CALL FOR AWARD APPLICATIONS

Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award 2010

Sponsored by the Carl Couch Center for Social and Internet Research http://www.cccsir.org/

The Carl Couch Center issues an annual call for student-authored papers to be considered for Carl J. Couch Internet Research Award. The Couch Center welcomes both theoretical and empirical papers that (1) apply symbolic interactionist approaches to Internet studies, (2) demonstrate interactive relationships between social interaction and communication technologies as advocated by Couch, and/or (3) develop symbolic interactionist concepts in new directions. Papers will be evaluated based on the quality of (1) mastery of Symbolic Interactionist approaches and concepts and Couch’s theses, (2) originality, (3) organization, (4) presentation, and (5) advancement of knowledge.

Evaluation will be administered by a Review Committee of four:

Mark D. Johns, Luther College, Decorah, Iowa

Annette Markham, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Lois Ann Scheidt, University of Indiana, Bloomington

Dennis Waskul, Minnesota State University, Mankato

Competition is open to graduate or undergraduate students of all disciplines. Works that are published or accepted for publication are not eligible for award consideration. Entries should not exceed 30 pages (approximately 7500 words) in length, including references and appendices. Limit of one entry per student per year.

The top three papers will receive Couch Awards to be presented at the 2010 meeting of the Association of Internet Researchers (aoir.org) at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The top paper will be awarded a certificate and a cash prize of $500 US, runner up will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $300 US, and a third paper will receive a certificate and a cash prize of $100 US. All three authors will be invited to present their work at a session of the AoIR conference, October 20-23, 2010 in Gothenburg.

Those interested should send a copy of their paper, with a 100-word abstract, electronically to Mark D. Johns at mjohns@luther.edu Application deadline is April 30, 2010. Notification of award will be sent by June 15.

Those with questions or comments about Couch Award application, please contact:

Mark D. Johns

Dept. of Communication Studies

Luther College, Decorah, IA 52101 USA

Tel: (563) 387-1347

E-mail: mjohns@luther.edu

Spodaj si lahko ogledate analize omejitev preteklih let po vseh programih.

>>Analize omejitev za vse programe

Več ...

Več informacij ....

Vodič za učitelje o spletni igrici za otroke Skozi divji spletni gozd želi podpreti vzgojitelje pri pomoči otrokom za varno in odgovorno uporabo interneta. Igrica je že na voljo v 24 jezikih, igralo pa jo je preko 2,5 milijona otrok in odraslih po vsej Evropi.

Več informacij ....

>>Razpis (.doc, 186 KB)

Fakulteta za družbene vede je sodelovala pri izvedbi spletne ankete o IKT uporabi in inovacijah. Rezultati ankete so dostopni na straneh od 109 do 119.

>>Poročilo "An Economic Assessment of ICT-Related Industrial Policy" (PDF, 2.430 KB)

Urnik še ni povsem dokončen, vsebine zadnjih nekaj predavanj bomo objavili naknadno.

Na predavanja ste vabljeni tudi profesorji in študentje starega podiplomskega študija.

>>Urnik (.pdf)

The Department of Sociology and the Interuniversity Center for Social Science Theory and Methodology (ICS) at Utrecht University offer a two-year research master 's program "Sociology and Social Research" that is completely taught in English. Rather than being a "track" in a broader program in the behavioral and social sciences, this is the only specialized research master 's program in sociology in the Netherlands. The research master 's program has a clear profile, offering structured and systematic training in theoretically and methodologically advanced research in sociology and the social sciences in general. Special

features of the program include:

• A problem-driven approach with a substantive focus on topics such as social networks and social capital, social integration, stratification and inequality, households, organizations.
• A strong focus on the integration of social theory, empirical research, and methods of data-analysis.
• In various courses, students gain extensive hands on experience in state of the art social science data analysis.
• Students gain hands on experience in writing a publishable research article in English: the master 's thesis that completes the program is written in the format of a publishable research article. In fact, many students do indeed submit their thesis or a revised and adapted version of their thesis to a journal and quite some of these submissions are accepted for publication. Meanwhile, research articles that have developed from master 's theses of the program have appeared in or are accepted for publication in journals like Social Forces, Social Networks, Journal of Marriage and the Family, European Union Politics, and others. Students regularly present their master 's thesis at international conferences outside the Netherlands. A broad range of topics for master 's thesis projects is available.
• The program comprises a master class taught by an outstanding visiting professor from abroad. Previous visiting professors include Andreas Diekmann, ETH Zurich; Hartmut Esser, Mannheim; Frank Kalter, Leipzig/Mannheim; Hans-Peter Blossfeld, Bamberg; Ted Mouw, North Carolina. Upcoming visiting professors include Walter Muller, Mannheim; Robert J. Sampson, Harvard, and Karen Cook, Stanford. Furthermore, Sociology and Social Research students themselves organize a mini-conference on their own research projects at the end of the first or the beginning of the second year of the program. Students are strongly encouraged to participate in summer schools like Essex or Ljubljana in the summer period between the first and the second year of the program.

