Call for Papers

Internet Research 13.0: Technologies

The 13th Annual International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR)

October 18-21, 2012

MediaCity:UK – University of Salford
Salford – Greater Manchester – UK

Internet Research 13.0 will focus on the theme of technologies, understood in the broadest sense as crafts, techniques, and systems. The conference will examine the place of the Internet in the contemporary world and in relation to a range of existing and emerging technologies, considering its impact in a context where life is entangled with technologies of all kinds as never before. The conference will bring together scholars, researchers, students and practitioners from many disciplines to map and situate the development of the Internet as part of the history of human technology.

To this end, we call for papers, panel and pre-conference workshop proposals from any discipline, methodology, community or a combination of them that address the conference themes, including, but not limited to, papers that intersect and/or interconnect with the following:

• the speed and acceleration of technological change
• 
the past, present and future of technology
• emerging and converging technologies
• educational technology
• cultures of crafting
• connectivity and access
• space, location and mobile technologies
• technology, networks and attachments
• 
technology and the body
• 
technologies of the self
• technology, regulation and ethics

Sessions at the conference will be established that specifically address the conference themes, and we welcome innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on those themes. We also welcome submissions on topics that address social, cultural, political, legal, aesthetic, economic, and/or philosophical aspects of the internet beyond the conference themes. In all cases, we welcome disciplinary and interdisciplinary submissions as well as international collaborations from both AoIR and non-AoIR members.

Submissions

We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. As in the past, we welcome proposals for traditional academic conference PAPERS, organized PANEL PROPOSALS that present a coherent group of papers on a single theme, as well as PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS which focus on a particular topic. We also invite proposals that will focus on discussion and interaction among conference delegates. A common form of this type is the ROUNDTABLE SESSION, but we would also like to encourage other formats, such as OPEN FISHBOWL SESSIONS. (See the Wikipedia entry under “Fishbowl (conversation)” for a description of this format. Fishbowl sessions should cover broad topics of interest to a wide segment of the AoIR community.) Finally, we invite short 5-minute talks on topics of interest to the community as part of our Ignite-IR panels. Please see below for more information on this format.

Deadlines

• 

Submissions Due: 1 March 2012 (Papers, Panels and Pre-Workshops. Details below.)
  NOTE: The submission deadline is a HARD DEADLINE; there will be NO extensions to this date.
• Notification: 1 May 2012
• Full Papers Submissions Due for inclusion in Selected Papers of IR: 1 July 2012
• Ignite-IR Final Proposal Deadline: 1 August 2012
• Ignite-IR Slides Due: 15 September 2012

Submission Requirements

• All papers and presentations will be evaluated in a standard blind peer review.
• PAPERS (individual or multi-author) – submit abstract of 600-800 words
• PANEL PROPOSALS – submit a description of 600-800 words on the panel theme, plus a 250-500 word abstract for each paper or presentation. The panel organizer must assemble these materials for submission
• ROUNDTABLE and FISHBOWL PROPOSALS – submit a statement indicating the nature of the discussion and form of interaction, and listing initial participants. (In the case of a fishbowl proposal, this will include the name of the moderator, and the names of the first four speakers for the fishbowl.)
• PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS – please submit all workshop proposals via email to atwood@aoir.org. Workshop proposals should include names of presenters and a 1,000-word description.
• IGNITE-IR – please submit a one-paragraph abstract and other information. Details at http://ir13.aoir.org/ignite-ir

Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the submitted proposals on the basis of multiple blind peer review, coordinated and overseen by the Program Chair. Each individual may present only one paper during the conference, though they may be listed as a co-author on multiple papers. In addition to this one presentation, they may also appear on a panel, roundtable, or performance. The exception is the Ignite-IR lightening talk, which may be in addition to any other presentations.

Publication of Papers

Full papers submitted by the 1 July 2012 deadline will undergo review to be published in an open-access, online collection, Selected Papers of Internet Research (ISSN 2162-3317). A template and guidelines for preparing your final paper are available on the conference website (http://ir13.aoir.org/papers)

Selected papers from the conference will alternatively be published in a special issue of the journal Information, Communication & Society. Authors selected for submission for this issue will be contacted prior to the conference.

Pre-conference Workshops

On 18 October 2012, there will be a limited number of pre-conference workshops and symposia that will provide participants with in-depth, hands-on and/or creative opportunities. We invite proposals for these pre-conference workshops. Local presenters are encouraged to propose workshops that will invite visiting researchers into their labs or studios or locales. Proposals should be no more than 1,000 words, and should clearly outline the purpose, methodology, structure, costs, equipment and minimal attendance required, as well as explaining its relevance to the conference as a whole. Proposals will be accepted if they demonstrate that the workshop will add significantly to the overall program in terms of thematic depth, hands on experience, or local opportunities for scholarly or artistic connections. These proposals and all inquiries regarding pre-conference proposals should be submitted as soon as possible to both the program chair (atwood@aoir.org) and no later than 1 March 2012.

