As part of the EC-funded ULab project, the Oxford Internet Institute at the University of Oxford is organizing an online competition to identify the most innovative outreach and public engagement activities carried out by European Universities. Both individuals and groups may apply for awards.

Competition submissions must be for an activity that has been initiated and sustained at any university or higher education institution within the 27 EU member states, including projects that might have involved collaboration with institutions outside the EU. The entry can be from one or a number of cooperating universities.

The three winning entries will each receive a 5000 EUR prize for their institution as well as funding for a representative to attend the award ceremony at the University of Oxford on 8 June 2012.

Criteria

Entries will be judged on the following equally weighted criteria:

• Clarity of purpose: Clear definition of the objectives of the initiative; awareness of, and strategies to meet, the needs of different target audiences (25%).
• Impact: Reporting and evaluation of the impact of the initiative; making use of quantitative measures (such as attendance rates, web traffic, surveys) and / or qualitative ones (such as interviews, focus groups) (25%).
• Originality: Evidence of creativity and originality, including innovative ways of measuring impact (25%).
• Sustainability: Evidence of sustainability for future use of the initiative by your own institution or by others (e.g. through open access, open licencing) (25%).

Application Procedure

Entries should be submitted online at www.engageawards.org by 15 March 2012.

For each entry, please submit:

• 1,000 word description and evaluation (in English) of your outreach and public engagement initiative, making sure you address all of the assessment criteria (listed above), including links to any relevant information (which can be in any European language).
• 150 word abstract in English.
• A letter from your host institution, indicating their agreement for the case to be submitted to the competition.

The three winning entries will be announced on the 23rd of April 2012.

The competition is open to anyone from any European university or higher education institution. Awards will be made to institutions (or units) rather than to individuals. All entries will be made public on the website, forming part of an online repository of good practice in outreach.

More information

For more information about the judges and the awards ceremony see www.engageawards.org. For specific enquiries please email engageawards@oii.ox.ac.uk.

ULab is an innovative think-tank of five leading Technical and Research-intensive European Universities: the Technical University of Madrid, the Polytechnic University of Turin, the Technical University of Munich, the Paris Institute of Technology and the University of Oxford. It is a two year project funded by the EC http://www.ulab-fp7.eu/

Call  for  Papers: http://www.york.ac.uk/satsu/news-events/ics/

The   ubiquitous   social   and   cultural   adoption   of   social   media,   such   as   Twitter,   Google,   Wikipedia,  YouTube  and  Facebook  can  be  seen  to  present  a  significant  example  of  scientific   and   technological   innovation   in   many   contemporary   societies.   While   some   studies   of   social   media   and,   more   specifically,   Web   2.0   platforms   built   around   user-­‐‑generated   content,   have   made   reference   to   the   importance   of   the   field   of   science   and   technology   studies   (STS)   for   understanding   their   development   and  diffusion,   scholars   working   within   this   academic   framework   have   yet   to   fully   turn   their   focus   on   this   area.   This   three-­‐‑day   symposium   is   intended   to   explore   the   intersection   between   STS   and   social   media  inquiry,  with  a  specific  focus  on  how  Web  2.0  is  both  generative  and  challenging  of  different  forms  of  knowledge  (co-­‐‑)production  and  the  authority  it  commands.
• The  user-­‐‑centred  and  mass-­‐‑collaboration  characteristics  of  social  media  platforms   have  a  clear  affinity  with  recent  STS  models  of  the  co-­‐‑construction  of   technologies.  Notions  such  as  ‘prosumerism’  have  been  used  to  describe  this   blurring  of  the  relationship  between  the  consumer  and  producer.  However,  we   need  to  ask  whether  this  is  to  be  seen  as  co-­‐‑construction  or  primarily  a  re-­‐‑ engineering  of  labour  relations  and  the  locus  of  production?  We  also  need  to  ask   whether  the  ubiquity  extends  across  all  social  media  for  all  types  of  content.  In   other  words,  are  new  forms  of  expertise  being  inscribed,  or  are  old  knowledge   hierarchies  being  reinforced?
• STS  challenges  the  traditional  perception  of  scientific  ‘discovery’  and   technological  advancement,  to  demonstrate  the  co-­‐‑production  of  claims  to   knowledge  and  the  different  forms  and  assemblages  of  knowledge  this  involves:   how  does  this  map  onto  commentaries  on  the  importance  of  lay  knowledge  and   ‘citizen  science’  found  in  Web  2.0  as  individuals  and  groups  distribute  ideas  and   information  across  their  social  networks?  Could  this  provide  a  new  impetus  for   ‘public  interest  science’?
• How  do  the  same  issues  relate  to  the  social  sciences  themselves:  how  might  Web   2.0  provide  opportunities  for  new  forms  of  data  and  data  analytics  (for  example,   as  ‘virtual  knowledge’  via  crowdsourcing,  real-­‐‑time  data  streaming,  by-­‐‑product
data  etc)  and  in  what  ways  do  these  challenge  conventional  social  science  by   opening  up  questions  about  what  data  itself  constitutes  and  what  order  of  being   it  represents?
• How  might  lay,  amateur  knowledge  be  mobilised  as  ‘citizen  science’  and  what   warrant,  authorisation  and  location  in  established  science  might  it  secure?  How   might  the  contribution  of  Web  2.0  science  platforms  differ  from  the  amateur   societies  of  the  19th  and  20th  centuries?
• It  has  been  claimed  that  algorithms  and  code  play  an  increasingly  powerful  part   in  shaping  and  constituting  everyday  life,  it  has  even  been  claimed  that   algorithms  are  creating  new  rules  and  power  structures  that  unknowingly  come   to  restructure  social  hierarchies  and  divisions.  How,  for  example,  do  algorithms   make  decisions  for  us?  How  do  algorithms  bypass  or  re-­‐‑craft  human  agency?   What  are  the  implications  of  this?  Exactly  how  do  algorithms,  code  and  metrics   shape  everyday  life  and  access  to  knowledge?
• Do  the  open  source  platforms  and  social  media  tools  of  Web  2.0  come  into   tension  with  the  international  standardisation  and  codification  of  global  ICT   infrastructures  and  local  and  global  knowledge  infrastructures?
• Finally,  the  more  celebratory  characterisations  of  social  media  emanating  from   the  marketing  world  typically  lack  a  critical  focus:  can  social  media  and  STS   analyses  build  a  political  economy  of  Web  2.0  to  provide  such  a  focus,  by   explicitly  addressing  issues  of  participatory  surveillance,  exclusion  and  control?
Papers  are  invited  that  explore  these  broad  questions  around  a  number  of  possible   themes,  including:

