Steven Clift wrote:

I am hoping to connect with various Internet researchers when I am in Japan in May. (snip)

I will be speaking at a symposium on e-democracy in Tokyo, Japan.

I suggest that you check the E-government community on the Development Gateway site (which has more the 500 subscribed members): http://www.developmentgateway.org/node/130619/ More generally, I would like to suggest that AoIR members participate in the Development Gateway site. http://www.developmentgateway.org/ It will serve us to the extent that we participate. I have joined as an advisor for its "Information and Communication Technologies for Development" and "Knowledge Economy" Topic pages, and have been working to add resources (papers and links) to the Gateway resources. It is easy to do so. The Development Gateway is still in its early phases, but with more than 900 ICT4D and more than 400 KE resources, and some 500 members in each community, it is becoming a useful resource. If you help, we can make it more useful in the future. -- John Daly http://www.geocities.com/stconsultant/