- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Anthropology & Sociology
by Rachel Harris 21 Jun '02

21 Jun '02

Dear All I'm in the process of reviewing different perspectives on online (learning) communities. As someone from a sciences/psychology background, I would very much appreciate a definition of the distinction between anthropology and sociology in this area. From what I've read so far, and on a very basic level, it seems that anthropology would focus on the differences amongst people - their shared values and meanings - in different communities; while a sociological approach might be more interested in the structures, social order, etc within different communities. Can anyone point me to an appropriate article, or suggest a definition? Thanks for your help. Rachel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Rachel A Harris Scottish Centre for Research into On-Line Learning and Assessment University of Glasgow Florentine House 53 Hillhead Street Glasgow, G12 8QQ 0141 330 2878 r.harris(a)udcf.gla.ac.uk www.scrolla.ac.uk

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RE: [Air-l] anthropology paper sought - Wolcott 1980
by Rachel Harris 21 Jun '02

21 Jun '02

Or you could order a copy of "Classics of Practicing Anthropology" which includes work by Harry Wolton, so I suspect would be the article you're interested in. More details are available at: http://www.sfaa.net/pa/paclassics.html At only 20$, it may even be cheaper than an interlibrary loan. Rachel ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dr Rachel A Harris Scottish Centre for Research into On-Line Learning and Assessment University of Glasgow Florentine House 53 Hillhead Street Glasgow, G12 8QQ 0141 330 2878 r.harris(a)udcf.gla.ac.uk www.scrolla.ac.uk -----Original Message----- From: air-l-admin(a)aoir.org [mailto:air-l-admin@aoir.org]On Behalf Of Frank Schaap Sent: 21 June 2002 08:43 To: air-l(a)aoir.org Subject: RE: [Air-l] anthropology paper sought - Wolcott 1980 Hmm, I just put the title in Google and I found a full reference: Wolcott, H.F. "How to look like an anthropologist without really being one," Practicing Anthropology, 3 (2), 1980, p. 39. I've looked, but it appears that none of the Dutch universities carry this title. I found it's available through the SFU university: http://troy.lib.sfu.ca/search/s?PRACTICING+ANTHROPOLOGY You might have some luck trying to request it through you library and tell them which (US?) libraries have it... or just write them yourself. HTH Frank. -- Frank Schaap University of Amsterdam Amsterdam School of Communications Research Kloverniersburgwal 48 1012 CX Amsterdam The Netherlands p: +31 20 525 3192 f: +31 20 525 3681 w: http://fragment.nl e: schaap(a)pscw.uva.nl > -----Original Message----- > From: Louise Ferguson [mailto:louise.lists@ntlworld.com] > Sent: vrijdag 21 juni 2002 0:04 > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: [Air-l] anthropology paper sought - Wolcott 1980 > > > Not sure if this is precisely the right venue for this > request, but I'd > venture that someone here has what I'm looking for. I'm > searching for the > anthropology paper below (recommended to me by an > ethnographic researcher > in hospital contexts). The British Library does not hold it so it is > unlikely to become available through UK interlibrary loans. > If anyone can > help, please let me know. > > Title: Practicing anthropology > Article: How to look like an anthropologist without really being one > Author: Wolcott,HF > Publisher: > Year: 1980 Volume: vol.3 Part: 2 Pages: 39- > > > TIA > > Louise Ferguson > MSc human-computer interaction > University of Sussex > Falmer, Brighton > > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l > _______________________________________________ Air-l mailing list Air-l(a)aoir.org http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l

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RE: [Air-l] anthropology paper sought - Wolcott 1980
by Frank Schaap 21 Jun '02

21 Jun '02

Hmm, I just put the title in Google and I found a full reference: Wolcott, H.F. "How to look like an anthropologist without really being one," Practicing Anthropology, 3 (2), 1980, p. 39. I've looked, but it appears that none of the Dutch universities carry this title. I found it's available through the SFU university: http://troy.lib.sfu.ca/search/s?PRACTICING+ANTHROPOLOGY You might have some luck trying to request it through you library and tell them which (US?) libraries have it... or just write them yourself. HTH Frank. -- Frank Schaap University of Amsterdam Amsterdam School of Communications Research Kloverniersburgwal 48 1012 CX Amsterdam The Netherlands p: +31 20 525 3192 f: +31 20 525 3681 w: http://fragment.nl e: schaap(a)pscw.uva.nl > -----Original Message----- > From: Louise Ferguson [mailto:louise.lists@ntlworld.com] > Sent: vrijdag 21 juni 2002 0:04 > To: air-l(a)aoir.org > Subject: [Air-l] anthropology paper sought - Wolcott 1980 > > > Not sure if this is precisely the right venue for this > request, but I'd > venture that someone here has what I'm looking for. I'm > searching for the > anthropology paper below (recommended to me by an > ethnographic researcher > in hospital contexts). The British Library does not hold it so it is > unlikely to become available through UK interlibrary loans. > If anyone can > help, please let me know. > > Title: Practicing anthropology > Article: How to look like an anthropologist without really being one > Author: Wolcott,HF > Publisher: > Year: 1980 Volume: vol.3 Part: 2 Pages: 39- > > > TIA > > Louise Ferguson > MSc human-computer interaction > University of Sussex > Falmer, Brighton > > > _______________________________________________ > Air-l mailing list > Air-l(a)aoir.org > http://www.aoir.org/mailman/listinfo/air-l >

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icann
by braman 21 Jun '02

21 Jun '02

could the executive committee please share with the aoir membership the reasons for deciding not to get involved with the icann decision-making process? thanks -- sandra braman

