NICHE.LA                       http://niche.la/

Spring Arts Tower
453  S. Spring St. #441
Los Angeles, CA 90013
http://www.niche.la

Niche.LA Presents:

"Wireless"
New Work by Rex Bruce

March 9-April 1, 2006
Opening Reception: March 9, 8-10pm


In his new series "Wireless" Los Angeles artist Rex Bruce presents images and
videos taken
with a cell phone camera where the subject is the "air" in which mobile
communications
are transmitted. Within the abject looking sky-scapes the very tops of golden
arches,
street lamps, vernacular decoration and architecture jut upwards into the frame.
Often
included are telephone poles and slack wires strung between them, an ironic
choice
considering the instrument with which they were photographed.

Many of the minute VGA images are printed into enormous proportions, where the
artifacts of low-resolution, a tiny lens, and uncontrolled hues come to
constitute the style
of the artwork. The content of the work, the moody quality of their saturated
colors and
their mottled textures impart a sense of the ever "grungy" aspect of life in Los
Angeles
that is infused with the commerce driven pop-surreality pervasive to the look of
the city. A
cogent "connection" is made here, as the contemporary current of millions of
wireless calls
have become the primary agency of creation in Los Angeles.  The result are
humorous and
lyrical works of compelling beauty.

Other works in the exhibit are composites of multiple images simulating physics
based
analysis of mobile transmissions that "show" wave propagation and are used to
assist in
tower/repeater placement in the streets of urban environments. These painterly
looking
abstractions allude to an invisible "spirit world" created by the totality of
immeasurable
activity around us in the "air" of the wireless ether.

Hi there,

Please mind this conference info, thank you:

GOR06 (8th of this conference series and largest of its kind in Europe)

21.-22.03.2006 Bielefeld/Germany

Program including abstracts of papers:

http://www.gor.de

Keynote: Dr. Marc Smith (Microsoft Research):
"Social Networks of the Digital Individual: Visualizing
Computer-Mediated Social Interaction"

Pre-Conference Workshops on 20th of March

Key Sponsor: TNS Infratest

You can book this conference until 11th of March

Regards, Martin


====================================================
Dr. Martin Welker
Raum 2.02
Tel: (0341) 97 35 755
Fax: (0341) 97 35 799
E-Mail: welker@...
Home: www.martin-welker.de
Universitaet Leipzig
Institut fuer Kommunikations- und Medienwissenschaft
Abteilung Journalistik,
Management für Abteilungsleitung und Studienfachberatung

Burgstrasse 21, 04109 Leipzig
 
======================================================
 

Access to Knowledge Conference
Yale Information Society Project
April 21-23, 2006
Yale Law School
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/a2kconfmain.html

The information revolution holds great promise for development,
freedom, and justice, but this potential is fragile. Without a
coherent framework for why access to knowledge matters and an agenda
how to achieve it, this potential could be undermined by the growing
propertization and regulation of knowledge. The Information Society
Project (ISP) at Yale Law School invites you to help determine the
future of A2K.

  From April 21st to April 23rd, 2006, join policy makers, activists,
industry leaders, and academics at Yale Law School for a conference
addressing this topic in areas such as intellectual property policy,
telecommunications, education, culture, science, and health care.
Leading thinkers and advocates from North, South, East and West will
focus on generating cutting edge research agendas, concrete policy
solutions, and strategic partnerships for the next decade.

Please register from the conference website at
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/a2kconfmain.html.

Plenary Panel defining Access to Knowledge include:

-- Framing A2K in human rights and development
-- Political economy of trade treaties and intellectual property
-- The economics of information
-- Privacy, national security, and free expression
-- Innovative public and private solutions to knowledge access and
knowledge production in developing countries

Policy Panel topics include:

-- Measuring Access to Knowledge
-- Wireless Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and A2K
-- Traditional Knowledge
-- Access to Scientific Knowledge
-- Network Neutrality in the Developing World
-- Exceptions and Limitations to Copyright
-- Access to Medicines: India and TRIPS
-- Peer Production and Education
-- Digital Rights Management (DRM) and Globalization
-- Agriculture, and Genetically Modified Crops
-- Licensing Frameworks for Access to Knowledge
-- Open Archives (OA), OA Publishing and Libraries

For a full conference description and list of speakers, please visit
the conference website at
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/a2kconfmain.html. Space is limited,
so please register soon.


----------------
Eddan Katz
Lecturer in Law, Yale Law School
Executive Director, Information Society Project
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/

Hey All,



I wanted to let you know about a new grant we have just announced for
nonprofits.



The HP Technology for Community Grant Initiative
(www.techsoup.org/stock/hp), in partnership with TechSoup Stock, will
award up to 100 nonprofit organizations an HP wireless technology
package valued at approximately $17,000.

Each grant award will include

* Five HP Notebook PCs

* One HP Tablet PC

* One HP iPAQ Pocket PC

* A wireless ready HP all-in-one printer/scanner/fax/copier

* A wireless ready HP digital projector and wireless remote control

* A wireless access point

* An HP digital camera bundle

* A $1,000 stipend

* Training to set up a new wireless network



The HP Technology for Community Grant Initiative is designed to provide
technology tools to nonprofit organizations to enhance their
effectiveness and to support the innovative use of mobile technology.



More information and the grant application are available at TechSoup
Stock's web site: www.techsoup.org/stock/hp




~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Susan Tenby, Online Community Manager, TechSoup.org.
CompuMentor
435 Brannan Street, Suite 100, San Francisco, CA 94107-1234
Voice: 415.633.9333
Fax: 415.512.9629
Email: susan@...
http://www.compumentor.org <http://www.compumentor.org/>
http://www.techsoup.org <http://www.techsoup.org/>
~*~*~*~*~*~*~





[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CYBERSALON: EVENTS & PROJECTS OF INTEREST
1. CREATIVE SOFTWARE, Thursday, 23rd March 2006, The Science Museum's
Dana Centre
2. CYBERSONICA 06 - CALL FOR EXISTING WORK/GET INVOLVED

For more information visit the websites:
http://www.cybersalon.org
http://www.cybersonica.org

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CYBERSALON & THE DIGITAL RESEARCH UNIT @ THE DANA CENTRE
CREATIVE SOFTWARE
Thursday, 23rd March 2006, 1-10pm
The Science Museum's Dana Centre, 165 Queen's Gate, South Kensington,
London SW7 5HE [www.danacentre.org.uk]
Cost: Free. Email [bookings@...] for details.
Nearest tubes: South Kensington/Gloucester Road


"The signature and aesthetics of artists who write their own source code
manifest themselves both in the code itself and in its visual results."
Christianne Paul, Digital Art, (2003)

Creative Software is a one-day event featuring workshops, artist talks,
an exhibition of selected works and an evening panel discussion
involving leading practitioners, academics and curators in the field.
The programme will investigate the relationship between art and
technology and explore the history, context and approaches of artists
who write their own software and/or author their own code to produce
creative outputs.

Panelists and presenters include: Ed Burton - Research & Development
Director, Soda; Tom Corby - researcher/artist, reconnoitre.net; Charlie
Gere - Director of Research, Institute for Cultural Research, Lancaster
University, Tom Holley - Creative Director, The Media Centre,
Huddersfield; Alex McClean - programmer/musician/artist,
state51/Slub/toplap; Hannah Redler - Head of Arts Programme, Science
Museum; Andrew Shoben - artist, Greyworld; Alexei Shulgin -
artist/curator, runme.org; and Stanza - artist/curator, Soundtoys.net.

Creative software is a rich, but hitherto marginalised area of art
practice. Yet few areas of artistic endeavour better demonstrate the
merging of art and technology and the blurring of the roles of artist
and developer.

Cybersalon and the Digital Research Unit (DRU), Hudderfield are
collaborating to help realise the hidden potential of the area by
proposing the founding a Creative Software Forum. We envisage that this
network will: operate as a crucial research and advocacy group; work
proactively to source and engage with creative software showcases,
curators and commissioners, established and emerging creative software
artists/artist groups and their work; assemble event programmes that are
diverse, accessible, exciting and contemporary; and ensure the strategic
development of these events are informed by expertise in the field.

The Creative Software event is part of a process of public dialogue as a
precursor to submitting a funding proposal to found the Creative
Software Forum. We hope to draw together a community of practitioners,
artists, academics, students, theorists, other curators and an
interested general public to discuss, scope and explore the potential
and remit of a forum that could champion and advocate for this work in
an ongoing way. It's an open call to all interested parties to express
their interest and to contribute to the discussion.

Please contact Lewis Sykes, Cybersalon Coordinator
[lewis@...] if you are interested in contributing to Creative
Software.

A full outline of activities and contributors will be listed shortly.

Cybersalon gratefully acknowledges funding support from the Science
Museum's Dana Centre.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

CYBERSONICA 06
19-20TH MAY 2006, CYBERSONICA FESTIVAL @ THE SCIENCE MUSEUM'S DANA
CENTRE, LONDON, UK
4-20TH MAY 2006, CYBERSONICA SONIC ARTS EXHIBITION @ PHONICA RECORDS,
LONDON, UK
11-13TH MAY 2006, CYBERSONICA SAMPLER @ ENCOMPASS, LONDON, UK
24-26TH MAY 2006, CYBERSONICA SAMPLER @ B.TWEEN, BRADFORD, UK

CYBERSONICA EXPLORES AND CELEBRATES SONIC AND VISUAL INNOVATION. FRESH
AND EXPERIMENTAL, IT'S A SNAPSHOT OF THE LATEST DEVELOPMENTS IN
ELECTRONIC MUSIC, SONIC ARTS AND AUDIOVISUAL FUSION.

CALL FOR EXISTING WORKS

Cybersonica is London's annual festival of music, sound, art and
technology. Now in its fifth year, it's a leading international event
for anyone interested in the theory and practice of how new technologies
are shaping and changing the way musicians, DJs, VJs, digital artists,
audiovisualisers and creative software developers make and present their
work. The festival brings together a vibrant community of sonic and
audiovisual innovation, nurtures new talent and showcases the freshest
and latest work in the field. Cybersonica is organised by Cybersalon,
currently artists in residence at the Science Museum's Dana Centre.

SONIC ARTS EXHIBITION

As part of Cybersonica 06, there will be a two-week exhibition of sonic
artworks. These works will explore new forms of interactivity, moving
away from the keyboard and screen and into the physical realm.

We are now accepting submissions of existing sonic art works from
artists wishing to exhibit and present at this year's festival.

These works may be interactive installations, new electronic musical
devices, physical audiovisualisers, tangible interfaces, modified game
engines (for example).

Works should be playful, engaging and must use non-mouse/keyboard
interaction.

Deadline: Friday, 31st March 2006.

Notification: Monday, 10th April 2006.

Details, entry forms and terms: available via [www.cybersoncia.org]


DESIGN A CYBERSONICA EFLYER

In the spirit of bootleg culture Cybersonic 06 is looking for designers
and Flash animators to 'remix' their own version of our eflyer.


GET INVOLVED IN THE FESTIVAL

As Cybersonica 06 approaches we're looking for people to get involved
with the festival - to help with promoting, running, documenting and
archiving the event.

