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Call for Papers
by Oliver Krueger 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

Call for Papers: International Research Meeting Online-Religions and Rituals-Online? 13.-15. Octobre 2004, University of Heidelberg (Germany) On 13.-15. Octobre 2004 the project C2 Between Online-Religion and Religion-Online: constellations of the transfer of rituals in the medium internet of the collaborative research centre Dynamics of Rituals at the University of Heidelberg (http://www.ritualdynamik.uni-hd.de/) arranges the international research meeting Online-Religions and Rituals-Online? The research meeting will deal with the topic of religion on the internet with special regards on the ritual discourse on the internet from the electronic publication of traditional ritual scripts to presentations of innovative design of rituals. Several aspects of the dynamic change of rituals by the use of the internet will be discussed. The research meeting is dedicated to the exchange and discussion of methodological questions of the analysis of religious websites. Hence, methodological contributions as well as reports from current research, which deal with the topic of religion on the internet, are highly appreciated. The conference will take place at the university of Heidelberg (Germany). The conference language is English. We do not plan to take a conference fee. Propositions for contributions are requested to be send to Oliver Krueger (oliver.krueger(a)urz.uni-heidelberg.de) till 12. Octobre 2003. Prof. Dr. Gregor Ahn / Dr. des. Oliver Krueger SFB Ritualdynamik Institut fuer Religionswissenschaft Akademiestr. 4-8 69117 Heidelberg Germany Tel.: 0049-6221-547482

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Fw: New Book Available: Inuit in Cyberspace
by Frank Schaap 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

I can't remember having seen this book mentioned on this list, so I'm forwarding (via ANKN and Cyberculture mailinglists, see details in footers). Frank. ---- New Book Available: Inuit in Cyberspace: Embedding Offline Identities Online By Neil Blair Christensen For more information and to order please see: http://www.mtp.dk/catalogue?m=bi&id=684 -------------------- I am delighted to be able to write to you now and inform you that Inuit in Cyberspace has recently been published. In this cyber-ethnography, I explore the processes by which a wide selection of personal, local, cultural and national identities are expressed and understood on the Internet. The different Inuit peoples of the circumpolar Arctic have always taken active part in the world, but their contemporary use of Internet(s) has affected even more their relative isolation - one that comes from living in a peripheral region of the world. Yet, Inuit and others are constructing web pages with social and physical references that sustain an imagined Arctic remoteness; a logic that seems to be a key aspect of Inuit identities and cultures. The book brings together in analysis and discussion the realities of contemporary Inuit, the myth of cyberspace, a selection of dynamic strategies for identification, as well as a discussion of online methods for research. It concludes that Inuit dynamically remain Inuit, in all their diversity, regardless of an imagined compression of time and space; their use of changing technologies, or participation in enlarged social networks. It carries a series of new perspectives for the researched and the researcher. Kind regards Neil Blair Christensen http://www.nbc.brygge.dk Christensen, Neil Blair: Inuit in Cyberspace: Embedding Offline Identities Online, 2003, 135 pages, ISBN 87-7289-723-6. Prices: $19, ¤ 20, £14, DKK 148 Contents Introduction: Shifting Boundaries Modern Tradition Escape Cyberspace Old frontiers in new space I Going Nowhere to get Everywhere Online survey E-mail interviews Content analysis of web pages Wanted: practical method II (Re)producing the Arctic in Cyberspace The myth of cyberspace Peripherality on the Net Three regions: Canadian Artic, Greenland, and Alaska Bridging a gap? III A Common Web of Difference and Similarity Recursive dynamics: social boundaries and cultural stuff Us and them: self-identify by identifying others Taloyoak in cyberspace Native language Guestbooks Intelligible boundaries IV Perceiving Cyberspace Engaging with the world Disengaging from abstract theory Continuity? Accept Change and Understand Context ____________________ [Via / From / Thanks to and/or excerpted from the following: ] ___________________ Please send your contributions for the ANKN Listserv to Sean.Topkok(a)uaf.edu or Paula.Elmes(a)uaf.edu This is a moderated listserv, so contributions can be only sent by Paula or Sean.Ê If you have any suggestions, questions, or comments, please email Sean or Paula Elmes: Paula.Elmes(a)uaf.edu. If you want to be removed from the ANKN Listserv or know of someone to be included, please contact Sean or Paula. ANKN website: http://www.ankn.uaf.edu ANKN Listserv Archives: http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/anknlistserv/ -- Cyberculture(a)zacha.org http://www.zacha.org/mailman/listinfo/cyberculture http://www.cyberculture.zacha.org/ --- END OF FORWARDED MESSAGE -------------------------------------------

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MISSIONl newsletter
by Diana Andone 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

