- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

What is a discipline.
by Irene Berkowitz 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

To those who may be interested, Please let me be clear that personally, I am not trying to establish or join in an argument about who is right or wrong about whether Internet research is a discipline, but I am searching for an operational definition of the concept/construct of "academic discipline." I am curious as to the type of criteria that generally defines a "discipline". It strikes me that Internet Research may qualify as a "Studies" area, which at least to my way of thinking may represent some intersection of more traditional disciplinary approaches, by interested parties wanting to study similar content areas. There is a long history to the notion of a discipline and to the philosophical and ideological "Wars" that have erupted over 2500 years to qualify the knowledge production of a specific "discipline" as a legitimate means to gain academic, critical and/or scientific understanding. It would seem to me that a discipline operates within a conceptual framework that represents a set of paradigmatic structures which are commonly subscribed to by members of that discipline-- meaning a somewhat shared philosophic or methodological sets of approaches which give validity to the work that is produced within that framework. How else could we legitimize the notion of a "juried journal" or "juried anything" for that matter? The basic mission and functionality of a University itself, and the social/ institutional role that the University fulfills is to some degree based on the idea that we somehow maintain credentialing authority (knowledge capital) which is based on our ability to somehow assess "legitimate academic knowledge." And that this knowledge is some way is unique in it's production and is of high value to the society relative to other types of knowledge production. We tenure the professorate against performance within the discipline, we credential students through degrees that certify knowledge and the whole notion of liberal education is based on the concept that we educate students in "Ways of knowing" that are somehow critical to their fundamental ability to solve problems requiring development of critical thought processes. Anybody that would like to share his or her thoughts on this question, I would appreciate the input. If you want to use Internet Research as a practical example this would be quite interesting as well. If you would like to compare and contrast to say English or Engineering, or Biochemistry or Informatics (blended disciplines), even better. Thanks for your help, Irene Berkowitz Irene Berkowitz DARS Coordinator Office of the Vice Provost Temple University tel. 215-204-7596 fax. 215-204 3175 berkowitz(a)mail.temple.edu >>> veritas(a)u.washington.edu 11/05/2002 12:41:17 PM >>> Friends, Nancy's comments make my case that Internet Research is a discipline, or failing that, at least is rapidly becoming one. There are dedicated journals, a flagship organization, a listserver supporting the community, a code of ethics, and people who call themselves Internet Researchers. More comments below. Nancy Baym wrote: > > Charlie Hendricksen wrote: > >> Paying members of AoIR are unlikely to do their research near >> the boundaries of the discipline of Internet Research. They >> represent the mainstream. > > I question this characterization of paying members. My experience > from talking to people at our conferences and throughout the > formation and growth of this association has been that members: > > feel marginalized within their institutional disciplines because of > their interest in the internet Certainly! That is the reason new disciplines are formed. I am sure that many members feel, or even have been told, that their 'out of the mainstream' research is hurting their career in the home discipline. > think that their particular angle on internet studies -- be it > literary, economic, artistic, you name it -- is not adequately > represented within aoir That will come in time. I welcome any dialog with colleagues who would like to study research teams who operate ON the Internet. Certainly distributed research teams are worthy of becoming subjects of Internet Research. > also do research that is not just about the internet and which is > more closely aligned with our more traditional disciplines, and we > also have to think about framing the net research that we do in ways > that speak to those disciplines. Until there are recognized departments of Internet Studies, the home disciplines must be served. To ignore the hand that feeds you is not recommended. Of course we all owe our research interests to established disciplines as well as to Internet Research. The value we add to Internet Studies as representatives of our current home disciplines is that our research is tied to an established body of knowledge. > In short, I think this association works because we are all at > boundaries, the field of internet research is comprised of > intersecting boundaries. Though there may be some strong themes that > characterize contemporary net research, I don't think there is a > "mainstream" nor even a "discipline." Yes, this week. > > 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 > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l -- Charlie Hendricksen, Ph.D. veritas(a)u.washington.edu "Information technology structures human relationships." "Models relate concepts." _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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Re: Archive and membership
by Charlie Hendricksen 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