• The  boundaries  and  future  of  social  media  as  a  medium  of  knowledge  creation,   dissemination,  and  regulation
• The  co-­‐‑production  of  knowledge  via  Web  2.0  platforms   • Knowledge,  expertise  and  disruptive/disrupted  authority   • Capturing  social  media:  the  commercial/political  exploitation  by  or  empowering
of  Web  2.0   • Ownership,  dissemination  and  use  of  scientific  knowledge   • E-­‐‑governance  and  the  regulation  of  knowledge  within  social  media     • National  practices  and  global  opportunities   • Novel  forms  of  knowledge  creation  through  group  processes, archiving,  digitization  etc.   • Public  and  visible  science
Confirmed  plenary  speakers  include: Geof  Bowker,  University  of  Pittsburgh;  Leah  Lievrouw,  UCLA;   Adrian  MacKenzie,  Cesagen,  University  of  Lancaster;  Rob  Proctor,  e-­‐‑Research  Centre,  University  of  Manchester;  Robin  Williams,  ISSTI,  Edinburgh;  Sally  Wyatt,  e-­Humanities  Programme,  Royal  Netherlands  Academy  of  Arts  and   Sciences.

This  conference  is  intended  to  bring  together  some  of  the  leading  scholars  in  the  fields  of   STS,  Communication  and  Social  Media  analysis,  and  the  history  and  philosophy  of   science  to  critically  explore  these  issues.

Please  send  abstracts  of  proposed  papers  to  sarah-­‐‑shrive-­‐‑morriosn@york.ac.uk  by  29   February  2012      Registration  information  is  available  on  the  SATSU  site:   www.york.ac.uk/satsu

Conference  organising  committee:  David  Beer,  Darren  Reed,  Mike  Hardey,  Brian  Loader,   Sarah  Shrive-­Morrison,  Andrew  Webster,  Robin  Williams,  Sally  Wyatt

The  deadline  for  this  call  for  papers  is  29  February  2012.  If  you  are  interested  to  submit   an  individual  paper  or  panel  including  3  papers  please  go  to  web-­‐‑link  or  contact  email   satsu@york.ac.uk

Conference  Fees   The  ICS  conference  is  completely  funded  through  self-­finance.  iCS  therefore  needs  to   charge  a  conference  fee  applicable  to  all  participating  in  this  conference,  including   speakers.  However,  all  panel  organisers,  speakers  and  moderators  will  receive  a  £25   discount  on  the  conference  fee.  The  conference  fee  covers  the  administration  and   production  of  the  conference,  hire  of  venue  and  a/v  equipment,  and  the  catering  costs.   The  estimated  conference  fees  for  this  coming  year  are:  Full  fee  between  £100-­150;   Concessions  between  £75-­£125;  Day  fee  between  £75-‑125  (all  fees  to  include  lunch).

OII, 1 St Giles’, Oxford from 12-13.00 on 8 September 2011

Michael has written: “I’ll start this talk by describing the Polymath Project, an ongoing experiment in “massively collaborative” mathematical problem solving. The idea is to use online tools — things like blogs and wikis — to collaboratively attack difficult mathematical problems.  By combining the best ideas of many minds from all over the world, the Polymath Project has made breakthroughs on important mathematical problems.

What makes this an exciting story is that it’s about much more than just solving some mathematical problems.  Rather, the story suggests that online tools can be used to transform the way we humans work together to make scientific discoveries.  We can use online tools to
amplify our collective intelligence, in much the same way as for millenia we’ve used physical tools to amplify our strength.  This has the potential to accelerate scientific discovery across all disciplines.

Michael Nielsen

This is an optimistic story, but there’s a major catch.  Scientists have for the most part been extremely extremely conservative in how they use the net, often using it for little more than email and passive web browsing.  Projects like Polymath are the exception not the rule.  I’ll discuss why this conservatism is so common, why it’s so damaging, and how we can move to a more open scientific culture.”

Background reading:

“The Future of Science”

The talk is based on the book “Reinventing Discovery“, to be published by Princeton University Press on October 21, 2011.

Michael Nielsen is an author and an advocate of open science.  His book about open science, Reinventing Discovery, will be published by Princeton University Press in October, 2011.  Prior to his book, Michael was an internationally known scientist who helped pioneer the field of quantum computation.  He co-authored the standard text in the field, and wrote more than 50 scientific papers, including invited contributions to Nature and Scientific American.  His work on quantum teleportation was recognized in Science Magazine’s list of the Top Ten Breakthroughs of 1998. Michael was educated at the University of Queensland, and as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of New Mexico. He worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory, as the Richard Chace Tolman Prize Fellow at Caltech, was Foundation Professor of Quantum Information Science and a Federation Fellow at the University of Queensland, and a Senior Faculty Member at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics. In 2008, he gave up his tenured position to work fulltime on open science.

If you would like an offprint please contact enquiries@oii.ox.ac.uk giving your name and postal address.

The paper draws on research undertaken over the last five years in the Oxford e-Social Science project (OeSS), which was central to our edited book, World Wide Research.  The project aims to understand how e-Research projects negotiate various social, ethical, legal and organizational forces and constraints, in order to help researchers avoid these problems when building scientific collaborations and tools for research.