You have been sent this email because we believe the information contained may be of value to you. If you do not wish to receive further MISSION email newsletters, please email mission(a)opendrum.utt.ro <mailto:mission@opendrum.utt.ro> and write UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject field. The HTML version of this Newsletetr can be found at http://ldrum.opendrum.utt.ro/mission/newsletter1.html --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- MISSION (Multi-Integrated System Support for Improved ODL Networking) is a 2 years project developed under Socrates - MINERVA European Union Program. The project intends to strengthen the relationship and co-operations in PHARE ODL study center network: inside - between centers and outside -between center and ODL institution and universities in EU. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Content About the project Editorial - The ICT Skills and Learning Preferences of Europeans ODL in Romania ODL in Lithuania ODL in France New courses News Conferences Issue 1, May 2003 Contact MISSION Web-site ( http://mission.pu.acad.bg/en/index.html <http://mission.pu.acad.bg/en/index.html%C2%A0> ) Course catalogue of tasters ( http://www.dec.pg.gda.pl/pro/socrates/prometheus/manager/mission/index.php ) Counseling service on-line ( http://www.dec.pg.gda.pl/pro/socrates/prometheus/manager/mission/index.php ) Database on existing ODL staff training programmes ( http://www.dec.pg.gda.pl/pro/socrates/prometheus/manager/mission/index.php ) ODL Glossary ( http://stoner.phys.uaic.ro/idesc/glossary/ ) HR-Development Programme for ODL Centres Newsletters Editor Diana Andone diana(a)mail.opendrum.utt.ro <mailto:diana@mail.opendrum.utt.ro> About the project Mission project aims to strengthen the links between the CEE PHARE ODL Centres - recently established by the support of the PHARE Multi-Country Programme for Distance Education. At the same time it aims to improve the effectiveness and long-term stability of collaboration between EuroStudy Centres (coordinated by European Association of Distance Teaching Universities - EADTU) and PHARE ODL Centres. As a more generic objective, it focuses on enhancing the awareness of ODL as the most effective, innovative and flexible methodology for supporting the European dimension of Life-Long Learning. The typical beneficiaries of the MISSION project are expected to be: HRD policy makers and decision makers, ODL providers, course developers, ICT application developers, management staff and academics of universities working in dual/mixed mode education systems, staff developers and advisers, evaluators, distance learners all over Europe. Establishing a central, multi-lingual (13 languages) WEB portal and electronic network based on ICT (e-newsletter, discussion groups, course catalogue, staff development and mentoring, etc.) is a core activity of the project. In addition to the advanced electronic tools and resources that will be available for a global audience . Specific staff development programmes for ODL Centres and Strategic plans for the sustainability of ODL networking in Europe will also be major outcomes Products: . Web-site http://mission.pu.acad.bg/en/index.html <http://mission.pu.acad.bg/en/index.html%C2%A0> . Course catalogue of tasters http://www.dec.pg.gda.pl/pro/socrates/prometheus/manager/mission/index.php . Counseling service on-line http://www.dec.pg.gda.pl/pro/socrates/prometheus/manager/mission/index.php . Database on existing ODL staff training programmes http://www.dec.pg.gda.pl/pro/socrates/prometheus/manager/mission/index.php . ODL Glossary http://stoner.phys.uaic.ro/idesc/glossary/ . HR-Development Programme for ODL Centres (URL link) . Newsletters - link la arhiva . Publications Editorial The ICT Skills and Learning Preferences of Europeans Nine in ten Europeans think lifelong learning is important. But only 58% said they are able to use a computer, and very few think on open and distance learning to improve their skills. These are some of the results of a recent Eurobarometer Survey describing the learning patterns of Europeans. The survey, called "Lifelong learning: a citizen's view" , ( http://www.cedefop.eu.int/download/current_act/4025_en.pdf <http://www.cedefop.eu.int/download/current_act/4025_en.pdf%C2%A0> was commissioned by the Directorate General Education and Culture with the assistance of CEDEFOP http://www.cedefop.eu.int /. It was carried out between 15 January and 28 February 2003 in the 15 Member States, Norway and Iceland, and entailed more than 18,000 face-to-face interviews. ICT and scientific/technological skills are not high on citizen's agenda Almost everybody (over 90%) agrees that reading, writing and arithmetic are the most useful skills in all areas of life. At the same time, under half consider that using the internet (48%), foreign languages (45%) or scientific - technological tools are important skills in personal life, although these ICT skills are judged to be more important in working life. People think they need a broader range of skills in working life than in personal life, and this is specially the case for using ICT skills. Some 50% of people does not feel confident on key ICT skills Almost everyone in the European Union thinks that they can read, write and do arithmetic, but only 58% of respondents said they could use a computer while half of them said they could not use Internet and 60% said they could not use foreign languages. The lack of ICT skills is especially marked in Greece and Portugal with two-thirds of respondents claiming they could not use a computer. Around 70% of respondents from Spain, Ireland and the United Kingdom said they could not use foreign languages. On the other hand, people from Nordic countries and Luxembourg are much more likely to think that they possess knowledge and skills across the full range. Gender differences are more marked for felt competence in using computers (65% of male and 52% of female respondents) and in using scientific/technological tools and equipment (53% and 28%respectively). These results suggest that many citizens are aware there is room for knowledge & skills development of their part. The majority of citizens think they learn best in informal settings European citizens consider that their learning experiences are most profitable in non-formal contexts, for example doing activities at home (69%), getting together with other people (63%), during leisure time, (51%) learning informally on the job or in local learning centres/libraries. Formal learning settings (such as schools, universities and colleges) as a recent and relevant learning context were mentioned by only 17% of respondents. It is also worth noting that distance learning channels and learning experience abroad (as part of exchange programmes) are among the least-favoured learning settings. Few people think about open and distance learning to improve their skills When people think about how to improve or update their professional skills, only 12% of respondents think about open and distance learning and related channel, and a mere 5% choose secondment or excahnge abroad. Why people consider learning in future? Social and personal reasons outweigh work-related motives The main reasons for future learning are to achieve more personal satisfaction, increase general knowledge (31% each), do a job better (27%) and obtain a qualification (20%). Again, a hard kernel of 14% spontaneously reply that they would never want to take up learning again - but not a single Danish respondent said this, as opposed to at least 20% in Belgium, Greece, France and Austria. Main obstacles to lifelong learning: time and money Although people recognise the personal and social benefits of learning, they underline that lack of time due to job and family commitments is an important obstacle. In general, money represents a major obstacle: half of the respondents said that they would pay nothing under any circumstances. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that people are ready to make a financial contribution if they judge the benefit to be an exclusively personal one. They do not see work-related learning as only their responsibility. Individualised and flexible learning options could be effective incentives. People mention diverse incentives, but most common are flexible working hours (21%), individualised programmes of study and personal choice of methods of study (20% each). This suggests that implementing lifelong learning effectively must find ways to enable people to combine activities in ways that suit them practically and personally. This article is inspired from the article 'About E-learning' at http://www.elearningeuropa.info/ . OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION IN ROMANIA The most significant factor in the development of ODL technologies in Romania is the PHARE Multi-country Programme for Distance Education, running in the period 1997-1998. Within the program, a network of seven ODL Study Centres (DESC = Distance Education Study Centres) and a National Contact Point (NCP) at the Ministry of National Education were established. The centres were founded in the main Romanian cities: Bucharest (2 centres), Cluj-Napoca, Iasi, Timis,oara, Sibiu, Bras,ov. The staff involved in the development and organization of these centres was trained in ODL technologies, the centres received financial support for equipment purchase and funding to develop original ODL courses. In a final stage of the Phare programme, 70 students were trained with a high quality ODL course, LOLA (Learning about Distance Learning). At the same time, the European Commission financed many other ODL programmes within the TEMPUS scheme, targeted especially to Continuous Education. Organisation In 1998, the Ministry of National Education has accredited the NCP, the seven Phare DESCs and the DESC established later at the Babes,-Bolyai University, and started to elaborate decisions to implement the new educational