From: [log in to unmask] [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
Sent: 12 March 2007 18:22
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: OII News [2007.03.12]: OII News and Events for March
Dear friends and colleagues,
I am pleased to announce that Philip Zimmermann will be giving a lecture
at the OII this week. Based at MIT, Philip has received numerous
technical and humanitarian awards for his pioneering work on
cryptography, and is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy, the email
encryption software package that led to the creation of the company PGP.
A few places are still available for the lecture and reception: I
encourage you to attend what promises to be a very interesting evening
(further details in the Events Diary).
Let me also draw your attention to our first 'mini-interview' with Limor
Shifman - one of our OII researchers - focusing on her developing
research programme on 'cyberhumour'.
Bill Dutton, Director
1. Events Diary
2. OxIS 2007
3. Report on House of Lords reform
4. Webcasts
5. Cyberhumour: Dr Limor Shifman explains 6. Student Diary
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1. Events Diary
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The first event is part of the OII Industry Lecture series; intended to
foster a better understanding among executives of the significance of
the Internet for society, and to discuss world-wide societal and
technological issues at a stategic level. Philip Zimmermann is the
creator of Pretty Good privacy (PGP), the most widely used email
encryption software in the world. The talk will be followed by a drinks
reception.
Title: Will governments come to embrace VoIP encryption for society?
Date: Thursday 15 March, 16:30 - 18:00
Speaker: Philip Zimmermann
Focus: A talk about how the debate on the use of crypto has shifted
since the 1990s, when it was a clash between civil liberties and law
enforcement.
Information:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=137&pa=1
Title: Information, Policy, and Power in the Informational State
Date: Tuesday 27 March, 15:00 - 16:30
Speaker: Sandra Braman
Focus: Exploring ways in which currents in information policy across
traditional legal silos combine to affect society in each of these
areas, looking both at the US as a case and global resonances with these
trends.
Information:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=138&pa=1
If you would like to attend either of these events, please register by
emailing:
mailto:[log in to unmask]
Details of all forthcoming Events can be found at:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/?pa=1
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2. OxIS 2007
--------------------------------------------------
We launched the third wave of our national survey on Internet use last
week, and the questions for OxIS 2007 are now in the field. The schedule
is as follows:
April 2007: Full 2007 dataset collected
June 2007: Report on findings published
As well as focusing on the growth in social networking and creativity
online, the report will look closely at the factors that may be
influencing people to turn away from the Internet, and how these factors
might have changed over time.
Ellen J. Helsper was appointed as an OII Research Fellow in February
2007 to oversee and guide the development of OxIS as it comes to
maturity in the coming years. She will help to create a vibrant and
innovative research network around OxIS, by forging links between the
policy, business and academic communities.
Press release:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/releases/OIIRelease_20070312_pa1.pdf
OxIS project:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/project.cfm?id=8&pa=1
Contact:
mailto:[log in to unmask]
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3. Report on House of Lords reform
--------------------------------------------------
Reform of the House of Lords is back on the UK political agenda after
the House of Commons voted last week in favour of an all-elected House
of Lords. Plans for an all-elected Senate to replace the House of Lords
were drawn up in 1999 by Professors Helen Margetts (OII) and Patrick
Dunleavy (LSE) for the Wakeham Royal Commission on the House of Lords.
Professor Margetts commented: "The House of Commons' vote means that
there is now a real chance for change. An elected Senate could be set up
quickly using voting systems already in operation that would be easy to
use and give UK voters real choice. [Our] report sets out proposals for
an elected Senate that would have real diversity, with no dominance of
any political party".
See the press release:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/news/releases/OIIRelease_20070308_pa1.pdf
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4. Webcasts
--------------------------------------------------
Title: Social Media or The Impact of Us
Speaker: Ricardo Baeza-Yates, Director of Yahoo! Research Barcelona,
Spain and Yahoo! Research Latin America
Focus: A talk exploring the current impact of social media or social
networks, commonly called Web 2.0, where content is generated by users
in sites like Yahoo! Answers, Flickr, YouTube or Del.icio.us. Ricardo
Baeza-Yates mentions some of the issues studied by his group, as well as
further open problems.
