September 15, 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. This will be the last report before the annual conference in Maastricht, the Netherlands, and I am greatly looking forward to seeing many of you there. (It is likely that the next monthly report will be slightly delayed as according to schedule it ought to be published just before the conference is wrapping up.) A tremendous amount of effort has gone into the planning of the conference, and much has particularly been contributed by Monica Murero and her colleagues in Maastricht, Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Jeremy Hunsinger and a host of AoIR members who served on the program committee. As has been the case the past two years I am nearly overwhelmed by the breadth and depth of the program, and cannot wait to begin the meeting. 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 See above re: our upcoming conference. Concerning the conference after it, in 2003, a quick note of thanks is in order to Barry Wellman for his efforts at getting its planning fully under way. And please note that a "Call for Hosts" was recently issued for AoIR conferences in 2004 and beyond. If you are interested in hosting a future AoIR conference please contact me. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 No report. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 Returned from leave. Scheduled exec meetings. Began preparing meeting itinerary for Maastricht. Began organizing awards for keynote speakers and best student paper. Chirped in on issues below. This month of the exec list: August 14 - September 12, 2002 . Agreement to discontinue and archive air-dbase, and to re-vitalize air-meet . Discussion of Call for Host, and quite a lot of discussion and work done on issues concerning conference hosting, selection and responsibilities of conference chairs and program chairs . Exchange of information regarding the Toronto 2003 planning, including discussion of possible grant or other funding options, possible program chairs, and possible keynote speakers 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Nothing to report. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: Have taken an active role in brainstorming/planning upcoming and future AoIR conferences. And spent time looking forward to meeting up with everyone in Maastricht. 2.5.2 Wellman: I did a lot of work in helping to get the 2003 AOIR Toronto conference organized. I was appointed official liaison between the AOIR Executive Committee and the Toronto AOIR conference working committee, I represented the AOIR Exec to Toronto, and the Toronto organizers to AOIR Exec. This month was intense, and planning for the Toronto conference has moved forward in nice ways. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: Nothing to report. 2.6.2 Shade: Spent time on air-exec talking/strategizing about the AOIR Conf 2003 in Toronto. 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Nothing to report. Will take steps to organise informal grad student meeting during AOIR Conf in Maastricht very soon! 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: I helped a few people with their memberships I answered some questions relating to the listserves fiddled with the server a bit worked on related projects talked and tried to understand issues surrounding the next few conferences helped Klaus and Monica a bit 2.8.2 Breindahl: In my role as Information Officer, I continue to screen the subscription requests to AIR-L. The volume of spam has decreased recently, whereas the number of subscription requests has increased (no relation between those trends as far as I can see). The further development of aoir.org towards being database-driven is temporarily halted to await input from the Net Working Group. 2.9 2002 Conference (Monica Murero, Coordinator; Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Program Chair) 2.9.1 Murero: The last month has been very intense. Results looks very good. I have collaborated with Klaus on the program schedule, sent some mailing to air-list and to the conference authors, solved some issues and answered MANY questions online. Klaus and I are working now on the room assignment for the presentations. I am taking care of keynote speakers, and local arrangements. Registrations and hotels are fully delegated to an external local agency. I am also coordinating with sponsors, publishers, electronic equipment, and taking care of details of catering, transportations and local logistics issues. 2.9.2 Jensen: Most of all, I have been working with Monica Murero in updating the preliminary program for AoIR 3.0, which now includes abstracts of papers and panels. In addition, I have secured chairs for sessions at the conference, and have lined up the procedure for reviewing student papers. I take this final report before the conference as an opportunity to thank the wider AoIR community, whose input made the program possible.* 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 Earlier this month, the ethics working committee posted its latest draft report on Internet research ethics, "Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the aoir ethics working committee." <http://www.aoir.org/reports/DraftFIVE.html> for review and comment by the aoir membership. This document articulates our best overview of the main range of ethical issues characteristic of the diverse venues and approaches to Internet research. It reflects nearly two years of cooperative work, expertise, and discussion of researchers and ethicists from a variety of disciplines and countries. While the committee is quite pleased with how the document has shaped up - we realize quite well that aoir folk may have further comment, criticisms, and suggestions in response to this draft that would make the document still better. This is, after all, precisely why we worked to post it to aoir within a month or so prior to the Maastricht conference. Our request is precisely that aoir folk - especially those who will be in Maastricht - review the draft document, and send any questions and/or suggestions for improvement to Charles Ess <cmess@drury.edu> who will take them to the ethics working committee for review and consideration. Our hope is that by going through this final review process, the document will meet any last objections and concerns, prior to being presented to the aoir business meeting in Maastricht for (we hope!) approval and endorsement by the aoir membership. On behalf of the aoir ethics working committee, let me thank the aoir membership for your support and encouragement - and we look forward to presenting and discussing the ethics document with you in Maastricht. 2.11 AoIR Elections Working Group (Nancy Baym, Liaison) 2.11.1 No report. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Liaison) 2.12.1 The AoIR Net Working Group has been dormant over the summer, but we have recently begun discussion of the future of aoir.org as content management system (audience oriented) or groupware (author oriented). ------------------------------------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