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CFP CSCW 2002 - Place and Virtual Community
by Quentin (Gad) Jones 20 Jun '02

20 Jun '02

CALL FOR PARTICIPATION The Role of Place in Shaping Virtual Community A Workshop at the ACM's 2002 Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work November 16, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA Submission: Position paper and profile by Friday Sept 20th Organizers: Quentin Jones, New Jersey Institute of Technology, qgjones(a)acm.org Christine Halverson, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center, krys(a)us.ibm.com ABSTRACT The adoption of modern communication technologies increasingly situates interpersonal interactions virtually. This has had an enormous impact on peoples social networks as community ties shift from linking people together-in-physical-places to people-to-people-wherever-they-might-be [18]. However, these changes have not lessened the importance of place, be it virtual or physical, in shaping interaction patterns and discourse. The term place means different things to different people, and this workshop will examine these differences in relation to virtual community. In particular this workshop aims to explore the myriad of ways that: 1) the design of virtual or hybrid spaces / places directly provides common ground for user interactions; and 2) communities use public interactions in virtual spaces to create shared meaning. This exploration will in turn be used to enable an examination of various aspects of virtual community development and maintenance. THEME In recent years we have moved away from the notion that the ever increasing virtualization of interpersonal communications has simply led, as Meyrowitzs [12] describes it, to a sense of placeless-ness. Instead, it is now widely accepted among computer-mediated communication researchers that cyberspace abounds with virtual places within which vibrant interactions occur [7]. Instead of focusing on the demise of many of the physical Great Good Places [13] where unrelated people relate, many have celebrated the growth in virtual places associated with community [15]. These places where virtual community members interact are referred to by a wide variety of labels including chat rooms [14], cyber-inns [4], virtual settlements [9], commons [11], and conferences [8]. The provision of such labels highlights the role of virtual places in providing context for discourse. Of course, the context of place both affects, and is affected by associated user interactions and the nature and form of the client technologies used by members to interact. Some systems are completely open to the public, such as LambdaMoo [16], others are restricted to a membership [17], or a specific task or purpose [5]. All these points highlight the importance of gaining an understanding of the role of place in shaping virtual community discourse. This task is made even more pressing by the advent of mobile client technologies that use devices such as PDAs or cell phones, and associated communication technologies such as SMS and 3G, which complicates notions of virtual community public places. This workshop aims to explore the role of place in supporting virtual community interactions. Among the questions we hope participants will take on are the following: · Is place designed? Accreted? Or renewed through interactions on some regular basis? · Is place a physical metaphor? Or expressed through issues of behavior, understanding of presence, or discourse? · How does place provide a context for your virtual community? · When community members interact with their client technology how does place impact on their interactions? · What is the interaction between the design of user interfaces and the ability of the participants to create a place for social interaction? · What theoretical constructs have been useful to you in understanding how interactions in community places have enabled people to stays tied together? A variety of disciplines are pertinent to these explorations, including architecture, sociology, linguistic and discourse analyses, and design. Each one approaches the ideas of place and common ground for interaction from a slightly different perspective, and level of detail. Other disciplines may have pertinent insights and approaches. We would like to encourage them all. Important perspectives and issues include the notions of space and place [7], common information space [1], common ground in discourse [3], discourse architecture [10], genre theory [6], and other detailed aspects of linguistics [2]. REFERENCES 1. Bannon, L., and Bodker, S. Constructing Common Information Space. Proceedings of the Fifth ECSCW. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Netherlands , 1997. 2. Brennan, S.E. and J.O. Ohaeri. Why do electronic conversations seem less polite: the costs and benefits of hedging. in WACC '99. 1999. San Francisco, CA : ACM.. 3. Clark , H. Arenas of language use. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 1992. 4. Coate, J., 1992. Innkeeping in Cyberspace, In: Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC-92), Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility, Palo Alto, CA. http://gopher.well.sf.ca.us:70/0/Community/innkeeping. 5. Erickson, T., et al. Socially Translucent Systems: Social Proxies, Persistent Conversation, and the Design of Babble. in Human Factors in Computing: The Proceedings of CHI 99. 1999. Pittsburgh, PA : ACM Press. 6. Erickson, T. Making Sense of Computer-Mediated Communication (CMC): Conversations as Genres, CMC Systems as Genre Ecologies. In the Proceedings of the Thirty-Third Hawaii International Conference on Systems Science. January, 2000. IEEE Press. 7. Harrison, S. and P. Dourish, 1996. Re-place-ing space: The roles of place and space in collaborative systems, In: Computer Supported Collaborative Work, ACM, Cambridge, MA pp. 67-76. 8. Hiltz, S.R. and M. Turoff, 1981. The evolution of user behavior in a computerized conferencing system, Communications of the ACM, 24 (11 November): 739-751. 9. Jones Q. 1997. Virtual-communities, virtual-settlements & cyber-archaeology: A theoretical outline. J of Comp Mediated Communication 3(3). 10. Jones Q., and S. Rafaeli 2000. Time to Split, Virtually: Discourse Architecture and Community Building as means to Creating Vibrant Virtual Publics. Electronic Markets: The International Journal of Electronic Commerce and Business Media. 10(4) 214-223. 11. Kollock, P. and M. Smith, 1994. Managing the virtual commons: Cooperation and conflict in computer communities. In: Computer-Mediated Communication, (Ed. S. Herring), John Benjamins, Amsterdam. 12. Meyrowitz, J., 1985. No sense of place, Oxford University Press Inc., New York. 13. Oldenburg, R., 1989. The Great Good Place: Cafes, Coffee Shops, Community Centers, Beauty Parlors, General Stores, Bars, Hangouts, and How They Get You Through The Day., Paragon House, New York. 14. Reid, E. M., 1991. Electropolis: Communications and community on Internet Relay Chat, Honors, History, University of Melbourne. http://www.ee.mu.oz.au/papers/emr/work.html. 15. Rheingold, H., 1993. The virtual community: Homesteading on the electronic frontier, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. 16. Schiano, D.J. and S. White. The first noble truth of CyberSpace: People are People (even when they MOO). in CHI 98. 1998. Los Angeles CA : ACM. 17. Schlager, M. and P. Schank. TAPPED IN: A New On-line Teacher Community Concept for the Next Generation of Internet Technology. in CSCL '97, The Second International Conference on Computer Support for Collaborative Learning. 1997. Toronto : ACM. 18. Wellman, B., "Physical Place and Cyber Place: The Rise of Personalized Networking" International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 25, 2 (2001): 227-52. There have been a number of past community workshops, covering formation of communities, construction of infrastructures and understanding aspects of group formation and vitality. Recently there has been more emphasis on how to study and understand active communities. We would like to expand this to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms involved as they relate to place. ACTIVITIES AND GOALS The full day workshop will be divided into three sections: 1) Exploration of participants examples of how the design of virtual place provides common ground for user interactions; 2) An examination of how communities use public interactions in virtual spaces to create shared meaning; and 3) A synthesis session where participants will explore various aspects of virtual community development and maintenance. If attendance is high we may break into subgroups for more intense discussion. If this is the case then each smaller group will report back with their key ideas. By the end of the workshop participants will have a catalog of examples of existing virtual places and an accompanying critique of their strengths and weaknesses for supporting user interactions SUBMISSION REQUIREMENTS By Friday Sept 20th, submit the following to qgjones(a)acm.org Proposals should be no longer than 6 pages and should include description of the following aspects. 1) An existing place used to support community (or communities); 2) An examination of how the place/s under consideration provides common ground for user interactions; and 3) Theoretical ideas or approaches that help you understand context and social interaction, or an exploration of virtual community development and maintenance. Position papers should explain how the authors work relates to the workshop theme. We are particularly interested in seeing perspectives at a variety of levels from high and meta to micro- scales. Position papers will be reviewed by the workshop organizers and the final organization will be adapted to take into account the number expected and the range of submissions. We expect about 12-15 participants, but could expand up to 20. If size approaches the maximum we will adjust the workshop organization to spend some time broken into small groups so that the quality of the discussions remains high. We look for a wide range of participants. System architects and designers who have thought about and implemented supports for social interaction, social psychologists, linguists and sociologists who have studied online interactions, and others we may not have previously considered. Those from outside of the CSCW community should note that you are NOT required to pay the conference registration fee if you only want to attend the workshop. However, first-time attendees are most welcome, and we encourage you to look over the array of offerings on the conference program. FOR MORE INFORMATION - On the workshop: contact the organizers qgjones(a)acm.org, krys(a)us.ibm.com - On CSCW 2002: http://www.acm.org/CSCW2002/ - For an expanded web-based version of this CFP: http://modiin.njit.edu/cscw2002place/

