of America Chinese-language broadcasts are still rigorously blocked. Considerable effort goes into barring access to 'proxy servers' that can be used to mask entry to forbidden sites. Use of the Google search engine 'cache' facility for the same purpose has also been blocked. The censor's technology includes key-word recognition which, for example, prevents anyone from searching for the phrase 'Falungong' (except on official government websites). SUCCESS OR SHAME? >> ..." >> " ... THESE blocking actions are no doubt reported to higher authorities as evidence of success in the struggle against 'poisonous weeds' - and will help justify claims for a higher budget. The operation is run by the Ministry of State Security and is an embarrassment to the Chinese Foreign Ministry which refuses to admit that it exists. Although an intensely irritating form of censorship (especially for foreign correspondents based in China), it is an increasingly futile exercise as far as the Chinese people are concerned. The government is engaged in a losing battle against a news-hungry and increasingly sophisticated people who are finding creative ways to get past the high-tech word-based filters. Chairman Mao Zedong was right when he said that the course of battle was determined not by machines but people. >> ..." >> " ... The writer is a specialist on China at The Guardian and was based till recently in Hong Kong and Shanghai. This article appeared in YaleGlobal Online, www.yaleglobal.yale.edu ..." >> = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = >> Via / Excerpted / By / From / Thanks to: http://tinyurl.com/h4m7 http://media002.tripod.com/ > From: > "Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof)" <trkluver(a)ntu.edu.sg> > School of Communication and Information > Nanyang Technological University > 31 Nanyang Link > Singapore, 637718 > (65) 6790-5770 > Fax (65) 6792-4329 ---------------------- --------------~-> Full text @ Straits Times, Singapore © 2003 http://straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/commentary/story/0,4386,201957-10594295 40,00.html? >> or your shorter link to the full text is: http://makeashorterlink.com/?O15125075 JULY 28, 2003 Beijing losing censorship war on the Net By JOHN GITTINGS [chineseinternetresearch] To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: chineseinternetresearch-unsubscribe(a)egroups.com >> (c)info http://members.tripod.com/~media002/disclaimer.htm Due to the nature of email & the WWW, check ALL sources. >>> "You must be the change you wish to see in the world." >>>> (Gandhi) >> [See also China Has World's Tightest Internet Censorship, Study Finds Joseph Kahn The New York Times, 4 December 2002 http://yaleglobal.yale.edu/display.article?id=517 "... "Defying predictions that the Internet was inherently too diverse and malleable for state control, China has denied a vast majority of its 46 million Internet users access to information that it feels could weaken its authoritarian power." That's the conclusion of a new survey of internet use in China done by a team of researchers at Harvard University. The six-month study found that "Beijing blocked thousands of the most popular news, political and religious sites, along with selected entertainment and educational destinations." Because all internet traffic is routed through a group of central servers in China, the internet may be easier to control than other forms of telecommunications such as phones and faxes. - YaleGlobal ..." >> Click here to view the study on the Harvard Law School website >> "Empirical Analysis of Internet Filtering in China" http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/filtering/china Jonathan Zittrain* and Benjamin Edelman**, Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard Law School [ Overview - Methodology - Analysis & Summary Statistics - Conclusions - Technical Appendix ][ Specific Blocked Sites - Highlights - Analysis by Google Keyword (details | chart) ] ..."

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