[This message contained attachments]

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>>>Issue 3.0 is now online - http://www.spark-online.com

My pulse sometimes quickens, not for any reason immediately apparent.
The waking hours, a seemingly meaningless yet busy present, are filled with
the mundane, interrupted only by an occasional cognizance of a dark past
or an uncertain future. Questions that enter my head are answered by the
superficial yet paranoid answers that otherwise pass for modern wisdom. I
can feel my heart beating faster now. Impending doom? Repeating the
darkness of past mistakes?
Once in a while one finds a place to stop, look around and understand.
Epiphany is waiting for you in the December issue of *spark-online, where
omnipresent and foreboding anxiety takes a back seat
to inquiry, opinion, and insight.
Observe what others have experienced before you. Leave an impression. Your
experience has a home on our discussion board. Don't just read it. Take our
print
friendly version to bed with you.
WE ARE www.spark-online.com EXPLORING ELECTRONIC CONSCIOUSNESS

Kristopher Krug
editor-in-chief

CALL FOR PAPERS
INTERNET RESEARCH 1.0: THE STATE OF THE INTERDISCIPLINE
FIRST ANNUAL CONFERENCE of the ASSOCIATION OF INTERNET RESEARCHERS
UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS, LAWRENCE KS, USA
SEPTEMBER 14-17,2000

Conference Website: http://www.cddc.vt.edu/aoir/
>>
>>The growth of the Internet is one of the greatest cultural phenomena of
>>our time, impacting almost all areas of life. It is crucial to build
>>knowledge about the Internet's socio-cultural dimensions. Despite great
>>interest, knowledge-building in Internet research is hindered by a lack of
>>international, centralized opportunities for scholars from different
>>disciplines to interact. This international conference, the first meeting
>>of the Association of Internet Researchers, will focus on the Internet as
>>a distinct interdisciplinary field for research. It will bring together
>>prominent scholars, researchers, and students from multiple disciplines
>>for keynote addresses, paper presentations, formal and informal discussions.
>>
>>The Association of Internet Researchers (A.(o).I.R.) invites submissions
>>of between 150 and 250 words on all topics that address any social,
>>cultural, political, economic, or aesthetic aspects of the internet.  We
>>welcome submissions from any discipline and encourage international and
>>interdisciplinary work as well as submissions from those producing new
>>media or working in multimedia studies.
>>
>>The deadline for submissions of paper/session proposals is 15 MARCH, 2000.
>>
>>KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONS
>>(More to be announced in the next few months.)
>>
>>
>>Helen Nissenbaum
>>Research Associate and Lecturer at the University Center for Human Values
>>at Princeton University and founding editor of the international journal,
>>Ethics and Information Technology.
>>
>>Rob Kling
>>Professor of Information Systems and Information Science at Indiana
>>University at Bloomington. He is the editor of Computerization and
>>Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social Choices, and editor-in-chief of
>>the international journal The Information Society.
>>
>>Susan Herring
>>Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas at
>>Arlington. Her recent edited collections include Computer-Mediated
>>Communication: Linguistic, Social, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives and
>>Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis.
>>
>>FORMAT OF PROPOSALS
>>
>>All proposals should be submitted electronically at:
>>http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/confman/
>>Average time allotted for a panel will be 1 hour and 30 minutes, including
>>discussion time.
>>Average time allotted for a paper or presentation will be 15 minutes.
>>If these time constraints are not appropriate for your panel/presentation,
>>please include that in your abstract.
>>Please include any equipment or special considerations that might affect
>>your presentation.
>>Proposals can be of three types.
>>
>>PAPERS
>>Proposals for papers :150-250 word abstract.
>>
>>CREATIVE PRESENTATIONS/DEMONSTRATIONS
>>Creative presentations (surprise us!)  and Internet-related project
>>demonstrations (including
>>digital art) are encouraged. The format for these proposals are the same
>>as those for regular
>>papers.
>>
>>PANELS
>>Panels will generally include three to four papers or presentations. The
>>session organizer should submit a 150-250 word statement describing the
>>session topic, include abstracts of up to 100 words for each paper or
>>presentation, and indicate that each author is willing to participate in
>>the session. Presenters should plan on using around half of the panels'
>>time for presentation, and the rest of the time for discussion of the
>>issues raised by these papers.
>>
>>GRADUATE STUDENTS
>>
>>Graduate students are highly encouraged to submit proposals. They should
>>note their student status with submission for consideration of a special
>>Student Award. The winner of the Student Award will have conference fees
>>waived.
>>
>>
>>FORMAT OF SUBMISSIONS
>>
>>Submissions will be accepted at http://www2.cddc.vt.edu/confman/
>>It is preferred that you use HTML to minimally format your paper .
>>
>>Conference Coordinator: Nancy Baym, nbaym@...
>>Program Chair: Jeremy Hunsinger, jhuns@...
>>A(O)IR President: Steve Jones, sjones@...
>>
>>More Information can be found on the Conference Website:
>>Http://www.cddc.vt.edu/aoir
>>
>>
>>For more information about the Association of Internet Researchers visit
>>our website at http://aoir.org

(Apologies for cross-posting)


Call for Proposals

conference web site is at
http://cmc.uib.no/~dac/

The third international Digital Arts & Culture Conference will be
held in Bergen, Norway August 2-4, 2000. This conference aims to
embrace and explore the cross-disciplinary and cross-cultural theory
and practice of contemporary digital arts and culture. As we step
across the threshold to a new millennium, the DAC conference affords
us the opportunity to develop and foster communication and
understanding about digital arts and culture across a wide spectrum
of cultural, disciplinary, and professional practices. To this end,
we cordially invite scholars, researchers, artists, computer
professionals, and others who are working within the broadly defined
areas of digital arts and culture to join in the DAC discourse
community by submitting proposals for presentations to the Digital
Arts and Culture conference in the year 2000. Women and people from
ethnic minorities are strongly encouraged to submit.

Presentations may be in the form of scholarly papers or
presentations; or performances and installations incorporating
electronic and digital technologies and media. Collaborative
presentations are encouraged, and to aid our collaborative and
cross-disciplinary objective, we are primarily seeking submissions
for three main types of sessions: (Single submission per person only,
please.)

Panels: Should consist of 3-4 presentations around a common theme.
Presenters will be given 20 minutes each with time for discussion.

Forums: Should consist of 3-6 presenters who will have 8-10 minutes
each to deliver position statements on a theme or topic set forth by
the forum organizer. Forums are roundtable type events that should
accommodate ample time for discussion among panelists and audience.

Performances, Installations: Can consist of individuals or groups.
Session formats may vary depending upon the presenters' needs and
wishes. Please note that we may not be able to supply highly
specialized and advanced media or technical support.

Individual submissions are also welcome.

Proposals should not exceed 500 words in length, and proposals for
panels and forums must include abstracts for each of the proposed
presentations. Brief bios for each presenter must accompany the
proposals. All proposals must be submitted through the online
submission form at the DAC2000 web site on or before March 1. 2000.
Notification of acceptance will be given by April 1, 2000.

Welcome to DAC2000,
Jan Rune Holmevik,
Conference Chair

Christine Hine
CRICT (Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture and Technology)
Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex UB8 3PH UK
Tel: +44 1895 203117
Fax: +44 1895 203155
Email: Christine.Hine@...



Virtual Methodology?
5th February 2000

Workshop to be held at CRICT (Centre for Research into Innovation, Culture
and Technology), Brunel University, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UK
Organized in conjunction with the Virtual Society? Programme

The aim of the meeting is to provide a forum for sharing thoughts on the
relationship between the new technologies and research methods, and
specifically considering whether the new information and communication
technologies provide an occasion for rethinking approaches to methodology.

Discussion will span both specific problems in applying research methods
to
online settings and ideas about the methodologies which are appropriate for
considering the place of new technologies in society (and society in new
technologies). There is a web site with more information about the meeting
and a registration form at http://www.brunel.ac.uk/depts/crict/vm_over.htm

The format will include keynote speakers in the morning and less formal
workshop sessions in the afternoon, and is aimed at attracting graduate
students as well as more established researchers.

Keith Hampton and I have a new paper out that may be of interest to
readers of these lists. It tells how we obtained information about life in
a new, highly-wired suburban development:

"Netville Online and Offline: Observing and Surveying a Wired Suburb."
Keith Hampton and Barry Wellman
_American Behavioral Scientist 43, 3 (11-12/99): 475-92.
If your library subscribes to ABS, the journal should be available online
through them.

Abstract:
Since the mid-1850s, scholars have debated how technological innovation
would affect community. The debate continues as the Internet makes it
increasingly possible for people to socialize, shop, work, learn, and
participate in leisure activities all from within their home. Will the
movement of these previously public activities into the private realm lead
to participation in public activities? What will be the fate of community
and social relations as a result of the growth of computer mediated
communication?

Netville is a suburban Toronto development equipped with a high-speed
network as part of its design. The clutsering of homes wtihin this area
allowed us to study the social networks, civic involvement, Internet use,
and attitudes of residents. This article explores the research approach of
the Netville project and descirbes its main sources of data collection:
surveys collected using computer-assisted interviewing and ethnographic
fieldwork.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
  Barry Wellman                              wellman@...
  Professor of Sociology          Centre for Urban & Community Studies
  Univ. of Toronto        455 Spadina Ave.      Toronto Canada M5S 2G8
  web: http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~wellman      fax: +1-416-978-7162
---------------------------------------------------------------------

-----Mensagem original-----
De: *spark - exploring electronic consciousness...
[mailto:spark@...]
Enviada em: Quinta-feira, 2 de Dezembro de 1999 04:45
Para: cybersociology@onelist.com
Assunto: [cybersociology] *spark-online <3.0> exploring electronic
consciousness...


From: "*spark - exploring electronic consciousness..."
<spark@...>

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|*|s|p|a|r|k|-|o|n|l|i|n|e|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
>>>Issue 3.0 is now online - http://www.spark-online.com

My pulse sometimes quickens, not for any reason immediately apparent.
The waking hours, a seemingly meaningless yet busy present, are filled with
the mundane, interrupted only by an occasional cognizance of a dark past
or an uncertain future. Questions that enter my head are answered by the
superficial yet paranoid answers that otherwise pass for modern wisdom. I
can feel my heart beating faster now. Impending doom? Repeating the
darkness of past mistakes?
Once in a while one finds a place to stop, look around and understand.
Epiphany is waiting for you in the December issue of *spark-online, where
omnipresent and foreboding anxiety takes a back seat
to inquiry, opinion, and insight.
Observe what others have experienced before you. Leave an impression. Your
experience has a home on our discussion board. Don't just read it. Take our
print
friendly version to bed with you.
WE ARE www.spark-online.com EXPLORING ELECTRONIC CONSCIOUSNESS

Kristopher Krug
editor-in-chief

Please Visit Cybersoc (http://www.cybersoc.com) and Cybersociology Magazine
(http://www.cybersociology.com).

From: coder@... (J C Lawrence)
Newsgroups: rec.games.mud.announce
Subject: MAILING LIST: The "MUD-DEV" MUD Development mailing list
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 1999 07:20:22 CST


The MUD Development mailing list is not platform, language or
game specific, but concentrates on discussing the design and
implementation of any and all MUD servers and systems.
Another large related topic is game design. This does not
mean that the details of a specific server or game design
point can't be discussed in excruciating detail, or even that
server or game source can't be bandied about and picked over,
just that the lst isn't to become a religious stomping ground
for your platform, language, server, or hobby horse of
choice. The topic definition is not limited to technical
areassocial engineering, cultural considerations,
applicability of technical addresses to "soft" problems, and
other less rigorous avenues of investigation are also fair
game.

Te goal is high signal, low noise. The MUD Development list
is NOT an email version of the rec.games.mud.* newsgroups.

Subscription instructions can be found at:

   http://www.kanga.nu/lists/listinfo/mud-dev/

List archives can be found at:

   http://www.kanga.nu/archives/MUD-Dev-L/

--
J C Lawrence    Internet: claw@...
----------(*)  Internet: coder@...
=2E..Honorary Member of Clan McFud -- Teamer's Avenging Monolith...

=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=
           LOTS OF NEW CONTENT AT
             NEW MEDIA STUDIES
   Web culture, design and reviews a go-go
       http://www.newmediastudies.com
   =#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=#=

The website for the study of new media keeps on
growing. Please visit, and tell other people to
visit, and make links to it! It is non-commercial
and always grateful for your support. Thank you!

We're on a new server so that the whole site really
lives at www.newmediastudies.com and is fast and reliable!

Recent additions include...

* New review of Tim Berners-Lee's new book,
   'Weaving the Web'.

* New article: Basic Web Economics and the
   'Attention Economy'.