World Wide Research

Hold the date: We will be holding a number of events in the coming months drawing on the research of OeSS, which may be of interest to you. Further details to follow:

8 September in Oxford: Michael Nielsen on his forthcoming book with Princeton University Press, entitled Reinventing Discovery: The New Era of Networked Science.

24 November in Oxford or London: a showcase event highlighting some of the conclusions of the OeSS project that can inform and stimulate debate over the ethical, legal and institutional implications for the future of digital research across all disciplines.

Sincerely

Bill

William Dutton, Professor of Internet Studies

You can access my papers on the Social Science Research Network (SSRN) at: http://ssrn.com/author=478025

Summer Palace 2011

I have been attending a conference, entitled ‘Interne and Society: Challenge, Transition, and Development’. It has been organized by XIE Xinzhou (Director) for the School of Journalism and Communication at Peking University as one activity associated with the 10th Anniversary of the School, when communication joined the former school focused on journalism. I spoke on the 20th of May, discussing what I am calling ‘The New Internet World‘, and was joined by a number of other academics from abroad, primarily from the US, including Pamela Shoemaker (Newhouse School at Syracuse), Professors James Katz (Rutgers), Stephen Reese (University of Texas at Austin), S. Shyam Sundar (Penn State, but also visiting Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul), and from Europe, Richard Ling (IT University of Copenhagen). We were joined by many professors from Peking University, Renmin, Wuhan, and other universities in China, plus some outstanding representatives from industry, including WANG Liang (President of Radio Beijing Corp), LI Fang (Deputy Editor of Tencent Inc), and GUAN Jianwen (VP of People’s Daily Online).

No Name Lake at Peking Un

My presentation is on slideshare at: http://www.slideshare.net/WHDutton/the-new-internet-world

Drawing together the most current work upon the social, economic and cultural impact of the emerging properties of the new information and communications technologies, iCS positions itself at the centre of contemporary debates about the information age. Inclusion in the SSCI signifies the quality of work published within the journal and we are delighted iCS has been accepted.

If you would like to be kept up to date with news? Follow iCS on Twitter (icsjournal) and Facebook.

It gives me great pleasure and pride to invite you to attend an event designed to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the OII’s founding – OII@10. Ten years ago, when the OII was set up, many regarded the Internet as a novelty that would pass. How wrong they were! It is difficult to overstate the significance and impact of the Internet over the last decade, but leading figures tied to the Internet, Web and the OII, including Vint Cerf, Wendy Hall, Manuel Castells, and Andrew Graham, will be reflecting on this very point at our September symposium (details below).

A range of activities is being planned for our anniversary year. We are currently soliciting nominations for awards to recognise individuals who have led the way in shaping the Internet and its use: nominations close this Friday (you can still nominate at: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/awards/). The awards will be presented at a gala dinner on 22 September, which will be attended by big names from the Internet world. We will also be presenting our own lifetime awards, honouring individuals who have played a uniquely significant and long-lasting role in shaping the Internet and its study. Worldwide, the role of the Internet in everyday life and work is reshaping politics, economies, and societies: we hope to take this opportunity of the OII’s first decade to celebrate our achievements and the vision of our founders.

Celebration of our anniversary will be embedded within a three-day academic symposium organized by the OII and the journal Information, Communication & Society (which I co-edit with Brian Loader and Barry Wellman). Related to this event, I am very pleased to say that iCS has just been accepted into the Social Science Citation Index, reinforcing its value to this new field. Like the OII, iCS defined a focus that did not align with traditional academic disciplines, in order to address key social issues tied to information and communication technologies, such as the Internet. Institutional change does not happen in Internet time, but slowly; universities, disciplines, and academia more generally are beginning to recognize the significance of Internet studies – and the OII is well placed to lead in this research in ways that will help shape policy and practice.

Best wishes,
William Dutton, Director

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/

1. Events Diary
2. New Research Programme: The Internet and Political Science
3. Final Report: Information Practices
4. New Project: Mobilization and Student Protest
5. Oxford Internet Surveys: Update
6. Webcasts: Arab Revolutions, Susan Greenfield
7. From the Blogs: Middle Earth, body sensors, Twitter
8. Student Diary: Student Open Day, Summer Doctoral Programme

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1. Events Diary
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Wednesday 20 April:
Yorick Wilks, et al.: Ethics and the Internet

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=422

Wednesday 27 April:
Ilhem Allagui: The Internet in the Arab Region: Use, Adoption and Changing Societies

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=434

Monday 9 May:
Matthew Allen: A Question of Boundaries: What Next for the ‘Edgeless University’?

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=436

Friday 20 May:
Kathryn Eccles, Eric Meyer: Digital Impacts: How to Measure and Understand the Usage and Impact of Digital Content

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=428

Thursday 2 June:
Jonathan Clough: Barely (il)legal: The Problematic Definition of ‘Child’ Pornography

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=440

Tuesday 28 June:
Cristobal Cobo, Eric Meyer: Building the Future Internet: The Social Nature of Technical Choices

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=426

Tuesday 28 June:
Cristobal Cobo, Eric Meyer: Should the Design of the Future Internet Be Driven by Technology or Societal Concerns?

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=427

21-24 September:
A Decade in Internet Time: Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?id=398

All the events:

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/

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2. New Research Programme: The Internet and Political Science
————————————————–

A major OII research programme has just started on collective action, governance and citizen-government interactions in the digital era, led by Professor Helen Margetts, recipient of the three-year ESRC Professorial Fellowship that funds this work.

Collective Action, Governance and Citizen-Government Interactions in the Digital Era

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/?id=71

ESRC Professorial Fellowship

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/?id=516

The programme assesses where political science understanding, knowledge and theory should be re-examined and developed in light of widespread use of the Internet, developing models of governance and methodologies to study online behaviour (such as propensity to participate), and using the Internet to generate new data and experiments. Although there has been a ‘dramatic drift’ towards experimentation in political science, the methodology remains scarce in public management research, a major strand of this programme.