More details available at the Cybersonica 06 website.

oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo




http://www.bbc.co.uk/

This e-mail (and any attachments) is confidential and may contain
personal views which are not the views of the BBC unless specifically
stated.
If you have received it in error, please delete it from your system.
Do not use, copy or disclose the information in any way nor act in
reliance on it and notify the sender immediately. Please note that the
BBC monitors e-mails sent or received.
Further communication will signify your consent to this.




[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

New Constellations: Art, Science and Society
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
17-19 March 2006
Museum of Contemporary Art
Sydney Australia

An international conference charting the ways in which art and science are
gravitating towards one another within contemporary culture. The Conference
will present the latest thinking about collaboration between artists and
scientists and examine how the worldwide trend towards interdisciplinary
engagement is changing the definitions, methodologies and practices they use
and how they view the social implications of their work.

Plenary Speakers:

Ruzena Bajcsy, Immediate Past President, CITRIS (Centre for Information
Technology Research in the Interest of Society), University of California,
Berkeley

Elizabeth Grosz, Professor of Women¹s and Gender Studies, Rutgers, The State
University of New Jersey, and Visiting Professor of Architecture, Princeton
University, New Jersey

Steve Kurtz, Founding Member, Critical Art Ensemble; Associate Professor of
Art, State University of New York, Buffalo

Roger Malina, Chairman, Board, Leonardo, the International Society for the
Arts, Sciences and Technology; Co-Chair, International Advisory Board,
Inter-Society for the Electronic Arts

New Constellations is presented by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sydney
Australia. The Conference has grown out of a collaboration between artist
Mari Velonaki and roboticists David Rye, Steve Scheding and Stefan Williams
at the Australian Centre for Field Robotics at The University of Sydney.
This collaboration is an Australian Research Council-Australia Council for
the Arts Linkage Project.

The Conference is supported by Artspace; Australian Centre for Field
Robotics, The University of Sydney; Australian Network for Art and
Technology; Cognition and Creativity Studios, University of Technology,
Sydney; and Patrick Technology & Systems.

Conference enquiries: 61 2 9245 2484 or email@...
For further program details and information go to
www.mca.com.au/newconstellations

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the
Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body.



Dr Melinda Rackham
Executive Director

Australian Network for Art and Technology (ANAT)
PO Box 8029
Station Arcade
South Australia 5000
ph: 61 8 8231 9037; fax 61 8 8231 9766
http://www.anat.org.au
anat@...

ANAT is assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council
http://www.ozco.gov.au its arts funding and advisory body, by the South
Australian Government through Arts SA http://www.arts.sa.gov.au and the
Visual Arts and Craft Strategy, an initiative of the Australian, State and
Territory Governments.

I'm giving away a free one year flickr Pro account to a cybersociology list
member or
cybersoc.com reader.

But why?! Oh you sceptical cybersoc readers just don't know a freebie when you
see one, do
you? There's no catch and no, flickr isn't paying me to say that they aren't
paying me to do
this.

The reason I'm giving away a free flickr pro account is that for the past two
months the
google ads on cybersoc.com have more than paid for the blog and website hosting
I use.
When I added the profits together I was amazed to find it almost exactly
mirrored the cost of
a flickr pro account for a year. The point of the google ads was only to pay the
fees, not to
make a profit, so I thought I'd give readers and list members the opportunity to
win
something.

Details at http://www.cybersoc.com

The Pew Internet and American Life Project has published a new study: The
Strength of
Internet Ties.

The suggests that the internet actually increases the strength, number and depth
of one's
social ties. In particular, the study found that many people turn to the
internet at times of
crisis as a way of finding the support they need from friends, family and
contacts.

The report talks about the rise of "networked individualism" which Sociologist
Barry Wellman,
co-author of the report and whose work I highly recommend for those not familiar
with it,
told the BBC: "creates a new basis for community. Rather than relying on a
single community
for social support, individuals often actively seek out a variety of appropriate
people and
resources for different situations."

See http://www.cybersoc.com/2006/01/new_study_looks.html

Enjoy!
Robin.

(please reply to Paulo directly)

Hello,

My name is Paulo Almeida. I am a PhD student visiting the United States and
interested in knowing more about projects hosted by American governments which
the purpose is to foster civic participation. I intend to analyze some of these
projects to evaluate how governments (federal and local) are becoming more open
and transparent through the use of new technologies.

If you know an interesting initiative, would you keep in touch with me please ?
I would be delighted in receiving responses in my particular address:
democraciavirtual@...

My excuses for crosspostings.

Sincerely,

   Paulo Almeida
   St. Louis, Mo




---------------------------------
  Yahoo! doce lar. Faça do Yahoo! sua homepage.

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

----- Forwarded message from sudweeks@... -----

CALL FOR PAPERS

IR 7.0: INTERNET CONVERGENCES
International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association of Internet
Researchers

Brisbane, Australia
28-30 September 2006

Pre-Conference Workshops: 27 September 2006

INTERNET CONVERGENCES

The Internet works as an arena of convergence. Physically dispersed and
marginalized people (re)find themselves online for the sake of sustaining and
extending community. International and interdisciplinary teams now collaborate
in new ways. Diverse cultures engage one another via CMC. These technologies
relocate and refocus capital, labor and immigration, and they open up new
possibilities for political, potentially democratizing, forms of discourse.
Moreover, these technologies themselves converge in multiple ways, e.g. in
Internet-enabled mobile phones, in Internet-based telephony, and in computers
themselves as "digital appliances" that conjoin communication and multiple
media forms. These technologies also facilitate fragmentations with greater
disparities between the information-haves and have-nots, between winners and
losers in the shifting labor and capital markets, and between individuals and
communities. Additionally these technologies facilitate information filter!
  ing that reinforces, rather than dialogically challenges, narrow and extreme
views.

CALL FOR PAPERS

Our conference theme invites papers and presentations based on empirical
research, theoretical analysis and everything in between that explore the
multiple ways the Internet acts in both converging and fragmenting ways -
physical, cultural, technological, political, social - on local, regional, and
global scales.

Without limiting possible proposals, topics of interest include:

- Theoretical and practical models of the Internet
- Internet convergence, divergence and fragmentation
- Networked flows of information, capital, labor, etc.
- Migrations and diasporas online
- Identity, community and global communication
- Regulation and control (national and global)
- Internet-based development and other economic issues
- Digital art and aesthetics
- Games and gaming on the Internet
- The Net generation
- E-Sectors, e.g. e-health, e-education, e-business

We call for papers, panel proposals, and presentations from any discipline,
methodology, and community that address the theme of Internet Convergence. We
particularly call for innovative, exciting, and unexpected takes on and
interrogations of the conference theme. However, we always welcome submissions
on any topics that address social, cultural, political, economic, and/or
aesthetic aspects of the Internet and related Internet technologies. We are
equally interested in interdisciplinary proposals as well as proposals from
within specific disciplines.

SUBMISSIONS

We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. We welcome
proposals for traditional academic conference papers, but we also encourage
proposals for creative or aesthetic presentations that are distinct from a
traditional written 'paper'. We welcome proposals for roundtable sessions that
will focus on discussion and interaction among conference delegates, and we
also welcome organized panel proposals that present a coherent group of papers
on a single theme.

This year AoIR will also be using an alternative presentation format in which a
dozen or so participants who wish to present a very short overview of their
work to stimulate debate will gather together in a plenary session involving
short presentations (no more than 5 minutes) and extended discussion. All
papers and presentations in this session will be reviewed in the normal manner.
Further information will be available via the conference submission website.

- PAPERS (individual or multi-author) - submit abstract of 500-750 words

- SHORT PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-700 words

- CREATIVE OR AESTHETIC PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-700 words

- PANELS - submit a 250-500 word description of the panel theme and abstracts of
the distinct papers or presentations

- ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS - submit a statement indicating the nature of the
roundtable discussion and interaction.

Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the submitted proposals
on the basis of multiple blind peer review, coordinated and overseen by the
Program Chair. Each person is invited to submit a proposal for 1 paper or 1
presentation. People may also propose a panel of papers or presentations, of
which their personal paper or presentation must be a part. You may submit an
additional paper/presentation of which you are the co-author as long as you are
not presenting twice. You may submit a roundtable proposal as well.

Detailed information about submission and review is available at the conference
submission website http://conferences.aoir.org. All proposals must be submitted
electronically through this site.

PUBLICATION OF PAPERS

All papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication in the
Internet Research Annual, on the basis of competitive selection and review of
full papers. Additionally, several publishing opportunities are expected to be
available through journals, again based on peer-review of full papers. Details
on the website.

GRADUATE STUDENTS

Graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Any student paper
is eligible for consideration for the AoIR graduate student award. Students
wishing to be a candidate for the Student Award must also send a final paper by
31 July 2006.

PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS

Prior to the conference, there will be a limited number of pre-conference
workshops which will provide participants with in-depth, hands-on and/or
creative opportunities. We invite proposals for these pre-conference workshops.
Local presenters are encouraged to propose workshops that will invite visiting
researchers into their labs or studios or locales. Proposals should be no more
than 1000 words, and should clearly outline the purpose, methodology,
structure, costs, equipment and minimal attendance required, as well as
explaining its relevance to the conference as a whole. Proposals will be
accepted if they demonstrate that the workshop will add significantly to the
overall program in terms of thematic depth, hands on experience, or local
opportunities for scholarly or artistic connections. These proposals and all
inquires regarding pre-conference proposals should be submitted as soon as
possible to the Conference Chair and no later than 31 March 2006.

DEADLINES

Final date for proposal submission: 7 February 2006

Presenter notification: 21 March 2006

Final workshop submission deadline: 31 March 2006

Submission for publication/student award: 31 July 2006

Submission for conference archive: 30 September 2006

CONTACT INFORMATION

Program Chair: Dr Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia,
sudweeks@...

Conference Chair: Dr Axel Bruns, Queensland University of Technology, Australia,
a.bruns@...

President of AoIR: Dr Matthew Allen, Curtin University of Technology, Australia
m.allen@...

Association Website: http://www.aoir.org

Conference Website: http://conferences.aoir.org


----- End forwarded message -----

----- Forwarded message from catac@... -----

CALL FOR PAPERS

International Conference on
CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION (CATaC'06)

28 June - 1 July 2006
University of Tartu, Estonia
http://www.catacconference.org

Conference theme:
Neither Global Village nor Homogenizing Commodification:
Diverse Cultural, Ethnic, Gender and Economic Environments

The biennial CATaC conference series continues to provide an international forum
for the presentation and discussion of current research on how diverse cultural
attitudes shape the implementation and use of information and communication
technologies (ICTs). The conference series brings together scholars from around
the globe who provide diverse perspectives, both in terms of the specific
culture(s) they highlight in their presentations and discussions, and in terms
of the discipline(s) through which they approach the conference theme.

The 1990s' hopes for an "electronic global village" have largely been shunted
aside by the Internet's explosive diffusion. This diffusion was well described
by Marx - all that is solid melts into air - and was predicted by
postmodernists. The diffusion of CMC technologies quickly led to many and
diverse internets. A single "Internet", whose identity and characteristics
might be examined as a single unity, has not materialised. An initially
culturally and gender homogenous Internet came more and more to resemble an
urban metropolis. Along the way, in the commercialization of the Internet and
the Web, "cultural diversity" gets watered down and exchanges strong diversity
for a homogenous interchangeability. Such diversity thereby becomes commodified
and serves a global capitalism that tends to foster cultural homogenization.

