1. What is your interest in this position?

AoIR has been a kind of academic home for me, a place where I can learn and explore new ideas. Over the years, it has provided a great deal to me and I would like to continue to contribute back to the organization in a meaningful way. In the position of VP, I have the opportunity to help directly shape the future of AoIR, and I look forward to fostering the growth and evolution of the community.

2. What are your qualifications for this position?

I am currently an associate professor, teaching in a masters program in “interactive communication” at Quinnipaic University, just outside of New Haven, Connecticut. My research increasingly addresses how scholars make use of networked technologies, work that I hope can continue to influence the success of AoIR as a scholarly institution. I also serve as the Technical Director for the Digital Media and Learning Hub, housed at the UC Humanities Research Institute–another effort to bring together scholars into a digital community. Before and during my academic career, I have served in a range of positions in city government (in the US and abroad) and business, including work in financial services, teaching, and budget and administration.

Not having been involved from the first year, I cannot make the claim to pioneer status in AoIR. But starting in 2001, I have presented at each of the conferences, and have been an an active contributor to discussions outside of the conferences. In the process, I’ve been lucky enough to meet and talk to many of you. I’ve served on the Executive Committee for the last four years as the systems officer, and in that position gained a fairly intimate picture of the how AoIR works (and doesn’t work).

3. What are two or three short-term goals you would like to achieve through membership of the executive?

First, I think that AoIR needs a clearer long-term strategic plan. We need to think now about where we aim to be not just next year, but five years from now. This is particularly true in terms of our use of both traditional capital and social capital. AoIR is maturing as an organization, largely through the efforts of a large group of people dedicated to seeing it succeed. There is a danger that as we grow, we may fail to leverage this good will and the talents of our membership. We need to seek out ways in which small contributions of time from our members can result in significant outcomes for the field.

We have been lucky enough over the last few years to accumulate some capital, but have failed, I think, to adequately reinvest those funds in the health of the organization and the benefit of its membership. This should not be seen as a specific critique of anyone on the Executive Committee. We needed to secure the organization and ensure its continued viability even during economic and other downturns. However, we need to have a much stronger plan for how to make use of those funds most effectively in the future. There are some things we can do in the short and long term to enhance the organization and better serve its members. I have some specific ideas about how to do this, as do other members, and we need to have a conversation about how best to move forward.

Second, and very broadly, I would like to see a greater dedication to opening up the organization. This means a number of things. I think the decisions of the Executive should be transparent and publicly published so that the membership knows what we are doing, can hold us accountable, and can contribute to the discussion.

We need to actively engage a range of publics to make sure our research becomes a part of public and policy discussions. And I think we need to explore ways of engaging in open exchange of not just research results, but research in progress, shared data, methods, and tools. We need to make sure that the Association of Internet Researchers promotes not just the dissemination of research but the social and technical infrastructures to encourage it. The annual conference is a great way for this to happen, as is AIR-L, and I hope we can build on those two models.

4. What is your long-term vision for AoIR?

I think our trajectory is right, and it’s not time for major change. But there are things we can do better.

There has been a recognition in a range of fields and industries that the social and cultural dimensions of computing and networking are especially important. This is something many of us have been telling our constituent fields for decades, but now even the slowest moving are finally coming around. This is a critical juncture, and many are adding their voices to the discussion. I think that it is important that AoIR be at the forefront of this discussion. There are opportunities for partnering with disciplinary organizations and conferences, but I do not want the unique voice of AoIR, an organization that has pioneered this as a field, to be lost in the sea of newcomers. We need to invite them in, and continue to act as a catalyst in building connections across disciplines.

5. What else should voters consider when deciding whether or not to vote for you?

As I’ve seen a series of people pass through the process of being VP, president, and past-president, I realize that rather than any particular stance or direction, what is important is someone who can get things done. We’ve been extraordinarily lucky as an organization to have a series of people who have been able to get things done, and people who have had fun doing it. It’s a tall order to fill those shoes, but I think I can do it.

I have some more specific thoughts about what should happen in the first few months of the new Executive. Some of these I’ve shared informally with the current Executive, and others will be specific to my successor in the systems position. However, if you have questions, I do hope you will comment below. Nothing demonstrates the health of a scholarly group better, I think, than good (friendly) critical discussion.