* New page: Tracey Emin and the Web Confessional.

* New page about the forthcoming book 'Web.Studies'.

* New page about Macromedia Flash.

* New debate: Did Microsoft ruin the Web?.

* New article: 'Researching movie audiences - the
   armchair method'.

Plus there are new sections, on design and marketing, the
art section has grown, and there are new website reviews and
new book reviews.

Also: we want your art and digital photos!
(See the art section for details).

Please visit and see for yourself!
Send this to other lists! And then apologise for
annoying everybody!

Thank you!

Dr David Gauntlett
University of Leeds, UK
http://www.NewMediaStudies.com

From: richard barbrook <richard@...>

>Press Release   November 1999
>
>New Cyberfeminist Reader out now!!!!!
>
>
>In March 1999 the ªNext Cyberfeminist International´ took place in
>Rotterdam, the Netherlands. It was the second big international meeting of
>cyberfeminists, organized by the Old Boys Network (OBN). The conference was
>the follow-up to the ªFirst Cyberfeminist International´ which took place
>in 1997 at the Hybrid Workspace at documenta X, Kassel.
>
>In recent years international telecommunication technologies have been
>causing globally profound changes in social and political cultures. The
>4-day conference seeked to collect a range of women who are involved in a
>diversity of feminist critical, deconstructive, misfitting, aesthetic and
>cultural practices. One of the main questions was:
>
>What are the specific possibilities offered by the new technologies for a
>networked feminism? What are the specific possibilities and conditions for
>agency and female subjectivity in a wired and globalised world?
>
>Just as at the conference, this reader intends to continue collecting a
>range of different approaches and methods rather than seeking a homogenous
>cyberfeminist stand. However, it emphasizes the term ªNew Cyberfeminism´ in
>order to free Cyberfeminism from its old attributes which are a too narrow
>interpretion of French Feminism.
>
>Cyberfeminism is (to a greater degree than the term feminism was or its
>offspring postfeminism or gender studies are) a speculation, a myth, a
>utopian idea, and a strategic construction. But its discoursive way of
>feminist stubborness and anti-phallogocentric behaviour in a posthuman age
>of global information capital is its deep reality.
>
>This reader collects the lectures of the participants. Topics and titles
>are e.g.: An analysies of the utopian in Sadie Plant's writings,
>Cyberfeminist Strategies for Net-Communities, Feminism, Difference, and
>Global Capital, Bio(r)EvolutionÅ, Women Hackers, Privacy, Infobiobodies and
>Cyberbodies.
>
>Editorial: Cornelia Sollfrank and Yvonne Volkart.
>
>Contributions: Alla Mitrofanova, Caroline Bassett, Irina Aristarkhova,
>Faith Wilding & Maria Fernandez, Claudia Reiche, Pam Skelton, Ursula
>Biemann, Cornelia Sollfrank, Barbara Thoens, Stephanie Wehner, Corrine
>Petrus & Marieke van Santen, Yvonne Volkart, Verena Kuni, Nat Muller,
>Helene von Oldenburg, Maren Hartmann, Mare Tralla & Iliyana Nedkova, Marina
>Grzinic, Rachel Baker, Susanne Ackers.
>
>
>Next Cyberfeminist International (ed. Cornelia Sollfrank).
>104 Pages, black and white, DM 24.-/ $ 13
>ISBN 3-933557-14-3.
>Mailorder: www.obn.org/reader

The Economic and Political Weekly of Mumbai -- which "for over 50 years has
been mandatory reading for social science teachers, students and
researchers" -- has shifted focus in its latest issue to look at the theme
of *Internet in South Asia*.
It comments in this issue:
"The Internet offers some hope to the people of the region who live in
widely disparate living environments and particularly in remote
communities. But in order to take full advantage of this new technology,
there is a need to evolve regional and region-specific norms and practices.
A recent conference on the subject has thrown up several relevant issues.
(Arun Mehta and Shahid Akhtar write on *Promoting the Internet in South
Asia*). A review of telecommunication networks in India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nepal reveals that they are in unformly poor shape. There is
an emerging scope for rationalising telecom policies with a view to
convergence of communication technologies across the region. (Vickram
Crishna, Noor-ud-Din Baqai, Bhoop Raj Pandey and Fazlur Rahman write on
&Telecommunications Infrastructure: A Long Way to Go*). The regulatory
climate in South ASia has only recently welcomed private Internet service
providers. The challenge lies in creating a level playing field so that the
digital divide between rural and urban, non-English and English-speaking
South Asia can be minimised and eliminated. (Madanmohan Rao, Sanjib Rai
Bhandari, S M Iqbal, Anjali Sinha and Wahaj us Siraj write on *Struggling
With the Digital Divide: Internet Infrastructure, Policies and
Regulations*). Meanwhile, a review of online content in South Asian
countries with a special focus on the number of websites, local relevance,
community involvement, directories, search engines, advertisement revenue
and third party audits. And policy suggestions for content development.
(Madanmohan Rao, Imran Rashid, Hasan Rizvi and Rajib Subba write on *Online
Content in South Asia*).
Another article *Linus: Open Source Software for South Asia* by FN also
appears on pages 2373-75.
Please check out EPW at http://www.epw.org.in
You can also visit it at http://www.south-asian-initiative.org/epw
POSTED VIA
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Frederick Noronha, Freelance Journalist, 784 Saligao 403511 Goa  India
fred@... or fred@...  Ph (0091).832.271490 / 27 86 83
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0

An International Conference

                         Community Informatics
               Community Development through the use of
              Information & Communications Technologies

                             Organised by
      Community Informatics Research and Applications Unit (CIRA)
                                  at
                      University of Teesside, UK

                        26th – 28th April 2000

Throughout the world in recent years there has been a dramatic surge of
activity by various community groups, social support networks,
voluntary agencies and government organisations dedicated to exploring
the transforming qualities of the new information and communications
technologies (ICTs) such as the Internet for community development. A
rich variety of social experiments in what we term Community Informatics
is now beginning to provide us with some exciting examples of
innovative applications and a growing source of research outputs upon
which to build future developments. Such trends are not uniform in their
spread across populations and their social and economic effects can
often be controversial.

This Three Day Conference which brings together some leading
exponents of CI from around the world, is intended to facilitate the
exchange of experiences and ideas amongst a growing number of people
devoted to exploring the potential of CI for the development of social
relations in the Information Age.

For further details about the conference please direct your mouse to our
conference web page { HYPERLINK http://www.cira.org.uk/conf/ci.html
}www.cira.org.uk/conf/ci.html or contact:

CIRA
University of Teesside
Middlesbrough
TS1 3BA
Telephone No.: (01642) 342710
Fax No.: (01642) 342711
Email: { HYPERLINK mailto:cira@... }cira@...
            l.m.keeble@...

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace

Project on the Information Revolution and World Politics


JOB ANNOUNCEMENT

The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace seeks an Associate to
join the Project on the Information Revolution and World Politics.

ABOUT THE PROJECT

The Project on the Information Revolution and World Politics was
established in January, 1999 to study the information revolution’s
implications for international relations, U.S. foreign policy, and
global governance.  The Project is concerned with such issues as the
information revolution’s impact on: the global distribution of wealth
and power; the balance of authority between states and nongovernmental
actors; the spread of democracy and economic liberalization;
globalization; national security; diplomacy and decision making; the
world economy; global civil society; and the governance of information
and communications technologies.  The Project is part of the Endowment’s
Global Policy Program, a major new initiative that is examining the
international policy challenges raised by globalization.

QUALIFICATIONS

Candidates should have a master’s degree in international affairs or
another relevant discipline, expertise on information and communications
technologies, and experience in research or policy settings. Candidates
also should have outstanding research and writing skills, the desire and
ability to work both as part of a team and independently, and a strong
inclination toward policy relevant analysis.

The Associate will assist with all aspects of the Project, including
publications, conferences, and seminars, and will carry out research and
writing in his or her own areas of interest as appropriate.  The
position offers a new professional a substantial opportunity to
establish himself or herself in an exciting new field of analysis and to
play a key role in developing the project.

Salary is commensurate with qualifications and experience.  The Carnegie
Endowment offers generous benefits, including vacation, health
insurance, and retirement contributions.  Please send a letter of
interest, a resume, contact details for two references, and writing
samples to:

William J. Drake
Senior Associate, and Director of the Project on the
    Information Revolution and World Politics
The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
1779 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C.   20036
Email: wdrake@...
Tel: (202) 939-2251   Fax: (202) 483-1840
http://www.ceip.org/people/drake.htm

[Check out the Call for Submission and the Sondheim project - Robin ]

  NEW LOOK - THE NOON QUILT BOOK - LOVE AND THE WEB - ALAN SONDHEIM -
BERNARD COHEN - WEBBOARD EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION - CAROLYN BAMBOROUGH


trAce's NEW LOOK
You'll have noticed that we've updated the look of the trAce front page.
This is to improve navigation around the site, add new Help/About and News
sections, and a search engine. You can also take the Site Tour of trAce.

We apologise for any problems you might encounter while we are changing
over to the new format: please let helen.whitehead@... know if you
find any errors!
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/


NOON QUILT BOOK
The book of the Noon Quilt has just arrived from the printers and copies
are being sent out as fast as possible. We can currently guarantee
pre-Christmas delivery in the UK but deliveries to other countries by 25
December is less certain. Order your copies right now post-free direct from
trAce. Tasteful and thoroughly gorgeous!
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/quilt/book/ for full ordering details.


LOVE AND THE WEB: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS
Issue 4 of frame, the trAce ezine of theory and culture, will be
guest-edited by Christy Sheffield Sanford. We invite submissions for a
Valentine's Day theme of Love and the Web, or Digital Love, although we are
also interested in essays and reviews on other subjects. Enquiries and
submissions to christys@...
Deadline 1 February.
Previous issues of frame can be found at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/frame/


ALAN SONDHEIM
Alan Sondheim's new project involves tracing Internet connections as the
millennium moves across the surface of the earth from 31 December - 1
January. This involves using specialised techniques to collect and
interpret large amounts of raw data. To participate, select the trAceroute
conference at WebBoard http://hum-webboard.ntu.ac.uk/~trace
Alan's other work can be found at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/sondheim/


BYE TO BERNARD
Bernard Cohen's residency with trAce formally ends this month. There will
be a Fancy Dress Party to say farewell to him at LinguaMOO on Sunday 12
December at the usual meeting time of 9pm GMT. Please come disguised as the
author of your choice, and be prepared to recite a short extract of their
work relevant to Bernard's contribution to trAce.
Bernard's work at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/writers/cohen/front.htm
MOO instructions at http://trace.ntu.ac.uk/online/moo.htm


EMAIL SUBSCRIPTION TO WEBBOARD
It's now possible to join in the discussions at WebBoard via email - a
bonus for those with expensive net access. It means that instead of logging
onto the board to read posts to the conference, you can receive and reply
to them via email. To do this, log onto WebBoard by clicking Discussions in
the top right hand corner of the trAce homepage or going to
http://hum-webboard.ntu.ac.uk/~trace. Once there, click More... then
Mailing Lists, and you can subscribe to the lists of your choice.