Helen’s recent article in Public Management Review: “Experiments for Public Management Research” considers the potential of the experimental method for public management, and argues that experimental approaches should now be added to the toolkit of public management research.

Experiments for Public Management Research

http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/content~db=all~content=a934039823~frm=titlelink

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3. Final Report: Information Practices
————————————————–

Many humanities scholars are enthusiastic users of digital resources, however there is a potential mismatch between what (and how) resources are offered, and how scholars might use them. How do humanities researchers discover, use, create and manage their information resources? How should they be designed to ensure maximum use by scholars? An OII study of 54 humanities scholars across disciplines such as history, English, and philosophy has found that the most significant barrier they face is the disconnected nature of current archives.

The final report is available on the project site:

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/?id=58

Report recommendations include following examples such as London Lives and Connected Histories, which provide searches across several databases, as a starting point to promote stronger connections between information resources. The report was presented last week at a workshop hosted by the Research Information Network at the Foundling Museum in London.

Read more: Social Dimensions of Humanities Research

http://monicabulger.com/2011/04/social-life-of-humanities-research/

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4. New Project: Mobilization and Student Protest
————————————————–

How are digital media changing the way in which people mobilize for a collective cause? Why do some individuals take part in protest, and others not? A new OII project will investigate these issues, focusing on the UK student campaign against raised tuition fees.

Student Protests and Digital Media:

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/projects/?id=72

The project will first explore the motivations for participation using semi-structured interviews, where respondents can answer at length and be quizzed directly about their perceived political efficacy and the problem of marginal contribution. The digital trails of the Oxford campaign will then be analysed, particularly the changes in online activity preceding and following key events in the mobilisation process. By analyzing these data sources, we will be able to track the growth of the campaign over time and identify the motivations and tipping points that helped attain a critical mass of followers.

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5. Oxford Internet Surveys: Update
————————————————–

Data collection has begun for the 2011 wave of the Oxford Internet Surveys, with ICM Research hired to collect a random sample of about 2000 British respondents. We expect to receive the data in early May.

OxIS is in the field:

http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/oxis/blog/2011/field

Social media use has blossomed very quickly since the 2009 OxIS Report, and we have added nine items to the survey to measure it. We will ask how often people use social media like FaceBook, MySpace, Twitter, Bebo, and LinkedIn, and also about specific uses, such as how often respondents update their status, post photos, or check or change privacy settings.

An issue we hope to address is the extent to which respondents receive news and information from social networking sites, rather than by going to news sites. We also want to know the extent to which respondents click on links in social networking sites as a substitute for a Google search or clicking on a bookmark in their browser. We have also added a standard political efficacy scale, and items on occupation and use of the Internet at work.

The OxIS 2011 Report will be launched this summer, with in-depth data on Internet use and attitudes in Britain (2003-2011). More information will be made available closer to the time.

Follow the OxIS Blog:

http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/oxis/blog

OxIS mailing list:

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/mailinglist/

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6. Webcasts: Arab Revolutions, Susan Greenfield
————————————————–

Facebook Resistance? Understanding the role of the Internet in the Arab Revolutions

http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20110328_348

Revolutions are currently sweeping the Arab world, from Tunisia to Egypt and Libya to Bahrain. The Internet has been reported as a key factor, but we in fact know little of its role in these revolutions.

Susan Greenfield: Does the Mind have a Future?

http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20110407_350

Baroness Greenfield discusses how Information Technology is changing the way humans think and feel. Whilst there are clear benefits, she also highlights the less desirable consequences, and suggests how best to minimise these threats.

All the webcasts:

http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/

Also! We have recently added a second webcam, commanding sweeping views of the north end of St Giles:

http://webcam.oii.ox.ac.uk/

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7. From the Blogs: Middle Earth, body sensors, Twitter
————————————————–

“there is more written about Middle Earth than about many countries in Africa” – Mark Graham on why the geographies of the Internet matter:

http://www.zerogeography.net/2011/04/mapping-internet-presentation-at-sameas.html

“This data gives us a fascinating insight into just how spatially concentrated our knowledge of history is” – Mark Graham finds a heatmap of Wikipedia history articles:

http://www.floatingsheep.org/2011/03/heatmap-of-wikipedia-articles.html

“It was amazing to see some of the body sensors and actuators being developed by bioengineering researchers and companies” – Ian Brown on security and privacy in Implantable Medical Devices:

http://dooooooom.blogspot.com/2011/04/security-and-privacy-in-implantable.html

“My research has not included Arabic, unfortunately, but has found consistently that the English-language web is very insular” – Scott Hale on translating Twitter:

http://www.scotthale.net/blog/?p=152

“It is amazing that with so many risks and dangers, e-voting is still seen by many politicians and citizens as a silver bullet” – Anne-Marie Oostveen on electoral participation:

http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/oostveen/2011/03/26/electoral-participation-e-voting-and-windscreen-wipers/

“conceptualising, prioritizing and advancing study of next generation research is one of the most significant but difficult challenges facing scholars” – Bill Dutton on the politics of next generation research:

http://microsites.oii.ox.ac.uk/oess/blog/2011/politics-next-generation-research

“the book that John Moravec and I wrote, ‘Invisible Learning: Toward a new ecology of education’ is about to be printed” – Cristobal Cobo:

http://blogs.oii.ox.ac.uk/cobo/?p=161

All the Blogs:

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/blogs/

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8. Student Diary: Student Open Day, Summer Doctoral Programme
————————————————–

The application process has now closed for 2011-2012 admissions to our DPhil and MSc programmes: it will reopen in October. Prospective students are welcome to contact us at any time of year, however, and are warmly invited to attend our next Student Open Day:

Thursday 10 November 2011 14:00 – 16:00

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/openday/

There will be introductory talks by the Director of Graduate Studies, the MSc course convenor and student representatives, followed by questions. A webcast of the 2010 Open Day is available at the above link, and also of our first virtual open day (which was a great success: thanks to everyone who took part on Twitter).

