A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family

I've been waiting for this book for well over a year. At NCA 2004 I attended a presentation panel where Harold L. (Bud) Goodall Jr. talked about his auto/ethnographic work looking into his fathers life as a CIA official, a life he didn't know about until after his fathers death. The book arrived in Wednesday's post, so far I am through the first two chapters and am having trouble putting it down.

My father died, either in Virginia or Maryland, at the age of 53 on the night of March 12, 1976. My mother told me that he died at home in his bed in Hagerstown, Maryland, but the Social Security Death Index indicates that he was pronounced dead in Virginia. The reason for his death was a mystery.

My mother said that she requested an autopsy because three days before he died he had been told that he was run down due to a bad cold and just needed some bed rest. He was given "a shot of something" and sent home. A doctor he saw at the Veteran's Administration Hospital supposedly gave him this diagnosis and the shot, but my mother couldn't recall the name of the doctor and the hospital records do not show that he had any appointments in March.

Nor did I ever see a report of an autopsy. One year later my mother told me that she had been informed--by "the government"--that he had died of "multiple bleeding abscesses on both lungs." This was about the time of a news report that Legionnaire's Disease was responsible for the deaths of several men, all veterans, in Philadelphia. My mother claimed that "the government" now believed that my father, too, had died of Legionnaire's Disease.

That may or may not be true.

My mother never showed me the letter "from the government" that supposedly provided her with this information. She told me she had "thrown it away." I have no doubt that she had done precisely that, if, in fact, there had ever been a letter in the first place. But by then, by March of 1977, I was so disillusioned with the idea of truth in relation to my father's life, much less his death, that I didn't pursue it.

He had led a secret life. And even in death, she kept his secrets.

For those of us born into families where the stories told to us contain more fiction than fact, Goodall's application of academic concepts such as Barthes' "presence of an absence" ring painfully true. I can say that this week I have spent a fair amount of my drive time thinking about my family's "narrative inheritance," the creative fiction that hides much more than it reveals.

I'm sure I will have more posts on this work when I finish reading it.

Check out:

Goodall, Harold Lloyd, Jr. (2006). A Need to Know: The Clandestine History of a CIA Family. Walnut Creek CA: Left Coast Press.

Other posts that refer to A Need to Know or Harold L. (Bud) Goodall Jr.:

Writing the New Ethnography
Historical Ethnography, NCA Pre-Conference
Ethnography Division of the National Communication Association
NCA First Day of the Conference

Posted by prolurkr at 06:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Wow...time to do other things

Ahhh today is a good day, because:

1. All of the papers are graded for my classes, well at least until the final papers come in but they are nowhere near as time consuming to grade as the first drafts.
2. BROG's book chapter is complete and heading, shortly, for the editor.

With those things done I have a day or two to do some non-academic things before I throw myself into April:

1. More grading, and final lesson planning
2. More research
1. Conference abstract
2. Publication abstract
3. And the whole getting ready for Colorado/packing stuff.

So what do I get to do for the next couple of days?

1. Financial paperwork, it is that time of year
2. Clean the study up
3. Odds and ends of things that have been piling up while other things took precedence.
4. Annual Report preparation
5. Maybe if it stays warm I can go outside and sit and play my flute too. WOW!

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Mess, mess, messy me

Ok it's now official, I have lost control of the study again...as usual. The picture is not a picture of my study that many people simply would not fit into the space, especially with all the stacks of books I have in here. I am surrounded by almost as many stacks as you see in the picture, well ok close, sorta...there's a lot ok. So I have to take some time this weekend and get things under control.

Why? Well it is just time to do it, but also because I have a recall notice from the library. Where is that book? LOL I'm sure it is hiding in one of the stacks. Oh and I just put in requests for 10, or so, books to use next month when I am writing the MacArthur paper. So I better get it undercontrol now, in truth my world isn't going to slow down enough to take the time to do this until after the first of May - when I will be on the road to Colorado. And I sure can't clean the study from Colorado, my arms are just not that long. *Baa dum bum* So I better just do it now.