system in Romania. The Ministry allowed the ODL educational programmes for initial formation (faculty level), for Continuing Education, and for any kind of short term training, establishing a number of quality rules. Many ODL programmes have been started since 1998, but the relaxed system of quality certification of these programmes was quite controversial. Partially, the problem was solved at the end of year 2000, by a decision of the Romanian Government concerned with the quality of the ODL programmes in the universities. A new Commission was created within the National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation: the Distance Education Commission. The commission elaborated Quality Standards for Distance Education Programmes offered by the Romanian Universities in March 2001 and, since then, all the ODL programmes dedicated to the initial formation at the university level were authorized only by this Commission. ODL programmes in Romania Since 2001, the mentioned ODL Commission analysed some 150 ODL complex programmes and authorized about 70% of them. All the authorizations were given only with an annual monitoring procedure. Recently, the concrete procedure was approved by the Council of the Romanian National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation. We estimate that, in Romania, at the beginning of the year 2003, there were about 50,000 students enrolled in about 100 ODL programmes organized by some 20 Universities (both State and Private Universities). Most of the ODL students are interested in training in Economics, Law, Foreign Languages, Geography, History, Public Relations, Communication, Journalism, Psychology, Pedagogy. The ODL programmes are in an unwelcome competition with a new educational system which is allowed by the Romanian Law of Education, named Reduced Frequency System (RFS). Although RFS is defined as a system derived from the ODL technology, it allows an organisation of studies much more alike the traditional ones than the ODL system. The National Council for Academic Evaluation and Accreditation and the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research (new name of the Ministry since 2001) decided that the ODL Commission should evaluate the RFS programmes as well. New criteria have been elaborated for these programmes and the evaluation will start in March 2003. Permanent and Continuous Education using ODL technology ODL programs are organized by Universities at graduate level, as well. Recently, the Teacher Training National Programme was re-organized and is also allowing the use of ODL technology. However, although ODL technology is best suited at this level, the number of students is significantly smaller than those mentioned in the previous section. This is mainly due to the financial aspect. At the post-university level, the number of students is much smaller and consequently these programmes are not financially efficient. Since all the programmes should finance the costs from student's taxes, the small scale ODL programmes are not encouraged. This might not be the case though with the new teacher training programmes which are financed by the state and promise an excellent future. One should also mention that many ODL centres developed within the TEMPUS and PHARE programmes have organized an association (ASTEC) that planned to be involved in the development of high-quality ODL programmes, mainly at the graduate level and continuing training. >From dLearning to eLearning A substantial debate within the Romanian ODL community is focused now on the subject of the use of new IT technologies in the existing and new ODL programmes. This could be formulated as the evolution of the ODL programmes from the traditional distance education system (that could be named dLearning) to ODL programmes that are using extensively the new educational technologies based on computers linked to the Internet, known as eLearning. The ODL Commission has recently elaborated the minimal rules for the use of eLearning in ODL programmes. The standards and recommendations of the Commission are concentrated on the use of electronic Learning Management Systems (LMS), but references are also made to the Content Creation Tools (CCT), Student Management Systems (SMS) and in a smaller degree on the Accounting Systems (AS). When using the eLearning technology, the organisers of the ODL programmes are required to fulfill a number of minimal criteria, such as, equal access for all the students to the technology in the study centres, training in the new technologies both for students and staff, proper guidance when using the facilities of a LMS. The web-based courses should be, from the pedagogical point of view, at least of the same quality as the printed study material, but they should include as much as possible the facilities offered by the technology, as hypertext and multimedia. When the student is a beneficiary of an eLearning environment he/she should clearly see a quality improvement of the services offered by the organizing institution. However, although there is a strong will to implement at least LMS platforms, yet there is no clear strategy at the national level on this issue. Some universities are developing their own LMS platforms and other are willing to use commercial LMS, like the well known WebCT and BlackBoard. As we see it now, the future of ODL in Romania, as in all other countries, will be more and more based on eLearning technology. The accessibility to computers and Internet is rapidly improving, which makes this prevision more likely. The most important obstacle will be with high probability the limited capacity to produce high-quality eLearning materials. OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION IN LITHUANIA Lithuania has been making significant progress in its efforts to reform its economy and society. There is a wide spread agreement that the development of its human resources through the expansion and innovation of the education system using information technologies is a cornerstone for further economic and social transformation and the attainment of a primary economic policy goal of integration into the European Union. Within this context, the upgrading of the skills and knowledge is essential. The government and educational sector have determined that distance education has enormous potential to meet this challenge and significant policy groundwork has been laid for the development of an advanced and comprehensive distance learning system. ICT in higher education in the context of life long learning is one of the main research and development priorities in every country. The encouragement of life long learning and the successful use of ICT in the learning process should expand all the time if its aimed on the ground of collaboration and dissemination of good practice. Higher education institutions should also join, stimulate and recognize ICT based educational initiatives. Hopefully higher education institutions will participate actively in life long learning while employing modern ICT not only as a part of a context in various subjects/programmes but also for the dissemination of education and teaching. Moreover, it is expected that higher education institutions would train future researchers and experts and act as mass training institutions. The education itself became quite an important good and new technologies allow choosing a place for learning despite of time and pace. Besides the improved accessibility of education and training, ICT could also improve the quality of education. Thus why it is so important that higher education institutions would pay a huge attention to the quality while creating ICT based education. Institutions should take more pains for the use of possibilities provided by new technologies - not only to ensure that education would become independent from time and place but also that the content would be provided in such ways that stimulate students' motivation. ICT enrich education with new methods. We mean learning not teaching. We have in mind active, participating learner. And as it was already mentioned, technology is for the satisfaction of requirements that aims are accomplished. In the learning process the technologies themselves should become an impulsive force. As new technologies have been employed in education only recently there are not many researches analyzing how those technologies could be used for the improvement of education quality. So it is very important that higher education institutions would expand research activity about the use of ICT in education. Those researches must be spread widely along with good cases and the best practice. Traditional research universities are in the period of transition and can create a new environment for higher education. Universities have to become 'service universities'. The main goal of such universities is to be recognized as providers of knowledge-based services to their regions and the whole society. Considering the traditional teaching process in Lithuania ODL should be designed on a basis of the present infrastructure of universities and colleges while accumulating academic potential and evaluating real needs for ODL courses. ODL provides the possibility to organise a more flexible study process, and this provides the possibility for students to manage their time in the most effective way. Kaunas University of Technology (more information http://www.ktu.lt ) is using the advanced computer technology and related opportunities while taking part in the ODL development project, as well as initiating new projects. To create an ODL system, we need to establish: 1. The system of training and professional development for organizers, lecturers, consultants and tutors of contemporary distance education programmes. 2. The system of encouragement for developing and re-establishing distance education programmes and formal distance studies modules. 3. The system of quality evaluation and quality assurance for distance education programmes. 