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AoIR Conference Reminder (draft)
by Steve Jones 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

Greetings: There have been a handful of people e-mailing me about the upcoming conference at the University of Minnesota asking whether we're still holding it, etc. Yes, we are still holding it. There has been heartening confidence from participants, and we can expect registration to be at the 350 - 400 person mark, perhaps more depending on on-site registrations. All of the keynote speakers are indeed planning to attend. Will it be the conference we had hoped for before September 11? Yes and, actually, quite a bit more. Of course, much has changed for all of us since that day, and there have been some who planned to attend but will not. However, the majority has indicated they will be present and we are getting new registrations daily. (As an aside, the conference web site, thanks to John Logie, is updated regularly.) Not only are we going to have more people at the conference than we did last year, but we currently have 80 concurrent sessions planned, a 25% increase from last year's conference. I look forward to seeing you in Minneapolis/St. Paul next week. If you have any questions or concerns please e-mail me (sj(a)aoir.org) With all best wishes, Steve Jones Sj

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legal question
by Nicole Ellison 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

I have heard of this -- Ticketmaster tried to sue Microsoft for "deep linking," as it is called. According to story at http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/content/inwk/0416/inwk0026.html, "... ticket broker giant Ticketmaster Corp. filed a lawsuit against the software giant. Ticketmaster (www.ticketmaster.com) alleged that Microsoft's Sidewalk service for Seattle (seattle.sidewalk.com) violated copyright law by linking visitors straight to Ticketmaster's online ordering area." The case settled in early 1999 with Microsoft agreeing not to provide any content (or "deep") links to Ticketmaster's site. The problem with deep linking (in the eyes of the corporation being linked to) is, of course, that it allows visitors to bypass advertising. Personally I think it's ridiculous and is contrary to the spirit of the web, but that's money-hungry corporations for you. http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/property/metatags/Linking2.html has some pragmatic suggestions for deep linking. You could also ask the linked-to site for permission. Since it's such a common practice I can't imagine an educational institution would be sued, especially if you are not receiving any financial gain from the links. I haven't had time to check this out, but here is another page about the issue: http://www.law.gwu.edu/facweb/claw/linking.htm Sorry if this info has already been posted-- I'm on the digest. Take care, Nicole -------------------------- Nicole B. Ellison, PhD --__--__-- Message: 5 Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2001 08:48:25 -0500 (CDT) From: Ed Lamoureux <ell(a)hilltop.bradley.edu> To: air-l(a)aoir.org Cc: "St. Mark's School" <stmark(a)iaonline.com> Subject: [Air-l] "legal" question Reply-To: air-l(a)aoir.org I webmaster for a grade school. Our principal attended a workshop last week at which a lawyer suggested that any links (on our site) out to other sites MUST go to the HOME page only (no deeper). There was a suggestion that this was mandated by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act and that linking directly to an article of interest, past the host home page, was an infringement. I'm not a legal scholar...though I do try to keep up. This one's new on me. Can those of you with experience in this area comment please. Thanks peace Edward Lee Lamoureux, Ph. D. Associate Professor, Speech Communication and Multimedia Editor, Journal of Communication and Religion Bradley University Peoria IL 61625 ell(a)bradley.edu http://hilltop.bradley.edu/~ell Fax: 309-677-3446

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A paper on Networks, Fluids and Chaos
by mboudour＠upatras.gr 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

Dear all, Those interested might find at the URL: http://www.math.upatras.gr/~mboudour/articles/nfc.pdf a first draft of my paper on Networks, Fluids and Chaos that I intend to present to the Spacing & Timing Conference to take place in Palermo (Italy) next month. I guess this topic is not exactly among the interests of the list but since recently we had a discussion about ANT in here, you might find in my paper some of the more recent developments of the Latourians (plus Bauman). The abstarct follows. Cheers, --Moses Boudourides http://www.math.upatras.gr/~mboudour Abstract: Our aim in this essay is to talk about three forms of social spatiality: networks, fluids and chaos. These forms are being inscribed into various theories and are being mobilized into multiple translations (metaphors) as states in which things exist or as processes through which things are transformed. According to Latour, two are the essential characteristics of processes producing what is specific to our modern scientific culture that one has to follow if determined to avoid both 'mentalist' and 'materialist' explanations: mobility and mutability. Mobility refers to easiness in translations, displacements and movements towards various directions. Mutability is the degree to which something can change, be transformed and mutate. Combinations of mobility/mutability and their opposites produce the following four spatialities: immutable immobiles, immutable mobiles, mutable mobiles and mutable immobiles. We would like to see these spatialies along what we call the 'cycle of mobility/immutability,' which consists of the following processes: inscription, geometric purification, description and hybridization. When modern information and communication technologies mediate these spatialities, the outcome emerges through processes such as digital inscriptions, algorithmic purification, morphing, simulation. Furthermore, we discuss certain sociological and cultural aspects of the social spatialities of networks, fluids and chaos.

