Timothy J. Hickey, associate professor of computer science and one of the key pioneers of the new program, said the main benefit of Internet studies will be that it will allow students to think more critically about Internet-related issues since they will have developed a solid understanding of the Internet from related disciplines, including computer science, legal studies, economics, anthropology, literature and fine arts. For example, Hickey explains that the Napster phenomenon can be viewed as one of many examples of peer-to-peer computing technology, or as a challenge to and popular reinterpretation of Intellectual Property law. This phenomenon can be seen as a social phenomenon with its own culture, or as harbinger of the emerging online entertainment industry, or as the beginning of a new social contract between artists and their public. "Each of these views is strengthened by a deeper understanding of the other views, and any single viewpoint alone is clearly missing important aspects of the phenomenon," Hickey said. via Brandeis Reporter 18(6) 2001

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

The study Psychology and the internet: A basic psychological study on the Internet Relay Chat phenomenon by Gloria Dabiri & Dörte Helten is completely online (as html and pdf, both identical and in german). This goes well with Psychology of cyberspace. Thanks to praying mantis

... Link (1 comment) ... Comment

TouchGraph offers tools for information visualization, namely for mapping relations between weblogs, websites and more. Check out their news section to get an idea to which uses the tools can be put. See our older story map of the internet, too.

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

The Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Halle (Saale) has the opportunity to offer the following positions · a researcher (BAT-O IIa) · a PhD Grant · a Postdoctoral Grant Starting September / October 2004. The grants are to be awarded in the context of the following research programme: read more ...Department I 'Integration and Conflict' headed by Prof. Dr. Günther Schlee Integration and conflict are central points of reference for the analysis of the interaction of ethnic groups and states. The construction, meaning and communication of identity offer an important field of research within this frame of reference. The analysis of descriptions of the self and the other in processes of peaceful and violent interaction and, in particular, the development of identities in confrontations with other groups, are at the centre of this research program. Description and analysis of conflict mechanisms also play an important role here. The regional foci of this research project are West Africa, Northeast Africa and Central Asia. Further background information concerning these projects can be found on our homepage. The BAT-O IIa Position is for three years (with the possibility of a two-year extension). BAT-O IIa Positions are open to scientists who have completed their doctorate within the last ten years. The Postdoctoral Grant is for two years (a one-year extension is possible for foreigners). Postdoctoral Grants can only be awarded to scientists who have received their doctorate within the last ten years. The grants are not taxed and are free from social security stipulations. A PhD Grant is generally awarded for 2 years, with the possibility of two six-month extensions. We expect our PhD students to complete a yearlong period of fieldwork as part of their studies. The Max Planck Society is committed to raising the proportion of women in under-represented fields; we thus explicitly encourage applications by women. Individuals with disabilities will be given priority, assuming equal qualifications. We are also seeking to make an appointment in cooperation with the GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) of a Junior Conflict and Reconciliation Specialist The conflict analyst will work with the Project on the Improvement of Farming Systems Project in the Bay and Bakool regions of Southern Somalia. The GTZ will fund the conflict analyst for 2 years of practical work on the project, and the MPI will fund a subsequent three year (2 + 0,5 + 0,5 are the usual contract periods) research grant. Payment during the first phase will be in the range of Euro 1,500 (salary), plus 150 (health insurance) and 150 (housing allowance), per month. One flight home per year (up to EURO 1,200), will also be paid. The conflict analyst will spend most of his/her time in the field and concentrate on the micro and meso levels. Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology Halle (Saale) Depending on the qualifications of the candidate, and on successful completion of Phase One, the MPI will offer the conflict analyst a PhD grant or similar funding to give him or her the opportunity to evaluate his/her practical experience from the perspective of social science (social anthropology). This grant will comprise a further year of field research with a more open focus than that required by the project activities of Phase One. Much of this year may be spent in the project area, so that the analyst will also be able to contribute to the project in this second phase. The scientific output will be a PhD thesis or a similar major publication. This will focus on the genesis, the course and the resolution of conflicts in Bay and Bakool, their connections to conflicts in the wider region, the interface between development intervention and local/regional peace processes, media perceptions of these processes and the international political framework in which these take place. Applications should include the standard documentations and a project resume. Final selection will be made following interviews in June-August 2004. Please send applications and the names of two referees (whom we may contact for confidential references) to the following address before May 7th 2004: Max-Planck-Institute for Social Anthropology Personnel Administration P. O. Box 11 03 51 D ? 06017 Halle/Saale, Germany

