CALL FOR PARTICIPATION: Demographics Workshop

         WORKSHOP ON INTERNET SURVEY METHODOLOGY AND WEB DEMOGRAPHICS

  JANUARY 29-30, 1996

  CAMBRIDGE, MA


     _________________________________________________________________

  ORGANIZED BY
    Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
    Laboratory for Computer Science
    Political Science Department
    Massachusetts Institute of Technology

  IN COOPERATION WITH THE
    World Wide Web Consortium


     _________________________________________________________________

   Location of this call for participation
   http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/conferences/survey96/cfp.html
       http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Demographics/960129_Workshop/


     _________________________________________________________________



   The explosive growth of the Internet, particularly the World Wide Web,
   has caught the attention of media researchers, advertisers and
   political organizers. All major Presidential campaigns have already
   established sites on the World Wide Web with press releases, news
   clips, position papers, and opportunities for participation. Surveys
   and Web logging tools are used for commercial and political marketing.


   The goal of this two-day workshop is to evaluate the current state of
   the art in measurement of online demographics and suggest future
   directions. The workshop will assemble a select group of survey and
   media researchers, methodologists, and Web technologists who will
   focus on techniques for online surveying and server logging.
   Particular attention will be paid to methodologies for analysis and
   interpretation of results.

    1. What can learned from online surveys, focus groups, or log
       analyses?
    2. How reliable are the survey and logging techniques?
    3. How can online findings be projected to the general population or
       specific sectors?
    4. What distortions in surveying and logging are caused by the
       current Internet and Web protocols and what protocol extensions
       are needed?
    5. Are ethical issues raised by this activity, and what might be
       needed to protect individual rights?
    6. What tools and methodologies are likely to be relevant in 1996?
    7. What are the trust models for surveys and log analysis?
    8. What extensions to web protocols could ease these problems?



   On the first day, presentations will:

     * Review current practice in online surveying and server logging.
     * Offer proposals for protocol extensions in support of these
       activities.



   The second day will involve presentations and breakout sessions on:
     * Methodologies for analysis and interpretation of results.
     * Requirements for extending protocol functionality.



   The outcome of the workshop may include a proceedings and working
   groups that:

     * Develop guidelines for conducting and interpreting online surveys;
     * Recommend extensions to common World Wide Web Protocols to enhance
       surveying and tracking by servers in ethically appropriate ways.



   Proposals for presentations can be about implemented survey systems,
   log analysis tools, or special algorithms for analyzing them. We are
   interested in both commercial products and development systems and
   want to include a representative sample of different measuring
   systems, and methodologies for evaluating their findings. For your
   reference, some systems and studies are listed at:



   Survey Methodology:
       http://www.ai.mit.edu/projects/iiip/conferences/survey96/resourc
       es.html
       Web Demographics: http://www.w3.org/pub/WWW/Demographics/



   Statements of positions, that are not presentations of systems, should
   clearly address the goals of the workshop, making a case either for a
   particular technology or a methodology.

  PROGRAM COMMITTEE (IN FORMATION)





        Tim Berners-Lee
                World Wide Web Consortium

        Jim Conaghan
                Newspaper Association of America

        Stanley B. Greenberg
                Greenberg Research, Inc.

        Roger Hurwitz
                Artificial Intelligence Laboratory
                Massachussets Institute of Technology

        Marion Just
                Political Science Department
                Wellesley College

        David R. Karger
                Laboratory for Computer Science
                Massachussets Institute of Technology

        John C. Mallery
                Artificial Intelligence Laboratory & Political Science
                Department
                Massachussets Institute of Technology

        Roberta McConochie
                The Arbitron Company

        J. Walker Smith
                Yankelovich Partners, Inc.

        Philip J. Stone
                The Gallup Organization &
                Psychology Department
                Harvard University


        Other members to be confirmed.

  INSTRUCTIONS AND SCHEDULE



   Participation will be by invitation only based on statements of
   interest.



     * Presentation: To submit a proposal, please send an extended
       abstract of no more than 1000 words describing your interests,
       current activity, and proposed presentation or position statement
       before December 20, 1995. Submissions should be sent by email to
       workshop-present@wilson.ai.mit.edu.

     * Attendance: To attend the workshop only, please send an abstract
       of less than 500 words describing your current activity and
       affiliation before December 20, 1995. These should should be sent
       by email to workshop-attend@wilson.ai.mit.edu.



   All submissions will be reviewed by the program committee. Invitations
   to present or attend will be sent by January 8, 1995.

  FURTHER INFORMATION



   Please address questions scope or content of workshop to the chair and
   questions about organization to the Workshop Coordinator:

   Workshop Coordinator:
          TBD (workshop-coordinator@wilson.ai.mit.edu)

   Chair:
          TBD (workshop-chair@wilson.ai.mit.edu)


     _________________________________________________________________

    Last updated 11/30/95 6:56pm EST

Received on Friday, 1 December 1995 19:06:22 UTC