Posted by prolurkr at 07:27 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

How to find good mentors

Tomorrow's Professor Blog has an good post on JUNIOR FACULTY - HOW TO FIND GOOD MENTORS. While it's not strictly for grad students I always think it useful to be looking a step or two ahead. Why? Well mentoring is as important as finding a good first job, in fact I think mentoring is potentially more important. Find a good mentor and your transition to faculty will be smoother and more complete.

How Can A Mentor Help?

In addition to addressing the skills needed to survive and prosper in academia already mentioned as reasons for seeking a mentor, there follow many other helpful influences a mentor can have on a new faculty member.

* A mentor can provide good advice on the key academic responsibilities of teaching and advising, including negotiating which courses to teach (balancing core and advanced), giving tips for getting good teaching evaluations from students and taking advantage of available resources for improving teaching skills, teaching the basics of students and advising (and where to find all the program and other requirements you will need to have at hand), supervising undergraduate and graduate projects, writing exams, grading strategies, interpreting course evaluations, and preparing for the unpredictable crises you are likely to encounter when advising students. Know your resources!

* A mentor can help guide you through your department's maze. You need to know how to get things done, whom to see for what, how teaching assistants and research assistants are approved and appointed, and, unfortunately, what to do when you encounter cheating or violations of the university ethics or honor codes. These things happen at the best of places. This type of mentoring requires inside knowledge and hence a mentor within your department or school.

* A mentor can be invaluable when you write grant proposals for research funding. They can provide you with successful examples and review your draft proposals. They can also be a big help in dealing with the rejection that often comes with a failed proposal.

* A mentor can be a demystifier of the tenure process, and in planning ahead for the process. This often means encouraging you to maximize your visibility in your field through publications, talks at conferences, talks in industry and other universities, grant applications, and professional service as reviewer, associate editor, program committee, professional society officer, and other visible positions that enhance your field. Key to a successful tenure process will be having people in the field know and like your work.

* A mentor can help build relationships with other colleagues both within your department and elsewhere on campus.

* A mentor can help you to keep things in perspective-they often have a more global and experienced viewpoint that can transcend the daily crises that can beset junior faculty. In particular, mistakes will happen. Get past it. Grants and papers will get rejected, don't take it personally and try again (and make it better).

Lazy Muncie

OK I admit that this may only be drop dead hilarious to people who have actually lived in Muncie Indiana but here it is, Lazy Muncie the video.

Back when I was an undergrad Steve Martin made some news by saying that Terre Haute Indiana wasn't the end of the world but you could see it from there. Well those of us at good ole Ball State University, the school that no longer sanctions "Ball U" t-shirts, knew he was looking east toward Muncie when Martin made that comment.

If you don't like it here move your ass to Fort Wayne!

LMAO, thanks Nick for pointing me toward this one.

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Tim Berners-Lee webcast

Did you know that the Oxford Internet Institute webcasts many of the speakers from their events? Boy I didn't know. Check out the OII webcast list. Tim Berners-Lee's talk "The Future of the Web" is available there.

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The hummingbirds are coming...run...run for your lives

Ok, don't let the title of this post fool you I actually love birds. Mostly it's a play on how amazingly fierce and territorial hummingbirds are when together. We tend to think of little things as "cute" but there is nothing cute about a hummingbird battle.

All my life I have lived east of the Mississippi, which means I have only seen one type...the Ruby Throated Hummingbird. It occurred to me, after I found the map of RT migration on Moleskinerie, that if I hang out a feeder in Colorado I might get to see a lot of different hummingbirds. *makes a note*

Well if you like birds, keep an eye on the Spring 2006 Migration of Ruby-throated Hummingbirds to see where they are on their journey northward.

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My weblog owns a part of me...only a small part though

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As usual Walt is right on the money

Of course Walt, one has to have grown up to actually know this to be true.

