[ecrea] CfP Workshop on Social media and the prospects for expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting

Call for Papers - Workshop on social media and the prospects for 
expanded democratic participation in national policy-setting

Date and Venue: April 9, 2015, Boston University, Boston, MA USA
Abstracts Due: November 29, 2014
Decision Date: December 15, 2014

The power of social media appears at times almost limitless. Indeed, 
when explaining the reasons for ISIL’s surprising success, President 
Obama included in the list that they had been “savvy in terms of their 
social media” (CBS 60 Minutes, 9/28/14). Social media have been credited 
at least in part with not only a catastrophe in Iraq and Syria, but in 
catalyzing the overthrow of Middle Eastern dictators and helping elect 
America’s first African-American president. While there is no arguing 
that social media have affected daily life, their impact on the conduct 
governance, widely considered, seems slight. This is perhaps surprising 
since social media offers the promise of expanded participation and more 
inclusive participation opportunities in governance. That is, not only 
in creating more responsive policies, but better ones as well. Yet 
although social media have demonstrated their critical role in electoral 
politics and many other domains including disseminating political news 
and information, they have not yet been effectively deployed in helping 
set national policy. New social media platforms could potentially expand 
the quality and level of public support in areas such as law 
enforcement, health, education, and public diplomacy.

To better understand the barriers as well as potential role, both 
positive and negative, of social
media in setting national goals and policies, leading thinkers will be 
coming to Boston
University’s College of Communication on April 9, 2015. With papers 
having been prepared in
advance, the day-long event will allow in-depth analysis of the latest 
thinking on these issues. In
addition, time will be set aside for a mapping exercise to consider what 
the next steps are in
terms of needed future research so that the insights presented at the 
workshop can help inform
other researchers both in the United States and beyond. The papers and 
discussions from this
workshop will be widely disseminated and follow-up meetings with other 
groups will be held.
Depending on the findings presented at the workshop, further steps, such 
as convening a blueribbon panel to advance recommendations may be 
considered.

The format of the workshop will combine invited and competitively 
accepted papers. In terms of
invited speakers, we have acceptances from professors at Harvard 
University, Oxford University,
George Washington University, University of Washington, Syracuse, 
Wellesley, Roskilde
University, and the Sorbonne, among other academic centers. Moreover, to 
help assure that innovative thinking and a broad array of perspectives 
will be included, we are circulating this call for papers. In this way, 
we will be able to accommodate an additional small number of 
paper-presenters.

Hence, we are soliciting additional papers on the workshop topic. 
Although we will consider for inclusion in a broad array of related 
topics, new and previously unpublished work that goes directly to the 
question at hand is of most interest to us. Those wishing to be 
considered as presenters should send an abstract of about 250 words to 
Dr. Jill Walsh ((JillW /at/ BU.edu)) no later than November 29, 2014. Notice of 
acceptance will be given on December 15, 2014. Completed papers will be 
circulated on March 9, 2015 and will be made available on the Center for 
Mobile Communication Studies website (http://sites.bu.edu/cmcs/). Due to 
limited space, the number of participants must be strictly limited.

Co-organizers

James E. Katz, Ph.D., Dr.h.c., is the Feld Family Professor of Emerging 
Media at Boston University’s College of Communication and director of 
its Division of Emerging Media Studies. His latest book, The Social 
Media President: Barack Obama and the Politics of Digital Engagement 
(2013, Palgrave Macmillan), provides an in-depth exploration of the use 
and abuse of social media for civic participation at the White House level.

David Karpf, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the School of Media and 
Public Affairs at George Washington University. His work focuses on 
strategic communication practices of political associations in America, 
with a particular interest in Internet-related strategies. Author of The 
MoveOn Effect: The Unexpected Transformation of American Political 
Advocacy (2012, Oxford University Press), Karpf highlights the 
disruptive role that the Internet has played in the advocacy group 
system and differential partisan adoption of new technologies.

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