4. The support system for the participants of distance education programmes. 5. Developed computer network and other means of telecommunication adjusted to distance education. 6. Legal basis for distance education. 7. Effective funding mechanism for the ODL system. KTU Rectorate, the Senate and the whole academic community pay much attention to the implementation of these objectives. OPEN AND DISTANCE EDUCATION IN FRANCE Paradoxically enough in a centralised country as France, there is no open university as such but every university or institution of higher education has its own activity with respect of the Technologies of information and communication linked with distance education. We have to distinguish between "old" centres of distance education which started in a correspondence way in the sixties and new ones which appeared after a call for tender of the French government named "digital campuses. 1. Centres of distance learning. Created to supply the need of education in the different subject (humanities, law, sciences) 27 centres located in traditional universities are organised in a consortium named FIED ( Fédération interuniversitaire des enseignements à distance).( www.telesup.univ-mrs.fr <http://www.telesup.univ-mrs.fr> ). They share both a web radio ( http://audiosup.net.u-paris10.fr ) and a T.V. on line ( www.canal-u.education.fr <http://www.canal-u.education.fr> ). The number of registered students is 38,000.Teachers and tutors are working on a overtime basis paid by hours done. This is of course a very difficult situation as the Ministry has not yet decided what would be the counterpart in terms of services of an "on line" work. Most of the courses are paper based or linked with audioor video cassettes but are slowly put on line 2. CNED :National centre for distance education. CNED was created during the second world war for pupils who were not able to attend classes at elementary level. After the war, it enlarged its scope in offering college level as well as training at higher education level for the teachers who were preparing competitive exams for a better position. Then CNED offered courses in name of universities which wanted not to have the task of managing the dispatching of the documents to the students. CNED entered different digital campuses as an operator and a facilitator because of its internal multimedia resources As such, CNED is a partner of many a campus at higher education level. CNED has 350,000 registered students from elementary school to university level (with 150,000 students in joint cooperation with traditional universities) ( www.cned.fr <http://www.cned.fr> ) 3. CNAM : National conservatory for art and handicraft. This foundation goes back to the French Revolution and was designed to save the know-how in all handicraft and art available at the end of the French "Ancien regime". This institution is now offering a whole set of vocational training for technicians to become engineers. The lectures are given outside the working hours, at night or during week ends. There is a centre of CNAM in each region , each being autonomous regarding its own way of teaching but the diplomas are given by the Paris centre and are recognised as national diplomas. CNAM is offering more and more on line courses through its own learning content management system named "pleiade". 80,000 adults are currently registered in a life long learning process. ( www.cnam.fr <http://www.cnam.fr> ) 4. Digital campuses The French government initiated a call for tender two years ago to promote on line courses which were available within the different universities. Up to now 67 campuses are running as described below( see the site: www.formasup.education.fr <http://www.formasup.education.fr> ): Sciences and techniques : 18 projects Medicine and health : 15 projects Humanities and social sciences: 9 projects Training techniques and methodology in information and communication : 8 projects Law, economy and business administration : 8 projects Interdisciplinary : 7 projects Most of them linked a small number of universities and the CNED as a technical facilitator. They are designed to offer on line courses ending with a diploma. They are modularised and are credited according to the ECTS system. 5. Other. Most of the institutions of higher education are linked with the government through a contract in which a component of e-learning is visible. The commitment of the different actors is variable and some are well ahead like the technical university of Compiegne ( www.utc.fr <http://www.utc.fr> ). Others are re-organising their multimedia centres in a service offered to the students for a personal training. It's a sort of extension of the old computer based training through the use of the net. Interactivity can be both on campus or on line with tutors. A network of those centres is organised and is named RUCA ( www.ruca.univ-lille1.fr <http://www.ruca.univ-lille1.fr> ) New courses Politehnica" University of Timisoara - Timisoara Distance Education Study Centre (link la www.utt.ro <http://www.utt.ro> ) is running 2 college level degrees in "Audio-Video and Multimedia Technologies' and "Applied Informatics" using Open and Distance Learning methodology. The courses in Romanian are for 3 years and they count for college engineer degree. News 1. The new name of EDEN - EUROPEAN DISTANCE AND E-LEARNING NETWORK At the Annual General Meeting held at Rhodes, Greece, on 18 June 2003, a special resolution was passed by the members that the name of the Association be changed to EUROPEAN DISTANCE AND E-LEARNING NETWORK. The new name intends to reflect the response of EDEN to the emergence and consolidation of eLearning and its flexible integration in the activities of the Association. It is in the meantime also emphasizing the continuity of experience with the professional background of open and distance learning. The change will at the same time safeguard the existing corporate image and identity, but also carry important message about accommodating in EDEN the ongoing innovation. The new name is also shifting in the wording the focus from education to learning, which is a very contemporary message, and without the change of the well branded abbreviated name, introduce the information and communication technology dimension. http://www.eden.bme.hu/ 2. EDEN New President and Executive Committee members elected at the AGM 2003 In view of the expiry of his term of office in the EDEN Executive Committee, Dr. Erwin Wagner has retired and gave over the presidency at the Annual General Meeting on 18 June 2003. The AGM has unanimously endorsed the nomination of Ingeborg Bo as the next President of EDEN from June 2003. As their term of office expired, the following members of the Executive Committee completed their serving in the Board: Erwin Wagner, Universität Hildesheim, Germany, EDEN President , Sarolta Zárda, Számalk Education Ltd. Co., Hungary. Based on nominations for the vacancies received from members, Dr. Ulrich Bernath from Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg, Center for Distance Education, Germany and Dr. Albert Sangra from UOC - EduLab, Internet Interdisciplinary Institute, Spain had been elected as new members of the EDEN Executive Committee by the AGM. http://www.eden.bme.hu/ Conferences EDEN 2003 ANNUAL CONFERENCE, 15-18 June 2003, Rodos Palace Hotel, Rhodes, Greece THE QUALITY DIALOGUE -Integrating Quality Cultures in Flexible, Distance and eLearning http://www.eden.bme.hu/contents/conferences/annual/Rhodes/rhodes0.html IASTED International Conference COMPUTERS AND ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION (CATE-2003) IASTED International Symposium on WEB-BASED EDUCATION (WBE-2003) June 30 - July 2, 2003, Rodos Palace Resort, Rhodes, Greece http://www.iasted.com/conferences/2003/greece/c402.htm 4-th EUROPEAN CONFERENCE ON E-COMMERCE / E-WORK / E-LEARNING / E-HEALTH / E-BANKING / E-BUSINESS, ON-LINE SERVICES, VIRTUAL INSTITUTES, AND THEIR INFLUENCES ON THE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT E-COMM-LINE 2003, September 25-26, 2003, Bucharest, ROMANIA http://www.ipa.ro/ ICETA-2003: 2nd "International Conference on Emerging Telecommunications Technologies and Applications" and the 4th Conference on Virtual University, Kos(ice, Slovakia, 11 - 13 September 2003 http://www.elfa.sk/ICETA-2003 EADTU Annual Conference Madrid "E-Bologna" progressing the European Learning Space Madrid, 6 - 8 November 2003 http://www.eadtu.nl European Conference on e-Learning, Glasgow, Scotland, 6 -7 November 2003 http://www.mcil.co.uk/2p-ecel2003-home.htm Online Educa Berlin, Berlin, Germany, 3 - 5 December 2003 http://www.online-educa.com/en/ "Supporting the Learner in Distance Education and E-Learning" The Third EDEN Research Workshop jointly offered by EDEN - European Distance and E-Learning Network and the Centre for Distance Education at Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg 4-6 March 2004, Oldenburg, Germany http://www.eden.bme.hu/contents/r-net/Oldenburg/oldenburg0.html ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- This newsletter is edited by the team of Politehnica" University of Timisoara - Timisoara Distance Education Study Centre (link la www.utt.ro <http://www.utt.ro> ) through a MISSION Socrates - MINERVA EU Program. More news is available at our website, where you can also find archive news, course catalogue, a glossary, and information about ODL in CEE. Go to ( http://mission.pu.acad.bg/en/index.html <http://mission.pu.acad.bg/en/index.html%C2%A0> ) If you no longer wish to receive information about MISSION and ODL, please send an email to mission(a)opendrum.utt.ro <mailto:mission@opendrum.utt.ro%C2%A0> with "UNSUBSCRIBE" in the subject line. If you have received this mail through a friend and would like to subscribe for future editions, please send an email to mission(a)opendrum.utt.ro <mailto:mission@opendrum.utt.ro> with "SUBSCRIBE" in the subject line.

