WordStat update

Provalis Research recently announced an update to its WordStat program, part of its very powerful suite of text analytic software.

Mike's got much more experience with this than me, but I've found WordStat's ability to rapidly (and rigorously) design and implement thematic content analysis amazed me.

Combined with QDAMiner (code-and-retrieve analysis), we've both been very impressed with Provalis software.

It's pricey ($615 academic license for WordStat and QDAMiner), but if your analysis is text-intensive (and you want transparent and rigorous analysis), I'd say it's worth the investment.

Bit Brother

According to ZDNet, US AG Gonzalez has "pressured" ISPs to retain their subscribers' Internet logs for at least two years.

This follows the EU's decision to require the same of all IP, telephone and ISP companies in Europe last December.

Practical tech for teaching

TechLEARNING is hosting a FREE workshop on on 21st Century Schools: Practical Strategies for Implementing Technology this Wednesday at 4pm EDT.

"Successfully implementing technology into today's schools means evaluating student, educator, and classroom needs and how best to address them. It involves assessing current infrastructure, determining future technologies and evaluating the professional development, technical and instructional support that will guarantee that the system is both effective and cost effective.

"Some districts have figured out the strategies that will work for them and where to get help in making the best decisions. This Webinar will provide information on how to begin the planning process and take an inside look at two schools that have effective solutions in place. Find out how they successfully implement technology in the classroom, enhanced the teaching environment and increased student engagement."

Bibliotechnologies

Sunday's NYT had an excellent essay by Kevin Kelly, Scan This Book!

Kelly provides an overview of the dreams and debates over digitizing the world's libraries, while offering a coherent and sensible argument for why digitization is not only a good thing, but inevitable, and ultimately - a moral imperative.

One of the best overviews on this issue that I've seen thus far.

When fit hits shan

Those who've been paying attention are likely not at all surprised, but it seems the federal government has been paying more attention to what American citizens do within American borders than they have been willing to admit.

Of course, there are questions about whether this is illegal (or even unreasonable), but I think it's rare to find an American who doesn't feel a little sick at the thought. There are many themes worthy of discussion (e.g., civil liberties), but I think it might also be useful to consider the nexus of technology, capacity, and control, and whether we implicitly "want" government to be less-than-effective, less-than-efficient.

In other words, there are many laws that Americans don't want perfectly enforced (e.g., speed limits). In the past, this has often been a pragmatic limitation, an acknowledgement that monitoring and enforcement were costly at most scales. But as invention (and mater familia "necessity") have made monitoring not only cheaper, but easier to scale, we see that "democratic" institutions are increasingly tempted by the power these technologies imply. And of course, the perpetual immanent threat to life and limb makes it much easier to allow liberty to fade into memory.

Are there any budding political theorists out there who are working on these themes? Surely, this would make a fascinating topic for dissertation research.

Almost forgot

The latest issue of First Monday (11:5) is out.

Interesting articles include: Jones and Mitnick on networks and disaster recovery and Bryne Potter on the digital divide, as well as others.

Read on.

Wiretapping the academy

According to Preston Galla at Networking Pipeline, the FCC is currently pressuring colleges and universities to create "backdoors" in their systems to enable the FCC to spy on students, professors, and staff.

This is based on a 1994 law known as CALEA, which allows government surveillance of individuals on digital networks.

The American Council on Education has petitioned the FCC to exempt universities based on the projected costs of making their networks compatible - around $7 billion overall.

Surely, a political scientist somewhere must be researching this topic, no? Canada?

Interweb research conference

"Trials & Tribulations - Negotiating Research Methods in Cyberspace" will be held at Concordia University in Montreal, this November 10-11.

From the e-mail announcement:

"Technological innovations ... have changed the ways in which people work, play, interact, communicate and define who they are. ... This poses a variety of challenges in researching digital culture given that every discipline employs unique methodologies specific to their field of study.

"We aim to invite those who have an interest in and experience with conducting research online, not only as a tool, but as space of inquiry. We hope to attract a range of scholars, from students who are beginning their research to seasoned academics who can share their experiences working with digital methods. The goal of this symposium is to encourage informal discussion.

Papers are invited that focus on: ethical issues; fieldwork boundaries and possibilities; ethnography in cyberspace; the future of qualitative research online, and more.

To apply, send a 300-500 word abstract to Shanly Dixon, Humanities dixons@alcor.concordia.ca and Kelly Boudreau, Sociology and Anthropology kelly@gamecode.ca.

Deadline: July 1st, 2006

Let the sunshine in

Earlier this year, Ellen Miller and Michael Klein et al., started the Sunlight Foundation, based on the idea that the internet has made information more freely available and that transparency is good for democracy.

One need only to think of Jeff Gannon or Duke Cunningham to realize how powerful an informed and engaged populace can be.

With online tutorials to demonstrate rigorous online research, I suspect the Sunlight Foundation (and others like it) will become an important force in American politics.

I also imagine the impact of the Internet on political transparency (or occlusion) could make for fascinating dissertation research.