From miriam at networkcultures.org Tue May 7 14:44:41 2013 From: miriam at networkcultures.org (Miriam Rasch) Date: Tue, 7 May 2013 14:44:41 +0200 Subject: [re-search] Call for contributions: Society of the Query reader on search, search engines and alternatives Message-ID: CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS Society of the Query Reader See also: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/query/2013/05/07/call-for-contributions-society-of-the-query-reader/ The INC Reader Series, edited by Geert Lovink, give an overview of the present day research, critique, and artistic practices in a thematic research field at once broad and limited. The set up is multidisciplinary, with academic (humanities, social sciences, software studies etc.), artistic, and activist contributors. Following the success of the previous INC readers we would like to put together an anthology with key texts considering online search and search engines. In parallel with the second Society of the Query conference which will take place in Amsterdam on November 7-8 2013, the Institute of Network Cultures is devoted to produce a reader that brings together actual theory about the foundation and history of search, the economics of search engines, search and education, alternatives, and much more. This publication is edited by Ren? K?nig and Miriam Rasch, and produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam, to be launched early 2014. It will be open access and available in print and various digital formats (see below for information on the INC reader series). POSSIBLE TOPICS Theory and Foundations of Search // Googlization: Mapping Google?s Dominance // Search Engines and Education // Searching Elsewhere: Non-Western Perspectives // Personalization: Testing the Filter Bubble // Regulation in a Globalizing World // Localization as the New Paradigm // Software Matters: Sociotechnical and Algorithmic Cultures // Showcasing Alternative Search Engines WE INVITE: Internet, visual culture and media scholars, researchers, artists, curators, producers, lawyers, engineers, open-source and open-content advocates, activists, conference participants, and others to submit materials and proposals. FORMATS : We welcome interviews, dialogues, essays and articles, images (b/w), email exchanges, manifestos, with a maximum of 8,000 words, but preferably shorter at around 5,000 words. For scope and style, take a look at the previous INC Readers and the style guide (pdf). WANT TO JOIN? Send in your proposal (500 words max.) before June 15th, 2013. You may expect a response before July 15th, 2013. DEADLINE FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: September 15th, 2013. EMAIL TO: Miriam Rasch (publications Institute of Network Cultures) at miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org MORE INFORMATION Society of the Query: http://networkcultures.org/query INC readers: http://networkcultures.org/publications ABOUT THE READER SERIES The INC reader series are derived from conference contributions and produced by the Institute of Network Cultures in Amsterdam. They are available (for free) in print and pdf; check http://networkcultures.org/publications. INC Reader #8: Geert Lovink and Miriam Rasch (eds), Unlike Us Reader: Social Media Monopolies and Their Alternatives, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2013. INC Reader #7: Geert Lovink and Nathaniel Tkacz (eds), Critical Point of View: A Wikipedia Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011. INC Reader #6: Geert Lovink and Rachel Somers Miles (eds), Video Vortex Reader II: moving images beyond YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2011. INC Reader #5: Scott McQuire, Meredith Martin, and Sabine Niederer (eds.), Urban Screens Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2009. INC Reader #4: Geert Lovink and Sabine Niederer (eds.), Video Vortex Reader: Responses to YouTube, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2008. INC Reader #3: Geert Lovink and Ned Rossiter (eds.), MyCreativity Reader: A Critique of Creative Industries, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2007. INC Reader #2: Katrien Jacobs, Marije Janssen and Matteo Pasquinelli (eds.), C?Lick Me: A Netporn Studies Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2007. INC Reader #1: Geert Lovink and Soenke Zehle (eds.), Incommunicado Reader, Amsterdam: Institute of Network Cultures, 2005. CONTACT Miriam Rasch Ren? K?nig Publications Institute of Network Cultures ITAS, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology miriam[at]networkcultures[dot]org kontakt[at]renekoenig[dot]eu t: +31 (0)20 595 1865 t: +49 (0)721 608 22209 --- Miriam Rasch, MA Institute of Network Cultures Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences | HvA room 04A07 Rhijnspoorplein 1 NL-1091 GC Amsterdam t: +31 20 5951865 miriam at networkcultures.org www.networkcultures.org @INCAmsterdam -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From frederiek.pennink at outlook.com Tue May 21 11:46:55 2013 From: frederiek.pennink at outlook.com (Frederiek Pennink) Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 11:46:55 +0200 Subject: [re-search] Rethinking search and