If today's teenagers grow up to behave and think exactly the same way they did as teenagers, it will be a unique event.

Not to mention that it would be more than a bit frightening.

p.s. I think you ARE one of the cool kids Walt and I bet I'm not alone in that.

Just a Saturday grump brought on by reading the same stuff a few too many times. Maybe it's just as well that I'm not one of the cool kids.

Posted by prolurkr at 10:05 PM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

If trackback = 0, don’t print “TrackBack (0)” in the post footer

Every time I post a new entry from RocketPost I double-check it in a browser window. You know weirdness can happen, especially when you post material copied from somewhere else or add pictures. In truth, major weirdness can happen with the CFP's in particular.

Well since I turned off trackbacks, I have to admit that the footer on the posts is bugging me. I have to find out if there is a way, I'm almost sure there is one, to set the "TrackBack (0)" off when trackback is equal to zero. In other words, when there are no trackbacks there is no mention of them in the footer. Of course, if there are trackbacks recorded I want to keep that information with the post. What can I say I'm a blog researcher...more information is a good thing but not at the expense of a smooth flowing design. LOL The scholar and the artist at war again.

Posted by prolurkr at 09:37 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

The rewards of travel

I just received a reply email from a dear friend from my MIS days. Ok so it was only January 2000 to August 2001 not like its back to the dawn of time or anything. After our degrees were completed, she and her husband moved to New Mexico and, of course, I just moved down the hall and into the Ph.D. program. Well I haven't seen either of them since the move nor have I met their daughter, who was born after they left Indiana. Her email agreed with my original one to her, we just have to get together in the Southwest. You see once I am ensconced in the house in Colorado we will only be 3+ hours apart, I feel a road trip coming on. LOL Sorry folks I'm just jazzed, I really like these people and can't wait to see them in person.

p.s. The picture is of northern Colorado rather then the southwestern part of the state. What can I say it was the prettiest picture of a highway through the Rockies I could find.

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A gift from the gods!

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The reality of a month in Colorado

Well the trip became much more real to me since this morning when I put down the deposit on a vacation rental house in the Four Corners area. The rental process has been interesting, always is. The house I very much wanted to rent is owned by people who don't respond to their email or their voice mail...clearly there is a problem here. It always amazes me how many people who rent vacation properties don't seem to respond to questions or reservation requests. Guess they aren't doing this seriously. Of course I had two owners who were abundantly helpful with lots of information about their properties and the local surroundings. Unfortunately there were huge drawbacks to both because neither was as secluded, or at least not immediately accessible, as I need this to be. I know myself, if I can find outside distractions I will take them. I want to close down as many possibilities as I can in making this rental decision.

Yesterday I was informed by the rental agent that one of the houses I had marked off my list, too big therefore had to be too expensive, was available at my price. Goes to show you should always ask. Today I put down the deposit, remainder do on arrival, and it is mine for a month plus a bit. It is a huge place - four bedrooms, three baths (one with a huge whirlpool tub), and two dining areas both seating up to eight (one of which will undoubtedly become my work area for the stay). The rental place is WAY nicer then my house.

Why so big? Well I didn't really want a place this big but believe it or not I'm paying less here then I would be at either of the smaller places mentioned above or on the Big Island of Hawaii, which was my first choice for a place to spend a month. This house sits on about ten acres and butts into the National Forest so there is lots of potential for nice afternoon walks. It also has great views of the mountains and the valleys below. Remember a quiet view is a working requirement. Oh and I can't wait to curl up in front of the fireplace with all my reading. Finally it has easy enough, though not to easy, access to both Pagosa Springs and Durango. While I am going primarily to work, one does not live by work alone. I plan on having one excursion, besides groceries and such, each week...with a great final reward when I finish the paper.

