[ecrea] CfP: ICA Preconference – Internet governance

CfP: ICA Preconference – Internet governance

Internet governance: Bridging "users" and "stakeholders"

Date:                    June 7-8, 2016

Location:             The HK Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon,
Hong Kong

Sponsors:

- The HK Polytechnic University,

- The Department of Applied Social Sciences, HK Polytechnic University,

- French Centre for Research on Contemporary China (CEFC)

Organisers:         David Kurt Herold, Séverine Arsène

Website:              http://ica-governance.strikingly.com/

Deadline for abstract submissions:             1 January 2016

Internet governance can be broadly conceived as the design,
implementation, regulation, management, uses and perceptions of Internet
networks and services. It involves multifaceted processes and logics,
from users, who contribute to building the characteristics of the
Internet through their choices and usages of online services beyond the
plans of developers or regulators, to the social, political, and
economic positions and ideologies of businesses, agencies, government
institutions, and international bodies. As evidenced from abundant
research in Science and Technology Studies, the Internet as a
technological artefact has become an expression of the acceptable, not
only of the possible. It is the ever-changing result of technological
choices made for non-technological reasons.

The Internet has become easier to use as users do not have to worry
about any of the networking framework or the underlying technologies to
access it. Pointing and clicking, coupled with a few, very basic skills,
e.g. typing, choosing the right software, etc. allow almost anybody to
start a video chat with another person in another country, and to
transmit files to them. The end-user doesn't have to worry about the
TCP/IP protocols, location of ISP servers, the routing of messages,
choices of backbone server connections, datastream conversions, network
packages, etc. – it is all handled for them with little transparency of
room for choice. There is still a long way to go in terms of raising
users' awareness and agency, in a field that actually bears high stakes
in terms of privacy, security and freedom of speech.

The easy crossing or avoiding of national boundaries using networking
technologies has also led to a rise in complaints about some of the data
available online. From the clear-cut case of 'child pornography' to
cultural and legal differences in attitudes towards gambling, religious
jokes, language choices, etc. the use of the Internet has raised
important questions about regulation, surveillance and control to
safeguard the rights, privacy, and safety of all users of these
networks, along with facilitation of access to networks. This phenomenon
challenges the sovereignty of nation states and the limits of the
jurisdiction of national governments both intra- as well as
inter-nationally.

Over the past decade, governments have begun to take action with
regulatory efforts aimed at protecting their citizens from perceived
dangers of the Internet, which has led to the criminalisation of many
activities and a divergence of permissible online interactions based on
national boundaries of the reach and power of states and their laws.
However a large part of Internet governance remains in the hands of
other actors like private companies (eg. terms of use) or other
non-state actors (eg. standards, dispute resolution).

In this regard it is surprising to note the gap that exists between the
agencies created to govern or to discuss the governance of the Internet
and its infrastructure with a discursive mandate to keep the Internet
'free' and 'open', e.g. ICANN, the IGF, etc. and the users of Internet
services, most of whom have never even heard of these agencies, and are
seldom asked their opinions about how the Internet should be governed.
Internet governance is being discussed and decided by a variety of
actors who have designated themselves stakeholders because they control
parts of the infrastructure of the Internet, but who are not
representing the users of the Internet, while the latter appear to have
only vague notions of how the Internet is regulated and governed.

As most of these developments have happened without clear overall
planning or even statements of intent, there is a need to re-examine
Internet governance as it is developing out of largely unrelated
practices at different levels and by different sets of actors.

This preconference invites paper proposals that address the following
types of questions:

- Who controls the Internet – and how?

- Who are the stakeholders in Internet governance and what do they want?

- How do approaches to Internet governance differ internationally?

- What kind of governance do Internet users expect and want?

- How included or excluded are Internet users from Internet governance?

- Can the Internet be considered as a global common good?

- Is an Internet of nations in the making?

- How are issues of public interest and accountability addressed in
current Internet governance discussions?

- What is at stake behind such debates as net neutrality,
territorialisation, data privacy or open networks?

- What are the implications of developments in Internet governance for
the study of the Internet as a tool for communication, or as interactive
media, or …?

- To what extent have communication studies taken into account different
Internet governance regimes in different parts of the world?

The preconference aims to identify some of the gaps in studies of
stakeholders in Internet governance and actual Internet users in order
to create spaces for exploration towards alternative models for Internet
governance and alternative approaches to communication studies taking
into account geo-political realities as well as the opinions of Internet
users.

TO SUBMIT AN ABSTRACT:

Send a 400-word abstract and 75-word bio by JANUARY 1, 2015 to: David
Herold ((David.Herold /at/ polyu.edu.hk))

The organisers will provide feedback on all submissions by January 15.

PRESENTERS are asked to REGISTER for the conference BY FEBRUARY 15.

NON-PRESENTERS can register up to ONE MONTH BEFORE the conference.

Registration fee: HKD 100 (~ 13 US Dollar)

Registration page: http://ica-governance.strikingly.com/

====================

Dr. David Kurt Herold

Assistant Professor

Department of

Applied Social Sciences

HK Polytechnic University

Hung Hom, Kowloon

Hong Kong

Email: (David.Herold /at/ polyu.edu.hk)

====================


---------------
ECREA-Mailing list
---------------
This mailing list is a free service offered by Nico Carpentier and ECREA.
--
To subscribe, post or unsubscribe, please visit
http://commlist.org/
--
To contact the mailing list manager:
Email: (nico.carpentier /at/ vub.ac.be)
URL: http://homepages.vub.ac.be/~ncarpent/
--
ECREA - European Communication Research and Education Association
Chaussée de Waterloo 1151, 1180 Uccle, Belgium
Email: (info /at/ ecrea.eu)
URL: http://www.ecrea.eu
---------------