[Air-l] September 2002 AoIR Executive Committee Report

[Steve Jones]

September 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. 
This will be the last report before the annual conference in 
Maastricht, the Netherlands, and I am greatly looking forward to 
seeing many of you there. (It is likely that the next monthly report 
will be slightly delayed as according to schedule it ought to be 
published just before the conference is wrapping up.) A tremendous 
amount of effort has gone into the planning of the conference, and 
much has particularly been contributed by Monica Murero and her 
colleagues in Maastricht, Klaus Bruhn Jensen, Jeremy Hunsinger and a 
host of AoIR members who served on the program committee. As has been 
the case the past two years I am nearly overwhelmed by the breadth 
and depth of the program, and cannot wait to begin the meeting.


2.  Executive Officers' Reports

2.1 President (Jones)

2.1.1 See above re: our upcoming conference. Concerning the 
conference after it, in 2003, a quick note of thanks is in order to 
Barry Wellman for his efforts at getting its planning fully under 
way. And please note that a "Call for Hosts" was recently issued for 
AoIR conferences in 2004 and beyond. If you are interested in hosting 
a future AoIR conference please contact me.


2.2 Vice President (Baym)

2.2.1 No report.


2.3 Secretary (Bunz)

2.3.1 Returned from leave. Scheduled exec meetings. Began preparing meeting
itinerary for Maastricht. Began organizing awards for keynote speakers
and best student paper. Chirped in on issues below.

This month of the exec list:
August 14 - September 12, 2002

.	Agreement to discontinue and archive air-dbase, and to
re-vitalize air-meet
.	Discussion of Call for Host, and quite a lot of discussion and
work done on issues concerning conference hosting, selection and
responsibilities of conference chairs and program chairs
.	Exchange of information regarding the Toronto 2003 planning,
including discussion of possible grant or other funding options,
possible program chairs, and possible keynote speakers


2.4 Treasurer (Bates)

2.4.1 Nothing to report.


2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman)

2.5.1 Silver: Have taken an active role in brainstorming/planning 
upcoming and future
AoIR conferences.  And spent time looking forward to meeting up with
everyone in Maastricht.

2.5.2 Wellman: I did a lot of work in helping to get the 2003 AOIR 
Toronto conference
organized. I was appointed official liaison between the AOIR Executive
Committee and the Toronto AOIR conference working committee, I represented
the AOIR Exec to Toronto, and the Toronto organizers to AOIR Exec. This
month was intense, and planning for the Toronto conference has moved
forward in nice ways.


2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade)

2.6.1 Allen: Nothing to report.

2.6.2 Shade: Spent time on air-exec talking/strategizing about the 
AOIR Conf 2003 in
Toronto.


2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup)

2.7.1 Nothing to report. Will take steps to organise informal grad 
student meeting
during AOIR Conf in Maastricht very soon!


2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl)

2.8.1 Hunsinger: I helped a few people with their memberships
I answered some questions relating to the listserves
fiddled with the server a bit
worked on related projects
talked and tried to understand issues surrounding the next few conferences
helped Klaus and Monica a bit

2.8.2 Breindahl: In my role as Information Officer, I continue to 
screen the subscription requests to AIR-L. The volume of spam has 
decreased recently, whereas the number of subscription requests has 
increased (no relation between those trends as far as I can see). The 
further development of aoir.org towards being database-driven is 
temporarily halted to await input from the Net Working Group.


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

2.9.1 Murero:  The last month has been very intense. Results looks 
very good. I have
collaborated with Klaus on the program schedule, sent some mailing to
air-list and to the conference authors, solved some issues and  answered
MANY questions online. Klaus and I are working now on the room assignment
for the presentations. I am taking care of keynote speakers, and local
arrangements. Registrations and hotels are fully delegated to an external
local agency. I am also coordinating with sponsors, publishers,  electronic
equipment, and taking care of details of catering, transportations and local
logistics issues.

2.9.2 Jensen: Most of all, I have been working with Monica Murero in 
updating the preliminary program for AoIR 3.0, which now includes 
abstracts of papers and panels. In addition, I have secured chairs 
for sessions at the conference, and have lined up the procedure for 
reviewing student papers. I take this final report before the 
conference as an opportunity to thank the wider AoIR community, whose 
input made the program possible.*


2.10  AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair)

2.10.1 Earlier this month, the ethics working committee posted its latest draft
report on Internet research ethics,
"Ethical decision-making and Internet research: Recommendations from the
aoir ethics working committee."

<http://www.aoir.org/reports/DraftFIVE.html>

for review and comment by the aoir membership.

This document articulates our best overview of the main range of ethical
issues characteristic of the diverse venues and approaches to Internet
research.  It reflects nearly two years of cooperative work, expertise, and
discussion of researchers and ethicists from a variety of disciplines and
countries.

While the committee is quite pleased with how the document has shaped up -
we realize quite well that aoir folk may have further comment, criticisms,
and suggestions in response to this draft that would make the document still
better.  This is, after all, precisely why we worked to post it to aoir
within a month or so prior to the Maastricht conference.

Our request is precisely that aoir folk - especially those who will be in
Maastricht - review the draft document, and send any questions and/or
suggestions for improvement to Charles Ess <cmess at drury.edu> who will take
them to the ethics working committee for review and consideration.

Our hope is that by going through this final review process, the document
will meet any last objections and concerns, prior to being presented to the
aoir business meeting in  Maastricht for (we hope!) approval and endorsement
by the aoir membership.

On behalf of the aoir ethics working committee, let me thank the aoir
membership for your support and encouragement - and we look forward to
presenting and discussing the ethics document with you in Maastricht.


2.11 AoIR Elections Working Group (Nancy Baym, Liaison)

2.11.1 No report.


2.12 AoIR Net Resources Working Group (Charlie Breindahl, Liaison)

2.12.1 The AoIR Net Working Group has been dormant over the summer, 
but we have recently begun discussion of the future of aoir.org as 
content management system (audience oriented) or groupware (author 
oriented).


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