other blogs Message-ID: Hello all, I'm currently an intern at the Institute of Network Cultures and I will be writing some short articles for the Society of the Query blog. So if you'd like to read more and stay updated, go here: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/query/ Last week I posted my first blog on the alternative search engine YossarianLives! and lateral thinking, which you can read here: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/query/2013/05/16/rethinking-search-yossarianlives/ All the best, Frederiek Pennink -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From serena at networkcultures.org Tue May 21 12:27:49 2013 From: serena at networkcultures.org (Serena Westra) Date: Tue, 21 May 2013 12:27:49 +0200 Subject: [re-search] The INC is looking for an intern for Society of the Query #2 Message-ID: Hi everyone, The INC is looking for an intern, starting on August 26 to work on Society of the Query #2: http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/query/ *Internship at INC* Institute of Network Cultures (INC) is a media research centre that actively contributes to the field of network cultures through research, events, publications and online dialogue. INC was founded in 2004 by media theorist Geert Lovink as part of the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (Hogeschool van Amsterdam). The institute acts as a framework sustaining several research projects, conferences, meetings and publications. *The institute is looking for a research intern with production skills and overall research skills for the Society of the Query #2 conference. The internship runs for 3 months to half a year (to be decided on), and starts August 26, 2013.* [image: Society of the Query] *Society of the Query #2* On November 7th and 8th 2013 the Institute of Network Cultures will organize the second Society of the Query event, focusing on online search, search engines and alternatives strategies. The aim of Society of the Query is not only to open up new perspectives by bringing together scholars from different relevant disciplines (e.g. information science, sociology, media and communication) but also to increase the public?s awareness and knowledge about the societal and cultural implications of web search. This will include artistic approaches, which may help us to question this highly routinized practice. In 2009, the conference Society of the Query has already tackled a number of these questions. While this has contributed to a better understanding of the impact of search engines, many open questions remain and the dynamics in this field have led to new ones: How does the rise of the social web affect search engines and the practices around them? Which consequences do innovations like personalization, localization or autocomplete have? How can we re-think the established search routines? With the second conference and the publication of a reader in the beginning of 2014 answers are sought and the debate around web search is restarted. For more information about Society of the Query visit: http://networkcultures.org/query For the event to be organized on the 7nd and 8th of November 2013 Amsterdam INC is looking for a *JUNIOR RESEARCHER (internship), with PRODUCTION skills.* We are looking for an enthusiastic, energetic, inquisitive and precise (former) student with knowledge and interests in the field of new media. As the conference has an international scope, active English skills are required, in speaking and writing. You are strong socially and theoretically. The Institute of Network Cultures offers you the possibility for an internship of a period of 3 months to half a year (to be decided on), starting from August 26, 2013. *Research tasks:* ? Attend meetings ? write literature reviews on subjects related to the Society of the Query research initiative ? collect interesting and relevant literature ? assist the program committee with writing the program (which will be published on the website and in print) ? write contributions for the Society of the Query blog *Production tasks: *? attend meetings ? work as part of the organizational team ? prepare the congress location ? be responsible for registration ? assist at developing and executing a communication plan ? add and update the program to the blog The internship will take up 4 days a week. Less days is negotiable. Please note that the workload will be less in the beginning of the internship, building up towards a few weeks of full-time work around the actual event. For further information you can contact Miriam Rasch: miriam at networkcultures.org. Applications: if you are interested please send your motivation (1 page) and your CV to miriam at networkcultures.org by the 9th of June 2013. -- Projectondersteuning Institute of Network Cultures Hogeschool van Amsterdam serena at networkcultures.org s.westra2 at hva.nl 06-14669266 serenawestra.com Niet aanwezig op maandag, dinsdag en vrijdag. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From geert at xs4all.nl Wed May 22 09:15:05 2013 From: geert at xs4all.nl (Geert Lovink) Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 09:15:05 +0200 Subject: [re-search] leaving googles silo (except search) Message-ID: <14012B2B-0622-4067-A141-144F9E6876D4@xs4all.nl> https://kkinder.com/2013/05/21/leaving-googles-silo-alternatives-to-gmail-talk-calendar-and-more/ (what is a bit strange here is that alternatives to the google search engines are not mentioned, claiming that google search is still the best. /geert) From berno.rieder at gmail.com Wed May 22 14:46:12 2013 From: berno.rieder at gmail.com (Bernhard Rieder) Date: Wed, 22 May 2013 14:46:12 +0200 Subject: [re-search] leaving googles silo (except search) In-Reply-To: <14012B2B-0622-4067-A141-144F9E6876D4@xs4all.nl> References: <14012B2B-0622-4067-A141-144F9E6876D4@xs4all.nl> Message-ID: <313807EF-C548-44D5-94B1-BE616796E9D3@gmail.com> Hi Geert, Thanks for the link! As Argenton & Pr?fer argue (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1808624), the crucial role that large-scale and highly granular use data plays for search quality (defined as user satisfaction) means that the leading search engine is necessarily also the best one. A colleague and I have recently tried to show (http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/04/24/1461444813481195.abstract) that this situation is a systematic effect of current market configurations and only highly proactive regulatory intervention could change that. What is actually surprising, then, is that there are still alternatives. ,-) cheers, Bernhard On May 22, 2013, at 09:15 , Geert Lovink wrote: > https://kkinder.com/2013/05/21/leaving-googles-silo-alternatives-to-gmail-talk-calendar-and-more/ > > (what is a bit strange here is that alternatives to the google search engines are not mentioned, claiming that google search is still the best. /geert) > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org From kontakt at renekoenig.eu Thu May 23 15:53:27 2013 From: kontakt at renekoenig.eu (=?iso-8859-1?B?UmVu6SBL9m5pZw==?=) Date: Thu, 23 May 2013 15:53:27 +0200 Subject: [re-search] leaving googles silo (except search) In-Reply-To: <313807EF-C548-44D5-94B1-BE616796E9D3@gmail.com> References: <14012B2B-0622-4067-A141-144F9E6876D4@xs4all.nl> <313807EF-C548-44D5-94B1-BE616796E9D3@gmail.com> Message-ID: <005701ce57bc$e6bc6ea0$b4354be0$@renekoenig.eu> Interesting thoughts here. And pretty scary, too. It?s equally frustrating and surprising that there is no larger public debate on this. Best, Ren? -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- Von: re-search [mailto:re-search-bounces at listcultures.org] Im Auftrag von Bernhard Rieder Gesendet: Mittwoch, 22. Mai 2013 14:46 An: Geert Lovink Cc: re-search at listcultures.org Betreff: Re: [re-search] leaving googles silo (except search) Hi Geert, Thanks for the link! As Argenton & Pr?fer argue (http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1808624), the crucial role that large-scale and highly granular use data plays for search quality (defined as user satisfaction) means that the leading search engine is necessarily also the best one. A colleague and I have recently tried to show (http://nms.sagepub.com/content/early/2013/04/24/1461444813481195.abstract) that this situation is a systematic effect of current market configurations and only highly proactive regulatory intervention could change that. What is actually surprising, then, is that there are still alternatives. ,-) cheers, Bernhard On May 22, 2013, at 09:15 , Geert Lovink wrote: > https://kkinder.com/2013/05/21/leaving-googles-silo-alternatives-to-gmail-ta lk-calendar-and-more/ > > (what is a bit strange here is that alternatives to the google search engines are not mentioned, claiming that google search is still the best. /geert) > > _______________________________________________ > re-search mailing list > re-search at listcultures.org > http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org _______________________________________________ re-search mailing list re-search at listcultures.org http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org From kontakt at renekoenig.eu Thu May 30 16:16:52 2013 From: kontakt at renekoenig.eu (=?iso-8859-1?B?UmVu6SBL9m5pZw==?=) Date: Thu, 30 May 2013 16:16:52 +0200 Subject: [re-search] Utrecht University library surrenders to Google Message-ID: <002801ce5d40$555c3740$0014a5c0$@renekoenig.eu> Hello everybody, This is not exactly brand new but I?d be very interested in your opinion. The Utrecht University library kind of surrenders to Google et al. by not investing in their own search tools since their visitors anyway use other services like Google Scholar or Scopus (http://bit.ly/114mXPJ). While a colleague applauds them ?for acting based on their findings, not on wishes or institutional politics?, I find this form of surrendering to Google rather sad and alarming. But ok, I can?t claim that I don?t use these services myself. Anyway, this example once more raises the question how we should deal with the supremacy of Google et al. Obviously, forcing people to use library search tool cannot be the answer but what can we do? What?s your opinion? Best, Ren? -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: From reips at deusto.es Thu May 30 22:34:56 2013 From: reips at deusto.es (Ulf-Dietrich Reips) Date: Thu, 30 May 2013 22:34:56 +0200 Subject: [re-search] Utrecht University