IRGO seminar next week “Unmasking the Lurkers”

by andrewlong April 12, 2011

IRGO is pleased to announce that Dr Jocelyn Cranefield from the University of Victoria will give a seminar next week. The talk is titled “Unmasking the lurker” (abstract below) and will be held on Tuesday 19th April from 12:00 to 1:00 in room CO2.07 of the School of Business.

Here is the abstract:

Invisible members of online communities have traditionally been seen as ‘lurkers’ - inactive, peripheral participants who provide little value to the community. By focusing on visible online interactions, research into online communities risks perpetuating this view. Jocelyn will argue that in today’s complex, multimodal communities, the lurker concept is too simplistic. Based on the findings of a case research project, she presents a view of the community in which online spaces are seen as part of a larger, polycontextual community esosystem made up of diverse online and offline contexts - engagement spaces - with differing degrees of visibility. The nature and value of community roles is understood by focusing on individuals’ boundary-spanning activity within this system. Jocelyn will report on the results of a study of online communities in which a group of “follower-feeders” played a key role in knowledge transfer by crossing the online-offline and visible-invisible community boundaries.

Hope to see many of your there!

(Source: irgo.otago.ac.nz)

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unConference2.0:resistance&control

by erikap November 10, 2010

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The Internet Research Group of Otago, with the support of InternetNZ, is proud to present unConference2.0: resistance&control.

The internet has become a contested site: issues as diverse as censorship, connectivity, digital divides, hacking and hactivism,  grass-root resistance in virtual worlds and even what apps you can buy from an online store all affect how people as individuals, as consumers, and as citizens engage both with and on the internet.

You are invited you to join us in a conversation about the internet, and how it is used both as a site of resistance and as a tool of control; how laws, norms, policies, technology and the marketplace all affect what happens online, and how pressures for both centralization and dispersion are shaping the new media landscape.

What: IRGO unConference 2.0: Resistance and Control
Where: Centre for Innovation, the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand
When: 26th January, 2011— pre-Conference workshops and events
27-28th January, 2011— unConference2.0
Who: This event is open to everyone, academics, students, professionals, industry, and interested persons.  Registration is FREE but places are strictly limited.
To be involved: Submit topics or register to attend by December 31, 2010.

The unConference format draws on topic submissions from participants prior to the event, and means that the participants will be able to engage in a comprehensive and crowd‐sourced dialogue covering all aspects of the internet, from the technological infrastructure to its social and political effects.

For the first time, IRGO is also excited to announce a series of pre-unConference workshops and roundtable events that will be held on Jan 26.  further details and registration instructions will be announced shortly on the website, but provisional topics include SNS and disaster recovery in NZ; resistance to technology in higher education; critiquing legislative control of the NZ internet; and a postgraduate workshop on doing digital research.

For further information: http://irgo.otago.ac.nz (including registration, topic submission and more details about the unConference format and venue)

We look forward to seeing you in January, and look forward to see your topic submission ideas!

the IRGO unConference committee
irgo@otago.ac.nz
@IRGOTweets

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2010 - how is it the future already?

by erikap February 17, 2010

Welcome back to IRGO for 2010.  There are a number of plans in the works for this year, including the revamped seminar series, committee elections, and even unConference 2.0!  If you want to get more involved with IRGO, now is the time to volunteer!

One of the biggest events on the IRGO calendar is the unConference - in 2009, this event exceeded all our expectations, and already people are asking about the 2010 event.  To assist in planning, we’d like to ask you for your feedback as to what worked well, what didn’t, and what you’d like to see in unConference 2.0.

Browsing the online messages posted after the first unConference, the following themes seem to emerge:

The Good

  • Open Discussion: the back and forth nature of the panels, and the chatter between sessions was lively and interesting and a highlight for many people
  • Flashmeets: grabbing an idea and running with it, and having the space in the program to do so (which also ties back to the first bullet point)
  • Open and diverse membership: having people from business and non-profits as well as academia involved led to lots of fruitful discussions.
  • Relaxed and “fuss-free”: the ‘come-as-you-are’ and laidback vibe seemed to appeal :)
  • No con-bags or other material: see above :)

The Not So Good

  • Opening with a keynote seemed to set the wrong pace for some people, and it took a while for them to shift gears
  • There was a need for a clearer idea as to the role of the chair in initializing the panel and keeping things flowing

The Questionable

  • practical or publishable outputs: how should the energy and ideas of the unConference be carried forward?

This then leads into some questions: do we keep the keynote “book-ends” or try something else?  How can we better organize and prepare panels and panel members?  Do we need outputs, and if so what form(s) should they take?  What else can we try?

What do you think?