Yesterday I closed down Borders Bookstore in Bloomington, after a BROG meeting and dinner with Elijah, and bought a copy of the Colorado Atlas & Gazetteer, as well as, a Hidden Colorado guidebook. I learned several things I hadn't known previously just by looking through all the guidebooks before I settled on this one. With both of these in hand I can do some serious exploring...well not as serious as I would like since I don't plan on renting a four-wheel drive to go up into the backcountry by myself. Have to save the ghost towns and abandoned mines for a trip when hubby comes along. Though I will probably hit at least one of the lesser traveled Anasazi excavations. Can't think of a better place to sit and play native american flute.

Yes it's all become very real. As is all of the work that must be done before I leave. If you want to find where your roadblocks lay, just plan on being away for a over a month. The roadblocks make themselves very clear when you give them that kind of timeline. But more on to-do lists later.

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One man’s blog genre list

eCuaderno has an interesting list of possible blog genres (probably lots are actually sub-genres):

• adblogs
• audioblogs
• babyblogs
• bblogs
• blawgs
• blogfarms
• blogonovelas
• blongs
• blooks
• edublogs
• faithblogs
• flogs/fakeblogs
• foodblogs
• fotologs/fotoblogs
• j-blogs
• kblogs
• linklogs/linkblogs
• metablogs
• milblogs
• moblogs
• pblogs
• poliblogs
• prblogs
• schoolblogs
• splogs
• techblogs
• travelogs/travelogues
• vlogs/videoblogs
• warblogs

Check out the comments on eCuaderno's post for possible additions.

Posted by prolurkr at 10:12 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Writing, prep practices or how to prove academics are obsessive

Parts-n-Pieces has chimed in with A Little Honest Self-Evaluation (about writing spaces). This entry is apparently part of a larger meme, one that I had missed so far.

Be brutally honest with yourself about your work habits.

I've been trying to find the right mix for myself so I can get this work done. I've tried it all, though: writing late at night, writing in the early morning, writing between other activities, writing at home, writing elsewhere, and at various times, none of it has worked well. I've always had to find the time and energy to write when there weren't other things to do. It's not as if I've ever (ever) been able to let the writing be the most important thing I was doing. When I was an undergrad and when I was in grad school, the Bundle was in elementary school and junior high school. I had a job, I was in school, but I also had to cook dinner and help with homework and do laundry and take care of the yard.... and then I had to find time to write. Typically, then, I wrote when the Bundle went to bed, but I'd be so tired... yet I had to crank out the work anyway. As she got older, I was able to write earlier in the day (while I was still mostly awake), but I still had the job . . . now, I'm finding that I need a specific environment to help me write. (As a quick aside: blog writing I can do anytime, anywhere. It's short and easy. Too bad the diss can't be that kind of writing.) But back to the point:

• I need it quiet (or at least not jarringly noisy) as I'm so easily distracted. It helps greatly to not be a home when I have to get the bulk of something done. I can edit at home, but the hard work of getting it all down and semiorganized, I can't be home or in my office. There are just too many distractions.
• I need my hair pulled back off my face.
• I need to be wearing comfortable clothes (these days, yoga pants and a long sleeved t-shirt, thick short socks, no shoes)
• I need to be drinking something cold. (I have no idea why I need this, but it could be 19 degrees outside, and I'd want iced tea or a frappuchino.)
• If I have to be at home, the house needs to be clean. (Really. There can't be dirty dishes in the sink or piles of dirty clothes in the closet.)
• The windows shades can be open, but the overhead lights have to be turned off. A corner lamp is OK. (Actually, I hate overhead lights anytime.)
• It has to be slightly cool in the room.

