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[ecrea] call for papers - special edition of International Journal of Electronic Governance
Wed Mar 31 17:58:28 GMT 2010
Dear Colleagues,
Please find attached (in word and pdf format) a
call for papers for an International Journal of
Electronic Governance (IJEG) special issue on
"(Re)creating public sphere, civic culture and
civic engagement : public service media vs.
online social networks" to be published in Spring
2011. Papers must be double-blind refereed
according to the journal's strict standards.
I very much hope you'll consider contributing to
this special issue, but please let me know
should you require more information about this call.
With best wishes for a nice and pieceful easter break!
Petros
Dr. Petros Iosifidis
Reader in Media and Communications
Department of Sociology
School of Social Sciences
City University London
Northampton Square
London EC1V 0HB
Tel. 0044 207 040 8538
Email. <mailto:(P.Iosifidis /at/ city.ac.uk)>(P.Iosifidis /at/ city.ac.uk)
Web page:
<http://www.city.ac.uk/sociology/staffdetails/Iosifidis.html>http://www.city.ac.uk/sociology/staffdetails/Iosifidis.html
Books Editor: International Journal of Digital
Television, published by Intellect
+++
International Journal of Electronic Governance (IJEG)
http://www.inderscience.com/ijeg
Call For Papers ? Special Issue
(Re)creating public sphere, civic culture and civic engagement :
public service media vs. online social networks
Guest Editors
Prof. Petros Iosifidis
Dept of Sociology
City University London, UK
e-mail: (P.Iosifidis /at/ city.ac.uk)
Prof. Michael Meimaris
Dept of Communication and Media Studies
University of Athens, Greece
e-mail: (mmeimaris /at/ media.uoa.gr)
The net generation, growing up with the internet
and other online media, is widely assumed to
consist of more responsible citizens, using their
technological expertise to campaign on social and
political issues, exercise closer scrutiny over
their governments, genuinely being more
politically engaged. Citizens of the so-called
?global village?, ?virtual democracy?,
?electronic agora? or ?blogosphere? are said to
fulfil the dream of a unified and interconnected
world. The unprecedented expansion of Online
Social Networks (OSN) such as Facebook, MySpace,
LinkedIn & Twitter offers vast opportunities for
communication, entertainment & chatting. These
online forums differ from traditional media, such
as Public Service Media (PSM), in that they allow
more interactivity and many-to-many
communication. But they have some similarities to
Habermas? concept of the public sphere: net
spheres are public places that are outside of
control by the state; they allow individuals to
exchange views and knowledge as well as critical
points of view; they are spaces where
public-minded rational consensus can be developed.
The advantages of cyber-media are that they are
not confined to frequency bandwidth; any one can
be a ?publisher? (ability to voice one?s opinion;
collective action); they provide access (to all
with internet account); they are self-generating
social networks, allowing networks to form from
participation, rather than structuring
relationships from the top. However, the net can
turn to be a noisy, uncontrolled environment; the
open participation may turn chaotic, so there can
be no model rules of behaviour or structured
conversation; texts and voices may result in
anarchic, rather than democratic forms of
participation. What is more, there are linguistic
barriers and blogging sites are typically
dominated by white male voices & polarized
opinion. The very notion of openness is at stake
as there is limited competition among providers.
Inclusiveness can be an issue too ? not all
people use the Net due to cost considerations or
lack of skills, especially in the developing
world. Most crucially, critical discussion ? the
very notion of the Public Sphere ? is often
absent on the Net, whose content is highly partisan.
So, is it a myth that the Internet can revamp the
Public Sphere, tackle political apathy and
mobilize citizens? Not entirely, for there are
plenty of good examples to show the opposite, as
evidenced by Barack Obama?s online campaign to
activism on Facebook and Twitter and the
Twitter-aided demonstrators in Moldova and Iran
against the fraud parliamentary election results
and the Iranian authoritarian government
respectively. Groups in Facebook can choose to
support the lineralisation of Tibet; Twitter
often has real-time updates on events like the
Mumbai terrorist attacks. These examples
highlight the Net?s informative and mobilising power.
Subject Coverage
This special issue seeks research articles and
case studies that can address the broad theme of
(re)creating public sphere, civic culture and
civic engagement through Public Service Media vs.
Online Social Networks and offer argumentation
and analysis on the following issues:
· Has the mobilising and democratising
power of the Internet been exaggerated?
· Has the Net the ability to offer critical political discussion?
· Can the OSN contribute to the
(re)creation of Public Sphere, Civic Culture,
Civic Engagement, and therefore address the Democratic deficit?
· Is violation of privacy in pursuit of profit an issue of concern?
· Will the networks be viable, or are we
heading for another Internet bubble, given that
people log in to chat with friends, thus not
paying attention to ads, as well as ad firms?
scepticism to advertising their products and services next to user-gen content?
· Is it about time we looked again at PSM
for recreating the Public Sphere, tackling
political apathy, and offering a better space for
rational debate and culture dissemination in
light of their openness to all at affordable
prices; offerings of new open forms of
distribution & access, including archives,
pod-casts and digital distribution;
trustworthiness as credible information source and safe spaces for discussion?
Notes for Intending Authors
Submitted papers should not have been previously
published or be currently under consideration for publication elsewhere.
All papers are refereed through a double blind
process. A guide for authors, sample copies and
other relevant information for submitting papers
are available on the IJEG
<http://www.inderscience.com/papers>Submission of Papers web-page.
All papers must be submitted online through the
<http://www.inderscience.com/papers>IJEG On-line
Submissions System. If you experience any
problems submitting your paper online, please
contact
<mailto:(submissions /at/ inderscience.com)>(submissions /at/ inderscience.com),
describing the exact problem you experience.
Please include in your email the title of the Journal.
Important Dates
Deadline for paper submission : September 10, 2010
Notification of review results : December 10, 2010
Submission of revised manuscripts : January 10, 2011
The special issue will be published in Spring 2011.
IJEG Editor-in-Chief
Prof. Panagiotis Georgiadis
University of Athens, E-Government Laboratory
IJEG Executive Editor
Prof. Dimitris Gouscos
University of Athens, Department of Communication and Media Studies
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Nico Carpentier (Phd)
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Vrije Universiteit Brussel - Free University of Brussels
Centre for Studies on Media and Culture (CeMeSO)
Pleinlaan 2 - B-1050 Brussels - Belgium
T: ++ 32 (0)2-629.18.56
F: ++ 32 (0)2-629.36.84
Office: 5B.401a
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European Communication Research and Education Association
Web: http://www.ecrea.eu
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E-mail: (Nico.Carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
Web: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
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