News & Announcements
JOB OPENINGS
One-year positions for 2008-2009, rank open
Position description: The Department of Communication at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey invites applications for several one-year visiting positions (rank open, with ABDs considered for the Assistant level). The main area of specialization we are seeking to address is Mediated Communication (Mediated Communication includes the social contexts and consequences of new technologies such as wireless communication, Web 2.0 and the Internet; for our purposes it does not include traditional mass communication and broadcast or print media.) We will also be considering applicants in our other core areas of Organizational Communication, Social Interaction, and/or Health Communication.
Major departmental initiatives at the intersection of these areas include the Center for Mobile Communication Studies, Center for Communication and Health Issues, and the Center for Organizational Development and Leadership. For more information, see
http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/communication/communication-department.html
Qualifications: Ph.D. in Communication or related social science discipline preferred, evidence of teaching excellence, and a research program that includes scholarly publications and conference presentations.
Salary is competitive and commensurate with rank and qualifications.
Application deadline: Application review will begin January 28, 2008 and will continue until all positions are filled.
Application Procedure: Please send a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and names of three references to:
Professor James E. Katz, Chair
Department of Communication
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey
4 Huntington Street
New Brunswick, NJ 08901-1071
(For further information contact Prof. Katz at j.k@rutgers.edu)
About the University: An AAU member and Research-I ranked university with more than 50,000 students on three campuses, Rutgers was established in 1766, making it the eighth oldest university in the U.S. Rutgers-New Brunswick is the largest campus and is conveniently proximate to both New York City and Philadelphia. Rutgers is an Equal Opportunity Employer.
STUDY OPPORTUNITIES
Oxford Internet Institute Summer Doctoral Programme
Application Deadline: February 20, 2008
The 2008 Summer Doctoral Programme will be held in Oxford at the Oxford Internet Institute (July 13th-26th, 2008), with an over-arching academic theme of 'Web Science'.
Held in conjunction with the Web Science Research Initiative (WSRI) and involving partners at the University of Southampton and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), it will seek to explore the multi-disciplinary nature of the emerging field of Web Science, and in particular, will aim to facilitate collaboration between technologists and social scientists.
As in previous years, the SDP will also be held in collaboration with partners at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society (Harvard Law School), the USC Annenberg School for Communication (University of Southern California) and the Center for Global Communication Studies in the Annenberg School for Communication (University of Pennsylvania).
The Programme will facilitate deep discussion of both substantive and methodological research issues, and help students frame their research questions and direct their research. It will also seek to generate dialogue and debate between students from different disciplinary backgrounds on themes relating to Web Science with a view to identifying topics for fruitful collaborative research and shaping curricula in this emerging field.
Elligibility for the Programme
Up to 25 places are available to PhD students who are working on Web-related research in areas such as Computer Science, Artificial Intelligence, Web Engineering, Mathematics, Psychology, Economics, Politics, Law, Biology, Sociology, Ecology, Communications and Media. Preference will be given to students at an advanced stage of their doctorate who have embarked on writing their thesis. All teaching will be in English, so all applicants should be able to demonstrate their competence in this language.
We are particularly keen to attract excellent PhD students who are already embracing the challenges of undertaking multi- or cross-disciplinary work on issues relating to the Internet or Web. Students will have the opportunity to advance their theses as well as participating in classes and seminars led by high-profile faculty from across the social sciences, computing sciences and engineering.
Further details can be found on the OII website at: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/sdp/Y2008.cfm
Pop Culture Field Study at San Diego's Comic-Con International
If you have students interested in popular culture, marketing, or the media industries, please encourage them to visit www.powerofcomics.com for information about a field study program at next summer's Comic-Con International in San Diego, CA.
The one-week program (July 25-30, 2008) engages students as participant-observers of Comic-Con International, studying the intersection between mass marketing and fan cultural practices through ethnographic research. Comic-Con is the perfect backdrop to delve into this crossroad as hundreds of vendors and over 100,000 fans gather there to exchange symbolic meaning—and currency! And while Comic-Con features comic books, manga, and graphic novels, students interested in all manner of popular culture can find something of interest to study at the Con, including anime, sci-fi, gaming, film, television, and much, much more. You can see more information about the Con itself at http://www.comic-con.org/cci/ .
Students will also have the rather unique opportunity to make a public presentation of their observations and tentative conclusions at the end of the week as a part of the Comic Arts Conference (http://fac.hsu.edu/duncanr/cac_page.htm) held in conjunction with Comic-Con. The field study is sponsored by Wittenberg University and taught by Matthew J. Smith, Associate Professor of Communication.CALL FOR AWARD APPLICATIONS
Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award
Application Deadline: February 29, 2008
Sponsored by Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research http://www.cccsir.org/
The Carl Couch Center issues an annual call for research papers and published works (i.e., books or articles) to be considered for Clifford G. Christians Ethics Research Award. To be considered for the Christians Award, submissions should interpret or address important theoretical issues in the areas of ethics, mass communication theory, and the relationship between media and technology and culture; interpret and apply concepts employed in Christians' work in new and insightful ways. Submissions will be evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Christians? approaches and concepts, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge.
Evaluation will be administered by a Review Committee of four:
Dr. Lee Wilkins, University of Missouri Dr. Robert Fortner, Calvin College Dr. Deni Elliott, University of South Florida Dr. Ronald Arnett, Duquesne University
Both single and co-authored works are accepted. Applications may only be submitted for award consideration once. Published materials submitted must have appeared no earlier than eighteen months prior to each year?s application. The Award winner will receive a Christians Award plaque to be presented in the 2008 Annual Convention of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC), or the National Communication Association (NCA).
Those interested please send six copies of the research papers or published works (if the publication is a book, six copies of the table of contents and of one chapter is sufficient) with a 100-word abstract to:
Shing-Ling S. Chen Dept. of Communication Studies Univ. of Northern Iowa Cedar Falls, IA 50614 Tel: 319-273-6021 E-mail: chen@cccsir.org
Application deadline is February 29, 2008. Notification of the award will be sent out by May 31, 2008.
Questions and comments about Christians Award application, please contact Shing-Ling S. Chen, Dept. of Communication Studies, Univ. of Northern Iowa, Cedar Falls, IA 50614; Tel: 319-273-6021; E-mail:
chen@cccsir.org
NEW JOURNAL
Announcing the first issue of the International Journal of Internet Research Ethics (IJIRE), available at http://www.uwm.edu/Dept/SOIS/cipr/ijire/issue_1.1.html
Table of Contents:
Introduction: Why IJIRE? Elizabeth Buchanan and Charles Ess
Small Talk: Annette Markham
Ethical Approaches to Robotic Data Gathering in Academic Research: Gove Allen, Dan Burk, and Charles Ess
Data as Representation: Beyond Anonymity in e-Research Ethics: Annamaria Carusi
Researching the Researchers: Market Researchers, Child Subjects and the Problem of “Informed” Consent: Sara M. Grimes
Emerging Legal Issues in the Collection and Dissemination of Internet-Sourced Research Data: Part I, Basic Tort Law Issues and Negligence: Tomas A. Lipinski
Creating a Web of Attribution in the Feminist Blogosphere: Erin Hvizdak