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

After having succesfully finished the FLOSS-project, MERIT/Infonomics has started a new research project on open source software, which will run till 2006: "FLOSS-POLS will work on three specific tracks: government policy towards open source; gender issues in open source; and the efficiency of open source as a system for collaborative problem-solving. All areas will have a focus on studying the impact of policy and providing policy recommendations. The first track comprises three survey-based studies: on interoperability; user needs in open source e-government; and open source as a skills development environment especially important for SMEs. The second track will be the world?s first comprehensive study of gender issues in open source ? where women are hugely under-represented; based on ethnographic study, it will result in concrete policy recommendations. The third track will study open source as a productive networked organization through simulation models of collaborative (information-sharing) and selfish (information-selling) agents. Overall, there is a strong emphasis on feedback to and from the user (government) community, through a series of topical workshops as well as supporting the organization of a major conference on open standards and open source in e-government." Among the consortium partners there is the Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge (UK).

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

tech ronin writes the truth: "All of a sudden there's this revolutionary possibility that we can get a ten-fold increase in communication around all this, and we turn it down for small-minded reasons? OK, maybe everyone isn't meant to be a blogger but academics seem like naturals. [...] I suspect that academia might become borderline irrelevant or even somewhat obsolete if its academicians stay cloistered away with their academic journals. Don't get me wrong, this is a very good topic and worth further exploration of all sides of the issue. I'm just coming down hard on the side of academic blogging. We need you." See additionally "Personal knowledge publishing and its uses in research" by Sébastian Paquet in English or French. My usual two cents: Furthermore weblogs are an invaluable opportunity for social/cultural anthropologists who do participant observation among online communities. By means of a weblog the fieldnotes, the field-diary, or parts of it, can immediately made accessible to the members of the observed community. Reactions and comments can be gathered while the participant observation is still under way, and afterwards of course, too. A demand which resulted from the discourse on fieldwork, but more often than not could not be realized. via many2many

... Link (1 comment) ... Comment

Finally I made it to start to read Lawrence Lessig's new book Free Culture. The only thing I can say is: GO AND GET IT!. Additionally have a look at the comments and insights on it, which Bryan Alexander provides at Infocult (Scroll down and/or search -- updates on the matter come regularly).

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

"This is really a very interesting adoption of culture, isn't it?" -- that was Kerleone's comment on the Nigeria Connection (See our older stories.) back in 2002. The advance fee fraud scheme (that has been in existence through regular postal mail for more than 20 years) via e-mail now is internationally known as 419 Scam -- so named after Nr. 419 of Chapter 38 of the Nigerian Criminal Code Act which applies to it. As we reported, the problems with those frauds from Nigeria, which exist since about 1989, grew bigger, the conmen scored big wins and serious incidents have taken place: People who have been lured to Nigeria have been abducted or even murdered. Police forces all over the world go for lengths to fight the scammers: "In one month alone, in the summer of 1995, [U.S. Secret Service] agents extricated seven U.S. victims from Nigeria, though one American was murdered [...]" Apart from this dramatic 'real-life' efforts authorities and others have public education material about 419 online. Nevertheless, maybe due to the nature of the internet or humanity itself, the scamming goes on. P.T. Barnum once complained: "You can't cheat an honest man." -- at other times this saying is attributed to the king of con-men, Joseph R. "The Yellow Kid" Weil. By that logic, if a greedy person is a good target, a professional con-man makes the best "mark", or "mugu", to use the Nigerian scammers' own term, of all. Consequently this 'adoption of culture' has been adopted itself, the scammers have new enemies who entangle them into a complex play of tricksterish reality-satire, deception, and counter-deception, the scambaiters: "Baiting a scammer involves replying to the emails with the knowledge it is all a scam. Often the scammer will think you are a real victim and try their best to extract money." There are different reasons for scambaiting, some want to create amusing stories, others want to educate the public, and some even want to reverse the scam and receive a few token dollars. The hilarious results can be viewed online. Initially via c't 8/2004