The Summer Doctoral Programme selection process has also now been completed and we are thrilled to have once again received a very strong set of applications, with far more applicants than spaces available. We look forward to welcoming the SDP2011 group to the OII in July.

And lastly: rowing! OII MSc student Alec Dent was a member of the Oxford crew which won a commanding victory in the recent University boat race. Oxford University’s Blue boat upset the odds to win the 157th Boat Race, beating Cambridge by four lengths.

http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/?id=527

Editor: David Sutcliffe

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This first seminar was entitled ‘Digital Wales: Inclusive Creativity and Economy’ to take full advantage of key speakers and participants from Wales, including: Cardiff University Professor Ian Hargreaves, one of the founding members of the Ofcom Board; David Warrender, Director of Digital Wales for the Welsh Assembly Government (WAG); Alan Burge, Communities Directorate for the WAG; and Rhodri Williams, Director Ofcom Wales. This worked well, in part because Wales has placed a real priority on a set of initiatives around a ‘Digital Wales’, focused largely on the creative industries, but also on access to next generation Internet infrastructures. http://wales.gov.uk/topics/businessandeconomy/publications/heartofdigitalwales/?lang=en

The discussion was wide-ranging and engaging – too broad to be summarized here, but it will be summarized in due course on the series Web site. However, Professor Young has posted a short overview of the objectives of the series online at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzKZF6Ff7JY

I came away from the launch seminar more fully convinced of the value of having a focus on specific local, regional and national initiatives, such as Digital Wales. It anchors the discussion in a specific setting and provides an impetus to discuss specific projects, such as initiatives in video production across Wales. My own contribution to the forum focused on providing one perspective on the agenda for the series as a whole. I argued that the series could make a contribution by focusing on the UK context and the particular issues raised for nations, and such issues as rural access, the vitality of small businesses, and emerging debate over the ‘big society’. In addition, I thought we should focus on clarifying distinctions between initiatives relevant to network individuals, as well as networked institutions. And of course we need to address key issues of infrastructure, content regulation and new policy, such as the drafting of a new communications act for the UK.

My other point was the there were several ways in which academic participation in this policy discussion could add value. One was the role we could play in assessing alternative policy initiatives from the perspective of connectivity, creativity and rights, among other criteria. We should be particularly well equipped to bring evidence and empirical research to bear on these issues, and be well positioned to question taken-for-granted assumptions about the impact of policy. Secondly, we should be well positioned to provide a neutral meeting ground for discussion among a full range of stakeholders. We may have interests and preferences ourselves, but our primary incentive is to be open, and accountable as academics. If we do not provide a neutral meeting ground, our reputation is at risk. Thirdly, we should have a special role in putting local developments, whether in Wales or Britain as a whole, in a broader context, whether that be global trends or the broader ecology of particular policy areas. I used my work on the ecology of choices shaping freedom of expression as an example. Finally, I hope that the participation by academics opens up discussion of the policy process in Britain. Is the policy process providing adequate opportunities for debate? Is it sufficiently transparent and publicly accountable? Is government tapping the expertise of citizens? My own sense is that progress could be made on all of these fronts.

Slides for my own presentation are posted on Slideshare at: http://www.slideshare.net/WHDutton/towards-an-agenda-on-digital-wales-2011

In 2011, the European Forum Alpbach will deal with “Justice – Responsibility for the Future”. From September 18 until September 3, 4.000 people from over 60 countries will once again come to the Tyrolian mountain village of Alpbach to discuss and explore current issues in the interdisciplinary setting of our conference. Once again, we are calling for applications for scholarships which will enable students and recent graduates to participate in this equally fascinating and venerable event. Please find all relevant information below.

The pursuit of justice is inherently human. The subjectivity of our perception gives rise to as many different opinions as there are human beings. When our own views or positions are negated by someone else’s, we feel the need for “justice”: we start looking for a superior authority that will solve our conflicts with the surrounding world and impose an order on opposing attitudes. Under the heading “Justice – Responsibility for the Future”, the European Forum Alpbach 2011 is centred on the conviction that justice and fairness are not only a necessity, but an ethical imperative. Only if we strive to create fair systems today, will we be able to live up to our responsibility towards future generations, their peaceful coexistence and their sustenance.

The European Forum Alpbach 2011 will give its participants a choice of 16 one-week seminars which will analyse the manifestations of “Justice – Responsibility for the Future” in a great variety of academic fields. The Alpbach Symposia will approach the topic from a more practice-oriented vantage point. A large number of panel discussions will give you the opportunity to debate the most burning current issues in the fields of healthcare, technology, economics, international politics, spatial planning and financial markets. Summer Schools for European Law and Health Care Policy, as well as a rich cultural programme, complete the agenda.

Our international interdisciplinary conference offers participants the opportunity to enter into discussion with renowned personalities. In a unique atmosphere, experts from politics, business and academia will discuss burning issues of our times with the participants. An extensive social programme gives participants the chance to continue debates outside the conference and seminar rooms. The special nature of the European Forum attracts around 4,000 participants to the Tyrolean village of Alpbach every year.

To enable young people to share in this experience, we offer scholarships for students and recent graduates with the kind support of our donors.

I cordially invite you to apply for a scholarship. Please forward this message to colleagues who might be interested.

