[Air-l] June, 2003 AoIR Executive Committee Report

[Steve Jones]

[My apologies...the previous post of this was for some reason 
truncated, here is the full report. -Sj]

June 20, 2003
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
2003 Conference Chair: Liss Jeffrey
2003 Conference Program Co-Chairs: Matthew Allen and David Mitchell
Ethics Working Group Chair: Charles Ess
Elections Working Group Chair: Mia Consalvo
Net Resources Working Group Chair: Charlie Breindahl


1.  Introduction & General (Jones)

Below is the monthly report from AoIR executive committee members. If 
you aren't reading this...well, you ought to be. I know it can get 
lengthy, and it can get detailed, but it's the single best way to 
know what AoIR is up to, and to find ways to get involved with it (in 
any number of ways from contacting the people who report to 
volunteering to work on something you see mentioned to making 
suggestions to...).


2.  Executive Officers' Reports

2.1 President (Jones)

2.1.1 The election process for AoIR executive offices is now under 
way. I will post a longer, separate email message about it soon, but 
suffice here for me to remind you of the timeilne:

1. CALL FOR NOMINATIONS: Elapsed
2. END OF NOMINATION PERIOD:  Elapsed
3. DISCUSSION PERIOD BEGINS:  June 20, 2003
4. DISCUSSION PERIOD ENDS:  July 11, 2003
3. VOTING PERIOD BEGINS: July 14, 2003
4. VOTING PERIOD ENDS: July 28, 2003
5. NEW COMMITTEE ASSUMES DUTIES: At the end of the General Meeting at 
the fourth annual AoIR conference, October 16 - 19, 2003.

2.1.2 As you will see below conference planning is well under way. I 
am delighted (and not just for reasons associated with our 
conference) that WHO announced last week that SARS appears to have 
been generally contained (today the announcement was that not only 
Toronto but Hong Kong, too, is free of SARS) and cases are on the 
decline. I will hope to see as many of you as can join us in Toronto 
in October.

2.1.3 If you have not yet registered for the conference or made a 
hotel reservation I encourage you to do so as soon as possible. Early 
registration fees are only in effect for a couple or so more weeks, 
and our hotel space is held for a limited amount of time. Please 
mention that you are registering for AoIR when you book your room at 
the Toronto Hilton (or use our Block Code - ASSA110703). As I have 
stated other times/other places, as AoIR has grown we have had to 
search for larger and larger meetings spaces, precluding most 
prospective college/university venues. This year we are meeting at a 
hotel in an urban area, and we have to meet the minimum occupancy 
with which we are able to use its meeting rooms - if we don't meet 
that occupancy rate then we'll have to increase the registration 
fees, to cover additional cost of the meeting rooms. The AoIR rate 
may be a few dollars more than the most discounted rate that you 
could get on your own, but that few dollars is in support of the 
facilities at the Hilton that we are using. I appreciate everyone's 
support of the conference and of AoIR.

2.1.4  While on the topic of support, I would like to reiterate some 
of the quite tangible benefits of AoIR membership. As a paying member 
of the Association of Internet Reseachers, you are entitled to a 
number of discounted journal subscriptions and book discounts.

Journal Discounts:

*The Information Society: An International Journal
*Information, Communication  and Society
*e-Service Journal
*CyberPsychology and Behavior
* New Media & Society

Books:

Routledge Cyberstudies catalog

These are described in greater detail at http://aoir.org/benefits.html.


2.2 Vice President (Baym)

2.2.1 Participated in election planning and candidate encouraging.


2.3 Secretary (Bunz)

2.3.1 Counted votes, participated in discussions (below), and been 
waiting for warm
weather.

May 15 - June 15, 2003
This month on the executive list:
-	The AoIR election process has begun. Nominations were 
collected until June
13. Starting June 20, an online open discussion forum will be available for
AoIR members and non-members to interact with nominees. Position statements
and biographical information will be available online too. Details and URL’s
will be posted to air-l within the next week.
-	Along those lines, the exec has been monitoring nominations 
and has been
sharing public information with air-l.
-	The exec has been discussing creating a conference blog for 
the upcoming
conference in Toronto. Jeremy Hunsinger from the exec committee and Jason
Nolan from the Toronto local committee are collaborating on this and it will
happen. In addition, the exec is considering a list of blogs available from
the air website.
-	The exec continues to monitor the SARS situation in Toronto but at this
point does not foresee any problems for our conference scheduled for October.
-	The exec has noted suggestions about organizing conferences 
in countries
that have few visa requirements, and/or non-first-world countries.
-	The exec has discussed ways in which the association can 
financially support
people with lower incomes who would like to attend our conferences or become
members. Unfortunately, at this point we are not able to subsidize travel or
fees. Subscribing to and participating on air-l is and will remain free.
The executive committee has been considering various options for
improving accessibility to its conferences.
-	Jeremy Hunsinger announced that air-l is up to approximately 1300
subscribers now, so draft your messages carefully as they will reach a wide
audience.
-	The exec has been in touch with the local conference 
organizers about the
final (online) conference program and similar conference-related issues.
-	The exec has continued its discussion for the local host for the 2004
conference and things are looking good. The exec voted unanimously in favor of
the proposed site. The announcement for the 2004 conference will be made at
the Toronto conference during the General Meeting. Discussions about sites for
2005 and 2006 are in progress. Bids may be submitted at any time to Steve
Jones.
-	The exec has been discussing the possible institution of an advisory
committee for agenda setting, but is still uncertain as to its members, adding
an additional layer to the organizational hierarchy, etc.
-	The exec has continued its discussions on increasing quality at the
conference and in submission reviewing, and continuing its outreach and growth
in a natural way.

