Full Circle Associates

As usual, the arrival of the online journal, First Monday brings a veritable cookie tray full of goodies about this strange online world we are living in. Here are the articles that are on my reading list and why:

Ringtones, or the auditory logic of globalization by Sumanth Gopinath. When I'm out of my home country, the US, I see a world of cultures linked to mobile phones. I had never thought about the cultural consequences, but triggered by the title of this article, I'm interested to think about them now!
Abstract

This essay attempts to provide a description of the global ringtone industry, to determine and assess the numerous cultural consequences of the ringtone’s appearance and development, and to situate the ringtone within the context of contemporary capitalism. At its broadest, my assertion is that the development of the ringtone is a powerful lens through which we might clearly view some of the dynamics of present day (or “late”) capitalist cultural production, including the development of new rentier economies within oligopolistic sectors of production and consumption, and a long–term shift in global productive dominance from North America to the Pacific Rim. The ringtone is also a remarkable cultural phenomenon that is demonstrating a high degree of popularity and is undergoing rapid transformation; therefore, its short, continuing lifetime already needs to be assessed historically.

From Eleanor Rigby to Nannanet: The greying of the World Wide Web by Tara Brabazon. My mom blogs. What can I say. This is important, especially since one of these days, I'll be gray as well!
Abstract

The proportion and number of wired seniors is small. A grey gap punctuates in the digital divide. The World Wide Web is not a panacea or salve for the isolation and ageism that confronts senior citizens. Yet a proactive and political desire to wire those who are living, dancing, talking and thinking in God’s Waiting Rooms around the world provide one more safety net and social safeguard to collectivize the dispersed and dispossessed. This article uses quantitative and qualitative studies to investigate how and why older populations dis/connect from the digital environment. Commencing with international surveys monitoring Web users, the study then drills down to regions with a high proportion of older residents, exploring if and then how seniors use the World Wide Web.

Agenda–setting, opinion leadership, and the world of Web logs by Aaron Delwiche. Another way to look at things rather than "blogger vs journalist!"
Abstract

More than 350 studies have explored the agenda setting hypothesis, but most of this research assumes a clear distinction between reporters and their readers. Web logs erode this distinction, facilitating participatory media behavior on the part of audiences (Blood, 2003). The activities of journalistically focused web log authors give us new ways to understand and measure the agenda setting process. While previous researchers have explored issue salience by focusing on audience recall and public opinion, web logs invite us to consider hyperlinks as behavioral indicators of an issue’s perceived importance. This paper tracks news stories most often linked to by web log authors in 2003, comparing the results to stories favored by traditional media. Arguing that web log authors construct an alternative agenda within the admittedly limited realm of the blogosphere, I note that their focus has shifted from technology to broader political issues. My findings support Chaffee and Metzger’s (2001) prediction that “the key problem for agenda-setting theory will change from what issues the media tell people to think about to what issues people tell the media they want to think about” (375).

The use of the Internet to activate latent ties in scholarly communities
by Paul Genoni, Helen Merrick, and Michele Willson. I'm interested in peripheral participation and the power of weak ties, so this one looks interesting.
Abstract

This paper presents the results of a survey on the use of the Internet by university-based scholars to contact unknown peers. These contacts are considered as examples of the activation of “latent ties” which are said to exist within communities with associated interests. The research indicates that the Internet facilitates the activation of these ties and that the degree to which it is used for this purpose is associated with academic rank.