- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Re: e-mails and the Internet (was: Iraq and the internet)
by Bram Dov Abramson 21 Feb '03

21 Feb '03

rtynes(a)u.washington.edu: >1. I think that we might want to put aside past research on the effects of >e-mails in a political process. Maybe it's better to just observe what is >happening - what do e-mails to gov't officials do? maybe they don't get >read? but is that the point? could they be jamming devices, designed to >overload the system in conjunction with all the other forms of protest, >such as marches? So, presumably e-mail "effects" are an artefact of the formalized and not-formalized institutional practices put in place to enable outside access to e-mail, on the one hand (publicising an e-mail address, choosing the e-mail address, positioning it, and so forth) and to deal with inbound e-mail, on the other hand (who deals with it, their role, their number; the interfaces through which they deal with it; etc.). Which would be an interesting ethnographic/organizational study to read about, or for someone to undertake; maybe there are pointers. In the meantime, anyone want to chime in with anecdotes? In my experience in the corporate sector, and to a lesser extent the civil service, as soon as the organization grows beyond a small number of persons -- say, 15 or so -- an informal firewall tends to grow between frontlines folk who answer external inquiries, and specialized workers who deal with external folks only in specialized or directed circumstances. Where this happens, feedback mechanisms to link the parts will include: - no notification; - lists prepared routinely which define common topics and count the number of inquiries (complaints, questions) on each topic, then used to feed into various organizational practices; - informal water cooler type discussion. So in all cases, very heavy external inquiry will translate into some pressure, but the denial-of-service attacks of the type Robert identifies are diverted and localized to two groups -- others trying to get through with inquiries and complaints, and those who manage the inbound flow of e-mail to the frontline folks. On the other hand, I suspect that in politically-oriented organizations, the feedback mechanisms are more elaborate and have insides that make more of a difference. Anyone worked in that kind of environment? cheers Bram

1 0

position announcement HCI@VT
by jeremy 21 Feb '03

21 Feb '03

#112658 - The Department of Computer Science, Assistant Professor (Human-Computer Interaction.) The Department of Computer Science seeks one tenure-track faculty member starting in August 2003 to complement departmental research, participate in innovative teaching practices, and improve faculty diversity. Applicants should have a PhD in computer science or a related discipline. Additional information is at http://www.cs.vt.edu. We wish to strengthen our established human-computer interaction focus in organizational informatics, knowledge management, community computing, and related areas. Our HCI group includes 6 tenure-track faculty, 8 research faculty, and over 30 graduate students. Current projects address collaborative systems, community and educational computing, user interface software and tools, 3-D input devices, notification systems, virtual environments, visualization, usability engineering, and design. Our work emphasizes multidisciplinary cooperation throughout the university and beyond. Virginia Tech is located in Blacksburg, a scenic, lively, All-American Award winning town in southwest Virginia with affordable housing. Nearby is the white water of the New River and 1.7M mountainous acres of national forest. Applicants should send a curriculum vitae, a 1-2 page research statement, a 1-2 page teaching statement, and have at least three letters of reference sent to HCI Faculty Search, Dept. of Computer Science, 660 McBryde Hall, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA 24061. Review of candidates will begin March 1, 2003, and continue until the position is filled. EO/AA http://www.ps.vt.edu/employment/facjobs/faculty/index.php?ID=930

1 0

Re: [Air-l] Is this What the Air List Is For???? (a Thank You!)
by KeithDoyon＠aol.com 21 Feb '03

21 Feb '03

> Isn't this essentially a social science list? not necessarily, it is an internet research list and the primary list of the association of internet researcher which has members across many disciplines as varied as mathematics and physics to information studies to philosophy, the social sciences, geography, science studies, education, etc. etc. etc. (and etc. I don't want to leave anyone out), in short, we run the whole spectrum:) internet research is an interdisciplinary study as we define it on the aoir.org site. Being a brand new member and new to the list, I would like to thank the person who posed the question and all those who took time to respond for giving me a much broader appreciation for what A(o)IR is than I had yet gleaned from the website. I am also deeply impressed with, and appreciative of, the civility shown across the board. Seriously, thanks to everyone. Keith

1 0

RE: Internet in Iraq
by Randolph Kluver (Assoc Prof) 21 Feb '03

21 Feb '03

Here is a UPI story on the Internet in Iraq. The provider is conservative, but the article is mainstream (whatever that means): http://jewishworldreview.com/0203/iraq_net.asp A. Randolph Kluver School of Communication and Information Nanyang Technological University 31 Nanyang Link Singapore, 637718 (65) 6790-5770 Fax (65) 6792-4329