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Books and authors wanted: AoiR Toronto 2003
by Liss Jeffrey 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

Dear AoiR-ites: The book publishing room promises to be very strong at this year's conference. Please help support our conference (and your publishers) by responding to the note below. Francophone authors are especially encouraged to reply, and with help from working/steering committee member Eric George (U of Ottawa) we will translate this note soon. It would be very helpful if you could also directly request that your publishers support our conference with a donation. Be sure to inform us if you are doing this, and contact aoir(a)ecommons.net for details. We are looking for sponsors for the Welcome reception, coffee breaks and much more. We also plan to call for book launches to coincide with the conference, and web sites or projects. Let us know if we can showcase your research work, and let us see how this might help the conference. Cheers, Liss Jeffrey, PhD Conference chair. Dear Colleague, This year's International Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers, coming up October 16-19, 2003 in Toronto, will include a book exhibit specially organized by the LIBRARY OF SOCIAL SCIENCE. The book exhibit will bring together recent and significant titles from the major publishers providing a picture of the "state of the art" in the field. It will contribute substantially to the intellectual value and excitement of our conference. If you are an author, this is an excellent venue to promote your ideas and writings to leaders in the field. Library of Social Science and the Association of Internet Researchers seek your input to assist in developing a comprehensive collection of titles encompassing the full range of topics on the current status and future of the Internet, and on the implications of online information and communication systems on science, business, law, medicine, politics, education and interpersonal relations. If you are an AUTHOR and wish to have your book included in the display, or if you wish to recommend titles for inclusion in the exhibit, please respond by e-mail to MeiHaChan(a)cs.com or fax to 413-832-8145 providing the following information: (1) The title(s) of the book(s) and date(s) of publication. (2) The name(s) of the publisher(s). (3) (If you are an author): The name, telephone number and e-mail address of your contact at each publishing company. Please be sure to include your own name, telephone number and e-mail address with the information that you send to us. Please respond to this e-mail or fax now so that we can begin work to assure that the book(s) you have authored or suggested are included in the display. Thank you very much. With regards, Mei Ha Chan Associate Director, Library of Social Science P. S. To obtain additional information on the book exhibit, authors or publishers may call me at 718-393-1075

