Call for Contributions
Fourth International Conference on
Online Deliberation (OD2010)
30 June ? 2 July, 2010
Leeds, UK
Sponsored by: The Institute of Communications
Studies at the University of Leeds, Dipartimento
di Informatica e Comunicazione Università degli
Studi di Milano and the Public Sphere Project.
The widespread diffusion of the Internet and a
growing trend towards democratisation worldwide
have encouraged new modes, projects and visions
of citizen participation in decision making and governance.
OD2010 aims to bring together researchers,
developers and practitioners from a wide range
of academic and applied backgrounds to provide a
unique opportunity to better understand the
notion of deliberation in a virtual environment
and to discuss specific advances in online
deliberation from a number of different disciplinary perspectives.
The conference is aimed at those who wish to
update themselves on recent developments in
online deliberation, understand how other groups
are applying the tools and techniques and
exchange ideas with leading international experts.
OD2010 follows the traditions of previous
high-level scientific conferences. It is
organized by key experts in the field and is
supported by a multidisciplinary programme
committee. This is the first time the conference
has been held outside the USA.
The fourth OD conference focuses on, but is not
limited to, the following topics:
* current research on online deliberation;
* research challenges which deliberation,
and in particular online deliberation, pose for
researchers, governments, communities and citizens;
* socio-technical design of online deliberative spaces;
* links between theories of deliberative
democracy with experience with online deliberation;
* descriptions of tools and techniques that
are already being tested or fielded;
* deliberative platforms using novel or
unusual settings, technology or approaches;
* experiences and findings related to
relevant technological theories (such as Web
2.0) and/or relevant social theories of
deliberation and governance (such as public
sphere, government 2.0 and civic intelligence); and
* case studies in applying and evaluating
online deliberation in various formal and informal engagement domains.
Guidelines for papers and other submissions
The conference allows for four distinct types of submissions:
* Research papers
* Exploratory papers on ongoing research and innovative projects
* Technology demonstrators
* Panels on pertinent issues
Research papers
These papers should have a strong focus on
scientific rigour and may be a maximum of 10
pages. Papers in this track will be peer
reviewed for rigour, relevance, originality and
clarity of presentation. Abstracts or incomplete papers will not be accepted.
Exploratory papers
These papers describe novel concepts,
works-in-progress, reflections, manifestos or
other ideas and issues that are not currently
suitable for a complete research paper. They may
be a maximum of 5 pages. Papers in this section
will also be peer reviewed, but the focus is on
relevance more than scientific rigour.
Technology Demonstrators
Proposals for technology demonstrators (two
pages) should include a description, objectives,
examples of testing and application and, if
possible, a URL where the technology can be viewed.
Panels
Proposals for panels (two pages) should include
motivation, objectives, expected outcomes,
approach to audience interaction and panel
members. Panels are currently planned to be 1.5 hours long.
All submissions must be made via the conference
submission system web site. Submissions should
be written in English and foreign speakers are
encouraged to have their submissions reviewed
for language prior to submission. Submissions
should be formatted using 11 point Times-Roman
font on A4 sized paper. Accepted research and
exploratory papers should be revised according
to reviewer comments and resubmitted by the deadline.
Important Dates
January 1 2010 Submission system available
January 1, 2010 Early registration begins
February 14, 2010 Research paper submissions due
February 21, 2010 Exploratory papers due
March1, 2010 Technology
Demonstrators & Panel proposals due
March 14, 2010 Notices of paper acceptances
April 12,
2010 Completed research and exploratory papers due
May 1, 2010 Late registration begins
June 30 ? July 2 OD 2010
Conference Chairs:
Stephen Coleman and Ann Macintosh, Centre for
Digital Citizenship, University of Leeds, UK.
Fiorella De Cindio, Dipartimento di Informatica
e Comunicazione Università degli Studi di Milano, Italy
Organising Chairs:
Giles Moss, Deputy Director Centre for Digital
Citizenship, University of Leeds
Cristian Peraboni, Dipartimento di Informatica e
Comunicazione Università degli Studi di Milano
Previous Conference Chairs and on-going supporters:
Robert Cavalier, Department of Philosophy and
Digital Media Lab, Carnegie Mellon University
Todd Davies, Symbolic Systems Program, Stanford University, USA
Douglas Schuler, The Evergreen State College, and The Public Sphere Project
Peter Shane, Moritz College of Law, The Ohio
State University and Knight Commission on the
Internet Needs of Communities in a Democracy,
Contact Details
For further information please visit the
conference website at:
<http://www.dico.unimi.it/OD2010>www.dico.unimi.it/OD2010
Or email: <mailto:(ics-conferences /at/ leeds.ac.uk)>(ics-conferences /at/ leeds.ac.uk)
