[Commlist] CfP GIG-ARTS 2020: Online Information Governance – More Expression, Less Freedom?

As the deadline for abstracts submission is approaching, please find 
hereafter the updated CFP for the GIG-ARTS 2020 conference: after Paris 
in 2017, Cardiff in 2018, and Salerno in 2019, we hope to welcome you in 
Vienna for the 4th edition of the conference in 2020!

========
*GIG-ARTS 2020 - The Fourth European Multidisciplinary Conference on 
Global Internet Governance Actors, Regulations, Transactions and Strategies
7-8 May 2020, Vienna*
*Online Information Governance – More Expression, Less Freedom?
*
/Organised by:/
- Media Governance and Industries Research Lab & Jean Monnet Centre of 
Excellence FreuDE / Universität Wien
- LIP6 Computer Science Research Lab / Sorbonne Université & Centre 
National de la Recherche Scientifique

*/Call for Abstracts - Deadline: 9 February 2020
/*
It is now 30 years since the invention of the World Wide Web, and over 
fifteen years since the development of the interactive Web or also known 
as Web2.0.  Online information and communication have never seemed 
easier and more accessible to everyone, thanks to the mediation 
of social networks, search engines, and other kinds of platforms and 
technologies.

With such capabilities “to seek, receive and impart information and 
ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”, freedom of speech 
and freedom of the press should have grown to such an extent that some 
of the utopian visions of full participatory democracy would have 
appeared to be within our reach. At the very least, some of the 
long-standing informational imbalances concerning information flow 
globally, diversity of content and authors, and the accessibility of 
accurate information would have been taken as a given framework against 
which societies would have been called to solve problems and to look 
after citizens’ well-being.

Paradoxically, the levels of freedom and freedom of expression, as 
captured in global measuring instruments by a variety of institutions 
and organisations, do not show the expected or desired advancement. 
Rather there is evidence that freedom in societies and freedom of the 
press deteriorate.

Ambitious goals of freedom to express one’s own identity and opinion at 
the global public sphere on an equal basis and free from fear of 
retaliation or misuse evaporate for many, such as those subjected to 
hate speech, those persecuted by autocratic authorities and the great 
majority of citizens whose personal data become de facto ownership of 
private companies.

Misinformation, spread not only by politically extreme groups but also 
by “normal”, mainstream parties in the (desperate or calculated) attempt 
to influence voters, can undermine the quality and freedom of global 
debate. Information conflict thus becomes even more an object of state 
rivalry and diplomacy, but also the tool for the erosion of citizenship 
as the utmost form of participation in the commons. These phenomena are 
coupled with the fact that even values once considered unquestionable, 
such as the value of independent journalism, the value of human rights 
such as privacy and dignity, are being challenged.

The technological capabilities allowed the world over to express and 
share information and opinions, to connect and form alliances. However, 
they have also enabled the spread of misinformation, have been 
undermining the human right to privacy on digital communication 
channels, subjected vulnerable groups to more vulnerability, and 
provided for economic models putting at stake the fundamental pillars of 
democracy. Within this context, policies governing the fate of users’ 
data, citizens’ freedoms and the integrity of content have fallen short 
of helping pave the path to the desired communication 
environment. Regulatory responses capturing communication and 
information have oscillated between forms of a ‘knee-jerk’ reaction to 
resist any attempt to provide for the normative standards of content and 
a tendency to securitise communication as a matter of national security.

Importantly, critics argue that even where governance has allowed for 
more democratic processes in raising concerns and suggesting solutions, 
the gaps in connecting the dots are glaring. If governance refers to the 
role of ideas and principles, the role of actors and the processes of 
negotiation and solution, it is urgent to return, on the one hand, to 
the basic and fundamental rights questions and take stock of the 
achievements of hitherto frameworks. On the other hand, it seems 
crucial to interrogate what futures exactly are current policy 
frameworks shaping, especially in relation to a politics of care for 
young citizens and hence the future generations?

After having addressed global internet governance as a diplomacy 
issue at its first edition held in Paris in 2017, how to 
overcome inequalities in internet governance at the second edition held 
in Cardiff in 2018, and the role of Europe in the global governance 
of the internet at its third edition held in Salerno in 2019, this 
year’s GIG-ARTS conference turns its attention to the governance 
of online information, to address the relation of citizens to 
the quality of content online as an often neglected area of regulation 
and governance of the internet. In that respect, the conference 
continues the conversation on internet governance turning its 
attention from institutions and structural factors to the role of 
content and misinformation as an object of governance, and to internet 
users as forces of change. GIG-ARTS is inviting you to this conversation 
to help shape the debate of what kinds of futures might be desirable and 
envisioned in the process of internet governance, who and which actors 
might be most suitable to help shape such governance goals and 
under which conditions might these be achieved.

