Saturday at NCA 2005

Well I got to start out today in one of the best ways possible, I had breakfast with a friend. Then I went to two sessions, I only have notes from one to share. For the other it was more of a data panel so it was mostly group participation with no presentations.

Remember these are pretty disjointed notes.

COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES, MEDIA, AND GENRE
Sponsor: Human Communication and Technology Division
Chair: Rodney Keith Marshall, Eastern Illinois University

"The Phantom Re-Edit: Digitally (Re)produced Texts as Tactical Resistance of Popular Culture." Charles E. Soukup, University of Northern Colorado
"Rethinking Textuality on the Web: Meanings through Citation." Christopher A. Paul, University of Minnesota, Twin Cities
"Electronic Memorable Messages: An Examination the Content, Use, and Impact of the Messages Attached to E-mail Signatures." Stephen Rains, University of Texas, Austin; Geoffrey R. Tumlin, University of Texas, Austin; Mark L. Knapp, University of Texas, Austin
"Without Borders: Media Elision in Empire, or the Anxious (Il)logic of Convergent Mediation." Marc D. Leverette, Colorado State University
"Healthy Genre Systems for a Genre Transplanted to the Web." John B. Killoran, University of Colorado, Denver

Respondent: Davis A. Foulger, State University of New York, Oswego

I missed Charles Soukup's presentation so no notes. The first paper I saw was Christopher Paul's, he pointed me to his recent First Monday paper for more info.

Rethinking Textuality on the Web: Meanings through Citation

• Texts online change as sites link together
• How movement is made changes how text is read
• Hypertext as reading
• Reference links as "reading group assignment"
• Construction of texts
• Extra-textual material

Electronic Memorable Messages: An Examination the Content, Use, and Impact of the Messages Attached to E-mail Signatures

• Email signatures
• (Doesn't seem to know about sig quotes databases)
• How do sigs impact perception
• Memorable messages framework
• EMM (Electronic Memorable Messages)
• Electronic Bumperstickers
• Email is an interpersonal tool that requires mass comm tools

Without Borders: Media Elision in Empire, or the Anxious (Il)logic of Convergent Mediation

• Presentation of war
• Unspecified enemy
• Fogginess/boundariless
• McLuhan as frame
• Advancements in tech trends to constant state of war (mass media standpoint)
• War becomes pedigogical

Healthy Genre Systems for a Genre Transplanted to the Web

• Bazerman (1994)
• Orlikowski & Yates (1994)
• Resumes on the web
• What genre system is it achieving
• Survey of 100 respondents
• Questions about genres
• Some potentially non-exclusive categories such as "known only through internet" and "stranger"

Respondent

• Start link discussion with Busch and Engelbart. Nelson's 2-way links have never really worked out.
• Uses, effect, and practices of genres
• creators vs. consumers of genre

Posted by prolurkr at 09:06 PM | TrackBack

Friday at NCA 2005

I didn't hit as many sessions today, but the ones I did see were well worth it. First I spent some time with the Symbolic Interactionalists.

COMMUNICATION AND SYMBOLIC INTERACTION: ISSUES AND CONCEPTS
Sponsor: Society for the Study of Symbolic Interaction
Chair: Elaine Jenks, West Chester University

"Funerals as Parasocial Performance." Terri Toles-Patkin, Eastern Connecticut State University
"Cameras in Court: An Utilitarian Ethical Approach." Kylie Greene, University of Northern Iowa
"'A Tear among the Raindrops': A Comparative Study of Ecosystems and Interpersonal Relationships." Cara T. Mackie, University of South Florida
"Over the One-China Policy: The Negotiation of Direct Flights between China and Taiwan." Yi-Hsuan Lee, University of Northern Iowa
"Revisiting the Concept of Touch: Modes in Tactile Communication across Cultures." Kyle Ryan, Western Michigan University

Respondent: Shing-Ling S. Chen, University of Northern Iowa

My notes are pretty scattered, more so than yesterday. But either way they are as follows:

Funerals as Parasocial Performance

• Death ends life not a relationship.
• Current funerals are an extension of the wake more than of the religious service.
• Team performance
• Parasocial communication

Over the One-China Policy: The Negotiation of Direct Flights between China and Taiwan

