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question from a reporter
by Amy Harmon 23 Aug '02

23 Aug '02

Greetings, I'm a reporter for the New York Times. For a Sept. 11 anniversary issue that we are publishing, I'm writing about the use of the Internet in the aftermath of the attacks, and particularly about the memorialization that seems to be continuing on the Web a full year later. If anyone on the list has studied the implications of the Web's role in the grieving/memorialization process for 9/11 and is willing to be interviewed, please email me at amy(a)nytimes.com and let me know how to reach you. thanks, Amy ------------------------------- Amy Harmon Technology Reporter New York Times (212) 556-1505 amy(a)nytimes.com

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Reading on anonymity, gdss
by Caroline Haythornthwaite 23 Aug '02

23 Aug '02

I'm looking for a good reading for undergraduates on the impact of anonymity in CMC on communication and other behaviors, and also one on Group Decision Support Systems. I know of a number of articles that discuss anonymity along with other things, but I wanted one that brings that work together. With GDSS there are some books but I'd like something shorter. I'm interested in something that is quite recent (say 5 years or so) and can give a bit of state of the art on the subject. Thanks. /Caroline ------- Caroline Haythornthwaite Graduate School of Library and Information Science University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

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IT & Politics at American Poli Sci mtgs
by Alexandra Samuel 22 Aug '02

22 Aug '02

Is anyone one on the list going to the meetings of the American Political Science Assn next week? If so it would be great to connect. Perhaps the best place to meet up is at the reception for APSA¹s Information Technology and Politics Section. The reception is on Friday, August 30, from 6:30 to 8:00, at the Fire and Ice restaurant, 205 Berkeley Street, Boston. (apologies for cross-posting) -- Alexandra Samuel alex(a)alexandrasamuel.com http://www.alexandrasamuel.com 3223 West 2nd Avenue Vancouver, BC V6K 1K9 Canada

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AoIR 2002 Conference in Maastricht: 13-16 October 2002 - Update
by Monica.Murero＠MERIT.unimaas.nl 22 Aug '02

22 Aug '02

IR 3.0: Net / Work / Theory International Conference of the AoIR MECC conference & exhibition center Maastricht (NL) 13 October pre-conference workshops 14-16 October 2002 Dear Colleagues, As many of you know, I am in charge of the coordination of the AoIR international conference 2002. I have some news about the program and the registrations. This year we have introduced an innovation in the online program: for each presentation/title there will be a direct link to the relative abstract. Full papers will be available starting October 1st to AoIR members. We are working on it (thanks Gits and Klaus!), and an updated version of the program will be available in the next days. Have you already registered to the conference? - If you are among the 200 people who already did it: Thank you ! - If not, hurry up! Until august 31st you can benefit from early registration fees! You will save money and your early registration will help the organization a lot! You can register and find more information at http://www.aoir.org/2002 As the conference is approaching (less than 2 months), I will send you further important news in the next weeks. As usual, if you need more information, do not hesitate to contact me. I am looking forward to meeting you all in Maastricht! Monica Murero, PhD Conference Chair Project Leader and Senior Researcher International Institute of Infonomics University of Maastricht (NL) TEL.+31-45-4000-540 FAX +31-45-4000-545

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summer gems
by david silver 22 Aug '02