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New working papers on opensource.mit.edu : 9 Papers + 1 Report
by Karim R. Lakhani 19 Aug '03

19 Aug '03

Hi All, Hope everyone is enjoying the last few days of summer (blackouts and all !) Well we have a bumper summer harvest of papers for our site. The Italians have been quite productive!!!. Many thanks to the authors for submitting the papers and also patience with my tardiness. As always, please send comments on papers to the authors directly or discuss them on our discuss list http://opensource.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/discuss thanks all!! Karim Paper 1 Author: Aigrain, Philippe Title: The Individual and the Collective in Open Information Communities http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/aigrain3.pdf Abstract: This paper is the written version of an invited talk at the 16th Bled Electronic Conference, Slovenija, June 2003. The text focuses on 2 critical issues for open information communities: how lowering transactions costs linked to becoming an active contributor is an essential factor for their success; and how free (as in freedom) licenses enable new forms of relationships between the individual and the collective. I bring some evidence that this permits to overcome some of the traditional limitations of commons in the physical world. The analysis uses as examples the free Wiki-based encyclopedia Wikipedia and the peer-reviewed free encyclopedia Nupedia, the Slashdot technical news community (commercial), and Web sites using the SPIP free co-operative publishing software. Paper 2 Authors: Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Cristina Rossi Title: Licensing schemes in the production and distribution of Open Source software. An empirical investigation http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/bnaccorsirossilicense.pdf Abstract: Contrary to what most people assume, Open source doesn't just mean access to the source code. A software is considered Open Source if and only if its distribution terms [i.e. the license] comply with the set of criteria defined by the Open Source Definition (OSD). That is, to say that a code is Open Source is to say that it is subject to a member of a particular category of licenses (McGowan, 2000). As many others in the Open Source field, the research on Open Source licenses suffers from lack of empirical data. Although in the literature there are empirical studies that explore the relationships between license choice and project characteristics (Lerner and Tirole, 2002a), at present we are not aware of surveys that collect data on licensors, that is on firms producing and distributing software on an Open Source basis. This study addresses his shortcoming. We examine the license choice of the firms that supply Open Source products and services and relate it to their structural characteristics, business models and attitudes towards the movement and its community. Between September 2002 and March 2003 we conducted a survey on Italian firms that do business with Open Source software. We asked them to indicate the Open Source licenses with which they work, for the distribution of their software as well as the production process. We made reference to the distinction between copyleft and non-copyleft distribution schemes. Using these data, this paper aims at testing several theoretical hypotheses advanced by the literature on Open Source licenses. In order to make the discussion more lively, for each issue we present the hypothesis and our findings in sequence. Paper 3: Authors Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Cristina Rossi Title: Altruistic individuals, selfish firms? The structure of motivation in Open Source software http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/bnaccorsirossimotivationshort.pdf Abstract: A growing body of economic literature is addressing the incentives of the individuals that take part to the Open Source movement. However, empirical analyses focus on individual developers and neglect firms that do business with Open Source software (OSS). During 2002, we conducted a large-scale survey on 146 Italian firms supplying Open Source solutions in Italy. In this paper our data on firms’ motivations are compared with data collected by the surveys made on individual programmers. We aim at analysing the role played by different classes of motivations (social, economic and technological) in determining the involvement of different groups of agents in Open Source Paper 4: Bonaccorsi, Andrea & Cristina Rossi Title: Contributing to the common pool resources in Open Source software. A comparison between individuals and firms http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/bnaccorsirossidevelopers.pdf Abstract This paper studies the contributions to Open Source projects of software firms. Our goal is to analyse whether they follow the same regularities that characterize the behaviour of individual programmers. An exhaustive empirical analysis is carried out using data on project membership, project coordination and contribution efforts of 146 Italian firms that do business with Open Source software. We follow a meta-analytic approach comparing our findings with the results of the surveys conducted on Free Software programmers. Moreover, the availability of the data gathered by Hertel et al. (2003) on 141 developers of the Linux kernel will allow direct comparisons between the two sets. Paper 5 Author Camp, Jean L Title: Code, Coding and Coded Perspectives http://www.ljean.com/files/aoir/aoir.html Abstract: Building on computer science I consider code (as opposed to the Web, an instantiation of code) as a new technology of communication. Using the historical and sociological analyses of others, which have examined the results of print on perspectives and society, I offer four scenarios for the results of code. The four scenarios focus on the results of code on quantitative thought: the divergence of scientific perspective with popular reasoning resulting in reduced innovation; a broad-based popular explosion in innovation expanding the basis of reasoning; cypto-anarchy with those empowered by science corrupted with the power; and a loss of certainty of information with a return to tribalism. The last suggests a new era of ignorance, a moment in modern Dark Ages -- in that an excess of the light of information causes blindness as effectively as its absence. The openness of code is a determinant in the resulting social structure. Paper 6 Authors: Syme, Serena & L. Jean Camp Title: The Governance of Code: Open Land vs. UCITA Land http://www.computersandsociety.org/sigcas/subpage/sub_page.cfm?article=543&… Abstract: Imagine two network societies. In one society, the transfer of information and use of software is governed by the various licenses used to protect open code today. For convenience, we dub this society "Open Land". The other society recently passed a law identical to the new Uniform Computer Information Transactions Act ("UCITA", passed in two U.S. states and pending in several others) to control its information and computer software. We will call this society "UCITA Land". This paper looks at the ways in which Open Land and UCITA Land differ. Although it might initially seem that a licensing framework is trivial in terms of the actual conduct of society, we posit that such frameworks in many ways define the mode of governance of network society. The establishment of a market involves the development of a bundle of rights that both create property and define the rules under which property-based transactions might occur. In Open Land and UCITA Land, fundamentally different approaches to the establishment of those rights lead to vastly different societies. Paper 7 Authors Shaikh, Maha & Tony Cornford Title: Version Management Tools: CVS to BK in the Linux Kernel http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/shaikhcornford.pdf Abstract: Version management tools might be seen as a prerequisite for open source development today as projects become too large to be managed by maintainers alone. Yet the OS process depends on fluid coordination and collaboration, with the underlying qualities of this process based on firm trust and respect for fellow developers. This paper is a study of how debate over version tools reflects governance and decision making in an OS community. The paper is based on a study of the Linux kernel community as it first saw a partial acceptance of the CVS tool, and then later adopted BK. The paper explains the adoption processes in relation to governance concerns, licence issue, and questions of technical performance. Paper 8 Author: Long, Anthony Title: How Firm Initiation and Control of Projects Affects Open-Source Development http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/long.pdf Abstract: After witnessing the success of open-source projects such as Linux and Apache, firms have sought to appropriate the open-source development model and integrate it into their own projects. Firms face a dilemma, however, since their initiation and control of open-source projects affects the traditional open-source development model in significant ways. Once a firm takes the role of starting and guiding an open-source project, the open-source development model that attracted the firm is forever altered. This paper examines the effects commercial firms have on the open-source development model when they initiate and control open-source projects. Paper 9 Author: Välimäki, Mikko Title: Dual Licensing in Open Source Software Industry http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/valimaki.pdf Abstract: This paper analyses how several open source companies use dual licensing: both open source and proprietary licenses for one product. Three case studies based on the experiences of companies Sleepycat Software Inc., MySQL AB, and TrollTech AS illustrate the issue. Especially the legal and economic requirements of dual licensing are identified. ******************************************************** Report 1 Bonaccorsi, Andrea, Cristina Rossi & Alessandro Scateni Title: An analysis of Open Source production in Italy http://opensource.mit.edu/papers/bonaccorsirossiccatenieliss.pdf Abstract: Final report of a survey on Italian firms that do business with Open Source software -- =============================================== Karim R. Lakhani MIT Sloan School of Management & The Boston Consulting Group, Strategy Practice Initiative e-mail: karim.lakhani(a)sloan.mit.edu | lakhani.karim(a)bcg.com voice: 617-851-1224 fax: 617-344-0403 http://spoudaiospaizen.net/ http://opensource.mit.edu | http://freesoftware.mit.edu http://userinnovation.mit.edu

