February 18, 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 2002 Conference Coordinator: Monica Murero 2002 Conference Program Chair: Klaus Bruhn Jensen 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 I spent a marvelous few days in Toronto last week, meeting with our 2003 conference organizers, and I'm pleased to see that the planning for the conference is full-steam ahead. I stayed at the conference hotel, in fact (the Hilton in downtown Toronto) and was impressed not only with its meeting facilities and reasonable room rates (regardless of the strength of the US dollar against the Canadian one, for a downtown hotel in a major urban area it is a good deal) but also impressed with the reasonable rates ($10 CAD) for high speed Internet access in the rooms. The hotel is very near numerous restaurants, cafes, clubs and music venues, shopping areas. In short, the venue will be first-rate, and the organizers are making great progress! Registration for the conference will soon be open, in the meantime please send in your submissions for presentation, ideas for pre-conference workshops, and encourage your colleagues and others to consider submitting and attending the conference. Feel free, of course, to pass along the call for papers. You will see below in Ulla's report that the AoIR executive committee has had good discussion and voted on election related matters (thanks to the elections working group!). We will be implementing the changes voted upon very soon, as we announce the opening of nominations and schedule for elections. I wish to thank the members of the executive committee for taking this work very seriously and putting considerable effort into it. And last, but not least, the executive committee, at my instigation, has discussed the matter of a dues increase, and has passed unanimously (11/11) a small increase in dues that I proposed. The increases will be only to two categories, professional mebership and graduate student membership, increasing them to $45 and $30 (USD) respectively. In short, without a dues increase, we will be unable to do the things many are clamoring for (journal, publications, conference subsidies, etc.). It is also necessary to plan ahead for contingencies such as no longer having the good graces of a university that will host our web site and server. I will next take the proposed increase to the membership for a vote. 2.2 Vice President (Baym) 2.2.1 Nothing of particular significance to report. Just the usual thinking ahead and participating in discussions summarized elsewhere. 2.3 Secretary (Bunz) 2.3.1 I have spent much time counting votes and keeping discussions on various issues organized and summarized (see below; we made some important decisions). Of course, I also contributed to these discussions. January 13 - February 12, 2003 This month on the executive list: . The executive committee has completed its discussion of the election committee report. We have voted on each of the seven recommendations. More information will be made available on how certain changes will be instituted, but here is a brief summary of the recommendations: Recommendation a) publicize election policies (listserve, handout, website) - Result: we accept the recommendation (8/11) and will create/edit the election policies and then publish them Recommendation b) provide candidate info based on questions provided by election committee - Result: we accept the recommendation (8/11) and will provide a space on our website for candidates to post their answers Recommendation c) running for one seat only - Result: we accept the recommendation (6/11) and will add this to our election policies Recommendation d) keep nominating candidates as is (self or others can nominate) - Result: we accept the recommendation (8/11) (meaning: we will make no changes to our nominating procedures); one committee member would like to have noted his strong objection to this recommendation as he strongly favors the creation of a nominating committee Recommendation e) adopt preferential/weighted voting - Result: after intense discussion, we reject the recommendation (6/11) and will not adopt a preferential voting system at this point; the voting system will stay as is Recommendation f) asynchronous candidate forum (to answer questions pertinent to seat) - Result: we accept the recommendation (8/11) and will create an online space for this Recommendation g) create divisions to allow more member involvement - Result: we reject the recommendation (8/11) and will not create divisions at this point . The executive committee has discussed a host proposal for the 2004 conference and is overall very excited about this particular site and the people who proposed to host the 2004 conference. We are currently awaiting more information from the site. We also have two sites who have communicated interest in hosting the conference for 2005, though no formal proposals have been submitted yet. . The executive committee shared examples of AoIR's reach into even more countries and disciplines. We are excited to attract more and more people from more and more countries and create research bonds that overcome language and cultural barriers. 2.4 Treasurer (Bates) 2.4.1 No report. 2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman) 2.5.1 Silver: I've been active on the listserv, discussing a number of issues including election processes and possible affiliations. 2.5.2 Wellman: I continue liasing on the October Internet Research conference between the Toronto Working Committee, the Toronto Steering Committee (which I chair), AOIR, and KMDI (local research institute which is supporting conference.) The Toronto Steering Committee had a good meeting recently. 2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade) 2.6.1 Allen: No report. 2.6.2 Shade: Nothing to report . 2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup) 2.7.1 Nothing to report. Voted. (busy finishing my dissertation, due around March 1st!) 2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl) 2.8.1 Hunsinger: January's time was spent on the submission and review process. There was discussion on the elections discussion also. Other than that, I have a bit more programming to do on the review system, which is a separate program from the submission system, but everything looks good to go. 2.8.2 Breindahl: I still spend a few hours each week reading everybody's e-mail. We get a lot of spam and such-like these days. Major changes to the AoIR site will have to wait, as I am busy with an imminent deadline and my dissertation. Also, as a computer games researcher, I have to play a few rounds of Halo now and then. 2.9 2003 Conference (Liss Jeffrey, Chair; Matthew Allen, David Mitchell, Program Co-Chairs) 2.9.1 Jeffrey (with her team: Katherine Parrish, Jason Nolan, Alex Kuskis, and steering committee chair Barry Wellman): Nothing to report. 2.9.2 Mitchell: Nothing to report. 2.10 AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair) 2.10.1 No report. 2.11 AoIR Research Annual Working Group (Mia Consalvo, Chair) 2.11.1 No report. 2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Chair) 2.12.1 There has been no activity in the 'Net WG. ------------------------------------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