[ecrea] FoME Symposium 2012: "From Online Activism to Offline Action", Oct. 29-31, Berlin

SAVE-THE-DATE – NOTICE

Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES)
and the "Forum Medien und Entwicklung" (FoME)

invite you to the 7th FoME-Symposium

From Online Activism to Offline Action
Digital Media and Democratic Space

Monday, October 29th – Wednesday, 31st , 2012
Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany

All over the world Internet-based media have been redefining the public 
sphere. Political activists are using social media to transfer their 
protests and campaigns on to digital platforms, conquering new 
territories of democratic space.

But in many countries those in power are trying to reclaim the newly 
created venues and avenues with acts of online-censorship and state 
regulation of the Internet; often assisted by Western companies. From 
Asia to the Arab World, from Latin America to Africa: old struggles are 
fought on new terrain. At the same time the structure of the net itself 
is under threat from authoritarian states and dominant Internet 
companies. What, if any, regulation is needed to retain the Internet as
a public sphere?

At the FoME[1]- Symposium of 2012 media experts, development 
practitioners and researchers from four continents are invited to 
discuss this critical contestation of the democratic sphere and share 
their experiences.

Focal topics will be:
•      The framework of internet governance
•      The role of digital media in enlarging democratic space
•      The new media’s dependence on traditional political struggle
•      The translation of online activism into sustainable political action.

On the evening of October 29th we will start with a keynote speech on 
Internet governance as it relates to our topic of safeguarding or 
enlarging democratic space. A panel discussion and questions from the 
audience will conclude this session open to the public.

During the following 1 ½ days of the FoME-Symposium international 
speakers and invited participants will then be discussing the political 
usage of new or social media – and its limitations. Why and how do 
certain practices work whilst others fail? And what about the 
sustainability of online and on-the-ground democratic engagement beyond 
„facebook revolutions“ and the public glare?

Speakers will include:

Jillian York, Electronic Frontier Foundation (confirmed)
Evgeny Morozov, Stanford University (to be confirmed)
Guy Berger, UNESCO (confirmed)
James Deane, BBC Media Action (to be confirmed)
Juanita Leon, La Silla Vacía, Colombia (to be confirmed)
Ory Okolloh, Google, formerly Ushahidi (requested)
Moez Chakchouk, Tunisian Internet Agency (requested)

Invitation will follow. Program and registration process will be 
announced in August under:
www.forum-medien-entwicklung.de 
<http://www.forum-medien-entwicklung.de> or www.fesmedia.org 
<http://www.fesmedia.org>

[1] The German "Forum Media and Development" (Forum Medien und 
Entwicklung) is a network of institutions and individuals active in the 
field of media development cooperation, including: Catholic Media 
Council (CAMECO), Deutsche Welle Akademie, Friedrich-Ebert-Stftung 
(FES), International Institute for Journalism (IIJ), 
Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS), Media in Cooperation and Transition 
(MICT), new thinking communications, n-ost Network for Reporting on
Eastern Europe, Reporters without Borders, Robert Bosch Stiftung, 
Zuerich University of Applied Sciences Winterthur (ZHAW).