All, One must be careful following a query concerning the demographics of the Association of Internet Researchers ([Air-l] Re: Outreach Working Group Charge, with a minor tweak Lachlan Brown) with a thread ([Air-l] Have you received something like this? ) on the so called 'Nigerian Scam'. Instead of alienating West Africa, and those who share an affinity with West Africa, or otherwise share an interest in breaking stereotypes wherever they occur and however they are articulated, perhaps you could address the issue of social inclusion seriously. A way to do this is to be reflexive and open about membership. My question arising from many, many years research in the field related to several 'gaps', or shall we simply say 'a complete and utter lapses in scholarship' in Internet Research, arose from reading an important misaddressed email in AoIR concerning 'outreach' strategies highlighting the need for greater social inclusion. What we get from AoIR is endless wittering about 'The Nigerian Scam'. What social literacies are represented by the Association of Internet Researchers? How are the industries of education and of media and communications best served in their need for informed scholarship and advice concerning 'future markets'? One way to understand these literacies is to have a breakdown, even a rough guesstimate, of the demographics of AoIR, which is, as far as I can see, a locus of power in Internet and Scholarship. The estimate or breakdown is important too to my initial intervention 'Bring Me My Bow' etc (Blakes "Jerusalem' far from being a nationalist hymn is a poem to spiritual and intellectual striving, inflected by irony, political satire, but also by love.) of January, which raises ethical and legal concerns for a number of constituencies of Internet. During the years use of Internet has, it seems, grown from 'cyberpunk in boystown' to take a place in the middle of our communication and media lives. Users, so I hear, now include the extremely angry mothers constititency, the raging grannies against technofascism, Street Kids against poor Internet Scholarship, not to mention the 'we know where you live' students against child abuse constituency, concerned about the exploitation of innocents in the industry and in education. Please provide the information I requested. I asked for a rough estimate, if hard data is not available, on the demographics of the Association of Internet Researchers. [Air-l] Re: Outreach Working Group Charge, with a minor tweak Lachlan Brown [Air-l] Subscribe FREE to Design Research News Ken Friedman [Air-l] Have you received something like this? Cristian Berrio [Air-l] Have you received something like this? jeremy hunsinger [Air-l] Have you received something like this? Adrian Higginbotham [Air-l] Have you received something like this? Gina Neff [Air-l] Have you received something like this? Steve Fox (NLG) [Air-l] Have you received something like this? david silver [Air-l] Have you received something like this? Sean Cubitt Down Sean, Down Boy. [Air-l] Re: Lurking Uwe Matzat [Air-l] Redundancy Index: Air-l digest, Vol 1 #293 - 14 msgs James Watt [Air-l] Redundancy Index: Air-l digest, Vol 1 #293 - 14 msgs jeremy hunsinger [Air-l] Have you received something like this? Steve Jones BTW: 'The Nigerian Scam' is a perennial. I received a snail mail about it in 1991 in Toronto at Between the Lines Press. It is annoying, but it is hardly the 'thread of the moment'. In Nettime 'the Nigerian Scam' appeared as Nettimers began considering 'race and ethnicity'. It also appeared in a couple of industry groups when the question of 'social inclusion' arose. Lachlan Brown Cultural Studies Goldsmiths College -- _______________________________________________ Sign-up for your own FREE Personalized E-mail at Mail.com http://www.mail.com/?sr=signup Win a ski trip! http://www.nowcode.com/register.asp?affiliate=1net2phone3a