Here are mine that I know now, I expect to have more during my seclusion:

• It has to be quiet. I can play music but it has to be either instrumental or with soft lyrics in a language I don't understand, Native American and Celtic genres work really well. If I'm really having trouble concentrating, especially in the winter when the house is closed up against the elements, I play environmental sounds. Though sometimes this makes the cats crazy. They think the birds or frogs are actually in the house.
• I need to be wearing comfortable clothes - My working uniform tends to run to loose sweats and baggy t-shirts or leggings and loose denim workshirts. Fleece slippers in the winter no socks and barefeet in the summer.
• I can't work if my workspace is either too clean or to messy, which throws lots of things off. Basically I am a clutter girl but it has to be managed clutter. At the moment my study is currently on the edge of too messy, which means I will shortly have to take time to put stuff away so I can work again. As for the rest of the house, well it depends on how much I am into what I am working on. If I'm into it then the general cleanliness level of the house can be whatever it is. If I'm not into what I'm writing then those dust bunnies behind the fridge will drive me nutz. Hey when was the last time I vac'ed under the bed? (Our bed sits really low to the ground and has to be dismantled so you can get the vacuum under it to sweep.) Why do women revert to cleaning as a form of avoidance? Yes I know I so not alone in this practice.
• Lots of natural light with a peaceful view, if I can get it. The year I actually tired to write in my department's PhD student lounge I almost lost my mind. Thank the gods for wi-fi. Now I can work in the well lite spaces and leave that dark enclosed place behind. p.s. My study window is great for the peaceful view part. I look out on to the west side of the yard which has a tree and lots of shrubs. Beyond are fields, right now they are covered in snow.
• I need to know that the references I require are handy. This is a weird psychological thing that sometimes gets in the way. Should be interesting when I go to Colorado.
• I need a glass of water and tissues at hand.
• I need to have eaten something filling. I keep lots of cheese around when I am writing so I can make cheese sandwiches on the fly. This morning it is almond butter on Ezekiel bread (lots of sprouted grains but no wheat). If I can have a full meal before I start writing it is best...no it doesn't make me sleepy it energizes me.
• Finally I am an afternoon writer. At home I do my "morning bits" first - read and answer email, check on the blogs, read RSS feeds, and maybe do a post (or a few) based on what I read in email and feeds. I can do quantitative data processing in the morning but not qualitative work. All of the texted based stuff works best in the afternoon and into the evening.

Oh god I don't need any more this is way to many exclusionary vibs. LOL Looks like I need to work on it a bit. I've been, probably half-heartedly, trying to learn to work in 15-minute segments. Maybe that only works if you are less OCD about all of it. *sigh*

I agree with Professional Confessions, "In many ways, really understanding how I work best was the most valuable thing I learned during the dissertation process." We have to know what makes it easy for us to work and what gets in the way of writing, since this is going to be a lifelong activity.

Posted by prolurkr at 09:43 AM | Comments (0)

World Water Day

Water is a basic bodily requirement. You know the old saying about death - 2 minutes without air, 2 days without water, and 2 weeks without food. Sadly water is a resource we take for granted. While our planet has lots of water, very little of it is potable. More sources of fresh water are needed throughout the world and fewer proposals, such as dismantling water molecules for its hydrogen to use as automobile fuel, should be enacted.

About World Water Day

The international observance of World Water Day is an initiative that grew out of the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) in Rio de Janeiro.

The United Nations General Assembly designated 22 March of each year as the World Day for Water by adopting a resolution.This world day for water was to be observed starting in 1993, in conformity with the recommendations of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development contained in chapter 18 (Fresh Water Resources) of Agenda 21.

States were invited to devote the Day to implement the UN recommendations and set up concrete activities as deemed appropriate in the national context.

The Subcommittee welcomes the assistance offered by IRC International Water and Sanitation Centre to contribute to an information network centre in support of the observance of the Day by Governments, as required.

You can check out Events around World Water Day, hopefully there is something going on in your area. If there isn't an activity in your area at least spend some time today being mindful of your own water use and what you can do to conserve.