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AoIR Election Reminder
by jeremy hunsinger 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

We are currently in the middle of the AoIR elections for next year. All dues paying members (including IR 1.0 attendees) are encouraged to vote. Those who have not joined aoir are encouraged to join and then vote. To join AoIR, go to http://aoir.org/airjoin.html To vote: Go to http://aoir.org/members How to vote: Use your login and password to login. If you are a member and do not have an account on this system: Fill out the form on http://aoir.org/members and you will be approved within a few days. If you have not paid, you will be approved upon receipt of payment. Once you are logged in: - Read the descriptions of the candidates - Click on the "this vote" link in the Vote Here box - Vote [:)] VERY IMPORTANT: There are seven different votes. Remember to cycle through all of the votes: 4 individual offices and 3 open seats. One of your open seat votes should be for a graduate student representative. about AoIR: The Association of Internet Researchers is an academic 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. http://aoir.org -- Jeremy hunsinger http://www.cddc.vt.edu/jeremy CDDC/political science http://www.cddc.vt.edu 526 major williams hall 0130 virginia tech blacksburg, va 24061 540-231-7614

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Digital Millennium Copyright Act
by Sandra Braman 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

The Digital Millennium Copyright Act requires network services providers -- including schools and universities -- to shut down any websites it hosts if there are complaints to the institution that there is copyright infringement. For this purpose, each such institution must have a person whose responsibility for copyright infringement via the system is made public along with contact info. The website must be shut down BEFORE it has actually been decided in a court of law that there is in fact copyright infringement, which is a significant change in copyright law many find distressing. However, this Act does NOT limit links to home pages only. All legislation is complex, this particularly so, and many folks in good faith make a decision to read as restrictively as possible out of prudence (or fear) -- but in this case the requirement being asked to limit links to home pages is not necessary. Sandra Braman

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Re: [Air-l] "legal" question
by Zunt＠aol.com 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

In a message dated 10/1/2001 9:49:40 AM Eastern Daylight Time, ell(a)hilltop.bradley.edu writes: > Digital Millenium Copyright Act Well, information about that Act is available on the 'net, but I've not yet seen the act itself. I certainly hope all its provisions are not quite as silly as the one suggested. Try to get an accurate citation from the lawyer who offered the advice. Cheers, Bob Briggs Westport, MA

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With all due respect to Ken Friedman
by thom 01 Oct '01

01 Oct '01

> From: Ken Friedman <ken.friedman(a)bi.no> > Subject: [Air-l] Two important books on Web design: Content Critical, > Web Content Style Guide > Our universities, schools and departments are spending -- and wasting > -- millions of dollars, pounds, kroner, lira, markka, etc., on Web > sites that do not work. Far too many organizations mount Web sites > loaded with special effects and fancy images, without attending to > accessible information, ease of use, or good navigation. Many > organizations mount Web sites that must be repeatedly redesigned. If > we can develop and retain key knowledge on basic issues, the future > investments we make will become a long-term gain. This is not a comment on the value of the books recommended by Ken but I think the statement above is far too simplistic and similar to the usual Jakob Nielsen rant on usability which might have made sense in 1995 but doesn't make any more sense today than it would to recommend that all books be designed like text books, film like Red Cross training films or television like news programming on PBS/BBC. The content, goal and audience determines the structure and style. Web design is not about web design, it is about web-d 'media' design. We are talking about a medium of expression which will be expressed in many ways. Sometimes the best way to get across an idea is with the ambiguity and obfuscation common to art. A critique of the Bible and other holy documents could be that they might have been easier understood if they hadn't been written in parable form and just used bulleted action points not open to interpretation. Just another POV. Excuse me while I go look up the books Ken recommends which I might use in class but with a proviso. --Thom, Director of the MIME program in total media obfuscation \\\\//// tHoM gIllEsPiE /ww ww\ Indiana University, Telecommunications Dept 6 (*][*) ? 1229 E 7th St Radio & TV Bldg \ .7 / Bloomington, IN 47405-5501 USA ( --') thom(a)indiana.edu 812-855-3254 (v) WWWW THE MIME PROGRAM: www.mime.indiana.edu / WW \ www.indiana.edu/~slizzard/resume/page.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ What is the use of a book, thought Alice, without pictures or conversation. -Lewis Carroll, Alice's Adventure in Wonderland

