[Air-l] minutes from the executive committee meeting 2001

[Bunz, Ulla K]

Secretary report (Bunz)

On a personal note, I'd like to share my colleagues' excitement and
enthusiasm about the recent conference. I would forsake sleep any time for
another four days like these. Actually, I'm looking forward to doing just
that next year in Maastricht, only an hour's drive from where I grew up. I'm
excited to be part of this association, and to be able to meet and exchange
ideas with so many of you. Together, we can do great things!

Please find below the minutes of the executive committee meeting, 2001.

ulla

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Association of Internet Researchers
2nd Annual Executive Committee Meeting
Minneapolis, October 12/13, 2001
Minutes

October 12

An informal pre-meeting took place on October 12, 2001. Attending were:
Steve Jones, Nancy Baym, Benjamin Bates, Ulla Bunz, David Silver, Jeremy
Hunsinger, and Charlie Breindahl. The purpose of the meeting was 1) to
welcome the new officers to their positions, 2) to appoint two publication
officers, and 3) to nominate people for the two appointed open seats. 

Jeremy Hunsinger and Charlie Breindahl accepted their nominations for
publication officers. Matthew Allen and Leslie Shade were nominated for the
appointed open seats. They later accepted their appointments.

October 13

Attending were: Steve Jones, Nancy Baym, Benjamin Bates, Ulla Bunz, Andrea
Baker (for Barry Wellman), Leslie Shade, David Silver, Matthew Allen, Jeremy
Hunsinger, and Charlie Breindahl. At 9 pm, Monica Murero (conference chair
for 2002) and Ira Nayman (conference chair for 2003) joined the meeting.
Lisbeth Klastrup was absent.

Steve Jones called the meeting to order at 7 pm. 
After recalling the previous evenings events and welcoming Leslie and
Matthew to the committee, Steve Jones introduced the first item on the
agenda.

1. ASSOCIATION ACTION ITEMS
1.1 Journal and Book discounts
There are no changes as to the journal and book discounts members of Aoir
receive. The discounts are outlined on the association website. Members can
now get a discount on a new book, "Cyber Education." Nancy Baym called for
an effort to assess the existing benefits. The committee agreed to seek
membership input and will call for volunteers at a later time. 

1.2 Conference Proceedings
Jeremy Hunsinger reported a distinct membership interest in making
conference proceedings available online. Jeremy will provide a special email
address via the association listserve so people can submit manuscripts.
Submission will be voluntary, but encouraged.

1.3 Syllabus Archive
It was suggested to use the resources on David Silver's RCCS website. Rather
than creating a joint site, the committee agreed to link the RCCS site to a
new Aoir site in a collaborative effort. Access to the RCCS site would still
be free. Access to the Aoir site, which would contain PDF files of syllabi
in an effort to preserve the history of developing syllabi, will require
paid membership in Aoir.

David Silver and Jeremy Hunsinger agreed to work on this. David and Jeremy
will seek to complete this (then ongoing) project by October 2002. David
also agreed to construct a test site with Fall 2001 syllabi that would also
include search capabilities. A final decision about how to tackle the larger
project will be made depending on the outcome of this test site.

1.4 Clearinghouse on Website for Non-Aoir Conferences
In an effort to provide papers and not just announcements of other
conferences, Nancy Baym will connect with Rob Kling and his students, who
are involved in a project on scholarly communication and information
technology. The intent is to investigate what Aoir might do and what the
association needs to consider in helping facilitate scholarly communication,
publishing, paper collecting, etc. Nancy also calls for a vision and
timeline for the kinds of electronic resources Aoir would want to provide.

1.5 Prizes/Awards
It was agreed to award the best graduate student paper with books and a
certificate. Award winners will also be publicized on the website, including
a list of past recipients.
It was also suggested to institute voting for "my favorite article/book this
year." David Silver will investigate how other organizations handle similar
assessments.

1.6 Ethics Task Force
Charles Ess has agreed to serve on the Ethics Task Force again. The goal is
to develop an association Code of Ethics which would be presented in 2002
and voted on by the full membership.

1.7 Database/Bibliography
Steve Jones suggested to create a database modeled after ERIC. The committee
agreed that though including titles and abstracts from other conferences
would be highly desirable, this is beyond Aoir's capabilities at this point.
It remains a future goal. Jeremy Hunsinger agreed to share the existing
review system, that will then be evaluated by the executive committee. No
final decision was made on this issue. The fundamental question is what
kinds of databases Aoir will get the most benefits from providing. The
committee is in the process of continuous reflection on this issue.

1.8 Virtual Graduate Seminar
Originally, the virtual graduate seminar's purpose was to create panels for
Aoir conferences. The committee agreed that the online information is
outdated and reflects poorly on the association. The information will be
taken down for now. The committee encouraged Lisbeth Klastrup to consider
and organize any future action upon this issue. Lisbeth is currently sharing
her ideas with the committee.

2. NEW BUSINESS
2.1 Mailing Lists
Much discussion arose from the suggestion to have a user inputted annotated
list of other Internet Study mailing lists. The two main arguments were to
a) have a community built overview list, or b) ask list owners to write
descriptions of their list. It was finally agreed to not pursue formal
action on this issue at this point. If members desire to share information
about other listserves, they can do so on the association listserve. Matthew
Allen suggested that depending on membership interest and contribution, a
website could be created and linked into the Aoir website. 

2.2 Moderated Chats/Forums
In general, the committee supported the idea to have moderated chats or
discussion forums online. After much reflection, the committee agreed to
leave things as they are at this point. The general opinion was that
discourse will develop on its own. 

[Note: Discussion on a related topic continued throughout the executive
committee listserve. Charlie Breindahl suggested to provide sign-up sheets
at the next conference to have open discussion forums among conference
attendees with similar interests. Nancy Baym supported this idea, and
options will be evaluated and decided on by the committee and Monica
Murero.]

2.3 Media Relations
It was suggested to create a "list of expertise" that could be shared with
the media. "Expertise" would be defined as information volunteered by the
people described. As this issue is sensitive, and media contacts are usually
handled by a specifically designated public relations officer, the committee
agree to not move on this suggestion for now, but instead contemplate the
suggestion.

2.4 Research Database
It was suggested to create an online library of research data sets, such as
Pew data, or dissertation data. The goal would be to stimulate joint
research; and the further use and interpretation of existing data. Lisbeth
Klastrup is currently sharing her ideas with the committee, especially on
involving graduate students.

2.5 Growing Aoir
Aoir membership needs to grow in number. It was agreed to publicize Aoir's
existence widely through conference announcements, and through providing
flyers about Aoir at related conferences.

3. AOIR 3, 2002, IN MAASTRICHT
The meeting continued with planning and discussion regarding the 2002
conference in Maastricht. Detailed information will be shared on the
soon-to-be opened air-meet listserve.

At the end of the meeting, president Steve Jones expressed his sincere
gratitude to the current committee for its enthusiasm and active involvement
during the executive committee meeting.

With no further business, the meeting was adjourned. 
Respectfully submitted, 

Ulla Bunz, Oct 17, 2001


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Ulla K. Bunz
Ph.D. Candidate, Teaching Assistant
University of Kansas
102 Bailey
Lawrence, KS 66045
785-864-1160
ulla at ukans.edu
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Never Surrender ...
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