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Report from AoiR Toronto 2003
by Liss Jeffrey 18 Aug '03

18 Aug '03

Dear Aoir-ites: Here is my monthly report. Things are heating up here in Toronto as we prepare for the conference (and I do not just mean the heated aftermath of the blackout - nice try, blaming Canada for the outage!). Seneca College has generously donated funds, and we are hoping that all of you will ask your universities, faculties, institutes or publishers to do the same. All sponsors will be recognized at the event, on the web site, and in our printed materials. I am pleased to report that we have a new version of the conference Program online, ( http ://www.ecommons.net/aoir/aoir2003/index.php?d= ) so do check on your paper and panel. Roomates are saving money on their rooms with the help of our roommate finder forum online (http://www.ecommons.net/aoir/p/list.php?f=2 ) and some of the pre conference workshops are now listed online (http://www.ecommons.net/aoir/conference.phtml#pre ). There are more free events coming soon so try and come to Toronto early so that you can attend the October 15th events. The birds of a feather groups are starting to meet online ( http://www.ecommons.net/aoir/p/list.php?f=3 ) and this affinity group organizing promises to strengthen the topical networks for Internet Researchers. If you want to help out, please contact us at aoir(a)ecommons.net Have a great rest of summer. Liss Jeffrey, PhD, AoiR 2003 Conference Chair.

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August, 2003 AoIR Executive Committee Report
by Steve Jones 17 Aug '03

17 Aug '03

August 17, 2003 Report of the a(o).i.r. executive committee Prepared by Steve Jones AoIR Executive Committee President: Steve Jones Vice-President: Nancy Baym Secretary: Ulla Bunz Treasurer: Benjamin Bates Open Seats: David Silver and Barry Wellman Appointed Seats: Matthew Allen and Leslie Shade Student Seat: Lisbeth Klastrup Publications Officers: Jeremy Hunsinger and Charlie Breindahl 2003 Conference Chair: Liss Jeffrey 2003 Conference Program Co-Chairs: Matthew Allen and David Mitchell Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess Elections Working Group Chair: Mia Consalvo Net Resources Working Group Chair: Charlie Breindahl 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. If you aren't reading this...well, you ought to be. I know it can get lengthy, and it can get detailed, but it's the single best way to know what AoIR is up to, and to find ways to get involved with it (in any number of ways from contacting the people who report to volunteering to work on something you see mentioned to making suggestions to...). 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 The election process for AoIR executive offices is complete. My congratulations to those who have been elected to an office. And, my thanks to all those who ran for an office. The slate of candidates was first-rate, and I think that bodes very, very well for AoIR's future. Thank you, too, to all of those who voted, as well as to Jennifer Stromer-Galley for counting the votes. 2.1.2 The Toronto conference is drawing near, and I will look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it there. If you have not yet registered for the conference or made a hotel reservation I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Due to the growth of interest and attendance at our conferences we are this year meeting at a hotel in an urban area, and we have to meet the minimum occupancy with which we are able to use its meeting rooms - if we do not meet that occupancy rate then we'll have to increase the registration fees, to cover additional cost of the meeting rooms. I appreciate everyone's support of the conference and of AoIR. 2.1.3 While on the topic of support, I would like to thank Nancy Baym for stepping in for me the last few weeks. I would also like to thank the AoIR executive committee for continuing its work while I had to step aside for a time. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 Nothing to report. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 July 16 - August 11, 2003: This month on the executive list: . The exec is finalizing its decision on the t-shirt design contest. . The exec finalized the email calling members to vote. Elections have been completed. Votes were counted by Jennifer Stromer-Galley, and winners have been notified. The new exec will be introduced at the general meeting at the Toronto conference. . Together with Liss Jeffrey, the exec decided on free conference registration for conference volunteer helpers. . The exec continues to discuss extensively various conference details (incl. registration, program issues, scheduling of meetings, etc.), and financial issues. We urge conference attendees to stay at the conference hotel as otherwise, AoIR will have to pay for the conference facilities. Ulla Bunz, Secretary 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Keeping up with memberships, renewals, and conference registrations. Removed early registration and added preconference workshops to the Conference Kagi site. Working with Toronto folks and Nancy on budget and onsite registration concerns. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: Nothing to report. 2.5.2 Wellman: Securing volunteers and advising them for the AoIR annual meeting in Toronto. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: Been doing more conference stuff; primarily finalising the program, organising student prize submissions, working with Liss on information flows for program presentation. 2.6.2 Shade: Nothing to report. 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Been working on organising a graduate student assembly at the Toronto conference, in collaboration with the new graduate student representative Leslie Tkach Kawasaki. 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: well, I've been slacking off a bit, as the elections occurred, i did some member stuff, and i worked on some member things. Note to all people that are used to faster responses from me(oh you know, 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day max, etc.), until further notice, i may be delayed in responding because I'm moving into the official stages of dissertation, so beyond my usual 40 or so hours a week in my usual work, I'm occupied by writing:( So sometimes, and I apologize for this, you may have to wait a few days before i respond to some things. 2.8.2 Breindahl: I have been on vacation most of the last month. I still monitor our lists, though, usually checking for mail and new subscriptions a couple of times per day. Jeremy has created new spam filters, which happily catch most of the junk mail. 2.9 2003 Conference (Liss Jeffrey, Chair; Matthew Allen, David Mitchell, Program Co-Chairs) 2.9.1 Dr Liss Jeffrey: No report. 2.9.2 Mitchell: No report. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 The ethics committee has engaged in some discussion of a case study that came to our attention this past spring, one raising important questions as to what constitutes 'harm' in an online context, and who is responsible for identifying and, if necessary, mitigating potential harms. The case study and our responses to it will be included in the upcoming Preconference workshop on Internet research ethics, October 15, as part of AoIR 4.0 in Toronto. Most of the workshop program is in place. If anyone is interested in a more complete description of the program (to compliment the one on the conference website), please contact Charles Ess <cmess(a)drury.edu>. Steve and I continue to receive the occasional query regarding specific ethical issues encountered by researchers in the course of their work. We are more than happy to respond to these queries as we can. And as chair of the ethics committee, I would especially encourage AoIR members to bring such queries to the committee's attention, along with any other observations and suggestions regarding online research ethics that you care to offer. Your queries and suggestions are among the most important resources for our continued work on Internet research ethics. 2.11 AoIR Research Annual Working Group (Mia Consalvo, Chair) 2.11.1 The first volume of the research annual has gone into production with the publisher, and page proofs should be forthcoming sometime in September. An announcement about the second annual and guidelines for submitting papers for consideration to it will be circulated to aoir members shortly. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Chair) 2.12.1 There has been no activity in the 'Net WG.