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Pew Internet & American Life Writing Fellowship
by Philip Howard 30 Sep '01

30 Sep '01

Dear AIR: This fellowship is intended for ABD or senior graduate students who want a little extra financial support while preparing some hot research for submission to a journal or other scholarly publication. Several Pew staffers and I will be attending the meetings in Minneapolis, so please feel free to approach us with ideas. p. Philip Howard Sociology, Northwestern University, pubweb.nwu.edu/~pho442/ Pew Internet & American Life Project, www.pewinternet.org ph. (773) 274-6817 / c. (202) 271-7170 / p-howard(a)northwestern.edu Pew Internet & American Life Writing Fellowship 9/30/01 Through its Open Research Initiative, The Pew Internet and American Life Project (www.pewinternet.org) seeks to support scholarly and accessible research on the role of the Internet in contemporary American society. This fellowship is for students who have advanced to candidacy in their PhD program and are in need of financial assistance while preparing research for submission to a scholarly journal or other publication. The fellowship has three goals: - to support students writing about the complex roles of new media technologies in social life; - to support students writing about how new media technologies are managed by different economic and political actors governments, businesses, civic groups and individuals around the United States; - to make the research results of young scholars who critically assess the consequences of technology-related social, economic, political and cultural trends accessible to a wide audience. - to give young scholars access to Pew survey data. Fellowship holders can maintain their residence of choice. This support is for writing up the results from research projects that are well advanced or that can be supplemented with survey data collected by the Project. Applicants should view this as an opportunity to turn their part of a well-developed dissertation argument into a focused, polished piece for publication as a Project Working Paper and ultimately for submission to a scholarly journal. The Project will promote these pieces to a wider audience through its schedule of widely respected media briefs and research reports. Applicants should submit a 5-page proposal that identifies the research questions, summarizes the status of the larger research agenda, and sketches an outline of the piece to be produced over the two-month period. The proposal should include a reasonable time frame for completing the writing, suggest several individuals to act as peer reviewers, and identify the scholarly journals to which the piece may ultimately be submitted. Name: Pew Internet and American Life Project Writing Fellowship Deadline: March 1, 2002 Value: $2,000 each Number of Fellowships: 5 Eligibility: Students in the social sciences, humanities, and related scientific or engineering fields. Applications are considered from students who have advanced to candidacy but not yet completed their Ph.D. program. This grant may be held in conjunction with other forms of financial support. Terms: Student must be registered and in good standing at an accredited university. The student must devote 2 months to writing up research results in a scholarly and accessible manner. For more details on the research priorities of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, see website. Web: www.pewinternet.org Contact: Philip Howard, Research Fellow, Pew Internet & American Life Project, c/o Department of Sociology, Northwestern University, 1810 Chicago Avenue, Evanston, Illinois, 60208-1330, Email: p-howard(a)northwestern.edu.

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Re: [Air-l] visualizing weblinks
by Frank Schaap 30 Sep '01

