Matthew Allen, President Briefly, since October, I have been mainly working as liaison between the Executive and the Conference and Program Chairs for the 2006 Conference. I have also been negotiating with Peter Lang concerning future publishing arrangements for the annual, redeveloping parts of the AoIR website, seeking new discounts for members, coordinating exec activities including finalising locations for the 2007 and 2008 conferences. Charles Ess, Vice-President 1) I worked with the exec and the program chairs for AoIR 2006 to develop the call for papers and distribute it widely. 2) I summarized the results of the AoIR Ethics Working Group meeting at AoIR 2006, including proposals for new projects and our endorsement of a new chair, Elizabeth Buchanan; presented these to the executive committee, and received their approval. Elizabeth Buchanan is now official chair of the Ethics Working Group, but I continue to work with her, e.g., in fielding occasional queries. (We've received a few over the past several months regarding research on blogs and forums, as well as occasional notes informing us that the AoIR guidelines are being used in a research and/or publication project.) 3) I will work with the exec and members to identify the conference venue for 2007, and then pursue the organizational details with local organizer(s) and volunteer(s). Monica Murero, Treasurer Since my election as the new Treasurer I have been taking major steps to improve the AoIR membership process and criteria, and make them easier. I am about to present to the exec a report about the further steps we need to introduce to activate the new process (re 1 date for renewal at conference time -- you will hear more from me very soon) with the help of our system officer and secretary. This is a complex process, but all is proceeding smoothly. I am involved in several other volunteer activities for aoir. For example, I am offering the chance to have refunds or donations to members who renew in 2006. I am going to introduce an organized activity of fund raising and donation, and have been very active in all aoir exec business, and discussions; these include for example criteria for organizing the current conference in Australia , future conference locations, and previous conferences financial matters. Lack of volunteers to form a working team refrained me from organizing a new survey to learn more from AoIRs (expectations, needs etc.), but hopefully in the future conditions will be more favorable. I invite all to contact me anytime to let me know thoughts and suggestion to bring to the exec's attention. I often remind to the exec to be very careful in their decisions when have an impact on costs, to make wise use of our limited resources, and keep in mind students 'pockets. In these days, I am looking forward to receiving from Matt the budget and the conference fees of this year's conference. I am working with Steve Jones to finalize financial aspects of the last conference in Chicago. Irene Berkowitz, Secretary Assisting with membership changes Ted M. Coopman, Graduate Student Representative Since taking office I have strongly advocated for the interests of graduate student members. I am happy to report that the Executive Committee has shown a great deal of interest and support for the special needs of graduate students in the planning and execution of AoIR 7. These include the availability of less expensive accommodations at the conference site as well as food inclusive in the price of registration during many breaks and events. I successfully advocated for an alternative presentation session that provides an opportunity for novel ways to display research and intellectually interact in more casual environment (so use it!!). Finally, we are in the final stages of approving a Graduate Student Research Group project that will provide graduate student members a way to contribute to the success of AoIR through supportive research. This research will be used to provide the Exec with important data concerning our past and present operations as well as create useful content for the membership. Randolph Kluver I have been focused primarily on building the visibility of AoIR in the Asia-Pacific region, through recruitment to the organization and to the Brisbane conference. Caroline Haythornthwaite I have been participating with the executive in discussions of current business. Kate O'Riordan 1) Co-ordinating an updated list for distributing the AoIR conference cfp and helping to distribute the cfp 2) Organising an opportunity to promote the work of the AoIR ethics committee through the Economic and Social Research Council methods festival (UK) in negotiation with Charles Ess 3) Helping review proposals for papers at the AoIR conference Alex Halavais, Systems Officer Much of my work has been getting up to speed on systems since I got started. I think I've got a map of our systems and an idea of where we want to move going forward. Instating, maintaining, and fixing the submission process for our coming conference, and dealing with papers from last year. Looking now at alternatives that are more effective for our 2007 meeting. Working with Monica and Irene on creating a new system for managing membership. Holly Kruse, List Admin I've been approving subscription requests and helping people who are having problems subscribing to AoIR lists, unsubscribing, setting them to digest, and so on; and just generally working to make sure the lists are running smoothly. Dr Matthew Allen Associate Professor in Internet Studies President Association of Internet Researchers Faculty of Media Society and Culture Curtin University of Technology CRICOS Provider Code 00301J http://smi.curtin.edu.au/NetStudies/allen.htm +61 8 92663511 (v) +61 8 92663166 (f)