Posted by prolurkr at 08:08 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack

CFP - Technoculture A Special Issue of Interdisciplinary Humanities

Technoculture - A Special Issue of Interdisciplinary Humanities

Guest Editors:
Dr. Keith Dorwick, The University of Louisiana at Lafayette
Dr. Kevin Moberly, North Carolina Wesleyan College

For a special issue of Interdisciplinary Humanities (IH), guest editors Keith Dorwick and Kevin Moberly seek papers from a broad a range of academic disciplines that focus on issues that could be briefly summed as "technology and society," or, perhaps, "technologies and societies."

IH is published by the National Association for Humanities Education and is a refereed scholarly journal, published twice a year. Potential authors should note that this issue has been accepted for publication already; we will not need to find a publisher.

Successful papers for this special issue should focus on the ways humanists read technology in a range of historical periods and of academic and artistic disciplines as the subject of their work or as a special case of cultural studies.

Topics for this special issue could include depictions of technologies that treat a wide range of subjects related to the humanities. These subjects might include:

• literature, film, theater, and television as technologies;
• the cultural impact of technology on particular cultures or subcultures;
• technology and its affect on the production of contemporary/historical artistic works and/or the work of artists;
• technology as the dream (or nightmare) that drives novelists, poets, artists, playwrights and essayists to their notebooks, brushes, canvasses, stages and screens;
• the economics of technology in the humanities;
• computer/video gaming;
• hypertext (especially hypertext and the arts or literature);
• the dissemination of the arts via technology to broad or to specialized audiences;
• the death of the book;
• the myth of the "death of the book";
• the disappearance of a given technology or technologies and what that disappearance/disappearances means/mean for the archival issues that surround the humanities.

In particular, the special editors are interested in a conception of "technology" and the "humanist impulse" that pushes beyond contemporary American culture and its fascination with computers; we seek papers that deal with any technology or technologies in any number of historical periods from any relevant theoretical perspective. We are not interested in "how to" pedagogical papers that deal with the use of technology in the classroom.

We hope to publish mainly scholarly/critical papers in citation styles relevant to the home discipline of their authors, but creative works including poetry and creative non-fiction are also of interest to us. We also publish art work and are seeking original art (grayscale or line drawings and full color art for the front and back cover) that explores the role of technology in our lives.

Inquiries are welcome, though, again, only full manuscripts will be considered for possible inclusion in this special issue.

Please submit article proposals/abstracts by May 15, 2006. The editors will then request full length drafts from those abstracts still under consideration. Length: 20-25 double-spaced manuscript pages and creative works in any genre to BOTH kdorwick@louisiana.edu and kmoberly@ncwc.edu in Word or RTF format for consideration by 05/15/06; requests to review relevant books on this topic may be sent to both addresses as well.

Calendar:

• Article Proposals/Abstracts Due: May 15, 2006.
• Requests for Full Length Drafts from Editors to Authors: June 1, 2006
• Full Drafts to Editors for Comment: Sept 15, 2006.
• Final drafts due to the guest editors: Dec 15, 2006.
• Final proofed text delivered to the journal editor with front and back (color) illustrations, Jan 15, 2007.
• Publication April or May 2007.

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CFP - The MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning

My email has been hit regularly in the last 12-hours with the announcement that The New Media Consortium and the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, working in collaboration with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation will be publishing a series of edited volumes looking at the intersection of digital media and learning.

Ok that is enough to catch my eyes but the listed honorarium made them pop out of my head - $10,000. WOW $10,000 for the stuff I write anyway, ok well mostly the same stuff since this will be much more competitive than even a journal submission...but it is my topic anyway. So I'm going through the unpublished work looking at what can be reconfigured to meet their requirements, and work that can be reconfigured very quickly. I couldn't find the full call online so I am hosting the pdf file I received with details. Take a moment to read The MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning.

The New Media Consortium and the Monterey Institute for Technology and Education, working in collaboration with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, are soliciting abstracts for chapters to appear in a series of volumes entitled The MacArthur Foundation Series on Digital Media and Learning. The MacArthur Foundation Series will explore the intersection of digital media and learning from the perspectives of experts, visionaries, and thought leaders chosen from across the globe. Authors whose chapters are selected for inclusion in these volumes will receive an honorarium for their contribution.