30 Sep '01

In a quick reply to Steve and Sean's helpful hints and Bob's question: An MA student I'm helping is researching feminist websites. As part of her methodology she has operationalized the number of links on a website connecting to other sites of the network she's identified. I figured it would be helpful to be able to visualize the links between various websites, as she's found that some websites link a lot and get linked to a lot, some less and others get linked to and don't link out (etc.). That way a more substantial conclusion could (probably) be gotten from linking the content based analysis of the sites to the more technical aspects of the sites. So, what the program should do in this case, is not to map the whole of _one_ site, but the links out (and preferably in again) of one site and its more or less immediate neighbors in the network. That's why I said the program would need to accept an URL (since it's other people's sites she's researching) and a number of hops (from that URL to its neighbors and hopefully back again too) so that the 'relative' location and connectedness of this site could be examined. The program would thus, as Bob suggests, need a spider/crawler function. BTW, hints on related literature would be appreciated :) A few quick comments on the programs: > Internet Cartographer http://www.inventix.com/ Interesting, but works with your browser history, creating a visualization of links between the sites you've visited. I haven't tried it out, but it appears not to have an auto-crawler function. > Astra SiteManager > http://tryandbuy.mercuryinteractive.com/cgi-bin/portal/trynbuy/asm.jsp?pro > d=8023 Strange. This URL several times didn't work, telling me my session had timed out, but just now it opened without a hitch. This Astra Sitemanager again seems to be geared towards examining one's own website, not 'researching' someone elses. > Site Manager http://www.sgi.com/software/sitemgr.html Looks interesting, but seems geared toward one's own website, besides, I don't have a box running Irix 6.2. > http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/web_sites.html Somehow I missed that page in the first round I trawled through Cybergeography's pages... There's an interesting program there, called WebTracer, but it's really nasty trying to run it... I guess it's not called Beta for naught. If you want to give it a try, save all your work, close all other programs. For me, it wouldn't run with the 3D device set to D3D HAL (I _do_ have DirectX 7 installed), but it ran when I set it to RGB emulation. Even with the maximum number of pages set to 100, it'll need some time to run... The program will 'eat your mouse pointer', meaning that while it runs, you can't move the mouse pointer out of its window. The only way to regain control over your computer is to either click on the "Show Page" button in the screen, which will bring up your browser and positions your mouse pointer in it, which allows you to move to the close-button of the screen and kill the program (it unceremoniously dies with an application error). Or you use ctrl+alt+del to bring up the taskmanager (providing you're running NT/2000/XP) and using the keyboard you kill the process. With these precautions, it's a pretty nifty thing to see it put itself through its paces. > http://www.cybergeography.org/atlas/surf.html Again, these programs don't do what WebTracer and Web Stalker do, they rather run on the stuff you have in your Favorites/Bookmarks. > I'd also recommend I/O/D's Web Stalker at http://www.backspace.org/iod/ This one's pretty cool as well, runs just fine, but besides generating a (quickly becoming cluttered) image, it doesn't seem to do much else. No zooming in or repositioning your point of view in order to examine a certain set of links/sites. > R Rogers, ed., 2000, Preferred Placement - Knowledge Politics on the Web, > Maastricht: Jan van Eyck. (Martin Dodge has a piece in this as well.) > R Rogers and N Marres, "Landscaping Climate Change: A mapping technique > for > understanding science and technology debates on the World Wide Web," > Public > Understanding of Science, April 2000, http://www.iop.org/Journals/pu I'll pass it on :) > I hope that helps. I hope so too :) Cheers, Frank. -- The Cyberculture, Identity and Gender Resources ==> http://fragment.nl/resources/

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Two important books on Web design: Content Critical, Web Content Style Guide
by Ken Friedman 30 Sep '01

