From: OII Newsletter [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 15 October 2008 15:04
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OII News [2008.10.15]: News and Events for October

Dear friends and colleagues,

I would like to welcome the new Fellows who have joined us over the Summer: Dr Sandra Gonzalez-Bailon (Sociology, Nuffield College, Oxford), who will be working on the distribution of visibility on the web and the evolution of online discussion networks; Dr Bernie Hogan (NetLab, University of Toronto), whose research interests lie at the intersection of social networks and media convergence; and Canadian SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellow Dr Alison Powell, who will be investigating the institutional forms that emerge around forms of Internet-related peer production, including community WiFi, open source software development, and open hardware production. Professor Christopher Millard also joins us as a Senior Research Fellow while continuing as a Professor of Privacy and Information Law at the Centre for Commercial Law Studies, Queen Mary (University of London). He has interests in international privacy regulation, information governance, and the impact of the Internet on privacy.

Our new Visitors include: Paolo D'Iorio (CNRS Fellow) and Desiree Miloshevic (International Affairs and Policy Adviser, Afilias. She is also Special Advisor to the Chair of the UN IGF Advisory Group, and a Board Trustee of ISOC.)

Faculty and Visitors: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/

I would also like to welcome our new DPhil students: Chrysanthi Papoutsi, Nesrine Khaled, Bianca Reisdorf and Michael Hills. We are now accepting applications for our DPhil and MSc courses, with the first application deadline on 21 November 2008:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/

Best wishes,
Bill Dutton, Director


1. Recruit: Survey Research Fellow / Research Assistant 2. Events Diary: October / November 3. New Research Project: Privacy Value Networks 4. Webcasts: Meeting, Dating, Marriage and the Internet 5. And more Webcasts: Robert Pepper / Walter Baer 6. Student Diary / MSc and DPhil Applications Open

Calls for Papers!

Helen Margetts is a Programme Chair for 'WebSci'09: Society On-line', the first international conference of Web Science (March 18-20 March 2009, Athens). The OII is collaborating through its EPSRC Networks for Web Science project. Submissions deadline: 31 Oct 2008. http://www.websci09.org/

Ian Brown is the Socio-economic programme chair for Trust 2009: an international conference on trusted and trustworthy computing to be held 6-8 April 2009 in Oxford. The call for papers for the technical strand is now open (deadline: 2 Nov 2008). The call for papers on the socio-economic strand will be published shortly. http://www.trust2009.org/

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1. Recruit: Survey Research Fellow / Research Assistant
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We are looking for a full-time Survey Research Fellow with an interest in research on the Internet and social relationships. The Survey Research Fellow will work with senior staff primarily on the conduct and analysis of a series of online national surveys of couples in the UK, Australia, the US, and other countries that focus on the role of the Internet in meeting and maintaining intimate relationships among couples.

Survey Research Fellow
Research Staff Grade 7 (£27,466 to £33,780 p.a.)
Deadline: 12:00 GMT on 6 November 2008
Details: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/newpositions.cfm

We are also looking for a Research Assistant to work on a range of Internet and public policy-related research projects with Professor Helen Margetts. The research will involve a wide variety of methods, both qualitative and quantitative, including webmetric analysis, interviews and focus groups, statistical analysis and the design, and the setting up and running of experiments in OxLab, an experimental laboratory for the social sciences.

Research Assistant
Research Staff Grade 6 (£24,403 - £29,138 p.a.)
Deadline: 23 October 2008
Details: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/newpositions.cfm

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2. Events Diary: October / November
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Mon 21 Oct:
Jean Burgess: Making Sense of YouTube [please note change of time and date]
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=217

Thurs 23 Oct:
Manuel Castells: Media Internet and Power in the Information Age
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=209

Mon 27 Oct:
Launch of the OII's MSc at the House of Commons
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=221

Thurs 30 Oct:
Monica Seeley: Addressing Your Email Productivity Paradox: A Master Class
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=208

Thurs 13 Nov:
Eli Noam: Ultra-TV for Ultra-Broadband
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=223

Mon 10 Nov:
Mason A. Porter: Community Structure in Online Collegiate Social Networks
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=222

Fri 21 Nov:
Frances Pinter: The Transformation of Academic Publishing in the Digital Era
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=216

Mon 24 Nov:
Tobias Escher: Keep your friends close - using MySpace to analyse the geography of adolescents' social networks
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=222

All the Events:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/

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3. New Research Project: Privacy Value Networks
--------------------------------------------------

The OII is to lead the £2m Privacy Value Networks project: one of three awarded funding under the Technology Strategy Board's 'Ensuring Privacy and Consent' research programme. It will investigate the way the public thinks about privacy and how organisations can model the costs and benefits of processing personal information.