Ulla Bunz, Secretary

2.4 Treasurer (Bates)

2.4.1 Been on vacation (supposedly) most of the last month,
though after some struggle and a lot of help from Jeremy,
managed to stay largely connected and to keep up with
conference and membership payments.  Will be back
in the office next week.


2.5 Open Seats (Silver, Wellman)

2.5.1 Silver: took part in various discussions regarding the election;
discussed ideas regarding the conference.

2.5.2 Wellman: Particiapting in exec committee deliberations. 
Watching brief on SARS.
Lecturing about AoIR activities in Finland.Spent a good deal of time 
keeping abreast of SARS situation (and media scare elsewhere), and 
advising the Exec Committee and the Program Chair. Contributed to the 
ongoing deliberations of the Executive Committee.


2.6 Appointed Seats (Allen, Shade)

2.6.1 Allen: Less activity with respect to the conference this month. 
Mainly it has been
chasing up details from presenters; finalising program; interacting with
Conference Organiser to get program online.

2.6.2 Shade: Nothing to report.


2.7 Student Seat (Klastrup)

2.7.1 Nothing to report (been to Australia at conference)


2.8 Publications Officers (Hunsinger, Breindahl)

2.8.1 Hunsinger: this month has been election month, i've been busy:
managing the nomination process, and am collecting the nominee info 
at nominate at aoir.org
working with Charlie to get some bugs out of the website
helping as necessary with conference stuff.
posting election updates to air-l
working on the aoir.org email system to lower spam rates and resolve 
other issues.
responding to things on the executive list
thinking about future conferences and how to manage them
and trying to get some conversation going on air-l over the summer.

2.8.2 Breindahl:  I have mainly discarded spam, which comes in 
ever-increasing numbers. As Jerry Pournelle says: "Spammers have got 
beyond the bounds of civilization. When you rob a million people of a 
minute, you have wasted two man years. [...] The First Amendment has 
nothing to do with this. You have the right to speak, but you don't 
have the right to make me listen at the cost of my own time."

Also, on a happier note, I have updated the book list and put a new 
version of our logo on the aoir.org site.


2.9 2003 Conference (Liss Jeffrey, Chair; Matthew Allen, David 
Mitchell, Program Co-Chairs)

2.9.1 Dr Liss Jeffrey: The Toronto committee is hard at work, with 
new volunteers signing on to help out. Contact us at 
aoir at ecommons.net if you would like to join us. The Early Bird 
registration will now be extended to July 15, 2003. Please check the 
web site for information including the conference registration 
number. The early program will soon go online at 
www.ecommons.net/aoir. Matt Allen (who with his reviewers has done a 
tremendous job) remains the contact on all program-related issues. If 
you would like to propose a pre conference workshop, just drop us a 
line specifying topic, outline of seminar and time required, 
equipment or facility needs, expected or desired audience numbers, 
who you know locally (if anyone) who might help you with local 
logistics, who you expect would be most interested in your 
workshop/demonstration, and information on yourself and your 
background.  This week we will be contacting all those who have 
submitted proposals to ask a few more questions or to confirm 
participation (Olivia Robertson is point person on this file and she 
will be in touch). The conference web site will be updated frequently 
so please check in. This week we will be adding the frequently asked 
questions (hotel, travel Rhiannon Bury is point on this rhiannon Bury 
<rbury at wlu.ca>). If there is a topic that we have not addressed,  let 
us know and we will get it on there. Contact our point person on web 
informatics (Christie Hurrell: christie at ecommons.net ). Special 
thanks to Eric George, who has joined the steering/working committee 
and has helped all of us ensure that our Francophone members are 
included. Would you like to see a conference blog start now? Would 
you contribute? If so, please contact graig at ecommons.net Much more to 
come. Liss Jeffrey, conference chair.    

2.9.2 Mitchell: No report.


2.10  AoIR Ethics Working Group (Charles Ess, Chair)

2.10.1 As part of a conference on ethical guidelines for 
socio-economic research
(The RESPECT conference, June 12-13, Budapest), I was invited to comment on
proposed guidelines in light of the AoIR ethics working committee´s
guidelines, research, and approaches.
The RESPECT Project is funded by the European Union´s Directorate-General
for Research, and has already developed a range of resources for research
ethics in medical and social sciences - of interest, of course, because of
their necessarily multi-cultural foundations and orientation. Both resources
and planned guidelines will be useful for further reflection on Internet
research ethics. I will post a more complete summary of the conference,
including a preliminary resource list, to both the ethics working committee
and the air-list as soon as I can upon my return to the States.


2.11 AoIR Research Annual Working Group (Mia Consalvo, Chair)

2.11.1 The AoIR Annual has come back from copy-editing, and all 
contributors have
been forwarded their chapters to make the suggested revisions. Once that is
done, the manuscript goes back to the publisher (Peter Lang) and into
production.


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

2.12.1 There has been no activity in the 'Net WG.