CATaC'06 continues our focus on the intersections of culture, technology, and
communication, beginning with an emphasis on continued critique of the
assumptions, categories, methodologies, and theories frequently used to analyse
these. At the same time, CATaC'06 takes up our characteristic focus on ethics
and justice in the design and deployment of CMC technologies. We particularly
focus on developing countries facilitated by "on the ground" approaches in the
work of NGOs, governmental agencies, etc., in ways that preserve and foster
cultural identity and diversity. By simultaneously critiquing and perhaps
complexifying our theories and assumptions, on the one hand, and featuring
"best practices" approaches to CMC in development work, on the other hand,
CATaC'06 aims towards a middle ground between a putative "global village" and
homogenizing commodification. Such middle ground fosters cultural diversity,
economic and social development, and more successful cross-cultural co!
  mmunication online.

Original full papers (especially those which connect theoretical frameworks with
specific examples of cultural values, practices, etc.: 10-20 pages) and short
papers (e.g. describing current research projects and preliminary results: 3-5
pages) are invited.

Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to:
- Culture isn't 'culture' anymore
- The Internet isn't the 'Internet' anymore
- Gender, culture, empowerment and CMC
- CMC and cultural diversity
- Ethics and justice
- Free/Open technology and communication
- Internet research ethics
- Cultural diversity and e-learning

SUBMISSIONS
All submissions will be peer reviewed by an international panel of scholars and
researchers and accepted papers will appear in the conference proceedings.
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.

Full papers (10-20 formatted pages) - 13 February 2006
Short papers (3-5 formatted pages) - 20 February 2006
Workshop submissions  - 20 February 2006
Notification of acceptance  - mid March 2006
Final formatted papers  - 29 March 2006

There will be the opportunity for selected papers from this 2006 conference to
appear in special issues of journals. Papers in previous conferences have
appeared in journals (Journal of Computer Mediated Communication, Electronic
Journal of Communication/La Revue Electronique de Communication, AI and
Society, Javnost- The Public, and New Media and Society) and a book (Culture,
Technology, Communication: towards an Intercultural Global Village, 2001,
edited by Charles Ess with Fay Sudweeks, SUNY Press, New York). You may
purchase the conference proceedings from the 2002 and 2004 conference from
www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac.

CONFERENCE CO-CHAIRS
   Charles Ess, Drury University, USA, catac@...
   Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia, catac@...
PROGRAM CHAIR
   Herbert Hrachovec, University of Vienna, Austria
CONFERENCE CO-VICE-CHAIRS
   Pille Runnel, Tartu University, Estonia


----- End forwarded message -----

Dear list members,

I put together a new reading list for my "new media" course. Can someone
recommend my some good, important or classic books/papers on the following
topics (I already have a list, but I want to update it respectively to improve
it)?

1. What is New Media?
2. Concepts of the Information Society
3. Internet (History, Digital Gap, Politics)
4. Digital Games
5. Virtual Communities
6. Digital Identities
7. eLearning (Theory, Didactics, Systems)
8. New Forms of Communication
9. Digital Arts

Many thanks and best wishes, Markus
---
Markus Wiemker
Lecturer for New Media
University of Applied Sciences
Media Management, St. Pölten, Austria
Heinrich-Schneidmadl-Str. 15
lbwiemker@...
Tel.: +43 2742 313 228 416
Fax:  +43 2742 313 228 409
www.fh-stpoelten.ac.at
markus@...
www.wiemker.org

The Future of Web Apps: One-day conference focusing on the
development technology you'll be using tomorrow (London, Wednesday
09 February, 2006)

(Please note: I'm not involved in organising this conference so
please see the link at the bottom if you want further details.)

This one-day conference brings together those pioneers in the web
development industry who are setting the agenda for tomorrow's apps.
They will be discussing how Web 2.0 technologies are changing the
way we interact and how you can use these to build powerful, next
generation tools. So whether you're a business owner, developer or
entrepreneur this day will help you choose the right technology for
your next web-based application.

Why Tagging is Crucial to your Web App
Joshua Schachter - Delicious

Ajax - How to Give Users the Rich Interactivity They Want
Eric Costello - Flickr

Designing Web 2.0-native Products for Fun and Profit
Tom Coates - Yahoo!

Happy Programming and Sustainable Productivity with Ruby on Rails
David Heinemeier Hansson - 37signals

10 Reasons Why You Need to Build an API
Shaun Inman - Mint

Flex
Andrew Shorten - Adobe

How to Build an Enterprise Web App on a Budget
Ryan Carson - DropSend

Google Labs
Steven Crossan & Douwe Osinga - Google

Panel Discussion

Full details at http://www.carsonworkshops.com/summit/

- Please distribute, apologies for cross posting -

Call for Papers: Open Session "Cultural Studies and the Research of
Digital Games" at: Crossroads Conference at Ýstanbul Bilgi University
(Turkey) http://www.crossroads2006.org 20-23 July 2006

The investigation of computer games still is a field seldomly considered
in academic research. In contrast to this, a large public interest in
the possible "effects" of computer and video games exists, which seems
understandable since this "leisure time activity" plays an increasingly
central role in the life of many young people and adults. Thus game
research has to examine potentials of meaning, patterns of interaction
and readings contained in the representations of the game and their
influence on the player's "lifeworld". The actual forms of appropriation
of this "new" medium vary widely e.g. different forms of identity
construction and community building, therefore the following session
search for papers that address a wide range of topics and focus
especially on the relationship between Cultural Studies and game
research.

To submit a paper to this session, please send an abstract of maximum
150 words to the Session Organizer Markus Wiemker (markus@...).
The deadline for the submission of papers is December 31, 2005.

Best wishes, Markus Wiemker
---
Markus Wiemker
Lecturer for New Media
University of Applied Sciences
Media Managment, St. Pölten, Austria
Heinrich-Schneidmadl-Str. 15
lbwiemker@...
Tel.: +43 2742 313 228 416
Fax:  +43 2742 313 228 409
www.fh-stpoelten.ac.at
markus@...
www.wiemker.org

Apologies for cross-postings

----------------------------------
Dynamics in the FLOSS social world
----------------------------------
Call for Papers for a session on FLOSS at the biennial conference of the
European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) to
be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) from 23rd to 26th August, 2006

This session aims to contribute to the understanding of the
heterogeneity, multiplicity and local enactments in the free/libre open
source software (FLOSS) development by encouraging more contextualised
and qualitative research. We encourage interested scholars to go beyond
cognitive questions on mitivations (e.g. why FLOSS developers
contribute) to explore fresh and challenging research questions emerging
from the heterogeneous and dynamic FLOSS social world. Our aim is to
bring the diversity and contingencies of this field to the front stage,
including issuses of shifting identities and contested identities (such
as shifts between users and developers and gendered politics). This is
not to deny that there are also integrating technologies and practices
at work, bringing people and code together in FLOSS projects. We thus
invite interested scholars to explore both the sentrifugal and
centripetal forces of FLOSS projects.

More specifically we encourage contributions on the following issues:

1)Discussions and analyses of the interdependency between FLOSS
artefacts and actors (users/developers) in a specific context;

2)Accounts of change of the FLOSS projects (e.g. institutionalisation,
disappearance);

3)Various ways in which FLOSS-development enact local politics;

4)Relationships between developers and users (working on-line and
off-line);

5)How different cultural differences between actors influence the FLOSS
development?

6)Multiple roles and Identities (blurring boundaries between developers
and users)

7)Gender issues;

8)FLOSS development practices and processes;

9)Managing and coordinating diversity in FLOSS projects (e.g.
leadership, authorities)

---------
Deadlines

The session organising committee invites abstracts (up to 300 words) on
any of the issues raised above. Abstracts should be sent via e-mail to
Yuwei Lin (yuwei{at}ylin.org) and Lars Risan (lars.risan{at}tik.uio.no)
by 15 January 2006. Decisions on these will be communicated to
authors by the 1st of March 2006. Guidelines for preparing and
presenting papers are available at
http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/guidelines.htm. For more information about
EASST 2006 conference please visit
http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/callpapers.htm.

--
Yuwei Lin | yuwei at ylin dot org
http://www.ylin.org

................................................................
FN's Eye on FLOSS (Free/Libre and Open Source Software) 2JAN2006
................................................................
Please forward this to FLOSS groups you know... help it grow -FN

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LFY, DELHI AND LINUX ASIA... SEEKING COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT:
LINUXForYou editor Rahul Chopra <rahul@...> reminds us
of the forthcoming LinuxAsia event in Delhi. Rahul writes:

           This email is w.r.t. LinuxAsia, and to seek your help
           in building the community side to it.  LinuxAsia has
           managed to become the biggest B2B event, where top
           industry players meet customers at a national level. I
           am tempted to try and see if we can help drive the
           community push further in Delhi through LinuxAsia.

We have planned the following community initiatives for
LinuxAsia 2006:

* The Dot.Org mela where [free software and] open source
   projects will be provided a FREE booth space subject to
   registration and approval by the technical committee.

* The [GNU]Linux Newbie sessions where new comers sit through a
   one hour session, which is presented by the [GNU]Linux/[FL]OSS
   community takes them through a series of presentations, which
   would help the newbies to understand [free software and] open
   source and Linux better, and the benefits associated. We need
   good speakers who WANT TO TAKE LINUX TO THE MASSES, and can do
   a good job at that.

* Free LUG booths where we want more and more LUGs to be
   represented at Delhi to tell the world that India rocks when
   it comes to [GNU]Linux/[FL]OSS.

MORE ABOUT LINUX ASIA: You can submit your conference
proposal for LinuxAsia 2006 till January 8, 2006. Deadlines
for speakers as below:

* January 8, 2006: Proposal deadline
* January 15, 2006: Notification of acceptance to speakers
* January 22, 2006: Final presentation materials due
* February 8, 2006: LinuxAsia 2006 Conference begins

Submit your conference proposal at http://www.linuxasia.net/speakers

LinuxAsia Conference & Expo 2006 February 8-10, 2006 | New
Delhi, India http://www.linuxasia.net

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FREE SOFTWARE AND MEDIA, OPTIONS FOR B'LORE: Anivar Aravind
<anivar@...> an active member of the Free Software
Foundation of India has this to write: "I got a mail from
Jaromil (the creator of dyne:bolic, http://rastasoft.org/)
saying that he will be in Bangalore by March/April 2006 for some
programme of Mahiti. Can we plan some free software amd media
workshops at that time? Any one interested? Any collaborators?"

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FSF-INDIA DIRECTOR Dr G Nagarjuna <nagarjun@...> of
the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education at the TIFR in
Mumbai, announces that the FSF is entering 2006 with a very
important task, drafting GPLv-3.

         GPLv-2 was released in 1991, and it is the most widely
         used free software license.  During the course of time,
         the computing environments are transforming,
         particularly with the entrance of webservices and
         embedded devices.  In the context of these changes, it
         is possible that user's freedom may not be preserved.

FSF says it is "committed to protect the software freedom even
under the transformed conditions in future." A draft of the
GPL-v3 will be released during the First International Public
GPL-v3 launch conference to be held at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) on January 16 and 17, 2006. Dr
Nagarjuna is expected to represent FSF India.

