- Air-L - lists.aoir.org

Several trade articles, not much scholarly work on online news staff reductions
by Amy Nelson 02 Jun '02

02 Jun '02

1 0

Democracy, the Net and Netizens: In Memory of Michael Hauben
by Jay Hauben 01 Jun '02

01 Jun '02

Hi, I think there are readers of AIR-L who would be interested to know that the Amateur Computerist Vol 11 No 1 In Memory of Michael Hauben: Discoverer of Netizens is available at: ascii: http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/ACn11-1.txt prn: http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/ACn11-1.prn wpd: http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/ACn11-1.wpd This special issue of the Amateur Computerist is dedicated to the life and work of Michael Hauben. Michael helped found and edit the Amateur Computerist. He gave it its name reflecting that it is intended for those who love computing. Much of Michael's writing appeared in the Amateur Computerist from its beginning in 1988 until his untimely death in June 2001. In its pages he published and explained and popularized his vision of a democratizing, interactive and enlivening Internet populated by many citizens of the net - netizens. The first article in this issue explores the emergence of the concept of netizens. It builds to its conclusion that the future can not be known but we can and should strive for the future we want. Michael's vision of the netizen can be a guide. The next article tells some of the story of Michael's growing up and his connection with computing. It is followed by tributes to and remembrances of Michael. The bulk of the issue is a collection of a few of Michael's articles especially concerning netizens, democracy and his understanding of the importance of the Net. The issue ends with a report from a conference in Berlin where these same concerns were discussed and debated. We offer this issue not only to commemorate the life and work of Michael Hauben but also because we feel the relevancy of these for today. The whole issue or a subscription is available for free via email. Send a request to jrh(a)ais.org or see http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/ Separate articles are available at: http://www.ais.org/~jrh/acn/text/acn11-1.articles/ We welcome comments, criticisms and submissions for future issues. Take care. Jay

1 0

cyberculture
by Peter Demma 01 Jun '02

01 Jun '02

I wish to bring a very good site that is devoted to important elements of cyberculture to the attention of AIR. Please forgive me if I repeat what is already well known to this board. The URL: http://neworder.box.sk/

1 0

atomization, groups, networks
by Barry Wellman 01 Jun '02

01 Jun '02

Wendy Robinson wrote: "We're better connected, yet more atomized." Barry wonders: What evidence is there to support this? Other than Bob Putnam's _Bowling Alone_ which is worth taking seriously, but focuses on the decline of organized groups. OTOH,lots of people have provided systematic evidence -- ethnographic and survey -- that show the continuation of connectivity, although more in social networks than in densely-knit bounded groups. My web page has both review articles and my own research on the subject. For those of you tiring of this thread, I am on the road again for the next week, and mostly offline. Flying economy class. See some of you Monday in the NSF-John Robinson Webshop summer institute at U Maryland, and perhaps others of you at the SSRC-Columbia U ICT meets Int'l Relns summer institute. BTW, I forgot to mention the greatest advantage of business class lounges: they provide abundant electrical outlets for us workaholics. It's sad to see the scramble among folks in the regular airport waiting rooms to get the few electrical outlet connections for their laptops. I've taken to carrying a multi-outlet tap, so I can ask people to share their precious wall connection. And so it goes ... ___________________________________________________________________ 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 ___________________________________________________________________

1 0

Re: Road Warriors -- anomie, etcetera
by Wendy Robinson 31 May '02

31 May '02

To be clear, I said that "those who have been influenced by Innis, McLuhan, Beniger and Carey" -- which is a lot of people, most of us on the list, I assume. Those who have considered the effect of the telegraph and distributed communication, pre-Internet. Anomie as a condition of life on the road and the virtual community and modern to postmodern communication and the existential condition thereof. The life of the contemporary, vagabond, technomadic scholar is one sort of road warrior. the Taliban with their cell phones and dish transmissions are another, and quite literally warriors on the old silk road. But actually I don't know that I would privilege that term. What interests me in the thread is taking your work and gizmos with you wherever you go, the fact that the logging in and out metaphors are losing their centrality and that this changing paradigm is global. We're better connected, yet more atomized. Thus far, enthusiastic claims aside, the Net has not brought about universal brotherhood and understanding. We communicate more, but perhaps listen less (very old dystopic claims, again dating to the electric telegraph). We have conveniences that contribute to our business and social lives and that enable the most recent iteration of the "road warrior" lifestyle, yet they're also a pain in the neck. It's more stuff to buy and keep up with, encouraging greater corporate incursion, however nearly undeniably cool, mobilizing, etcetera.

