[Air-l] March 2002 executive committee report

[Steve Jones]

March 15, 2002
Report of the a(o).i.r. executive committee
Prepared by Steve Jones



AoIR Executive Committee
President: Steve Jones
Vice-President: Nancy Baym
Secretary: Ulla Bunz
Treasurer: Benjamin Bates
Open Seats: David Silver and Barry Wellman
Appointed Seats: Matthew Allen and Leslie Shade
Student Seat: Lisbeth Klastrup
Publications Officers: Jeremy Hunsinger and Charlie Breindahl
2002 Conference Coordinator: Monica Murero
2002 Conference Program Chair: Klaus Bruhn Jensen
Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess


1.  Introduction & General (Jones)

Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members.


2.  Executive Officers' Reports

2.1 President (Jones)

2.1.1 Work on creation of two new working groups (Internet resources 
and elections) has continued, and I hope to announce to members the 
charge to those groups and solicit volunteers shortly. Work on 
creating a subscriber policy is ongoing and should be announced 
shortly.

One quick note regarding "moderation" of air-l. At this time the only 
moderation that takes place (courtesy Charlie and Jeremy) is the 
approval or disapproval of posts from those who are not subscribed to 
the list. On occasion it happens that even though one subscribes, due 
to e-mail configuration it appears to the server that e-mail is being 
sent from an address other than the one that had been subscribed. 
Charlie and Jeremy try to get to all messages that are queued for 
approval as quickly as possible.

On behalf of the entire executive committee - congratulations, _Dr._ Ulla Bunz!


2.2 Vice President (Baym)

2.2.1 Coordinating reviews for the E-Sector category of conference 
submissions, drafting charges for upcoming working groups, collecting 
and analyzing data on nations from which we received proposals in our 
three conferences (growing steadily), advising a bit on conference 
2004 in Toronto planning.


2.3 Secretary (Bunz)

2.3.1 I have participated in the exec discussions (summary see 
below). I have also worked with David Silver and Matt Allen on the 
"list of lists" project. We are currently at step 4 of 6 (editing 
submissions) and hope to be able to announce the completed project 
soon. I also defended my dissertation and have joined the ranks of 
"terminally degreed".

This month on the executive list:

*	Decision to create policies regarding promotional or discount
offers, and regarding affiliation with other organizations or businesses
*	Decision to provide information (such as announcements and travel
info) about conference that are close to Aoir (time, space, topic) during
our Maastricht meet
*	Discussion on possible aoir member input/polling regarding passing
along members benefit offer the exec receives; aoir member input would
suggest evaluation criteria that could be applied to potential offers;
different polling options (like members only announcements, website, etc.
were discussed)
*	Discussion on calling for or nominating people for the two working
groups (election, Internet resources)
*	We began to share some data on number of people/countries submitting
to Aoir 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0; and number of countries represented in the
organization's membership; Overall we are happy to report that especially
with Aoir 3.0, we are becoming increasingly international and are drawing
submissions from several countries that were not represented before.
*	Discussion whether we should craft a statement of values concerning
the use of technology for creative work and publication
*	Discussion on spam, filtering messages, reducing quotes in postings,
list management, policies and netiquette
*	Some organizational and scheduling issues regarding planning Aoir 3.0


2.4 Treasurer (Bates)

2.4.1 No report.


2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman)

2.5.1 Silver: Continuing work with Ulla and Matt on the list of lists 
projects.  We have
received from air-l members the names of and information on over 120
Net-related mailing lists.  We have worked to trim this list down to the
most relevant and currently have a little more than 80.  We are now in the
process of annotating them and designing a platform for access to the
lists. For AIR 3.0: Coordinating the proposal review process for the 
Internet in
History section.  Reviewing proposals for the Internet in Cultural
Contexts section. We've seen some great proposals and have an excellent
team of reviewers.

2.5.2 Wellman: On leave.


2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade)

2.6.1 Allen: No report.

2.6.2 Shade: Participated in a symposium at Harvey Mudd College, 
March 9, titled Community in the Digital Age: Philosophy and 
Practice. (see www.hixon.hmc.edu/Calendar.html) The Sj was also there 
so it provided an opportunity to chat about some AOIR stuff and life 
in general. I much appreciate f2f rather than e-chat. but hey. 
Finished the reviewing and assigning of the papers for AOIR3.0.


2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup)

2.7.1 On leave.


2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl)

2.8.1 Hunsinger: busy with conference primarily; did some things on 
the server; answered questions; debated on exec.

2.8.2 Breindahl: I have been acting as list moderator for AIR-L as 
usual. I have also taken part in the discussions in the exec 
committee, especially with regards to our web presence.


2.9 2002 Conference (Monica Murero, Coordinator; Klaus Bruhn Jensen,
Program Chair)

2.9.1 Murero: In the last month I have been doing several activities 
for  AoIR conference
organization, and kept in constant contact with Steve and Klaus. I have
worked on sponsors and speakers' contact, registration process, web site
up-date, supervision of local facilities,  and coordinate local activities.
Folks, the exhibition center looks great!

As regards the program and the submissions, I have been working with Klaus
to set the scheduling of the program/panels for the conference, and with
Nancy, Jeremy and Klaus on reviewing abstracts. I have answered to many
messages related to the abstract proposals, and decided with Klaus on late
proposals we have received. All the activities are proceeding well and we
have already received almost 50 pre-registrations to the conference.

2.9.2 Jensen: Having passed the submission deadline of February 15, 
coordinators, reviewers, and I have been hard at work processing 
proposals for the AoIR 3.0 conference. The process is proceeding on 
schedule, so that we expect to notify submitters as well as outlining 
a preliminary program by April 1.


2.10  AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair)

2.10.1 Draft modified in light of comments and responses to a first 
draft, a second
version of the document we hope to present to aoir 3.0 in October is being
circulated among committee members for further comment and refinement.

------------------------------------end of executive committee 
report------------------------------

The Association of Internet Researchers is a scholarly association 
dedicated to the advancement of the cross-disciplinary field of 
Internet studies. It is a resource and support network promoting 
critical and scholarly Internet research independent from traditional 
disciplines and existing across academic borders. The association is 
international in scope.

The association's web site is at http://www.aoir.org. Membership 
information is available at http://aoir.org/airjoin.html