He writes: "I invite the  free software community in India to
actively participate in shaping the new license.  If you would
like to share any specific inputs let us discuss them here in
the list. You may also want to send me your thoughts directly.
Wishing you all a success in protecting software freedom."

Visit http;//gplv3.fsf.org/

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           CHECK THE PROJECT RESOURCE CENTRE, which is meant to
           be a network to discuss GNU/Linux and FLOSS projects
           for students. It has recently been looking at the
           Sarai.net offer for support for those taking up such
           initiatives too.
           https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/prc

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NepaLinux IS OUT: It was released on December 22, 2005.
NepaLinux is a Debian and Morphix based GNU/Linux distribution
focused for Desktop usage in Nepali language computing. It
contains applications for Desktop users like: OpenOffice.org,
Nepali Gnome Desktop, Nepali input systems etc.

http://www.nepalinux.org/

It is drawing some early praise too. Our Greek friend Simos
Xenitellis <simos.lists@...> writes: "Congratulations to
everyone contributed in the work! I tried out the Live CD and I
must say I am really impressed with the level of integration and
completeness of localisation. You use a consistent colour theme
through out the LiveCD which means you went to great efforts to
update the icons/backgrouns/logos/etc. Also, every single
message in the menus was localised to Nepali; I had trouble to
navigate on the system :) I took some screenshots in PNG format
http://planet.hellug.gr/misc/nepalinux.png
http://planet.hellug.gr/misc/nepalinux-ooo.png "

Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya (MPP) is the principal archive of
books and periodicals in the Nepali language, the mother tongue
(or lingua franca) of a little over 30 million people of South
Asia. It manages the largest archive in the Nepali language, and
supports the use of Nepali for the social, economic and cultural
advancement of all Nepali. Since January 2004, Madan Puraskar
Pustakalaya undertook the Nepal component of the 30-month long
PAN Localization Project (www.PANL10n.net), a multi-nation
localization project being conducted in Afghanistan, Bangladesh,
Bhutan, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, and Sri Lanka, with the support
of International Development and Research Center (IDRC), Canada.
This project includes a Nepali GNU/Linux distribution
'NepaLinux' comprising of localized GNOME, OpenOffice.org,
Mozilla suite, and other utilities that include Nepali
Spellchecker, Thesaurus, Nepali Unicode support, etc. This
distribution can be used in Nepali as well in English
environment. Though NepaLinux is basically a live CD it can also
be installed in the computer. The work for the installation
process has been facilitated through the European Commission
supported Bhasha Sanchar Project -- http://www.bhashasanchar.org
-- which is led by the Open University (UK).

NepaLinux is a Free/Libre and Open Source Software (FLOSS), in
which the source code is open and the users have the freedom to
use, study, modify according to one's needs and redistribute it.
NepaLinux, being a Free/Open Source Software, does not charge
for its software unlike proprietary software, which cost a lot
and also do not allow the users to study, modify, or
redistribute.

Some of the packages included in NepaLinux are Linux Kernel
2.6.12, Gnome 2.10 Desktop Environment, OpenOffice.org 2.0, Gimp
Graphics Editor, IRC Client, Gaim Messenging Tool, Development
Tools (Includes C and C++), Mozilla Suite, GnomeBaker CD/DVD
Burning Utility, Firewall Security, Antivirus, Rootkit and
Sniffer Detection Tool, Image Viewers, Games, etc.

The official website for NepaLinux is www.nepalinux.org. Other
available places to look for assistance are:

- Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya support forum: www.mpp.org.np/forum
- NepaLinux Mailing List www.nepalinux.org/lists
- NepaLinux Wiki: www.nepalinux.org/wiki
- IRC for realtime queries (#nepalinux on irc.freenode.net)

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           CD OF THE GNU/LINUX KIND: Nelson Lobo
           <lobonanc@...> offers a number of downloaded
           distros for sale, at reasonable prices. See
           http://linuxdvdsale.tripod.com Money raised goes to
           support local GNU/Linux activities in North Goa.

GNU/Linux CDs offered at Rs 45 per CD plus courier charges.
Order via trueindian29@... or trueindian29@... While
ordering please denote the name of distro with correct release
no and number of CDs wanted. Moserbaer/Equal CDs. Abilash
P.Alias Puthuvamkunnathu House, Pindimana P O, Kothamangalam,
Ernakulam, Kerala, Pin 686698 Phone 04852825951.

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DP's TIPS ON IRC: Diabolic Preacher <pintooo15@...> from
Goa has this to say: People new to using IRC should take a look
at http://irchelp.org/ a tutorial can be found at
http://www.irchelp.org/irchelp/irctutorial.html

A list of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) clients can be found at
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_IRC_clients IRC lets you
join the official channels of most open source projects and
interact with people for asking/answering queries in real time.

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SEARCHING FOR A MEET VENUE? HOW ABOUT DOING IT ONLINE, VIA IRC?
This idea has been doing the rounds on LUGs, FSUGs and GLUGs
across India. It comes from Chennai-based software engineer
Shakthi Kannan <cyborg4k@...> who moots having an
all-India online meet via IRC. Date: Jan 1, 2006. Time 1500 hrs
IST. Channel #gnu-india on irc.freenode.net

Sorry about the short (no?) notice from FN's side. But just
sharing this idea to be taken up in future. Shakthi says: "No
agenda as such. The idea is to get to meet folks from different
FSUGs/GLUGs, get to know what FSUGs/GLUGs have been and are
working on, free software ideas/suggestions/plans/activities for
2006." Useful concept. It was inspired, Shakthi says, after he
heard of Luggers in Mumbai discuss where the next meet be held.

Contact Shakthi Kannan, MS Software Engineer, Hexaware
Technologies [E]: cyborg4k@... [M]: (91) 98407-87007 [W]:
http://www.shakthimaan.com [L]: Chennai, India

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           LUG.IN: Mitul Lambani <webmaster@...> of Mumbai is
           planning to activate and improve content levels on his
           http://lug.in site. A site for user-groups working on
           GNU/Linux. And if you'd like a listing of user-groups
           in (and nearby) India, visit FN's
           http://wikiwikiweb.de/LugsList

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FLOSS GEEK'S BLOG: Check Prakash Advani's <advani@...>
blog: http://cityblogger.com Writes Prakash, a FLOSS proponent:
"I use Wordpress, I think it supports multiple domains. It is
open source thats the reason why I use it."

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IOSN STUDY: The International Open Source Network - A Case Study
is available at http://www.apdip.net/news/iosncasestudy

           UNDP Asia-Pacific Development Information Programme
           runs a Centre of Excellence for Free/Libre Open Source
           Software (FOSS) in the Asia-Pacific region - the
           International Open Source Network (IOSN). As part of
           its myriad activities, IOSN hosts a community operated
           portal at http://www.iosn.net. This case study
           attempts to document and understand the community- and
           technology-related dimensions of this portal. For more
           information contact: Sunil Abraham and Khairil Yusof
           info@...

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FLOSS FOR GOVERNMENTS... SINGAPORE TOO: More and more countries
are embracing the collaborative model of open source on a
national level to fend off caged IT models. The Infocomm
Development Authority of Singapore’s (IDA) Technology Group has
positioned Linux as a medium term technology bet, which means
one to three years to mass adoption.
http://computerworld.com.sg/ShowPage.aspx?pagetype=2&articleid=3215&pubid=3&issu\
eid=78

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AN EXPAT-HINDU PRIEST-DEBIAN GEEK'S VIEW: Jaldhar H. Vyas
<jaldhar@...> who has the unusual combination of Hindu
priest and Debian geek, is based in the US, and part of La Salle
Debain - http://www.braincells.com/debian/

A great guy to meet with, this 34-year-old was in Bangalore
recently. On going back, Vyas reported that one of the problems
GNU/Linux users in countries like India face is low bandwidth.
Therefore, he argued, a distribution on CD or DVD is preferred
over large network installations or updates. He has found a
sponsor and is looking for a 1-DVD version of the Debian system.

He wrote to FN'sEyeOnGNULinux: "This is for distribution with
the Linux For You Magazine.  So 1 DVD is a must. However if you
want to also distribute DVDs I encourage you wholeheartedly. My
ultimate goal is that no one interested in Debian should be
prevented from trying it due to a lack of access."

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           GNU/LINUX FOR KIDS: If anyone is interested in
           GNU/Linux for children, Liz Probert <liz@...>
           has done an excellent piece on it:
           http://www.fraw.org.uk/pubs/cltcpb/cltc_pb-02.html

Also see some FLOSS-in-education links at
http://del.icio.us/fredericknoronh [Specially FLOSSinEducation]
http://tasty.pablotron.org/bookmarks.php/fredericknoronha

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GIS AND OPEN OFFICE IN MARATHI: Jitendra Shah
<jituviju@...> announced via the
indic-computing-users@... mailing list that
http://203.199.16.202 contains a few GIS applications and a few
web-based database application= s using FLOSS. Also, incudes
tenders of Maharashtra Government for rate-contracts where
OpenOffice.org with Marathi (Gargi) fonts as compulsory on
either platforms (proprietory or opensource). The Maharashtra
government buys an estimated 5000 PCs machines annually.

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LIST FOR INDIC COMPUTING USERS: See this
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/indic-computing-user

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           FLOSS, IN THE REAL WORLD, A QUERY FROM INDIA: M
           Sasikumar, NCST <sasi@...> asks: "Do any of
           you know of any organisation in India actually using
           [Free/Libre and] Open Source Software in practice? We
           are trying to gather information on actual use of this
           nature -- this is useful to build confidence in
           potential users. Usage can include desktops/laptops
           running Linux and other [Free/Libre and] Open Source
           software, applications running on [GNU]Linux,
           applications which are built using OSS, using OSS
           applications (Koha, Compere, etc)?" M Sasikumar is at
           the KBCS/ETU Division of CDAC Mumbai (formerly NCST).

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G KARUNAKAR IS keen to map the FLOSS movement in India at the
URL below. See Karunakar's work at http://www.indlinux.org and
his blog at http://cartoonsoft.com/blog

http://linux-bangalore.org/2005/wiki/index.php/Community_Issues#Mapping_the_FOSS\
_movement_in_India

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FREE SOFTWARE, AS A SOCIAL MOVEMENT: An interesting interview
with RMS (Richard M Stallman) on Free Software as a social
movement:
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=13&ItemID=9350
Also slashdoted at
http://slashdot.org/articles/05/12/20/0356217.shtml?tid=117&tid=185
Thanks to Anivar Aravind <anivar@...> for this link.

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CONVERGENCE OF MOVEMENTS TO FIGHT IPRs ON INFORMATION: GRAIN has
recently been taking an interest in what we have been calling
‘convergence’: the ways in which people are resisting the push
for monopoly rights over information in different sectors. In
this time of unprecendented centralisation of power and control,
resistance is building on many fronts. We couldn’t help
wondering if our various struggles might be more effective if we
found some common ground. http://www.grain.org/convergence/

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GIS FOR EVERYONE: Raj <rajganesh@...> recently came up with
a proposal for the project 'GIS for everyone'. He says this is
"about implementing GIS application/tool, making it
user-friendly, and to make it appealing to users visually and
functionally based on feedback from implementation."

