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

[Steve Jones]

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.

2.1.3  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=
=92s
will be posted to air-l within the next week.
-	Along those lines, the exec has been monitoring nominations
and has been
sharing public i