• Symbolic language
• Layers of power and connection

Revisiting the Concept of Touch: Modes in Tactile Communication across Cultures

• Proximx
• Zones of touch
• Modes of touch

SEMIOTICS AND COMMUNICATION DIVISION: TOP PAPERS
Sponsor: Semiotics and Communication Division
Chair: Corey Anton, Grand Valley State University

"Embodiment in the Semiotic Phenomenological Matrix of Discourse." Isaac E. Catt, Millersville University
"Veiled Others in the Work of Frantz Fanon and Fatima Mernissi." Mary Ann T. McHugh, Arizona State University
"From Rationalization to Incantation: A Semiotic Phenomenology of Advertising." Kevin C. Williams, Shepherd University

Respondent: Gary Radford, Fairleigh Dickinson University

Embodiment in the Semiotic Phenomenological Matrix of Discourse

• Non-logical philosophy
• Phenomenology cannot exist without semiotics
• Habitual incorporated discourse
• Codes = Rationality
• Embodyment is materiality of discourse

From Rationalization to Incantation: A Semiotic Phenomenology of Advertising

• Expression/Perception of Nexis
• The anonymous eye {I}
• Word field

MASS MEDIA AND IDENTITY DEVELOPMENT IN YOUTH: MENTAL, EMOTIONAL, AND PHYSICAL HEALTH CONSEQUENCES
Sponsor: Mass Communication Division
Chair: Kristen S. Harrison, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

"Longitudinal Support for the Scope of Self Model of Media Effects." Kristen S. Harrison, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
"Associations between Media Use and Young Adults' Perceptions of First Intercourse." L. Monique Ward, University of Michigan; Laura Averitt, University of Michigan
"Forging Identities in a New Land: Immigrant Teen Girls and Media Practice." Jean R. Steele, University of St. Thomas
"Identity Exploration during Emerging Adulthood: The Role Blogs Can Play." Susannah R. Stern, University of San Diego

Longitudinal Support for the Scope of Self Model of Media Effects

• A "New" Media Effects Model
• Media and Self Concept
• Self-Complexity
• Expected relationship
• Media use interferes with outside activities
• Media content displays a narrow slice of possibilities
• As TV viewing increases the teens use fewer unique themes to describe themselves (Self-Complexity)
• Effect is cumulative and incremental
• Much of model is yet to be tested

Associations between Media Use and Young Adults' Perceptions of First Intercourse

• Media as sexual educator
• Media use appears to be a factor in students expectations about first intercourse
• Genre of media and media mechanism matters

Forging Identities in a New Land: Immigrant Teen Girls and Media Practice

• Media Practice Model

Identity Exploration during Emerging Adulthood: The Role Blogs Can Play

• Emerging Adulthood
• Culturally constructed
• Volitional years
• Why do they blog?
• Search for personal growth
• Quest for feedback
• Transitional phases
• Sense of accountability
• Sense of responsibly

Posted by prolurkr at 11:24 PM | TrackBack

Thursday at NCA 2005

Today was a very full day of sessions. I started out at 8:00 am with:

MORE MESTIZAS: PERFORMING RE-IMAGINED LIMINALITY/S
Sponsor: Performance Studies Division
Chair: Devika Chawla, Ohio University

Panelists:
Rukhsana Ahmed, Ohio University
Min Wha Han, Ohio University
Stephanie Young, Ohio University

Respondent: Bernadette Marie Calafell, Syracuse University

This panel engages the conference theme of gauging the health of Performance Studies by offering intriguing mestiza performances which address Victor Turner's (1987) notion of liminality in newer ways. The panel includes fresh voices engaging for the first time, their own ideas of the 'betwixt and between' emphasized by Turner as the necessary ingredient of all social processes. The liminal identities enacted in these papers come from everywhere, nowhere, and elsewhere.

Like yesterday I have a list of short phrases and keywords I will be thinking about. I keep sharing them with you though I'm not sure they really mean anything to anyone else.