Friends, This conversation hinges on the concept of fairness. We are all probing to find the boundary between fairness and unfairness. While considering the data we find, perhaps we should also be aware of "the tyranny of the majority" and "reciprocity." Paying members of AoIR are unlikely to do their research near the boundaries of the discipline of Internet Research. They represent the mainstream. For every mainstream member there are likely to be many more that are from other disciplines whose research concerns touch mainstream interests only tangentially or in highly specialized areas. My research for instance involves the behavior of researchers, not the majority of Internet users. I am also not very interested in synchronous methods. Yet, when discussion threads or papers mentioned coincide or approach my area of interest, I need that information! There are other ways of contributing to this community of practice beside joining the Association of Internet Researchers. When I and other responsible observers working at or beyond the boundaries of Internet Research are rewarded with information from your community we tend to reciprocate by telling you how our research informs yours. Perhaps reciprocity needs to be part of the metric for access. -- Charlie Hendricksen, Ph.D. veritas(a)u.washington.edu "Information technology structures human relationships." "Models relate concepts."

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Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Information Science in the U.K.
by Andrea Scharnhorst 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

################################################### Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Information Science ################################################### - to Study the Impact of European Science, Technology and Innovation Research on the Web A position has become available for a postdoctoral researcher to work on a 3-year long EU funded project into developing and implementing Web link based metrics to analyse the impact of science, technology and innovation research on the Web. The Wolverhampton research group (http://cybermetrics.wlv.ac.uk/) has played a significant part in laying the foundations for this exciting new area of research and the successful applicant will have the opportunity to use the tools developed by the group and to build on the methodologies in order to make an important contribution to the development of this new field. In the nature of the post it is not expected that applicants will have prior experience of similar work but those with a Ph.D. in an area related to Information Science, Computer Science or Maths will be considered. The successful applicant will have working knowledge of the Web, the Internet and basic statistics, and will be able to apply their existing research skills to this new area. The project involves international collaboration and the researcher should expect to have to occasionally visit other countries in Europe for team meetings and conferences, in addition to attending a conference in China. Good communication and team working skills are essential, and knowledge of one or more other European languages would be an advantage. Applicants from European countries outside the UK are particularly encouraged to apply. The salary will be on the researcher B scale from £17624 - £22948 per year and the starting date will be as soon as possible after the interview. Please contact Mike Thelwall m.thelwall(a)wlv.ac.uk with any queries. For detailed further particulars and an application form (returnable by 22 November 2002) and quoting the reference number Ref A3164, contact the Personnel Services Department, University of Wolverhampton, Molineux Street, Wolverhampton WV1 1SB, UK. Tel: 01902 321049 (ansaphone). For hearing impaired candidates our minicom number is 01902 321249. Email address: per(a)wlv.ac.uk The University is eager to attract larger numbers of applications from groups of people currently under- represented in the staff population, especially from women and people from ethnic minority groups. Related jobs are also available in Amsterdam, see also http://www.webindicators.org Dr. Andrea Scharnhorst NERDI Netherlands Institute for Scientific Information Services (NIWI) KNAW Joan Muyskenweg 25 Postbus 95110 1090 HC Amsterdam The Netherlands Tel: +20 4628 670 www.niwi.knaw.nl/nerdi

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Call for papers ECSCW'03
by Louise Ferguson 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

