[ecrea] CfA International Symposium: Digital Participation and the Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion

*Call for Paper Abstracts*

*International Symposium: Digital Participation and the Politics of 
Inclusion and Exclusion*

*Wednesday 18 July 2018*

*Ann Harding Centre, University of Canberra*

*Co-hosted by News & Media Research Centre and Institute for Governance 
& Policy Analysis*


In information societies, inequalities are significantly structured by 
exclusions: exclusion from access to technology, exclusion from data, 
exclusion from knowledge production and circulation, and subsequently 
exclusion from the networks of decision-making. Digital participation is 
no longer a supplemental set of activities but has become a key 
component of modern citizenship. With government, educational and 
commercial services increasingly provided online, requiring citizens to 
have internet access, those who are digitally excluded are experiencing 
deeper disadvantages. The adoption and use of digital devices reinforces 
the existing socioeconomic factors where social exclusion transfers to 
digital exclusion.


This symposium is concerned with the political aspects of inclusion and 
exclusion in information societies within three contexts: political 
parties and electoral contestation, news and information inequalities 
reinforced by levels of online engagement, and exclusionary practices 
that emerge as a product of asymmetry in the collection and analysis of 
personal data.


Themes of the symposium:

*Political parties and electoral competition*: With the growth of 
professionalization within political parties we have seen a greater 
decoupling between citizens and political parties. The party roles once 
performed by amateurs have been ceded to professionalised communication 
staff guided by advanced poling, focus groups, and data analytics. Long 
since gone are the days when parties functioned as the organised 
expression of social cleavages. Instead, political parties are 
increasingly mining social media and pushing microtargeted ads based on 
online profiles. On the other hand, social media may enable dispersed 
citizens to participate in construction of party strategies, tactics, 
and policies.

**

*News and information inequalities*: The term ‘fake news’ has received 
considerable attention in recent times. We have witnessed the 
proliferation of fake news during the closing days of the 2016 US 
election campaign and the Brexit referendum in the UK. The term ‘fake 
news’ has a long and varied history in journalism, referring to 
misinformation, disinformation campaigns, satire, and sometimes as a 
political retort to any claims one disagrees with or wishes to 
delegitimise. In an age of information abundance, the ability to filter 
fact from fiction is becoming an important aspect of civic participation.


*Data justice*: As aspects of political and social life are increasingly 
rendered in forms of digital traces, wide varieties of political actors 
are finding ways to utilise these data to push for political and social 
change. Both commercial and public entities make use of digital data to 
better understand and inform their end-users, using advanced 
technologies such as low-cost satellite imagery, drones, and machine 
learning to detect and monitor the environment. Aggregate forms of 
personalised digital data and exclusion from the information and tools 
have implications to what it means to participate in the digital world.

We invite papers investigating any aspect of the three themes, with an 
aim to critically examine the broader issue of digital participation and 
its complexity in international and transnational contexts. We will 
examine the intricate relationship between digital exclusion, social 
exclusion and the politics of digital participation in information 
societies.


Hosted by News & Media Research Centre and Institute for Governance & 
Policy Analysis, at the University of Canberra, the Symposium will bring 
together international scholars, practitioners and activists to engage 
with the contemporary issues in digital participation.


Our guest speakers include:

John Keane, University of Sydney

Karen Mossberger, Arizona State University

Eli Skogerbø, University of Oslo, Distinguished Visitor at the 
University of Canberra


Key dates:

Closing date for abstracts: 1 May 2018

Author notifications: 31 May 2018

Program announcement: 15 June 2018

Registration: 1 May – 30 June 2018


Submission guidelines:

Send the following in PDF to (digitalparticipation /at/ canberra.edu.au) 
<mailto:(digitalparticipation /at/ canberra.edu.au)>


Choice of theme: Political parties and electoral competition, news and 
information inequalities, or data justice

Title

Abstract: Up to 800 words

Author(s) short bio: 150 words for each author

‘Digital Participation’ will take place in Canberra, shortly before the 
25th World Congress of Political Science (July 21-25, 2018 in Brisbane, 
Australia). Brisbane is 1 hour 40 min flight from Canberra.


‘Digital Participation’ is a free event sponsored by News & Media 
Research Centre and Institute for Governance & Policy Analysis. 
Registration is required for seating and catering purposes.


Symposium organisers:  Sora Park & Michael Jensen


Contact: (digitalparticipation /at/ canberra.edu.au) 
<mailto:(digitalparticipation /at/ canberra.edu.au)>


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