library surrenders to Google In-Reply-To: <002801ce5d40$555c3740$0014a5c0$@renekoenig.eu> References: <002801ce5d40$555c3740$0014a5c0$@renekoenig.eu> Message-ID: Hi Ren?, all: for a long time I couldn't stand outdated library technologies and cataloguing projects (and the nerves and money wasted on them) in light of the simple and efficient Google approach. However, nowadays with near monopolistic and increasingly regulated and commercialized optimization of Google search algorithms we should imho take care to keep and develop excellent independent solutions. Kind regards Ulf At 16:16 Uhr +0200 30.5.2013, Ren? K?nig wrote: >Content-Type: multipart/alternative; > boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0029_01CE5D51.18E6DC00" >Content-Language: de > >Hello everybody, > >This is not exactly brand new but I?d be very interested in your opinion. >The Utrecht University library kind of >surrenders to Google et al. by not investing in >their own search tools since their visitors >anyway use other services like Google Scholar or >Scopus (http://bit.ly/114mXPJ). While a >colleague applauds them >"for acting based on their findings, not on >wishes or institutional politics", I find this >form of surrendering to Google rather sad and >alarming. But ok, I can?t claim that I don?t use >these services myself. Anyway, this example once >more raises the question how we should deal with >the supremacy of Google et al. Obviously, >forcing people to use library search tool cannot >be the answer but what can we do? >What?s your opinion? >Best, > >Ren? > > > >_______________________________________________ >re-search mailing list >re-search at listcultures.org >http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org -- Prof. Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips Ikerbasque Research Professor Director, iScience group Facultades de Ingener?a y de Psicolog?a y Educaci?n Universidad de Deusto Avda. de las Universidades 24 48007 Bilbao, Espa?a http://iscience.deusto.es/ http://www.facebook.com/InternetScience From kontakt at renekoenig.eu Fri May 31 14:28:25 2013 From: kontakt at renekoenig.eu (=?iso-8859-1?B?UmVu6SBL9m5pZw==?=) Date: Fri, 31 May 2013 14:28:25 +0200 Subject: [re-search] Utrecht University library surrenders to Google In-Reply-To: References: <002801ce5d40$555c3740$0014a5c0$@renekoenig.eu> Message-ID: <005301ce5dfa$5f62ca00$1e285e00$@renekoenig.eu> Hi Ulf & list, Thanks for your feedback! It?s pretty much exactly what I think. Somebody from Utrecht University library has reacted to my tweet (one of the beautiful dynamics of Twitter), justifying their approach. I do see their point: Why acting against the actual user behavior and wasting the tight budget? Anyway, the question if we (academia as well as the general society) wants to leave the important field of search technology to a few commercial companies goes way beyond the decisions of a single library. Something for our upcoming Society of the Query conference (http://networkcultures.org/wpmu/weblog/2013/04/23/save-the-date-society-of- the-query-2-november-7-8-2013-in-amsterdam/)... Cheers, Ren? -----Urspr?ngliche Nachricht----- Von: Ulf-Dietrich Reips [mailto:reips at deusto.es] Gesendet: Donnerstag, 30. Mai 2013 22:35 An: Ren? K?nig; re-search at listcultures.org Betreff: Re: [re-search] Utrecht University library surrenders to Google Hi Ren?, all: for a long time I couldn't stand outdated library technologies and cataloguing projects (and the nerves and money wasted on them) in light of the simple and efficient Google approach. However, nowadays with near monopolistic and increasingly regulated and commercialized optimization of Google search algorithms we should imho take care to keep and develop excellent independent solutions. Kind regards Ulf At 16:16 Uhr +0200 30.5.2013, Ren? K?nig wrote: >Content-Type: multipart/alternative; > boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0029_01CE5D51.18E6DC00" >Content-Language: de > >Hello everybody, > >This is not exactly brand new but I?d be very interested in your opinion. >The Utrecht University library kind of surrenders to Google et al. by >not investing in their own search tools since their visitors anyway use >other services like Google Scholar or Scopus (http://bit.ly/114mXPJ). >While a colleague applauds them "for acting based on their findings, >not on wishes or institutional politics", I find this form of >surrendering to Google rather sad and alarming. But ok, I can?t claim >that I don?t use these services myself. Anyway, this example once more >raises the question how we should deal with the supremacy of Google et >al. Obviously, forcing people to use library search tool cannot be the >answer but what can we do? >What?s your opinion? >Best, > >Ren? > > > >_______________________________________________ >re-search mailing list >re-search at listcultures.org >http://listcultures.org/mailman/listinfo/re-search_listcultures.org -- Prof. Dr. Ulf-Dietrich Reips Ikerbasque Research Professor Director, iScience group Facultades de Ingener?a y de Psicolog?a y Educaci?n Universidad de Deusto Avda. de las Universidades 24 48007 Bilbao, Espa?a http://iscience.deusto.es/ http://www.facebook.com/InternetScience