Archive for September, 2006

Links for 2006-09-16

Saturday, September 16th, 2006

Happy birthday Del.icio.us!

Friday, September 15th, 2006

Happy Birthday Del.icio.usThe social-bookmarking tool del.icio.us turned three today. It’s a great tool. It’s thanks to del.icio.us that E-BLOG has content even when I’m too busy to write up posts. I use del.icio.us to post a list of bookmarked sites automatically to this blog. Yahoo! bought del.icio.us last year and the service has just gotten more interesting (e.g. network features such as posting bookmark recommendations to other users on the system).

Leave a link to your del.icio.us account if you have one. I’m always curious to see what stes like-minded folks deem worthy of a bookmark.

Global Day for Darfur

Friday, September 15th, 2006

This Sunday, Sept 17th will be a Global Day for Darfur with demonstrations across the globe. Check the Web site to see whether there is an event in your area. (Look carefully, some of the events are being held on other days.) This page has some background information. It is unbelievably sad the extent to which this humanitarian disaster has been ignored so far.

Links for 2006-09-15

Friday, September 15th, 2006

Links for 2006-09-14

Thursday, September 14th, 2006

What makes a town a town?

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006

Buford, WyomingI’m now on on the West coast after spending a chunk of last week driving to Palo Alto from Chicagoland.* I didn’t have much time so I just got on I-80 and drove with few interruptions. I made a stop in one of the more populated parts of Wyoming: Buford. As you can see from the sign, the town has a population of two. It’s also noteworthy due to its high elevation, apparently the highest on I-80. I had no idea I was that high up had it not been pointed out on this sign as the roads on the way weren’t particular steep. In any case, I am curious, what makes a town a town? The Eisenhower Expressway (I-80) goes by plenty (more than plenty, in fact) unpopulated areas with just a house here or there. So what makes Buford a town of two vs just a house attached to another town?

[*] For those not familiar with distances in the US, this is similar – in terms of distance, pretty much nothing else – to something like driving from Moscow to Madrid.

Hiring

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006

I am hiring for a full-time staff position in my research group. Details are below. If you know of someone in the Chicagoland area who may be interested (or someone somewhere else who’d be up for moving to the area), please let them know about this opportunity. Or if you can think of relevant mailing lists, please let me know. (I’ve posted it on air-l and CITASA. I’ve put an ad on Craig’s List Chicago and on Salon Jobs. And I’ve sent a note to a bunch of people I know both in Chicagoland and elsewhere. I welcome suggestions for additional ways of publicizing it though. For now I’m holding off on posting it on Monster.com.) Thanks!

The Web Use Project, a social science research group at Northwestern University, is looking for a full-time Project Coordinator. The Project Coordinator will work closely with Professor Eszter Hargittai, her graduate students and undergraduate students in coordinating, overseeing and administering research studies on young people’s Internet uses. See http://www.webuse.northwestern.edu for more information about the research group and http://www.eszter.northwestern.edu for more information about Prof. Eszter Hargittai’s work.

*Responsibilities: Coordinate the day-to-day activities for research projects; Recruit, hire, and oversee the management of undergraduate research assistants; Schedule the use of lab space for lab members and research activities; Manage Institutional Review Board (IRB) submissions; Coordinate with off-site project consultants; Organize scheduling of data collection; Oversee and administer data collection; Interview study participants; Conduct training sessions; Manage research databases and locked data cabinets; Manage the security and use of equipment; Ensure conformity to research group policies and perform other related duties as assigned.

*Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Communication, Sociology, Social Policy, Human Development, Education, Psychology, or a related field; 1-3 years of work experience; Strong organizational skills; Strong written and verbal communication skills; Excellent interpersonal skills; Strong problem solving and analytical skills; Ability to work in a professional manner as both a self-starter and a team member; Intermediate-Advanced skills in Microsoft Office (particularly Word and Excel); and Intermediate-Advanced skills in using Web interfaces.

*Desired Qualifications: Master’s degree in Communication, Sociology, Social Policy, Human Development, Education, Psychology, or a related field; 3+ years of social science research experience; Project management; Advanced skills in Microsoft Office (particularly Word and Excel); Experience with quantitative data; Experience with public speaking; Skills in use of Stata.

*Salary: between $35,000-$38,000 (based on experience) plus benefits

This position is scheduled to end after one year; based on availability of funds and satisfactory performance it may be renewed for a second year.

Please send cover letter, resume and reference contact information to Eszter Hargittai at jobs06-at-webuse.org. You must also submit your application through the Northwestern eRecruit system:
https://nuhr.northwestern.edu/hr89prod_er/erecruit_login.html
This is position #10572.

Keywords: research, project coordinator, Communication, Sociology, Education, lab manager

Northwestern University is an Equal Opportunity, Affirmative Action Employer. Members of historically underrepresented groups are strongly encouraged to apply.

Links for 2006-09-13

Wednesday, September 13th, 2006

Links for 2006-09-12

Tuesday, September 12th, 2006

Links for 2006-09-11

Monday, September 11th, 2006

In California now

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

I have moved to California, temporarily. I will be at the Center for Advanced Study in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) at Stanford for the next nine months. I have started posting some pictures (slideshow) for those who are curious about my new environment. The place is amazing. I had heard a lot of positive comments about the year at the Center from former fellows, but wow, it’s even more amazing than what one could imagine. And the interactions have barely started, my comments for now are based on the physical environment, not the intellectual one. I can see now that this will be an incredible year. I am extremely grateful for this opportunity.

Links for 2006-09-10

Sunday, September 10th, 2006

New bookmark tag: ToRead

Saturday, September 9th, 2006

I’ve started using a new tag on del.icio.us and so you’ll see this under some of the Web sites that get posted under my Links entries automatically published here on each day I bookmark a site on my del.icio.us account. The new tag is “ToRead”. As you may be able to guess, the point of the tag is to note that I have yet to read the contents behind the link. By adding this tag, it should be easy for me to find these sites when I have a bit of time to catch up on reading. The purpose of the tag here is twofold though. It also signals to you, dear reader, that the link under which this tag appears is not one I looked at much at all so you should not assume that I am familiar with its contents. I don’t guarantee that I have read the entire contents of the other sites either, but these I have glanced at so briefly that they may not even remain on my links list long-term. I guess they will remain on my blog though. In any case, just thought you should note this bit of change around here.

Links for 2006-09-09

Saturday, September 9th, 2006