Hence, in addition to general internet governance issues and 
topics, submissions are particularly welcome on the following 
possible areas of investigation:
- The governance of fundamental freedoms online between global 
platforms, conflicts of jurisdictions and extraterritorial legislation
- The role of European and global institutions in shaping the conditions 
of free expression online
- Responsibility and liability of platforms and other intermediaries in 
content regulation
- Restrictive regulation and the securitization of content
- Privacy, misinformation, democracy: challenges to internet governance
- Structural role of individual targeting, behavioural advertising and 
other economic models of online platforms on the reshaping 
of fundamental freedoms and democracy
- From nudging to manipulation: consequences on autonomy and human dignity
- Successive copyright reforms and their impact on freedom of 
expression, freedom of the press and democracy
- Changes in and challenges to journalism practice through intentional 
misinformation
- Governance from below: how practices and principles by civil society 
aim to shape the conditions of technology for the advancement of 
democracies and human well-being
- Youth and access to information; news and misinformation in the online 
world; the purpose of thinking towards the future

*/Submission Information and Publication Opportunities
/*Authors are invited to submit their extended abstracts (no longer than 
500 words), describing their research 
question(s), theoretical framework, approach and methodology, expected 
findings or empirical outcome. Submitted abstracts will be evaluated 
through a peer-review process.
Abstracts and authors’ information should be submitted through the 
Easychair conference management system at:
*https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gigarts2020
*Authors of selected submissions will have the opportunity to submit 
their full manuscript for publication.

*/Key dates/*
Deadline for abstract submissions: 9 February 2020
Notification to authors: 19 March 2020
Programme publication: 9 April 2020
Conference dates: 7 & 8 May 2020

*/GIG-ARTS 2020 Co-Chairs
/*- Meryem Marzouki (LIP6, CNRS & Sorbonne Université, France)
- Katharine Sarikakis (Media Governance and Industries Research Lab & 
Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence FreuDE, University of Vienna, Austria)

*/GIG-ARTS 2020 Scientific Programme Committee
/*- Francesco Amoretti (University of Salerno, Italy)
- Wolfgang Benedek (University of Graz, Austria)
- Eric Brousseau (Université Paris Dauphine, France)
- Andrea Calderaro (Cardiff University, United Kingdom)
- Jean-Marie Chenou (Universidad de los Andes, Colombia)
- Loreto Corredoira y Alfonso (Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain)
- Wolfgang Hofkirchner (The Institute for a Global Sustainable 
Information Society, Austria)
- Matthias C. Kettemann (Leibniz Institute for Media Research | 
Hans-Bredow-Institut, Germany)
- Joanna Kulesza (University of Lodz, Poland)
- Nanette S. Levinson (American University Washington DC, USA)
- Ursula Maier-Rabler (University of Salzburg, Austria)
- Robin E. Mansell (London School of Economics, United Kingdom)
- Meryem Marzouki (CNRS and Sorbonne Université, France)
- Trisha Meyer (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium)
- Michèle Rioux (Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada)
- Mauro Santaniello (University of Salerno, Italy)
- Katharine Sarikakis (University of Vienna, Austria)
- Yves Schemeil (Sciences Po Grenoble, France)
- Ingrid Schneider, University of Hamburg, Germany
- Jan Aart Scholte (University of Gothenburg, Sweden)

*/Venue
/*The conference will be held at the Concordia Press Club, in the heart 
of Vienna (https://concordia.at/).

*/Conference Registration and Fees/*
Registration fees are 100€ for regular participants and 50€ for students 
showing proof of status. The conference fees include a participant kit 
as well as coffee breaks and meals.

*/GIG-ARTS 2020 Communication Details/*
- Website: events.gig-arts.eu <http://events.gig-arts.eu/>
- Email for information: (events /at/ gig-arts.eu) <mailto:(events /at/ gig-arts.eu)>
- Submissions: https://easychair.org/conferences/?conf=gigarts2020
- Twitter: @GigArtsEU - Hashtag: #GIGARTS20
- Mailing list for updates: http://tinyurl.com/yc7rvxm4

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