1 0

re: road warriors, study of
by Reymers, Kurt 31 May '02

31 May '02

I agree with the confusion regarding anomie and the e-road writings; I would see Mumford or Ellul more problematic when considering community effects of technically distributed communication. After thinking about the idea of road warriors, I find a class perspective might be helpful in engaging in a study of "road warriors." As Barry has described them, they are the "travel elite," provided with special lounges, equipment, entertainment and other resources to make the road more amenable and to keep a 'lifeline' to the locus of big business, the main office. These are the latter-day bourgeoisie making their business travel purposeful through the means of electronic communication and vice-versa - making their laptops, pda's, etc. purposeful through business travel. Contrast these road warriors with other occupations that necessitate travel - the musician and her roadies, the nearly-extinct traditional traveling salesman (the Willie Loman archetype), the professor traveling to conferences. None are as glamorous or as benefitted by the niceties available to the road warrior. Look too at the very name: "road warrior" connotes strength, courage, bravery in the face of the grueling opposition (the harsh realities of the road). Yet the executive lounge is more like a spa than a foxhole. As a once-traveling musician myself, I can speak empirically of foxholes on the road. I found that keeping a journal was helpful in overcoming such difficulties; I would certainly have welcomed an internet connection, not to mention an executive lounge (quite different than the 'lounges' a musician on the road might frequent). Perhaps an interesting study could be done comparing and contrasting road warriors by their occupation, to differentiate if, how and why these various classes are tied back to their community by the umbilical cord of the Internet. writing from the road, Kurt Reymers ----------------------------------------------------------------- > Date: Tue, 28 May 2002 12:16:21 -0400 > From: Barry Wellman <wellman(a)chass.utoronto.ca> > To: aoir list <air-l(a)aoir.org>, Wendy Robinson <wgrobin(a)duke.edu> > Subject: [Air-l] road-warriors, study of > Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org > > Wendy Robinson writes; > "As is so often the case, e-roads and railroads typically lead back to the > anomie and distributed communication enabled by the telegraph. Many of the > "road warrior" issues have been theoretically considered within cultural > studies by those influenced by Innis, McLuhan, Beniger and Carey for many > years. Nothing new in that for most on this list." > > BW: > 1. I don't understand the anomie reference to e-roads, RRs and > telegraphs. I know the e-road data pretty well, and it shows no effect or a > positive effect on sentiments and behaviors of community. (Time for another > plug for our Nov 2002 issue of American Behavioral Scientist, and > Wellman-Haythornthwaite's forthcoming _Internet in Everyday Life_). > > 2. As to "Innis, McLuhan, Beniger and Carey. Nothing new for most on > this list". > BW: I knew McLuhan, know Carey, and Beniger slightly and work often in > a building named for Harold Innis. These are all smart guys and deep > theorist. But except possibly for Beninger, none did a systematic study > of long-distance communication and community at the interpersonal level. > Innis, to be sure, wrote the wonderful Empire and COmmunication, etc., > but as the title implies, that was not a detailed, deeply-textured look at > community or work relations. Surely, we don't think that deep theorizing is > enough without systematic evidence to back it up and, more likely, develop > and extend it. > I have received one pointer to a study of road warriors. I am leaving on > the road myself in 10 minutes; will check it out when I get a chance. > > Cheers, 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 > ___________________________________________________________________ > > >

1 0

digital divide consumer report
by Nancy Baym 30 May '02

30 May '02

A new report from the Consumer Federation of America may interest those of you concerned with policy and access disparities in the US: Does the Digital Divide Still Exist? Bush Administration Shrugs, But Evidence Says "Yes", 5/30/2002 http://www.consumerfed.org/DigitalDivideReport20020530.pdf ________________________________________________________ Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas 102 Bailey, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Lawrence, KS 66045, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org