Webcast:
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20070215_182
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5. Cyberhumour: Dr Limor Shifman explains
--------------------------------------------------
Dr Limor Shifman joined the OII as a Research Fellow in 2005, to focus
on the interrelationship between humour, the Internet and socio-cultural
processes. We asked her:
Q: So, what is so interesting about Internet humour?
A: The basic assumption underpinning much of my research is that humour
may serve as a unique key to understanding social and cultural
processes. Since humour often allows people to say what cannot be said
directly, a close reading of humorous texts can provide us with
important insight on what is 'lurking' in the collective conscience.
Q: For example?
A: For instance, you can learn a lot about prevalent perceptions of
sex-roles when you analyze jokes about gender, such as 'blonde' jokes or
comic 'lists' about differences between men and women. In this sense,
Internet-based humour is particularly interesting, since it takes part
in the creation and dissemination of shared global 'user generated'
folklore. So Web-based humour may not only reflect popular notions about
various topics but also shape them.
Q: So the Internet is actually changing or shaping what we think of as
'humour'?
A: Yes and no - on the one hand, there are still many traditional forms
of humour on the Web, but on the other hand - new, Internet-facilitated
forms such as interactive humour are emerging. The Internet may also
have some influence on the topics that we laugh about - I have found
that jokes about 'local' themes (such as ethnicity) tend to be less
popular than 'globally'-oriented jokes about topics such as gender or
animals.
Q: Have you ever been shocked by the material you study?
A: I have seen some very racist and sexist jokes which puzzled me, but
at the same time I find these jokes very interesting for socio-cultural
analysis.
Q: And after studying humour for over seven years ... can you still
laugh?
A: There is a quote attributed to EB White: 'Analyzing humor is like
dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.' I
hope that I am 'not' killing humour by analyzing it, but I do tend to
laugh less from jokes since I have started studying them...
Cyberhumour project and papers:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/research/project.cfm?id=1&pa=1
Limor biography:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/people/faculty.cfm?id=27&pa=1
Webcast:
http://webcast.oii.ox.ac.uk/?view=Webcast&ID=20060323_140
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6. Student Diary
--------------------------------------------------
The new interdisciplinary seminar series on 'The Internet and the Social
Sciences' is set to continue next term after participants of the first
sessions this term confirmed the great success of the format. Anyone who
is interested in joining or presenting in a friendly and informal
context is more than welcome to attend.
More information and contact:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/events/details.cfm?id=135&pa=1
Also: last week we initiated a blogging round table to bring together
active bloggers, lurkers, techies and anyone else interested from the
department to discuss the OII blogosphere (which is still in its
infancy). One of the issues raised was how to actually define the blogs:
in terms of content as well as style of writing. There was generally a
positive attitude about blogging at the OII and a recognition that
actual practices will evolve over time. There will be another round
table in Trinity for which an experienced academic blogger will be
invited to share some wisdom with us...
OII blogosphere:
http://people.oii.ox.ac.uk/
...but the next few weeks are likely to be a bit quieter at the OII with
a number of us leaving Oxford for the term break to work or do field
work abroad (eg Wolf will be heading to Beijing to conduct interviews
with Chinese students as part of a survey on their attitudes to illegal
file-sharing: part of a joint effort with fellow researchers from the
Berkman Center and the Institute for Internet Behavior at Tsinghua
University, Beijing).
Applications:
The application deadlines for 2007/08 entry to the OII DPhil Programme
are 16 March 2007 and 18 May 2007. Candidates wishing to undertake
groundbreaking, detailed study of the Internet and its social impact can
find out more at:
http://www.oii.ox.ac.uk/teaching/dphil/?pa=1
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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