Contact Information

Program Chair: Feona Attwood, Communication, Sheffield Hallam University, UK. email: attwood@aoir.org

Local Conference Chair: Ben Light, School of Media, Music, and Performance, University of Salford, UK. email: light@aoir.org

Ethics of Secrecy

Call for Papers for Vol. 17 (07/2012)

• Deadline for extended abstracts: January 15, 2012
• Notification of acceptance to authors: February 29, 2012
• Deadline for full articles: May 1, 2012
• Deadline for revised articles: June 15, 2012
• Publication: July 2012

The concept of “secrecy” is bound up in a variety of aspects of information ethics, sometimes in con-flicting ways: respecting personal privacy and opposing undue surveillance ensures a certain level of secrecy in one’s personal life and activities; to ensure security and public safety, government secrecy is often justifiable; open records laws and whistleblower protections are meant to limit government secrecy and promote transparency; corporate trade secrets remain secret to protect investments and economic growth; the secrecy of our personal lives is increasingly shattered – and commodified – through social media or, to paint a black picture: the personal freedom to conceal and reveal information and thus even the concept of personal identity might be at stake.

This special issue will explore the complex nature of “secrecy” in our contemporary information society. The ethical exploration of secrecy must be renewed in the face of the multiple and shifting social, political and cultural contexts in which information and people flow.

We welcome papers analyzing ethical problems of online social networks such as:

• Privacy, reputation, and the secrecy of personal information
• Tensions between secrecy and transparency
• Corporate secrecy and the ethics of whistleblowing
• The value of secrecy in a social information ecosystem
• The ethics of secrecy across cultures and societies
• Secrecy, transparency, privacy: moral principles of democracy?
• Government secrecy and the ethics of WikiLeaks
• Privacy and secrecy in ethical and sociological discussion
• The “interplay” between secrecy and mass/social media
• Privacy and secrecy in the discussion of communication science
• …

Guest Editors:

Daniel Nagel
Attorney
BRP Renaud & Partner
Stuttgart, Germany
daniel.nagel@brp.de

Prof. Dr. Matthias Rath
Director, Research Center Youth – Media – Education
University of Education Ludwigsburg, Germany
fjmb@ph-ludwigsburg.de

Michael Zimmer, PhD
School of Information Studies
Co-Director, Center for Information Policy Research
University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA
zimmerm@wum.edu

Submission guideline:

Potential authors are requested to submit an extended abstract (for details see http://www.i-r-i- e.net/about_irie.htm) by December 31, 2011. Abstracts may be submitted in the native language of the author though an English translation of this abstract must be included if the chosen language is not English. IRIE will publish articles in English, French, German, Portuguese or Spanish. The author(s) of contributions in French, Portuguese, or Spanish must nominate at least two potential peer reviewers.

Abstracts will be evaluated by the guest editors.

Deadline for the final article (usually ca. 3,000 words or 20,000 characters including blanks) is May 1, 2012. All final articles must conform to the IRIE style sheet. All full submissions will be subject to peer review. Therefore the acceptance of an extended abstract does not imply the publication of the final text, unless the article has passed the peer review and revisions (if required) have been included in the text.

All submissions should be sent by email with “IRIE-Secrecy Submission” in the header to Michael Zimmer: zimmerm@uwm.edu

On the opening morning of the conference, I will join John Palfrey and Lydia Shrier for a plenary panel on “Would Margaret Mead Have Blogged? How Social Media has Changed Research”. My slides for that presentation are provided below. I will also be leading a workshop on “Research, the Cloud, and the IRB”, and giving a presentation to the U.S. Department of Energy Human Subjects Working Group.

Internet research ethics is well represented at this year’s AER conference, with a strong track focusing on “Research Involving the Internet & Social Networking”. Among these presentations and workshops are several led by Elizabeth Buchanan. Buchanan will be co-facilitating a pre-conference workshop entitled “What a Tangled Web We Weave: Ethical, Regulatory, and technical Aspects of Internet Research”. She is also participating in the following workshops:  “Research, the Internet, and the IRB: Ethical and Regulatory Issues,” “Research, Social Media and the IRB,” and “Ethical Implications of Pre and Post Enrollment uses of Social Media in Clinical Trials”.