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           LINUXCHIX, a network for women in Free/Libre and Open
           Source Software. Check out the mailing list at
           http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Indianlc/

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KERNEL JANITORS IS A PROJECT to help persons wanting to be
kernel hackers, to get their feet wet, while doing something
useful for the community. URL: http://janitor.kernelnewbies.org/
(Thanks Ringo and Bharathi Subramanian)

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ONE DAY ONE COMMAND is a useful service put out by Bharathi
Subramanian <sbharathi@...>. If you'd like him to post
this direct to your user-group's mailing list, contact Bharathi.
Specimen posts: http://www.livejournal.com/community/ilugc/
A great way of keeping your mailing-list active, and also
sharing information on the nuts and bolts of FLOSS technologies.

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           HACKING THE HURD, INDIAN TECHIES GO FOR IT: Praveen A
           <pravi.a@...> recently announced a GNU/Hurd BoF.
           It's for you, if you are a GNU/Hurd user/developer or
           simply want to know more about GNU/Hurd. It was
           organised by India GNU/Hurd User Group (I-Hug), #i-hug
           at irc.freenode.org and i-hug.sarovar.org on December
           20. If you missed the event, get in touch with Praveen
           offline.

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FSF FRIENDS IN DELHI: A new mailing list announced by Arun M
<arun@...> who says, "In order to bring together friends
of FSF India in Delhi, we are creating a new mailing list. If
you are from Delhi or interested in FSF India activities in
Delhi join our new mailing list.
http://mm.gnu.org.in/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fsf-delhi

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ONE COMMENT ON FLOSS AND EDUCATION: "Most distributions contain
simple games. But only a few contain programs that are really
good for use with young kids (see the following section). SuSE
Linux has probably the widest selection of games and educational
software. Mandrake is also fairly good, closely followed by
Debian. But Red Hat tends to be the worst of all the major
distributions as it concentrates on being a more technical Linux
system rather than a user-friendly desktop system. Of all the
distributions I've tried."

A friend from Redhat replies: "We are aware of this and are
working on alternatives. We are also working on trimming down
the OS so that it can run on older hardware."

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UBUNTU IN ASIA: The Ubuntu team is planning to have business
tour around Asia next year. If they visit your country and if
you are interested in it with some extra time/energy, feel free
to contact them. https://wiki.ubuntu.com/AsiaBusinessTour

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INDIAN CONTRIBUTION to the world of FLOSS: Check these URLs
http://www.fsf.org.in/free-software-directory/dir.html
http://bangalore.gnu.org.in/?IndianFreeSoftwareProjects

Writes prominent hacker Anand Babu <ab@...> -- see his
-- blog at http://ab.freeshell.org comments: "My main
motivation to compile this list is to bring together
potential free software hackers from India and recognize
their work. We should also make sure that this directory is
contributed back to mainstream DIRECTORY.FSF.ORG".

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PONDICHERRY LUG IS active again. Check
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/p_lug/

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PUBLIC-INTEREST LITIGATION AGAINST BANGALORE ONE: A PIL
against the Bangalore One project's alleged irregularities
has been admitted by the Karnataka High Court, according to a
post from the eGov INDIA <egovindia@...> mailing list.
This Dec 17, 2005 post said what had been challenged was "the
legality of prescribing Microsoft technology which is
proprietary and costed when [Free/Libre and] Open Source
Software was available free. The MoU entered into between the
Government of Karnataka and Microsoft had been challenged in
the Writ Petition." See also:
http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/dec142005/state18431120051213.asp

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FREE SOFTWARE ON THE SCREEN: V. Sasi Kumar
<sasi.fsf@...> explains how bridges are being built
between FLOSS and film-makers: "On December 15, we did a
short demonstration of Free Software related to media at the
International Film Festival of Kerala. We showed Blender,
Audacity, Kino, Adore, etc., although we could not really
demonstrate all features of the applications since we did not
have anyone who was experienced in using them. However,
Blender and Adore attracted some attention and a few
professionals talked to us after the demo. I understand that
a couple of other people collected our contact details from
the Kerala State Chalachitra Academy (organisers of the
Festival) later. We had put up a few posters at the major
venue (Kairali-Sree theatre complex) earlier. IFFK is
considered as one of the top ten Film Festivals in the world,
and we are happy that we could get an entry there. We hope to
plan and conduct similar demonstrations in the coming years.
A report on the demo with a couple of photographs will be put
up on our web page soon."

[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]

BOOK IN BENGALI: Dipankar Das has been at this book for a
long time now aiming to provide a holistic idea of GNU-Linux
in Bengali. Some dated information is here:
http://www.geocities.com/sankarshan76/glt-mad/index.htm

[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]

Copyleft verbatim copying, with credits is both allowed and
encouraged. We invite you to ILUG-Goa, the friendly GNU/Linux
user group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ilug-goa/join

JOIN THE GNU/Linux in India network, for useful information, at
http://www.freelists.org/list/linuxinindia

[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]o[</>]

What do you think will be the top technology stories of 2006?

You're invited to post your top five (or however many you like) at:
http://www.cybersoc.com/

Best wishes to everyone on the Cybersociology Email List for a happy
New Year.

Robin.


(To avoid comment spam, all comments are reviewed before they are
published so there may be some delay between when you post your
message and when it appears. I only reject posts that are offensive
on the basis of gender, religion, race or nationality and blatant
advertisements for products and services that readers are unlikely to
be interested in.)







[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The following is a selection of recent content from cybersoc.com, a
blog about life online, online community management, internet
research, citizen journalism and the law as it applies to user
generated content.

http://www.cybersoc.com

(mobile version: winksite.com/Cybersoc/mobile)

----------

CITIZEN JOURNALISM

what to publish? (or making transparent editorial decisions)
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/citizen_journal_2.html

what to do with all that stuff?!
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/citizen_journal_1.html

fuel depot blast (my personal story and photos)
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/citizen_journal.html

----------

TECHNOLOGY & IT'S SOCIAL IMPACT

starving buskers - unexpected consequence of iPods
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/starving_busker.html

television on your 3G mobile
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/television_on_y.html

speaking carriages on trains?
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/speaking_carria.html

social network triage for email
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/social_network_.html

alternatives to typepad?
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/alternatives_to.html

iGod: church podcasts Sunday message
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/igod_church_pod.html

----------

INTERNET LAW / COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT

Belarus outlaws "online dating" sites
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/belarus_outlaws.html

victim of fraud on ebay
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/victim_of_fraud.html

wikipedia and (US) libel law
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/wikipedia_and_u.html

itv buys friends reunited
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/itv_buys_friend.html

amazon patents user reviews
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/amazon_patents_.html

match.com lawsuit: is this a photo of Autumn Marzec?
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/matchcom_lawsui.html

---------

CONFERENCES AND EVENTS

conf: AoIR 7.0 - Internet Convergences (Brisbane, Sept '06)
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/conf_aoir_70_in.html

Conf: Cultural Attitudes Towards Technology and Communication
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/12/conf_cultural_a.html

Robin on BBC Radio Norfolk
http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/robin_on_bbc_ra_1.html

** apologies for cross posting ** The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences (KNAW) is an independent body that advises the Dutch government on
matters related to scientific research, promotes international scientific
co-operation, assesses the quality of scientific research and is responsible for
managing and defining the policy for 17 research institutes in the life
sciences, humanities and social sciences. The Academy employs approximately
1,300 staff. The VKS is a new five year research programme of the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It aims to support researchers in the
humanities and social sciences in the Netherlands in the creation of new
scholarly practices using state of the art information and communication
technologies. The Studio also aims to analyse these new practices and the
development of e-research in a variety of disciplines. A core feature of the
Virtual Knowledge Studio is the integration of design and analysis in a close
co-operation between social scientists, humanities researchers, information
technology experts and information scientists. The VKS has three research
themes: data & digital information, communication & collaboration, and virtual
institutions. The VKS develops three new methodologies: virtual ethnography,
simulation & modelling in the humanities & social sciences, and Web Archiving
for research. The working language of the VKS is English. The VKS will start on
January 1, 2006 and will be evaluated in the course of 2010, after which the
KNAW will decide whether and in which form the VKS will be continued. To realise
this exciting interdisciplinary programme, the VKS is currently seeking:  one
senior research fellow (38 hours a weekvacancy number: PZ277)  two senior
researchers ( 38 hours a weekvacancy number: PZ 298)  one management assistant
(30,4 hours a weekvacancy number: PZ 279)  The Senior Research Fellow will play
an important role in leading and contributing to the empirical and theoretical
development of the VKS research portfolio. The Senior Research Fellow will be a
member of the VKS management team, and will be responsible for a theme as well
as a methodological collaboratory.  AppointmentThis position involves a tenure
track appointment beginning with a temporary appointment for a maximum of 2
years. Given proven suitability for the job, the position will become permanent.
Forms of secondment ('detachering') for candidates having tenured positions at a
Dutch university can be considered. Candidates from the humanities and social
sciences in the Netherlands are particularly encouraged to apply.
SalaryDepending on education and work experience, the maximum gross monthly
salary with a full-time appointment will amount to € 4.996,--, scale 13,
Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-Nederlandse Universiteiten),
excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus. We offer an extensive package of
fringe benefits. Work locationAmsterdam, the Netherlands. The two Senior
Researchers will play an important role in the empirical and theoretical
development of the VKS research portfolio. Beside developing their own research
and acquiring external funding in one of the VKS themes or methodological foci,
they will have specific responsibilities within the team. One senior researcher
will be responsible for the peer review process of the VKS, the other senior
researcher will organise one of the VKS collaboratories.  AppointmentThis
position involves a tenure track appointment beginning with a temporary
appointment for a maximum of 2 years. Given proven suitability for the job, the
position will become permanent. Forms of secondment ('detachering') for
candidates having tenured positions at a Dutch university can be considered.
Candidates from the humanities and social sciences in the Netherlands are
particularly encouraged to apply. SalaryDepending on education and work
experience, the maximum gross monthly salary coming with a full-time appointment
will amount to € 4.605,--, scale 12, Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities
(CAO-Nederlandse Universiteiten), excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus.
We offer an extensive package of fringe benefits. Work locationAmsterdam, the
Netherlands. All candidates for these research positions should-          be
strongly focused on ground-breaking basic research in one of the relevant fields
in humanities and social sciences-          have a PhD in either humanities or
social sciences-          have a strong international orientation in their
research-          have expertise in, or willingness to develop, the use of
digital tools in research-          have, or be willing to develop, expertise in
the methodological innovations necessary for the specific tasks within the VKS-
enjoy theoretical plurality and be able to engage with, and contribute to
diverse theoretical perspectives based on empirical research-          have
excellent organisational skills-          have a strong research track record,
as demonstrated by an excellent publication list and acquired funding for
research projects-          be proficient in English. Applicants who are not
proficient in Dutch are expected to acquire a sufficient level of Dutch language
skills within two years.
________________________________________________________________________________\
______ The Management Assistant will have a central role in the organisation of
the VKS. He/she will perform all administrative and secretarial duties and be
responsible for the planning of meetings. The Management Assistant will organise
VKS lectures, seminars and scientific conferences. He/she will also be
responsible for the production of the VKS Website, newsletter and for the VKS
information services. Candidates for the Management Assistant position:-
should have outstanding organisational and administrative skills-          will
be excellent communicators in both English and Dutch-          will be used to
working in innovative work environments and taking the initiative will come
naturally to them-          should have expertise in project management or be
willing to acquire these skills in a short time. AppointmentThis position
involves a permanent appointment, beginning with a temporary appointment for a
maximum of 2 years. Given proven suitability for the job, the appointment will
then be converted into a permanent appointment. SalaryThe position is part-time
(4 days a week). Depending on education and work experience, the maximum gross
monthly salary coming with a full-time appointment will amount to € 2.796,--,
scale 8, Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-Nederlandse
Universiteiten), excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus. We offer an
extensive package of fringe benefits. Work locationAmsterdam, the Netherlands.
________________________________________________________________________________\
______ InformationInformation about the VKS programme can be obtained from the
VKS Website www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl. Questions about the programme can be
sent to the programme leader Paul Wouters, paul.wouters@....
ApplicationYou may send your application, consisting of a letter of motivation,
copies of two publications, and curriculum vitae, to the VKS to the  attention
of  Lianne Heuschen, Postbus 95110, 1090 HC Amsterdam, the Netherlands by 15
January  2006 at the latest.You may also email your application by forwarding a
Word document to lianne.heuschen@...  stating the vacancy reference. Any
acquisition further to  this advertisement will not be appreciated. Paul Wouters
==============
Dr. P. F. Wouters
Programme Leader The Virtual Knowledge Studio
  for the Humanities and Social Sciences (VKS);
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Amsterdam, NLMail Address:
PO Box 95110
1090 HC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Visiting address:
Joan Muyskenweg 25
1096 CJ Amsterdam, NL
T 3120 4628654
F 3120 6658013
http://www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl
http://www.darenet.nl/en/page/language.view/keur.page


