Call for Paper Proposals: New ICTs + New Media = New Democracy? Communications policy and public life in the age of broadband

Updated Call for Paper Proposals

New ICTs + New Media = New Democracy? Communications policy and public life in the age of broadband

A by-invitation experts’ workshop

New America Foundation, September 20-22, 2011

Are “new media” fundamentally changing the practice of democracy? Recent years have seen a significant transition in the role computer mediated communications play in the political sphere. A technological revolution driven by economic and market forces is undermining settled practices, established institutions, and traditional communications norms. As a result, public policies governing the telecommunications and media infrastructure need to be re-examined, and their theoretical foundations and paradigmatic assumptions reformulated.

Technological developments and broadband communications have forced the rules of political discourse to change: contemporary new media are circumventing and displacing old media; political candidates and public officials are finding new ways of communicating with the public; fundraising and advertising in political campaigns are being reshaped; and voiceless organizations and communities around the world are making themselves heard -- both within their national boundaries and around the world.

The Institute for Information Policy at Penn State University and the New America Foundation's Open Technology Initiative are pleased to announce this call for paper proposals, which focuses on the role broadband policies play in the promotion and preservation of democracy and human rights. Authors of the selected papers will be invited to present and discuss them during a three day by-invitation-only experts workshop designed to bring together American and international experts and to be held at the New America Foundation in Washington, DC, between September 20-22, 2011. This workshop is part of a series of events focused on “Making Policy Research Accessible,” organized by the IIP, with the support of the Ford Foundation. Presenters at the workshop will be invited to submit their completed papers for review by the Journal of Information Policy (www.jip-online.org).

Paper topics may include, but are not limited to:

• Freedom, democracy and justice: Changing concepts of democracy in the 21st century
• Campaign financing policies in the age of broadband communications
• Viability of existing telecommunications/media policies in light of technological change
• Preservation of freedom of expression and the public sphere in the new media environment
• Human rights and policy implications of recent popular uprisings around the world
• Allocation of resources allowing broadband communication to fulfill their role in democracy
• Private and public ownership of communication networks and their implications for democracy

Abstracts of up to 500 words and a short bio of the author(s) should be submitted to pennstateiip@psu.edu by July 8, 2011. Please write IIPOTIWS: YOUR NAME in the subject line. Abstracts not sent according to the above instructions will not be reviewed. Accepted presenters will be notified by July 22, 2011.