AoIR has implemented a membership system that integrates with this website and with the AoIR wiki. We are slowly rolling this out, and if you are an existing member of the Association, you may not yet have an account on this system. If you have an immediate need (e.g., to edit the wiki) please send a note to help@aoir.org. If not, you’ll be hearing from us in the coming weeks with details about logging in.

We will provide a guide to a full proposal for those invited to apply. At this stage, we seek an indication of interest and intent. In the past, we have held the conference in North America in odd numbered years, though we would entertain strong proposals from venues elsewhere in the world, both for 2013 and 2014.

Hosting AoIR provides visibility to your institution and city from researchers from around the world, drawing a group of well known scholars to your city during the period of the conference and providing lasting connections. Geography still matters in an internet age, and hosting Internet Research represents one way of locating important centers of innovation in social computing.

The most recent conference was held in Gothenburg, Sweden (http://ir11.aoir.org/) and the upcoming conferences will be held in Seattle, USA (http://ir12.aoir.org) and Salford, UK. We generally seek hosting cities that are reasonably accessible by international visitors, and provide a range of lodging, dining, entertainment and cultural attractions within reasonable proximity of the venue.

The venue should provide both a central hall and meeting rooms for a minimum of 400 attendees, as well as the necessary infrastructure for presentations and high-speed wireless internet access. There are generally 7-8 concurrent presentation rooms over a period of 3 to 3.5 days, plus a day of 3-6 preconferences. The conference generally provides some form of onsite refreshments during the day (snacks, coffee, and in many cases lunch), as well as a banquet and receptions.

The Association generally handles registration, and will (with the aid of a program chair) provide assistance with the infrastructure for the peer review and the publication of selected papers. Members of the AoIR Executive Committee serve on the organizing committee and are involved closely with the planning and execution of the conference. The local hosts are responsible for all on-site arrangements, contracts, transportation, arrangements with local hotels or other lodging, technology, supporting staff for the event. The hosts should be willing and able to mobilize local support for the conference, including volunteers, fund-raising, and cost-sharing.

Although a full proposal is not necessary, some indication of what you could offer in terms of hosting would be appreciated. In particular:

1. Who makes up your group, who the proposed local chair would be, and your connection to internet research and AoIR.

2. Information about the venue, including recent conferences held there. We have, in the past, held AoIR in hotels and conference centers, as well as university and research campuses. Please give some indication of the layout of the facility and its proximity to lodging and dining (including less expensive options), as well as to its suitability for a conference like Internet Research.

3. Proposed dates. IR is generally held in early October, and usually over a Thursday-Saturday, with pre-conferences on a Wednesday, though there is some flexibility. It is helpful if we are able to avoid conflicts with other major conferences of interest to attendees. If we are unable to schedule your venue for 2013, do you expect you might have interest in 2014?

4. What makes your city and venue particularly attractive to the Internet Research community.
Feel free to keep your letter brief. For those sites the Executive Committee feels are suitable for the upcoming conference, we will provide organizers with instructions for a full proposal, and are happy to work with them to provide a strong proposal.

The committee will review letters of interest as they are submitted, through the end of July 2011. Questions regarding the process also will be answered publicly at the aoir.org site.

Submissions must be received no later than 15 July 2011, and must adhere to the following guidelines and template:

• Guidelines [doc]
• Template [doc]

Final papers should be submitted no later than the 15th of July. To upload your paper, log in to ConfTool, choose “Your Submissions” from the menu, and click on the highlighted “Final Upload” on the right side of your paper title.

If you have any questions, please contact Suely Fragoso, SPIR Editor (spir@aoir.org) or Alex Halavais, AoIR Vice President (vp@aoir.org).

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

Given the theme this year, “Performance and Participation,” it seemed a particularly good time to introduce a new format of presentation to the Internet Research conference. The “Ignite” presentation is a structured, high-energy, short talk in which you share your passion and creative ideas about internet research. If you are excited about a new perspective, an issue, or a practice taking place on the internet, this is the place to get others excited about it as well.

Like pecha-kucha, Ignite is formed around a formalism: you must create a “deck” of 20 slides that auto-advance every 15 seconds. This represents a radical departure from the traditional paper presentation, and is focused on telling an enlightening story, making an argument, and inciting an audience to come to your way of thinking and action. Keep the logos, but add pathos: humor, wit, rhetorical (and physical) stunts are encouraged. It’s academic stand-up.

If you are one of the several dozen people that were in the backchannel last year complaining about boring PowerPoint presentations, here’s where the rubber meets the road. Show us what you can do!

The Ignite format of talks started in Seattle, but by now there are thousands of people who have given them. Many of these can be found here:

http://igniteshow.com/

You might also take a look at:

http://www.speakerconfessions.com/2009/06/how-to-give-a-great-ignite-talk/

Some things to note:

• You may propose an Ignite-IR talk even if you already have a paper accepted–it does not count against your presentation cap.
• While it can be related to a later research talk, it should not be a “preview”–the Ignite-IR talk should stand on its own.
• The deadline for your proposal is midnight, July 31.
• If your proposal is accepted, your deck of 20 slides is due no later than September 15.

