The event is free and open to the public:

• Tuesday, May 8, 2012
• 6:00-8:000pm
• UW-Milwaukee Union Theater (2200 E. Kenwood Blvd, 2nd floor)

Following the film, a panel of privacy advocates will discuss its implications, including:

• Emilio De Torre, Youth and Program Director, ACLU of Wisconsin
• Stacy Harbaugh, Communications Director, ACLU of Wisconsin
• Angela Maycock, Assistant Director, Office for Intellectual Freedom, American Library Association
• Michael Zimmer, Assistant Professor and Co-Director, Center for Information Policy Research, School of Information Studies, UW-Milwaukee

During the week of March 5, we’re going to hold an online symposium on Julie Cohen’s important and engrossing book Configuring the Networked Self: Law, Code, and the Play of Everyday Practice (Yale University Press).  As Rebecca Tushnet noted at a celebration of Julie’s book held at Georgetown Law School (see here for her post on the event), Cohen “challenges us to imagine better: understand culture’s power and make policies that both acknowledge and attempt to work with that power.”  Some of what appealed to Dan Solove is the book’s exploration of privacy and creativity together, with all of their nuances. As Dan explained, “copyright and privacy both concern control over information; tension because scholars who argue for limits on copyright are often arguing for more protection for privacy—less control/more control over information.  Is there a coherent way to argue for less copyright/more privacy?  Cohen’s work establishes the normative foundations for that.”  One of my favorite contributions is the book’s illumination of networked architecture’s impact on human flourishing and her development of the Capabilities Approach to address pressing challenges to the practice of everyday life.

Concurring Opinions is thrilled to welcome an all-star group of scholars to lead the discussion, including the author Julie Cohen:

• Anita L. Allen
• Ann Bartow
• Kristin Eschenfelder
• Edward Felten
• Ian Kerr
• Jaron Lanier
• Paul Ohm
• Hector Postigo
• Ted Striphas
• Valerie Steeves
• Michael Zimmer

In the meanwhile, get your copy of the book and mark your calendars!

Zimmer, M. (2012). The ethical (re)design of the Google Books project. In iConference ’12 Proceedings of the 2012 iConference, 363-369. DOI: 10.1145/2132176.2132223

Today, the Google Books project is at a relative standstill — lawsuits against the project remain outstanding as the courts rejected a proposed settlement agreement. The failure of the original vision for the Google Books project to become fully realized presents us with a unique opportunity to ensure that whatever final form Google Books will take in the future, it is designed to support the values respected within the domain of information ethics. This paper will proposed an ethical re-design of the Google Books project, focusing on three core ethical values of primary interest to librarian and information professionals: privacy, intellectual freedom, and public access to information. Advocating for these values in the next iteration of the mass digitization service can help ensure that the informational norms of the library are embraced and upheld.

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.