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2003 Rural Telecommunications Congress - Sept 28 - Oct 1 - Washington, DC
by S Clift 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

-- Please forward as appropriate --->> - Steven Clift, Democracies Online Newswire, http://e-democracy.org/do 2003 RURAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS CONGRESS Sept 28-Oct 1 WASHINGTON, D.C. http://www.ruraltelecon.org/conference/index.php *** If you're concerned about rural vitality and rural-urban partnerships in the Internet Age, don't miss the third annual Rural Telecommunications Congress and conference, entitled "Rural Broadband: A Recommitment to America's Heartland" - Sept 28-Oct 1, 2003 at the Hyatt Regency Washington, just down the street from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. To get more information and to register, go to http://www.ruraltelecon.org/conference/index.php Register soon, as the cutoff for reduced rate hotel rooms at the Hyatt Regency is August 28, and the early-bird registration discount ends on Sept 1. Fall is a busy time in D.C., so rooms will go fast. This is the third annual Rural Telecommunications Congress (RTC) conference and the first to be held right alongside the national policymakers in Congress. It is co-sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission and the Rural Broadband Coalition. One of the greatest draws of the RTC conference is the extensive connections that attendees are able to make with each other because such a broad range of parties attend: community advocates, elected officials, broadband providers, regulators, and broadband users (including tele-medicine, e-government, education, and economic development). This year's RTC conference is organized into tracks based on the following communities of interest: * Infrastructure * Policy and Regulation * Tele-Health and Tele-Medicine * E-Government * Education * Community and Economic Development Keynote Speakers include * U.S. Senator Conrad Burns from Montana * Michael Copps, Commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission * Robert Atkinson, Vice-President of the Progressive Policy Institute * Alan McAdams, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers In addition, we have scheduled over 16 general and concurrent sessions on topics ranging from e-government to tele-health and telemedicine. A sampling of sessions includes: * Andrew Cohill on community networking * Harry Roesch on demand aggregation strategies * Judith Sparrow and U.S. Dept. of Commerce Technology Opportunities Program grant recipients Again - register soon (http://www.ruraltelecon.org/conference/index.php) and book your room now! Rooms in DC can be hard to find in the fall season. For more information visit the site: http://www.ruraltelecon.org/conference/index.php or call Jane Leonard, 2003 Program Chair at 651-645-9403 or jane(a)communitytechnologyadvisors.com

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RE: [Air-l] online jobsearch aids for grad students
by Kris Gowen 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

I know in the US many students turn to the Chronicle of Higher Education www.chronicle.com Even for non-academic jobs. L. Kris Gowen, Ph.D. Senior Research Associate FACCT -- Foundation for Accountability www.facct.org -----Original Message----- From: Denise Carter [mailto:denisecarter@denisecarter.net] Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 12:13 AM To: air-l(a)aoir.org Subject: Re: [Air-l] online jobsearch aids for grad students hi Jonathan the main one these days in uk seems to be the Guardian job page - they will also store your cv and email you weekly with a list of jobs http://www.jobs.ac.uk/ FindAPost-Doc.com is a new site exclusively dedicated to advertising Post-Doctoral positions http://www.findapostdoc.com/main.asp regards denise _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Information, Communication and Society- Special Issue on e-Health Call for Papers
by Loader, Brian 15 Aug '03

15 Aug '03

Information, Communication and Society- Special Issue on e-Health Call for Papers The area of e-Health is now huge and covers a wide range of socio-technical innovations in health service delivery and organisation. This Special Issue will explore just one key area of e-Health- the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in the communication of health information and advice - both to patients/public and between members of the public. Health policy documents in many countries suggest that the greater availability of health information via the Internet will necessarily lead to the emergence of more informed patients who are better able to assess the risks and benefits of different treatments for themselves. The now widely used notion of 'informed choice' is indicative of the greater agency and sense of empowerment said to be experienced by such patients. Such thinking exists within sociology, too, where, following Giddens' notion of the 'reflexive consumer', there is some support for the idea that the overall expansion in medical knowledge via new media technologies such as the Internet will empower patients. This Special Issue of iCS seeks to explore the assumptions embedded in this 'informed patient' discourse through empirically-based papers which explore the extent and nature of Internet use in a range of settings and its relationship to patient empowerment and more equitable practitioner-patient relationships. Topic areas we hope to cover include: * Creation and use of health information websites by both health care professionals and the public * Use of the Internet in consultations between practitioners and patients * Online health chat and self-help groups * * Key cross-cutting themes we hope to examine include: * * Access and equality issues * Information quality * Practitioner-patient relations * Information and empowerment Deadline for submission of papers: Monday 17th November 2003. Co-editors: Flis Henwood, Brighton University, UK and Ellen Balka, SFU, Canada. Please send all submissions to: Dr Flis Henwood Social Informatics Research Unit School of Computing, Mathematical and Information Sciences University of Brighton, Watts Building, Lewes Road Brighton BN2 4GJ f.henwood(a)bton.ac.uk or tel +44 (0)1273 643341 Brian D. Loader General Editor, iCS CIRA, University of Teesside, Middlesbrough, Tees Valley, TS1 3BA UK Tel: +44 (0) 1642 342710 Fax: +44 (0) 1642 342711 www.infosoc.co.uk b.d.loader(a)tees.ac.uk

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