For more details about the scholarship program please have a look at our website http://www.alpbach.org/scholarships

Best regards,

Franz Mailer

European Forum Alpbach Non-Profit Foundation under Private Law
Invalidenstrasse 5/7, 1030 Vienna, Austria
fon: +43 1 7181711-13
fax: +43 1 7181701
e-mail: stipendium@alpbach.org

PS: In numerous European countries, Alpbach Initiative Groups and Clubs offer additional scholarship opportunities. These associations, which are run by Alpbach alumni, also organise events in the spirit of Alpbach. More details can be found at http://www.alpbach.org/asscociates

Networking Public Expertise

Abstract

The potential of crowd sourcing has captured the imagination of many managers and professionals across all sectors of society, but left many others quite skeptical. This is not only because conceptions of the wisdom of crowds appear counter-intuitive, but also, if taken literally, these concepts can be misleading and therefore dysfunctional for governments seeking to adopt innovations in distributed collaboration. This paper challenges conventional notions of the wisdom of crowds, arguing that distributed intelligence must be well structured by technical platforms and management strategies. After clarifying these conceptual issues, the paper explains how collaborative networking can be used to harness the distributed expertise of citizens, as distinguished from citizen consultation, which seeks to engage citizens – each on an equal footing. Networking the public as advisors aims to involve experts on particular public issues and problems distributed anywhere in the world. The paper then describes the lessons learned from previous efforts to citizen source advice, and why governments should again pursue this strategy as a means to inform policy and decision-making. This is followed by a set of nine strategies for fostering the bottom-up development of governmental initiatives aimed at harnessing distributed public expertise.

If there is any difficulty obtaining this paper, a copy is available on SSRN at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1767870

Queen's College Library, Oxford

Of course, how Internet studies is categorized as been a long problem for those working in this field. Where do you look in bookstores, libraries, …? Often books on the social aspects of the Internet are shelved with computer sciences, sometimes with business and management, sometimes with media studies. At long last, Internet studies might well be moving to a new stage of legitimacy as it finds some place in the categories of major libraries. Now we can begin discussion of whether this is the right category.

I thank Nesrine Abdel-Sattar, one of our DPhil students, who – among others – has urged the library to up-date its categories to capture the development of Internet Studies. Well done.

2010 Uehiro/Carnegie/Oxford Conference

Wednesday 8^th and Thursday 9^th December 2010

Information Ethics: Future of Humanities

WEDNESDAY 8 DECEMBER

8.30 a.m. Registration opens.  Coffee, tea and muffins provided

OPENING REMARKS

9.00 a.m. Professor Julian Savulescu (Director, Oxford Uehiro Centre)

KEYNOTE SPEECH

9.30 a.m. Is the Society of Cohabitation with Robots Possible?

Professor Toru Nishigaki (The University of Tokyo)

10.15 a.m. Short break

FIRST SPEAKER SESSION

10.30 a.m. Beyond Humanisms

Professor Rafael Capurro (Steinbeis University Berlin)

11.15 a.m. Discussion

11.30 a.m. The Virtual Other: Thinking about virtuality and the future of ethics

Professor Lucas Introna (Lancaster University)

12.15 p.m. Discussion

12.30 p.m. Lunch

SECOND SPEAKER SESSION

1.30 p.m. Ethical challenges of information poverty

Professor Johannes Britz (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)

2.15 p.m. Discussion

2.30 p.m. Sustainability and self-organization: sustainability seen in the perspective of complexity and systems science and ethical considerations

Professor Wolfgang Hofkirchner (Vienna University of Technology)

3.15 p.m. Discussion

3.30 p.m. Refreshments

THIRD SPEAKER SESSION

3.45 p.m.   The fuzzy brain: extended minds, neural interfaces and collective intelligence

Dr Anders Sandberg (Research Fellow, Oxford Uehiro Centre)

4.15 p.m. Discussion

4.30 p.m. Life-Log and Privacy

Dr. Fumio Shimpo (Keio University)

5.30 p.m. Discussion

6.30 p.m. Reception and Dinner to follow at St. Cross College hosted by
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton

Speeches:

The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Andrew Hamilton (opening speech)

Dr. Maruyama, Secretary General, The Uehiro Foundation

Dr. Rosenthal, President, The Carnegie Council

(Dress code: Business dress)

THURSDAY 9 DECEMBER

9.30 a.m. Registration opens.  Coffee, tea and muffins provided

FOURTH SPEAKER SESSION

10.00 a.m. Data Protection: An Appropriate Framework for Personal Information Ethics?

Dr. David Erdos (University of Oxford)

10.45 a.m. Discussion

11.00 a.m. Moral Panics Over the Internet

Dr. William H. Dutton (University of Oxford)

11.45 a.m. Discussion

12.00 p.m. Lunch

FIFTH SPEAKER SESSION

1.00 p.m. Humanity and Freedom from the Viewpoint of Information

Dr. Tadashi Takenouchi (The University of Tokyo)

1.45 p.m. Discussion

2.00 p.m. Does Privacy in Context endorse Moral Relativism?

Professor Helen Nissenbaum (New York University)

2:45 p.m. Discussion

3.00 p.m. CLOSING ADDRESS
Mr. Hisateru Onozuka (Director, Uehiro Foundation)

Presentations ranged from sweeping historical treatments on coping with the complexity of evolving social and technical systems (Sander Van der Leeuw) and the rise of an information age (Luciano Floridi) to conceptually focused discussions of such issues as trust (Gloria Origgi). My presentation was more empirically grounded (almost out of place), as I focused on trends over the last decade with respect to the Internet that raised issues for the future, such as closing digital divides and responding to a rising push for greater regulation of the Internet in ways that will not undermine its vitality and openness. I of course noted some emerging developments of central importance to my own work, such as collaborative network organizations and the Fifth Estate. Most discussion was around issues of futures studies and visions, while everyone seemed equally skeptical of any ‘futurology’, which seems to be the catch-all term for undisciplined future gazing.

Albert Borschette Conference Center

I found it especially useful in reinforcing my sense that the study of the Internet and related ICTs is reaching a new stage. It is moving from work that focused on whether the Internet or other ICTs will improve on old ways of doing things, to accepting the increasing centrality of the Internet and related ICTs, and focusing more attention on how the Internet and related ICTs should be designed, implemented and used. What kind of Internet will support pro-social and other societal agendas, whether privacy, freedom of expression, green technology or sustainability.