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Wanted: Chapter about copyright & the internet, for 'Web.Studies' book
by David Gauntlett 20 Jun '02

20 Jun '02

(This will be the last of these 'wanted' messages sent to the list -- touch wood. Thanks to AIR-L'ers for letting us fill a few gaps in this way). * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * WANTED: CHAPTER ABOUT COPYRIGHT AND THE INTERNET * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * SUMMARY: We are editing the second edition of the book "Web.Studies: Rewiring Media Studies for the Digital Age", and we are looking for someone who is able to write a chapter about issues of copyright and the internet (*not* including music because we have a separate chapter on MP3s and the music industry). If you have researched this topic and can send us an outline of what you would include in such a chapter, please do. The piece should be 3,500-4,000 words and written in an accessible, introductory style, suitable for undergraduate students. The chapter would probably discuss how the idea of copyright has been affected and challenged by internet users, maybe taking in some case studies of alleged copyright infringements and the subsequent legal judgments. A basic introduction to what's legal and what's not -- perhaps in the form of a separate text box -- would also be welcome. We welcome any suggestions for useful and engaging chapters, though. If you are someone who could do this -- and have it written by 15th October 2002 -- then please get in touch with us (email david(a)theory.org.uk) If you can forward this to anyone you know who might be able to help, please do. Thank you very much. LAST DATE FOR EMAILING US: 29 June 2002. You will receive a reply in the first week of July. A FEW MORE DETAILS: The first edition of "Web.Studies" was published in August 2000. Several reviewers have described it as an "excellent" introduction to new media issues for students of media, communications, cyberculture and cultural studies. The website about the book (first edition) is at: http://www.newmediastudies.com/book The publishers, Arnold in the UK and Oxford University Press in the USA, have asked us to prepare a Second Edition for publication in August 2003. The first edition was edited by David Gauntlett (me). This time around I have invited a co-editor aboard -- Ross Horsley, also based at the Institute of Communications Studies, University of Leeds. The second edition of the book will be a combination of substantially updated versions of the best chapters from the first edition, plus several all-new chapters. The target audience is primarily undergraduates, but of course we would expect postgraduates, academics, and interested other people to learn something from it too. You get a small fee for writing the chapter -- for 3,500 words it would be UK £35, which is around US $52. Obviously that's not much, but most academic journals pay zero, so this is much better (!). Contributors are likely to be academics or PhD students. If you think you can provide the kind of chapter we are looking for, please send a short summary of who you are and what you would be able to cover. Of course we will be happy to answer any questions that potential writers may have. Many thanks David Gauntlett and Ross Horsley ______________________________________________ Dr David Gauntlett // david(a)theory.org.uk http://www.leeds.ac.uk/ics/david.htm The media & identity website: http://www.theory.org.uk ______________________________________________ Next book, 'Media, Gender & Identity: An Introduction' published by Routledge on 17 July 2002. Website at http://www.theoryhead.com/gender ______________________________________________

