This came to the list over the weekend - Hope you find it useful. pm ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- Following is an announcement of the second issue of the Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication (JCMC), and a pre-announcement of issues 3 and 4. JCMC is available at http://www.usc.edu/dept/annenberg/journal.html or http://shum.huji.ac.il/jcmc/jcmc.html JCMC Volume 1, No. 2: Play and Performance in CMC : AVAILABLE NOW JCMC Volume 1, No. 3: Electronic Commerce : December 1995 JCMC Volume 1, No. 4: The Net (joint with Journal of Communication) : March 1996 ==================================================================== A NEW ISSUE OF THE JOURNAL OF COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION: Volume 1, No. 2: http://www.usc.edu/dept/annenberg/vol1/issue2 http://shum.huji.ac.il/jcmc/vol1/issue2/ PLAY AND PERFORMANCE IN COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION Edited by Brenda Danet Department of Sociology & Anthropology Department of Communication & Journalism Hebrew University of Jerusalem Contents and Abstracts: Spoof, Spam, Lurk and Lag: the Aesthetics of Text-based Virtual Realities Lee-Ellen Marvin Department of Folklore and Folklife University of Pennsylvania This paper explores communication in six text-based virtual realities through four items of jargon: spoof, spam, lurk, and lag. Research was conducted using the ethnographic tools of participant observation and close analysis of actual interactions of MOOs (Multiple-user Object Oriented environments). Examples of how these terms are used in real-time interaction were analyzed for what they communicate about the aesthetics of interaction. Close examination suggests that these articulated aesthetics serve as rules for proper behavior, markers of experience and belonging, metaphor for poetic expression and resources for play and challenge within the community. From <Bonehead> to <cLoNehEAd>: Nicknames, Play and Identity on Internet Relay Chat Haya Bechar-Israeli Department of Communication and Journalism Hebrew University of Jerusalem This article examines nicknames of IRC users. On IRC, a person's physical existence and identity must be condensed textually into a single line which states his or her nickname, the electronic address, and a slogan or the person's real name. IRC users attempt to make these representational elements as prominent as possible, by choosing an original nick which will tempt other participants to strike up a conversation. In this paper I demonstrate that although people play many kinds of games with their nicknames, the nicks they choose are very important to them. They are an inherent part of their Net identity, and even of their "real-life" identity. Two hundred sixty nicknames were collected from IRC logs, and were analyzed and classified. Only rarely did the IRCers in this study use their real names. The largest category was that of nicks related to the self in some way, referring to character traits, physical appearance, the physiological or psychological state of the self, or the person's profession or hobbies. The list of nicknames and the relative frequency of the different categories illustrate prominent features of electronic culture, a culture in which the individual is placed at the center. Participants in this culture have a high awareness of technology and technological change. They value linguistic virtuosity, yet they show contempt for the rules of the language. Although there is freedom to engage in constantly changing identity games through the manipulation of nicks, most people tend to keep to one nick for a long period of time. Curtain Time 20:00 GMT: Experiments in Virtual Theater on Internet Relay Chat Brenda Danet, Tsameret Wachenhauser, Amos Cividalli, Haya Bechar-Israeli, and Yehudit Rosenbaum-Tamari Department of Sociology & Anthropology Department of Communication & Journalism Hebrew University of Jerusalem This is an interdisciplinary study of a group called the Hamnet Players, who have scripted and performed parodies of Shakespeare and Tennessee Williams on IRC (Internet Relay Chat). Our approach draws on sociolinguistics and discourse analysis; the study of oral genres of verbal art, as practiced by folklorists and ethnographers of communication; Shakespearean studies and analyses of genres in literature; research on communication and popular culture; and recent studies of language, play and performance in computer-mediated communication. We focus primarily on the first production of the Hamnet Players, a hilarious, 80-line parody of Hamlet, called "Hamnet". The main source of humor is the playfully irreverent juxtaposition of Shakespearean plot, characters and language with materials drawn from Net culture and from IRC specifically. Hamnet productions are currently primarily textual-- participants type their lines in real time, or load them in prepared mini-files--but the players have already begun to experiment with graphics and sound, as well. The Performance of Humor in Computer-Mediated Communication Nancy Baym Department of Communication Wayne State University There has been very little work on humor in computer-mediated communication (CMC). Indeed, the implication of some CMC work is that the medium is inhospitable to humor. This essay argues that humor can be accomplished in CMC and can be critical to creating social meaning on-line. The humor of the Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.tv.soaps (r.a.t.s.), which discusses soap operas, is analyzed. The method combines user surveys with message analysis to show the prevalence and importance of humor in r.a.t.s. Close analysis of five exemplary humorous messages shows how the group's humor arises from the juxtaposition of close and distant readings of the soap opera, which place the participants in close relationships to one another, and distance them from the soap opera's writers and