[My apologies...the previous post of this was for some reason truncated, here is the full report. -Sj] June 20, 2003 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 2003 Conference Chair: Liss Jeffrey 2003 Conference Program Co-Chairs: Matthew Allen and David Mitchell Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess Elections Working Group Chair: Mia Consalvo Net Resources Working Group Chair: Charlie Breindahl 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. If you aren't reading this...well, you ought to be. I know it can get lengthy, and it can get detailed, but it's the single best way to know what AoIR is up to, and to find ways to get involved with it (in any number of ways from contacting the people who report to volunteering to work on something you see mentioned to making suggestions to...). 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 The election process for AoIR executive offices is now under way. I will post a longer, separate email message about it soon, but suffice here for me to remind you of the timeilne: 1. CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Elapsed 2. END OF NOMINATION PERIOD: Elapsed 3. DISCUSSION PERIOD BEGINS: June 20, 2003 4. DISCUSSION PERIOD ENDS: July 11, 2003 3. VOTING PERIOD BEGINS: July 14, 2003 4. VOTING PERIOD ENDS: July 28, 2003 5. NEW COMMITTEE ASSUMES DUTIES: At the end of the General Meeting at the fourth annual AoIR conference, October 16 - 19, 2003. 2.1.2 As you will see below conference planning is well under way. I am delighted (and not just for reasons associated with our conference) that WHO announced last week that SARS appears to have been generally contained (today the announcement was that not only Toronto but Hong Kong, too, is free of SARS) and cases are on the decline. I will hope to see as many of you as can join us in Toronto in October. 2.1.3 If you have not yet registered for the conference or made a hotel reservation I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Early registration fees are only in effect for a couple or so more weeks, and our hotel space is held for a limited amount of time. Please mention that you are registering for AoIR when you book your room at the Toronto Hilton (or use our Block Code - ASSA110703). As I have stated other times/other places, as AoIR has grown we have had to search for larger and larger meetings spaces, precluding most prospective college/university venues. This year we are meeting at a hotel in an urban area, and we have to meet the minimum occupancy with which we are able to use its meeting rooms - if we don't meet that occupancy rate then we'll have to increase the registration fees, to cover additional cost of the meeting rooms. The AoIR rate may be a few dollars more than the most discounted rate that you could get on your own, but that few dollars is in support of the facilities at the Hilton that we are using. I appreciate everyone's support of the conference and of AoIR. 2.1.4 While on the topic of support, I would like to reiterate some of the quite tangible benefits of AoIR membership. As a paying member of the Association of Internet Reseachers, you are entitled to a number of discounted journal subscriptions and book discounts. Journal Discounts: *The Information Society: An International Journal *Information, Communication and Society *e-Service Journal *CyberPsychology and Behavior * New Media & Society Books: Routledge Cyberstudies catalog These are described in greater detail at http://aoir.org/benefits.html. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 Participated in election planning and candidate encouraging. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 Counted votes, participated in discussions (below), and been waiting for warm weather. May 15 - June 15, 2003 This month on the executive list: - The AoIR election process has begun. Nominations were collected until June 13. Starting June 20, an online open discussion forum will be available for AoIR members and non-members to interact with nominees. Position statements and biographical information will be available online too. Details and URLs will be posted to air-l within the next week. - Along those lines, the exec has been monitoring nominations and has been sharing public information with air-l. - The exec has been discussing creating a conference blog for the upcoming conference in Toronto. Jeremy Hunsinger from the exec committee and Jason Nolan from the Toronto local committee are collaborating on this and it will happen. In addition, the exec is considering a list of blogs available from the air website. - The exec continues to monitor the SARS situation in Toronto but at this point does not foresee any problems for our conference scheduled for October. - The exec has noted suggestions about organizing conferences in countries that have few visa requirements, and/or non-first-world countries. - The exec has discussed ways in which the association can financially support people with lower incomes who would like to attend our conferences or become members. Unfortunately, at this point we are not able to subsidize travel or fees. Subscribing to and participating on air-l is and will remain free. The executive committee has been considering various options for improving accessibility to its conferences. - Jeremy Hunsinger announced that air-l is up to approximately 1300 subscribers now, so draft your messages carefully as they will reach a wide audience. - The exec has been in touch with the local conference organizers about the final (online) conference program and similar conference-related issues. - The exec has continued its discussion for the local host for the 2004 conference and things are looking good. The exec voted unanimously in favor of the proposed site. The announcement for the 2004 conference will be made at the Toronto conference during the General Meeting. Discussions about sites for 2005 and 2006 are in progress. Bids may be submitted at any time to Steve Jones. - The exec has been discussing the possible institution of an advisory committee for agenda setting, but is still uncertain as to its members, adding an additional layer to the organizational hierarchy, etc. - The exec has continued its discussions on increasing quality at the conference and in submission reviewing, and continuing its outreach and growth in a natural way. Ulla Bunz, Secretary 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Been on vacation (supposedly) most of the last month, though after some struggle and a lot of help from Jeremy, managed to stay largely connected and to keep up with conference and membership payments. Will be back in the office next week. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: took part in various discussions regarding the election; discussed ideas regarding the conference. 2.5.2 Wellman: Particiapting in exec committee deliberations. Watching brief on SARS. Lecturing about AoIR activities in Finland.Spent a good deal of time keeping abreast of SARS situation (and media scare elsewhere), and advising the Exec Committee and the Program Chair. Contributed to the ongoing deliberations of the Executive Committee. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: Less activity with respect to the conference this month. Mainly it has been chasing up details from presenters; finalising program; interacting with Conference Organiser to get program online. 2.6.2 Shade: Nothing to report. 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Nothing to report (been to Australia at conference) 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: this month has been election month, i've been busy: managing the nomination process, and am collecting the nominee info at nominate@aoir.org working with Charlie to get some bugs out of the website helping as necessary with conference stuff. posting election updates to air-l working on the aoir.org email system to lower spam rates and resolve other issues. responding to things on the executive list thinking about future conferences and how to manage them and trying to get some conversation going on air-l over the summer. 2.8.2 Breindahl: I have mainly discarded spam, which comes in ever-increasing numbers. As Jerry Pournelle says: "Spammers have got beyond the bounds of civilization. When you rob a million people of a minute, you have wasted two man years. [...] The First Amendment has nothing to do with this. You have the right to speak, but you don't have the right to make me listen at the cost of my own time." Also, on a happier note, I have updated the book list and put a new version of our logo on the aoir.org site. 2.9 2003 Conference (Liss Jeffrey, Chair; Matthew Allen, David Mitchell, Program Co-Chairs) 2.9.1 Dr Liss Jeffrey: The Toronto committee is hard at work, with new volunteers signing on to help out. Contact us at aoir@ecommons.net if you would like to join us. The Early Bird registration will now be extended to July 15, 2003. Please check the web site for information including the conference registration number. The early program will soon go online at www.ecommons.net/aoir. Matt Allen (who with his reviewers has done a tremendous job) remains the contact on all program-related issues. If you would like to propose a pre conference workshop, just drop us a line specifying topic, outline of seminar and time required, equipment or facility needs, expected or desired audience numbers, who you know locally (if anyone) who might help you with local logistics, who you expect would be most interested in your workshop/demonstration, and information on yourself and your background. This week we will be contacting all those who have submitted proposals to ask a few more questions or to confirm participation (Olivia Robertson is point person on this file and she will be in touch). The conference web site will be updated frequently so please check in. This week we will be adding the frequently asked questions (hotel, travel Rhiannon Bury is point on this rhiannon Bury <rbury@wlu.ca>). If there is a topic that we have not addressed, let us know and we will get it on there. Contact our point person on web informatics (Christie Hurrell: christie@ecommons.net ). Special thanks to Eric George, who has joined the steering/working committee and has helped all of us ensure that our Francophone members are included. Would you like to see a conference blog start now? Would you contribute? If so, please contact graig@ecommons.net Much more to come. Liss Jeffrey, conference chair. 2.9.2 Mitchell: No report. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 As part of a conference on ethical guidelines for socio-economic research (The RESPECT conference, June 12-13, Budapest), I was invited to comment on proposed guidelines in light of the AoIR ethics working committee´s guidelines, research, and approaches. The RESPECT Project is funded by the European Union´s Directorate-General for Research, and has already developed a range of resources for research ethics in medical and social sciences - of interest, of course, because of their necessarily multi-cultural foundations and orientation. Both resources and planned guidelines will be useful for further reflection on Internet research ethics. I will post a more complete summary of the conference, including a preliminary resource list, to both the ethics working committee and the air-list as soon as I can upon my return to the States. 2.11 AoIR Research Annual Working Group (Mia Consalvo, Chair) 2.11.1 The AoIR Annual has come back from copy-editing, and all contributors have been forwarded their chapters to make the suggested revisions. Once that is done, the manuscript goes back to the publisher (Peter Lang) and into production. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Chair) 2.12.1 There has been no activity in the 'Net WG.