THANKS TO CAROLYN
Carolyn Bamborough, trAce Web Administrator for the last two years, is
moving on to an illustrious job in London. As a consequence there will be a
change in our staffing arrangements. Helen Whitehead will become Site
Editor and we will be seeking to appoint a half-time Administrative
Assistant to work in the office. This post will be advertised soon but if
you live in the Nottingham area and are interested in applying please
contact trace@... for more details. Although Carolyn is moving away
physically we do hope she will maintain her online connections with trAce,
and thank her for her work in helping to establish the organisation.


trAce Online Writing Community
Nottingham Trent University
Clifton Lane
Nottingham NG11 8NS
ENGLAND
Tel: ++44 (0)115 9486360 (direct line)
Fax: ++44 (0)115 9486364
http://trace.ntu.ac.uk
trace@...
___________________________________
To unsubscribe from this mailing list, please email trace@...
with 'unsubscribe' as the subject line.
____________________________________

The report from the AAAS summer workshop is finally out.
ETHICAL AND LEGAL ASPECTS OF HUMAN SUBJECTS RESEARCH IN CYBERSPACE
at
http://www.aaas.org/spp/dspp/sfrl/projects/intres/main.htm

--
Storm A. King      astorm@...
ICQ#  2490493      "stormpsych" on AOL instant messenger

The  Psychology of Virtual Communities; research resources
and articles on online therapy and online self-help groups:  
http://www.concentric.net/~Astorm/

The International Society for Mental Health Online:   http://www.ismho.org/

>Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 19:24:40 +0000
>From: richard barbrook <richard@...>
>Subject: ***venue change for sci-fi cybersalon: tuesday 14th december
> 1999***
>To: students@...
>Mime-Version: 1.0
>Precedence: Bulk
>Reply-To: Students List <students@...>
>
>Due to unforseen building maintenance problems, the venue for the sci-fi
>cybersalon has been changed to:
>
>The Refectory,
>University of Westminster,
>115 New Cavendish Street,
>London, W1M 8JS
>
>This building is centrally located just by Cleveland Street and the
>imposing landmark of the British Telecom Tower.
>
>Map: <www.wmin.ac.uk/info/cavcampusmap.htm>
>
>All other details remain unchanged.
>
>science fiction cybersalon
><www.cybersalon.org>
>
>tuesday december 14, 6.30 'till late
>
>part one:
>
>science fiction: the future in the present
>
>speakers:
>
>pat cadigan - science fiction author and futurist
><www.wmin.ac.uk/~fowlerc/patcadigan.html>
>
>catherine constable - post-modern film theorist. alien zone II
><www.versobooks.com>
>
>jonathan clements - editor of manga max
><uk.scifi.com/anime/anime_frame.html>
>
>part two:
>
>wildlife records presents:
>
>jnrtv - live generative music performance
><www.strangeattraction.com>
>
>ben james  ray stanley - wildlife DJ mayhem
>
>cybersalon is a meeting place for people from the new media and music industry
>
>verso books will be launching
>alien zone ii: the spaces of science fiction cinema
>
>sci-fi dress welcomed but not essential
>
>cost: free before 7pm, £2 after
>
>
>sponsored by:
>hypermedia research centre: <www.hrc.wmin.ac.uk>
>new media knowledge: <www.nmk.co.uk>
>wildlife: <wildliferecords@...>
>mute: <www.metamute.com>
>telepolis: <www.heise.de/tp>
>tmg: <www.tmg.co.uk>
>verso: <www.versobooks.com>
>
>visuals: alex chandon (shapeshifting-films)/jamie troy
>design: torch industries: <paul.chamberlain5@...>
>

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Robin Hamman, PhD Candidate at the Hypermedia Research Centre,
University of Westminster, London.
    ______      __
   / ____/_  __/ /_  ___  ______________  _____
  / /   / / / / __ \/ _ \/ ___/ ___/ __ \/ ___/
/ /___/ /_/ / /_/ /  __/ /  (__  ) /_/ / /__
\____/\__, /_.___/\___/_/  /____/\____/\___/
      /____/  http://www.cybersoc.com
	      http://www.cybersociology.com
	      http://www.digitalartisans.org

URGENTLY REQUIRED

AFRICAN abstract painter or sculptor living in London or South East
England  required to join four other artist for group exhibition with
strong 'global theme' at a good South London venue in Spring 2000.

For further information please telephone:

Peter Head on 020 8579 1338 ASAP or email peter_head@...


If possible send upto 10 slides, C.V, statement on work and SAE to:

Peter Head, 3 Cawdor Crescent, Hanwell, London W7 2DB




-- --

Peter Jones        peter@...
London NW6

Forwarded from Cyber Society - http://www.unn.ac.uk/cybersociety

Forward From: Rennie, Steve [HES] [mailto:S.Rennie@...]
Sent: 13 December 1999 11:36
To: 'Cyberspace and Society'
Subject: FW: Call for papers: Workshop on People based Networking
From: Dave Snowdon [SMTP:Dave.Snowdon@...]
<mailto:[SMTP:Dave.Snowdon@...]>
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 1999 11:22 AM
To: Rennie, Steve [HES]
Subject: Re: Call for papers: Workshop on People based Networking


	 PEOPLE-BASED NETWORKING
	 a workshop taking place at i3 Spring Days,
	 1-3 March 2000, Athens, Greece

THEME
-----
The aim of this workshop is to bring together people interested in ad-hoc
highly dynamic networks based on mobile devices with the aim of exploring
applications for such networks and understanding how people's behaviour
effects their design.
With the advent of standards for wireless networking, networks are rapidly
becoming ubiquitous. Standards such as Bluetooth, are intended to support
small low-cost devices such as palm-top computers, PDAs, and domestic
appliances. In addition many people are now carry personal digital
assistants to help organise both their work and personal lives.
Traditional networks are not well suited to coping with the many hundred
(or thousands) of small, mobile, networked devices which might be found in the
home and workplace in the near future. A network that could handle such a
situation cannot rely on central administration, static routing techniques
or protocols that require large amounts of negotiation (and thus high power
consumption for small battery powered devices). For these reasons there has
been much interest in the field of mobile ad-hoc networks (MANETs).
A "mobile ad hoc network" (MANET), as defined by the IETF, is an autonomous
system of mobile routers (and associated hosts) connected by wireless
links-the union of which form an arbitrary graph. The routers are free to
move randomly and organise themselves arbitrarily; thus, the network's
wireless topology may change rapidly and unpredictably. Such a network may
operate in a standalone fashion, or may be connected to the larger
Internet.
Given a scenario of many small, highly mobile devices, with limited
bandwidth communications we are interested in considering new forms of
networking infrastructure and what applications could be constructed based
on these infrastructures.  Also how do people's actions affect such
networks? Can the movement of people be used as a way to carry useful
information between devices? Can models of social interaction inform
network
design? Can people be exploited as information carriers?  What objects
could
usefully be added to such networks that might not normally be networked
(books, office furniture, toys, etc)? These are the questions that we would
like to tackle in this workshop.
We are aiming to get around 20 delegates, with the possibility of others
from the general Spring Days community joining on the day, with speaking
rights at the discretion of the organisers. We expect a mix of academic and
industrial researchers interested in issues concerning mobility, ranging
from those trying to implement different mobile solutions such as
researchers in the field of mobile, ad-hoc networks, wearable and handheld
computers, to those studying mobile working. We also hope to include
researchers from other i3 projects interested in mobility.
VENUE
-----
The workshop will be a one day event taking place during 1-3rd March 2000
at
the Training and Conference Center of the National Bank of Greece S.A.,
Athens, Greece ( http://server.travelling.gr/conekt/
<http://server.travelling.gr/conekt/>  ).
This workshop is being organised as part of the Spring Days 2000 workshop
cluster (organised by i3 Net). More information on Spring Days can be found
at: http://www.dfki.de/imedia/workshops/i3-spring00/
<http://www.dfki.de/imedia/workshops/i3-spring00/>  Workshop attendees will
be free to participate in any of the other workshops taking place at Spring
Days 2000.
SUBMISSIONS
-----------
We are requesting submissions in the form of short papers of 3-6 pages of
A4. It is suggested, that authors follow the SIG CHI formatting guidelines
(
http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigchi/chipubform/
<http://www.acm.org/sigs/sigchi/chipubform/>  ). We can only accept
submissions in electronic format - Adobe PDF format is preferred but if
this
is not possible we will accept Microsoft RTF format.
We are also interested in examples of work or demonstrations that could be
shown during the workshop. If you would like to present your work in this
form please submit a 1-2 page description in the SIG CHI format.
Submissions should be sent by email to Dave.Snowdon@...
<mailto:Dave.Snowdon@...>
DEADLINES
---------
14th January 2000  Deadline for submissions
1st February 2000  Notification of acceptance
1st -3rd  March 2000 Workshop (final date to be confirmed)

ORGANISERS
----------
Natalie Glance (Xerox Research Centre Europe, France)
Alan Munro (Napier University, UK)
Dave Snowdon (Xerox Research Centre Europe, France)
PROGRAMME COMMITTEE
-------------------
Rick Borovoy (Media Lab, MIT, USA)
Peter Brown (University of Kent, UK)
Matthew Chalmers (Glasgow University, UK)
Natalie Glance (Xerox Research Centre Europe, France)
Mike Glantz (Xerox PARC, USA)
Alan Munro (Napier University, UK)
Tom Rodden (Lancaster University, UK)
Leon Rubinstein (Xerox Venture Lab Europe, France)
Michael Smyth (Napier University, Edinburgh, UK)
Dave Snowdon (Xerox Research Centre Europe, France)

RELATED WORK
------------
MANETs: http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/manet-charter.html
<http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/manet-charter.html>  MEME tags:
http://fredm.www.media.mit.edu/people/fredm/projects/memetag/
<http://fredm.www.media.mit.edu/people/fredm/projects/memetag/>  The
Factoid
project:
http://www.research.digital.com/wrl/projects/Factoid/index.html
<http://www.research.digital.com/wrl/projects/Factoid/index.html>  The
Pollen project:
http://www.xrce.xerox.com/research/ct/research/pollen/home.html
<http://www.xrce.xerox.com/research/ct/research/pollen/home.html>



--
Dave Snowdon                         Tel:    +33 (0)4 76 61 51 80
Xerox Research Centre Europe         Fax:    +33 (0)4 76 61 50 99
6, chemin de Maupertuis              Email: Dave.Snowdon@...
<mailto:Dave.Snowdon@...>
38240 Meylan, FRANCE         <http://www.xrce.xerox.com/people/snowdon/
<http://www.xrce.xerox.com/people/snowdon/> >

Forwarded from Cyber Society - http://www.unn.ac.uk/cybersociety

Date: Tues, 14 Dec 1999 3:13:24 -0500 (EST)
From: Sharon Laskowski <sharon.laskowski@...>
To: Multiple recipients of list <dc_chi@...>
Subject: PERVASIVE COMPUTING 2000 CONFERENCE


**** PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO INTERESTED PARTIES *****
(direct questions to technical contact below, do not reply to me)

"PERVASIVE COMPUTING 2000"

January 25-26, 2000
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Gaithersburg, Maryland

"Pervasive Computing" is the strongly emerging trend toward:
* Numerous, casually accessible, often invisible computing devices
* Mobile or embedded in the environment
* Connected to an increasingly ubiquitous network structure

Conference Highlights:


Sponsors: NIST/Information Technology Laboratory and the Internet Society

Attendees: Will have a vital interest in Pervasive Computing.
Many will represent companies actively engaged in research, planning
and development of Pervasive Computing products, services and/or
applications.  Others will represent academic, not-for-profit or
government research interests, and the general community

Why You Should Attend:
* To learn from experts about Pervasive Computing
- technical successes and problems
- its user applications
- current and future capabilities
- and economic promise
* To gain substantive support, through understanding industry
direction, for your new business development plans
* To establish valuable industry contacts
* To communicate your needs and issues, so they may be addressed
* To participate in an ongoing industry-NIST collaboration leading to
standards of enduring quality

Who Should Attend? Anyone who expects to be a stakeholder in the
Pervasive Computing era.  Specific value is seen for management-level
decision makers who oversee such functions as product line strategy,
research and development laboratories, or new business development.
Depending upon the organization, titles might be:

CEO
VP, Strategic Planning
Laboratory Director
VP, New Business Development
Product Development Manager
Engineer
Scientist

Format: Two day conference, with off-site reception and exhibits

Topics: Human-computer interaction, pico-cellular wireless, multimedia
information access, service discovery, human-centered integration and
interoperability, programming pervasive computing applications, and
innovative pervasive computing devices

To Register: Contact Teresa Vicente, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 3461,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-3461, phone: 301.975.3883, fax: 301.948.2067,
e-mail:teresa.vicente@....

Technical Contact: Bill Young, NIST, 100 Bureau Drive, Stop 8940,
Gaithersburg, MD 20899-8940, phone: 301.975.8701, fax: 301.975.5287,
e-mail: wtyoung@...

Registration Fee: $200 includes conference materials, refreshments during
coffee breaks, lunches and the evening reception
______________________________________________________________________
Conference Chairs:
Mr. Alden Dima, Computer Scientist, Software Diagnostics and
Conformance Testing Division
Dr. Martin Herman, Chief, Information Access and User Interfaces Division
Dr. Kevin Mills, Chief, Advanced Network Technologies Division
______________________________________________________________________

FEATURED SPEAKERS INCLUDE:

Bill Joy
Co-Founder and Chief Scientist
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Robert Pascoe
President
Salutation Consortium, Inc.

Dr. Alex (Sandy) Pentland
Academic Head
M.I.T. Media Laboratory

Dr. Chatschik Bisdikian
Research Staff Member
IBM Corp.
T. J. Watson Research Center

John Wroclawski
Laboratory for Computer Science
M.I.T.

Jim Waldo
Sun Microsystems, Inc.

Jim Keane
Senior Vice President: Corporate Strategy, Research and Development
Steelcase Corp.

Greg Bollella, Ph.D.
IBM Senior Architect, Real-Time Java Expert Group
Network Computing Software Division
IBM Corp.

Janet M. Baker, Ph.D.
Chairman and Co-Founder
Dragon Systems, Inc.