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Fwd: [CSL]: [World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies]
by jeremy hunsinger 19 Jun '02

19 Jun '02

Begin forwarded message: > From: John Armitage <john.armitage(a)UNN.AC.UK> > Date: Wed Jun 19, 2002 08:42:28 AM US/Eastern > To: CYBER-SOCIETY-LIVE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK > Subject: [CSL]: [World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies] > Reply-To: The Cyber-Society-Live mailing list is a moderated discussion > list for those interested <CYBER-SOCIETY-LIVE(a)JISCMAIL.AC.UK> > > (Hi all, a short reminder: I shall be closing CSL on **Friday 28 > June**. As > usual, CSL will be closed through July and August and re-open early > September. Best wishes to all. John) > ====================================== > [World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies] > > ----------------------------- > > WDR e-Brief - No. 08, 19 June 2002 > > In this e-Brief > > > * Q&A: The thin line between policy and regulation > * WDR expert forum in September > * WDR schedule of activities > * Two new books > o Networking Knowledge for Information Societies > o Global Media Governance > * Conference Reports > o TU Delft 5th international conference > o CTI - Internet & Mobility: Technologies and Implications for > Work and Leisure > * African WSIS meeting calls for regulation tailored to region s > needs > * Regulatory news archives now searchable > * Southern African telecom news and information from MISA > * CTI newsletter available online > * Subscribing and unsubscribing > > ----------------------------- > > Welcome to the eighth issue of the WDR e-Brief, a bi-weekly bulletin > from the World Dialogue on Regulation for Network Economies (WDR). > The WDR e-Brief keeps you informed of new documents and ongoing > discussions on our website and features information and comment of > interest to the regulatory community. Please forward the e-Brief to > interested colleagues and let them know they can subscribe for free from > the WDR website at http://www.regulateonline.org/ . > > For more information on any of the items discussed here, visit the web > addresses provided. > > ----------------------------- > > Q&A: The thin line between policy and regulation > In each WDR e-Brief we feature a question or comment posted to the > Online Dialogue at http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ and ask our > research teams to comment. The featured question in this e-Brief comes > from Rodrigo de la Parra, advisor to the chair at Mexico s Federal > Telecommunications Commission. De la Parra s question follows up on an > earlier discussion on independence and political interference (see > http://www.comunica.org/w- > agora/view.php?site=wdr&bn=wdr_multisector&key=101 > 5945573&first=1022164447&last=1012306680 > ). > > The reply comes from Rohan Samarajiva, coordinator of the Multisector > research team based at the Economics of Infrastructures at the Delft > University of Technology, with additional comments by WDR general > manager, William Melody. > > Question: > The line that divides policy and regulation is a very thin one even > before we think of a convergent regulatory and institutional framework. > In e-brief #7 Samarajiva comments that political interference may be > reduced if service providers are completely privatized. But what if this > has been already done. In this new convergent environment what new > definitions can be given regarding policy and regulation powers? and > what would be the optimal institutional design? > > - Rodrigo de la Parra > > Answer: > It is correct that the line between policy and regulation is a thin one. > The margin is problematic, but the core of policy is distinct from the > core of regulation. > > The question is about political interference. It may be necessary to > distinguish between politicians taking political positions in public > from covert political interference. The former is part of democracy, > while the latter is not. What motivates persons within government to > engage in covert political interference? The most obvious reason is if > the government is a shareholder in a regulated company. This has been > stated in a previous response. The question now is what if the > government no longer holds shares in the regulated company? In an > environment of good governance, it is unlikely that persons within > government will seek to engage in covert efforts to influence regulatory > decisions on behalf of regulated companies. But if the environment is > not one of good governance, it is possible that such actions may take > place for various reasons. The interferor may honestly believe his/her > action to be correct, but for some reason wishes to hide the fact of > influencing. This is less blameworthy, but is nevertheless wrong. The > most problematic case is where the interference has some ulterior > motive. This kind of covert influencing is not unique to regulated > industries. It is found wherever public officials are given > discretionary power. > > The solutions are not perfect but include: > - Creating channels for the communication of legitimate concerns. As > long as the communication is seen by others, it is acceptable. For > example, it is a good thing to give government ministers the right to > give written public directions on specific subjects to regulatory > agencies. > - Saying no, or disregarding improper and covert communications. > Provisions regarding independence are intended to make it possible for > decision makers in regulatory agencies to say no. It is a pity that more > regulators do not avail of these protections to do the right thing. > - Reducing areas of discretion. This can be done by statute and policy > as well as by regulatory procedures. Sometimes it is easier to say "I > cannot do it" than "I will not do it." > > The diffuseness of the boundary between regulation and policy is not > increased or decreased by convergence. The problem is no different in a > convergence environment than in a pre-convergence environment. The > problem is one of poor governance. The real answer is that we convince > ourselves of the overall benefits of good governance, through explicit > educational activities as well as good institutional design and in some > cases plain raw acts of courage. > > - Rohan Samarajiva, LIRNE.NET & Delft University of Technology > Follow the dialogue post a question or make a comment at > http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ . > > ----------------------------- > > WDR s Managing Director, William Melody added the following points in > response to the excellent, but difficult