First Monday April 2005

Dear Reader,

The April 2005 issue of First Monday (volume 10, number 4) is now
available at http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/

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Table of Contents

Volume 10, Number 4 - April 4th 2005

The democratic divide
by Stephanie Birdsall
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/birdsall/

Abstract:

Remote Internet voting has been proposed as a solution to low voter
turnout. It is tempting to see the use of Internet technology by a large
segment of the population as a quick fix for making the voting process
more accessible to a larger number of people. This argument, however,
demonstrates a disconnect with the reality of Internet use; that is, that
it happens in a place. Internet use is not an ethereal, boundary–less
activity, it is situated in a spatial/geographic context. Reviewing this
geographic context using Geographic Information System technology can
reveal the serious limitations of a "point and click" solution to
improving political participation.

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Piercing the peer–to–peer myths: An examination of the Canadian experience
by Michael Geist
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/geist/

Abstract:

Canada is in the midst of a contentious copyright reform with advocates
for stronger copyright protection maintaining that the Internet has led to
widespread infringement that has harmed the economic interests of Canadian
artists. The Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) has emerged as
the leading proponent of copyright reform, claiming that peer–to–peer file
sharing has led to billions in lost sales in Canada.

This article examines CRIA's claims by conducting an analysis of industry
figures. It concludes that loss claims have been greatly exaggerated and
challenges the contention that recent sales declines are primarily
attributable to file–sharing activities. Moreover, the article assesses
the financial impact of declining sales on Canadian artists, concluding
that revenue collected through a private copying levy system already
adequately compensates Canadian artists for the private copying that
occurs on peer–to–peer networks.

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'Public eyes': Direct accountability in an information age
by Albert Jacob Meijer
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/meijer/

Abstract:

The Internet creates interesting opportunities for citizens to call public
organizations to account. Government Web sites provide information and
facilitate debates on public sector performance. An explorative study in
the Netherlands indicates that citizens make little use of the
opportunities to call public organizations to account. Openness, however,
does have a direct effect: 'public eyes' stimulate government
organizations to score better on performance indicators and comply with
formal rules.

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The limits of Web–based empowerment: Integrated water resource management
case studies
by Mike Thelwall, Adrian Barlow, and Katie Vann
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/thelwall/

Abstract:

This article is an analysis of the limits of Web–based empowerment of the
voiceless, leveraging from five Integrated Water Resource Management
(IWRM) case studies, and motivated by several recent Web–based empowerment
success stories. For IWRM, the Web picture is of an emerging
academic–trained professional community of water professionals, with close
ties to national governments, but closer ties to powerful international
NGOs and NGOs sponsored by western governments. Nevertheless, no Web
evidence was found for the involvement of ordinary citizens in IWRM,
despite this being a key theoretical goal, and no Web evidence was found
of the emergence of genuine grass–roots pressure groups. A comparison with
other high–profile Web–enabled issues, such as the anti–World Trade
Organisation protests, indicates that the Internet can be used to help
give a voice to the voiceless in many different ways, but that its use at
a grassroots level is not automatic.

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Computer–aided music distribution: The future of selection, retrieval and
transmission
by Nancy Bogucki Duncan and Mark A. Fox
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/duncan/

Abstract:

The Internet has made music more widely available and increased the
convenience with which we can listen to music. We increasingly recognize
that recorded music can take the form of digital files. The Internet and
related technologies for music delivery have been made viable by advances
in compression, data storage, and transmission technologies. To provide
greater value to consumers, music labels need to make greater use of
retrieval and selection technologies.

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Teaching as performance in the electronic classroom
by Doug Brent
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/brent/

Abstract:

New developments in online educational technology have a profound effect
on notions of intellectual property. Theories of the social construction
of technology explain the extremely unstable nature of new technologies.
Walter Ong’s theory of the alphabet effect provides insight into the ways
in which knowledge changes as media of communication change. Shoshana
Zuboff's ideas on how managerial knowledge is transformed by technology
help us understand how certain kinds of knowledge resist being
textualized. These ideas help us understand the effects of new teaching
technologies in terms of a long–standing struggle between two views of
knowledge: knowledge as performance and knowledge as thing.

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On becoming a Web site
by Punya Mishra
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/mishra/

Abstract:

The course Web site is a critical mediator between the instructor and
students in online classes. This requires a shift in how instructors think
of their presence and influence on the classroom. This essay, based on the
author's personal experience in designing and teaching online, argues that
the design of the course Web site needs to carefully reflect the passions
and pedagogical philosophy that drive the instructor. It is also an
argument against one–size–fits–all approaches to online course design as
instantiated in most course management systems.

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Conversations in the dark: How young people manage chatroom relationships
by Rob Walker and Babis Bakopoulos
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/walker/

Abstract:

This paper reports a small number of interviews with young people in
Athens about their use of Internet chatrooms as a means of meeting people.
In the last few years there has been a growing public concern about the
dangers of socialising with strangers in chatrooms, but what do the users
themselves think about the risks involved, and what strategies have they
adopted to manage these risks? Some of the practices adopted by these
young people are surprising and counter to the conventional advice given
by official authorities.

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Where does Web bibliographies' author information come from?
by Timothy C. Craven
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/craven/

Abstract:

Web pages cited with personal author identification in 12 longer Web
bibliographies and a collection of 19 shorter Web bibliographies were
investigated. With one exception, the personal author names could be
matched in the visible text of the great majority of pages. Metatags (both
for authors and for descriptions) and page titles rarely added any author
information. In some cases, frames or inline graphics appeared to be the
sources used. Somewhat more frequent probable sources were linked pages,
such as home pages.

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Letters to the Editor
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_4/letters/

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