[Air-l] 2003 Carl Couch Internet Research Award

[Mark D. Johns]

DECORAH, Iowa; June 6, 2003 –- The Carl Couch Center for 
Social and Internet Research (CCCSIR) is pleased to announce 
the winners of the 2003 Carl Couch Award for Internet 
Research.  The Couch Award is presented annually to 
recognize competitive papers produced by students at 
undergraduate or graduate level who make use of the theories 
  and/or methodologies of social research advocated by the 
late Carl J. Couch, founder of the "New Iowa School" of 
symbolic interactionism.
	The winning paper is "Social Interaction and Meaning 
Construction among [Pro-Anorexic] Community Websites" by 
Camille Johnson, M.A. candidate, University of Illinois at 
Chicago Department of Communication.
	The Runner Up is "A/S/L Everyone!: The Presence of the Body 
in Web-Based Chat Rooms" by Sarah Michele Ford, Ph.D. 
candidate in sociology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
	Third place paper is "Virtual Religion: a Study of 
Spiritual Webmasters" by Terra McDaniel, based on her M.A. 
thesis, University of Houston, Department of Sociology.
	CCCSIR congratulates these winners, who have been invited 
to present their papers at the annual meeting of the 
Association of Internet Researchers, to be held this year in 
Toronto, Ontario, Canada, October 16-19 2003.  Award 
certificates and cash prizes will be presented at the 
Toronto event.
	The Carl Couch Center is an organization of friends and 
former students of Carl J. Couch, long time professor of 
sociology at the University of Iowa.  The Center is devoted 
to advancing the scholarship initiated by Dr. Couch, and to 
continuing his passion for his students and their research 
efforts.  The Center provides networking opportunities and 
collaboration information for students and scholars who 
conduct social and Internet research inspired by Couch's 
work. By promoting interdisciplinary exchanges, the Center 
seeks to engage the scholars, citizens, and industry 
partners in social and Internet research.  For more 
information, see http://www.cccsir.org
-- 
Mark D. Johns, Ph.D.
Asst. Professor of Communication/Linguistics,
Luther College, Decorah, Iowa
http://faculty.luther.edu/~johnsmar/
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"Get the facts first. You can distort them later."
     ---Mark Twain