Dear Friends- I in the process of conceiving a major research project on the Blackberry as metonym for mobile Internet communication. This wil be a multi-dimensional project, involving research into the the development of the Blackberry, the insitutional culture of production at Research in Motion (based here in Waterloo, Ontario--how is that for convenience), advertising and marketing strategies, intellectual property issues,, and ethnographies of the Blackberry in everyday life. What I have mind is a comprehensive cultural analysis of the Blackberry like Paul Du Gay and his collaboraties did for the Walkman in the DOING CULTURAL STUDIES series. So, I have two requests for the AOIR commmunity: 1)I would appreciate any references concerning the topic of Internet mobility generally and the Blackberry and/or other hand-held device more specifically. 2)Depending on how fruitful the initial research is, I would be interested in partnering with other scholars interested in this topic with eye towards submitting a MCRI (Major Collborative Research Grant) to the Social Science and Humanities Reserach Council here in Canada. The SSHRC encourages international collaboration, but the majority of co-applicants must be affiliated with Canadian institutions. Let me know if you are interested, especially if you are north of the 49th parallel. Thanks in advance for your assistance and interest. Andrew Herman Andrew Herman, Ph. D. Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies Wilfrid Laurier University Waterloo, Ontario N2L 3C5 CANADA 519 884-1970 x3693