22 Aug '02

Folks, Perhaps as a complement to the interesting abstracts of papers coming through air-l, I'd like to share some interesting readings I've been mulling over throughout the summer. Am I imagining things or has the summer pipeline of publications been particularly interesting this summer? * INFORMATION, COMMUNICATION, & SOCIETY 5: 1 (Jan 2002) Special issue title "Work, Difference and the New Media Industries" guest edited by Nina Wakeford, this is one of the first focused attempts to examine the workers and work environments of new media. With a diverse set of methodological approaches, the contributors examine new media work and its accompanying rhetoric. A few of the chapters focus on firms based in Silicon Valley and one (by Rosalind Gill) draws from workers from six European countries. It seems to me that the contributors are tapping into a whole new realm of Internet studies. Bravo! Contents: Keeping Up: Web Design Skill and The Reinvented Worker pp. 1 - 26 Nalini P. Kotamraju Hot Jobs in Cool Places. The Material Cultures of New Media Product Spaces: The Case of South of the Market, San Francisco pp. 27 - 50 Andy C. Pratt Occupational Technologists as an Occupational Community: Ethnographic Evidence pp. 51 - 69 Daniel Marschall Cool, Creative and Egalitarian? Exploring Gender in Project-Based New Media Work in Europe pp. 70 - 89 Rosalind Gill Trusting Strangers: Work Relationships in Four High-Tech Communities pp. 90 - 108 J.A. English-Lueck, Charles N. Darrah, Andrea Saveri Playing at work: Understanding the Future of Work Practices at the Institute for the Future pp. 109 - 136 Lonny J Brooks, Geoffrey Bowker * INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF SEXUALITY AND GENDER STUDIES 7:2/3 (July 2002) Special issue title "Queer Webs: Representations of LGBT People and Communities on the World Wide Web" guest edited by Jonathan Alexander, this is an excellent compilation and does for studies of sexualities and the Net as Wired Women and Virtual Gender did for Net + gender and Race and Cyberspace did for Net + race/ethnicity. I'm still reading it but so far I've enjoyed and learned a lot from Alexander's "Homo-Pages and Queer Sites: Studying the Construction and Representation of Queer Identities on the World Wide Web" and Donald Snyder's "'I Don't Go By Sean Patrick': On-Line/Off-Line/Out Identity and SeanPatrickLive.com." Diverse and in depth contributions. It's great to see a work like this appear. Perhaps the next step is to put together a volume that explores simultaneously the multiple perspectives of race, gender, class, and sexuality as they relate to the Net and new media. Contents: Introduction to the Special Issue: Queer Webs: Representations of LGBT People and Communities on the World Wide Web pp. 77-84. Jonathan Alexander Homo-Pages and Queer Sites: Studying the Construction and Representation of Queer Identities on the World Wide Web pp. 85-106 Jonathan Alexander Under the Rainbow Flag: Webbing Global Gay Identities pp. 107-124 Bettina Heinz, Li Gu, Ako Inuzuka, Roger Zender Virtually Belonging: Risk, Connectivity, and Coming Out On-Line pp. 125-137 Sally R. Munt, Elizabeth H. Bassett, Kate O'Riordan Cross-Dressers in Cyber-Space: Exploring the Internet as a Tool for Expressing Gendered Identity pp. 139-161 Jane E. Hegland, Nancy J. Nelson The Newhalf Net: Japan's "Intermediate Sex" On-Line pp. 163-175 Mark McLelland "I Don't Go By Sean Patrick": On-Line/Off-Line/Out Identity and SeanPatrickLive.com pp. 177-195 Donald I. Snyder Razorgirls and Cyberdykes: Tracing Cyberfeminism and Thoughts on Its Use in a Legal Context pp. 197-213 Bela Bonita Chatterjee Suicidality and Sexual Orientation in Five Continents: Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America pp. 215-225 Robin M. Mathy "Behind the Mask": An African Gay-Affirmative Website pp. 227-234 Jonathan Alexander * LISA NAKAMURA, CYBERTYPES: RACE, ETHNICITY, AND IDENTITY ON THE INTERNET (Routledge, 2002) For my money, I think this is one of the best books the nascent field has to offer, especially from a humanities approach. A blend of cultural studies, visual analysis, and postcolonial studies, the book approaches the Net broadly and leaves us with a ton of interesting things to think about. I'll be assigning this in my undergrad class in the fall and most likely to my graduate class in spring. Any other reading lists folks want to share? Enjoy the summer while it lasts, david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver/

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validity of the research
by Aurelija 21 Aug '02

21 Aug '02

hello :) Introducing qualitative research in the seminar, I was asked a question about the validity of online researches: how may we trust the results, when we don't get non-verbal information and how can we be sure whether the respondent says the truth or lies... I usually use additional methods for validation, such as observation or interviews IRL, but in some cases I (and possibly other researchers too) just trust, what my respondents say and build my conclusions on their words... so I wanted to ask, how do you deal with the question of validity doing the research online? Regards Aurelija Dagilyte

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MelbourneDAC: submissions open
by Adrian Miles 21 Aug '02

21 Aug '02

Apologies for any cross posting that may occur. This announcement may be of interest to some list members. ---------- keywords: Augmented Reality, Cyberculture, Electronic Fiction, Electronic Music, Electronic Nonfiction, Electronic Poetry, Electronic Spatiality, Electronic Temporality, Flash Fiction, Flash Nonfiction, Games Culture, Games Sociology, Games System Design, Games Theory , Hypertext Literature , Hypertext Theory , Interactive Architecture, Interactive Cinema and Video , Interactive Graphic Narrative, Interactive Performance, MOOs, MUDs, RPG, Networked Improvisation, Networked performance, Streaming Narrative, Time Based Interactive Media, Virtual Reality, Virtual Worlds if you are intending to submit an abstract for the 2003 Digital Arts and Culture conference then please note: deadline is september 15th. the submission site is now open, it is available from the submission link on http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/dac/ please let colleagues know. regards adrian miles Adrian Miles Conference Chair adrian.miles(a)rmit.edu.au Antoanetta Ivanova Conference Producer antoanetta(a)novamediaarts.net _______________________________ end of announcement -- + lecturer in new media and cinema studies [http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vog/vlog] + interactive desktop video developer [http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au/vog/] + hypertext rmit [http://hypertext.rmit.edu.au] + InterMedia:UiB. university of bergen [http://www.intermedia.uib.no]

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Beyond Usability: Web Design, Digital Theory and the Humanities (CFP, 10/1)
by craig stroupe 21 Aug '02

