As a note, I'm sending these out to AIR-L again, because I think it's important that folks are involved in the election process, but I do encourage you to go to http://aoir.org for some individual questions, comments, links to blog posts, and personal statements. JOSEPH K. asked the following question to almost (!) all the candidates for AoIR Executive positions. """ What concrete tasks or changes to the organization would you aim to put in place during your first 90 days in office? """ So, once again, a round-up... ***** TED COOPMAN (VP candidate) ***** """ Joseph, The VP begins by working with Alex the sitting president to help him enact his agenda – he is the President. The Exec is also somewhat constrained, like any elective body, by those in it. That is, what members want to work on. Ideally… First, what I would like to see done is to set out an agenda/policy map for the first year. A clear set of goals with time-lines that consists of the presidents, the exec members, and my own plans/desires. Second, complete the ongoing comprehensive review of bylaws and make any required changes and put changes that must be voted on before the membership.This will really help. Third, I would work with Micheal the treasurer to create a plan to expand membership and secure sponsors. We have had some discussions on this and I think firming up the plan and then implementing it is possible in the near term. Related to this is the ongoing discussion on perhaps hiring someone for outreach and similar tasks. Please keep in mind that while we are all online and interactive that deliberation across timer zones is slow. Not as slow as institutional time but definitely not internet time! Also, there needs to be Exec member buy in for any changes. -TED """ ***** LORI KENDALL (VP candidate) ***** """ Joseph K.: The first thing I intend to do is to implement a formal process for transferring knowledge from one IR conference Program Chair to the next. This will involve both collecting information from this year’s Program Chair (convenient, since this is me! :) and setting up a system to continue passing on this information from year to year. My aim is two-fold. First, I would like to make it easier for new Program Chairs to get up to speed. For those who have never served in such a capacity, there is a lot to learn, both technically and procedurally. The second purpose is to improve the conference planning process and especially to improve the reviewing process. """ ***** MONICA MURERO (VP candidate) ***** """ Honorific Aoir Lifetime Member for outstanding services to the Aoir community, Prof Murero will greatly benefit Aoir on every task: administrative, financial , executive, publishing, budget and conference related matters. In fact, during the first 90 days of service (Oct-Jan.) Aoir must complete several concrete tasks. Examples include: Finalization of Conference financial matters, management of memberships, and legal duties. A highly-experienced and knowledgable candidate is crucial to make imoortant tasks concretely run from day one. Also, budgeting for the new conference, CFP , conference theme and administrative duties need to be addressed. Furthermore, the previous exec might leave “hot” unresolved tasks in the hands of the new officers that need attention, Under safe hands, important tasks can be addressed from day one. Decisions influence Aoir mid-term activities. Aoir values must be protected and tasks developed under experienced hands. With well-recognized contributes to the Aoir executive committee and a curriculum of excellence, Prof. Murero is the most experienced candidate for the VP position. Mantain the sense of community people find at the Aoir conference and air-list, and work together for the health of the association is a must. Every 2 months, the exec Report will inform members about current activities by offering new opportunities to the Aoir community. An informal, welcoming and high-quality attitude in discussing crucial topics will keep Aoir the fantastic open place for interdisciplinary discussion and collaborations we have created over the years. """ ***** ANTHONY HOFFMANN (Student Rep candidate) ****** """ Joseph – thanks for the question. As articulated in the above statement, I would like to pursue my mentorship proposal. One of the strengths of the Association is that there are very few distinctions drawn between established faculty and up-and-coming students – I believe that keeping such distinctions at a minimum (by avoiding, say, the development of separate spaces for faculty versus students) is important for maintaining AoIR’s inclusivity. A mentorship program, while it creates a distinction in terms of how and who may apply (and what role they may serve, be it mentor or mentored), ultimately serves to bring together both established and up-and-coming scholars and researchers, which I see as being in the spirit of inclusivity. Plus, it has the potential to add value and further diversity the programming of the annual conference – creating a new space for dialogue and the exchange of ideas. More to the point of the question, then: in my first 90 days in office I will aim to gather feedback as to what members of the Association, should they support such a program, would want a mentorship program to look like. From there, I will synthesize input and put forward a proposal