Secretary report (Bunz) On a personal note, I'd like to share my colleagues' excitement and enthusiasm about the recent conference. I would forsake sleep any time for another four days like these. Actually, I'm looking forward to doing just that next year in Maastricht, only an hour's drive from where I grew up. I'm excited to be part of this association, and to be able to meet and exchange ideas with so many of you. Together, we can do great things! Please find below the minutes of the executive committee meeting, 2001. ulla ********************************************** Association of Internet Researchers 2nd Annual Executive Committee Meeting Minneapolis, October 12/13, 2001 Minutes October 12 An informal pre-meeting took place on October 12, 2001. Attending were: Steve Jones, Nancy Baym, Benjamin Bates, Ulla Bunz, David Silver, Jeremy Hunsinger, and Charlie Breindahl. The purpose of the meeting was 1) to welcome the new officers to their positions, 2) to appoint two publication officers, and 3) to nominate people for the two appointed open seats. Jeremy Hunsinger and Charlie Breindahl accepted their nominations for publication officers. Matthew Allen and Leslie Shade were nominated for the appointed open seats. They later accepted their appointments. October 13 Attending were: Steve Jones, Nancy Baym, Benjamin Bates, Ulla Bunz, Andrea Baker (for Barry Wellman), Leslie Shade, David Silver, Matthew Allen, Jeremy Hunsinger, and Charlie Breindahl. At 9 pm, Monica Murero (conference chair for 2002) and Ira Nayman (conference chair for 2003) joined the meeting. Lisbeth Klastrup was absent. Steve Jones called the meeting to order at 7 pm. After recalling the previous evenings events and welcoming Leslie and Matthew to the committee, Steve Jones introduced the first item on the agenda. 1. ASSOCIATION ACTION ITEMS 1.1 Journal and Book discounts There are no changes as to the journal and book discounts members of Aoir receive. The discounts are outlined on the association website. Members can now get a discount on a new book, "Cyber Education." Nancy Baym called for an effort to assess the existing benefits. The committee agreed to seek membership input and will call for volunteers at a later time. 1.2 Conference Proceedings Jeremy Hunsinger reported a distinct membership interest in making conference proceedings available online. Jeremy will provide a special email address via the association listserve so people can submit manuscripts. Submission will be voluntary, but encouraged. 1.3 Syllabus Archive It was suggested to use the resources on David Silver's RCCS website. Rather than creating a joint site, the committee agreed to link the RCCS site to a new Aoir site in a collaborative effort. Access to the RCCS site would still be free. Access to the Aoir site, which would contain PDF files of syllabi in an effort to preserve the history of developing syllabi, will require paid membership in Aoir. David Silver and Jeremy Hunsinger agreed to work on this. David and Jeremy will seek to complete this (then ongoing) project by October 2002. David also agreed to construct a test site with Fall 2001 syllabi that would also include search capabilities. A final decision about how to tackle the larger project will be made depending on the outcome of this test site. 1.4 Clearinghouse on Website for Non-Aoir Conferences In an effort to provide papers and not just announcements of other conferences, Nancy Baym will connect with Rob Kling and his students, who are involved in a project on scholarly communication and information technology. The intent is to investigate what Aoir might do and what the association needs to consider in helping facilitate scholarly communication, publishing, paper collecting, etc. Nancy also calls for a vision and timeline for the kinds of electronic resources Aoir would want to provide. 1.5 Prizes/Awards It was agreed to award the best graduate student paper with books and a certificate. Award winners will also be publicized on the website, including a list of past recipients. It was also suggested to institute voting for "my favorite article/book this year." David Silver will investigate how other organizations handle similar assessments. 1.6 Ethics Task Force Charles Ess has agreed to serve on the Ethics Task Force again. The goal is to develop an association Code of Ethics which would be presented in 2002 and voted on by the full membership. 1.7 Database/Bibliography Steve Jones suggested to create a database modeled after ERIC. The committee agreed that though including titles and abstracts from other conferences would be highly desirable, this is beyond Aoir's capabilities at this point. It remains a future goal. Jeremy Hunsinger agreed to share the existing review system, that will then be evaluated by the executive committee. No final decision was made on this issue. The fundamental question is what kinds of databases Aoir will get the most benefits from providing. The committee is in the process of continuous reflection on this issue. 1.8 Virtual Graduate Seminar Originally, the virtual graduate seminar's purpose was to create panels for Aoir conferences. The committee agreed that the online information is outdated and reflects poorly on the association. The information will be taken down for now. The committee encouraged Lisbeth Klastrup to consider and organize any future action upon this issue. Lisbeth is currently sharing her ideas with the committee. 2. NEW BUSINESS 2.1 Mailing Lists Much discussion arose from the suggestion to have a user inputted annotated list of other Internet Study mailing lists. The two main arguments were to a) have a community built overview list, or b) ask list owners to write descriptions of their list. It was finally agreed to not pursue formal action on this issue at this point. If members desire to share information about other listserves, they can do so on the association listserve. Matthew Allen suggested that depending on membership interest and contribution, a website could be created and linked into the Aoir website. 2.2 Moderated Chats/Forums In general, the committee supported the idea to have moderated chats or discussion forums online. After much reflection, the committee agreed to leave things as they are at this point. The general opinion was that discourse will develop on its own. [Note: Discussion on a related topic continued throughout the executive committee listserve. Charlie Breindahl suggested to provide sign-up sheets at the next conference to have open discussion forums among conference attendees with similar interests. Nancy Baym supported this idea, and options will be evaluated and decided on by the committee and Monica Murero.] 2.3 Media Relations It was suggested to create a "list of expertise" that could be shared with the media. "Expertise" would be defined as information volunteered by the people described. As this issue is sensitive, and media contacts are usually handled by a specifically designated public relations officer, the committee agree to not move on this suggestion for now, but instead contemplate the suggestion. 2.4 Research Database It was suggested to create an online library of research data sets, such as Pew data, or dissertation data. The goal would be to stimulate joint research; and the further use and interpretation of existing data. Lisbeth Klastrup is currently sharing her ideas with the committee, especially on involving graduate students. 2.5 Growing Aoir Aoir membership needs to grow in number. It was agreed to publicize Aoir's existence widely through conference announcements, and through providing flyers about Aoir at related conferences. 3. AOIR 3, 2002, IN MAASTRICHT The meeting continued with planning and discussion regarding the 2002 conference in Maastricht. Detailed information will be shared on the soon-to-be opened air-meet listserve. At the end of the meeting, president Steve Jones expressed his sincere gratitude to the current committee for its enthusiasm and active involvement during the executive committee meeting. With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. Respectfully submitted, Ulla Bunz, Oct 17, 2001 ******************************************** Ulla K. Bunz Ph.D. Candidate, Teaching Assistant University of Kansas 102 Bailey Lawrence, KS 66045 785-864-1160 ulla@ukans.edu ******************************************** Never Surrender ... ********************************************