• Dialogue with self
• Liminality
• Temporal
• Spatial
• Hybrid self
• Visible difference
• Invisible difference
• Politics of categorization
• "Who I look like to others is very different from who I remember myself being."
• Identity
• In place
• Out of place

USING DRAMATURGY AND NARRATIVE TO FRAME OUR ETHNOGRAPHIC UNDERSTANDINGS
Sponsor: Ethnography Division
Chair: Patricia Sotirin, Michigan Technological University

"An Ethnography of Journalism: How Routines, Conventions and Ideology Play a Role in the Production of News." Ferruh Yilmaz, University of California, San Diego
"If You Say it, They Will Come: Hailing Hantu (ghosts) in Malay Interactional Working Consensuses." Cheryl Nicholas, Southern Illinois University, Carbondale
"Smile! You're on Stage!: A Dramaturgical Analysis of a Hair Salon." Matthew S. Vorell, University of Colorado, Boulder
"Team Performance in a Family Restaurant: Doing Front Work on the Dramaturgical Stage." Bob M. Gassaway, University of New Mexico

Respondent: Jennifer L. Adams, DePauw University

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES AFFECTING OUR CHILDREN: ON THE INTERNET, IN THE STREETS, AT THEIR SCHOOLS

Sponsor: Applied Communication Division
Chair: Patricia Amason, University of Arkansas, Fayetteville

"Teenage Girls and Information Communication Technologies: NZgirl.co.nz and Its Members." C. Kay Weaver, University of Waikato
"The Role of Development Support Communication in Preventive Programs for the Street-children Problem in Brazil: A Case Study of Axe and Baguncaco." Juliana Maria da Silva, Howard University
"The Social Construction of Teasing." Carol B. Mills, University of Alabama
"Democracy, Dialogue, and Education: A Case Study of Conflict Resolution Education at Jefferson Junior High." Alane K. Smith, Ohio University; Lynn M. Harter, Ohio University

Respondent: Alice Crume, Kent State University, Tuscarawas

I found this panel very frustrating for two reasons, first, the respondent and some of the panelists seemed to take the point of view that face-to-face is the appropriate communication form and electronic is somewhat less. It's an old canard and I'm basically tired of it. Would they apply the same logic to telephone communication? I doubt it. Second there was a significant lack of understanding of child/adolescent development. I'm always amazed to hear presentations where someone says they have found something significant in their research when, in fact, they have only proven that child/adolescent development stages are a fact.

Well at 12:30 p.m. I had the pleasure of attending a nearly perfect panel.

ETHNOGRAPHIC PULSES: PRESSING ISSUES OF SUBJECTIVITY WITHIN
Sponsor: Ethnography Division
Chair: Keith Berry, University of Wisconsin, Superior

"Every Garden Needs Some Tilling: Rigor, Critique, and Subjective 'Dirty Work' in the Craft of Autoethnography." Sarah Amira De la Garza, Arizona State University
"The Problem with Critiquing 'Auto': An Uncertain Nature of Emergent Ethnographic Identity." Keith Berry, University of Wisconsin, Superior
"The Reflexive Selves: Traversing Subjectivity, Representation, and Interpretation." Devika Chawla, Ohio University
"(Re)Marking (on) the Need for (My)Self in Research Studying Difference(s)." John T. Warren, Bowling Green State University

Respondent: Robin P. Clair, Purdue University

What made is perfect is that each paper was very strong on its own and then built well on the other papers in the panel. My hat is off to Keith for arranging a great panel.

Here are my phrases and keywords from this set of presentations:

• Problems with the term "rigor" as the term is also used for the rigidity of the body after death.
• Naturalistic research expands
• When do we stop doing the work because it will keep expanding.
• Suspension of ontological certainty [I really have to roll this one around because I think there is something very significant in here.]
• The denial of researcher's presence in their work. [An issue I am always grappling with.]
• Collect ideas/methods/etc. from the best in other disciplines.
• Is the researcher "eligible" to do research rather than "legitimate."

PERFORMANCE ETHNOGRAPHY: A TEMPERATURE TAKING
Sponsors: Performance Studies Division, Ethnography Division
Chair: John T. Warren, Bowling Green State University

Panelists:
Frederick C. Corey, Arizona State University
Norman K. Denzin, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign
E. Patrick Johnson, Northwestern University
Della Pollock, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
D. Soyini Madison, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
John T. Warren, Bowling Green State University

The panelists brought together here represent only a few of the voices that have continued to develop and stretch the boundaries of performance ethnography research. Each has published in the area and continues to add a distinctive voice to the field. Together, these performance scholars can represent and craft a vision not only for where we are as an area of study, but imagine together a vision and future.

The room was completely full before I got there. After two panels people were smashed in fairly tight. The two papers I heard were excellent but I couldn't hack the press of the audience so I left, visited with Kaye Trammell for a bit, and got a very late lunch. Then I called it a conference day so I could work on grading and other stuff.

