Hi, There is a lot of work going on in relation to mobile telephony. I know that the Blackberry is somewhat different in terms of technology and the way that it is used. However, there is a growing literature on mobile communications and the social consequences of that. There is also a pretty good design literature in that area. A lot of this literature is based on qualitative analyses. There is also a pretty good number of quantitative analyses in this area. Let me know if you are interested in this type of literature. Rich Ling -----Original Message----- From: air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org [mailto:air-l-aoir.org-bounces@listserv.aoir.org] On Behalf Of Andrew Herman Sent: Wednesday, January 12, 2005 21:40 PM To: air-l@aoir.org Subject: [Air-l] Requesting Help: Blackberries and Mobility Dear Friends- I in the process of conceiving a major research project on the Blackberry as metonym for mobile Internet communication. This wil be a multi-dimensional project, involving research into the the development of the Blackberry, the insitutional culture of production at Research in Motion (based here in Waterloo, Ontario--how is that for convenience), advertising and marketing strategies, intellectual property issues,, and ethnographies of the Blackberry in everyday life. What I have mind is a comprehensive cultural analysis of the Blackberry like Paul Du Gay and his collaboraties did for the Walkman in the DOING CULTURAL STUDIES series. So, I have two requests for the AOIR commmunity: 1)I would appreciate any references concerning the topic of Internet mobility generally and the Blackberry and/or other hand-held device more specifically. 2)Depending on how fruitful the initial research is, I would be interested in partnering with other scholars interested in this topic with eye towards submitting a MCRI (Major Collborative Research Grant) to the Social Science and Humanities Reserach Council here in Canada. The SSHRC encourages international collaboration, but the majority of co-applicants must be affiliated with Canadian institutions. Let me know if you are interested, especially if you are north of the 49th parallel. Thanks in advance for your assistance and interest. Andrew Herman Andrew Herman, Ph. D. Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5 CANADA 519 884-1970 x3693 _______________________________________________ The Air-l-aoir.org@listserv.aoir.org mailing list is provided by the Association of Internet Researchers http://aoir.org Subscribe, change options or unsubscribe at: http://listserv.aoir.org/listinfo.cgi/air-l-aoir.org Join the Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org/airjoin.html