The working hypothesis of the effort is that digital media tools have advanced significantly in recent years, enabling new forms of knowledge production, social networking, communication, and play. People who have grown up with access to these new digital tools are engaged in an unprecedented exploration of language, games, social interaction, and self-directed education that can be used to support learning. They are different as a result of this exposure to and use of digital media and these differences are reflected in their sense of self, and how they express their independence and creativity, and in their ability to learn, exercise judgment, and think systemically.

Six volumes of such work will be published in the first year of the MacArthur Foundation Series, each with a unifying theme that addresses a critical aspect of this emerging field of study. The themes are Identity and Digital Media, Credibility, Digital Media and Civic Engagement, the Ecology of Games, Incidental Learning and Unexpected Outcomes, and Race and Ethnicity. These volumes are intended for an informed but wide audience. Each volume will include an introductory chapter by the editor, and 7-10 additional chapters that will explore the topics from a variety of perspectives. A summary of each topic is attached.

Authors for the volumes will be chosen in a competitive process, with selections based on a peer review of an abstract of their proposed chapter. Submissions of abstracts are due April 28, 2006. Abstracts will be reviewed by a panel of scholars who will base their selections on the relevance of the content to the planned volume on the topic, the conceptual underpinnings and quality of the ideas represented in the abstract, the publication record or relevant expertise of the author in this area, and other related factors.

Posted by prolurkr at 08:55 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Forthcoming edited volume - critical cyberculture studies

David Silver has announced the upcoming publication of his new edited volume, critical cyberculture studies. The volume should be out in September, I pre-ordered my copy on Amazon just hit the link from the title to go to the order page.

Foreword: Dreams of Fields: Possible Trajectories of Internet Studies, by Steve Jones

