[ecrea] CfP EuroCPR 2014 - Prospects, Challenges and Limits to User-Centric Approaches in the Digital Information Society

*Prospects, Challenges and Limits to User-Centric Approaches in the 
Digital Information Society*

*The aim of EuroCPR2014 is to examine whether user-centric European 
information society policies are serving the interests of the (European) 
consumers/citizens, whether the rhetoric of European information society 
policy is aligned with implementation, and how user-centric policies can 
better inform market practice and policy making. ** What is the 
contribution of users to our information society/economy and how can 
this be integrated in research, business decisions, policy making, and 
especially in multi-stakeholder approaches?*

The evolution towards a digital society or knowledge economy has often 
revolved around economic and technological questions and the effects of 
national and transnational policies on European industry. Economic 
growth was and still is the focal point of most European policies. The 
standard assumption was that growth would automatically benefit 
consumers and, hence, citizens and public interests were served.

In recent years we have witnessed a strong and almost euphoric focus on 
the user as the possible source of many innovative and revolutionary 
projects as well as ideas and business models. This has reinvigorated 
interdisciplinary research on users in relation to digital media 
developments, government policies and industry strategies. This 
perspective is a substantive scholarly tradition in disciplines like 
science and technology studies (STS), innovation economics, and consumer 
sociology.

There is little doubt that the user is a central figure in the digital 
society. Active users are a source of creative inspiration and avid 
creators of cultural resources. Bloggers and citizen journalists reflect 
critically on the world around them and have become acknowledged sources 
of information. As enthusiastic consumers of digital content services 
and products, users are the inspiration for a flourishing creative 
economy and they fuel the globalization of information markets. At the 
same time, user empowerment can turn into disempowerment. This happens 
when users become the play thing of complex digital systems, designed 
and applied to facilitate unfair business practices or objectionable 
forms of government surveillance.

To further the emancipation of the user and to prevent user 
disempowerment, businesses, policy makers, civil society, and academics 
grapple with the challenge of accommodating users interests and 
integrating a more user-centric perspective into their decision making, 
technologies and research. This is not easy and it can challenge 
professional routines, established research methods and familiar 
approaches to law and policy making. It requires a better understanding 
of who “the user” actually is, what her/his different roles are and the 
measurable contributions she/he makes within the media ecosystem, and 
how this position can be strengthened.

Causal relations among the economy, technology, and the wider society 
are unpredictable. Consumer interests – though at the core of European 
information society rhetoric – are often neglected in policies. EU 
policies remain focused on supply-side measures, with little attention 
being devoted to  demand-side issues.* *The fragmentation of policy 
issues oriented to consumer interests over several European Commission 
Directorate-Generals and government departments of Member States 
reinforces this neglect.

*We invite papers addressing the following questions:*

- What are the uncertainties and challenges in integrating the user in 
business and politics in the digital society? Is there a paradox between 
an information and digital society and user empowerment?

- How are services and business models taking users into account? Are 
they able to respect users’ expectations and be commercially and 
socially viable?

- What are the limits to user-centric policies?  How are these assessed 
in the light of the desirability of letting the user determine the agenda?

-How can demand-side policies centered on users improve the 
unsatisfactory performance of existing supply-side EU policies?

- How can we assess user awareness, motivation, capabilities and practices?

- What characterizes an active user? What responsibilities does this imply?

- Is the user empowered or dis-empowered, and in what way does the 
complexity of the design, affordances and algorithms of complex digital 
systems influence user empowerment?

- How do we open the “black box” of users through research that takes 
account of conflicting user interests?

- How do social media/ubiquitous media (e.g. Internet-of-Things) relate 
to the (dis)empowerment of consumers and citizens? Does user-centered 
design interfere with personal freedoms such as privacy, freedom of 
expression, personal autonomy?

- Have users’ voices increased and what is the impact; who is listening?

- How is the economic crisis affecting users with regard to the take up 
of digital services? Is the economic crisis an impediment or an 
opportunity for user empowerment? Is the digital society enabling the 
user to engage in novel behaviours or is it restricting access and 
creating new divides?

- What conceptual/analytical frameworks are best able to encourage 
user-oriented policies?

*Note:* The call for abstracts is aimed at attracting papers, which 
address conceptual/theoretical/empirical issues and issues that are 
clearly relevant to policy makers and business.

We welcome papers that reflect on the business/policy and policy/legal 
dimensions of the topics listed above as well as on their societal and 
economic implications.

Papers relevant to the overall conference theme, but not directly 
related to the suggested topics will be considered in the blind peer 
review assessment of the scientific committee as well.

Information on how to submit abstracts and important dates and deadlines 
can be found on the EuroCPR website at: http://www.eurocpr.org