Monday, Elizabeth Buchanan and I are convening a doctoral colloquium, bringing together over thirty young scholars to discuss their dissertation research with a collection of notable Internet researchers. It should be a stimulating — and hopefully fruitful — day.

Tuesday the main conference kicks off, featuring a new format for AoIR: Ignite presentations. An “Ignite” presentation is a structured, high-energy, short talk in which you share your passion and creative ideas about internet research. Like pecha-kucha, Ignite is formed around a formalism: you must create a “deck” of 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. This represents a radical departure from the traditional paper presentation, and is focused on telling an enlightening story, making an argument, and inciting an audience to come to your way of thinking and action. Nick Proferes, a 2nd year SOIS PhD student, is slated to kick off the ignite sessions with a very clever presentation of his on-going research into how issues of research ethics are discussed on the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) mailing list. I saw a preview of Nick’s talk — it will be very entertaining.

Wednesday, I’m moderating a privacy panel, featuring these excellent papers:

Information Movements in Networked Spaces: A Model of Networked Private and Public Spaces
Beth Patin, Jeff Hemsley, Karine Nahon
University of Washington, United States of America

Seeing Surveillance in the Cloud: Both Sides for the Moment
David J. Phillips, Karen Pollock, Michael Murphy
U Toronto, Canada

Social Networking & Young Adults in the U.S.: Participation, Privacy, and (Mis)Perceptions
Heidi A. McKee, Hillary Oberpeul, Amy Wilkins, Francis Kazungu
Miami University, United States of America

I also will be attending various sessions on technology & resistance, the Wisconsin labor protests, and, of course, just catching up with many old friends.

And while in Seattle, I’ll be taking in the Battlestar Galactica exhibit at the EMP museum. I also might or might not be spending some time at Tavern Law.

Hope to see many of you there!

The department’s motivation was largely to ensure professionalism in how its student teachers were acting on social media: not complaining about students on Facebook, Tweeting out funny things a kid said in class, or ranting about a co-worker in a blog post.

I haven’t tried to write such a policy previously, and wanted to carefully balance these important professionalization concerns with a student’s freedom of expression. To guide me, I looked over a variety of existing policies, and came up with the following as an initial draft.

Thoughts?  (I’m particularly concerned about my initial suggestion that students not create blogs to provide commentary on their experiences)

Professionalism, Student Teaching, and Social Media

This document presents social media use guidelines and recommendations suggested for all UWM student teachers. For the purposes of this document, social media means any facility for online publication and commentary, including without limitation blogs, wiki’s, discussion forums, and social networking sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Tumblr, Google+, Flickr, and YouTube. These guidelines complement – but do not replace – any existing policies regarding the use of technology, computers, e-mail and the Internet in place at UW-Milwaukee or the location of your student teaching placement.

As a student teacher, participation in social media and commenting in online media stories carries with it certain professional obligations. In your role as a student teacher, you represent UW-M with your placement institution. More importantly, you are an educator – a role model – for the students in your classroom. Your actions online should respect these professional obligations.

While all student teachers are welcome to participate in social media, we expect everyone who participates in online commentary to understand and to follow these simple but important guidelines. The goal of these guidelines is simple: to allow you to participate online in a respectful, relevant way that protects your reputation, the reputation of UW-M, respects the relationship between teachers and students, and of course follows the letter and spirit of the law.

Setting up Social Media

Social media identities, logon ID’s and user names should not reference your position as a student teacher or the school in which you are working. You should also not create blogs or social media sites for the specific purpose to provide commentary on your student teaching experience.

Don’t Tell Secrets

It’s perfectly acceptable to talk about your work and have a dialog with the community, but it’s not okay to publish confidential or sensitive information that might jeopardize the privacy of students or the overall educational environment. This includes information such as unpublished details about internal issues within a school or department, examples of student work or performance assessments, conversations had with students, conversations overheard within school, etc.

Respect your audience, your school, and your students

The public in general, and your school’s community and students, reflect a diverse set of people, values and points of view. Don’t be afraid to be yourself, but do so respectfully. This includes not only the obvious (no ethnic slurs, offensive comments, defamatory comments, personal insults, obscenity, etc.) but also proper consideration of privacy and of topics that may be considered objectionable or inflammatory – such as politics and religion. Use your best judgment and be sure to make it clear that the views and opinions expressed are yours alone and do not represent the official views of UW-M or your school.

Student Contact

It is best to not contact or interact with any students from your school through social media, such as Facebook posts/messages, Twitter, or instant messages. Official communication, when appropriate, could take place through official email. Student teachers should also refrain from “friending” or “following” any students from your school on social media.

 

I am pleased to announce the following student travel grant opportunity for IR 12 in Seattle.

The Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) is pleased to again offer a CIPR Student Award in Information Policy & Ethics, to sponsor one student (undergraduate, graduate or post-doc) for the Association of Internet Researchers IR12 Conference in Seattle, Washington. The amount of the award is US$500.

The student’s research must focus on some aspect of information policy or ethics, and internet studies, broadly conceived. The recipient must have an accepted paper at IR12 and must attend to present the research.

To apply, please send the following documents to Michael Zimmer at zimmerm@uwm.edu:

• Accepted Paper Abstract
• CV
• Brief statement describing how the paper/research will make an impact on the fields of information policy, ethics, and internet studies.

Application deadline is August 31, 2011. Notification of award will be received by September 15.

The recipient should acknowledge the CIPR grant at IR12 and in any subsequent presentations or publications.

***

The Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) is the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s multidisciplinary research center for the study of the intersections between the policy, ethical, political, social and legal aspects of the global information society. It is lead by co-directors Dr. Joyce Latham and Dr. Michael Zimmer.

As CIPR Co-Director, I’m very pleased to make this announcement:

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Information Studies (SOIS) and the Center for Information Policy Research (CIPR) is proud to welcome Dr. Nadine Kozak as the 2011-12 Postdoctoral Fellow in Information Policy. Dr. Kozak is an interdisciplinary scholar; she has a BA (Honors) in History from the University of Calgary, a MA in Communication from Carleton University, and a PhD in Communication and Science Studies from the University of California, San Diego.

Dr. Kozak’s research explores government projects and public-private partnerships created with the intent to expand broadband services to unserved and underserved communities, and analyzes how these projects are adopted in rural areas by a variety of organizations and residents. Her dissertation research analyzed the development of broadband services in two regions, rural Wyoming and rural Alberta, Canada, using interview data, ethnographic data, government documents, and newspaper reports.

During her time at SOIS, Dr. Kozak will research projects carried out with federal Broadband Technology Opportunities Program funding. Her work will explore whether these projects achieve their goals of creating sustainable broadband adoption and compare these with older adoption programs in the U.S. and Canada. She plans to complete journal articles about advanced telecommunications and the results of deregulation. In addition to research and writing, while at SOIS, she would like to teach a class on the history of U.S. information policy, starting with the Post Office and culminating with the current state of telecommunications regulation.

While Nadine will greatly miss the Pacific Ocean and San Diego’s amazing beaches, she is excited to live in Milwaukee. During a brief visit to the city in June, she quickly began to appreciate Milwaukee’s age and heritage. Outside of work, Nadine would like to learn about, and enjoy, the region through food, museums, and festivals.

I’m also very happy to announce that Wilhelm Peekhaus, our 2010-2011 IP Postdoc Fellow, will be joining the SOIS faculty this fall.

The School of Information Studies (SOIS) at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) invites applications for a full-time tenure-track position in Information Studies at the rank of Assistant, Associate or Full Professor. The selected applicant will teach courses in the School’s graduate and, possibly, undergraduate programs. A PhD and MLIS (or comparable degree) are required as is demonstrated ability in research and teaching.

Applicants should have a strong background in information policy, including, but not limited to, ethical, cultural, technological or political issues as they relate to the information professions, systems, and infrastructures that make up our global information society.

Experience or demonstrated ability in design and delivery of courses in a variety of formats, including distance learning modes, is highly desirable. The Applicant should demonstrate the ability to teach in at least one of the core areas in the SOIS MLIS program and advanced graduate elective courses in her/his areas of expertise. Opportunities will also be available to teach in the School’s Bachelor of Science program in Information Science and Technology. The Applicant should be willing to work closely with doctoral students and to serve on dissertation committees. Experienced researcher a plus. Applicants who are eligible for a senior level appointment are especially encouraged to apply.

The preferred expected start date is January, 2012, and no later than August 2012.

For full details and to apply, visit the official posting here (position #2730).

My contribution to the discussion focuses on identifying some of the unique ethical dilemmas that youth face in their information-based environments, and how some of our current literacy standards help address some of those issues. More importantly, I suggest four new strategies to help achieve ethical literacy in youth:

• Talking and listening to youth
  • Discover their unique perspectives on privacy, property, information sharing & exchange
  • Need to shape ethical lessons & examples accordingly
• Ensure ethics are integrated into all literacy-related educational activities
  • Specifically address ethical questions related to each learning outcome
  • Add ethical components to computer literacy courses, information literacy sessions, special projects
• Reach youth through information technology
  • Engage the technology, don’t build fear of it
  • Create ways to teach ethics through the active use of Facebook, Wikipedia
• Turn all information interactions into “ethical teaching moments”
  • Game nights could include discussion of cheating
  • YouTube video contests could address copyright
  • Searching Google can present lessons on bias, free speech, censorship

The slides framing my contribution can be accessed below. I’m really looking forward to this conversation.

