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Our Purpose
The Cyberspace Research Group is an international, interdisciplinary group of expert researchers in the study of online behavior. Our purpose is to share information and resources, brainstorm ideas, collaborate, and help each other in our work.
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Our Participation Guidelines
Participate and Reply: Although chronic lurking is accepted in many online groups, please don't let that happen here. Try to send at least one message per week. Reply to people, especially if they are asking for help. Even a simple one-liner response or an "I agree" can be beneficial. On big lists with lots of traffic, some people get annoyed by such short messages, but it's good for our purposes. When people post to a list and don't get any reply, they tend to be reluctant about posting again. No one likes to be ignored.
Repetition is OK: If you're busy and can't participate as much as you might like, pick out any message from the group that looks interesting to you and reply to it. Don't worry about following the whole thread or possibly repeating something that someone else might have said in a message you didn't get a chance to read. Your feedback might offer a slightly different perspective. And even if it doesn't, you might be offering independent confirmation of an idea by another person. Independent validation is good!.
Pacing Styles: Remember that people use e-mail at different paces and that servers on the internet may deliver some mail late. Expect some delays in people responding and messages that arrive out of order.
Concise Quotes and Subject Lines: Try to avoid long quotes of previous messages. Whenever possible, quote the specific sections you are responding to. Try to pick a subject title for your message that is concise. Longer titles tend to get chopped off in many email programs. If you're using the digest version for mail, remember to change the subject line to reflect the content of your message.
Confidentiality: If you discuss the group with outsiders, be careful to respect the privacy and confidentiality of our members.
Announce Absences: Let us know when you're going to be away from your computer for a long time. Then we will know why you seem to be "quiet." If you get disconnected from the internet for an extended period due to technical problems, try to let someone in the group know so they can forward a message to the group for you.
Watch for Ambiguity: As we all know, text communication can be ambiguous due to the lack of ftf cues. Because we are international, we also have language differences. So when in doubt, ask for clarification. Remember the motto, "Assume good will."
Professionalism: Be helpful to people. We academics can be a bit critical sometimes, so let's be on the lookout for that! We will expect respectful, professional behavior on this list. A person who persistently acts in an unprofessional manner will be removed from the group.
Back channel talk: It's good to connect with other group members through other channels, like e-mail, chat, or even better, face-to-face. If there's something that you discuss about the group in these encounters, consider bringing those ideas to the group. It could be very valuable to us!
Questions/Suggestions? If you have any questions, ideas, or suggestions - please bring it up for discussion in the group - including feedback about the format and process of the group. Other people may be thinking the same thing.
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Our People
- Andrea Baker (Andee) (bakera at ohiou.edu)
Andrea Baker, Ph. D. (Sociology). Ohio University at Lancaster, USA.
I've studied online relationships since 1997, with articles on a website: http://oak.cats.ohiou.edu/~bakera/. I'm currently writing a book for Hampton Press, Double-Click: Romance and Commitment Among Online Couples. A communications professor and I created a new "blended" learning course called "Communication in Cyberspace". With student help, we began a pilot project to research differences in initiating offline and online pair relationships. Recent interests include comparing codes of ethics for internet research developed by professional associations, and conceptualizing types of online communities.
- Azy Barak (azy at construct.haifa.ac.il)
I'm a professor of psychology at the University of Haifa, Israel. I've been
engaged with the study of psychological aspects of the Internet since 1995
and involved in intensive research, writing, teaching, and applied projects
in this area. My shortened bio is at http://construct.haifa.ac.il/~azy/azy.htm. I've been maintaining an online
bibliography index related to the Internet and psychology: http://construct.haifa.ac.il/~azy/refindx.htm that you are all invited to
use (and distribute). I'm the founder, supervisor, and chair of an
exclusively online free emotional support service: http://www.sahar.org.il
(sorry, it's in Hebrew). Until recently I was the chair of the Israeli
inter-university e-learning center http://meital.iucc.ac.il (sorry, Hebrew
again). From October 1st I'll spending what seems to be a great sabbatical
year in Milano with Giuseppe Riva and his group http://www.atnplab.com.
- Bob Hsiung (dr-bob at uchicago.edu)
Robert Hsiung, MD, is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and a member of the Associate Faculty of the MacLean Center for Clinical Medical Ethics at the University of Chicago and Dr. Bob at dr-bob.org. His current online projects include Psycho-Babble (an online peer support group), Grand Rounds on the Internet, and the Student Counseling Virtual Pamphlet Collection. He is active in the American Association for Technology in Psychiatry, the American Telemedicine Association, and the International Society for Mental Health Online and edited E-Therapy: Case Studies, Guiding Principles, and the Clinical Potential of the Internet (Norton, 2002)
- Adam Joinson (A.N.Joinson at open.ac.uk)
Institute of Educational Technology, The Open University
I have a PhD in social psychology (on the self and motivation). I've been
researching Internet behaviour since 1994 - my first study investigated web
use by soccer fans. Since then I've been working on the use of the Internet
to conduct psychological research, communication and self-disclosure, and
more recently motivation and net use and deception (ongoing).