Michael Bianchi
President
Foveal Systems, Inc.

Dr. Lynn Wilcox
Manager, Smart Media Spaces,
Xerox Palo Alto Laboratory

Carl Sassenrath
Founder & CEO
REBOL Technologies

Edward G. Newman
President and CEO
Xybernaut Corp.

Ward Page
DARPA / ISO

Dr. Toby Lehman
Almaden Laboratory
IBM Corp.

Dr. Peter A. Lucas
President and C.E.O.
MAYA Design Group, Inc.

Dr. William Mark
Vice President, Information and Computing Sciences Division
SRI International

Dr. Victor McCrary
Technical Manager - Information Storage and Interconnect Systems
NIST

Ivan Perez-Mendez, Ph.D.
President and CEO
Syvox Corporation

David Nahamoo
T. J. Watson Research Center
IBM Corp.

PRELIMINARY CONFERENCE AGENDA TOPICS (subject to change):

Tuesday, January 25: Morning
8:15 Welcome and Introduction

8:45 Session 1: Pervasive Computing/Smart Spaces Overview
Keynote Address
Applications Overview


10:30 Morning Break

11:00 Session 2: Human Centered Technology I
Human -Computer Interaction in Pervasive Computing
e.g. Speech and natural language understanding
Computer vision
Other Perceptive Interfaces

1:00 Lunch

Tuesday, January 25: Afternoon
2:00 Session 3: Networking Technology I
Pico-cellular Wireless Communication
e.g. Bluetooth, HomeRF, wireless LANs

4:00 Afternoon Break

4:15 Session 4: Human Centered Technology II
Information Access & Management for Smart Spaces
e.g. Multimedia Information Access
Visualization
Virtual Reality
Summarization

7:00 Evening Reception & Exhibits:
Gaithersburg Marriott Washingtonian Center

Wednesday, January 26: Morning
8:30 Session 5: Networking Technology II
Service Discovery
e.g. Jini
IETF service location protocol
Universal Plug-and-Play

10:30 Morning Break

11:00 Session 6: Human Centered Technology III
Integration & Interoperability
e.g. Integrated environments
Multi-sensor integration
Multi-modal information presentation
1:00 Lunch


Wednesday, January 26: Afternoon

2:00 Session 7: Software Engineering
Programming Pervasive Computing Applications
e.g. Pervasive service APIs
Design and Development Tools for Pervasive Applications
Programming Languages for Pervasive Applications


3:30 Afternoon Break

3:45 Session 8: Innovative Devices
Pervasive Hardware
e.g. PDAs
Information Appliances
Wearable Computers

5:45 Concluding Remarks


Note: Potential extra-program activities for workshop attendees may
include: Visits to selected NIST lab sites


______________________________________________________________________
To unsubscribe, write to CyberSociety-unsubscribe@...
Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com/links/joinlb

Shaping the Network Society

                 The Future of the Public Sphere in Cyberspace

                                    DIAC-00

   A Directions and Implications of Advanced Computing (DIAC) Symposium

      Sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility


                        First Call for Abstracts / Papers


                             May 20 - May 23, 2000

                            Seattle, Washington, USA
     _________________________________________________________________

Cyberspace may become the dominant medium through which people create
and share information and ideas. How their conversations about the
environment, culture, leisure, and political decisions, are conducted
and how they are resolved are likely to have major social implications
in the future. What directions and implications does cyberspace foretell
for community, democracy, education and culture? Addressing those
questions may be among the most urgent tasks facing humankind today.

The objective of DIAC-00 is to integrate many perspectives,
conversations, and people from around the world on the topic of public
space in cyberspace: What is it? What should it be? What would we do
with it? What can we do about it?

While DIAC-00 will present "best practices" and other lessons learned
"from the field" there is an urgent need for theoretical work (or
"condensed practice") as well. For that reason, DIAC-00 is strongly
encouraging reflective work on strategic and policy levels. There is
enormous energy found at the grassroots level and it is growing. The big
problem today is framing the idea of public space in cyberspace in a way
that engages intellectuals, decision-makers, artists, and citizens. This
can only be done by combining "best practice" stories with strong
provocative conceptualizations of what is happening in our world and how
public cyberspace can play a role. We need theories, concepts that can
help us discuss, reflect, and take action on these critical matters. As
an integral part of the DIAC-00 conference social scientists, engineers,
computer scientists, artists, journalists, and other members of the
research community will contribute their thinking on these pressing
issues:

       * Community Informatics
       * Civic Knowledge, Civic Infrastructure
       * New Tools, Applications, Services, and Institutions
       * Theoretical Frameworks
       * Methodological Frameworks
       * Critical Theory
       * Social Economy of the Internet
       * Computers, Work, and Cyberspace
       * New -- and Retooled -- Media
       * Participatory and Community-Centered Design
       * Community Initiatives
       * Public Access and Community Networks
       * Practitioner and Researcher Co-Learning
       * Bridging the Digital Divide
       * Cyberspace Policy -- Social Policy -- Cultural Policy
       * Computer-Supported Community Work
       * Localism and Globalism
       * International Perspectives and Partnerships
       * Social Movements and Collaborations

DIAC-00 will be a multifaceted event. This call for abstracts / papers
addresses the research or academic component of the symposium. There are
other opportunities for participation within this framework. The
guidelines for workshop proposals will be released soon.

DIAC-00 will be the seventh symposium sponsored by Computer
Professionals for Social Responsibility in the "Directions and
Implications of Advanced Computing" series. DIAC-00 is intended to
broaden the discussion and awareness about the future of cyberspace both
in terms of topics and in terms of participation. It is also our intent
to provide visibility to topics and perspectives that are often
neglected by the media.

Each extended abstract should contain a description and outline of the
work, supporting evidence and data, and references. Abstracts and papers
should be written in English. All extended abstracts should be submitted
(in plain text only!) electronically to Peter Day
(p.day@...). Abstracts should be fewer than 2,000 words.
Authors should remember that they will be addressing non-academics as
well as academics at this conference and avoid jargon whenever possible.
Citations should follow the Harvard Citation guidelines.

Academic Program Committee: Phil Agre (US), Amy Bruckman (US), Natasha
Bulashova (Russia), Steve Cisler (US), Greg Cole (US), Peter Day
(co-chair; UK), Fiorella de Cindio (Italy), Susana Finquelievich
(Argentina), Michael Gurstein (Canada), Toru Ishida (Japan), Peter
Mambrey (Germany), Kate ODubhchair (UK), Volkmar Pipek (Germany), Jenny
Preece (US), Lodis Rhodes (US), Douglas Schuler (co-chair; US), Lisa
Servon (US), Erik Stolterman (Sweden), Peter van den Besselaar
(Netherlands), Murali Venkatesh (US), Ken Young (Australia).

Important Dates: February 15, 2000 extended abstracts due; March 15,
2000 feedback given to authors; May 1, 2000 revised abstracts due. May
20 - May 23, 2000 DIAC-00. The final papers, ready for book / journal,
will be due sometime in summer 2000. We are planning to publish all
submitted abstracts on our web site. We are planning to publish accepted
papers in a book or journal. The academic program will be thoroughly
integrated with the rest of DIAC-00.

We are pleased to be a member of the Global 2000 Virtual Community
Coalition. The Global 2000 Virtual Community Coalition is a loosely
affiliated group of people, organizations, and events all over the world
who are working together in the year 2000 to help promote democratic use
of communication technology and discourage social exclusion due to
inequitable access to communication.

DIAC-00 is sponsored by Computer Professionals for Social Responsibility
and co-sponsored by Friends and Partners. Please contact us if your
organization would like to become a co-sponsor or endorser.  We'd like
to thank the Morino Foundation for their support.

For more information about the symposium, please see the web site
(http://www.scn.org/cpsr/diac-00) or contact conference organizer Doug
Schuler, douglas@..., 206.634.0752.

Forwarded from the cyberculture list <cyberculture@...>

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference on
CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY
AND COMMUNICATION (CATaC'00)

Conference Theme:
Cultural Collisions and Creative Interferences in the Global Village

12-15 July 2000, Perth, Australia
http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac00/
http://www.drury.edu/faculty/ess/catac00

Computer-mediated communication networks, such as the Internet and the
World Wide Web, promise to realise the utopian vision of an electronic
global village. But efforts to diffuse CMC technologies globally, especially
in Asia and among indigenous peoples in Africa, Australia and the United
States, have demonstrated that CMC technologies are neither culturally
neutral nor communicatively transparent. Rather, diverse cultural attitudes
towards technology and communication - those embedded in current CMC
technologies, and those shaping the beliefs and behaviours of potential
users - often collide.

This biennial conference series aims to provide an international forum for
the presentation and discussion of cutting-edge research on how diverse
cultural attitudes shape the implementation and use of information and
communication technologies. The first conference in the series was held in
London in 1998. For an overview of the themes and presentations of
CATaC'98 and links to the papers, see
http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac98/01_ess.html.

Original full papers (especially those which connect theoretical frameworks
with specific examples of cultural values, practices, etc.) and short papers
(e.g. describing current research projects and preliminary results) are
invited. Papers should articulate the connections between specific cultural
values as well as current and/or possible future communicative practices
involving information and communication technologies. We seek papers which,
taken together, will help readers, researchers, and practitioners of
computer-mediated communication - especially in the service of "electronic
democracy" - better understand the role of diverse cultural attitudes as
hindering and/or furthering the implementation of global computer
communications systems.

Topics of particular interested include but are not limited to:

- Communicative attitudes and practices in diverse industrialised countries.
- Communicative attitudes and practices in industrialising countries and
marginalised communities.
- Impact of new communication technologies on local and indigenous languages
and cultures.
- Politics of the electronic global village in democratising or preserving
hierarchy.
- East/West cultural attitudes and communicative practices.
- Role of gender in cultural expectations regarding appropriate
communicative behaviours.
- Ethical issues related to new technologies, and their impact on culture
and communication behaviours.
- Legal implications of communication and technology.

SUBMISSION

All submissions will be peer reviewed by an international panel of scholars
and researchers. There will be the opportunity for selected papers to appear
in special issues of journals and a book. CATaC'98 papers, for example,
appeared in the Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de
Communication (Vol.8, Nos.3-4, 1998) and will appear in the AI and Society
Journal and Javnost (Journal of the European Institute for Communication and
Culture.

Initial submissions are to be emailed to catac@... as an
attachment (Word, HTML, PDF). Submission of a paper implies that it has not
been submitted or published elsewhere. At least one author of each accepted
paper is expected to present the paper at the conference.

Important Dates:
* Full papers 14 February 2000
* Short papers 28 February 2000
* Notification of acceptance 27 March 2000
* Final formatted papers 17 April 2000

PROGRAM

Highlights of the conference program include:
- discussion forums following technical sessions to focus on research
objectives
   and progress
- public lecture
- public panels with panelists drawn from conference participants
- reception in an art gallery featuring a didgeridoo player
- conference dinner at a winery
- pre-conference tour and post-conference safari
For more information, see the conference web site.

SUBSIDIES

Funding is being sought by the Committee to partially subsidise travel
expenses for students and scholars from developing countries. Please contact
the Co-Chairs if you wish to apply for a subsidy in the event that funds are
available.

VENUE

The venue is the Tradewinds Hotel, Fremantle, Western
Australia, located on the Swan River. Fremantle, an atmospheric port of
convict-constructed buildings and great pubs, is approximately 20km
west of Perth. Perth was founded in 1829 and is the sunniest capital in
Australia, and is the most isolated capital in the world. It has a
Mediterranean
climate, with warm to hot summers and cool winters. The average winter
maximum temperature (June-August) is 20C (~70F).

CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS
    Charles Ess, Drury College, USA, catac@...
    Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia, catac@...
CONFERENCE VICE-CHAIRS
Krishna Sen, Murdoch University, Australia
Andrew Turk, Murdoch University, Australia
CONFERENCE MANAGER
    Moira Dawe, Murdoch University, m.dawe@...
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
    Matthew Allen, Curtin University of Technology
    Steve Benson, Edith Cowan University
    John Gammack, Murdoch University
    Fiona MacMillan, Murdoch University
    Richard Thomas, University of Western Australia
    Kathryn Trees, Murdoch University
ADVISORY BOARD
    Tom Addison, Witwatersrand University, South Africa
    Phil Agre, University of California San Diego, USA
    Peng Hwa Ang, Nanyang Technical University, Singapore
    Michael Dahan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
    Donald Day, Towson University, USA
    Ken Friedman, Norwegian School of Management, Norway
    Pat Hall, Open University, UK
    Lorna Heaton, University of New Mexico, USA
    Soraj Hongladarom, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
    Herbert Hrachovec, University of Vienna, Austria
    Lawrie Hunter, Kochi University of Technology, Japan
    Steve Jones, University of Illinois Chicago, USA
    Willard McCarty, Kings College London, UK
    Lucienne Rey, Swiss Office of Technology Assessment, Switzerland
    Cyd Strickland, The Fielding Institute, USA
    Diane Witmer, University of California Fullerton, USA

-----------------------
Fay Sudweeks
Senior Lecturer in Information Systems
School of Information Technology
Murdoch University WA 6150 Australia
+61-8-9360-2364 (o) +61-8-9360-2941 (f)
sudweeks@...
www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks

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0101010101          COMPUTING AND TECHNOLOGY            1010101010
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INTERNET IN SOUTH ASIA: VARIED VIEWS IN PROMINENT ACADEMIC JOURNAL
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: EPW <epw@...>

The Economic and Political Weekly of Bombay (Nov 20, 1999 issue)
carries a range of articles on the Internet in South Asia.
* The Internet offers some hope to the people of the region who
live in widely disparate living environments and particularly in
remote communities. But in order to take full advantage of this
new technology, there is a need to evolve regional and region-
specific norms and practices. A recent conference on the subject
has thrown up several relevant issues.
* A review of telecommunication networks in India, Pakistan,
Bangladesh and Nepal reveals that they are in uniformly poor
shape. There is an emerging scope for rationalising telecom
policies with a view to convergence of communication technologies
across the region.
* The regulatory climate in South Asia has only recently welcomed
private Internet service providers. The challenge lies in
creating a level playing field so that the digital divide between
rural and urban, non-English and English-speaking South Asia can
be minimised and eliminated.
* A review of online content in South Asian countries with a
special focus on the number of websites, local relevance,
community involvement, directories, search engines, advertisement
revenue and third party audits. Also policy suggestions for
content development.
http://www.epw.org.in or http://www.south-asian-initiative.org/epw

MAKING TELECOM AND I.T. AFFORDABLE FOR THE THIRD WORLD
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Vickram Crishna <vvcrishna@...>

COMMSPHERE 2000 is an international conference on 'Affordable
Telecom and IT Solutions for Developing Countries'. It is to be
held from February 28 to March 2, 2000 at the IIT-Chennai
(Madras) in India. Accessibility to  telecom and  Internet
network  is fast becoming a major factor  determining the
competitiveness  of  an  individual, group or society. This
conference will focus on  the needs  of, and  affordable
solutions  for, developing countries.
Details: commsphere@...
http://www.tenet.res.in/commsphere/commsphere.html
Also contact: Prof. Ashok Jhunjhunwala, Convener, COMMSPHERE
2000, Dept. of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of
Technology, Chennai - 600 036, INDIA Telefax: +91-44 235-2120 Ph:
+91-44 235-2120/445 8414/445 8366/4909048.

NEPAL COMMUNITY RADIO STATION GOES ONLINE
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Media reports

RADIO SAGARMATHA is South Asia's first community radio station,
and it has launched its website. Having already celebrated its
second birthday with an increase in broadcast time and the
development of new programmes, the station is now online at
http://www.sagarmatha.org.np. The site includes a profile of the
organisation, a schedule of programming, information about public
access, a new programme to solicit financial support ("Friends of
Radio Sagarmatha") as well as information about the media
environment in Nepal and the story of Radio Sagarmatha's long
battle for a license. An online audio service, weekly summaries
of news from Nepal as well as an online resource center to
support the development of public and community radio in South
Asia are in the pipeline.
Contact: GPO Box 6958- Kathmandu Nepal. Tel +977 1 528 091 Fax
+977 1 530 227 email: ipringle@...
http://www.sagarmatha.org.np

FREE OPERATING SYSTEMS: HAVE YOUR PICK
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: .NET, India's first Internet magazine

An India-based group has launched a new Web site that offers
users 11 different operating systems, including Linux, and their
accompanying documentation. The FreeOS.com site is based in
Mumbai, India, and it staunchly opposes the lucrative practice of
charging for operating systems. Besides the increasingly popular
Linux, other operating systems supported by FreeOS.com include
FreeBSD, BPMK, Cynus, FreeDos, Freedows, GNU Hurd, Minix, NetBSD,
OpenBSD, and VSTa. While the site offers support for all 11 free
operating systems, FreeOS.com says that the vast majority of
activity in the market revolves around Linux and will probably
remain that way for the forseeable future. Details from Prakash
Advani, prakash@...
http://www.freeos.com

SOME INTERESTING SITES FROM PAKISTAN
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: SPIDER, Pakistan's Internet magazine
http://www.spider.tm

Urdu e-mail         ...       http://www.pakdata.com
Contact Pakistan    ...       http://www.contactpakistan.com
National Bank       ...       http://www.nbp.com.pk
Links to edn sites  ...       http://www.khs.edu.pk
Tech Inst (for women)..       http://www.tipd.org
Islam, travel, Pakstn..       http://www.chopal.click2site.com
Asian Mgt Institute ...       http://www.ami.edu.pk
Pak Picture Gallery ...       www.grove.ufl.edu/~emran/pakpics.htm
Guide to Pak Internet..       http://www.pakpowerpage.com
Mera Pakistan       ...       http://www.merapakistan.com
Institute of Bankers...       http://www.ibp.cib.net
Islamic Art         ...       http://www.islamicart.com
Online magazine Saher..       http://www.saher.com
E-commerce site     ...       http://www.giftdukan.com

BANGLADESH: A MODEM CAN COST MORE THAN A COW!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Shahidul Alam, shahidul@...

Language forms the biggest barrier to computer literacy in
Bangladesh, and when less than 15% of the popular has access to
electricity, and a far smaller fraction owns computers, it is
clear that only the wealthy will have access to this technology.
Here, a modem costs more than a cow. Yet this technology and this
associated language both exist. To find creative routes to turn
this technology to our benefit is our greatest challenge.

ON-LINE DEBATE ON GLOBAL POVERTY, SOCIAL EXCLUSION, INEQUALITY
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: New Policy Institute info@...

Sign up for an e-conference on the first draft of the World
Bank's 2000 World Development Report on Poverty. In Sept 2000,
the World Bank will publish its once-in-a-decade 'Poverty World
Development Report'. During February and March 2000, there will
be a global online discussion of the draft. Its conclusions will
be fed to the report's authors. The World Bank's research reports
and journals are highly influential on development thinking and
programmes. They achieve wide distribution, major press coverage
and are frequently cited. The WDR is the Bank's flagship
publication, with over 150,000 copies printed and many
distributed free. This is the first time the World Bank is widely
circulating a draft WDR. In January, the draft WDR will be posted
on the web at http://www.worldbank.org/poverty/wdrpoverty/ WDR
lead author is Ravi Kanbur. NPI is a progressive think tank,
founded in 1996, and wholly independent.
To sign up for this e-consultation, send email to
wdrconf@... to get more info and an electronic sign-up
form. Or visit either of the two web sites
http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/reports  or
http://www.npi.org.uk/

ProPOOR, REPOSITORY OF SOUTH ASIAN NON-PROFITS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Jayesh A. Parekh <jayesh@...>

ProPoor is a web repository of south asian NGO, their leaders,
projects, success cases, events, publications, donors, jobs, and
links.  propoor gives free webpage/link to NGOs.
Contact details: ProPoor InfoTech Centre, 12 Prince Edward Road,
04-09 Podium B Bestway Building, Singapore 079212. Phone: 227-
1184 Fax: (65) 227-1180. e-mail: jayesh@...
http://www.propoor.org

BIGGEST LINUX CONFERENCE PLANNED IN INDIA IN FEB 2000
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Express Computer, http://www.expresscomputerindia.com

BANG!LINUX is "the biggest Linux conference that India has every
witnessed". It is definitely meant for those who are Linux
programmers, or want to become one. Others would gain from coming
too. It is to be held in the South Indian city of Bangalore from
February 25 to 27, 2000.
speakers are to be a combination of several important local
personalities, and some of the biggest names in the Linux
community. Including Richard Stallman, Alan Cox and Atul Chitnis.
There will be over 20 sessions covering a broad range of exciting
technical areas. You could meet, learn from and exchange ideas
with over 2500 progammers, developers, industry professionals,
and all the big players from the Linux community including SuSE
and Red Hat, according to the organisers.
Register at http://www.linux-conferences.com
Details: Vijay Tase, vstase@...

INFO ON SOME PAKISTANI ISPs
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: SPIDER, Pakistan's Internet mag http://www.spider.tm

GEM NET is a new player to the Internet service provider market.
It is expanding its services to all major cities of Pakistan for
a broader customer base. The ISP setup is based on ISDN PRI
lines, which will enable customers to connect upto 56 Kbps.
http://www.gem.net.pk
ROBONET is the first Internet service provider in the market to
offer a 15% discount to students and embark on an educational
programme for young sufers.
http://www.robonets.com
AKNET was established with the express vision of providing a
premium quality Internet service.
http://www.ak.net.pk
ORBIT NET is a nationwide backbone for Internet dial-up
connectivity with high speeds of Internet applications with one
of the largest multi-home TCP/IP backbone in Pakistan. Orbit
provides prepaid service packages for individuals with variable
rates at no registration or monthly rent. You can purchase any
number of hours, irrespective of consuming it within a limited
span of time.
http://www.obit.net.pk

DEVELOPMENT TOOLS FOR INDIAN LANGUAGES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Centre for Dvpt of Advanced Computing, CDAC India

ISM API Software Development Kit contains fonts, keyboard driver,
API library and DDE server that enables application development
for data entry, storage, retrieval and printing in Indian scripts
using Windows-based front end development tools (VB 5.0 or 6.0,
Visual FoxPro, MS Access, Power Builder, etc). It facilitates
processing of Indian language strings in alphabetic characters,
allowing sorting, indexising and searching.

NTrans is a software that undertakes transliteration from English
to Indian languages and vice versa. Ideal for applications like
preparation of telephone directories, pay roll, invoicing, custom
application, etc. Available for both South and North Indian
languages. Available as an utility for conversion of Text and DBF
files, and as a library which can be integrated into one's
application.

GistSDK (Software Development Kit) uses Microsoft's advanced
ActiveX technology and provides a seamless, transparent and self-
contained Indian language layer for data entry, storage,
retrieval and printing in Indian scripts for your MS Windows 9X
or NT applications. It can be used with any of the latest
application development tools providing 'OLE Container' support
like Visual Basic 5.0 or 6.0, Visual C 4.2 or later, PowerBuilder
5.0 or later, Delphi 3, etc.  GistSDK consists of a set of DLLs
(Dynamic Link Libraries) with necessary APIs, a set of ActiveX
controls and true type fonts. One can develop a completely self-
contained Indian language enabled application rapidly with ease
using standard front-end development tools.

Also available are the GIST Card and GIST Shell Library for
application development under the DOS platform.
Details from: gist@... or cdacd@... or
gist@... or cdacm@...

MEXICAN WEBSITE TO HELP LOCAL FARMERS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Margaret Wertheim / Sunday Age, Australia

As a symbol of the Internet's power to assist local communities,
it would be hard to beat the Mexicali-based website of the Rio
Colorado Irrigation District in the north-west corner of Mexico.
Created to assist the local community of some farmers'
organisations, the site, with its attendant Internet services,
has become a focal point for the region's small-scale indigenous
agricultural producers. Through Internet connections, the farmers
can send email, submit reports on irrigation quotas and planting
activities  and access important information on weather and
market conditions and a host  of other relevant data. Moreover,
via the Internet, they can let the world know  about themselves.
Their homepage charmingly describes their work "in this dry but
fertile land full of changes and illusions".
http://cucapah.mxl.cetys.mx/indexe.html

STUDY SHOWS POVERTY BLOCKS SPREAD OF CYBER-BENEFITS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Margaret Wertheim / Sunday Age, Australia

It is becoming clear that opening up the net to everyone will be
a good deal more problematic than much of the rhetoric would have
us believe. A report in June by the prestigious Association for
Computing Machinery (ACM), entitled The Internet in Developing
Countries, stresses that, for most of the world, Internet access
remains a rare and costly thing. In Ghana, for example, the cost
of  an account with Africa Online is $US50 a month, almost twice
the average monthly income - and more than twice what it costs
for unlimited access in the US. The ACM report notes that in many
countries there is a crippling lack of low-cost regional IP
(internet provider) backbones. Moreover, in many regions of the
world telephone services are still extremely limited; and for
billions of people poverty remains an enormous barrier.
That point is reinforced by Indian net activist Venkatesh
Hariharan, an associate professor at the Indian Institute of
Information Technology. Forget logging onto the Internet, he says
because two-thirds of the world's people have never made a phone call.