question raised by Rodrigo de > la Parra. > > The observations made by Rohan Samarajiva are fundamental, and link > directly to some practical steps that can be taken to strengthen the > positive role that regulation can play in the telecom reform process. > Channels of communication and regulatory credibility are strengthened > when clear administrative procedures are established, regulatory > processes are made transparent and information is made publicly > accessible. (See, Samarajiva, R., Regulating in an imperfect world: > building independence through legitimacy, Telecom Reform, Vol. 1, No. 2 > - http://www.telecomreform.net/volume2/#policy ). > > For the range of issues - e.g. spectrum management - that sit in the > grey area between the core policy and regulation functions, the dividing > line is best drawn with reference to the capabilities for effective > performance in achieving the policy objectives. Given the increasing > complexity of issues associated with convergence, one can see the > potential for regulation taking on a broader mandate. But only if the > regulator has the expertise, independence and objectivity to implement > it effectively. That is why training is such an important issue for the > staff of regulatory agencies. The answer to the question may depend as > much on the technical and strategic competences of the staff of the > regulator as anything else. > > - William Melody, WDR > > Follow the dialogue post a question or make a comment at > http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ . > > ----------------------------- > > WDR Expert Forum September 12 & 13 - "Designing Next Generation > Regulation" > Dates for the WDR Expert Forum have been set for September 12 - 13, > 2002 in Copenhagen, Denmark. It will be hosted by LIRNE.NET s partner, > the Center for Tele-Information (CTI) of the Technical University of > Denmark. The purpose of the Forum is to critically assess the draft > report on Next Generation Regulation, being prepared by the LIRNE.NET > research teams, and then to review suggestions for next year's World > Dialogue Theme. > > About forty experts from regulatory agencies, government ministries, > international organizations, academia and other organizations will bring > a diversity of informed views to help shape the final report on this > year's dialogue theme, as well as the direction of next year's theme. > Forum participants will be acting in their individual capacities, not as > representatives of organizations. > > For more information, including about how to participate, see > http://www.regulateonline.org/news/experts.htm or write LIRNE.NET > Coordinator, Merete Henrikson at henriksen(a)lirne.net . > > ----------------------------- > > WDR and e-Brief Schedule of Activities > The WDR e-Brief will be going offline for most of July and August, but > the research teams will continue to work and to receive your input to > the draft report to be presented at September s Expert Forum. > > E-Brief number 09 will appear in two weeks, before taking a short > holiday. We ll be back with e-Brief 10 in August, to give you a chance > to comment on the draft research report on Next Generation Regulation > before it is discussed at the Expert Forum. > > We ll be back as usual in September, with a report from the Expert Forum > and an introduction to next year s research topic. > > ----------------------------- > > Two new books > Two new books have appeared in the last few weeks with significant > contributions from WDR staff. WDR researchers Rohan Samarajiva and Amy > Mahan are co-editors, with Robin Mansell of the London School of > Economics, of Networking Knowledge for Information Societies: > Institutions and Interventions. Amy Mahan also collaborated with Bruce > Girard (editor of the WDR e-Brief) and Sean S Siochrz on Global Media > Governance. > > Networking Knowledge for Information Societies: Institutions and > Interventions > Edited by Robin Mansell, Rohan Samarajiva and Amy Mahan > > This volume includes state-of-the-art analyses of the problems of and > prospects for information societies. It is about the structures and > processes of inquiry and institutional change and their relationship to > rapid innovations in information and communication technologies. It > contains over 50 contributions by outstanding scholars whose choices of > topics cover issues that are of substantial significance today. > > Each of the book's five sections addresses a central question: > - What is the role of institutions of higher education in the > 'Information Age' and how does scholarly research become involved in > 'networking knowledge'? > - What are the institutional strategies and practices of policy and > regulatory reform in the communication industry? > - How and why are people accommodating or resisting the new technologies > and the emerging information societies? > - What are the biases in the processes of networking knowledge and what > insights can be drawn from the social sciences, and particularly from > Institutional Economics? > - What are the structures and processes for sharing the content of the > media and information services industries and for exchanging knowledge > in today's global networks? > > For more information, including the table of contents and how to order > the book, visit > http://www.comunica.org/netknowledge/ > > Global Media Governance: A beginners guide > By Sean S Siochrz, Bruce Girard and Amy Mahan > Published by Rowman and Littlefield > > This book is about media and communication governance at a global level > and its key influencing forces, elements and organizations, such as ITU, > WTO, UNESCO, WIPO, and ICANN. Governance oversees regulation, and > questions addressed here include: Why do we regulate the media at all? > What are the major forms of global regulation, and how do they work? Who > participates in, and who benefits from, media regulatory and governance > structures? What are the trends? > > Anyone interested in the media and its progressively rising influence > over so many dimensions of society will sooner or later find themselves > confronted with these questions. This book does not claim to answer all > the questions, but it raises key ones and points in directions where > more complete answers can be found. > > For more information, visit > http://www.comunica.org/gmg/ > > ----------------------------- > > Conference Reports > > TU Delft - Regulation: Shaping Markets in Liberalized Infrastructure > Industries for Better Performance > > The Economics of Infrastructures (EI) section of the Faculty of > Technology, Policy and Management of Delft University of Technology (TU > Delft) held its > 5th annual Conference on May 30 and 31, 2002. The theme of the > conference was Next Generation Regulation: Shaping Markets in > Liberalized Infrastructure Industries for Better Performance. Organized > in honour of Professor William Melody, the retiring chair of the EI > section, the conference critically addressed the role of regulation in > the performance of liberalized infrastructure industries. > > A report of the conference by TU Delft researcher Andrew Barendse is at > http://www.regulateonline.org/news/ei5.htm > > CTI - Internet & Mobility: Technologies and Implications for Work and > Leisure > > On May 29 the Center for Tele-Information held its 7th international > conference on the theme of 'Internet & Mobility: Technologies and > Implications for Work and Leisure', with participation from business and > academia. > > Convergence of Internet and mobile networks and services were to open > new potential for communications and access to information. However, in > Europe WAP never lifted off and GPRS has not yet been successful. Third > generation networks are on the way but are challenged by the WLAN > options. The conference centred on technology and market developments. > The idea was to explore convergences between Internet and mobile > technologies in the context of mobility in work and leisure situations. > > Read a brief report of the conference by Anders Henten at > http://www.regulateonline.org/news/cti7.htm > > ----------------------------- > > African WSIS meeting calls for regulation tailored to region s needs > > The Africa Regional Meeting Preparatory to the World Summit on the > Information Society was held in Bamako, Mali from 28 to 30 May 2002. > Representatives from 51 African countries and delegates from numerous > other countries and global organisations attended. > > A number of statements in the final declaration address the issue of > universal access to ICTs, calling for research and policies to deal with > Africa s specific environment. On balance, the declaration calls for > regulations that are fair, efficient and tailored to the specific > development requirements of Africans and African countries. Now comes > the difficult task of creating such a regulatory environment and seeing > a movement from pilots with dubious success to an environment that > encourages and promotes viability for service providers and access > businesses. > > From the WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News Service > Full story at > http://www.regulateonline.org/intelecon/A-Africa-020613.htm > > ----------------------------- > > WDR/Intelecon news now searchable > The archive of WDR/Intelecon Regulatory News produced since March 2002 > can now be consulted online at http://www.regulateonline.org/intelecon/ > . You can access a monthly list of all the news or type keywords into > the search engine to find exactly what you want. > > ----------------------------- > > Southern African telecom news and information from MISA > The Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) offers an occasional > "Telecommunications Update" by email. The latest issue includes news and > links about telecom privatisation in Malawi, regulatory proposals for > South Africa's second national operator, proposals for cooperation > between South Africa's Independent Communicatios Authority (ICASA) and > its Competition Commission, and lots more. To subscribe, write > telecom(a)misa.org.na > > ----------------------------- > > CTI newsletters available online and via email > The Center for Tel-Information (CTI) is on of the LIRNE.NET universities > and a WDR partner. The Center's newsletters have been available on the > web for some time but a new service enables you to receive them free by > e-mail. Just go to http://www.cti.dtu.dk, click publications, and follow > the instructions. You can, of course, also unsubscribe from the same > site. In addition to the newsletter you may receive invitations to > conferences and open seminars arranged by CTI from time to time. The CTI > Newsletter is published three times a year and provides information on > research and teaching activities at the Center for Tele-Information. > More information on CTI and the newsletter can be found at > http://www.cti.dtu.dk. > > ----------------------------- > > Questions and support If you have questions about WDR, send them to > info(a)regulateonline.org . > For technical matters, contact us at webinfo(a)regulateonline.org or see > the Frequently Asked Questions section in the Online > Dialogue. > http://www.regulateonline.org/dialogue/ > ----------------------------- > > Subscribing and unsubscribing > The WDR e-Brief is a bi-weekly bulletin from the World Dialogue on > Regulation for Network Economies - http://www.regulateonline.org . > Subscribe from the site or by sending a message to > ebrief(a)regulateonline.org with the subject wdr e-brief list . To > unsubscribe, send a message to nobrief(a)regulateonline.org > ----------------------------- > > Bruce Girard - bgirard(a)regulateonline.org - edits the e-Brief with > assistance from Divakar Goswami. > Archives: http://www.comunica.org/w-agora/index.php?bn=wdr_ebrief > > ----------------------------- > > The purpose of the World Dialogue on Regulation is to critically examine > ideas and evidence. Unless otherwise indicated, the views expressed in > content appearing on the WDR website, the Online Dialogue and the WDR > e-Brief are the personal views of the individuals submitting them. > Content does necessarily reflect the views of LIRNE.NET, infoDev, the > World Bank, the International Telecommunication Union or any other > organisation associated with the World Dialogue on Regulation. > > ----------------------------- > > World Dialogue on Regulation > c/o LIRNE.NET > Technical University of Denmark > Center for Tele-Information, Building 371 > 2800 Kgs. Lyngby, DENMARK > Email: info(a)regulateonline.org > Phone: +45 4587 1577 - Fax: +45 4596 3171 > http://www.regulateonline.org > ----------------------------- > > ************************************************************************* > *********** > Distributed through Cyber-Society-Live [CSL]: CSL is a moderated > discussion > list made up of people who are interested in the interdisciplinary > academic > study of Cyber Society in all its manifestations.To join the list > please visit: > http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/cyber-society-live.html > ************************************************************************* > ************ > > jeremy hunsinger jhuns(a)vt.edu on the ibook www.cddc.vt.edu www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy www.dromocracy.com