On a more instrumental level, the meeting provided a valuable perspective on the EC that was helpful and positive. Chaired by Robert Madelin, the Information Society and Media Director-General, we heard briefly on the views from major program heads. It was clear that there is a great deal of potential for synergy across the various programs, many of which are strongly oriented around developments in emerging ICTs and society, and an openness to multidisciplinary dialogue. Everyone appreciated the difficulties of fostering constructive dialogue across disciplines*, but also across those more focused on empirical inquiry and those with a strong orientation to futures research. The need to bring these perspectives together, such as around common boundary spanning objects, such as case studies or particular technical developments, seemed to gain support. The chairman kept reminding all that we need to be modest about our own views, and open to working with others, and this seemed to sit well with the whole tenor of the day. Generally, I came away with a far more optimistic view on the role that the social sciences can play in EC research on the information society.

*Dutton, W. H., Carusi, A., and Peltu, M. (2006), ‘Fostering Multidisciplinary Engagement: Communication Challenges for Social Research on Emerging Digital Technologies’, Prometheus, 24(2): 129-49.

Professors Manuel Castells[1] and Bill Dutton[2]

An Online Graduate Seminar at the Open University of Catalonia

Open University of Catalonia

Autumn 2010

Professors Manuel Castells and Bill Dutton are offering their co-taught course on ‘Interdisciplinary Analysis of the Network Society’ during the Autumn of 2010 to graduate students at the Open University of Catalonia. The instructors have developed this innovative experiment in doctoral training over several years in which they have co-authored an evolving set of lectures. This course is only open to OUC students with the permission of the instructors.

This optional course introduces students to key concepts and issues in the empirical study of social issues tied to the Internet and related information and communication technologies. The course is taught online, with the instructors posting short lectures early in the week, which students and faculty discuss online during the week. Students are also asked to prepare a course paper that develops an empirical approach to the study of a topic of significance to the network society and relates it to their own research interests.

In addition to the subject matter, the experience of taking an online course, using Moodle’s course management system, is of value to graduate students with a serious interest in the Internet.

An outline of the earlier year’s eight-week course, which will be the basis for the 2010 offering, is available through Bill Dutton’s blog post on the topic at: http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/dutton/2008/06/27/online-seminar-on-the-network-society-by-castells-and-dutton/ If you have questions about the nature of the work, please contact either of the course instructors.

Over the eight weeks, key topics include:

• Information and Network Societies
• The Global Networked Economy
• Social Shaping of Technology: The Internet in Historical Perspective
• Media and the Internet: from Mass Communication to Mass Self-Communication
• Social Machines: Reconfiguring Social Networks
• Urban Forms of the Information Age: Space of Flows and Space of Places
• Collaborative Network Organizations and the Emergence of a ‘Fifth Estate’
• Social Movements and Informational Politics in a Digital Environment

[2] Professor of Internet Studies, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford.

A Decade in Internet Time: Symposium on the Dynamics of the Internet and Society

University of Oxford

21-24 September 2011

Event: Symposium

Location: OxfordUniversity of Oxford with sessions at the Social Sciences Manor Road Building, and Said Business School

Organized by: Oxford Internet Institute and iCS (the journal Information, Communication and Society)

Sponsors include: Routledge (Taylor & Francis Group)

The Oxford Internet Institute (OII) and the journal, Information, Communication and Society (iCS) are co-organizing a symposium to critically assess the last decade of social research on the Internet and identify directions for research over the next. The symposium will be held in Oxford from the afternoon of 21 September until noon on the 24^th. This event will be punctuated by a celebration of the 10^th anniversary of the founding of the OII, providing an opportunity to relate broader lessons for the field to the case of one of the first departments at a major university focused on the societal implications of the Internet and related information and communication technologies. Ten years is only a moment in the span of social research, but eons in Internet time. Has social research across the disciplines been up to the challenges?

There will be parallel sessions across the days, with late-afternoon plenary sessions, and ample time for informal discussion. One plenary session will focus on the Anniversary of the OII. The parallel sessions will focus on the presentation of papers submitted for review in response to this call.

Invited Keynotes

Manuel Castells is Research Professor at the Open University of Catalonia (UOC), in Barcelona. He also a University Professor and the holder of the Wallis Annenberg Chair of Communication Technology and Society at the Annenberg School of Communication, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, the Marvin and Joanne Grossman Distinguished Professor of Technology and Society at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Distinguished Visiting Professor of Internet Studies at Oxford University. He was Professor of Sociology and of City and Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley (1979-2003).

Vint Cerf is a computer scientist who is recognized as one of the ‘fathers of the Internet’. His contributions have been widely acknowledged by many honorary degrees and awards, including the National Medal of Technology, the Turing Award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and membership in the National Academy of Engineering. Vint Cerf is currently Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist at Google. [Provisional Acceptance]

Andrew Graham is the Master of Balliol College, University of Oxford, and founding Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Oxford Internet Institute. He was the driving force in establishing the OII and was the Acting Director of the OII until July 2002. An Oxford graduate, Andrew Graham became economic adviser to Prime Minister Harold Wilson, 1967–69, before joining Balliol as a Tutorial Fellow in Economics. He returned to 10 Downing Street as a Policy Adviser to the Prime Minister, 1974–76 and later, from 1988–94, became economic advisor to the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer and, from 1992, Leader of the Labour Party, John Smith.

Laura DeNardis is a Research Scholar, Lecturer, and the Executive Director of the Information Society Project at Yale Law School. DeNardis is an Internet governance scholar and the author of Protocol Politics: The Globalization of Internet Governance (MIT Press 2009), Information Technology in Theory (Thompson 2007 with Pelin Aksoy), and numerous book chapters and articles. DeNardis received a Ph.D. in Science and Technology Studies (STS) from Virginia Tech, a Master of Engineering degree from Cornell University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Science from Dartmouth College.

