Everyone, We have every intention of diversifying our conference locations in years to come. As has been pointed out, it is worth remembering that in 2000, just 4 years ago, we were amazed that people actually came to Lawrence Kansas for our first meeting. We are seeking to balance the desire/need to have true global reach and accessability with managing our limited resources and assuring that we are in a location where enough people will in fact come to make it financially viable (and not too expensive for attendees). There has been and is a good deal of very intense discussion on the executive committee regarding how to assess financial risk, and how to do that balancing so that we can, in fact, meet outside North America and Europe. We have no intention of limiting our meetings to North America and Western Europe forever. We will be having a poll up before too long seeking input from all of you on this crucial issue. Nancy

Hi,

The cities I mentioned as possible conference venues are just examples. Of course Budapest is a nice city and I am pretty sure that Chicago is one too. My point is, that we should start including other, in many respects marginalized, regions of the world in the diverse discourses about the internet. And having a conference in an, e.g., non-English speaking country of the South would signal that research from outside Europe and Northamerica is welcomed and recognised. As internet usage shifts from Northamerica and Western Europe to Asia and Latin America, researchers need to establish and renew networks and bonds to these regions.

Cheers, Philipp

-- Philipp Budka philbu@gmx.net Rustengasse 5/10 A-1150 Wien, Austria http://www.philbu.net http://www.lateinamerika-studien.at --

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-- Nancy Baym http://www.ku.edu/home/nbaym Communication Studies, University of Kansas Bailey Hall, 1440 Jayhawk Blvd., Room 102, Lawrence, KS 66045-7574, USA Association of Internet Researchers: http://aoir.org