[Air-l] Re: Archive and membership

Charlie Hendricksen veritas at u.washington.edu
Mon Nov 4 10:18:20 PST 2002


Friends,

    This conversation hinges on the concept of fairness.  We are all
probing to find the boundary between fairness and unfairness.  While
considering the data we find, perhaps we should also be aware of "the
tyranny of the majority" and "reciprocity."

    Paying members of AoIR are unlikely to do their research near the
boundaries of the discipline of Internet Research.  They represent the
mainstream.  For every mainstream member there are likely to be many
more that are from other disciplines whose research concerns touch
mainstream interests only tangentially or in highly specialized areas.
My research for instance involves the behavior of researchers, not the
majority of Internet users.  I am also not very interested in
synchronous methods.  Yet, when discussion threads or papers mentioned
coincide or approach my area of interest, I need that information!     

    There are other ways of contributing to this community of practice
beside joining the Association of Internet Researchers.  When I and
other responsible observers working at or beyond the boundaries of
Internet Research are rewarded with information from your community we
tend to reciprocate by telling you how our research informs yours. 
Perhaps reciprocity needs to be part of the metric for access. 

-- 
            Charlie Hendricksen, Ph.D.   veritas at u.washington.edu

            "Information technology structures human relationships."
                            "Models relate concepts."




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