[Asis-l] FW: First Monday October 2004

[Richard Hill]

[Forwarded.  Dick Hill]

------------
Richard Hill
Executive Director
American Society for Information Science and Technology
1320 Fenwick Lane, Silver Spring, MD  20910 
FAX: (301) 495-0810
Voice: (301) 495-0900
www.asis.org

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Readership of First Monday [mailto:FIRSTMONDAY at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU] On
> Behalf Of Edward J. Valauskas
> Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2004 10:58 PM
> To: FIRSTMONDAY at LISTSERV.UIC.EDU
> Subject: First Monday October 2004
> 
> Dear Reader,
> 
> The October 2004 issue (100th issue!) of First Monday (volume 9,
> number 10) is now available at
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/
> 
> -------
> 
> Table of Contents
> 
> Volume 9, Number 10 - October 4th 2004
> 
> Internet time and the reliability of search engines
> by Paul Wouters, Iina Hellsten, and Loet Leydesdorff
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/wouters/
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> Search engines are unreliable tools for data collection for research
> that aims to reconstruct the historical record. This unreliability is
> not caused by sudden instabilities of search engines. On the
> contrary, their operational stability in systematically updating the
> Internet is the cause. We show how both Google and Altavista
> systematically relocate the time stamp of Web documents in their
> databases from the more distant past into the present and the very
> recent past. They also delete documents. We show how this erodes the
> quality of information. The search engines continuously reconstruct
> competing presents that also extend to their perspectives on the
> past. This has major consequences for the use of search engine
> results in scholarly research, but gives us a view on the various
> presents and pasts living side by side in the Internet.
> 
> -------
> 
>  From Paris to Perth: Adopting an Annales perspective on the social
> history of the Internet in Western Australia
> by Glenn Pass
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/pass/
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> A new approach may be needed to interpret the history of a new
> technology, such as the Internet, within a local context. The Annales
> School, founded in France in 1929, brought a new approach to the
> study of history in the last century, introducing new methods and
> sources to the discipline. This paper will consider what this older,
> modernist perspective can contribute to a postmodern social history
> of the Internet in Western Australia. Despite apparent differences,
> it will be argued the integration of Annales style historiography,
> within a postmodern context, will provide a useful model to explore
> the history of a new technology, such as the Internet, within a local
> setting.
> 
> -------
> 
> Protecting ourselves to death: Canada, copyright, and the Internet
> by Laura J. Murray
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/murray/
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> Canada is at a critical stage in the development of its copyright
> law: it has not yet ratified the 1996 World Intellectual Property
> Organization "Internet Treaties," but it is poised to do so. This
> article analyses the rhetoric of "protection" ubiquitous in Canadian
> discussions of copyright policy, and identifies among the various
> uses of the term both a problematic assumption that protection is or
> should be the primary function of copyright, and overblown claims
> about copyright's power to protect Canadian culture and creators.
> These "common sense" ideas, fostered by rights-holder lobbies, emerge
> out of a peculiar Canadian history of cultural nationalism(s), but
> they may not promote the interests of Canadians. Ironically, while
> professing fear for their cultural sovereignty, and following the
> paths of their own internal political, bureaucratic, and rhetorical
> culture, Canadians appear to be constructing a copyright policy in
> complete harmony with the needs of American and international
> capital. I explore a proposal to license educational Internet use,
> endorsed by parliamentary committee, as one example of the
> relationship between protection rhetoric and policy development. By
> casting the Internet as more of a threat than an opportunity,
> copyright policy developers in Canada are gravely misunderstanding
> and threatening Canadians' use of this medium. The participation of
> Canadians in national and global interaction is crucial to the
> Canadian public interest, and must not be forgotten in the rush to
> protection. Beyond its analysis of this specific proposal, this paper
> calls for a copyright policy in line with the Canadian tradition of
> balancing private and public interests.
> 
> -------
> 
> Grey Tuesday, online cultural activism and the mash-up of music and
> politics
> by Sam Howard-Spink
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/howard/
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> In 2003, a little-known DJ by the name of Danger Mouse created a
> "mash-up" album that remixed the music of the Beatles' White Album
> and hiphop star Jay-Z's Black Album to produce a new record called
> The Grey Album. The swift and draconian legal reaction to the online
> dissemination of this technically illegal but culturally fascinating
> artifact gave rise to a "day of digital civil disobedience,"
> organized by music activism group Downhill Battle. Grey Tuesday, as
> the day of action was known, marks a potentially new site for a blend
> of online political and cultural activism in the highly charged realm
> of intellectual property expansionism. This paper examines emergent
> examples of musical and Internet activism including a detailed look
> at Grey Tuesday itself; considers the cultural significance of the
> mash-up genre and the value of the musical "amateur;" and concludes
> with a brief consideration of "semiotic democracy" and the new mix -
> or, if you will, mash-up - of culture and politics that has emerged
> as a consequence of the rise of digital networks.
> 
> -------
> 
> AnthroSource: Designing a portal for anthropologists
> by Bonnie Nardi, Michael Adams, Melody Chu, Shiraz Khan, John Lai, and
> Elsy Lao
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/nardi/
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> This paper investigates the information needs of anthropologists to
> inform the design of a portal, AnthroSource. AnthroSource will
> digitize the publications of the American Anthropological Association
> and provide services for anthropologists and others who use
> anthropological materials.
> 
> -------
> 
> Between rhizomes and trees: P2P information systems
> by Bryn Loban
> http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/loban/
> 
> Abstract:
> 
> The aim of the first part of this paper is to provide an overview of
> information retrieval in Peer-to-Peer (P2P) information systems in
> the file-sharing domain. Starting with a general overview of the
> concept of P2P information systems, the paper then focuses on five
> desktop-accessible P2P information systems: Napster with its clones
> OpenNap and eDonkey, and Gnutella and FastTrack (i.e., Kazaa). A
> detailed description is given of the attributes and properties of
> each P2P file-sharing information system, followed by an evaluation
> of the respective P2P file-sharing applications, taking each in turn
> and examining their respective strengths and weaknesses. This paper
> concludes with a critical comparative analysis and gives some
> suggestions for further investigation.
> 
> ----------------------------
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