Networking Democracy? New media innovations in participatory politics
A three day symposium to be held at Babe=C5=9F-Bolyai University, Cluj, Roma=
nia
25-27 June 2010
Democratic politics worldwide are increasingly being conducted and =20
re-configured through the domain of digital communications networks. =20
The socio-technical developments, such as Web 2.0, facilitating these =20
media-saturated public spheres are in little doubt. What is highly =20
contested however is the interpretation of what these profound changes =20
offer for democratic governance in the twenty-first century. At its =20
heart is the recognition that these new media networks are themselves =20
the crucial site for a historical confrontation between opposing =20
political and/or business interests and discourses intent upon forging =20
new forms of social relations.
This short three day conference is intended to focus upon the nature =20
and practices of this contested domain and addresses questions such as:
* What new forms and relations of power are produced in the =20
digital network society?
* Who are the key social actors shaping the new public sphere and =20
what are their respective strategies, framing, and repertoires of =20
action?
* What is the democratic potential of Web 2.0 applications such =20
as social networking, blogging and twittering?
* What empirical evidence do we have to understand and assess =20
these developments?
* How is networked democracy influencing new democratic societies?
* What are its consequences for human rights, social sorting, =20
migration, e-government, community politics, surveillance, protest, =20
participation, culture, identity, mobilization, representation, =20
nationalism, security, citizen journalism, trust, regulation, both =20
exogenous and self-regulation and much more?
Speakers include:
- W. Lance Bennett, University of Washington, USA
- Bruce Bimber, University of California at Santa Barbara, USA
- Donatella Della Porta, European University Institute, Italy
- William H. Dutton, Oxford Internet Institute, UK
- Brian Loader, University of York, UK
- Rodica Mocan, Babe=C5=9F-Bolyai University, Romania
We invite papers from all disciplines which have addressed these =20
topics. The paper title, an abstract of up to 500 words, a short bio =20
and contact details should be sent to Dan Mercea, Department of =20
Sociology, University of York, Heslington, YO10 5DD, =20
U.K.,(dmm505 /at/ york.ac.uk) before 7 December 2009. Notifications of =20
acceptance will be sent out by 15 January 2010.To browse for more =20
information:
http://www.brisc.info/NetDem/index.php?page=3Dnetworking-democracy .
--=20
Ov. Cristian Norocel
Ph.D. Student in Political Science
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Helsinki Finland
cristian.norocel(@)helsinki.fi
http://www.norocel.eu
Ms.Itir Akdogan
PhD Candidate
Dept. of Communication
Faculty of Social Sciences
University of Helsinki - Finland
M: +358 40 818 97 52
Think green before you print this.
