[Air-L] An answer to Steve's question to AoIR VP Candidates:

[Alex Halavais]

STEVE JONES asked the following question to the candidates for AoIR VP:

"""
What do you consider the optimal size for AoIR? Do you believe AoIR
should develop divisions or interest groups? Do you believe AoIR
should raise membership dues? What do you consider the benefits of
AoIR membership to be, both tangible and intangible, and are there
other benefits that you would try to bring to members? Please
elaborate as much as you wish in your answers. Thank you.
"""

Since not everyone will make it over to the site, I'm sharing the
candidates' responses here:

***** TED COOPMAN *****
"""

What do you consider the optimal size for AoIR?

Ideally, I would like to see us around 1000 +/- but would rather have
quality over quantity. Ultimately, I would like us to grow as our
reputation spreads and people want to be apart of what we are doing. I
think 1000 is a critical mass for a healthy participant pool and to be
seen as a strong and viable organization.

Do you believe AoIR should develop divisions or interest groups?

No. What makes AoIR special is the mix we get in our panels between
disciplines, epistemologies, and methods. In my experience, divisions
and interest groups lead to turf and resource wars and keeps people in
their boxes. As time progresses these categories become less relevant.
What the internet and internet research has (IMO) shown us is that
looking at phenomenon through a narrow lens is no longer compelling.

Do you believe AoIR should raise membership dues?

No. Rather than raise membership dues we need to expand paying
membership. We do not have the types of stranded costs such as
physical offices, staff, printing and mailing that cost a lot of
money. Generally, we do well with the conferences and could do better
if we could spend more time and effort getting sponsorships. So while
we could do more with more income (grants, special projects,
publications, an Executive Director etc.), better to expand membership
and sponsorships. $45 is a great deal.

What do you consider the benefits of AoIR membership to be, both
tangible and intangible, and are there other benefits that you would
try to bring to members?

I have always seen AoIR as a community of intellectuals and scholars
that collaborate to create an infrastructure that facilitates our
collective and individual work. This type of interdisciplinary
organization is an opportunity to create a new framework for academic
and private sector research and scholarship and to assist in a much
needed evolution of the institution of higher education. To me, AoIR
is more a collective and community than a traditional academic
organization. It is place where it is safe to step out and try new
things and learn from others we might not normally interact with as
well as know that we will be supported and encouraged for our efforts.

As far as tangible benefits, with databases and institutional access
to journals the value of these traditional perks has faded. Aside from
the listserv and a discount for registration there is really nothing
physical we could add to induce membership. I do not think “things”
are the future. People participate because they get something out of
it in terms of identity, a sense of belonging, and utility for his/her
own professional development. The organization has been incredibly
helpful for both my teaching and research. Who we are collectively is
what is most attractive about AoIR. I have been involved with half a
dozen or so small and large academic organizations but nothing
approaches AoIR in the sense of community, mutual respect, and
collegiality.

In the future, I would like to see AoIRs online presence and profile
increase and become more of a hub for new media research. This would
require a more serious investment, such as hiring someone to work
remotely on the site. Perhaps we should consider a magazine style
publication, such as Communication Currents at NCA (only cooler
because it’s us!)? This would allow us to showcase our work in a more
timely fashion and to a broader audience with interfering in more
traditional scholarly publications. Video of roundtables and keynotes
would be nice as well.
"""




***** LORI KENDALL *****

What do you consider the optimal size for AoIR?

By size, I assume you mean the number with paid memberships. But one
could also look at the size of the group that subscribes to Air-L
and/or at the size of conference attendees. In any case, I think we
can stand to grow a bit more before we risk losing some of the
benefits of being a smallish organization. But I’m not sure size is
the key question. I think participation is the aspect of membership to
focus on. I’d like to find a way to make it worth people’s while to be
a bit more active in AoIR, whether that means participating more on
Air-L, contributing to the wiki, helping expand our connections to
other interested parties and organizations, or making other kinds
contributions.

Do you believe AoIR should develop divisions or interest groups?

To a certain extent, I think we already have, although not formally,
and some subgroups of AoIR are more distinct than others. There are
positive and negative aspects to this. On the one hand, it’s exciting
to connect with people who are doing work similar to yours. On the
other hand, I think we’re a stronger, more interesting, and more
vibrant organization because of the connections we make with people
doing work that is different from ours in terms of discipline, topic,
approach, theoretical orientation, etc. I’d like to find creative ways
to encourage people to mix it up a bit more, so I would not be in
favor of creating official subgroups.

Do you believe AoIR should raise membership dues?

The short answer is “I don’t know”; I think I’d need more information
about our finances to answer this. My sense over the years is that
we’re always a little underfunded and it would be beneficial to have
more money to do things with. In particular, it would take more
funding to do things that seek to overcome some of the global economic
imbalances among scholars and encourage participation in AoIR from a
wider geographic and economic range. Some organizations have different
levels of membership, in some cases based explicitly on income. That
might be one way to raise membership fees for some without precluding
participation from people for whom increased fees would constitute a
hardship.

What do you consider the benefits of AoIR membership to be, both
tangible and intangible, and are there other benefits that you would
try to bring to members?

For me personally, the biggest benefit of AoIR membership has been the
people I’ve met and the professional opportunities that have arisen
out of relationships formed through this organization. I think some of
that has come about because of our interdisciplinarity and our
relative lack of hierarchy. Right from that first conference, AoIR has
been an organization that encourages interaction amongst scholars at
all career stages and with various types of institutional
affiliations. I haven’t as often taken advantage of some of the more
tangible benefits such as discounts on journal submissions. I’d be
interested to find out more about what other members value most about
AoIR.

[...]

I need to add, and feel remiss in not mentioning this above, that
another important benefit of AoIR is the work of the Ethics Committee.
This is one of contributions that AoIR makes that goes well beyond the
boundaries of our membership.
"""



***** MONICA MURERO *****
"""
Aoir is ready to become the n.1 Association in the field of Internet
Research. Without Aoir the scientific community would be a poorer
place. Excellence is the key of Aoir’s future, not size or divisions.
International award winner for scientific excellence, Prof. Murero
consults worldwide organizations like the World Health Organizations (
http://www.who.org ). Monica is the only candidate who received the
Honorific Aoir Lifetime membership for outstanding contribution to the
Aoir community. Her international contacts and well-known reputation
will help Aoir grow in many interesting new directions. These include
New Aoir Research Grants, New Aoir Awards for Research Excellence, and
New Aoir Pubblications.

Aoir values must be protected and developed under safe and experienced
hands. As indicated, Prof. Murero’s 10 years experience includes Aoir
administrative, financial, executive, publishing, budget and
conference related matters. – For example, Financial “bee” of the
association, Monica has quadruplicated Aoir financial assets in only
four years ( Aoir Treasurer 2005-2009) reaching unprecedented results.
Financial stability helped finance new projects for the first time in
Aoir history. For example, Initiator of the Aoir conference Fee Waiver
policy, Prof. Murero will develop further innovative grants and new
travel funds opportunities based on merit and excellence for both
students and researchers.

Prof. Murero has largely helped build the warm and welcomig feeling
everyone receives in air-l and the Aoir annual conference. Mantain the
sense of community people find at Aoir conference and air-list is a
must. An informal, welcoming and high-quality attitude in discussing
crucial topics will keep Aoir the fantastic open place for
interdisciplinary discussion and collaborations we have created over
the years.
"""




If you would like to follow up with any or all of these candidates, I
encourage you to do so here, or over at http://aoir.org.

Best,

Alex


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