As Ars Technica summarizes:

[At] the urging of Wisconsin’s state telecommunications association, Republican legislators have introduced an omnibus bill that would sever WiscNet from the University of Wisconsin at Madison’s Division of Informational Technology, and bar it from taking any money from UW.

The proposed law even goes so far as to prohibit UW from taking National Telecommunications Information Agency (NTIA) broadband stimulus grants, or joining any entity that offers broadband to the general public.

These measures would force UW to return an estimated $39 million in such funds to Washington, DC, warned Tony Evers, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, last week. And they would force schools to turn to Badgernet, Wisconsin’s state wide-area-network, which depends heavily on AT&T as its primary vendor.

Today, individual members of the UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies community has joined the chorus of voices speaking out against this bill. A PDF of the letter is here, and the full text is below.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Zimmer, michael.zimmer@gmail.com

Dear members of the State Legislature:

As library and information science students, scholars, professionals, and educators, we are dedicated to maximizing and defending people’s free access to information and knowledge. Given this professional and ethical obligation, the undersigned individual members of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee School of Information Studies community urge the removal of sections 23-26 in the currently pending UW System Budget Bill.

Advanced and affordable broadband Internet networking is critical to the success of students, researchers and industry statewide. Services such as WISCNET, and related consortial connectivity projects like Internet2 and EDUCAUSE, provide vital access to information for libraries, schools, historical societies, museums, hospitals and local municipalities across Wisconsin.

The “telecommunications” section of the legislation as proposed would severely limit broadband connectivity throughout the state of Wisconsin and would cut the networked information services various libraries and educational institutions provide to the citizens of the state of Wisconsin, such as Internet access, networking and collaboration, and online education and job training. It would also prohibit the UW System from being a member of Internet2 and other nonprofit consortia focusing on connectivity and information exchange, severely limiting state educators, researchers, and learners’ ability to participate in global, national and regional research and learning development in areas from Alzheimer’s prevention to astrophysics to child development.

The passage of sections 23-26 of the UW System Budget Bill would be devastating to the State. The undersigned individual members of the UW-Milwaukee School of Information Studies community strongly urge the legislature to remove these sections form the bill, and to support WISCNET and other connectivity initiatives that provide vital access to information in support of the State’s educational and economic development.

Signed,

(Signees are writing in their personal capacity, not as representatives of UW-Milwaukee or the School of Information Studies. Titles and affiliations are for identification purposes only, and imply no institutional endorsements.)

• Liza Barry-Kessler, Doctoral Student
• Edward Benoit III, Doctoral Student
• Katie Blank, Assoc. Special Librarian
• Dave Bloom, Researcher
• Raina Bloom, Lecturer
• Amy Cooper Cary, Director, Archival Studies Program
• Karen Davies, Assistant Professor
• Alexandra Dimitroff, Associate Professor
• Melodie Fox, Doctoral Student
• Thomas Haigh, Associate Professor
• Rebecca Hall, Web Development & Marketing Coordinator
• Catherine Hansen, Lecturer & Director, Professional Development Institute
• Anthony Hoffmann, Doctoral Student
• Adam Hudson, Lecturer
• Jessica Hutchings, Graduate Advisor
• Dick Kawooya, Senior Lecturer
• Margaret Kipp, Assistant Professor
• Sharon Lake, Graduate Advisor
• Joyce M. Latham, Assistant Professor, Co-Director, Center for Information Policy Research, Coordinator, Public Library Leadership Program
• Peter J Lor, Visiting Professor
• Marta Magnuson, Doctoral Student
• Jeremy Mauger, Doctoral Student
• Steven Miller, Senior Lecturer
• Robert Nunez, Web Developer & Graduate Student
• Wihelm Peekhaus, Post-doctoral Research Associate
• Nick Proferes, Doctoral Student
• Angela Sadowsky, Undergraduate Advisor
• Betsy Schoeller, Lecturer & Distance Education Coordinator
• Jim Schultz, Information Technology Specialist & Graduate Student
• James Sweetland, Professor Emeritus
• Gabriella Tato, Marketing Media Assistant
• Thomas D. Walker, Associate Professor
• Mary Wepking, Senior Lecturer & School Library Media Coordinator
• Bonnie Withers, Lecturer
• Iris Xie, Professor
• Chad Zahrt, Assistant Dean
• Michael Zimmer, Assistant Professor & Co-Director, Center for Information Policy Research