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end of the unConference

by erikap November 24, 2009

In the last five minutes of the unConference, I want to make some public thankyous.

  • the organizing committee: Erica Baffelli, Stuart Barson and Andrew Long.  Best Committee Ever.
  • our bloggers/podders/filmers: Adele, Sam, Prajesh and Andrew, plus all those who blogged off their own bat
  • our desk volunteers: Jo, Sam, Teri, Christine, Chris and Ester
  • the Centre for Innovation staff, particularly Claire and Steve
  • everyone who submitted a panel suggestion
  • everyone who sat or chaired on a panel
  • everyone who came and made this event what is was.

THANKYOU

Now, onto practicalities.  If you have any record of the unConference (blogs, pics, pods, whatever) please let us know so we can link your record into the hub.

We are in the process of setting up a mailing list and a wiki — if you don’t get invited to join in the next few days, check the website at http://irgo.otago.ac.nz or email us at irgo@otago.ac.nz and we’ll set you up.

There is a lot of energy and an obvious need for us to carry on our discussions, so if you have any ideas don’t be afraid to speak up!

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it’s the final countdown (to the unConference)

by erikap November 3, 2009

The final deadline for both registration and unConference panel topic submissions is this Thursday, 5th November.  The panel topic submission site is hotting up, with a panel of fandom and the internet taking the surprise lead in the voting - not what you’re into?  Then go vote up other topics, such as “Copy rights, copyleft, and CreativeCommons”, “Online community building” or “Computers, young children, and literacy” just to name a few.  This is a unConference where you get what you ask for, so make sure your voice is heard.

For those who have already registered, thankyou.  The diversity of people attending this event is staggering.  In the next couple of days, we will be posting on our website a stack of practical information about the unConference — from how to acccess the wifi network, to what we’re offering for lunch! (yes, we feed you.  We’re nice that way).  But if you have a specific burning question, by all means tweet or email the unConference committee.  We’re here to help.

Stay tuned for more updates!

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Website news: Echo test page

by andrewlong October 6, 2009

The IRGO website has a new test page comprising JS-Kit’s new realtime community and sharing services called “Echo”. It is touted as the “next generation commenting system” providing tools to manage conversations and integrate these into Twitter, Facebook, etc.

There are a number of modules for navigation, commenting, sharing, etc. so try them all out and let us know what you think. Perhaps answering questions such as:

  • Does it work?
  • Should we use it?
  • Would you contribute if this service it was made available?
  • What would you like instead if this service is no good?

To try, go to the IRGO Echo test page.

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unConference update: second guest of honour announced

by erikap September 29, 2009

The Internet Research Group of Otago is pleased to announce that our second guest speaker at the inaugural IRGO unConference 2009: NZ’s Digital Futures is Rod Snodgrass, Telecom NZ’s Group Strategy Director.

As Group Strategy Director, Rod Snodgrass drives the development of Telecom’s Group Strategy with the aim of optimising Telecom’s portfolio of businesses and initiatives, including Group corporate development, and coordinating Telecom’s transformation and growth agendas. Prior to becoming Group Strategy Director, Rod held a number of positions in Telecom, including GM Group Strategy and Development, GM of the Wired Division, including Telecom’s retail fixed-line, voice, data and internet businesses, and GM of Xtra.  Rod has also held various financial, commercial and business development roles in the division. Rod joined Telecom in 1998 after seven years in various strategy, business development and commercial roles in the oil and gas exploration and production industry. Hailing from Nelson in the South Island, Rod spent his youth in Nelson and New Plymouth before graduating from Wellington’s Victoria University with a Bachelor of Commerce and Administration.

Drawing on his diverse experience in NZ telecommunications, Rod will be addressing the conference’s closing remarks, and joins our opening guest speaker, Professor Greg Hearn, from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT).

The inaugural IRGO unConference will be held at the Centre for Innovation, the University of Otago, Dunedin New Zealand, from the 23-24th November, 2009.  Information about the unConference is available online at http://irgo.otago.ac.nz/glance.html

If you would like to join us at this event, there are still limited places available to register for the unConference, but places are filling fast.  Registration is free, and the registration form is available online at:  http://irgo.otago.ac.nz/registration.html

The unConference submission site is also still open for submissions and voting.  To nominate a topic you would like to see discussed at the unConference, or to vote on topics already suggested, please head to:  http://irgo.otago.ac.nz/submissions.html You do not need to be registered to submit a topic for the unConference, or to vote topics up or down.  The topics with the most  votes will make it onto the unConference schedule, so check back often to vote on the new submissions!

We look forward to seeing you at what is shaping up to be a fascinating event.  In the meantime, if you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact the organizing committee at irgo@otago.ac.nz

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