I've been told there's interest in involving people from non-CSCW areas, hence why I'm posting to this list. Louise Ferguson Call for Papers ECSCW'03 - 8th European Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work http:// ecscw2003.oulu.fi Helsinki, 14.- 18. September 2003 CSCW is a multidisciplinary area of research devoted to the use of computers to support cooperative work and a meeting area for research coming from technology and human and social sciences. The community encompasses interests in systems development and design, the theory and practice of CSCW, the installation and use of CSCW systems, the application of novel technologies, and the relation between the social and the technical. We invite contributions on all topics related to CSCW, including technical, empirical, and theoretical aspects of collaboration and computer systems. As always, a key aim of the conference is to be multdisciplinary, combining and where possible truly integrating the social with the technical. Important Dates: 2 February 2003 Paper deadline 16 February 2003 Tutorials, Workshops, Demonstrations, Videos, Poster, Doctoral Colloquium deadline 31 March 2003 Notification of acceptance 30 April 2003 Camera Ready Copy deadline Submission requirements are available in the full CFP attached as a PDF file, at the conference website http://ecscw2003.oulu.fi or by writing to ecscw03(a)tol.oulu.fi Even if you do not plan to submit work to the conference we hope that you will attend. Put the dates on your calendar now! We look forward to welcoming you to Helsinki in September 2003. Kari Kuutti, University of Oulu, Finland Eija Karsten, University of Turku, Finland ECSCW 2003 co-chairs

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Conference - call for papers
by Maren Hartmann 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

-------------------------------------------- *** New Media, Technology and Everyday Life in Europe *** A European Conference organised by EMTEL The European, Media, Technology and Everyday Life Network London, April 23-26 2003 __Announcement and call for papers__ The Fifth RTD Framework Programme of the EU, Creating a User-friendly Information Society, has as its main objective the realisation of the "benefits of the information society for Europe both by accelerating its emergence and by ensuring that the needs of individuals and enterprises are met". The New Media, Technology and Everyday Life in Europe Conference addresses this agenda directly. It will ask three crucial questions which technology-driven conferences generally fail to address: § What does a user-friendly society mean? § What are the facilitators of, and the obstacles to, its realisation? § What are the consequences for markets and policy making? The Conference builds on and expands a range of research activities funded by the EC 4th and 5th Framework Programme (2000-03), COST networks actions and IST Programmes. It is timely in its situation at the interface between 5th and 6th Framework Programmes. Above all, it draws on the research experience of the EMTEL network (http://www.emtel2.org) The conference is intended as a forum for a high-level encounter between leading European academics in the field of media, new media and society, and more than forty doctoral and post-doctoral researchers (under the age of 36) who will be invited to present their research on the areas and themes covered by the conference. The conference is financed by the EU, under the Improving Human Potential, High-level Scientific Conferences, and will take place in London between 23-26 April 2003. Conference website: http://www.emtelconference.org -- Maren Hartmann - Researcher @ SMIT - Vrije Universiteit Brussel Pleinlaan 2 - 1050 Brussel - Belgium phone (work): + 32 2 629 2572 - fax: + 32 2 629 2861

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Net protests mount in Ireland
by jeremy hunsinger 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

> > TELECOM-CITIES Digest for Monday, November 04, 2002. > > 1. Net protests mount in Ireland > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- > > Subject: Net protests mount in Ireland > From: Berquist(a)uts.cc.utexas.edu > Date: Mon, 04 Nov 2002 16:00:10 -0600 (CST) > X-Message-Number: 1 > > http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/2377447.stm > > Monday, 4 November, 2002, 09:27 GMT > Net protests mount in Ireland > > By Jane Wakefield > BBC News Online technology staff > > Consumers are fed up with paying per minute for net services in > Ireland and > urgent action needs to be taken if the so-called Celtic Tiger is to > stay > competitive, say critics. > > Both IrelandOffline, a campaign group lobbying for unmetered net > access, and > telecom operators desperate to introduce new services to their > customers, want > to see radical changes soon. jeremy hunsinger jhuns(a)vt.edu on the ibook www.cddc.vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy () ascii ribbon campaign - against html mail /\ - against microsoft attachments

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Please Ignore Road warriors post
by Collette Snowden 05 Nov '02

05 Nov '02

v. sorry I pressed send instead of delete when clearing out my email, as I have been offline for a while .....this is a v. old draft post and has no relevance at all! --------------------------------- Do you Yahoo!? HotJobs - Search new jobs daily now

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weblogs in education
by parrishka 04 Nov '02