Posted by prolurkr at 08:09 PM | TrackBack

Historical Ethnography, NCA Pre-Conference

Today was the NCA Thematic Pre-Conference, Historical Ethnography: Bringing Cultures from the Past into the Present through Archival Resources sponsored by the Ethnography Division of NCA. I've been looking forward to this preconference and the presentations were as good as I had hoped. I don't have tons of notes from the presentations but gathered lots of short phrases to work and think through.

Panelists:
Peter Christopher Pehrson, Written By Hand Manuscript Americana Yale
Nick L. Trujillo, California State University, Sacramento
Harold Lloyd [Bud] Goodall, Arizona State University
Robert L. Krizek, Saint Louis University
Robin P. Clair, Purdue University

The first presenter was Peter Christian Pehrson, who provided the attendees with a hardcopy of his paper. I'm very glad he did so as he included some very substantive quotes I want to investigate. I will share first one the quotations he read that resonated with me. Taken from - Ames, Kenneth (1992). Death in the Dining Room and Other Tales of Victorian Culture. Philadelphia: Temple University Press.

All people have, to varying degrees, outer lives and inner lives. Outer lives are objective facts and, like most facts, have limited meaning by themselves. Inner lives are subjective realities, difficult if not impossible to access. But within these subjective realities lie the keys to interpreting and making meaning of the outer life. The critical point is that ...[no] objects have fixed meaning. People make meanings - both knowable and unknowable - with, through, and about things... Cultures are not organic or natural. They do not flower and die. They are artifact products of artifice. They are constructed by people, and after a time, they are demolished and abandoned by those people or, more likely, those who follow them. Sometimes, the end of the culture is catastrophic. More often, it is gradual and prolonged and so, historians have difficulty determining when one culture eclipsed another. (pp. 183-184)

My other notes from the paper are fragmentary as I mentioned earlier, but here they are:

• Worlds that have past [as part of the discussion on what is 'historical']
• Everyday history [a great phrase for diaries that I have read before but not heard discussed]
• Historical ethnography is the area between 'is' and 'was.'
• "Owned or harbored by" [a phrase from a 1900 Dog Registry from Muncie Indiana]

Then we heard from H. L. (Bud) Goodall discussing the methodology and historical hunt that lead to his upcoming book A Need to Know (March 2006). The work hinges on his search for the truth of his father's life as a CIA spy, a life he didn't know about until after his fathers death. I heard Bud present some of this material at last years NCA in Chicago and I was fascinated. Part of the work is undergirded by the secrets that families keep and the communal lies they tell, as the child of a family that has many secrets and more than a few lies this is a topic to which I can relate. Bud talked about the process of gaining access to information about his father, including the variety of channels that had to be accessed, and the roadblocks he reached and how some of them were circumvented. It is a fascinating story that I can't wait to read...wish Amazon had pre-order available for this one.

My fragments for Bud's presentation include:

• The codes we apply [used in reference to the idea that all coding is selection and selective]
• Preoccupation with meaning [a phrase that certainly sums up much of my thinking life]

Next we Nick Trujillo who discussed his book In Search of Naunny's Grave: Age, Class, Gender and Ethnicity in an American Family. He also told us about his current work which looks at his wife Leah's death, in December 2004, from ovarian cancer. Leah is the co-author having provided a series of audio tapes discussing her experiences.

I have one note from Nick's presentation which has to do with the family discussions he shared that had grown out of the publication of the book about his grandmother. Discussions on the construction of "grandmother," and the place of women in Hispanic families.

Robert (Bob) L. Krizek talked about his work in "non-routine public events" such as baseball stadium closings. In some ways his work is most similar to mine, of this group of presenters. Bob talked about "people as archives" something I have thought a lot about in connection to diaries and diary keeping. He calls this "excavating narrative." And he said his personal interest is in the "pure story," something I can totally identify with.

Bob also mentioned that he was introduced to some of the methods he uses from an article he read in grad school, citation follows:

Snow, D. A., Zurcher, L. A., & Sjorberg, G. (1982). Interviewing by Comment: An Adjunct to the Direct Question. Qualitative Sociology, 5, 285-311.

Finally Robin Clair ended the panel discussing her fictional/ethnographic work with the Cherokee of North Carolina. In particular she looks at her families hidden narratives related to her Cherokee great-great-grandmother. Robin's work is interesting to listen to because of the fictional dialogue. A very different format than my research or actually any of the internet research I have run across.

