Description/RationaleThe growth of the Internet is one of the greatest cultural phenomena of our time, impacting almost all areas of life. It is crucial to build knowledge about the Internet's socio-cultural dimensions. Despite great interest, knowledge-building in Internet research is hindered by a lack of international, centralized opportunities for scholars from different disciplines to interact. This international conference, the first meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers, will focus on the Internet as a distinct interdisciplinary field for research. It will bring together prominent scholars, researchers, and students from multiple disciplines for keynote addresses, paper presentations, formal and informal discussions.
KEYNOTE PRESENTATIONSBarry Wellman
Professor of Sociology at the University of Toronto. His research is based at the Centre for Urban and Community Studies, and he is also a member of the Faculty of Information Studies. His recent books include, Personal Communities and Networks in the Global Village He is also a principal founder of a new journal, City and Community, the first issue of which will appear in 2001.
Helen Nissenbaum
Research Associate and Lecturer at the University Center for Human Values at Princeton University and founding editor of the international journal, Ethics and Information Technology.
Rob Kling
Professor of Information Systems and Information Science at Indiana University at Bloomington. He is the editor of Computerization and Controversy: Value Conflicts and Social Choices, and editor-in-chief of the international journal The Information Society.
Susan Herring
Associate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Texas at Arlington. Her recent edited collections include Computer-Mediated Communication: Linguistic, Social, and Cross-Cultural Perspectives and Computer-Mediated Discourse Analysis.
Manuel Castells
Professor of Sociology at the University of California, Berkeley, and has been professor of sociology at the Universities of Paris and Madrid. Castells has published over 17 books, including The City and the Grassroots (Blackwell, 1989) and a recent trilogy on the information age which begins with The Rise of the Network Society (1996). In 1995-1996, Castells was appointed to the European's Commissions's High Level Expert Group on the Information Society and is a member of the European Academy.
Technology Available for PresentationsApple will be providing computers for presentations. Each room will have a Macintosh connected to a projector and loaded with Powerpoint, Microsoft Office, Netscape, and Explorer. They will have working internet connections, though the speed may be fairly slow (so don't plan to show films over the internet!). If you are a PC user, don't worry, your files will work on the macs if they are saved in these programs. In the Big 12 Room there will be a server with a superdrive and a zip drive to which you can upload your presentation in advance. This will allow you to pretest your presentation, and to move it to your room's computer at the start of your panel. There will also be i-books with netscape, explorer, and telnet available in the Big 12 room for checking email and web surfing. Although we will make every effort to make sure the technology works, and will have an apple technician on site each day, it is always prudent to have a backup plan so that you can present your work without visual aids in case something goes wrong. There will be overhead projectors as well.
About the ProposalsWe received approximately 220 proposals from 25 countries. We thank everyone who submitted a proposal. We have recently sent out e-mails in regard to each proposal. If you have not received one please e-mail jhuns@vt.edu. In the next few weeks, we will have up a full list of participants and panels crosslisted for your reading enjoyment. Thank you all again for participating in the conference.
RegistrationRegistration will begin around May 1 and will be limited to 250 people. Student registration will be , Faculty registration will be . Registration fees include a reception the evening of the 14th, and refreshments throughout the meeting. There will be an optional dinner on the 16th. Cancellations Sometimes you just can't make it. We understand. You maysubstitute a colleague at any time; just let us know. If you must cancel,please call us. The fee is fully refundable up to five business days beforethe conference.
Interested in Moderating?Moderators are still needed for many sessions. If you will be attending and are interested in moderating a session, please contact Nancy Baym or Jeremy Hunsinger.
Interested in Sponsoring?If your organization would like to co-sponsor this event, please contact Nancy Baym.nbaym@ukans.edu
PUBLICATIONA web archive of proceedings will be developed, and an edited volume of select proceedings is anticipated. Presenters should be prepared to contribute an electronic version of their work to the conference web site (this will not preclude publication elsewhere).
Media CoverageLawrence Journal-World Article
USA Today : Researchers debate Net's social impact
USA Today: Researchers monitoring Net support groups
About the LocationLawrence is a charming campus town located amongst rolling hills in the center of the United States, just a quick shuttle ride from Kansas City International airport. The town has a thriving downtown filled with unique shops, restaurants, coffee houses, and galleries. There is a scenic state park, and several excellent museums. Lawrence is also affordable (for instance, hotel rooms in the blocks we have reserved range from -/night). We encourage people to room together, and will be providing assistance in finding roomates. The conference will be held on campus at a site fully accessible to those with disabilities. If you are planning on flying into the conference, the Kansas City International Airport is in Kansas City, Missouri, this is the airport that you want. There will be a shuttle will exist on a pay basis to bring you to your hotel in Lawrence. We will have more information to help you plan your visit posted to the websites below in the weeks to come.
More about Lawrence Kansas and the University of Kansas
More about Hotel Rooms.
Online Roomate Referrel Board for AoIR conference
Ulla's Guide to Lawrence, Kansas
From Airport to Lawrence and back again.
Conference Coordinator: Nancy Baym, nbaym@ukans.edu
Program Chair: Jeremy Hunsinger, jhuns@vt.edu
A(O)IR President: Steve Jones, sjones@uic.edu
For more information about the Association of Internet Researchers visit our website at http://www.aoir.org
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