Description/Rationale
The 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 PRESENTATIONS
Barry 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 Presentations
Apple 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 Proposals
We 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.
Registration
Registration will begin around May 1 and will be limited to 250
people. Student registration will be $50, Faculty registration will
be $95. 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 may
substitute 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 before
the 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
PUBLICATION
A 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 Coverage
Lawrence Journal-World Article
USA Today : Researchers debate Net's social impact
USA Today: Researchers monitoring Net support groups
About the Location
Lawrence 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 $58-$82/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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