August 17, 2003 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 2003 Conference Chair: Liss Jeffrey 2003 Conference Program Co-Chairs: Matthew Allen and David Mitchell Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess Elections Working Group Chair: Mia Consalvo Net Resources Working Group Chair: Charlie Breindahl 1. Introduction & General (Jones) Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. If you aren't reading this...well, you ought to be. I know it can get lengthy, and it can get detailed, but it's the single best way to know what AoIR is up to, and to find ways to get involved with it (in any number of ways from contacting the people who report to volunteering to work on something you see mentioned to making suggestions to...). 2. Executive Officers' Reports 2.1 President (Jones) 2.1.1 The election process for AoIR executive offices is complete. My congratulations to those who have been elected to an office. And, my thanks to all those who ran for an office. The slate of candidates was first-rate, and I think that bodes very, very well for AoIR's future. Thank you, too, to all of those who voted, as well as to Jennifer Stromer-Galley for counting the votes. 2.1.2 The Toronto conference is drawing near, and I will look forward to seeing as many of you as can make it there. If you have not yet registered for the conference or made a hotel reservation I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Due to the growth of interest and attendance at our conferences we are this year meeting at a hotel in an urban area, and we have to meet the minimum occupancy with which we are able to use its meeting rooms - if we do not meet that occupancy rate then we'll have to increase the registration fees, to cover additional cost of the meeting rooms. I appreciate everyone's support of the conference and of AoIR. 2.1.3 While on the topic of support, I would like to thank Nancy Baym for stepping in for me the last few weeks. I would also like to thank the AoIR executive committee for continuing its work while I had to step aside for a time. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 Nothing to report. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 July 16 - August 11, 2003: This month on the executive list: . The exec is finalizing its decision on the t-shirt design contest. . The exec finalized the email calling members to vote. Elections have been completed. Votes were counted by Jennifer Stromer-Galley, and winners have been notified. The new exec will be introduced at the general meeting at the Toronto conference. . Together with Liss Jeffrey, the exec decided on free conference registration for conference volunteer helpers. . The exec continues to discuss extensively various conference details (incl. registration, program issues, scheduling of meetings, etc.), and financial issues. We urge conference attendees to stay at the conference hotel as otherwise, AoIR will have to pay for the conference facilities. Ulla Bunz, Secretary 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 Keeping up with memberships, renewals, and conference registrations. Removed early registration and added preconference workshops to the Conference Kagi site. Working with Toronto folks and Nancy on budget and onsite registration concerns. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: Nothing to report. 2.5.2 Wellman: Securing volunteers and advising them for the AoIR annual meeting in Toronto. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: Been doing more conference stuff; primarily finalising the program, organising student prize submissions, working with Liss on information flows for program presentation. 2.6.2 Shade: Nothing to report. 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Been working on organising a graduate student assembly at the Toronto conference, in collaboration with the new graduate student representative Leslie Tkach Kawasaki. 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: well, I've been slacking off a bit, as the elections occurred, i did some member stuff, and i worked on some member things. Note to all people that are used to faster responses from me(oh you know, 1 minute, 1 hour, 1 day max, etc.), until further notice, i may be delayed in responding because I'm moving into the official stages of dissertation, so beyond my usual 40 or so hours a week in my usual work, I'm occupied by writing:( So sometimes, and I apologize for this, you may have to wait a few days before i respond to some things. 2.8.2 Breindahl: I have been on vacation most of the last month. I still monitor our lists, though, usually checking for mail and new subscriptions a couple of times per day. Jeremy has created new spam filters, which happily catch most of the junk mail. 2.9 2003 Conference (Liss Jeffrey, Chair; Matthew Allen, David Mitchell, Program Co-Chairs) 2.9.1 Dr Liss Jeffrey: No report. 2.9.2 Mitchell: No report. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 The ethics committee has engaged in some discussion of a case study that came to our attention this past spring, one raising important questions as to what constitutes 'harm' in an online context, and who is responsible for identifying and, if necessary, mitigating potential harms. The case study and our responses to it will be included in the upcoming Preconference workshop on Internet research ethics, October 15, as part of AoIR 4.0 in Toronto. Most of the workshop program is in place. If anyone is interested in a more complete description of the program (to compliment the one on the conference website), please contact Charles Ess <cmess@drury.edu>. Steve and I continue to receive the occasional query regarding specific ethical issues encountered by researchers in the course of their work. We are more than happy to respond to these queries as we can. And as chair of the ethics committee, I would especially encourage AoIR members to bring such queries to the committee's attention, along with any other observations and suggestions regarding online research ethics that you care to offer. Your queries and suggestions are among the most important resources for our continued work on Internet research ethics. 2.11 AoIR Research Annual Working Group (Mia Consalvo, Chair) 2.11.1 The first volume of the research annual has gone into production with the publisher, and page proofs should be forthcoming sometime in September. An announcement about the second annual and guidelines for submitting papers for consideration to it will be circulated to aoir members shortly. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Chair) 2.12.1 There has been no activity in the 'Net WG.