IT NEPAL AND UNIV. DEGREE PROGRAMME AT KATHMANDU
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Padam Sharma <psharma@...>

The Kathmandu Campus of Purbanchal University is planning to
start a three-year degree program in Computer Applications and
they are looking for an IT buff, preferably, with an academic-
administration background.  The job is worthy of challenge to
advance the cause of IT in Nepal.
IT Nepal is a mailing-list to discuss information technology
issues in Nepal. To subscribe, write to
it_nepal-subscribe@...
http://www.caninfo.org/itnepal.htm

AFRICA IN THE INFO & COMMUNICATION AGE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Albertina 'Tina' Almeida <alal@...>

GhaCLAD was founded as an international all volunteer
organization to ensure that countries throughout Africa,
particularly Ghana, take their rightful place in the Information
& Communication Age.
GhaCLAD is the Ghana Computer Literacy and Distance Education
conference. Its next conference will be held in Accra, Ghana,
from July 27-30, 2000.
GhaCLAD:  http://www.ghaclad.org

UN's W.I.D.E. TO FOSTER TECH COOPERATION AMONG THIRD WORLD
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Yzette Terreblanche <YzetteT@...>

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) - Special  Unit
for Technical Cooperation among Developing Countries (TCDC) is in
the process of launching an Initiative known as Web of
Information for Development (WIDE), designed to foster technical
cooperation among developing countries (TCDC).
WIDE Online is a public access database containing user-
maintained data on experts, institutions and "best" practices.
WIDE Online is up and running and will be launched globally  very
shortly.
Under a UNDP agreement with the Brazilian government  WIDE Online
now provides access to the bio-data of 38,000  Brazilian experts'
and to over 300,000 Brazilian publications. This data is
available under a collaboration agreement with  the Brazilian
Ministry of Science and Technology.
ENQUIRIES:  Atsede Worede Kal, Information Services Officer
of the UNDP - TCDC
E-mail:  atsede.worede-kal@...
WWW:  http://www.undp.org/tcdc or http://www.wide.org.br

BETTER STATISTICS CAN FIGHT POVERTY BETTER...
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Yzette Terreblanche <YzetteT@...>

Development experts forum calls for better statistics to fight
poverty in the 21st century. Better statistics can make efforts
to fight poverty more effective both at the national level, by
improving the ability of governments to formulate appropriate
policies, manage economic and social development, and monitor
improvements in living standards, and at the global level, by
providing data to monitor the International Development Goals
which have been set for the 21st century.  In order to ensure
adequate funding and support for national statistical systems,
development experts from donors agencies and developing
countries agreed to launch a shared international strategy,
PARIS 21, the Partnership in Statistics for Development in the
21st Century.
http://www.worldbank.org/html/extdr/extme/105.htm

COMMONWEALTH'S ROUNDTABLE INFO ON THE INTERNET
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: The Commonwealth of Learning <Info@...>

Outcomes from The Commonwealth of Learning's Knowledge Management
Roundtable (November 1999) have now been posted on the Internet.
Experts in distance education libraries and information databases
discussed the changing nature of knowledge management and
available technologies and examined how COL and its Information
Resource Centre can best meet the needs of stakeholders around
the Commonwealth.  The group drafted a mission statement for a
Commonwealth Open Learning Interactive Network for Knowledge
Sharing (COLINKS).
http://www.col.org/KMR

USING E-COMMERCE FOR MICRO AND SMALL ENTERPRISES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Nidhi Tandon <ntnp@...>

In a recent meeting of an association of women entrepreneurs in
Cameroon called ASAFE, there were just under 100 entrepreneurs
from the region and from some English-speaking African countries
gather to explore e-commerce and its applicability in the
contexts of micro and small enterprises.
Nidhi Tandon is from the Networked Intelligence for Development,
210 Indian Road Crescent, Toronto, Ontario, M6P 2G3 Phone: 1416
763 0371 Fax: 1416 763 0372
Email: ntnp@...

PACT FOR RURAL E-MAIL IN THE THIRD WORLD
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Gary Garriott <garyg@...>

On December 10, Henry Norman, President of the nonprofit
Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA) announced the signing
of an innovative agreement that will permit it and its
collaborators to bring low cost email services to rural and
isolated areas of developing countries. The other signatories to
the unique agreement are commercial companies, Wavix, Inc. of
Maryland (Wavix), and the Surrey Satellite Technology, Ltd., of
Guildford England (SSTL).
VITA is dedicated to bringing technical assistance to the
developing world. In 1993, VITA received a "Pioneer's Preference"
license from the Federal Communications Commission for its early
work in non-military applications of low earth orbiting
satellites. A three party agreement has been worked out under
which, SSTL will lease a transponder on UoSAT-12 to VITA, and
VITA will operate the transponder in accordance with the terms of
its FCC authorization for a low earth orbit satellite system.
VITA will sub-lease capacity to Wavix, which will make financing
available for the arrangement with SSTL. VITA is entitled to use
50 percent of the capacity to serve rural populations in the
developing countries and Wavix, Inc. will use the balance except
for a small amount reserved to SSTL. This complex arrangement
took a year to negotiate. However, the parties feel they have
achieved a win-win situation in which the interests of all three
organizations, particularly VITA's commitment to bring
communications to rural populations, are dramatically advanced.
More info: Gary Garriott (VITA), garyg@...
John Borden (Wavix), john.borden@...
Holly Ladd (SatelLife), hladd@...
Jeff Ward (SSTL), j.w.ward@...

I.T. IN ASIA, A GREAT DEAL OF INFORMATION
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Roger Harris <roger@...>

Copies of the proceedings of CITA'99 (520 pages), Conference on
IT in Asia, the Asian regional conference of the IFIP 9.4 Working
Group on the social implications of computers in developing
countries, held in Kuching, Malaysia in September 1999, are
available at US$25 plus post and packing. The conference featured
40 papers from 10 countries organized into six tracks: national
perspectives; applications; IT in education; organisational
responses; adoption of IT; and cultural aspects.
Contact Hadijah Morni, at mhadijah@...

SECOND GKII MEET IN MALAYSIA IN MARCH
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Rinalia Abdul Rahim <rinalia@...>

The Second Global Knowledge Conference (GKII) begins on March 7,
2000 in Malaysia. Some of the themes to be taken up include
building knowledge societies; addressing the information divide;
transforming governance and empowering people; knowledge and
innovation for sustainable development; enabling effective
participation in decision making; empowering people through the
knowledge-based economy; building virtual communities and
cultural diversity in the 21st century; promoting life-long
learning; shaping collaborative ICT development and initiatives
for global prosperity; balancing economic development and
environmental protection.
The Knowledge Fair runs from March 7 to 10, 2000.

NEWS AND VIEWS FROM THE GLOBAL KNOWLEDGE PARTNERSHIP
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Lesley Anne Simmons <lsimmons@...>

PARTNERS is the newsletter of the Global Knowledge Partnership,
and brings you news and views from GKP, via mail and the
Internet, monthly. Submissions are welcome.
Partners is issued monthly, if you wish to receive this regular
briefing, or if you know of others who ought to receive it,
please send mailing details or e-mail address to
lsimmons@... Comments and suggestions? Items for
inclusion?  Send them to the same address.
Partners is the  newsletter of the Global Knowledge Partnership,
a growing partnership of public, private and not-for-profit
organizations working together to help people access knowledge
and harness information and communications technologies that will
help them live meaningful and fruitful lives.
Editor:  Lesley Anne Simmons, The Global Knowledge Partnership
Secretariat, c/o  The World Bank Institute, The World Bank, 1818 H
Street NW, Washington D.C. 20433
Tel: 1 202 473-1785 Fax: 1 202 522-1492
e-mail: globalknowledge@...
website: www.globalknowledge.org

THE HOW-TOs FOR WRITING EFFECTIVE GRANT PROPOSALS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Firoze Manji <firoze@...>

Does the thought of writing a proposal fill you with dread? A new
CD-ROM offers a learning module, designed for not-for-profit
organisations, which could help you to write effective proposals
that make a difference. By following the steps, you could write
your proposal clearly and easily, and without the stress that
most people associate with this task. There's information on what
is a proposal; writing proposals; the project document; and a
resource centre (offering useful links and recommended reading).
Contact: Firoze Manji <firoze@...> or 38 Western Road
Oxford OX1 4LG UK. Tel/Fax: +44-1865-436446
http://www.fahamu.org.uk

'HEALTH TRAINING' NOW AVAILABLE ONLINE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Thomas Schwarz MedicusMundi <tschwarz@...>

The new "Health Training" website is an internet-based inventory
providing comprehensive information on postgraduate training and
further education opportunities in the field of International
Health. International Health focuses on poverty-related health
problems in low and middle income countries. It includes the
promotion of health, prevention and treatment of diseases,
palliative care and rehabilitation.
http://www.healthtraining.org

INTERNET RATES IN PAKISTAN
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: M. A. Hameed <mah@...>

The rates for Internet access in Pakistan are, in comparison,
much lower than in other parts of South Asia. BrainNet
(http://www.brain.net.pk), a pioneer in providing email and
Internet services and one of the largest ISPs in the country,
charges Rs 25 per hour as the standard basic rate. The rate comes
down to Rs 18 for 50 hours used in a month, and only Rs 16 for
100 hours. Another private ISP, ZoooomNet (http://www.zoooom.net)
has pioneered the introduction of a prepaid card, charging Rs
1000 for 50 hours, which can be used at any time, not necessarily
within a month. (There are no other charges of any kind.) In
Pakistan there is no surcharge for phone calls. Just one local
call is charged, irrespective of the time one remains connected
with Internet.

NEPAL CENTRE FOR MOUNTAIN DEVELOPMENT'S WEBSITE
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: Sangeeta Pandey <sangeeta@...>

In Nepal, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain
Development (ICIMOD) has its website at the address below. It can
also be contacted through Sangeeta Pandey, Documentation
Officer/Web Person E-mail: sangeeta@...
http://www.icimod.org.sg

SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT WEBWORKS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy:  Scott Anderson <sanderson@...>

Are you a communications professional working on sustainable
development? Do you use the Internet in your work? If so, visit
the SD Webworks [Sustainable Development Webworks], a new online
community sharing knowledge about using the Internet more
effectively for sustainable development.
To SUBSCRIBE to the sd-webworks mailing list, send a message to
<lyris@...> with the following command in the body of
your email message:
subscribe sd-webworks [your name]
SD Gateway: http://sdgateway.net/
Email contacts: rcdd@..., rcds@...

GIVING SCHOOLS EFFECTIVE ACCESS TO INTERNET RESOURCES
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Schools Online recently released a new version of their web site.
It helps to ensure that all schools have effective access to the
communication and information resources of the Internet.  As part
of the Alliance for Global Learning, WorLD and Schools Online are
working together to bring the Internet and computer technology to
schools in nine countries.
http://www.schoolsonline.org

GLOBALED, EDUCATIONAL RESOURCE FOR STUDENTS AND TEACHERS
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"GlobalEd", a great educational resource for students and
teachers sponsored by the Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID), features information about various Global
Issues such as Health, or the Environment, as well as many
country profiles.
http://globaled.ausaid.gov.au/

NEW SITE THAT EXPLORES THE USE OF I.T. IN EDUCATION
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Info courtesy: The Commonwealth of Learning  http://www.col.org

TechKnowLogis is a new on-line resource for exploring the use of
information technology in education.  Free subscriptions
available on the web-site.
http://www.techknowlogia.org

WANTED: COLLABORATORS FOR BYTESFORALL
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Comment by Frederick Noronha

BytesForAll, a not-for-profit network meant to focus on how
computers and the Internet can be used to address the human needs
of South Asia, earnestly seeks collaboration from volunteers. In
particular we seek inputs and information from those keeping
track of developments taking place in other areas of South Asia.
Any volunteers? Please contact fred@... and partha@...
that is Frederick Noronha (Goa-India) and Partha Sarker (Dhaka-
Bangladesh).
Meanwhile, a big thank you to Zubair Faisal Abbasi
<zubair@...> for offering to send in updates for
BytesForAll from Pakistan. Abbasi is Information Manager of the
Sustainable Development Networking Programme in Islamabad. More
about it on the site http://www.sdnp.org.pk
We are also more than grateful for all the kind words and offers
of support for this young project. You can help us greatly by (i)
spreading the BytesForAll message by circulating this issue among
relevant mailing-lists and individuals (ii) sending us news-clips
from your region that fits into the BytesForAll agenda (iii)
putting us in touch with people doing similar work worldwide (iv)
building up regional BytesForAll initiatives in areas not
currently adequately supported (v) in any other way you deem fit.
Further details about BytesForAll from http://www.bytesforall.org

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
bYtES For aLL * Compiled jointly by
Frederick Noronha, Journalist 403511 Goa India fred@... and
Partha Pratim Sarker, Drik Multimedia, Dhaka 1209 partha@...
Compiled in public interest * CopyLeft
May be freely circulated provided entire message is left intact.
Please draw our attention to any incorrect links noticed above.
Updates, earlier issues and more at http://www.bytesforall.org
ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

================================================
  DISORIENTED FRONTIERS
  [first part of the 'third rivens' tryptic]
  http://www.cicv.fr/3rives
  ================================================

  'millions of faces take place in the network, those are faces of aliens, you
  are aliens'

  net.installation presented at the first urban multimedia art festival
  (www.nuits-savoureuses.net).
  The internauts can intervene by email or phone on the topic
  of the frontiers, of the disorientation and the aliens.