as to how such a program might work. """ ***** KELLY QUINN (Student Rep candidate) ***** """ Hi Joseph – Thanks for the opportunity to respond. I have two specific ideas that can be quickly implemented by the AoIR Executive Committee. The first is to more effectively utilize the AoIR graduate student listserv. Currently, we have fewer than 200 subscribers on the graduate student listserv, and little activity takes place therein. I would like to see a campaign during and after the annual conference to encourage grad students to subscribe to the list, and then use it to publicize grad student conferences and cfps specifically targeting graduate students (awards, journals, fellowships), to announce talks and seminars, and to suggest grad student resources (monetary and otherwise) that might be useful to our student members. Second, to engage the entire membership a little more actively, I would encourage the Executive Committee to work toward establishing a regularly scheduled AoIR Twitter meetup, or short tweeting discussion sessions (30 minutes to an hour) that would target specific topics that are pertinent to internet researchers. Topics might include internet research ethics on specific technologies (social network sites, blogs), the use of specific research methods, strategies for recruitment, and so on. The key is holding these conversations at regularly scheduled times and announcing the topic in advance, so that any interested members could join the discussion. Because our membership is comprised of internet researchers, I believe that AoIR can and should take a leadership role in utilizing various new media formats to engage and connect its membership. """ ***** ANDREA BAKER (Open Seat candidate) ***** """ Joseph, hi, thanks for your question. I would ask that the exec committee discuss adding places and times for informal roundtable discussions to the program. If agreed, I would then help implement steps to insure that the call for papers for IR 13.0 included solicitation of discussion leaders and their topics. """ ***** SORAJ HONGLADAROM (Open Seat candidate) ***** """ Hi Joseph, my first concrete tasks would be to initiate an agenda for the committee on how to broaden the scope of the association. This can be done in several ways, but one I am having in mind is to promote the activities of the association in non-western countries, especially in Asia. For example, the association could join hands with other local groups to hold seminars on topics of our interest in the region. Soraj """ ***** MARK JOHNS (Open Seat candidate) ***** """ In the first 90 days? NONE! I would spend the first 90 days learning about the dynamics of the Executive and understanding the issues most important to the other members. Only by listening to one another and building trust in this new setting would anything be accomplished in the future. While I have met all of the Exec members, and know some quite well, every group has its own chemistry and I would spend the first 90 days trying to to see how the chemistry of this group works. """ ***** ULF-DIETRICH REIPS (Open Seat candidate) ***** """ Hi Joseph, thanks for your comment. I would begin by listening to the new president and other incoming officers (some with much more experience than me in AoIR office matters) as to what are the most important and pressing issues, and help with those as much as I can. If adequate, I would then attend to Nr. 3 above and publish a call to submit links, materials, and descriptions to a repository with useful software for Internet researchers. Furthermore, I’d write up and post information about other societies that may be of interest to AoIR members and collect comments from AoIR members about their experiences with and interests in those societies (plus pointers to more societies to add to the list). I hope in this process some ideas for joint projects will emerge, so we can contact officers from the other societies to follow up on those ideas. Also, at some point we may be able to draw a landscape of organizations with overlapping interest that may serve as a visual guide for PhD students. """ ***** CRISTIAN BERRIO ZAPATA (Open Seat candidate) ***** """ I believe two main courses must be taken: (1) begin contacts to open AOIR conference activities to other continents and cities. One of my colleagues proposed Asia. That could be. What about Brazil? Maybe Buenos Aires, Argentina? We must congregate people from various latitudes in different places. (2) Language might be a barrier in this moment. Although it is clear that English keeps being the general language of the association, we must open to other languages and built information structures to do so. (3) Both (1) and (2) required that we plan a compatible manware – repository structure. What about using AOIR as a base for exchange of professors from distant latitudes? In general, I believe the first goal is to develop AOIR globally to the side of the developing countries, as the association can bring a lot to them, opening opportunities to people in the developed countries. Exchange of knowledge and information in seek of better life for everyone. """ -- // // This email is // [x] assumed public and may be blogged / forwarded. // [ ] assumed to be private, please ask before redistributing. // // Alexander C. Halavais, ciberflâneur // http://alex.halavais.net //