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

- Please distribute, apologies for cross posting -

Call for Papers: Open Session "Cultural Studies and the Research of
Digital Games" at: Crossroads Conference at Istanbul Bilgi University
(Turkey) http://www.crossroads2006.org 20-23 July 2006

The investigation of computer games still is a field seldomly considered
in academic research. In contrast to this, a large public interest in
the possible "effects" of computer and video games exists, which seems
understandable since this "leisure time activity" plays an increasingly
central role in the life of many young people and adults. Thus game
research has to examine potentials of meaning, patterns of interaction
and readings contained in the representations of the game and their
influence on the player's "lifeworld". The actual forms of appropriation
of this "new" medium vary widely e.g. different forms of identity
construction and community building, therefore the following session
search for papers that address a wide range of topics and focus
especially on the relationship between Cultural Studies and game
research.

To submit a paper to this session, please send an abstract of maximum
150 words to the Session Organizer Markus Wiemker (markus@...).
The deadline for the submission of papers is January 18, 2006.

Best wishes, Markus Wiemker
---
Markus Wiemker
Lecturer for New Media
University of Applied Sciences
Media Management, St. Pölten, Austria
Heinrich-Schneidmadl-Str. 15
lbwiemker@...
Tel.: +43 2742 313 228 416
Fax:  +43 2742 313 228 409
www.fh-stpoelten.ac.at
markus@...
www.wiemker.org

Begin forwarded message:
>
> CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> IR 7.0: INTERNET CONVERGENCES
> International and Interdisciplinary Conference of the Association
> of Internet Researchers
>
> Brisbane, Australia
> 28-30 September 2006
>
> Pre-Conference Workshops: 27 September 2006
>
> INTERNET CONVERGENCES
>
> The Internet works as an arena of convergence. Physically dispersed
> and marginalized people (re)find themselves online for the sake of
> sustaining and extending community. International and
> interdisciplinary teams now collaborate in new ways. Diverse
> cultures engage one another via CMC. These technologies relocate
> and refocus capital, labor and immigration, and they open up new
> possibilities for political, potentially democratizing, forms of
> discourse. Moreover, these technologies themselves converge in
> multiple ways, e.g. in Internet-enabled mobile phones, in Internet-
> based telephony, and in computers themselves as "digital
> appliances" that conjoin communication and multiple media forms.
> These technologies also facilitate fragmentations with greater
> disparities between the information-haves and have-nots, between
> winners and losers in the shifting labor and capital markets, and
> between individuals and communities. Additionally these
> technologies facilitate information filter!
>  ing that reinforces, rather than dialogically challenges, narrow
> and extreme views.
>
> CALL FOR PAPERS
>
> Our conference theme invites papers and presentations based on
> empirical research, theoretical analysis and everything in between
> that explore the multiple ways the Internet acts in both converging
> and fragmenting ways - physical, cultural, technological,
> political, social - on local, regional, and global scales.
>
> Without limiting possible proposals, topics of interest include:
>
> - Theoretical and practical models of the Internet
> - Internet convergence, divergence and fragmentation
> - Networked flows of information, capital, labor, etc.
> - Migrations and diasporas online
> - Identity, community and global communication
> - Regulation and control (national and global)
> - Internet-based development and other economic issues
> - Digital art and aesthetics
> - Games and gaming on the Internet
> - The Net generation
> - E-Sectors, e.g. e-health, e-education, e-business
>
> We call for papers, panel proposals, and presentations from any
> discipline, methodology, and community that address the theme of
> Internet Convergence. We particularly call for innovative,
> exciting, and unexpected takes on and interrogations of the
> conference theme. However, we always welcome submissions on any
> topics that address social, cultural, political, economic, and/or
> aesthetic aspects of the Internet and related Internet
> technologies. We are equally interested in interdisciplinary
> proposals as well as proposals from within specific disciplines.
>
> SUBMISSIONS
>
> We seek proposals for several different kinds of contributions. We
> welcome proposals for traditional academic conference papers, but
> we also encourage proposals for creative or aesthetic presentations
> that are distinct from a traditional written 'paper'. We welcome
> proposals for roundtable sessions that will focus on discussion and
> interaction among conference delegates, and we also welcome
> organized panel proposals that present a coherent group of papers
> on a single theme.
>
> This year AoIR will also be using an alternative presentation
> format in which a dozen or so participants who wish to present a
> very short overview of their work to stimulate debate will gather
> together in a plenary session involving short presentations (no
> more than 5 minutes) and extended discussion. All papers and
> presentations in this session will be reviewed in the normal
> manner. Further information will be available via the conference
> submission website.
>
> - PAPERS (individual or multi-author) - submit abstract of 500-750
> words
>
> - SHORT PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-700 words
>
> - CREATIVE OR AESTHETIC PRESENTATIONS - submit abstract of 500-700
> words
>
> - PANELS - submit a 250-500 word description of the panel theme and
> abstracts of the distinct papers or presentations
>
> - ROUNDTABLE PROPOSALS - submit a statement indicating the nature
> of the roundtable discussion and interaction.
>
> Papers, presentations and panels will be selected from the
> submitted proposals on the basis of multiple blind peer review,
> coordinated and overseen by the Program Chair. Each person is
> invited to submit a proposal for 1 paper or 1 presentation. People
> may also propose a panel of papers or presentations, of which their
> personal paper or presentation must be a part. You may submit an
> additional paper/presentation of which you are the co-author as
> long as you are not presenting twice. You may submit a roundtable
> proposal as well.
>
> Detailed information about submission and review is available at
> the conference submission website http://conferences.aoir.org. All
> proposals must be submitted electronically through this site.
>
> PUBLICATION OF PAPERS
>
> All papers presented at the conference are eligible for publication
> in the Internet Research Annual, on the basis of competitive
> selection and review of full papers. Additionally, several
> publishing opportunities are expected to be available through
> journals, again based on peer-review of full papers. Details on the
> website.
>
> GRADUATE STUDENTS
>
> Graduate students are strongly encouraged to submit proposals. Any
> student paper is eligible for consideration for the AoIR graduate
> student award. Students wishing to be a candidate for the Student
> Award must also send a final paper by 31 July 2006.
>
> PRE-CONFERENCE WORKSHOPS
>
> Prior to the conference, there will be a limited number of pre-
> conference workshops which will provide participants with in-depth,
> hands-on and/or creative opportunities. We invite proposals for
> these pre-conference workshops. Local presenters are encouraged to
> propose workshops that will invite visiting researchers into their
> labs or studios or locales. Proposals should be no more than 1000
> words, and should clearly outline the purpose, methodology,
> structure, costs, equipment and minimal attendance required, as
> well as explaining its relevance to the conference as a whole.
> Proposals will be accepted if they demonstrate that the workshop
> will add significantly to the overall program in terms of thematic
> depth, hands on experience, or local opportunities for scholarly or
> artistic connections. These proposals and all inquires regarding
> pre-conference proposals should be submitted as soon as possible to
> the Conference Chair and no later than 31 March 2006.
>
> DEADLINES
>
> Final date for proposal submission: 7 February 2006
>
> Presenter notification: 21 March 2006
>
> Final workshop submission deadline: 31 March 2006
>
> Submission for publication/student award: 31 July 2006
>
> Submission for conference archive: 30 September 2006
>
> CONTACT INFORMATION
>
> Program Chair: Dr Fay Sudweeks, Murdoch University, Australia,
> sudweeks@...
>
> Conference Chair: Dr Axel Bruns, Queensland University of
> Technology, Australia, a.bruns@...
>
> President of AoIR: Dr Matthew Allen, Curtin University of
> Technology, Australia m.allen@...
>
> Association Website: http://www.aoir.org
>
> Conference Website: http://conferences.aoir.org
>

Begin forwarded message:

> CULTURAL ATTITUDES TOWARDS TECHNOLOGY AND COMMUNICATION (CATaC'06)
>
> 28 June - 1 July 2006
> University of Tartu, Estonia
> http://www.catacconference.org
>
> Conference theme:
> Neither Global Village nor Homogenizing Commodification:
> Diverse Cultural, Ethnic, Gender and Economic Environments
>
> The biennial CATaC conference series continues to provide an
> international forum for the presentation and discussion of current
> research on how diverse cultural attitudes shape the implementation
> and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs). The
> conference series brings together scholars from around the globe
> who provide diverse perspectives, both in terms of the specific
> culture(s) they highlight in their presentations and discussions,
> and in terms of the discipline(s) through which they approach the
> conference theme.
>
> The 1990s' hopes for an "electronic global village" have largely
> been shunted aside by the Internet's explosive diffusion. This
> diffusion was well described by Marx - all that is solid melts into
> air - and was predicted by
> postmodernists. The diffusion of CMC technologies quickly led to
> many and diverse internets. A single "Internet", whose identity and
> characteristics might be examined as a single unity, has not
> materialised. An initially culturally and gender homogenous
> Internet came more and more to resemble an urban metropolis. Along
> the way, in the commercialization of the Internet and the Web,
> "cultural diversity" gets watered down and exchanges strong
> diversity for a homogenous interchangeability. Such diversity
> thereby becomes commodified and serves a global capitalism that
> tends to foster cultural homogenization.
>
> CATaC'06 continues our focus on the intersections of culture,
> technology, and communication, beginning with an emphasis on
> continued critique of the assumptions, categories, methodologies,
> and theories frequently used to analyse these. At the same time,
> CATaC'06 takes up our characteristic focus on ethics and justice in
> the design and deployment of CMC technologies. We particularly
> focus on developing countries facilitated by "on the ground"
> approaches in the work of NGOs, governmental agencies, etc., in
> ways that preserve and foster cultural identity and diversity. By
> simultaneously critiquing and perhaps complexifying our theories
> and assumptions, on the one hand, and featuring "best practices"
> approaches to CMC in development work, on the other hand, CATaC'06
> aims towards a middle ground between a putative "global village"
> and homogenizing commodification. Such middle ground fosters
> cultural diversity, economic and social development, and more
> successful cross-cultural co!
>  mmunication online.
>
> Original full papers (especially those which connect theoretical
> frameworks with specific examples of cultural values, practices,
> etc.: 10-20 pages) and short papers (e.g. describing current
> research projects and preliminary results: 3-5 pages) are invited.
>
> Topics of particular interest include but are not limited to:
> - Culture isn't 'culture' anymore
> - The Internet isn't the 'Internet' anymore
> - Gender, culture, empowerment and CMC
> - CMC and cultural diversity
> - Ethics and justice
> - Free/Open technology and communication
> - Internet research ethics
> - Cultural diversity and e-learning
>
> SUBMISSIONS
> All submissions will be peer reviewed by an international panel of
> scholars and researchers and accepted papers will appear in the
> conference proceedings. 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.
>
> Full papers (10-20 formatted pages) - 13 February 2006
> Short papers (3-5 formatted pages) - 20 February 2006
> Workshop submissions  - 20 February 2006
> Notification of acceptance  - mid March 2006
> Final formatted papers  - 29 March 2006
>
> There will be the opportunity for selected papers from this 2006
> conference to appear in special issues of journals. Papers in
> previous conferences have appeared in journals (Journal of Computer
> Mediated Communication, Electronic Journal of Communication/La
> Revue Electronique de Communication, AI and Society, Javnost- The
> Public, and New Media and Society) and a book (Culture, Technology,
> Communication: towards an Intercultural Global Village, 2001,
> edited by Charles Ess with Fay Sudweeks, SUNY Press, New York). You
> may purchase the conference proceedings from the 2002 and 2004
> conference from www.it.murdoch.edu.au/catac.
>



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

** apologies for cross posting ** The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and
Sciences (KNAW) is an independent body that advises the Dutch government on
matters related to scientific research, promotes international scientific
co-operation, assesses the quality of scientific research and is responsible for
managing and defining the policy for 17 research institutes in the life
sciences, humanities and social sciences. The Academy employs approximately
1,300 staff. The VKS is a new five year research programme of the Royal
Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences. It aims to support researchers in the
humanities and social sciences in the Netherlands in the creation of new
scholarly practices using state of the art information and communication
technologies. The Studio also aims to analyse these new practices and the
development of e-research in a variety of disciplines. A core feature of the
Virtual Knowledge Studio is the integration of design and analysis in a close
co-operation between social scientists, humanities researchers, information
technology experts and information scientists. The VKS has three research
themes: data & digital information, communication & collaboration, and virtual
institutions. The VKS develops three new methodologies: virtual ethnography,
simulation & modelling in the humanities & social sciences, and Web Archiving
for research. The working language of the VKS is English. The VKS will start on
January 1, 2006 and will be evaluated in the course of 2010, after which the
KNAW will decide whether and in which form the VKS will be continued. To realise
this exciting interdisciplinary programme, the VKS is currently seeking:  one
senior research fellow (38 hours a weekvacancy number: PZ277)  two senior
researchers ( 38 hours a weekvacancy number: PZ 298)  one management assistant
(30,4 hours a weekvacancy number: PZ 279)  The Senior Research Fellow will play
an important role in leading and contributing to the empirical and theoretical
development of the VKS research portfolio. The Senior Research Fellow will be a
member of the VKS management team, and will be responsible for a theme as well
as a methodological collaboratory.  AppointmentThis position involves a tenure
track appointment beginning with a temporary appointment for a maximum of 2
years. Given proven suitability for the job, the position will become permanent.
Forms of secondment ('detachering') for candidates having tenured positions at a
Dutch university can be considered. Candidates from the humanities and social
sciences in the Netherlands are particularly encouraged to apply.
SalaryDepending on education and work experience, the maximum gross monthly
salary with a full-time appointment will amount to € 4.996,--, scale 13,
Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-Nederlandse Universiteiten),
excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus. We offer an extensive package of
fringe benefits. Work locationAmsterdam The two Senior Researchers will play an
important role in the empirical and theoretical development of the VKS research
portfolio. Beside developing their own research and acquiring external funding
in one of the VKS themes or methodological foci, they will have specific
responsibilities within the team. One senior researcher will be responsible for
the peer review process of the VKS, the other senior researcher will organise
one of the VKS collaboratories.  AppointmentThis position involves a tenure
track appointment beginning with a temporary appointment for a maximum of 2
years. Given proven suitability for the job, the position will become permanent.
Forms of secondment ('detachering') for candidates having tenured positions at a
Dutch university can be considered. Candidates from the humanities and social
sciences in the Netherlands are particularly encouraged to apply.
SalaryDepending on education and work experience, the maximum gross monthly
salary coming with a full-time appointment will amount to € 4.605,--, scale 12,
Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-Nederlandse Universiteiten),
excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus. We offer an extensive package of
fringe benefits. Work locationAmsterdam All candidates for these research
positions should-          be strongly focused on ground-breaking basic research
in one of the relevant fields in humanities and social sciences-          have a
PhD in either humanities or social sciences-          have a strong
international orientation in their research-          have expertise in, or
willingness to develop, the use of digital tools in research-          have, or
be willing to develop, expertise in the methodological innovations necessary for
the specific tasks within the VKS-          enjoy theoretical plurality and be
able to engage with, and contribute to diverse theoretical perspectives based on
empirical research-          have excellent organisational skills-          have
a strong research track record, as demonstrated by an excellent publication list
and acquired funding for research projects-          be proficient in English.
Applicants who are not proficient in Dutch are expected to acquire a sufficient
level of Dutch language skills within two years.
________________________________________________________________________________\
______ The Management Assistant will have a central role in the organisation of
the VKS. He/she will perform all administrative and secretarial duties and be
responsible for the planning of meetings. The Management Assistant will organise
VKS lectures, seminars and scientific conferences. He/she will also be
responsible for the production of the VKS Website, newsletter and for the VKS
information services. Candidates for the Management Assistant position:-
should have outstanding organisational and administrative skills-          will
be excellent communicators in both English and Dutch-          will be used to
working in innovative work environments and taking the initiative will come
naturally to them-          should have expertise in project management or be
willing to acquire these skills in a short time. AppointmentThis position
involves a permanent appointment, beginning with a temporary appointment for a
maximum of 2 years. Given proven suitability for the job, the appointment will
then be converted into a pemanent appointment. SalaryThe position is part-time
(4 days a week). Depending on education and work experience, the maximum gross
monthly salary coming with a full-time appointment will amount to € 2.796,--,
scale 8, Collective Agreement for Dutch Universities (CAO-Nederlandse
Universiteiten), excluding 8% holiday pay and a year-end bonus. We offer an
extensive package of fringe benefits. Work locationAmsterdam
________________________________________________________________________________\
______ InformationInformation about the VKS programme can be obtained from the
VKS Website www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl. Questions about the programme can be
sent to the programme leader Paul Wouters, paul.wouters@....
ApplicationYou may send your application, consisting of a letter of motivation,
copies of two publications, and curriculum vitae, to the VKS to the  attention
of  Lianne Heuschen, Postbus 95110, 1090 HC by 15 January  2006 at the
latest.You may also email your application by forwarding a Word document to
lianne.heuschen@...  stating the vacancy reference. Any acquisition
further to  this advertisement will not be appreciated. Paul Wouters
==============
Dr. P. F. Wouters
Programme Leader The Virtual Knowledge Studio
  for the Humanities and Social Sciences (VKS);
Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences
Amsterdam, NLMail Address:
PO Box 95110
1090 HC Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Visiting address:
Joan Muyskenweg 25
1096 CJ Amsterdam, NL
T 3120 4628654
F 3120 6658013
http://www.virtualknowledgestudio.nl
http://www.darenet.nl/en/page/language.view/keur.page


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Apologies for cross-postings

----------------------------------
Dynamics in the FLOSS social world
----------------------------------
Call for Papers for a session on FLOSS at the biennial conference of the
European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST) to
be held in Lausanne (Switzerland) from 23rd to 26th August, 2006

This session aims to contribute to the understanding of the
heterogeneity, multiplicity and local enactments in the free/libre open
source software (FLOSS) development by encouraging more contextualised
and qualitative research. We encourage interested scholars to go beyond
'motivation' questions (e.g. why FLOSS developers contribute) to explore
fresh and challenging research questions emerging from the heterogeneous
and dynamic FLOSS social world. Our aim is to bring the diversity and
contingencies of this field to the front stage, including issuses of
shifting identities and contested identities (such as shifts between
users and developers and gendered politics). This is not to deny that
there are also integrating technologies and practices at work, bringing
people and code together in FLOSS projects. We thus invite interested
scholars to explore both the sentrifugal and centripetal forces of FLOSS
projects.

More specifically we encourage contributions on the following issues:

1)Discussions and analyses of the interdependency between FLOSS
artefacts and actors (users/developers) in a specific context;

2)Accounts of change of the FLOSS projects (e.g. institutionalisation,
disappearance);

3)Various ways in which FLOSS-development enact local politics;

4)Relationships between developers and users (working on-line and
off-line);

5)How different cultural differences between actors influence the FLOSS
development?

6)Multiple roles and Identities (blurring boundaries between developers
and users)

7)Gender issues;

8)FLOSS development practices and processes;

9)Managing and coordinating diversity in FLOSS projects (e.g.
leadership, authorities)

---------
Deadlines

The session organising committee invites abstracts (up to 300 words) on
any of the issues raised above. Abstracts should be sent via e-mail to
Yuwei Lin (yuwe{at}ylin.org) and Lars Risan (lars.risan{at}tik.uio.no)
by the 15 December 2005. Decisions on these will be communicated to
authors by the 1st of March 2006. Guidelines for preparing and
presenting papers are available at
http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/guidelines.htm. For more information about
EASST 2006 conference please visit
http://www2.unil.ch/easst2006/callpapers.htm.

--
Yuwei Lin | yuwei at ylin dot org
http://www.ylin.org

sorry for cross-posting
----------------------

CALL FOR PAPERS & WRITING COMPETITION

YALE ISP CONFERENCE ON ACCESS TO KNOWLEDGE (A2K), APRIL 21-23, 2006

THE YALE LAW SCHOOL INFORMATION SOCIETY PROJECT (ISP) and THE INTERNATIONAL
JOURNAL OF COMMUNICATIONS LAW & POLICY (IJCLP) are pleased to announce their
third interdisciplinary writing competition and a call for papers in conjunction
with the Access to Knowledge (A2K) Conference taking place on April 21-23, 2006
at Yale Law School. We invite students, scholars, policy makers, activists and
practitioners to submit papers for the writing competition and/or for
publication by the IJCLP.

CONFERENCE DESCRIPTION
In the digital era, most multinational corporations and policymakers are of the
view that the current trend characterised by increasing intellectual property
rights and corporate control over knowledge best serve society’s interests. At
the same time, however, a growing number of commentators believe that widespread
access to knowledge (A2K) and the preservation of a healthy knowledge commons
are the real basis for sustainable human development. Nonetheless, intellectual
property-based approaches continue to singlehandedly dictate global legal norms
and shape national legal infrastructures.

