Listed below are links to the statements by candidates for the AoIR Executive Committee. Catherine and Michael have agreed to serve another term, and are running unopposed for the positions of secretary and treasurer, respectively.

I strongly encourage you to ask questions of these candidates, and openly discuss their plans for the present and future of the organization. The statements alone are rarely enough to judge the ways in which they will lead AoIR. A vibrant discussion is not just good for the election, it’s good for the health of the organization, and a good way for those of us who are not running to know what is on the mind of the membership.

I encourage you to leave questions or comments on the candidates statements on the website, or if you would prefer, to post them here to AIR-L. In the latter case, I will attempt to do a bit of copy-pasty back over to the website so we have an easily found record.

And the candidates are…

VICE-PRESIDENT
Ted Coopman
Lori Kendall
Monica Murero

STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE
Anthony Hoffmann
Trent Kays
Kelly Quinn

TREASURER
Michael Zimmer (acclaimed)

SECRETARY
Catherine Middleton (acclaimed)

OPEN SEATS (3)
Andrea Baker
Andrew Herman
Soraj Hongladarom
Mark Johns
Gene Loeb
Christopher Paul
Ulf-Dietrich Reips
Cristian Berrio Zapata

The candidate submitted the following statement:

1) What is your interest in this position?

My interest in the open seat position is to give back to AoIR in the form of service to the organization and to work with like-minded, committed individuals on the executive committee.

2) What are your qualifications for this position (including prior experience and participation in AoIR)?

I was at the first AoIR meeting in Kansas, with a panel and paper on the program, and thereafter, with yearly panels and/or papers on online relationships, identities and communities, and research ethics. I have missed only one AoIR conference so far since 2000. I also participate in the AoIR Ethics Committee, which has provided some of the earliest, most thorough guidelines for scholars researching aspects of computer-mediated communication, and continues to evolve to address various types of research methodologies through case studies. People I’ve met at AoIR in different countries connected me with others with similar research foci, including an editor and publisher for my book on couples who met online (Double Click, 2005), and collaborators to edit a book of readings (Online Matchmaking, 2007). Recently I’ve communicated with some scholars who study online communities and networks, particularly people who examine offline and online ties, as well as with faculty who teach online and write about issues of distance education.

The informal conversations with colleagues at AoIR and feedback between meetings have proven invaluable for me, personally and professionally. AoIR’s interdisciplinary, international emphasis and pioneer role in internet research has made it my primary conference.

3) What are two or three short-term goals you would like to achieve through membership of the executive (include a rationale for each and how you would contribute to their achievement)?

(1) A goal is to provide spaces at future meetings for informal sharing of data and perspectives on specified topics. Organizers at prior Aoir conferences solicited suggestions, and announced the topics in the program. At one such session, I recall a large number of people gathered around a long table for spirited and fruitful sharing of their ongoing research projects.

(2) A goal is to have scholars at conferences held by a variety of other disciplines from gender studies to computer science become more aware of the benefits of AoIR by attending co-sponsored sessions or pre-conference workshops at their national and international meetings led by members clearly identified with AoIR. Through this method, they would learn firsthand more about our philosophy, research and support network.

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

A long-term view is to expand the group, to have it grow in size and scope, and yet retain the camaraderie and sense of “home” that members have felt from the start.

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

I have a background of nearly fifteen years of research in internet studies and can perhaps provide a long-range view on the field, at least on certain aspects of it.

The candidate submitted the following statement:

1. What is your interest in this position?

I have had a long-standing involvement with AOIR. Although I was not present at the creation of AOIR , I did stage the conference –The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory at Drake University in 1999–that inspired Steve Jones and Nancy Baym to do IR 1.0, which in turn became the founding moment of organization. Since that time I have either presented papers and/or organized panels at IR 4 (Toronto), IR 6 (Chicago), IR 8 (Vancouver), IR 9 (Copenhagen), IR 10 (Milwaukee) and IR 11 (Gothenburg). I also have a panel and paper accepted for IR 12 (Seattle). I have also served as a reviewer for conference paper proposals for IR 6-IR 11 (not sure what happened this year). AOIR is the one and only professional academic organization that I consider to be my “home” and, as such, want to contribute to its well-being in ways different than the conference itself.

2. What are your qualifications for this position?

I am presently Associate Professor of Communication Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario (that’s in Canada!) with prior institutiona stints as Visiting Professor at York University (Toronto-Communication and Culture) and College of the Holy Cross (Worcester, MA-Sociology). I was a tenured Associate Professor of Sociology at Drake University (Des Moines, Iowa) before moving to Canada in 2004. I have a long history of research and scholarship in the field of Internet Research beginning with my co-edited book, The World Wide Web and Contemporary Cultural Theory (Routledge, 2001). Since then, I have published on digital media and internet issues in an array of journals, ranging from DePaul Law Review and South Atlantic Quarterly to Cultural Studies and Anthropological Quarterly. I am current working on sequel to the World Wide Web book that was based on a workshop I just hosted in February called “Materialities and Imaginaries of the Mobile Internet”. My work is promiscuously interdisciplinary in theory and method, qualities that I adore and treasure in AOIR as an academic organization and as an intellectual community

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

First, I would like to see AOIR make a sustained effort to broaden our membership to regions outside of Europe, North America and Australia. There is so much exciting work being done by scholars in South America, South Asia, South Africa and East Asia and it behooves us to widen the circle of our community to include them if we are to be the leading organization of Internet scholars on the planet (see below). If elected to the executive, I promise I will call forth the heavy metal spirits to convince the organization to hold an IR in the near future in either Brazil, India or Korea.

Secondly, I would like to see us development a more compelling and dynamic Internet presence. I realize that this takes a lot of work and creativity, but we of all academic organizations should be able to work the medium to our advantage in terms of community, collaboration, and advancement of the project of critical internet studies.

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

World domination. Period. \,,/

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

I am at the stage of my career where I can say that the only reason I want to be on the Executive is to help take the organization to the next stage of its existence, however we collectively define it, without regard for recognition or recompense of any kind.