Posted by prolurkr at 09:00 PM | TrackBack

Facing IRB Challenges Together Workshop

Today is the biennial Indiana University Institutional Review Board Workshop.  Present are several of the Bloomington IRB members and representatives from all of the regional campuses. 

Among the sessions we have had are a review of the nuts and bolts of the regulations, moving beyond the regulations - particularly looking at vulnerable populations and consent issues, and we have also had a demonstration of the IU Electronic Research Administration System that is currently under development. 

One of the most interesting sessions for me was the Case Study discussion.  We were divided into small groups and each group was asked to focus on a different case study.  My group's study was an internet research related scenario.  The case raises many interesting issues that we face in doing internet research.  For example - what is public and private online, how can confidentiality be maintained when the research's audience can search online to match participants with online data, at what point in the research should participants be reconsented to allow the researcher to use online data alongside face-to-face data, and should the specific website used to gather data be listed in the publication of the research?  It's a very good case that I will be using in my teaching.  I'm told that the cases will be available online in the near future at the Association of Practical and Research Ethics site.

Posted by prolurkr at 02:56 PM | TrackBack

Three-Year Research Fellowships in Social Sciences

NUFFIELD  COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD

Three-Year Research Fellowships in Social Sciences

Nuffield College intends to appoint, with effect from 1st September 2006, a number of Research Fellows (known as Postdoctoral Prize Research Fellows, or PPRFs).

Applications are invited from graduates of any country wishing to undertake research in any area of the social sciences except Economics, for which there is a separate competition. (Those wishing to undertake interdisciplinary research which includes Economics may apply for either or both competitions.) The main interests of the College are in Economics, Politics and Sociology, but these are broadly construed to include, for example, social science approaches to history, social and medical statistics, international relations, social psychology and social policy.

PPRFs' main responsibility is to engage in independent scholarly research. They have no teaching or administrative obligations but are expected to participate in the intellectual life of the College. They will be expected to organize a seminar or workshop in their subject area during the three-year term of their appointment and the College can help finance and organize these activities.

1.      Postdoctorate salary starts at £18,601 p.a. (Pre-doctorate grant of £10,219 p.a.)

2.      Research budget £2,173 p.a.

3.      Free single College accommodation or £4,550 p.a. housing allowance

4.      Free lunch and dinner in College

5.      Child support funds available


The Fellowships are intended for scholars from any country, who at the time of taking up the Fellowships will have completed, or be very close to the completion of, a doctoral thesis, or be at a comparable point in a research career. To be eligible, candidates should not, by that date, have spent more than a total of eight years in postgraduate study, teaching or research in the social sciences, and should not have previously held a research fellowship similar to that advertised. The Fellowships are equivalent to an Assistant Professorship in terms of academic standing, but they carry no teaching obligations.

The Fellowships are normally to be taken up on 1st September 2006. The appointment will be for up to 3 years.

Further particulars and the application form can be obtained from the College web page: http://www.nuff.ox.ac.uk or from the Administrative Officer, Nuffield College, Oxford OX1 1NF. Email: justine.crump@nuf.ox.ac.uk. Applications must be received by Friday 4 November 2005.

The College exists to promote excellence in education and research, and is an equal opportunities employer.

Posted by prolurkr at 12:39 PM | TrackBack

New professional-lurker categories

I've added five new categories to better describe the information in this blog.  They are:  Community Service, some of the fun stuff, Conferences & Workshops...I've attended, Professional Development...learning as I go along, Professional Service...working with friends, and Research...making the world go around. 

I've thought a lot about the tagging issue and have decided to stay out of that fray for now.  You see from my perspective you as a reader do keyword searches to find the information you want to read, assuming you aren't regularly reading a specific site in which case neither keywords or tags matter.  You pick the keywords and, hopefully, narrow your search as you work through the sites you find in the outcome.  I can assign whatever tag I want to a post, but if it doesn't match your keyword then it does nothing to help you find the information I posted.  So I, in essence, I see tags as something that might help a blog author find information in their own blog.  Personally I too do keyword searches when I am looking for information so I see very little benefit to adding tags to my posts.  As usual I reserve the right to change my mind at a later date.

August 21, 2005: I've done away with the "Conferences & Workshops...I've attended" category because I decided it was duplicated in the new "Professional Development...learning as I go along" category.

Posted by prolurkr at 04:31 PM | TrackBack