21 Aug '02

Dear AIR-L colleagues: Please consider this call for essays, with the usual apologies for any cross postings.... - Craig * * * * * Beyond Usability: Web Design, Digital Theory and the Humanities This book collection will consider the contributions that the humanities disciplines can make to understanding and improving the emerging practices of Web design and use. The editor calls for essays that describe or theorize ways that the humanities disciplines might enlarge, enrich or provide an alternative to the scientistic standard of "usability," which has achieved a critical hegemony in current discussions of Web-site creation. These essays should begin and sustain a dialogue across the art/science dichotomy, which the emergence of usability has polarized. More than a common-sense focus on writing or designing for an intended user, usability is founded on a narrowly instrumentalist view of language and design. That is, the form of a site, from a usability perspective, is merely a neutral container for the content, which always carries the same meaning regardless of the presentation, expression or performance. In usability terms, writing or design that calls attention to itself is bad writing/design because it fails to convey the message transparently. In contrast, this collection will use the theories and practices of the humanities to explore how Web design can be reimagined and refigured if language and form are understood as constituting meaning, and if verbal or visual expression is recognized not just as a delivery mechanism of "information," but also a medium of consciousness and thought. Disciplinary perspectives might include, but are not limited to, rhetoric and composition, cultural studies, creative writing, literary studies, history, critical theory, communication, art history, media studies, women's/gender studies, etc. The collection will speak to an audience of scholars and advanced students, and include critical pieces that reflect on institutional and cultural practices, as well as practical pieces that describe and recommend specific techniques of humanities-based digital design, online use, and electronic pedagogies. Send a 500-word abstract and short vita in Word format or RTF by October 1, 2002 either by e-mail to <cstroupe(a)d.umn.edu> or by mail to Craig Stroupe Department of Composition 1201 Ordean Court # 420 University of Minnesota Duluth Duluth, MN 55812-2496 E-mail inquiries and questions welcomed. Read the latest on the _Beyond Usability_ project at <http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe/beyond.html>. CONTEXT: Since usability guru Jacob Nielsen declared the "end of web design" in a July 2000 column--see <http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20000723.html>--common wisdom has held that the age of experimentation and exploration in Web design is over, and that the practices of digital communication now require a very high degree of standardization, conventionalization, and predictability based on the scientistic principles of usability. In Nielsen's words, sites must "tone down their individual appearance and distinct design.... Users spend most of their time at other sites. This means that users prefer your site to work the same way as all the other sites they already know." Commenting on the apparent triumph of the usability approach, David Walker--see <http://www.shorewalker.com/pages/siegel_turns-1.html>--reports that designer David Siegel, whose 1996 book _Creating Killer Web Sites_ was among the first to define an aesthetic of "third-generation" Web design, essentially "joined the Nielsen camp" in 1998 by abandoning his efforts at cutting-edge design and turning to providing strategic consulting for businesses developing presences on the Web. Walker asserts that Siegel's legacy is a dwindling tradition of Web design that ignores the needs of users, who "need science" but too often "receive only art." This collection seeks to extend the dialogue between humanities-based writing/design and scientistic usability into new territory beyond the promotion of usability as the final word in Web design. * * * * Craig Stroupe / Assistant Professor / University of Minnesota Duluth / Department of Composition / 1201 Ordean Court # 420/ Duluth, MN 55812 / 218-726-6249 / fax 218-726-8228 / <http://www.d.umn.edu/~cstroupe> * * * *

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Usability readings
by Danny Butt 20 Aug '02

20 Aug '02

Hi, Someone asked me off-list for some readings on issues of design and usability, here are a few places I think are useful... and may be of interest to the group... Danny Christina Wodtke's excellent blogs on User Centred Design and Usability http://www.eleganthack.com/archives/cat_user_centered_design.html Don Norman, Emotion and design: Attractive things work better. http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/Emotion-and-design.html An older, excellent overview on non-boring usability from M$ http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/dnsiteplan/ html/improvingsiteusa.asp Good rundown on various ethnographic usability methods: http://www.newarchitectmag.com/archives/2001/02/ellis/ A more scholarly take on the information vs. experience debate: http://ic.media.mit.edu/people/jseo/courses/cms800/final-paper.html Nathan Shredoff's philosophy http://www.nathan.com/thoughts/unified/unified.pdf If you're a flash developer, an excellent article on Flash Usability http://www.flazoom.com/usability/usability_I_1.shtml Interesting accessibility article: embracing Diversity in Design http://www.webmasterbase.com/printTemplate.php?aid=761 Kim Goodwin from Cooper design, interesting takes on usability: http://www.cooper.com/articles/art_an_interview_with_kim_goodwin.htm

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Web-based Surveys
by Berquist＠uts.cc.utexas.edu 20 Aug '02

20 Aug '02

A few months ago, there was some discussion about online surveys--particularly regarding methodology and design. My question is more practical--can anyone recommend software to design a web-displayed survey that will easily capture data into a backend database? I've looked at SPSS Data Entry (TM), but would like to receive recommendations from others who have completed web-based surveys and are pleased with the software they have worked with. Thanks, Lon Berquist Telecommunications and Information Policy Institute The University of Texas at Austin

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