The quality of the program can be inferred, among other things, from numerous and consistently very favorable external evaluations of research and teaching in Sociology at Utrecht University and the ICS. For example, sociology at Utrecht University is repeatedly ranked highest and obtains excellent scores in the authoritative comparative assessments of Dutch research programs in sociology that are carried out regularly under the auspices of the Quality Assurance Department of the Association of Dutch Universities, including the recent 2008/2009 Research Assessment Sociology. Another well-known annual ranking, widely

used by incoming students, is provided by the Dutch weekly ELSEVIER and includes field-specific rankings based on a survey among all full professors and associate professors in the particular field in the Netherlands. In the most recent 2009 ELSEVIER survey, Utrecht has been chosen by a wide margin as the overall best Sociology Department in the Netherlands and also as the Department with the best bachelor 's and master 's programs, the best teachers in Sociology, and the best publication record.

Students in the program benefit from intensive supervision. Instructors involved in teaching the program and supervising students inlude prominent researcher from the Department of Sociology and the ICS such as Vincent Buskens, Henk Flap, Tanja van der Lippe, Ineke Maas, Paul Nieuwbeerta, Anne-Rigt Poortman, Werner Raub, Rene Torenvlied, Frank van Tubergen, Beate Volker, Jeroen Weesie, and others. Students likewise benefit from much interaction and collaboration in a relatively small group of peers. Drop out rates of students from the program are very low and almost all students entering the program do complete it in due time within two years. The profile of the program ensures that the labor market position of alumni is excellent: students who have completed the program are very successful in acquiring subsequent positions as PhD students at the ICS or elsewhere in and outside the Netherlands, as researchers in institutes and organizations outside the university system, as trainees, etc.

"Sociology and Social Research" is part of the integrated graduate training program of the ICS that likewise comprises research master 's programs at the universities of Groningen and Nijmegen and a jointly taught PhD program. Students can thus attend selected courses in Groningen and are well-prepared, for example, for an application for a position as PhD student at the ICS after having completed "Sociology and Social Research".

The target group of students consists of promising students with a Bachelor 's degree or an equivalent period of at least three years of undergraduate study and qualifications that justify the expectation of successful completion of the program in due time. This includes students with a BA Sociology or Social Sciences, broadly conceived and including Economics, Political Sciences, Public Administration, Demography, and (Social) Psychology. While the program is designed for students with above-average grades, motivation of students and affinity with the program have proven to be important. Quite some students with good but

clearly less than excellent grades from previous studies have entered and enjoyed the program and have completed it with very good results, due to a clearly structured curriculum, sound supervision, and interaction and collaboration with peers. Applicants with deficiencies in methods and statistics can be admitted conditional upon participation in a methods and statistics summer course right before the start of the first year of the program that is offered specifically for incoming research master 's students by the Graduate School of Social and Behavioral Sciences of Utrecht University.

Students from outside the Netherlands are explicitly encouraged to apply and can easily follow the program since it is taught in English. About 30-50% of the students are students from outside the Netherlands, up to now including students from Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, various countries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as students from, e.g., China, Israel, Taiwan, and Turkey. Admission to the program is selective. "Sociology and Social Research" is one of Utrecht University 's Prestige master 's programs and thus benefits from special funds of Utrecht University. Some teaching and research assistantships are available for students. Also, funding is available for participation in summer schools outside the Netherlands (for example, Essex, Ljubljana, and Ann Arbor).

Each year, a new group of students enters the program. We are currently searching for talented candi dates for the academic year 2010/2011. Courses for this group will start on September 1, 2010. The DEADLINE FOR APPLICATIONS for the academic year 2010/2011 is March 1, 2010. The number of new students per year is limited to 15-20.

Detailed information on the program, including courses taught, is available at

www.uu.nl/sasr

and

www.uu.nl/graduateschools/sbs

Information about the Department of Sociology of Utrecht University is available at

www.fss.uu.nl/sociology

Please use

gradschool@fss.uu.nl

for any inquiries about the program and about admission procedures.

Please don 't hesitate to draw the attention of talented students to the program. Also, please don 't hesitate to forward this message to other colleagues who might wish to inform students on the program.

Werner Raub

Coordinator research master 's program "Sociology and Social Research"

Werner Raub | Department of Sociology/ICS | Utrecht University |

Heidelberglaan 2 | 3584 CS Utrecht | Netherlands | phone +31-(0)30-253

2101 | w.raub@uu.nl | www.fss.uu.nl/soc/raub | www.fss.uu.nl/sociology |

www.fss.uu.nl/soc/iscore | Sociology and Social Research www.uu.nl/sasr