Dear list-members, Now that the Call for Papers for the AoIR 2008 conference: Internet Research 9.0: Rethinking community, Rethinking Place should have been posted to the list…. … I will use this opportunity to, as the local conference chair and on behalf of the local organising committee, extend a warm “welcome all” to the 2008 conference. The conference will physically take place at my home university, the IT University of Copenhagen (www.itu.dk), and it is organised in conjunction with the University of Copenhagen, Faculty of Humanities, which lives right next door. Even though it will be a longish travel for some of you, I hope that many of you will be able to make it to Copenhagen to take part in the event. When sunny weather (which it will of course be!), Scandinavian autumn can still in the month of October be very beautiful - with temperatures around 10 degree celcius, and Copenhagen is a safe, modern small-scale metropolis which offers a huge variety of cultural experiences and excellent opportunities to shop both traditional and up-coming Scandinavian Design. A version 1.0 of the conference website is also finally available at http//:conferences.aoir.org and here you can find some basic information about Copenhagen, the venue, travel and accommodation (fyi, we have now negotiated some good hotel deals, that you should partake of!). When we draw closer in time to the conference, on the website the local committee will also share with you their suggestions on things to see and places to go wine and dine in Copenhagen and vicinity. Also, when going to Denmark, don’t miss the opportunity to also visit the city of Århus on Tuesday October 14th in order to participate in our affiliated one day conference: “Web_site Histories: Theories, Methods, Analysis “, organised by Niels Brügger and Vidar Falkenberg at the Centre for Internet Research at the University of Aarhus. For more information, see: http://www.cfi.au.dk/en/events/upcoming. Århus is an approx. three hour train ride away from Copenhagen. Finally, if you have questions of any kind regarding the venue, the country and the conference organisation, please do not hesitate to contact us at: ir9conf@itu.dk Christmas greetings, Lisbeth Klastrup Conference Chair & the Local Committee: Klaus Bruhn Jensen Gitte Stald Charlie Breindahl Stine Gotved Anna Sommer (academic officer, event coordinator as of January 1st 2008)