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

The Royal Museum for Central Africa (Tervuren, Belgium) is the editor of a series of scientific publications (Annals and other collections), publicity material, exhibition catalogues and special editions. Since its' foundation in 1897, the Museum has published nearly 2500 books in different subjects and collections. Check out at least their Human Sciences Publications.

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

The PhD Programme "Migration and Transnational Networks" at the European University Viadrina in Frankfurt Oder offers 3 fellowships for qualitative empirical research on economic, social, cultural, religious or political aspects of labor migration. The case studies should relate to one or several of the following questions: (1) Structure and agency in transnational spaces, i.e. in economic or political organizations, social networks, family and kinship relations, religious communities spanning two or more nations; (2) power and exploitation in transnational spaces; (3) the configurations of the national and the transnational, (4) identities and there shifts. Read more ...The programme will begin in May 2004. Applications from graduate students from Germany and from abroad are welcomed. Admission requirement is a university degree in anthropology/ sociology/cultural studies or related disciplines. Applicants should submit: - a curriculum vitae with a detailed description of your academic profile, - authenticated copies of all relevant school-leaving/university entrance certificates and university degree certificates, - one reference from a university teacher providing information about the applicant's academic qualification, - an outline of the dissertation project of about 15 pages giving details about (1) the theoretical orientation (2) the working hypothesis; (3) the field of research; (4) field access; (5) pre-studies (6) research schedule. - a questionaire concerning personal data. Further information is available online. It is expected that the fellows participate regularly in the discussions of the study group and the PhD colloquia. Scholarships are granted for two years with a possible extension for an additional half year. Scholarships include basic funds, an overhead and child care supplements and are awarded on the basis of DFG-guidelines. Applications are to be sent by 30. April 2004 (application period has been extended) in printed version to Prof. Werner Schiffauer; Lehrstuhl Vergleichende Kultur- und Sozialanthropologie, Europa Universität Viadrina, Postfach 1786 D-15207 Frankfurt/Oder and by e-mail.

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

My colleague Hilde Link is desperately looking for people who are in possession of photographies or video-footage of the interior of the so called Library of the Banteay Srei temple in Angkor, Cambodia. As I understand the matter, something has been removed (that means stolen?) from the interior which is of quite some scientific interest, and of which no available records exist. My colleague's hope now rests on pictures of the said interior taken by visitors of the site. If you think you can help, please contact Mrs. Hilde Link. Please forward this question to people of whom you know that they have visited Angkor.

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment

This year's first issue of Journal Ethnologie (in german) has been published. This issue of the fine ethnological online-journal has its main focus on traditional medecine and carries articles on traditional healing among the Yupno of Papua-New Guinea, a medical-anthropological study on organ-transplantation, an article on Aids and migration in Tanzania, a piece on Vastuveda by our institute's Hilde Link and much more ... like an agenda of current ethnological exhibitions, books, interviews ... If you are interested in social/cultural anthropology (and if you can read german) make sure to regularly stop by at Journal Ethnologie. The staff over there copes with a tremenous task and makes sure that people outside of the academic community of social/cultural anthropology are able to understand the contents, too. (german footnote) Im Journal Ethnologie schreiben EthnologInnen und KulturwissenschaftlerInnen an deutschsprachigen Museen und Universitäten für eine an ethnologischen Themen interessierte Öffentlichkeit. Es bietet unter anderem eine Übersicht über aktuelle Ausstellungen ethnologischer Museen. Herausgegeben wird das Journal-Ethnologie vom Museum der Weltkulturen in Frankfurt am Main. So, students, tell your friends about Journal Ethnologie and you won't need to try to explain to them again and again what that is ... "Ethnologie". see our older story, too.

... Link (0 comments) ... Comment