aoir folk, late last week, i posted a message to air-l (msg title: "digital literacy takes a field trip to a farm") in which i suggested that barry wellman may have a "hissy fit" about the contents of the message. as barry notes in his reply to the list ("msg title: "hissy fit?") my tone was uncalled for and for that i apologize. i've been subscribed to air-l from the start, back in 2001, and for the most part the list has been interesting and engaging and useful. from time to time, flamewars develop, which are usually a drag, and i hope my post doesn't contribute to such an outcome. for the record, in his reply, barry mentions one of my blog posts (msg title: "barry wellman, that ain't right"; http://silverinsf.blogspot.com/2007/10/barry-wellman-that-aint-right.html ), in which i question barry's attempt to stop a conversation on air-l about race. i strongly believe this field - as well as all academic fields, but *especially* this field since it is so new and young and can, conceivably, develop in directions we decide to take it - benefits greatly from conversations about cultural difference (race, gender, sexuality, age, disability, and class) and thought it was wrong of barry to thwart such a conversation. i not apologize for the blog post - and encourage all of us to work hard to make our list and conferences exciting, vital places for discussion, research, and teaching about cultural difference and digital media. my real mistake, however, was to direct attention towards barry wellman and away from what my post was about - about teaching internet studies and digital literacy, about encouraging students (and ourselves) to log off for extended periods of time, about sharing some learning experiences my students and i had while on a magical organic farm, and about asking others to share their teaching/learning experiences. so, with that in mind, i express my apologies to barry and to the list and extend an invitation for folks to post and share more about teaching internet studies in general and introducing logging off activities in particular. thanks, david silver http://silverinsf.blogspot.com ----- Original Message -----
Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 07:38:00 -0400 From: Barry Wellman <wellman@chass.utoronto.ca> Subject: [Air-L] hissy fit? To: aoir list <air-l@aoir.org>, David Silver <dsilver@u.washington.edu> Message-ID:
1. Despite David Silver's astonishing assertion, I have no recollection of objecting to teaching-oriented posts to this list. I, too, teach (and Internet-Society to boot, and I welcome learning more about teaching the subject.
2. I do object to gratuitous personal attacks on the AoIR list, such as David Silver saying I will have a "hissy fit". I don't know where it has come from, as David Silver and I have not had any contact for many months.And the last time was when David launched another gratuitous personalattack on me -- on his blog.
3. I don't know where Dr Silver's animus stems from. For the record, I have not had anything do with any administrative or scholarly matter involving him.
4. I wouldn't have thought it was necessary, but I ask AoIR leaders to remind list members to avoid personal attacks on each other.
Barry Wellman
_______________________________________________________________________ S.D. Clark Professor of Sociology, FRSC NetLab Director Department of Sociology University of Toronto 725 Spadina Avenue, Room 388 Toronto Canada M5S 2J4 http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman fax:+1-416-978-3963 Updating history: http://chass.utoronto.ca/oldnew/cybertimes.php Elvis wouldn't be singing "Return to Sender" these days **** PLEASE NOTE NEW ADDRESS AND FAX NUMBER ****