First Monday July 2005

Dear Reader,

The July 2005 issue of First Monday (volume 10, 
number 7) is now available at 
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/

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Table of Contents

Volume 10, Number 7 - July 4th 2005

Less is more in Web search interfaces for older adults
by Anne Aula and Mika Käki
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/aula/

Abstract:
We have previously found the elderly users to 
face several usability problems with the current 
search engines. Thus, we designed an 
elderly-friendly search interface, Etsin. To 
evaluate the success of the design, a usability 
study was conducted for comparing the usability 
of Etsin and Google. The participants faced fewer 
usability problems when using Etsin than Google 
and they valued the clarity of the Etsin 
interface. In conclusion, elderly users benefit 
from a simplified search engine interface that is 
easy to understand and that takes into account 
age-related issues.

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The challenges of classification: Emerging VOIP 
regulation in Europe and the United States
by David Bach and Jonathan Sallet
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/bach/

Abstract:
Internet telephony - or Voice over Internet 
Protocol (VOIP) - has the potential to transform 
the world of voice communications more profoundly 
than anything since the invention of the 
telephone itself. As telecommunications 
incumbents and a range of new entrants begin 
rolling out commercial VOIP services, 
policymakers around the world are grappling with 
the regulatory implications. In the United States 
and the European Union, the two largest near-term 
VOIP markets, efforts are underway to fit VOIP 
into existing regulatory frameworks. This process 
of "regulatory classification" is by no means a 
purely administrative act. A lot is at stake and 
different interest groups have therefore 
mobilized to shape the respective outcomes. 
Because legacy regulatory systems in Europe and 
the United States differ, the regulatory 
treatment of VOIP in the two markets is beginning 
to differ as well. Yet in both markets there is a 
substantial danger that fitting VOIP into 
existing classifications will force VOIP to look 
more like regular telephony, thereby limiting its 
innovation potential.

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Communicative practice and transgressive global 
politics: The D'ua of Sheikh Muhammed Al Mohaisany
by Michael Dartnell
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/dartnell/

Abstract:
Walter Benjamin noted the transformative impact 
of information technology when he said that 
"photography greatly extends the sphere of 
commodity exchange... by flooding the market with 
countless images of figures, landscapes, and 
events which had previously been available either 
not at all or only as pictures for individual 
customers." Echoing his assessment, multimedia 
activism has emerged as a practice through which 
multiple-user communication by non-state actors 
highlights transgressive values and issues. This 
paper focuses on Islamic extremist Web activism 
by discussing a multimedia file, the "d'ua of 
Sheikh Muhammed Al-Mohaisany." The file is 
examined to illustrate how the Web and other IT 
provide once inaccessible information and 
potentially alter communication by directly 
addressing targeted publics. Multimedia activism 
introduces issues of identity, boundaries, and 
perceptions into global politics and culture 
through telecommunication practices that were 
formerly state regulated.

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Towards professional participatory storytelling in journalism and advertising
by Mark Deuze
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/deuze/

Abstract:
The Internet - specifically its graphic 
interface, the World Wide Web - has had a major 
impact on all levels of (information) societies 
throughout the world. For media professionals 
whose work has primarily been defined as creative 
storytelling - whether in advertising, 
journalism, public relations or related fields - 
this poses fascinating opportunities as well as 
vexing dilemmas. The central question seems to be 
to what extent storytelling can be content- or 
connectivity-based, and what level of 
participation can or should be included in the 
narrative experience. Although these two issues 
have been part of creative decision-making 
processes in media work before the Web, new 
technologies of production, distribution and 
communication are 'supercharging' them as the 
central dilemmas in the contemporary media 
ecosystem. This paper discusses the history and 
contemporary examples of media work combining 
various elements of storytelling as a hybrid form 
between content and connectivity, and considers 
the normative and economical implications for the 
professional identity of media workers in 
journalism and advertising.

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E-deliberation and local governance: The role of 
computer mediated communication in local 
democratic participation in the United Kingdom
by Joss Hands
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/hands/

Abstract:
This paper focuses on the use of local government 
Web sites in the United Kingdom to encourage and 
facilitate democratic deliberation. The question 
addressed is to what end, and on whose terms, 
citizens are being encouraged to engage local 
government via computer-mediated communication. 
After an initial investigation into the 
legislative framework of local e-democracy, this 
paper examines opportunities available for 
citizens to deliberate by examining 469 local 
government Web sites. This information is then 
reviewed in the context of empirical evidence on 
the practices and attitudes of those responsible 
for the management and upkeep of the specific 
sites under question. It appears that while 
interaction is being encouraged, it is limited 
and tends towards an individualistic liberal 
model.

