[ecrea] ECREA Pre-Conference on "Imposing Freedoms" - Last call for abstracts

Dear colleagues,

This is a reminder that the deadline for the submission of abstracts for 
the ECREA 2012 Pre-Conference on "Imposing Freedoms: The role of 
copyright, privacy and censorship governance in the re/definition of 
rights in digital media" is in two days, May 13, 2012.

There will be no further extension. In the case you intend to submit an 
abstract but have trouble in getting it in on time, please get in touch.

This event is co-organised by the Media Governance and Industries 
Research Group (http://mediagovernance.univie.ac.at 
<http://mediagovernance.univie.ac.at/>) of the Department of 
Communication Studies at the University of Vienna with the:

ECREA Communication Law and Policy Section
IAMCR Communication Policy and Technology (CP&T) and Law Sections
ICA Communication Law and Policy Division

It is hosted by the Plato College of Higher Education.

In the era of digital, global, around-the-clock communications, changes 
in the practices and principles in the production, distribution and 
consumption of the media raise pressing questions for media governance. 
Established values in communication regulation -- from individual 
liberties to the public interest, and from state security to the free 
market -- continue to coexist, but often stand in conflict with each 
other, undergoing new interpretations, often in the company of emerging 
principles. Tactics of control are used by governments, corporations, 
communities, and citizens. These deal with different subjects and have 
varying aims and degrees of success, but all influence the ways in which 
the governance of communicative action develops.

To a great extent, media governance values derive from the Enlightenment 
project, regulating (or regularising) actions by citizens, states, 
communities, and/or corporations. Liberty and freedom of expression, 
self-governance and legitimacy, the rule of law, equality, and 
universality of rights are understood to provide the underpinnings of 
national regulatory and legal frameworks. Experience with the effects of 
legal efforts to operationalise such concepts in the digital 
environment, however, changed the way in which these values are 
understood. Individual freedom appears fragile in the context of 
contemporary control and surveillance methods used by both public and 
private sector entities.  Existing freedoms as provided by, for example, 
the right to access information appear to be viewed as imposing 
inconveniences that must be dealt with through new tactics of control. 
In many contexts, freedom is increasingly being treated as a 
‘transitive’ condition that is ‘imposed' on societies without reference 
to actual needs or concomitant attention to justice as understood by 
those upon whom control practices are being imposed and with selective 
attention to international standards. Digital media governance models 
are called to deal with the contemporary conflict between powerful 
intentions and fragile conditions, individual freedoms and transnational 
influences, the political enmeshment of the public and the private, and 
the effects of networks on the structures of power. Drawing upon 
contemporary theories, governance is understood as the formal and 
informal practices of institutions and private and public sector actors. 
In the realm of digital media, this kind of governance explicitly and/or 
implicitly frames social relations and vice versa. This means that 
emerging forms of governance have implications for our understanding of 
agency, democracy and citizenship.

This symposium invites theoretical, methodological and empirical papers 
with a specific focus on actual or possible new values, doctrinal 
principles, and/or implementation practices of media governance as they 
redefine, reinterpret, operationalise, or abandon freedom as 
traditionally understood, from the perspective of governments, 
corporations, communities, and also citizens. Some suggested directions 
for enquiry include:

-What kinds of new or revived values are informing media governance? 
Which models of governance are being promoted, and which are being 
sidelined?
-What experiences with alleged freedom, or alternative modes of 
conceptualising freedom, test the validity, appropriateness, and 
efficacy of current media governance practices worldwide?
-To what extent are governments applying new tactics and reconfiguring 
regulatory values to maintain control over digital and physical spaces?
-How is globalization of the law affecting media governance at the 
national level?
-Will the anti-terrorism and crisis ‘state of exception’ used by most 
governments to justify significant changes in the treatment of free 
speech and access to information endure?  If so, what are the 
implications of this development for media governance in the future?
-In which ways are global corporations involved in the shaping of media 
governance and what are the implications of these developments in 
policymaking for the reconceptualisation of certain freedoms and rights 
(e.g., in the areas of privacy, expression, and copyright)?
- To what extent and in which ways are the practices by citizens and 
communities following, opposing and/or negotiating media (technology) 
governance, and what are the consequences for agency, empowerment and 
freedom of media users (e.g. in design/domestication of media, 
tactics/strategies by public, democratic rationalisation)?
-Which models of media governance may be particularly fruitful for those 
seeking guarantees of the legal, material and symbolic aspects of 
individual and communal freedoms and identities?   What new tactics of 
control and resistance are enabled by such models?
-In what ways can media regulation be responsible for the encroachment 
of certain individual freedoms and rights despite appearing to try to 
preserve those same freedoms and rights?

We are interested in dynamic panel debates and dialogue, and the 
development of research agendas as an outcome of the event. For this 
reason there will be a limited number of participants.

Confirmed speakers

Jonas Andersson, Södertörn University, Sweden
Alison Beale, Simon Fraser University, Canada
Sandra Braman University of Wisconsin, US
Mary Griffiths, University of Adelaide, Australia
Jo Pierson, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium
Evangelia Psychogiopoulou, ELIAMEP Greece
Katharine Sarikakis, University of Vienna, Austria
Laura Stein, University of Texas, US
Asli Tunc, Istanbul Bilgi University, Turkey

Abstract Submission

Please submit your 400 words abstract along with your contact details 
and a 3 lines bio to (mediagovernance.pkw /at/ univie.ac.at) 
<mailto:(mediagovernance.pkw /at/ univie.ac.at)>.

Notification of abstract review May 20, 2012.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Sincerely,

The Organising Committee
http://mediagovernance.univie.ac.at