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June 2002 executive committee report
by Steve Jones 19 Jun '02

19 Jun '02

June 17, 2002 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 2002 Conference Coordinator: Monica Murero 2002 Conference Program Chair: Klaus Bruhn Jensen Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 As you will see from the below reports several initiatives are now under way - more are to come, I am certain, in the next few months. Your voice and participation are as always welcomed. Feel free to contact me or any of the executive committee members or working group leaders with questions, input and interest. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 This month I launched the elections working group, which is charged with evaluating aoir's election procedures and deciding what if anything ought to be changed about them. The members of the working group are, Red Bradley, Mia Consalvo, Radhika Gajjal, Wes Shumar, Sarah Stein, Johannes Strobel, Jenny Stromer-Galley and Barry Wellman. My gratitude to all of them for agreeing to work on this. I hope you will all be generous with your feedback when they begin their assessments. I am serving as the liaison between this group and the executive committee. I also solicited feedback from reviewers for the Internet Research 3.0 conference regarding suggestions for improving the conference review process. This information will get brainstormed amongst conference planners past and present in order to revise the process for the Toronto meeting in 2003. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 Not much to report. Participated marginally in the last stage of the listserve project which Jeremy and Matt are currently completing. Almost completed organization of the editors roundtable for Aoir 3.0. Enjoyed the wonderful weather and prepared my move to New Jersey. Summary May 13 - June 13, 2002 This month on the executive list: * Discussion of what to do with financial profit the organization does/may accumulate * Discussion of potential affiliation with the Network for Games Researchers * Discussion of potential involvement in ICANN's At-Large mechanism; decision not to get involved at this time * Discussion of feedback on conference refereeing Nancy summarized and shared with the exec 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Have travelled from Knoxville TN to Ireland to Finland to Singapore to New Zealand, where I've been doing reseach fellow stuff and trying to get proper email connections. Thus, haven't done much, but want to give profuse thanks to Jeremy Hunsinger (three cheers and massive orchestral salute) and Steve Jones (ditto) for handling the regular deposits and approvals for members. And for covering the next three weeks while I go touring and tramping, and try to wend my way back to Knoxville. Will be looking forward to getting back in the saddle. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: Nothing to report. 2.5.2 Wellman: Started gearing up for AoIR Elections Committee. Discussed AoIR at MIT, Annenberg School of Communication (left coast branch), Univ of Maryland Webshop Summer Institute, and SSRC Summer Institute on Information Technology and International Security/Cooperation (Columbia U, NYC). 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: No report. 2.6.2 Shade: Was in Chicago for conf early May, talked to Steve about AOIR stuff; got in touch with Sandra Braman re working with her on her idea of collaborative research/cross-comparative Internet studies; participated in Canadian Communication Conference in Toronto end of May where the AOIR 4.0 in Toronto was talked up; was at ISTAS conf in Raleigh early June, saw AOIR Minnesota Dream Team members Burk and Gurak, talked about stuff re AOIR... 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Returned from leave and participated at the Computer Games and Digital Cultures conference, happily meeting other A.i.R members there. Started initial discussions of possible future collaboration between A.i.R. and the newly founded Network of Games Researchers. 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: this month i worked on the members pages a bit set up the working group listserves did a whole bunch of minor things helped with the list-listing project answered many questions stood in for Ben when he was away. 2.8.2 Breindahl: I have started work as a liaison in the Internet Resources Working Group and have taken care of the mailing lists as usual. 2.9 2002 Conference (Monica Murero, Coordinator; Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Program Chair) 2.9.1 Murero: The organization of the AoIR conference in Maastricht is proceeding very well. I have worked with Klaus on several issues regarding for example the online program, the submission of the final papers, the student's award. Our collaboration is producing very good results, based on almost daily communication and consultation. I have answered to several e-mails regarding the conference. In Maastricht , local arrangements for our October conference are 95% completed. 2.9.2 Jensen: Nothing to report. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 My work for the ethics working committee profited immeasurably from comments and suggestions made in response to a series of lectures in late May in Copenhagen and Roskilde, organized by aoir members Gitte Stald, Stine Gotved, and Klaus Bruhn Jensen. Profound thanks are due to them and Anker Helms Jorgensen for their hard work and generous hospitality, as well as to the sponsoring departments - the Department of Film and Media Studies, University of Copenhagen; the Department of Digital Aesthetics and Communication, IT-University Copenhagen: and the Master of Computer-mediated Communication Programme, Roskilde University. In addition, aoir and the aoir ethics working committee were well represented in the subsequent "Making Common Ground: methodological and ethical challenges in internet research," the Nordic interdisciplinary workshop at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Trondheim, 1. - 2. June 2002., and the follow-up interdisciplinary graduate course "Internet and ethics," also at NTNU, 3-6 June 2002. The conference was the brainchild of aoir's Janne Bromseth, and included keynote addresses by aoir ethics working committee members Dag Elgesem, Charles Ess, and Chris Mann. Dr. Annette Markham, both an aoir-ist (pun on the Greek tense intended) and active researcher at the University of Illinois at Chicago, also served as a keynote speaker, providing extensive comments on ethical responsibilities of researchers. Aoir ethics working committee member Malin Sveningsson participated in the conference and provided important insights from her own experience with ethical dilemmas encountered in her doctoral research. The conference and graduate course were important opportunities for aoir ethics working committee members to publicly present and discuss our current thinking and research on Internet research ethics - including the recent draft on Internet research ethics and especially the cross-cultural issues involved. In particular, both Dag Elgesem and Chris Mann have developed "ethical protocols" which can be usefully compared with both the current version of the aoir questions and, for example, the University of Bristol checklist (drawn up under the considerably more restrictive rules of the European Union Data Privacy Protection Act). The aoir ethics working committee will discuss both Dag's and Chris' protocols over the next month or so. I would like to express profound gratitude to the persons and institutions that made these events possible, beginning with Janne Bromseth who gamely took on and splendidly succeeded in the herculean task of organizing an international, interdisciplinary conference that brought together both European and U.S.-based researchers and ethicists - and with no little help from Dag Elgesem and Malin Sveningsson. The conference was further sponsored by the Section for humanistic informatics, University of Bergen; the Department of interdisciplinary studies of culture, NTNU; and the National Committee for Research Ethics, Norway. Special thanks as well to Dr. May Thorseth, Acting Director, Programme for Applied Ethics at NTNU, who organized and directed the graduate course. In sum, these events have suggested that the efforts of the ethics working committee are very much on the right track, especially with regard to our interest in the cross-cultural aspects of Internet research ethics. And our final report - for distribution and discussion in Maastricht in October - will be considerably stronger and more complete as a result of these events and the hard work of all involved. ------------------------------------end of executive committee report------------------------------ The Association of Internet Researchers is a scholarly association dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of Internet studies. It is a resource and support network promoting critical and scholarly Internet research independent from traditional disciplines and existing across academic borders. The association is international in scope. The association's web site is at http://www.aoir.org. Membership information is available at http://aoir.org/airjoin.html