1 0

Panel Proposal - Digital Divide
by Suely Fragoso 20 Feb '03

20 Feb '03

Dear all I am planning to submit a paper to IRv4 broadening the discussion of the digital divide, and as I see no signs of anyone offering to organise a Panel about that I decided to volunteer to do so. The idea is to take the discussion further from the 'with economic means to access/without access' dichotomy, bringing other factors, such as quality of access and cultural matters, to the equation. Obviously this does not mean to exclude the issue of wired/unwirable. General concerns on human geography and web design, focusing on digital divisions and hierarchies would be welcome. Anyone interested in organising this panel with me (or thinking of organising something similar and afraid of me getting in the way), please get in touch at suely(a)icaro.unisinos.br Sue Fragoso Dr. Suely Fragoso UNISINOS Sao Leopoldo RS BRASIL ------- End of forwarded message -------

3 3

2003 Conference
by Matthew Allen 20 Feb '03

20 Feb '03

Great to see the suggestions for panels for the conference in October in Toronto coming into the list. I would just remind everyone that the deadline is fast approaching for submission of papers and panels. visit http://www.aoir.org/2003 Please note, too, that as well as 'formal' papers (more academic, shall we say), there are also opportunities for aesthetic / creative presentations. While we are trying to encourage normal panels, as a collection of linked formal papers/presentations, I am also keen to ensure that we also have alternative kinds of sessions (ie discussion/roundtables etc that have worked very well previously). If you have any concerns or questions about the conference process do please email me :) Best wishes and see you and all the others in Toronto :) Matthew Allen Program Chair, 'Broadening the Band' IRv4 Conference, Toronto, October 2003

1 0

Blogging Panel for Toronto
by halavais＠u.washington.edu 19 Feb '03

19 Feb '03

Just-in-time panel production! Some colleagues and I are assembling a panel on blogging as a mass phenomenon. I have a rough sketch on my blog (of course): http://alex.halavais.net/news/archives/000276.html . Would be happy to hear of others who are interested in contributing to the panel. Also would be interested in hearing from those who are researching blogs generally, panel or no. Thanks, Alex Halavais =============================================== | Alexander Campbell Halavais | | alex.halavais.net | | Assistant Professor, School of Informatics | | State University of New York at Buffalo | ===============================================

1 0

Re: terrowar and the internet
by Michel J. Menou 19 Feb '03

19 Feb '03

Folks It seems to me that the demos last Saturday around the world, to the extent there is a connection among the organizing groups, was greatly, if not uniquely, facilitated by the Internet, and is therefore a historic event. Re the study mentioned by Gina, subject to further examination, I feel a distinction need to be made between organizing groups and individual participants marching in any street. What Internet has allowed, I presume, is a sense of worldwide mobilization among the organizers and the more involved folks in the various places. And I presume managing to impress the traditional media. One should also look at the motivational effect of the interaction across the net. We should be careful in any social implication to separate individual access and collective effects. One guy who knows of a demo through the net can drag in 100 people who will all rigthly said they came because that chap told them about the demo. On another fornt, if the Internet would not allow a huge number of people to know about the demos, would the "major channels" all over the world, cover the event. How much do we hear about demos in Argentina, or many other places, these days? Of course, I don't have, nor anyone has, yet "scientific" evidence of the Internet role in this event. I hope some will work on it. Before the terrorizers do get the net down for "antiUS activities". Michel PS: terrorwar, what a terrible pleonasm

1 0

Panel Participants
by Norman Clark 19 Feb '03

19 Feb '03

I'm looking to put together a panel for AoIR 4.0. We recently set up an Internet Studies major here at Appalachian State University, and we're looking for others who have also set up similar majors. A panel of "experts" on how to start programs in IS, what the curriculum should look like, institutional barriers/problems, and more, would be very valuable to AoIR attendees, we think. So if anyone out there who has helped start an Internet Studies program is interested in joining us, please send me an email at: clarkne(a)appstate.edu Thanks, Dr. Norm Clark Dept of Communication Appalachian State University

1 0

terrorwar and the internet
by david silver 19 Feb '03

19 Feb '03

hi folks, last saturday i met up with a team of about ten to join the seattle anti-war march (or what many of us call the pre-emptive peace movement) and documented much of what we witnessed. some shot film, some recorded sounds, some shot digital and not so digital cameras, all marched. for some of what we saw, see http://students.washington.edu/irinag/peace/ http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver/peacemarch somewhere near the beginning i met up with doug schuler, who many of you may know through his work on community networks and computer professionals for social responsibility, who was beaming. he looked around at the 20-30,000 crowd and shouted, "and most of it is because the internet!" and he had a point. i originally heard about the march through the internet, our team of ten organized through the net, a ton of marchers held posters downloaded from the net, we posted our digitized experiences the indymedia so citizens from around the world could see and compare and redistribute, and we ended the evening reading dozens of news reports from all over the place and sharing our findings face to face. so from an anti-war perspective, that is one way of seeing how the internet has influenced these terror/war days. it would be interesting to hear stories about the inverse: the influence of these terror/war days on the internet. it's reading a news website for the latest popular polls in turkey or reading and forwarding an email-version of a chomsky article on one side and a petition to support the war from the other side. it's downloading bush's last state of the union speech and it's being sent all the anti-war flash and quicktime digital protest art. any thoughts on this? david

2 1