First Monday May 2005

Dear Reader,

The May 2005 issue of First Monday (volume 10, number 5) is now available at
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/

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Table of Contents

Volume 10, Number 5 - May 2nd 2005

Virtual dissection and physical collaboration
by Kenneth R. Fleischmann
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/fleischmann/

Abstract:

This paper explores how software can be designed for individual use or for
collaboration in the physical or virtual world, focusing on physical
collaboration. The case study explored is the design and use of frog and
human dissection simulation software. Since socialization has
traditionally played an important role in the dissection laboratory
experience, yet dissection simulations do not typically incorporate any
online or offline interactions, the idea of virtual dissections or other
types of educational software for physical collaboration is proposed.

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Beyond markets and firms: The emergence of Open Source networks
by Federico Iannacci and Eve Mitleton-Kelly
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/iannacci/

Abstract:

Although hierarchies and markets (i.e., autonomy) have been subject to
extensive study, heterarchies represent different modalities of organizing
that have been little researched. Drawing on complexity theory and the
main features of complex evolving systems (CES), this paper sets out to
remedy this imbalance by showing that heterarchies feature highly
decentralized and relatively stable interactions which are coordinated
through an emergent process of parametric adaptation. Implications in
terms of learning are discussed casting a new light on the delicate issue
of motivation in Open Source software development.

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MusicGrid: A case study in broadband video collaboration
by Hassan Masum, Martin Brooks, and John Spence
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/masum/

Abstract:

The technical requirements for widespread deployment of broadband video
over the Internet are rapidly being met. But a harder challenge remains:
how can video-based technologies promote collaboration and learning?

We present a case study: the MusicGrid Project. Running from 2002 to 2004
with partners in several Canadian and international locations, this
modestly funded initiative ran over one hundred successful multi-site
education and performance sessions. The rationale, development, and
operation of the project are discussed, along with general lessons
learned. We believe that our experience and the opportunities and issues
identified will be useful to all those interested in large-scale,
video-based collaboration projects.

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Interdoc: The first international non-governmental computer network
by Brian Martin Murphy
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/murphy/

Abstract:

This paper tells in detail a little known story from the annals of
computer networking history. In the early 1980s a small group of
international non-governmental aid giving organizations developed their
own network using available technologies to empower groups that worked for
social and economic justice. Interdoc had member institutions from four
continents, formalized its mandate with an international accord called the
Valletri Agreement, operated in a three-circle structure, and aimed to
manage the system from a social justice perspective. The network was used
to inform and empower worker organizations, link grassroots activists,
facilitate community-based research and education, bridge international
political fault lines, collect and circulate human rights data, and
disseminate information on sustainable development. Interdoc and its
members were a precursor to, and helped facilitate the founding of the
Association for Progressive Communications which grew to be the world’s
largest computer networking institution serving non-governmental
organizations dedicated to human rights, social, economic and
environmental justice, and political change during the 1990s.

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Evaluation of digital libraries using snowball sampling
by Elaine Peterson
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/peterson/

Abstract:

This article describes how snowball sampling was applied in two different
cases to evaluate digital collections. The first digital library was
evaluated by conducting in-person interviews with survey participants. For
the second digital library, an e-mail survey was mailed to site users. The
results are compared and a cost-benefit analysis is provided. The author
concludes that the convenience of an e-mail survey is not necessarily the
most effective way to survey users.

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WSIS: Whose vision of an information society?
by Ajit Pyati
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/pyati/

Abstract:

The United Nations (UN) and International Telecommunication Union (ITU),
in their development of the World Summit on the Information Society
(WSIS), are contributing to the on-going discourse of the "Information
Society." This study analyzes how WSIS contributes to the on-going
Information Society discourse, especially how it frames a vision of an
Information Society and the global "digital divide." The methodology of
this study is a broad, comprehensive, and critical content analysis of the
two main documents of WSIS, its Declaration of Principles and Plan of
Action. The content analysis utilizes discourse analysis and ideology
critique, and quantitative and qualitative methods. The results of the
analysis show that WSIS paints a wholly utopian, technologically
deterministic picture of an "Information Society" that oversimplifies and
generalizes a complex issue and phenomenon, about which no clear consensus
exists.

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Intrinsic vs. extrinsic incentives in profit-oriented firms supplying Open
Source products and services
by Cristina Rossi and Andrea Bonaccorsi
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/rossi/

Abstract:

This paper contributes to the literature on Open Source (OS) software by
providing empirical evidence on the incentives of firms that engage in OS
activities. Data collected by a survey conducted on 146 Italian companies
supplying OS solutions (Open Source firms) show that (surprisingly)
intrinsic, community-based incentives do play a role but are not, in
general, put into practise. We investigate the discrepancy between
attitudes and behaviours and single out groups of firms adopting a more
consistent behaviour. Our results are in line with the literature on
business models of the firms that enter the Open Source field.

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De-unifying a digital library
by Arthur Sale
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/sale/

Abstract:

The University of Tasmania decided to explore using a unified digital
library for all its research output: journal articles, conference papers,
higher degree theses, and other types. This decision is in advance of the
state of the Australian national indexing systems. The digital library
also uses OAI-PMH protocols for harvesting, which one of the national
repositories does not as yet. The paper describes the context, reasons for
the University’s decision, consequences and outcomes, and the development
of software to talk to the Australian Digital Theses Program.

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Multimedia that matters: Gallery-based technology and the museum visitor
by Scott Sayre
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/sayre/

Abstract:

Throughout the 1990s, many art museums began to struggle with the
questions of how and where to integrate interpretive technologies into
exhibits and galleries. While early adopters have continued to expand and
revise their interpretive technology initiatives, the demands of the
Internet and the tighter economics of the second millennium have prevented
all but a minority of others from continuing to research and experiment
with computer-based interpretive technologies in their galleries. Because
of the interrupted evolution of the field, recent advances in technology,
and significant changes in audience expectations, there is a growing need
for current research in this area of interactive interpretive media in the
museum environment. This paper examines recent testing and evaluations of
gallery-based interpretive media projects produced by four major art
museums and concludes with a summary of findings and recommendations for
future research and program development.

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Book reviews
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_5/reviews/

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