producers. Group solidarity is also created as participants draw extensively on previous messages to ground their own humor. Humor is also shown to be a primary mechanism for the establishment of individuality, as participants combine the shared meanings and play with the shared parameters of the group in idiosyncratic ways. Technologies of the Self: Michel Foucault Online Alan Aycock Department of Anthropology University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee While some have argued that computing via the Internet offers a vision of freedom and a shared humanity, others have claimed with equal vehemence that it may become the instrument of global surveillance and personal alienation. Foucault's notion of self- fashioning (souci de soi) exemplifies both sides of this debate, since fashions may both be imposed and freely chosen. To present a Foucauldian perspective on fashioning of self online I use instances of recent postings to the Usenet news group rec.games.chess. Key aspects of self-fashioning that I identify include romantic and modernist images of interior experience, the importance of keeping your "cool," the discussion of techniques designed to improve skill or strength, and the purchase and use of chess computers as icons of mastery. Finally, I consider some implications of this Foucauldian approach for future research on Internet self-constructions. Enduring Traditions, Ethereal Transmissions: Recreating Chinese New Year Celebrations on the Internet Seana Kozar Department of Folklore Memorial University of Newfoundland Department of East Asian Studies University of Edinburgh A post-modern discussion of the playful re-creation of Chinese New Year "cards" by Chinese students through the electronic medium. "Re-creation" here refers to two distinctive, yet related styles of performance. Firstly, it describes the recycling of traditional Chinese motifs and large-character texts to create novel greetings. Secondly, it signifies the increasingly popular practice of incorporating festive symbols from other cultures. Through the juxtaposition of traditional and contemporary, borrowed texts, the seemingly disordered pastiches are transformed into uniquely Chinese expressions of celebration. Re-creation and transmission of these greetings also requires a certain degree of technical performance. At another level of performance, anonymous Chinese computer artists may use some of these or similar tools to actually design greetings which then have the potential for global distribution and reproduction. "The Ten Thousand-Dimensional Web of Heaven and Net on Earth" (WWW) is quickly becoming an integral feature of many Chinese students' intra-cultural communication, a vast rhetorical surface where one can do anything from peruse a classical novel to select a clever greeting to send to an old friend now halfway around the world. ============================================================ Coming in December, 1995: Volume 1, No. 3: ELECTRONIC COMMERCE Edited by Charles Steinfield Department of Telecommunication Michigan State University Commercial Scenarios for the Web: Opportunities and Challenges Donna L. Hoffman, Thomas P. Novak, and Patrali Chatterjee, Vanderbilt University Electronic Commerce and the Banking Industry: The Requirement and Opportunities for New Payment Systems Using the Internet Andreas Crede, Science Policy Research Unit, University of Sussex The Impact Of Electronic Commerce On Buyer-Seller Relationships Charles Steinfield, Alice Plummer, Michigan State University Robert Kraut, Carnegie Mellon University Living Apart Together in Electronic Commerce: The Use of Information and Communication Technology to Create Network Organizations John Nouwens and Harry Bouwman, University of Amsterdam Intermediaries and Cybermediaries: A Continuing Role for Mediating Players in the Electronic Marketplace Mitra Barun Sarkar, Michigan State University Brian Butler, Carnegie Mellon University Charles Steinfield, Michigan State University Electronic Commerce: Effects on Electronic Markets Rolf T. Wigand and Robert I. Benjamin, Syracuse University The Automation of Capital Markets Arnold Picot, Christine Bortenldnger, and Heiner Rvhrl, Institute of Organization, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitdt M|nchen, ============================================================ Coming in March 1996: Volume 1, No. 4: (published jointly with the Journal of Communication) Symposium: The Net John E. Newhagen, University of Maryland Sheizaf Rafaeli, Hebrew University of Jerusalem guest editors Why Communication Researchers Should Study the Internet John E. Newhagen, University of Maryland Sheizaf Rafaeli, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Units of Analysis for Internet Communication John December, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute The Internet as Mass Medium Merrill Morris and Christine Ogan, Indiana University The Art Site on the World Wide Web Margaret L. McLaughlin University of Southern California Exploring Personal Relationships Formed Through Internet Newsgroups Malcolm R. Parks University of Washington The Internet and U.S. Communication Policymaking in Historical and Critical Perspective Robert W. McChesney University of Wisconsin-Madison Research Articles: Commercial Radio as Communication Eric W. Rothebuhler The University of Iowa Television Use in a Retirement Community Karen E. Riggs University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee ============================================================ JCMC contains ongoing book review and bibliography sections. All our material is available on the World Wide Web, is searchable, and there are reader-feedback and commenting sections. JCMC continues to invite submissions. Please point your Web browsers at: http://www.usc.edu/dept/annenberg/journal.html or http://shum.huji.ac.il/jcmc/jcmc.html Margaret L. McLaughlin and Sheizaf Rafaeli editors