July 16, 2002 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 2002 Conference Coordinator: Monica Murero 2002 Conference Program Chair: Klaus Bruhn Jensen Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. It's mid-July, and methinks some people are off doing the kinds of things people do when they're off. I'd be off, but I'm trying to be right on. (And if you didn't think the heat around here was getting to me, you now have plenty of confirmation.) 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 As you will see from the below reports several initiatives are now under way - more are to come, I am certain, in the next few months. Your voice and participation are as always welcomed. Feel free to contact me or any of the executive committee members or working group leaders with questions, input and interest. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 AoIR activity this month included normal continual conference organizing and upkeep. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 This month on the executive list: Summary June 14-July 13, 2002: - brief discussion on student awards given out at the conference; no changes made - discussion on conference issues, including timing issues such as when to publicize the call for hosts for future conferences and when to set application deadlines; discussion on how many years to plan ahead - discussion of budget issues, including conference costs - discussion on feedback from membership to air-exec; a suggestions@aoir.org email address exists, but is not used much; suggestion to have a feedback session either online or at the next conference; in general the executive committee encourages feedback and suggestions from the association's membership 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 (He's back! -Sj) 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: I worked with Matt, Ulla, and Jeremy to launch the List of Lists Web site (http://www.aoir.org/list.php) and have continued working on the project by fielding questions, comments, and additions. 2.5.2 Wellman: Spoke actively about AoIR at the World Congress of Sociology, Brisbane Australia. Met with government officials in Australia about Internet and Society. Presented three papers about Living Networked in a Wired World. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: No report. 2.6.2 Shade: Rien.....pour moi cette mois 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Nothing to report. Mostly been enjoying unusually warm Danish summer, while moving all my earthly belongings from one place to another.... 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: this month i primarily did server related things including some upgrades and some installations. other than that, brisbane in the winter is chilly at night, but nice during the day. 2.8.2 Breindahl: I am involved with the formation of an international association of computer game researchers as well as a similar Danish initiative. The latter has substantial funding already. In the last couple of months I have been thinking a lot about how these initiatives are related to AoIR. Otherwise, I have managed our mailing lists with Jeremy as usual. It is my ambition to become more knowledgeable about the back-office part of aoir.org, so that I may take a more active role in maintaining it. 2.9 2002 Conference (Monica Murero, Coordinator; Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Program Chair) 2.9.1 Murero: Nothing to report. 2.9.2 Jensen: I have been working with Monica Murero and Jeremy Hunsinger to prepare the preliminary program for AoIR 3.0, which is now online. Student presenters have also been contacted regarding the award procedure for student papers. Over the summer, in addition to updating the program, I will be soliciting air folk to serve on the student-paper evaluation committee and as panel moderators. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 Nothing to report. (Don't blame me for scheduling CATaC when a report was due! ;-) -Sj) 2.11 AoIR Elections Working Group (Nancy Baym, Liaison) 2.11.1 This month we launched the aoir working group on elections, who are charged with reviewing the last election and considering whether there are better alternatives to what we are doing now. Mia Consalvo, who holds the distinction of having manually counted votes in the first aoir election (I dare not tell you how few), is leading the group. The working group has decided to keep its list archives publically accessible, and is now forging ahead with the meat of its discussion. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Liaison) 2.12.1 The Net Resources WG is off to a slow start. Discussion has been minimal so far. I have offered to take a more active role in the group and have met no objections. I hope and believe that we can demonstrate real progress at or shortly after the conference in Maastricht. ------------------------------------end of executive committee report------------------------------ The Association of Internet Researchers is a scholarly 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. The association's web site is at http://www.aoir.org. Membership information is available at http://aoir.org/airjoin.html