30 Sep '01

Dear Colleagues, I want to recommend two new books for whoever is active in designing Web sites and intranet. They are being published this month by the Financial Times. They are Content Critical and the Web Content Style Guide The authors are experts in Web design and communication. One author, Rob Norton, is former executive editor of Fortune Magazine, one of the world's largest and best known business magazines. The other is Gerry McGovern, one of Ireland's leading experts in Web design and interactive media. To learn more about Content Critical, go to: http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/content_critical.htm To learn more about Web Content Style Guide, go to http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/web_content_style_guide.htm I will print selected advance information on these books below. Our universities, schools and departments are spending -- and wasting -- millions of dollars, pounds, kroner, lira, markka, etc., on Web sites that do not work. Far too many organizations mount Web sites loaded with special effects and fancy images, without attending to accessible information, ease of use, or good navigation. Many organizations mount Web sites that must be repeatedly redesigned. If we can develop and retain key knowledge on basic issues, the future investments we make will become a long-term gain. Content Critical is an important place to start in developing better Web sites. I will send a note on the Web Content Style Guide in the next post. I will be reviewing both these books in the December issue of Design Research News. The reason I recommend these books before reading them completely is simple. I've seen a lot of what will be printed in the newsletters of Gerry McGovern and Rob Norton. Their newsletters are a valuable resource, and I've been looking forward to these books. Knowing the quality of Gerry's thinking and Rob's, I'm already recommending these books to different lists. I view this as a public service. Much of our work today world is connected with the Web. Making a better Web means building a better world. If you visit the Web site noted here, you will also have a chance to subscribe to a new elist focusing on these issues. I have been active in Internet research and information design issues since the early 1990s. I view the publication of these books as an important step in bringing the Web to its fullest potential. In December, I will publish my evaluation of these books. In the meantime, you can learn more about them at no cost by visiting the pages listed here. If you want my personal advice, I'd say these books are worth the risk of an advance order. Best regards, Ken Friedman, Ph.D. Associate Professor of Leadership and Strategic Design Department of Technology and Knowledge Management Norwegian School of Management Visiting Professor Advanced Research Institute School of Art and Design Staffordshire University (1) Content Critical http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/content_critical.htm Content Critical Authors: Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall Publication Date: October 2001 Content Critical will change the way you think about the World Wide Web. It is built upon a simple but profound insight: The Web is a medium for publishing content. The Internet was invented as a communications medium and the Web was invented as a publishing solution for content. If part of your job involves writing original content, whether that be a technical paper for a product, or a marketing pitch for that product, you're part of a publishing process. If you find that you're spending increasing time reading in order to help you do your job better, you're directly affected by publishing. The modern world runs on content. We're either publishers or consumers of it. Mostly, we're both. Think of your website as a publication and it all begins to make a lot of sense. Think of the person who visits your website as a reader and your objectives become clearer. Because the Web is not all that different from all those other communication tools: print, phone, fax. Yes, there are differences. Yes, Web publishing has different dynamics and rules than, say, print publishing. But the core objective is still the same: to communicate with other people. Content Critical explains both the theory and practice of the Web as a publishing medium, drawing from the best and most applicable offline publishing practices, and from the best practices of web publishing today. It provides in-depth information about reader and website analysis, cost-benefit models, and content creation, editing and publishing processes. It includes highly detailed, practical advice about what it takes to build a professional, content-oriented website, including classification, navigation, search and content layout. It will show you how to organize your publishing team and how to create a Web publishing strategy. If you work for an organization and part of your job is to write for that organization you should read this book. If part of your job is to edit the written work of others and then publish that work on an intranet or Internet website, then you should read this book. If your job is to help your organization create, edit and publish Web content more efficiently, then you should read this book. If you do any of the above you're involved in publishing whether you know it or not, and Content Critical will help you do your job more effectively. Content Critical: Table of contents Chapter 1: Everything you know about publishing is wrong Chapter 2: The benefits and costs of content Chapter 3: The reader is king Chapter 4: The need for content standards Chapter 5: Creating content Chapter 6: Editing Content Chapter 7: The four pillars of information architecture Chapter 8: Navigation critical Chapter 9: Content layout and design Chapter 10: Special topics in web publishing Chapter 11: The publishing team Chapter 12: Five stage publishing strategy approach (2) Web Content Style Guide http://www.gerrymcgovern.com/web_content_style_guide.htm The Web Content Style Guide Authors: Gerry McGovern, Rob Norton, Catherine O'Dowd Publisher: Financial Times Prentice Hall Publication Date: October 2001 Good writing is the exception rather than the rule on the Web. One reason for this is simply that good writing is hard to do. Another is that many of the people who've been involved with the Web from the beginning have been slow to realize that writing is a very big part of what the online experience is about. While the Web has important non-textual uses, most people who use it spend an overwhelming amount of their online time reading words on a page. It's not an accident that we call them webpages. It follows that quality content-well written, well edited-is essential for the success of any website. In addition to quality content, the design of websites must facilitate finding and reading that content. Web design is about content design. It's about laying out content so that it can be easily read. It's about organizing content so that it can be easily navigated and searched. The number-one design principle for the Web is simplicity. Quality web design should be all about making life easier for the reader to find content, and then making it easy for them to read that content. The Web Content Style Guide aims to codify the rules and standards that make for effective web writing. It also aims to give nontechnical guidance to all those involved in designing and running a website, from the chief executive officer to the junior writer. It examines topics from accessibility to animations, from fonts to forms, from information architecture to intranets, from navigation to newsgroups, from search to style guides. Every entry is written from the perspective that a website must get the right content to the reader as quickly as possible, in the most readable manner. The fonts entry, for example, discusses the font sizes and types that work best onscreen. The Web Content Style Guide covers some of the same ground as the offline style and usage guides, but is tailored specifically for online managers, writers, and editors. Grammar and style issues of particular relevance to the Web that it focuses on include: the key differences between American and British English; how the Web accentuates plagiarism; what sort of dash looks best onscreen; the difference between data, content, information, and knowledge; and when and how to date documents. If you are involved in a website, whether as a manager, designer, writer, or editor, The Web Content Style Guide is essential for you. It is packed with examples, and is written in a clear, concise, and friendly manner. Based on the authors' 40-plus collective years experience in traditional publishing, and 15 in designing content-rich websites, it is always practical. It champions best-practices in web content writing and design, and is not afraid to kill off a few Internet myths along the way.

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