The first goal of the Yale A2K Initiative is to come up with a new analytic
framework for analysing the possibly distortive effects of public policies
relying exclusively on intellectual property rights. Beyond this aim, the A2K
initiative seeks to support the adoption and development of alternative ways to
foster greater access to knowledge in the digitally connected environment.

The landmark A2K conference at Yale Law School will bring together leading
thinkers and activists on access to knowledge policy from North and South, in
order to generate concrete research agendas and policy solutions for the next
decade. This conference will be among the first to synthesize the multifaceted
and interdisciplinary aspects of access to knowledge, ranging from textbooks and
telecommunications access to software and medicines. The A2K Conference aims to
help build an intellectual framework that will protect access to knowledge both
as the basis for sustainable human development and to safeguard human rights.

Key issues to be considered include, among others:
- the economics of A2K in a digital environment;
- A2K indexes and measurement techniques;
- the limitations to A2K;
- digital libraries and archives;
- government investment in information production;
- government procurement policies;
- open source software;
- the WIPO Broadcast Treaty;
- access to education and scientific knowledge;
- universal service in telecommunications;
- the digital divide;
- digital rights management;
- open access journals.

A full conference description will be available on the Yale ISP's A2K Initiative
page at http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/a2k.html.

WRITING COMPETITION
Submissions for the writing competition must be received by noon EST, February
15th, 2006. The author of the best paper, as well as two runners-up will be
invited to present their work at a panel during the conference. The author of
the winning paper will receive coverage of his/her travel to and accommodations
at Yale University for the conference. Selected papers will be announced by
April 1st, 2006. The authors of the award-winning papers will automatically be
invited to publish their work in a special Autumn 2006 volume of the
International Journal of Communications Law & Policy (http://www.ijclp.org)
devoted to Access to Knowledge.

JOURNAL PUBLICATION
Submissions for publication must be received by noon EST, May 1st, 2006. The
selection committee, composed of the editorial board of the IJCLP, and some of
the Yale ISP Fellows, will review and consider all submissions for publication
in the special Autumn 2006 volume of the journal, including submissions for the
writing competition. Authors will be notified of acceptance by June 15th, 2006.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Papers may be submitted on any A2K-related issue, provided that they lie within
the central focus of the IJCLP – communications law & policy. All submissions
should be written in English in .rtf or .pdf format. They should conform to
academic citation standards, be no longer than 25,000 words, and include an
abstract of up to 250 words. Submissions should be e-mailed simultaneously to
the lead editors of the IJCLP, Simone Francesco Bonetti
(simo.bonetti[at]tiscalinet.it) and Sudhir Krishnaswamy
(krishnaswamysudhir[at]gmail.com). Inquiries may be addressed to any of the
above.

Hi,
The guys behind WinkSite, a mobile community (see http://winksite.com) are in
London
and asked me to see if anyone would be up for meeting for some casual discussion
and a
few drinks this evening.

There's no firm venue yet but it will be in Central London. If you're interested
email the
address below and let me know too (robin@...).

Cheers,
Robin.
http://www.cybersoc.com

---------

WINKsite London Gathering: Come & Meet Us
Tuesday, 29th November 2005
Time: After Work (6ish - ??)
Location: Central London

RSVP: events@...

The idea behind the WINKsite no-host meetup in London  is to bring together
WINKsite
publishers and community members interested in meeting with us and each other to
share
ideas.

Anyone with an interest in mobile community is welcome, so please pass the word
and
bring along others!
About WINKsite (http://winksite.com)

WINKsite is building the consumer Internet portal that is the critical missing
link for users
of both data on mobile phones and the broadband Internet. WINKsite makes it
simple for
publishers to reach their audiences on the move, and easy for those audience
members to
find their mobile peers with shared interests to build communities that span
mobile and
broadband experiences.

According to Future Image Research, global consumers are expected to buy a half
billion
camera-phones -- all of which are data-capable -- in 2005, and 900 million in
2009.
Internet portals have not kept up. Information generated on mobile phones is not
easy to
find on the Internet or on other mobile phones, creating large information
inefficiencies.


WINKsite has fixed the most pressing of mobile-to-broadband and
broadband-to-mobile
publishing problems and is on its way to building a business from the
innovation. Over ten
thousand publishers including the Warner Music Group to the O'Reilly Media Group
are
using WINK's publishing services to better reach their mobile audiences. Except
for
WINKsite, publishing information to mobile phones is a one-way process, where
web sites
are inelegantly cut down to fit on small screens or elaborate, uneconomic tools
are offered
to build mobile-specific sites. Instead, WINKsite uses technology derived from
the
blogging world (i.e. RSS, OPML) to elegantly cherrypick portions of broadband
sites to
deliver on phones, while adding mobile-specific community features such as
mobile chat,
forums and polls  from its own publishing system.

The following is a selection of recent content from cybersoc.com, a
blog about life online, online community management, internet
research, and the law as it applies to user generated content.

http://www.cybersoc.com



crack addicted squirrels and gun-slinging dolphins

The Guardian Online's Emily Bell explains the top headlines of the
week on guardian.co.uk

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/crack_addicted_.html



Amy Jo Kim's Book on Community spotted for sale, used, for £95. Who
said you couldn't make money off the internet?!

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/amy_jo_kims_boo.html



"internet addiction" sweeps through China

This time they're sticking rubber things to their head and taking photos


http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/internet_addict.html



myths: "email makes you fat"

A report that email makes you fat, rubished of course...

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/myths_email_mak.html



Nope, actually online communities "good for your health"

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/online_communit.html



A debate with Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone

He claims he doesn't want a return to an idealised 1950's America
society, but then uses all sorts of social measures, dating back to
the good old days of the 50's, to prove his points...

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/putnam_bowling_.html

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/robert_putnam_a.html



Photo essay about online avatars and their creators

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/online_gamers_a.html



Daily Mail closing it's news message boards while BBC invests heavily
in three new message board services

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/10/discussing_the_.html



BBC Launches "topic tagging" message board allowing navigation by
region, tag within a region, tag across the nation, or most recent
message. Cool...

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/bbc_launches_to.html



Ever wondered what people search for on Cybersoc.com or how much
Cybersoc.com is making from the google ads on the right side? Here's
the lowdown...

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/my_top_search_t.html



Teens creating online rather than just browsing

A study by the good people at Pew, telling us some good things about
teenagers and their use of the internet. I bet lots of them are
having cybersex too.

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/teens_creating_.html



Robin Hamman on BBC radio talking about the new "topic tagging"
message boards and answering the questions of disgruntled users...

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/robin_on_bbc_ra.html



The Home Office has, after years working on them, published non-
binding guidelines for the moderation of children's services online.

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/moderation_guid.html



Online dating agency match.com sued for fraud after being accused of
taking company benefits just a bit too far - "no date, no problem...
we'll send someone from the office". Yahoo Personals is also being
sued for breach of contract and fraud.

http://www.cybersoc.com/2005/11/online_dating_a.html





Robin Hamman MA MPhil

http://www.cybersoc.com

http://www.cybersociology.com



[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Cybersoc is a blog about online community research and management, social
software and the impact of social technology. This is a periodic categorised
index to content posted on http://www.cybersoc.com since August 2005.

Categories: online community business, online community and the law, cybersex
and online dating, conferences and events, other...


** ONLINE COMMUNITY BUSINESS **

Lee Lefever on "Mobilizing Community"
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/08/lee_lefever_on_.html

for sale - The Well
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/08/for_sale_the_we.html

Yahoo: from darling to pariah
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/yahoo_from_darl.html



** ONLINE COMMUNITY AND THE LAW **

online anonymity - threat or under threat?
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/08/online_anonymit.html

sex offenders: chat room investigation tactic questioned
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/sex_offenders_c.html

internet libel or patient power: doctor reviews
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/internet_libel_.html

Internet Law Fellowship at Yale
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/internet_law_fe.html

jurisdiction & internet libel
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/jurisdiction_in.html
Cyberspace 2005: internet law conference
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/cyberspace_2005.html



** CYBERSEX AND ONLINE DATING **

20,000 chatting naked in China
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/08/20000_chatting_.html

cybersex study
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/cybersex_study.html

sex offenders: chat room investigation tactic questioned
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/sex_offenders_c.html



** CONFERENCES AND EVENTS **

cfp: integration of technology to daily lives and labor
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/08/cfp_integration.html

internet law for online community managers (book)
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/internet_law_fo.html

Blogging conference: our social world
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/conf_our_social.html

event: VENUS RISING: mobile tech in the 21st century
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/event_venus_ris.html

Cyberspace 2005: internet law conference
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/cyberspace_2005.html



** OTHER **

SMS statistics (UK)
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/texting_in_the_.html

oddity: google ads... on a yahoo site?!
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/oddity_google_a.html

university tuition fees - one pixel at a time
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/university_tuit.html

making money from blogs: what's with the ads mate?!
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/09/making_money_fr.html

---------

Cybersoc.com contains over 100 posts. Older posts not appearing in the above
index can be found in the categorised list here:
http://www.cybersoc.com/cybersoc/2005/08/cybersoc_blog_i.html

Information Society Project
Yale Law School
ISP Fellowship Announcement

The fellowship is designed for recent law graduates or Ph.Ds who are
interested in careers in teaching and public service in any of the
following areas: Internet and telecommunications law, first amendment
law, media studies, intellectual property law, access to knowledge,
cybercrime, cultural evolution, bioethics and biotechnology, and law
and technology generally.  This year we have a particular interest in
hiring fellows interested in computer security and privacy issues as
well as development and the information society.

Fellows receive a salary of approximately $37,000 plus Yale benefits.
Fellows are expected to work on an independent scholarly project as
well as help with administrative and scholarly work for the
Information Society Project at Yale Law School. More information on
the ISP is available at: http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/

The formal application materials including the following:

(1) A brief (one to five page) statement of the applicant's proposed
scholarly research;
(2) A copy of the applicant's resume;
(3) A law school (or graduate school) transcript;
(4) At least one sample of recent scholarly writing;
(5) Two letters of recommendation.

Applications can be sent all year round as fellows are accepted on a
rolling basis. Applications for the 2006-7 ISP fellowship must
postmarked no later than Feb. 1, 2006.

The application materials should be sent (in hard copy) to:

Information Society Project Fellowship Program
c/o Deborah Sestito, Room 333
Yale Law School
127 Wall Street
P.O. Box 208215
New Haven CT 06520-8215

--
Eddan Katz
Lecturer in Law, Yale Law School
Executive Director, Information Society Project
http://islandia.law.yale.edu/isp/

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

The Well, an online community founded in 1985, is to be sold by it's
current owner Salon.com. Salon bought the community in 1999 for US $5 million.
Since then, it's always managed to turn a profit but memberships (costing $120
to $150 per year) have declined from 6000 to 4000 between 1999 and today.

Salon expects to achieve a sale price of around $500,000 - about the
equivalent of one year's subscription fees. That's probably a bargain if the
membersthemselves buy the community...

More at - http://cybersoc.blogs.com/cybersoc/2005/08/for_sale_the_we.html