Are you ready to go beyond talking about performance and perform‽ Are you ready to share the passion and excitement of Internet Research‽ Then propose a five-minute Ignite Talk!

Go here to fill out a proposal:

http://bit.ly/ignite-ir12

Please share widely!

Doctoral Colloquium at the Association of Internet Researchers (AoIR) Annual Conference 2011

Internet Research 12.0

Seattle, Washington, USA

In keeping with its commitment to students’ scholarship in the Association of Internet Researchers, the Internet Research 12.0 Doctoral Colloquium offers Ph.D. students working in internet research or a related field a special forum on October, 10, 2011. Participants will have a chance to present their dissertations-in-progress and discuss them at length, with peers and established senior researchers.

This year, Elizabeth Buchanan and Michael Zimmer will coordinate the Doctoral Colloquium, and will be joined by colleagues including:

Mia Consalvo

Steve Jones

Charles Ess

Hector Postigo

(Others to be announced)

Interested students should prepare a two-page summary of their research. This should provide a context for the research, describe the methods being used, the progress to date, and expectations and hopes from the colloquium. Participants will be encouraged to discuss research problems or statements, methodologies, ethics, and the process of “bringing it all together” in the dissertation.

SUBMISSION/PARTICIPATION Please submit the two page application by Friday, May 31, 2011 to: Elizabeth Buchanan, at buchanane@uwstout.edu

Applicants will be notified of acceptance by July 1, 2011. Successful applicants will be asked to prepare a four page paper on their research and the issues they wish to discuss by August 30, 2011

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.

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.

1) What is your interest in this position?

I am glad and honored to be nominated for the open seat position of the AoIR executive committee. I have been involved with the association since its beginning when Steve Jones was President. I served in the AoIR ethics committee under the leadership of Charles Ess and later with Elizabeth Buchanan. We deliberated on how best to undertake “research on human subjects” in an ethically sound manner when the “subjects” in question are those who participate in various ways on the Net. My interest in this position is to expand the scope of the Association so that it become genuinely international. Though the Net originated in the US, it has expanded to cover all corners of the globe as we know. So it is fitting that our association should expand its reach internationally too.

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

I am now associate professor of philosophy and Director of the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University in Thailand. I have published a number of works on the interdisciplinary areas where philosophy, sociology and new media studies intersect. As I said I have served under the AoIR ethics committee for a number of years and have been a long standing member of the association since its beginning. Though I have not participated in an AoIR conference (due mostly to budgetary reasons) I have followed its progress since AoIR 1 many years ago.

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)?

One thing I would like to explore is the possibility of holding an AoIR conference abroad, perhaps in Asia, where it not been held before. Asia is the region where the internet is expanding most rapidly, and there are a growing number of scholars there who are investigating the phenomenon from their perspectives. This will fit with my interest in expanding the scope of our association to be more international.

Another thing is that I would like to help promote the activities of our association in my region. This can take many forms, such as organizing smaller local seminars under the auspice of the association on topics such as internet governance, freedom of expression, comparative studies of values in the east and west, and so on. This will do a great deal toward raising the awareness of the association among Asian internet scholars.

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

Usually scholarly associations are eventually associated with teaching programs. Perhaps there will be a “discipline” of internet studies which has a firmer shape and boundary. This will certainly remain interdisciplinary at its core, but it would be great for training newly emerging scholars in our field. So one vision I have is for our association to do what it can to nurture these younger scholars, as well as to integrate teaching and research in such a way that the knowledge we produce will help all of us in the world better reflect and understand the internet situation which is highly volatile. Our strength lies in this interdisciplinary nature where we come from different fields, backgrounds and methodologies to work together on the same set of problems. This has of course been our vision now and we can certainly look at it and find ways to adapt and modify that vision for the future while keeping our core value of camaraderie and interdisciplinarity.

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

Those who know me usually say that I am easy to work with and are helpful to others. I am dedicated to working for the group, a great team player and I am committed to working hard to complete the task at hand. I would be a very good choice if you consider expanding the scope of the association to become more international.

1) What is your interest in this position?

I am pleased to have been nominated by someone, and would be very happy to serve if elected.

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

I have been a member of the AoIR Ethics Committee, have participated in almost every IR conference (missed only Lawrence and Melbourne), and have served as a reviewer of papers and/or session chair in many of those years. I also coordinate the annual Couch Award for student scholars.

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)?

I would advocate for increased presence of the organization in Asia and the global south, and finding ways to help scholars in these areas to participate. As the internet becomes increasingly important in these areas it is vital to cultivate scholarship that contributes to understanding its place in these cultures. I would also like to see greater efforts to promote and publicize the organization among scholars in North America and Europe who have yet to discover it. Internet research was esoteric a decade ago, but is now mainstream. However, many entering the field are unaware of what resources and support are available through this organization.

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

I have no grand design in mind, but wish to see the organization continue to be strong, to mentor students and new scholars, and to provide resources in research methods and ethics that can be utilized across a wide range of disciplines.

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

Since I will have responsibilities in the UK during the 2011-12 academic year, I unfortunately will be unable to be in attendance at IR 12. But I’ll be with you all in spirit (and on the Twitter back channel).