1 0

new reviews in cyberculture studies (june 2002)
by david silver 29 May '02

29 May '02

AIRers, *** feel free to distribute *** New Book Reviews in Cyberculture Studies (June 2002) Each month, the Resource Center for Cyberculture Studies (RCCS) <http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs> publishes two or three full-length book reviews. The reviews reflect a modest attempt to locate critically various contours of the emerging and interdisciplinary field of cyberculture studies. RCCS's book reviews section now includes full-length reviews of over 130 books on cyberculture, the Internet, and technoculture. New reviews for June 2002 (found at http://www.com.washington.edu/rccs/books/) include: Anne Wells Branscomb, Who Owns Information? From Privacy to Public Access. Basic Books, 1994. Reviewed by Benjamin Bates. Marie-Laure Ryan, editor, Cyberspace Textuality: Computer Technology & Literary Theory. Indiana University Press, 1999. Reviewed by Sara Jenkins. Barbara Warnick, Critical Literacy in a Digital Era: Technology, Rhetoric, and the Public Interest. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002. Reviewed by Mia Consalvo. If you or your colleagues are interested in reviewing books for RCCS, contact us directly at <dsilver(a)u.washington.edu>. As always, please feel free to forward this message. david silver http://faculty.washington.edu/dsilver To SUBSCRIBE to cyberculture-announce, a low volume announcement list for RCCS events and updates, email: listproc(a)u.washington.edu; No subject is needed. In the body, type: subscribe cyberculture-announce

1 0

A new method of online research: CAPOI
by L.L. 29 May '02

29 May '02

(the 29th of May 2002) - Until now, online research had a significant disadvantage: in most cases, it just publishes a questionnaire on the Internet, therefore lacking personal impetus when contacting and questioning interviewees. This results in high drop-out-rates too often. Neither a high number of interviews nor the use of online panels with questionable reward-systems can cover the resulting considerable lack of data quality. Consequently, I have developed a new method of multi-channel marketing and opinion research that I named CAPOI (computer aided personal online interview) CAPOI is a questioning led via telephone or text-/voice-chat, and the internet/browser. As a further development of the idea of web-sharing, CAPOI allows the interviewer to flexibly show questions or presentation material of his/her electronic questionnaire to the interviewee via internet browser. Thus, the advantages of online questionnaires and personal questioning can be combined as required. Furthermore, CAPOI offers interesting possibilities in marketing and customer relationship management. CAPOI is especially interesting as a method that replaces paper and pencil or CAPI questionings in business to business research, saving a lot of money because traveling is not necessary anymore. CATI (computer aided telephone interview)-questionings can be enriched and online surveys gain a lot through personal rapport. I have developed a ready-to-use online dialogue system [2ai.de INTERACTION] to be able to conduct CAPOI. Further information can be found on my homepage http://www.2ai.de. <http://www.2ai.de> I am looking for interested research companies and science people interested in further exploring the method. Best regards, Lars Ludwig [2ai.de] Diplom-Psychologe Lars Ludwig Decksteiner Strasse 2 50935 Cologne - Germany - +49 (221) 420 87-38 Telephone +49 (221) 420 87-39 Fax eMail: 2aide(a)L-Ludwig.com

1 0

road-warriors, study of
by Barry Wellman 28 May '02

28 May '02

Wendy Robinson writes; "As is so often the case, e-roads and railroads typically lead back to the anomie and distributed communication enabled by the telegraph. Many of the "road warrior" issues have been theoretically considered within cultural studies by those influenced by Innis, McLuhan, Beniger and Carey for many years. Nothing new in that for most on this list." BW: 1. I don't understand the anomie reference to e-roads, RRs and telegraphs. I know the e-road data pretty well, and it shows no effect or a positive effect on sentiments and behaviors of community. (Time for another plug for our Nov 2002 issue of American Behavioral Scientist, and Wellman-Haythornthwaite's forthcoming _Internet in Everyday Life_). 2. As to "Innis, McLuhan, Beniger and Carey. Nothing new for most on this list". BW: I knew McLuhan, know Carey, and Beniger slightly and work often in a building named for Harold Innis. These are all smart guys and deep theorist. But except possibly for Beninger, none did a systematic study of long-distance communication and community at the interpersonal level. Innis, to be sure, wrote the wonderful Empire and COmmunication, etc., but as the title implies, that was not a detailed, deeply-textured look at community or work relations. Surely, we don't think that deep theorizing is enough without systematic evidence to back it up and, more likely, develop and extend it. I have received one pointer to a study of road warriors. I am leaving on the road myself in 10 minutes; will check it out when I get a chance. Cheers, 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 ___________________________________________________________________

1 0