04 Nov '02

> >Message: 10 > >From: dca4(a)georgetown.edu > >I'm having two of my classes use weblogs this semester. Students in one > >class are keeping journals, writing about anything they desire, > >http://cct723.blogspot.com. Another class is using them in a more > >structured manner to answer weekly questions, > >http://cct717.blogspot.com, then read each others answers. Please > >browse, if you have a chance. > > > >Are others using blogs as an educational information sharing or > >creativity device? Would love to discuss what you are finding. I'm > >getting very mixed reactions from students, especially those asked to > >journal. > >Dorine > > > Students always hate to write. It seems. Blogger also seems to be the > hardest for some students due to the design. Not that any of them are > good. > > If you want to talk off list email me, or iChat (aka AIM): > complicitytheory, or if there's interest from others, a group chat on > my CVE. > > Jason > Hi Dorine, I've used blogs in the highschool English classroom, where we ask students to journal all the time, and have increasingly felt the need to re-evaluate and re-situate the idea of the "journal assignment." as i mentioned in a recent meta-blog post on my own blog (http://www.meadow4.com/squish/archives_02/001023.html) it's a fairly co-ercive, invasive gesture. i usually encourage my students to lie. one thing that i always hope is stressed in the use of blogs in the writing classroom is the performative nature of the public writing act. I notice that Gary Thmospon just delivered a paper on this topic, (http://www.svsu.edu/%7Eglt/Louisville/Louisville_title.htm) and i haven't had time to give it more than a glance, but i do think this is a crucial starting point, and part of what can get people out of the trap they feel when they start to contemplate that fact that you've just asked them to expose themselves for a mark. as for creative uses of weblogs, my favourite so far is lying motherfucker: http://lyingmofo.ohskylab.com/ although it's been aiming a bit low of recent. the neil gaiman entries are very, very funny. anyhow, i'd also be interested in talking more about this- and so backchannel or synchronous meet-up with jason or something would be fab. katherine parrish http://www.meadow4.com/

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road warriors
by Barry Wellman 04 Nov '02

04 Nov '02

I am posting this query to both the Community list and the AOIR list, because of its relevance to both. I've been flying around a lot recently giving lectures and attending conferences: to scholarly, governmental and corporate dot.com groups. In so doing, I frequently encounter what _PC Magazine_ calls "road warriors", albeit the opposite of Mad Max. These are managers, professionals and technicians who spend a good deal of time traveling, either between organizational offices, or to other organizations or conferences. Modally, 2-4 days per week. They live by computer-supported and 800-number contact back to their home base. If you get into business lounges, you can see them pounding their laptops, checking their emails, and talking via 800 numbers to their colleagues elsewhere. They spend a lot of time in corporate hotels (e.g., the misnamed Holiday Inn), bars, medium-priced restaurants, and airport lounges. Has anyone seriously studied such folks? How do they sustain this mobile life? What is their community, with work colleagues and friends -- and household members? Etc. Barry ___________________________________________________________________ Barry Wellman Professor of Sociology NetLab Director wellman(a)chass.utoronto.ca http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman Centre for Urban & Community Studies University of Toronto 455 Spadina Avenue Toronto Canada M5S 2G8 fax:+1-416-978-7162 ___________________________________________________________________

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benefits, freebies, papers, etc
by Nancy Baym 04 Nov '02

04 Nov '02

By the way, the Association of Internet Researchers does provide a free means for anyone -- whether they are members are not -- to connect with others doing relevant work, find out about what else is going on that may interest them, and otherwise have their internet research interests sustained and supported by AoIR without paying membership dues. It's called air-l. How many other professional associations do you know that provide a free forum for nonmembers to complain about what the association doesn't do for them? I am amazed at the invisibility of the resource of air-l, even as its used as a means to discuss all that AoIR doesn't do. Bram is right that the question of what is interesting or good may not be the same as what is feasible (though those categories have certainly been collapsed in most of this discussion), and abstract discussion of what is good/right/ideal/etc has its utility. As ever, if there are people enthusiastic about undertaking the labor to make AoIR what you think it ought to be, let those of us on the exec committee know what you can pitch in. We always have more to be done. If you have ideas about what AoIR ought to be and no interest in contributing to making those things happen, then it may be an interesting discussion, but it won't motivate anyone to do it. Nancy

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