Eszter Hargittai is Associate Professor of Communication Studies and Faculty Associate of the Institute for Policy Research at Northwestern University where she heads the Web Use Project. Eszter received a B.A. in Sociology from Smith College and a Ph.D. in Sociology from Princeton University where she was a Wilson Scholar. She was a fellow at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences at Stanford (2006-07) and a fellow at the Institute for International Integration Studies, Trinity College Dublin (2007). Currently, she is a fellow at Harvard’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Lisa Nakamura is the Director of the Asian American Studies Program, Professor in the Institute of Communication Research and Media Studies Program and Professor of Asian American Studies at the University of Illinois, Urbana Champaign. She is the author of Digitizing Race: Visual Cultures of the Internet (University of Minnesota Press, 2008), Cybertypes: Race, Ethnicity and Identity on the Internet (Routledge, 2002) and co-editor of Race in Cyberspace (Routledge, 2000). She is editing a collection with Peter Chow-White entitled Digital Race: An Anthology (Routledge, forthcoming) and is writing a new monograph on social inequality in virtual worlds, tentatively entitled ‘Workers Without Bodies: Towards a Theory of Race and Digital Labor in Virtual Worlds, or, Why World of Warcraft needs a Civil Rights Movement’.

Barry Wellman is the S.D. Clark Professor at the Department of Sociology at the University of Toronto, where he directs NetLab. He is also a cross-appointed member of the university’s Knowledge Media Design Institute, and Faculty of Information. With Lee Rainie, he’s just finished Networked: The New Social Operating System, to be published by MIT Press, January 2012.

Call for Papers and Panel Proposals

Authors are invited to submit abstracts of unpublished, original work for initial review as symposium papers. Abstracts for papers should be limited to approximately 500 words; abstracts for proposed panels or workshops to 1000 words, including information about participants.

Abstracts for papers or panels should be submitted by 8 December 2010 to events@oii.ox.ac.uk and have ‘iCS Symposium’ in the subject. Authors for whom abstracts are accepted will be asked to provide a completed paper by 12 September 2011.

Abstracts and papers may address any topic concerning social research on the Internet and related technologies. Proposals can be made for individual papers or for a panel. They will be evaluated on the basis of their originality and promise for shaping theoretical, methodological or empirical advances in the study of the Internet. Work that has a promise to shape research, policy or practice in this emerging field would be especially welcomed.

Themes of parallel and plenary sessions are likely to focus on change over time, including, but not limited, to such themes as:

• The diffusion of the Internet: shifts and plateaus in digital inclusion and divides across geography, generations, and society;
• Sizing the Internet economy and its growth over time and space;
• Changing patterns and requirements for digital literacy and skills;
• Trust over time and across areas of Internet use, from commerce to public services and news and information;
• Emerging roles of networking in the public domain, government, and democratic institutions and processes, such as in election campaigns, democratic accountability and the rise of a Fifth Estate;
• The role of the Internet in major societal crises and natural disasters;
• Evolution of digital academe, including digital collections, formal and informal learning, e-research and academic publishing;
• The quality and changing sources of information – from news to research – and their consequences;
• Collaboration – myths and realities of new forms of collaborative network organizations and technologies;
• The developing role of the Internet in social networking, whether in the workplace, everyday life, or in shaping major life chances;
• The dark side of the Internet: growth of cyber-crime, cyber-terrorism, malicious computing, and approaches to addressing these problems;
• Collective action – the evolving role of the Internet in social and political movements;
• Privacy and surveillance trends and research;
• Localism – the new Internet frontier;
• Closing of the Internet through appliances, aps, and regulations;
• The rise of Internet governance and regulation in areas ranging across policy arenas, from standards to freedom of expression?
• The development of Internet research and digital research methods.

Key Dates:

Submission of Abstracts for Papers or Panels: 8 December 2010

Notification of Acceptance of Papers and Panels: 21 December 2010

Papers due: 12 September 2011

Organization

Programme Chairs

Bill Dutton, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Brian Loader, Science and Technology Studies Unit, University of York

Victoria Nash, Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford

Barry Wellman, Netlab, University of Toronto

Programme Committee

Members of the iCS Editorial Board

Faculty of the OII

Registration

Information about registration procedures and fees are to follow. Questions may be addressed to events@oii.ox.ac.uk

The event is free to attend (and lunch will be provided), but the number of seats is limited – so register soon. Details on the event, registration, agenda, and sponsorship are found at <http://www.isoc.org/isoc/conferences/inet/10/london.shtml>

Do let me know what you think of the conference, should you be able to attend.

Book Cover of World Wide Research

Launch of World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities

Wednesday 22 September 2010 16:00 – 18:00

Location: Oxford Internet Institute, University of Oxford, 1 St Giles Oxford

Registration: Email your name and affiliation to events@oii.ox.ac.uk or telephone +44 (0)1865 287209

This event is an occasion to mark the publication by MIT Press of World Wide Research: Reshaping the Sciences and Humanities, edited by Dutton and Jeffreys. This new book explores how advances in ICTs are transforming the way scholarly research is conducted across all disciplines, offering a comprehensive and accessible view of the use of these new approaches to research and their ethical, legal and institutional implications. Where has work in this area made the greatest strides, and what areas are in the greatest need of further research?

16:00                        Opening and Introduction

The Editors: Bill Dutton and Paul Jeffreys

16:10-50            Keynote

David De Roure, Professor of eResearch, Oxford e-Research Centre; National Strategic Director for Digital Social Research

16:50-17:30            Panel Discussion on Directions for the Field

• Graham Crow, Professor of Sociology, University of Southampton; Deputy Director of the UK’s National Centre for Research Methods (NCRM)
• Jim Davies, Professor of Software Engineering, Director, Software Engineering Programme, and Fellow, Kellogg College
• Eric T. Meyer, Research Fellow, OII
• Ralph Schroeder, Senior Research Fellow and Director of Research at the OII
  

  Photo of James Martin by Steve Russell, Russell Studio

17:30-17:55            Open Discussion on World Wide Research

17:55-18:00            Closing Remarks by Dr James Martin, Founding Benefactor of the Oxford Martin School

Selected Webcasts of the launch will be available at the OII Webcast site.