Introduction: Where Is Internet Studies? by David Silver

PART I Fielding the Field

1. The Historiography of Cyberculture, by Jonathan Sterne

2. Cultural Difference, Theory, and Cyberculture Studies: A Case of Mutual Repulsion, by Lisa Nakamura

3. How We Became Postdigital: From CyberStudies to Game Studies, by Espen Aarseth

4. Internet Studies in Times of Terror, by David Silver and Alice Marwick

5. Catching the Waves: Considering Cyberculture, Technoculture, and Electronic Consumption, by Wendy Robinson

6. Cyberculture Studies: An Antidisciplinary Approach (version 3.0), by McKenzie Wark

PART II Critical Approaches and Methods

7. Finding the Quality in Qualitative Research, Nancy K. Baym

8. Web Sphere Analysis and Cybercultural Studies, Kirsten Foot

9. Connecting the Selves: Computer-Mediated Identification Processes, by Heidi J. Figueroa Sarriera

10. The Structural Problems of the Internet for Cultural Policy, by Christian Sandvig

11. Cultural Considerations in Internet Policy and Design: A Case Study from Central Asia, by Beth E. Kolko

12. Bridging Cyberlife and Real Life: A Study of Online Communities in Hong Kong, by Anthony Fung

13. Overcoming Institutional Marginalization, by Blanca Gordo

14. The Vertical (Layered) Net: Interrogating the Conditions of Network Connectivity, by Greg Elmer

15. The Construction of Cybersocial Reality, by Stine Gotved

PART III Cultural Difference in/and Cyberculture

16. E-scaping Boundaries: Bridging Cyberspace and Diaspora Studies through Nethnography, by Emily Noelle Ignacio

17. An Interdisciplinary Approach to the Study of Cybercultures, by Madhavi Mallapragada

18. An Action Research (AR) Manifesto for Cyberculture Power to "Marginalized" Cultures of Difference, by Bharat Mehra

19. Cyberstudies and the Politics of Visibility, by David J. Phillips

20. Disaggregation, Technology, and Masculinity: Elements of Internet Research, by Frank Schaap

21. Gender, Technology, and Visual Cyberculture: Virtually Women, by Kate O'Riordan

PART IV Critical Histories of the Recent Past

22. How Digital Technology Found Utopian Ideology: Lessons from the First Hackers' Conference, by Fred Turner

23. Government.com: ICTs and Reforming Governance in Asia, by Shanthi Kalathil

24. Dot-Coms and Cyberculture Studies: Amazon.com as a Case Study, by Adrienne Massanari

25. Associating Independents: Business Relationships and the Culture of Independence in the Dot-Com Era, by Gina Neff

Posted by prolurkr at 11:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Customizing Word when you work on large documents like dissertations

Charles Balch posted a link to his Document Automation Handout on Air-L, the listserv for the Association of Internet Researchers. The handout looks at automation/customization that can help in creating large documents such as dissertations. The page looks very helpful. It has tips on customizations to make within Word and includes several movie clips on such things as the equation editor and EndNote.

Posted by prolurkr at 11:11 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

News - I’m disappearing for a month

Hubby and I have made a pretty big decision, and it looks like I will be going away for most of May and into June to finish writing my qualifying paper. I need to just hole-up and do it without other distractions, so it gets done quickly.

We've decided I am off to Colorado to hangout in a cabin or house on the side of a mountain and write. The current plan is for me to head west to International Congress of Qualitative Inquiry at University of Illinois May 4-6, then on the 7th I begin a couple of days drive to Southwestern Colorado. I will be gone into either early or mid-June, we will work out the date later today. Total driving distance 1430 from home to Durango CO.

While I have said there are a couple of things the space must have - a covered porch or deck so I can work outside when the weather is nice, and a working fireplace/stove with wood - one thing I have not said I need is high-speed internet. In truth I plan to leave the internet behind; I can do email, at the public library, one day a week when I head into town to get groceries. I plan on writing trip posts and taking pictures in-between postings, but unlike my usual practice of at least one post per day, this will be mass upload probably on a single day.

Right now I am looking at a number of cabins/houses in the 4-Corners area - mostly around Pagosa Springs and Durango - and I hope to make a decision later today. I found a great place, see the picture that accompanies this post, but totally whimped out when I was told that at this elevation the house might still have snow in early May and the only access then would be by snowmobile, which the owner was more than willing to lend me. But even if no snow was present the Forest Service road that takes you up the mountain does not sound compatible with my Honda Insight. *sigh* Love the idea of spending time at this place but probably not until hubby is with me and we can drive his diesel pickup. If you have access to an appropriate vehicle, you can rent them of course, then check out the main website for Vallecito Lake Durango Mountain Meadow Home. I think it is a great remote place to spend some time away...just too remote for a solo trip in May 2006.

Posted by prolurkr at 09:16 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Status of Trackback on Professional-Lurker

I like the concept of trackback between blogs. Allowing readers and writers to see how content is being used is important. However I think that the technology currently used, at least in Movable Type, is flawed and the system is abused. First, trackbacks are often not discovered by the software. I can't explain this, maybe someone with more technical competence than I have can comment. I do know that I routinely find sites where prolurkr posts are cited but the trackback wasn't completed. Second, the system is abused. No need to say much about spam...it's pretty much been said already.

I've been thinking about the issue of trackback on prolurkr for some time. As I have said previously, A question to Movable Type users, the blog has not registered a "non-recursive or recursive trackback registered since November 2005." I know this is not an accurate reflection of prolurkr citation because I see the footprints in my referer logs and in my searches. So I think today is a good day to decide to turnoff trackback. I would like to say this is a temporary fix but I don't think that is true. My impression is that trackback may be fixed at some point down the road, but also may not. So I'm adopting a wait and see attitude on the technology.

Posted by prolurkr at 07:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Tips to improve your laptop or tablet use

The Student Tablet PC blog has been collecting user tips. The post Master list of 220 su