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call for proposals- cddc hosting project
by jeremy hunsinger 18 Jun '02

18 Jun '02

*please distribute The Center for Digital Discourse and Culture <http://www.cddc.vt.edu> (CDDC) in the College of Arts and Sciences at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University is accepting proposals for hosting artistic, critical, literary and other projects. * The CDDC has been in operation since 1998, and it publishes hypertext journals, hosts digital research archives, and cooperates with many international cyberculture organizations. As an entirely digital point-of-publication, the CDDC is seeking from individuals and groups, proposals of artistic or academic merit for use of our server space. The main focus of the CDDC is to explore the new communicative potentials of hypertext, hypermedia, and web-centered publication. The review processes will be as extensive as those experienced in print academic outlets, but it too will be conducted in a fully on-line format. Proposals should be approximately one page in length. They should explain the work, and, if possible, provide examples (current urls) of the work proposed. We imagine projects by individual digital artists or writers, groups of artists, reviewed or curated online display spaces or literary journals, and other unique endeavors will take advantage of this service, however it is open to nearly any enterprise with artistic or educational import as decided by our review committee. On average, each project can be allocated a considerable amount of space (i.e. around 50 MB, of web addressable server space, though both larger and smaller requests will be considered), accessible from an ftp account on the CDDC servers. To propose a publication project, or to get more information, contact the Center for Digital Discourse and Culture at cddc(a)vt.edu <mailto:cddc@vt.edu>. FAQ: Q:How do I get free hosting for my online artistic/literary project at CDDC? A:You have to submit a proposal first. That proposal then goes through a rigorous review process and once it is accepted, then you get free hosting. Q:Do I have to pay for this? A:There will be no charge for this service. Q:Can I pay to have my materials hosted and bypass the process? A:No, there is no way to bypass the review process and while we accept donations, they will have no affect upon the review process. Q:I have an idea for a project, but the project is not finished,should I submit a proposal? A:We would strongly prefer proposals about completed projects, but will entertain proposals about projects under construction. Projects not yet started are unlikely to make it through the review process. Q:Can I put ads or other profit making tools in my area in cddc? A: No, but it is conceivable that one could use these in a form of artistic expression, and that would be something that would go through the review process. Q:Will the CDDC attempt to make profit off of my work, by placing ads, etc.? A:No Q:Do you provide DNS resolution? A:We are looking into it, but we know of several free services that can resolve to our servers and do provide virtual hosting on those servers as long as some mention of CDDC support is made on the front page or a sponsors page. Q:I represent a group of artists and we would like to create a site and review the work that we want on that site, could that be hosted on CDDC? A:Yes, we are happy to provide this service to a group of people maintaining on ongoing or permanent exhibition space. However, we would suggest a slightly larger proposal 2-3 pages that includes URL's to the types of work that your group supports and would include. This proposal will then be reviewed and if it is accepted, your group will be given a space. http://www.cddc.vt.edu cddc(a)vt.edu <mailto:cddc@vt.edu> p.s. thanks to trace (http://trace.ntu.ac.uk) for keeping a copy of the old cfp, it was quicker finding their copy than finding my older copy -- jeremy hunsinger http://www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy cddc/political science http://www.cddc.vt.edu 526 major williams hall 0130 http://www.dromocracy.com virginia tech -under construction blacksburg, va 24061 540-231-7614 this email was sent from my office

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IRB experiences
by Mark D. Johns 17 Jun '02

17 Jun '02

A reminder that we continue this week to seek experiences of Internet researchers in dealing with institutional review boards. If you have had difficulty with an IRB in getting approval for an online research project, please send your web browser to http://rtr.luther.edu Use the following User ID and password to log in, and follow the instructions for sharing your experience. Thanks! User ID: IRB Password: survey Alias: (leave it blank) -- Mark D. Johns, Ph.D. Asst. Professor of Communication/Linguistics, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa http://faculty.luther.edu/~johnsmar/ ----------------------------------------------- "Get the facts first. You can distort them later." ---Mark Twain

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