  1 > where do you live?
  2 > what is your curriculum vitae?
  3 > when and where will you leave on a journey?
  4 > do you known an alien?

  r e p l y : 3rives@...

  ================================================
  o p e r a t o r = gregory chatonsky
  i n t e r a c t i o n = mail & phone
  r e q u i r e s = cosmoplayer 2.1 - quicktime 4 - win 95/98


  _/_/_/_/_/_/_/_/_

  Gregory Chatonsky
  Incident Center (IC)

Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN
Content-ID: <Pine.GSO.4.05.9912301153092.28695@jaguar>

The London School of Economics and Political Science

EMTEL

The European Media Technology and Everyday Life Network

Doctoral Research Student/Research Officer (3 years)

To be appointed as from April 1 2000

(Salary: £11,367 p.a.)


Subject to confirmation with the EC DGXII, Media@lse, the Media and
Communications programme at the LSE, is making the first of two research
appointments to work on its contribution to the European Media Technology
and Everyday Life Network (EMTEL) during the year 2000.

EMTEL is a Research Training Network funded under the EU's programme,
Improving Human Potential and the Socio-economic Knowledge Base.  It
includes 7 partners in 6 different countries (Ireland, the Netherlands,
Belgium, Spain, Norway, the UK).  Full details of the proposal, including
the Work Plan are attached.

This appointment is subject to EC regulations concerning nationality and
standing.  This requires that appointments to the Network are restricted to
citizens of the EU, but that no appointment can be made from among citizens
of the host country.  UK citizens are therefore not eligible to apply.  Non
UK EU citizens must not have spent more than 12 months in the 24 months
before their appointment in the UK.

The holder of this post will register full-time for a funded doctorate at
the London School of Economics, pursuing a research project within the range
of subjects comprising the research agenda for the Network, and subject to
the availability of suitable supervision within the School.  He or she will
have to apply separately to the Graduate School for admission to the LSE.

The holder of the post will also act as Administrator of the EMTEL Network,
working alongside its Convenor, Professor Roger Silverstone.  It is expected
that a PhD will be completed in the three years for which funding is
available.   It is also expected that the work-load associated with the
administrative responsibilities will not exceed LSE's own regulatory maximum
of 15 hours (average) of paid employment per week during term time.

The Administrator of EMTEL will have day to day responsibility for managing
the network.  This will include the organisation of partner meetings during
the lifetime of the project, setting up and managing the EMTEL Web-site and
acting as editor of its various publications, alongside other members of the
Network.

The position offers an opportunity for a young social scientist of
distinction to pursue, and be trained in, doctoral research in one of
Europe's best schools of advanced social science, to gain experience in
academic administration, and to build their own network of contacts,
expertise and support within the EU.

The salary to be paid will be equivalent to a Marie Curie Doctoral
Fellowship.  This is £11,367 p.a. in the first year (subject to confirmation
and currency fluctuations).  LSE registration fees will be paid.  UK tax is
not payable as a full-time registered student. The post-holder will be
required to live in London during the tenure of the Fellowship.

There is no application form, but candidates should include a full
curriculum vitae, and an outline of the research they propose themselves to
pursue leading to a PhD in Media and Communications at the LSE.  An
application should be submitted simultaneously to the Graduate School for
admission to the MPhil/PhD programme at the LSE.  Details of the programme
and forms for admission can be obtained from the Graduate School, The London
School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE;
Fax: +44 (0)20 7955 6137 (or from www.lse.ac.uk).

The deadline for applications is 21 January 2000.  They should be sent to:
Professor Roger Silverstone, Media@lse, The London School of Economics and
Political Science, Houghton Street, London WC2A 2AE;
R.Silverstone@..., to whom further or preliminary enquires can be
made.

Media@lse can be found at www.lse.ac.uk/Depts/Media

This is the first installment of a new *spark writers and contributors email.
I intend to send to you about 2 times a week, so if you want out...let me know
now.  You're included because you have contributed to *spark in the past. The
purpose is to keep those of you who are keenly interested in the progress of
the publication informed.  These emails will sometimes be substantial and
sometimes
a short sentence with a link pointing to something related to *spark or its
contributors.


For example, I would like to start out by throwing out a big congratulations
to Frank Beacham.  Frank has contributed to Issue 2.0 and 3.0 and will have a
piece in the January issue as well.  Frank is the excutive producer of the new
movie in theatres around N.America right now called The Cradle Will
Rock...directed
by Tim Robbins. Check it on the web >>>
http://movies.go.com/cradlewillrock/index_flash.html
We love to hear of your successes, and it's fun to share them with the rest of
the group.  Feel free to mail me with info you think would be appropriate for
dissemination to all contributors.

This will be information that I may not send to the entire subscriber list which
has exploded to over 1100 and is growing daily.  I try to contact this list only
2-3 times a month in order to not be too overwhelming.  However, we have some
pretty loyal readers already and they will be included in this mailing too.

Issue 4.0 will be up on January 1, 00 at midnight.  If you would like to look
at it before it is officially launched...go to >>>
http://www.spark-online.com/january00/january.html.
  I totally welcome your feedback and if you get back to me in a timely manner
I will attempt to make any necessary changes before the site goes live and the
announcements start going out.

The discussion board is really taking off and I want to encourage you to follow
the threads and get them off the ground where neccessary.  We have over 25,000
unique readers every month, who are now spending an average of 14 minutes on
the site...so people are reading.  I think it's neat to have a forum where you
can write, people can respond, and then have follow up by the orginal
contributor.
  In real time!

I have some great *spark flyers that I have had printed up.  They are beautiful
4-color works on glossy magazine stock.  I would love to send you some for your
scrap book or to leave around town.  I have 4 different designs and I'll pay
the postage if you promise not to hide them in a drawer somewhere or throw them
away.  Just send me your address and an approx . number of pieces you want and
I'll get them out.  I printed about 25,000 of them so feel free to ask for as
many as you think you can handle.

Deadline for submission for 5.0 is the 5th...please get those articles in. 
Every
issue has been stronger than the last and from we've what received so far,
February
will be no exception.  I am starting to get more contributions on the graphics
side so I will be trying to commission digital art to run with as many of your
pieces as possible.  If you have any leads on someone who I should contact or
if you have the talent to coordinate graphics to run with your work by all means
take the intiative.

So, let me know if you don't want to hear from us and you'll just get the
regular
subscriber information twice a month.  I'm looking forward to watching *spark
and it's community grow over the coming year and am excited to have you as part
of it.

Hope to hear back from you...

Kristopher Krug
editor-in-chief

*spark - exploring electronic consciousness...
http://www.spark-online.com

+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
|*|s|p|a|r|k|-|o|n|l|i|n|e|
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+

>>>Issue 4.0 is now online - http://www.spark-online.com

Welcome to the future.

Don't you feel ripped off?

Where's my jetpack? My filet mignon with Madagascar peppercorn sauce in a
pill? I was really looking forward to being the first kid on the block with
an anti-gravity skateboard.

Oh well, all's not lost. I suppose we can be satisfied with the knowledge
that the real millennium doesn't begin until next year. We've still got a
year to go to construct all those "cities of the future" with their moving
walkways and eugenics inspired, cookie-cutter blonde shop attendants.

And I still get my *spark-online in my inbox every month.

"My generation went to the future and all I got was this crummy announcement
that *spark-online is still changing the world with powerful commentary,
brilliant design and cutting edge animation."



___________________________________________________

:: Unsubscribe Info::

If you don't want to receive our news and updates <approx. 2-3 per month>,
please send us an email at >> spark@... and we won't contact
you
any more.

CALL FOR PAPERS
International Conference on
CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY
AND COMMUNICATION (CATaC'00)

Conference Theme:
Cultural Collisions and Creative Interferences in the Global Village

12-15 July 2000, Perth, Australia
http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac00/
http://www.drury.edu/faculty/ess/catac00

Computer-mediated communication networks, such as the Internet and the
World Wide Web, promise to realise the utopian vision of an electronic
global village. But efforts to diffuse CMC technologies globally, especially
in Asia and among indigenous peoples in Africa, Australia and the United
States, have demonstrated that CMC technologies are neither culturally
neutral nor communicatively transparent. Rather, diverse cultural attitudes
towards technology and communication - those embedded in current CMC
technologies, and those shaping the beliefs and behaviours of potential
users - often collide.

This biennial conference series aims to provide an international forum for
the presentation and discussion of cutting-edge research on how diverse
cultural attitudes shape the implementation and use of information and
communication technologies. The first conference in the series was held in
London in 1998. For an overview of the themes and presentations of
CATaC'98 and links to the papers, see
http://www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks/catac98/01_ess.html.

Original full papers (especially those which connect theoretical frameworks
with specific examples of cultural values, practices, etc.) and short papers
(e.g. describing current research projects and preliminary results) are
invited. Papers should articulate the connections between specific cultural
values as well as current and/or possible future communicative practices
involving information and communication technologies. We seek papers which,
taken together, will help readers, researchers, and practitioners of
computer-mediated communication - especially in the service of "electronic
democracy" - better understand the role of diverse cultural attitudes as
hindering and/or furthering the implementation of global computer
communications systems.

Topics of particular interested include but are not limited to:

- Communicative attitudes and practices in diverse industrialised countries.
- Communicative attitudes and practices in industrialising countries and
marginalised communities.
- Impact of new communication technologies on local and indigenous languages
and cultures.
- Politics of the electronic global village in democratising or preserving
hierarchy.
- East/West cultural attitudes and communicative practices.
- Role of gender in cultural expectations regarding appropriate
communicative behaviours.
- Ethical issues related to new technologies, and their impact on culture
and communication behaviours.
- Legal implications of communication and technology.

SUBMISSION

All submissions will be peer reviewed by an international panel of scholars
and researchers. There will be the opportunity for selected papers to appear
in special issues of journals and a book. CATaC'98 papers, for example,
appeared in the Electronic Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de
Communication (Vol.8, Nos.3-4, 1998) and will appear in the AI and Society
Journal and Javnost (Journal of the European Institute for Communication and
Culture.

Initial submissions are to be emailed to catac@... as an
attachment (Word, HTML, PDF). Submission of a paper implies that it has not
been submitted or published elsewhere. At least one author of each accepted
paper is expected to present the paper at the conference.

Important Dates:
* Full papers 14 February 2000
* Short papers 28 February 2000
* Notification of acceptance 27 March 2000
* Final formatted papers 17 April 2000

PROGRAM

Highlights of the conference program include:
- discussion forums following technical sessions to focus on research
objectives
   and progress
- public lecture
- public panels with panelists drawn from conference participants
- reception in an art gallery featuring a didgeridoo player
- conference dinner at a winery
- pre-conference tour and post-conference safari
For more information, see the conference web site.

SUBSIDIES

Funding is being sought by the Committee to partially subsidise travel
expenses for students and scholars from developing countries. Please contact
the Co-Chairs if you wish to apply for a subsidy in the event that funds are
available.

VENUE

The venue is the Tradewinds Hotel, Fremantle, Western
Australia, located on the Swan River. Fremantle, an atmospheric port of
convict-constructed buildings and great pubs, is approximately 20km
west of Perth. Perth was founded in 1829 and is the sunniest capital in
Australia, and is the most isolated capital in the world. It has a
Mediterranean
climate, with warm to hot summers and cool winters. The average winter
maximum temperature (June-August) is 20C (~70F).

CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS
    Charles Ess, Drury College, USA, catac@...
    Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia, catac@...
CONFERENCE VICE-CHAIRS
Krishna Sen, Murdoch University, Australia
Andrew Turk, Murdoch University, Australia
CONFERENCE MANAGER
    Moira Dawe, Murdoch University, m.dawe@...
ORGANISING COMMITTEE
    Matthew Allen, Curtin University of Technology
    Steve Benson, Edith Cowan University
    John Gammack, Murdoch University
    Fiona MacMillan, Murdoch University
    Richard Thomas, University of Western Australia
    Kathryn Trees, Murdoch University
ADVISORY BOARD
    Tom Addison, Witwatersrand University, South Africa
    Phil Agre, University of California San Diego, USA
    Peng Hwa Ang, Nanyang Technical University, Singapore
    Michael Dahan, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel
    Donald Day, Towson University, USA
    Ken Friedman, Norwegian School of Management, Norway
    Pat Hall, Open University, UK
    Lorna Heaton, University of New Mexico, USA
    Soraj Hongladarom, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand
    Herbert Hrachovec, University of Vienna, Austria
    Lawrie Hunter, Kochi University of Technology, Japan
    Steve Jones, University of Illinois Chicago, USA
    Willard McCarty, Kings College London, UK
    Lucienne Rey, Swiss Office of Technology Assessment, Switzerland
    Cyd Strickland, The Fielding Institute, USA
    Diane Witmer, University of California Fullerton, USA

-----------------------
Fay Sudweeks
Senior Lecturer in Information Systems
School of Information Technology
Murdoch University WA 6150 Australia
+61-8-9360-2364 (o) +61-8-9360-2941 (f)
sudweeks@...
www.it.murdoch.edu.au/~sudweeks

This is a very good list that is well worth joining... Robin

_____

INVITATION TO JOIN THE CYBER SOCIETY MAILING LIST

The Cyber Society mailing list is a moderated discussion list made up of
over 200 people (so far!) who are interested in the interdisciplinary
study of Cyber Society.

Focusing on academic discussions and debates about the social, political,
economic, and cultural issues surrounding the emergence of Cyber Society,
our research questions and topics for discussion and debate include, but
are not restricted to:

*What is Cyber Society?

*What are its social, political, economic and cultural dimensions?

*What are its theoretical and policy implications for the 21st century?

*Cyber Society -: cyber communities; cyberspace and everyday life;
cyberfeminism; the virtual class; cyber ethnicities and identities; the
cyber classroom; cybermedicine; cyber research methods.

*Cyber Politics & Policy -: information age government and public
administration; power and control; geopolitics; Net politics and activism;
censorship; privacy; the state; regulation and surveillance; access;
interactivity; democracy; cyberwarfare; cybercrime.

*Cyber Economics -: cyber markets, industries, and corporations; Internet
and Intranet economics; electronic commerce; information services; R&D;
cyber employment; globalisation of information and communications
networks; intellectual property rights.

*Cyber Culture -: cybercultural theory; posthumanism; cloning; cinema;
intelligent TV and video; post-photography; digital architecture;
cybernetic art; cybernetic literature; performance; cultures of the
Internet.

List members are encouraged to post messages about their research,
upcoming books, conferences, and events. Information about new books,
academic papers, and book reviews are all welcome, as are messages about
new and interesting web sites, research questions, and research and
exchange opportunities.

*TO JOIN THE LIST, CONTACT THE MODERATORS AT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING EMAILS:
joanne.roberts@... or john.armitage@....

John Armitage & Joanne Roberts currently manage the list but others are
welcome to join in at any stage. The list is managed using lisbot
(http://www.listbot.com/) and you may signoff the list at any time using
this URL. The Cyber Society list is presently a MODERATED LIST.

If you wish to contact the moderators of the list directly then send a
message either to john.armitage@... or to joanne.roberts@...

We hope that you can participate in the list and enjoy its contents.

Best wishes.

John Armitage & Joanne Roberts

TO JOIN THE LIST, CONTACT THE MODERATORS AT ONE OF THE FOLLOWING EMAILS:
joanne.roberts@... or john.armitage@....

*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+
Robin Hamman, PhD Candidate at the Hypermedia Research Centre,
University of Westminster, London.
    ______      __
   / ____/_  __/ /_  ___  ______________  _____
  / /   / / / / __ \/ _ \/ ___/ ___/ __ \/ ___/
/ /___/ /_/ / /_/ /  __/ /  (__  ) /_/ / /__
\____/\__, /_.___/\___/_/  /____/\____/\___/
      /____/  http://www.cybersoc.com
	      http://www.cybersociology.com
	      http://www.digitalartisans.org

Dear Editors



A short while ago, a few colleagues and I created an electronic magazine

called "Chair et Metal/Metal and Flesh". Its objective is to examine the

human condition in the digital age. Chair et Metal/Metal and Flesh has
essays, short stories and virtual artwork by writers and artists such as

Noam Chomsky, Bruce Sterling, Catherine Ikam and Edouard Glissant.

Thought you might enjoy taking a look.

Also, if you're interested, we could trade banners and or links.


http://www.metalandflesh.com

Yours

Ollivier Dyens
Louisiana State University

Taken from the Cyber Society List - http://www.unn.ac.uk/cybersociety

Date: 22 December 1999 14:13
Subject: Cosmopolis Conference

Theory, Culture & Society and
Network Institute for Global Democratization
Conference
Democratizing Global Economy and Culture

Friday 2 - Saturday 3 June 2000
University of Helsinki, Finland


As we prepare to cross the millennium, the idea of cosmopolitanism is
attracting increasing interest.  For some the term holds out the  prospect
of global democratization.  The hope that cosmopolitan groups will be in
the
forefront of establishing values, institutions and lifestyles which are
less
directly embedded within nation-state societies.  For others the
cosmopolitan is a figure to be reviled as it has become associated with
'the
revolt of the elites,'  the inability of upper and middle class groups to
sustain a sense of responsibility towards the growing numbers of the
excluded around the world.  These mobile elites who enjoy the freedom of
physical movement and communication, stand in stark contrast to those who
are confined to place, whose fate is to remain located.

Equally harsh in its judgement of cosmopolitanism is the perspective which
presents the cosmopolitan as dabbling rootlessly in a variety of cultures.
This view of the cosmopolitan as voyeur, parasite, or some sort of cultural
tourist, again emphasizes this incapacity to form lasting attachments and
commitments to place and others, the inability to participate in a
community
to which one feels obliged to make sacrifices.  This restless pursuit of
experience, aesthetic sensations and novelty over duties, obligations and
social bonds, is allegedly something which best fits anglophone societies,
such as the United States and Britain, in which the market values of the
trader, who looks, deals and moves on, are often seen to be key formative
features of the current world-view.

This raises two related questions.  Firstly, the extent to which
cosmopolitan dispositions are closely associated with cities.  Cities have
long been the sites for markets and the mixing of people, commodities,
ideas
and cultures.  They have been the homes of a wide range of intellectual and
artistic, social and cultural movements and institutions. Secondly, if
cosmopolitanism in the arts was associated with modernism in cities such as
Paris, London and New York, which now become centres of cultural heritage
tourism, how far do more recently developed global cities such as So
Paulo,
Singapore and Bombay manifest similar processes of transnational cultural
exchange and mixing?  This points to a more fundamental question: while
cosmopolitanism may well be a Western project and projection, how far have
varieties of cosmopolitanism avant la lettre, been present outside the
West?
What equivalent forms of cosmopolitan experiences, practices,
representations and carrier groups developed, for example, in China, Japan,
India and the Islamic world?  What were the characteristic forms of
civility
and civic virtues, urbanity and urbane conduct, and how were notions of
travel, exploration and innovation valued?

If we look at the origin of the term cosmopolis, it refers to the links
between cosmos, the order of nature or the universe, and polis, the order
of
human society.  While many cultures have assumed there is a direct link
between the order of nature and the order of society, the dream of Western
modernity was that science and technology would eventually discover and
exploit the principle forms of order at work in both realms.  Technology
would implement these findings to tame and control both external nature,
along with the inner nature and social life of human beings.  Yet the
tragic, or dark side of modernity emphasised the sacrifice of all
previously
existing forms of order through the pursuit of progress.   At the end of
the
second millennium, we are only too well aware of the dangers and risks of
this process, of the finitude of nature as a living space for human beings
and other life forms, along with the infinitude of our potential to develop
culture, to weave narratives around this process.  The cosmopolitan was
meant to be someone who in principle could know everything, who would learn
how best to act from the accumulation of knowledge.  Yet this technological
potential for the archiving and data-basing of cultures does not offer any
easy recipes on how to make adequate practical judgements, especially when
we globalise the scope of our actions beyond the site of our accustomed set
of identifications.

In terms of Western notions of practice, the cosmopolitan political ideal
derives from the Kantian tradition and entails some notion of a polis
extending around the globe.  This implies some form of world-state, or
federation of states, which would involve the development of cosmopolitan
or
supra-national law and forms of citizenship and governance. The
compatibility of this vision with the continuing impact of global
marketization, along with the de-globalizing reactions of identity politics
and balkanization, and the persistence of civilizational and cultural
traditions, is an open question.  At the very least, if global
democratization is to move forward it can be argued that it must not merely
be the project of a Western centre, but become gradually assembled from a
range of cross cultural dialogues.

Mike Featherstone Theory, Culture & Society Centre
Heikki Patomki   Network Institute for Global Democratization
John Tomlinson Centre for Research in International Communications &
Culture


Conference Programme

The first day will explore cosmopolitan spaces and representations from a
largely theoretical perspective, whereas the second day will focus on more
concrete, topical political issues under the rubric of democratic reforms
of
cosmopolis.  Many of the perspectives of the second day have been directly
stimulated by the Network Institute for Global Democratization, a
Helsinki-based NGO working alongside the Theory, Culture & Society Virtual
Institute for Global Culture.  Both are experimental projects designed to
explore the politics of global citizenship and the new information
technologies and have aims which are as much practical-political as
academic.

Aims and Outcomes

The conference has both academic and ethico-political aims.  With respect
to
the academic aim, we intend publishing a selection of conference papers in
a
special issue of the journal Theory, Culture & Society.  We also intend
launching  a series of 'travelling seminars' in conjunction with the TCS
Virtual Institute for Global Culture and the Network Institute for Global
Democratization (NIGD) to further explore the practical implications of
global democratization and public sphere activities.  The main
ethico-political aim, then, is to open up a public and multicultural
discussion on the meanings of cosmopolitanism and their relation to global
reform.

The special issue of Theory, Culture & Society will be built around a
selection of the conference papers, and will come out in the year 2001.
The
travelling seminar will be developed out of the work of the conference.
The
idea is simple: to organise working seminars on strictly delimited topics
and with both an academic and a practical-political intent.  Based also on
the relations and arrangements of the NIGD and TCS Virtual Institute, the
travelling seminar will function as a node in a network of academic and
political activities, with the aim of not only helping to work towards the
solution of  practical issues, but also feeding new, theoretically informed
ideas and interpretations into practices.  The travelling seminar strives
to
empower cosmopolitan political actors, particularly those excluded or
marginalized, as well as contributing to finding more adequate, democratic
responses to the problems of the crisis-ridden global economy and culture.

There is also a further and more abstract ethico-political aim to this
conference as well.  By bringing together different voices on
cosmopolitanism, the idea is to further a more wide-ranging and
participatory discussion of the potential for democratizing global economy
and culture.  Hence, we would like to invite both sceptics and advocates
from a range of different cultures to become involved in a dialogue on the
philosophical and practical possibility of cosmopolitan global reforms.

Organizing Committee

Mike Featherstone Katarina Sehm Patomki
Heikki Patomki John Tomlinson
Liisa Laakso Pauline Eadie
   Alison Pancoe Terry McSwiney

Advisory Committe

Stephen Chan Teivo Teivainen
Bryan S Turner Jan Nederveen Pieterse
Eleonore Kofman Couze Venn
Scott Lash R B J Walker
   Turo Virtanen Colin Mercer

Information, Fees and Paper proposals

Email: cosmopolis@...
Fax: +44 (0)115 8486331

Conference Fee

150 before 15 April 2000 (190 thereafter)





Theory, Culture & Society Centre
Faculty of Humanities, Nottingham Trent University
Clifton Lane, Nottingham NG11 8NS, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)115 948 6330 / 6332
Fax: +44 (0)115 948 6331
E-mail: tcs@...
Web: http://tcs.ntu.ac.uk

Forthcomimg TCS conferences:
Inhabiting Technologies, ICA, London 10-12 March 2000
Cosmopolis, University of Helsinki, Finland 2-4 June 2000




Theory, Culture & Society Centre
Faculty of Humanities, Nottingham Trent University
Clifton Lane, Nottingham NG11 8NS, United Kingdom

Tel: +44 (0)115 948 6330 / 6332
Fax: +44 (0)115 948 6331
E-mail: tcs@...
Web: http://tcs.ntu.ac.uk

Forthcomimg TCS conferences:
Inhabiting Technologies, ICA, London 10-12 March 2000
Cosmopolis, University of Helsinki, Finland 2-4 June 2000


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