Project website: http://www.pvnets.org/

Project PI Dr Ian Brown, said: "Privacy has become a major issue in the UK, with worries about the development of a surveillance society. We are delighted to have this opportunity to carry out research that will ensure businesses and government agencies fully understand privacy concerns, and can provide effective and efficient services that properly deal with them."

The project will look at privacy in a range of contexts. These include creating a sensor-enhanced Facebook to help understand how students might share or restrict automatically gathered information such as their location, current companions and activity. Researchers will also investigate how families share this type of information using a new mobile phone application, and how it might be used to improve the lives of children and the elderly while protecting their privacy and autonomy.

The project will look at the government's own use of sensitive personal information in the Identity and Passport Service, and how it is interpreted by staff and passport applicants. It will also work with financial institutions to design privacy-friendly services that reduce the financial exclusion of those with limited or damaged credit histories.

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4. Webcasts: Meeting, Dating, Marriage and the Internet
--------------------------------------------------

Online dating has come along way since 'You've Got Mail', the 1998 movie in which two business rivals fall in love over the Internet. A recent event at the OII provided a critical perspective on the history and future of the Internet's role in meeting new people, dating, and developing lasting relationships, such as through partnerships and marriage.

The speakers were: Dr Monica Whitty (A Perspective on the History and Future of Online Dating), Prof. Joseph B. Walther (Digital Makes the Heart Grow Fonder: Relationship Gains and Losses from Internet Communication) and Dr Katelyn McKenna (A Progressive Affair: From Online Dating to Real World Mating).

Webcasts are available at:
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20080612_261

This event was organised as part of our research project 'Me, My Spouse and the Internet' that focuses on the role of the Internet in marriage. The project (and this event) were supported by a grant from e-Harmony.com

And the Press:

07 October 2008 Reuters
Brits value sex and in-laws, Web dating company finds

07 October 2008 BBC News
How to live and love online

06 October 2008 The Times
Matchmaker, matchmaker make me a match ... if the algorithms agree

all available at:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/about/press/coverage.cfm

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5. And more Webcasts: Robert Pepper / Walter Baer
--------------------------------------------------

Robert Pepper (Cisco Systems)
The Internet and Economic Development: Mapping The ICT Ecosystem 'How do we create an environment that will foster the types of investment that lead to better infrastructure for the growth of the Internet?'
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20081013_264

Walter Baer (Annenberg, USC)
Future Directions for US Public Media
'Innovative efforts are underway in the US that may help public media organizations embrace participatory models and practices'
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20080812_252

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6. Student Diary / MSc and DPhil Applications Open
--------------------------------------------------

Note: We are accepting applications for our MSc and DPhil Programmes:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/

Come to the MSc Launch Event at the House of Commons! (27 October)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=221

Departmental Open Day (18 November)
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=224

***

Malte Ziewitz reports on the OneWebDay held in Oxford:
http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/ziewitz/2008/09/23/onewebday-in-oxford-round-up-and-thanks/

And has some photos (Flickr):
http://flickr.com/photos/27662072@N03/sets/72157607440022437/

And a radio interview (MP3):
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~kebl2964/20080922-owd-oxford-bbc.mp3

Malte Ziewitz has been offered a place in the ESRC Researcher Development Initiative 'Building Capacity in Empirical Socio-Legal Research'. The 14-month workshop programme is aimed at encouraging and developing empirical approaches to socio-legal research across the social sciences. The group comprises about 40 researchers from PhD candidates to professors and will meet on a regular basis to develop their research skills through new forms of networking, collaboration, and training. Coordinated by Liverpool Law School, it is the first RDI grant to be awarded in law.
See: http://www.liv.ac.uk/law/rdi/index.htm

And on Monday 24 November Tobias Escher will give a seminar at the OII as part of the OII-Nuffield Social Networks Seminar Series, titled: Keep your friends close - using MySpace to analyse the geography of adolescents' social networks. No need to register for this series .. just come along!
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=222

Teaching: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/


[Editor: David Sutcliffe]

Oxford Internet Institute
University of Oxford
1 St Giles Oxford OX1 3JS
United Kingdom
Tel: +44 (0)1865 287210
Fax: +44 (0)1865 287211
Email: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk


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