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Ethnic media and politics: The case of the use of 
the Internet by Uyghur diaspora
by Kilic Kanat
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/kanat/

Abstract:
The role of the active production and consumption 
of various forms of media on the ethnic groups 
and diasporas has long been debated among 
scholars from different disciplines. Currently 
the use of the Internet has become the focal 
point of these studies. In recent years, the 
Uyghur diaspora has been increasingly using the 
Internet and cyberspace in order to reach their 
goals of "being the voice of the repressed people 
of their homeland," disseminating information and 
increasing communication among themselves. In 
this paper I will try to discuss the influence of 
this netizenship of the Uyghur diaspora on Uyghur 
politics and identity.

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Usability@90mph: Presenting and evaluating a new, 
high-speed method for demonstrating user testing 
in front of an audience
by Paul F. Marty and Michael B. Twidale
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/marty/

Abstract:
This article documents the authors' attempt to 
develop a quick, inexpensive, and reliable method 
for demonstrating user testing to an audience. 
The resulting method, Usability@90mph, is simple 
enough to be conducted at minimal expense, fast 
enough to be completed in only thirty minutes, 
comprehensible enough to be presented to 
audiences numbering in the hundreds, and yet 
sophisticated enough to produce relevant design 
recommendations, thereby illustrating for the 
audience the potential value of user testing in 
general. In this article, the authors present 
their user testing demonstration method in 
detail, analyze results from 44 trials of the 
method in practice, and discuss lessons learned 
for demonstrating user testing in front of an 
audience.

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Survey of Web-based educational resources in selected U.S. art museums
by Robert A. Varisco and Ward Mitchell Cates
http://firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_7/varisco/

Abstract:
Art museums in the United States share a common 
mission to educate many people - from families to 
teachers to researchers. But how do these museums 
use the World Wide Web to extend their 
educational mission? More specifically, what 
kinds of educational materials do U.S. art 
museums offer to online visitors, and how broadly 
available are such resources across the Web? This 
study set out to answer these questions and to 
tie the findings to the contextual model of 
museum learning. Conclusions are drawn about how 
museums from the sample fit within a technology 
adoption curve.

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Special issue number 1: Music and the Internet
edited by David Beer

Introduction: Collecting the fragments of transformation
by David Beer
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/special10_7/beer/

Tracking technological transformations

The Big Bumpy Shift: Digital Music via Mobile Internet
by Daniel P. Dolan (originally published in December 2000)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_12/dolan/

Technological and Social Drivers of Change in the Online Music Industry
by Mark Fox (originally published in February 2002)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_2/fox/

Distribution, copyright and democracy

Giving Away Music to Make Money
by Michael Pfahl (originally published in August 2001)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_8/pfahl/

Music in the Age of Free Distribution: MP3 and Society
by Kostas Kasaras (originally published in January 2002)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_1/kasaras/

Rip, Mix, Burn: The Politics of Peer to Peer and Copyright Law
by Kathy Bowrey and Matthew Rimmer (originally published in August 2002)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue7_8/bowrey/

Gifting technologies
by Kevin McGee and Jörgen Skågeby (originally published in December 2004)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_12/mcgee/

Culture, community and consumption

The Napster Network Community
by Kacper Poblocki (originally published in November 2001)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue6_11/poblocki/

Digital music and subculture: Sharing Files, Sharing styles
by Sean Ebare (originally published in February 2004)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_2/ebare/

Grey Tuesday, online cultural activism and the mash-up of music and politics
By Sam Howard-Spink (originally published in October 2004)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue9_10/howard/

Reflection

How Will the Music Industry Weather the Globalization Storm?
by Wilfred Dolfsma (originally published in May 2000)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue5_5/dolfsma/

Artists' earnings and copyright: A review of 
British and German music industry data in the 
context of digital technologies
By Martin Kretschmer (originally published in January 2005)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_1/kretschmer/

Reflecting on the digit(al)isation of music
by David Beer (originally published in February 2005)
http://www.firstmonday.org/issues/issue10_2/beer/

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