[ecrea] New ICTs + New Media = New Democracy? Communications policy and public life in the age of broadband

Call for Paper Proposals

New ICTs + New Media = New Democracy? Communications policy and public 
life in the age of broadband
A by-invitation experts’ workshop New America Foundation September 
20-22, 2011

Are “new media” fundamentally changing the practice of democracy? Recent 
years have seen a sig- nificant transition in the role computer mediated 
communications play in the political sphere. A tech- nological 
revolution driven by economic and market forces is undermining settled 
practices, estab- lished institutions, and traditional communications 
norms. As a result, public policies governing the telecommunications and 
media infrastructure need to be re-examined, and their theoretical 
founda- tions and paradigmatic assumptions reformulated.
Technological developments and broadband communications have forced the 
rules of political dis- course to change: contemporary new media are 
circumventing and displacing old media; political can- didates and 
public officials are finding new ways of communicating with the public; 
fundraising and advertising in political campaigns are being reshaped; 
and voiceless organizations and communities around the world are making 
themselves heard -- both within their national boundaries and around the 
world.

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University and the 
New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative are pleased to 
announce this call for paper proposals, which focuses on the role 
broadband policies play in the promotion and preservation of democracy 
and human rights. Authors of the selected papers will be invited to 
present and discuss them during a three day by-invitation-only experts 
workshop designed to bring together American and international experts 
and to be held at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, between 
September 20-22, 2011. This workshop is part of a series of events 
focused on “Making Policy Research Accessible,” organized by the IIP, 
with the support of the Ford Foundation. Presenters at the workshop will 
be invited to submit their completed papers for review by the Journal of 
Information Policy (www.jip-online.org).
Paper topics may include, but are not limited to: • Freedom, democracy 
and justice: Changing concepts of democracy in the 21st century • 
Campaign financing policies in the age of broadband communications • 
Viability of existing telecommunications/media policies in light of 
technological change • Preservation of freedom of expression and the 
public sphere in the new media environment • Human rights and policy 
implications of recent popular uprisings around the world • Allocation 
of resources allowing broadband communication to fulfill their role in 
democracy • Private and public ownership of communication networks and 
their implications for democracy
Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be 
submitted to (pennstateiip /at/ psu.edu) by July 8, 2011. Please write 
IIPOTIWS: YOUR NAME in the subject line. Abstracts not sent according to 
the above instructions will not be reviewed. Accepted presenters will be 
notified by July 22, 2011.

Amit M. Schejter, Ph.D.
Visiting Professor
Department of Communication Studies
Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences
Building 72, Room 586B
Ben Gurion University of the Negev
Be'er Sheva, Israel
http://cmsprod.bgu.ac.il/humsos/departments/masscom/staff/academic/Amit.htm

Associate Professor
Co-director, Institute for Information Policy
The College of Communications
The Pennsylvania State University
Office: 314C Willard
Mail address: 115 Carnegie Building
University Park, PA 16802-5101
http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/a/m/ams37/


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