I'm involved in a number of projects at the moment. I've recently led the
development of a 'blended' distance ed. course introducing people to using
computers and the Internet (which is being presented at the moment). I'm
working with Martin Lea (Manchester) to test the impact of priming social
identities within electronic tutorial groups using this course as the
sample. With colleagues at the Open University, I've worked on a project
called ELSA (Electronic Survey Alliance). We've developed a system that
allows anyone to develop an Internet questionnaire (using a web interface)
with automated reporting of results (so you can output straight to a word
report). Its not quite writing papers automatically yet, but we hope to get
close:-) With a colleague we use the ELSA system to run a project called
PRESTO (http://elsa.open.ac.uk/presto/) - a panel of 2200 (with another 10k
coming in soon) who we use to inform policy at the University. Finally, I'm
working with a couple of people at Miami, Ohio on norm formation and deviant
group members in virtual communities, and with colleagues at the OU on
disabled people's use of the Internet and the offline impact of this use.
- Janet Morahan-Martin (jmorahan at bryant.edu,curtishmartin at att.net)
Janet Morahan-Martin, Ph.D.,
Professor of Psychology,
Bryant College,
Smithfield, RI, USA.
I have pursued several areas of Internet-related research: Gender and the Internet, pathological Internet use, loneliness and the Internet, uses of online health information
- Sheizaf Rafaeli (sheizaf at rafaeli.net)
Sheizaf Rafaeli (B.A., Haifa University, M.A. Ohio State University,
M.A., Ph.D., Stanford University) is head of the Center for the Study of
the Information Society and a professor at the Graduate School of
Business Administration, University of Haifa Israel. Previously, he has
been head of the Information Systems area at the GSB in the Hebrew
University of Jerusalem, since 1986. His interests are in computers as
media. He has published on this topic in journals such as Behavior and
Information Technology, Communication Research, Computers and the Social
Sciences, Computers and Human Behaviour, Journal of Communication,
Information and Software Technology, Information Systems Journal, the
European Journal of Information Systems, the International Journal of
Electronic Business, International Journal of Human Computer
Interaction, and the Journal of Broadcasting. Sheizaf is also active in
practicing what he preaches: He has been involved in building
internet-based activities such as online higher-education, journalism,
political, governmental, social and economic virtual organizations and
efforts. He authored software and books on graphics, electronic
spreadsheets and statistical analysis, and a textbook on information
systems for the Open University. He is co-editor, along with Fay
Sudweeks and Margaret McLaughlin, of Network and NetPlay: Virtual Groups
on the Internet published by MIT Press, 1998. He served as
co-coordinator of the international ProjectH. He served as cofounder and
editor of The Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, and is proud
of having set up the Citizen's Advice Board online service. Prof.
Rafaeli is a long time member of the Stockholm International Challenge
Jury for Information Systems' Projects. Sheizaf has served in visiting
research and teaching positions at Ohio State University, Michigan State
University, IBM, Stanford University, Technion, Israeli College of
Management, and the University of Michigan. Over the past fifteen years
he has taught courses on computers as media, and the social implications
of new communication technologies, as well as numerous Information
Systems' courses.
- John Suler (suler at mindspring.com)
John Suler, PhD. (clinical psychology)
Department of Psychology,
Science and Technology Center
Rider University, USA.
Author of The Psychology of Cyberspace. I'm currently developing eQuest, an online program for self study and personal growth. I am a consulting editor for the Journal of Virtual Environments, CyberPsychology and Behavior, and The Journal of Applied Psychoanalysis, and am a founding member and serve on the executive board of the International Society for Mental Health Online, where I also created and moderated its online clinical case study group. I have several web publications, including Teaching Clinical Psychology, Zen Stories to Tell Your Neighbors, and my novel Madman. Links to these aspects of my work appear on my bio page. Here are a few of those links:
http://www.rider.edu/suler/psycyber/psycyber.html
http://www.rider.edu/suler/psycyber/equest.html
http://www.ismho.org/casestudy/
- Alexander Voiskounsky (vae-msu at mail.ru)
Alexander E. Voiskounsky, Ph.D (General Psychology). Psychology Department, Moscow State University after M.V.Lomonosov. Compiler & editor of Research on the Internet: Humanitarian and Social Aspects (2000) the 1st (in Russian) Cyber-research volume. Co-author of Gifted Children and Computers (2003) and of several earlier books in Russian. Co-editor (with Diane Halpern) of States of Mind: American and Post-Soviet Perspectives on Contemporary Issues in Psychology (1997) in English. I am in the Board of JCMC & of PsychNology. Just now I am organizing/reorganizing a M.I.N.D. Lab Moscow (www.mindlab.org). Due to organizational problems, my site (www.vygotsky.ru) is *permanently* under reconstruction.
- Monica Whitty (m.whitty at Queens-Belfast.AC.UK)
Ižm a Lecturer in Psychology at Queenžs University Belfast and my web page can be found here: http://www.psych.qub.ac.uk/staff/profiles/whitty/index.html I lecture in social, developmental and cyber psychology and qualitative research methods. Ižve been looking at Internet interactions since about 1998. My main research interests include: Internet relationships and sexuality, the development of online relationships and interactions, cyber-flirting, Internet infidelity, cyber-stalking, Internet and email surveillance in the workplace, Internet and education, misrepresentation of the self online, cyber-ethics and young peopležs hopes and dreams for the future. My current research projects include: a study on cyberstalking funded by the Criminology Research Council in Australia, Online dating, funded by The University of Western Sydney and RSVP, and Womenžs views on offensive material in the workplace, funded by Surf Control in the UK, US and Australia.